You are invited to roam the island nation of Madagascar in search of 101 species & sub-species of lemurs
- those captivating primates
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Topographic survey of France at 1:25, 000 in IGN`s excellent TOP25 / Série Bleue series. All the maps are GPS compatible, with a 1km UTM grid plus latitude & longitude lines at 5’ intervals. Contours are at 5m intervals except for mountainous areas where the maps have contours at 10m intervals, vividly enhanced by hill shading & graphics for rocky terrain. Colouring with graphics indicates different types of vegetation or land use (deciduous or coniferous forests, moors, orchards, vineyards, etc). PLEASE NOTE: coverage of France at this scale is currently being revised – the format & the presentation of each title are indicated by the letters at the end of its Sheet Reference number (e.g. 0416ET, 3531ETR, 1923SB, etc.)MAPS WITH FULL TOURIST OVERPRINT & AN ENGLISH MAP LEGEND: all TOP25 maps & the SB editions of Série Bleue have an overprint highlighting waymarked walking trails including long-distance GR routes &, where appropriate, ski routes. Symbols indicate campsites, gîtes d’etape, refuges, equestrian centres & other recreational facilities or sites, tourist information centres, cultural heritage, etc. Towns & locations of particular interest are highlighted.- ET or OT = single-sided TOP25 map covering approx. 29x 21 km / 18x 13 miles.- ETR or OTR = waterproof & tear resistant TOP25 map covering the same area as the corresponding ET or OT number, but double-sided, printed on a smaller size sheet with a good overlap between the sides.- SB = Série Bleue map with full tourist overprint; these maps, first introduced in summer 2014, each cover approx. 29x 24km / 18x 15 miles.SÉRIE BLEUE maps with numbers ending in E (Est) or O (Ouest): most editions now indicate the GR routes, but do not show any other tourist information. Map legend is in French only. Each map covers approx. 14x 20km / 9x 12 miles. ...

Lenin`s originality & importance as a revolutionary leader is most often associated with the seizure of power in 1917. But, Zizek argues in his new study & collection of original texts, Lenin`s true greatness can be better grasped in the very last couple of years of his political life. Russia had survived foreign invasion, embargo & a terrifying civil war, as well as internal revolts such as at Kronstadt in 1921. But the new state was exhausted, isolated & disorientated in the face of the world revolution that seemed to be receding. New paths had to be sought, almost from scratch, for the Soviet state to survive & imagine some alternative route to the future. With his characteristic brio & provocative insight, Zizek suggests that Lenin`s courage as a thinker can be found in his willingness to face this reality of retreat lucidly & frontally. ...

A gripping account of how, in the depths of the First World War, Russia`s greatest revolutionary was taken in a `sealed train` across Europe & changed the history of the world By 1917 the European war seemed to be endless. Both sides in the fighting looked to new weapons, tactics & ideas to break a stalemate that was itself destroying Europe. In the German government a small group of men had a brilliant idea: why not sow further confusion in an increasingly chaotic Russia by arranging for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the most notorious of revolutionary extremists, currently safely bottled up in neutral Switzerl&, to go home? Catherine Merridale`s Lenin on the Train recreates Lenin`s extraordinary journey from harmless exile in Zurich, across a Germany falling to pieces from the war`s deprivations, & northwards to the edge of Lapland to his eventual ecstatic reception by the revolutionary crowds at Petrograd`s Finland Station. With great skill & insight Merridale weaves the story of the train & its uniquely strange group of passengers with a gripping account of the now half-forgotten liberal Russian revolution & shows how these events intersected. She brilliantly uses a huge range of contemporary eyewitnesses, observing Lenin as he travelled back to a country he had not seen for many years. Many thought he was a mere `useful idiot`, others thought he would rapidly be imprisoned or killed, others that Lenin had in practice few followers & even less influence. They would all prove to be quite wrong. ...

A gripping account of how, in the depths of the First World War, Russia`s greatest revolutionary was taken in a `sealed train` across Europe & changed the history of the world By 1917 the European war seemed to be endless. Both sides in the fighting looked to new weapons, tactics & ideas to break a stalemate that was itself destroying Europe. In the German government a small group of men had a brilliant idea: why not sow further confusion in an increasingly chaotic Russia by arranging for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the most notorious of revolutionary extremists, currently safely bottled up in neutral Switzerl&, to go home? Catherine Merridale`s Lenin on the Train recreates Lenin`s extraordinary journey from harmless exile in Zurich, across a Germany falling to pieces from the war`s deprivations, & northwards to the edge of Lapland to his eventual ecstatic reception by the revolutionary crowds at Petrograd`s Finland Station. With great skill & insight Merridale weaves the story of the train & its uniquely strange group of passengers with a gripping account of the now half-forgotten liberal Russian revolution & shows how these events intersected. She brilliantly uses a huge range of contemporary eyewitnesses, observing Lenin as he travelled back to a country he had not seen for many years. Many thought he was a mere `useful idiot`, others thought he would rapidly be imprisoned or killed, others that Lenin had in practice few followers & even less influence. They would all prove to be quite wrong. ...

Victor Sebestyen`s intimate biography is the first major work in English for nearly two decades on one of the most significant figures of the twentieth century. In Russia to this day Lenin inspires adulation. Everywhere, he continues to fascinate as a man who made history, & who created a new kind of state that would later be imitated by nearly half the countries in the world. Lenin believed that the `the political is the personal`, & while in no way ignoring his political life, Sebestyen`s focus will be on Lenin the man
- a man who loved nature almost as much as he loved making revolution, & whose closest ties & friendships were with women. The long-suppressed story of his menage a trois with his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, & his mistress & comrade, Inessa Arm&, reveals a different character to the coldly one-dimensional figure of legend. Told through the prism of Lenin`s key relationships, Sebestyen`s lively biography casts a new light the Russian Revolution, one of the great turning points of modern history.
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When the German High Command encircled Leningrad it was a deliberate policy to eradicate the city`s civilian population by starving them to death. As winter set in & food supplies dwindled, starvation & panic set in. A specialist in battle psychology & the vital role of morale in desperate circumstances, Michael Jones tells the human story of Leningrad. Drawing on newly available eyewitness accounts & diaries, he shows Leningrad in its every dimension including taboo truths, long-suppressed by the Soviets, such as looting, criminal gangs & cannibalism. But, for many ordinary citizens, Leningrad marked the triumph of the human spirit. They drew deeply on their inner resources to inspire, comfort & help one another. At the height of the siege an extraordinary live performance of Shostakovich`s Seventh Symphony profoundly strengthened the city`s will to resist. When German troops heard it in their trenches one remarked: ` We began to understand we would never take Leningrad. Yet, Leningrad`s self-defence came at a huge price. When the 900-day siege ended in 1944 almost a million people had died & those who survived would be permanently marked by what they had endured, as this superbly insightful & moving history shows. ...

When Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, he intended to capture Leningrad before turning on Moscow. Soviet resistance forced him to change tactics: with his forward troops only thirty kilometres from the city`s historic centre, he decided instead to starve it out. Using newly available diaries & government records, Anna Reid describes a city`s descent into hell
- the breakdown of electricity & water supply; subzero temperatures; the consumption of pets, joiner`s glue & face cream; the dead left unburied where they fell
- but also the extraordinary endurance, bravery & self-sacrifice, despite the cruelty & indifference of the Kremlin.

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Shostakovich`s Seventh Symphony was first played in the city of its birth on 9 August, 1942. There has never been a first performance to match it. Pray God, there never will be again. Almost a year earlier, the Germans had begun their blockade of the city. Already many thousands had died of their wounds, the cold, & most of all, starvation. The assembled musicians
- scrounged from frontline units & military bands, for only twenty of the orchestra`s 100 players had survived
- were so hungry, many feared they`d be too weak to play the score right through. In these, the darkest days of the Second World War, the music & the defiance it inspired provided a rare beacon of light for the watching world. Setting the composition of Shostakovich`s most famous work against the tragic canvas of the siege itself & the years of repression & terror that preceded it, Leningrad: Siege & Symphony is a magisterial & moving account of one of the most tragic periods in history.

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Leningradskaya Oblast Road Atlas at 1:290, 000 from Discus Media, in Cyrillic & with map legend in Russian. Road network distinguished between tarred & unsufaced roads,

Includes:: field & forest tracks & indicates restricted entry routes & border crossings to Finl&. Driving distances are given on many local routes & locations of petrol stations are marked. Railway lines are shown with stops. The region’s numerous marshlands are marked & colouring shows forested areas. Symbols highlight religious buildings, historic sites, etc. The maps have no geographical coordinates. The atlas is indexed & has lists of useful addresses. All place names are in Cyrillic alphabet. Map legend & all the text are in Russian only.IMPORTANT
- PLEASE NOTE BEFORE ORDERING: supplies of all titles published in Russia are very irregular & we cannot guarantee a definite delivery time for titles not in stock. If a title is currently out of stock, it may be advisable to choose an alternative.


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