`I got a letter one day, a long letter that wasn`t signed.` Camille reads this narration of events from pre-war France, certain that it has been sent to her by mistake. Then more letters start to arrive
- They tell of a friendship struck up between a young village girl, Annie, & Madame M, a bourgeois lady. To begin with the women simply share a love of art, but when Annie offers to carry a child for her infertile friend, their lives become intimately entwined. The child is born on the eve of the German invasion of France, & the repercussions of her birth are still felt decades later. This powerful first novel by Helene Gremillion is a gripping study of the destruction unleashed, when human desires for love & motherhood turn to obsession.
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As remarkable as Columbus & the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. But Portugal`s navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India & beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East
- then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire. In an astonishing blitz of thirty years, a handful of visionary & utterly ruthless empire builders, with few resources but breathtaking ambition, attempted to seize the Indian Ocean, destroy Islam & take control of world trade. Told with Roger Crowley`s customary skill & verve, this is narrative history at its most vivid
- an epic tale of navigation, trade & technology, money & religious zealotry, political diplomacy & espionage, sea battles & shipwrecks, endurance, courage & terrifying brutality. Drawing on extensive first-hand accounts, it brings to life the exploits of an extraordinary band of conquerors
- men such as Afonso de Albuquerque, the first European since Alexander the Great to found an Asian empire
- who set in motion five hundred years of European colonisation & unleashed the forces of globalisation.



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The Conquest of Everest, by the late George Lowe, photographer, mountaineer & teacher & Huw Lewis-Jones historian of exploration, celebrates the 60th anniversary of the first ascent to Mount Everest in 1953. Revealing the team which helped Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay to reach the summit, the book features exclusive photographs from the private archives of George Lowe & reflections from renowned climbers, experts & writers, & a foreword by Sir Edmund Hillary. The illustrations reveal George Lowe’s perspective on the expedition as he distilled ‘moments’ of the daily actions of his fellow climbers against the amazing backdrop revealing the personalities who made history. The inspiring photographs are accompanied by compelling experiences on Mount Everest recounted by climbers, experts & writers including Peter Hilary, Reinhold Messner, Jan Morris, Norbu Tenzing Norgay, Doug Scott & Stephen Venables & many more. The book is a collection of moving photographs & tales inspired by the greatest mountain on Earth exuding friendship, heroism, drama & achievements that will transport you back in time, amongst these men & on top of the world. George Lowe founded & supported the Himalayan Trust in Britain & the Lowe Scholarships which raise money to improve the future of the Sherpa of Nepal & fund education for bright students from Solu Khumbu. ...

Vivid, powerful & absorbing, this is a first-person account of one of the most startling military episodes in history: the overthrow of Montezuma`s doomed Aztec Empire by the ruthless Hernan Cortes & his band of adventurers. Bernal Diaz del Castillo, himself a soldier under Cortes, presents a fascinatingly detailed description of the Spanish landing in Mexico in 1520 & their amazement at the city, the exploitation of the natives for gold & other treasures, the expulsion & flight of the Spaniards, their regrouping & eventual capture of the Aztec capital. ...

Historian John Hemming brings a fresh & exciting perspective to one of the most intriguing aspects of early modern history; the subjugation of the ancient Latin American peoples by Spanish explorers, & the birth of Latin America as we now know it. A narrative history told with a sharpness & clarity that makes it accessible & readable without compromising its academic & expert merits. On 25 September 1513, a force of weary Spanish explorers cut through the forests of Panama & was confronted with an ocean: the Mar del Sur, or the Pacific Ocean. Six years later the Spaniards had established the town of Panama as a base from which to explore & exploit this unknown sea. It was the threshold of a vast expansion. From the first small band of Spanish adventurers to enter the mighty Inca empire, to the execution of the last Inca forty years later, The Conquest of the Incas is a story of bloodshed, infamy, rebellion & extermination, told as convincingly as if it happened yesterday. ...

With startling speed, Spanish conquistadors invaded hundreds of Native American kingdoms, took over the mighty empires of the Aztecs & Incas, & initiated an unprecedented redistribution of the world`s resources & balance of power. They changed the course of history, but the myth they established was even stranger than their real achievements. This Very Short Introduction deploys the latest scholarship to shatter & replace the traditional narrative. Chapters explore New World civilizations prior to the invasions, the genesis of conquistador culture on both sides of the Atlantic, the roles black Africans & Native Americans played & the consequences of the invasions. The book reveals who the conquistadors were & what made their adventures possible. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, & enthusiasm to make interesting & challenging topics highly readable. ...

Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist is a piece of fiction that feels very real, taking place in a South Africa where unexpected upheavals are becoming an expected evil. Mehring is rich: he has all the privileges & possessions that South Africa has to offer, but his possessions refuse to remain objects. His wife, son & mistress leave him; his foreman & workers become increasingly indifferent to his stewardship; even the land rises up, as drought, then flood, destroy his farm. As the upheaval in Mehring’s world increasingly resembles that in the country as a whole, it becomes clear that only a seismic shift in ideas & concrete action can avert annihilation. A winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, where she was recognised as a woman “who through her magnificent writing has been of very great benefit to humanity”, Gordimer shows us once again why she is such an effective moral, racial, & political activist. ...

Kenji Tanabe finds maps easier to read than people. At the elite Tokyo gallery where he works, he sells antique maps by selling the stories that he sees within their traces: their contribution to progress, their dramatic illustrations, their exquisite compasses. But no compass or cartography can guide him through the events that will follow the sudden & unexpected offer of a job in America. There, Theodora Appel runs a company that is more like a family. Brilliantly successful, beguilingly secretive, she gradually initiates Kenji into her rarefied world. Only someone like him
- quiet, intensely committed & discreet
- could be allowed to see beneath the surface to what his employer is hiding. Theodora has never recovered from the death of her lover, & her obsession to reclaim the past threatens them all. Moving across countries & cultures, The Consolation of Maps charts an attempt to understand the tide of history, the geography of people & the boundless territory of loss.

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How did we get here? Why are things as they are? Where are we going? What does it all mean? Is there an ultimate purpose to our existence, or is what we can see around us just the result of a horrible accident, or a sublime one? The Consolations of Physics is an eloquent manifesto for physics. In an age where uncertainty & division is rife, Tim Radford, science editor of the Guardian for twenty-five years, turns to the wonders of the universe for consolation. From the launch of the Voyager spacecraft & how it furthered our understanding of planets, stars & galaxies to the planet composed entirely of diamond & graphite & the sound of a blacksmith`s anvil; from the hole NASA drilled in the heavens to the discovery of the Higgs Boson & the endeavours to prove the Big Bang, The Consolations of Physics will guide you from a tiny particle to the marvels of outer space. ...

Frightening, heartbreaking & exquisitely calibrated, The Constant Gardener is a profoundly moving story of a man ennobled by his wife`s tragic murder, & a magnificent exploration of the dark side of unbridled capitalism. Le Carre`s record-breaking 500, 000 copy international bestseller now comes to the big screen. Directed by critically acclaimed Fernando Meirelles (” City of God”), with an all-star cast featuring Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Pete Postlethwaite & Bill Nighy, & shot on location in Berlin, Kenya & the UK, ” The Constant Gardener” will be the film tie-in of the year. ...