The Dutch, in the Xenophobe guide series; consisting of a range of pocket-sized guides which take a humorous & irreverent approach to a wide range of world cultures. Each guide explores the characteristics of a country’s people in a series of dedicated sections, encompassing nationalism & identity, behaviour, manners, character, obsessions, beliefs & values, leisure & pleasure, culture, custom & tradition, business, systems, health & hygiene, crime & punishment, government & bureaucracy, conversation & gestures & language. Written in a wholly irreverent style, Xenophobes guides attempt to forewarn readers of the main stereotypes & foibles that are associated with individual nationalities. ...

The best collection of Dutch cycling photos ever assembled! For more than a decade, American photographer & author Shirley Agudo has been photographing the incomparable bicycle culture of the Netherlands, where she now lives. Following the success of her previous book, Bicycle Mania Holl&, she has amassed this new collection of 400 photos The Dutch & their Bikes: Scenes from a Nation of Cyclists. It s the definitive photo guide to the world s best bicycle culture. For the Dutch, cycling is a way of life. With more bikes than people, the Netherlands is a nation of cyclists where children virtually learn to cycle before they learn to walk. Everyone cycles, every day & everywhere. What they carry & do on their bikes is unbelievable. Agudo s fascinating photo anthology offers a privileged look at this culture that lives & breathes cycling. Hold your breath for the ride.” ...

In 1972 a gold bullion convoy is hijacked in Marseilles. The security trucks & hijackers are swiftly rounded up, but a ton of gold has disappeared. More than twenty years later, Daniel Jac receives an unexpected gift from an old fisherman. At the same time, a Marseilles lawyer called Claude Dupont receives an equally unexpected gift from a dying gangland boss. Both gifts point the way to the missing gold & pit Jac & Dupont against the Polineaux & Duclos familles, two of the oldest & most feared crime syndicates on the Cote d` Azur. When the Marseilles police become involved following a series of gruesome murders, the investigation is headed by Chief Inspector Isabelle Cassier. An old friend & sometime lover of Jacquot`s, Isabelle discovers that the years haven`t lessened her longing for the maverick Marseilles cop, & that her feelings for him are far from professional. Together they embark on a cut-throat hunt for the gold, with hit-men from the Polineaux & Duclos clans hot on their heels. But after nearly thirty years, is the gold still there? & if it is, who will get to it first? ...

The FINAL shocking, heart-wrenching book in the jaw-droppingly stupendous Skulduggery Pleasant series. Valkerie. Darquesse. Stephanie. The world ain`t big enough for the three of them. The end will come... The War of the Sanctuaries has been won, but it was not without its casualties. Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must use any & all means to track down & stop Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred, lifeless cinder. & so he draws together a team of soldiers, monster hunters, killers, criminals...and Valkyrie`s own murderous reflection. The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. & not everyone gets out of here alive... ...

The son of a Yorkshire miner with strong left-wing sympathies, Brian Blessed was born in 1936 & grew up in the mining village of Goldthorpe. As well as roaming the railway tracks & the countryside as leader of a gang of small boys, he met Picasso, Paul Robeson & George VI, & disappeared from home to cycle 11 miles to see the famous boxer, Bruce Woodcock. The idyll evaporated when Blessed was forced to leave school long before his friends, as his family could not afford to keep him there. Unhappy & solitary, he worked for an undertaker & then as a plasterer, & joined the Theatre Guild at Mexborough Schofield Technical School. After suffering a nervous breakdown at 18 & recovering with the help of his speech teacher, he began his career as an actor. This is his first volume of autobiography, providing an evocation of wartime childhood in rural Engl&. ...

Welcome to the British Museum, home to Lottie Lipton: nine-year-old investigator extraordinaire! When a collection of Roman treasures comes to the museum, Lottie, Uncle Bert & Reg discover the legendary code of the Ninth Legion`s Golden Eagle. Can Lottie & her friends break the code & find the treasure before a ruthless treasure hunter gets his hands on it? Perfect for developing & newly confident readers, Lottie Lipton Adventures are packed with action, adventure & puzzles for the reader to solve. ...

The Eagle of the Canavese opens up an incredible time in racing history. In the early 1960s Franco Balmamion won successive editions of the Giro d' Italia, an achievement no Italian cyclist has been able to emulate in almost half a century since. In the post-war era only Balmamion & the three great champions Coppi, Merckx & Indurain, have successfully defended the fabled maglia rosa, the pink jersey of the Giro winner. & yet virtually nothing is known of this rider whose Giro record surpassed all but the very best, & who, with a fraction of the support others enjoyed, might well have won not only a third Giro, but also the Tour de France. In capturing the 1962 Giro Balmamion, the so-called ' Silent Champion', displayed extraordinary mental & physical courage, overcoming not only his rivals but also the mutiny & skullduggery of a famous, celebrated team-mate. His epic performance, at the age just twenty-two, was the equal of anything achieved by any of the true giants of the sport, but remains a story untold, ignored by the cycling world, obscured by the mists of time. How then has cycling contrived to disregard the achievements of such a rider? That is the question Herbie Sykes asks in an unforgettable quest to recover the memory of ' The Eagle of the Canavese'. In so doing he rediscovers the romantic, parochial community of Italian cycling, revealing for the first time the secrets of the race, & of the heroes & villains involved. Their stories, by turns heroic, astonishing & heartbreaking, are as immediate today as they were back then. ...

The Eagle of Toledo: The Life & Times of Federico Bahamontes is a biography of a cyclist regarded by many as not only the greatest climber in cycling history but also as the godfather of Spanish cycling. Bahamontes, the first Spaniard to win in 1959 the Tour de France & six times champion of the race's gruelling ' King of the Mountains' classification, may be less well known in Britain than some of his successors, but his life from his birth in 1928 to his retirement in 1965 coincides with one of the most troubled periods in Spain ...

The Eagle of Toledo: The Life & Times of Federico Bahamontes is a biography of a cyclist regarded by many as not only the greatest climber in cycling history but also as the godfather of Spanish cycling. Bahamontes, the first Spaniard to win in 1959 the Tour de France & six times champion of the race`s gruelling ` King of the Mountains` classification, may be less well known in Britain than some of his successors, but his life from his birth in 1928 to his retirement in 1965 coincides with one of the most troubled periods in Spain’s history & provides a fascinating subject for a biography. The author, Alasdair Fotherigham, a freelance journalist based in Spain, has covered 20 Tours de France & 18 Vuelta a España races & writes in the Independent & the Independent on Sunday both about Spain & about cycling. ...

In Halik Kochanski`s extraordinary book, the untold story of Poland & the Poles in the Second World War is finally heard. By almost every measure the fate of the inhabitants of Poland was the most terrible of any group in the Second World War. Following the destruction of its armed forces in the autumn of 1939, the Republic of Poland was partitioned between Nazi & Soviet forces & officially ceased to exist. As the war progressed millions of Poles were killed, with each phase unleashing a further round, from the industrialised genocide of Treblinka to the crushing of the Warsaw Rising. Polish Jews were all to be murdered, Christians reduced to a semi-literate slave class. This powerful & original new book is perhaps the most important `missing` work on the whole conflict, describing both the fate of those trapped within occupied Poland & of the millions of Poles who were able to escape. Reviews: ”A remarkable book... Kochanski brings to the subject not only an impressive grasp of the military & political context, but also a balance, neutrality & honesty few could manage, combined with the intelligence, imagination & empathy necessary to grasp the true depth of the experience she recounts... This book is history at its best. It tells the whole story, & tells it well, with just the right mixture of detachment & empathy, in crisp, readable prose. But it also speaks to the imagination & makes the reader think
- & not just about the subject in hand”. (” Standpoint”). ” Until Halik Kochanski`s ” The Eagle Unbowed” nobody had written a comprehensive English-language history of Poland at war... She uncovers details that will surprise even history geeks... Ms Kochanski marshals an impressive & comprehensive array of English & Polish material”. (” Economist”). ” Poland`s war was so terrible as to almost defy summary.. .this book is opinionated, fluid & forceful”. (Oliver Bullough, ” New Statesman”). ” An informative, authoritative & wide-ranging account of the tragedy that befell Poland & its inhabitants, Gentiles & Jews, during the war & its aftermath... An engaging & important book”. (Hubert Zawadzki (author of ”A Concise History of Poland”)). About the author: Halik Kochanski read Modern History at Balliol College, Oxford & then completed a Ph D at King`s College London. She has taught at both King`s College London & University College London & presented papers to a number of military history conferences. She has written a number of articles & is the author of ” Sir Garnet Wolseley: Victorian Hero” (1999). She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She has been a member of the councils of the Army Records Society & Society for Army Historical Research & remains a member of both societies. She is also a member of the British Commission for Military History & the Institute for Historical Research. She is currently a judge for the Templer Medal book prize.
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