There is nothing quite as beautiful as an English country house in summer. & there has never been a summer quite like that Indian summer between the two world wars, a period of gentle decline in which the sun set slowly on the British Empire & the shadows lengthened on the lawns of a thousand stately homes. Real life in the country house during the 1920s & 1930s was not always so sunny. By turns opulent & ordinary, noble & vicious, its shadows were darker. In The Long Weekend, Adrian Tinniswood uncovers the truth about a world half-forgotten, draped in myth & hidden behind stiff upper lips & film-star smiles. Drawing on hundreds of memoirs, on unpublished letters & diaries, on the eye-witness testimonies of belted earls & unhappy heiresses & bullying butlers, The Long Weekend gives a voice to the people who inhabited this world. In a definitive social history which combines anecdote & narrative with scholarship, it brings the stately homes of England to life, giving readers an insight into the guilt & the gingerbread, & showing how the image of the country house was carefully protected by its occupants above & below stairs, & how the reality was so much more interesting than the dream. ...

Since the beginnings of history trees have served humankind in countless useful ways, but our relationship with trees has many



...

Exclusive to Stanfords.` The Long, Long Night`, Ernest Shackleton’s ship the Endurance stuck fast in Antarctic ice photographed by Frank Hurley, 1915. This photograph was taken during the ‘ Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-16’. In his diary Mc Nish reported that ‘ Hurley has been taking flashlight pictures – he has secured some of the best’. For this image Frank Hurley used 20 flashlights to create his ‘spectre ship’ effect. Printed on matte archival quality photographic paper & cardboard mounted.* About this range: Exclusive to Stanfords, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) has selected a range of vintage photographs of travel & exploration. The images are from the Society’s prestigious archive collection. As they are printed from the original negative, there is only a limited amount available. ...

The true story, told minute by minute, of the soldiers who defeated Napoleon
- from Brendan Simms, acclaimed author of Europe:
...

The partitioning of British India into independent Pakistan & India in August 1947 occurred in the midst of communal holocaust, with Hindus & Sikhs on one side & Muslims on the other. More than 750, 000 people were butchered, & 12 million fled their homes--primarily in caravans of bullock-carts--to seek refuge across the new border: it was the largest exodus in history. Sixty-seven years later, it is as if that August never ended. Renowned historian & journalist Dilip Hiro provides a riveting account of the relationship between India & Pakistan, tracing the landmark events that led to the division of the sub-continent & the evolution of the contentious relationship between Hindus & Muslims. To this day, a reasonable resolution to their dispute has proved elusive, & the Line of Control in Kashmir remains the most heavily fortified frontier in the world, with 400, 000 soldiers arrayed on either side. Since partition, there have been several acute crises between the neighbors, including the secession of East Pakistan to form an independent Bangladesh in 1971, & the acquisition of nuclear weapons by both sides resulting in a scarcely avoided confrontation in 1999 & again in 2002. Hiro amply demonstrates the geopolitical importance of the India-Pakistan conflict by chronicling their respective ties not only with America & the Soviet Union, but also with China, Israel, & Afghanistan. Hiro weaves these threads into a lucid narrative, enlivened with colorful biographies of leaders, vivid descriptions of wars, sensational assassinations, gross violations of human rights--and cultural signifiers like cricket matches. The Longest August is incomparable in its scope & presents the first definitive history of one of the world`s longest-running & most intractable conflicts. ...

For climber Paul Pritchard, the biggest challenge he ever faced wasn`t a mountain but the long climb back to life. Not his former life of the 1990s, when he surfed many of the world`s most treacherous rock faces. The boulder that crushed him while he was climbing the Totem Pole in Tasmania put a stop to that. A six-year struggle with hemiplegia & brain injury followed, slowly reassembling his world physically, emotionally & mentally. Progress is halting but also triumphant & often blackly humorous. Geographically, he progresses from careering downhill in Snowdonia, not entirely in control of a tricycle, via a dubious Moroccan expedition, to ascents of both Mount Kenya & Kilimanjaro. & two love affairs, one with Tasmania, where he now lives, & the other with Jane, one of the nurses who took care of him after the accident. Now married, they have a small daughter, Cadi. ” The Longest Climb” is full of life, a moving & unblinkered view of a battered climber who refuses to turn his back on the mountains. ...

The British love their booze. Ian Marchant
- bon viveur, pub singer & writer
- sets off to map the British landscape in drink.

...

Thomas Mc Guane`s obsession with fish has taken him from the river in his backyard to the holiest waters of the fly-fisher`s world. As he travels the fish take him to many & various subjects ripe for random speculation: rods & reels, the classification of anglers according to the flies they prefer, family & memory
- right down to why fishermen lie. The Longest Silence sets the heart pounding for a glimpse of moving water, & demonstrates what a life dedicated to sport reveals about life.
...

Andrew Mc Carthy explores the tumultuous, complicated, & circuitous route he`s travelled to finally settle down with one woman, whom he married last August. Telling this story through the lens of a series of seven exotic trips he`s recently taken all over the world (Patagonia, the Amazon, Costa Rica, Baltimore, Vienna, Kilimanjaro, Galway), he`ll write about his wanderlust-and other lusts-and connect his obsession with travel with his phobia of commitment. The story will culminate with one of the most momentous-and terrifying-days of his life: his wedding day. A thoughtfully observant writer, Mc Carthy touches on his personal life, his acting career, & his fascination with travel in a truly captivating manner. Genuine & spirited, The Longest Way Home is the fascinating story of how one man`s insight into his relationships with both the people closest to him & the places very new to him allowed him to fully commit to another person. ...

Ella`s mum is in a deep coma, having just had a new baby. That means Ella has to live with Jack, her hopeless stepfather, & cope with her tiny newborn brother, as well as worrying about Mum. The only thing that`s going right is her school project. It`s all about whales & how they sing out to each other to attract a mate
- sometimes for hours. Maybe a whale song could reach Mum, wherever she is, & bring her back to Ella & baby Samson. Surely it`s worth a try?
...