Based on his own visits to Syria, in The Street Philosopher & the Holy Fool, Marius Kociejowski presents a completely fresh & unexpected face to this mysterious country. The ancient land of Syria remains for many a sinister & forbidding destination, only recently opening up to foreign travellers, & Kociejowski describes a journey that brings him into contact with a host of colourful & unusual characters, each of whom is an outsider of sorts. Rich with humour & insight, it glows with the delights of the unexpected. It is beautifully written & provides a memorable account of the deeper purposes of travel: to absorb the spirit of a place, to meet people from a different sphere of life & to return changed. ...

On the crowded streets of New York City there are even more stories than there are people passing each other every day.. .only some of these stories survive to become history. Lamont Williams, recently released from prison & working as a hospital janitor, strikes up an unlikely friendship with a patient, an elderly Jewish Holocaust survivor who starts to tell him of his extraordinary past. Meanwhile Adam Zignelik, the son of a prominent Jewish civil rights lawyer, is facing a personal crisis: almost 40-years-old, his long-term relationship is faltering & his academic career has stalled. It`s only when one of his late father`s closest friends, the civil rights activist William Mc Cray, suggests a promising research topic that the possibility of some kind of redemption arises. Dealing with memory, racism & the human capacity for guilt, resilience, heroism, & unexpected kindness, ” The Street Sweeper” spans over fifty years, & ranges from New York to Melbourne, Chicago, Warsaw & Auschwitz, as these two very different paths
- Adam`s & Lamont`s
- lead to one greater story.

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In 1882, David Wildeblood, a 21-year-old from rural Norfolk, arrives in London to start work at the offices of a famous man. As an 'inspector' for Henry Marchmont's hugely successful weekly The Labouring Classes of London, his job is to investigate the notorious slum of Somers Town, near the new St Pancras Station, recording house by house the number of inhabitants, their occupations & standard of living. By mapping the streets in this way, Marchmont intends to show the world the stark realities of poverty in its greatest city. Befriended by Jo, a young coster, & his sister Roma, David comes to learn the slang of the hawkers & traders, sharpers & scavengers, magsmen & mobsmen, who throng the teeming byways of Somers Town. It is the place of a Darwinian struggle for survival. & the deeper he penetrates the everyday squalor & destitution the more appalled he is by mounting evidence that someone is making a profit from people's suffering. A dinner at the Kensington home of his godfather Sir Martin Elder introduces him to Kitty, Elder's only daughter, & to a cabal of prominent citizens who have been plotting a radical solution to the problem of London's poor. David belatedly realises that a conspiracy is afoot. Passionate but reckless in his urge to uncover it he finds his life in danger, sustained only by the faithfulness of a friend &, ultimately, the love of a woman. In The Streets Anthony Quinn reconstructs an unforgettable picture of Victorian London, encompassing the extremes of privilege & privation, from the baronial mansions of the rich to the 'whited tombs' of the slums. With shocking poignancy & pin-sharp detail he brings to life a world of terrible degradation, yet one redeemed by dark comedy, profound fellow-feeling & the enduring possibility of love. ...

For hundreds of years, the City of Light has set the stage for larger-than-life characters
- from medieval lovers Heloise & Abelard
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With their tidal imagination, the poems in this debut collection sweep between old worlds & new, seeking the lost & recovering the found among shipwrecks, underwater zoos & discovered lands. Emma Jones brings her inventive worlds dramatically to life in a series of vividly distilled meetings: of settlers & indigenous peoples, of seawaters & shore, of humanity & the wilds of nature. Here tigers stalk the captive & the free, while Death encounters his own double & Daphne tells of her new leaves, ` They sing, & make the world.` The same might be said of the poems themselves in this restless & memorable search for belonging. ...

This is the first English translation of George Ingle Finch's Der Kampf um den Everest. Finch was a key member of the 1922 British Mount Everest Expedition, the world's first climbing foray above 8000m. He was President of the Alpine Club from 1959-61. Finch's approach to mountaineering was practical & systematic, & he was a pioneering advocate of the use of supplementary oxygen for climbing at extreme altitude & for the use of down clothing. However, neither he nor his contributions were appreciated by the British climbing establishment who found the Australian-born, Paris & Zurich educated chemist difficult. During the 1922 expedition, Finch & Geoffrey Bruce managed to attain an altitude (aided by supplementary oxygen) greater than any previous mountaineer had ever achieved. Der Kampf um den Everest was published in Germany in 1925, but never translated into English until now. In addition, select entries from the diary Finch kept during the 1922 Everest expedition have been added at appropriate locations in the text to support and/or enhance the story. Moreover, written material about Finch by British mountaineer Stephen Venables, & new material written just for this volume by George Rodway & John West MD, offers an introduction to, & attempts to provide context for, his life & times. The book is an important addition to the early Everest literature & a great compliment to the official expedition book by Charles Bruce, as well as those by expedition members Tom Longstaff, John Morris, John Noel, & T Howard Somervell. ...

” For the first time, Sam Willis offers a fascinating naval perspective to one of the greatest of all historical conundrums: How did thirteen isolated colonies, who, in 1775 began a war with Britain without a navy or an army, win their independence from the greatest naval & military power on earth? The American Revolution was a naval war of immense scope & variety, including no less than twenty-two navies fighting on five oceans
- to say nothing of rivers & lakes. In no other war were so many large-scale fleet battles fought, one of which was the most strategically significant naval battle in all of British, French & American history. Simultaneous naval campaigns were fought in the English Channel, the North & Mid-Atlantic, the Mediterranean, off South Africa, in the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, the Pacific, the North Sea &, of course, off the Eastern Seaboard of America. Not until the Second World War would any nation actively fight in so many different theatres. In The Struggle for Sea Power, Sam Willis traces every key military event in the path to American Independence from a naval perspective & he also brings this important viewpoint to bear on economic, political & social developments that were fundamental to the success of the Revolution. In doing so Willis offers valuable new insights to American, British, French, Spanish, Dutch & Russian history. The result is a far more profound understanding of the influence of sea power upon history, of the American path to independence & of the rise & fall of the British Empire.”
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Steven Pinker’s The Stuff of Thought analyses what words actually mean & how we use them & reveals what this can tell us about ourselves. Pinker shows how we use space & motion as metaphors for more abstract ideas, & uncovers the deeper structures of human thought that have been shaped by evolutionary history. It also explores the emotional impact of language. ...

From its origins in China & Scandinavia, the sport of skiing has come a long way to attract daring athletes, tourists & locals on winter holiday, the chic & wealthy leisure class, & international royalty. On the technical side, pioneering innovators developed cutting-edge equipment that, over the years, has grown skiing to become a fiercely competitive spectator sport while, on the cultural side, the exciting & well-groomed stars of the ski world & jetsetter destinations have come to define a distinctive & popular global culture & aspirational lifestyle. The Stylish Life: Skiing is a nostalgic & spectacular journey through alpine history & beyond, including this singularly unique sport`s founders, superstars, influence on design & entertainment, & the evolution of its resorts, fashion, equipment, & much more. ...

” Sibella Court, who worked in New York City for 10 years as an interior stylist for leading American magazines & brands, opens her address book to reveal her favourite places in the world`s most exciting & energetic city. Cleverly arranged into loops of interest such as ` Jewellery & Hardware`, ` Haberdashers & Handmade` & ` Furniture & Interiors`, The Stylist`s Guide to NYC takes the first-time visitor
- or long-time resident
- on a number of surprising & beguiling journeys, uncovering traditional merchants & hidden sanctuaries as well as some of the coolest spots in town. This well-edited collection of stores, services, galleries, markets & refuelling stops also contains city survival tips, maps & comprehensive indexes. An idiosyncratic travel guide celebrating the beautiful, the curious & the unexpected, & chosen with the impeccable eye of an insider, The Stylist`s Guide to NYC is an indispensable accessory for anyone visiting, working or living in New York.”

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