This is a searing, unflinchingly realist novel about life at war, written during the First World War. ` Men are made to be husbands, fathers
- men, in short! Not animals that hunt one another down.` Under Fire follows the fortune of a French battalion during the First World War. For this group of ordinary men, thrown together from all over France & longing for home, war is simply a matter of survival, & the arrival of their rations, a glimpse of a pretty girl or a brief reprieve in hospital is all they can hope for. Based directly on Henri Barbusse`s experiences of the trenches, Under Fire is the most famous French novel of the First World War, starkly evoking the mud, stench & monotony of an eternal battlefield. It is also a powerful critique of inequality between ranks, the incomprehension of those who have not experienced battle, & of war itself.
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Under Fire, first published in French as Le Feu, was one of the first novels about WWI, appearing in December 1916, before the outcome of the war was clear. Set in early 1916, it follows a squad of French volunteer soldiers through the eyes of an unnamed foot soldier, who participates in & also observes the action. It combines soaring, poetic descriptions with the mundane, messy, human reality of soldiers living in their own excrement. Then slowly names & features are given to the men who emerge from the mud, from the dignified leader Corporal Bertr&, to the ebullient Volpatte & the obsessive Cocon. Intermingled with details of how they navigate daily life in the putrified atmosphere of the trenches are both harrowing descriptions & a political, pacifist argument about this war & war more generally. Caught up in events they cannot control, the soldiers go through their daily routines: foraging for food, reading letters from wives & mothers, drinking, fighting in battle, & in heavily realistic scenes which the novel is noted for, discovering dead bodies in advanced stages of decomposition; the human detritus of a brutal conflict. Through it all, they talk about the war, attempting to make sense of the altered world in which they find themselves. Under Fire drew criticism at the time of its publication for its harsh realism, but won the Prix Goncourt. The original translation by Fitzwater Wray which first appeared in 1917 is published here. It captures the essence of the era; a glossary is also provided to help with unfamiliar vocabulary. ...

” Under Fishbone Clouds” is a love story & family saga interwoven with traditional folktales & stories from ancient Chinese history. Set against the backdrop of dramatic events of recent Chinese political history, we follow the lives of Jinyi & his wife Yuying. ...

These days, an underground railway is an integral part of a city`s heritage & a key feature of the urban landscape used by passengers. But these subways are also full of history & art. They reflect a city`s personality & its past & future, & are worthy of exploration, even for those not boarding a train. It`s safe to say that a great many subways have overcome a reputation for unpleasant shadiness. Under Ground is a tour of the most fascinating subterranean city railways viewed through the filters of urban planning, ethnology, art, & history. More than 100 subway stations & train cars are described in informative text & stunning colour photographs. The book opens with a chapter on the origins of the subway, the story as told by four subways in particular. London`s Underground was the world`s first subway. The Paris Metro was a product of the Industrial Revolution & the first modern subway. New York City`s subway is the largest & busiest subway in America. Buenos Aires pioneered South American subway systems. Today, however, the designs & technology of these trailblazing rail systems have been far surpassed. Under Ground organizes its world tour by continent, starting in North America (New York, Rochester, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto), crossing the ocean to Europe (London, Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, Lisbon, Naples, Valencia, Berlin, Munich, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Warsaw), travelling into Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia, & Republic of Tatarstan, home to some of the world`s most exciting modern subways), further to Asia (Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Istanbul), making a stop in Dubai, & ending in the Far East (Japan, Shanghai, Taiwan, North Korea). The 100 subways include: * The Stockholm metro, considered to be `the longest museum in the world`; * New York City`s Art Deco City Hall Station, now closed to the public; * Russia`s many underground Cold War palaces that double as fallout shelters; * Prague`s Dalek-skinned walls; * The blue-lit passenger halls of Dubai`s metro, a cool sea in the desert; * Paris` Concorde station tiled with one gigantic word search puzzle that spells out the Declaration of the Rights of Man from the French Revolution; * The candy-coloured kaleidoscopic University station in Naples, the vision of American designer Karim Rashid; * Olaias station in Lisbon, lit almost exclusively by chandeliers; * Shanghai`s Sund sightseeing tunnel, a mind-bending ride in transparent cars with a 360-degree view which races through a psychedelic laser-lit tunnel, one of the city`s top five tourist attractions; * Kyoto`s immense 15-story multi-use rail station; * Istanbul`s underwater Marmaray tunnel, the deepest in the world. Under Ground is a unique trip to the railways beneath the world`s great cities. Readers don`t need a token or a monthly pass, only a comfortable seat
- perhaps on the tube?- to enjoy the engaging text & gorgeous photographs.
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Crypts, catacombs, tunnels, tombs, cellars, bunkers, vaults & underground chambers hidden beneath the city conjure up a mixture of fascination, eeriness & foreboding for many people. What dark mysteries lurk beneath the busy roads, pavements & shops? The fact that London has an underground network of tunnels that stretch for hundreds of miles is well known
- but what is this other London? This guide lists themany itriguing sites that can be visited &

Includes:: three guided walks, a locator map & gazetteer.


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Don Mc Rae grew up in a South Africa where his father would call the black men he met 'boy' & where his mother insisted that their black servants used tin mugs, plates & cutlery as they ate the family's left-over food in the backyard of their grand suburban property. The Mc Raes, like so many white people, seemed oblivious to the violent injustices of apartheid. As the author grew up, the political differences between father & son widened & when Don refused to join up for National Service, risking imprisonment or exile overseas, the two were torn apart. It wasn't until years later that the author discovered that the father with whom he had fought so bitterly had later in his life transformed himself into a political hero. Risking everything one dark & rainy night Ian Mc Rae travelled secretly into the black township of Soweto to meet members of Nelson Mandela's then banned African National Congress to discuss ways to bring power to black South Africa. He had no political ambitions; he was just a man trying to replace the worst in himself with something better. Under Our Skin is a memoir of these tumultuous years in South Africa's history, as told through the author's family story. It offers an intimate & penetrating perspective on life under apartheid, & tells a story of courage & fear, hope & desolation & love & pain, especially between a father & his son. ...

If you lost everything you loved, how would you survive & begin again? Under the Almond Tree tells the story of one refugee family fleeing Afghanistan & the catastrophic effects of war & displacement. Fifteen year old Samar & her family are refugees, fleeing the conflict in 1990s Kabul, after the Russians & then the Taliban, turn their lives inside out. They are aboard the Trans-Siberian Express as it travels across Russia towards an uncertain future. With the help of Napoleon, the ticket collector, her beloved copy of Anna Karenina, & her family, Samar narrates the story of their epic journey away from their happy life in Kabul & everything they have known. But, as Samar`s tale unfolds, & the secrets of the family are unearthed, we slowly discover that the truth is far more devastating
- & more full of hope
- than we could ever have imagined. Under the Almond Tree is a story of how we keep the truth from those we love, & even from ourselves, to hold on to the beliefs which underpin our lives. It`s also the story of extraordinary resilience & courage, in a turbulent world where nothing can be relied upon, but everything is possible.

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Brothers Ron & Dan Lafferty insist they were commanded to kill by God. Krakauer`s investigation is a meticulously researched, bone-chilling narrative of polygamy, savage violence & unyielding faith: an incisive, gripping work of non-fiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behaviour. `A provocative look at the twisted roots of American fundamentalism` Will Self, Evening Standard Books of the Year ` Excellent.. .a lucid, judicious, even sympathetic account not just of Mormon Fundamentalism but of the seductive power of fanaticism in general` Daily Telegraph ` Krakauer writes exceptionally well: as thrilling as Capote on true crime, as devastating as Nietzsche on religious fundamentalism` Scotland on Sunday ` Remarkable.. .for anyone interested in the wilder frontiers of spiritual conviction, this book is a must` Independent ` Krakauer is an adept chronicler of extremists, & he`s as intent on understanding religious fanatics as he was in his earlier books on exploring the obsessions of monomaniacal adventurers` Los Angeles Times ...

“ Under the Banyan Tree” is yet another book from one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers, R. K. Narayan. Here, he has crafted together a collection of short stories & tall tales that look warmly at characters from all walks of Indian life that are so well observed they all come together to give an insight into the human experience. As with his other great works, “ Under the Banyan Tree” sees an author conveying expertly (and wryly) the very Indian rhythms of the world around these wonderful characters, giving you a palpable sense of time & place. Narayan died aged 94 in 2001, & “ Under the Banyan Tree” is as good a place as any to delve into the wonderful worlds he created in those years. ...

Trees are the lungs of the world. They have inspired our stories, myths & culture. Every climate, every nation has its tales of trees, true or legendary, that help us understand ourselves & the beauty of the natural world around us. This gorgeously illustrated book explores the cultural significance that trees have in different societies. From the olive trees of Athens to the Eucalyptus trees of Australia, discover the place of trees in history & mythology across the world. ...