Arranged thematically, the chapters reveal a vast array of incredible finds; most of the treasures & sites featured in the book were only discovered after years of committed searching & with the painstaking efforts by archaeologists, while some were chance finds. The book relates the dramas of excavation, details the items found & their significance, where they are now exhibited, & the importance of that site to our understanding of history. For example, In Cities & Dwelling Places, the story unfolds of Dolni Vestonice, in the Czech Republic: a prehistoric site where ceramics
- & therefore Man's discovery of fire
- have been dated at over 27, 000 years. A discovery such as this helps to unravel the complex characteristics of our human development.

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A broken heart & a moment of drunken bravado inspires middle-aged, & typically rather cautious, journalist Mike Carter to take off on a life-changing six month motorcycle trip around Europe. Never mind that he hadn`t been on two wheels since an inglorious three-month teenage chapter involving a Lambretta, four crashes & an 18-month ban for drink-driving, a plan had begun to loosely form... And so, having completed a six day residential motorcycle course & hastily re-mortgaged his flat, Mike sets off alone, resolving to go wherever the road takes him & enjoy the adventure of heading off into the unknown. He ends up travelling almost 20, 000 miles & reaching the four extremes of Europe: the Arctic Circle in the north, the Mediterranean coast in the south, the Portuguese Atlantic to the west & the Iraqi border of Turkey in the east. But really it`s a journey inwards, as, on the way, Mike finds his post-divorce scars starting to heal & attempts to discover what he, as a man in his forties who hasn`t quite found his place in the world, should be doing. Self-deprecating, poetic & utterly engaging, his is a heroic journey taken for the rest of us too scared to leave our 9 to 5 office-bound existence. ...

Many Britons like to think they have a basic understanding of Britain`s amazing history. The Roman invasion, Alfred & the Danes, 1066, Magna Carta, Bannockburn, Agincourt, Wars of the Roses, Henry & his wives, the Reformation, etc., etc. The trouble is that concentrating on just a few over-familiar landmarks like these can give a distorted picture of the land we live in. What would our history look like if, instead of looking at all the bits everybody knows, we started telling it through some of the bits not everybody knows? We set off to find out. The result is Unexpected Britain, tracing the story of Britain from a time before Rome to a time within the lives of people still living, but going beyond the well-known to explore a world of different angles & fascinating little-known facts that bring fresh life to the story of what Britain has been & what Britain is. ...

Unexploded is the much-anticipated new novel from Alison Mac Leod. May, 1940. On Park Crescent, Geoffrey & Evelyn Beaumont & their eight-year-old son, Philip, anxiously await news of the expected enemy landing on the beaches of Brighton. It is a year of tension & change. Geoffrey becomes Superintendent of the enemy alien camp at the far reaches of town, while Philip is gripped by the rumour that Hitler will make Brighton's Royal Pavilion his English HQ. As the rumours continue to fly & the days tick on, Evelyn struggles to fall in with the war effort & the constraints of her role in life, & her thoughts become tinged with a mounting, indefinable desperation. Then she meets Otto Gottlieb, a 'degenerate' German-Jewish painter & prisoner in her husband's internment camp. As Europe crumbles, Evelyn's & Otto's mutual distrust slowly begins to change into something else, which will shatter the structures on which her life, her family & her community rest. Love collides with fear, the power of art with the forces of war, & the lives of Evelyn, Otto & Geoffrey are changed irrevocably. Praise for The Wave Theory of Angels: An ambitious novel...[ Alison Mac Leod] has an engaged delight in the stuff of life. (TLS). Ingeniously combines medieval theology with 21st-century physics.. .highly enjoyable. (The Times). Alison Mac Leod was raised in Canada & has lived in England since 1987. She is the author of two novels, The Changeling & The Wave Theory of Angels, & of a collection of stories, Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction. She is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester & lives in Brighton. ...

Unexploded is Alison Mac Leod`s heartrending novel of love & prejudice in wartime Brighton. It is longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013. May, 1940. Wartime Brighton. On Park Crescent, Geoffrey & Evelyn Beaumont & their eight-year-old son, Philip, anxiously await news of the expected enemy landing on the beaches. It is a year of change. Geoffrey becomes Superintendent of the enemy alien camp at the far reaches of town, & Evelyn, desperate to feel useful, begins reading to some of the prisoners. One of them is Otto Gottlieb, a `degenerate` German-Jewish. As Europe crumbles, Evelyn`s & Otto`s mutual distrust slowly begins to change into something else, which will shatter the structures on which her life, her family & her community rest. ” Like a piece of finely wrought ironwork, uncommonly delicate but also astonishingly strong & tensile.. .a novel of staggering elegance & beauty”. (Independent). ” Compelling, fast-paced, powerful.. .the denouement is as heart-rending as it is unexpected”. (Financial Times).” Mac Leod`s range
- spanning the movingly real to the mysteriously surreal
- is excitingly, imaginatively realised & unified in awareness of the dark menace of love`s uncertainty”. (Metro). Alison Mac Leod was raised in Canada & has lived in England since 1987. She is the author of three novels, The Changeling, The Wave Theory of Angels & Unexploded, & of a collection of stories, Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction. Unexploded was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2013. She is Professor of Contemporary Fiction at Chichester University & lives in Brighton.

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Like the bestselling Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, this book is a brilliant reinvention of the traditional atlas, one that provides a vivid, complex look at the multi-faceted nature of New Orleans, a city replete with contradictions. More than twenty essays assemble a chorus of vibrant voices, including geographers, scholars of sugar & bananas, the city`s remarkable musicians, prison activists, environmentalists, Arab & Native voices, & local experts, as well as the coauthors` compelling contributions. Featuring 22 full-color two-page-spread maps, Unfathomable City plumbs the depths of this major tourist destination, pivotal scene of American history & culture &, most recently, site of monumental disasters such as Hurricane Katrina & the BP oil spill. The innovative maps` precision & specificity shift our notions of the Mississippi, the Caribbean, Mardi Gras, jazz, soils & trees, generational roots, & many other subjects, & expand our ideas of how any city is imagined & experienced. Together with the inspired texts, they show New Orleans as both an imperiled city
- by erosion, crime, corruption, & sea level rise
- & an ageless city that lives in music as a form of cultural resistance. Compact, lively, & completely original, Unfathomable City takes readers on a tour that will forever change the way they think about place.

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This is a both controversial & comprehensive historical analysis of how the British Empire worked, from Wolfson Prize-winning author & historian John Darwin. The British Empire shaped the world in countless ways: repopulating continents, carving out nations, imposing its own language, technology & values. For perhaps two centuries its expansion & final collapse were the single largest determinant of historical events, & it remains surrounded by myth, misconception & controversy today. John Darwin`s provocative & richly enjoyable book shows how diverse, contradictory & in many ways chaotic the British Empire really was, controlled by interests that were often at loggerheads, & as much driven on by others` weaknesses as by its own strength. Reviews: ”A breadth of perspective few other imperial historians can boast. The British Empire really does look different in the light of it... Breadth of vision, fizzing ideas & a brilliant style as well as superb scholarship... It deserves to supplant every other book on this topic.. .the one we`ve been waiting for”. (Bernard Porter, History Today).”A brilliantly perceptive analysis of the forces & ideas that drove the creation of an extraordinary enterprise... Bringing together his huge erudition, scrupulous fairness & elegant prose, Mr Darwin has produced a wonderfully stimulating account”. (Economist). ” Engrossing... What Darwin adds to this [subject] is a rare, wonderful capacity for comparison... Seeing the imperial experience in the round like this does gives us a clearer, more subtle appreciation of the range of power & violence at play. It raises the historical writing on empire to another level”. (BBC History Magazine). ” Balanced, original & impressive... Subtle.. .intelligent”. (Literary Review). ” How incredibly refreshing it is when as distinguished an historian as John Darwin.. .writes something as thoughtful, well-researched & persuasive as Unfinished Empire”. (Andrew Roberts, Sunday Telegraph Book of the Week). ” Comprehensive... Darwin`s erudition allows him to skirt around the narrow orthodoxies of apologist v critic & provide an insightful account of Britain`s unlikely period of global hegemony”. (Sunday Times). About the author: John Darwin`s interest lies in the history of empires, both their rise & fall. He has written extensively on the decline of Britain`s empire & teaches imperial & global history at Oxford, where he is a Fellow of Nuffield College. Most recently he is the author of After Tamerlane: The Rise & Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000, which won the Wolfson History Prize, & The Empire Project: The Rise & Fall of the British World-System, 1830-1970. ...

Unfold the adventure of a lifetime as you travel along the Great Wall of China. This sensational fold-out frieze is more than six-feet long & can be removed & displayed. Get ready for an unforgettable journey across China. From the dusty desert of Gansu province to the rolling waves of the Yellow Sea, this amazing journey takes you past flaming mountains & ancient wonders. Watch out for mighty fortresses, giant pandas & the extraordinary Army of Terracotta Warriors. Along the way we`ll discover breathtaking wonders of nature, visit modern China & see how the traditions & landscape of the Great Wall are changing, explore fascinating ancient Chinese monuments, treasures & legends, encounter some of the amazing creatures living near the Great Wall, & lots more! With stunning illustrated detail on one side & engaging facts on the other
- get ready for a truly unforgettable journey! Part of our Unfolding Journeys series. Also available: Unfolding Journeys: Rocky Mountain Explorer, Unfolding Journeys: Amazon Adventure, Unfolding Journeys: Secrets of the Nile. Collect them all.
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Unfold the adventure of a lifetime as you sail up the longest river in the world. This sensational fold-out frieze is more than six-feet long & can be removed & displayed. Jump aboard & get ready for an unforgettable journey along the River Nile. From the golden beaches of the Mediterranean we`ll travel upstream to explore the cultural, historical & natural wonders of Egypt, both ancient & modern. Find out about ancient Egyptian pharaohs & explore their treasures, tombs & mummies; visit modern Egypt & see how the landscape of the Nile is changing; discover the Pyramids & other wonders of the ancient world; & encounter some of the exotic creatures that make the Nile their home! With stunning illustrated detail on one side & engaging facts on the other
- get ready for a truly unforgettable journey.
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From Vancouver to Calgary, this amazing mountain journey takes you past snowy peaks & rushing rivers. Watch out for eagles & bears among the trees, spot daredevils on snowmobiles & discover loads of fascinating facts about this amazing part of the planet. ...