War with the Newts (1936) is Karel Capek`s darkly humorous allegory of early twentieth-century Czech politics. Captain van Toch discovers a colony of newts in Sumatra which can not only be taught to trade & use tools, but also to speak. As the rest of the world learns of the creatures & their wonderful capabilities, it is clear that this new species is ripe for exploitation
- they can be traded in their thousands, will do the work no human wants to do, & can fight
- but the humans have given no thought to the terrible consequences of their actions.

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A darkly humorous Czech satire: a new super-breed tries to conquer the world... War with the Newts (1936) is Karel Capek`s darkly humorous allegory of early 20th-century Czech politics. Captain van Toch discovers a colony of newts in Sumatra which can not only be taught to trade & use tools, but also to speak. As the rest of the world learns of the creatures & their wonderful capabilities, it is clear that this new species is ripe for exploitation
- they can be traded in their thousands, will do the work no human wants to do, & can fight
- but the humans have given no thought to the terrible consequences of their actions.

...

The year 2010 sees the official celebration of the bicentenary of the revolutions in the Ro de la Plata. This book contains the narrative that Thomas Kinder wrote of his voyage to that region in 1808-10 & of his stay in Madeira, Montevideo & Buenos Aires which has never been published nor, apparently, used by any historian. Thomas Kinder was an English banker who later featured among those who financed the new republic of Peru. His voyage to the Ro de la Plata followed the illfated British attempts to capture Buenos Aires in 1806-7. He obtained first hand information about the campaigns of Beresford & Whitelocke & became familiar with all the leading figures of the revolutionary period. ...

From the celebrated author of the international bestseller Who Killed Daniel Pearl? comes another startlingly original work of literature. In WAR, EVIL & THE END OF HISTORY, Bernard-Henri Levy continues his daring investigation into the breeding grounds of terrorism with a series of riveting first-person reports from five of the world`s most horrific `forgotten` war zones. In Sri Lanka, he conducts a clandestine interview with a terrified young woman recently escaped from a suicide-bomber training camp. He journeys, blindfolded, into the Colombian jungle to interview a psychotic drug lord who considers himself the successor to Che Guevara & fronts a bloodthirsty `guerilla` army. Levy surreptitiously observes the nameless slaves working the diamond mines that fund an endless war in Angola, airdrops into a rebel stronghold in the blockaded Nuba mountains of the Sudan & reports on the ongoing carnage in Burundi between Hutus & Tutsis. But Levy is more than just a journalist: as France`s leading philosopher, he follows the reports with a series of intensely personal & probing `reflections` considering how, in an enlightened, cultured, & well-informed society, these wars have acquired such a perverse ”non-meaning.” He considers war literature from Stendhal, Hemingway, Proust & others, & issues an excoriating response to those who have glorified it. He reconsiders his own background as a student revolutionary in Paris in May 1968, & as a 22-year-old war reporter in Bangladesh. &, in one of the book`s most moving passages, he recounts his travels with Ahmad Massoud, the anti-Taliban Afghan leader assassinated hours before the September 11 attacks. Already a huge bestseller in Europe, WAR, EVIL & THE END OF HISTORY is the work of one of the world`s most popular philosophers at the height of his powers. ...

The object of this book is to introduce readers to a whole range of military history which has all the drama, dangers, horrors & excitement that we associate with Stalingrad or the Somme. Battles are acute moments of history whenever & wherever they have been fought. Through them we can understand how warfare & world history have evolved. Choosing just one hundred battles from recorded human history is a challenge. Not just because it is necessary to cover almost 6, 000 years of history, but because men have fought each other almost continuously for millennia. Anyone who knows anything about the history of war may be disappointed at what has had to be left out. However, each of the 100 memorable battles described shows both how the nature of armed combat has changed over human history, & also how, despite changes in technology, organisation or ideas, many things have remained the same. It is an old adage that you can win a battle but lose a war. The battles featured here almost always resulted in victory for one side or another, but the victor did not necessarily win the war. Some battles are decisive in that broader historical sense, others are not. The further back in time, the more likely it is that an enemy could be finished off in one blow. The wars of the modern age, between major states, have involved repeated battles until one side was battered into submission. Some of the great generals of the recent past
- Napoleon, Robert E Lee, Erich von Manstein
- have been on the losing side but are remembered nonetheless for their generalship. Some on the winning side have all but disappeared from the history books or from public memory. Equally, in many battles, the issue is not victory or defeat, but what the battle can tell us about the history of warfare itself. New weapons, new tactics, new ways of organising armed forces can have a sudden impact on the outcome of a battle. But so too can leadership, or the effects of a clever deception, or raw courage. That is why the book has been divided up into clear themes which apply equally to the battles of the ancient world as they do to the battles of today. As Professor Richard Overy laments: ” Battle is not a game to plug into a computer but a piece of living history, messy, bloody & real. That, at least, has not changed in 6, 000 years.”

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War is one of the greatest human evils. It has ruined livelihoods, provoked unspeakable atrocities & left countless millions dead. It has caused economic chaos & widespread deprivation. & the misery it causes poisons foreign policy for future generations. But, argues bestselling historian Ian Morris, in the very long term, war has in fact been a good thing. In his trademark style combining inter-disciplinary insights, scientific methods & fascinating stories, Morris shows that, paradoxically, war is the only human invention that has allowed us to construct peaceful societies. Without war, we would never have built the huge nation-states which now keep us relatively safe from random acts of violence, & which have given us previously unimaginable wealth. It is thanks to war that we live longer & more comfortable lives than ever before. & yet, if we continue waging war with ever-more deadly weaponry, we will destroy everything we have achieved; so our struggles to manage warfare make the coming decades the most decisive in the history of our civilisation. In War: What Is It Good For? Morris brilliantly dissects humanity`s history of warfare to draw startling conclusions about our future. ...

An explosive action-adventure novel created by will.i.am & renowned futurist Brian David Johnson. Wizards are real, robots from the future are here, & the fate of our world rests in the hands of one unsuspecting teenager. When a young man breaks into her home claiming her life is in danger, Ada Luring`s world changes forever. Geller is a wizard, on the run from his father`s hidden clan who want to kill Ada & her mother. Sara Luring is the scientist who will create the first robot, the wizards` age-old foes. But a robot has travelled back in time to find Ada, & will lay everything on the line to protect her, as she may just be the key to preventing the earth`s destruction in the future. Ada, Geller & the robots must learn to work together to change the past & secure the future. But they don`t have much time before a mysterious enemy launches its attack on Earth... ...

The peaceful realm of Azeroth stands on the brink of war as its civilization faces a fearsome race of invaders: orc warriors fleeing their dying home to colonize another. As a portal opens to connect the two worlds, one army faces destruction & the other faces extinction. From opposing sides, two heroes are set on a collision course that will decide the fate of their family, their people & their home. So begins a spectacular saga of power & sacrifice in which war has many faces, & everyone fights for something. ...

Wardley in 1907 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. The map covers the Wardley area, north-west of Salford. The LYR Pendleton & Hindley railway runs through the map, including Moorside & Wardley station, & this runs almost parallel with Wardley Lane & the Thirlmere Aqueduct. Other features include Swinton Cemetery, tramways, Wardley Grange, Wardley Hall, Wardley Wood, Roe Green, Linnyshaw Farm. A major feature is Bridgewater Colliery with a stretch of the Bridgewater Collieries Railway, etc. Street directory entries are on the reverse, including Cemetery Road, Chorley Road, Manchester Road, Moorside Road, Moss Lane & Roe Green. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK. ...

Warduff is down at the harbour one day when he notices something amiss. The penguins have been plundered by a posse of pelican pirates & have returned from their fishing trip empty handed! Warduff must come up with a brilliant plan to outwit the pirates, or they might never eat fish again! ...