The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt is the only book available providing detailed historical coverage of Egypt from the early Stone Age to its incorporation into the Roman Empire. The lively essays & beautiful illustrations portray the emergence & development of the distinctive civilization of the ancient Egyptians covering the period from 700 000 BC to ad 311. The authors
- each working at the cutting edge of their particular fields
- outline the principal sequence of political events including detailed examinations of the three so-called Intermediate Periods previously regarded as 'dark ages'. Against the backdrop of the rise & fall of ruling dynasties this Oxford History also examines cultural & social patterns including stylistic developments in art & literature. The pace of change in such aspects of Egyptian culture as monumental architecture funerary beliefs & ethnicity was not necessarily tied to the rate of political change. Each of the authors has therefore set out to elucidate in both words & pictures the underlying patterns of social & political change & to describe the changing face of ancient Egypt from the biographical details of individuals to the social & economic factors that shaped the lives of the population as a whole.

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The Oxford History of Byzantium is the only history to provide in concise form detailed coverage of Byzantium from its Roman beginnings to the fall of Constantinople & assimilation into the Turkish Empire. Lively essays & beautiful illustrations portray the emergence & development of a distinctive civilization covering the period from the fourth century to the mid-fifteenth century. The authors
- all working at the cutting edge of their particular fields
- outline the political history of the Byzantine state & bring to life the evolution of a colourful culture. In AD 324 the Emperor Constantine the Great chose Byzantion an ancient Greek colony at the mouth of the Thracian Bosphorous as his imperial residence. He renamed the place Constaninopolis nova Roma Constantinople the new Rome & the city (modern Istanbul) became the Eastern capital of the later Roman empire. The new Rome outlived the old & Constantines successors continued to regard themselves as the legitimate emperors of Rome just as their subjects called themselves Romaioi or Romans long after they had forgotten the Latin language. In the sixteenth century Western humanists gave this eastern Roman empire ruled from Constantinople the epithet Byzantine. Against a backdrop of stories of emperors intrigues battles & bishops this Oxford History uncovers the hidden mechanisms
- economic social & demographic
- that underlay the history of events. The authors explore everyday life in cities & villages manufacture & trade machinery of government the church as an instrument of state minorities education literary activity beliefs & superstitions monasticism iconoclasm the rise of Islam & the fusion with Western or Latin culture. Byzantium linked the ancient & modern worlds shaping traditions & handing down to both Eastern & Western civilization a vibrant legacy.



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Lynda Mugglestones hugely popular The Oxford History of English is now updated & entirely reset in a new edition featuring David Crystals new take on the future of English in the wider world. In accounts made vivid with examples from a vast range of documentary evidence that

Includes:: letters diaries & private records fifteen scholars trace the history of English from its ancient Indo-European origins to the present. They cover the languages versions written & spoken revel in its rich variety over fifteen centuries & chart its varied progress nationally regionally & throughout the world. With scholarship at once impeccable & approachable the authors describe & explain the constantly changing sounds words meanings & grammar of English. This is a book for everyone interested in the language present & past.

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This new edition of the most authoritative comprehensive history of the French Revolution of 1789 draws on a generation of extensive research & scholarly debate to reappraise the most famous of all revolutions. Updates for this second edition include a generous chronology of events plus an extended bibliographical essay providing an examination of the historiography of the Revolution. Opening with the accession of Louis XVI in 1774 the book traces the history of France through revolution terror & counter-revolution to the triumph of Napoleon in 1802 & analyses the impact of events both in France itself & the rest of Europe. William Doyle shows how a movement which began with optimism & general enthusiasm soon became a tragedy not only for the ruling orders but for the millions of ordinary people all over Europe whose lives were disrupted by religious upheaval & civil & international war. It was they who paid the price for the destruction of the old political order & the struggle to establish a new one based on the ideals of liberty & revolution in the face of widespread indifference & hostility. ...

The Oxford History of Western Music is a magisterial survey of the traditions of Western music by one of the most prominent & provocative musicologists of our time. This text illuminates through a representative sampling of masterworks those themes styles & currents that give shape & direction to each musical age. Taking a critical perspective this text sets the details of music the chronological sweep of figures works & musical ideas within the larger context of world affairs & cultural history. Written by an authoritative opinionated & controversial figure in musicology The Oxford History of Western Music provides a critical aesthetic position with respect to individual works a context in which each composition may be evaluated & remembered. Taruskin combines an emphasis on structure & form with a discussion of relevant theoretical concepts in each age to illustrate how the music itself works & how contemporaries heard & understood it. It also describes how the context of each stylistic period-key cultural historical social economic & scientific events-influenced & directed compositional choices. ...

A new easy-to-use illustrated childrens thesaurus with thousands of entries synonyms clear age-appropriate example sentences & over a thousand colour illustrations. The clear design & colourful word webs with hundreds of topic words make homework & writing easy & fun. ...

A new easy-to-use comprehensive dictionary with over a thousand colour illustrations clear definitions no confusing abbreviations topic words & useful example sentences to show words in context.

Includes:: panels on word origins & words in the same family & pronunciations for difficult words in a family-friendly format.

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Written by eleven contributors of international standing this book covers Europes turbulent history from the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century to the present day. Attractively illustrated with over 200 pictures in colour & black & white it provides a better understanding of modern Europe how it came to be what it is & even where it may be going in the future. ...

In this lavishly illustrated volume the history & social context of opera is explored by a group of leading British & American scholars under the editorship of Roger Parker. The core of the book is a historical survey of opera from its beginnings in Florence four hundred years ago up to opera in the 1990s. The greatest coverage is given to the nineteenth century the time during which most of the operas performed today were composed. There are also chapters on the history of staging on opera singers on opera as a social occasion through the ages & a chronology. Although all major composers of opera are mentioned & their works discussed the various chapters concentrate less on simple historical narrative & more on the complex development of opera especially on its relationship with the other arts & its place within the broader world of culture & politics. The numerous illustrations -- nearly three hundred some thirty of which are in colour -- serve the vital purpose of underlining the richly visual nature of opera: the manner in which it communicates so vividly through staging & costume & the spectacular way in which it often reflects the cultural concerns of the age. Rather than simply illustrating the text the pictures work as a kind of parallel history supplementing & enriching the verbal narrative. The contributors are all experts in their chosen areas but all of them have remained alive to the basic attraction of opera: its extravagant appeal to both the senses & the intellect & its seemingly inexhaustible power to move & astonish us. ...

Authoritative & wide-ranging this absorbing account of the history of theatre draws on the latest scholarly research to describe & celebrate theatres greatest achievemenst over 4 500 years from festival performances in ancient Egypt to international multicultural theatre in the late twentieth century. Written by a team of distinguished authors & illustrated throughout this is an essential source of reference for students teachers theatre professionals & the theatre-goer alike. ...