An engaging range of period texts & theme books for AS & A Level history. The years between the rise of William Pitt in the early 1780s & the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 saw Britain struggle with political & social tensions caused by the economic changes that began in the mid-eighteenth century. Changes in attitudes towards who could vote how the poor should be treated how towns should be governed & how popular protest should be conducted led to confrontations between different segments of society. Yet Britain escaped revolution. Resistance radicalism & reform. Richard Brown explores key issues which help explain these developments of the period. ...

For more than 40 years after the Second World War the Iron Curtain divided Europe physically with 300 km of walls & barbed wire fences; ideologically between communism & capitalism; psychologically between people imprisoned under totalitarian dictatorships & their neighbours enjoying democratic freedoms; & militarily by two mighty distrustful power blocs still fighting the cold war. At the start of 1989 ten European nations were still Soviet vassal states. By the end of the year one after another they had thrown off communism declared national independence & embarked on the road to democracy. One of historys most brutal empires was on its knees. Poets who had been languishing in jails became vice presidents. When the Berlin Wall fell on a chilly November night it seemed as though the open wounds of the cruel twentieth century would at last begin to heal. The Year of Revolutions appeared as a beacon of hope for oppressed people elsewhere who dared to dream that they too could free themselves. In a dizzying few months of almost entirely peaceful revolutions the peoples will triumphed over tyranny. An entire way of life was swept away. Now twenty years on Victor Sebestyen reassesses this decisive moment in modern history. ...

As world attention focuses on the economic development & massive cultural upheavals of China all of which are embodied in the transformation of Beijing prior to the 2008 Olympics Chinese artists have emerged after years of containment by the strictures of the national ideology. The Western art world hungry for new spectacle has consumed the new art with an appetite but the art is changing so fast the Western viewer has little means of assessing or understanding the background to these extraordinary developments. The Revolution Continues" provides a link between the rebellious spirit of the current generation of Chinese artists & the mood of rebellion that was so explicitly evident during the years of the Cultural Revolution that ran from 1966 to the death of Mao & the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976. In his text Jiang Jiehong argues that the widespread destruction of traditional Chinese treasures by the Red Guards especially in the early period of 1966 overshadows the entire period. Todays rebellious artistic spirit is in fact an extension of Maos legacy. The extensive Saatchi collection of new Chinese art is presented in conjunction with Joshua Jiangs examination of the use of the colour red the iconography of Mao the sense of the collective & the use of textual language that derives from the calligraphy of the propaganda poster. This dramatic material will be published to coincide with one of the opening exhibitions at the new Saatchi Gallery." ...

As dazzling as the decade they dominated The Beatles almost single-handedly created pop music as we know it. Today their songs are cited as seminal influences by stars like Oasis Blur & Kula Shaker. Eloquently giving voice to their time The Beatles quite simply changed the world. Fully updated to include material from The Beatles Live at the BBC" & the Anthology series this acclaimed book goes back to the heart of The Beatles
- their records. Drawing on a unique resource of knowledge & experience to read their 241 tracks
- chronologically from their first amateur efforts in 1957 to Real Love their final reunion recording in 1995
- Ian Mac Donald has created an engrossing classic of popular criticism in which the extraordinary songs of The Beatles remain a central & continually surprising presence."


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There is more information in the world than ever before
- but whos in control? At the centre sits the Establishment: governments
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This is a major new & definitive work by the author of Iran: Empire of the Mind. Ayatollah Khomeinis return to Tehran in February 1979 was a key moment in post-War international politics. A large well-populated & wealthy state suddenly committed itself to a quite new path: a revolution based on the supremacy of Islam & contempt for both superpowers. For over 30 years the Islamic Republic has resisted widespread condemnation sanctions & sustained attacks by Iraq in an eight-year war. Many policy-makers today share a weary wish that Iran would somehow just disappear as a problem. But with Irans continuing commitment to a nuclear programme & its reputation as a trouble-maker in Afghanistan Lebanon & elsewhere this is unlikely any time soon. The slow demise of the 2009 Green Revolution shows that Revolutionary Irans institutions are still formidable. About the author: Michael Axworthys Iran: Empire of the Mind established him as one of the worlds principal experts on this extraordinary country & in his new book Revolutionary Iran he has written the definitive history of this subject one which takes full account of Irans unique history & makes sense of events often misunderstood by outsiders. Reviews: Balances scholarly precision with narrative flair.. . Axworthy does the best job so far of describing the Iran-Iraq war.. . He revisits & convincingly reinterprets defining moments of the Islamic republic.. .[with] scholarly rigour & first-class analysis. Anyone interested in this most complex of revolutions would do well to read [this book]". (Economist). " An impressive exploration of Irans development since 1979 into an unpredictable pseudo-democracy.. .[a] calm & literate portrait of the Islamic Republic". (Guardian). " If you were to read only one book on present-day Iran you could not do better than this.. . Axworthy revokes the sound & fury of the revolution itself". (Ervand Abrahamian Times Higher Education). " Packed with gobbets of information & policy advice on how to deal with Iran". (Telegraph). "[A] meticulously fair & scholarly work.. .passages from Iranian authors little known in the west as well as references to both popular & arthouse cinema bring depth [and] richness.. .moving & vivid.. .a very fine work that deserves to be read by anyone interested in the Middle East". (Jason Burke Observer). " Axworthy is a true Iranophile learned in history & literature ancient & modern.. .[A] subtle lucid & well-proportioned history.. .his method casts theocracy in a refreshingly cold light & embosses the Islamic Republics well-established subordination of faith to power". (Spectator)." ...

THIS ORANGE INHERITANCE EDITION OF Revolutionary Road IS PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION. Books shape our lives & transform the way we see ourselves & each other. The best books are timeless & continue to be relevant generation after generation. Vintage Classics asked the winners of The Orange Prize for Fiction which books they would pass onto the next generation & why. Lionel Shriver chose Revolutionary Road. This is the story of Frank & April Wheeler a bright beautiful & talented couple whose empty suburban life is held together by the dream that greatness is only just round the corner. With heartbreaking compassion & clarity Richard Yates shows how Frank & April mortgage their hopes & ideals betraying in the end not only each other but their own best selves. I cant think of a better novel to hand on to readers growing up today than Revolutionary Road
- Lionel Shriver.
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Hailed as a masterpiece from the moment of its first publication Revolutionary Road is the story of Frank & April Wheeler a bright young couple who are bored by the banalities of suburban life & long to be extraordinary. With heartbreaking compassion & clarity Richard Yates shows how Frank & Aprils decision to change their lives for the better leads to betrayal & tragedy. ...

The Earth that sustains us today was born out of a few remarkable near-catastrophic revolutions started by biological innovations & marked by global environmental consequences. The revolutions have certain features in common such as an increase in the complexity energy utilization & information processing capabilities of life. This book describes these revolutions showing the fundamental interdependence of the evolution of life & its non-living environment. We would not exist unless these upheavals had led eventually to 'successful' outcomes
- meaning that after each one at length a new stable world emerged. The current planet-reshaping activities of our species may be the start of another great Earth system revolution but there is no guarantee that this one will be successful. This book explains what a successful transition through it might look like if we are wise enough to steer such a course. This book places humanity in context as part of the Earth system using a new scientific synthesis to illustrate our debt to the deep past & our potential for the future.
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Join Rex Conway on a remarkable steam-hauled journey on the Eastern Region. Starting at Liverpool Street in the capital during the golden age of steam we encounter places such as Stratford Colchester Ipswich Cambridge Norwich & Peterborough with many diversions along the way. Seen here are plentiful images of engine sheds stations signal-boxes a fabulous selection of engines & railway staff going about their daily business. All the photographs featured in this book have been specially selected from Rex Conways phenomenal collection of over 65 000 images & the book is sure to appeal to railway enthusiasts far & wide. ...