Thomas Cromwell was a man of humble origins & outstanding intellect who rose up to become Henry VIII's chief minister & right-hand man during the English Reformation. He wielded enormous power while he retained the king's favour but the failure of Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves which Cromwell had arranged led to his swift downfall & execution. In this authoritative biography by an acknowledged expert in the field John Schofield reveals that the popular image of Cromwell as a blood-stained henchman is largely fictional. Detailed research into contemporary sources illuminates his brilliant mind & his love for & patronage of the arts & humanities while short case studies shed new light on his relations with & his reputation among Henry VIII's subjects. In his conclusion Schofield narrates the drama of Cromwell's downfall & highlights the king's posthumous exoneration of the 'most faithful servant he ever had'. ...

One woman's struggle to fit back into her old self. Amy Crane is in crisis. Six months after the birth of her baby Amy still looks pregnant & can't remember the last time she had a wax or an orgasm. Motherhood is stirring up disturbing questions about her own childhood. & she suspects her boyfriend is cheating. Enter Alice yummy mummy superior on a mission to transform Amy's body & love life. As Amy swaps breast pads for Botox & climbs out of a vortex of self-doubt her libido awakens from its long nap & things get rather more complicated.. .A wonderfully well-written funny & sharp novel about the trials of playing hip happy families & the contradictions at the heart of modern motherhood. ...

This book provides a fascinating & stunningly illustrated account of ancient Greece & its classical heritage. It chronicles military & political development in Athens Sparta & other ancient Greek city-states all revealed in magnificent detail. It features a special focus on the life tactics & military campaigns of Alexander the Great one of the most important soldiers the world has ever known. It explains & examines the military techniques & strategies operations & training of the Greek armies. It features over 500 photographs illustrations maps battle plans & fact boxes. The first half of this military & political history details how the Greeks recovered from the collapse of the first Minoan Cretan & Mycenaean civilizations & moved towards democracy. It highlights the Persian Wars shows Athens during the Golden Age before it was wrecked by the wars with Sparta & describes the men & women who made Greeces name resonate down the ages. The second part of the book describes the rule of Alexander the Great a military genius who helped spread Greek culture across half of Asia. Nigel Rodgers shows how Alexanders death without an heir was an irreparable loss & that ultimately his heir turned out to be the Roman empire. With information on weapons & fleets on the tactics of Greek soldiers & the organization of great armies this is a breathtaking analysis of 2000 years of impassioned politics warfare & culture. ...

The monarchical presidential regimes that prevailed in the Arab world for so long looked as though they would last indefinitely
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Until road transport began to make inroads into the goods & freight monopoly enjoyed by the railways there were thousands of goods yards throughout the UK & every conceivable commodity was transported in railway wagons. This lavishly illustrated book tells the story of the evolution of freight services & the Rise & Fall of the local goods train from the early days to the modern privatised railway & from the steam age to todays modern traction era with particular emphasis on the British Railways years from 1948 to 1997. ...

From modest beginnings Britain rose throughout the nineteenth century to become the greatest shipbuilding nation in the world yet by the end of the following century the British merchant fleet ranked just 38 in the world. The glory days of sail had given way to the introduction of the steam age. Traditional shipwrights had railed against new industrial methods resulting in the infamous demarcation disputes. Talented men like Brunel & Armstrong had always sought change & development but too many shipbuilders were relying on old technologies. From building mighty battleships & extravagant ocean liners the nation became complacent & its yards were eventually no longer as innovative as their foreign competitors. In the twenty-first century British shipbuilding has shrunk to a mere fraction of its former size & has become almost totally dependent on government contracts. The popularity of & fascination with this subject has prompted a new edition of Anthony Burton's successful book. With fresh images & a new final chapter the story of the rise & cataclysmic fall of British shipbuilding has been brought right up to date. ...

Warning: This book is not for the faint hearted. Like those that came before it this fifth instalment in the best-selling Dirty Dozen series is a true inside account of some of Australias most gruesome & intriguing crime cases. Get inside the head of Carl Williams u the now dead gangl&-war killer u through letters he wrote before his own violent murder in jail. Discover why other criminals in their own words helped him carry out his murder campaign & learn what detectives really thought of him. Why was he killed? You might be surprised. Step into the secret & salacious world of millionaire Herman Rockefeller: a devoted family man & church goer with an insatiable craving for sex with swingingo strangers. Follow the story through the eyes of two killer swingers who brought Rockefellers life to a grisly & undignified end. Read with horror why cheating husband Fred Boyle killed his wife & stuffed her in a 44-gallon drum u before carting her around with him for twenty three years until her remains were discovered by a spooked relative. From best-selling crime writer & journalist Paul Anderson this book gives you exclusive access through first-hand accounts of everyone involved in each case. ...

Winner of the 2010 W.J.M. Mackenzie Prize for Best Political Science Book of the Year 2010. The relentless rise of Communism was the most momentous political development of the first half of the twentieth century. No political change has been more fundamental than its demise in Europe & its decline elsewhere. In this hugely acclaimed book Archie Brown provides an indispensable history that examines the origins of the ideology its development in different countries its collapse in many states following the Soviet perestroika & its current incarnations around the globe. The Rise & Fall of Communism explains how & why Communists came to power; how they were able in a variety of countries on different continents to hold on to power for so long; & what brought about the downfall of so many Communist systems. A groundbreaking work from an internationally renowned specialist this is the definitive study of the most remarkable political & human story of our times. ...

ECW burst onto the sports entertainment scene in the early 1990s & redefined the industry with a reckless brutal death-defying & often bloody style that became known as hardcore. In the process it attracted a rabid cult-like following that is still going strong today. The ECW hardcore style changed the wrestling business forever; & more than any other single factor it was the adoption of this new breed of wrestling from the young upstart company by the WWE that was largely responsible for the subsequent WWE domination of the industry. Through extensive interviews with former ECW talent & management fans will have an inside look at what made the company great -- & what led to its ultimate demise. ...

Electric & Music Industries Ltd (EMI) first saw the light of day in the UK in 1931. In a visionary move for the gramophone age it manufactured both hardware (recording & playback equipment) & software (the records & tapes its machines would play). For over half a century EMI dominated both sectors its music division eventually becoming the most successful in the world with a roster that at various times included The Beatles Maria Callas Frank Sinatra Cliff Richard Pink Floyd The Beach Boys Queen Robbie Williams The Spice Girls Kate Bush & Kylie Minogue. Then in the 1990s things started to go wrong
- This is the continuing saga of Britains greatest music company as it faces an uncertain future under new ownership. Since 2009 EMI has broken new acts & sold millions of records BUT the massive debts incurred by its owners Terra Firma have finally taken it to the brink of a break-up. Music industry experts & executives financiers & commentators plus artists managers assess EMIs fortunes as the company celebrates its 80th birthday.

Includes:: interviews with many key players including former EMI Group/EMI Music executives Sir Colin Southgate Jim Fifield Eric Nicoli Tony Wadsworth David Munns Rupert Perry Ray Cooper & Jon Webster. He has also interviewed many managers music journalists financial analysists & rival record company executives.


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