This second collection of plays by Simon Stephens winner of the 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play for On the Shore of the Wide World perfectly showcases the development of one of the most exciting & impressive theatre talents of recent years. The range of plays in this volume displays a tough sensibility & a courage to confront the more unsettling challenges of our times. One Minute first produced in 2003 & revived in London in 2008 has an uncomfortable resonance as it follows five characters variously affected by the disappearance of Daisy an 11-year-old girl from Seven Dials Covent Garden. Country Music spotlights four fateful moments in the life of Jamie Carris during & after the prison sentences he has served for glassing one man & for killing another. Motortown written in response to the War on Terror is a blistering account of a young soldiers return home from Basra to an England he no longer recognises or connects with. Pornography captures Britain as it crashes from the euphoria & promise of the 2012 Olympics announcement into the devastation of the London bombings of 7/7. The final play Sea Wall is a one-act monologue about grief following the drowning of a young child. ...

Stepney is an area with many well-known associations & images from the poverty stricken slum area of late nineteenth century to the iconic borough it became for architecture during the Festival of Britain. Stepney also had to soak up heavy bomb damage during the Blitz & send her children away to safety for those left behind they faced their own war. Among Stepney's rich history there was the classical confrontation between Mosley's fascists & the socialist left at the ' Battle of Cable Street' & the earlier dramatic ' Siege of Sidney Street' when Liberal Home Secretary Winston Churchill rooted out an anarchist cell. There was the rise & fall of the great local docks the immigration of large numbers of Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe & elsewhere. The growth of the Labour Party & the surprising ascendancy of the Communist Party were also witnessed & much more besides. Here is Stepney as it was then compared to now. ...

The unhappiness that I need & long for.. .is of the kind that will let me suffer with eagerness & die with lust. That is the unhappiness or happiness that I am waiting for. Alienated from society Harry Haller is the Steppenwolf wild strange & shy. His despair & desire for death draw him into an enchanted Faust-like underworld. Through a series of shadowy encounters romantic freakish & savage by turn Haller begins to rediscover the lost dreams of his youth. Adopted by the Sixties counterculture Steppenwolf" captured the mood of a disaffected generation that was beginning to question everything." ...

A modernist work of profound wisdom that continues to enthral readers with its subtle blend of Eastern mysticism & Western culture the Penguin Modern Classics" edition of Hermann Hesse's " Steppenwolf" is revised by Walter Sorell from the original translation by Basil Creighton. At first sight Harry Haller seems a respectable educated man. In reality he is the Steppenwolf: wild strange alienated from society & repulsed by the modern age. But as he is drawn into a series of dreamlike & sometimes savage encounters
- accompanied by among others Mozart Goethe & the bewitching Hermione
- the misanthropic Haller discovers a higher truth & the possibility of happiness. This blistering portrayal of a man who feels himself to be half-human & half-wolf was the bible of the 1960s counterculture capturing the mood of a disaffected generation & remains a haunting story of estrangement & redemption. Herman Hesse (1877-1962) suffered from depression & weathered series of personal crises which led him to undergo psychoanalysis with J. B. Lang; a process which resulted in " Demian" (1919) a novel whose main character is torn between the orderliness of bourgeois existence & the turbulent & enticing world of sensual experience. This dichotomy is prominent in Hesse's subsequent novels including " Siddhartha" (1922) " Steppenwolf" (1927) " Narcissus & Goldmund" (1930) & his magnum opus " The Glass Bead Game" (1943). Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. If you enjoyed " Steppenwolf" you might like Hesse's " Siddhartha" also available in " Penguin Classics". "A savage indictment of bourgeois society...the gripping & fascinating story of disease in a man's soul". (" The New York Times")."

...

This is the very first biography of Peter Tosh rude boy founder member of The Wailers & a compelling recording artist in his own right. Tosh was an abrasive man who would eventually fall victim to his own uncompromising personality ultra-radical politics & a fearsome 'gangsta' reputation. One of reggae's most extraordinary stories the life of Peter Tosh could have only one end. He was murdered in a gunfight at his own home in 1987. One year later his album No Nuclear War" won the first ever Grammy award for best reggae album. Here are the women the drugs & the story behind Legalise It Tosh's famous early plea for the decriminalisation of marijuana. His personal musical odyssey is explored in detail as he strove to emerge from the shadow of Bob Marley eventually signing a contract with Rolling Stones Records. Tosh's darker side is also revealed & the book

Includes:: an account of a notorious standoff with Keith Richards involving a machete & a loaded rifle!"

...

The Sterling Bonds & Fixed Income Handbook aims to fill the knowledge gap for sterling-base investors & their advisors. Whilst investors in the equity markets can rely on numerous resources to select stocks & build portfolios there is little information available for those who wish to buy bonds. This book takes the reader through the key features of gilts & sterling corporate bonds & offers a practical guide to putting money to work in this important & profitable asset class. ...

Bhagawan Sri Ramana Maharshi
- The Sage of Arunachala
- was drawn by the power of the Arunachala Mountain in Tiruvannamalai

...

The untold true story of James Edmiston who suffered an extraordinary miscarriage of justice in 1983 when senior officials blocked vital witnesses coming to his trial which led to a personal tragedy; a broken marriage & the loss of a business. The book explains how he was wrongly charged with alleged illegal exports to Iraq & then took on the establishment against seemingly impossible odds for 25 years to establish his innocence & to win record compensation from the British government in a truly remarkable case. Divorced & bankrupted he is now rebuilding a shattered life nearly 30 years later. In 1993 the Scott Inquiry unearthed serious misconduct by senior officials who colluded to block vital defence witnesses from coming to trial
- behaviour described by Lord Justice Scott as disgraceful" & "reprehensible". Nevertheless the officials concerned have escaped prosecution & some were even promoted. But by 1993 it was too late for Edmiston. He had suffered the enforced sale of his successful business the Sterling Armament Company the loss of 150 jobs & his town house on the Phillimore Estate Kensington; financial ruin; & divorce in 1990. He believes that there may have been an ulterior motive for the prosecution & he was a pawn in a high-stakes political game. Determined that the government should acknowledge his innocence & to compensate him & apologise the case was thought to be impossible. After a successful judicial review against the Home Secretary the government finally awarded him record compensation in 2008 but without an apology. The Arms to Iraq affair has come to stand for many things: lies by government ministers to protect the state; the sacrifice of innocent men facing prison who had been working for MI6; misuse of Public Interest Immunity Certificates (so-called "gagging orders") to hide government policy on Iraq; diplomatic hypocrisy; & the downfall of the Conservative government in 1997. How did this happen in Britain & could it ever happen again? This extraordinary story is a fascinating insight into government & the abuse of power & is based on many original sources including the Scott Report & Judgment of the Court of Appeal (criminal). The co-author Lawrence Kormornick is a Solicitor-Advocate (civil) who has represented Edmiston & several other victims of the Arms-to-Iraq prosecution scandal against the government & has a unique insight into these cases. Packed with ironies twists of fate & many unanswered questions it is a compelling read for anyone interested in political intrigue & abuse of power miscarriage of justice & learning about how an individual took on the state & won."
...

For nearly 50 years Diana Athill edited (and nursed & coerced & coaxed) some of the most celebrated writers in the English language. In a prose style of inimitable wit & rare candour she recounts tales from a long life in publishing including her reflections on editing writers such as V. S. Naipaul Jean Rhys Gitta Sereny & Brian Moore. She also provides an account of her own writing career which

Includes:: the two critically acclaimed works Instead of a Letter & After a Funeral.

...

A naturalists equivalent to the Dangerous Book for Boys" this title will include tips on everything from beachcombing snorkelling & building your own hedgehog hotel to tree climbing natural foods & how to make traps for insects & mammals. This hands-on guide to enjoying nature is filled with practical advice on how to get involved with wildlife. It has a British/north European focus & will give ideas on wildlife-watching & other activities in different habitats including coast mountains heathland garden wetland woodland & farml&. Alongside the practical advice relating to bushcraft & survival are suggestions about how to get close to nature for example through mountain-biking & climbing. It will carry an important conservation message." ...