From the arrival of Henry Tudor & his army at Milford in 1485 to the death of the great Queen Elizabeth I in 1603 this was an astonishingly eventful & contradictory age. All the strands of Tudor life are gathered in a rich tapestry
- London & the country costumes furniture & food travel medicine sports & pastimes grand tournaments & the great flowering of English drama juxtaposed with the stultifying narrowness of peasant life terrible roads a vast underclass the harsh treatment of heretics & traitors & the misery of the Plague.
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From the Fury of the Northmen deliver us O Lord. Between the eighth & eleventh centuries the Vikings surged from their Scandinavian homeland to trade raid & invade along the coasts of Europe. Their influence & expeditions extended from Newfoundland to Baghdad their battles were as far-flung as Africa & the Arctic. But were they great seafarers or desperate outcasts noble heathens or oafish pirates the last pagans or the first of the modern Europeans? This concise study puts medieval chronicles Norse sagas & Muslim accounts alongside more recent research into ritual magic genetic profiling & climatology. It

Includes:: biographical sketches of some of the most famous Vikings from Erik Bloodaxe to Saint Olaf & King Canute to Leif the Lucky. It explains why the Danish king Harald Bluetooth lent his name to a twenty-first century wireless technology; which future saint laughed as she buried foreign ambassadors alive; why so many Icelandic settlers had Irish names; & how the last Viking colony was destroyed by English raiders. Extending beyond the traditional Viking age of most books A Brief History of the Vikings" places sudden Scandinavian population movement in a wider historical context. It presents a balanced appraisal of these infamous sea kings explaining both their swift expansion & its supposed halt. Supposed because ultimately the Vikings didnt disappear: they turned into us."

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This is a classic account of the bloody rivalry between the dynasties of York & Lancaster for the throne of Engl&. During the fifteenth century England was split in a bloody conflict between the Houses of York & Lancaster over who should claim the crown. The civil wars consumed the whole nation in a series of battles that eventually saw the Tudor dynasty take power. In A Brief History of the Wars of the Roses" Desmond Seward tells the story of this complex & dangerous period of history through the lives of five men & women who experienced the conflict first h&. In a gripping narrative the personal trials of the principal characters interweave with the major events & personalities of one of the most significant turning points in British history." ...

In this colorful new history of Venice Elizabeth Horodowich one of the leading experts on Venice tells the story of the place from its ancient origins & its early days as a multicultural trading city where Christians Jews & Muslims lived together at the crossroads between East & West. She explores the often overlooked role of Venice alongside Florence & Rome as one of the principal Renaissance capitals. Now as the resident population falls & the number of tourists grows as brash new advertisements disfigure the ancient buildings she looks at the threat from the rising water level & the future of one of the great wonders of the world. ...

In his startling & singular new short story collection David Foster Wallace nudges at the boundaries of fiction with inimitable wit & seductive intelligence. Among the stories are The Depressed Person a dazzling & blackly humorous portrayal of a womans mental state; Adult World which reveals a womans agonised consideration of her confusing sexual relationship with her husband; & Brief Interviews with Hideous Men a dark hilarious series of portraits of men whose fear of women renders them grotesque. Wallaces stories present a world where the bizarre & the banal are interwoven & where hideous men appear in many different guises. Thought-provoking & playful this collection confirms David Foster Wallace as one of the most imaginative young writers around. Wallace delights in leftfield observation mining the ironic the surprising & the illuminating from every situation. His new collection will delight his growing number of fans & provide a perfect introduction for new readers. ...

In the course of a long & successful career as a journalist & author Paul Johnson has known popes presidents prime ministers painters poets playwrights even the foul-mouthed publican Muriel Belcher who ran the legendary Colony Club. Harking back to the scandalously anecdotal 17th century book by John Aubrey on the celebrities of his times Brief Lives" is the distilled essence of Johnsons experience of a complex variety of people who have contributed to our political spiritual & cultural life. He advised Margaret Thatcher counselled Princess Diana had a drawing of him done by Ernest Hemingway & enjoyed the company of John Osborne Arnold Wesker & Harold Pinter at Buckingham Palace. He has been an insider outside observer & universal commentator on the individuals who have changed history formed public taste or simply lightened our lives by their presence." ...

This book contains sharp & enjoyable new portraits of the English kings & queens. Hunchbacked Richard III the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I the grieving widow Victoria & the romantic who gave up his throne for love Edward VIII
- often the colourful kings & queens of England seem like mere caricature while less familiar rulers like William IV or Henry VI have faded into the shadows of history. Carolly Erickson s sensitive & revealing portrayals bring new life to the big names & light up some of our most neglected but intriguing royals. Here is the puny Charles I nervous tense & socially awkward the frail slight Richard II melancholic & sad the homosexual James I with his handsome favourites & the stuttering William II. Every monarch from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II is covered. Award winning historian Erickson tells the human stories with her characteristic blend of authenticity engaging style & psychological insight.
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In Soviet Russia the desire for freedom is also a desire for the freedom to love. Lovers live as outlaws traitors to the collective spirit & love is more intense when it feels like an act of resistance. Now entering middle age an orphan recalls the fleeting moments that have never left him
- a scorching day in a blossoming orchard with a woman who loves another; a furtive desperate affair in a Black Sea resort; the bunch of snowdrops a crippled childhood friend gave him to give to his lover. As the dreary Brezhnev era gives way to Perestroika & the fall of Communism the orphan uncovers the truth behind the life of Dmitri Ress whose tragic fate embodies the unbreakable bond between love & freedom.
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Stephen Hawkings worldwide bestseller A Brief History of Time has been a landmark volume in scientific writing. Its authors engaging voice is one reason & the compelling subjects he addresses is another: the nature of space & time the role of God in creation the history & future of the universe. But it is also true that in the years since its publication readers have repeatedly told Professor Hawking of their great difficulty in understanding some of the books most important concepts. This is the origin of & the reason for A Briefer History of Time: its authors wish to make its content accessible to readers -- as well as to bring it up-to-date with the latest scientific observations & findings. Although this book is literally somewhat briefer it actually expands on the great subjects of the original. Purely technical concepts such as the mathematics of chaotic boundary conditions are gone. Conversely subjects of wide interest that were difficult to follow because they were interspersed throughout the book have now been given entire chapters of their own including relativity curved space & quantum theory. This reorganization has allowed the authors to expand areas of special interest & recent progress from the latest developments in string theory to exciting developments in the search for a complete unified theory of all the forces of physics. Like prior editions of the book--but even more so -- A Briefer History of Time will guide nonscientists everywhere in the ongoing search for the tantalizing secrets at the heart of time & space. Thirty-eight full-colour illustrations enhance the text & make A Briefer History of Time an exhilarating addition in its own right to the literature of science. ...

Whoever said the afterlife would be easy... Noel Coward is the toast of twenties society...a brilliant playwright composer & entertainer whose witty songs & pithy lines dont quite tell the full story. Goldenhurst his house in Kent provides a place where he can be himself. & more importantly where he can be with his lover Jack without fear of arrest or judgement... But their romantic idyll is ruined first by the arrival of Noels demanding relatives & then by a mysterious death... Many years later film star & Coward fan Richard Stent buys the house from its current owner. But Richard has problems of his own. Goldenhurst is supposed to be a respite from all his worries but this is a house with a very rich & not always pleasant history. & more than one thing is about to go bump in the night... This is a haunting tale of love obsession & a house full of spirits not all of them blithe... ...