Drawing on thirty years of writing about Greek & Roman history Mary Beard takes us on an exhilarating journey through the extraordinary riches of the classical heritage & why it still matters. Mary Beard is one of the world's best-known classicists
- a brilliant academic with a rare gift for communicating with a wide audience both though her TV presenting & her books. In a series of sparkling essays she explores our rich classical heritage
- from Greek drama to Roman jokes introducing some larger-than-life characters of classical history such as Alexander the Great Nero & Boudicca. She also invites you into the places where Greeks & Romans lived & died from the palace at Knossos to Cleopatra's Alexandria
- & reveals the often hidden world of slaves. She brings back to life some of the greatest writers of antiquity
- including Thucydides Cicero & Tacitus
- & takes a fresh look at both scholarly controversies & popular interpretations of the ancient world from The Golden Bough" to " Asterix". The fruit of over thirty years in the world of classical scholarship " Classical Traditions" captures the world of antiquity & its modern significance with wit verve & scholarly expertise."




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London & Sussex 1942. The English family in turmoil.. . The long dark days of struggle provide the poignant background to the third book of the Cazalet Chronicle. As the war enters its fourth year chaos has become a way of life. Both in the still peaceful Sussex countryside & in air-raid-threatened London the divided Cazalets begin to find the battle for survival echoing the confusion in their own lives.. . Confusion is the third volume in The Cazalet Chronicle. The next & final novel in the series is Casting Off. ...

A major standalone space opera this is Garth Nixs first novel for older readers since the conclusion of the Old Kingdom trilogy...and its worth the wait. A grand adventure that spans galaxies & lifetimes A Confusion of Princes is also a page-turning action adventure. These are the three deaths of Prince Khemri. Told in his own words we follow him as he trains to become a Prince of the Empire an enhanced human being equipped with biological & technological improvements that make him faster stronger & smarter than any ordinary person. Not to mention the ultimate bene
Fit: should he die & be deemed worthy he will be reborn... Which is just as well because no sooner has Prince Khemri graduated to full Princehood than he learns the terrible truth behind the Empire: there are a million princes & all of them want each other dead because there can only be one Emperor...
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From the Foreword by Professor Tom Devine: Arnold Kemp one of the greatest of Scottish journalists & editors of the 20th century died prematurely at the age of 63 in 2002. He edited The Herald with memorable elan & panache between 1981 & 1994 & his prolific writings also regularly graced the pages of the Scotsman the Guardian & the Observer in a career which spanned more than four decades from the year he began his first job in journalism in 1959 as a sub-editor on the Scotsman fresh out of Edinburgh University. Kemp left behind him a rich personal but un-catalogued archive of newspaper articles chapters in books & opinion pieces. These have now been expertly harvested & selected by his daughter Jackie. Reading them it is clear that her father was a master of his trade & that his published work provides a perceptive & illuminating guide to the key historical events of his lifetime in Scotl&. This book encompasses the arly rise of nationalism the traumatic de-industrialisation & then transformation of the economy in the 1980s the impact of the Thatcher governments on Scotland the halting progress toward devolution & then the successful establishment of the Scottish Parliament in the last decade of the century. These events & others are all recorded here not in the arid descriptive prose of the chronicler but with the eloquence punch & insight for which Kemp was noted. As a result the recent Scottish past is brought alive in an engaging & highly readable fashion. The immediacy of the reportage the sense of a writer who because of his journalistic & editorial eminence knew all the principal actors involved & was close to the unfolding of great events are all plainly evident to the reader. But Kemp also scorns mediocrity incompetence humbug & hypocrisy in the political & cultural life of the nation & several of the excerpts are also fair & balanced judgements perhaps most notably in the evaluation of the impact of Margaret Thatcher on Scotl&. There is a liveliness & breadth in the writing redolent of Kemps own personal wide international horizons his travels in America & Europe love of conviviality & the craic. The passion for life shines through. This is an important text for anyone wishing to come to a fuller understanding of how Scotland developed from the dark days of the Second World War to the current debates over independence. It is also a hugely enjoyable read which many will savour with interest & delight for its own sake. ...

The political & military struggles of post-independence Congo Post-independence events in the Republic of the Congo are a veritable Gordian knot. The ambitions of Congolese political leaders Cold War rivalry Pan-Africanism Belgium's continued economic interests in the country's mineral wealth & the strategic perceptions of other southern African states all conspired to wrack Africa's second largest country with uprisings rebellions & military interventions for almost a decade. Congo Unravelled solves the intractable complexity of this violent period by dispassionately outlining the sequence of political & military events that took place in the troubled country. The reader is systematically taken through the first military attempts to stabilise the country after independence & the two distinguishing military campaigns of the decade; the United Nations military operations to end the secession of the Katanga Province & the Dragon Operations led by Belgian paratroopers supported by the US Air Force launched to end the insurgency in the east of the country. Finally the mercenary revolt an event that tainted the reputation of the modern mercenary in Africa is described. Lesser known military events such as the Irish UN forces cut off from the outside world by Katangese gendarmes & mercenaries & a combined military operation in which Belgian paratroopers were dropped from US Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft & supported by a mercenary ground force to achieve humanitarian ends go far toward resolving the enigma surrounding post-independence Congo. ...

A sparkly 60th Birthday card with 60 in gold 3D lettering against a sparkly gold background embellished with sparkles & more stars further down the card on a white background.

The greeting inside this card reads ‘ May this special day be filled with happy & memorable moments’ & the card comes complete with a gold envelope ready for posting. Approximate dimensions: 14.5x 20.5cm

Not suitable for children under 3 years contains small parts which may cause a choking hazard.



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A sparkly 80th Birthday card with 80 in silver 3D lettering against a sparkly violet background embellished with sparkles & more stars further down the card on a white background.

The greeting inside this card reads ‘ May this special day be filled with happy & memorable moments’ & the card comes complete with a silver envelope ready for posting. Approximate dimensions: 14.5x 20.5cm

Not suitable for children under 3 years contains small parts which may cause a choking hazard.



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A sparkly 90th Birthday card with 90 in silver 3D lettering against a sparkly pink background embellished with sparkles & more stars further down the card on a white background. The greeting inside this card reads &8216; May this special day be filled with happy & memorable moments&8217; & the card comes complete with a silver envelope ready for posting. Approximate dimensions: 14.5x 20.5cm Not suitable for children under 3 years contains small parts which may cause a choking hazard. ...

Get this wonderful Wedding Day card to congratulate the newly married couple on their wedding! Has the word Wedding raised above the rest of the cards cover against a silver glitter strip. The rest of the card is white with silver glittery hearts pattern. To make it really stand out the card has stick on clear diamantes on the W & on the heart above the i. Card says Congratulatuions on Your Wedding Day & inside With Love on Your Big Day.

Includes:: matching silver envelope. Approximate dimensions: 20.5 x 20.5cm Not suitable for children under 3 years due to small parts.

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This starry congratulations card features the message &8216; Yippee! Congratulations you&8217;re an absolute STAR!&8217; in silver writing along with silver stars with sparkles on a white background. This card is blank inside for your own message & comes complete with a cream envelope ready for posting. Approximate dimensions: 14x 14cm. Not suitable for children under 3 years contains small parts which may cause a choking hazard. ...