Get ready to push your word skills to the limit as you take on this tantalizingly tricky puzzle book packed with 100 of the most challenging cryptic crosswords from the pages of the Daily Express". The perfect solution to tedious train journeys & other idle hours " Crusader Crosswords Volume 1" is guaranteed to keep even the most experienced crossword addict amused for hours." ...

Crusader Gold is the stunning follow up to 2005s bestselling debut Atlantis. For many it is the Jewish menorah the huge golden ...

Released to coincide with a major BBC TV documentary series on the crusades presented by the author. In the eleventh century a vast Christian army summoned to holy war by the pope rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean seizing possession of Jerusalem a city revered by both faiths. Over the two hundred years that followed this First Crusade Islam & the West fought for dominion of the Holy Land clashing in a succession of chillingly brutal wars both firm in the belief that they were at God's work. For the first time this book tells the story of this epic struggle from the perspective of both Christians & Muslims reconstructing the experiences & attitudes of those on either side of the conflict. Mixing pulsing narrative & piercing insight it exposes the full horror passion & barbaric grandeur of the crusading era. One of the world's foremost authorities on the subject Thomas Asbridge offers a vivid & penetrating history of the crusades setting a new standard for modern scholarship. Drawing upon painstaking original research & an intimate knowledge of the Near East he uncovers what drove Muslims & Christians alike to embrace the ideals of jihad & crusade revealing how these holy wars reshaped the medieval world & why they continue to echo in human memory to this day. ...

At the 900th anniversary of the Crusader capture of Jerusalem it is timely to reflect on how the phenomenon of the Crusades influenced the Muslim world then & now militarily culturally & psychologically. This book discusses a group of themes designed to highlight how Muslims reacted to the alien presence of the Crusaders in the heart of traditional Muslim territory. Ideological concerns are examined & the importance of the jihad is assessed in the context of the gradual recovery of the Holy Land & the expulsion of the Crusaders. Two chapters are devoted to an analysis of warfare
- arms battles sieges fortifications
- on the basis of written sources & extant works of art & the neglected aspect of the navy is brought into prominence. One chapter deals with the complex issue of the interaction between Muslims & Crusaders in a social economic & cultural setting. The epilogue traces in outline the profound impact of the Crusades on Muslim consciousness until the present day. This is not a chronological survey of the events of the period 1099 to 1291and even beyond for that has already been done several times. Instead this is a general book intended to introduce some of the wider aspects of the history of the Crusades from the Muslim side. Accordingly as a deliberate policy an attempt is made here to view the phenomenon of the Crusades entirely through the prism of medieval Muslim sources. This naturally involves bias but such a bias is salutary given the cumulative impact of centuries of Eurocentric scholarship in this field & it should help to create a more balanced picture of this fascinating & momentous period of Christian/ Muslim confrontation & interaction.

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European & Arab versions of the Crusades have little in common. For Arabs the twelfth & thirteenth centuries were years of strenuous efforts to repel a brutal & destructive invasion by barbarian hordes. In The Crusades Through Arab Eyes" Amin Maalouf has sifted through the works of a score of contemporary Arab chroniclers of the Crusades eyewitnesses & often participants in the events. He retells their stories in their own vivacious style giving us a vivid portrait of a society rent by internal conflicts & shaken by a traumatic encounter with an alien culture. He retraces two critical centuries of Middle Eastern history & offers fascinating insights into some of the forces that shape Arab & Islamic consciousness today." ...

It is January 1719 & Daniel Defoe almost sixty sits at a table writing. He is troubled with gout & debt but for now is preoccupied with a younger man on a barren shore
- Robinson Crusoe for which he will principally be remembered. Several miles south an old man Robert Knox is bent over a heavy volume. It is Historical Relation his account of being held captive on Ceylon published forty years ago after he escaped & returned to Engl&. It has long been out of print but a copy perhaps sits on the desk of Daniel Defoe as he writes. Where did Crusoe come from? & what is the secret of his endurance? " Crusoe" explores the intertwined lives of two real men
- Daniel Defoe & Robert Knox
- & the character & book that emerged from their peculiar conjunction. It is the biography of a book & its hero the story of Defoe the man who wrote " Robinson Crusoe" & of Robert Knox the man who was Crusoe."


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In 1904 when she was six Polly Flint went to live with her two holy aunts at the yellow house by the marsh
- so close to the sea
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Richard Bertinet's revolutionary & simple approach gives you the confidence to create really exciting recipes at home. He begins by mastering the mighty Sourdough & making your own ferments so that you can make bread anytime. & then he takes a look at speciality breads using a range of flours & flavours
- why not try making Spelt Bread or experiment with Bagels & Pretzels? He follows by exploring the Croissant & all its wonderful variations as well as covering other deliciously tempting sweet breads such as Stollen & Brioche. With stunning step-by-step photography simple advice & helpful techniques throughout Crust is a worthy following to a remarkable debut.
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Cry the Beloved Country" is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo & his son Absalom set against the background of a land & a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its contemporaneity unforgettable for character & incident " Cry the Beloved Country" is a classic work of love & hope courage & endurance born of the dignity of man." ...

After an idyllic early childhood in Surrey Lindas life descended into poverty & chaos when her parents marriage crumbled & her unstable mothers sanity declined. She experienced a brief period of comfort in a caring foster home before being plunged into the dark terrifying world of a 1960s institution. St Annes Convent Orpington was a Catholic childrens home run by the infamous Sisters of Mercy & a former monk who inflicted bizarre & barbaric beliefs & practices on the children in his care. Cry & You Cry Alone" is the achingly honest story of a survivor of shocking child abuse that took place in the heart of an English suburb." ...