Since the twin towers crashed to the ground on 9/11 there has been no end to claims that religion 'is dangerous' 'kills' or 'poisons everything'. & if religion is the problem with the world say the New Atheists the answer is simple: get rid of it. But are things really so straightforward? Tackling Hawking Dawkins Dennett Hitchens & a newcomer in the field
- the French philosopher Michel Onfray
- John Lennox points out some of the fallacies in the New Atheist approach arguing that their irrational & unscientific methodology leaves them guilty of the very obstinate foolishness they criticise in dogmatic religious folks. Erudite & wide-ranging Gunning for God packs some debilitating punches. However it also puts forward new ideas about the nature of God & Christianity that will give Dawkins' best friends & worst enemies alike some stimulating food for thought.

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With a narrative that grips the reader like a detective story Antonia Fraser brings the characters & events of the Gunpowder Plot to life. Dramatically recreating the conditions & motives that surrounded the fateful night of 5 November 1605 she unravels the tangled web of religion & politics that spawned the plot. Told with impressive scholarship & panache... The result is a narrative that is clear balanced & builds to its denouement with a sense of pace & tension worthy of a John le Carre novel John Adamson Sunday Telegraph ...

Fatal Fireworks on Guy Fawkes Night... Daisy Darlymple is delighted to accept an invitation from her old school friend. Gwen Tyndall lives at Edge Manor in the Cotswolds & Daisy's visit will coincide with their annual fireworks display on 5th November. But this year amid the festivities Gwen's father & another man are found dead. It would appear that Sir Harold turned the gun on himself after shooting his guest. But could this apparent suicide be murder? After all Sir Harold was notoriously bad tempered & there was no love lost between him & his children. & when Daisy & her husband uncover an explosive family secret it soon becomes clear that a trigger-happy killer will go to any length to keep it hidden... Praise for the Daisy Dalrymple series: Cunning...appropriate historical detail & witty dialogue are the finishing touches on this engaging 1920s period piece". (" Publishers Weekly"). " As always Dunn evokes the life & times of 1920s England while providing a plot that is a cut above the average British cosy. This will delight readers who love country-house mysteries". (" Booklist"). " For fans of Dorothy L. Sayers' novels". (" Library Journal")." ...

This book answers the most obvious the most important yet the most difficult question about human history: why history unfolded so differently on different continents. Geography & biogeography not race moulded the contrasting fates of Europeans Asians Native Americans sub-Saharan Africans & aboriginal Australians. An ambitious synthesis of history biology ecology & linguistics Guns Germs & Steel is one of the most important & humane works of popular science. ...

This is the ultimate record of guns through the ages. From rifles to sniper guns machine guns to grenade launchers a fully loaded guide to over 300 of the most important guns from the last 700 years. Discover revealing features on twenty 'key' guns from history including the Musket Gatling Gun & AK-47 assault rifle. Step inside famous gun maker factories from Colt & Smith & Wesson to Beretta & discover how guns were
- & still are
- developed & produced. Meet famous gunslingers & legendary sharpshooters from Dick Turpin & Billy the Kid to James Bond hear their stories & learn about the guns that made them famous. It's the ultimate visual history of guns.

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The Guns of Navarone & its three sequels in which the same characters are sent on other wartime missions together in one volume for the first time to mark the 50th anniversary of the original book. THE GUNS OF NAVARONE Mallory Miller & Andrea are united into a lethally effective team. Their mission: to silence the impregnable guns set in the tall cliffs of Navarone. On their success or failure rests one of the most critical offensives of the Second World War. FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE Almost before the last echoes of the famous guns have died away the three Navarone heroes are parachuted into war-torn Yugoslavia to rescue a division of partisans & fulfil a secret mission so deadly that it must be hidden even from their own allies. ...

Last seen in the award-winning Diamond Dove Emily Tempest has a new job: an Aboriginal Community Police Officer. A cop. Not quite what she had in mind when she returned to Central Australia. If anything her instincts & background would propel her in the opposite direction. But for an Aboriginal woman in a pissant mining & meatworks town the career options are limited. & theres a car attached. Her new boss the dour Superintendent Cockburn sees her role as making tea & rounding up the truants. But when one old friend is murdered out on the Gunshot Road & another one gets the blame Emily leaps into the investigation feet first mouth never far behind. Behind its veil of lyricism & quickfire wit Gunshot Road transports the reader into a world few have ever seen up close: the Australian outback where cultures collide & where temperatures
- & the odd bullet
- go through the roof.

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A disfigured servant girl plans to flee Nepal; a Kalimpong shopkeeper faces an impossible dilemma; a Hindu religious festival in Darjeeling brings with it a sacrifice; a Nepali-Bhutanese refugee pins her hopes on the West; a Gurkha's daughter tries to comprehend her father's complaints; two young Nepali-speaking immigrants meet in Manhattan. These are just some of the stories describing & dramatizing the experiences of the Nepalese people & the Nepalese diaspora
- the people whose culture & language is Nepalese but who are dispersed to India Bhutan & beyond. From every perspective & on every page Prajwal Parajuly blends rich colour & vernacular to paint an eye-opening picture of a unique world & its people.
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In June 2006 the Neue Galerie in New York purchased Gustav Klimts 1907 Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I for $135 million. This deposed Picassos Boy With a Pipe (sold May 2004 for $104 million) as the highest reported price ever paid for a piece of art sold at a public auction. However Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was a controversial figure in his time. Far from being acknowledged as the representative artist of his age he was the target of violent criticism
- his work sometimes being displayed behind a screen to avoid corrupting the sensibilities of the young. Today Klimts works are recognized as masterpieces & stand out as some of the most significant paintings ever to come out of Vienna. The Byzantine luxuriance of form the vivid juxtaposition of colours & the rich symbolism sensuality & eroticism of his work have made Klimt one of the most popular artists in the world. Arranged thematically the 130 reproductions of Klimts most important work are accompanied by Rachel Barnes expert & insightful commentary on all aspects of the artists life influences & paintings
- from the inspiration & provenance of each painting to the technique used to create it & a list of exhibitions. Featuring some of the most iconic important (and valuable) artworks of the late 19th/early 20th centuries such as the Judith I Portrait of Adele-Bloch-Bauer I & II & The Kiss this is a book that Klimt enthusiasts & art lovers will cherish.

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The countless events being held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth make a clear statement to the enduring appreciation for the work of Gustav Klimt. Not that it takes such a special occasion for the press & the public to start talking about Klimt. More than two hundred articles about the artist appeared online in August 2011 alone in comparison with barely seventy on Rembrandt within the same period. This media publicity set editor Tobias G. Natter thinking about the value of compiling the present book. During his lifetime Klimt was a controversial star whose works made passions run high; he stood for Modernism but he also embodied tradition. His pictures polarized & divided the art-loving world. Journalists & general public alike were split over the question: For or against Klimt? The present publication therefore places particular emphasis upon the voices of Klimt's contemporaries via a series of essays examining reactions to his work throughout his career. Subjects range from Klimt's portrayal of women to his adoption of landscape painting in the second half of his life. The cliche that Gustav Klimt was a man of few words who rarely put pen to paper is vehemently dispelled: no less than 179 letters cards writings & other documents are included in this monograph. This wealth of archival material assembled here for the first time on such a scale represents a major contribution to Klimt scholarship. Defining features of this edition: Catalog of Klimt's complete paintings All known letter correspondence Featuring new photographs of the Stoclet Frieze commissioned exclusively for this book ...