In one volume for the first time this revised & updated examination of how J.R.R. Tolkien came to write his original masterpiece The Hobbit

Includes:: his complete unpublished draft version of the story together with notes & illustrations by Tolkien himself. For the first time in one volume The History of the Hobbit presents the complete unpublished text of the original manuscript of J.R.R. Tolkiens The Hobbit accompanied by John Rateliffs lively & informative account of how the book came to be written & published. As well as recording the numerous changes made to the story both before & after publication it examines
- chapter-by-chapter
- why those changes were made & how they reflect Tolkiens ever-growing concept of Middle-earth. The Hobbit was first published on 21 September 1937. Like its successor The Lord of the Rings it is a story that grew in the telling" & many characters & story threads in the published text are completely different from what Tolkien first wrote to read aloud to his young sons as part of their "fireside reads". As well as reproducing the original version of one of literatures most famous stories both on its own merits & as the foundation for The Lord of the Rings this new book

Includes:: many little-known illustrations & previously unpublished maps for The Hobbit by Tolkien himself. Also featured are extensive annotations & commentaries on the date of composition how Tolkiens professional & early mythological writings influenced the story the imaginary geography he created & how Tolkien came to revise the book years after publication to accommodate events in The Lord of the Rings. Like Christopher Tolkiens The History of The Lord of the Rings before it this is a thoughtful yet exhaustive examination of one of the most treasured stories in English literature. Long overdue for a classic book now celebrating 75 years in print this companion edition offers fascinating new insights for those who have grown up with this enchanting tale & will delight those who are about to enter Bilbos round door for the first time."





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Contrary to what we have been told the Maginot Line functioned perfectly & did everything that was expected of it. After the war the Maginot Line wrongly became the ideal scapegoat for the greatest military & political disaster ever suffered by France. ...

One of the many famous administrator-historians of India James Grant Duff (1789-1858) Captain of the First Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry first arrived in India as a cadet at the age of sixteen. Quickly mastering the Marathi Urdu & Persian languages Duff became well known for his ability to cut through the cultural divide & was regarded as a valuable resource for the East India Companys expansion of trade. His wide-ranging network of connections enabled him to obtain unrestricted access to state papers documents & temple archives. Consequently Duffs history is comprehensive & thorough; it served as the best history of its kind for decades. ...

' The NME mattered to all those generations who grew up with music at the centre of their universe. The NME never had a truer chronicler than Pat Long.' Tony Parsons Since it was founded in 1952 the New Musical Express has played a central part in the British love affair with pop music. Snotty confrontational enthusiastic sarcastic: the NME landing on the doormat every Wednesday was the high point of any music fan's week whether they were listening to The Beatles Bowie or Blur. The Sex Pistols sang about it Nick Hornby claims he regrets not working for it & a whole host of household names
- Tony Parsons & Julie Burchill Nick Kent & Mick Farren Steve Lamacq & Stuart Maconie
- started their career writing for it. This authoritative history written by former assistant editor Pat Long is an insider's account of the high times & low lives of the world's most famous & most influential music magazine. The fights the bands the brawls the haircuts the egos & much more. This is the definitive
- & first
- book about the infamous NME. Word count: 85 000



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Written four hundred years before the birth of Christ this detailed contemporary account of the long life-&-death struggle between Athens & Sparta stands an excellent chance of fulfilling its authors ambitious claim. Thucydides himself (c. 460-400 BC) was an Athenian & achieved the rank of general in the earlier stages of the war. He applied thereafter a passion for accuracy & a contempt for myth & romance in compiling this factual record of a disastrous conflict. ...

The steel pan is the only musical instrument to have been invented in the 20th century. The story begins in Trinidad in the Caribbean where the people first begin to use all kinds of metal objects to make music. They collected a wide variety of assorted tins & shaped them & tuned them until they were turned into musical instruments. From Trinidad the mighty steel orchestra has spread across the world.

Includes:: a CD of Sterling's Angels (children's steel band led by Pan Maestro Sterling Betancourt) playing a range of music.

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Our understanding of world history is changing as new discoveries are made on all the continents & old prejudices are being challenged. In this truly global journey Andrew Marr revisits some of the traditional epic stories from classical Greece & Rome to the rise of Napoleon but surrounds them with less familiar material from Peru to the Ukraine China to the Caribbean. He looks at cultures that have failed & vanished as well as the origins of todays superpowers & finds surprising echoes & parallels across vast distances & epochs. This is a book about the great change-makers of history & their times people such as Cleopatra Genghis Khan Galileo & Mao but it is also a book about us. For the better we understand how rulers lose touch with reality or why revolutions produce dictators more often than they produce happiness or why some parts of the world are richer than others the easier it is to understand our own times. Fresh exciting & vividly readable this is popular history at its very best. ...

In August 2010 Wylie Overstreet published a satirical article called If Historical Events Had Facebook Statuses" on the website Cool Material.com. Within a month it had received 3 million views & had been liked by over 170 000 Facebook users. In " The History of the World According to Facebook" Overstreet expands this concept into a full-length history of the world from its creation up through present day as if Facebook had existed all along & Abraham Lincoln had written a status update about taking the missus to the theater on April 15 1865 & Ben Franklin had done the same alerting his network that hed signed the Declaration of Independence (Bring it replied John Adams). Filled with hundreds of real-life historical figures & thousands of not-at-all-real Facebook statuses comments & actions & parodying Facebook users proclivity to over-share & use lazy jargon (lol rofl fml etc.) this is the definitive humor book for our generation." ...

Beginning with an unlikely stowaways account of life on board Noahs Ark A History of the World in 10 Chapters presents a surprising subversive fictional history of earth told from several kaleidoscopic perspectives. Noah disembarks from his ark but he & his Voyage are not forgotten: they are revisited in on other centuries & other climes
- by a Victorian spinster mourning her father by an American astronaut on an obsessive personal mission. We journey to the Titanic to the Amazon to the raft of the Medusa & to an ecclesiastical court in medieval France where a bizarre case is about to begin... This is no ordinary history but something stranger a challenge & a delight for the readers imagination. Ambitious yet accessible witty & playfully serious this is the work of a brilliant novelist.
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In 2010 the BBC & the British Museum embarked on an ambitious project: to tell the story of two million years of human history using one hundred objects selected from the Museum's vast & renowned collection. Presented by the British Museum's Director Neil Mac Gregor each episode focuses on a single object
- from a Stone Age tool to a solar-powered lamp
- & explains its significance in human history. Music interviews with specialists "ations from written texts enrich the listener's experience. On each CD objects from a similar period of history are grouped together to explore a common theme & make connections across the world. Seen in this way history is a kaleidoscope: shifting interlinked constantly surprising & shaping our world in ways that most of us have never imagined. This box set also

Includes:: an illustrated booklet with additional background information & photographs & each CD

Includes:: PDF images of the featured objects. The landmark series on BBC Radio 4 that tells the story of humanity through 100 man-made objects from the British Museum's unique collection.





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