The Story of a Childhood & The Story of a Return. The intelligent & outspoken child of radical Marxists & the great-grandaughter of Irans last emperor Satrapi bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran & of the bewildering contradictions between home life & public life. This is a beautiful & intimate story full of tragedy & humour
- raw honest & incredibly illuminating.
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The son of Zeus Perseus belongs in the first rank of Greek heroes. Indeed to some he was a greater hero even than Heracles. With the help of Hermes & Athena he slew the Gorgon Medusa conquered a mighty sea monster & won the hand of the beautiful princess Andromeda. This volume tells of his enduring myth its rendering in art & literature & its reception through the Roman period & up to the modern day. This is the first scholarly book in English devoted to Perseus myth in its entirety for over a century. With information drawn from a diverse range of sources as well as varied illustrations the volume illuminates the importance of the Perseus myth throughout the ages. ...

A brand new retelling of the Greek myth Perseus & the Gorgon". Perseus is determined to rescue Andromeda even though it means facing the hideous Gorgon Medusa whose glare turns warriors to stone
- Fantastic illustrations by Simona Bursi give a very modern feel to this classic tale. A new title in " Young Reading Series Two" part of the " Usborne Reading Programme". Aimed at children whose reading ability & confidence allows them to tackle longer & more complex stories. Developed in consultation with Alison Kelly who is a Principal Lecturer in Education & an early reading specialist from Roehampton University."
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When Lily Robinson sees the telegraph boy cycling down Perseverance Street she knows that he's coming to deliver bad news. Clutching the telegram in her trembling hands at eight months pregnant & mother to three-year-old Michael Lily learns that she must now face life as a widow. Fortuitously she is soon visited by acquaintances Bernard & Edith Oldroyd who hearing of her plight offer to take Michael home with them for the weekend & Lily gratefully accepts. But to her horror just days later the Oldroyds disappear along with her son. With the help of her redoubtable Auntie Dee & ex-Special Forces soldier Charlie Cleghorn Lily takes the investigation into their own hands scouring the country & ultimately war-torn Europe in search of Michael doing everything in her power to bring him home. ...

Persian art & architecture have a rich heritage that stretches far beyond the borders of modern-day Iran from the Abbasid monuments of Baghdad to the splendid Timurid buildings of Samarqand & Bukhara. This book follows a historical path across the Iranian world & examines the artistic legacies of great rulers & their dynasties from the rebirth of Persian art under the Seljuqs to the magnificent structures built by Timur-i Lang in Samarqand & the cultural flowering that occurred under the Safavid dynasty & beyond. Palaces mosques madrasas & mausoleums display a mesmerizing decorative complexity with form & ornament combining to create an indivisible whole. Spectacular polychrome tiles intricate brickwork curling arabesque motifs & calligraphic inscriptions attain a transcendent beauty designed to reflect both the temporal power of the rulers who commissioned them & the heavenly glory of creation. ...

In The Persian Expedition" Xenophon a young Athenian noble who sought his destiny abroad provides an enthralling eyewitness account of the attempt by a Greek mercenary army
- the Ten Thousand
- to help Prince Cyrus overthrow his brother & take the Persian throne. When the Greeks were then betrayed by their Persian employers they were forced to march home through hundreds of miles of difficult terrain
- adrift in a hostile country & under constant attack from the unforgiving Persians & warlike tribes. In this outstanding description of endurance & individual bravery Xenophon one of those chosen to lead the retreating army provides a vivid narrative of the campaign & its aftermath & his account remains one of the best pictures we have of Greeks confronting a barbarian world."


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In 480 BC Xerxes the King of Persia led an invasion of mainland Greece. Its success should have been a formality. For seventy years victory
- rapid spectacular victory
- had seemed the birthright of the Persian Empire. In the space of a single generation they had swept across the Near East shattering ancient kingdoms storming famous cities putting together an empire which stretched from India to the shores of the Aegean. As a result of those conquests Xerxes ruled as the most powerful man on the planet. Yet somehow astonishingly against the largest expeditionary force ever assembled the Greeks of the mainland managed to hold out. The Persians were turned back. Greece remained free. Had the Greeks been defeated at Salamis not only would the West have lost its first struggle for independence & survival but it is unlikely that there would ever have been such & entity as the West at all. Tom Hollands brilliant new book describes the very first clash of Empires between East & West. Once again he has found extraordinary parallels between the ancient world & our own. There is no competing popular book describing these events.

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In 490 BC Darius I Great King of Persia & the most powerful man in the world led a massive invasion army to punish the interference of some minor states on the western borders of his huge empire. The main enemy was Athens. The resultant Battle of Marathon was a disaster for Darius & one of the most famous victories for the underdog in all military history. The Persians were forced to withdraw & plot an even bigger expedition to conquer Athens & the whole of Greece once & for all. The second invasion came ten years later under Darius successor Xerxes. This led to the legendary last stand of the Spartan King Leonidas at Thermopylae the sacking of Athens & the famous naval clash at Salamis which saved Greece. The following year 479 BC saw the remaining Persian forces driven from mainland Greece at the epic yet strangelyless- famous Battle of Plataea one of the largest pitched battles of the Classical Greek world. Dr Arthur Keaveney an expert on Achaemenid Persia re examines these momentous epoch-defining events from both Greek & Persian perspective to give a full & balanced account based on the most recent research. ...

This book shows the vast range & quality of carpets woven in Persia from about 1850 to 1980. In addition there is a discussion of rugs woven in countries or areas adjacent to Persia itself particularly those rugs which either fell or fall into the Persian geographical or cultural orbit: Caucasian weavings Turkish & Hereke silk rugs & certain weavings which have strong Persian & Islamic influences. The in-depth introduction takes the reader through the history & geography of the Persian rug including information on structure weaving & knotting; the different output of the city & urban workshops compared to tribal & village weaving; flatweaves; & identification & dating as well as points of note for the collector such as conservation & cleaning. The carpets are divided into geographical areas including Esfahan Kerman Tabriz Bakhtiari Senneh & Malayer among others; each section comes with an introductory text & comprehensive informative captions. This exquisite book lavishly illustrated in colour throughout is a testament to this rich & vibrant art form. ...

How does the situation we're in influence the way we behave & think? Professors Ross & Nisbett eloquently argue that the context we find ourselves in substantially affects our behavior in this timely reissue of one of social psychology's classic textbooks. With a new foreword by Malcolm Gladwell author of The Tipping Point. ...