With foul air filthy water rising temperatures & encroaching deserts China is already suffering an environmental disaster. Now it faces a stark choice: either accept catastrophe or make radical changes. Traveling the vast country to witness this environmental challenge Jonathan Watts moves from mountain paradises to industrial wastelands examining the responses of those at the top of society to the problems & hopes of those below. At heart his book is not a call for panic but a demonstration that
- even with the crisis so severe & the political scope so limited
- the actions of individuals can make a difference. Consistently attentive to human detail Watts vividly portrays individual lives in a country all too often viewed from outside as a faceless state. No reader of his book
- no consumer in the world
- can be unaffected by what he presents.



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Peter Godwin an award-winning writer is on assignment in Zululand when he is summoned by his mother to Zimbabwe his birthplace. His father is seriously ill; she fears he is dying. Godwin finds his country once a post-colonial success story descending into a vortex of violence & racial hatred. His father recovers but over the next few years Godwin travels regularly between his family life in Manhattan & the increasing chaos of Zimbabwe with its rampant inflation & land seizures making famine a very real prospect. It is against this backdrop that Godwin discovers a fifty-year-old family secret one which changes everything he thought he knew about his father & his own place in the world. Peter Godwins book combines vivid reportage moving personal stories & revealing memoir & traces his familys quest to belong in hostile lands -- a quest that spans three continents & half a century. Heartbreaking.. . Godwin plainly loves Africa & he captures the baffling wayward contradictions of its people their cruelties & unexpected kindnesses their nobility of spirit in the face of appalling conditions with humour & grace Daily Mail A wonderful book.. .beautifully written packed with insight & free of rancour Literary Review A strong heroic book... too vivid to bear & too central to our concerns to ignore Edmund White ...

This exciting & appealing picture book contains everything you need to know about making an elephant's first day at nursery school fun & happy. Packed full of useful tips about an elephant's behaviour in a classroom setting this is a perfect book for any child who has ever dreamed of making more unusual friends during their nursery school day... ...

There is only one question which really matters: why do bad things happen to good people? Out of a faith-shaking & senseless waste of a life comes this remarkable & caring book which will help many. It has sensible & unorthodox & mind-opening things to say about God
- & about ourselves. Its author has wisdom & no bitterness. We can learn from him about acceptance & guilt & despair & the helplessness we all feel when none of it makes sense when we say why them? or worse why us?. We owe him our thanks"
- David Kossoff. " Rabbi Kushner writes from a wealth of Jewish wisdom & pastoral devotion but his theology is I find is wholly in keeping with contemporary Christian thought. So far as there is an answer to the conflict between the goodness of God & the bitterness of suffering this is it"
- Gerald Priestl&. " It will bring new meaning strength & hope to many"
- Dame Cicely Saunders DBE FRCP."



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Remember a time when boxing ruled the sporting world? When the great & the good of the fight game were the biggest stars of their day & when a major bout was a global event that captivated & enthralled people on almost every continent
- when the main event was the event? When Boxing Was Boxing is a photographic celebration of the sports heyday. Its a beautifully illustrated tribute to an age when the noble art was a little more dignified & a little less preoccupied with money & the politics of sport. Its about a time when there werent quite so many governing bodies nor multiple world champions viewed only by tiny audiences on pay-per-view channels; a time when boxing was once regarded as the pinnacle of professional sporting endeavour & not just a lucrative arm of the leisure & entertainment business. This is no whitewash of boxing history. As the chapters show the toughest game has an often murky past. But in its portrayal of the great pugilists & their finest bouts the famous arenas & the colourful characters When Boxing Was Boxing brings to vivid life the atmosphere raw spectacle & sheer excitement of this most brutal yet compelling of sporting theatre. With special features on the sports grassroots its particular customs culture & curiosities & its more lighthearted moments this is an affectionate & wonderfully nostalgic look at a time when boxing really was boxing.
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If Beardy Ardagh is to be believed the trouble begins when a monkey escapes from the grubtown old folks home or when the sun-ripe raisin man decides to give up shrivelled dried grapes & to grow vegetables instead. Whatever the beginning it all ends up with far too many bunny rabbits & a serious problem with paper aeroplanes. Philip Ardagh shows just what it is that would make any sane-minded person avoid visiting Grubtown for business or pleasure at all costs & excactly why fun-loving readers (of all ages) should head straight for a shelf of Grubtown Tales."" ...

China will replace the United States as the world's dominant power. In so doing it will not become more western but the world will become more Chinese. Jacques argues that we cannot understand China in western terms but only through its own history & culture. To this end he introduces a powerful set of ideas including China as a civilization-state the tributary system the Chinese idea of race a very different concept of the state & the principle of contested modernity. First published in 2009 to widespread critical acclaim
- & controversy
- When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World & the Rise of a New Global Order" has sold a quarter of a million copies been translated into eleven languages nominated for two major literary awards & has been the subject of an immensely popular TED talk. In the three years since the first edition was published the book has transformed the debate about China worldwide & proved remarkably prescient. In this greatly expanded & fully updated paperback edition with nearly three-hundred pages of new material backed up by the latest statistical data Martin Jacques renews his assault on conventional thinking about China's ascendancy showing how its impact will be as much political & cultural as economic thereby transforming the world as we know it."

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With this novel Sharon Penman moves to a new set of characters & to 12th Century England & the early civil war between Stephen & his cousin The Empress Made
- A long fight to won the English throne. Stephen was handsome unreliable & beguiling. Maude was courageous beautiful & insanely arrogant. They fought for twenty years & devastated Engl&. Their flair for dramatic events & immense catastrophes made sure that they were never boring.
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The Derbyshire Times" asked its readers for their memories & photographs of their families & friends & many nostalgic contributions were received. These are reproduced here together with images from the " Derbyshire Times" own archives. Some stories are amusing some are emotional particularly when recalling the mining disasters that have occurred over the years with inevitable loss of life. Rescue efforts were often made by the miners with total disregard for their own safety a trait which typifies their character. This book celebrates the lives of those involved in the mining industry who still have a fond & maintained association with it." ...

Remember a time when cricket was cricket? Before millionaire players careered around a floodlit field in glorified pyjamas? When a proper match lasted days rather than the crash bang wallop of the limited-overs game? Modern innovations like Twenty 20 & the IPL have their place in crickets long & glorious story but nothing beats the original
- as celebrated in this wonderfully nostalgic look at the game in bygone years. Looking back to a heyday of long hot summers & classic matches When Cricket Was Cricket fondly recalls an era when it was a more enjoyable & carefree pastime
- for the most part a sport conducted in a spirit of keen competitiveness but fair & thrilling play. Drawing on 100 years of outstanding photographs in the huge Mirrorpix archive this book brings to life an age free of intrusive sponsorship & commercialism when huge crowds swarmed to see the stars of the day in action
- legends such as WG Grace Bradman & Hobbs; famous greats of the post-war era like Sobers Miller & Trueman; & more recent heroes such as Botham Warne Tendulkar & Lara. Ranging from the grandest venues to the humblest village pitches in its depiction of the sports golden years this is the perfect illustrated guide to when it really was cricket!


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