From Dawn to Decadence

History

Jacques Barzun

Europe

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Scott of the Antarctic

David Crane has given us the definitive biography of one of Britain's greatest heroes and explorers. 'It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more!For God's sake look after our people.' These were the final words written in Scott's diary on 29 March 1912, as he lay dying in his tent with Birdie Bowers and Edward Wilson. Oates had taken himself into a blizzard a few days before, and the fifth member of the Polar party, Edgar Evans, had died some ten days previously, worn out by the cold and physical effort of the journey across Antarctica. Since then Scott has been the subject of many books -- many hagiographical, others dismissive and scathing. Yet in all the pages that have been written about him, the personality behind the legend has been forgotten or distorted beyond all recognition. David Crane's magisterial biography, based on years of close and detailed research with the original documents, redresses this completely. By reassessing Scott's life and his substantial scientific achievements, Crane is able to provide a fresh and exciting perspective on both the Discovery expedition of 1901-4 and the Terra Nova expedition of 1910-12. The courage and tragedy of Scott's last journey are only one part of the process, for the scientific enquiry that led up to it transformed the whole nature and ambition of Antarctic exploration. Scott's own voice echoes through the pages. His descriptions of the monumental landscape of Antarctica in all its fatal and icy beauty are breathtaking; his honest, heartfelt letters and diaries give the reader an unforgettable account of the challenges he faced both in his personal life and as a superlative leader of men in possibly the harshest environment on the planet. Written with the full support of Scott's surviving relatives, and with access to the voluminous diaries and records of key participants, including admiring scientists, this definitive biography sets out to reconcile the very private struggles of the man with the very public life of extremes that he led.

CRANE, DAVID

Travel

Past Secrets

They all hide secrets that won't go away....   From the outside, the welcoming, garden-adorned houses of Summer Street are the picture of Irish charm. But on the inside, unexpected and heartbreaking secrets swirl. At house number thirty-two, hardworking, single-mother Faye Reid conceals the truth about her marriage from her fiery daughter, Amber. But Amber, a budding artist, also hides something from her all-too-trusting mother: a relationship with a rock star hopeful for whom she plans to throw away her future. And at number forty-eight, Maggie Maguire arrives at her childhood home to help her sick mother, a welcome distraction from the life she left behind and the startling secret she's hiding -- from herself.   And only become harder to keep...   At thirty-four Summer Street, wise and kind Christie Devlin has the remarkable ability to see into the lives and hearts of others -- and may have the answers when her neighbors' carefully hidden secrets bubble to the surface. But when Christie's own past comes back to haunt her -- posing a threat to her picture-perfect marriage -- this time the answers aren't as clear.

Literature & Fiction

CATHY KELLY

Contemporary

Philip Marsden returns to the remote, fiercely beautiful land whose powerful mythic appeal has fascinated him all his life to explore its legacy of independence, civil war and brutal repression. Twenty years after he first fell in love with Ethiopia, Philip Marsden returns to its stunning landscapes and violent contradictions to trace the stories of the individuals he first met there as a young man. Through interviews with figures closely tied to Mengitsu's Stalinist regime, as well as the everyday people bound up in the country's civil war, its famines and its long tradition of proud independence, the author pieces together a portrait of a nation marked by both terror and beauty, torn between innocence and experience. Part travelogue, part autobiography, The Chains of Heaven will rediscover an Ethiopia that has changed dramatically over the past two decades.

Chains of Heaven

Philip Marsden

Africa

Hoskyns brings a genuine love as well as an outsider's keen eye to the rise and fall of the California scene. . . . This is a riveting story, sensitively told.—Anthony DeCurtis, Contributing Editor, Rolling StoneFrom enduring musical achievements to drug-fueled chaos and bed-hopping antics, the L.A. pop music scene in the sixties and seventies was like no other, and journalist Barney Hoskyns re-creates all the excitement and mayhem. Hotel California brings to life the genesis of Crosby, Stills, and Nash at Joni Mitchell’s house; the Eagles’ backstage fistfights after the success of ""Hotel California""; the drama of David Geffen and the other money men who transformed the L.A. music scene; and more.

Hotel California

Arts & Photography

Barney Hoskyns

Music

England, 1936Estranged from her family in the north, Londoner Alix Richardson dreams of Christmas at Wyncrag, her grandfather's great house above a lake that has frozen for the first time in fifteen years. But she returns to find the house–and her family–still caught in the icy grip of her iron-willed grandmother.As the Richardsons return to the winter wonderland of the frozen north, so too do others. Across the lake, at Grindley Hall, theatre director Hal Grindley comes home from New York with a secret of his own, to find his brothers all too anxious to relieve him of his share in the family business empire, while an enigmatic American film star adds a touch of mysterious glamour to the winter gathering.Against the glittering backdrop of winter parties and skating on the lake, both Alix and Hal have to face disturbing truths about their families, their pasts—and about the two black-shirted men from the south who have come to stay, bringing the long shadows of fascism to this remote corner of England.When one of the Blackshirts is found dead under the ice, the arrival of a Special Branch policeman gives urgency to Alix and Hal's inquiries and casts a sinister light on Lady Caroline's long reign at Wyncrag. But neither realises how dark their families' secrets are–or how a previous generation's tragedy has come back to haunt them...For fans of English sagas and the world of Downton Abbey, A Frozen Lake is an atmospheric, multi-layered story of great families, their eccentricities, and their secrets, set amid a the dramatic landscape of the English Lake District.

Frozen Lake

Elizabeth Edmondson

Collins Complete Artist's Manual

Simon Jennings

Drawing

This exam practice book for AS contains detailed advice and tips on how to improve marks and overall grade. The author is Principal Examiner for the most important AS level Sociology Examining Board. This book gives students much-needed guidance on how to tackle the new-style AS Sociology questions. Exam Practice AS Sociology includes: / Exam questions covering all AS topics / Sudents' answers with hints and tips / 'Don't make these mistakes' sections / 'Key points to remember' sections / 'Questions to try' plus examiner's hints / 'How to score full marks' sections / Answers and guidance at the back.

AS Sociology (A-Level Revision Notes)

Rob Webb

Reference

AS Psychology (A-Level Revision Notes)

Education & Teaching

Cardwell,Mike

Schools & Teaching

This single-volume edition of the complete works of William Shakespeare includes commissioned introductions to each of the plays and poems by a team of academics, including John Jowett and Philip Hobsbaum, with a textual introduction by the Shakespearean scholar Alec Yearling explaining the significance of the Alexander edition. This volume also includes a biography of Shakespeare by Germaine Greer and an introduction to Shakespeare's theatre by Anthony Burgess.

Collins Complete Works of Shakespeare

William. Shakespeare

Dramas & Plays

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