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The A-Z of Curious Flintshire: Strange Stories of Mysteries, Crimes and Eccentrics
by David RoweFlintshire, the northern gateway to Wales, is a county rich in heritage. It is home to ancient artefacts, medieval buildings and country houses, and has had many fascinating residents such as the grand old man of politics, W.E. Gladstone, and the famous naturalist and writer, Thomas Pennant. As with much of Wales, Flintshire is also a place of myth and legends, from missing monks to maids in wells. This wonderful compendium of curious anecdotes and curiosities relates tales from the county’s rich history. Splendidly illustrated, it is great for dipping into, but can equally be enjoyed from cover to cover.
Tea & Antipathy: An American Family in Swinging London
by Anita MillerTea & Antipathy is a delightfully hilarious and true account of one American family's summer in the posh London neighborhood of Knightsbridge in 1965. Capturing the helpless feeling that living in a foreign city often brings, the book recounts how the Millers met a wide variety of memorable characters from all social classes, including Mrs. Grail the Irish cleaning woman, who was convinced that their home was haunted and who hated the English; Basil Goldbrick, a businessman from Manchester; and Basil's clever wife Daisy, who resented Americans. Told in a gently sardonic tone, this story provides insight on what London was like during the Swinging Sixties and what it was like to uproot a family for an adventurous summer abroad.
The LNER Handbook: The London and North Eastern Railway 1923-47
by David WraggRenowned for its express locomotive Mallard setting a world speed record (126mph) for steam locomotives that endures to this day, the London & North Eastern Railway was the second largest of the ‘Big Four’ railway companies to emerge from the 1923 grouping and also the most diverse, with its prestigious high-speed trains from King’s Cross balanced by an intensive suburban and commuter service from Liverpool Street and a high dependence on freight. Noted for its cautious board and thrifty management, the LNER gained a reputation for being poor but honest. Forming part of a series, along with The GWR Handbook, The LMS Handbook and The Southern Railway Handbook, this new edition provides an authoritative and highly detailed reference of information about the LNER.
Life in a Victorian Household
by Pamela HornWhat was it like to live in a Victorian household? What time did the servants have to get up? What was the food like and who cooked it? How did the clothing differ for the different types of servants? How much did the servants get paid? This fascinating book takes you back in time and shows you what it was really like to live in Victorian times, for those both above and below stairs, and what sights and smells would be around you.
The Little Book of Berkshire
by Stuart HyltonDID YOU KNOW?Reading Football Club was founded in 1871, the same year as the FA Cup, and is the oldest football league club south of the River TrentNewbury Racecourse housed a prisoner-of-war camp during the First World WarThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s current coat of arms features three acorn sprigs – one for each of the Middleton children, who were born in BerkshireThe Little Book of Berkshire is an intriguing, fact-packed compendium of places, people and events in the county, from its earliest origins to the present day.Here you can read about the important contributions Berkshire has made to the history of the nation, and meet some of the great men and women – the eccentrics and the scoundrels – with whom its history is littered.Packaged in an easily readable ‘dip-in’ format, visitors and locals alike will find something to amuse, surprise and entertain them in this remarkably engaging little book.
From Night Flak to Hijack: It's a Small World
by Reginald Levy Alex SchiphorstThis is the autobiography of Reginald Levy, a British pilot who reached a total of 25,090 flying hours in over 40 years of civil, military, and commercial aviation. He recounts his training and military operations as an RAF pilot during the Second World War. He flies 44 types of aircraft between 1941 and 1981. He takes part in the Berlin Airlift, and in 1952 joins Sabena airline. In 1972, he is hijacked by Black September terrorists, and plays a heroic part thanks to his professionalism and training. Not only does the book offer an insight into the hardships and camaraderie of the war and of the Cold War, it also gives a first-hand report of a Palestinian terrorist attempt. Two of the Israeli commandos who freed the hostages would go on to become Prime Ministers of Israel—Barak and Netenyahu! The epilogue is provided by his youngest grandson.
Paranormal London
by Neil ArnoldWith almost 2000 years of continuous habitation, it is no surprise that the city of London can boast a fascinating array of strange events and paranormal occurrences. From sightings of big cats such as the Southwark Puma and the Cricklewood Lynx to the terrifying tales of the Highgate Vampire and Spring-Heeled Jack, along with stories of mermaids, dragons, fairies and alien encounters, this enthralling volume draws together a bizarre and intriguing collection of first-hand accounts and long-forgotten archive reports from the capital's history. Richly illustrated with over sixty photographs, Paranormal London will invite the reader to view the city in a whole new light and will delight all those interested in the mysteries of the paranormal.
Special Education in Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Exceptionality
by Richard M. Gargiulo Emily C. BouckSpecial Education in Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Exceptionality offers a comprehensive, engaging, and readable introduction to the dynamic field of special education. Grounded in research and updated to reflect the most current thinking and standards of the field, this book provides students with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs that are crucial to constructing learning environments that allow all students to reach their full potential. Authors Richard M. Gargiulo and Emily C. Bouck encourage a deep awareness and understanding of the "human" side of special education, providing students with a look into the lives of exceptional students and their families, as well as the teachers that work with exceptional persons throughout their lives. The Seventh Edition maintains the broad context and research focus for which the book is known while expanding on current trends and contemporary issues to better serve both pre-service and in-service teachers of exceptional individuals. This title is accompanied by a complete teaching and learning package.
Special Education in Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Exceptionality
by Richard M. Gargiulo Emily C. BouckSpecial Education in Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Exceptionality offers a comprehensive, engaging, and readable introduction to the dynamic field of special education. Grounded in research and updated to reflect the most current thinking and standards of the field, this book provides students with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs that are crucial to constructing learning environments that allow all students to reach their full potential. Authors Richard M. Gargiulo and Emily C. Bouck encourage a deep awareness and understanding of the "human" side of special education, providing students with a look into the lives of exceptional students and their families, as well as the teachers that work with exceptional persons throughout their lives. The Seventh Edition maintains the broad context and research focus for which the book is known while expanding on current trends and contemporary issues to better serve both pre-service and in-service teachers of exceptional individuals. This title is accompanied by a complete teaching and learning package.
Robin Hood: Outlaw or Greenwood Myth
by Fran Doel Geoff DoelFirst mentioned by William Langland in the late fourteenth century, Robin Hood comes down to us through ballads and folksongs, old chronicles and plays, medieval allusions, folklore and place names. Today Robin Hood folk songs are found in the USA as well as in England and Scotland, and place names and traditions are widely located in England. The earliest stories are centred on Barnsdale in Yorkshire, but later the emphasis shifts to Nottingham and Sherwood Forest. Originally a yeoman, Robin was upgraded to aristocrat in the sixteenth century, but he remains essentially a champion of the poor and oppressed and a social nonconformer. How far Robin Hood was based on a historical character and how far he is an archetypal outlaw or a Greenwood myth (who must withdraw from society and commune with nature) is the subject of the Doels' wide-ranging study. This new edition is complete with an updated gazetteer of Robin Hood sites and an annotated filmography. It includes almost 50 illustrations (including performances by present-day mummers).
The Hop Bin: An Anthology of Hop Picking in Kent and East Sussex
by Fran Doel Geoff DoelFor 400 years Kent was vividly associated with the cultivation of hops. The harvesting of the hop was done by an itinerant workforce drawn mainly from London’s east end, and gypsies coming from as far away as Ireland. Whole families were involved for women and children were allowed to pick on the fields, the little ones picking into umbrellas or boxes; men who had jobs came down at weekends. For the east enders it was an annual working holiday in the countryside. This book evokes the bygone world of hopping through a fascinating illustrated selection of tales, songs, anecdotes and social records covering 400 years of local history, featuring both the ‘rose-tinted’ image and the harsher reality of a distinctive aspect of Kentish life.
The Story of Leeds
by David ThorntonA richly illustrated history that explores every aspect of life in Leeds. This new history of Leeds covers all the main political, social and economic developments of the city: The Harrying of the North devastated the surrounding area in 1069; the Civil War saw a battle fought in the town itself; cholera and typhus epidemics raged in the nineteenth century; the building of the Middleton Railway in 1758 established the oldest railway in the world; and Richard Oastler, the Factory King, launched the campaign for the Ten Hour Bill in the Leeds Mercury. Due emphasis is given to the place of the wool textile industry, the principal industry until the twentieth century. The story is brought right up to date, as are recent changes in the townscape. An intriguing look at this great city’s remarkable history.
The Little Book of Hurling
by Seamus KingIreland's love affair with Gaelic Games in general, and Hurling in particular, has never dimmed. Through the lean days of hunger and emigration, through the champagne-mojito-flavoured years of the Celtic Tiger and on after it slunk away with its tail between its legs, Ireland's love for ‘our games’ has endured. Fact-packed but light-hearted in style, this reliable reference book and a quirky guide reveals little-known facts, classic matches and amusing anecdotes, alongside a general history of the game. This is a book that can be dipped into time and time again to reveal something new about our ancient game.
Mutiny or Murder?: The Bloodsoaked Voyage of the Chapman Convict Ship
by Conor ReidyOn 15 March 1817 the convict ship the Chapman departed from Cork with 200 male prisoners on board. When it dropped anchor off Sydney Cove four months later, its prison doors opened to reveal 160 gaunt and brutalised men. Twelve were dead and twenty-eight lay wounded in the hospital below deck. As officials pieced together the horrors of the voyage many questions arose. Why did Michael Collins claim that his fellow convicts conspired to take the ship? Why was Captain Drake unable to rein in the violent and sadistic Third Mate Baxter? Was there really an attempted mutiny on the Chapman? Or was this cold-blooded murder? Using daily journals from the crew, detailed testimony from several convicts and official colonial government correspondence, this book unravels what happened during those four months at sea. Tarnished by intrigue, suspicion and mutual hatred, this is the story of one of the darkest episodes in the history of penal transportation between Ireland and Australia.
Valour: The History of the Gurkhas
by E D SmithSince the short and bloody war between Nepal and Britain in 1814-15, Gurkha volunteers, ever mindful of the their motto, 'It is better to die than be a coward', have fought and died for Britain, including in recent years in the Falklands, Afghanistan and Iraq. In the Second World War an astonishing quarter of a million Gurkhas fought aginst Germany and Japan. They have been awarded thirteen Victoria Crosses. Includes detailed appendices include all regimental changes and battle honours.
A Derby Boy
by Anton RipponAnton Rippon is a Derby boy through and through. He was born just before Christmas 1944, his entrance into the world hastened after his mother fell over a milk churn in the blackout. At the time of his birth, just down the road a Derby Corporation bus driver was recapturing an escaped German prisoner of war. Despite his dramatic entrance into Derby life, Anton survived to become one of the city's best-known writers and personalities with a string of books to his name and a popular weekly column in 'The Derby Evening Telegraph'. 'A Derby Boy' is a collection of Anton's reminiscences of childhood, teenage years and his introduction to the bustling world of work. Nostalgia abounds with tales of family, schooldays, trips to theatres and cinemas, shops and streets, pubs and clubs, sporting life and national events. These memories are recalled with humour and are sure to strike a chord with a great many Derbeians. Tales of mad butchers to dodgy coalmen, eccentric schoolteachers and odd publicans, illegal gambling and irate undertakers combine with his family's often tragic story to open up a new perpective on life in Derby over four generations.
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America
by Kathleen DuValPULITZER PRIZE WINNER • &“A magisterial overview of a thousand years of Native American history&” (The New York Review of Books), from the rise of ancient cities more than a thousand years ago to fights for sovereignty that continue todayWINNER OF THE BANCROFT PRIZE, THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE, AND THE MARK LYNTON HISTORY PRIZE Long before the colonization of North America, Indigenous Americans built diverse civilizations and adapted to a changing world in ways that reverberated globally. And, as award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal vividly recounts, when Europeans did arrive, no civilization came to a halt because of a few wandering explorers, even when the strangers came well armed.A millennium ago, North American cities rivaled urban centers around the world in size. Then, following a period of climate change and instability, numerous smaller nations emerged, moving away from rather than toward urbanization. From this urban past, egalitarian government structures, diplomacy, and complex economies spread across North America. So, when Europeans showed up in the sixteenth century, they encountered societies they did not understand—those having developed differently from their own—and whose power they often underestimated.For centuries afterward, Indigenous people maintained an upper hand and used Europeans in pursuit of their own interests. In Native Nations, we see how Mohawks closely controlled trade with the Dutch—and influenced global markets—and how Quapaws manipulated French colonists. Power dynamics shifted after the American Revolution, but Indigenous people continued to command much of the continent&’s land and resources. Shawnee brothers Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa forged new alliances and encouraged a controversial new definition of Native identity to attempt to wall off U.S. ambitions. The Cherokees created institutions to assert their sovereignty on the global stage, and the Kiowas used their power in the west to regulate the passage of white settlers across their territory.In this important addition to the growing tradition of North American history centered on Indigenous nations, Kathleen DuVal shows how the definitions of power and means of exerting it shifted over time, but the sovereignty and influence of Native peoples remained a constant—and will continue far into the future.&“An essential American history&”—The Wall Street Journal
The Da Vinci Code: Featuring Robert Langdon (Robert Langdon #2)
by Dan BrownTHE #1 WORLDWIDE BESTSELLING PHENOMENON, WITH MORE THAN 85 MILLION COPIES SOLD&“Blockbuster perfection . . . a gleefully erudite suspense novel.&” —The New York Times&“A pulse-quickening, brain-teasing adventure.&” —PeopleWhile in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever.Robert Langdon returns in The Lost Symbol, Inferno, Origin, and The Secret of Secrets (coming soon)!
James (Pulitzer Prize Winner): A Novel
by Percival EverettPULITZER PRIZE WINNER • #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER • A LOS ANGELES TIMES BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE LAST 30 YEARS In development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg • A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, LA Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, TIME, and more. "Genius"—The Atlantic • "A masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own."—Chicago Tribune • "A provocative, enlightening literary work of art."—The Boston Globe • "Everett&’s most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful."—The New York TimesWhen Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim&’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.
Journey of Awakening: A Meditator's Guidebook
by Ram DassFind the practice that&’s right for you with this exploration of the many paths of meditation—from mantra, prayer, singing, visualizations, and &“just sitting&” to movement meditations such as tai chi &“Everyone has experienced a moment of pure awareness. A moment without thinking &‘I am aware&’ or &‘that is a tree.&’ Such moments bring a sense of rightness, of clarity, of being at one. Such moments are the essence of meditation.&”—Ram Dass Ram Dass is an American psychologist and spiritual teacher who has studied and practiced meditation for many years. Here he shares his understanding and suggests how you can find methods suitable for you. He illuminates the stages and benefits of meditative practice, and provides wise and often humorous advice on overcoming difficulties along the way.
The Wealth of Shadows: A Novel
by Graham MooreNATIONAL BESTSELLER • &“A thriller of a different kind—with an unlikely band of economists and bureaucrats working in the shadows to save the world.&”—Charles Frazier, New York Times bestselling author of Cold MountainAn ordinary man joins a secret mission to bring down the Nazi war machine by crashing their economy in this thrilling novel based on a true story, from the Academy Award–winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and bestselling author of The Last Days of Night.1939. Ansel Luxford has everything a person could want—a comfortable career, a brilliant spouse, a beautiful new baby. But he is obsessed by a belief that Europe is on the precipice of a war that will grow to consume the world. The United States is officially proclaiming neutrality in any foreign conflict, but when Ansel is offered an opportunity to move to Washington, D.C., to join a clandestine project within the Treasury Department that is working to undermine Nazi Germany, he uproots his family overnight and takes on the challenge of a lifetime.How can they defeat the enemy without firing a bullet?To thwart the Nazis, Ansel and his team invent a powerful new theater of battle: economic warfare. Money is a dangerous weapon, and Ansel&’s efforts will plunge him into a world full of peril and deceit. He will crisscross the globe to broker backroom deals, undertake daring heists, and spar with titans of industry like J.P. Morgan and the century&’s greatest economic mind, Britain&’s John Maynard Keynes. When Ansel&’s wife takes a job with the FBI to hunt for spies within the government, the need for subterfuge extends to the home front. And Ansel discovers that he might be closer to those spies than he could ever imagine.The Wealth of Shadows is a mind-expanding historical novel about the mysterious powers of money, the lies worth telling to defeat evil, and a hidden war that shaped the modern world.
Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life
by Jason RobertsWINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • An epic, extraordinary account of scientific rivalry and obsession in the quest to survey all of life on Earth—a competition &“with continued repercussions for Western views of race. [This] vivid double biography is a passionate corrective&” (The New York Times Book Review, Editors&’ Choice).&“[A] vibrant scientific saga . . . at once important, outrageous, enlightening, entertaining, enduring, and still evolving.&”—Dava Sobel, author of LongitudeFINALIST FOR THE PEN/E.O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD • A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEARIn the eighteenth century, two men—exact contemporaries and polar opposites—dedicated their lives to the same daunting task: identifying and describing all life on Earth. Carl Linnaeus, a pious Swedish doctor with a huckster&’s flair, believed that life belonged in tidy, static categories. Georges-Louis de Buffon, an aristocratic polymath and keeper of France&’s royal garden, viewed life as a dynamic swirl of complexities. Each began his task believing it to be difficult but not impossible: How could the planet possibly hold more than a few thousand species—or as many could fit on Noah&’s Ark?Both fell far short of their goal, but in the process they articulated starkly divergent views on nature, the future of the Earth, and humanity itself. Linnaeus gave the world such concepts as mammal, primate, and Homo sapiens, but he also denied that species change and he promulgated racist pseudoscience. Buffon formulated early prototypes of evolution and genetics, warned of global climate change, and argued passionately against prejudice. The clash of their conflicting worldviews continued well after their deaths, as their successors contended for dominance in the emerging science that came to be called biology.In Every Living Thing, Jason Roberts weaves a sweeping, unforgettable narrative spell, exploring the intertwined lives and legacies of Linnaeus and Buffon—as well as the groundbreaking, often fatal adventures of their acolytes—to trace an arc of insight and discovery that extends across three centuries into the present day.
The Song That Called Them Home
by David A. RobertsonFrom the award-winning author of On the Trapline comes a cinematic fantasy-adventure story inspired by Indigenous legends.One summer day, Lauren and her little brother, James, go on a trip to the land with their Moshom (grandfather). After they've arrived, the children decide to fish for dinner while Moshom naps. They are in their canoe in the middle of the lake when the water around them begins to swirl and crash. They are thrown overboard and when Lauren surfaces she sees her brother being pulled away by the Memekwesewak — creatures who live in and around water and like to interfere with humans. Lauren must follow the Memekwesewak through a portal and along a watery path to find and bring back James. But when she finally comes upon her brother, she too feels the lure of the Memekwesewak&’s song. Something even stronger must pull them back home.
Carole Lombard: Twentieth-Century Star
by Michelle Morgan‘An entertaining and lucid biography’ We Are Cult?CAROLE LOMBARD was the very opposite of the typical 1930s starlet. A no-nonsense woman, she worked hard, took no prisoners and had a great passion for life. As a result, she became Hollywood’s highest-paid star. From the outside, Carole’s life was one of great glamour and fun, yet privately she endured much heartache. As a child, she was moved across the country, away from her beloved father. She then began a film career, only to have it cut short after a devastating car accident. After she picked herself back up, she was rocked by the accidental shooting of her lover; a failed marriage to actor William Powell; and the sorrow of infertility during her marriage to Hollywood’s King, Clark Gable.
Folklore of Cornwall
by Tony Deane Tony ShawStanding alone at the bottom tip of England and despite the enormous influx of tourists it receives each year, Cornwall boasts many unique traditions. This volume touches on the wide variety of legends, songs and stories and their relationship with the rugged landscape: from standing stones and tales of sea-monsters and mermaids to ghosts, fairies and giants. The book looks at pagan ceremonies and old traditions, and the very Cornish love of singing. It further discusses the Cornish tongue, and the old language of Cornwall. And, of course, no study of Cornwall would be complete without some consideration of King Arthur and his legacy upon the folklore of the county.