{"title":"Humanities","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"waterloo","title":"Waterloo","description":"A masterly and concise reinterpretation of one of the seminal events in modern history, by one of the world's foremost military historians. The battle on Sunday 18th June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium was to be Napoleon's greatest triumph - but it ended in one of the greatest military upsets of all time. Waterloo became a legend overnight and remains one of the most argued-over battles in history. Lord Wellington immortally dubbed it 'the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life,' but the British victory became iconic, a triumph of endurance that ensured a 19th century world in which Britain played the key role; it was also a defining moment for the French, bringing Napoleon I's reign to an end and closing the second Hundred Years' War. Alongside the great drama and powerful characters, Jeremy Black gives readers a fascinating look at where this battle belongs in the larger story of the tectonic power shifts in Europe, and the story of military modernisation. The result is a revelatory view of Waterloo's place in the broader historical arc.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":1215479775243,"sku":"9781848312333N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/getImage_13a68ddc-347e-4f04-a56d-a4e6d5fc927d.jpg?v=1510781169"},{"product_id":"islam","title":"Islam","description":"In the public mind, Islam is a religion of extremes: it is the world's fastest growing faith; more than three-quarters of the world's refugees are Islamic; it has produced government by authoritarian monarchies in Saudi Arabia and ultra-republicans in Iran. Whether we are reading about civil war in Algeria or Afghanistan, the struggle for the soul of Turkey, or political turmoil in Pakistan or Malaysia, the Islamic context permeates all these situations. Karen Armstrong's elegant and concise book traces how Islam grew from the other religions of the book, Judaism and Christianity; introduces us to the character of Muhammed; and demonstrates that for much of its history, the religion has been a force for enlightenment that promoted liberties for women and allowed the arts and sciences to flourish. ISLAM shows how this progressive legacy is today often set aside as the faith struggles to come to terms with the economic and political weakness of most of its believers and with the forces of modernity itself.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":1217588690955,"sku":"9781842125830N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/getImage_ca45dc26-fb07-449c-9125-6d7e2ac6afd6.jpg?v=1510784326"},{"product_id":"hochschild-to-end-all-wars","title":"To End All Wars","description":"In this brilliant new work of history, Adam Hochschild follows a group of characters connected by blood ties, close friendships or personal enmities and shows how the war exposed the divisions between them. They include the brother and sister whose views on the war could not have been more diametrically opposed -- he a career soldier, she a committed pacifist; the politician whose job was to send young men who refused conscription to prison, yet whose godson was one of those young men and the suffragette sisters, one of whom passionately supported the war and one of whom was equally passionately opposed to it. Through these divided families, Hochschild paints a vivid picture of Britain poised between the optimism of the Victorian era and the era of Auschwitz and the Gulag -- a divided country, fractured by the seismic upheaval of the Great War and its aftermath.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":1218222358539,"sku":"9780330447447N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/getImage_29431577-8a43-4adf-b919-22f938ce9bde.jpg?v=1510785456"},{"product_id":"meditations","title":"Meditations","description":"A translation of one of the most important texts of Western philosophy.  Few ancient works have been as influential as the MEDITATIONS of Marcus Aurelius. A series of spiritual exercises filled with wisdom, practical guidance, and profound understanding of human behaviour, it remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. Marcus's insights and advice - on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity and interacting with others - have made the MEDITATIONS required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style.  In Gregory Hays's new translation - the first in thirty-five years - Marcus's thoughts speak with a new immediacy. In fresh and unencumbered English, Hays vividly conveys the spareness and compression of the original Greek text. Never before have Marcus's insights been so directly and powerfully presented.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":1220940005387,"sku":"9780753820162N","price":5.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/getImage_a1db1a25-ddfd-4302-8e76-f241c6e16a9f.jpg?v=1510790119"},{"product_id":"ian-flemings-commandos-1","title":"Ian Fleming's Commandos","description":"In 1942, Lieutenant-Commander Ian Fleming was personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence - the dynamic figure behind James Bond's fictional chief, 'M'. Here, Fleming had a brilliant idea: why not set up a unit of authorised looters, men who would go in hard with the front-line troops and steal enemy intelligence? Known as '30 Assault Unit', they took part in the major campaigns of the Second World War, landing on the Normandy beaches and helping to liberate Paris. 30AU's final amazing coup was to seize the entire archives of the German Navy - thirty tons of documents. Ian Fleming flew out in person to get the loot back to Britain, where it was combed for evidence to use in the Nuremburg trials. In this gripping and highly enjoyable book, Nicholas Rankin, author of the best-selling \"Churchill's Wizards\", puts 30 Assault Unit's fascinating story in a strategic and intelligence context. He also argues that Ian Fleming's Second World War service was one of the most significant periods of his life - without this, the most popular spy fiction of the twentieth century would not have been written.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":1221489328139,"sku":"9780571250639N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/getImage_46e0422d-e026-4073-aad6-324878edabac.jpg?v=1510790950"},{"product_id":"revolution","title":"Revolution","description":"Product Description\n\nThe fourth volume of Peter Ackroyd's enthralling History of England, beginning in 1688 with a revolution and ending in 1815 with a famous victory.\nIn Revolution, Peter Ackroyd takes readers from William of Orange's accession following the Glorious Revolution to the Regency, when the flamboyant Prince of Wales ruled in the stead of his mad father, George III, and England was--again--at war with France, a war that would end with the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.\nLate Stuart and Georgian England marked the creation of the great pillars of the English state. The Bank of England was founded, as was the stock exchange; the Church of England was fully established as the guardian of the spiritual life of the nation, and parliament became the sovereign body of the nation with responsibilities and duties far beyond those of the monarch. It was a revolutionary era in English letters, too, a time in which newspapers first flourished and the English novel was born. It was an era in which coffee houses and playhouses boomed, gin flowed freely, and in which shops, as we know them today, began to proliferate in towns and villages. But it was also a time of extraordinary and unprecedented technological innovation, which saw England utterly and irrevocably transformed from a country of blue skies and farmland to one of soot and steel and coal.\nAckroyd is the author of the first, second, and third volumes of his history of England, Foundation, Tudors, and Rebellion.\n\nReview\n\nThrough it all, the author is a delightful guide. All chroniclers of popular history should be required to study Ackroyd's writing, his methodology, and the totality of his treatment of his subjects. --Kirkus Starred Review\n\"Ackroyd (Rebellion) continues his fast-paced overview of the tumultuous English monarchy with the fourth volume in the series, an account of the long 18th century (1688-1815) that covers the evolution of literature, trade, technology, and politics...Ackroyd offers suitable background on the momentous events and key figures that helped create modern Britain.\" --Publishers Weekly\nUK Praise for Revolution\n\"[T]he author eschews the detached third person preferred by stuffy professionals, favouring instead a more intimate 'you' that brings the reader into the dark alleys of industrial towns.\" --The Times\n\nPraise for Peter Ackroyd\nMarvelously erudite and staggeringly industrious. --Los Angeles Times\n\nFor Ackroyd, the past isn't merely past; it's alive. --The Boston Globe\nAckroyd is a medium through which the obscured voices of the past are channeled. --Newsday\n\nAbout the Author\n\nPETER ACKROYD is an award-winning novelist, as well as a broadcaster, biographer, poet, and historian. He is the author of the acclaimed \u003ci\u003eLondon: The Biography\u003c\/i\u003e, and the first, second, and third volumes of his history of England, \u003ci\u003e Foundation, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eTudors, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRebellion\u003c\/i\u003e. He holds a CBE for services to literature and lives in Lond","brand":"Thomas Dunne Books","offers":[{"title":"New - Hardback","offer_id":32679008174165,"sku":"9781250003645N","price":11.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781250003645.jpg?v=1598608943"},{"product_id":"pocket-essentials-short-history-of-robin-hood","title":"Pocket Essentials: Short History of Robin Hood","description":"Was there ever a real Robin Hood? Nick Rennison looks at the candidates who have been proposed over the years, from petty thieves to Knights Templar, before moving on to examine the many ways in which Robin Hood has been portrayed in literature and on the screen. He began as the hero of dozens of late medieval ballad, and more recently has been portrayed as everything from proto-socialist man of the people to anarchist thug. As the twenty-first century nears the end of its second decade, Robin Hood is still very much with us.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":32679011975253,"sku":"9780857303264N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780857303264.jpg?v=1598609107"},{"product_id":"world-mythology-in-bite-sized-chunks","title":"World Mythology in Bite-sized Chunks","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA masterful introduction to world mythology\u003c\/strong\u003e, shedding light on the impact it has had on cultures past and present and untangling the complex web of deities, monsters and myths. From the signs of the zodiac to literature and art, the influence of world mythology can still be seen in everyday life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith a stunning array of fascinating tales, \u003cem\u003eWorld Mythology in Bite-sized Chunks\u003c\/em\u003e gets to grips with the ancient stories of:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAboriginal\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSumerian\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEgyptian\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMesoamerican\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMaori\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGreek\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRoman\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIndian\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNorse\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJapanese cultures\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEncompassing legends from the most diverse societies and the most ancient cultures from across the globe. Learn about why Odin, the Father of the Gods in Norse mythology, was so keen to lose an eye, the importance of the Osiris myth of Ancient Egypt, and much more besides.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEntertaining, authoritative and incisive, this is an enlightening journey into the fascinating world of mythology.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Michael O'Mara Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32679018365013,"sku":"9781782435754N","price":4.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781782435754.jpg?v=1598609397"},{"product_id":"in-search-of-the-lost-chord-1967-the-hippie-idea","title":"In Search of the Lost Chord: 1967 \u0026 the Hippie Idea","description":"'Danny Goldberg is probably one of the purest, most reasonable\nguides you could ask for to 1967.' Ex-Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham. \n\n\n'Weaves together rollicking, rousing, wonderfully colourful and\ndisparate narratives to remind us how the energies and aspirations of the\ncounterculture were intertwined with protest and reform ... mesmerising.' The Nation\n\n\nIt was\nthe year that saw the release of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club\nBand, and of debut albums from the Doors, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix and\nJanis Joplin. The year of the Summer of Love and LSD; the Monterey Pop Festival\nand Black Power; Muhammad Ali's conviction for draft avoidance and Martin\nLuther King Jr's public opposition to war in Vietnam.\n\n\nOn its 50th anniversary, music business veteran\nDanny Goldberg analyses 1967, looking not only at the political influences, but\nalso the spiritual, musical and psychedelic movements that defined the era,\nproviding a unique perspective on how and why its legacy lives on today.\n\n\nExhaustively researched and informed by\ninterviews including Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary and Gil Scott-Heron, In\nSearch of the Lost Chord is the synthesis of a fascinating and\ncomplicated period in our social and countercultural history that was about so\nmuch more than sex, drugs and rock n roll.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":32679024853077,"sku":"9781785783371N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781785783371.jpg?v=1598609699"},{"product_id":"borgias","title":"Borgias","description":"The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. \n\nThe powerful, voracious Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI, was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power and fame - Lucrezia Borgia, his daughter, whose husband was famously murdered by her brother, and that brother, Cesare, who served as the model for Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. Notorious for seizing power, wealth, land, and titles through bribery, marriage, and murder, the dynasty's dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to its occupation of the highest position in Renaissance society forms a gripping tale.\n\nErudite, witty, and always insightful, Hibbert removes the layers of myth around the Borgia family and creates a portrait alive with his superb sense of character and place.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":32679025016917,"sku":"9781849019941N","price":5.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781849019941.jpg?v=1598609713"},{"product_id":"gibraltar-the-greatest-siege-in-british-history","title":"Gibraltar- The Greatest Siege in British History","description":"For over three and a half years, from 1779 to 1783, the tiny territory of Gibraltar was besieged and blockaded, on land and at sea, by the overwhelming forces of Spain and France. It became the longest siege in British history, and the obsession with saving Gibraltar was blamed for the loss of the American colonies in the War of Independence. \n\nLocated between the Mediterranean and Atlantic, on the very edge of Europe, Gibraltar was a place of varied nationalities, languages, religions and social classes. During the siege, thousands of soldiers, civilians and their families withstood terrifying bombardments, starvation and diseases. Very ordinary people lived through extraordinary events, from shipwrecks and naval battles to an attempted invasion of England and a daring sortie out of Gibraltar into Spain. Deadly innovations included red-hot shot, shrapnel shells and a barrage from immense floating batteries.\n\nThis is military and social history at its best, a story of soldiers, sailors and civilians, with royalty and rank-and-file, workmen and engineers, priests, prisoners-of-war, spies and surgeons, all caught up in a struggle for a fortress located on little more than two square miles of awe-inspiring rock. Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History is an epic page-turner, rich in dramatic human detail - a tale of courage, endurance, intrigue, desperation, greed and humanity. The everyday experiences of all those involved are brought vividly to life with eyewitness accounts and expert research.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":32679048544341,"sku":"9780349142395N","price":7.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780349142395.jpg?v=1598610543"},{"product_id":"introducing-existentialism-a-graphic-guide","title":"Introducing Existentialism. A Graphic Guide","description":"Richard Appignanesi goes on a personal quest of Existentialism in its original state. He begins with Camus' question of suicide: 'Must life have a meaning to be lived?' Is absurdity at the heart of Existentialism? Or is Sartre right: is Existentialism 'the least scandalous, most technically austere' of all teachings? This brilliant Graphic Guide explores Existentialism in a unique comic book-style.","brand":"Icon Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32679051690069,"sku":"9781848316133N","price":4.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781848316133.jpg?v=1598610700"},{"product_id":"russia-of-the-tsars","title":"Russia of the Tsars","description":"The History Files series presents the people, events and ideas that have shaped our world, through the lens of recent research. Each title covers a single topic and is illustrated with telling images from out-of-the-way sources and a collection of facsimile documents, bringing the past to life in an accessible yet authoritative format.  Peter Waldron tells the stories of all the Russians, exploring the vast expanses of the empire and the lives of the rural peasants, describing the ways in which Russia took on, or rejected, Western influences, and recounting how the empire was built and maintained. He examines the great flowering of Russian art, literature and music, the pressures for and against reform, and finally the fall of the Tsarist regime in a cataclysm of violence. The facsimile documents bring the period alive, as do the poignant quotations taken from first-hand accounts, detailed box features and over 150 evocative images.","brand":"Thames \u0026 Hudson Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32679054409813,"sku":"9780500289297N","price":7.76,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780500289297.jpg?v=1598610826"},{"product_id":"on-this-day","title":"On This Day","description":"A day-by-day collection of over 6000 events, trivia, quotations, news items, anniversaries and birthdays for every day of the year.\n\n \n\nPresented as headlines and articles, quotes and diary entries, this book will tell you on what day Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, when women were given the right to vote and what happened at the first modern Olympic Games.   \n\n \n\nSpanning 2,000 years of history, and updated for its 2018 publication, On This Day is a fun, fact-filled and accessible history book for the whole family.","brand":"Octopus Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32679063552085,"sku":"9780753733387N","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780753733387.jpg?v=1598611084"},{"product_id":"i-think-therefore-i-am","title":"I Think, Therefore I Am","description":"Philosophers certainly like to make life sound awfully complicated,  whether they're wondering if a falling tree still makes a sound if  there's nobody around to hear it (Berkeley) or declaring that everything  in the universe is in a state of flux (Heraclitus). But is philosophy  really so complicated? And is it really as irrelevant as it sometimes  seems? I Think, Therefore I Am is the ideal way to take the fear  out of philosophy. Written in an accessible and highly entertaining  style, this book explains how and why philosophy began,  and how, from Greek democracy to Communism, the ways in which we live,  learn, argue, vote and even spend our money have their origins in  philosophical thought. Covering the biggest names, including Socrates, Seneca, St Augustine, Descartes, Marx and Nietzsche, I Think Therefore I Am provides a handle for all the main -isms and -ologies.","brand":"Michael O'Mara Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32679067615317,"sku":"9781782430247N","price":4.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781782430247.jpg?v=1598611257"},{"product_id":"pax-romana-war-peace-conquest-in-the-roman-world","title":"Pax Romana: War, Peace \u0026 Conquest in the Roman World","description":"The Pax Romana is famous for having provided a remarkable period of peace and stability, rarely seen before or since. Yet the Romans were first and foremost conquerors, imperialists who took by force a vast empire stretching from the Euphrates in the east to the Atlantic coast in the west. Their peace meant Roman victory and was brought about by strength and dominance rather than co-existence with neighbours. The Romans were aggressive and ruthless, and during the creation of their empire millions died or were enslaved.\n\nBut the Pax Romana was real, not merely the boast of emperors, and some of the regions in the Empire have never again lived for so many generations free from major wars. So what exactly was the Pax Romana and what did it mean for the people who found themselves brought under Roman rule?\n\nAcclaimed historian Adrian Goldsworthy tells the story of the creation of the Empire, revealing how and why the Romans came to control so much of the world and asking whether the favourable image of the Roman peace is a true one. He chronicles the many rebellions by the conquered, and describes why these broke out and why most failed. At the same time, he explains that hostility was only one reaction to the arrival of Rome, and from the start there was alliance, collaboration and even enthusiasm for joining the invaders, all of which increased as resistance movements faded away.\n\nA ground-breaking and comprehensive history of the Roman Peace, Pax Romana takes the reader on a journey from the bloody conquests of an aggressive Republic through the age of Caesar and Augustus to the golden age of peace and prosperity under diligent emperors like Marcus Aurelius, offering a balanced and nuanced reappraisal of life in the Roman Empire.","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32679079051349,"sku":"9781474604376N","price":6.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781474604376.jpg?v=1598611708"},{"product_id":"witches-salem-1692-a-history","title":"Witches: Salem, 1692 A History","description":"'An oppressive, forensic, psychological thriller: J.K. Rowling meets Antony Beevor, Stephen King and Marina Warner ... Schiff's writing is to die for' THE TIMES\n\nIt began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a  minister's niece started to scream and convulse. It ended less than a  year later, but not before panic had infected the entire colony,  nineteen men and women had been hanged, and a band of adolescent girls  had brought Massachusetts to its knees.\n\nVividly capturing the dark, unsettled atmosphere of seventeenth-century America, Stacy Schiff's magisterial history draws us into this anxious time. She shows us how quickly the epidemic of accusations, trials, and executions span out of control. Above all, Schiff's astonishing research reveals details and complexity that few other historians have seen.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":32679082917973,"sku":"9781474602266N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781474602266.jpg?v=1598611840"},{"product_id":"willoughbyland-englands-lost-colony","title":"Willoughbyland- England's Lost Colony","description":"\n\n\nAt the beginning of the 1650s, wrecked by plague and civil war, England was in ruins. Yet shimmering on the horizon was a vision of paradise called Willoughbyland.\nWhen Sir Walter Raleigh set out to South America to find the legendary city of El Dorado, he paved the way for an endless series of adventurers who would struggle against the harsh reality of South America's wild jungles. Six decades later, when a group of English gentlemen expelled from England chose to establish a new colony there, they named the settlement in honor of its founder--Sir Francis Willoughby. \nLocated in the lush landscape between the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, in what is now Suriname, Willougbyland experienced one of colonialism's most spectacular rises. But as planters and traders followed explorers, and mercenaries and soldiers followed political dissidents, the one-time paradise became a place of terror and cruelty, of sugar and slavery. A microcosm of the history of empire, this is the hitherto untold story of that fateful colony.\n\n\nReview\n\n\n\"Parker has trawled the letters and literature, and traveled out to Suriname, and the result is a miniature masterpiece....this is a truly extraordinary tale and, in Parker's hands, it's beautifully told. With great wit and scholarship he reveals ? just for a moment ? a cruel and curious world, before it vanishes again beneath the trees.\" --The Spectator\n\"An excellent account...Willoughbyland is popular history at its best.\" --Literary Review (UK)\n\"The author has written several other highly enjoyable histories of the Caribbean, and he is on fine and colourful form here.\" (Sunday Times)\n\"A fascinating tale...Matthew Parker is an entertaining historian who has produced a lively account.\" --Daily Express (UK)\n\"[T]he long-obscure but intriguing Willoughbyland can now console itself that it has, in this frequently fascinating book, a history it deserves.\" --The Times (UK)\n\"An odd, bygone moment in England's political dreaming, rendered expertly.\" --Sunday Express (UK)\n\n\nAuthor Bio\n\n\nMATTHEW PARKER spent part of his childhood in the West Indies. He has written for many national newspapers in the UK, contributed to numerous TV and radio programs, and lectured around the world. His bestselling and critically-acclaimed books include\nMonte Cassino, Panama Fever, The Sugar Barons,  and\nGoldeneye, examining the importance of Jamaica in Ian Fleming's James Bond novels.","brand":"Thomas Dunne Books","offers":[{"title":"New - Hardback","offer_id":32679086162005,"sku":"9781250112835N","price":10.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781250112835.jpg?v=1598611985"},{"product_id":"lonely-courage-the-true-story-of-the-soe-heroines-who-fought-to-free-nazi-occupied-france","title":"Lonely Courage: The true story of the SOE heroines who fought to free Nazi-occupied France","description":"'A fascinating, superbly researched and revelatory book - told with tremendous pace and excitement' William Boyd\n'Rick Stroud writes brilliantly about war ... an astonishing book ... a wonderful story' Ben Macintyre\n'Enthralling, edge-of-smart exciting and also heart-breaking...Stroud's book is a reminder and fitting testimony to their immense bravery' James Holland\n\n On 18 June 1940 General de Gaulle broadcast from London to his countrymen in France about the catastrophe that had overtaken their nation - the victory of the invading Germans. He declared: 'The flame of French Resistance must not and will not be extinguished.' The Resistance began almost immediately. At first it was made up of small, disorganised groups working in isolation. But by the time of the liberation in 1944 around 400,000 French citizens, nearly 2 per cent of the population, were involved.\n\n The Special Operations Executive (SOE) set up by Winston Churchill in 1941 saw its role in France as helping the Resistance by recruiting and organising guerrilla fighters; supplying and training them; and then disrupting the invaders by any means necessary. The aim of this work was to prepare for the invasion of Europe by Allied forces and the eventual liberation of France. It was soon decided that women would play a vital role.\n\n There were 39 female agents recruited from all walks of life, ranging from a London shop assistant to a Polish aristocrat. They all knew France well, were fluent in French and were prepared to sacrifice everything. The women trained alongside the men, learning how to disappear into the background, how to operate a radio transmitter and how to kill a man with their bare hands. Once trained, they were infiltrated behind the lines; some went on to lead thousands of Resistance fighters, while others were arrested, brutally interrogated and sent to concentration camps.  \n\nLonely Courage tells their remarkable story and sheds new light on what life was really like for these brave women.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":32679102087253,"sku":"9781471155666N","price":5.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781471155666.jpg?v=1598612244"},{"product_id":"greasepaint-cordite","title":"Greasepaint \u0026 Cordite","description":"Once the Second World War had broken out, it soon became clear that morale would be crucial in the military effectiveness of our armed forces. And so was born the Entertainment National Services Association, or ENSA - to send the nation's best singers, dancers, musicians and comedians, from Noel Coward to Gracie Fields, to entertain the troops, however far away they might be. Over the course of the war ENSA gave their first break to such postwar stars as Tommy Cooper and Frankie Howerd, as well as enshrining the young Vera Lynn forever as the forces' sweetheart. When Allied troops landed in Normandy in 1944, George Formby followed close behind, while a distinguished troupe under Laurence Olivier was performing Shakespeare to British soldiers in Hamburg within weeks of the German surrender. Now, Andrew Merriman has talked to surviving ENSA veterans from Vera Lynn to Dame Beryl Grey, to piece together the extraordinary adventures of the ordinary men and women sent out across the world - even to inhospitable, dangerous Burma - whose contribution to the war effort was song, dance and laughter.","brand":"Aurum Press Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Hardback","offer_id":32685994999893,"sku":"9781845136185N","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781845136185.jpg?v=1598876917"},{"product_id":"philosophy-hacks","title":"Philosophy Hacks","description":"Discover the simple way to understand and remember the most groundbreaking concepts in 3,000 years of philosophical thought. \n\nEach idea is broken down into three stages: \n\n1\/ The helicopter view, which gives you an introduction to the idea, and some context around it. \n2\/ The shortcut, which gives you the core elements of the theory, along with a range of examples that everyone can understand. \n3\/ The hack, which is a one-liner designed to stick in your memory and give you an instant grasp of the concept.\n\nFrom Pascal's Wager to Kant's categorical imperative, and from Camus's Existential Nihilism to Arendt's Banality of Evil, there  are 100 concepts explained. \n\nThe perfect introduction to philosophy,  this is a great new way to learn about the most important philosophical  ideas and concepts in a way that makes them easy to recall even months  after reading the book.","brand":"Octopus Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686001651797,"sku":"9781788400398N","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781788400398.jpg?v=1598877001"},{"product_id":"milk-of-paradise","title":"Milk of Paradise","description":"'Lucy Inglis has done a wonderful job bringing together a wide range of sources to tell the history of the most exciting and dangerous plants in the world. Telling the story of opium tells us much about our faults and foibles as humans - our willingness to experiment; our ability to become addicts; our pursuit of money. This book tells us more than about opium; it tells us about ourselves.' - Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads\n\n'The only thing that is good is poppies. They are gold.' \n\nPoppy tears, opium, heroin, fentanyl:  humankind has been in thrall to the 'Milk of Paradise' for millennia.  The latex of papaver somniferum is a bringer of sleep, of pleasurable lethargy, of relief from pain - and hugely addictive.  A commodity without rival, it is renewable, easy to extract, transport and refine, and subject to an insatiable global demand. \n\nNo other substance in the world is as simple to produce or as profitable.  It is the basis of a gargantuan industry built upon a shady underworld, but ultimately it is a farm-gate material that lives many lives before it reaches the branded blister packet, the intravenous drip or the scorched and filthy spoon. Many of us will end our lives dependent on it. \n\nIn Milk of Paradise, acclaimed cultural historian Lucy Inglis takes readers on an epic journey from ancient Mesopotamia to modern America and Afghanistan, from Sanskrit to pop, from poppy tears to smack, from morphine to today's synthetic opiates.   It is a tale of addiction, trade, crime, sex, war, literature, medicine and, above all, money.  And, as this ambitious, wide-ranging and compelling account vividly shows, the history of opium is our history and it speaks to us of who we are.","brand":"Pan Macmillan","offers":[{"title":"New - Hardback","offer_id":32686049296469,"sku":"9781447285762N","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781447285762.jpg?v=1598877639"},{"product_id":"fatal-rivalry-flodden-1513-henry-viii-james-iv-the-battle-for-renaissance-britain","title":"Fatal Rivalry, Flodden 1513: Henry VIII, James IV \u0026 the battle for Renaissance Britain","description":"The relationship of England and Scotland became defined by events on 9 September 1513 in a battle of great size, bloodshed and finality - the Battle of Flodden.\n\nOn the back of historian George Goodwin's critically acclaimed debut, FATAL COLOURS, comes FATAL RIVALRY, providing the first in-depth examination of the Battle of Flodden, the biggest and bloodiest in British history.\n\nThis book captures the importance of the key players in the story - the kings and their respective queens, their nobles, diplomats and generals - as the rivalry brought the two countries inexorably to war. Fatefully, it would be an error by James, that most charismatic of commanders, and in the thick of engagement, that would make him the last British king to fall in battle, would condemn the bulk of his nobility to a similarly violent death and settle his country's fate.","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686097236053,"sku":"9781780221366N","price":6.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781780221366.jpg?v=1598878287"},{"product_id":"brief-history-of-the-third-reich","title":"Brief History of the Third Reich","description":"Beginning in the broken aftermath of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles that made German recovery almost impossible, Whittock tells not just the account of the men who rose to the fore in the dangerous days of the Weimar republic, circling around the cult of personality generated by Adolf Hitler, but also a convincing and personality-driven overview of how ordinary Germans became seduced by the dreams of a new world order, the Third Reich. The book also gives a fascinating insight into the everyday life in Germany during the Second World War and explores key questions such as how much did the Germans know about the Holocaust and why did the regime eventually fail so disastrously?","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686115127381,"sku":"9781849012997N","price":5.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781849012997.jpg?v=1598878500"},{"product_id":"veni-vidi-vici","title":"Veni Vidi Vici","description":"The Romans left a long-lasting legacy and their influence can still be seen all around us - from our calendar and coins, to our language and laws - but how much do we really know about them? Help is at hand in the form of Veni, Vidi, Vici, which tells the remarkable, and often surprising, story of the Romans and the most enduring empire in history.\n\nFusing a lively and entertaining narrative with rigorous research, Veni, Vidi, Vici breaks down each major period into a series of concise nuggets that provide a fascinating commentary on every aspect of the Roman world - from plebs to personalities, sauces to sexuality, games to gladiators, poets to punishments, mosaics to medicine and Catullus to Christianity.\n\nThrough the twists and turns of his 1250-year itinerary, Jones is a friendly and clear-thinking guide. In this book he has produced a beguiling and entertaining introduction to the Romans, one that vividly brings to life the people who helped create the world we live in today.","brand":"Atlantic Books","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686134689877,"sku":"9781782393900N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781782393900.jpg?v=1598878783"},{"product_id":"pocket-essentials-a-history-of-the-anglo-saxons","title":"Pocket Essentials: A History of the Anglo-Saxons","description":"Product Description\n\nFrom popular fiction such as The Hobbit and Game of Thrones to the universality of the English language, the continuing influence of the Anglo-Saxons can be found throughout the world.\nBut who were the Anglo-Saxons and where did they come from?\nA Short History of the Anglo-Saxons traces the fascinating 600 year history of the Anglo-Saxons, starting from the early European migrants in 410 A.D. and stretching through until the dramatic end at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. As well as their many victories, the Anglo-Saxons faced numerous attacks on the prosperity and the successes of its people, facing off challenges from the Danish and the Vikings, before meeting defeat at the hand of William the Conqueror. Remnants of these people can still be seen in modern day with hoards of Anglo-Saxon gold and silverwork being discovered throughout the country and popular fiction taking inspiration from this thrilling era.\nA Short History of the Anglo-Saxons provides an indispensable introduction to everything you need to know about the Anglo-Saxon period.\n\nAbout the Author\n\nGiles Morgan is the author of the Pocket Essentials on The Holy Grail, Byzantium, Freemasonry, Saints, and Saint George.","brand":"Oldcastle Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686137311317,"sku":"9780857301666N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780857301666.jpg?v=1598878823"},{"product_id":"pocket-essentials-short-history-of-the-victorian-era","title":"Pocket Essentials: Short History of the Victorian Era","description":"An era, beginning in the 1830s and ending with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, that saw the British Empire - the largest ever seen - dominate the world. A History of the Victorian Era details the sweeping social and economic changes that took place during this period but also examines the events of the time and the lives of the eminent Victorians who contributed so much to British success - men and women such as Florence Nightingale, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Charles Darwin.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":32686261010517,"sku":"9780857302076N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780857302076.jpg?v=1598880480"},{"product_id":"this-book-will-make-you-think","title":"This Book will Make you Think","description":"An informative and accessible guide to all of the great philosophers' best-known theories, explained through their most famous quotes.\n\nWe may have heard of Socrates, Plato, Descartes and Nietzsche, but what did they believe? What were their famous aphorisms? And what did these actually mean?\n\nThis Book Will Make You Think: Philosophical Quotes and What They Mean explains as simply as possible the ideas behind the world's most highly regarded philosophers, examining their beliefs and presenting choice quotes that succinctly distil their most famous theories, such as:\n\n'No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.' Locke\n\n'If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.' Voltaire\n\n'Whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent.' Wittgenstein\n\nWritten in an accessible and informative style, this book will help readers get to grips with the complex concepts of philosophy through the ages, and help match the theories to the names.","brand":"Michael O'Mara Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686261862485,"sku":"9781782435068N","price":4.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781782435068.jpg?v=1598880491"},{"product_id":"dalai-lama-an-open-heart","title":"Dalai Lama: An Open Heart","description":"In the Dalai Lama's own words: 'It is my hope that the reader of this small book will take away a basic understanding of Buddhism and some of the key methods by which Buddhist practitioners have cultivated compassion and wisdom in their lives. The methods discussed have been taken from three sacred texts of Buddhism. I would like to stress at the outset, however, that one doesn't have to be a Buddhist to make use of these meditation techniques. Meditation is merely the process whereby we gain control over the mind and guide it in a more virtuous direction. Meditation may also be thought of as a technique by which we diminish the force of old thought habits and develop new ones.  Yet the techniques themselves do not lead to enlightenment or a compassionate and open heart. That is up to you, and the effort and motivation you bring to your spiritual practice.'","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":32686263435349,"sku":"9780340794319N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780340794319.jpg?v=1598880506"},{"product_id":"introducing-rousseau-a-graphic-guide","title":"Introducing Rousseau. A Graphic Guide","description":"Illustrated guide to the crucial French philosopher who denied bring a philosopher at all. 'I am like no one else in the whole world ...' Thus begins Jean-Jacques Rousseau's defiant Confessions - an autobiography of astounding psychological insight. Musician, poet, novelist and botanist, but above all, a philosopher who firmly denied being one, Rousseau was the first to ask: \"What is the value of civilization?\" His answer - that civilization corrupts natural goodness and increases social inequalities - shocked his Enlightenment contemporaries and still challenges us today. Did Rousseau inspire the French Revolution? Can Romanticism, psychoanalysis and Existentialism all be traced back to him? Introducing Rousseau presents a maverick thinker whose ideas revolutionized our understanding of childhood, education, government, language and much else. Dave Robinson's clear and concise account of Rousseau's ideas, engagingly dramatized by Oscar Zarate's illustrations, guides the reader through Rousseau's turbulent life of lost innocence, persecution and paranoia.","brand":"Icon Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686266908757,"sku":"9781848312128N","price":4.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781848312128.jpg?v=1598880542"},{"product_id":"short-introduction-to-religion","title":"Short Introduction to Religion","description":"During this time of conflict and suspicion, it is perhaps more important than ever to understand the beliefs and philosophies of other cultures. A Short History of Religion provides a useful guide to the world's most popular religions - Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism - describing their origins and history, beliefs, worship and sacred writings, but also investigates many of the smaller and lesser known religions as well as newer movements such as Scientology, Wicca and Raelism.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":32686270742613,"sku":"9780857301703N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780857301703.jpg?v=1598880583"},{"product_id":"brief-guide-to-secret-religions","title":"Brief Guide to Secret Religions","description":"This wide-ranging book explores the diversity of esoteric and occult beliefs. Neo-Paganism is one of the fastest-growing new religions in the western world where witchcraft or Wicca, Druidry, and Urban Shamanism are thriving. Alongside this there has been an upsurge in New Age ideas of an even wider variety, including astrology, Tarot, numerology, and many others. And then there are members of various schools of occult science, practising High Magic. Why this new interest in old beliefs? Why are millions of educated people today abandoning both the established religion of their parents and 21st century scientific rationalism and turning to magic and esoteric teachings? In their search for spirituality those who follow these paths claim to be applying ancient wisdom to the modern world. The Brief History of Secret Religions, a companion book to The Brief History of Secret Societies, looks at the history and  variety of these esoteric movements, where they came from and what they tell us about the world today. Praise for The New Believers: 'an excellent guide to fringe religions that juxtaposes \"respectable\" movements and those conventionally dismissed as cults.' The Telegraph.\n'no-nonsense, comprehensive survey packed with non-judgmental information about the beliefs, aims and activities of such movements. Daily Mail.","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686273921109,"sku":"9781849015950N","price":5.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781849015950.jpg?v=1598880620"},{"product_id":"witchfinders-a-seventeenth-century-english-tragedy-1","title":"Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-century English Tragedy","description":"By the spring of 1645, civil war had exacted a terrible toll upon England. Disease was rife, apocalyptic omens appeared in the skies, and idolators detected in every shire. In a remote corner of Essex, two obscure gentlemen began interrogating women suspected of witchcraft, triggering the most brutal witch-hunt in English history. Witchfinders is a spellbinding study of how Matthew Hopkins, 'the Witchfinder General', and John Stearne extended their campaign across East Anglia, driven by godly zeal. Exploiting the anxiety and lawlessness of the times, and cheered on by ordinary folk, they extracted confessions of satanic pacts resulting in scores of executions.","brand":"John Murray General Publishing Division","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686314455125,"sku":"9780719561214N","price":5.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780719561214.jpg?v=1598881028"},{"product_id":"introducing-islam-a-graphic-guide","title":"Introducing Islam: A Graphic Guide","description":"Product Description\n\nIslam is one of the world's great monotheistic religions. Islamic culture, spanning 1,500 years, has produced some of the finest achievements of humanity. Yet the religion followed by a fifth of humankind is too often seen in the West in terms of fundamentalism, bigotry and violence- a perception that couldn't be more wrong.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003eIntroducing Islam recounts the history of Islam from the birth of Prophet Muhammad in the 6th century to its status as a global culture and political force today. Charting the achievements of Muslim civilisation, it explains the nature and message of the Qur'an, outlines the basic features of Islamic law, and assesses the impact of colonialism on Muslim societies.\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003eZiauddin Sardar and Zafar Abbas Malik show how Muslims everywhere are trying to live their faith and are shaping new Islamic ideas and ideals for a globalised world.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\nBook Description\n\nIslamic culture has produced some of the finest achievements of humanity. This title offers a look into this sometimes misunderstood faith.\n\nAbout the Author\n\n\u003cb\u003eZiauddin Sardar\u003c\/b\u003e is a columnist, TV presenter and much more besides. His books include \u003ci\u003eBalti Britain\u003c\/i\u003e (Granta, 2008) and, with Merryl Wyn Davies, \u003ci\u003eWill America Change?\u003c\/i\u003e (Icon, 2008).\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eZafar Abbas Malik\u003c\/b\u003e is the art director of Arts and the Islamic World.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Icon Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686341750869,"sku":"9781848310841N","price":4.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781848310841.jpg?v=1598881315"},{"product_id":"brief-history-of-the-crusades-islam-christianity-in-the-struggle-for-world-supremacy","title":"Brief History of the Crusades: Islam \u0026 Christianity in the struggle for world supremacy","description":"Why did the medieval Church bless William of Normandy's invasion of Christian England in 1066 and authorise cultural genocide in Provence? How could a Christian army sack Christian Constantinople in 1204? Why did thousands of ordinary men and women, led by knights and ladies, kings and queens, embark on campaigns of fanatical conquest in the world of Islam? The word 'Crusade' came later, but the concept of a 'war for the faith' is an ancient one. Geoffrey Hindley instructively unravels the story of the Christian military expeditions that have perturbed European history, troubled Christian consciences and embittered Muslim attitudes towards the West. He offers a lively record of the Crusades, from the Middle East to the pagan Baltic, and fascinating portraits of the major personalities, from Godfrey of Bouillon, the first Latin ruler of Jerusalem, to Etienne, the visionary French peasant boy who inspired the tragic Children's Crusade. Addressing questions rarely considered, Hindley sheds new light on pressing issues surrounding religious division and shows how the Crusades have helped to shape the modern world and relations between Christian and Muslim countries to this day.","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686348828757,"sku":"9781841197661N","price":5.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781841197661.jpg?v=1598881391"},{"product_id":"hiding-place","title":"Hiding Place","description":"As the Nazi madness swept across Europe, a quiet watchmaker's family in Holland risked everything for the sake of others, and for the love of Christ. Despite the danger and threat of discovery, the ten Boom family courageously offered shelter to persecuted Jews during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Then a trap brought about the family's arrest. Could God's love shine through, even in Ravensbruck?","brand":"Hodder \u0026 Stoughton General Division","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686398308437,"sku":"9780340863534N","price":6.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780340863534.jpg?v=1598881831"},{"product_id":"12-strong","title":"12 Strong","description":"OFFICIAL TIE-IN TO THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE 12 STRONG, STARRING CHRIS HEMSWORTH\n\n On September 11th, 2001 the world watched in terror.\n On September 12th, 2001 they volunteered to fight.\n Twelve soldiers gave us a reason to hope.\n\nTHE DECLASSIFIED TRUE STORY OF THE HORSE SOLDIERS.  \n\n This is the dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who entered Afghanistan immediately following September 11, 2001 and, riding to war on horses, defeated the Taliban.\n\n Outnumbered 40 to 1, they capture the strategic Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, and thereby effectively defeat the Taliban throughout the rest of the country. They are welcomed as liberators as they ride on horses into the city, the streets thronged with Afghans overjoyed that the Taliban have been kicked out. \n\n The soldiers rest easy, as they feel they have accomplished their mission. And then, the action takes a wholly unexpected turn. During a surrender of Taliban troops, the Horse Soldiers are ambushed by the would-be P.O.W.s and, still dangerously outnumbered, they must fight for their lives in the city's ancient fortress known as Qala-I Janghi, or the House of War . . .\n\nPraise for Doug Stanton:-\n `A thrilling action ride of a book.' New York Times\n `As gripping as the most intricately-plotted thriller.' Vince Flynn\n `A riveting story of the brave and resourceful American warriors who rode into Afghanistan after 9\/11 and waged war against Al Qaeda.' Tom Brokaw\n `This reads like a cross between an old-fashioned Western and a modern spy thriller.' Parade Magazine\n `Spellbinding...action-packed prose. The book reads more like a novel.' USA Today","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686430453845,"sku":"9781471170829N","price":4.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781471170829.jpg?v=1598882071"},{"product_id":"introducing-critical-theory","title":"Introducing Critical Theory","description":"What might a 'theory of everything' look like? Is science an ideology? Who were Adorno, Horkheimer or the Frankfurt School? The decades since the 1960s have seen an explosion in the production of critical theories. Deconstructionists, poststructuralists, postmodernists, second-wave feminists, new historicists, cultural materialists, postcolonialists, black critics and queer theorists, among a host of others, all vie for our attention. Stuart Sim and Borin Van Loon's incisive graphic guide provides a route through the tangled jungle of competing ideas and provides an essential historical context, situating these theories within tradition of critical analysis going back to the rise of Marxism. They present the essential methods and objectives of each theoretical school in an incisive and accessible manner, and pay special attention to recurrent themes and concerns that have preoccupied a century of critical theoretical activity.","brand":"Icon Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686479212629,"sku":"9781848310599N","price":4.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781848310599.jpg?v=1598882438"},{"product_id":"sunken-cities-egypts-lost-worlds","title":"Sunken cities- Egypt's Lost Worlds","description":"\n\n\nBeneath the waters of Abukir Bay, at the edge of the Nile Delta, lie the submerged remains of the ancient Egyptian cities Canopus and Thonis-Heracleion, which sank over 1,000 years ago but were dramatically rediscovered in the 20th century and brought to the surface by marine archaeologists in the 1990s. These pioneering underwater excavations continue today, and have yielded a wealth of ancient artefacts, to be exhibited in Britain for the first time in 2016. Through these spectacular finds, this book tells the story of how two iconic ancient civilizations, Egypt and Greece, interacted in the late first millennium bc. From the foundation of Naukratis and Thonis-Heracleion as trading posts to the conquest of Alexander the Great, through the ensuing centuries of Ptolemaic rule to the ultimate dominance of the Roman Empire on the world stage, Greeks and Egyptians lived alongside one another in these lively cities, sharing their politics, religious ideas, languages, scripts and customs. Greek kings adopted the regalia of the pharaoh; ordinary Greek citizens worshipped in Hellenic sanctuaries next to Egyptian temples; and their ancient gods and mythologies became ever more closely intertwined. This book showcases a spectacular collection of artefacts, coupled with a retelling of the history by world-renowned experts in the subject (including the sites’ long-term excavator), bringing the reader face-to-face with this vibrant ancient society.\n Accompanies the most sensational exhibition of ancient Egyptian and Greek discoveries to be held in the UK for decades, opening at the British Museum.\n\nTable of Contents\n\n• Director’s foreword • Sponsor’s foreword • Foreword from the Hilti Foundation • 1. Rediscovering Thonis- Heracleion and Canopus • 2. Egypt and Greece: early encounters • 3. Greek kings and Egyptian gods • 4. From myth to festivals • 5. Egypt and Rome\n\n\nAuthor Bio\n\n\nFranck Goddio is founder of the French IEASM (European Institute for Underwater Archaeology) and discoverer of the city of Herakleion-Thonis 7 km off the Egyptian shore in Aboukir Bay. He also led the excavation of the submerged site of Eastern Canopus and of Antirhodos in the ancient harbour of Alexandria (Portus Magnus). Aurelia Masson-Berghoff is Project Curator, British Museum, Department: Greece and Rome.","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":32686485438549,"sku":"9780500292372N","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780500292372.jpg?v=1598882503"},{"product_id":"julius-norwich-france-a-history-from-gaul-to-de-gaulle","title":"Julius Norwich: France- A History from Gaul to De Gaulle","description":"'For his final book, the late Norwich tackled the dauntingly vast subject of two millennia of French history with admirable lightness and urbanity . . . his comic footnotes deserve a review of their own' DAILY TELEGRAPH\n\n\n\nI can still feel, as if it were yesterday, the excitement of my first Channel crossing (as a child of nearly 7) in September 1936; the regiment of porters, smelling asphyxiatingly of garlic in their blue-green blousons; the raucous sound all around me of spoken French; the immense fields of Normandy strangely devoid of hedges; then the Gare du Nord at twilight, the policemen with their kepis and their little snow-white batons; and my first sight of the Eiffel Tower . . . This book is written in the belief that the average English-speaking man or woman has remarkably little knowledge of French history. We may know a bit about Napoleon or Joan of Arc or Louis XIV, but for most of us that's about it. In my own three schools we were taught only about the battles we won: Crecy and Poitiers, Agincourt and Waterloo. The rest was silence. So here is my attempt to fill in the blanks . . .\n\n\n\nJohn Julius Norwich's last book is the book he always wanted to write: the extremely colourful story of the country he loves best. \n\n\n\nFrom frowning Roman generals and belligerent Gallic chieftains, to Charlemagne (hated by generations of French children taught that he invented schools) through Marie Antoinette and the storming of the Bastille to Vichy, the Resistance and beyond, FRANCE is packed with heroes and villains, adventures and battles, romance and revolution. Full of memorable stories and racy anecdotes, this is the perfect introduction to the country that has inspired the rest of the world to live, dress, eat  -- and love better.","brand":"Hodder \u0026 Stoughton General Division","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686492057685,"sku":"9781529327465N","price":6.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781529327465.jpg?v=1598882564"},{"product_id":"rough-spirits-high-society","title":"Rough Spirits \u0026 High Society","description":"The tavern, the inn, the coffee house, the tea shop: these are places where, throughout history, we have met and socialised and where the issues of the day could be discussed over a drink. Rough Spirits and High Society shows the surprising, often subversive ways in which drinking has changed the world, and the ways in which society has struggled to control the places where people drink. Postal services developed between networks of inns and enabled modern communication. The first insurance companies were created in the coffee houses. Gin palaces prompted moral outrage. The suffragette movement found its birthplace in tea shops which allowed women to meet across social classes. This generously illustrated book unveils the little-known ways that drinks, whether alcoholic or caffeinated, have found their place at the centre of our social and political lives.","brand":"British Library Publishing","offers":[{"title":"New - Hardback","offer_id":32686530232405,"sku":"9780712352154N","price":10.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780712352154.jpg?v=1598882937"},{"product_id":"pocket-museum-ancient-greece","title":"Pocket Museum: Ancient Greece","description":"Pocket Museum: Ancient Greece presents more than 200 objects currently housed in public collections around the world that offer both context and immediacy to the rich culture of Ancient Greece. From the bifacial hand tools of the Lower Palaeolithic to the Hellenistic Great Altar of Pergamon, the artifacts presented here reveal a complex sociocultural history of shifting priorities, spiritual beliefs, and cultural traditions; the influence on material culture of isolation and internationalism, of technological advance and decline, and of prosperity and adversity. They also reflect the transmission of shared social-cultural ideals across vast distances through relationships maintained for centuries at a time - objects from across the Greek world, valued in life and in death. Pocket Museum: Ancient Greece also offers an insight into the history of collecting and methods of interpretation, examining how the perception of objects has changed over time. Beautifully illustrated with photographs of each featured artifact, this is an absorbing introduction to a culture that has exerted an unparalleled influence on Western civilization.","brand":"Thames \u0026 Hudson Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Hardback","offer_id":32686534000725,"sku":"9780500519585N","price":7.76,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780500519585.jpg?v=1598882964"},{"product_id":"battlefield-of-the-mind","title":"Battlefield of the Mind","description":"'Our actions are a direct result of our thoughts. If we have a negative mind, we will have a negative life. If, on the other hand, we renew our mind according to God's Word, we will prove out \"the good and acceptable and perfect will of God\" for our lives.' Worry, doubt, confusion, depression, anger and feelings of condemnation - all these are attacks on the mind. But take heart! Joyce Meyer has helped millions to change their lives by changing the way they think. Joyce Meyer's all-time bestselling book: * Shows you how to control the thousands of thoughts you have every day * Helps you to recognise damaging thoughts that can influence your life * Identifies the 'Wilderness Mentalities' that hold us back * Demonstrates how to focus your mind to think the way Jesus thought Joyce shares the trials, tragedies and ultimate victories from her own marriage, family and ministry that have led her to amazing, life-transforming truth, and reveals her thoughts and feelings every step of the way.","brand":"Hodder \u0026 Stoughton General Division","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686587641941,"sku":"9780340954225N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9780340954225.jpg?v=1598883538"},{"product_id":"with-wellingtons-outposts","title":"With Wellington's Outposts","description":"\n\n\nJohn Vandeleur s letters home to his parents are a lively and engaging account of active service during the Napoleonic Wars, recounting everything from day-to-day life on campaign to the experience of pitched battle at Vitoria and Waterloo. As first a light infantryman and then a light cavalryman, Vandeleur was frequently on the outposts of Wellington s forces, in frequent contact with the French and often obliged to live a rough-and-ready lifestyle as a result. The conditions that he endured, and the camaraderie that sustained him, are vividly recounted in this fascinating collection previously only available in an extremely rare private publication over a century ago. Enhanced with contemporary documents, and with expert editing and commentary by Andrew Bamford, this is an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the Peninsular War and the Waterloo campaign.\n\n\nAuthor Bio\n\n\nANDREW BAMFORD was born in Yorkshire and now lives in Derby, where he works as a freelance historian and author after obtaining a PhD in Military History from the University of Leeds. He is the author of several books, including Gallantry and Discipline: The 12th Light Dragoons at War with Wellington to which this volume is in part intended as a companion. He is currently working on a selection of eyewitness accounts from the Netherlands campaign of 1813 1814.","brand":"Pen \u0026 Sword Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Hardback","offer_id":32686651998293,"sku":"9781848327740N","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781848327740.jpg?v=1598884196"},{"product_id":"history-of-the-world-in-bite-sized-chunks","title":"History of the World in Bite Sized Chunks","description":"History is a rich, varied and fascinating subject, so it's rare to find the whole lot in one book ...until now. The History of the World in Bite-Sized Chunks pulls it all together, from the world's earliest civilizations in 3500 BC to the founding of the United Nations in 1945, passing by the likes of Charlemagne, the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean War, to name a few.  Here's your chance to introduce yourself to the full spectrum of world history, and discover just how the modern world came to be.","brand":"Michael O'Mara Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686734573653,"sku":"9781782437079N","price":4.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781782437079.jpg?v=1598885062"},{"product_id":"introducing-jesus-a-graphic-guide","title":"Introducing Jesus: A Graphic Guide","description":"Compact INTRODUCING guide to Christianity's central figure. Christianity depends on the belief that the Jesus of history is identical with the Christ of faith, and that God in the person of Jesus intervened finally and decisively in human history. But is the historical Jesus the same as the Christian Saviour? And how did an obscure provincial religion based on the paradox of a crucified saviour conquer the Roman Empire and outlive it? INTRODUCING JESUS - A GRAPHIC GUIDE confronts the enigmas. It sets Jesus in the perspective of his time - within Judaism and its expectations of a Messiah, in the atmosphere of Greek philosophy and the Roman deification of emperors. It traces the development of Christianity from St. Paul and the Romanization of the Church, to modern liberation theology. This book is a lucid and exciting investigation that will appeal to all readers, whether Christian or not.","brand":"Icon Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32686756921429,"sku":"9781848314092N","price":4.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781848314092.jpg?v=1598885301"},{"product_id":"i-used-to-know-that-history","title":"I Used to Know that: History","description":"If your response to a mention of the Wars of the Roses, the Sumerians or the Reformation is, 'Hmm, I've heard of that - what was that again?', then this is the book for you. This entertaining yet informative book travels back through time to fill in those embarrassing gaps in your knowledge, from the invasions of Britain, the Renaissance and the Cold War, to the American, French and Russian Revolutions, the World Wars ...and everything else you have forgotten from your school history lessons. In I Used to Know That: History, information is broken down into manageable, bite-sized chunks, refreshing your memory of all those things you once knew but have forgotten, and filling you in on the bits that the school syllabus didn't include. From building the pyramids in Egypt to the fall of the Berlin Wall, everything you used to know - and much that you didn't - is here.","brand":"Michael O'Mara Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32687344255061,"sku":"9781782434481N","price":4.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781782434481.jpg?v=1598892964"},{"product_id":"bethlehem-biography-of-a-town","title":"Bethlehem- Biography of a Town","description":"The town of Bethlehem carries so many layers of meaning--some ancient, some mythical, some religious--that it feels like an unreal city, even to the people who call it home. Today, the city is hemmed in by a wall and surrounded by forty-one Israeli settlements and hostile settlers and soldiers. The population is undergoing such enormous strains it is close to falling apart. Any town with an eleven-thousand-year history has to be robust, but Bethlehem may soon go the way of Salonica or Constantinople: the physical site might survive, but the long thread winding back to the ancient past will have snapped, and the city risks losing everything that makes it unique.\n\nStill, for many, Bethlehem remains the \"little town\" of the Christmas song. Nicholas Blincoe will tell the history of the famous little town, through the visceral experience of living there, taking readers through its stone streets and desert wadis, its monasteries, aqueducts and orchards, showing the city from every angle and era. Inevitably, a portrait of Bethlehem will shed light on one of the world's most intractable political problems. Bethlehem is a much-loved Palestinian city, a source of pride and wealth but also a beacon of co-existence in a region where hopelessness, poverty and violence has become the norm. Bethlehem could light the way to a better future, but if the city is lost then the chances of an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict will be lost with it.","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32687794159701,"sku":"9781472128645N","price":6.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781472128645.jpg?v=1598896467"},{"product_id":"man-who-broke-into-auschwitz-2","title":"Man Who Broke into Auschwitz","description":"THE MAN WHO BROKE INTO AUSCHWITZ is the extraordinary true story of a British soldier who marched willingly into Buna-Monowitz, the concentration camp known as Auschwitz III. In the summer of 1944, Denis Avey was being held in a POW labour camp, E715, near Auschwitz III. He had heard of the brutality meted out to the prisoners there and he was determined to witness what he could. He hatched a plan to swap places with a Jewish inmate and smuggled himself into his sector of the camp. He spent the night there on two occasions and experienced at first-hand the cruelty of a place where slave workers, had been sentenced to death through labour. Astonishingly, he survived to witness the aftermath of the Death March where thousands of prisoners were murdered by the Nazis as the Soviet Army advanced. After his own long trek right across central Europe he was repatriated to Britain. For decades he couldn't bring himself to revisit the past, but now Denis Avey feels able to tell the full story - a tale as gripping as it is moving - which offers us a unique insight into the mind of an ordinary man whose moral and physical courage are almost beyond belief.","brand":"Hodder \u0026 Stoughton General Division","offers":[{"title":"New - Paperback","offer_id":32688112599125,"sku":"9781444714197N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781444714197.jpg?v=1598900423"},{"product_id":"harris-waking-up","title":"Harris: Waking Up","description":"'An extraordinary book . . . It will shake up your most fundamental beliefs about everyday experience, and it just might change your life.' Paul Bloom\n___\n\nFor the millions of people who want spirituality without religion, Sam Harris's new book is a guide to meditation as a rational spiritual practice informed by neuroscience and psychology.\n\n Throughout the book, Harris argues that there are important truths to be found in the experience of contemplatives such as Jesus, Buddha and other saints and sages of history-and, therefore, that there is more to understanding reality than science and secular culture generally allow.\n\nWaking Up is part seeker's memoir and part exploration of the scientific underpinnings of spirituality. No other book marries contemplative wisdom and modern science in this way, and no author other than Sam Harris-a scientist, philosopher, and famous sceptic-could write it.\n ___\n\n'A demanding, illusion-shattering book.' Kirkus Reviews\n'A pleasure to read.' Huffington Post","brand":"smeikalbooks","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":32688114958421,"sku":"9781784160029N","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/products\/9781784160029.jpg?v=1598900466"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2481\/5790\/collections\/01_Col_Humanities.png?v=1725035108","url":"https:\/\/smeikalbooks.co.uk\/en-us\/collections\/humanities.oembed?page=13","provider":"smeikalbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}