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Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu: A Cute and Cosy Colouring Book
Immerse yourself in The Mandalorian and Grogu's cute and cosy world!Grab your pens and bring the Mandalorian and Grogu to life in cosy scenes from a galaxy far, far away, as they travel the galaxy in the Razor Crest, meet new friends and explore other worlds. Inspired by moments from all three seasons from the hit TV show, this is the ultimate activity to relieve stress and relax your mind. With plenty of cute details on each page, and a special focus on Grogu, this colouring book will help you balance the Force and reach a cosy state of mind.
The Companion to Castles
‘A fascinating book that covers the history and development of something that is unique to the Middle Ages – the castle.’ - Medieval HistoryOver 1,000 castles were built in the century following the Norman Conquest. Most were constructed in the wake of the Conquest itself by the Norman lords and their allies as they took possession of their lands. These conquerors in a hostile land numbered only a few thousand and their castles became both symbols of subjugation and bastions of paranoia. Nevertheless, contrary to the popular perception, medieval castles were more often lived in than fought over. A castle was a fortified feudal residence, a symbol of a lord’s power and authority and the instrument of regional domination: administrative, judicial and military. Very few castles remain unaltered from when they were first built and none fits neatly into any particular category. Many have succumbed to the ravages of siege warfare, abandonment and despoliation, especially in the aftermath of the English Civil War. Some have been entirely rebuilt and most have been remodelled many times, according to the current military, domestic and architectural fashion. For several there is evidence of continuous occupation from the twelfth century to the present day. Stephen Friar has an encyclopaedic knowledge of all aspects of castles as well as the ability to place issues within a historical context and explain them succinctly and clearly for the non-specialist. From quadrangular castles to shell keeps, garderobes and gargoyles to tournaments, and anarchy to zig-zag moulding, this detailed A–Z reference book, with its lavish illustrations, is essential reading for anyone interested in medieval castles. ‘A fascinating book … as well as providing a history of British castles, the book also offers advice on how to get the most enjoyment and fulfilment out of your visits.’ - The Journal
Enter Eddie Shakespeare
The course of true brotherhood never did run smooth!1592. Meet Eddie Shakespeare, determined to follow his big brother William to London to become a player. Eddie’s plan is simple: 1. Run away from home in Stratford. 2. Find his big brother Will in the city. 3. Act in London’s playhouses and win fame and glory. As it turns out, the very last person the aspiring playwright William Shakespeare wants to see is his bothersome little brother, when he has more than enough worries of his own. But the truth is: William Shakespeare’s life is in danger. And worse, only Eddie knows it.
The Hyena's Daughter
From Ali Smith: “The Hyena’s Daughter tells the far-too-untold story of a c19th sisterhood, thedaughters of Mary Wollstonecraft: Fanny Imlay and Mary Shelley, the famedwriter of Frankenstein, plus their step-sister Claire Clairmont, lover of LordByron. Are they the three graces? The fates? They’re women, as alive and breathingand rebellious and analytical as you and me, and well aware and critical of thehemmed-in nature they’re expected to accept as women of their time – a timeof “a new way of thinking, a new-world independence, a revolutionary world.” It features their connection to Percy Bysshe Shelley – “how could we not lovehim, with his lofty ethics and words that flew like birds?” –and many of theother contemporary poets and thinkers of the time. Pacy and assured, it turns its history to life from fragment to sensuousfragment. If the dead brought to life is to be Mary Shelley’s theme, this novellaasks what the real source of life spirit is, the vital spark. This book, full of detailand richesse, is a piece of vitality in itself.”
Fighting the Sultan's War
From 1965 to 1976, the Dhofar War was being fought in southern Oman - a conflict wherein the Omani government, led by Sultan Said bin Taimur, and later his son Sultan Qaboos, fought against the Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF), a Marxist insurgency group who wanted to overthrow the Sultan's rule and establish a communist government. The conflict escalated in the 1970s, with Sultan Qaboos receiving military support from Britain and Iran. By 1975, the government forces, with the help of British and Iranian troops, defeated the insurgents, securing the region and stabilizing Sultan Qaboos's rule. Major David Freeman was a one of those British troops - a British Infantry Officer who was seconded to the Sultan of Oman’s Forces in the 1970s. Major Freeman has recorded his experience of this conflict - the operations, the tactics, the successes and the struggles - in extraordinary detail, covering the last year of the war in 1975 and the first six months of 1976 in the still active eastern sector of Dhofar. Fighting the Sultan's War is an eye-opening first-hand account of one of the lesser-known ‘small wars’ of the Cold War era, and should not be missed by any military history enthusiast. David Freeman's memoir was transcribed by his son, Alex Freeman. Born in 1967 into a military family, Alex was educated in the West Country and commissioned into the British Army in 1986. He served as an infantry officer with the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment and The Royal Welch Fusiliers, seeing active service in Northern Ireland, Germany, the Middle East, Africa, and Bosnia. After two decades in uniform, he left the Army in 2006 to pursue an MBA and a career in business.
Imperial Rule in India
This book explores the remarkable careers of George, Henry and John Lawrence and Robert Montgomery (Field Marshall Montgomery of Alamein's grandfather) who served in the East India Company during the first half of the nineteenth century. From modest backgrounds in the north of Ireland, all four men would assume leading roles in the colonial administration of India. After initial training in England and in Calcutta, they served their apprenticeships in the Delhi Territory and in the North-Western Provinces (modern day Uttar Pradesh) as military officers (George and Henry) and Collectors (of revenue) and District Magistrates (John and Robert). Henry would later make the move from military to civilian employment when he became a land revenue surveyor. As this book reveals, these years were incredibly important in the formation of their administrative style. Ruling large swathes of northern India in paternal fashion, John and Robert became highly knowledgeable on local agrarian affairs. Likewise, Henry’s role as a revenue surveyor gave him a worm’s eye view of village life that was far removed from the cloistered environment of the military cantonment. Such experiences would cultivate an ethos of respecting local culture and institutions while exercising a high standard of public service and personal devotion to duty. The book assesses the Lawrences and Montgomery’s efforts in the challenging fields of land revenue surveying and assessment, as well as their campaigns against female infanticide, thuggee and other forms of criminality. Beyond India, the part played by George and Henry in the disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War is followed in detail, while the latter’s time as British Resident at the Court of Nepal explores his passion for writing on important Anglo-Indian topics. This study will argue that the knowledge and skills developed by this talented quartet of Irishmen provided the crucial foundations for their later careers in the Punjab and beyond.
Krvestín
Amélie, sestra iocarnského knížete, touží naplnit věštbu a odvrátit zkázu hrozící její zemi. Když na bitevním poli najde zraněného vojáka a rozhodne se ho zachránit, netuší, že jde o Sebastiana, syna nepřátelského majordoma. Když Lia skončí jako otrokyně v sídle majordomovy milenky, jejich životy se znovu protnou. Aby dosáhla svého, uzavře pouto s padlým bohem a získá magickou moc – cena ale bude vysoká. Ani křišťálově průzračné srdce totiž nemusí ukrývat ty nejčistší úmysly…
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Vděk
Od chvíle, kdy jsme porazili Cyruse, uběhly tři klidné měsíce. Teď se zase všechno hroutí. Kruh se rozpadá, ve stínech roste nová hrozba a já nemám na výběr. Musím se vrátit do Říše stínů, postavit se děsivé královně a uzavřít s ní dohodu. Je to jediná cesta, jak zachránit Mekhiho. Naštěstí půjdou moji přátelé i Hudson. Jenže s ním není něco v pořádku. Vím, že náš osud visí na vlásku, a je to moje vina. Dlužím Jaze laskavost… a ona si ji přišla vybrat. Jak moc za to zaplatím?
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Supplying the British Army in the First World War
Napoleon famously said that an army marches on its stomach, but it also marches in its boots and its uniforms, carrying or driving its weapons and other equipment, and all this material has to be ordered from headquarters, produced and delivered. Janet Macdonald's detailed and scholarly new study explains how this enormously complex task of organization and labour was carried out by the British army during the First World War. She describes the personnel who performed these tasks, from the government and military command in London to those who handled the items in the field. They were responsible for clothing, accommodation, medicine, transport, hand weapons, armament and communications – a vast logistical network that had evolved to keep millions of men in the field. This meticulously researched account of this important subject – one which has hitherto been neglected by military historians – will be essential reading and reference for anyone who is interested in the modern British army, in particular in its organization and performance in the First World War.
My Father Joachim von Ribbentrop
On 16 October 1946 Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler’s wartime Foreign Minister, was executed at Nuremberg, convicted on four counts including deliberately planning a war of aggression and war crimes. In this first English language edition of his memoirs, Rudolf von Ribbentrop frankly describes his relationship with his father when he was the German Ambassador in London and during the war years. Von Ribbentrop was an often isolated figure among the Nazi elite. In his final report from London he informed Hitler that he was convinced that Great Britain would fight for its position in the world. He went on to play a key role forging the short-lived Pact with Stalin’s Soviet Union. Far from being uncritical, Rudolf von Ribbentrop, in his 90s when the book was written, sets out to paint an objective picture of his father’s role. His unique position throws fascinating light on the unfolding dramatic events leading up to, and then the execution of, the Second World War. While the author briefly describes his personal experiences including his war service with the SS, it is the insight this work provides into top level decision-making at the heart of the Third Reich that will appeal most to both historians and laymen.
The First Stewart Dynasty
The volume begins with the shaky foundation of the Stewart dynasty during the reign of Robert II (1371-1390) and traces its development to the demise at the Battle of Sauchieburn of James III (1460-1488) together with his exalted vision of Stewart kingship. The author shows how and why the period is dominated by the growth of royal power and the concomitant eclipse of the regional aristocratic supremacies that had dominated fourteenth-century Scotland. His vivid accounts of the changing religious, economic, social and cultural life of the fifteenth century kingdom are woven into and around the central political narrative.
The Ascent of Maritime Trade 1700-2025
Third volume of the critically-acclaimed series stressing maritime trade as the driver of world history, wealth-creation, technological inventiveness, art and literature. This book tackles the Maritime Enlightenment, which spurred economic liberalism and humanitarianism, unlike its continental version, breaking free from historic attitudes to slavery and serfdom, contextualising current debates on imperial history. The immediate cause of America’s War of Independence is revealed to be about illegal maritime trade. Jefferson and Madison never understood the latent wealth-creating power of US trade, misdirecting energies for some years. US north-south divisions were exacerbated by trade tariffs more than slavery. The failure of France’s Revolution and Germany’s 20th-century wars were also failures to appreciate its importance. The post 1945 rise of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, China and UAE were directly because of their encouragement of maritime trade and shipping. Britain’s decline was heralded by political indifference then hostility, contrasting with its previous encouragement; its greatest strength. Nick’s chapter on shipping’s efforts to achieve net-zero is a must read for anyone involved in the green debate. Written by someone at the heart of maritime trade since the 1970s, the series is an important counterweight to political history we are usually fed, a different way of thinking about the world, past and present.
The World of the Cold War - 1945-1991
A sweeping, original history of the Cold War, from an acclaimed historian of the USSR
Why did the Cold War erupt so soon after the Second World War? How did it escalate so rapidly, spanning five continents over six decades? And what led to the spectacular collapse of the Soviet Union?
In this comprehensive guide to the most widespread conflict in contemporary history, Vladislav Zubok traces the origins of the Cold War in post-war Europe, through the tumultuous decades of confrontation, to the fall of the Berlin Wall and beyond.
With remarkable clarity and unique perspective, Zubok argues that the Cold War, often seen as an existential battle between capitalist democracy and totalitarian communism, has long been misunderstood. He challenges the popular Western narrative that economic superiority and democratic values led the USA to victory. Instead, he looks beyond the familiar images of East-West rivalry, shining a light on the impact of non-Western actors and placing the war in the context of global decolonization, Soviet weakness and the accidents of history. Here, he interrogates what happens when stability and peace are no longer the default, when treaties are broken and when diplomacy ceases to function.
Drawing on years of research and informed by Zubok's three decades in the USSR followed by three decades in the West, The World of the Cold War paints a striking portrait of a world on the brink.
Black in Blues
A 'musical and moving' (Washington Post) meditation on the colour blue and its role in Black history and cultureThroughout history, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably intertwined with another color: blue. In daily life, it is evoked in countless ways. Blue skies and blue water offer hope for a life beyond the current conditions. But blue is also the color of deep melancholy and heartache, echoing Louis Armstrong’s question, "What did I do to be so Black and blue?" In Black in Blues, celebrated author Imani Perry uses the world’s favorite color as a springboard for a riveting emotional, cultural, and spiritual journey—an examination of race and Blackness that transcends politics or ideology. Drawing deeply from her own life as well as from art and history, Perry traces both blue and Blackness from their earliest roots to their many embodiments of contemporary culture: The dyed indigo cloths of West Africa that were traded for human life in the 16th century. The mixture of awe and aversion in the old-fashioned characterization of dark-skinned people as "Blue Black". The fundamentally American art form of blues music, sitting at the crossroads of pain and pleasure. The blue flowers she plants in memory of a loved one. Attuned to both the harrowing and the sublime aspects of the human experience, Black in Blues is a poignant, spellbinding, and utterly original work from one of our greatest thinkers.
A History of the Company of Pikemen and Musketeers
The Company of Pikemen and Musketeers, marching alongside the Lord Mayor’s State Coach or standing guard at City events, is one of London’s most iconic images. Established just over 100 years ago, but tracing its roots back to the seventeenth century, it is a ceremonial unit of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) and is recruited from veterans of the HAC’s Army Reserve regiment, the oldest fighting regiment in the British Army. Granted a Royal Warrant by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 1955, the Company is tasked to provide a ceremonial bodyguard to the Lord Mayor of the City of London and provides guards for State Banquets at Guildhall, dinners at Mansion House and Livery halls and displays of seventeenth century arms drill at military and public events. This book tells the story of the Company, from the original pikemen and musketeers of the seventeenth century, to the foundation of the modern Company just after the Great War, its involvement in the pageantry of the inter-war years and the onslaught of the Blitz, its formal recognition by Royal Warrant and continuing evolution through 1950s’ austerity and 1960s’ affluence to the ‘end of history’ and beyond. Governments and demagogues come and go; monarchs pass from youth to old age. All the time the Company is there, lining the halls of Mansion House and Guildhall like living wallpaper as history passes in front of them. They also serve who only stand and wait.
Cognitive Dissident
In this compelling series of conversations, Matt Johnson?songwriter and founder of legendary band THE THE?sits down with BFI Executive Director Jason Wood to reflect on over four decades of fearless artistry. From the band?s post-punk origins to their critically acclaimed 2024 album ?Ensoulment?, Johnson shares candid insights into his life and music.Renowned for his raw emotional depth and razor-sharp socio-political commentary, Johnson offers a revealing self-portrait as someone who has never shied away from exploring life?s darkest corners. Jason Wood is Executive Director of Public Programmes and Audiences at BFI. His other books include 100 American Independent Films, Nick Broomfield: Documenting Icons, The Faber Book of Mexican Cinema, 100 Road Movies and 100 American Independent Films
Castlehill Wood (re-)Dun: Reinterpreting a Stirling Oddity
This volume reinterprets Richard Feachem’s 1950s excavation of Castlehill Wood dun, Stirling via key-hole excavation of in situ baulks and re-analysis of the object assemblage, placing the results in context. The works transform our understanding of the site from a simple enclosure to a roofed structure with an awareness of architectural trends across Scotland. The site is demonstrated to have been built prior to the Roman invasion and suggests a complex settlement pattern that should not be viewed solely in the light of the Roman incursions. Finally, the structure contains a series of small cells and galleries that find parallels across Scotland and might be linked to Iron Age ritual practices. The opportunity has also been taken to publish reviews of the artefacts from two other older excavations from the Stirling area: West Plean Homestead and Gallow Hill lava quern. In each case a proposed fieldwork phase never happened due to circumstances beyond the control of the author.
Days of Light
‘Think One Day written by (and starring) Virginia Woolf . . . Lyrical and captivating’ – The Observer‘Radiant, absorbing, sensual’ – Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre‘Beautiful’ – Sophie Elmhirst, author of Maurice and MaralynFrom Megan Hunter, author of The End We Start From – now a major film starring Jodie Comer – and taking inspiration from the influential Bloomsbury Group, Days of Light is a sweeping, gorgeous story for fans of Mothering Sunday and The Hours. Easter Sunday, 1938. Ivy is nineteen and ready for her life to finally begin. In the idyllic Sussex countryside, her sprawling, bohemian family and their friends gather for lunch, awaiting the arrival of a longed-for guest. It is a single, enchanted afternoon that ends in tragedy. Days later, at a funeral, Ivy is kissed by the man she will marry, and grieves with the woman who will become the love of her life. And this is only the beginning . . . Chronicling six pivotal days across six decades, Days of Light moves through the Second World War and the twentieth century on a radiant journey through a life lived in pursuit of love and in search of an answer. ‘Wonderful, luminous’ – Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time‘The characters stay with you in the best way’ – Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater‘Sublime. Wielding tremendous emotional power, it is a novel that is both raw and reverent’ – Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites
Empire of AI
An eye-opening account of the tech arms race shaping out planet, from an award-winning journalist and AI insider to the world of Sam Altman and OpenAI
When longtime AI expert and journalist Karen Hao first began covering OpenAI in 2019, she thought they were the good guys. Founded as a nonprofit with safety enshrined as its core mission, it was meant, its leader Sam Altman told us, to act as a check against more purely market forces.
But the core truth of this massively disruptive sector is that it requires an unprecedented amount of proprietary resources: the 'compute' power of scarce high-end chips, the sheer volume of data that needs to be amassed at scale, the humans on the ground 'cleaning it up' for sweatshop wages throughout the Global South, and a truly alarming spike in the need for energy and water underlying everything. We have entered a new, ominous age of empire with OpenAI setting a breakneck pace, as a small group of the most valuable companies in human history try to chase it down.
In exhilarating prose and with unparalleled access to those closest to Sam Altman, Hao recounts the meteoric rise of OpenAI and shows us the sinister impact that this industry is having on society.






















