Flamingo

The fascinating, and largely autobiographical, sequel to J G Ballard's prize-winning 'Empire of the Sun', that follows Jim to post-war England. 'The Kindness of Women' continues the story of the boy whose life in Japanese-occupied Shaghai was described so memorably in 'Empire of the Sun', it sets those traumatic events within the context of a lifetime as we follow the narrator, Jim, to England and suburban Shepperton after the war. Jim tries and fails to find stability as a medical student at Cambridge and a trainee RAF pilot in Canada. Then, after settling happily into family life, his world is ripped apart by domestic tragedy. He plunges into the maelstrom of the 1960s, an instigator and subject of every aspect of cultural, social and sexual revolution. All this and much more, we see as the attempt of a bruised mind to make sense of the upheaval around it.

The fascinating, and largely autobiographical, sequel to J G Ballard's prize-winning 'Empire of the Sun', that follows Jim to post-war England. 'The Kindness of Women' continues the story of the boy whose life in Japanese-occupied Shaghai was described so memorably in 'Empire of the Sun', it sets those traumatic events within the context of a lifetime as we follow the narrator, Jim, to England and suburban Shepperton after the war. Jim tries and fails to find stability as a medical student at Cambridge and a trainee RAF pilot in Canada. Then, after settling happily into family life, his world is ripped apart by domestic tragedy. He plunges into the maelstrom of the 1960s, an instigator and subject of every aspect of cultural, social and sexual revolution. All this and much more, we see as the attempt of a bruised mind to make sense of the upheaval around it.

With a new introduction by John Gray and striking new cover from the artist Stanley Donwood, the author of 'Cocaine Nights' brings you the story of suburban London transformed into an exotic dreamworld. When a light aircraft crashes into the Thames at Shepperton, the young pilot who struggles to the surface minutes later seems to have come back from the dead. Within hours everything in the dormitory suburb is surreally transformed. Vultures invade the rooftops, luxuriant tropical vegetation overruns the quiet avenues, and the local inhabitants are propelled by the young man's urgent visions through ecstatic sexual celebrations towards an apocalyptic climax. In this characteristically inventive novel Ballard displays to devastating effect the extraordinary imagination that established him as one of Britain's most highly acclaimed writers. This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard's works, featuring introductions from a number of his admirers (including Ali Smith, Iain Sinclair, Martin Amis and Ned Beauman) and brand-new cover designs from the artist Stanley Donwood.

This is a history of the rise of the anti-globalization movement, from Seattle to September 11th, 2001. The text charts the group's most notable successes and its failures and is international in scope, covering everything from the Zapatistas' rebellion in Mexico to the Social Centres in Italy, from the biggest peaceful protest demos since the 1960s to the gassings and shootings at Genoa. The author analyses developments in local democracy, in law enforcement, in privatization laws, in capital migrations, in union behaviour, in marketing, in summitry. She gets close to the suited summits - the WTO, the G8, the IMF, and NAFTA - and looks at issues as diverse as bioterrorism, pollution, hypocrisy, fear and confusion. The book could be considered a portrait, or rather the underlying negative, of the planet's torrid time between the Seattle summit and the world-changing events of 11 September 2001.

The human survivors of the nature cruise of the century", are quietly evolving into sleek, furry creatures with flippers and small brains. All other forms of humankind have ceased to exist, made redundant by their prized big brains. From the author of "Slaughterhouse 5"."