Using original letters, diaries and newspapers, the royal family and the insular world of the Georgian court are brought vividly back to life.

Out of the frying pan, and into the fire...Sickened by the bloody toll of a war that cost the lives of friends and the woman he loved, RAF pilot Sean Riever transfers units, heading for the remote mountains of Afghanistan. His work there with the mine-clearance teams takes him as close to the shadow of war as he ever wants to get again. But when a British passenger plane is shot down by a Stinger missile over the east coast of America, Sean is forced once more into the cauldron of war. Gulf War hero John Nichol returns with a breathlessly exciting thriller, combining full-throttle action with frightening topicality, perfect for fans of James Deegan, Frederick Forsyth and Chris Ryan.

The unforgettable story behind the most destructive day in British military history... June, 1916: The Great War is locked in stalemate, deep lines of trenches and barbed wire carved into the French countryside. Sitting in an occupied chateau, General von Soden knows that something cataclysmic is coming. The British have been shelling for days and he is badly under-resourced and outnumbered. A frontal assault is surely imminent, but he has spent two years building an extraordinary series of defences for just that day... Amidst the bombardment the British troops are preparing for the attack. Geoffrey Malins, with his cinematograph, Noel Hodgson writing poetry in his hut, Siegfried Sassoon observing the enemy, Sir Douglas Haig at HQ, waiting for the chance of glory... As the battle lines muster, the full ferocity of war will be unleashed. For those on the Front, as for those in the wider world, nothing will ever be the same again. Based on true stories, cinematic in scope and built around a huge cast, this is a blistering, unforgettable novel that brings home the brutality of war, perfect for fans of Rory Clements, Ben Macintyre and Robert Harris.

Offers comprehensive treatment of Thomas Hobbes's thought, providing readers with different ways of understanding Hobbes as a systematic philosopher   As one of the founders of modern political philosophy, Thomas Hobbes is best known for his ideas regarding the nature of legitimate government and the necessity of society submitting to the absolute authority of sovereign power. Yet Hobbes produced a wide range of writings, from translations of texts by Homer and Thucydides, to interpretations of Biblical books, to works devoted to geometry, optics, morality, and religion. Hobbes viewed himself as presenting a unified method for theoretical and practical science-an interconnected system of philosophy that provides many entry points into his thought.  A Companion to Hobbes is an expertly curated collection of essays offering close textual engagement with the thought of Thomas Hobbes in his major works while probing his ideas regarding natural philosophy, mathematics, human nature, civil philosophy, religion, and more. The Companion discusses the ways in which scholars have tried to understand the unity and diversity of Hobbes's philosophical system and examines the reception of the different parts of Hobbes's philosophy by thinkers such as René Descartes, Margaret Cavendish, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. Presenting a diversity of fresh perspectives by both emerging and established scholars, this volume:   Provides a comprehensive treatment of Hobbes's thought in his works, including Elements of Law, Elements of Philosophy, and Leviathan Explores the connecting points between Hobbes' metaphysics, epistemology, mathematics, natural philosophy, morality, and civil philosophy Offers readers strategies for understanding how the parts of Hobbes's philosophical system fit together Examines Hobbes's philosophy of mathematics and his attempts to understand geometrical objects and definitions Considers Hobbes's philosophy in contexts such as the natural state of humans, gender relations, and materialist worldviews Challenges conceptions of Hobbes's moral theory and his views about the rights of sovereigns  Part of the acclaimed Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series, A Companion to Hobbes is an invaluable resource for scholars and advanced students of Early modern thought, particularly those from disciplines such as History of Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Intellectual History, History of Politics, Political Theory, and English.

Robin Boyd was Australia's foremost architectural writer and critic from the late 1940s until his death in 1971. He was also a talented architect, designing houses, apartments, commercial and university buildings, as well as exhibits to represent Australia overseas. This book situates his architecture and writings within the context of post-WWII global architectural discourse and production. A voice from the margins, yet one intimately engaged with contemporary US and European architecture, Boyd's geographic impartiality also drew architectures from Australia and Japan into global dialogue. He also had a local mission: to build an architecture culture and discourse for his own country. But his acuity in design criticism, widely admired at the time, has been overlooked by subsequent historiography. This book will fill that gap - placing Boyd's work and writing into an international context for the first time. The book is structured into three parts: Dwelling; Discourse and Australia. The first, Dwelling, focuses on Boyd's development of his theoretical ideas based on the laboratory of the single-family house. The second, Discourse, outlines Boyd's fight to find a voice for Australian architecture and create a local pedigree for modernism and finally the third, Australia, focuses on Boyd's commitment to a broader national project and the shaping of Australian identity.

The transformation of book formats, production technologies and reading practices has always been at the heart of any social change. Sumin Zhao offers an in-depth study of an emerging book format - book apps for young children - through the theoretical lens of social semiotics, considering them as both a techno-social phenomenon and a semiotic artefact. She illustrates how on the one hand, the design and use of book apps is shaped by public, professional (design) and research discourses of technology, childhood and literacy - and on the other, how the interactive design of apps has the potential to reshape literacy and meaning-making practices in early childhood. Zhao examines the ways in which the public, app designers and academic researchers discuss, debate, and understand children's book apps and eBooks, before looking closely at the meaning-making potentials of interactive design features such as touch. Showcasing various discourse analytical tools and concepts of the social semiotic theory this book illustrates how fine-grained semiotic analyses can be used to investigate multiple dimensions of a social phenomenon and unpack its complexity.

Strange and macabre tales of an alternative and often grisly history of Scotland. These tales, and the stories surrounding the locations in Scotland, are accompanied by illustrations of places featured in the text in this hugely entertaining book.

A celebration of Anglesey's rich heritage and identity - its special events, achievements, people, industry and landmarks.

In this authoritative and readable book, Austin expert and historian James Stringer gives a unique insight into one of the most significant vintage Austins.

A superb collection and expert account of fifty artworks by Birmingham's eminent artists from the nineteenth century to the present day.

This book presents the extraordinary beauty of an eclectic range of botanical specimens, both familiar and exotic. The 89 intricate illustrations are each by a different member of the French Society of Botanical Illustration, an institution created in 2011 from a passion for all things flora, and with the ambition to re-assert the great traditional of French botanical drawing, to revitalize the link between professional and amateur artists and promote their work internationally.These glorious images are realized in watercolor, colored pencil, gouache and graphite, and reveal a dizzying spectrum of plants-from magnolias, camellias and agapanthus; to peach, grapes and asparagus; to walnut, chestnut and palm trees... Whether an illustration captures the ruby drops of a raspberry, the feathery petals of poppies or a shiny stalk of bamboo, the results convey not only the precise physical characteristics and charm of their subjects, but also the patience and verve of their creators.Sprachen: Englisch, Französisch