Melvyn Bragg

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Crossing The Lines: A Novel

Melvyn Bragg

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Other editions: 2003

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A Son of War

Melvyn Bragg

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Other editions: Hardcover - 2003, 2002, 2001, 2001

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The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language

Melvyn Bragg

A history of the English language traces its evolution from a gutteral Germanic dialect around 500 A.D. to its modern global form, noting the influence of such groups and individuals as the early Anglo-Saxon tribes, Alfred the Great, and William Shakespeare.

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The Soldier's Return

Melvyn Bragg

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Other editions: Hardcover - 2002, 2000, 1999, Softcover - 1999

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On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries-From Archimedes to DNA

Melvyn Bragg; Ruth Gardiner

Explore the twelve greatest minds in the history of science with some of today’s top scientific thinkers Ranging from the foundation of hydrostatics in the third century b.c. to the discovery of DNA’s structure in our own time, On Giants’ Shoulders is an accessible and thought-provoking round table on the seminal discoveries of science and the originators behind them.

"Well-known English journalist Melvyn Bragg presents stimulating portraits . . . [and] well-rounded evaluations of each pioneer’s life and influence."–Publishers Weekly "What makes this book work so well is that Bragg is a fine journalist applying his skills as an outsider to blow away the pretensions and reveal some of the mechanics and motivations of what is still a remarkably closed world." –New Scientist "Each life is pored over in a brief but brilliant intellectual postmortem with the help of prominent contemporary scientists. . . . Here are the paranoia, the blind alleys of research, the rivalry, and many collisions of intellectual heavyweights. . . . On Giants’ Shoulders holds delights for both scientist and lay person."–KEVIN O’SULLIVAN, Irish Times "What makes the result special is Bragg’s unusual relationship to his subject. His gentle probing and the selection of material address exactly the questions about science and scientists that interest outsiders."–JOHN GRIBBIN, The Independent "This is an enchanting book, because it is a book produced by a clever man listening intently. . . . Science is not, in truth, a daunting alien territory. But characteristically, it seems to want to tell us the answers dogmatically, before we are sure what questions we would like to ask. On Giants’ Shoulders asks just those kinds of questions."–LISA JARDINE, The Times (London)

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Other editions: Hardcover - 1999, Hardcover - 1998

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Vision: 50 Years of British Creativity

Melvyn Bragg; David Hockney; Michael Craig-Martin; Martin Harrison; David Sylvester; Christopher Frayling; Nicholas Serota

The second half of the twentieth century has seen British artists, architects, and designers assuming a central role on the world stage. Starting in the years of reconstruction after the war, the young began to challenge accepted artistic values, looking at popular culture for their inspiration; the iconoclasm of the Pop movement has continued to be one of the most vital ingredients of the British art scene. In the year-by-year record that this book provides, the work of newcomers making their first impact is seen alongside that of outstanding artists in their maturity, with connections and contradictions across the entire visual scene -- from architecture, interior design, furniture, and the decorative arts to painting, sculpture, and graphic art. Pictures and text explore the many factors that contributed to the special character of British art. The unique system of artists teaching in art schools, the worlds of fashion and pop music, political and social developments: the response of the best artists to these influences has always been original and questioning and has opened new avenues for future development. The book is organized by decade, and the achievements of each are highlighted by statements from a distinguished group of artists, designers, collectors, and critics who have themselves made a significant contribution to each decade. Encouragement, challenge, and opposition have all provided stimulus for creative talents that have been able to override the changes of taste and fashion. The book features the work of more than 250 artists, from Henry Moore, David Hockney, Francis Bacon, and Lucian Freud to James Stirling, Richard Rogers, Neville Brody, and Damien Hint. Thepublication is also a celebration of the first fifty years of Thames and Hudson -- founded by Walter Neurath in 1949 -- and the role that the publishing house has played in educating the public and supporting the arts during this period.

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Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA

Melvyn Bragg

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The Sword and the Miracle: A Novel

Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Braggs acclaimed epic novel is set at the tumultuous dawn of Christianity in Britain and Ireland. It is a stunning story of adventure and spirituality, war and romance, but it is deeply rooted in Bragg's historical studies of the Dark Ages, and it throws into question our modern-day conceptions of faith, hope, and true love.Two people destined to be lovers sacrifice themselves for what they believe to be a greater destiny. For the warrior Padric, a charismatic British prince, it is the salvation of his people and homeland from warring Northumbrian overlords; for Bega, a bewitching Irish princess, it is carrying out her self-imposed commitment to spread the word of God. She, bearing a fragment of the true cross, is gifted with miraculous powers; he is a swordsman without peer. Their disparate missions send them apart as they travel throughout the frigid wilderness of a primitive England beset by terror and villainy. Faith is pitched against doubt, spiritual fulfillment against physical desire, romantic ideals against political expediency and pragmatism against theory.The Sword and the Miracle rose quickly to the top of the British bestseller lists, heralded by critics as an absorbing, wonderfully evocative work, several cuts above contemporary attempts at historical fiction. The reader will find an exciting narrative informed by insight, knowledge and understanding.

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Other editions: 1998

A Time to Dance

Melvyn Bragg

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Other editions: Hardcover - 1991, 1990

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Credo

Melvyn Bragg

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The Maid of Buttermere

Melvyn Bragg; Joan Walker

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Other editions: Hardcover - 1993, Hardcover - 1987

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Seventh Seal: Det Sjunde Inseglet

Melvyn Bragg

The Seventh Seal is probably the best-known work of one of the world's great film-makers, the one which most clearly has Bergman's unmistakable signature on it. The opening scene sets the tone: a stony beach under a leaden sky, the knight alone with his thoughts, then the approach of black-clad Death, whom the knight invites to play a game of chess. Bergman's medieval allegory of faith and doubt is dark with the horrors of witch-burnings and the plague. But it is also shot through with bright flashes of peace and joy, symbolised in the milk and wild strawberries offered to the knight by an innocent family of actors. In a finely written appreciation, Melvyn Bragg describes his own first encounter as a student with this extraordinary film, and how it revealed to him another cinema, quite different from the Hollywood he had grown up with. He recounts too his later meeting with Bergman himself, and how the marks of his powerful personality are everywhere in this troubling but inspiring masterpiece.

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Crystal Rooms

Melvyn Bragg

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Land of the Lakes

Melvyn Bragg

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Other editions: 1983

Richard Burton: A Life

Melvyn Bragg

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Other editions: Hardcover - 1990, Hardcover - 1989

The Second Inheritance

Melvyn Bragg

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Other editions: 1966

Great Artists: A Treasury of Paintings by the Masters/08650

Melvyn Bragg

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Rich: The Life of Richard Burton

Melvyn Bragg

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Josh Lawton

Melvyn Bragg

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Other editions: 1972, 1972

The Hired Man: A Musical

Melvyn Bragg; Howard Goodall

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Laurence Olivier

Melvyn Bragg

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Other editions: 1984

Cumbria in Verse

Melvyn Bragg

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Love and Glory

Melvyn Bragg

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Kingdom Come

Melvyn Bragg

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Autumn Manoeuvres

Melvyn Bragg

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