oldcastle books ltd harpenden (195 results)

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Africa. The cradle of civilisation. From the dawn of human time in prehistoric Africa right through to the so-called 'Arab Spring' of 2011, Gordon Kerr offers a comprehensive introduction to the sprawling history of this enormous continent. He begins with the origins of the human race and the development of stone age technology, through ancient and medieval times and the significance of the Arab presence, the Muslim states and the trans-Saharan trade. Kerr continues with the rise and fall of nation states and kingdoms prior to the arrival of Europeans , Ghana, the Kingdoms of the Forest and Savanna, Yoruba, Oyo, Benin, Asante, Luba, Lunda, Lozi and many others, on to the beginning of the slave trade, and the European conquest and colonization of sub-Saharan Africa, the 'Scramble for Africa'. Finally moving onto the often bitter struggles for independence from that period of colonization and exploitation, Kerr concludes with an assessment of Africa in the 21st century. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Images of WWI in the popular consciousness normally involve the bloody attrition of trench warfare, the miles of mud, the shattered earth, the tangled miles of barbed wire. However there was another significant arena of war - the battle for control of the sea. In 1914 at the beginning of the war, Britain's maritime supremacy had remained unchallenged for around a hundred years. Many expected another Battle of Trafalgar but advances in technology saw a very different kind of warfare with the widespread use of mines, submarines and torpedoes. This book examines the events that led to war and the naval arms race between Britain and Germany. It traces the events of the war at sea looking at the major battles as well as the effects of unrestricted submarine warfare and the sinking of the Lusitania. It also profiles key figures such as Fisher, Beatty, Tirpitz and Graf von Spee. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Who is Who? A Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey with two hearts and thirteen lives? A folk hero who entertained and enthralled us in the warm glow of our TV sets on dark winter evenings? A rebellious iconoclast who toppled corrupt dictatorships and freed the oppressed? Or a bumbling British eccentric who for 26 years fought rubber monsters in a cheap and cheerful BBC kids' show? Well, he's all of these things - and a whole lot more besides. The story of Doctor Who is the story of British television in the final third of this century. It is also the story of the hopes and fears of generations of children - and grown-ups too - from the counter-culture 60s to the shallow waters of the 90s. Along the way there are shock revelations, melodramatic cliff-hangers and liberal doses of humour (intentional or otherwise); but be warned - there is also heart-ache, disappointment and death. Every taste is catered for in the world of Doctor Who. As well as an introductory essay, each Doctor's era is put under the microscope with facts and informed opinion on all their stories. There's an in-depth reference section detailing further reading, fascinating and bizarre Doctor Who websites, and a short history of spin-off stories and merchandising. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Good. During his long and extraordinary life, Winston Churchill was a central figure in almost all of the tumultuous events of the first half of the twentieth century. He was a soldier, writer and politician and, after the Second World War, he became one of the world's greatest statesmen. But his reputation rests on his role as a war leader and, in particular, on the period between May 1940 and July 1941, when Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany. Since his death in 1965, a few dissenting voices have cast him as, amongst other things, an opportunist and war-monger. But, as flawed as he undoubtedly was, most modern historians and politicians still hold him in the highest regard. In order to gain a better understanding of this remarkable man, this book looks at some of the key moments in Churchill's life, including his role in the British Army's last cavalry charge in the Battle of Omdurman and his escape from a prisoner of war camp during the Boer War. It then focuses on those momentous times when Churchill's courage and force of character almost single-handedly dragged Britain back from the brink of defeat in the Second World War and onwards towards an eventual Allied victory, making him, in the eyes of many people, one of the greatest of all Great Britons. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. For millions of people saints provide comfort, hope and inspiration and act as intercessors to God. But whilst the earliest saints and martyrs served an essentially spiritual role within society their impact and influence can also be found today throughout the modern secular world. The term saint comes from the Latin word 'sanctus' meaning Holy. Many of the first saints were Christian martyrs who died for their faith. The original meaning of the accolade of martyr was 'witness'. The earliest recorded account of the veneration of a Christian martyr relates to St Polycarp who died for his faith in 156 AD. The surviving text recounts that his fellow Christians gathered his bones or 'relics' together and placed them at a site where they could be re-visited on the anniversary of his death. Initially, Christians prayed for their holy martyrs in memory of their sacrifices but over time began to regard them as intercessors between themselves and God. The sites of their burials became shrines for pilgrims to visit and their feast day's important events. However, it has been observed that many of the aspects of the cults of different saints can be found in pre-Christian traditions. In the ancient Greek world the concept of a patron or localised god or goddess was commonplace. For example the city of Athens was said to be under the protection of Athena whilst the matron goddess of Byzantium was Artemis. During the Middle Ages the veneration of saints reached an apogee reflected in the popularity of the Golden Legend a written account of the lives of the saints compiled by Jacobus de Voragine. But where in the past individuals had become saints through the popular acclamation of the local community during the middle ages the Holy See itself would take sole responsibility for according that status. Pope Innocent III is now viewed as having established the right of the papacy to canonise individuals. A study of the lives and values of those individuals who have been accorded the status of saints often reveals wildly differing world-views and philosophical outlooks on the part of those who revere them as such. In an unexpected and fascinating turn of events slaves in the new world combined elements of their own traditions and spiritual beliefs with the European veneration of saints to produce a unique religious hybrid known as Santeria, a form of Voodoo practised in Cuba. More recently dramatic world events have led to the creation of modern saints such as the Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War and the recognition of the martyrdom of the Romanov family by the Russian church. The stories of the lives of the saints and the different aspects of their cults underpin many of the fundamental concepts of the modern world. From the little known Christian figure that gave his name to St Valentine's Day to the mysterious St Nicholas or Santa Claus, saints continue to be invoked in the most commercial and arguably spiritually sterile of settings. Saints continue to serve as patrons of countries, professions, and occupations and provide help with medical, personal and spiritual problems. The differing roles of saints ranges from the surprising such as the archangel Gabriel being patron saint of broadcasters to the bizarre with St Quentin serving as the patron saint of Locksmiths. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. It began with the horse-drawn carriage and ended with the aeroplane. 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. British ingenuity in the fields of technological development and the heavy industry of its Industrial Revolution led to Britain being dubbed 'the workshop of the world' while its Royal Navy policed the world's oceans helping to create what has become known as a 'Pax Britannica'. 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. History of the Victorian Era is the story of the greatest period in British history, a period that still resonates in today's Britain. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 'Europe was created by history.' - Margaret Thatcher What is Europe? Firstly, of course, it is a continent made up of countless disparate peoples, races and nations, and governed by different ideas, philosophies, religions and attitudes. Nonetheless, it has a common thread of history running through it, stitching the lands and peoples of its past and present together into one fabric. This narrative is welded together by the continent's great institutions, such as the Church of Rome, the Holy Roman Empire, the European Union, individual monarchies, trade organisations and social movements. At times they have prevented anarchy from destroying the achievements of the many great men and women the continent has produced. At other times, of course, it is these very institutions that have been at the heart of the war and strife that have threatened to reduce Europe to ruin on numerous occasions. Europe, however, is also an idea. From almost the beginning of time, men have harboured aspirations to make this vast territory one. The Romans came close and a few centuries later, the foundations for a great European state were laid with the creation of the Holy Roman Empire - an empire different to any other in that it enjoyed the approval of God, through the Church in Rome. Napoleon overreached himself in attempting to create a European-wide Empire - as did Adolf Hitler. Now, however, Europe is as close as it ever has been to being one entity. The European Union is an ever-expanding club of which everyone in Europe wants to be a member, although, as the recent rejection of the European Constitution by the French and the Dutch, demonstrates, we Europeans still cling to our national independence. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. For every light that shines, there must always fall a shadow, a dark side - Noir. Noir has infiltrated our world, like some insidious disease, and we cannot get rid of it. The threads of its growth and development have been hinted at but no-one has yet tried to bind them together, to weave the whole picture. This book takes you down the dark highways of the Noir experience, and examines the history of Noir in literature, art, film, and pulps. Sensitive readers are warned - you may find the Noir world disturbing, terrifying and ultimately pessimistic. What's in this Pocket Essential guide? As well as an introductory essay, nine of the most important noir authors are featured in more detail. Not only that, but there is a handy reference section to find out more information. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. St. George is a figure that bridges many worlds. At the heart of the myths and legends surrounding this English icon lies the story of an Early Christian Martyr persecuted by the Roman Empire around the third century AD. But England is only one country to have adopted this legendary soldier saint as their patron. Other countries including Germany, Armenia, Hungary, Portugal and Malta have all claimed him as their own. The cult of St. George is astonishingly widespread with churches being dedicated to him in Ethiopia, Egypt, Greece and France. His heroic struggle and victory against the dragon can be interpreted as representing the bravery of an individual Christian or as the eternal battle been good and evil. But closer examination of the cult of St. George yields unexpected results. There are clear parallels between his legendary battle and that of earlier pre-Christian heroes such as Perseus and Beowulf. St. George is also identified with the Islamic hero Al Khidr who is said to have discovered the fountain of youth. He has been associated with the coming of spring and has functioned as fertility symbol and been closely linked to the Green Man of Pre-Christian Myth. St. George has also acted as a symbol of chastity and served as a healing saint. His flag has been appropriated by the far right but in recent times come to identify a multi-cultural England. David Beckham arguably embodies many of the contradictory aspects of St. George as sex symbol, multi-racial icon and national hero. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The turbulent and chequered past of the world's most populous country is one of the most fascinating in world history, and relatively little known in the west. From the beginnings of Chinese prehistory right through to internet censorship with the 'Great Firewall of China', Gordon Kerr offers a comprehensive introduction to the sprawling history of this enormous country. A Short History of China provides an absorbing introduction to more than 4,000 years of Chinese history, telling the stories of the tyrants, despots, femmes fatales, artists, warriors and philosophers who have shaped this fascinating and complex nation. It describes the amazing technological advances that her scientists and inventors made many hundreds of years before similar discoveries in Europe. It also investigates the Chinese view of the world and examines the movements, aspirations and philosophies that moulded it and, in so doing, created the Chinese nation. Finally, the book examines the dramatic changes of the last few decades and the emergence of China as an economic and industrial 21st century superpower, making Napoleon Bonaparte's words about her ring true: 'Let China sleep, for when she awakes, she will shake the world'. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Sam Fuller is a retired marijuana smuggler who has never figured out if it was a bomb or just a leaking gas line that blew up his boat, nearly drowned him and killed his closest friends. He did know that the Colombians were ruthlessly rolling over independent gangs, making it a good time for him to leave town - especially since he was still alive, but.officially dead. After digging up his crew's small fortune buried in plastic trash bags in the palmetto scrub, he ran like hell up the Florida coast, feeling like the Angel of Death was about to tap his shoulder for a dance. When a man offers him $30,000 to kill his wife, a fatal series of events leads Fuller to go into hiding on Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue. Called Ponce by locals, it is a haven for the homeless, the lawless and the restless. Fuller accidentally gets involved in the disintegrating operation of a Dixie mob boss, Billy 'Dong' Chandler, and a struggle for control between Chandler and the respectable businessmen who have been laundering his money. He knows that Chandler must have an enormous cache of money hidden somewhere, and he wants to do the right thing - steal it. While the pros are busy killing each other, he assembles a crew of hopeless characters . Men who know they are human discards - a rockabilly ex-con. an escapee from a federal mental hospital.and two disabled street people. One can't walk. The other (missing half his face) can't speak. But they have one common goal: to find the money and use it to change their lives. Together, they mount a frantic chase that careens between the twisted, the brutal, the slapstick, the surreal, the tough and the serene - and hurtles toward the death of a mad man and the recovery of an illegal fortune. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. When it came to loving he knew which Daisy to pick! Wild parties, exquisite cocktails, fabulous wealth, raging jealousy and spectacular deaths. Sorry old sport, but Gatsby has a bigger house than you, prettier friends than you and a Rolls Royce to cart them all around in. To a backdrop of popping champagne corks and orchestral jazz, our hero bids to buyout his adversay, perennial Tom Buchanan and reclaim Daisy, his favourite bit of High Society totty. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. So you want to make a film? It's the only way to get into the film industry. No one's going to let you play with the kind of money it takes to make a feature film until you've already proven yourself by making a great short film. You can do that at film school - if you can afford to go to film school. If you can't, then you're going to have to make your films without money. You're going to have to film on a microbudget - like Shane Meadows, who made Where's The Money, Ronnie? before TwentyFourSeven, and Guy Ritchie, who made The Hard Case before Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. With the technology available today, it's easier than ever to make a short film without the benefits of funding, but digital cameras and editing systems are only part of the story. The most important thing is you, the film-maker. This Pocket Essential gives you all the information you need to put together a short film production - from first idea to script to planning to casting to locations to shooting to editing to distribution. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Fair. What is Creative Writing? It is an academic subject, a popular pastime, a road to self-revelation and the start of a potentially lucrative career. The path chosen and the progress made is the result of choices made by the writer. The potential for Creative Writing to increase and enhance the lives of its practitioners has been proven repeatedly. Creative Writing includes prose and poetry. It covers great and complex works and tiny, focused fragments. It takes in aspects of creative thinking and commercial wisdom. Above all, Creative Writing is time for yourself and the freedom to explore and achieve. Creative Writing is a subject best practised in an environment offering both encouragement and practical instruction. An environment where every piece of work can be reviewed and reflected upon. This Pocket Essential can help you find this place. What's in it? An introductory essay defining Creative Writing. A consideration of the major areas and approaches. Chapters on: getting started; developing technique, plotting and themes; making meaning and making money. A range of work is reviewed and analysed. There is a consistent emphasis on empowering the reader to focus on his/her own ambitions and create work to achieve targets. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Who was Hitchcock? A fat man who played practical jokes on people? A control freak who humiliated others to make himself look better? A little boy afraid of the dark? One of the greatest storytellers of the century? He was all of these and more - twenty years after his death, he is still a household name; most people in the Western world have seen his film, and he popularised the action movie format we see every week on the cinema screen. He was both a great artist and dynamite at the box office. What's in this Pocket Essential guide? As well as an introductory essay, each of Hitchcock's films is individually reviewed and analysed. In addition, the effect he has had on the industry is explained - virtually every big action movie of the past three decades has been influenced by his work. And there's a handy multimedia reference guide. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Don't panic! The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy is a unique phenomenon which started life as a radio series in 1978 and was subsequently adapted into five best-selling novels, remade as a BAFTA-winning TV series, re-recorded as a chart LP, reinvented as a computer game, dramatised for the West End stage and translated into more than 30 languages. For the first time, the full story behind the Hitch-Hiker's Guide is told in all its bizarre detail: the Finnish radio series, the German one-man stage show, the modern jazz suite, the two-headed teddy bears. Every variant of the story, every spin-off and cash-in, is documented in context, including the feature film, which has been stuck in development hell for more than 20 years.Based on 20 years of research and extensive interviews with the cast and crew of Hitchhiker's Guide, including Douglas Adams, this book also includes details of Douglas Adams' other projects (Dirk Gently, The Meaning Of Liff and Starship Titanic) plus his early work on series such as Doctor Who and Monty Python's Flying Circus. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Mann, David (illustrator). This cat was a drag. till a midnight wake-up call Christmas?! What a load of Humbug. Mistletoe and Wine just don't do it for Scrooge; he's a workaholic miser with an attitude problem. If he doesn't change his ways, he'll end up with no friends and Tiny Tim won't last the year. Let's hope some spooky night-time visitors can put the jingle back in his bells! The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. No More Mr Nice Guy. Welcome to his nightmare. There's a sinister man about London town with something of the night about him. Mr Hyde is mad, bad and has a penchant for bumping off MPs and other kindly innocents. Will his friend Dr Jekyll be able to stop him? Or is there something more to their relationship than meets the eye.? Only the intrepid Utterson can get to the bottom of this mystery, but what will he find in Dr Jekyll's lab? The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Good. 'Europe was created by history.' Margaret Thatcher What is Europe? Firstly, of course, it is a continent made up of countless disparate peoples, races and nations, and governed by different ideas, philosophies, religions and attitudes. Nonetheless, it has a common thread of history running through it; welded together by the continent's great institutions, such as the Church of Rome, the Holy Roman Empire, the European Union. Europe, however, is also an idea. From almost the beginning of time, people have harboured aspirations to make this vast territory one. The Romans came close and a few centuries later, the foundations for a great European state were laid with the creation of the Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon overreached himself in attempting to create a European-wide Empire - as did Adolf Hitler. The European Union is a club of which everyone in Europe wants to be a member; although, as the rejection of the European Constitution by the French and the Dutch, and the British situation demonstrates, we Europeans still cling to our national independence. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. In Easy Money David Spanier studies the psychological motivation of gamblers, those who beat the system and those beaten by it, portraying the personalities and legends of the gambling world of the time. Spanier ranges widely over his subject, considering the motivations of gamesters, stressing the physical sensations they experience, the percentages and chances, heuristic principles, the differences in European and American gambling, and the criminal element in U.S. gaming, but concentrates primarily on the human side of gambling rather than the mathematical or theoretical. While he is comfortable discussing Freud's analysis of the compulsive gambler, his real emphasis is on the individuals: the mathematician who devised a way to beat the house advantage at blackjack; the London man-about-town who ran games for the upper class; the cleric who founded the British Gamblers Anonymous; the physician who established a 'gamblers' hospital' in Brecksville, Ohio. This is an insider's analysis of the thrills, action, and intense emotional involvement that makes up the world of gambling. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Conflict. Scorsese examines what men do when they are in conflict with themselves. Taxi Driver Travis Bickle is disgusted by the mean streets and wants to wash them clean. After all, what was the point of him going to Vietnam if it wasn't to make things better? Self-destructive Jake La Motta unleashes the Raging Bull within him both inside and outside the boxing ring. Wiseguy Henry Hill thinks that he can be one of the GoodFellas, but he eventually realises that there is nothing good or wise about a life of organised crime. Spirit. There is more to Scorsese's work than crime and violence. His characters are trying to attain some kind of spiritual peace with society, their family and themselves. In the end they try to make a decision they can live with. In Kundun, the Dalai Lama leaves Tibet. In The Last Temptation Of Christ, Jesus forgoes a normal family life to fulfil his destiny. In The Age Of Innocence, Newland Archer decides to be a hypocrite within society rather than truthful outside of it. In Mean Streets, Charlie must choose whether to keep his volatile friend Johnny Boy and his epileptic lover, or to propel himself up the ladder of success. Hailed as America's greatest living film director, Martin Scorsese is an innovative storyteller at the height of his intellectual and emotional powers. This Pocket Essential examines his life and work. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 'This debt was not contracted as the price of bread or wine or arms. It was the price of liberty' - Alexander Hamilton Kiah Harmon, a young Virginia lawyer, is just emerging from the most traumatic time of her life when actress Sam van Eyck walks into her office, unannounced, with the case of a lifetime. She asks Kiah to recover a 200-year-old debt from the US Government - a debt that goes right back to the time of Alexander Hamilton. The selfless generosity of Sam's ancestor, Jacob van Eyck, in making a massive loan of gold and supplies at Valley Forge, during the freezing winter of 1777-1778, may well have saved George Washington's army, and the War of Independence, from disaster. But it reduced Jacob to ruin. Despite the government's promises, the debt was never repaid, and this hero of the American Revolution died in poverty, unknown and unrecognised. Two hundred years later, Sam and Kiah embark on a quest to change that. But first, they will have to find the evidence, and overcome a stubborn Government determined to frustrate their every move. Will Sam and Kiah succeed in finally getting Jacob the statue he deserves? The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. From Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island to Errol Flynn in Captain Blood on to today's Pirates of the Caribbean, the romantic image of pirates in modern Western popular culture has long been with us. But of course pirates come in many guises, and not all of them as charming as Johnny Depp. Pirates are outlaws who move quickly, a form of lawlessness based on the application of immense short term power by mobile forces which fade away, similar to guerrilla warfare. In Pirates and Privateers Tom Bowling offers a lively history of piracy, from ancient times through the 'privateers' such as Morgan, with their Letters of Marque (an early example of State-sponsored terrorism), to the still real and flourishing threat of contemporary pirates that patrol the less well-regulated shipping lanes of the world today. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. St. George is a figure that bridges many worlds. At the heart of the myths and legends surrounding this English icon lies the story of an Early Christian Martyr persecuted by the Roman Empire around the third century AD. But England is only one country to have adopted this legendary soldier saint as their patron. Other countries including Germany, Armenia, Hungary, Portugal and Malta have all claimed him as their own. The cult of St. George is astonishingly widespread with churches being dedicated to him in Ethiopia, Egypt, Greece and France. His heroic struggle and victory against the dragon can be interpreted as representing the bravery of an individual Christian or as the eternal battle been good and evil. But closer examination of the cult of St. George yields unexpected results. There are clear parallels between his legendary battle and that of earlier pre-Christian heroes such as Perseus and Beowulf. St. George is also identified with the Islamic hero Al Khidr who is said to have discovered the fountain of youth. He has been associated with the coming of spring and has functioned as fertility symbol and been closely linked to the Green Man of Pre-Christian Myth. St. George has also acted as a symbol of chastity and served as a healing saint. His flag has been appropriated by the far right but in recent times come to identify a multi-cultural England. David Beckham arguably embodies many of the contradictory aspects of St. George as sex symbol, multi-racial icon and national hero. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Every day thousands of people worldwide consult Roget's Thesaurus. How many stop to consider why that endlessly useful reference book is so called? Of those who know that it owes its name to the man who first devised it, how many know anything more about him? Yet Peter Mark Roget was one of the most remarkable men of the nineteenth century and he achieved much in his long life. He did not even begin the great work of classification which bears his name until he was 70. Before that, the polymathic Roget had already made his own contributions to knowledge in a dozen different fields from optics and anatomy to mathematics and education. He would probably have been surprised that his posthumous reputation rests on his thesaurus. No doubt he would have expected that it would be his involvement in the foundation of the University of London that would be his lasting legacy. Or his books on magnetism, galvanism and physiology. Or his scientific papers on persistence of vision, with their later impact on the development of motion pictures. Or his association with major thinkers such as the computer pioneer Charles Babbage and the philosopher Jeremy Bentham. The range of his interests was astonishing and, for sixty years, he was at the centre of the intellectual revolution of his times. Nick Rennison's biography reveals the full story of Roget's involvement with the great issues and the great personalities of the nineteenth century and recounts the forgotten life behind one of the most famous of all reference books. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The President and the Provocateur explores the parallel lives of John F. Kennedy, born into wealth and celebrity, destined for glory and a violent death, and of Lee Harvey Oswald, born into poverty and obscurity, murdered in police custody and convicted - without a lawyer or a trial - of the killing of JFK. 50 years after both men were murdered, Alex Cox provides a chronological account of their lives' strange intersections, their shared interests, and the increasing body of evidence which suggests that Lee Harvey Oswald was working for some branch of the government - most likely the FBI or IRS - as an infiltrator of subversive groups, and agent provocateur. The President and the Provocateur draws on five decades of accumulated evidence that Oswald was an intelligence agent and agent provocateur. Far from being an active Communist, Oswald was mainly interested in infiltrating right-wing groups (including the White Russian community of Fort Worth, the National States Rights Party, the Minutemen, and the Cuban Alpha 66 terrorist organization in Dallas and New Orleans). From this perspective his alleged purchasing of guns by mail may be the actions of someone attempting to build a case against right-wing gun-runners and their suppliers - something the IRS and Senator Christopher Dodd's Subcommittee were also doing, at exactly the same time. The possibility that Oswald was sent as a spy to Russia has been raised before, but this is the first book to detail Oswald's continued pattern of intelligence-gathering and infiltration of political groups on his return to the USA. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The Knights Templar were the most powerful military religious order of the Middle Ages. Formed to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land, they participated in the Crusades and rapidly gained wealth, lands and influence and were answerable to none save the Pope himself. In addition to having a fearful military reputation, they were also Christendom's first bankers, and invented the modern banking system that is still in use today, and were also involved in exploration and engineering. Seemingly untouchable for nearly two centuries, the Templars fell from grace spectacularly after the loss of the Holy Land: in 1307, all Templars in France were arrested on charges of heresy, homosexuality, denial of the cross and devil worship. The order was suppressed by the Pope in 1312, and Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master, was burnt at the stake as a heretic two years later. The myth of the Templars was born and in the ensuing seven centuries, they have exerted a unique influence over European history: orthodox historians see them as nothing more than soldier-monks whose arrogance was their ultimate undoing, while others see them as occultists of the first order, the founders of Freemasonry, possessors of the Holy Grail and creators of the Turin Shroud. Sean Martin considers both the orthodox and conspiratorial version of events, and includes the latest revelations from the Vatican Library. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. From 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. But who were the Anglo-Saxons and where did they come from? A 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. A Short History of the Anglo-Saxons provides an indispensable introduction to everything you need to know about the Anglo-Saxon period. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Friedrich Nietzsche has been the unluckiest of philosophers. During his lifetime he was either ignored or misunderstood and he spent the last eleven years of his life in the dark prison of insanity. Since his death he has been accused of being a proto-Fascist and hailed by Hitler as his philosophical guru. What is the truth about Nietzsche and his ideas? In this Pocket Essential Travis Elborough guides the reader through the difficulties of Nietzsche's life, his friendship with Wagner, his years as an itinerant scholar up to the terrible moment in 1889 when the sight of a horse being flogged in the streets of Turin precipitated a full-scale mental collapse, and the twilight years of madness under the care of his sinister sister, Elizabeth. Each of Nietzsche's major works is summarised and the central concepts in his philosophy examined. Nietzsche's influence on 20th century thought is explored, as is the posthumous hijacking of his name by the Nazis. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.