Definitive & insightful, in this richly layered & engrossing account, John Mc Hugo reveals how the great divide in Islam occurred. Charting the story of Islam from the death of the Prophet Muhammad to the present day, he describes the conflicts that raged over the succession to the Prophet, how Sunnism & Shi`ism evolved as different sects during the Abbasid caliphate, & how the rivalry between the empires of the Sunni Ottomans & Shi`i Safavids contrived to ensure that the split would continue into modern times. Now its full, destructive force has been brought out by the struggle between Saudi Arabia & Iran for the soul of the Muslim world. ...

The key to understanding the Arab world today
- & in the future
- is unlocking its past. John Mc Hugo takes the reader on

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The key to understanding the Arab world today
- & in the future
- is unlocking its past. In this sweeping & fluent account,

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Featuring a stunning gallery of portraits by the world`s finest poets, essayists, & fiction writers -- including Walt Whitman, ...

John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces is a bittersweet classic- although bitingly funny, it is bittersweet as it’s one of those novels that has always been in danger of being overshadowed by the events surrounding it’s publication, rather than the masterful text itself being celebrated first & foremost. Although believing his manuscript to be a masterpiece, the novel was never published & Toole sank into depression, eventually committing suicide in 1969. The work was published posthumously in 1980, after Toole’s mother found the manuscript. The text itself is truly wonderful, full of slapstick, satire & an unmistakable wit. The story centres on Ignatius J. Reilly: flatulent eloquent & pretty much unemployable… the ordinary folk of New Orleans seem to think he is unhinged as well. Ignatius ignores them as he heaves his vast bulk through the city’s fleshspots in a noble crusade against vice, modernity & ignorance. But ‘his momma’ has a nasty surprise in store for him. Ignatius must get a job. Undaunted, he uses his new-found employment to further his mission
- & now he has a pirate costume & a hot-dog cart to do it with. Largely biographical & painfully funny, A Confederacy of Dunces is a book that will stay with you forever.
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Jesse & Lee share a house owned by a very nice Chinese dentist, where it rains in the hall. They move to cabins on the cliffs at Big Sur where the deafening croaks of frogs can be temporarily silenced by the cry, ` Campbell`s Soup`. Ultimately, we learn how the frogs are permanently silenced.. .and dreams disperse around a fire into 186, 000 endings per second. In anticipating flower power & the ideals of the Sixties, Brautigan`s debut novel was at least a decade before its time & remains a weird & brilliant classic. ...

London, 1902. The old queen is dead & her son Edward rules: twinkly, genial, outgoing
- a time of great confidence & optimism
-

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Following on from the huge success of the 44 Scotland Street series, Alexander Mc Call Smith has 'moved house' to a crumbling four-storey mansion in Pimlico
- Corduroy Mansions. It is inhabited by a glorious assortment of characters: among them, Oedipus Snark, the first ever nasty Lib Dem MP, who is so detestable his own mother, Berthea, is writing an unauthorised biography about him; & one small vegetarian dog, Freddie de la Hay, who has the ability to fasten his own seatbelt. (Although Corduroy Mansions is a fictional name, the address is now registered by the Post Office.)
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Corduroy Mansions, Pimlico is an oasis of old-fashioned civilisation, its inhabitants considerate & peace-loving. But beneath the polite exterior seismic change is stirring. Barbara Ragg makes an eye-popping discovery about her stolid Scottish suitor`s past, while Oedipus Snark
- newly appointed & tirelessly self-interested Government Minister
- has a close encounter in Switzerland that leaves him a new man all together. Then plucky canine Freddie de la Hay goes missing, & his owner, widower William French, is so shaken by an unexpected declaration of love that he seriously considers making a disappearance himself. Goodhearted, well-intentioned but often to be found barking up the wrong tree, the residents of Corduroy Mansions remain a thoroughly entertaining example to us all.

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`A murder of crows`, `a charm of goldfinches`, `an ostentation of peacocks`: collective nouns for British birds have existed since at least the mid fifteenth century. They are thought to originate in texts about hunting, but have since evolved into evocative, witty & literary expressions, each striving to capture the very essence of the animal they describe. Some are portentous
- `a conspiracy of ravens` perfectly evokes this sinister bird
- others convey sound, such as `a murmuration of starlings` or `a chattering of choughs`. Yet more reflect with a flourish the beauty of the bird itself: what could be more celebratory than `a crown of kingfishers`, or `an exaltation of larks`? The best of these imaginative expressions are collected here, illustrated with charming woodcuts by Thomas Bewick, the renowned naturalist engraver of the eighteenth century. Featuring songbirds, aquatic birds, birds of prey & garden favourites, this beautifully presented book will delight both bird-lovers & word-lovers in equal measure.

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