The untold story of how America`s secret war in Laos in the 1960s transformed the CIA from a loose collection of spies into a military operation & a key player in American foreign policy. January, 1961: Laos, a tiny nation few Americans have heard of, is at risk of falling to communism & triggering a domino effect throughout Southeast Asia. This is what President Eisenhower believed when he approved the CIA`s Operation Momentum, creating an army of ethnic Hmong to fight communist forces there. Largely hidden from the American public-and most of Congress-Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States. The brutal war lasted more than a decade, left the ground littered with thousands of unexploded bombs, & changed the nature of the CIA forever. With ”revelatory reporting” & ”lucid prose” (The Economist), Kurlantzick provides the definitive account of the Laos war, focusing on the four key people who led the operation: the CIA operative whose idea it was, the Hmong general who led the proxy army in the field, the paramilitary specialist who trained the Hmong forces, & the State Department careerist who took control over the war as it grew. Using recently declassified records & extensive interviews, Kurlantzick shows for the first time how the CIA`s clandestine adventures in one small, Southeast Asian country became the template for how the United States has conducted war ever since-all the way to today`s war on terrorism. ...

The UK's most influential food & drink journalist shoots a few of the sacred cows of the food world. The doctrine of local food is dead. Farmers' markets are merely a lifestyle choice for the affluent middle classes. & 'organic' has become little more than a marketing label that is way past its sell by date. That may be a little hard to swallow for the ethically-aware food shopper but it doesn't make it any less true. & now the UK's most outspoken & entertaining food writer is ready to explain why. This engaging, witty & honest narrative is driven by the appetite of one large man: Jay Rayner
- someone who lives to eat, but also understands that there is a world beyond the high-end obsessions of the farmers' market. Combining sharply-observed memoir
- growing up with the UK's most famous agony aunt who also happened to be a bloody good TV chef; witnessing the arrival of Mc Donald's & Dayville's ice cream in Seventies London; working as a butcher's boy
- with hard-nosed reportage, Jay Rayner will blow conventional foodie wisdom apart. For here is the reality: within a few decades we will have nine billion mouths to feed, & we won't be doing that by flogging free-range eggs from a stall in Borough market. Jay explains why the doctrine of organic has been eclipsed by the need for sustainable intensification; & why the future lies in large-scale food production rather than the cottage industries that foodies often cheer for. From the the cornfields of Illinois to the killing lines of Yorkshire abattoirs, Rayner takes us on a journey that will change the way we shop, cook & eat forever. & give us a few belly laughs along the way.


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Now with a new epilogue, the UK`s most influential food & drink journalist shoots a few sacred cows of food culture. Buying `locally` does no good. Farmers` markets are merely a lifestyle choice. & `organic` is little more than a marketing label, way past its sell by date. This may be a little hard to swallow for the ethically-aware food shopper but it doesn`t make it any less true. & now the UK`s most outspoken & entertaining food writer is ready to explain why. Jay Rayner combines personal experience & hard-nosed reportage to explain why the doctrine of organic has been eclipsed by the need for sustainable intensification; & why the future lies in large-scale food production rather than the cottage industries that foodies often cheer for. From the cornfields of America to the killing lines of Yorkshire abattoirs via the sheep-covered hills of New Zeal&, Rayner takes us on a journey that will change the way we shop, cook & eat forever. & give us a few belly laughs along the way. ...

War is the normal occupation of man
- war & gardening` Winston Churchill. A Green & Pleasant Land tells the intriguing & inspiring
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This is the wonderfully evocative story of how Britain`s World War Two gardeners
- with great ingenuity, invincible good humour
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Topographic coverage of mainland Spain at 1:25, 000 published by the Centro Nacional de Información Geograficá, the country’s civilian survey organization. The maps have contours at 10m intervals & colouring and/or graphics to show different types of vegetation or land use. Boundaries of national parks & other protected areas are marked. In addition to all the usual information shown on topographic maps at this scale, detailed presentation of the road & rail networks, rural tracks & paths, etc, the maps also show campsites. The maps have a 1-km UTM grid, with margin ticks for latitude & longitude at 1` intervals. Map legend is in Spanish only.PLEASE NOTE: our grid for the whole of Spain is in preparation
- in the meantime, for areas other than those shown on the attached grid please use CNIG’s topographic survey at 1:50, 000 by searching for ‘SI00000832’. Each 25K map covers one quarter of the corresponding 50K map, with the numbering system: I = NW quarter, II = NE quarter, III = SW quarter & IV = SE quarter. CNIG maps in the Provincial Road Maps series at 1:200, 000 are overprinted with the grid for the 1:50, 000 survey & can be used to see the area covered by each 50K or 25K title in more detail. To see the list of titles in this series please click on the series grid
- for map numbers not yet listed on our website please contact us by email.

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Topographic coverage of mainland Spain at 1:50, 000 in the MTN50 (Mapa Topográfico Nacional) series from the Centro Nacional de Información Geografica, the country’s civilian survey organization. The maps have contours at 20m intervals, enhanced by relief shading, plus colouring and/or graphics to show different types of terrain, vegetation or land use. Boundaries of national parks & other protected areas are marked. In addition to all the usual information featured on topographic mapping at this scale, detailed presentation of the road & rail networks, rural tracks & paths, etc, the maps also show campsites & mountain refuges. On more recent editions some GRs, the official long-distance hiking routes, are also marked (although not as clearly as on hiking maps from other publishers). Each map covers 29.5x 18.5 km (with adjustments in the border or coastal areas). The maps have a 1-km UTM grid, plus margin ticks for latitude & longitude at 1` intervals. Map legend is in Spanish only.HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT 50K MAP: all the titles in CNIG’s 200K Provincial Road Maps series at 1:200, 000 are overprinted with the grid for the 1:50, 000 maps & can be used to see the area covered by each 50K title. TO SEE THE LIST OF TITLES IN THIS SERIES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK.PLEASE NOTE
- MAP TITLES: the grids shown on our website serve both the civilian & the military 1:50, 000 topographic series. Although the areas covered by maps in both series are identical (apart from some border or coastal sheets), occasionally map titles differ – only one title is shown on the grid, usually the military one. In Galicia, the Basque country & in the Catalan speaking areas the tendency now is to use local place names rather than the often better known Castilian ones. Where possible, both versions are included in our titles. Map titles listed on our website are based on information received by us at the time of publication, but sometimes maps arrive showing a completely different title! As long as the map number is as ordered, the correct map has been supplied.
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How do you choose your first telescope? Or build one from first principles? What can the deep sky offer you season-by-season? How do you get started in astrophotography? & progress to CCD imaging? The Guide to Amateur Astronomy answers the questions of the novice & the experienced amateur astronomer in one easy-to-use & comprehensive account. Throughout the emphasis is on practical methods to get you started & then develop your skills with lavish illustrations to show you just what is possible. This second edition of the highly successful Guide has been fully revised & updated. It now takes you from basic `piggyback` astrophotography, through the use of a cold camera to state-of-the-art CCD imaging; from studies of the planets to the most distant objects in the Universe. From guidelines for the care & adjustment of your telescope through to lists of the spectral classification of stars, amateur astronomy societies & clubs, all the information you need for your voyage of discovery & revelation is provided in this self-contained, helpful guide. ...

The palaces built in Rome in the seventeenth & eighteenth centuries are some of the most magnificent buildings in Europe
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We travel to find ourselves; to run away from ourselves. `A Guide to Berlin` is the name of a short story written by Vladimir Nabokov in 1925, when he was a young man of 26, living in Berlin. A group of six international travellers, two Italians, two Japanese, an American & an Australian, meet in empty apartments in Berlin to share stories & memories. Each is enthralled in some way by the work of Vladimir Nabokov, & each is finding their way in deep winter in a haunted city. A moment of devastating violence shatters the group, & changes the direction of everyone`s story. Brave & brilliant, a Guide to Berlin traces the strength & fragility of our connections through biographies & secrets. ...