In the second half of the sixteenth century, most of the Christian states of Western Europe were on the defensive against a Muslim superpower
- the Empire of the Ottoman sultans. There was violent conflict, from raiding & corsairing to large-scale warfare, but there were also many forms of peaceful interaction across the surprisingly porous frontiers of these opposing power-blocs. Agents of Empire describes the paths taken through the eastern Mediterranean & its European hinterland by members of a Venetian-Albanian family, almost all of them previously invisible to history. They include an archbishop in the Balkans, the captain of the papal flagship at the Battle of Lepanto, the power behind the throne in the Ottoman province of Moldavia, & a dragoman (interpreter) at the Venetian embassy in Istanbul. Through the life-stories of these adventurous individuals over three generations, Noel Malcolm casts the world between Venice, Rome & the Ottoman Empire in a fresh light, illuminating subjects as diverse as espionage, diplomacy, the grain trade, slave-ransoming & anti-Ottoman rebellion. He describes the conflicting strategies of the Christian powers, & the extraordinarily ambitious plans of the sultans & their viziers. Few works since Fernand Braudel`s classic account of the sixteenth-century Mediterranean, published more than sixty years ago, have ranged so widely through this vital period of Mediterranean & European history. With a masterpiece of scholarship as well as story-telling, Agents of Empire builds up a panoramic picture, both of Western power-politics & of the interrelations between the Christian & Ottoman worlds.
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Aggtelek
- Gömör
- Torna Karst & Cserehát Atlas from the Budapest-based Cartographia with detailed, contoured & GPS compatible

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Aghios Efstratios island in the northern Aegean Sea on a light, waterproof & tear-resistant, contoured & GPS compatible map at 1:20, 000 from Terrain Editions with extensive tourist information. All place names are shown in both Greek & Latin alphabet. Map legend & all the text include English. Maps of the Greek islands from Terrain Editions have topography well presented by contours at 20m intervals (unless indicated differently in the map`s individual description), enhanced by spot heights, subtle relief shading & additional altitude colouring. Road network is very clearly graded according to width & the type of surface, distinguishing between good & rough dirt roads. Distances are marked on most small local roads, as well as locations of petrol stations and/or tyre repair workshops; scenic routes are highlighted. Each map also shows which ports are served by ferry services. Hiking paths are graded as main or narrow trails. National parks & other protected areas are marked & a wide range of symbols indicate various places of interest & recreational facilities, with main sights clearly highlighted. Most titles distinguish between sandy & pebble beaches; some also indicate beaches with natural shade and/or the type of sea bed. The maps have a UTM grid, plus latitude & longitude margin ticks. The reverse side of each title is covered by general information about the isl&, illustrated with colour photos. Many titles also include brief descriptions of recommended hiking trails and/or a street plan of the island’s main town, with colouring clearly showing various tourist facilities. To see the other titles in this series please click on the series link. ...

Handy size, pocket map with street plans of Agia Napa (1:10, 100) & the nearby Paralimni (1:11;, 000) from Selas, plus road maps of the surrounding area & a map of local nature trails. Both street plans highlight accommodation & places of interest, cross-referenced to lists in the street index. Two road maps show the environs of Agia Napia with Protaras & Pernera holiday complexes at 1:24, 000, plus the south-eastern tip of Cyprus at 1:65, 000. Also included is a map of nature trails in the Cape Gkreko National Park, showing six routes of between 2km & 5km long. All place names are in Latin alphabet only with all the text in English. ...

On 25th October 1415, on a French hillside near the village of Agincourt, four men sheltered from the rain & prepared for battle. All four were English knights, ancestors of Sir Ranulph Fiennes, & part of the army of England`s King Henry V. Across the valley, four sons of the French arm of the Fiennes family were confident that the Dauphin`s army would win the day...600 years after the Battle of Agincourt, Sir Ranulph Fiennes casts new light on this epic event that has resonated throughout British & French history. He explains how his own ancestors were key players through the centuries of turbulent Anglo-French history that led up to Agincourt, & he uses his experience as expedition leader & soldier to give us a fresh perspective on one of the bloodiest periods of medieval history. With fascinating detail on the battle plans, weaponry & human drama of Agincourt, this is a gripping evocation of a historical event integral to English identity. ...

With an introduction by Samantha Ellis. When Agnes`s father loses the family savings, young Agnes determines to make her own living
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Thirteen-year-old Agostino is spending the summer at a Tuscan seaside resort with his beautiful widowed mother. When she takes up with a cocksure new companion, Agostino, feeling ignored & unloved, begins hanging around with a group of local young toughs. Though repelled by their squalor & brutality, & repeatedly humiliated for his weakness & ignorance when it comes to women & sex, the boy is increasingly, masochistically drawn to the gang & its rough games. He finds himself unable to make sense of his troubled feelings. Hoping to be full of manly calm, he is instead beset by guilty curiosity & an urgent desire to sever, at any cost, the thread of troubled sensuality that binds him to his mother. Alberto Moravia`s classic, startling portrait of innocence lost was written in 1942 but rejected by Fascist censors & not published until 1944, when it became a best seller & secured the author the first literary prize of his career. Revived here in a new translation by Michael F. Moore, Agostino is poised to captivate a twenty-first-century audience. ...

Agra on an indexed street plan at 1:17, 850 approx. from Eicher with plans of the Taj Mahal & the Agra Fort, a road map of the Uttar Pradesh state, plus a 16-page guide to the city & its sights with hotel recommendations, etc. On one side is a street plan showing Agra at 1:17, 850 approx, with a 1km grid to make distances easier to judge. An inset extends the coverage to Fatehpur Sikri. The plan gives names of main streets & colonies, & highlights various facilities & places of interest. Also provided here are enlargements showing in greater detail the Taj Mahal area & the Agra Fort. The index, listing streets, colonies, institutions, hotels, railway stations, etc. is on the reverse, together with a road map of Uttar Pradesh. The accompanying booklet provides notes on the city & its sights, plus useful contact details including several hotels. ...

Agrigento, including Villaseta, on an indexed street plan at 1:6, 000 from Litografia Artistica Cartografica in their Globalmap imprint. An inset at 1:9.000 extends the coverage south to include the archaeological site of the Valle dei Templi. 59 temples & other buildings or monuments within the city itself are prominently highlighted. Coverage also

Includes:: insets for Fontanelle (1:10, 000) & a separately indexed plan of San Leone with Villagio Mosé at 1:9, 000. Litografia Artistica Cartografica (LAC) are Italy’s leading publishers of street plans with an extensive range of titles. Where appropriate, the plans include an enlargement showing the historic centre in greater detail. On each plan monuments including historic buildings & churches, archaeological sites, cultural or educational institutions, & important municipal buildings or facilities are numbered & listed next to the plan. Unless indicated to the contrary in the individual description, one way streets are not marked. Street index is on the reverse.

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Agrigento Province in a series of handy size road maps from Litografia Artistica Cartografica (LAC) with more minor local roads & tracks than can be found on most regional maps. The series is gradually being changed to a new style of digitally derived cartography, so presentation of adjoining titles may vary. All the maps have hill shading to represent the general relief with spot heights for selected peaks, & show a few more local roads & rough tracks than the other road map series. Intermediate road distances are indicated. Regional, provincial & communal borders are marked, & railways, funiculars, airports, sea ferry links & campsites are shown. The legend is in Italian only. The new, digitally produced editions are indexed & have enhanced, more finely drawn cartography: the hill-shading is less bold, motorway service areas are marked, natural parks are highlighted & an expanded range of symbols indicates various landmarks & sites, e.g. antiquities, churches, etc. Two styles of the new cartography are produced, differing only in the colour of the predominant background shading: grey or yellow/green. Some of the new editions include geographical coordinates for the map corners. The index of localities is on the reverse. This title is now produced in the new digital cartographgy. ...