First published to accompany the acclaimed BBC television series, Crusades is a fascinating introduction to an era in which history & legend overlap. The Crusades brought together people of all ages & backgrounds, sworn to spread Christianity & wrest the Holy Land from the Infidel. Terry Jones & Alan Ereira here tell the compelling often horrific story of the fanatics & fantasists, knights & peasants, corrupt clergy & duplicitous leaders who were caught up in these fervent times. They reveal how not only Muslims but Jews & Christians also were massacred; how epidemics, starvation & mutinies weakened even the most devout foot soldiers; & how the Crusades sowed the seeds of jihad, the holy war for Islam, a legacy that endures today. Charismatic leaders & uncrowned kings, uneasy alliances & bloody assassinations, gruelling sieges & violent battles: all are brought vividly to life in this superb book. ...

900 years ago, Christian Europe was seized by a fever that changed the world forever. Inspired by a Pope who offered rewards on earth & a certain place in Paradise thereafter, tens of thousands of men, women & children
- knights & peasants, rich & poor, old & young
- set out for the Holy Land to recapture the Holy City Jerusalem & save their fellow Christians from persecution by the Infidel. Crusades, & the television series which this book accompanies, tells the dramatic story of these events, & the reality behind the myths: of Popes motivated by greed as well as faith; of power-hungry nobles & pilgrims on Crusade who murdered, robbed & raped not only Moslems but Jews & fellow Christians as well; of the great kings of the West, such as Richard the Lionheart of Engl&, Philip of France & Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, leaders of the Third Crusade, who became the very stuff of legends; & of the Arab heroes, Zengi, Nur ed-Din & of course Saladin, who faced the Christian, onslaught often with much greater tolerance than their enemies, until finally the Crusaders were driven out of the Holy L&. The authors show how the Europeans used the morality of the Crusades to justify the conquest & destruction of any society which stood in their way, sowing the seeds of fear, suspicion
- & even hatred
- in the Arab world. A legacy which remains to this day.



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I understand why you did it. It`ll be our secret. Seventeen-year-old Louise Lacroix is desperate to escape her dreary life. So on her way home from work every evening she takes a detour past the enchanting house of Jess & Thelma Rooland
- a wealthy & glamorous American couple
- where the sun always seems to shine. When Louise convinces the Roolands to employ her as their maid, she thinks she`s in heaven. But soon their seemingly perfect life begins to unravel. What terrible secrets are they hiding? Dripping with tension & yearning, Crush is a chilling Fifties suspense story of youthful naivety, dark obsession
- & the slippery slope to murder. Praise for Dard`s thrillers: ” The French master of noir” Observer ” Unsettling...with a twist worthy of Agatha Christie at her devious best...classic French noir” Guardian ” Hugely atmospheric” The Times ” Disturbing from the outset with strong echoes of Simenon” Sunday Times Frederic Dard (1921-2000) was one of the best known & loved French crime writers of the twentieth century. Enormously prolific, he wrote hundreds of thrillers, suspense stories, plays & screenplays throughout his long & illustrious career. Bird in a Cage, The Wicked Go to Hell & The Executioner Weeps (for which he won the 1957 Grand prix de litterature policiere) are also available from Pushkin Vertigo.


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It is January 1719 & Daniel Defoe, almost sixty, sits at a table, writing. He is troubled with gout & debt, but for now is preoccupied with a younger man on a barren shore
- ” Robinson Crusoe, for which he will principally be remembered. Several miles south, an old man, Robert Knox, is bent over a heavy volume. It is Historical Relation, his account of being held captive on Ceylon, published forty years ago after he escaped & returned to Engl&. It has long been out of print, but a copy perhaps sits on the desk of Daniel Defoe as he writes. Where did Crusoe come from? & what is the secret of his endurance? ” Crusoe” explores the intertwined lives of two real men
- Daniel Defoe & Robert Knox
- & the character & book that emerged from their peculiar conjunction. It is the biography of a book & its hero, the story of Defoe, the man who wrote ” Robinson Crusoe”, & of Robert Knox, the man who was Crusoe.


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Originally named Juan Fernandez, the island of Robinson Crusoe in the South Pacific was the inspiration for Defoe`s classic novel about the adventures of a shipwrecked sailor. Yet the complex story of Britain`s relationship with this distant, tiny island is more surprising, more colourful & considerably darker. Drawing on voyage accounts, journal entries, maps & illustrations, acclaimed historian Andrew Lambert brings to life the voices of the visiting sailors, scientists, writers & artists, from the early encounters of the 1500s & the perilous journeys of the eighteenth-century explorers, to the naval conflicts of the First World War & the environmental concerns of more recent years. Crusoe`s Island explores why we are still not willing to give up on the specks of land at the far ends of the earth. ...

Aged fifteen, as Franco`s forces begin their murderous purges & cities across Spain rise up against the old order, Montse has never heard the word fascista before. In any case, the villagers say facha (the ch is a real Spanish ch, by the way, with a real spit). Montse lives in a small village, high in the hills, where few people can read or write & fewer still ever leave. If everything goes according to her mother`s plan, Montse will never leave either. She will become a good, humble maid for the local landowners, muchisimas gracias, with every Sunday off to dance the jota in the church square. But Montse`s world is changing. Her brother Jose has just returned from Lerida with a red & black scarf & a new, dangerous vocabulary & his words are beginning to open up new realms to his little sister. She might not understand half of what he says, but how can anyone become a maid in the Burgos family when their head is ringing with shouts of Revolucion, Comunidad & Libertad? The war, it seems, has arrived in the nick of time. ...

Alan paton’s “ Cry, The Beloved Country” was first published in 1948, & today still stands as arguably the single most important novel in twentieth century South African literature.“ Cry, the Beloved Country” is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo & his son Absalom, set against the background of a land & a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its immediacy, unforgettable for character & incident, “ Cry, the Beloved Country” is a classic work of love & hope, courage & endurance, born of the dignity of man. Paton was a strong vocal opponent of apartheid over a half a century before it came to a crashing end; in 1953 Paton founded the South African Liberal Party, which fought against the apartheid legislation introduced by the National Party. He died in 1988, just six years before apartheid would finally be over. ...

Map No. 806, Crystal Basin / Silver Fork / Eldorado National Forest, CA, in an extensive series of GPS compatible, contoured hiking maps of USA’s national & state parks or forests & other popular recreational areas. Cartography based on the national topographic survey, with additional tourist information. The maps, with most titles now printed on light, waterproof & tear-resistant plastic paper, highlight walking trails along with campsites & other accommodation, picnic sites, areas for various recreational pursuits such as horse riding or skiing, drinking water sources, & many other facilities of interest to the outdoor enthusiast. Cartography is based on information from the USGS (United States Geological Survey
- the country’s national survey organization), revised by the National Geographic Maps in cooperation with the National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, etc. Topography is excellently presented by contours (interval varies according to scale), enhanced by relief shading & colouring/graphics for wood cover, glaciers, etc. All heights are given in feet. The maps have a UTM grid plus latitude & longitude margin ticks & GPS waypoints for selected important locations. Each map is double-sided to give either maximum coverage of the chosen area or additional enlargements of its important sections. Accompanying notes provide useful information on relevant regulations, safety precautions, contact addresses, etc.* *IMPORTANT
- PLEASE NOTE: the series is very extensive, ranging in scale from 1:400, 000 for the vast national parks of Alaska to 1:25, 000 for local map in several states. We recommend, therefore, viewing the series by state rather than the whole list.*

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Crystal Marquise Blue (30cm / 12” diameter) is a blue land mass, transparent desktop globe that offers the enduring appeal of the globe, but with a thoroughly modern, visually intriguing twist. The globe ball is bisected by a stainless steel axis which is sculpted as one continuous piece from base beginning to axis tip. ...

Crystal Marquise Silver (30cm / 12” diameter) is a silver land mass, transparent desktop globe that offers the enduring appeal of the globe, but with a thoroughly modern, visually intriguing twist. The globe ball is bisected by a stainless steel axis which is sculpted as one continuous piece from base beginning to axis tip. ...