Paris & London have long held a mutual fascination, & never more so than in the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries, when they both vied to be the world`s greatest city. Each city has been the focus of many books, yet here Jonathan Conlin uncovers the intriguing relationship between them for the first time. It is a history of surprises: Sherlock Holmes was actually French, the can-can was English & the first restaurant served English food in Paris. Tales of Two Cities examines & compares six urban spaces
- the street, the cemetery, the apartment, the restaurant, the music hall & the nocturnal underworld. The citizens of Paris & London were the first to create these landmarks of the modern cityscape. By borrowing, imitating & learning from each other they invented the modern metropolis & so defined urban living for us all.
...

” Paris & London have long held a mutual fascination, & never more so than in the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries, when they both vied to be the world`s greatest city. Each city has been the focus of many books, yet here Jonathan Conlin uncovers the intriguing relationship between them for the first time. It is a history of surprises: Sherlock Holmes was actually French, the can-can was English & the first restaurant served English food in Paris. Tales of Two Cities examines & compares six urban spaces
- the street, the cemetery, the apartment, the restaurant, the music hall & the nocturnal underworld. The citizens of Paris & London were the first to create these landmarks of the modern cityscape. By borrowing, imitating & learning from each other they invented the modern metropolis & so defined urban living for us all.”
...

With a new foreword, added after the September 11th events, this book is a necessary read for whoever wants to have a better understanding of the origins of the Taliban, their relationship with Al-Qaida, the role played by Western countries oil interests & the position of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia & Iran. ...

Fifteen years ago, southern Afghanistan was in even greater chaos than it is now. The Russians, who had occupied the country throughout the 1980s, were long gone. The disparate ethnic & religious leaders who had united to eject the invaders
- the famous mujaheddin
- were at each others` throats. For the rural poor of Kandahar province, life was almost impossible. On 12 October 1994 a small group of religious students decided to take matters into their own hands. Led by an illiterate village mullah with one eye, some 200 of them surrounded & took Spin Boldak, a trucking stop on the border with Pakistan. From this short & unremarkable border skirmish, a legend was born. The students` numbers swelled as news of their triumph spread. The Taliban, as they now called themselves
- taliban is the plural of talib, literally `one who seeks knowledge`
- had a simple mission statement: the disarmament of the population, & the establishment of a theocracy based on Sharia law. They fought with a religious zeal that the warring mujaheddin could not match. By February 1995, this people`s revolt had become a national movement; 18 months later Kabul fell, & the country was effectively theirs. James Fergusson`s fascinating account of this extraordinary story will be required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the situation in Afghanistan, now & for the future...



...

The American bombing of terrorist bases in Afghanistan under the protection of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement has brought the Taliban into sharp focus as the most radical & extreme Islamic movement in the world today. Little is known about the Taliban because of the deep secrecy that surrounds their political movement, their leaders & their aims. The geo-strategic implications of the Taliban are already creating severe instability in Russia, Iran & the five Central Asian republics where the Taliban have become a major player in the new Great Game, as Western countries & companies compete to build oil & gas pipelines from Central Asia to Western & Asian markets. The Taliban`s implementation of their extreme interpretation of Islam poses new challenges to the Muslim world & the West`s understanding of radical Islam in the post-Cold War era. ` Taliban: Islam, Oil & the New Great Game` was runner-up in the prestigious annual British-Kuwait Friendship Society Prize, administered by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. ...

What happened to the great dictators of contemporary history, responsible for some of its most gruesome chapters? & do they still seem as terrifying as when they held power? An unrepentant, Idi Armin, lives in exile in Saudi Arabia & still meddles in African wars. Before dying, Bokassa proclaims himself the 13th Apostle of the Roman Catholic Church & talks of his secret meetings with the Pope. Colonel Menghitsu defends his Red Terror campaign. Mrs Hoxha, from her cell in Tirana, argues why the most isolated regime in the world was right to adopt a brutal Stalinist ideology. Paris-based Baby Doc Duvalier speaks about voodoo, solar panels, his women & his lost money. Mrs Milosevic defends the wars in the former Yugoslavia & declares her love for her husb&. Jaruzelski reveals his personal transition from son of an aristocratic family to autocrat army general in sunglasses. Riccardo Orizio has tracked down these fallen tyrants & thrown a new light on people whose names have become synonymous with misery, death & terror for entire nations. Riccardo Orizio is a London correspondent for La Repubblica. He is the author of Lost White Tribes which was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. He lives in London. ...

Have you been taken to what you`ve been assured is the perfect house deep in the French countryside, only to find there`s no electricity or running water? Gone to the doctor with a nasty cough, & been diagnosed with a rather more personal complaint? Walked into an half-empty restaurant, only to be told that it`s complet? If the answer to any of the above is oui, ” Talk to the Snail” is the book for you. Find out how to get served in a restaurant; the best way to deal with French hypochondria; learn the language of love, sex & suppositories (not necessarily in that order); it`s all here in this funny, informative, seriously useful guide on how to get what you really want from the French. With advice on essential phrases & bons mots to cover all eventualities, & illustrated with witty real-life anecdotes, ” Talk to the Snail” is a book that no self-respecting Francophile
- or Francophobe
- can afford to be without. Don`t go to France without reading this book. & don`t even think of buying a house there.

...

Come on an adventure around the world to see how different animals walk & talk. See them hop, clop, slide & glide from behind some flaps or snap, growl or squawk from behind other flaps. There are lots of other animals to find, too, & colourful scenes set in many countries with children from different cultures. Introducing lift-the-flap books: an exciting new format for Barefoot! This title was illustrated by best-selling artist, Caroline Mockford, who has brought the Cleo series of books to life so successfully. It represents children from Africa, America, China, Russia & India. It is accessible & interactive
-

Includes:: a simple hide-&-seek theme to engage young children.


...

Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad is the true story of two women who share laughter & tears, & swap their confidences, dreams & fears. May`s a tough-talking, hard-smoking, lecturer in English. She`s also an Iraqi from a Sunni-Shi`ite background living in Baghdad, dodging bullets before breakfast, bargaining for high heels in bombed-out bazaars & battling through blockades to reach her class of Jane Austen-studying girls. Bee, on the other h&, is a London mum of three, busy fighting off PTA meetings & chicken pox, dealing with dead cats & generally juggling work & family while squabbling with her globe-trotting husband over the socks he leaves lying around the house. They should have nothing in common. But when a simple email brings them together, they discover a friendship that overcomes all their differences of culture, religion & age. & between the grenades, the gossip, the jokes & the secrets, they also hatch an ingenious plan to help May escape the bombings of Baghdad. ...

In this collection of personal essays, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls & Parenthood reveals stories about life, love, & working as a woman in Hollywood-along with behind-the-scenes dispatches from the set of the new Gilmore Girls, where she plays the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore once again. In Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham hits pause for a moment & looks back on her life, sharing laugh-out-loud stories about growing up, starting out as an actress, &, years later, sitting in her trailer on the Parenthood set & asking herself, ” Did you, um, make it?” She opens up about the challenges of being single in Hollywood (” Strangers were worried about me; that`s how long I was single!”), the time she was asked to audition her butt for a role, & her experience being a judge on Project Runway (” It`s like I had a fashion-induced blackout”). In ” What It Was Like, Part One, ” Graham sits down for an epic Gilmore Girls marathon & reflects on being cast as the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore. The essay ” What It Was Like, Part Two” reveals how it felt to pick up the role again nine years later, & what doing so has meant to her. Some more things you will learn about Lauren: She once tried to go vegan just to bond with Ellen De Generes, she`s aware that meeting guys at awards shows has its pitfalls (” If you`re meeting someone for the first time after three hours of hair, makeup, & styling, you`ve already set the bar too high”), & she`s a card-carrying REI shopper (” My bungee cords now earn points!”). Including photos & excerpts from the diary Graham kept during the filming of the recent Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, this book is like a cozy night in, catching up with your best friend, laughing & swapping stories, &-of course-talking as fast as you can. ...