Americans have always loved guns. This special bond was forged during the American Revolution & sanctified by the Second Amendment. It is because of this exceptional relationship that American civilians are more heavily armed than the citizens of any other nation. Or so we`re told. In The Gunning of America, historian Pamela Haag overturns this conventional wisdom. American gun culture, she argues, developed not because the gun was exceptional, but precisely because it was not: guns proliferated in America because throughout most of the nation`s history, they were perceived as an unexceptional commodity, no different than buttons or typewriters. Focusing on the history of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, one of the most iconic arms manufacturers in America, Haag challenges many basic assumptions of how & when America became a gun culture. Under the leadership of Oliver Winchester & his heirs, the company used aggressive, sometimes ingenious sales & marketing techniques to create new markets for their product. Guns have never ”sold themselves”; rather, through advertising & innovative distribution campaigns, the gun industry did. Through the meticulous examination of gun industry archives, Haag challenges the myth of a primal bond between Americans & their firearms. Over the course of its 150 year history, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company sold over 8 million guns. But Oliver Winchester--a shirtmaker in his previous career--had no apparent qualms about a life spent arming America. His daughter-in-law Sarah Winchester was a different story. Legend holds that Sarah was haunted by what she considered a vast blood fortune, & became convinced that the ghosts of rifle victims were haunting her. She channeled much of her inheritance, & her conflicted conscience, into a monstrous estate now known as the Winchester Mystery House, where she sought refuge from this ever-expanding army of phantoms. In this provocative & deeply-researched work of narrative history, Haag fundamentally revises the history of arms in America, & in so doing explodes the cliches that have created & sustained our lethal gun culture. ...

The classic World War II thriller from the acclaimed master of action & suspense. Now reissued in a new cover style. Twelve hundred British soldiers isolated on the small island of Kheros off the Turkish coast, waiting to die. Twelve hundred lives in jeopardy, lives that could be saved if only the guns could be silenced. The guns of Navarone, vigilant, savage & catastrophically accurate. Navarone itself, grim bastion of narrow straits manned by a mixed garrison of Germans & Italians, an apparently impregnable iron fortress. To Captain Keith Mallory, skllled saboteur, trained mountaineer, fell the task of leading the small party detailed to scale the vast, impossible precipice of Navarone & to blow up the guns. The Guns of Navarone is the story of that mission, the tale of a calculated risk taken in the time of war... ...

Probably the best known, & to their adversaries the most feared, body of fighting men in the British Army, Gurkhas were first recruited to serve the British Crown 200 years ago in 1815 & for all those years their signature weapon has remained the Kukri. In that time, these young men, from the Nepalese hills, have fought in all the major wars where the British Army has been deployed. Winning an extraordinary number of medals for bravery, the Regiment has also won an extraordinary romantic place in the hearts of British people. In 2015, there will be major celebrations to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Gurkha service to the British Crown. This book, written by Major General J C Lawrence CBE, with a foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales & an introduction by Joanna Lumley OBE, is the complete visual history of Britain`s Gurkhas & the mystique that surrounds them. As Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw, former Chief of Staff of the Indian Army once said, ” If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or is a Gurkha.” ...

A disfigured servant girl plans to flee Nepal; a Kalimpong shopkeeper faces an impossible dilemma; a Hindu religious festival in Darjeeling brings with it a sacrifice; a Nepali-Bhutanese refugee pins her hopes on the West; a Gurkha`s daughter tries to comprehend her father`s complaints; two young Nepali-speaking immigrants meet in Manhattan. These are just some of the stories describing & dramatizing the experiences of the Nepalese people & the Nepalese diaspora
- the people whose culture & language is Nepalese but who are dispersed to India, Bhutan & beyond. From every perspective & on every page, Prajwal Parajuly blends rich colour & vernacular to paint an eye-opening picture of a unique world & its people.
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On Mount Gurugu, overlooking the Spanish enclave of Melilla on the North African coast, desperate migrants gather before attempting to scale the city`s walls & gain asylum on European soil. Inspired by firsthand accounts, Juan Tomas Avila Laurel has written an urgent novel, by turns funny & sad, bringing a distinctly African perspective to a major issue of our time. ...

What is the difference between friendship & love? Or between neutrality & commitment? Gustav Perle grows up in a small town in `neutral` Switzerl&, where the horrors of the Second World War seem a distant echo. But Gustav`s father has mysteriously died, & his adored mother Emilie is strangely cold & indifferent to him. Gustav`s childhood is spent in lonely isolation, his only toy a tin train with painted passengers staring blankly from the carriage windows. As time goes on, an intense friendship with a boy of his own age, Anton Zwiebel, begins to define Gustav`s life. Jewish & mercurial, a talented pianist tortured by nerves when he has to play in public, Anton fails to understand how deeply & irrevocably his life & Gustav`s are entwined. Fierce, astringent, profoundly tender, Rose Tremain`s beautifully orchestrated novel asks the question, what does it do to a person, or to a country, to pursue an eternal quest for neutrality, & self-mastery, while all life`s hopes & passions continually press upon the borders & beat upon the gate. ...

Boost your digestive & immune system with these delicious probiotic recipes that will leave you feeling energized & alert.A healthier gut is the key to a healthier life, so banish those all-too-common symptoms of a bloated stomach & enjoy new levels of physical & mental vitality. From our mental health & mood to our skin, weight control & immunity, the bacteria that live in our stomach can affect more than we realize. These bacteria can become diminished through eating too much sugar, processed or artificial foods or lifestyle factors outside of our control such as taking antibiotics. The state of our gut is responsible for a lot & looking after it can prove beneficial in the long run. One way to repair your tummy is through introducing naturally fermented foods that contain high amounts of the friendly bacteria you may be missing. Creative chef, teacher & health-food expert Dunja Gulin presents over 60 tantalizing ways to introduce fermented foods to your everyday diet. Start the day with Banana & Blueberry Kefir Muffins or Comforting Cacao Oatmeal. Lunch & Dinner ideas include Probiotic Gazpacho & Egyptian Rice & Lentil Stew. You`ll find globally-inspired recipes in the Side Salads & Snacks section, from a Scandinavian Chanterelle Salad to Tender Spring Rolls with Fermented Onion. In the Breads & Pancakes section, Dunja presents delicious recipes for Red Lentil Dosas & Pesto Focaccia, among others. The Probiotic Drinks section

Includes:: health-boosting concoctions like Coconut Kefir Smoothie, while Something Sweet provides delightfully tempting recipes, such as Sweet Cinnamon & Yogurt Scones.

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By turns funny, heartwarming & occasionally sad, this memoir offers an American woman`s view of pastoral Scotland today. It is an account of the author`s marriage & her years spent at The Guynd, her husband`s ancestral estate. We follow her steep learning curve in dealing with a grand & crumbling mansion, an overgrown landscape, troublesome tenants, local aristocracy, Scottish rituals & a husband for whom change is anathema. A son & heir draws Belinda Rathbone into an intimate relationship with every tier of local society, while a visiting friend heightens the strain of the culture gap. Alternating between enchantment & despair, Rathbone digs into family & local history in an effort to understand her surroundings & free her husband from the grip of the past. Like a letter home from a strange l&, this tale of the journey through the wrought iron gates into the living past is both wry & poignant, both oddball & reflective of the ties that bind us. ...

It was a railway just waiting to be made. The capital, London, was in the east; Bristol, second city in the l&, 110 miles to the west or a sea journey of 672 miles. By the late 1820s, technology had enhanced to a state where the very latest form of transport, a steam railway, could make a far superior link than travel by canal, sea or road. This in-depth study of the Bristol to Bath line by the master of West Country railway history, Colin G. Maggs, covers the line`s conception, construction, opening & its dramatic effect on the district from the nineteenth century to the present day. It illustrates many aspects of the railway: the first English Pacific locomotive, GWR diesel railcars, gas-turbine locomotives & the pioneer HST, as well as damage & uses during the Second World War & the many accidents that occurred, including one that could have proven fatal to the author. The GWR Bristol to Bath Line is illustrated with maps & over 200 photographs showing every aspect of the line, which passes through sylvan scenes & industrial ugliness. This book also contains appendices giving financial & traffic information, along with descriptions of all stations. This fact-filled, authoritative study offers a rare insight into the development of an integral section of the British railway. ...

Sorely neglected by railway authors, the line between Bristol & Taunton was part of the Bristol & Exeter Railway. A fascinating line, it was built to serve a moribund coalfield & a grand harbour scheme which proved a dismal failure. The line had many interesting

Features: two short dock branches, one of which had a telescopic bridge; several industrial concerns with their own locomotives; vital wartime factories; the busy holiday & excursion traffic to Weston super Mare requiring a special station. Wind strength had its effect on the railway because on the horse-worked Weston super Mare branch, when an adverse wind blew, it was quicker to get out & walk. The line has had more than its fair share of accidents & mishaps. The B&ER favoured express tank locomotives, some magnificent specimens having 9-foot-diameter flangeless driving wheels. The human side is not ignored: there are details of navvies lives & deaths; of a spat between Brunel & his resident engineer & the daring robbery of a mail train. Colin G. Maggs, one of the country`s leading railway historians, covers all these details & more in this gripping & well-researched story illustrated with over 200 images.

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