In 1930 wealthy Scottish socialite Dorothy Brooke followed her new husband to Cairo, where she discovered thousands of suffering former British war horses leading lives of toil & misery. Brought to the Middle East by British forces during the Great War, these ex-cavalry horses had been left behind at the war`s end, abandoned as used equipment too costly to send home. Grant Hayter-Menzies chronicles not only the lives & eventual rescue of these noble creatures, who after years of deprivation & suffering found respite in the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital established by Dorothy, but also the story of the challenges of founding & maintaining an animal-rescue institution on this scale. The legacy of the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital & its founder endures today in the dozens of international Brooke animal-welfare facilities dedicated to improving the lives of working horses, donkeys & mules across Africa, Asia & Latin America. ...

In 1930 wealthy Scottish socialite Dorothy Brooke followed her new husband to Cairo, where she discovered thousands of suffering former British war horses leading lives of toil & misery. Brought to the Middle East by British forces during the Great War, these ex-cavalry horses had been left behind at the war`s end, abandoned as used equipment too costly to send home. Grant Hayter-Menzies chronicles not only the lives & eventual rescue of these noble creatures, who after years of deprivation & suffering found respite in the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital established by Dorothy, but also the story of the challenges of founding & maintaining an animal-rescue institution on this scale. The legacy of the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital & its founder endures today in the dozens of international Brooke animal-welfare facilities dedicated to improving the lives of working horses, donkeys & mules across Africa, Asia & Latin America. ...

SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER` One of the most beautiful books of the year... A symphony to the wonders of the natural world, & a stand against the disappearance of wild childhood` The Bookseller From bestselling Landmarks author Robert Macfarlane & acclaimed artist & author Jackie Morris All over the country, there are words disappearing from children`s lives. These are the words of the natural world -- Dandelion, Otter, Bramble & Acorn, all gone. The rich landscape of wild imagination & wild play is rapidly fading from our children`s minds. The Lost Words stands against the disappearance of wild childhood. It is a joyful celebration of nature words & the natural world they invoke. With acrostic spell-poems by award-winning writer Robert Macfarlane & h&-painted illustration by Jackie Morris, this enchanting book captures the irreplaceable magic of language & nature for all ages. ...

ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL is famous for the engineering wonders he left behind
- from the SS Great Britain to the delights of Paddington
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A land before time
- a journey beyond belief... Unlucky in love, but desperate to prove himself in an adventure, journalist Ed
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A fresh, concise, & accessible history of one of the medieval world`s greatest empires For more than a millennium, the Byzantine Empire presided over the juncture between East & West, as well as the transition from the classical to the modern world. Jonathan Harris, a leading scholar of Byzantium, eschews the usual run-through of emperors & battles & instead recounts the empire`s extraordinary history by focusing each chronological chapter on an archetypal figure, family, place, or event. Harris`s action-packed introduction presents a civilization rich in contrasts, combining orthodox Christianity with paganism, & classical Greek learning with Roman power. Frequently assailed by numerous armies-including those of Islam-Byzantium nonetheless survived & even flourished by dint of its somewhat unorthodox foreign policy & its sumptuous art & architecture, which helped to embed a deep sense of Byzantine identity in its people. Enormously engaging & utilizing a wealth of sources to cover all major aspects of the empire`s social, political, military, religious, cultural, & artistic history, Harris`s study illuminates the very heart of Byzantine civilization & explores its remarkable & lasting influence on its neighbors & on the modern world. ...

1989 was a year of revolution: it marked the collapse of communism in Eastern & Central Europe & an end to an entire way of life for millions of people behind the Iron Curtain. Beginning in Hungary, the retreat from communism picked up speed over the summer when the Poles won an overwhelming victory in free elections over their pro-Soviet rulers. In the fall, East Germany & Czechoslovakia achieved freedom with surprisingly little violence. Only Romania, at the end of the year, witnessed a savage battle in the capital & the summary execution of the most notorious of Eastern Europe's dictators, Nicolae Ceausescu. In The Lost World of Communism, Peter Molloy, producer of the accompanying BBC series, collects first hand testimony of the people who lived in East Germany, Czechoslovakia & Romania during the Cold War era, & reveals an astonishingly rich tapestry of experience that goes beyond the headlines of spies & surveillance, secret police & political corruption
- in fact, many of the people remember their lives under communism as 'perfectly ordinary' & even hanker for the 'security' that it offered. From international figures like Vaclav Havel & Lech Walesa, via the shadowy figures of Eastern Europe's intelligence & security services to its 'ordinary' citizens, the voices collected on Peter Molloy's book evoke the moods, preoccupations & experiences of a world of that vanished almost overnight.
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1989 was a year of revolution: it marked the collapse of communism in Eastern & Central Europe & an end to an entire way of life for millions of people behind the Iron Curtain. Beginning in Hungary, the retreat from communism picked up speed over the summer when the Poles won an overwhelming victory in free elections over their pro-Soviet rulers. In the fall, East Germany & Czechoslovakia achieved freedom with surprisingly little violence. Only Romania, at the end of the year, witnessed a savage battle in the capital & the summary execution of the most notorious of Eastern Europe`s dictators, Nicolae Ceausescu. In The Lost World of Communism, Peter Molloy, producer of the accompanying BBC series, collects first hand testimony of the people who lived in East Germany, Czechoslovakia & Romania during the Cold War era, & reveals an astonishingly rich tapestry of experience that goes beyond the headlines of spies & surveillance, secret police & political corruption
- in fact, many of the people remember their lives under communism as `perfectly ordinary` & even hanker for the `security` that it offered. From international figures like Vaclav Havel & Lech Walesa, via the shadowy figures of Eastern Europe`s intelligence & security services to its `ordinary` citizens, the voices collected on Peter Molloy`s book evoke the moods, preoccupations & experiences of a world of that vanished almost overnight.
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When the volcano Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, the city of Pompeii was buried in ash & rock, then forgotten, left almost perfectly preserved for centuries. Archaeological excavation of the site began in 1748 & revealed extraordinary evidence about public & private life at the height of the Roman Empire. Colin Amery & Brian Curran Jr of the World Monuments Fund describe the history of Pompeii from its origins to its tragic destruction, & discuss the repercussions of the discoveries made there on art, archaeology & interior design. They also explain the ongoing conservation & renovation work that is taking place at the site today. ...

In The Lost World of the Kalahari, Laurens van der Post recounts his rediscovery of the Bushmen, outcast survivors from Stone Age Africa. Faced with successive attacks, the Bushmen have retreated deep into the heart of the Kalahari Desert, now dissected by the Namibian-South African border. After a gruelling trek Laurens van der Post finds the Bushmen thriving in one of the world’s most inhospitable landscapes. With their physical peculiarities, cave art & joyful music-making the southern African Bushmen appear to the traveller like a reminder of mankind’s very beginnings. ...