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. ...

The Lot from Luzech across Cahors to Larnagol in a series of guides from Editions Grafocarte/ Editions de l` Ecluse to France’s canals & navigable waterways with mapping showing facilities & navigational hazards along each route, general information on signals & regulations, & descriptions of places of interest. Each guide provides mapping of the route showing locks, stop gates, mooring quays, tunnels, weirs, dangerous shoals, sand or mud banks, etc., as well as a wide range of facilities from drinking water & rubbish disposal to various types of shops, restaurants, pharmacies, shipyards & engine repair workshops, etc. The mapping is usually presented as vertical 28 x 8.5cm panels which, together with the annotations, occupy one whole page of the guide & so each cover 14km or more of the route. Also included as necessary are more detailed enlargements of main basins or photographs of bridges, shown usually as viewed from both directions. The text providing navigational information & tips as well as descriptions of places of interest & a general background are kept separate from the maps but, where possible, placed on the adjoining page to the relevant section of the route. The guides also provide general information on rules & regulations, plus illustrations of navigational signals. Each guide also has an index of locations along the route annotated with symbols indicating various facilities, accompanied where possible with contact details.* All of the text, explanations & the map legend are in French, English & German.** Please note:** The publishers’ name has changed from Editions Grafocarte to Editions de l’ Ecluse & the series name shown on each title is Fluviacarte of Navicarte depending on whether mapping of coastal waters is included. Various combinations of these names can be found"ed in other publications on French waterways. ...

Meet the Lotterys: a unique & diverse family featuring four parents, seven kids & five pets
- all living happily together in their
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The lotus is the world`s most iconic flower. Galvanised by receiving seeds from a three-thous&-year-old lotus, which flowered without difficulty in an English summer, Mark Griffiths set out to track the path of this sublime plant to its home in the Lotus-Lands of Japan. The Lotus Quest unveils a stunning vision of Japan`s feudal era, as Griffiths visits shrines, ruins, gardens & wild landscapes, & meets priests & archaeologists, philosophers & anthropologists, gardeners & botanists, poets & artists, & even dines on the lotus in a Tokyo cafe. Beautifully illustrated, intensely atmospheric & full of suspense, The Lotus Quest shows how the deep crimson of the lotus runs like a tracer dye, tracking the spread, fusion & fission of the world`s great civilizations. ...

This is a renowned historian`s fascinating account of how the United States doubled its size. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million. The purchase, which included over 600 million acres, extended the boundaries of the United States from the Mississippi River to the Rockies, ending French colonial ambitions in North America, adding lands that would become the better part of thirteen states, & fueling the idea of Westward expansion & Manifest Destiny. Now, historian Thomas Fleming takes a fresh look at this decisive moment in American history & brings to life the diplomatic maneuvering & political battles that led to the purchase. We encounter a cavalcade of striking personalities: Jefferson, the enigmatic, mercurial ideologue; James Madison, the shrewd, eminently realistic secretary of state; Robert Livingston, the Hudson River grandee who was ambassador to France; Alexander Hamilton, who energized New England opposition to the ”unconstitutional” purchase; Talleyr&, the supremely corrupt foreign minister of France; & Napoleon Bonaparte, the man of destiny himself. Brimming with vivid details, forgotten facts, & astute insights, ” The Louisiana Purchase” is a treat for history readers everywhere. Thomas Fleming (New York, NY), a well known historian, is the author of more than forty books of fiction & nonfiction, including ” Duel: Alexander Hamilton”, ” Aaron Burr”, & the ” Future of America”, & ” Liberty!: The American Revolution”, & ” The New Dealers War: FDR & the War within World War II”. A Fellow of the Society of American Historians & the former Chairman of the American Revolution Round Table, he writes regularly for ” American Heritage” & appears frequently on NPR, PBS, the History Channel, & the Today show. ...

The Paris 3D Expanding City Skyline
- Pocket Pop up Book by Walker Books features twelve of Paris’ most famous sites accompanied
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Luciano Hernando Valdez is his Latin American nation's most celebrated novelist & he's suffering from writer's block. So far his latest great work comprises the words ' The scrawny yellow cat crossed the road'. He's tried all his usual tricks to get back on track
- he's had a few debates with his trusty colleagues at the university, he's had an affair with the banker's wife, nothing will work. Until he meets Caterina. Beautiful, young & one of his biggest fans, she has idolised him since she was a child & he has inspired her to write. Convinced that falling in love with her, spending every minute he can alongside her, moulding her to his world, will unlock something & enable him to write, he pursues her & soon enough, he falls headlong into her arms. But it's only a matter of time before he murders her.
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Read by Richard Burton in a manner that truly does justice to the virtuosity to the love poems of England`s most outstanding Metaphysical poet, bending both meaning & sound to the service of the Metaphysical conceit. Donne`s poetry embraces a wide range of secular & religious subjects. He wrote cynical verse about inconstancy, poems about true love, Neoplatonic lyrics on the mystical union of lovers` souls & bodies & brilliant satires & hymns depicting his own spiritual struggles. Whatever the subject, Donne`s poems reveal the same characteristics that typified the work of the metaphysical poets: dazzling wordplay, often explicitly sexual; paradox; subtle argumentation; surprising contrasts; intricate psychological analysis; & striking imagery selected from nontraditional areas such as law, physiology, scholastic philosophy, & mathematics. Expertly recited by Richard Burton, John Donne`s love poetry stands alone as one of England`s greatest ever love poets. ...