Involved for over thirty years in the politics of Iraq, Ali A. Allawi was a longtime opposition leader against the Baathist regime. In the post-Saddam years he has held important government positions & participated in crucial national decisions & events. In this book, the former Minister of Defence & Finance draws on his unique personal experience, extensive relationships with members of the main political groups & parties in Iraq, & deep understanding of the history & society of his country to answer the baffling questions that persist about its current crises. What really led the United States to invade Iraq, & why have events failed to unfold as planned?” The Occupation of Iraq” examines what the U.S. did & didn`t know at the time of the invasion, the reasons for the confused & contradictory policies that were enacted, & the emergence of the Iraqi political class during the difficult transition process. The book tracks the growth of the insurgency & illuminates the complex relationships among Sunnis, Shia, & Kurds. Bringing the discussion forward to the reconfiguration of political forces in 2006, Allawi provides in these pages the clearest view to date of the modern history of Iraq & the invasion that changed its course in unpredicted ways. ...

` Brisk, smart, witty, elliptical.. . Recalls the directors of the New Wave.. . Bracing & brilliant` Independent When Patrick Modiano was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize for Literature he was praised for using the `art of memory` to bring to life the Occupation of Paris during the Second World War. Born in 1945, Modiano`s brilliant, angry writings burst onto the Parisian literary scene & caused a storm. His first, ferociously satirical novel, La Place de l` Etoile, was remarkable in seriously questioning both Nazi collaboration in France & the myths of the Gaullist era. The Night Watch tells the story of a man caught between his work for the French Gestapo & for a Resistance cell. Ring Roads recounts a son`s search for his Jewish father, who disappeared ten years previously. These brilliant, almost hallucinatory, evocations of the Occupation attempt to exorcise the past by exploring the morally ambiguous worlds of collaboration & resistance. ...

When the Aurora is torpedoed, all on board must abandon ship. Curtain, a sailor, finds himself stranded in a lifeboat on the open sea. On board with him are four men, one of them an old priest. The differences in the strength & weakness of character of the five men, their relations with one another, & their private thoughts & dreams are explored as the days pass, the water runs low, the priest's health fades, & no sign of rescue appears. James Hanley presents human frailty in the face of the demoralizing power of the sea in this beautifully written, grim masterpiece. ...

The mysterious world beneath the ocean`s surface has captivated man for centuries
- the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans & ancient Chinese
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It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car & committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond the world are on the loose, & it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, & menace unleashed
- within his family & from the forces that have gathered to destroy it. His only defense is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a fable that reshapes modern fantasy: moving, terrifying & elegiac
- as pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly`s wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark.

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”[ An] absorbing survey of oceanography...[this] elegant study is an excellent resource.”
- ” Publishers Weekly”. This is a fascinating
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Can you spot the timid tortoise? & can you spy the shy little shrimp? The visual acuity fun gets more & more intricate with every one of these pull-out postcards, each featuring a different & gloriously detailed design from the original & much-loved Odd One Out. This lovely package, packed with ready-to-send postcards, comes with a linen-effect wrap-over cover, making it the perfect gift pack. ...

The Odditorium is a playful re-telling of history, told not through the lens of its victors, but through the fascinating stories of a wealth of individuals who, while lesser-known, are no less remarkable. Throughout its pages you`ll learn about the antics & adventures of tricksters, eccentrics, deviants & inventors. While their stories range from heroic failures to great hoaxes, one thing unites them
- they all carved their own path through life. Each protagonist exemplifies the human spirit through their dogged determination, willingness to take risks, their unflinching obsession &, often, a good dollop of eccentricity. Learn about Reginald Bray (1879-1939), a Victorian accountant who sent over 30, 000 singular objects through the mail, including himself; Cyril Hoskin (1910-1981), a Cornish plumber who reinvented himself as a Tibetan lama & went on to sell over a million books; & Elaine Morgan (1920-2013), a journalist who battled a tirade of prejudice to pursue an aquatic-based theory of human evolution, which is today being championed by David Attenborough. Elsewhere, we uncover the lesser-known obsessions of such historical giants as Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1726), whose beloved alchemy led to a lifetime`s search for the philosopher`s stone & elixir of life; & philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650), whose obsession with cross-eyed ladies led him to seek a `cure` through the first recorded case of CBT. While many of us are content to lead a conventional life, with all of its comfort & security, The Odditorium reminds us of the characters who felt compelled to carve their own path, despite risking ostracism, failure, ridicule & madness. While history wouldn`t be the same without the likes of Shakespeare, Caesar & Einstein, it is when curiosity & compulsion meet that conventions are challenged, culture is re-invigorated & we find new ways to understand ourselves & the world around us.
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Stephen Fry believes that if you can speak & read English you can write poetry. But it is no fun if you don`t know where to start or have been led to believe that Anything Goes. Stephen, who has long written poems, & indeed has written long poems, for his own private pleasure, invites you to discover the incomparable delights of metre, rhyme & verse forms. Whether you want to write a Petrarchan sonnet for your lover`s birthday, an epithalamion for your sister`s wedding or a villanelle excoriating the government`s housing policy, The Ode Less Travelled will give you the tools & the confidence to do so. Brimful of enjoyable exercises, witty insights & simple step-by-step advice, ” The Ode Less Travelled” guides the reader towards mastery & confidence in the Mother of the Arts. ...

An epic & engrossing novel set at the beginning of the twentieth century, THE ODESSANS is the story of three families from Odessa in the Ukraine: the Russian Petrovs, the Jewish Geibers, & the Teslenkos, who are of Ukrainian & Polish descent. Throughout years of war, famine, political struggle & incredible hardship, their deep friendships sustain each of the families. Their lives are rent by tragedy; some friends are hounded by anti-Semites, while others join opposite sides in the Civil War or are forced to flee to Odessa. But through it all, their characteristic good humour & faith in each other enable their close circle to survive. ...