Scotland is one of the most well-recorded countries in term of travel writing. The Romans were the first to record their impressions of the bleak & formidable frontier they had to confront & attempt to tame, but it is only over the last 300 years that a catalogue of published material has been created which allows the reader to discover the country as it once was. This volume presents a selection of these writings, from authors including Thomas Pennant, Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, R.L. Stevenson, Edwin Muir, Virginia Woolf, Sir Alastair Dunnett, Gavin Maxwell, T.S. Eliot, Muriel Spark, Paul Theroux & Margaret Fay Shaw. Presented on a regional basis, the compendium takes readers on a virtual journey through Scotl&, revealing its differing aspects as observed by these writers. ...

The Road of Bones is the story of Russia's greatest road. For over 200 years, the route of the Vladimirka Road has been at the centre of the nation's history, having witnessed everything from the first human footsteps to the rise of Putin & his oil-rich oligarchy. Tsars, wars, famine & wealth: all have crossed & travelled this road, but no-one has ever told its story. In pursuit of the sights, sounds & voices both past & present, Jeremy Poolman travels the Vladimirka. Both epic & intimate, The Road of Bones is a record of his travels
- but much more. It looks into the hearts & reveals the histories of those whose lives have been changed by what is known by many as simply The Greatest of Roads. This is a book about life & about death & about the strength of will it takes to celebrate the former while living in the shadow of the latter. Anecdotal & epic, The Road of Bones follows the author's journey along this road, into the past & back again. The book takes as its compass both the voices of history & those of today & draws a map of the cities & steppes of the Russian people's battered but ultimately indefatigable spirit.
...

The Road of Bones is the story of Russia`s greatest road. For over 200 years, the route of the Vladimirka Road has been at the centre of the nation`s history, having witnessed everything from the first human footsteps to the rise of Putin & his oil-rich oligarchy. Tsars, wars, famine & wealth: all have crossed & travelled this road, but no-one has ever told its story. In pursuit of the sights, sounds & voices both past & present, Jeremy Poolman travels the Vladimirka. Both epic & intimate, The Road of Bones is a record of his travels
- but much more. It looks into the hearts & reveals the histories of those whose lives have been changed by what is known by many as simply The Greatest of Roads. This is a book about life & about death & about the strength of will it takes to celebrate the former while living in the shadow of the latter. Anecdotal & epic, The Road of Bones follows the author`s journey along this road, into the past & back again. The book takes as its compass both the voices of history & those of today & draws a map of the cities & steppes of the Russian people`s battered but ultimately indefatigable spirit.
...

` Dawn, & as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside Korem it lights up a biblical famine, now, in the Twentieth Century.` Those words opened Michael Buerk`s first report on the Ethiopian famine for the 6 o`clock news on October 24th 1984. His reports sent shock waves round the world. The Live Aid concert, a direct consequence of Bob Geldof watching that broadcast, was watched by half the planet. Michael Buerk has reported on some of the biggest stories in our lifetime: the Flixborough chemical plant fire, the Birmingham pub bombing, Lockerbie. He was in Buenos Aires at the start of the Falklands War; he reported the death throes of apartheid in South Africa. He was the face of the BBC flagship evening news for many years & has fronted everything from the popular BBC1 series 999 to the erudite Radio 4 programme ” The Moral Maze”. He has won every major award & is universally admired & respected for his intelligent & honest journalism. Here, he also reveals the private Michael Buerk, his bigamist father, his long & happy marriage to Christine & his delight at fatherhood. ...

The No. 1 New York Times bestseller on the secret to leading a good life We live in a Big Me culture: universities & businesses alike reward goal-oriented superstars & those who self-promote are most likely to thrive. But what does this say about us? David Brooks argues that our hunger for wealth & status is eroding our ability to create meaningful inner lives. To show us how to live better, he looks at people whose sense of humility was fundamental to their success. What they all understood was a simple but counterintuitive truth: in order to fulfil yourself, you must learn how to forget yourself. ...

Davy David, an orphan, lives by his wits in the dead-end town of Brownvale. When a stray dog called George turns Davy`s life upside down just days before Christmas, he sets in motion a chain of events which forces them to flee. A mischievous wind blows the two of them to a boarded-up museum on the outskirts of town where they meet the elderly recluse, Miss Flint. She has planned one last adventure before her time is up & hires the reluctant Davy & George to escort her. A magical adventure about an unlikely friendship & an unforgettable journey. ...

Is the United Kingdom really as united as its name might suggest? For many people in the uk, increasing nationalism in Scotland raises serious questions about what the UK is, & where its future lies. In The Road to Independence?, now available in a revised & expanded Second Edition, Murray Pittock not only gives an account of modern Scottish nationalism, but explains what Scotland`s role in Britain has been historically & why it has changed radically in the last 50 years, with the debate about independence coming to the fore. The book now features a Foreword by First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, which describes the debate surrounding the Scottish referendum on independence from the uk, due to take place in September 2014. Pittock gives a lively account of the rise of modern Scottish nationalism & the reasons for it, the recent history & differing character of Scotland`s cities & cultural industries, the impact of multiculturalism on Scottish as distinct from British society, & the changes wrought by devolution, including the reasons for the election of Scotland`s first ever nationalist government in 2007. The Road to Independence? is the only history of Scotland available with a truly contemporary focus. In dealing with everything from political structures to modern painting it is remarkably comprehensive; in explaining the rise of modern nationalism it is of fundamental importance to policymakers & the wider public. It will be of interest to students of politics, history, law & social science, & to all who want to understand the rapidly changing face of the UK. ...

The fifth in the Martin Bora WWII mystery series. In May 1941, Wehrmacht officer Bora is sent to Crete, recently occupied by the German army, & must investigate the brutal murder of a Red Cross representative befriended by SS-Chief Himmler. All the clues lead to a platoon of trigger-happy German paratroopers, but is this the truth? Bora takes to the mountains of Crete to solve the case, navigating his way between local bandits & foreign resistance fighters. With echoes of Claus von Stauffenberg, Bora is torn between his duty as an officer & his integrity as a human being. ...

In the 1960s & `70s, the overland route from Europe to Asia became popular with disillusioned Westerners seeking what they saw as the paradise of the East. Their journeys are now the stuff of travel legend. Road to Katmandu is the story of Patrick Marnham`s own pilgrimage from Turkey to Nepal in 1968. He travelled over three thousand miles, passing through Ankara to Ararat, Tehran & Mashad, Herat, Kandahar & Kabul, Peshawar, Lahore & Varanasi...before finally reaching Katmandu. His journey is a kaleidoscopic blend of tortuous train journeys & lethal truck drives; wild deserts, mountains & isolated villages. At heart this is the story of a generation that was escaping from the routine of conventional life & of how it found
- or lost
- its way. It provides an alluring insight into the nature of the `hippie trail` & of those who forged it, before cheap air travel shrank the world. Road to Katmandu is an extraordinary testimony to the seductive beauty of the overland trail & a tribute to those who formed its ragamuffin cavalcade
- a travel classic.


...

This is not a book about French Gardens. It is the story of a man travelling round France visiting a few selected French gardens on the way. Owners, intrigues, affairs, marriages, feuds, thwarted ambitions & desires, the largely unnamed ordinary gardeners, wars, plots & natural disasters run through every garden older than a generation or two & fill every corner of the grander historical ones. Families marry. Gardeners are poached. Political allegiances forged & shattered. The human trail crosses from garden to garden. They sit in their surrounding landscape, not as isolated islands but attached umbilically to it, sharing the geology, the weather, food, climate, local folklore, accent & cultural identity. Wines must be drunk & food tasted. Recipes found & compared. The perfect tarte-tartin pursued. None of these things can be ignored or separated from the shape & size of parterre, fountain, herbaceous border or pottager. So this is a book filled with stories & information, some of it about French gardens & gardening, but most of it about what makes France unlike anywhere else. From historical gardens like Versailles, Vaux le Vicomte & Courances to the kitchen gardens of the Michelin chef Alain Passard. There are grand potagers like Villandry & La Prieure D` Orsan & allotments & back gardens spotted on the way. Monty celebrates the obvious French associations of food & wine & finds gardens dedicated to vegetables, herbs & fruit. It is a book that any visitor to France, whether gardeners or not, will want to read both as a guide & an inspiration. It is a portal to get under the French cultural skin & to understand the country, in all its huge variety & disparity, a little better. ...