This is the story of an institution in which courage in battle & bravery in death were a byword, from Nelson's death at Trafalgar to Commander Robert Scott's death in the icy wastes of Antarctica. It is also the story of a military force very different from any other, with a cast of individual personalities, from Sir Frances Drake & Captain James Cook to Charles Darwin & Sir Winston Churchill. But above all, the Royal Navy is part of the story of how one nation rose to global dominance without precedent & without equal, even today. But it also facilitated trade & communication with every other part of the planet. Thanks to its navy, the British Empire became the first truly global community, bound together by law, language, & commerce
- & by the 'hearts of oak' of British ships & sailors. It created the first balance of power in Europe & helped to free the Continent from a succession of dictators, from Philip II of Spain & Louis XIV of France to Napoleon & Hitler. It ended the African slave trade, opened the Pacific Rim to international commerce, & established the bonds that hold together today's world.
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`A delightful evocation of Irishness & of the author`s deep-rooted love of the very fields of home` Publishers Weekly Alice Taylor`s classic account of growing up in the Irish countryside, the biggest selling book ever published in Irel&. If ever a voice has captured the colors, the rhythms, the rich, bittersweet emotions of a time gone by, it is Alice Taylor`s. Her tales of childhood in rural Ireland hark back to a timeless past, to a world now lost, but ever & fondly remembered. The colorful characters & joyous moments she offers have made To School Through the Fields an Irish phenomenon, & have made Alice herself the most beloved author in all of the Emerald Isle. A must-have for fans of Alice Taylor. Illustrated throughout with evocative photographs, with a new introduction by the author, looking back at her breakthrough book twenty five years later. ...

The Atlantic salmon is an extraordinary & mysterious fish. In To Sea & Back, Richard Shelton combines memoir & deep scientific knowledge to reveal, from the salmon`s point of view, both the riverine & marine worlds in which it lives. He explores this iconic fish`s journey to reach its feeding grounds in the northern oceans before making the return over thousands of miles to the burns of its birth to reproduce. Along the way, Shelton describes the feats of exploration that gave us our first real understanding of the oceans, & shows how this iconic fish is a vital indicator of the health of our rivers & oceans. Above all, To Sea & Back is the story of Richard Shelton`s lifelong passion for the sea & his attempt to solve the perennial enigmas of the salmon`s secret life. ...

Now in its twelfth year, the Caine Prize for African Writing is Africa`s leading literary prize, & is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere. This collection collects the five 2011 shortlisted stories, along with stories written at the Caine Prize Writers` Workshop, taking place in Spring 2011. ...

When a woman refuses to sit next to him on the bus, Rick Braithwaite is saddened & angered by her prejudice. In post-war cosmopolitan London he had hoped for a more enlightened attitude. When he begins his first teaching job in a tough East End school the reactions are the same. Slowly & painfully some of the barriers are broken down. He shames his pupils, wrestles with them, enlightens them & eventually comes to love them. To Sir With Love is the story of a dedicated teacher who turns hate into love, teenage rebelliousness into self-respect, contempt into consideration for others
- the story of a man`s own integrity winning through against all the odds.
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Shortlisted for a 2016 Edward Standford Travel Writing Award. Set in the Alaskan landscape that she brought to stunningly vivid life in THE SNOW CHILD, Eowyn Ivey`s TO THE BRIGHT EDGE OF THE WORLD is a breathtaking story of discovery & adventure set at the end of the nineteenth century. Lieutenant Colonel Allen Forrester receives the commission of a lifetime when he is charged to navigate Alaska`s hitherto impassable Wolverine River, with only a small group of men. The Wolverine is the key to opening up Alaska & its rich natural resources to the outside world, but previous attempts have ended in tragedy. Forrester leaves behind his young wife, Sophie, newly pregnant with the child he had never expected to have. Adventurous in spirit, Sophie does not relish the prospect of a year in a military barracks while her husband carves a path through the wilderness. What she does not anticipate is that their year apart will demand every ounce of courage & fortitude of her that it does of her husb&. ...

Winter 1885. Lieutenant Colonel Allen Forrester accepts the mission of a lifetime, to navigate Alaska`s Wolverine River. It is a journey that promises to open up a land shrouded in mystery, but there`s no telling what awaits Allen & his small band of men. Allen leaves behind his young wife, Sophie, newly pregnant with the child he had never expected to have. Sophie would have loved nothing more than to carve a path through the wilderness alongside Allen
- what she does not anticipate is that their year apart will demand every ounce of courage of her that it does of her husb&.
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The 36-page book folds out to 9 connected double-page spreads, taking you from the Earth`s surface to the edge of the universe as a single, highly illustrated panorama. Once you have completed your journey to the outer limits of the universe, reverse the 4.3-metre fold-out to reveal stunning infographics explaining facts & statistics about the universe in a simple & beautiful way. ...

It is the world`s longest railway line. But it is so much more than that, too. The Trans-Siberian stretches nearly 6, 000 miles between Moscow & Vladivostok on the Pacific Coast & was the most ambitious railway project in the nineteenth century. A journey on the railway evokes a romantic roam through the Russian steppes, but also reminds travellers of the vastness of our world & hints at the hardships that were endured in its construction. Christian Wolmar expertly tells the story of the Trans-Siberian railway from its conception & construction under Tsar Alexander III, to the northern extension ordered by Brezhnev & its current success as a vital artery. He also explores the crucial role the line played in both the Russian Civil War -Trotsky famously used an armoured carriage as his command post
- & the Second World War, during which the railway saved the country from certain defeat. Like the author`s previous railway histories, it focuses on the personalities, as well as the political & economic events, that lay behind one of the most extraordinary engineering triumphs of the nineteenth century.
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Christian Wolmar expertly tells the story of the Trans-Siberian railway from its conception & construction under Tsar Alexander III, to the northern extension ordered by Brezhnev & its current success as a vital artery. He also explores the crucial role the line played in both the Russian Civil War -Trotsky famously used an armoured carriage as his command post
- & the Second World War, during which the railway saved the country from certain defeat. Like the author`s previous railway histories, it focuses on the personalities, as well as the political & economic events, that lay behind one of the most extraordinary engineering triumphs of the nineteenth century.
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