Witchcraft, astrology, divination and every kind of popular magic flourished in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the belief that a blessed amulet could prevent the assaults of the Devil to the use of the same charms to recover stolen goods. At the same time the Protestant Reformation attempted to take the magic out of religion, and scientists were developing new explanations of the universe. Keith Thomas's classic analysis of beliefs held on every level of Engli...

Keith Thomas’s earlier studies in the ethnography of early modern England, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Man and the Natural World, and The Ends of Life, were all attempts to explore beliefs, values, and social practices in the centuries from 1500 to 1800. In Pursuit of Civility continues this quest by examining what English people thought it meant to be “civilized” and how that condition differed from being “barbarous” or “savage.” Thomas shows that the upper ranks of society sought ...

'Man and the Natural World, an encyclopaedic study of man's relationship to animals and plants, is completely engrossing ... It explains everything - why we eat what we do, why we plant this and not that, why we keep pets, why we like some animals and not others, why we kill the things we kill and love the things we love ... It is often a funny book and one to read again and again' Paul Theroux, Sunday Times'The English historian Keith Thomas has revealed modes of...

How should we live? That question was no less urgent for English men and women who lived between the early sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries than for this book's readers. Keith Thomas's masterly exploration of the ways in which people sought to lead fulfilling lives in those centuries between the beginning of the Reformation and the heyday of the Enlightenment illuminates the central values of the period, while casting incidental light on some of the perennial problems of human exist...

An erotic novella. Renee is having the worst day ever. Stress at work and away from the job has sent her irritation level skyrocketing. Her husband has the power to relieve her tension, but James is reluctant to play with her tonight. Renee knows he'll eventually give in. He just needs the right kind of encouragement...

For fans of Black Mirror and True Detective, a visceral, high-concept thriller about a psychologist who must protect the life of an eleven-year-old girl whose ability to remember past lives makes them both targets of a ruthless assassin.Dr. Matilda Deacon is a psychologist researching how memories are made and stored when she meets a strange eleven-year-old girl named Ashanique. The girl claims to harbor the memories of the last soldier killed in ...

For fans of World War Z and the Southern Reach Trilogy, a suspenseful oral history commemorating the five-year anniversary of the Pulse—the alien code that hacked the DNA of Earth’s population—and the response team who faced the world-changing phenomenon.Voyager 1 was a message in a bottle. Our way of letting the galaxy know we existed. That we were out here if anyone wanted to find us.Over the next forty years, the probe flew past Jup...

What did it mean to be ‘civilized’ in Early Modern England?Keith Thomas's seminal studies Religion and the Decline of Magic, Man and the Natural World, and The Ends of Life, explored the beliefs, values and social practices of the years between 1500 and 1800. In Pursuit of Civility continues this quest by examining what the English people thought it meant to be `civilized' and how that condition differed from being `barbarous' or `savage' .Thomas ...

‘Flak’ Houses were the rest homes set up in England during the Second World War by the American Red Cross to provide centers of rest and recuperation for combat-weary airmen. These were usually situated in large country houses where flyers were permitted to wear civilian clothes and partake in a variety of sporting and recreational activities. All told, some 87,000 men passed through the R&R system before it disbanded in 1945. Keith Thomas covers the history of more than 20 Flak Houses in ...

Home brewing has become increasingly popular, as a way to both make your own unique beer and develop a valuable skill to be proud of. Home Brew – A Guide to Brewing Beer offers a complete overview, from the basics of kit brewing, through to a full-scale mash brew, covering various types of beer, such as ale, bitter, stout, lager, porters, wheat beers and IPA . Combining eighty years of collective knowledge in the brewing industry, this valuable resource describes each stage of production, ...

This specially curated collection features four reviews of current and key research on improving crop disease management.The first chapter reviews strategies for limiting foliar disease development in wheat and barley crops, such as crop rotations, intercropping, gene deployment and conservation tillage. It explores the effectiveness of each strategy against particular foliar diseases, as well as how these strategies can be deployed to reduce inoculum sources for r...

Like soldiers walking into a minefield, there are some things in life that are unseen but deadly. Just because you may be unaware of something dangerous, it doesn’t mean it cannot affect you. There is an old saying “what you don’t know can’t hurt you.” Although it is true that knowledge can bring with it pain, it is much better to be forewarned about danger than to ignore it. In Keith's latest study, If God is For Us, he leads us through the scriptures that help us see that God is for us, ...