This book demonstrates the importance of the presence of the Royal Navy in South America. Historically there have been no treaty obligations and few strategic considerations in the region, yet it is frequently referred to as forming part of Britain's 'unofficial empire'. The role of the Navy in supporting foreign relations and promoting commerce is examined during a period of the twentieth century which is often associated with the decline of the British Empire.The Role of the ...

Over a 60-year career, Graham Greene was a prolific writer. While his published works established him as one of the great writers of the twentieth century, much of his writing was never to see the light of day and has been gathered together in a number of archives across the UK, Ireland, USA and CanadaThe second volume of The Works of Graham Greene is a comprehensive guide to the archives of Greene's writing. The book details archival holdings of unpublished novels, short ...

Over a 60-year career, Graham Greene was a prolific and widely read writer. Completing a series of volumes which constitutes the only full bibliographical guide to Greene's published and unpublished writings, this book features updated listings of the scholarship associated with his work, details of recent audio and visual presentations and adaptations, as well as nine essays on lesser-known aspects of Greene's work.Featuring new material from the recently expanded Graham Greene ar...

A New York Times Notable Book: A revealing look at the famous twentieth-century children's author who brought us The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.Few writers have had the enduring cultural influence of Roald Dahl, who inspired generations of loyal readers. Acclaimed biographer Jeremy Treglown cuts no corners in humanizing this longstanding immortal of juvenile fiction.Roald Dahl explores this master of children's liter...

Winner of the James Tait Black Prize for Biography 2014Winner of the Plutarch Award for Best BiographyNew York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the YearPenelope Fitzgerald (1916–2000) was a great English writer, who would never have described herself in such grand terms. Her novels were short, spare masterpieces, self-concealing, oblique and subtle. She won the Booker Prize for her novel Offshore...

A collection of essays on writers and writing by the Booker-shortlisted novelist and critic.Writing about real lives takes various forms, which overlap and may be combined with each other: biography, autobiography, biographical criticism, biographical fiction, memoir, confession, diary.In these thoughtful and enlightening essays David Lodge considers some particularly interesting examples of life-writing, and contributes several of his own. The subjects inc...

Winner of four major prizes for the best critical/biographical book related to crime fiction: the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and H.R.F. Keating Awards; and shortlisted for both the Agatha and Gold Dagger Awards.‘Martin Edwards is the closest thing there has been to a philosopher of crime writing.’ The TimesIn the first major history of crime fiction in fifty years, The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their C...

SPECTATOR BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2015Britain's empire has gone. Our manufacturing base is a shadow of its former self; the Royal Navy has been reduced to a skeleton. In military, diplomatic and economic terms, we no longer matter as we once did. And yet there is still one area in which we can legitimately claim superpower status: our popular culture.It is extraordinary to think that one British writer, J. K. Rowling, has sold more than 400 million books...

The dramatic, poignant and revealing saga of the Redgraves, one of history's greatest families of actors.For more than a century, the Redgraves have defined theater and film while captivating the public eye. Their history is a rich tapestry of singularly talented individuals whose influence is felt to this day, yet their story has never before been told. In The Redgraves, bestselling biographer Donald Spoto draws on his close personal relationships with th...

'A fool and his words are soon parted' wrote William Shenstone in 1764; one might add that 'A wit and his words are rarely collected'. Here is the antidote: a dazzling survey of the funniest remarks, quips and observations from Ancient Rome, the Bible and Chaucer right up to The Simpsons and Little Britain. Over 5,000 of the very funniest remarks to have appeared on paper since, well, paper was invented. The quotations are arranged thematically and cover all aspects of life: from the world...

'He's 100% political herpes. Back in six months whatever you do'Camilla Long on Nigel Farage'It's not enough to succeed. Friends must fail'Gore VidalNothing cuts deeper, or provides greater pleasure, than the perfect put-down.When it's directed at someone else.Matthew Parris's sublime collection of the rudest, funniest shin-kicks and barbs in human history, spa...

The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations contains over 8,000 quotations from 1914 to the present. As much a companion to the modern age as it is an entertaining and useful reference tool, it takes the reader on a tour of the wit and wisdom of the great and the good, from Margot Asquith to Monica Lewinsky, from George V to Boutros Boutros-Galli and Jonathan Aitken to Frank Zappa.