In 1987, a budget classical record label was started in Hong Kong by Klaus Heymann, a German businessman who loved classical music. Swiftly, it gained a world wide reputation for reliable new digital recordings of the classics at a remarkably low price. Despite opposition from the classical record establishment, it grew at a remarkable pace, and soon expanded into opera, early music, contemporary music and specialist repertoire so that it became appreciated by specialist collectors as well...

Here are the life stories of nine famous people who have left their mark upon the world. There are men of action such as Alexander the Great and George Washington, and a woman, Joan of Arc, who inspired a nation. There are scientists whose voyages of discovery took place in laboratories Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur and Marie Curie. Imagination is the fuel of the artist. The paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, and the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, though centuries old, still affect us today....

Here are the stories of nine people whose energy, inspiration, courage and determination changed the world. From Christopher Columbus, who set off into unknown seas in a small ship in the 15th century, to a young girl, Anne Frank, caught in the turmoil of the 20th, who wrote a remarkable diary while in hiding in Amsterdam during the Second World War. Their personalities and their achievements make them heroes and heroines for our time also.

There is a need for accessible short biographies of key people for younger listeners. Following the success of Famous People, Volume I, Nicolas Soames presents another varied group of men and women who have changed the course of history. This is the second volume of popular histories of famous people.

Here are the stories of nine people whose energy, imagination, courage and determination changed the world. From Christopher Columbus, who set off into unknown seas in a small ship in the fifteenth century, to a young girl, Anne Frank, caught in the turmoil of the twentieth, who wrote a remarkable diary while in hiding in Amsterdam during the Second World War. Their personalities and their achievements make them heroes and heroines for our time also.

The Lotus Sutra is one of the most important Mahayana texts and the most widely read, chanted and revered, particularly in Asian Buddhist countries, notably China and Japan. It is certainly a remarkable document, replete with the Mahayana characteristics of fantastical images, extraordinary appearances, magical happenings, views of time and space which are galactic in size; and pronouncements which are definite, unequivocal, practical in some areas and dependent upon a faith commitment in ...

There is no watertight excuse for this book. It strolls impertinently over ground that has been carefully mapped by the qualified authorities and elegantly appreciated by many devoted amateurs. Its purview is ludicrously broad - nothing less than an exhibition of the Englishman in his more characteristic manifestations through the ages.It is, wriggle out of it as we would, a hopelessly, damnably patriotic book. However, it is our opinion that the evils of nationalism, cultural host...

In her amazing diary, Anne Frank revealed the challenges and dreams common for any young girl. But Hitler brought her childhood to an end and forced her and her family into hiding. Who Was Anne Frank? looks closely at Annes life before the secret annex, what life was like in hiding, and the legacy of her diary. Black-and-white illustrations including maps and diagrams provide historical and visual reference in an easy-to-read biography written in a way that is appropriate and acc...

How on earth did people who worshipped dung beetles manage to build the awesome pyramids? Find out in this grim guide to the awful Egyptians!

Apparently the Greeks (we are talking about the Ancient variety) were a rather groovy bunch. But as this Horrible History shows you, things were not always quite so jolly... and some of the things the Groovy Greeks did were actually, well, quite horrible!

From the forest fairies of West Africa to the magical brownies of Scotland, people have told stories about fairies for a long, long time. In England, two little girls shocked the world when they claimed that they had proof that fairies existed; they had photographs! But are fairies myth? Or are they magic? Fairy fans and beginning readers will delight in this easy-to-read look at fairy folklore and sightings through the ages.

A real-life thriller—the story of kickbacks and payoffs, of shady deals struck in secret with known felons; a story in which half a million people lose enormous sums—some their life’s savings—in the largest securities fraud of the 1980s, with names like Onassis and Bush numbered among the victims.