The small and densely populated nation of Belgium has played an important role in the history of Europe and other continents, especially Africa. It was a pioneering force in industry, trade, and finance during the Middle Ages, through early modern times and into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It introduced innovative political regimes and played a leading role in the creative arts. Yet this rich past is not widely known. This introductory history offers an accessible and rigorous ...

`every heart imagines itself the first to thrill to a myriad sensations which once stirred the hearts of the earliest creatures and which will again stir the hearts of the last men and women to walk the earth' What is a life? How shall a storyteller conceive a life? What if art means pattern and life has none? How, then, can any story be true to life? These are some of the questions which inform the first of Maupassant's six novels, A Life (Une Vie) (1883) in whi...

'It is impossible to win everything he has won' – Tadej Pogacar'Explains why and how the Belgian champion will remain the greatest cyclist of all time' – Planète Cyclisme'The author puts the Belgian's most beautiful wins in perspective by looking at his opponents' – L'Est Républicain'Merckx is in a class by himself' – Jacques AnquetilA UNIQUE ACCOUNT OF MERCKX'S DOM...

This social history and community study documents the events surrounding the attempt by community members, activists, and VISTA architects to resist the planned construction of a community college in the neighborhood of Uptown. The planner and architect are seldom envisioned as advocates for the urban poor. However, during the 1960s, New Left planners and architects began working with marginalized groups in cities to design alternatives to urban renewal projects. This was part of a nationa...

Bloomsbury presents Eddy Merckx – Out On His Own by Guy Roger, read by Luis Soto*With audio contributions from Ned Boulting, Carlton Kirby, Phil Cavell, Andy McGrath and Nige Tassell*‘It is impossible to win everything he has won’ – Tadej Pogacar‘Merckx … is in a class by himself’ – Jacques AnquetilA UNIQUE ACCOUNT OF MERCKX'S DOMINANCE OF CYCLING, WITH PREVIOUSLY UNTOLD ANEC...

Was Western civilization founded by ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians? Can the ancient Egyptians usefully be called black? Did the ancient Greeks borrow religion, science, and philosophy from the Egyptians and Phoenicians? Have scholars ignored the Afroasiatic roots of Western civilization as a result of racism and anti-Semitism?In this collection of twenty essays, leading scholars in a broad range of disciplines confront the claims made by Martin Bernal in Black Athena: The Afr...

For nearly two and a half millennia, Alexander the Great has loomed over history as a legend–and an enigma. Wounded repeatedly but always triumphant in battle, he conquered most of the known world, only to die mysteriously at the age of thirty-two. In his day he was revered as a god; in our day he has been reviled as a mass murderer, a tyrant as brutal as Stalin or Hitler.Who was the man behind the mask of power? Why did Alexander embark on an unprecedented program of global domina...

Roger McGough and Brian Patten have selected the very best of their animal poems in order to help two loveable monsters from outer space who visit Earth in search of a pet and need a bit of guidance...Split into sections, the monsters are introduced to animals that fly, swim, crawl and purr by two of our greatest childrens poets. Illustrated in Guy Parker-Rees' lively and intimitable style.

An international bestseller, this is a German soldier's first-hand account of life on Russian front during the second half of the Second World War.When Guy Sajer joins the infantry full of ideals in the summer of 1942, the German army is enjoying unparalleled success in Russia. However, he quickly finds that for the foot soldier the glory of military success hides a much harsher reality of hunger, fatigue and constant deprivation. Posted to the crack Grosse Deutsch...

A cold war spy thriller, the story of what MIGHT have really happened to Rudolf Hess...As her family tries to escape from East Germany over the Berlin Wall, young Honiga Milch and her mother and father are captured. Abused by the soldiers and expecting at the very least to be sentenced to a labour camp or, more probably, killed, Honiga's potential is recognised and she is taken away to be indoctrinated with communist ideals and trained as an agent. Years later, she is running a suc...

A definitive account of the great revolt of Jews against Rome and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple“A lucid yet terrifying account of the 'Jewish War'—the uprising of the Jews in 66 CE, and the Roman empire’s savage response, in a story that stretches from Rome to Jerusalem.”—John Ma, Columbia UniversityThis deeply researched and insightful book examines the causes, course, and historical significance of the Jews’ failed revolt agains...

What happens when a small group of educators get together? What could they do, what could they make, what could they become? Not necessarily what you might think. This book describes an alternate journey, one that departs from the busy traffic of goal-oriented projects, over-determined aims, and the doorstep delivery of interventions in order to wander reflectively across a more expansive landscape. We came together to record the successes and failures of a small research project, witnessi...