''Here's how I do it, and why''This is the premise behind John Howe's first practical exploration of his artistic inspirations, approaches and techniques. This title will appeal to practical artists and fans of John Howe's work by providing step-by-step demonstrations, sketches and oustanding finished paintings, some designed specifically for this book. It covers a wide range of subjects essential to any aspiring fantasy artist, including materials and the creative process, and d...

By walking, you escape from the very idea of identity, the temptation to be someone, to have a name and a history ... The freedom in walking lies in not being anyone; for the walking body has no history, it is just an eddy in the stream of immemorial life.In A Philosophy of Walking, a bestseller in France, leading thinker Fr�d�ric Gros charts the many different ways we get from A to B-the pilgrimage, the promenade, the protest march, the nature ramble-and reveals ...

Marc Perelman pulls no punches in this succinct and searing broadside, assailing the 'recent form of barbarism' that is the global sporting event. Forget the Olympics and consider, under Perelman's guidance, the ledger of inequities maintained by such supposedly harmless games.They have provided a smokescreen for the forcible removal of 'undesirables'; aided governments in the pursuit of racist agendas; affirmed the hypocrisy of drug-testing in an industry where doping is more an i...

Harun al-Rashid, the legendary caliph portrayed in The Thousand and One Nights, was the son of a Yemenite slave who cleared Harun's path to power, very probably by poisoning her eldest son. Harun reigned for a quarter of a century, his empire spreading over south-west Asia and into north Africa. He waged war on the Byzantine Empire, and dealt ruthlessly with the religious and social insurrections which threatened his kingdom, executing almost the entire Barmakid family when they threatened...

Robespierre's defense of the French Revolution remains one of the most powerful and unnerving justifications for political violence ever written, and has extraordinary resonance in a world obsessed with terrorism and appalled by the language of its proponents. Yet today, the French Revolution is celebrated as the event which gave birth to a nation built on the principles of Enlightenment. So how should a contemporary audience approach Robespierre's vindication of revolutionary terror? Zize...

Numerous writers have made declarations of love to cities, but Against Venice speaks not of love, but of dislike. It is a counterblast to intellectuals who regard Venice as the city where existentialism should be experienced, at parties in the palazzi of friends. Debray criticises this world in a refreshingly irreverent way, luring the traveller back to this seductive city.

The cinema, like language, can be said to exist as a system of differences. In his latest book the acclaimed philosopher Jacques Ranci�re relates cinema to literature and theatre. With literature, he argues, cinema takes its narrative conventions, while at the same time effacing its images and its philosophy; and it rejects theatre, while also fulfilling theatre's dream. Built on these contradictions, the cinema is the real, material space in which one feels moved by the spectacle of shado...

For Marc Aug�, best-selling author of Non-Places, the prevailing idea of "the Future" rests on our present fears of the contemporary world. It is to the future that we look for redemption and progress; but it is also where we project our personal and apocalyptic anxieties. By questioning notions of certainty, truth, and totality, Aug� finds ways to separate the future from our eternal, terrified present and liberates the mind to allow it to conceptualize our possible futures afres...

Foreword by Neil GaimanThe world’s leading Arthurian authority reimagines one of the most beloved and influential legends—the story of King Arthur and his Knights—for a new century in this gorgeous keepsake edition, illustrated with luminous full-color paintings and drawings by internationally acclaimed Tolkien artist John Howe.The stories of King Arthur and Merlin, Lancelot and Guinevere, Galahad, Gawain, Tristan and the rest of the Knights of the Roundtable, and the searc...

The aim in preparing this work has been to bring together the best examples of the products of the pulpit through the Christian centuries, and to present these masterpieces in attractive and convenient form. It is believed that they will be found valuable as instruction to ministers of to-day. They should also be helpful to others who, tho not preachers, yet seek reading of this kind for the upbuilding of personal character and for strengthening their Christian faith.The sermons ha...

The aim in preparing this work has been to bring together the best examples of the products of the pulpit through the Christian centuries, and to present these masterpieces in attractive and convenient form. It is believed that they will be found valuable as instruction to ministers of to-day. They should also be helpful to others who, tho not preachers, yet seek reading of this kind for the upbuilding of personal character and for strengthening their Christian faith.The sermons ha...

Create your own fantasy art with this comprehensive guidebook by the lead conceptual designer on The Lord of the RingsTM and The HobbitTM trilogies.Discover the creative processes and intriguing inspirations behind the work of John Howe – lead conceptual designer on The Lord of the RingsTM and The HobbitTM movie trilogies. Through step-by-step drawings and finished paintings, Howe reveals his artistic approach in action: from dev...