A man walks into a Birmingham bookshop, buys a volume of poetry, and steps out into the road, where a jazz musician seems momentarily to bring the whole city together. In the second poem in Playing the Changes, the same thing happens, only half the words are redacted. Then the experience is retold as a Petrarchan sonnet; a children's skipping rhyme; an Acknowledgements page; a pastiche of Tristram Shandy...Drawing on the traditions of jazz improvisation and Oulipo...

What if Scotland won the first World Cup? If Only challenges the perception that soccer history couldn't have been different. This book reflects on what football history could have been, what it might have been, and in some cases, what it probably should have been.Simon Turner imagines a world in which Scotland win the first-ever World Cup, Derby County are champions of Europe, and 1966 isn't the only year that England win anything. Through counterfactual ...

It was the summer of 1983. Walsall were preparing for another season in the Third Division when British Airways' advertising people got in touch. The airline were embarking on an innovative promotional campaign and needed the club's help. To show how quickly continental cities could be reached from regional airports, they wanted to feature the team underneath the banner: 'They’re only 90 minutes away from a place in Europe.' Walsall were the only league club in the West Midlands never to h...

Tinpot is the story of football's lost tournaments: the strange and forgotten competitions that sparked into life before shuffling off their mortal coil. The book tells their stories, giving them the spotlight they deserve.It's time for something different. It's time to go somewhere new. It's time to wander off the highways of football history and see where long-discarded paths lead.England's major football tournaments seem to have been with us for...

Based on thorough ethnographic fieldwork in a refugee camp in Tanzania this book provides a rich account of the benevolent “disciplining mechanisms” of humanitarian agencies, led by the UNHCR, and of the situated, dynamic, indeterminate, and fluid nature of identity (re)construction in the camp. While the refugees are expected to behave as innocent, helpless victims, the question of victimhood among Burundian Hutu is increasingly challenged, following the 1993 massacres in Burundi and the ...

Relive Walsall FC's greatest moments through the eyes of its legends. Sixteen Walsall legends share their memories of the club's most unforgettable games. From Allan Clarke's FA Cup recollections to Adam Chambers's Wembley experience, this collection spans half a century of Saddlers history.Discover the inside stories behind thrilling encounters, including Alan Buckley's account of conquering Manchester United and Peter Hart's memories of facing Arsenal and Liverpo...

So you want to learn to play the guitar?You know that it will take practice. You know it will need investment of time.But where do you start? After all there are a plethora of tuition books out there. How do you choose?LOOK NO FURTHER THAN LEARN TO PLAY GUITAR WITH EASE.Written by a seasoned guitarist who has learned the hard way - by using books, tapes and NO LESSONS, Simon Turner has a great depth of experience in helping students find their real potential...

African migrants have become increasingly demonised in public debate and political rhetoric. There is much speculation about the incentives and trajectories of Africans on the move, and often these speculations are implicitly or overtly geared towards discouraging and policing their movements. What is rarely understood or scrutinised however, are the intricate ways in which African migrants are marginalised and excluded from public discourse; not only in Europe but in migrant-receiving con...

Reflections on Life in Ghettos, Camps and Prisons explores the relationship between ghettos, camps, places of detention and prisons with a focus on those people who are confined, encamped, imprisoned, detained, stuck, or forcibly removed through the lens of ‘stuckness’.From a point of departure in anthropology, with important contributions from criminology, geography and philosophy, the chapters explore how life is lived in and across these sites of confinement by focusing...

Quantifying the timescales of current geological processes is critical for constraining the physical mechanisms operating on the Earth today. Since the Earth’s origin 4.55 billion years ago magmatic processes have continued to shape the Earth, producing the major reservoirs that exist today (core, mantle, crust, oceans and atmosphere) and promoting their continued evolution. But key questions remain. When did the core form and how quickly? How are magmas produced in the mantle, and how rap...

A highly illustrated study of the battle of Malplaquet, the last and bloodiest of Marlborough's victories in the 18th century War of the Spanish Succession.In 1709, after eight years of war, France was on her knees. There was not enough money left in the treasury to pay, equip or feed the army and a bad harvest led to starvation throughout the kingdom. Circumstances had worsened to the point that King Louis XIV was forced to offer to end the War of Spanish Successi...

With great recipes for meats, sauces and rubs mixed with ideas for pickles, slaws, puddings and cocktails, plus features on meats, equipment and methods, the Pitt Cue Co. Cookbook is your guide to enjoying the best hot, smoky, sticky, spicy grub all year round.From Pitt Cue's legendary Pickle backs and bourbon cocktails, to their acclaimed Pulled pork shoulder; Burnt ends mash; Smoked ox cheek toasts with pickled walnuts; Lamb rib with molasses mop and onion salad;...