The Essential Classics Collection is a continent-hopping, century-spanning collection of five of the greatest novels ever written, and the perfect way to listen to those classics you've always been meaning to read but never cracked open.Read by a cast of incredible narrators including Joanne Froggatt, Stephen Fry, David Rintoul, Hugh Kermode, and Malk Williams.Included here are stories of love, war, ambition and family, authored by some of the greate...

THE AGE OF EXTREMES is eminent historian Eric Hobsbawm's personal vision of the twentieth century. Remarkable in its scope, and breathtaking in its depth of knowledge, this immensely rewarding book reviews the uniquely destructive and creative nature of the troubled twentieth century and makes challenging predicitions for the future.

Eric Hobsbawm traces with brilliant anlytical clarity the transformation brought about in evry sphere of European life by the Dual revolution - the 1789 French revolution and the Industrial Revolution that originated in Britain. This enthralling and original account highlights the significant sixty years when industrial capitalism established itself in Western Europe and when Europe established the domination over the rest of the world it was to hold for half a century.

The splendid finale to Eric Hobsbawm's study of the nineteenth century, THE AGE OF EMPIRE covers the area of Western Imperialism and examines the forces that swept the world to the outbreak of World War One- and shaped modern society.

In 1848, Europe was engulfed in a firestorm of revolution. The streets of cities from Paris to Bucharest and from Berlin to Palermo were barricaded and flooded by armed insurgents proclaiming political liberties and national freedom. The conservative order which had held sway since the fall of Napoleon in 1815 crumbled beneath the revolutionary assault.This book narrates the breathtaking events which overtook Europe in 1848, tracing brilliantly their course from the exhilaration of...

This audiobook includes forewords read by the authors, Frank Verstraete and Céline Broeckaert.**The International Bestseller'Ambitious . . . pleasingly full of cutting-edge topics - New Scientist**'A physics book unlike any other. The scope, depth and artistry are breathtaking' – John Preskill, theoretical physicist and Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at CaltechQuantum physics is the cornerstone of our worl...

The first and best, major treatment of the crucial years 1848-1875, a penetrating analysis of the rise of capitalism throught the world.In the 1860s a new word entered the economic and political vocabulary of the world: 'capitalism'. The global triumph of capitalism is the major theme of history in the decades after 1848. It was the triumph of a society which believed that economic growth rests on competitive private enterprise, on success in buying everything in the cheapest marke...

Dividing the century into the Age of Catastrophe, 1914–1950, the Golden Age, 1950–1973, and the Landslide, 1973–1991, Hobsbawm marshals a vast array of data into a volume of unparalleled inclusiveness, vibrancy, and insight, a work that ranks with his classics The Age of Empire and The Age of Revolution.In the short century between 1914 and 1991, the world has been convulsed by two global wars that swept away millions of lives and entire systems of government. Com...

Freddie Mercury was one of the greatest showmen of the twentieth century. With his unparalleled voice and searing on-stage energy, he was a great pretender, a killer queen and a champion of the world.But behind the glamour lived a musician and lyricist talented beyond measure, and the creative force behind one of the most culturally significant and musically diverse bands the world has ever seen.When Freddie passed away in 1991, he left to his former fiancé...

**'Fascinating...**In essence, the number and quality of our friendships may have a bigger influence on our happiness, health and mortality risk than anything else in life save for giving up smoking' Guardian, Book of the DayFriends matter to us, and they matter more than we think. The single most surprising fact to emerge out of the medical literature over the last decade or so has been that the number and quality of the friendships we have has a bigger i...

British politicians love to vaunt the benefits of the UK's supposed 'special relationship' with the US. But are we really America's economic partner - or its colony?Vassal State lays bare the extent to which US corporations own and control Britain's economy: how American business chiefs decide what we're paid, what we buy, and how we buy it. US companies have carved up Britain between them, siphoning off enormous profits, buying up our most lucrative firms and assets, and extractin...

Five unforgettable stories that define British literature—rich in character, depth, and timeless themes.This collection brings together some of the most influential and beloved novels in the English literary canon. From dystopian futures to sweeping romantic tales, these works explore human nature, social class, morality, and the quest for identity. Each novel is a reflection of its time, yet its themes remain strikingly relevant today.1984, by George Orwell –...