A monumental achievement of scholarship, this volume on the Nahua Indians of Central Mexico (often called Aztecs) constitutes our best understanding of any New World indigenous society in the period following European contact.Simply put, the purpose of this book is to throw light on the history of Nahua society and culture through the use of records in Nahuatl, concentrating on the time when the bulk of the extant documents were written, between about 1540-50 and the late eighteent...

In November 1532, a group of 168 Spaniards seized the Inca emperor Atahuallpa in the town of Cajamarca, in the northern Peruvian highlands. Their act, quickly taken as a symbol of the conquest of a vast empire, brought them unprecedented rewards in gold and silver; it made them celebrities, gave them first choice of positions of honor and power in the new Peru of the Spaniards, and opened up the possibility of a splendid life at home in Spain, if they so desired. Thus they became men of co...

When it comes to falling in love, Tammy Whinot will stop at nothing:No matter that when she meets Mr. Perfect, he's shooting it out with a Chechen convenience store owner.Or that five minutes later he takes a leap over a drunken Porsche into a coma and a stint in a wheelchair.Or that the fixer-upper Tammy buys Mr. Perfect contains a family of ghosts trapped in an afterlife of murky tribulation.Or that tribulato numero uno is the mobster Tony Ten Finger's obs...

Alex is a writer whose mind see-saws through multiple levels of reality. When we first meet him, he is a grungy postal worker living in a ratty apartment and sending his literary characters out into an unforgiving world.Alex loves his characters, but unfortunately, power corrupts, and Alex's power over his creations corrupts absolutely. He forces them into clichés no self-respecting imaginary character would tolerate. But when they argue with him, they quickly find themselves choki...

Rachel Blaustein is an attractive but lonely old woman living in a hotel in Geneva, Switzerland. She is estranged from her daughter and an unknown quantity to her grandchildren. She discovers that she is going to die and realizes that she first needs to make peace with her daughter Marnie.The ensuing reunion is anything but peaceful. Marnie is the mirror image of her mother, with the same blend of passion and cold steel. They hate the loss of each other, but the issues that divide ...

In literature and film the spy chief is an all-knowing, all-powerful figure who masterfully moves spies into action like pieces on a chessboard. How close to reality is that depiction, and what does it really take to be an effective leader in the world of intelligence?This first volume of Spy Chiefs broadens and deepens our understanding of the role of intelligence leaders in foreign affairs and national security in the United States and United Kingdom from the early 1940s to the p...

Shortlisted for the 2023 Highland Book Prize‘Joyful and mindful, a powerful argument for being still and listening’ Sunday TimesA book about birds, birdsong and the countryside they inhabit, from the critically acclaimed author of Raptor.In Wild Air, James Macdonald Lockhart sets out to write about a series of birds as though he has his granny’s role of listening to birds’ songs and calls and relaying what...

Winner of The Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction in 2011 and the Authors' Foundation Roger Deakin Award in 2011A stunning debut in the tradition of Robert Macfarlane and Helen MacdonaldOf all the birds of the British Isles, the raptor reigns supreme, sparking the imagination like no other. In this magnificent hymn to these beautiful animals, James Macdonald Lockhart explores all fifteen breeding birds of prey on these shores – from the hen harrier swi...

Shortlisted for the 2023 Highland Book Prize‘Joyful and mindful, a powerful argument for being still and listening’ Sunday TimesA book about birds, birdsong and the countryside they inhabit, from the critically acclaimed author of Raptor.In Wild Air, James Macdonald Lockhart sets out to write about a series of birds as though he has his granny’s role of listening to birds’ songs and calls and relaying what...

In Underwater, James B. Lockhart, a former submarine officer with the US Navy who went on to play a large part in the government's response to the Global Financial Crisis, tells an important story about managing government agencies that-in submarine parlance-are deep underwater, then provides solutions on how to help them and the overall government surface.As President Geroge H. W. Bush once said, "There is nothing more fulfilling than to serve your country and your fellow...

Winner of The Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction in 2011 and the Authors' Foundation Roger Deakin Award in 2011A stunning debut in the tradition of Robert Macfarlane and Helen MacdonaldOf all the birds of the British Isles, the raptor reigns supreme, sparking the imagination like no other. In this magnificent hymn to these beautiful animals, James Macdonald Lockhart explores all fifteen breeding birds of prey on these shores – from the hen harrier swi...