The poetry that emerged from the trenches of WWI is a remarkable body of work, at once political manifesto and literary beacon for the twentieth century. In this passionate recreation of the lives of the greatest poets to come out of the conflict, Nicholas Murray brilliantly reveals the men themselves as well as the struggle of the artist to live fully and to bear witness in the annihilating squalor of battle.Bringing into sharp focus the human detail of each life, using journals, ...

The grandson of biologist T. H. Huxley, Aldous Huxley had a privileged background and was educated at Eton and Oxford despite an eye infection that left him nearly blind. Having learned braille his eyesight then improved enough for him to start writing, and by the 1920s he had become a fashionable figure, producing witty and daring novels like CROME YELLOW (1921), ANTIC HAY (1923) and POINT COUNTER POINT (1928). But it is as the author of his celebrated portrayal of a nightmare future soci...

Nicholas Murray's The Rocky Road to the Great War examines the evolution of field fortification theory and practice between 1877 and 1914. During this period field fortifications became increasingly important, and their construction evolved from primarily above to below ground. The reasons for these changes are crucial to explaining the landscape of World War I, yet they have remained largely unstudied.The transformation in field fortifications reflected not only the ongoing ...

"[A] generous and intelligent biography" of the twentieth-century luminary and author of Brave New World ( The Guardian, UK).When Aldous Huxley died in 1963, he was considered one of the most important English writers of the twentieth century. Known for his dystopian satire, Brave New World, and his experimentation with drugs that preceded the 1960s psychedelic (a term he invented) era, Huxley seemed to embody the condition of twentieth-ce...

This gripping biography of the great Czech novelist, diarist and short story writer chronicles Kafka's entire (if tragically curtailed) life (1883-1924), but it focuses upon the writer's relationship to his father and his inheritance as a member of the Jewish mercantile bourgeoisie in Prague. Born into a German-speaking Jewish family, Kafka was a subject of the Austro-Hungarian empire until 1919 yet through his work he is one of the most modern of writers. While previous works have concent...

Although the century which followed Andrew Marvell's death remembered him primarily as a politician and a pamphleteer, this gifted poet is responsible for some of the most brilliant lyric exploration of his time. World Enough and Time is an extensive biography written by Nicholas Murray, a biographer whose literary scholarship and political astuteness matches that of his subject.

Set in London, Nice, The Greek Isles and Tuscany, this is a beautifully crafted and utterly convincing portrait of infidelity and its repercussions. Characters live in the worlds of classical music, journalism, fashion-modelling and architecture in search of contentment in an increasingly complex yet superficial world. This is a

ContentsThe Ephemera: An Emblem Of Human LifeBenjamin Franklin (1706-1790).The WhistleBenjamin Franklin (1706-1790).Dialogue Between Franklin And The GoutBenjamin Franklin (1706-1790).Consolation For The Old BachelorFrancis Hopkinson (1737-1791).John BullWashington Irving (1783-1859).The Mutability Of LiteratureWashington Irving (1783-1859).Kean’s ActingRichard Henry Dana (1787-1879).Gi...

To those who loved him, like Teddy Roosevelt, he was "Nicholas Miraculous," the fabled educator who had a hand in everything; to those who did not, like Upton Sinclair, he was "the intellectual leader of the American plutocracy," a champion of "false and cruel ideals." Ezra Pound branded him "one of the more loathsome figures" of the age. Whether celebrated or despised, Nicholas Murray Butler (1862–1947) was undeniably an irresistible force who helped shape American history.With wi...

**'Bold, vital and urgent . . . Blows the old parochial Western accounts clean away' SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB'Refreshing and astutely judged . . . immensely enjoyable' JONATHAN PHILLIPSA spectacular new panoramic history of the Crusades.**From their foundation in 1097 to Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem almost a century later, the Crusader States transformed the Middle Eastern world. In an era shaped by many conflicts, this was not simply a war between Christianity and Isla...

LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI PRIZE 2024'On the bookshelves, there was plenty of stuff on being gay, and much needed, joyous accounts of what it is to be trans, but nothing really that encapsulates what is it to be both - to exist in the hazy terrain between.'After his relationship with his girlfriend of 5 years ended, Harry realised he was a single adult for the first time - not only that, but a single, transmasculine...

The Sahara: a dream-like, far away landscape of Lawrence of Arabia and Wilfred Thesiger, The English Patient and Star Wars, and home to nomadic communities whose ways of life stretch back millennia. Today it's a teeth-janglingly dangerous destination, where the threat of jihadists lurks just over the horizon. Following in the footsteps of 16th century traveller Leo Africanus, Nicholas Jubber went on a turbulent adventure to the forgotten places of North Africa an...