A group of schoolgirls go off with two teachers on a field trip to the English countryside. They soon discover that the nearby town offers alcohol, drugs, and sex, at once tempting and terrifying. In this illicit, raw new world, isolated from the larger society and its familiar rules and repressions, some become more vulnerable, others more vicious. There are the almost casual daily cruelties the girls inflict on one another, the dangerous fault lines of their friendships, their insecuriti...

The "flamboyant and elegantly written saga" of the legendary author's family and their lifesaving nautical advances across eighteenth century Scotland ( Publishers Weekly ).For centuries the seas around Scotland were notorious for shipwrecks. Mariners had nothing to aid their navigation but a single coal-fire light on the east coast, which was usually extinguished by rain. In 1786 the Northern Lighthouse Trust was establis...

An "entertaining" historical investigation into the scavengers who have profited off the spoils of maritime disasters ( The Washington Post).Even today, Britain's coastline remains a dangerous place. It is an island soaked by four separate seas, with shifting sand banks to the east, veiled reefs to the west, powerful currents above, and the world's busiest shipping channel below. The country's offshore waters are strewn with shipwrecks—and for villagers sc...

Bella Bathurst’s epic story of Robert Louis Stevenson’s ancestors and the building of the Scottish coastal lighthouses against impossible odds.‘Whenever I smell salt water, I know that I am not far from one of the works of my ancestors,’ wrote Robert Louis Stevenson in 1880. ‘When the lights come out at sundown along the shores of Scotland, I am proud to think they burn more brightly for the genius of my father!’Robert Louis Stevenson was the most famous of the Stevensons, ...

From Alan Bennett's Baffled at a Bookcase, to Lucy Mangan's Library Rules, famous writers tell us all about how libraries are used and why they're important. Tom Holland writes about libraries in the ancient world, while Seth Godin describes what a library will look like in the future. Lionel Shriver thinks books are the best investment, Hardeep Singh Kohli makes a confession and Julie Myerson remembers how her career began beside the shelves. Using memoir, history, polemic and some short ...

"Superb . . . the best one-volume economic history of the United States in a long time and, perhaps, ever." — NewsweekIn this illuminating history, John Steele Gordon tells the extraordinary story of the world's first economic superpower. He shows how the American economy became not only the world's largest, but also its most dynamic and innovative. Combining its English political inheritance with its diverse, ambitious population, the nation was able to de...

A "fast-moving, absorbing" account of the years leading up to WWII—a tale of democratic crisis, racial conflict, and a belated recognition of evil ( New York Times Book Review)."Thought provokingly, Hett notes that commonalities between the 1930s and today . . . he suggests that lessons learned by dealing with the Nazi regime could be applied today. This compelling work is highly recommended for those interested in World War II or in the history of ...

This beautifully illustrated history of twentieth century cartography charts a century of social and political change through 100 fascinating maps.The twentieth century was a golden age of mapmaking. Maps were employed not only to chart geography and history but also myriad political and social agendas. Here Tim Bryars and Tom Harper select one hundred maps from the twentieth century that reveal the profound changes that took place—from two world wars and the Great...

A scientist integrates evolutionary biology, genetics, psychology, economics, and more to explore the development and workings of human societies."There is no good reason why human societies should not be described and explained with the same precision and success as the rest of nature." Thus argues evolutionary psychologist Pascal Boyer in this uniquely innovative book.Integrating recent insights from evolutionary biology, genetics, psychol...

An NPR Best Book of the Year: "A heady hybrid of science, history, how-to and memoir" about a great composer, a common bird, and our bond with nature ( Los Angeles Times).On May 27, 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart met a flirtatious little starling in a Viennese shop who sang an improvised version of the theme from his Piano Concerto no. 17 in G major. Sensing a kindred spirit in the plucky young bird, Mozart bought him and took him home to be...

Get immersed in the action of history's most pivotal and dramatic episodes with this "witty, irreverent, and brilliantly researched" guide (Giles Milton).Not many of us can claim to have thrown chests of tea into the Boston Harbor or to have watched Vesuvius erupt, but that's about to change thanks to The Time Traveler's Handbook. This book offers eighteen exceptional trips to the past, transporting you back to the greatest spectacles in history.You ...

Delve into the curious history of print and publishing—from the Gutenberg Bible and Shakespeare's folios to rare book forgers, literary scandals, and more.The printing press is one history's greatest achievements. It allowed us to record and spread some of humanity's most brilliant ideas. But let's not forget that humankind is also full of idiots. In Printer's Error, historian J.P. Romney and rare book specialist Rebecca Romney take readers on a rollicking ...