An incredible 30,000 flights – at least – arrive safely at their destinations every day. But a handful don’t, while some come terrifyingly close to crashing. When even the smallest thing does go wrong at 35,000 feet, the result is nearly always a fast-unfolding tragedy.This extensive collection of compelling real-life accounts of air disasters and near-disasters provides a sobering, alternative history of the just over 105 years that passengers have been travelling by air, from the...

Everyone has heard the songs from The Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The stage show was a roaring success in New York and London, and the much-loved feature film, directed by Hollywood veteran Robert Wise, continues to be a staple of television schedules 50 years after its release in 1965.In this fascinating and wide-ranging book, Paul Simpson explores the incredible story of the Von Trapp family and their escape from the Third Reich in all its incarnations, fr...

Part memoir, part social history, Revolutionary Spirit is the poignant, often hilarious story of a cult Liverpool musician’s scenic route to fame and artistic validation. If Morrissey was the Oscar Wilde of the 1980s indie scene, Simpson was its William Blake, a self destructive genius so lost in mystical visions of a new Arcadia that he couldn’t meet the rent.Simpson’s career begins alongside fellow Liverpool luminaries Julian Cope, Ian McCulloch, Bill Dr...

An essential guide to one of the most influential writers of the 20th centuryA Brief Guide to C. S. Lewis explores Lewis's life, from his reconversion to Christianity under the influence of his friend J. R. R. Tolkien, which had such a profound influence on his writing to his marriage to American writer Joy Davidman Gresham and his battle with cancer. Perhaps best known as the author of the seven Chronicles of Narnia, published between 19...

True stories of prison breaks including those of Frank Abagnale, whose story is told in Catch Me If You Can; Henri Charrière who claimed to have escaped from the supposedly inescapable Devil's Island - the true story as opposed to his questionable memoir, Papillon; Bud Day, said to be the only US serviceman ever to have escaped to South Vietnam; the six prisoners who escaped from Death Row in Mecklenburg Correctional Center; and Pascal Payeret, the French armed robber who...

How is The Colour Code different to other books on colour? Well, the short answer is that it is a whole lot more fun - not least because it is extensively illustrated. We don't just get a story about Mummy Brown (the pigment made from Egyptian mummies), we see a painting created with pigments from the remains of French kings. We are reminded of the blue/gold dress that swept Twitter, view paintings by Mondrian (red ones sell for higher prices) and Van Eyck (he invented an enduring...

Written in a clear and accessible style, Stylistics, Third Edition is a comprehensive resource which covers all the major theories, concepts and methods required for the investigation of language in literature. From metre to metaphor, dialogue to discourse, the main topics are introduced and fully elaborated, as are the key research paradigms of this important and exciting field of study. Stylistics is richly illustrated with many examples from literary texts, including w...

There are many myths about serial killers: that they are all dysfunctional loners; all white males; only motivated by sex; that they all travel and operate across a wide area; cannot stop killing; are all insane, or evil geniuses; and that they all want to get caught.Of course, there are some serial killers who fit into these categories, but the married Green River Killer was not a dysfunctional loner; there are plenty of female and non-Caucasian serial killers; Dr Harold Shipman w...

From the end of the Second World War to the present day, the world has changed immeasurably. The art of spying has changed too, as spies have reacted to changing threats. Here you will find the fascinating stories of real-life spies, both famous and obscure, from either side of the Iron Curtain, along with previously secret details of War on Terror operations.Detailed stories of individual spies are set in the context of the development of the major espionage agencies, interspersed...

An analysis of twenty-nine of the most famous theories, featuring assassinations, military operations, aliens, secret societies, and government conspiracies.Conspiracies. They happen every day. All it takes is a couple of people and a secret, nefarious plan. But then there are big conspiracy theories—the assassinations, cover-ups, and shadow governments that are endlessly debated on talk radio and the Internet. Are they real? Are they even possible? Or are they just...

This book aims to develop an account of living together with difference which recognises the tension that we are inescapably with others – both human and non-human – but at the same time are always differing from and with those with whom we find ourselves.A concern for coexistence and questions over how we might live together have been raised and approached from a host of conceptual starting points in recent times, including via calls for a rethinking of communism today, the articu...

What if Dorothy Gale wasn't the only person who went to see the Wizard of Oz?MGM's landmark 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, did not mark the beginning of adventures in Oz. Both before and since, dozens of tales have been told of the Marvellous Land of Oz, and its inhabitants such as the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger and Jack Pumpkinhead.In this fascinating and wide-ranging book, Paul Simpson looks back a...