Schopenhauer 1788 - 1860Western philosophy's most profound and unrelenting pessimist, Schopenhauer hymned the miseries of human existence with a joylessness that was little short of lyrical. Yet he thrilled to the beauties of music and art.How did such deep bleakness and such sublime enthusiasm come to coincide in one man, one mind? Only by squaring these two sides of Schopenhauer can we truly hope to understand this most paradoxical - even perverse of thinkers. Only throug...

The philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was almost wholly neglected during his sane life, which came to an abrupt end in 1889. Since then he has been appropriated as an icon by an astonishingly diverse spectrum of people, whose interpretations of his thought range from the highly irrational to the firmly analytical. Thus Spoke Zarathustra introduced the 'superman' and The Twilight of the Idols developed the 'Will to Power' concept; these term, together with 'Sklavenmoral' and 'He...

On Wednesday 4 June 1913, fledgling newsreel cameras captured just over two-and-a-half minutes of neverto-be-forgotten British social and sporting history. The 250,000 people thronging Epsom Downs carried with them a quartet of combustible elements: a fanatical, publicity-hungry suffragette; a scapegoat for the Titanic disaster and the pillar of the Establishment who bore him a personal grudge; a pair of feuding jockeys at odds over money and glory; and, finally, at the heart of the action...

This is the story of how a boy from a disadvantaged background on the outskirts of Oxford overcame all obstacles through an alliance of self-belief and inspirational grammar school teachers to fight his way into Oxford University.

The finest jockey rider on the English turf during the nineteenth century was George Fordhamlauded throughout the sport as the Demon. Such was the judgment of his contemporaries from jockeys and trainers to owners and chroniclers. Yet history has not been kind to Fordham. Fate saw his career overshadowed by that of bitter rival Fred Archer, a jockey deemed his inferior but whose suicide invoked immortality. The question remains: if Archer is fit to be mentioned in the same breath as twenti...

The Oxford Murder that gripped the country in 1931 would grace any episode of Inspector Morse. Yet it was horrifically real. Annie Kempson was a defenceless widow bludgeoned and stabbed to death in her own home for the sake of a few poundsa despicable crime for which the killer could expect no mercy. Following a nationwide man-hunt, career criminal Henry Seymour was arrested by Scotland Yards Lucky John Horwell. And thanks to renowned pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury a guilty verdict was ...

‘A fine, intellectually sparkling and always engaging little book – a welcome addition to any Wagner library’Hans Vaget, Opera QuarterlyWhilst no one would dispute Wagner’s ranking among the most significant composers in the history of Western music, his works have been more fiercely attacked than those of any other composer. His supposed personal defects have provoked intense hostility which has translated into a mistrust and abhorrence of his music. Tanner’s fascination fo...

In 1920, a glittering Russian Orthodox monastery is dynamited by the Bolsheviks into piles of rubble. Years later, Nikolai Razkazov—Kolya—grows up in the shadow of the ruins. A veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the deadly Russian arms trade, Kolya learns that he and the old monastery share a special connection and that his life has a purpose, a dangerous purpose.

What does it take to kill your fellow man?The horrors of World War One yield the answer for one troubled young man from Littlemore who finds himself at war on two fronts: at home and in the trenches where his enemies number comrades as well as Germans. His pursuit of inner peace leads to the ultimate sacrifice.A terrified teenage boy plunges from a bridge into a river before a baying mob of his peers.Jumping from the Black Bridge is a rite of passage for every Littl...

Richard Wagner remains, almost 130 years after his death, the most controversial composer in the history of music. Creator of huge and hugely ambitious operas, which have an immense immediate impact, as well as providing food for endless thought and discussion, Wagner has had an influence on many fields outside music. In this lively pocket guide, Michael Tanner gives concise accounts of all his operas - the likes of Parsifal, Lohengrin and Tristan und Isolde - sh...

The Family Legacy Journal is the journal that will build the family legacy parents dream of in just ten minutes each day. Most families are caught up in a whirlwind of busyness that leaves them feeling disconnected. Without a method to slow the pace of everyday life, families drift apart. The Family Legacy Journal equips men and women to reconnect with their family or spouse with just ten minutes of journaling each day. Through the power of gratitude, reflection, and affi...

With his well-known idiosyncrasies and aphoristic style, Friedrich Nietzsche is always bracing and provocative, and temptingly easy to dip into. Michael Tanner's introduction to the philosopher's life and work examines the numerous ambiguities inherent in his writings and explodes many of the misconceptions that have grown in the hundred years since Nietzsche wrote "do not, above all, confound me with what I am not!"