Communication Studies

  • Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art

    01

    ‘Destined to become a new classic’

    A dazzlingly original reassessment of women’s stories, bodies and art – and how we think about them.

    For decades, feminist artists have confronted the problem of how to tell the truth about their experiences as bodies. Queer bodies, sick bodies, racialised bodies, female bodies, what is their language, what are the materials we need to transcribe it?

    Exploring the ways in which feminist artists have taken up this challenge, Art Monsters is a landmark intervention in how we think about art and the body, calling attention to a radical heritage of feminist work that not only reacts against patriarchy but redefines its own aesthetic aims.

    Writing in the tradition of Susan Sontag, Hélène Cixous and Maggie Nelson, Lauren Elkin demonstrates her power as a cultural critic, weaving daring links between disparate artists and writers – from Julia Margaret Cameron’s photography to Kara Walker’s silhouettes, Vanessa Bell’s portraits to Eva Hesse’s rope sculptures, Carolee Schneemann’s body art to Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s trilingual masterpiece DICTEE – and shows that their work offers a potent celebration of beauty and excess, sentiment and touch, the personal and the political.

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    £11.40£12.30
  • I’ve Got Mail: The Soccer Saturday Letters

    08

    I’ve Got Mail is the brand new book from Jeff Stelling, the Sunday Times bestselling author and host of Sky Sports’ iconic football show Soccer Saturday. Reproducing a selection of correspondence he has received down the years, Stelling tells some intriguing stories around his experiences in broadcasting and football. This charming book is by turns warm and funny, moving and poignant, and invariably underpinned by a deeply rooted love of football and people.

    “It arrived while I was playing football. I remember my mum running towards me, dressed in pinny and slippers, waving a piece of flesh coloured paper, gripped in her hand, the print all in slightly faded block capitals. But the message from my new employer was clear and urgent.

    BERNARD GENT UNWELL. GO TO LEEDS IMMEDIATELY. COVER LEEDS UNITED V MIDDLESBROUGH

    It was the first and last telegram I ever received. It was a message that probably changed the course of my life. It was the first of many pieces of correspondence during my life which have made me laugh, cry or perhaps influenced my pathway in a more significant way.

    Receiving letters by post or via e-mail has always been important to me. Even now I feel slightly disappointed if the postman passes the door without anything for me, even though I know the chances are it will be a bill, a parking fine, a bank statement or a catalogue offering me clothing or garden furniture. The same applies when my inbox is empty save for someone offering a deal on a used car or urging me to change my energy provider.

    These days my mail is often from total strangers, usually with a simple birthday or autograph request. But at times the correspondence is emotional, and sometimes it is angry. Occasionally I’m entrusted with personal issues that the correspondents probably would not tell their closest friends. The only thing they all have in common is they start ‘Dear Jeff’. Or almost all do…”

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    £11.40£12.30
  • Advertising Now: TV Commercials

    01
    As Seen On TV! From Apple to VW, the very best of today’s television commercials  For anyone interested in inventive commercials, this book covers the best contemporary examples from around the world

    The very best TV commercials are masterpieces of the art, 30- or 60-second films that make us think, and rethink our attitudes towards a certain brand, product or service. Whether it’s selling the latest Nike sneaker or raising awareness about the danger of speeding, a commercial must communicate its message in under a minute, and only the sharpest creative minds achieve the perfect balance of novelty, entertainment, information and emotional impact. This book-and-DVD package gathers many of the world’s best commercials of recent years, in chapters organized by subjects, such as food & beverage, health & beauty, social & political, technology, and transport. Also included are screenshots, descriptions of each spot, and a credit list.

    Over 80 commercials featured in the book are included on the accompanying DVD  

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    £11.50
  • A Victorian Lady’s Guide to Fashion and Beauty

    08

    What did a Victorian lady wear for a walk in the park? How did she style her hair for an evening at the theatre? And what products might she have used to soothe a sunburn or treat an unsightly blemish? Mimi Matthews answers these questions and more as she takes readers on a decade-by-decade journey through Victorian fashion and beauty history.

    Women’s clothing changed dramatically during the course of the Victorian era. Necklines rose, waistlines dropped, and Gothic severity gave way to flounces, frills, and an abundance of trimmings. Sleeves ballooned up and skirts billowed out. The crinoline morphed into the bustle and steam-moulded corsets cinched women’s waists ever tighter.
    As fashion was evolving, so too were trends in ladies’ hair care and cosmetics. An era which began by prizing natural, barefaced beauty ended with women purchasing lip and cheek rouge, false hairpieces and pomades, and fashionable perfumes made with expensive spice oils and animal essences.
    Using research from nineteenth century beauty books, fashion magazines, and lady’s journals, Mimi Matthews brings the intricacies of a Victorian lady’s toilette into modern day focus. In the process, she gives readers a glimpse of the social issues that influenced women’s clothing and the societal outrage that was an all too frequent response to those bold females who used fashion and beauty as a means of asserting their individuality and independence.

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    £11.60£12.30
  • Confessions of an Advertising Man

    08
    A new edition of the timeless business classic featured on Mad Men as fresh and relevant now as the day it was written.

    ‘We admire people who work hard, who are objective and thorough. We detest office politicians, toadies, bullies, and pompous asses. We abhor ruthlessness. The way up our ladder is open to everybody. In promoting people to top jobs, we are influenced as much by their character as anything else.’ – David Ogilvy

    David Ogilvy was considered the ‘father of advertising’ and a creative genius by many of the biggest global brands. First published in 1963, this seminal book revolutionised the world of advertising and became a bible for the 1960s ad generation. It also became an international bestseller, translated into 14 languages. Fizzing with Ogilvy’s pioneering ideas and inspirational philosophy, it covers not only advertising, but also people management, corporate ethics, and office politics, and forms an essential blueprint for good practice in business.

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    £11.60£14.20
  • Strong Female Character: What Movies Teach Us

    07
    ‘At a time when fluff and gossip reign supreme, Hanna Flint’s work is consistently insightful, informative and engaging all at once. I always finish reading it feeling just a tad bit smarter.’ Candice Frederick, Huffington Post

    ‘One of the smartest pop culture commentators out there.’ Toby Moses, Guardian

    The leading film critic of her generation offers an eloquent, insightful and humorous reflection on the screen’s representation of women and ethnic minorities, revealing how cinema has been the key to understanding herself, her body image and her ambitions as well as the world we live in.

    A staunch feminist of mixed-race heritage, Hanna has succeeded in an industry not designed for people like her. She interweaves anecdotes from familial and personal experiences – from episodes of messy sex and introspection to the time when actor Vincent D’Onofrio tweeted that Hanna Flint sounded ‘like a secret agent’ – to offer a critical eye on the screen’s representation of women and ethnic minorities. Divided into sections ‘Origin Story’, ‘Coming of Age’, ‘Adult Material’, ‘Workplace Drama’ and ‘Strong Female Character’, the book ponders how the creative industries could better reflect our multicultural society.

    Warm, funny and engaging and full of film-infused lessons, Strong Female Character will appeal to readers of all backgrounds and seeks to help us better see ourselves in our own eyes rather than letting others decide who and what we can be.

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    £11.90£12.30
  • Normal Women: From the Number One Bestselling Author Comes 900 Years of Women Making History

    07

    A NEW STATESMEN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

    ‘A lasting work of social history’ THE TIMES

    ‘A genuinely new history of our nation’ DAN JONES

    ‘This celebration of women is a triumph of popular history’ SPECTATOR

    ‘Philippa Gregory uses all her bestseller skills to weave a narrative with pace’ ANTONIA FRASER

    FROM THE MULTI-MILLION BESTSELLING HISTORICAL NOVELIST COMES THE CULMINATION OF HER LIFE’S WORK

    • Did you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry?
    • That the Peasant’s Revolt was started and propelled by women, protesting a tax on women?
    • Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just that women were naturally inferior to men but that they’d evolve to become ever more inferior?
      These are just a few of the startling findings you will learn from reading Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women. In this ambitious and ground-breaking book, she tells the story of our nation over 900 years, but for the very first time women – some fifty per cent of the population – are no longer invisible in this history of England, but are at its beating heart.

    Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records to find highway women, beggars and shepherdesses, through newspapers and diaries to find murderers and brides, housewives and pirates, female husbands and hermits. The ‘normal women’ you will meet in her pages went to war, ploughed the fields, campaigned, wrote, and loved. They rode in jousts, flew Spitfires, issued their own currency and built ships, corn mills and houses as part of their everyday lives They committed crimes, or treason, worshipped many gods, cooked and nursed, invented things and rioted. A lot. They built our society to be as diverse and varied as the women themselves. They are there in the archives – if you look – and they made our history.

    ‘You’ll lose count of the number of things you learn about women and their skewed place in history … the book reframes the past … an essential read’ INDEPENDENT, FIVE-STAR REVIEW

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    £12.00£25.00
  • Blockbusters: Why Big Hits – and Big Risks – are the Future of the Entertainment Business

    08

    What is behind the phenomenal success of entertainment businesses such as Warner Bros., Marvel Enterprises and Manchester United – along with such stars as Jay-Z and Lady Gaga? Which strategies give leaders in film, television, music, publishing, and sports an edge over their rivals?

    Anita Elberse, Harvard Business School’s expert on the entertainment industry, has done pioneering research on the worlds of media and sports for more than a decade. Now, in this groundbreaking book, she explains a powerful truth about the fiercely competitive world of entertainment: building a business around blockbuster products – the movies, television shows, songs and books that are hugely expensive to produce and market – is the surest path to long-term success. Along the way, she reveals why entertainment executives often spend outrageous amounts of money in search of the next blockbuster, why superstars are paid unimaginable sums and how digital technologies are transforming the entertainment landscape.

    Full of inside stories emerging from her unprecedented access to some of the world’s most successful entertainment brands, Blockbusters is destined to become required reading for anyone seeking to understand how the entertainment industry really works – and how to navigate today’s high-stakes business world at large.

    ‘Convincing . . . Elberse’s Blockbusters builds on her already impressive academic résumé to create an accessible and entertaining book.’ Financial Times

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    £12.20£14.20
  • Critical Hits: Writers on Gaming and the Alternate Worlds We Inhabit

    ‘A loot drop of brilliance’ Naomi Alderman, author of The Power

    Whether you’re an avid gamer, a Twitch subscriber, or just an incidental Subway Surfer, video games have changed the way you interact with the world, and have been part of our lives for over fifty years. Critical Hits is a celebration of play and playfulness, and the lasting impact of videogames.

    Composed of sharp, impassioned, and inquisitive essays, this collection begins with an introduction by Carmen Maria Machado and presents video games through the eyes of eighteen writer-gamers as they straddle real and artificial worlds. In games, they find solace from illness and grief, test ideas about language, bodies, race, and technology, and see their experiences and identities reflected in-or complicated by-the interactive virtual realities they inhabit.

    From a deep dive into “portal fantasy” games by Charlie Jane Anders and a comic by MariNaomi about her time as a video game producer, to the overlaps in gaming and poetry by Stephen Sexton, Critical Hits illuminates fragments of an industry that is wildly popular, grossly misunderstood, and absolutely spellbinding.

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    £12.30£13.50
  • Too Late To Stop Now: More Rock’n’Roll War Stories

    01

    More than 40 stories from the glory days of rock’n’roll, featuring Lou Reed, Elton John, Sting and The Clash.

    Allan Jones brings stories – many previously unpublished – from the golden days of music reporting. Long nights of booze, drugs and unguarded conversations which include anecdotes, experiences and extravagant behaviour.

    – A band’s aftershow party in San Francisco being gatecrashed by cocaine-hungry Hells Angels
    – Chrissie Hynde on how rock’n’roll killed The Pretenders
    – What happened when Nick Lowe and 20 of his mates flew off to Texas to join the Confederate Air Force
    – John Cale on his dark alliance with Lou Reed

    Allan Jones remembers a world that once was – one of dark excess and excitement, outrageous deeds and extraordinary talent, featuring legends at both the beginnings and ends of their careers.

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    £12.30£16.10
  • Big Bang: The Most Important Scientific Discovery of All Time and Why You Need to Know About It

    02

    The bestselling author of Fermat’s Last Theorem and The Code Book tells the story of the brilliant minds that deciphered the mysteries of the Big Bang. A fascinating exploration of the ultimate question: how was our universe created?

    Albert Einstein once said: ‘The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.’ Simon Singh believes geniuses like Einstein are not the only people able to grasp the physics that govern the universe. We all can.

    As well as explaining what the Big Bang theory actually is and why cosmologists believe it is an accurate description of the origins of the universe, this book is also the fascinating story of the scientists who fought against the established idea of an eternal and unchanging universe. Simon Singh, renowned for making difficult ideas much less daunting than they first seem, is the perfect guide for this journey.

    Everybody has heard of the Big Bang Theory. But how many of us can actually claim to understand it? With characteristic clarity and a narrative peppered with anecdotes and personal histories of those who have struggled to understand creation, Simon Singh has written the story of the most important theory ever.

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    £12.30
  • The Art of Invective: Selected Non-Fiction 1953-94: Selected Non-Fiction 1953-1994

    04
    Dennis Potter (1935-94) was Britain’s leading television dramatist for almost thirty years and remains an inspiration to today’s programme makers, as a result of such ground-breaking work as Pennies from Heaven, Blue Remembered Hills and The Singing Detective. But he also engaged with his audience through reviews, journalism, interviews, broadcasts and speeches. The Art of Invective, the first collection of its kind, brings together some of his finest non-fiction work. Published to mark 80 years since Potter’s birth, this book includes his merciless television columns, penetrating literary criticism and angry writings on class and politics, as well as his sketches for Sixties satire shows including That Was the Week That Was. From Frost-Nixon to Coronation Street, David Hare to Doctor Who, Orwell to Emu, this collection shows Potter’s distinctive voice at its entertaining, thought-provoking and uncompromising best.

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    £12.90
  • Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down: How One Generation of British Actors Changed the World

    08

    Alan Bates, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Tom Courtenay, Albert Finney, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole, Robert Shaw and Terence Stamp: They are the most formidable acting generation ever to tread the boards or stare into a camera, whose anti-establishment attitude changed the cultural landscape of Britain.

    This was a new breed, many culled from the working class industrial towns of Britain, and nothing like them has been seen before or since. Their raw earthy brilliance brought realism to a whole range of groundbreaking theatre from John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger to Joan Littlewood and Harold Pinter and the creation of the National Theatre. And they ripped apart the staid, middle-class British film industry with kitchen-sink classics like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, This Sporting Life, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, A Kind of Loving and Billy Liar before turning their sights on international stardom: Connery with James Bond, O’Toole as Lawrence of Arabia, Finney with Tom Jones and Caine in Zulu.

    Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down brings alive the trail-blazing period of theatre and film from 1956-1964 through the vibrant energy and exploits of this revolutionary generation of stars who bulldozed over austerity Britain and paved the way for the swinging 60s. What Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders Raging Bulls did for American cinema writing so Don’t Let the Bastards will do for the British cinema.

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    £13.30£16.10
  • Iconoclasm, Identity Politics and the Erasure of History (Societas)

    03

    Iconoclasm, Identity Politics and the Erasure of History surveys the origins, uses and manifestations of iconoclasm in history, art and public culture. It examines the various causes and uses of image/property defacement as a tool of political, national, religious and artistic process. This is one of the first books to examine the outbreak of iconoclasm in Europe and North America in the summer of 2020 in the context of previous outbreaks, and it examines the implications of iconoclasm as a form of control, censorship and expression.

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    £13.50£14.20
  • Palestine

    08

    A powerful graphic novel, capturing the heart of day-to-day life in occupied Palestine.

    In late 1991 and early 1992, at the time of the first Intifada, Joe Sacco spent two months with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, travelling and taking notes.

    Upon returning to the United States he started writing and drawing Palestine, which combines the techniques of eyewitness reportage with the medium of comic-book storytelling to explore this complex, emotionally weighty situation. He captures the heart of the Palestinian experience in image after unforgettable image, with great insight and remarkable humour.

    The nine-issue comics series won a l996 American Book Award. It is now published for the first time in one volume, befitting its status as one of the great classics of graphic non-fiction.

    ‘The bar is set extremely high when it comes to graphic books and the Middle East: one thinks of Joe Sacco’s Palestine’ Guy Delise

    ‘Palestine is utterly compelling, and as affecting as the work of any war photographer or poet’ Varsity

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    £13.60£16.10

    Palestine

    £13.60£16.10
  • Limelight: Rush in the ’80s: Rush in the ’80s (Rush Across the Decades): Rush in the ’80s

    03

    In the follow up to Anthem: Rush in the ’70s, Martin Popoff brings together canon analysis, cultural context, and extensive firsthand interviews to celebrate Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart at the peak of their persuasive power. Rush was one of the most celebrated hard rock acts of the ’80s, and the second book of Popoff’s staggeringly comprehensive three part series takes readers from Permanent Waves to Presto, while bringing new insight to Moving Pictures, their crowning glory. Limelight: Rush in the  is a celebration of fame, of the pushback against that fame, of fortunes made — and spent… In the latter half of the decade, as Rush adopts keyboard technology and gets pert and poppy, there’s an uproar amongst diehards, but the band finds a whole new crop of listeners. Limelight charts a dizzying period in the band’s career, built of explosive excitement but also exhaustion, a state that would lead, as the ’90s dawned, to the band questioning everything they previously believed, and each member eying the oncoming decade with trepidation and suspicion.

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    £14.20
  • The Coming Wave: The instant Sunday Times bestseller from the ultimate AI insider

    08

    **A Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, Sept 2023**
    **SHORTLISTED FOR THE FT BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023**

    AI. SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY. QUANTUM COMPUTING. Everything is about to change. This is the only book you need to understand this new world.

    From the ultimate AI insider, Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, part of Google.

    ‘Fascinating, well-written, and important’ Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens
    ‘Deeply rewarding and consistently astonishing’ Stephen Fry
    ‘An excellent guide for navigating unprecedented times’ Bill Gates

    Soon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organise your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy.

    None of us are prepared.

    As co-founder of the pioneering AI company DeepMind, part of Google, Mustafa Suleyman has been at the centre of this revolution. The coming decade, he argues, will be defined by this wave of powerful, fast-proliferating new technologies.

    In The Coming Wave, Suleyman shows how these forces will create immense prosperity but also threaten the nation-state, the foundation of global order. As our fragile governments sleepwalk into disaster, we face an existential dilemma: unprecedented harms on one side and the threat of overbearing surveillance on the other.

    Can we forge a narrow path between catastrophe and dystopia?

    This ground-breaking book from the ultimate AI insider establishes ‘the containment problem’ – the task of maintaining control over powerful technologies – as the essential challenge of our age.

    ‘A stunning book by a man at the very centre of the AI revolution’ Rory Stewart
    ‘Essential reading’ Daniel Kahneman

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    £14.30£23.80
  • A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing

    08

    ‘A guide to the mind of one of the great English novelists of the last half-century’ Guardian

    ‘Like hearing the voice of an old friend’ Observer

    As well as her celebrated career as a novelist, Hilary Mantel long contributed to newspapers and journals, unspooling stories from her own life and illuminating the world as she found it. This strand of her writing was an integral part of how she thought of herself. ‘Ink is a generative fluid,’ she explains. ‘If you don’t mean your words to breed consequences, don’t write at all.’ A Memoir of My Former Self collects the finest of this writing over four decades.

    Mantel’s subjects are wide-ranging. She discusses nationalism and her own sense of belonging; our dream life flopping into our conscious life; the mythic legacy of Princess Diana; the many themes that feed into her novels – revolutionary France, psychics, Tudor England – and other novelists, from Jane Austen to V. S. Naipaul. She writes about her father and the man who replaced him; she writes fiercely and heartbreakingly about the battles with her health she endured as a young woman, and the stifling years she found herself living in Saudi Arabia. Here, too, is a selection of her film reviews – from When Harry Met Sally to RoboCop – and, published for the first time, her stunning Reith Lectures, which explore the process of art bringing history and the dead back to life.

    From her unique childhood to her all-consuming fascination with Thomas Cromwell that grew into the Wolf Hall Trilogy, A Memoir of My Former Self reveals the shape of Hilary Mantel’s life in her own dazzling words, ‘messages from people I used to be.’ Compelling, often very funny, always luminous, it is essential reading from one of our greatest writers.

    ‘A smart, deft, meticulous, thoughtful writer, with such a grasp of the dark and spidery corners of human nature’ Margaret Atwood

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    £14.30£23.80
  • Different Times: A History of British Comedy

    08

    They don’t make comedy like they used to . . .

    From the slapstick comedy of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, the surrealism of Spike Milligan and Monty Python, and the golden age of political incorrectness helmed by Benny Hill, to the alternative scene that burst forth following the punk movement, the hedonistic joy of Absolutely Fabulous, the lacerating scorn of Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais, and Jo Brand and the meteoric rise of socially conscious stand up today: comedy can be many things, and it is a cultural phenomenon has come to define Britain like few others.

    In Different Times, David Stubbs charts the superstars that were in on the gags, the unsung heroes hiding in the wings and the people who ended up being the butt of the joke. Comedians and their work speak to and of their time, drawing upon and moulding Britons’ relationship with their national history, reflecting us as a people, and, simply, providing raucous laughs for millions of people around the world.

    Different Times is a joyous, witty and insightful paean to British comedy.

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    £14.40£19.00
  • Delivering Dreams: A Century of British Film Distribution

    02
    Film Distributors are the unsung heroes of cinema. Without them, the film industry would grind to a halt. Drawing on the archives of the Film Distributors Association (FDA), as well as on interviews with leading British distributors of today, Delivering Dreams tells the, largely unacknowledged, story of how films were, and are, brought to British cinema-goers. It profiles some of the most flamboyant and controversial figures involved in UK distribution over the last 100 years, ranging from the founders of huge companies to visionaries who have launched small art house labels. Geoffrey Macnab also explores how the sector has reacted to a rapidly changing market and technological environment, from the transition to sound in the late 1920s to the spectre of TV in the 1950s and the move to digital in the 2000s. Ranging from the films of Charlie Chaplin to The King s Speech, and published to coincide with the centenary of the FDA s creation in December 1915, this book highlights the crucial role that distributors have played in maintaining the solid foundations of the British film industry.

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    £14.40£16.10
  • Colours of Film: The Story of Cinema in 50 Palettes

    06
    ‘What’s so wonderful about Bramesco’s book, outside of a visually splendid layout that embraces the first word of that title with detailed color breakdowns of each palette, is how much it enhances the critical language of the average viewer.’ – Brian Tallerico, Editor of RogerEbert.com

    Taking you from the earliest feature films to today, Colours of Film introduces 50 iconic movies and explains the pivotal role that colour played in their success.

    The use of colour is an essential part of film. It has the power to evoke powerful emotions, provide subtle psychological symbolism and act as a narrative device.

    Wes Anderson’s pastels and muted tones are aesthetically pleasing, but his careful use of colour also acts as a shorthand for interpreting emotion. And let’s not forget Schindler’s List (1993, dir. Steven Spielberg), in which a bold flash of red against an otherwise black-and-white film is used as a powerful symbol of life, survival and death.

    In Colours of Film, film critic Charles Bramesco introduces an element of cinema that is often overlooked, yet has been used in extraordinary ways. Using infographic colour palettes, and stills from the movies, this is a lively and fresh approach to film for cinema-goers and colour lovers alike.

    He also explores in fascinating detail how the development of technologies have shaped the course of modern cinema, from how the feud between Kodak and Fujifilm shaped the colour palettes of the 20th Century’s greatest filmakers, to how the advent of computer technology is creating a digital wonderland for modern directors in which anything is possible.

    ​Filled with sparkling insights and fascinating accounts from the history of cinema, Colours of Film is an indispensable guide to one of the most important visual elements in the medium of film.

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    £14.80£18.00
  • Everything is Everything: The Top 10 Bestseller

    08

    ‘Infinitely more readable than the average journalism memoir, and decidedly more important.’ – Sathnam Sanghera, The Times

    ‘So engaging. You feel as if he is talking to you, sharing ideas and thoughts, as if you were a friend.’ – Yasmin Ahlibai-Brown

    As a Bolton teenager with a paper round, Clive Myrie read all the newspapers he delivered from cover to cover and dreamed of becoming a journalist. In this deeply personal memoir, he tells how his family history has influenced his view of the world, introducing us to his Windrush generation parents, a great grandfather who helped build the Panama Canal, and a great uncle who fought in the First World War, later to become a prominent police detective in Jamaica.

    He reflects on how being black has affected his perspective on issues he’s encountered in thirty years reporting some of the biggest stories of our time (most recently from Ukraine), showing us how those experiences gave him a better idea of what it means to be an outsider. He tells of his pride in his roots, but his determination not to be defined by his background in dealing with the challenges of race and class to succeed at the highest level.

    Moving, engaging, revealing, Everything is Everything is a story of love and hate – but also hope.

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    £15.00£22.00
  • Vision on: Film, Television and the Arts in Britain (Nonfictions)

    Vision On narrates the turbulent yet distinguished history of one of the fundamental pillars of British broadcasting–the arts. This volume chronicles the years of dynamic and often controversial collaboration between broadcasters and the Arts Council, a key player in bringing art films to the wider public audience. Beginning with the earliest TV documentaries, the arts became central to the remit of public broadcasters, and by the 1980s Channel 4 and the Arts Council were boldly redefining the relationship of the arts and the media by commissioning and airing exclusive and innovative films. With detailed discussion of the cultural role of television programmes such as Civilisation (1966) and Arena (1974 onwards), close analysis of over 25 films and exclusive access to the Arts Council’s collection of the 450 films supported between 1953 and 1999, this volume illuminates the vanguard role the arts have played in the proud history of British public broadcasting, and attempts to locate the place of arts broadcasting in today’s multi-channel, multi-media world.

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    £15.00£20.90
  • Help I S*xted My Boss: A hilarious guide to avoiding life’s awkward moments

    08

    ‘Funny, filthy and fantastic. Cackled from start to finish’ – Rylan Clark

    How do you ask your mate for that £50 back?
    When is OK to trump in front of your partner?
    And what should you do if you’ve accidentally sexted your boss?

    William and Jordan are from very different worlds.

    William’s an etiquette expert, with his tongue firmly in his teacup and unparalleled knowledge of table linen. Jordan’s a TV and radio presenter, the patron saint of Burnley and an expert in all things common. Together they’ve entertained millions of listeners worldwide with their hit podcast Help I Sexted My Boss.

    Now, they’ve pooled all of their wisdom on how to get through life’s most awkward moments.

    From candlelight suppers to picky teas, first dates to flatmate dramas, Help I Sexted My Boss is full of both useful and useless advice. This is your indispensable guide to navigating the trepidation and challenges of modern life.

    ‘Hilarious lads.. and weirdly useful. This generation’s Ant and Dec. If one of them was really posh. Great read’ – Vicky Pattison

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    £15.20£19.00
  • Heartstopper 16-Month 2023-2024 Weekly/Monthly Planner Calendar with Bonus Stickers

    Join Charlie, Nick, Elle, Tao, and their classmates from Truham and Higgs as they explore love, friendship, and life in the hit Netflix series Heartstopper. Included in this 16-month planner are colorful images and graphics from the show, along with bonus stickers.
     
    Heartstopper is based on the New York Times LGBTQ+ bestselling graphic novel series by Alice Oseman.
     
    Features include:

    • 7″ x 9″ (14″ x 9″ open)
    • Spiral bound
    • Printed on FSC-certified paper with soy-based ink
    • Spans September 2023–December 2024
    • Generous grid space for notes, appointments, and reminders
    • Monthly at-a-glance grids
    • Extra pages at back for notes, goals, and more
    • Official major world holidays and observances
    • Moon phases, based on Universal Time
    • Includes stickers

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    £15.20
  • The Lego Animation Book: Make Your Own Lego Movies!

    08
    Have you ever wondered what your LEGO creations would look like on the big screen? The LEGO Animation Book will show you how to bring your models to life with stop-motion animation no experience required! Follow step-by-step instructions to make your first animation, and then explore the entire filmmaking process, from storyboards to post-production. Along the way, you ll learn how to: Create special effects like explosions and flying minifigures Convey action and emotion with your minifigure actors Design sets for animation make three buildings look like an entire city! Light, frame, and capture consistent photos Add detail and scope to your films by building in different scales Build camera dollies and rigs out of LEGO bricks Choose cameras, software, and other essential animation tools Dive into the world of animation and discover a whole new way to play! For ages 10+

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    £15.20£23.70
  • A Masterpiece in Disarray: David Lynch’s Dune. An Oral History.

    03

    LIMITED FIRST EDITION contains red foil gilded page edges and a black satin ribbon marker.

    As featured in Pitchfork, Empire, MovieMaker, Nerdist, The Wall Street Journal, The A.V. Club, Mashable, Wired, Yahoo’s “It List,” IGN, SFX, The Wrap, Gizmodo and more!

    “I see many things. I see plans within plans.”

    Following his underground hit Eraserhead and critically acclaimed The Elephant Man, visionary filmmaker David Lynch set his sights on bringing Frank Herbert’s beloved sci-fi novel Dune to the screen. The project had already vexed directors such as Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo) and Ridley Scott (Alien). But by the early ‘80s Universal Pictures was prepared to give Lynch the keys to the kingdom – and the highest budget in the studio’s history at the time – so that he could lend his surrealistic chops to this sprawling story of feuding space dynasties. They would also hopefully be creating a “Star Wars for adults” franchise-starter.

    As the hot young filmmaker commanded a cast with 42 major speaking parts as well as a crew of 1,700 (plus over 20,000 extras) on 80 sets built on 8 sound stages in Mexico, what happened next became as wild, complex, and full of intrigue as Herbert’s novel itself.

    Film writer Max Evry goes behind the erratic ride of David Lynch’s Dune like never before, with a years-in-the-making oral history culled from a lineup of new interviews with the film’s stars (Kyle MacLachlan, Sean Young, Virginia Madsen, etc.), creatives, film executives, and insiders – not to mention Lynch himself.

    David Lynch’s Dune initially left many filmgoers and reviewers scratching their heads, most dismissing the film upon its release. However, four decades and a big-budget remake later, Lynch’s Dune is finally poised to find its rightful place alongside the director’s other masterpieces such as Blue Velvet and Mullholland Drive.

    Max Evry’s A Masterpiece in Disarray takes you back to 1984 with the deepest dive yet into the cult classic that is David Lynch’s Dune.

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    £15.20
  • The British Horror Film from the Silent to the Multiplex: From the Silents to the Multiplex

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    When Hammer Films broke box office records in 1957 with `The Curse of Frankenstein’, the company not only resurrected the gothic horror film, but also created a particularly British-flavoured form of horror that swept the world. `The British Horror Film from the Silent to the Multiplex’ is your guide to the films, actors, and filmmakers who have thrilled and terrified generations of movie fans. In just one book, you will find the literary and cinematic roots of the genre to the British films made by film legends such as Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, Hammer’s accomplishments starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, and the post-Hammer horrors such as Peter Walker’s `Frightmare’ and huge British-made successes such as `Alien’ and the zombie craze of the twenty-first century. Featuring the history, the films, the stars, the directors, and the studios in one fascinating, fun, and fact-filled volume, whether you are an absolute beginner or a seasoned gore-hound, this volume covers everything you ever wanted to know about the British horror movie, but were too bone-chillingly afraid to ask.

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    £15.20£19.00
  • Directory of World Cinema: Britain (Directory of World Cinema Series Book 14)

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    Bringing to mind rockers and royals, Buckingham Palace and the Scottish Highlands, Britain holds a special interest for international audiences who have flocked in recent years to quality exports like Fish Tank, Trainspotting and The King’s Speech. A series of essays and articles exploring the definitive films of Great Britain, this addition to Intellect’s Directory of World Cinema series turns the focus on England together with Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

    With a focus on the most cerebral and critically important films to have come out of Britain, this volume explores the diversity of genres found throughout British film, highlighting important regional variations that reflect the distinctive cultures of the countries involved. Within these genres, Emma Bell and Neil Mitchell have curated a rich collection of films for review – from Hitchcock’s spy thriller The 39 Steps to Emeric Pressburger’s art classic The Red Shoes to the gritty but heartfelt This is England. Interspersed throughout the book are critical essays by leading experts in the field providing insight into shifting notions of Britishness, important industry developments and the endurance of the British film industry. For those up on their Brit film facts and seeking to test their expertise, the book concludes with a series of trivia questions.

    A user-friendly look at the cultural and artistic significance of British cinema from the silent era to the present, Directory of World Cinema: Britain will be an essential companion to the country’s bright and resurgent film industry. 

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    £15.20
  • Art inSight: Understanding Art and Why It Matters

    PREFACE     INTRODUCTION                                                                                       Chapter 1: The ORIGINAL SKYPE            Meet a cave dweller, an African king, an Egyptian pharaoh, a Greek goddess, a Christian saint, and others who let you know who they are and what matters. What would a Roman general and Elvis Presley have to say to one another? Chapter 2: Figure Things Out Art is traditional, innovative, noisy, silent, figurative, abstract, pretty, ugly, orderly or messy. Objects change meaning depending on where they are and what is around them. Chairs, windows, animals, people, and trees may show up in unfamiliar places. Understanding grows through dialogue. Chapter 3: STEP Back to Go Forward                      Images from ancient to contemporary art show views of time, nature, human relationships, and more. Artists transform invisible values into visible forms and reveal ways people and cultures make sense of their worlds.  Chapter 4: WHOSE LENS?            Labels and headlines lead you to expect certain ideas. Artists use their perspectives to manage yours. Your tastes, opinions, prejudices, and past experiences affect what you see. When you are alert to the difference between projecting and receiving, you can move from sight to insight.    Chapter 5: ART IN DIALOGUE                 Paintings from 16th century Iran and 20th century America talk to one another. They learn what is important to each by asking questions and modelling open-hearted dialogue. They see how artists in both cultures paint unreal scenes to seek what is real. Chapter 6: The CAPTURE            Students in communication and mediators in training meet modern art at the Hirshhorn Museum. They ask one another what they see and answer by describing. They discuss each others’ perceptions. Successful mediators must be fine observers and excellent listeners.  Chapter 7: QUESTION AND PLAY          Practice overhearing yourself through questions and play. Simple observations lead to complex ideas. Circles and lines make up pictures and provide metaphors in art and in life. Narrow categories limit understanding. Questioning art is a form of intercultural communication. Chapter 8: Travel  Go to new places through art without suffering culture shock. A bowl, etched with calligraphy, takes you on a journey to Iran, and a soup can goes with you to America. Both are more than their visual forms. Questioning them carries you from surface to depth.  Chapter 9: WHEN ART SPEAKS, LISTEN            Language of all kinds communicates, bewilders, clarifies, and obscures. Become fluent in the language of art and question its colours, materials, and forms – its titles, symbols, archetypes, and frames. “Speaking” the language of art leads to cultural fluency. Chapter 10: FOLLOW YOUR SENSES – SENSE MEANING     Body and mind work together. Your senses introduce you to art and to the rest of the world. Notice your first reactions, your thoughts and feelings. Then, return to the art by observing and describing. Open yourself to others’ stories. Chapter 11: MAKE SENSE OF THE SENSELESS         In the wake of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, artists used small things to confront large ideas. Prayer rugs and cheeseburgers are filled with meaning. Find spiritual beliefs, patriotism, war, sex, and politics, along with fears, loves, desires, and angers. Chapter 12: IN OTHER WORLDS             In 2010, the world watched the rescue of trapped Chilean coal miners. Artists take you underground to their dark world. Go more deeply into yourself through detailed questions about what you see in places you may never enter except through art.

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    £15.20
  • Directing Feature Films: The Creative Collaboration Between Director, Writers and Actors

    Learn how to read a script, find its core, determine your vision, communicate with writers, actors, designers, cinematographers, editors, composers, and all the members of your creative team in order to insure that your vision reaches the screen.

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    £15.20
  • Recognition in the Age of Social Media

    The desire to be recognized is a basic human trait. In contemporary society, social media platforms play a key role in defining how processes of recognition take shape. To post, to like, or to comment have become daily practices of expressing individual recognition. On the one hand, social media platforms make it easier for individuals to be visible and to be recognized; on the other hand, they control the structure of these dynamics.

    This timely and original book reflects on processes of recognition on social media platforms. Revisiting traditional discussions on recognition theory, Bruno Campanella investigates how the field of media and communication has used the concept and poses new questions raised by the omnipresence of social media. He argues that existing work does not fully explore the impact of platforms on contemporary processes of recognition. Individuals must learn new skills to make themselves visible online, but how to achieve this changes as a consequence of the role played by platforms: what is seen depends on decisions taken by their algorithms, which impacts how individuals and social groups are valued in society.

    Recognition in the Age of Social Media is a key contribution to the field, and a must-read for students and scholars of media and communication, sociology, and politics.

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    £15.20
  • Scientific Advertising: Complete and Unabridged

    02
    The time has come when advertising has in some hands reached the status of a science. It is based on fixed principles and is reasonably exact. The causes and effects have been analyzed until they are well understood. The correct method of procedure have been proved and established. We know what is most effective, and we act on basic law. Advertising, once a gamble, has thus become, under able direction, one of the safest business ventures. Certainly no other enterprise with comparable possibilities need involve so little risk. Therefore, this book deals, not with theories and opinions, but with well-proved principles and facts. It is written as a text book for students and a safe guide for advertisers. Every statement has been weighed. The book is confined to establish fundamentals.

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    £15.20
  • Irish cinema in the twenty-first century

    An accessible, comprehensive overview of contemporary Irish cinema, this book is intended for use as a third-level textbook and is designed to appeal to academics in the areas of film studies and Irish studies. Responding to changes in the Irish production environment, it includes chapters on new Irish genres such as creative documentary, animation and horror. It discusses shifting representations of the countryside and the city, always with a strong concern for gender representations, and looks athow Irish historical events, from the Civil War to the Troubles, and the treatment of the traumatic narrative of clerical sexual abuse have been portrayed in recent films. It covers works by established auteurs such as Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan, as well as new arrivals, including the Academy Award-winning Lenny Abrahamson.

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    £15.30
  • Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book

    01
    Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about publishing but were too afraid to ask is right here in this funny, candid guide written by an acclaimed author.

    There are countless books on the market about how to write better but very few books on how to break into the marketplace with your first book. Cutting through the noise (and very mixed advice) online, while both dispelling rumors and remaining positive, Courtney Maum’s Before and After the Book Deal is a one-of-a-kind resource that can help you get your book published.

    Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book has over 150 contributors from all walks of the industry, including international bestselling authors Anthony Doerr, Roxane Gay, Garth Greenwell, Lisa Ko, R. O. Kwon, Rebecca Makkai, and Ottessa Moshfegh, alongside cult favorites Sarah Gerard, Melissa Febos, Mitchell S. Jackson, and Mira Jacob.

    Agents, film scouts, film producers, translators, disability and minority activists, and power agents and editors also weigh in, offering advice and sharing intimate anecdotes about even the most taboo topics in the industry. Their wisdom will help aspiring authors find a foothold in the publishing world and navigate the challenges of life before and after publication with sanity and grace.

    Are MFA programs worth the time and money? How do people actually sit down and finish a novel? Did you get a good advance? What do you do when you feel envious of other writers? And why the heck aren’t your friends saying anything about your book? Covering questions ranging from the logistical to the existential (and everything in between), Before and After the Book Deal is the definitive guide for anyone who has ever wanted to know what it’s really like to be an author.

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    £15.30
  • Ruskin Park: Sylvia, Me and the BBC

    08

    ‘Ruskin Park is so much more than a memoir. It is tribute to an individual woman and a whole generation and class.’ – Justin Webb, The Sunday Times

    ‘Ruskin Park is Rory Cellan-Jones’s touching tribute to both his parents, but particularly to the mother he came to know more fully from the letters she left behind’ – Daily Mail

    ‘A captivating family detective story and a poignant social history of Britain.’ – Observer

    ***

    Can we ever really know the truth about our parents? From the popular journalist, podcaster and tweeter about his rescue dog #SophiefromRomania comes a moving memoir in search of the truth behind his isolated childhood and absent father.

    Rory Cellan-Jones knew he was the child of a brief love affair between two unmarried BBC employees. But until his mother died and he found a previously unknown file labelled ‘For Rory’ he had no idea of their beginnings or ending, and why his peculiarly isolated childhood had so tested the bond between him and his mother. ‘For Rory,’ his mother had written on the file ‘in the hope that it will help him understand how it really was …’

    This is a compelling account of what Rory uncovered in the papers, letters and diaries; a relationship between two colleagues (two romantics) and the restrictive forces of post-war respectability and prejudice that ended it. It is also an evocation of the progressive, centrifugal force at the centre of all their lives – the BBC itself.

    Both tender and troubling, the drama moves from wartime radio broadcasts, to the glamour of 1950s television studios, to the golden era of BBC drama. His father may have directed The Forsyte Saga and Rory may have watched him from the corridors, but he would never actually meet him until much later in adulthood. Until then Rory’s life was bound to the one-bedroom flat he shared with his mother in Ruskin Park …

    ‘I loved this highly evocative, unpretentious memoir. It’s a small-scale BBC drama in itself.’ – The Times

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    £15.69£18.99
  • I Love Russia: Reporting from a Lost Country

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    ‘Would you like to know where Putin comes from? What the Russians are like today? And why? Read this book’ SVETLANA ALEXIEVICH

    ‘Brilliant and immersive … reportage at its brave and luminous best’ OBSERVER

    To be a journalist is to tell the truth. To be patriotic is to be critical, honest and fearless.

    I Love Russia takes us to places that non-Russians have never seen and brings us voices we have never heard. It is Elena Kostyuchenko’s courageous attempt to document Russia as experienced by those whom it systematically and brutally erases: village girls recruited into sex work, queer people in the outer provinces, patients and doc­tors at a Ukrainian maternity ward, and reporters like herself.

    At once uncompromising and deeply humane, it stitches reportage and personal essays into a kaleidoscopic, often other-worldly journey. Here is Russia as it is, not as we imagine it.

    I Love Russia may be the last work from her homeland Kostyuchenko will publish for a long time – perhaps ever. She writes driven by the conviction that the greatest form of love and patriotism is criticism. And because the threat of Putin’s Russia extends beyond herself, beyond Crimea, and beyond Ukraine.

    This is a singular portrait of a nation, and of a woman who refuses to be silenced.

    ‘Elena’s bravery and reportage are astonishing’ CHRISTINA LAMB

    ‘Kostyuchenko is an important guide to the twenty-first century’ TIMOTHY SNYDER

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    £16.00£20.90
  • (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love: Gender and Aspirational Labor in the Social Media Economy

    An illuminating investigation into a class of enterprising women aspiring to “make it” in the social media economy but often finding only unpaid work

    Profound transformations in our digital society have brought many enterprising women to social media platforms―from blogs to YouTube to Instagram―in hopes of channeling their talents into fulfilling careers. In this eye-opening book, Brooke Erin Duffy draws much-needed attention to the gap between the handful who find lucrative careers and the rest, whose “passion projects” amount to free work for corporate brands.
     
    Drawing on interviews and fieldwork, Duffy offers fascinating insights into the work and lives of fashion bloggers, beauty vloggers, and designers. She connects the activities of these women to larger shifts in unpaid and gendered labor, offering a lens through which to understand, anticipate, and critique broader transformations in the creative economy. At a moment when social media offer the rousing assurance that anyone can “make it”―and stand out among freelancers, temps, and gig workers―Duffy asks us all to consider the stakes of not getting paid to do what you love.

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    £16.10£17.10
  • Next Level Games Review 2024: A bumper, illustrated, and annual gaming guide packed with over 150 video games – plus a special eSports chapter – the perfect gift for for teens…

    Take it to the next level! Bursting with the biggest games, latest trends, and hottest news, Next Level Games Review 2024 is the ultimate annual gaming guide.

    Next Level Games Review is back! Packed full of the biggest games, latest trends, and hottest news, it’s the ultimate guide to gaming.

    In this year’s Games Review, you’ll find the latest news in gaming. Explore the world of eSports, go behind the scenes with gaming experts, learn all about the next triple-As or indie hits, and discover mind-blowing stats and entertaining facts on over 150 games.

    Be transported to legendary gaming locations with all your favourite characters. Swing through New York City with Spider-Man, uncover Wizarding World secrets in Hogwarts Legacy, join Link as he glides through Skyloft clouds, defend the Overworld from the piglins and explore Genshin Impact’s Teyvat in this game-changing guide!

    150+ GAMES: Find out surprising stats and entertaining facts on over 150 games, including Mario, Overwatch, Forza, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Roblox, Pokémon, Sonic, Final Fantasy, Madden NFL, Diablo, Fortnite, and The Legend of Zelda.

    PERFECT FOR NEW GAMERS: Packed with tips and tricks for new and young gamers, plus a special glossary section so you can learn the lingo.

    ESPORTS CHAPTER: Catch up on all the news and read fascinating trivia on the top eSports games, including League of Legends, PUBG, Fortnite, Dota 2, Valorant, and Overwatch.

    INSIDER INFO: Get the inside take from gaming experts and learn all about your favourite game studios, including SEGA, Capcom, Nintendo, EA Tiburon, Epic Insomniac Games, and Square Enix.

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    £16.20£20.90
  • The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History Of The Porn Film Indust ry

    07

    A raucous and revealing oral history of the birth of the adult film industry, The Other Hollywood peels back the candy coating to let the true story be told — by the stars, movie makers, and other industry players who lived it. And what a story it is: Through hundreds of original interviews, contemporary newspaper accounts, police reports, court testimony, and more, Legs McNeil and coauthors Jennifer Osborne and Peter Pavia trace today’s billion-dollar industry from its makeshift, mob-connected origins to the Internet age. Along the way we encounter porn stars such as Linda Lovelace, John Holmes, Traci Lords, and Savannah — along with countless mainstream stars, politicians, FBI agents, and more.

    Epic, hilarious, and moving, The Other Hollywood contributes to the porn industry the one thing missing in all previous accounts: a vivid, tragicomic, irresistible humanity.

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    £16.40

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