Social Sciences
-
Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical (Ancient World)
“Greek Religion . . . already has the standing of a classic, and the publication of an English version, which incorporates new material and is in effect a second edition, demands a toast . . . Anyone who pretends to survey Greek religion must be phenomenally learned. Burkert is. His book is a marvel of professional scholarship.”
London Review of Books“This book has established itself as a masterpiece, packed with learning but also rich in ideas and connections of every sort. Its appearance in a good English translation is an event not only for Hellenists but for all those interested in the study of religion . . . nobody else could have produced an account of the subject of comparable range and power. This will be the best history of Greek religion for this generation.”
New York Review of BooksCover illustration: detail from an Attic vase, 450 B.C., showing a victory sacrifice (The Mansell Collection).
Read more
£27.60£28.50 -
-
Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries
Frequently hilarious, sometimes disturbing, always entertaining, these fascinating stories of the chaos that lies on the fringe of our daily lives will have you wondering just what we’re capable of.
This updated edition of Lost at Sea includes the complete text of Frank: The True Story that Inspired the Movie.
Jon Ronson has been on patrol with America’s real-life superheroes and to a UFO convention in the Nevada desert with Robbie Williams. He’s met a man who tried to split the atom in his kitchen and asked a conscious robot if she’s got a soul.
Fascinated by madness, strange behaviour and the human mind, Jon has spent his life exploring mysterious events and meeting extraordinary people. Collected from various sources (including the Guardian and GQ) Lost at Sea features the very best of his adventures.
Portions of this book have appeared previously, in slightly different form, in Out of the Ordinary, What I Do, the Guardian and GQ.
Read more
£10.40£12.30Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries
£10.40£12.30 -
The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History Of The Porn Film Indust ry
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.
Read more
£16.40 -
Islamic History: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Does history matter? This book argues not that history matters, but that Islamic history does. This Very Short Introduction introduces the story of Islamic history; the controversies surrounding its study; and the significance that it holds – for Muslims and for non-Muslims alike.Opening with a lucid overview of the rise and spread of Islam, from the seventh to twenty first century, the book charts the evolution of what was originally a small, localised community of believers into an international religion with over a billion adherents.
Chapters are also dedicated to the peoples – Arabs, Persians, and Turks – who shaped Islamic history, and to three representative institutions – the mosque, jihad, and the caliphate – that highlight Islam’s diversity over time.Finally, the roles that Islamic history has played in both religious and political contexts are analysed, while stressing the unique status that history enjoys amongst Muslims, especially compared to its lowly place in Western societies where history is often seen as little more than something that is not to be repeated.
Some of the questions that will be answered are:
· How did Islam arise from the obscurity of seventh century Arabia to the headlines of twenty first century media?
· How do we know what we claim to know about Islam’s rise and development?
· Why does any of this matter, either to Muslims or to non-Muslims?ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Read more
£6.00£8.50 -
Introducing Islam: A Graphic Guide (Graphic Guides)
Islam is one of the world’s great monotheistic religions. Islamic culture, spanning 1,500 years, has produced some of the finest achievements of humanity. Yet the religion followed by a fifth of humankind is too often seen in the West in terms of fundamentalism, bigotry and violence- a perception that couldn’t be more wrong.
Introducing Islam recounts the history of Islam from the birth of Prophet Muhammad in the 6th century to its status as a global culture and political force today. Charting the achievements of Muslim civilisation, it explains the nature and message of the Qur’an, outlines the basic features of Islamic law, and assesses the impact of colonialism on Muslim societies.
Ziauddin Sardar and Zafar Abbas Malik show how Muslims everywhere are trying to live their faith and are shaping new Islamic ideas and ideals for a globalised world.Read more
£4.50£8.50 -
Folklore and Symbolism of Flowers, Plants and Trees [Illustrated Edition]
2012 Reprint of 1960 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. In this unique and fascinating book, two collectors of pictorial symbols tell the story of flower symbolism, explaining its religious, magical and legendary significance and revealing hundreds of curious and little know facts. This is an essential work for folklorists, for artists and designers in all fields, for botanical and gardening specialists, and for all those who would be familiar with the hidden language of flowers, plants and trees. Profusely illustrated.Read more
£9.00 -
2023 Social Media Content Planner: Consistently Better Content
2023 Social Media Content Planner: Consistently Better ContentSave time and produce consistently better social media content with the 2023 Social Media Content Planner. Spend as little time as possible getting the best possible results.
Take the headache out of Social Media content creation, week in and week out. What’s included:
- 2023 social media trends and how this will impact your social media posts and ads
- Social media content planning workbook. Complete this to gain clarity on your marketing messages
- How to establish social media content pillars with 95 ideas (including suggested post descriptions and ideas of what images/videos to use)
- 400+ prompts for social media posts (at least one for every day of 2023!)
- Tips on writing social media post descriptions
- Guidelines on running social media paid ads
- A week to view diary including bank holidays from Ireland, UK & US
- Resource web page with €240/£210/$247 worth of helpful tools including a Social Media Content Planning Calendar Template, a Building Your Bio Blueprint & an invitation to a live Social Media Masterclass in February 2023 (with playback).
Our testimonials say it all…
This is like an encyclopedia of tips and knowledge. Little things like profile and cover pics sizes, “national day of”…for every month to add some fun to your posts. A full diary for the year as well. So much knowledge at your fingertips when you own this planner. (Sinead, Social Media Freelancer)
This book does exactly what it says, it is a brilliant guide to help navigate and plan out social media campaigns. 5 stars from me. (J Forde, Transformation Coach).
This is not just a book it’s a tool that you use daily to succeed in your Social media strategy! (A Mallett, Entrepreneur)
Read more
£9.50 -
At Lady Molly’s (Dance to the Music of Time Book 4)
‘He is, as Proust was before him, the great literary chronicler of his culture in his time.’ GUARDIAN
‘A Dance to the Music of Time’ is universally acknowledged as one of the great works of English literature. Reissued now in this definitive edition, it stands ready to delight and entrance a new generation of readers.
In this fourth volume, Nick Jenkins has settled comfortably into the world of art, culture and society as a London scriptwriter. When invited by a friend to spend the weekend in the country, he becomes acquainted with Isobel Tolland, the youngest sister of a large aristocratic family, and immediately decides they are destined to marry.
Meanwhile, rumours are circulating around Nick’s old friend Widmerpool’s engagement during a gathering at Lady Molly’s. As the roaring twenties fade into the austerity of the thirties, Nick and his friends face love and heartbreak as life’s dance continues to play out.
Read more
£4.70 -
Swimming with Seals
A book about intense physical and personal experience, narrating how Victoria Whitworth began swimming in the cold waters of Orkney as a means of escaping a failing marriage.
This is a memoir of intense physical and personal experience, exploring how swimming with seals, gulls and orcas in the cold waters off Orkney provided Victoria Whitworth with an escape from a series of life crises and helped her to deal with intolerable loss.
It is also a treasure chest of history and myth, local folklore and archaeological clues, giving us tantalising glimpses of Pictish and Viking men and women, those people lost to history, whose long-hidden secrets are sometimes yielded up by the land and sea.
Read more
£7.50£8.50Swimming with Seals
£7.50£8.50 -
Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency
In this inspiring collection of essays, acclaimed writer and critic Olivia Laing makes a brilliant case for why art matters, especially in the turbulent political weather of the twenty-first century.
‘Never has a publication been more timely’ – Dazed
‘A brave writer whose books open up fundamental questions about life and art’ – TelegraphFunny Weather brings together a career’s worth of Laing’s writing about art and culture, examining their roles in our political and emotional lives. She profiles Jean-Michel Basquiat and Georgia O’Keeffe, interviews Hilary Mantel and Ali Smith, writes love letters to David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, and explores loneliness and technology, women and alcohol, sex and the body. With characteristic originality and compassion, she celebrates art as a force of resistance and repair, an antidote to a frightening political time.
We’re often told art can’t change anything. In Funny Weather, Laing argues that it can. It changes how we see the world, it exposes inequality, and it offers fertile new ways of living.
Read more
£8.30£9.50Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency
£8.30£9.50 -
Quantum Computing: A Gentle Introduction (Scientific and Engineering Computation)
A thorough exposition of quantum computing and the underlying concepts of quantum physics, with explanations of the relevant mathematics and numerous examples.
The combination of two of the twentieth century’s most influential and revolutionary scientific theories, information theory and quantum mechanics, gave rise to a radically new view of computing and information. Quantum information processing explores the implications of using quantum mechanics instead of classical mechanics to model information and its processing. Quantum computing is not about changing the physical substrate on which computation is done from classical to quantum but about changing the notion of computation itself, at the most basic level. The fundamental unit of computation is no longer the bit but the quantum bit or qubit.
This comprehensive introduction to the field offers a thorough exposition of quantum computing and the underlying concepts of quantum physics, explaining all the relevant mathematics and offering numerous examples. With its careful development of concepts and thorough explanations, the book makes quantum computing accessible to students and professionals in mathematics, computer science, and engineering. A reader with no prior knowledge of quantum physics (but with sufficient knowledge of linear algebra) will be able to gain a fluent understanding by working through the book.
Read more
£28.10 -
I’ve Got Mail: The Soccer Saturday Letters
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…”
Read more
£11.40£12.30I’ve Got Mail: The Soccer Saturday Letters
£11.40£12.30 -
Madame Depardieu and the Beautiful Strangers
A razor-sharp and achingly funny memoir of the men and movies that shaped one woman’s life…
A unique memoir, ‘Madame Depardieu and the Beautiful Strangers’ is the story of how a young female film critic’s love-life is affected and nearly ruined by her obsession with male movie stars. As her increasingly hapless hunt for the right man unfolds and her television and newspaper career unravels, our heroine finally begins to understand that difficult truth: that life is not like the movies.
Entwined with the narrative of her real-life love affairs is a kaleidoscope of digressions on great screen actors – her dream-life with Gerard Depardieu, a personal ad seeking out Tom Cruise, a disastrous climactic encounter with Jeff Bridges. It’s a helter skelter ride through love and the movies which reads like a screwball comedy. And the screwball is our heroine, who seems to know everything about movies and the human heart, and nothing about anything else.
Written in a fresh and utterly engaging voice, ‘Madame Depardieu and the Beautiful Strangers’ is both moving and hilarious, a bittersweet and endearingly honest one-off.
Read more
£3.80 -
David Jason: My Life
Winner of the National Book Awards Autobiography of the Year
The long-awaited autobiography of one of Britain’s best-loved actors
Born the son of a Billingsgate market porter at the height of the Second World War, David Jason spent his early life dodging bombs and bullies, both with impish good timing. Giving up on an unloved career as an electrician, he turned his attention to acting and soon, through a natural talent for making people laugh, found himself working with the leading lights of British comedy in the 1960s and ’70s: Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Bob Monkhouse and Ronnie Barker. Barker would become a mentor to David, leading to hugely successful stints in Porridge and Open All Hours.
It wasn’t until 1981, kitted out with a sheepskin jacket, a flat cap, and a clapped-out Reliant Regal, that David found the part that would capture the nation’s hearts: the beloved Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter in Only Fools and Horses. Never a one-trick pony, he had an award-winning spell as TV’s favourite detective Jack Frost, took a country jaunt as Pop Larkin in the Darling Buds of May, and even voiced a crime-fighting cartoon rodent in the much-loved children’s show Danger Mouse.
But life hasn’t all been so easy: from missing out on a key role in Dad’s Army to nearly drowning in a freak diving accident, David has had his fair share of ups and downs, and has lost some of his nearest and dearest along the way.
David’s is a touching, funny and warm-hearted story, which charts the course of his incredible five decades at the top of the entertainment business. He’s been a shopkeeper and a detective inspector, a crime-fighter and a market trader, and he ain’t finished yet. As Del Boy would say, it’s all cushty.
Read more
£8.70£9.50David Jason: My Life
£8.70£9.50 -
Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down: How One Generation of British Actors Changed the World
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.
Read more
£13.30£16.10 -
How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise
Why do most people know what an Ewok is, even if they haven’t seen Return of the Jedi? How have Star Wars action figures come to outnumber human beings? How did ‘Jedi’ become an officially recognised religion? When did the films’ merchandising revenue manage to rival the GDP of a small country?
Tracing the birth, death and rebirth of the epic universe built by George Lucas and hundreds of writers, artists, producers, and marketers, Chris Taylor jousts with modern-day Jedi, tinkers with droid builders, and gets inside Boba Fett’s helmet, all to find out how STAR WARS has attracted and inspired so many fans for so long.
‘It’s impossible to imagine a Star Wars fan who wouldn’t love this book. There are plenty of books about Star Wars, but very few of them are essential reading. This one goes directly to the top of the pile’ Booklist (starred review).
Read more
£8.70£9.50 -
Colours of Film: The Story of Cinema in 50 Palettes
‘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.comTaking 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.
Read more
£14.80£18.00Colours of Film: The Story of Cinema in 50 Palettes
£14.80£18.00 -
Little Book of Hermès: The story of the iconic fashion house: 14 (Little Book of Fashion)
The iconic bags, the instantly recognizable packaging, the celebrity fans – Hèrmes is the last word in luxurious accessories.
Through the generations, Hermès have created innovative and exquisite accessories for the most glamorous customers. From their nineteenth-century saddlery workshop to 1960s Paris and beyond, Hermès has graced the arms and wardrobes of style icons from Grace Kelly and Jane Birkin to Victoria Beckham and Kim Kardashian. Little Book of Hermès tells the story of the evolution of the House of Hermès, through beautiful illustrations of the most coveted items and authoritative text by fashion historian Karen Homer.
Read more
£9.00£13.30 -
Criminology For Dummies, 2nd Edition
Explore the world of crime and punishment
Police, forensics, and detective stories dominate our TV screens and bookshelves―from fictional portrayals such as Silence of the Lambs and Law and Order to lurid accounts of real-life super-criminals like Pablo Escobar and Al Capone. As well as being horribly fascinating, knowledge of what makes criminals tick is crucial to governments, who spend billions of dollars each year trying to keep their people safe. Criminology brings disciplines like psychology, biology, and economics together to help police and society solve crimes―and to prevent them before they even happen.
The new edition of Criminology For Dummies shines a light into the dark recesses of the criminal mind and goes behind-the-scenes with society’s response to crime, putting you right on the mean streets with cops and criminals alike. Along the way, you’ll learn everything a rookie needs to survive, including basic definitions of what a crime is and how it’s measured; common criminal motivations, thinking, and traits; elementary crime-solving techniques; the effects on and rights of victims; and more.
- Understand types of crime, from white-collar to organized to terror attacks
- Follow law-enforcement officials and agencies as they hunt the bad guys
- Meet key players in criminal justice and see how and why the guilty are punished
- Check out jobs in the field
Whether you plan to enter the criminal justice field or just want to know more about what turns some people to the dark side―and how the thin blue line fights back―this is your perfect guide to criminology basics.
Read more
£16.40£22.80Criminology For Dummies, 2nd Edition
£16.40£22.80 -
How They Broke Britain
THE REVEALING, DEFINING ACCOUNT OF THE DARK NETWORK THAT BROKE OUR COUNTRY.
‘An exceptional broadcaster’ – Guardian | ‘Consistently, forensically, brilliant’ – Emily MaitlisSomething has gone really wrong in Britain.
Our economy has tanked, our freedoms are shrinking, and social divisions are growing. Our politicians seem most interested in their own careers, and much of the media only make things worse. We are living in a country almost unrecognisable from the one that existed a decade ago. But whose fault is it really? Who broke Britain and how did they do it?
Bold and incisive as ever, James O’Brien reveals the shady network of influence that has created a broken Britain of strikes, shortages and scandals. He maps the web connecting dark think tanks to Downing Street, the journalists involved in selling it to the public and the media bosses pushing their own agendas. Over ten chapters, each focusing on a particular person complicit in the downfall, James O’Brien reveals how a select few have conspired – sometimes by incompetence, sometimes by design – to bring Britain to its knees.
Read more
£9.60£10.40How They Broke Britain
£9.60£10.40 -
I Wished for You: A Keepsake Adoption Journal
Cherish every step. Remember every chapter. Love every moment.
Celebrate your unique adoption story with this gently guided journal designed with adoptive parents in mind.
• Open-ended and playful prompts―perfect for any age or experience
• Lots of spots for notes, photographs, announcements, and other mementos
• Beautiful, simple design to make your own
Every child, every family’s story is unique… and now every story can be told. This beautifully designed keepsake journal captures all of the emotions, history, hopes, dreams, and surprises that each adoption journey entails through guided prompts that encourage parents to enjoy and reflect on their own experience. Created specifically for adoptive parents, I Wished for You celebrates each unique adoption story, where every milestone is remembered, every moment is cherished, and every child is wished for.Read more
£7.70 -
All Our Yesterdays: 90 Years of British Cinema (British Film Institute)
All Our Yesterdays looks at the British film industry from its troubled relations with the state; the links with theater, literature, music hall and broadcasting; to mainstream and independent cinema, genres, directors, stars and individual films. It provides a fresh, wide-ranging and often provocative account of British cinema.Read more
£0.60 -
Chunky: The Best Bits from Acorn Antiques to Kitty and more
‘Absolutely perfect. All Christmas presents sorted. No notes.’ Sarra Manning
Published to celebrate the much-missed Victoria Wood’s 70th birthday, this stunning hardback edition of Chunky contains the very best of Wood’s sketches and shows, including those never seen on TV, as well as:
NEW introduction from Celia Imrie, star of many of Victoria Wood’s shows
Additions and annotations from Wood’s acclaimed official biographer, Jasper Rees.
‘I was very proud to be part of her gang.’ Celia Imrie
‘There was none like her before and there’s been none like her since – she was unique.’ Dawn French
‘She is on a par with Alan Bennett.’ Clive James
Read more
£19.00£23.80 -
Conflicting Accounts: How Corporate Greed and Mismanagement Led to the Crash of Saatchi and Saatchi, the World’s Largest Advertising Company
The story of the decline and crash of Saatchi & Saatchi is a universal tale of corporate greed and ineffective management. It is the story of an ugly, publicly fought civil war in an industry that is supposed to know the steep price paid for an image run amok. Goldman takes a detailed look at the downfall of the company and the reasons behind it. He has conducted more than 100 interviews with, among others, the Saatchi brothers, their childhood friends, ex-business associates, and past clients. This work also details changes in advertising in the 1980s, such as the merger mania and ad-agency consolidations that swept Madison Avenue, including the British take-over of major agencies.Read more
£2.40 -
Advertising as Communication (Studies in Culture and Communication)
Advertising is a form of communication that constantly impinges on our daily lives, yet we are often unaware of its more subtle form of persuasion, or of the extent to which it manipulates our (consumer) culture. This book sets out to examine advertising as a form of communication in contemporary society and also places it in its wider cultural and economic context.Read more
£30.80 -
All Made Up: 100 Years of Cosmetics Advertising (Popular Culture)
A history of printed cosmetics advertising throughout the 20th-century, this study charts the growth of mass-circulation magazines and how they led to a huge increase in advertising space and, by beginning of the 21st century, had to compete with those in other media such as television and the internet. Showing how advertising became the engine of capitalism that directed political destinies and even influenced international conflicts and military victories by means of propaganda, this references pays special attention to the ways in which the cosmetic advertising industry became a dominant driving force in Western culture. Eighty beautiful, full color reproductions of ads, taken from the Library of Historic Advertising, are also included in this fascinating look at the history of how cosmetics have been sold.
Read more
£1.00 -
Pushing Cool: Big Tobacco, Racial Marketing, and the Untold Story of the Menthol Cigarette
Police put Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold for selling cigarettes on a New York City street corner. George Floyd was killed by police outside a store in Minneapolis known as “the best place to buy menthols.” Black smokers overwhelmingly prefer menthol brands such as Kool, Salem, and Newport. All of this is no coincidence. The disproportionate Black deaths and cries of “I can’t breathe” that ring out in our era―because of police violence, COVID-19, or menthol smoking―are intimately connected to a post-1960s history of race and exploitation. In Pushing Cool, Keith Wailoo tells the intricate and poignant story of menthol cigarettes for the first time. He pulls back the curtain to reveal the hidden persuaders who shaped menthol buying habits and racial markets across America: the world of tobacco marketers, consultants, psychologists, and social scientists, as well as Black lawmakers and civic groups like the NAACP. Today most Black smokers buy menthols, and calls to prohibit their circulation hinge on a history of the industry’s targeted racial marketing. Ten years ago, when Congress banned flavored cigarettes as criminal enticements to encourage youth smoking, menthol cigarettes were also slated to be banned. Through a detailed study of internal tobacco industry documents, Wailoo exposes why they weren’t and how they remain so popular with Black smokers. Spanning a century, Pushing Cool reveals how the twin deceptions of health and Black affinity for menthol were crafted―and how the industry’s disturbingly powerful narrative has endured to this day.Read more
£23.20 -
Kew – Witch’s Forest: Trees in magic, folklore and traditional remedies (Kew Royal Botanic Gardens)
There is more folklore, mythology and magic associated with our trees and forests than with any other living things.
Known throughout the world as dark and wild places where witches make mischief and eerie creatures dwell, forests are also places of sanctuary for the ancient magic and the most enchanting species of trees.
Kew: Witch’s Forest is a beautifully illustrated, captivating journey through the magical woodland and its stories, from birch broomsticks and the sacred olive, to alder doorways and the Tree of Life.
Read more
£11.40£14.20 -
Sign Language and Linguistic Universals
Sign languages are of great interest to linguists, because while they are the product of the same brain, their physical transmission differs greatly from that of spoken languages. In this 2006 study, Wendy Sandler and Diane Lillo-Martin compare sign languages with spoken languages, in order to seek the universal properties they share. Drawing on general linguistic theory, they describe and analyze sign language structure, showing linguistic universals in the phonology, morphology, and syntax of sign language, while also revealing non-universal aspects of its structure that must be attributed to its physical transmission system. No prior background in sign language linguistics is assumed, and numerous pictures are provided to make descriptions of signs and facial expressions accessible to readers. Engaging and informative, Sign Language and Linguistic Universals will be invaluable to linguists, psychologists, and all those interested in sign languages, linguistic theory and the universal properties of human languages.Read more
£86.40 -
Contact in Adoption and Permanent Foster Care: Research, Theory and Practice
The idea of separated children maintaining some form of contact with birth relatives is common in fostering and adoption, but there is an urgent need for more research on this sensitive and difficult issue.This book gathers together the latest thoughts and research findings of many of the leading authorities on the subject of contact in adoption and permanent foster care. By looking at both infant and older child placements and the varying characteristics of permanent carers and birth relatives, the authors provide a comprehensive analysis of contact, when and when not to recommend it, and the demand to keep firmly in mind at all times the developmental needs of children.
This book will be invaluable for social work practitioners, policy makers and anyone in the academic community with an interest in contact.
Read more
£2.70 -
Learning Places: The Afterlives of Area Studies (Asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, and Society)
Under globalization, the project of area studies and its relationship to the fields of cultural, ethnic, and gender studies has grown more complex and more in need of the rigorous reexamination that this volume and its distinguished contributors undertake. In the aftermath of World War II, area studies were created in large part to supply information on potential enemies of the United States. The essays in Learning Places argue, however, that the post–Cold War era has seen these programs largely degenerate into little more than public relations firms for the areas they research.
A tremendous amount of money flows—particularly within the sphere of East Asian studies, the contributors claim—from foreign agencies and governments to U.S. universities to underwrite courses on their histories and societies. In the process, this volume argues, such funds have gone beyond support to the wholesale subsidization of students in graduate programs, threatening the very integrity of research agendas. Native authority has been elevated to a position of primacy; Asian-born academics are presumed to be definitive commentators in Asian studies, for example. Area studies, the contributors believe, has outlived the original reason for its construction. The essays in this volume examine particular topics such as the development of cultural studies and hyphenated studies (such as African-American, Asian-American, Mexican-American) in the context of the failure of area studies, the corporatization of the contemporary university, the prehistory of postcolonial discourse, and the problematic impact of unformulated political goals on international activism.
Learning Places points to the necessity, the difficulty, and the possibility in higher education of breaking free from an entrenched Cold War narrative and making the study of a specific area part of the agenda of education generally. The book will appeal to all whose research has a local component, as well as to those interested in the future course of higher education generally.Contributors. Paul A. Bové, Rey Chow, Bruce Cummings, James A. Fujii, Harry Harootunian, Masao Miyoshi, Tetsuo Najita, Richard H. Okada, Benita Parry, Moss Roberts, Bernard S. Silberman, Stefan Tanaka, Rob Wilson, Sylvia Yanagisako, Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto
Read more
£18.50 -
Music Is History: Questlove
New York Times bestselling Music Is History combines Questlove’s deep musical expertise with his curiosity about history, examining America over the past fifty years―now in paperback Focusing on the years 1971 to the present, Questlove finds the hidden connections in the American tapes, whether investigating how the blaxploitation era reshaped Black identity or considering the way disco took an assembly-line approach to Black genius. And these critical inquiries are complemented by his own memories as a music fan and the way his appetite for pop culture taught him about America. A history of the last half-century and an intimate conversation with one of music’s most influential and original voices, Music Is History is a singular look at contemporary America.Read more
£11.80£13.30Music Is History: Questlove
£11.80£13.30 -
The Egos Have Landed: Rise and Fall of Palace Pictures
This work provides an insight into the rise and fall of Palace Pictures, one of the movie phenomena of the last decade. It is the story of two mavericks, Steve Woolley and Nick Powell, who through a combination of brash marketing tactics and inspired risk-taking, fought to produce and distribute films during a period when the world had written off the British film industry as dead and buried. Containing stories about Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Bob Hoskins, David Bowie, Miranda Richardson, John Hurt, Neil Jordan, Richard Branson and many other celebrities, it gives the inside story on the company whose films include “Absolute Beginners”, “The Company of Wolves”, “Mona Lisa”, “Scandal” and “The Crying Game”.Read more
£3.20 -
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: The Inside Story of HandMade Films
In 1978, George Harrison, the Monty Python team and American businessman Denis O’Brien formed HandMade films, which was responsible for such classics as “Monty Python’s Life of Brian”, “Time Bandits”, “The Long Good Friday”, “A Private Function”, “Mona Lisa” and “Withnail and I”. This book looks at the life and times of this film company. Robert Sellars has secured detailed and exclusive interviews with such diverse artists as Alan Bennett, John Cleese, Sean Connery and Richard E. Grant.Read more
£0.60 -
Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art
‘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.
Read more
£11.40£12.30Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art
£11.40£12.30 -
Normal Women: From the Number One Bestselling Author Comes 900 Years of Women Making History
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
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 as you read Philippa Gregory’s stunning Normal Women … the book reframes the past … an essential read’ INDEPENDENT, FIVE-STAR REVIEW
Read more
£5.70 -
Ways of Seeing: John Berger (Penguin Modern Classics)
Based on the BBC television series, John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is a unique look at the way we view art, published as part of the Penguin on Design series in Penguin Modern Classics.
‘Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.’
‘But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but word can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.’
John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the Sunday Times critic commented: ‘This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings . . . he will almost certainly change the way you look at pictures.’ By now he has.
John Berger (b. 1926) is an art critic, painter and novelist.born in Hackney, London.
His novel G. (1972) won both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Booker Prize.If you enjoyed Ways of Seeing, you might like Susan Sontag’s On Photography, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.
‘Berger has the ability to cut right through the mystification of professional art critics … he is a liberator of images: and once we have allowed the paintings to work on us directly, we are in a much better position to make a meaningful evaluation’
Peter Fuller, Arts Review‘The influence of the series and the book … was enormous … It opened up for general attention areas of cultural study that are now commonplace’
Geoff Dyer in Ways of Telling‘One of the most influential intellectuals of our time’
ObserverRead more
£7.60£9.50 -
Strong Female Character: What Movies Teach Us
‘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.
Read more
£11.90£12.30Strong Female Character: What Movies Teach Us
£11.90£12.30 -
The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson
‘A riveting read that skips along at pace. Illuminating and concerning, it lifts the lid on the tawdry world of Westminster powerbroking’ Tim Shipman, The Times
The explosive behind-the-scenes account of the plot to bring down Boris Johnson
YOU THINK YOU LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE THE ELECTED ARE CHOSEN BY THE PEOPLE.
THINK AGAIN.
When Boris Johnson came to power in 2019, he did so with the largest Conservative majority since Margaret Thatcher. Rewriting the political map, he united a party and shattered Labour’s fabled red wall. And yet, just three years later, he was ousted by the same members who had once greeted his leadership so rapturously.
What had gone so wrong?
The Plot is the seismic, fly-on-the-wall account of how the saviour of the Conservative Party became a pariah. Told with unparalleled access, from multiple inside sources talking with astonishing candour, it reveals the shocking truth about powerful forces operating behind the scenes in the heart of Westminster and those who became the architects of a Prime Minister’s downfall.
This is the story of a damning trail of treachery and deceit fuelled by an obsessive pursuit of power, which threatens to topple the very fabric of our democracy.
Read more
£3.80
