From his earliest published article in 1928 to his untimely death in 1950, he produced an extraordinary array of short nonfiction that reflectedas it was for Yeats to versify or Dickens to invent."Facing Unpleasant Facts charts Orwell's development as a master of the narrative-essay form and unites classics such as "Shooting an Elephant" with lesser-known journalism and passages from his wartime diary. Whether detailing the horrors of Orwell's boyhood in an English boarding school or bringing to life the sights, sounds, and smells of the Spanish Civil War, these narrative essays weave together the personal and the political in an unmistakable style that is at once plainspoken and brilliantly complex.Contents:The SpikeClinkA HangingShooting an ElephantBookshop MemoriesMarrakechMy Country Right or LeftWar-time DiaryEngland Your EnglandDear Doktor Goebbels - Your British Friends Are Feeding Fine!Looking Back on the Spanish WarAs I Please, 1As I Please, 2As I Please, 3As I Please, 16Revenge Is SourThe Case for the Open FireThe Sporting SpiritIn Defence of English CookingA Nice Cup of TeaThe Moon Under WaterIn Front of Your NoseSome Thoughts on the Common ToadA Good Word for the Vicar of BrayWhy I WriteHow the Poor DieSuch, Such Were the Joys

    With the gyptians, Lyra travels to the bleak splendour of the North, bearing a truth-telling compass, she goes in search of Roger and the other lost children - to Bolvangar.For children/juvenile

    In the Daily Mail Angela Huth called "Good Evening, Mrs Craven" 'my especial find' and Ruth Gorb in the "Ham & High" contrasted the humour of some of the stories with the desolation of others: 'The mistress, unlike the wife, has to worry and mourn in secret for her man; a middle-aged spinster finds herself alone again when the camaraderie of the air-raids is over ...'

    The Oxford Book of English Verse, created in 1900 by Arthur Quiller-Couch and selected anew in 1972by Helen Gardner, has established itself as the foremost anthology of English poetry: ample in span, liberal in the kinds of poetry presented. This completely fresh selection brings in new poems and poets from all ages, and extends the range by another half-century, to include many twentieth-centuryfigures not featured before--among them Philip Larkin and Samuel Beckett, Thom Gunn and Elaine Feinstein--right up to Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney. Here, as before, are lyric (beginning with medieval song), satire, hymn, ode, sonnet, elegy, ballad, but also kinds of poetry not previously admitted: the riches of dramatic verse by Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, Webster; great works of translation that are themselves true English poetry, such asChapman's Homer (bringing in its happy wake Keats's 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer'), Dryden's Juvenal, and many others; well-loved nursery rhymes, limericks, even clerihews. English poetry from all parts of the British Isles is firmly represented--Henryson and MacDiarmid, for example, nowjoin Dunbar and Burns from Scotland; James Henry, Austin Clarke, and J. M. Synge now join Allingham and Yeats from Ireland; R. S. Thomas joins Dylan Thomas from Wales--and Edward Taylor and Anne Bradstreet, writing in America before its independence in the 1770s, are given a rightful and rewardingplace. Some of the greatest long poems are here in their entirety--Wordsworth's 'Tintern Abbey', Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner', and Christina Rossetti's 'Goblin Market'--alongside some of the shortest, haikus, squibs, and epigrams. Generous and wide-ranging, mixing familiar with fresh delights, this is an anthology to move and delight all who find themselves loving English verse.

    As the wet Lakeland fells grow misty and the holiday season draws to a close; as the tourists trickle away from the campsite, along with the sunshine, and the hot water, and the last of the good beer - a man accidentally spills a tin of green paint, and thereby condemns himself to death.

    The Germans called it Auschwitz. Auschwitz; a name now synonymous with man's darkest hour. Contrary to widespread belief, Auschwitz was not just a camp for those that the Third Reich deemed 'undesirables' - Jews, homosexuals and communists - hundreds of British Tommies were also incarcerated there and beheld the atrocities meted out by Hitler's brutal SS. This is the true story of one of those witnesses. Forced to do hard labour in an industrial factory, beaten by SS guards, part of a partisan group aiding in the plans for a mass breakout of Jewish prisoners. An escapee, a survivor; Arthur Dodd - a Spectator in Hell.

    One reviewer called it "a stupendous photographic chronicle of a tumultuous century" and the Evening Standard adjudged it "the photographic book of the year." Barnard has now transformed this "heavyweight champ of photo books" into a 1,200-page mini format book that one can hold in the palm of one hand. This edition contains 1,090 photographs in color and duotone and has been extended to include events up to and including September 11, 2001.

    

    Cathcart wrote a long piece about the murder and all its ramifications for Granta magazine (59), and this is the basis for his book: an account of the crime, the investigation and the criminal culture of South-East London that gave rise to the murderers.

    Vic Reeves wakes up to discover a flock of seven white doves of peace flying around his bedroom, "casting a Disneylike sense of well-being about." However, all is not well; Vic re- awakens several hours later to discover that the doves have stolen his prized bust of Caligula: "a foreboding sense of gloom now hangs over the home". So begins Vic Reeves' Sunboiled Onions, a fictional diary packed with Vic's own paintings and drawings of a month in the mind of one of the UK's most popular comedians. Like his TV series with sidekick Bob Mortimer, Sunboiled Onions has a surreal menace in its humour, reflected in Vic's weird drawings of famous figures, which are often uncannily accurate yet strangely disconcerting with their eyes drawn too far apart. Elvis crops up throughout the book, appearing as Sir Walter Raleigh in King Lear (naked from the waist down, of course), buying fan heaters from Argos with Frank Sinatra and ironing his slacks in his bucolic cottage. Alongside such reveries, Vic deals with the problems of his everyday life: "January 10--Flies swarm around the pork in my attic, so I get rid of it, all 150 lbs of it, in a ditch near B&Q". Along the way, Vic muses on various celebrities and their foibles, including Michael Jackson, Abba, Henry VIII, Eric Morecombe and Richard Nixon. Those who love Reeves and Mortimer will celebrate Sunboiled Onions as another manifestation of the genius of the man they call the Darlington Dadaist. --Jerry Brotton

    This fourth volume of Tom Stoppard's work for the stage brings together five of his most celebrated translations and adaptations of plays by Arthur Schnitzler (Dalliance and Undiscovered Country), Ferenc Molnar (Rough Crossing), Johann Nestroy (On the Razzle) and Anton Chekhov (The Seagull).

    Taken from the war years of 1940-45, these writings provide plenty of acerbic wit and persistent prodding of "the good people of Ireland." And in typical O'Brien fashion, no one is safe from his opinionated attacks. His oftentimes hysterical musings include discussions of theater, what it means to be Irish, ideas for alternative pubs and liquors, advice for children, and ways to improve the home.

    Under the direction of Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor, the editors have reconsidered all aspects of the anthology to make it an even better teaching tool.

    At the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann he was described as a ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’, risking his own life to save Jews threatened with death by the Nazis. In fact, his post at the Passport Office was a front for his real role as MI6 head of station. Despite having no diplomatic immunity and being liable to arrest at any time, he went into the concentration camps to get Jews out, he hid them in his home and helped them to get forged passports. One Jewish aid worker estimated that he saved ‘tens of thousands’ of people from the Holocaust.Michael Smith has researched and vividly written one of the greatest unknown heroic stories of the Second World War.Just as we published this remarkable book in Hardback in January 1999, the RIGHTEOUS AMONG NATIONS accolade was bestowed upon Frank Foley by Yad Vasham - Israel's Holocaust Memorial CentreThe evidence collected for the book by Michael Smith proved conclusive enough for the award, also held by Oskar Schindler. now this new edition is made more accessible for those interested in reading Michael Smith's astonishing story of selfless heroism. Sales of the hardback put the book on the edge of the Sunday Times Top Ten non-fiction bestsellers, and soon afterwards the special edition tpk sold out [5k copies].After the award had been announced, Michael Smith, author of FOLEY: THE SPY WHO SAVED l0,000 JEWS, called Frank Foley 'a true British hero who worked not just for his country, but also for justice and the good of humanity. He has saved tens of thousands of lives. No-one could have deserved this award more.'FOLEY tells for the first time the story of Frank Foley's heroism and humanity. He was a spy-a fact that made his efforts on behalf of the Jews even more dangerous. His role as head of the British passport control office in Berlin was cover for his real role as MI6 Head of Station in the German capital. In this position he had no diplomatic immunity and was liable to arrest at any time, but for years he ignored all the rules to help Jews to leave the country.This is one of the greatest untold stories of heroism and humanity from the second world war recounted for the first time. When the Nazis came to power in the early l930s, it was clear that they were intent on obliterating all signs of Jewish influence from Germany and that tens of thousands of Jews would suffer horribly at the hands of Hitler's acolytes. For many of Germany's beleaguered Jews, Frank Foley, a quiet, unobtrusive and determined Englishman was to become their saviour.He was not only a brave and humane man, he was also one of the most brilliant intelligence officers ever to serve in MI6, and deserves recognition as such. It was through his flair for recruiting agents that the allies obtained details of Hitler's secret rocket programme and the progress of its atomic research. He was also the MI6 officer on the Double Cross Committee, masterminding the recruitment of German spies across the world to work as double agents for the British.

    Featuring more than 500 A-Z articles, it throws new and often unexpected light on the most familiar of Dickens's works, and explores the experiences, events, and literature on which he drew. There is also a chronology of Dickens' life, a list of characters in his works, a list of entries by theme, a family tree, three maps, an invaluable bibliography, and a general index. Compiled by a distinguished editorial team, and written in a lucid, easy style that would have pleased him, The Oxford Companion to Charles Dickens offers a more authoritative and accessible range of information than any other reference work on Dickens.

    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

    More than mere plot summaries, Literature Made Easy books describe classic novels and plays by explaining themes, analyzing characters, and discussing each author's unique style, mastery of language, and point of view. Imaginative and instructive use of graphics help make each book in this series livelier, easier, and more profitable to use than ordinary plot summaries. Books also feature "Mind Maps" -- diagrams that summarize a literary work's most important details, as a way of helping students focus their ideas for exams and term papers.

    Featuring an entertaining text and detailed gazetteer by acclaimed Tolkien author Brian Sibley, this gift edition also contains a stunning fold-out poster-map of the First Age of Tolkien's Middle-earth. Writer and broadcaster Brian Sibley is a foremost expert on The Lord of the Rings (he adapted the novel for the award-winning BBC radio dramatisation in 1980), and here in this clothbound hardback he will take you to the First Age of Middle-earth, many thousands of years before the events chronicled in The Lord of the Rings. This was the setting for the great War of the Jewels, as recounted in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion and includes a gazetteer of the many places shown on the full-colour illustrated map which accompanies the book. The Map of Beleriand and the Lands to the North is faithfully reproduced in full colour by world-renowned Tolkien artist John Howe, the conceptual artist employed by Peter Jackson to work on his multi-award winning Lord of The Rings film trilogy, and who is soon to work on Guillermo del Toro's Hobbit film. The map is based on the original map by Christopher Tolkien. Embellished with heraldic emblems and dramatic scenes from The Silmarillion, it completes the trio of authorized Tolkien maps by John Howe which can be removed for reference or even for framing. Each element in this collector's package is special; together they provide an enchanting and desirable artefact that will be a prized possession of Tolkien readers of all ages.

    This swinging sixties novel reveals the seedier side of London where the low life met the high life in the city's dark underbelly.

    Bleiler as 'excellent', 'The Doll Maker' is the story of Clare Lydgate, a young woman studying at boarding school for her Oxford scholarship examinations. In the evenings, she escapes the school grounds by climbing over the wall of Brackenbine Hall. It is here that she encounters the charismatic and mysterious Niall Sterne, the 'Doll Maker' of the title. This is a subtle, intelligent and compelling tale of horror. The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural describes Sarban’s stories as 'nicely written, with solid characterizations, convincingly detailed backgrounds . . . and a fine sense of pacing and atmosphere.' It notes that 'The Doll Maker' is Sarban’s most intriguing work, and that Niall Sterne 'offers no ordinary seduction, and there is a delicate horror in his beautiful, sterile doll-world, the antithesis of life itself.'First published in 1953, ‘The Doll Maker’ appears with ‘The Trespassers’, and ‘A House of Call’.

    

    A compromise candidate, he takes the name Pope John Paul I, and quickly shows himself to be the liberal the reactionaries within the Catholic Church most feared. Thirty-three days later he is dead. No official investigation is conducted, no autopsy is performed, and the Vatican's press release about the cause of death is found to be largely false.Premiered at the Chichester Festival in April 2007 starring David Suchet, this gripping thriller goes behind the scenes at the Vatican, uncovering the bitter rivalries, the political manoeuvrings and the unspoken crises of faith that surrounded the death of 'the Smiling Pope'.

    Here are more than one hundred of their most memorable poems, ranging from Horace on the Battle of Actium to Adrienne Rich's Vietnam-era "Newsreel." An extraordinary anthology.

    Others are in a lighter vein, like James Thurber's lampoon of Salvador Dali's Secret Life or Max Beerbohm's reflections on "Laughter". There are Philip Roth on baseball and A. P. Herbert on bathrooms; Mary McCarthy's "My Confession", on her Communist sympathies; and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Crack-up". Each reader will have his or her own favorites: Eudora Welty capturing the precise moment at which she grew up, or Arthur Koestler debunking the effects of magic mushrooms. And each essay has stood the test of time, like Hannah Arendt's "The Concentration Camps", Edmund Wilson's now classic "The Wound and the Bow", and Paul Fussell on World War II.

    Then a eukaryot cell. Then a multicellular organism. That's for the first chapter, and from the cell's viewpoint." "Christine Brooke-Rose blends her well-developed narratorless technique with a drastic extension of a very ancient convention, that of lending words to creatures that have none, indeed have no consciousness, to move steadily through evolution to the earliest human species, ending some 3,000 years before agriculture and some 8,000 years before the earliest writing appeared.The novel begins thus: "Zing! discharging through the glowsalties the pungent ammonia earthfarts in slithery clay and all the rest to make simple sweeties and sharpies and other stuffs. Dust out of vast crashes and currents now calmer as the crust thickens and all cools a bit.Over many many forevers.Waiting. Absorbing. Growing. Churning. Splitting.Over and over."

    - Handsome introductions to the world's greatest poets- Covers their most popular and their lesser known works- Decorated with illustrations, paintings, and woodcuts

    

    He has seen his sergeant, a man of the greatest rectitude, ignore a confession of a murder by a vagrant when a young girl was killed on their patch and the murderer never found. Holmes and Watson travel west to the small village of Weston Stacey where, disguised as a man of leisure interested in folklore, Holmes begins his investigation into the mysterious death of Bea Collins.Amid the bustle of harvest time Holmes gathers together the unanswered questions: How did the killer know Bea would take a shortcut home rather than her usual route? What strangely shaped instrument was used to deliver the blow to her head? Why were traces of sugar cubes found at the scene of the crime? And what of little Billy Hayter’s insistence that he has seen a monster decorated with human skulls?To Watson’s dismay Holmes is convinced that they have stumbled across some terrible evil and, as the last sheaves come in from the fields, the great detective exposes a unique and grotesque horror.

    There are writings from more than 60 authors covering a broad range of public and private genres from the period including poetry, critical essays, biography, travel literature, political commentary, letters, diaries and journals, and care has been taken to balance extracts and complete texts.

    A variety of stories - from the discovery of bog people like Tollund Man to peoples compulsion to retrace the origins of their ancestors - collide and form a piece of theatre which questions our concept of time, our capacity to distort history and our attempts to retell the past."An ice-preserved body - from 5,200 years ago - forms the central image of Theatre de Complicite's dazzlingly imaginative meditation on memory and morality. Timely and unforgettable" (Independent)

    The book is published to accompany a 10 part Radio 4 series which Marguerite has recorded and which starts broadcasting in the same month as publication. Each chapter of the book will cover one decade of the century giving both history and recipes. The entire book is illustrated throughout in color and black and white.Marguerite Patten OBE has written over 160 cookery books, sales of which amount to over 16 million worldwide. Her long and distinguished career, which began before the war, has included regular appearances on radio and television, live and televised cookery demonstrations, lectures as well as extensive journalism and authorship of books and cookery cards. She pioneered easy-to-follow recipes with her classic All Colour Cookery Book and has documented most aspects of British Cooking. This new book pulls together her life's work and is truly an important work of culinary history.

    Keats found earlier forms of poetry unsatisfactory for his purpose, and the collection represented a new development of the ode form. He was inspired to write the poem after reading two articles by English artist and writer Benjamin Haydon. Keats was aware of other works on classical Greek art, and had first-hand exposure to the Elgin Marbles, all of which reinforced his belief that classical Greek art was idealistic and captured Greek virtues, which forms the basis of the poem.