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Idea and Image
What does art tell us about man’s place in history?
In Thought and Image, award-winning author and philosopher Fredrik Lång takes the reader on a two-thousand-year journey spanning the worlds of art and philosophy, from ancient Greece into the modern day. Thought and Image explores the ways in which artistic expression is linked to the way of life and manner of thought of people throughout the centuries.
“Art, like knowledge, is an interpretation of a contemporary existence, executed in the concepts that thinking provides at the time. Every picture is worth a thousand words and every significant work of art contains a statement and is a confirmation of the general values of its time.”
Lång journeys slowly through the winding gallery of images and concepts that man has built up over the millennia, analysing the gaze of Giotto and the technical metaphors of Duchamp. The book ends with a challenging question: What is the significance of the insights gained for the understanding of our own time?
£10.99 -
The Fleet Air Arm
This book uncovers many hidden facts and untold stories of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), shedding light on its remarkable history, much of which has not been widely published. It offers a concise yet vivid account of how the Royal Navy’s Air Service (RNAS) evolved over the years, shaped by over a century of political manoeuvring and its long-standing rivalry with the Royal Air Force. Even today, the FAA continues to operate in the shadow of the RAF, as seen in the ongoing developments surrounding the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers and the F-35B aircraft they now carry, frequent subjects in the media.
Few know that the last serviceman to die in the Second World War was an FAA pilot, shot down over Japan at the very end of the Pacific conflict. While FAA victories such as Taranto and the Falklands are well known, it may surprise readers to learn that the FAA briefly flew Lancasters in 1946. And in the Gulf War, FAA Westland Lynx helicopters made history by virtually wiping out Iraq’s navy using Sea Skua missiles, the first time seaborne helicopters achieved such a feat.
This book also features the most comprehensive post-1945 timeline of the FAA, a reflection of the decline of Britain’s maritime power over recent decades. Enriching the narrative are personal anecdotes from FAA personnel, highlighting their bravery, dedication, and sacrifice in the line of duty.
£20.99 -
Addicted
Humans are biologically hardwired to alter their mental state, drugs are the pathway, and America is their biggest consumer. From antiquity to modernity, use and prohibition have gone hand in hand. Addicted raises the curtain to expose the lies and fill in the blanks behind America’s failed 50 year war on drugs and makes sense of the quagmire of misinformed laws and policy, blending Miller’s investigative journalism with historical narrative.
In addition, Miller tells the story of nature’s three primary psychotropic plants and the history of government efforts to suppress them: Papaver Somniferum, the opium poppy, the drug of Asian mystery, which provides opium and its derivative alkaloids morphine and heroin; Erythroxylum Coca, which provides the cocaine of all night parties and glamor; and Cannabis Sativa, L., the historical intoxicant of rebellion and counterculture. These plants convert soil, water, nutrients, CO2, and light into complex chemical substances, which can elevate, intoxicate, and even heal.
Addicted unravels the institutional mechanism that fuels the war’s self-perpetuation, its abject failure, and its deplorable byproduct of racial injustice. The stories in Addicted feature a diverse cast of heroes, villains, and bureaucrats as well as all the post-Nixon Presidents who failed in their version of the war.
£17.99 -
Al Bakr Bani Sakhar Tribe عشيرة العلي من آل بكر من بني صخر
يعد هذا الكتاب توثيقا وتأصيلا وتعريفا بعشيرة العلي من قبيلة بني صخر من أهل العُلا وذلك بناء على ما أكده المؤرخون والنسابون في مؤلفاتهم ومصادرهم التاريخية ويستند هذا الكتاب على توثيق المعلومات من خلال المراجع والمؤلفات والوثائق التاريخية القديمة والتي ألقت الضوء على جوانب متعددة للحياة الاجتماعية والاقتصادية والسياسية التي كانت سائدة.
£12.99 -
City of Tears: The Dark History of Paris
If you were standing on the very spot where Joan of Arc was wounded by an arrow, wouldn’t you want to know?
Beneath the brilliance and the grandeur of Paris is a city that few people know. It lingers in the dark shadows of the past, if only you knew where to look.
For 21 centuries, Paris has been the epicenter of countless invasions, occupations, civil wars, sieges, rebellions, assassinations, coups, massacres, executions, epidemics – and, of course, a world-shattering revolution.
In 40 brief stories, City of Tears will guide you through Paris’s astonishingly turbulent history – from the Roman conquest to World War I – and point you to the very sites where momentous events occurred. Along the way, you will meet a parade of personalities: Ragnar Lodbrok, the Templars, Joan of Arc, Catherine de’ Medici, the Sun King, Marie Antoinette, Louis XVII, the two Napoleons, Alfred Dreyfus, and dozens of other fascinating characters who shaped the history of the beautiful city we know today.
£9.99 -
1589 – The English Armada and the Fortunes of Don Antonio
Everything was set to deliver a body blow to Spain after the defeat of ‘The Invincible Armada’ in 1588. With aid anticipated from Turkey, Morocco and Holland, and the French looking on with interest, the English Armada, with Sir Francis Drake as its admiral and Sir John Norris as commander-in-chief of the land forces, on Queen Elizabeth’s instructions, was to assist the people of Portugal to rebel against their Spanish overlords, and to place on the throne Don Antonio, Prior of Crato, as King Antony the First of Portugal.
That was the plan, and on the 28th of April 1589 the fleet set sail.
A note about the cover illustrations:
The background shows 16th century Lisbon with the River Tagus in the foreground, the portraits are of the main participants, Queen Elizabeth I of England, King Philip II of Spain, Sir John Norris, Sir Francis Drake, and in the centre, Don Antonio, Prior of Crato.
£9.99 -
The Fugitive Shakespeare and Sonnet 144
THE FUGITIVE SHAKESPEARE
AND
SONNET 144
The discovery of a 16th century manuscript version of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 144 is the most important historical and literary find ever made relating to Shakespearean studies. The date of composition of this manuscript indicates ca.1577-78 when William Shakspere (the original spelling of his family name) was aged between 13-14 which would suggest that he couldn’t have written this Sonnet because he was too young. The story behind this discovery and how the document was found is as astonishing as how the document has managed to survive for over 400 years. The connection in this story between Shakespeare and the famous playwright Ben Jonson is also explored as it was Jonson who provided the most important evidence that Shakespeare was the author of the First Folio which was published in 1623.
“At last, after more than four hundred years there is a glimmer of light at the end of the
tunnel, a significant Shakespearean clue has been discovered which may help to solve the Shakespeare authorship question.”
– Sir Derek Jacobi, award-winning Shakespearean actor.
£15.99 -
Crowning Glory
As a nation, we like to think we know everything about our Kings and Queens. William I conquered in 1066, Henry VIII had six wives and Queen Victoria was ‘not amused’… But do these ‘pub-quiz facts’ provide a genuine picture of what our monarchs were really like as living, breathing people? As the reader shall find, there is a treasure-trove of wit, wisdom and wonder waiting to be discovered.
Crowning Glory wipes away the cobwebs of fuddy-duddy facts and breathes new life into this surprisingly addictive aspect of history. It challenges our basic understanding of the subject by introducing readers to a colourful cast of characters and revealing little-known insights.
This book reminds us that, behind the formality of the crown, are real human beings. Like you and me, they have known success, failure, sorrow, and laughter. The lives of our kings and queens are so much more vivid than boring, old dates, figures, and facts.
£19.99 -
The PI (π) Cycle Secret of the 360-days year calendar
In The PI (π) Cycle, discover the fascinating history of the ancient calendar and how it was ultimately changed by the will of God. Follow the story of King Hezekiah of Judea, whose life was extended by 15 years, and learn about the ground-breaking calendar reforms of Julius Caesar. Explore the observations of ancient astronomers, including the Egyptians and Hipparchus, and how they tracked the length of the year. Uncover the mysteries of how the earth generates natural time at God’s command and how it was altered to accommodate King Hezekiah’s request. This thought-provoking book will leave you marvelling at the power of God and the complexity of time.
£7.99 -
Why I’m Not King of England
This book has been thoughtfully crafted by the author to demonstrate that family history can be truly captivating. While genealogy provides us with the facts of who we are and where we came from, it is through the art of storytelling that these details come to life, especially when placed within a rich context.
By exploring the potential motivations of our ancestors and highlighting the timeless nature of human traits, we can better understand that the challenges and obstacles we face today have been encountered by generations before us. The story delves into the questionable morals of various characters, the cunning ways in which responsibility can be shifted, the manipulation of the status quo for personal gain, filial disputes, familial arguments, and the once-prevailing notion of the divine right of Kings (no pun intended).
Rather than serving as a morality tale, this book aims to entertain and illuminate the striking parallels between the past and our modern lives.
£6.99 -
Mary, Queen of Scots Slept Here
Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate her throne in Scotland and fled to England, seeking help from Queen Elizabeth I to regain her throne. However, Queen Elizabeth, fearing Catholic plots to replace her with Mary, was not inclined to offer assistance. Instead, she ensured that Mary was housed in castles and manors owned by her own supporters.
Mary became a definite prisoner, guarded by people trusted by Elizabeth. Gradually, she was moved through England to her final imprisonment in Fotheringhay Castle, leading to the final chapter of her tempestuous life.
£7.99 -
On Wadi Wadi Country – From the Mountains to the Sea
Australia is a large continent and before British colonisation there were over 250 First Nation areas with different languages and cultures. The Wadi Wadi nation lived on an eastern coastal region south of Sydney, which was covered with thick subtropical rainforest and bordered by the Pacific Ocean which provided fish and shellfish in abundance. With its rich volcanic soil, it was one of the first areas to be taken by colonising farmers. The land was cleared and the food, culture and Dharawal language were all almost wiped out. Many First Nations people died from massacres, hunger, and European diseases.This story began in a deep valley ‘Willow Gully’ with remnant rare subtropical rainforest, inhabited by wallabies, echidnas, possums and hundreds of birds in a small coastal town called Kiama. The gully was settled in the 1840s by two British farming families, and in 2015 the remains of a small farm cottage was unearthed in the rainforest. By coincidence the Aboriginal family who lived there in the 20th century were discovered and they have shared their personal stories. This has provided links to the amazing history of the Wadi Wadi people all along the coast. Through this book find their stories, but also meet an Indigenous King and Queen, WW1 soldiers, a poet, fishermen, sports stars, and silent film makers. Many people have hidden their Aboriginal heritage as racism was rife. The 50,000 years of continuous indigenous heritage is at last being recognised. However, a referendum to recognise Aboriginal people in the constitution, held in October 2023, failed due to misinformation by opponents. But there is still hope!
£15.99