In the Shadow of Great Powers is the second volume of Christoph Baumer's History of the Caucasus. It covers the period from the Seljuk domination of the Southern Caucasus around 1050 CE to the present day. After the Kingdom of Georgia's golden age of independent power and cultural blossoming in the 12th and early 13th centuries, the Caucasus was overrun by the Mongols and soon disintegrated into innumerable smaller kingdoms, principalities and khanates. At the same time, an Armenian kingdom in exile maintained a precarious independence in Cilicia, today's southern Turkey, by applying a three-way diplomatic policy balanced between the Mongol Il-Khanate, the Crusader states and, to a lesser degree, the Mameluke Empire. Then followed four centuries during which the highly fragmented polities of the North and South Caucasus became political pawns of the regional great powers, above all the Ottomans, Iran and Russia. In the wake of World War I the South Caucasus enjoyed a short-lived independence whereas its northern neighbours were engulfed by the Russian civil wars. But by 1921 the Soviet Union had re-established Russian dominance over the whole region and, from a Western perspective, the region 'disappeared' behind the Iron Curtain. Nevertheless, the Caucasian nations kept their pronounced identities even under Soviet rule, giving rise at the dissolution of the Soviet Union to a number of internecine conflicts. Whereas the Russian Federation managed to maintain its supremacy over the North Caucasus - albeit at the cost of bloody wars and insurrections - Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia succeeded in more or less gaining control over their destiny. Of these three republics, only Azerbaijan secured a wide-ranging independence thanks to its fossil fuel resources. Following Russian interference, Georgia lost control over two of its provinces while Armenia remains dependent on Russian support in the face of its notoriously antagonistic relations with neighbouring Azerbaijan and Turkey over the unresolved issue of Karabakh. In the Shadow of Great Powers includes some 200 full-colour images and maps which further bring the turbulent history of this region to light.

Christina Lamb's The Africa House is the b estselling account of an English gentleman and his African dream. In the last decades of the British Empire, Stewart Gore-Brown build himself a feudal paradise in Northern Rhodesia; a sprawling country estate modelled on the finest homes of England, complete with uniformed servants, daily muster parades and rose gardens. He wanted to share it with the love of his life, the beautiful unconventional Ethel Locke King, one of the first women to drive and fly. She, however, was nearly twenty years his senior, married and his aunt. Lorna, the only other woman he had ever cared for, had married another many years earlier. Then he met Lorna's orphaned daughter, so like her mother that he thought he had seen a ghost. It seemed he had found companionship and maybe love - but the Africa house was his dream and it would be a hard one to share. From a world of British colonials in Africa, with their arrogance and vision, to the final sad denouement. Leaving the once majestic house abandoned and a forgotten ruin of a bygone age Christina Lamb evokes a story full of passion, adventure and final betrayal. 'The story she tells is in equal measure absorbing, affecting and bizarre' Sunday Telegraph 'An amazing story of high hopes, lost love and ruined lives' Sunday Times Christina Lamb is an award-winning journalist. Currently roving Foreign Affairs Correspondent for the Sunday Times, she has been a foreign correspondent for almost 20 years, living in Pakistan, Brazil and South Africa first for the Financial Times then the Sunday Times. She is the author of the best-selling book The Africa House as well as House of Stone, Waiting For Allah and Small Wars Permitting: Despatches from Foreign Lands.

By the Roman age the traditional stories of Greek myth had long since ceased to reflect popular culture. Mythology had become instead a central element in elite culture. If one did not know the stories one would not understand most of the allusions in the poets and orators, classics and contemporaries alike; nor would one be able to identify the scenes represented on the mosaic floors and wall paintings in your cultivated friends' houses, or on the silverware on their tables at dinner. Mythology was no longer imbibed in the nursery; nor could it be simply picked up from the often oblique allusions in the classics. It had to be learned in school, as illustrated by the extraordinary amount of elementary mythological information in the many surviving ancient commentaries on the classics, notably Servius, who offers a mythical story for almost every person, place, and even plant Vergil mentions. Commentators used the classics as pegs on which to hang stories they thought their students should know. A surprisingly large number of mythographic treatises survive from the early empire, and many papyrus fragments from lost works prove that they were in common use. In addition, author Alan Cameron identifies a hitherto unrecognized type of aid to the reading of Greek and Latin classical and classicizing texts--what might be called mythographic companions to learned poets such as Aratus, Callimachus, Vergil, and Ovid, complete with source references. Much of this book is devoted to an analysis of the importance evidently attached to citing classical sources for mythical stories, the clearest proof that they were now a part of learned culture. So central were these source references that the more unscrupulous faked them, sometimes on the grand scale.

Abendkleider für Damen - Präsentieren Sie entzückende Pailletten-Kleider mit Bardot-Ausschnitt. Erhältlich in 12 UK-Größen: 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 verschiedene Farben: Burgunderrot, Blau, Grau, Rosa, Grün, Marineblau, Taupe Blush, Pale Mauve. Wählen Sie einen Favoriten für sich und Ihre Brautjungfern. A-Linien-Kleid für Damen - Fühlen Sie sich in jeder Situation wohl, in der A-Linien-Schnitt und Empire-Taille. Die lockere Unterseite des Kleides macht Ihre Bewegungen einfach zu machen. Egal ob Sie tanzen oder sitzen, Sie werden sich immer gemütlich und entspannt fühlen. A-Form und hohe Taille werden Ihre Kurven hervorheben und Sie werden großartig aussehen! Materialzusammensetzung: Dieses Cocktail-Damenkleid ist aus 100 % Polyester mit Maxi-Länge Tüll-Overlay. Das Oberteil ist mit handgenähten Pailletten verziert, die wunderschön glänzend sind und Ihnen eine romantische Atmosphäre verleihen. Ein Kleid, verschiedene Anlässe - Dieses Ballkleid ist perfekt für verschiedene Anlässe. Egal, ob Sie Hochzeitsgast, Trauzeugin sind oder ein Kleid für Abschlussball, Abschlussball oder formelle Abendpartys, Kommunionen, Taufe oder einfach ein Mutterschaftsfotografie-Shooting suchen. International products have separate terms, are sold from abroad and may differ from local products, including fit, age ratings, and language of product, labeling or instructions.

"Deeply moving" - Booktrust "A gripping story of love, courage and triumph over evil" - The Bookseller "Can, and should, be read by an audience of any age." - Jewish News WINNER: THE UK LITERACY ASSOCIATION BOOK AWARDS 2024: INFORMATION BOOK SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKSELLER CHILDREN'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 A story of survival, of love between mother and son and of enduring hope in the face of unspeakable hardship. An important read. The Boy Who Didn't Want to Die describes an extraordinary journey, made by Peter, a boy of five, through war-torn Europe in 1944 and 1945. Peter and his parents set out from a small Hungarian town, travelling through Austria and then Germany together. Along the way, unforgettable images of adventure flash one after another: sleeping in a tent and then under the sky, discovering a disused brick factory, catching butterflies in the meadows - and as Peter realises that this adventure is really a nightmare - watching bombs falling from the blue sky outside Vienna, learning maths from his mother in Belsen. All this is drawn against a background of terror, starvation, infection and, inevitably, death, before Peter and his mother can return home. Author Professor Peter Lantos is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and in his previous life was an internationally renowned clinical neuroscientist. His memoir, Parallel Lines (Arcadia Books, 2006) was translated into Hungarian, German and Italian. Closed Horizon (Arcadia, 2012) was his first novel. Peter was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2020 for 'services to Holocaust education and awareness' He is one of the last of the generation of survivors and this - his first book for children - will serve as a testimony to his experience. Peter lives in London. MORE REVIEWS OF THE BOY WHO DIDN'T WANT TO DIE "the book [is] absolutely compelling, partly because it is a true story of extraordinary resilience and survival in unimaginable circumstances, but also because Lantos' stark recollections make very powerful reading." Gaby Wine, The Jewish Chronicle

"Deeply moving" - Booktrust "A gripping story of love, courage and triumph over evil" - The Bookseller "Can, and should, be read by an audience of any age." - Jewish News WINNER: THE UK LITERACY ASSOCIATION BOOK AWARDS 2024: INFORMATION BOOK SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKSELLER CHILDREN'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 A story of survival, of love between mother and son and of enduring hope in the face of unspeakable hardship. An important read. The Boy Who Didn't Want to Die describes an extraordinary journey, made by Peter, a boy of five, through war-torn Europe in 1944 and 1945. Peter and his parents set out from a small Hungarian town, travelling through Austria and then Germany together. Along the way, unforgettable images of adventure flash one after another: sleeping in a tent and then under the sky, discovering a disused brick factory, catching butterflies in the meadows - and as Peter realises that this adventure is really a nightmare - watching bombs falling from the blue sky outside Vienna, learning maths from his mother in Belsen. All this is drawn against a background of terror, starvation, infection and, inevitably, death, before Peter and his mother can return home. Author Professor Peter Lantos is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and in his previous life was an internationally renowned clinical neuroscientist. His memoir, Parallel Lines (Arcadia Books, 2006) was translated into Hungarian, German and Italian. Closed Horizon (Arcadia, 2012) was his first novel. Peter was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2020 for 'services to Holocaust education and awareness' He is one of the last of the generation of survivors and this - his first book for children - will serve as a testimony to his experience. Peter lives in London. MORE REVIEWS OF THE BOY WHO DIDN'T WANT TO DIE "the book [is] absolutely compelling, partly because it is a true story of extraordinary resilience and survival in unimaginable circumstances, but also because Lantos' stark recollections make very powerful reading." Gaby Wine, The Jewish Chronicle

Abendkleider für Damen - Präsentieren Sie entzückende Pailletten-Kleider mit Bardot-Ausschnitt. Erhältlich in 12 UK-Größen: 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 verschiedene Farben: Burgunderrot, Blau, Grau, Rosa, Grün, Marineblau, Taupe Blush, Pale Mauve. Wählen Sie einen Favoriten für sich und Ihre Brautjungfern. A-Linien-Kleid für Damen - Fühlen Sie sich in jeder Situation wohl, in der A-Linien-Schnitt und Empire-Taille. Die lockere Unterseite des Kleides macht Ihre Bewegungen einfach zu machen. Egal ob Sie tanzen oder sitzen, Sie werden sich immer gemütlich und entspannt fühlen. A-Form und hohe Taille werden Ihre Kurven hervorheben und Sie werden großartig aussehen! Materialzusammensetzung: Dieses Cocktail-Damenkleid ist aus 100 % Polyester mit Maxi-Länge Tüll-Overlay. Das Oberteil ist mit handgenähten Pailletten verziert, die wunderschön glänzend sind und Ihnen eine romantische Atmosphäre verleihen. Ein Kleid, verschiedene Anlässe - Dieses Ballkleid ist perfekt für verschiedene Anlässe. Egal, ob Sie Hochzeitsgast, Trauzeugin sind oder ein Kleid für Abschlussball, Abschlussball oder formelle Abendpartys, Kommunionen, Taufe oder einfach ein Mutterschaftsfotografie-Shooting suchen. International products have separate terms, are sold from abroad and may differ from local products, including fit, age ratings, and language of product, labeling or instructions.

Abendkleider für Damen - Präsentieren Sie entzückende Pailletten-Kleider mit Bardot-Ausschnitt. Erhältlich in 12 UK-Größen: 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 verschiedene Farben: Burgunderrot, Blau, Grau, Rosa, Grün, Marineblau, Taupe Blush, Pale Mauve. Wählen Sie einen Favoriten für sich und Ihre Brautjungfern. A-Linien-Kleid für Damen - Fühlen Sie sich in jeder Situation wohl, in der A-Linien-Schnitt und Empire-Taille. Die lockere Unterseite des Kleides macht Ihre Bewegungen einfach zu machen. Egal ob Sie tanzen oder sitzen, Sie werden sich immer gemütlich und entspannt fühlen. A-Form und hohe Taille werden Ihre Kurven hervorheben und Sie werden großartig aussehen! Materialzusammensetzung: Dieses Cocktail-Damenkleid ist aus 100 % Polyester mit Maxi-Länge Tüll-Overlay. Das Oberteil ist mit handgenähten Pailletten verziert, die wunderschön glänzend sind und Ihnen eine romantische Atmosphäre verleihen. Ein Kleid, verschiedene Anlässe - Dieses Ballkleid ist perfekt für verschiedene Anlässe. Egal, ob Sie Hochzeitsgast, Trauzeugin sind oder ein Kleid für Abschlussball, Abschlussball oder formelle Abendpartys, Kommunionen, Taufe oder einfach ein Mutterschaftsfotografie-Shooting suchen. International products have separate terms, are sold from abroad and may differ from local products, including fit, age ratings, and language of product, labeling or instructions.

Abendkleider für Damen - Präsentieren Sie entzückende Pailletten-Kleider mit Bardot-Ausschnitt. Erhältlich in 12 UK-Größen: 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 verschiedene Farben: Burgunderrot, Blau, Grau, Rosa, Grün, Marineblau, Taupe Blush, Pale Mauve. Wählen Sie einen Favoriten für sich und Ihre Brautjungfern. A-Linien-Kleid für Damen - Fühlen Sie sich in jeder Situation wohl, in der A-Linien-Schnitt und Empire-Taille. Die lockere Unterseite des Kleides macht Ihre Bewegungen einfach zu machen. Egal ob Sie tanzen oder sitzen, Sie werden sich immer gemütlich und entspannt fühlen. A-Form und hohe Taille werden Ihre Kurven hervorheben und Sie werden großartig aussehen! Materialzusammensetzung: Dieses Cocktail-Damenkleid ist aus 100 % Polyester mit Maxi-Länge Tüll-Overlay. Das Oberteil ist mit handgenähten Pailletten verziert, die wunderschön glänzend sind und Ihnen eine romantische Atmosphäre verleihen. Ein Kleid, verschiedene Anlässe - Dieses Ballkleid ist perfekt für verschiedene Anlässe. Egal, ob Sie Hochzeitsgast, Trauzeugin sind oder ein Kleid für Abschlussball, Abschlussball oder formelle Abendpartys, Kommunionen, Taufe oder einfach ein Mutterschaftsfotografie-Shooting suchen. International products have separate terms, are sold from abroad and may differ from local products, including fit, age ratings, and language of product, labeling or instructions.

Bu kitapta Karia Bölgesinin prehistorik caglara tarihlenen en erken yerlesimlerinden Gec Osmanli Dönemine uzanan arkeolojik ve tarihi gecmisi hakkinda bugüne dek yapilmis calismalarin ve güncel arastirmalarin bir özeti sunulmustur. Anadolu Yarimadasinin güneybati kesiminde yer alan ve Antikcagda Karia olarak bilinen cografi bölgenin kuzey sinirini Büyük Menderes Vadisi, dogu sinirini Dalaman Cayi belirler. MÖ 2. binyila tarihlenen yazili kaynaklarda bircok kez adi gecen Karialilarin, Hitit istilalari karsisinda Anadolu halklarini destekledikleri ancak daha sonra Misirlilar karsisinda Hititlerin yaninda yer aldiklari görülür. Karialilarin adi, tüm Akdenizde gectikleri yerleri talan ederek Gec Tunc Caginin güclü imparatorluklarinin cöküsüne katkida bulunan efsanevi Deniz Kavimleri arasinda da anilir. Ilerleyen dönemlerde, Homeros Karialilarin Yunanlara karsi Troia kentini savunmaya gelen halklar arasinda yer aldigindan bahsederken savasmaya bir kiz gibi altinlarla süslü geldiler sözleriyle Karialilarin zenginligini vurgular. The aim of this book is to present a brief overview of archaeological and historical research on Caria from the very first signs of occupation in the Prehistoric times to the Late Ottoman period. The region occupied by ancient Caria can roughly be described as the southwestern portion of the Anatolian peninsula South of the Menderes Valley and west of the Dalaman River. The Carians are mentioned several times in the 2nd millennium BCE for having supported the fight of Anatolian nations against the Hittite invaders and later to have fought beside the Hittite kings against the Egyptian forces. They were also counted amongst the legendary Sea People, traveling the Mediterranean, spreading destruction on their path and bringing down some of the most powerful empires of the Late Bronze Age. Later, Homer mentions them in the list of allies who came and supported Troy against the Greeks, emphasizing the wealth of the Carians, who came to fight decked like a girl with gold.

Christina Lamb's The Africa House is the b estselling account of an English gentleman and his African dream. In the last decades of the British Empire, Stewart Gore-Brown build himself a feudal paradise in Northern Rhodesia; a sprawling country estate modelled on the finest homes of England, complete with uniformed servants, daily muster parades and rose gardens. He wanted to share it with the love of his life, the beautiful unconventional Ethel Locke King, one of the first women to drive and fly. She, however, was nearly twenty years his senior, married and his aunt. Lorna, the only other woman he had ever cared for, had married another many years earlier. Then he met Lorna's orphaned daughter, so like her mother that he thought he had seen a ghost. It seemed he had found companionship and maybe love - but the Africa house was his dream and it would be a hard one to share. From a world of British colonials in Africa, with their arrogance and vision, to the final sad denouement. Leaving the once majestic house abandoned and a forgotten ruin of a bygone age Christina Lamb evokes a story full of passion, adventure and final betrayal. 'The story she tells is in equal measure absorbing, affecting and bizarre' Sunday Telegraph 'An amazing story of high hopes, lost love and ruined lives' Sunday Times Christina Lamb is an award-winning journalist. Currently roving Foreign Affairs Correspondent for the Sunday Times, she has been a foreign correspondent for almost 20 years, living in Pakistan, Brazil and South Africa first for the Financial Times then the Sunday Times. She is the author of the best-selling book The Africa House as well as House of Stone, Waiting For Allah and Small Wars Permitting: Despatches from Foreign Lands.

' Gloriously imaginative ' - SFX Magazine Explore EXODUS, a new sci-fi action-adventure, in this epic novel from legendary author Peter F. Hamilton. A fight for freedom among the stars . . . In a past age, humanity fled a dying Earth in massive ark ships. These searched the galaxy to find a new home. Then one fleet found Centauri, a dense cluster of stars teeming with habitable planets. Now, thousands of years later, Centauri's settlers have evolved into advanced beings known as Celestials - and their great houses rule vast star systems. As they vie for supremacy, Earth's ark ships continue to arrive, and humans must serve these repressive masters. But is there a better life beyond the empire? Finn is a Centauri-born human and yearns for a brighter future. So, when another ark ship arrives, previously thought lost, Finn seizes the chance to become a Traveler. These heroes explore the vast unknowns of distant space, dedicated to humanity's survival. And they hope - one day - to find freedom. Praise for EXODUS: The Archimedes Engine: 'One of SF's most incisive voices. A perfect balance of ingenious ideas and intricate execution. Real big picture Sci-fi' - Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time 'A binge-worthy read from a master of science fiction' - William C. Dietz, author of Halo: The Flood 'A swift-paced and propulsive narrative . . . a very human story about the desire for freedom' - Una McCormack 'Science fiction authors don't get much more legendary than Peter F. Hamilton' - New Scientist 'Packed with gloriously imaginative flourishes, multiple intersecting plotlines and brilliantly realized battle scenes' - SFX Magazine EXODUS is an action-adventure roleplaying game from Archetype Entertainment, led by industry veterans from BioWare (Mass Effect), 343 (Halo), Electronic Arts, Naughty Dog (The Last of Us) and other AAA studios.

From USA Today and Wall St. Journal bestselling author Emma Scott comes an all-new emotional, angsty coming-of-age love story in the same universe as Little Pieces of Light. They were supposed to be rivals. They weren't supposed to fall in love. Harper Bennett has fought for every inch of her life: for her dreams, her brother, and the roof over their heads. The Novus Science Prize is her ticket to a brilliant future, and she won't let anything stand in her way. Especially not Orion Mercer. Golden boy. Heir to one of Castle Hill's elite Big Five families. Orion is all effortless charm, endless jokes, and a future already written within a billion-dollar chemical empire. But Orion isn't what Harper expected. Behind the polished confidence is a secret battle he's been fighting alone and a musical talent no one saw coming. Harper sees through his mask, while Orion sees her not as charity or competition, but as the only honest thing in a world built on winning. Late nights in the lab give way to shared music and unspoken truths, and their rivalry softens into something deeper. Then a party ends in tragedy, a trusted mentor makes a dangerous offer, and when the truth explodes on awards night, Harper and Orion must decide who they are without the prize...and whether love is worth risking everything.

* Longlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction* Named a Book of the Year by Financial Times, Sunday Times, Prospect, TLS, Washington Post, NPR 'Stunningly multilayered... explores what happens when philosophies meet history, when decisions have to be made at the point of a gun' Prospect From the acclaimed author of Free comes an imaginative investigation into historical injustice, dignity and truth -- told through the story of a family from the fall of the Ottoman Empire to the dawn of Communism in the Balkans 'There is something about the human spirit, she would say, that withstands all attempts at offence, injury or humiliation ... we call it dignity' When Lea Ypi discovers a photo of her grandmother, Leman, honeymooning in the Alps in 1941 posted by a stranger on social media, she is faced with unsettling questions. Growing up, she was told records of her grandmother's youth were destroyed in the early days of communism in Albania. But there Leman was with her husband, Asllan Ypi: glamorous newlyweds while World War II raged. What follows is a thrilling reimagining of the past, as we are transported to the vanished world of Ottoman aristocracy, the making of modern Greece and Albania, a global financial crisis, the horrors of war and the dawn of communism in the Balkans. While investigating the truth about her family, Ypi grapples with uncertainty. Who is the real Leman Ypi? What made her move to Tirana as a young woman and marry a socialist who sympathized with the Popular Front while his father led a collaborationist government? And why was she smiling in the winter of 1941? By turns epic and intimate, profound and gripping, Indignity explores what it means to survive in an age of extremes. It reveals the fragility of truth, both personal and political, and the cost of decisions made against the tide of history. Through secret police reports of communist spies, court depositions, and Ypi's memories of her grandmother, we move between present and past, archive and imagination, fact and fiction. Ultimately, she asks, what do we really know about the people closest to us? And with what moral authority do we judge the acts of previous generations?

* Longlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction* Named a Book of the Year by Financial Times, Sunday Times, Prospect, TLS, Washington Post, NPR 'Stunningly multilayered... explores what happens when philosophies meet history, when decisions have to be made at the point of a gun' Prospect From the acclaimed author of Free comes an imaginative investigation into historical injustice, dignity and truth -- told through the story of a family from the fall of the Ottoman Empire to the dawn of Communism in the Balkans 'There is something about the human spirit, she would say, that withstands all attempts at offence, injury or humiliation ... we call it dignity' When Lea Ypi discovers a photo of her grandmother, Leman, honeymooning in the Alps in 1941 posted by a stranger on social media, she is faced with unsettling questions. Growing up, she was told records of her grandmother's youth were destroyed in the early days of communism in Albania. But there Leman was with her husband, Asllan Ypi: glamorous newlyweds while World War II raged. What follows is a thrilling reimagining of the past, as we are transported to the vanished world of Ottoman aristocracy, the making of modern Greece and Albania, a global financial crisis, the horrors of war and the dawn of communism in the Balkans. While investigating the truth about her family, Ypi grapples with uncertainty. Who is the real Leman Ypi? What made her move to Tirana as a young woman and marry a socialist who sympathized with the Popular Front while his father led a collaborationist government? And why was she smiling in the winter of 1941? By turns epic and intimate, profound and gripping, Indignity explores what it means to survive in an age of extremes. It reveals the fragility of truth, both personal and political, and the cost of decisions made against the tide of history. Through secret police reports of communist spies, court depositions, and Ypi's memories of her grandmother, we move between present and past, archive and imagination, fact and fiction. Ultimately, she asks, what do we really know about the people closest to us? And with what moral authority do we judge the acts of previous generations?

* Longlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction* Named a Book of the Year by Financial Times, Sunday Times, Prospect, TLS, Washington Post, NPR 'Stunningly multilayered... explores what happens when philosophies meet history, when decisions have to be made at the point of a gun' Prospect From the acclaimed author of Free comes an imaginative investigation into historical injustice, dignity and truth -- told through the story of a family from the fall of the Ottoman Empire to the dawn of Communism in the Balkans 'There is something about the human spirit, she would say, that withstands all attempts at offence, injury or humiliation ... we call it dignity' When Lea Ypi discovers a photo of her grandmother, Leman, honeymooning in the Alps in 1941 posted by a stranger on social media, she is faced with unsettling questions. Growing up, she was told records of her grandmother's youth were destroyed in the early days of communism in Albania. But there Leman was with her husband, Asllan Ypi: glamorous newlyweds while World War II raged. What follows is a thrilling reimagining of the past, as we are transported to the vanished world of Ottoman aristocracy, the making of modern Greece and Albania, a global financial crisis, the horrors of war and the dawn of communism in the Balkans. While investigating the truth about her family, Ypi grapples with uncertainty. Who is the real Leman Ypi? What made her move to Tirana as a young woman and marry a socialist who sympathized with the Popular Front while his father led a collaborationist government? And why was she smiling in the winter of 1941? By turns epic and intimate, profound and gripping, Indignity explores what it means to survive in an age of extremes. It reveals the fragility of truth, both personal and political, and the cost of decisions made against the tide of history. Through secret police reports of communist spies, court depositions, and Ypi's memories of her grandmother, we move between present and past, archive and imagination, fact and fiction. Ultimately, she asks, what do we really know about the people closest to us? And with what moral authority do we judge the acts of previous generations?

"Although Wiesner's latest picture-book fantasy appears at first to be wordless, it actually has some words that are quite important. On a class trip to the Empire State Building, a boy who likes to draw is approached by a friendly cloud who takes him to Sector 7, a "terminal" reminiscent of a train station in the sky, where clouds form according to blueprints drawn up by grumpy, unimaginative humans. It seems the clouds are itching for a makeover, and the boy, pencil and paper in hand, gives it to them. Because words such as terminal, arrivals, and assignment station, which appear on signs in the pictures, are necessary to establish the scene in some instances, younger children may need adult help with the book. But the clever sometimes overlapping illustrations are wonderful: strong and precise, they range from detailed, realistic renderings of places and human characters to pictures of fluffy clouds, at once diaphanous and substantial, complete with expressive faces, and fat, fascinating four-fingered hands. A book for somewhat older children than the ones who "read" books by John Goodall and his ilk, but a good choice for getting the imagination to work." Booklist, ALA "Finding shapes in the clouds is a grand pastime on a lazy day. But what makes those shapes anyway? and what if you had the power to alter them, to create new forms and details when amorphous arrangements are the norm? In a fittingly wordless book, this is exactly what happens to one young boy on a field trip to the top of the Empire State Building-where anything can happen, if movies are to be believed. This time, as the building is veiled in mist, a friendly cloud appears to the boy and after a few playful moments takes him on a tour of Sector 7, a factory-like satellite where clouds are shaped, classified, and distributed. The structure is like a Victorian railroad station with signs noting arrival and departure times, but tubes shaped like large funnels, not tracks, disperse the clouds to their assigned locations. The organization is hierarchical, regimented, and traditional. Perhaps that is why the playful cloud interjects a new element-a boy with imagination who can draw. And draw he does, fantastic shapes of sea life that confound the regular staff members who do not appreciate his artistry. Expelled for insubordina-tion, he is sent via cloud-carrier back to the Empire State Building just in time to rejoin his schoolmates for the return trip. But there is a different aura about him, and the clouds he inspired are amazing onlookers-much to the consternation of Sector 7! As with all wordless books, individual readers will supply the "text"; consequently, interpretations of exactly what's going on may differ depending upon age, sophistication, and experience. The illustrations, ranging from full-page spreads to small vignettes, are startlingly and powerfully conceived, the fanciful cloud-shapes both funny and elegant. Reminiscent of both William Pene du Bois's Lion and Pat Cummings's C.L.O.U.D.S., the book nevertheless ascends to new heights. In fact, it definitely inspires a bit of sky-watching." Horn Book "From levitating frogs to giant vegetables that take wing, Wiesner resuscitates his fondness for flying in another stretch of his imagination. In a wordless story told through picture panels and murals, a young boy is overtaken by fog on a class field trip to the top of the Empire State Building. He befriends a snowmanlike cloud who dons the boy's red cap and scarf and wings him to an ominous factory in the sky. Dubbed Sector 7, this imposing, industrial hunk of machinery is a Grand Central Station for clouds, from which they're all dispatched. The boy learns that clouds can freely take on various shapes, and soon has them twisting and stretching themselves into fish, to the dismay of the grim, uniformed workers. In a showy display, the clouds invade Manhattan, surprising cats at windows and children below. Wiesner's fans will redisco

' Gloriously imaginative ' - SFX Magazine Explore EXODUS, a new sci-fi action-adventure, in this epic novel from legendary author Peter F. Hamilton. A fight for freedom among the stars . . . In a past age, humanity fled a dying Earth in massive ark ships. These searched the galaxy to find a new home. Then one fleet found Centauri, a dense cluster of stars teeming with habitable planets. Now, thousands of years later, Centauri's settlers have evolved into advanced beings known as Celestials - and their great houses rule vast star systems. As they vie for supremacy, Earth's ark ships continue to arrive, and humans must serve these repressive masters. But is there a better life beyond the empire? Finn is a Centauri-born human and yearns for a brighter future. So, when another ark ship arrives, previously thought lost, Finn seizes the chance to become a Traveler. These heroes explore the vast unknowns of distant space, dedicated to humanity's survival. And they hope - one day - to find freedom. Praise for EXODUS: The Archimedes Engine: 'One of SF's most incisive voices. A perfect balance of ingenious ideas and intricate execution. Real big picture Sci-fi' - Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time 'A binge-worthy read from a master of science fiction' - William C. Dietz, author of Halo: The Flood 'A swift-paced and propulsive narrative . . . a very human story about the desire for freedom' - Una McCormack 'Science fiction authors don't get much more legendary than Peter F. Hamilton' - New Scientist 'Packed with gloriously imaginative flourishes, multiple intersecting plotlines and brilliantly realized battle scenes' - SFX Magazine EXODUS is an action-adventure roleplaying game from Archetype Entertainment, led by industry veterans from BioWare (Mass Effect), 343 (Halo), Electronic Arts, Naughty Dog (The Last of Us) and other AAA studios.

The Han Dynasty (¿¿, 206 BCE-220 CE) was the second great imperial unification dynasty of China. The dynasty, with 24 recognized emperors, ruled China for over 400 years. The reign of the Han Dynasty is broadly divided into the Western Han Dynasty (¿¿) and the Eastern Han Dynasty (¿¿). The period of the Han Dynasty is termed as the golden age in Chinese history. As such, the dynasty contributed in several socio-economic fields, such as the opening of the Silk Road (¿¿), the invention of paper, adoption of Confucianism as the state religion, developing first Chinese dictionary, etc. In fact, it was during the Han Dynasty that Sima Qian (¿¿¿), the great Chinese historian, wrote the treatise ¿¿¿¿: Shiji ("Records of the Grand Historian"). No wonder, since the Han Dynasty, the Huaxia ethnic group has been gradually known as the Han ethnic group (¿¿/¿¿), or Han nationality, the main ethnic group in China. The book, Chinese History 5, a Chinese reading practice book, presents a broad and simple overview of China's second and longest imperial dynasty: the Han Dynasty. The volume, 15th in the Mandarin Chinese Reading Series, includes both the Chinese text (simplified characters) and pinyin. With about 900 unique Chinese characters, the volume would be suitable for the beginners, lower intermediate and advanced level Chinese language learners (HSK 1-6). Overall, the Mandarin Chinese Reading Series offers you a variety of elementary level books (Level 1/2/3) to learn Chinese culture as well as practice Chinese reading fast. The book has 10 chapters in the following order: Chapter 1: Overview of the Han Dynasty (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿) Chapter 2: Basic Facts about the Han Dynasty (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿) Chapter 3: Timeline of the Han Dynasty (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿) Chapter 4: The Beginning of the Han Empire (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿) Chapter 5: Chang'an (¿¿¿¿¿¿) Chapter 6: Empress Lü Zhi (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿) Chapter 7: Achievements of the Han Dynasty (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿) Chapter 8: The New Dynasty (¿¿¿¿¿¿) Chapter 9: The Last Days of the Han Dynasty (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿) Chapter 10: The Legacy of the Han Dynasty (¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿)

In her international bestseller SPQR, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of ancient Rome, from its slightly shabby Iron Age origins to its reign as the undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean. Now, drawing on more than thirty years of teaching and writing about Roman history, Beard turns to the emperors who ruled the Roman Empire, beginning with Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) and taking us through the nearly three centuries-and some thirty emperors-that separate him from the boy-king Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE). Yet Emperor of Rome is not your typical chronological account of Roman rulers, one emperor after another: the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, the philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Instead, Beard asks different, often larger and more probing questions: What power did emperors actually have? Was the Roman palace really so bloodstained? What kind of jokes did Augustus tell? And for that matter, what really happened, for example, between the emperor Hadrian and his beloved Antinous? Effortlessly combining the epic with the quotidian, Beard tracks the emperor down at home, at the races, on his travels, even on his way to heaven. Along the way, Beard explores Roman fictions of imperial power, overturning many of the assumptions that we hold as gospel, not the least of them the perception that emperors one and all were orchestrators of extreme brutality and cruelty. Here Beard introduces us to the emperor's wives and lovers, rivals and slaves, court jesters and soldiers, and the ordinary people who pressed begging letters into his hand-whose chamber pot disputes were adjudicated by Augustus, and whose budgets were approved by Vespasian, himself the son of a tax collector. With its finely nuanced portrayal of sex, class, and politics, Emperor of Rome goes directly to the heart of Roman fantasies (and our own) about what it was to be Roman at its richest, most luxurious, most extreme, most powerful, and most deadly, offering an account of Roman history as it has never been presented before.