A BRAND NEW fake dating small town cowboy romance set on the Wild Heartlands ranch Every book in the Wild Heartlands series can be read as a standalone. A rancher cowboy with a rodeo-riding secret. The perfect read for fans of the Chestnut Springs series by Elsie Silver 🐎 I've been living a double life. By day, I'm Kade Wilde, running my family's ranch. By night, I ride bareback broncos in secret-something I promised my dad I'd never do. But nothing makes me feel more alive than the rush of the arena... except maybe Chloe Lawson. She walks into my life like a spark I can't ignore-newly single, fiery, and completely unaware of the chaos she's about to stir. One charged look across a bar, a few reckless words, and she's asking me to be her fake wedding date this weekend. She's a mix of vulnerability and desire and I can't say no. She doesn't know me, but she needs me. It was only meant to be temporary. But our connection quickly feels so real, and the way she slips into my world makes me believe there could be more. She has to leave at some point unless I can give her a reason to stay. Because she sees me-the man I try to hide and I can't resist her, even if it burns everything I've promised to protect. Praise for KA James: ''KA James' stories will pull you in and have you turning the pages, falling in love with characters who stay with you long after the last page.' Elle Nicoll "KA James brings oodles of steam and emotion to create a compellingly swoony read." Amy Andrews 'What a way to kick start this series! I cant wait for the rest of it!' Reader Review 'So beautifully written and an amazing love story' Reader Review 'This is a beautifully written second chance cowboy x country star romance, one where we see the cowboy hung up on old feelings and heartbreak he hasn't gotten over yet. We see their love rekindle in the most lovely and delicous way!' Reader Review

3000 Kilometer. Ein großer Strom. Unterwegs in einem Liegerad an den Ufern des Mississippi. Der Mississippi ist der amerikanischste aller Flüsse. Auf dem Ol' Man River wurden das Pokern und das Wasserskifahren erfunden. An seinen Ufern entstanden Blues, Jazz und Rock'n'Roll. Jahrzehntelang bildete der Mississippi die natürliche Grenze zum "Wilden Westen". Und im Bürgerkrieg behielt die Oberhand, wer den Fluss kontrollierte. Einen Monat lang folgt Thomas Bauer dem großen Fluss mit seinem Velomobil - einem Liegerad - von der Quelle bis nach New Orleans. Auf seinem Road Trip durch zehn US-Staaten trifft er Indianer und Gelegenheitsarbeiter, Barschönheiten und Fernfahrer - und alle wählen sie Donald Trump. Der Mittlere Westen der USA ist derb und rau, lärmend, völlig durchgeknallt und doch liebenswert. Man nimmt schon zum Frühstück 2000 Kalorien zu sich, besucht Waffenmessen und schimpft auf die "Bonzen aus Washington". Im Land der dicken Autos ist der Autor mit seinem zerbrechlichen Gefährt unterwegs. Wo immer er anhält, eilen die Leute herbei. Sie wollen wissen, was ein Deutscher mit einem solchen "Dings" in ihrem Land vorhat, und erzählen ihm ihre Geschichten. In New Orleans wird Thomas Bauer klar: "Wer den Flüssen zuhört, kann alles erfahren und alles lernen." Begleiten Sie ihn auf einer abenteuerlichen Fahrt mitten durch das amerikanische Heartland. millemari. Wir verlegen Bücher und Filme über die innere und die äußere Reise. Über Reisen, die bewegen und darüber, wie wir uns ändern, wenn sich die Orte ändern. Segler denken nachhaltig! Anders als viele Verlage drucken wir ein Buch nur dann, wenn es bestellt wurde. Das vermeidet nicht nur die Abholzung ganzer Wälder. Es schont auch die Umwelt. Jetzt gibt es die millemari.-Bücher auch als hochwertige Hardcover mit Schutzumschlag und Lesebändchen. Jedes Buch ein Unikat!

After centuries of relative isolation, the Karoo - South Africa's parched heartland - is a latecomer to the tourist industry. What was once viewed as a harsh and desolate place of limited attraction is rapidly gaining popularity with visitors who now make the Karoo their destination, keen to partake of its legendary charm, its extraordinary fl ora and the resurgence of wildlife that once again populates its plains. Wild Karoo documents Mitch Reardon's 4,000-kilometre journey of discovery through the region. The book focuses on: local nature conservation in all its facets, the game, large and small - some recently reintroduced - plus birds, reptiles and invertebrates, the unique, arid-adapted flora, the landscape and geology, the history and lifestyle of the people who have made a home here, plans to combine public and private protected land to create wildlife corridors between isolated parks, re-establishing old migration routes and so reversing some of the effects of human settlement. Beautifully written, and illustrated with evocative photographs, this book is a must read for anyone interested in travel, wildlife and the environment.

HarperCollins is proud to present our range of timeless literary classics. If there is one man to whom I do feel myself inferior, it is a coalminer. In the mid-1930s, George Orwell was given an assignment from his publisher - to write a book about unemployment and social conditions in the economically depressed north of England. Revolutionary for its time, The Road to Wigan Pier documents Orwell's stint in towns likes Barnsley, Sheffield and Wigan in 1936, where he met and observed working-class people living in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire. Orwell graphically and emphatically describes the hardships of ordinary people living in cramped slum housing, working in dangerous mines and growing hungry through malnutrition and social injustice. It is an honest, gripping and humane study that also looks at socialism as a solution to the problems facing working-class northerners - something many readers at the time were uncomfortable discussing. The Road to Wigan Pier cemented ideas that would be found in Orwell's later works, and remains a powerful portrait of poverty, injustice and class divisions in Britain to this day.

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed'The Boss', is an American singer-songwriter. He records and tours with the ¿ E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock infused with pop hooks, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey. Springsteen's recordings have tended to alternate between commercially accessible rock albums and somber folk-oriented works. Much of his status stems from the concerts and marathon shows in which he and the E Street Band perform intense ballads, rousing anthems, and party rock and roll songs, amongst which he intersperses whimsical or deeply emotional stories. His most successful studio albums, ¿ Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A., epitomize his penchant for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily life in America, and the latter album made him one of the most recognized artists of the 1980s within the United States. Because of his support for the presidential campaigns of Senator John Kerry and Senator Barack Obama, Springsteen has gradually become identified with liberal politics. nOriginalBarCode: 9786130098124

One night Mark Cocker followed the roiling, deafening flock of rooks and jackdaws which regularly passed over his Norfolk home on their way to roost in the Yare valley. From the moment he watched the multitudes blossom as a mysterious dark flower above the night woods, these gloriously commonplace birds were unsheathed entirely from their ordinariness. They became for Cocker a fixation and a way of life. Cocker goes in search of them, journeying from the cavernous, deadened heartland of South England to the hills of Dumfriesshire, experiencing spectacular failures alongside magical successes and epiphanies. Step by step he uncovers the complexities of the birds' inner lives, the unforeseen richness hidden in the raucous crow song he calls 'our landscape made audible'. Crow Country is a prose poem in a long tradition of English pastoral writing. It is also a reminder that 'Crow Country' is not 'ours': it is a landscape which we cohabit with thousands of other species, and these richly complex fellowships cannot be valued too highly. One Midsummer's Day by Mark Cocker coming in June 2023.

One night Mark Cocker followed the roiling, deafening flock of rooks and jackdaws which regularly passed over his Norfolk home on their way to roost in the Yare valley. From the moment he watched the multitudes blossom as a mysterious dark flower above the night woods, these gloriously commonplace birds were unsheathed entirely from their ordinariness. They became for Cocker a fixation and a way of life. Cocker goes in search of them, journeying from the cavernous, deadened heartland of South England to the hills of Dumfriesshire, experiencing spectacular failures alongside magical successes and epiphanies. Step by step he uncovers the complexities of the birds' inner lives, the unforeseen richness hidden in the raucous crow song he calls 'our landscape made audible'. Crow Country is a prose poem in a long tradition of English pastoral writing. It is also a reminder that 'Crow Country' is not 'ours': it is a landscape which we cohabit with thousands of other species, and these richly complex fellowships cannot be valued too highly. One Midsummer's Day by Mark Cocker coming in June 2023.

3000 Kilometer. Ein großer Strom. Unterwegs in einem Liegerad an den Ufern des Mississippi. Der Mississippi ist der amerikanischste aller Flüsse. Auf dem Ol' Man River wurden das Pokern und das Wasserskifahren erfunden. An seinen Ufern entstanden Blues, Jazz und Rock'n'Roll. Jahrzehntelang bildete der Mississippi die natürliche Grenze zum "Wilden Westen". Und im Bürgerkrieg behielt die Oberhand, wer den Fluss kontrollierte. Einen Monat lang folgt Thomas Bauer dem großen Fluss mit seinem Velomobil - einem Liegerad - von der Quelle bis nach New Orleans. Auf seinem Road Trip durch zehn US-Staaten trifft er Indianer und Gelegenheitsarbeiter, Barschönheiten und Fernfahrer - und alle wählen sie Donald Trump. Der Mittlere Westen der USA ist derb und rau, lärmend, völlig durchgeknallt und doch liebenswert. Man nimmt schon zum Frühstück 2000 Kalorien zu sich, besucht Waffenmessen und schimpft auf die "Bonzen aus Washington". Im Land der dicken Autos ist der Autor mit seinem zerbrechlichen Gefährt unterwegs. Wo immer er anhält, eilen die Leute herbei. Sie wollen wissen, was ein Deutscher mit einem solchen "Dings" in ihrem Land vorhat, und erzählen ihm ihre Geschichten. In New Orleans wird Thomas Bauer klar: "Wer den Flüssen zuhört, kann alles erfahren und alles lernen." Begleiten Sie ihn auf einer abenteuerlichen Fahrt mitten durch das amerikanische Heartland. millemari. Wir verlegen Bücher und Filme über die innere und die äußere Reise. Über Reisen, die bewegen und darüber, wie wir uns ändern, wenn sich die Orte ändern. Segler denken nachhaltig! Anders als viele Verlage drucken wir ein Buch nur dann, wenn es bestellt wurde. Das vermeidet nicht nur die Abholzung ganzer Wälder. Es schont auch die Umwelt. Jetzt gibt es die millemari.-Bücher auch als hochwertige Hardcover mit Schutzumschlag und Lesebändchen. Jedes Buch ein Unikat!

The DC McFarlane Collector Edition series of action figures brings back the classic looks of heroes and villains across DC Comics! The DC McFarlane Collector Edition Wave 5 Sergeant Rock DC Classic 7-Inch Scale Action Figure comes with 4 x extra hands, pack, knife, trench shovel, helmet, display base, and card stand. Also included is a collectible art card with a character biography on the back. Fully articulated, the limited-edition figure is showcased in premium window box packaging. Always at the vanguard of WWII&#39,s bloodiest battles, Sergeant Rock shepherded Easy Company from the beaches of Normandy into the heartland of Germany. The quintessential soldier, Frank followed orders and got the job done swiftly and efficiently, witnessing extraordinary events during wartime, even the presence of super-powered beings on the battlefield. In later years, Frank most clearly recalls the horror of seeing men on both sides and an endless parade of greenhorns get maimed or killed. When hostilities ceased, he stayed a soldier, serving his country as both educator and clandestine agent. Achtung! Nicht für Kinder unter 3 Jahren geeignet wegen verschluckbarer Kleinteile.

Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2025 Longlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction A Times best History Book of the Year 2024 It's time to meet the real Vikings. A comb, preserved in a bog, engraved with the earliest traces of a new writing system. A pagan shrine deep beneath a lava field. A note from an angry wife to a husband too long at the tavern. Doodles on birch-bark, made by an imaginative child. From these tiny embers, Eleanor Barraclough blows back to life the vast, rich and complex world of the Vikings. These are not just the stories of kings, raiders and saga heroes. Here are the lives of ordinary people: the merchants, children, artisans, enslaved people, seers, travellers and storytellers who shaped the medieval Nordic world. Immerse yourself in the day-to-day lives of an extraordinary culture that spanned centuries and spread from its Scandinavian heartlands to the remote fjords of Greenland, the Arctic wastelands, the waterways and steppes of Eurasia, all the way to the Byzantine Empire and Islamic Caliphate. 'Every page glittering with insight... [a] wonderful book' Dominic Sandbrook 'Brilliantly written... evokes the wonder of an entire civilisation.' Tom Holland

Why did the West, after winning the Cold War, lose its political balance? In the early 1990s, hopes for the eastward spread of liberal democracy were high. And yet the transformation of Eastern European countries gave rise to a bitter repudiation of liberalism itself, not only there but also back in the heartland of the West. In this brilliant work of political history, Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes argue that the supposed end of Communism turned out to be only the beginning of the age of the autocrat. Reckoning with the history of the last thirty years, they show that the most powerful force behind the wave of populist xenophobia that began in Eastern Europe stems from resentment at the post-1989 imperative to become Westernized. Through this prism, the Trump revolution represents an ironic fulfillment of the promise that the nations exiting from communist rule would come to resemble the United States. In a strange twist, Trump has elevated Putin's Russia and Orbän's Hungary into models for the United States. Written by two pre-eminent intellectuals bridging the East/West divide, The Light That Failed is a landmark book that sheds light on the extraordinary history of the fall of the Western ideal.

Der gefeierte Künstler Israel Nash aus Texas und Missouri wird sein mit Spannung erwartetes neues Album 'Ozarker' am Freitag, den 20. Oktober veröffentlichen. Aufgenommen mit dem Produzenten Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne), ist Nashs mitreißendes neues Werk eine Ode an seine Wurzeln. Aber mehr als das, es ist eine Meditation über Liebe und Familie, über die Schönheit und den Schmerz, den wir über Generationen hinweg weitergeben, über die Bande, die uns in guten und in schlechten Zeiten verbinden. Israel Nash, der vom Rolling Stone als "master of sonic textures" und vom britischen Uncut Magazin als "folk-rock visionary" bezeichnet wurde, wurde zunächst in Europa bekannt, wo er sich mit einer Reihe von der Kritik gefeierten Alben eine treue Fangemeinde aufbaute, die ihm einen Vertrag mit dem renommierten Londoner Label Loose Music einbrachte. Als das amerikanische Publikum auf den Geschmack kam, zog der aus Missouri stammende Musiker nach Dripping Springs, Texas, wo er sein eigenes Aufnahmestudio auf einer Ranch baute und einen etwas psychedelischeren Sound entwickelte, der irgendwo zwischen Neil Young und Pink Floyd angesiedelt ist. Produziert von Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne), kehrt Nash mit seinem neuesten Werk, dem mitreißenden 'Ozarker', zu seinen Wurzeln im Mittleren Westen zurück und macht sich den Heartland-Rock zu eigen, mit dem er aufgewachsen ist - mit überlebensgroßen Gitarren, hymnischen Melodien und reichhaltigen Charakterstudien. Formate: - CD im Digipak (6-panel Cardboard) - 140G schwarzes Vinyl im Gatefold-Sleeve inkl. bedruckter Innenhülle TRACKLIST CD: 01. Can't Stop, 02. Roman Candle, 03. Ozarker, 04. Pieces, 05. Going Back, 06. Firedance, 07. Lost in America, 08. Midnight Hour, 09. Travel On, 10. Shadowland

From the Nebula and Bram Stoker Award(R)-winning author comes the lyrical and moving science-fantasy follow-up to A Palace Near the Wind, as Lufeng and her sister Sangshu fight to protect their culture and their world. For readers of Nghi Vo, Amal El-Mohtar and Kritika H. Rao. Fleeing from the Palace and crashing into the waters below its steep walls, Lufeng and her siblings reach Gear, with its huge deadly water wheels, where their sister Sangshu is waiting for them. In the chaos of the enormous waves, within moments they're snatched away and taken into rebel territory, where they learn more of the deadly experiments Zinc has wreaked upon the people. Loyal to Copper now, Sangshu herself is a victim of Zinc's experiments. Desperate to find her family, she races through Gear to Engine, ruthless Zinc's industrial heartland, where she burns with a desire to fix her own mistakes and those of others and find a way to save her world. This powerful, beautifully told novella explores the bonds of family, the pain of leaving all you have known behind, and the terrible price of our industrial future.

THE GRIPPING THRILLER FROM THE NO. 1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR When Ex-Navy SEAL and CIA operative Maxwell Moore barely survives a prisoner exchange that goes explosively wrong off the coast of Pakistan, he realises that powerful, cunning forces have been marshalled against him. Determined to dig out the truth, he uncovers a shocking conspiracy. The two greatest threats to U.S. security have forged an unholy alliance. For the Mexican drug cartel, it means money, power, and control of the drug trade. But for the Taliban, it is an opportunity to bring the fire of jihad to the heartland of the infidel. Now Moore and his depleted team must infiltrate the drug cartel in the hunt for terrorists preparing to bring destruction to America's streets . . . From the remote, war-scarred landscapes of the Middle East to the blood-soaked chaos of the U.S.-Mexico border, Tom Clancy delivers a heart-stopping thriller you won't forget. __________ PRAISE FOR TOM CLANCY 'Exhilarating. No other novelist is giving so full a picture of modern conflict' Sunday Times 'A brilliantly constructed thriller that packs a punch' Daily Mail 'A virtuoso display of page-turning talent' Sunday Express 'Heart-stopping action . . . entertaining and eminently topical' Washington Post

Inhalt: Dieses Set enthält alle notwendigen Teile, um je 1 kleine Streitmacht der Hundred Kingdoms und der Spires für Conquest zu bauen, sowie passende Bases, Stands, Marker, Würfel, Zubehör, 1 Kampagnen- und 1 Regelbuch. Folgende Einheiten sind enthalten: - 1 Noble Lord Fredrik (Special Miniature) - 1 Biomancer The Alchemist" (Special Miniature) - 1 High Clone Executor - 24 Bound Clones - 12 Desolation Drones - 1 Pteraphon - 1 Priory Commander - 24 Men-at-Arms - 12 Longbowmen - 3 Order of the Crimson Tower Die Modelle bestehen aus Kunststoff und Resin, sind unbemalt und müssen zusammen gebaut werden. Hintergrund: Jahre sind vergangen seit der sagenumwobenen Schlacht von Nepenthe in Riismark, als die Menschheit und die Spires zum ersten Mal seit Jahrhunderten in einen offenen Krieg zogen. Fredrik, König von Brandengrad und faktischer Herrscher über ganz Riismark, wurde von seinen Standesgenossen im Konklave im Stich gelassen, während seine Ländereien an allen Fronten belagert wurden. Um wenigstens eine Front zu sichern, erkannte er die Schuld seiner Familie gegenüber seinem Feind an – dem Alchemisten des Nepenthe-Turms – und ehrte sie. Doch nachdem die Nords mithilfe der Orden zurückgedrängt worden waren, weigerte sich der Orden des Schwertes, die zurückeroberten Gebiete wieder aus der Hand zu geben. Im Stich gelassen von den Heartlands, weiß Fredrik, dass ein weiteres Jahr der Schuldentilgung gegenüber dem Alchemisten seine bereits unter Ressourcenmangel leidende Nation zugrunde richten würde. Und so bereitet sich Fredrik nun darauf vor, dem Alchemisten erneut seinen Tribut zu entrichten. Denn er weiß nur zu gut: Nepenthe vergisst nicht – in alle Ewigkeit. "

"O'Brien has written a vital, important book-a book that matters not only to the reader interested in Vietnam, but to anyone interested in the craft of writing as well."-Michiko Kakutani, New York Times A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing minds and lives since it burst onto the literary scene, The Things They Carried is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O'Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three. Taught everywhere-from high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing-it has become required reading for any American and continues to challenge readers in their perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, courage and fear and longing. The Things They Carried won France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Der gefeierte Künstler Israel Nash aus Texas und Missouri wird sein mit Spannung erwartetes neues Album 'Ozarker' am Freitag, den 20. Oktober veröffentlichen. Aufgenommen mit dem Produzenten Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne), ist Nashs mitreißendes neues Werk eine Ode an seine Wurzeln. Aber mehr als das, es ist eine Meditation über Liebe und Familie, über die Schönheit und den Schmerz, den wir über Generationen hinweg weitergeben, über die Bande, die uns in guten und in schlechten Zeiten verbinden. Israel Nash, der vom Rolling Stone als "master of sonic textures" und vom britischen Uncut Magazin als "folk-rock visionary" bezeichnet wurde, wurde zunächst in Europa bekannt, wo er sich mit einer Reihe von der Kritik gefeierten Alben eine treue Fangemeinde aufbaute, die ihm einen Vertrag mit dem renommierten Londoner Label Loose Music einbrachte. Als das amerikanische Publikum auf den Geschmack kam, zog der aus Missouri stammende Musiker nach Dripping Springs, Texas, wo er sein eigenes Aufnahmestudio auf einer Ranch baute und einen etwas psychedelischeren Sound entwickelte, der irgendwo zwischen Neil Young und Pink Floyd angesiedelt ist. Produziert von Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne), kehrt Nash mit seinem neuesten Werk, dem mitreißenden 'Ozarker', zu seinen Wurzeln im Mittleren Westen zurück und macht sich den Heartland-Rock zu eigen, mit dem er aufgewachsen ist - mit überlebensgroßen Gitarren, hymnischen Melodien und reichhaltigen Charakterstudien. Formate: - CD im Digipak (6-panel Cardboard) - 140G schwarzes Vinyl im Gatefold-Sleeve inkl. bedruckter Innenhülle TRACKLIST CD: 01. Can't Stop, 02. Roman Candle, 03. Ozarker, 04. Pieces, 05. Going Back, 06. Firedance, 07. Lost in America, 08. Midnight Hour, 09. Travel On, 10. Shadowland

THE GRIPPING THRILLER FROM THE NO. 1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR When Ex-Navy SEAL and CIA operative Maxwell Moore barely survives a prisoner exchange that goes explosively wrong off the coast of Pakistan, he realises that powerful, cunning forces have been marshalled against him. Determined to dig out the truth, he uncovers a shocking conspiracy. The two greatest threats to U.S. security have forged an unholy alliance. For the Mexican drug cartel, it means money, power, and control of the drug trade. But for the Taliban, it is an opportunity to bring the fire of jihad to the heartland of the infidel. Now Moore and his depleted team must infiltrate the drug cartel in the hunt for terrorists preparing to bring destruction to America's streets . . . From the remote, war-scarred landscapes of the Middle East to the blood-soaked chaos of the U.S.-Mexico border, Tom Clancy delivers a heart-stopping thriller you won't forget. __________ PRAISE FOR TOM CLANCY 'Exhilarating. No other novelist is giving so full a picture of modern conflict' Sunday Times 'A brilliantly constructed thriller that packs a punch' Daily Mail 'A virtuoso display of page-turning talent' Sunday Express 'Heart-stopping action . . . entertaining and eminently topical' Washington Post

Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2025 Longlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction A Times best History Book of the Year 2024 It's time to meet the real Vikings. A comb, preserved in a bog, engraved with the earliest traces of a new writing system. A pagan shrine deep beneath a lava field. A note from an angry wife to a husband too long at the tavern. Doodles on birch-bark, made by an imaginative child. From these tiny embers, Eleanor Barraclough blows back to life the vast, rich and complex world of the Vikings. These are not just the stories of kings, raiders and saga heroes. Here are the lives of ordinary people: the merchants, children, artisans, enslaved people, seers, travellers and storytellers who shaped the medieval Nordic world. Immerse yourself in the day-to-day lives of an extraordinary culture that spanned centuries and spread from its Scandinavian heartlands to the remote fjords of Greenland, the Arctic wastelands, the waterways and steppes of Eurasia, all the way to the Byzantine Empire and Islamic Caliphate. 'Every page glittering with insight... [a] wonderful book' Dominic Sandbrook 'Brilliantly written... evokes the wonder of an entire civilisation.' Tom Holland

Sogdians, a group of Central Asians based between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, played a significant historical role at the crossroads of the Silk Roads. Travelling the world as caravan leaders, organised in trading networks, they were found from Byzantium to the Chinese heartland. The Sogdian language was a candidate for the lingua franca of the Silk Roads for some hundred years and Sogdians acted as polyglot mediators at courts and prominent translators of Buddhist texts. In the Chinese capitals, fire temples were erected for their use and the exotic products they imported were cherished by the people and the court. This socio-historical study by Moritz Huber provides a translation of the transmitted Chinese records on Sogdians in Sogdiana and China and combines them with archaeological evidence to present a differentiated picture of their presence in China from the 3rd to 10th century CE. Besides the transcription and translation of all epitaphs of Sogdians from an archaeological context, used to tell their interconnected biographies, as well as a detailed discussion of their political organisation in China under the sabao 薩保/薩寶; this publication further includes a case-study of the Shi 史 families in Guyuan 固原; Ningxia 寧夏 Province.