Anthropology

To reflect and explore this, Gerry Smyth has gathered together myths and folktales from cultures around the world – Native American, Caribbean, Polynesian, Persian, Indian, Scandinavian and European. Just as these stories have been passed down through generations, he brings his own narrative interpretation with additional discussion on their meaning. Stories are divided into seven sections: Origin Stories; Gods and Humans; Voyages; Lost Places, Imagined Spaces; Weather and Nature; Down to the Sea in Ships; Fabulous Beasts; and embellished with illustrations from the wide-ranging collections of the Library.

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Southeast Asia is home to numerous world heritage sites. Through engaging texts and expertly curated objects from the British Museum collection, arranged chronologically and thematically into seven chapters, this volume offers a new approach to one of the most complex and diverse areas of the world. Every object tells a story in a wide-ranging and accessible selection that illuminates the civilizations, societies and local cultures that have defined Southeast Asia over the past 6,000 years.

From the emergence of early agricultural communities and stratified societies to the rise of powerful empires and religious developments in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, and to the eras of colonial rule and independence, curator and art historian Alexandra Green traces and explores the variety of Southeast Asian cultures. The texts describe the region through a broad range of objects, including sculptures from the historic civilizations of Java, Angkor, Bagan and Sukhothai, as well as ceramics, furniture, religious items, basketry, textiles, popular posters and contemporary art. This book is an informative visual delight for curious minds everywhere.

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Speak Out brings together the writings of Brixton Black Women’s Group for the first time, in a landmark collection. Established in response to the lack of interest in women’s issues experienced in male-dominated Black organisations, the Brixton Black Women’s Group’s aim was to create a distinct space where women of African and Asian descent could meet to focus on political, social and cultural issues as they affected black women. BWG published its own newsletter, Speak Out, which kept alive the debate about the relevance of feminism to black politics and provided a black women’s perspective on immigration, housing, health and culture.

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This is a concise and entertaining guide to the complex tradition of Chinese mythology. While many around the world are familiar with some aspects of Chinese myth – through Chinese New Year festivities or the classic adventures of the Monkey King in Journey to the West – few outside of China understand the richness of Chinese mythology, influenced by Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

Offering much more than any competing overview of Chinese mythology, The Chinese Myths not only retells the ancient stories but also considers their place within the patterns of Chinese religions, culture and history. Tao Tao Liu introduces us to an intriguing cast of gods, goddesses, dragons and monks, including: the ancient hero, Yi the Archer, who shot suns out of the sky to save humanity from a drought; Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy and Compassion, to whom there are temples dedicated all over East Asia; and Madame White Snake, a water snake spirit in the guise of a mysterious widow, her story adapted into countless films and operas. This book is for anyone interested in China, as knowing its myths allows readers to understand and appreciate its culture in a new light.

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In The Throne, Ian Lloyd turns his inimitable, quick-witted style to these key events in British royal history, providing fascinating anecdotes and interesting facts: William the Conqueror’s Christmas Day crowning, during which jubilant shouts were mistaken by his guards as an assassination attempt; the dual coronation of William and Mary in 1689; the pared-back ‘Half Crown-ation’ of William IV; and the televised spectacle of Elizabeth II’s 1953 ceremony.

Detailing everything from the famous Coronation Chair made for Edward I and the Crown Jewels to the infamously uncomfortable Gold State Coach – this is a truly spectacular celebration of British culture and the ultimate pomp of royalty.

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The bestselling social history of Victorian domestic life, told through the letters, diaries, journals and novels of 19th-century men and women.

The Victorian age is both recent and unimaginably distant. In the most prosperous and technologically advanced nation in the world, people carried slops up and down stairs; buried meat in fresh earth to prevent mould forming; wrung sheets out in boiling water with their bare hands. This drudgery was routinely performed by the parents of people still living, but the knowledge of it has passed as if it had never been. Running water, stoves, flush lavatories – even lavatory paper – arrived slowly throughout the century, and most were luxuries available only to the prosperous.

Judith Flanders, author of the widely acclaimed ‘A Circle of Sisters’, has written an incisive and irresistible portrait of Victorian domestic life. The book itself is laid out like a house, following the story of daily life from room to room: from childbirth in the master bedroom, through the scullery, kitchen and dining room – cleaning, dining, entertaining – on upwards, ending in the sickroom and death.

Through a collage of diaries, letters, advice books, magazines and paintings, Flanders shows how social history is built up out of tiny domestic details. Through these we can understand the desires, motivations and thoughts of the age.

Many people today live in Victorian terraces, and so the houses themselves are familiar, but the lives are not. ‘The Victorian House’ will change all that.

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Work-Life Balance for Dummies will offer readers advice and simple strategies to achieve more balance whatever their situation.

Discover how to:

• Work out your priorities
• Put off procrastination and improve your time management
• Move your boss towards work-life balance
• Cast your net wider and change jobs and employers
• Plan a relocation

About the author

Jeni Mumford is the author of Life Coaching For Dummies. She is a personal life coach who works with both individuals and organisations on personal development. She runs holistic coaching events in the UK and Italy and is an accredited NLP practitioner.

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‘A fascinating exploration that challenges our basic assumptions of what work means’ – Yuval Noah Harari

‘There is eminently underlinable stuff on most pages … Fascinating’ – The Times

‘One of those few books that will turn your customary ways of thinking upside down’ – Susan Cain

‘Illuminating’ – New Statesman
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A revolutionary new history of humankind through the prism of work, from the origins of life on Earth to our ever more automated present

The work we do brings us meaning, moulds our values, determines our social status and dictates how we spend most of our time. But this wasn’t always the case: for 95% of our species’ history, work held a radically different importance.

How, then, did work become the central organisational principle of our societies? How did it transform our bodies, our environments, our views on equality and our sense of time? And why, in a time of material abundance, are we working more than ever before?

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