Social Sciences
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Strong Female Character: What Movies Teach Us
‘At a time when fluff and gossip reign supreme, Hanna Flint’s work is consistently insightful, informative and engaging all at once. I always finish reading it feeling just a tad bit smarter.’ Candice Frederick, Huffington Post‘One of the smartest pop culture commentators out there.’ Toby Moses, Guardian
The leading film critic of her generation offers an eloquent, insightful and humorous reflection on the screen’s representation of women and ethnic minorities, revealing how cinema has been the key to understanding herself, her body image and her ambitions as well as the world we live in.
A staunch feminist of mixed-race heritage, Hanna has succeeded in an industry not designed for people like her. She interweaves anecdotes from familial and personal experiences – from episodes of messy sex and introspection to the time when actor Vincent D’Onofrio tweeted that Hanna Flint sounded ‘like a secret agent’ – to offer a critical eye on the screen’s representation of women and ethnic minorities. Divided into sections ‘Origin Story’, ‘Coming of Age’, ‘Adult Material’, ‘Workplace Drama’ and ‘Strong Female Character’, the book ponders how the creative industries could better reflect our multicultural society.
Warm, funny and engaging and full of film-infused lessons, Strong Female Character will appeal to readers of all backgrounds and seeks to help us better see ourselves in our own eyes rather than letting others decide who and what we can be.
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£11.90£12.30Strong Female Character: What Movies Teach Us
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Cinema of the ’70s Magazine: Issue 9 (Colour)
This is Issue 9 of Cinema of the ’70s, a magazine dedicated to movies from the grooviest, grittiest decade of cinema. Our ninth edition contains 100 pages and features pieces by professional writers like John Harrison, David Michael Brown, Simon J. Ballard, Ian Talbot Taylor and others. The full contents are: Steven Spielberg’s Duel – Mann, You Need help by James Aaron; Raquel Welch – Last of the Bombshells by Dr, Andrew C. Webber; Dont… Fuck… Wid… Me! The Harder They Come by Ian Talbot Taylor; Young Lovers and a Demolition Derby by Bryan C Kuriawa; 10 Rillington Place by Peter Sawford; Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell – Fisher’s Neglected Classic by James Lecky; Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Despair by Rachel Bellwoar; Movie Print: An Overview of 1970s Film Magazines by John Harrison; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Mars – Capricorn One by James Cadman; Into the Great Beyond – Beyond the Valley of the Dolls by David Michael Brown; The Great Waldo Pepper – An Enthralling Barnstormer by David Flack; Hello to the Cyncical Seventies, Goodbye Gemini by Simon J. Ballard; A Blood Oath of Vengence – Assault on Precinct 13 by Kev Hurst; 1941 – Masterpiece or Mis-Step? by Martin Dallard; The Revolution of 1970 by Allen Rubinstein; Rebel Yell – Caged Heat by Julian Hobbs; Original Artwork by the students of the Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies and Caricature Artwork by Aaron Stielstra. 100 pages Full colour throughout.Read more
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Normal Women: From the Number One Bestselling Author Comes 900 Years of Women Making History
A NEW STATESMEN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
‘A lasting work of social history’ THE TIMES
‘A genuinely new history of our nation’ DAN JONES
‘This celebration of women is a triumph of popular history’ SPECTATOR
‘Philippa Gregory uses all her bestseller skills to weave a narrative with pace’ ANTONIA FRASER
FROM THE MULTI-MILLION BESTSELLING HISTORICAL NOVELIST COMES THE CULMINATION OF HER LIFE’S WORK
- Did you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry?
- That the Peasant’s Revolt was started and propelled by women, protesting a tax on women?
- Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just that women were naturally inferior to men but that they’d evolve to become ever more inferior?
These are just a few of the startling findings you will learn from reading Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women. In this ambitious and ground-breaking book, she tells the story of our nation over 900 years, but for the very first time women – some fifty per cent of the population – are no longer invisible in this history of England, but are at its beating heart.
Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records to find highway women, beggars and shepherdesses, through newspapers and diaries to find murderers and brides, housewives and pirates, female husbands and hermits. The ‘normal women’ you will meet in her pages went to war, ploughed the fields, campaigned, wrote, and loved. They rode in jousts, flew Spitfires, issued their own currency and built ships, corn mills and houses as part of their everyday lives They committed crimes, or treason, worshipped many gods, cooked and nursed, invented things and rioted. A lot. They built our society to be as diverse and varied as the women themselves. They are there in the archives – if you look – and they made our history.
‘You’ll lose count of the number of things you learn about women and their skewed place in history … the book reframes the past … an essential read’ INDEPENDENT, FIVE-STAR REVIEW
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The Hidden Injuries of Class
In this reissue of the 1972 classic of social anatomy, Richard Sennets adds a new introduction to shows how the injuries of class persist into the 21st century. In this intrepid, groundbreaking book, Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb uncover and define a new form of class conflict in America?an internal conflict in the heart and mind of the blue-collar worker who measures his own value against those lives and occupations to which our society gives a special premium.The authors conclude that in the games of hierarchical respect, no class can emerge the victor; and that true egalitarianism can be achieved only by rediscovering diverse concepts of human dignity. Examining personal feelings in terms of a totality of human relations, and looking beyond the struggle for economic survival, The Hidden Injuries of Class takes an important step forward in the sociological critique of everyday life.Read more
£12.00£14.20The Hidden Injuries of Class
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Blockbusters: Why Big Hits – and Big Risks – are the Future of the Entertainment Business
What is behind the phenomenal success of entertainment businesses such as Warner Bros., Marvel Enterprises and Manchester United – along with such stars as Jay-Z and Lady Gaga? Which strategies give leaders in film, television, music, publishing, and sports an edge over their rivals?
Anita Elberse, Harvard Business School’s expert on the entertainment industry, has done pioneering research on the worlds of media and sports for more than a decade. Now, in this groundbreaking book, she explains a powerful truth about the fiercely competitive world of entertainment: building a business around blockbuster products – the movies, television shows, songs and books that are hugely expensive to produce and market – is the surest path to long-term success. Along the way, she reveals why entertainment executives often spend outrageous amounts of money in search of the next blockbuster, why superstars are paid unimaginable sums and how digital technologies are transforming the entertainment landscape.
Full of inside stories emerging from her unprecedented access to some of the world’s most successful entertainment brands, Blockbusters is destined to become required reading for anyone seeking to understand how the entertainment industry really works – and how to navigate today’s high-stakes business world at large.
‘Convincing . . . Elberse’s Blockbusters builds on her already impressive academic résumé to create an accessible and entertaining book.’ Financial Times
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A Brief History of Vietnam: Colonialism, War and Renewal: The Story of a Nation Transformed (Brief History Of Asia Series)
This accessible guide is your one-stop shop for discovering Vietnamese history.A Brief History of Vietnam explores the fascinating, turbulent history of a land that has risen from the ashes of war to become a leading economic power. This book expertly examines the history of a people and a nation with ancient roots but which only took its current shape in the 19th century under French colonial rule and its current name in 1945.
Before that landmark year, Vietnam was known by many names, under many rulers. Located in the geographical center of Southeast Asia, the country we call “Vietnam” was ruled by China, a series of Vietnamese emperors, and the French. A devastating, decades-long conflict for independence ensued, ending with the conclusion of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Key topics include:
- China’s ancient conquest of Vietnam and the millennia-long struggle of the Vietnamese for independence from its powerful neighbor to the north.
- The reign of the Nguyen dynasty, the last dynasty to rule Vietnam, with its capital at the ancient city of Hue, today a UNESCO world heritage site.
- France’s eventual colonization of Vietnam, which lasted for over 60 years, culminating in the dramatic Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
- The story of Ho Chi Minh, educated in France, who attended the Treaty of Versailles to advocate for independence and became Vietnam’s first President after the Vietnam War.
- The violent political split between North and South, which resulted in a devastating war with the United States and eventual victory by the Communists.
- The country’s miraculous emergence from three decades of war and its path to becoming one of the world’s fastest-growing economies today.
- Perfect for history buffs of all kinds, the book includes 32 pages of vivid color photos that depict the country’s rich history. Journalist Bill Hayton’s accessible prose makes A Brief History of Vietnam an essential study of a beautiful, complex land in the heart of Southeast Asia and its worldwide influence.
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The Chinese Myths: A Guide to the Gods and Legends
The essential guide to the complex, fascinating world of Chinese myths: retelling the stories and exploring their significance in Chinese culture.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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£12.20£14.20The Chinese Myths: A Guide to the Gods and Legends
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Critical Hits: Writers on Gaming and the Alternate Worlds We Inhabit
‘A loot drop of brilliance’ Naomi Alderman, author of The Power
Whether you’re an avid gamer, a Twitch subscriber, or just an incidental Subway Surfer, video games have changed the way you interact with the world, and have been part of our lives for over fifty years. Critical Hits is a celebration of play and playfulness, and the lasting impact of videogames.
Composed of sharp, impassioned, and inquisitive essays, this collection begins with an introduction by Carmen Maria Machado and presents video games through the eyes of eighteen writer-gamers as they straddle real and artificial worlds. In games, they find solace from illness and grief, test ideas about language, bodies, race, and technology, and see their experiences and identities reflected in-or complicated by-the interactive virtual realities they inhabit.
From a deep dive into “portal fantasy” games by Charlie Jane Anders and a comic by MariNaomi about her time as a video game producer, to the overlaps in gaming and poetry by Stephen Sexton, Critical Hits illuminates fragments of an industry that is wildly popular, grossly misunderstood, and absolutely spellbinding.
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Too Late To Stop Now: More Rock’n’Roll War Stories
More than 40 stories from the glory days of rock’n’roll, featuring Lou Reed, Elton John, Sting and The Clash.
Allan Jones brings stories – many previously unpublished – from the golden days of music reporting. Long nights of booze, drugs and unguarded conversations which include anecdotes, experiences and extravagant behaviour.
– A band’s aftershow party in San Francisco being gatecrashed by cocaine-hungry Hells Angels
– Chrissie Hynde on how rock’n’roll killed The Pretenders
– What happened when Nick Lowe and 20 of his mates flew off to Texas to join the Confederate Air Force
– John Cale on his dark alliance with Lou ReedAllan Jones remembers a world that once was – one of dark excess and excitement, outrageous deeds and extraordinary talent, featuring legends at both the beginnings and ends of their careers.
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£12.30£16.10Too Late To Stop Now: More Rock’n’Roll War Stories
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Big Bang: The Most Important Scientific Discovery of All Time and Why You Need to Know About It
The bestselling author of Fermat’s Last Theorem and The Code Book tells the story of the brilliant minds that deciphered the mysteries of the Big Bang. A fascinating exploration of the ultimate question: how was our universe created?
Albert Einstein once said: ‘The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.’ Simon Singh believes geniuses like Einstein are not the only people able to grasp the physics that govern the universe. We all can.
As well as explaining what the Big Bang theory actually is and why cosmologists believe it is an accurate description of the origins of the universe, this book is also the fascinating story of the scientists who fought against the established idea of an eternal and unchanging universe. Simon Singh, renowned for making difficult ideas much less daunting than they first seem, is the perfect guide for this journey.
Everybody has heard of the Big Bang Theory. But how many of us can actually claim to understand it? With characteristic clarity and a narrative peppered with anecdotes and personal histories of those who have struggled to understand creation, Simon Singh has written the story of the most important theory ever.
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Lost Islamic History: Reclaiming Muslim Civilisation from the Past
Over the last 1,400 years, a succession of Muslim polities and empires expanded to control territories and peoples stretching from southern France to East Africa and South East Asia. Yet many of the contributions of Muslim thinkers, scientists and theologians, not to mention statesmen and soldiers, have been overlooked. The bestselling Lost Islamic History, now in a new updated edition, rescues from oblivion a forgotten past, charting its narrative from Muhammad to modern-day nation-states. From Abbasids and Ottomans to Mughals and West African kings, Firas Alkhateeb sketches key personalities, inventions and historical episodes to show the monumental impact of Islam on global society and culture.Read more
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The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades) (The Politically Incorrect Guides)
“The courageous Robert Spencer busts myths and tells truths about jihadists that no one else will tell.” —MICHELLE MALKINWhile many choose to simply blame the West for provoking terrorists, Robert Spencer’s new book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)™ reveals why it is time to ignore political correctness and identify the enemy – if we hope to ever defeat them.
In a fast-paced, politically incorrect tour of Islamic teachings and Crusades history, Spencer reveals the roots of Islamic violence and hatred. Spencer refutes the myths popularized by left-wing academics and Islamic apologists who justify their political agendas with contrived historical “facts.”
Exposing myth after myth, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)™ tackles Islam’s institutionalized mistreatment of non-Muslims, the stifling effect Islam has on science and free inquiry, the ghastly lure of Islam’s X-rated Paradise for suicide bombers and jihad terrorists, the brutal Islamic conquests of the Christian lands of the Middle East and North Africa, and more.
InThe Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)™, you will learn:
- How Muhammad did not teach “peace and tolerance”—instead he led armies and ordered the assassination of his enemies
- Why American Muslim groups and left-wing academics are engaged in a huge cover-up of Islamic doctrine and historyHow today’s jihad terrorists following the Qur’an’s command to make war on Jews and Christians have the same motives and goals as the Muslims who fought the Crusaders
- Why the Crusades were not acts of unprovoked aggression by Europe against the Islamic world, but a delayed response to centuries of Muslim aggression
- What must be done today—from reading the Qur’an to reclassifying Muslim organizations—in order to defeat jihad terrorists
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The Earth is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West
Sunday Times’ Best History Books of 2017
Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History
Winner of the 2017 Caroline Bancroft History Prize
Shortlisted for the Military History Magazine Book of the Year Award
NOMINATED FOR THE 2017 PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN‘Extraordinary… Cozzens has stripped the myth from these stories, but he is such a superb writer that what remains is exquisite’ The Times
At the end of the Civil War, the American nation continued its expansion onto tribal lands, setting off a struggle that would last nearly three decades. Peter Cozzens chronicles the conflict from both sides in comprehensive and singularly intimate detail, bringing together a pageant of fascinating characters, including Custer, Sherman and Grant, as well as great native leaders such as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and Red Cloud. This is the tale of how the West was won… and lost.
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Living a Jewish Life, Revised and Updated: Jewish Traditions, Customs, and Values for Today’s Families
The classic guide to the cultural and spiritual treasures of Judaism is now updated for the first time in 15 years to reflect changes in the modern Jewish community.
Living a Jewish Life describes Judaism as not just a contemplative or abstract system of thought but as a blueprint for living fully and honorably. This new edition builds on the classic guide, which has been a favorite among Jewish educators and students for years. Enriched with additional resources, including online resources, this updated guide also references recent changes in the modern Jewish community.
Addressing the choices posed by the modern world, Living a Jewish Life explains the traditions and beliefs of Judaism in the context of real life. It explores the spectrum of liberal Jewish thought, from Conservative to Reconstructionist to Reform, as well as unaffiliated, new age, and secular. Celebrating the diversity of Jewish beliefs, this guide provides a wealth of information that allows readers to make informed choices about how to incorporate Judaism into their lives.
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BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE: The Ultimate Guide to Learning the Basics to Mastery of BSL to Start Communicating with Your Hands and Touch Hearts in Education, Work, and Your Everyday…
Are you ready to embark on a transformative journey into the captivating world of British Sign Language (BSL)? Do you want to be able to understand and use British Sign Language confidently?
If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you’re in luck – All you need is this ultimate guide to British sign language now and become an expert! Learn everyday, useful BSL through real-life situations that make the grammar and vocabulary easy and memorable.
With the help of my easy-to-understand guide and the numerous illustrations, I support children and adults to discover sign language for themselves and to implement it correctly. But this book offers more than just language lessons. It’s a gateway to a world of cultural exploration and personal growth, during which I would be happy to share my wealth of knowledge with you. If you…
Want to learn the basics of British sign language- Always wanted to know how the finger alphabet works
- Are looking for background knowledge about sign language
- Would like to learn more about British sign language and signs
- You are looking for the best book for learning British sign language
Then this book is for you! I, Aidan Robson, have written down all my knowledge about sign language for you and developed step-by-step practical examples, engaging exercises, and expert insights for your self-study. So in this book, you will get access to…
- Building Your Vocabulary: Easy Signs for Everyday Life
- Medium Difficulty Signs: Enhancing Your Communication Skills
- Challenging Signs: Mastering Complex Concepts
- Pushing Boundaries: Extremely Hard Signs for Advanced Learners
- And much, much more!
Dive into the world of British sign language! Only for a short time! With this book, you will unlock the practical applications of BSL in parenting, education, workplaces, and emergencies, where effective communication is vital, which will forever change the way you communicate, understand, and connect with others.
Let your hands speak volumes, your expressions touch hearts, and your understanding transcend words. Embrace the power of “British Sign Language” and open doors to a new realm of connection, empathy, and cultural appreciation.
Click on
BUY NOW ️ button right now to get the book today and unlock the power to speak with your hands, touch hearts, and bridge the gap between hearing and Deaf worlds!Read more
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Work-Life Balance For Dummies
A recent survey conducted by Universum Communication found that work-life balance is No.1 on the list of short-term career goals amongst professionals. But while work-life balance is an increasingly popular term, many of us are still unsure about how to achieve it, or lack the confidence to approach employers to negotiate flexible working hours.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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£12.70£15.20Work-Life Balance For Dummies
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The Art of Invective: Selected Non-Fiction 1953-94: Selected Non-Fiction 1953-1994
Dennis Potter (1935-94) was Britain’s leading television dramatist for almost thirty years and remains an inspiration to today’s programme makers, as a result of such ground-breaking work as Pennies from Heaven, Blue Remembered Hills and The Singing Detective. But he also engaged with his audience through reviews, journalism, interviews, broadcasts and speeches. The Art of Invective, the first collection of its kind, brings together some of his finest non-fiction work. Published to mark 80 years since Potter’s birth, this book includes his merciless television columns, penetrating literary criticism and angry writings on class and politics, as well as his sketches for Sixties satire shows including That Was the Week That Was. From Frost-Nixon to Coronation Street, David Hare to Doctor Who, Orwell to Emu, this collection shows Potter’s distinctive voice at its entertaining, thought-provoking and uncompromising best.Read more
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Life in the United Kingdom: a guide for new residents
It contains all the official learning material for the test and is written in clear, simple language – making it easy to understand. It covers a range of topics you need to know to pass your test and apply for UK citizenship or permanent residency, including: the process of becoming a citizen or permanent resident; the values and principles of the UK; traditions and culture from around the UK; the events and people that have shaped the UK’s history; the government and the law; getting involved in your community. A glossary and index are included.Read more
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Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire
A NEW YORK TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, HISTORY TODAY AND BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR
‘Masterly… This book is dynamite’ – ROBERT GILDEA, author of Empires of the Mind
**Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize**
A searing, landmark study of the British Empire that lays bare its pervasive use of violence throughout the twentieth century.
Drawing on more than a decade of research on four continents, Caroline Elkins reveals the dark heart of Britain’s Empire: a racialised, systemised doctrine of unrelenting violence, which it used to secure and maintain its interests across the globe.
When Britain could no longer maintain control over that violence, it simply retreated – and sought to destroy the evidence. Legacy of Violence is a monumental achievement that explodes long-held myths and deserves the attention of anyone who seeks to understand empire’s role in shaping the world today.
‘Not so much a history book as a book of historical significance’ BBC History Magazine
‘Riveting’ New Statesman
‘Crucial…as unflinching as it is gripping, as carefully researched as it is urgently necessary’ Jill Lepore, author of These Truths
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£13.00£16.10Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire
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Brian and Arthur’s Modern Family: Births, Marriages, Deaths and Eveything in Between
When Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian announced they were expecting their first child, with Brian’s sister Aoife acting as their surrogate, it felt like their family dream was finally coming true. Their daughter, Blake, was born in September 2022, but their happily-ever-after has not been without its troubles.
Now Brian and Arthur detail their crazy journeys and the sliding-doors moments that brought them together to create a family of their own. Following Arthur’s journey to escape war-torn Armenia and Brian’s path to self-acceptance after being catapulted into the spotlight as a young gay man in the early noughties, and the sudden death of his mother, this is a story of the pain that life can sometimes bring, but ultimately it is a story about love in all its many magical forms.
From births to marriages to deaths, and everything in between, this heartfelt memoir brings Arthur and Brian’s positive and inspiring attitude to the page.Read more
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Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down: How One Generation of British Actors Changed the World
Alan Bates, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Tom Courtenay, Albert Finney, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole, Robert Shaw and Terence Stamp: They are the most formidable acting generation ever to tread the boards or stare into a camera, whose anti-establishment attitude changed the cultural landscape of Britain.
This was a new breed, many culled from the working class industrial towns of Britain, and nothing like them has been seen before or since. Their raw earthy brilliance brought realism to a whole range of groundbreaking theatre from John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger to Joan Littlewood and Harold Pinter and the creation of the National Theatre. And they ripped apart the staid, middle-class British film industry with kitchen-sink classics like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, This Sporting Life, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, A Kind of Loving and Billy Liar before turning their sights on international stardom: Connery with James Bond, O’Toole as Lawrence of Arabia, Finney with Tom Jones and Caine in Zulu.
Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down brings alive the trail-blazing period of theatre and film from 1956-1964 through the vibrant energy and exploits of this revolutionary generation of stars who bulldozed over austerity Britain and paved the way for the swinging 60s. What Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders Raging Bulls did for American cinema writing so Don’t Let the Bastards will do for the British cinema.
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Unfit and Improper Persons: An Idiot’s Guide to Owning a Football Club FROM THE PRICE OF FOOTBALL PODCAST
‘A very funny book that tackles some serious football issues.’ Gary Lineker
‘Witty and wise.’ Clare Balding
‘Brilliant. Blows the lid off football. Hilarious, detailed and insightful.’ Alan Davies
—
Ever dreamed of setting up your own football club?
Join the team behind The Price of Football podcast as they start a (fictional) football club and discover what’s really going on behind the scenes of the beautiful game.
Buying a football club will set you back a few quid, but you’ve also got to pass the Premier League and EFL’s ‘fit and proper persons test’. That all seems like a bit of a faff to the team behind the award-winning podcast The Price of Football, so acclaimed comedy writer Kevin Day, football finance expert Kieran Maguire and producer Guy Kilty start an imaginary club instead.
In Unfit and Improper Persons they take West Park Rovers on a hilarious journey from the lowest level of the FA pyramid right up to the English Football League, the Premier League and, if fortune favours the fictional, into the heart of Europe.
At least that’s the plan, but inevitably they face a few challenges along the way. Where to find a shirt sponsor? What should the mascot be – is a dog called Rover too obvious? Can they pay the women’s team the same as the men’s team? (Spoiler alert: hardly anyone else does.) And how can they get Messi to the Kleanwell Stadium next season, like they promised the fans?
Roofing over the toilets, paying the electric on the floodlights, salary caps, parachute payments and avoiding bankruptcy, never mind relegation – owning a football club isn’t all about stuffing prawn sarnies and quaffing champagne in the directors’ box.
Unfit and Improper Persons is informed, funny and, thanks to exclusive interviews with those who’ve been there, done that, it lays bare the labyrinthine world of football finance.
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Klima: Signs Of ∗language∗ (cloth)
In a book with far-reaching implications, Edward S. Klima and Ursula Bellugi present a full exploration of a language in another mode–a language of the hands and of the eyes. They discuss the origin and development of American Sign Language, the internal structure of its basic units, the grammatical processes it employs, and its heightened use in poetry and wit. The authors draw on research, much of it by and with deaf people, to answer the crucial question of what is fundamental to language as language and what is determined by the mode (vocal or gestural) in which a language is produced.
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FIFTH SUN: A New History of the Aztecs
In November 1519, Hernando Cortés walked along a causeway leading to the capital of the Aztec kingdom and came face to face with Moctezuma. That story―and the story of what happened afterwards―has been told many times, but always following the narrative offered by the Spaniards. After all, we have been taught, it was the Europeans who held the pens. But the Native Americans were intrigued by the Roman alphabet and, unbeknownst to the newcomers, they used it to write detailed histories in their own language of Nahuatl. Until recently, these sources remained obscure, only partially translated, and rarely consulted by scholars.For the first time, in Fifth Sun, the history of the Aztecs is offered in all its complexity based solely on the texts written by the indigenous people themselves. Camilla Townsend presents an accessible and humanized depiction of these native Mexicans, rather than seeing them as the exotic, bloody figures of European stereotypes. The conquest, in this work, is neither an apocalyptic moment, nor an origin story launching Mexicans into existence. The Mexica people had a history of their own long before the Europeans arrived and did not simply capitulate to Spanish culture and colonization. Instead, they realigned their political allegiances, accommodated new obligations, adopted new technologies, and endured.
This engaging revisionist history of the Aztecs, told through their own words, explores the experience of a once-powerful people facing the trauma of conquest and finding ways to survive, offering an empathetic interpretation for experts and non-specialists alike.
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£13.40£16.60FIFTH SUN: A New History of the Aztecs
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Iconoclasm, Identity Politics and the Erasure of History (Societas)
Iconoclasm, Identity Politics and the Erasure of History surveys the origins, uses and manifestations of iconoclasm in history, art and public culture. It examines the various causes and uses of image/property defacement as a tool of political, national, religious and artistic process. This is one of the first books to examine the outbreak of iconoclasm in Europe and North America in the summer of 2020 in the context of previous outbreaks, and it examines the implications of iconoclasm as a form of control, censorship and expression.
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Palestine
A powerful graphic novel, capturing the heart of day-to-day life in occupied Palestine.
In late 1991 and early 1992, at the time of the first Intifada, Joe Sacco spent two months with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, travelling and taking notes.
Upon returning to the United States he started writing and drawing Palestine, which combines the techniques of eyewitness reportage with the medium of comic-book storytelling to explore this complex, emotionally weighty situation. He captures the heart of the Palestinian experience in image after unforgettable image, with great insight and remarkable humour.
The nine-issue comics series won a l996 American Book Award. It is now published for the first time in one volume, befitting its status as one of the great classics of graphic non-fiction.
‘The bar is set extremely high when it comes to graphic books and the Middle East: one thinks of Joe Sacco’s Palestine’ Guy Delise
‘Palestine is utterly compelling, and as affecting as the work of any war photographer or poet’ Varsity
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£13.60£16.10Palestine
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The housing debate (Policy and Politics in the Twenty-First Century)
The emergence of Britain as a fully-fledged home-owning society at the end of the last century has major implications for how people think about and use their housing not just as a home but as an asset. Housing has become a ‘bank’ which households use for various purposes, including: as a pension fund; to provide resources for care needs at all stages of life; to sponsor access to private education and other privately provided services; and, to draw on in emergencies. As a result the home has become a lynchpin of modern family life and the 21st century welfare state. The key debate in this important and timely book is whether social policy and people’s homes should be so closely connected in this way, especially when housing markets are so volatile. This book begins by outlining some of the fundamentals of housing policy and housing markets. It then describes reasons for the emergence of Britain as a home- owning society and, in a parallel development, the growth of council housing. It outlines the reasons behind the withdrawal of support for council housing and its ‘residualisation’ into a social safety net. The next chapter argues that a new social map has been drawn in Britain due to the connection between the home owning society and the conversion of the country to a service-based economy. The link is debated between housing and welfare state development, including comparisons between Britain and other countries. Finally this book reflects on the position of housing and housing policy in the post-credit crunch era with the Brown government seeking to expand a social housing programme and revive the housing market. This book argues that housing, having been a relatively neglected field of public policy, is now rightfully re-established at the forefront of public policy and as a major pillar of the post-industrial welfare state.Read more
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The Victorian House: Domestic Life from Childbirth to Deathbed
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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Anthropology For Dummies, 2nd Edition
Study the science of all of us
Anthropology is the organized study of what makes humans human. It takes an objective step back to view homo sapiens as a species and ask questions like: Given our common characteristics, why aren’t all of us exactly the same? Why do people across the world have variable skin and hair color and so many inventive ways to say hello? And how can knowing the reasons behind our differences―as well as our similarities―teach us useful lessons for the future? The updated edition of Anthropology For Dummies gives you a panoramic view of the fascinating fieldwork and theory that seeks to answer these questions―and helps you view the human world through impartial, anthropological eyes.
Keeping the jargon to a minimum, Anthropology For Dummies explores the four main subdivisions of the discipline, from the adventurous Indiana Jones territory of archaeology and the hands-on biological insights provided by our physical nature to the studious book-cracking brainwork of cultural and linguistic investigation. Along the way, you’ll journey deep into our prehistory where we begin to differentiate ourselves from our primate relatives―and then fast forward into the possibilities of centuries yet to come.
- Explore the history of anthropology and apply its methods
- Get a deep, scientific take on contemporary debates such as identity
- Excavate the human past through new fossil discoveries
- Peer into humanity’s future in space
Whether you’re studying anthropology for school or just want to know more about what makes us humans who we are, this is the perfect introduction to humanity’s past and present―and a clue to what we need to build a better future.
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£13.70£17.10Anthropology For Dummies, 2nd Edition
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Where Lizards Play Saxophone: From Hollywood to the Himalayas: A tale of the positively true adventures of a corporate dropout his search for truth, love and the Seven Summits
Where Lizards Play Saxophone is the story of man, confined by his own inability to express and understand his own feelings, having found himself in a life, rather than having chosen and continually choosing his life. He searches the world for answers to the questions he’s finally allowed himself to ask about truth, love and life. It’s a tale common to everyone who ever felt stuck in their lives, disconnected from themselves, for they journeyed on without reading the signs.
Michael, was a Hollywood agent at the top of his game, representing the biggest stars when he loses his first client, and is in love with a woman he just can’t quite find.
He takes us behind the scenes on an intimate journey into the inner circle and inner workings of 1990’s Hollywood, then around the world into every breath of climbing the highest mountain peaks of the Seven Summits.
It was prior to 9/11 and the expansion of the internet, before smart phones and social media… It was the end of an era, when the word ‘unreachable’ was still attainable.
This book is short, a one to two sit read… The reader should feel that they are in a constantly twisting water slide, moving fast being banged around, never really lingering in any environment too long but yet experiencing it’s essence, it’s understanding, until the end when right back to where you started – simple words said at the right time resonate to a feeling of peace and clarity, just like when you come out of that slide and into that warm pool and are free to swim at your own will again.
This is Michael’s first book.
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Limelight: Rush in the ’80s: Rush in the ’80s (Rush Across the Decades): Rush in the ’80s
In the follow up to Anthem: Rush in the ’70s, Martin Popoff brings together canon analysis, cultural context, and extensive firsthand interviews to celebrate Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart at the peak of their persuasive power. Rush was one of the most celebrated hard rock acts of the ’80s, and the second book of Popoff’s staggeringly comprehensive three part series takes readers from Permanent Waves to Presto, while bringing new insight to Moving Pictures, their crowning glory. Limelight: Rush in the is a celebration of fame, of the pushback against that fame, of fortunes made — and spent… In the latter half of the decade, as Rush adopts keyboard technology and gets pert and poppy, there’s an uproar amongst diehards, but the band finds a whole new crop of listeners. Limelight charts a dizzying period in the band’s career, built of explosive excitement but also exhaustion, a state that would lead, as the ’90s dawned, to the band questioning everything they previously believed, and each member eying the oncoming decade with trepidation and suspicion.
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Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur’an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence
Whether exploring the thorny issues of wives’ sexual duties, divorce, homosexuality, or sex outside marriage, discussions of sexual ethics and Islam often spark heated conflict rather than reasoned argument. In this updated and expanded edition of her ground-breaking work, feminist Muslim scholar Dr Kecia Ali asks how one can determine what makes sex lawful and ethical in the sight of God.
Drawing on both revealed and interpretative Muslim texts, Ali critiques medieval and contemporary commentators alike to produce a balanced and comprehensive study of a subject both sensitive and urgent, making this an invaluable resource for students, scholars, and interested readers.
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The pink guide to adoption for lesbians and gay men 3rd edition
How easy is it for lesbian and gay couples to adopt? Can we adopt jointly? Is the adoption process any different from heterosexual adoption? Is it true that only hard-to-place children get placed with lesbians and gay men?The Pink Guide to Adoption is definitely the right read for anyone asking themselves these questions. It is an essential step-by-step guide for lesbians and gay men who are considering adoption in the UK, whether as single parents or jointly.
Illustrated throughout with quotations from those who have already experienced, or are currently involved in, the adoption process, this fully updated third edition also has useful points to consider for those wishing to embark on the adoption journey. Informative and inspiring, these stories bring to life the reality of what adoption means. They describe the highs and lows, the welcome they have received and also the prejudices encountered, the difficulties and the rewards. Many reveal how their lives have changed immeasurably since their adopted children moved in.
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The Coming Wave: The instant Sunday Times bestseller from the ultimate AI insider
**A Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, Sept 2023**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE FT BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023**AI. SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY. QUANTUM COMPUTING. Everything is about to change. This is the only book you need to understand this new world.
From the ultimate AI insider, Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, part of Google.
‘Fascinating, well-written, and important’ Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens
‘Deeply rewarding and consistently astonishing’ Stephen Fry
‘An excellent guide for navigating unprecedented times’ Bill GatesSoon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organise your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy.
None of us are prepared.
As co-founder of the pioneering AI company DeepMind, part of Google, Mustafa Suleyman has been at the centre of this revolution. The coming decade, he argues, will be defined by this wave of powerful, fast-proliferating new technologies.
In The Coming Wave, Suleyman shows how these forces will create immense prosperity but also threaten the nation-state, the foundation of global order. As our fragile governments sleepwalk into disaster, we face an existential dilemma: unprecedented harms on one side and the threat of overbearing surveillance on the other.
Can we forge a narrow path between catastrophe and dystopia?
This ground-breaking book from the ultimate AI insider establishes ‘the containment problem’ – the task of maintaining control over powerful technologies – as the essential challenge of our age.
‘A stunning book by a man at the very centre of the AI revolution’ Rory Stewart
‘Essential reading’ Daniel KahnemanRead more
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A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing
‘A guide to the mind of one of the great English novelists of the last half-century’ Guardian
‘Like hearing the voice of an old friend’ Observer
As well as her celebrated career as a novelist, Hilary Mantel long contributed to newspapers and journals, unspooling stories from her own life and illuminating the world as she found it. This strand of her writing was an integral part of how she thought of herself. ‘Ink is a generative fluid,’ she explains. ‘If you don’t mean your words to breed consequences, don’t write at all.’ A Memoir of My Former Self collects the finest of this writing over four decades.
Mantel’s subjects are wide-ranging. She discusses nationalism and her own sense of belonging; our dream life flopping into our conscious life; the mythic legacy of Princess Diana; the many themes that feed into her novels – revolutionary France, psychics, Tudor England – and other novelists, from Jane Austen to V. S. Naipaul. She writes about her father and the man who replaced him; she writes fiercely and heartbreakingly about the battles with her health she endured as a young woman, and the stifling years she found herself living in Saudi Arabia. Here, too, is a selection of her film reviews – from When Harry Met Sally to RoboCop – and, published for the first time, her stunning Reith Lectures, which explore the process of art bringing history and the dead back to life.
From her unique childhood to her all-consuming fascination with Thomas Cromwell that grew into the Wolf Hall Trilogy, A Memoir of My Former Self reveals the shape of Hilary Mantel’s life in her own dazzling words, ‘messages from people I used to be.’ Compelling, often very funny, always luminous, it is essential reading from one of our greatest writers.
‘A smart, deft, meticulous, thoughtful writer, with such a grasp of the dark and spidery corners of human nature’ Margaret Atwood
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£14.30£23.80A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing
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Inside Adoption: A parent’s story
Adoption has changed hugely in the past few decades. These days, most children placed with adoptive families are not babies; by the time they meet their new parents they may have been exposed to a range of traumatic experience – in utero, within their birth families and within the state care system. Exposure to drugs or alcohol in the womb and abuse in early childhood are increasingly known to have significant effects on a child’s psychological and relational development. The effects can endure throughout the whole of their life, regardless of the loving care and stability they receive in their adoptive home. This poses very real challenges for people stepping forward into the role of adoptive parent. Unlike most books on adoption, Inside Adoption is written by someone who has both worked within the adoption `industry’ and is an adoptive parent himself. Philip Teasdale describes here his own experience, along with his wife Anne, of adopting Jemma as a baby. This is the story of the difficult and traumatising years that followed, as they struggled to provide a loving home around their emotionally volatile and often violent adoptive daughter. It also describes the failure of the statutory services to provide support for the family and psychological help for Jemma to enable her to manage her personal demons and impulses. Teasdale brings to this first-person account an insightful analysis and critique of the adoption process as it has developed over the past two decades, highlighting its abject failure to acknowledge significant social trends in any meaningful way. There is, he argues, still too little funding going into the post-adoption period; adoptive parents are still left to sink or swim as best they can, while the statutory agencies tick the box for another child `placed’ and wash their hands of further responsibility.Read more
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Different Times: A History of British Comedy
They don’t make comedy like they used to . . .
From the slapstick comedy of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, the surrealism of Spike Milligan and Monty Python, and the golden age of political incorrectness helmed by Benny Hill, to the alternative scene that burst forth following the punk movement, the hedonistic joy of Absolutely Fabulous, the lacerating scorn of Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais, and Jo Brand and the meteoric rise of socially conscious stand up today: comedy can be many things, and it is a cultural phenomenon has come to define Britain like few others.
In Different Times, David Stubbs charts the superstars that were in on the gags, the unsung heroes hiding in the wings and the people who ended up being the butt of the joke. Comedians and their work speak to and of their time, drawing upon and moulding Britons’ relationship with their national history, reflecting us as a people, and, simply, providing raucous laughs for millions of people around the world.
Different Times is a joyous, witty and insightful paean to British comedy.
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£14.40£19.00Different Times: A History of British Comedy
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Delivering Dreams: A Century of British Film Distribution
Film Distributors are the unsung heroes of cinema. Without them, the film industry would grind to a halt. Drawing on the archives of the Film Distributors Association (FDA), as well as on interviews with leading British distributors of today, Delivering Dreams tells the, largely unacknowledged, story of how films were, and are, brought to British cinema-goers. It profiles some of the most flamboyant and controversial figures involved in UK distribution over the last 100 years, ranging from the founders of huge companies to visionaries who have launched small art house labels. Geoffrey Macnab also explores how the sector has reacted to a rapidly changing market and technological environment, from the transition to sound in the late 1920s to the spectre of TV in the 1950s and the move to digital in the 2000s. Ranging from the films of Charlie Chaplin to The King s Speech, and published to coincide with the centenary of the FDA s creation in December 1915, this book highlights the crucial role that distributors have played in maintaining the solid foundations of the British film industry.Read more
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Eyeliner: A Cultural History
A dazzling exploration of the intersections of beauty and power around the globe, told through the lens of an iconic cosmetic
‘Awe-inspiring and fascinating’ Funmi Fetto
‘A treat to read’ Kassia St ClairFrom the distant past to the present day, humans have been drawn to lining their eyes. The aesthetic trademark of figures ranging from Nefertiti to Amy Winehouse, eyeliner is one of our most enduring cosmetic tools; ancient royals and Gen Z beauty influencers alike would attest to its uniquely transformative power. It is undeniably fun – yet it is also far from frivolous.
Seen through Zahra Hankir’s (kohl-lined) eyes, this ubiquitous but seldom-examined product becomes a portal to history, proof both of the stunning variety among cultures across time and space and of our shared humanity. Through intimate reporting and conversations – with nomads in Chad, geishas in Japan, dancers in India, drag queens in New York, and more – Eyeliner embraces the rich history and significance of its namesake, especially among communities of colour. What emerges is a delightful, surprising, and unexpectedly moving journey through streets, stages, and bedrooms around the world, and a thought-provoking reclamation of a key piece of our collective history.
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£14.60£18.00Eyeliner: A Cultural History
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Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe
In our age of globalisation and pandemic, how should we react to the new Islamophobic movements now spreading in the West? Everywhere the far right is on the march, with nationalist and populist parties thriving on the back of popular anxieties about Islam and the Muslim presence. Hijab and minaret bans, mosque shootings, hostility to migrants and increasingly scornful media stereotypes seem to endanger the prospects for friendly coexistence and the calm uplifting of Muslim populations. In this series of essays Abdal Hakim Murad dissects the rise of Islamophobia on the basis of Muslim theological tradition. Although the proper response to the current impasse is clearly indicated in Qur’an and Hadith, some have lost the principle of trust in divine wisdom and are responding with hatred, fearfulness or despair. Murad shows that a compassion-based approach, rooted in an authentic theology of divine power, could transform the current quagmire into a bright landscape of great promise for Muslims and their neighbours.Read more
£14.70£17.10Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe
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