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  In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz -...

  Michela Wrong

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  Known as "the Leopard," the president of Zaire for thirty-two years, Mobutu Sese Seko, showed all the cunning of his namesake -- seducing Western powers, buying up the opposition, and dominating his people with a devastating combination of brutality and charm. While the population was pauperized, he plundered the country's copper and diamond resources, downing pink champagne in his jungle palace like some modern-day reincarnation of Joseph Conrad's crazed station manager.Michela Wrong, a correspondent who witnessed Mobutu's last days, traces the rise and fall of the idealistic young journalist who became the stereotype of an African despot. Engrossing, highly readable, and as funny as it is tragic, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz assesses the acts of the villains and the heroes in this fascinating story of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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  Out of the Shadow of a Giant -...

  John Gribbin, Mary Gribbin

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  The authors of Ice Age “present a well-documented argument that [Newton] owed more to the ideas of others than he admitted” (Kirkus Reviews).   Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley, whose place in history has been overshadowed by the giant figure of Newton, were pioneering scientists within their own right, and instrumental in establishing the Royal Society.   Although Newton is widely regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time and the father of the English scientific revolution, John and Mary Gribbin uncover the fascinating story of Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley, whose scientific achievements neatly embrace the hundred years or so during which science as we know it became established. They argue persuasively that, even without Newton, science would have made a great leap forward in the second half of the seventeenth century, headed by two extraordinary figures, Hooke and Halley.   “Science readers will thank the Gribbins for restoring Hooke and Halley to the prominence that they deserve.”—Publishers Weekly   “Engaging . . . They offer proof that Hooke was an important scientist in his own right, and often had physical insights that were borrowed (usually without acknowledgement) by Newton.”—Choice

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  S'Mother - The Story of a Man...

  Adam Chester

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  S'Mother is a hilarious memoir based on 30 years of unsolicited advice, news updates, and opinions in the form of thousands of inappropriate, embarrassing, and utterly crazy letters showing the pathological extremes maternal instincts can take. Why is a grown woman so frantic that her adult son screw on his windows to keep out killer bees? Are adult trick-or-treaters really that much of a threat? Adam saved his mom's letters as proof this all happened and reproduces many of them in the book. And now, with time, perspective, and plenty of therapy, he acknowledges and accepts the comedy of it all and is proud to share his story with you, if for no other reason than to make you feel better about your own mother.

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  The Bravest Man in the British...

  Philip Bujak

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  Today a new major joined us, a Herculean giant of South African origin with a quite remarkable disregard for danger.' _The Regimental Diary of The Kings Own Scottish Borderers, July 1915_'Brave as a lion, stubborn as a mule and as quick tempered as his Irish forebears, Kelly VC spoke out about Churchill's support of the White Russians in 1919. This is a well researched and lively read and brings to our attention an early Churchill folly.' _Keith Simpson_John (Jack) Sherwood Kelly, VC CMG DSO (1880-1931) was a formidable soldier. He fought in British colonial campaigns in the early 1900s, distinguished himself during the First World War at Gallipoli, the Somme and Cambrai, and, after the war, was involved in the British campaign in northern Russia in support of the White Russians. During his military career he achieved fame and notoriety for his mixture of heroic exploits and explosive temperament. In this meticulously researched and vivid biography Jake B. Liphuip tells Sherwood Kellys story and gives a fascinating insight into one of the most remarkable and controversial military men of the period. Kelly had a combat record going back to the 1896 Matabele Revolt. He was awarded the DSO for his exploits in Gallipoli in 1916. During 1917 he commanded 1st Battalion, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was instrumental in the early success achieved during the Battle of Cambrai for which he was awarded the VC. His later service during the British intervention against the Bolsheviks in 1919 ended in court martial and a highly publicized clash with Winston Churchill.

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  My Mark Twain

  William Dean Howells

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  William Dean Howells (1837-1920) became fast friends with Mark Twain from the moment in 1869 when Twain strode into the office of The Atlantic Monthly in Boston to thank Howell, then its assistant editor, for his favorable review of Innocents Abroad. When Howells became editor a few years later, The Atlantic Monthly began serializing many of Twain's works, among them his non-fiction masterpiece, Life on the Mississippi. In My Mark Twain, Howells pens a literary memoir that includes such fascinating scenes as their meetings with former president Ulysses Grant who was then writing the classic autobiography that Twain would underwrite in the largest publishing deal until that time. But it is also notable for its affectionate descriptions of his friend's family life during Howell's many visits to the Twain residences in Hartford and Stormfield. (Summary by Dennis Sayers).

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  Russian Short Story The - Volume...

  Anton Chekhov, Helena Blavatsky,...

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  The Russian novel has a reputation that is immense, both in narrative and in length.  Unquestionably though the ideas, themes and characters make many novels rightly revered as world class, as icons of literature. 
   
  Perhaps an easier way to enjoy a wider selection of the Russian heritage, with its varied and glorious literary talents, is with the short story.  These gems sparkle and beguile the mind with their characters and narrative, exploring facets of society and the human condition that more Western authors somehow find more difficult to navigate, or to explore, explain and relate to.   
   
  The Russian short story is, in many respects, in a genre of its own.  It is at its captivating best whether it’s an exploration of real-life experiences, through fantasy and fables and on to total absurdity. 
   
  In a land so vast it is unsurprising that it is a world almost unto itself. Cultures and landscapes of differing hues are packed together bound only by the wilful bonds and force of Empire. 
   
  The stories in this collection traverse the decades where one might be a serf under an absolute monarch, and the reality of that was pretty near to slavery, into an emancipation of sorts in the fields, or towns under the despotic will of landowners and the rich into the upheavals of Empire and then the overthrow of the ruling class and its replacement by the communists, who promised equality for all and delivered a society where the down-trodden remained the lowest yet vital cog of the state machine and its will.  
   
  Whilst Tolstoy, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Pushkin and Chekhov are a given in any Russian collection we also explore and include Andreyev, Korolenko, Turgenev, Blavatsky and many others to create a world rich and dense across a sprawling landscape of diverse people, riddled with the class and unfairness in perhaps some of the most turbulent times that Russia has ever experienced. 
   
  01 - The Russian Short Story - Volume 4 - An Introduction 
  02 - The Sentry by Nikolai Lyeskov 
  03 - A Witch's Den by Helena Blavatsky 
  04 - The General's Will by Vera Jelihovsky 
  05 - The Old Bell Ringer by Vladimir Korolenko 
  06 - The Shades, A Phantasy by Vladimir Korolenko 
  07 - The Signal by Vsevolod Garshin 
  08 - Dethroned by I N Potapenko 
  09 - The Kiss by Anton Chekhov 
  10 - The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov 
  11 - The Bet by Anton Chekhov 
  12 - Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov

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