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Without question one of the most significant books in modern history, The Communist Manifesto is a brief, populist pamphlet that distils the core ideas of communism into accessible prose. Published just months before violent uprisings threatened to destabilise much of the European establishment, it outlines a view of history as a constant battle between the classes that will inevitably result in revolution.

A true celebration of food in all its forms, The Food Book follows the human quest for sustenance through the stories of individual ingredients, and examines our millenia-long relationship with nearly 200 foods - from nuts and seeds to noodles and meat - with the help of tales from all over the world. Packed with glorious stories that surprise and enthral, this is the ultimate feast for foodies, a global smorgasbord packed with unforgettable tales and eye-opening facts.

In Craven House, among the shifting, uncertain world of the English boardinghouse, with its sad population of the shabby genteel on the way down and the eternal optimists who would never get up or on, the young Patrick Hamilton, with loving, horrified fascination, first mapped out the territory that he would make uniquely his own. Although many of Hamilton's lifelong interests are here, they are handled with a youthful brio and optimism conspicuously absent from his later work.

Economic theories and models shape our everyday lives. They are relied on by politicians when tax rises or cuts are being considered. They inform debates about everything from bonuses for CEOs to minimum wage rates, to the level of job protection enshrined in law. They determine what levels of tobacco or petrol duty are charged and influence government approaches to issues as diverse as obesity and climate change. But are policy makers right to be so slavishly reliant on them? Tom Bergin is sceptical, and he subjects eight of the most prevalent economic mantras to close scrutiny.

The greatest battle needs the greatest of warriors. The siege of Troy is in its ninth year. But Troy still stands. When Agamemnon is threatened with mutiny by disillusioned troops, he changes tactics. Ordering attacks on Troy’s allies, he deprives the city of reinforcements, trade and supplies. Yet even this does not draw the Trojans out from behind their walls. Meanwhile, Odysseus, Eperitus and their men have become hardened soldiers. Odysseus just wants to return home to his island Kingdom of Ithaca.

No one has a better perspective on life on both sides of the channel than Julian Barnes. In these exquisitely crafted stories spanning several centuries, he takes as his universal theme the British in France: from the last days of a reclusive English composer, the beef consuming 'navvies' labouring on the Paris-Rouen railway to a lonely woman mourning the death of her brother on the battlefields of the Somme.

War is coming - and nothing can stop it... Settled in his small island kingdom, Odysseus wants nothing more than to rule Ithaca in peace. Meanwhile, his warrior friend Eperitus, frustrated at his quiet life, dreams of glory in battle. But when Agamemnon’s fleet appears on the horizon, Odysseus knows that war is upon him. A Trojan prince has abducted Helen of Sparta, and the armies of Greece are gathering. As the greatest heroes flock to the crusade, only one is missing. Odysseus knows that without Achilles, the gates of Troy will never fall.

The Nepalese attitude toward life is essentially religious. Hindu and Buddhist values predominate and help to maintain social harmony despite the divisions between rich and poor, urban and rural, highlands and lowlands. Culture Smart! Nepal sets out to explain the complexities of Nepalese life, from home to business to the marketplace. It tells you what to expect and provides insights that will help you to go beyond friendly smiles and turn your visit into an enlightening and rewarding experience.

The '90s was the decade when British culture reclaimed its position at the artistic centre of the world. Not since the 'Swinging Sixties' had art, comedy, fashion, film, football, literature and music interwoven into a blooming of national self-confidence. It was the decade of Lad Culture and Girl Power, of Blur vs Oasis. When fashion runways shone with British talent, Young British Artists became household names, football was 'coming home' and British film went worldwide.

Immerse yourself in the history of ancient Rome - from its origins as a small settlement on the Palatine Hill to its peak as an empire reigning over 90 million people, and its tumultuous decline. Covering more than 1,000 years of history, and an empire that stretched from Scotland to Syria, Ancient Rome reveals in vivid detail all of the key political, cultural, and military events that shaped the Roman Empire and explores what it was like to live in a society that laid the foundations for many aspects of the modern world.

In little more than a century of cinema - Birth of a Nation was 100 years old in 2015 - our sense of what a film director is, or should be, has shifted in fascinating ways. A director was once a functionary; then an important but not decisive part of an industrial process; then accepted as the person who was and should be in charge, because he was an artist and a hero. But the world has changed.

With timeless classics from some of the most notable names in literature, this Christmas story bundle is the perfect listen for the most wonderful time of the year.

In 1841, the 'peasant poet' John Clare escapes from an asylum in Epping Forest, where he had been kept for four years, and walks over 80 miles home to Northamptonshire. Suffering from poor mental health, Clare was attempting to return to his idealized first love, Mary, unaware that she had died three years earlier. In 1995, with his life in crisis and his own mental health fragile, Robert decides to retrace Clare's route along the Great North Road over a punishing four-day walk.

Only the determination of one man can bring victory. The Trojan War has been raging for ten years. Greece's greatest warriors have fallen. But then a series of oracles appear with utterances from the gods, commands that must be fulfilled if Troy is to be defeated. Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks, knows that only one man has the courage and intelligence to complete the Olympians' tasks: Odysseus, King of Ithaca.

In Assad: The Triumph of Tyranny, Con Coughlin, veteran commentator on war in the Middle East and author of Saddam: The Secret Life, examines how a mild-mannered ophthalmic surgeon has transformed himself into the tyrannical ruler of a once flourishing country.

Lucy has everything she could wish for: a beautiful home high on the clifftops above the Devon coast, a devoted husband and two beloved children. Then one morning, time stops. Their family yacht is recovered, abandoned far out at sea. Lucy's husband is nowhere to be found, and as the seconds tick by, she begins to wonder - what if he was the one who took the boat? And if so, where is he now? As a once-in-a-generation storm frustrates the rescue operation, Lucy pieces together what happened on board.

It is the winter of 1893, and in London the snow is falling. It is falling as Gideon Bliss seeks shelter in a Soho church, where he finds Angie Tatton lying before the altar. His onetime love is at death's door, murmuring about brightness and black air and about those she calls the Spiriters. In the morning she is gone. The snow is falling as a seamstress climbs onto a ledge above Mayfair, a mysterious message stitched into her own skin.

This Leibniz collection contains some of the philosopher’s most important works and ideas, spans three decades and illuminates the fascinating intellectual journey undertaken by him in his quest for truth. A prodigious polymath, Leibniz was a mathematician, philosopher, physicist and statesman and engaged with a sweeping range of ideas and disciplines, striving throughout his life to be at the cutting edge of scientific thinking. These Principal Essays are arranged in chronological order.

Odysseus has been to Hell and back. Deserted by the Gods, and now in bitter conflict with his friend Eperitus, times look bleak. He dreams of returning to his home. But back on Ithaca things look little better. His son Telemachus and wife Penelope are besieged by a gang of suitors, believing Odysseus to be dead and looking for the queens hand in marriage.

The French thinker and political theorist Georges Sorel (1847-1922), fired up by his interest in Marxism and his anger at the injustice of the Dreyfus case, faced this challenge and in the seven chapters of Reflections on Violence he explored the question. It proved sufficiently stimulating over succeeding decades to be espoused by both Marxists and Fascists alike: class struggle, revolution and above all radical change were central to Sorel’s thought.