Nigel Patterson
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The rise of China and the fall of Hong Kong to authoritarian rule are told with unique insight in this new history by Michael Sheridan, drawing on documents from archives in China and the West, interviews with key figures, and eyewitness reporting over three decades.
The story takes the listener from the earliest days of trade through the Opium Wars of the nineteenth century to the age of globalization, the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China,...
42) Conquest
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The start of a thrilling series by popular historical fiction writer, David Field! Perfect for fans of Conn Iggulden, Robyn Young, Alison Weir, and Anthony Riches.
Life in England will never be the same again . . .
England, 1065: The Saxon kingdom is under threat of invasion at both ends. From the north comes Harald Hardrada of Norway intent on pillage, while across the Channel, Duke William of Normandy is about to enforce his claim to the throne.
Between...
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Even if they behave as though they were, humans are not the masters of the Earth, but only one of its most irksome residents. From the moment of their arrival, about three hundred thousand years ago-nothing when compared to the history of life on our planet-humans have succeeded in changing the conditions of the planet so drastically as to make it a dangerous place for their own survival. The causes of this reckless behavior are in part inherent in...
44) The Opium War
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1839. Trade is the stalwart of the British Empire. China threatens Britain's Opium trade. Britain and China go to war.
When Britain sent troops to compel the Chinese to accept imports of opium, they opened what is argued to be one of the most disgraceful chapters in the history of the Empire.
How did the situation arise? How did opium exports become so crucial to the British economy? How did the British come to be as addicted to opium revenue as...
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Hunt the Bismarck tells the story of Operation Rheinübung, the Atlantic sortie of the Nazi Germany's largest battleship in May 1941.
Bismarck entered service in the summer of 1940. She was well-armed, with eight 15-inch guns as well as a powerful array of lighter weapons, while her armored protection earned her the reputation of being unsinkable. This claim was finally put to the test in May 1941, when she sortied into the Atlantic and fought...
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Here is a lively new translation of Cornelius Tacitus's timeless history of three of Rome's most memorable emperors. Tacitus, who condemns the depravity of these rulers, which he saw as proof of the corrupting force of absolute power, writes caustically of the brutal and lecherous Tiberius, the weak and cuckolded Claudius, and 'the artist' Nero. In particular, his gripping account of the bloody reigns of Tiberius and Nero brims with plots, murder,...
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By the end of the nineteenth century India was described as the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, but how did such a small island come to dominate one of the richest lands in the world?
Without doubt the toughest opponents to British control was led by the Sikhs.
Ranjit Singh, the brilliant "Lion of Punjab", who ruled the Sikh Empire had revolutionized his army by employing French officers from Napoleon's Grand Army to train his artillery...
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From the destruction of an L.A. skyscraper to a desperate battle on board a Swiss train, from a crazy car chase through Hollywood to a covert assault on a secret SAS base, Matt Drake and his team ignite a blazing trail of destruction as they chase madmen and traitors across the globe. On a furious, action-packed battlefield, alongside soldiers ready to fight and die for their cause, Drake and his entire team stand as one and charge fearlessly into...
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In a 2010 terrorist plot, Al-Qaeda hid a bomb in a FedEx shipment addressed to Reynald de Chatillon, a knight who had died centuries ago in the crusades. A reviled figure in Islamic history, often portrayed as the very epitome of brutality, Reynald remains as controversial-and as vividly present in the minds of many in the Middle East-as the story of the crusades themselves. An epic saga set in the midst of a violent clash of civilizations, God's...
50) Cynicism
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Everyone's a cynic, yet few will admit it. Today's cynics excuse themselves half-heartedly-"I hate to be a cynic, but . . ."-before making their pronouncements. Narrowly opportunistic, always on the take, contemporary cynicism has nothing positive to contribute. The Cynicism of the ancient Greeks, however, was very different. Bold and shameless, it was committed to transforming the values on which civilization depends. In this volume of the MIT Press...
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In 1878 the Victorian critic Matthew Arnold wrote: "Goethe is the greatest poet of modern times . . . because having a very considerable gift for poetry, he was at the same time, in the width, depth, and richness of his criticism of life, by far our greatest modern man."
In this Very Short Introduction Ritchie Robertson covers the life and work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832): scientist, administrator, artist, art critic, and supreme literary...
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In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift-an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs...
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Mitochondria are tiny structures located inside our cells that carry out the essential task of producing energy for the cell. They are found in all complex living things, and in that sense, they are fundamental for driving complex life on the planet. But there is much more to them than that.
Mitochondria have their own DNA, with their own small collection of genes, separate from those in the cell nucleus. It is thought that they were once bacteria...
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It was a commonly expressed view during the First World War that the conflict had seen a major revival of "superstitious" beliefs and practices.
Churches expressed concerns about the wearing of talismans and amulets, the international press paid considerable interest to the pronouncements of astrologers and prophets, and the authorities in several countries periodically clamped down on fortune tellers and mediums due to concerns over their effect...
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Holmes is faced with an unidentified body, a coded message, and multiple murders . . .
London, 1876
When the preserved foot of a dead man with extra toes arrives at St. Bartholomew's Medical College, the students are fascinated. However, despite this unusual feature being reported in the press, the man's identity remains a mystery.
Intrigued by the puzzle, medical student Mr. Stamford calls on his acquaintance Sherlock Holmes to help him learn...
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From the author of the acclaimed The Great Sea, David Abulafia's new book guides readers along the world's greatest bodies of water to reveal their primary role in human history. The main protagonists are the three major oceans-the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian-which together comprise the majority of the earth's water and cover over half of its surface. These waterways carried goods, plants, livestock, and of course people-free and enslaved-across...
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Bryan Hale is a damaged man. The stresses of combat flying in England's summer skies during the Battle of Britain, and night-fighting in the icy darkness of The Blitz, together with the loss of friends and a shattered heart, have left him broken and grounded.
Fortress Malta, and the unrelenting Nazi siege that aims to grind it away, will be the furnace that forges him anew ...
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Sinclair and the crew of H. M. Nuclear Submarine Rugged are in a race against time to prevent a world catastrophe!
A Nazi war criminal believed to have been executed years ago is seen very much alive in Hamburg.
When Lieutenant Hank Jefferson, U.S. Navy, goes missing, the Admiralty, already troubled by disturbing rumors of Nazi resurgence, know just the man to find him.
Lieutenant Peter Sinclair, R.N., in command of H. M. Nuclear Submarine Rugged...
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Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Cesare Borgia-three iconic figures whose intersecting lives provide the basis for this astonishing work of narrative history. They could not have been more different, and they would meet only for a short time in 1502, but the events that transpired when they did would significantly alter each man's perceptions-and the course of Western history. In 1502, Italy was riven by conflict, with the city of Florence...
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What is matter? Matter is the stuff from which we and all the things in the world are made. Everything around us-from desks, to books, to our own bodies-are made of atoms, which are small enough that a million of them can fit across the breadth of a human hair. Inside every atom is a tiny nucleus and orbiting the nucleus is a cloud of electrons. The nucleus is made out of protons and neutrons, and by zooming in further, you would find that inside...