Through the story of the bitter struggle between two men, Peter Stuyvesant and Adriaen Van den Donck, is told the vivid history of the wilderness island that became the most powerful city in the most powerful country in the world: Manhattan.
Looks at five countries, in each of which a long struggle for freedom has taken place; in each the people, having shed blood and dreams, are still waiting. This book shows us the lives behind the headlines.
Israel is a small and relatively young country, but its turbulent history has placed it squarely at the centre of the world stage for most of this century. The author traces the events and personalities that would lead to the sudden, dramatic declaration of Statehood in May 1948.
What does history really consists of? Centuries of people quietly going about their daily business - sleeping, eating, having sex, endeavouring to get comfortable.
And where did all these normal activities take place?
At home.
This was the thought that inspired Bill Bryson to start a journey around the rooms of his own house, an 1851 Norfolk rectory, to consider how the ordinary things in life came to be. And what he discovered are surprising connections to anything from the Crystal Palace to the Eiffel Tower, from scurvy to body-snatching,from bedbugs to the Industrial Revolution, and just about everything else that has ever happened, resulting in one of the most entertaining and illuminating books ever written about the history of the way we live.
Should we believe in God? In this new book, written for a new generation, the brilliant science writer and author of The God Delusion, explains why we shouldn't.
Should we believe in God? Do we need God in order to explain the existence of the universe? Do we need God in order to be good? In twelve chapters that address some of the most profound questions human beings confront, Dawkins marshals science, philosophy and comparative religion to interrogate the hypocrisies of all the religious systems and explain to readers of all ages how life emerged without a Creator, how evolution works and how our world came into being.
For anyone hoping to grapple with the meaning of life and what to believe, Outgrowing God is a challenging, thrilling and revelatory read.
Britain's writer of narrative non-fiction, the author travels back in time to a forgotten summer when America came of age, took centre stage, and, in five eventful months, changed the world for ever. This book spins a story of adventure, optimism and energy.
