{"title":"Pen \u0026 Sword Books Ltd","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781526794666","title":"The Creator of the Wombles","description":"This is the extraordinary story of Elisabeth Beresford, creator of The Wombles, the furry, fun-loving recyclers of rubbish which became a children's publishing and television sensation in the 1970s. What drove this imaginative and prolific writer of children's books to invent The Wombles? From her birth in Paris in 1926 to her death in the Channel Islands in 2010, Beresford's working life was led to the full, driven by the fear of debt. Married to the TV and radio sports commentator, Max Robertson, and with two children, Elisabeth's life was never dull but always uncertain. In addition to writing over 140 children's books, she wrote romantic fiction for women's magazines, became a regular contributor to the Today programme, Woman's Hour (BBC) and Woman's World (Central Office of Information). As a journalist she interviewed a fascinating range of people from politicians and film stars to children in the remote Australian Outback. With the publication of The Wombles, and subsequently the enchanting BBC films, Elisabeth found fame and for a very brief moment, fortune.   This is the first biography of  Mrs Womble' as Elisabeth was known by millions of fans. Written by her daughter with insider knowledge and access to private family archives - diaries, letters, photographs and family memories - this book relates the remarkable and often hilarious life of one of the 20th century's most successful children's authors.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128678154418,"sku":"9781526794666","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781526794666_f53bcd6d-b3c0-4f92-bcf0-963a4305820d.jpg?v=1786022025"},{"product_id":"9781526794581","title":"Medieval Plants and their Uses","description":"Plants were an essential part of medieval life. Most people lived in houses made of wood and thatch, which often accidentally burned down when they cooked their food or huddled over wood fires to keep warm. People wore linen clothing dyed with plants. They drank ale, cider and wine as they danced to music played on wooden instruments. Beauty, love and seduction could all be made easier with a few herbal preparations. If you became ill, plants provided many of the cures. The unwary may have mistaken a poisonous plant for one that was good to eat, with fatal consequence. Others may have used the poisonous plant to remove an unwanted rival. Some plants had magical properties. The mysterious mandrake could kill anybody who tried to dig it up without taking the appropriate precautions. Demons could be summoned or dismissed by the aid of plants. The church used powerful incense to clean the air and induce a sense of religious euphoria.   This book is designed to give a broad introduction to the plants that were used during the medieval period. With many colourful photos, a list of plants that were available and some original medieval recipes to try, you can set out on an adventure to explore the wonderful world of medieval plants.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128678187186,"sku":"9781526794581","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781526794581_aee421c5-77b8-42e3-9850-ec4e0ed34f90.jpg?v=1786022025"},{"product_id":"9781526793423","title":"The Great Fire of London","description":"Using eyewitness accounts and extensive research, this book dispels myths and reveals true stories of resilience during the Great Fire of London in 1666.The Great Fire of London, in September 1666, is one of those events forever etched in the collective psyche. It is on the national curriculum and is constantly revisited through new documentaries, books, articles, and through other media outlets. Although David Lassman’s book covers the main points of the fire – from its outbreak in a bakery in Pudding Lane, to its supposed demise at Pie Corner, along with such events as the destruction of St. Paul’s – the author goes deeper into the stories of many caught up in this catastrophic occurrence, revealing a more human side to those affected by the fire that is often overlooked. Through the words and eyewitness accounts of many who lived through it – Pepys, Evelyn, Taswell – as well as extensive research through contemporary resources into the fire itself, a picture of human resilience emerges. One that saw the populace of London brought to its very knees by perhaps the greatest natural calamity ever to inflict itself on the City of London and yet one that saw it rise to rebuild itself again and lay the foundations for the modern-day metropolis. Through this journey, the author also reveals the truth behind many of the myths that have grown up around The Great Fire of London, as well as putting the Fire into the wider context of the day to discuss whether accident or arson, to give possibly the definitive account of this most famous of national disasters.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128678351026,"sku":"9781526793423","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781526793423.jpg?v=1786022010"},{"product_id":"9781526782656","title":"Tanks on the Streets?","description":"At 12.08pm on Friday 31 January 1919, Margaret Buchanan drives her tram into George Square in Glasgow’s city centre. She slows down to avoid the youths and men holding their arms up to stop her; some even jump onto the front of her tram. Swirling around her tram is a sea of heavy-coated men who have been on strike since Monday, demanding a reduction to a forty-hour working week. Crucially, the tram workers have not joined the strike; they are being abused as ‘scabs’. Constables and officers of Glasgow’s police force use their hands to try to part the crowd to allow the tram to proceed, but their efforts fail and batons are drawn.\n\nWithin minutes, the violence will have spread across and beyond the Square; men will have been injured; the Sheriff will have read the Riot Act; strike leaders will lie stunned and bleeding inside the City Chambers; policemen and protestors will lie beaten in the streets.\n\nThe violence and destruction in the Square, the streets to the north and south, in Glasgow Green and even south of the River Clyde, involves thousands of men. The city authorities believe the situation is beyond the control of the outnumbered police; the Sheriff sends a message to the local army commander requesting assistance.\n\nFor the first time in history, tanks will be despatched as ‘military aid to the civil power’. They will be accompanied by 10,000 soldiers. At approximately 12.30pm on Friday 31 January 1919, a century of myth-making commences. Using thousands of pages of court papers, memoirs and news reports, this book is the first attempt to tell the story of what happened in day-by-day detail.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685762212213,"sku":"9781399016599","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":43128678416562,"sku":"9781526782656","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399016599.jpg?v=1792598940"},{"product_id":"9781526777775","title":"Transforming Hitler's Germany","description":"As the last flames of the Second World War flickered and died, Germany emerged into an apocalyptic wasteland, where the Hitler Youth generation would be cursed with the running sore of National Socialism. With the uncaged bear of the Soviet Union flexing its muscles and the escalating tensions between East and West providing some distraction from the funeral pyre of the Third Reich, those living in West Germany soon understood that they were the geological bulkhead, a component in the prevention of communism spreading throughout the infantile peace of post-Second World War Europe.   Despite all the destruction and political tensions which surrounded them, the young men and women of Germany were keen to experience the world beyond their own precarious borders. In August 1945, Tia Schuster and Lisa Kraus were two fourteen-year-old Berliners, and - like many - they found themselves shoehorned into what was to be the second  new era' of their young lives. The first had brought about only death and destruction, yet this second had a cold unfamiliarity about it.   As the late 1940s gave way to the 1950s and  60s, a series of new decadent eras - of rock-n-roll, fashion, flower power and sexual revolution - was on the horizon, which posed a threat to the traditional German way of life championed by the Nazi regime and post-Second World War German government. With this heady mixture of new-found freedom, the youth of Germany unwittingly became a feature of everything that both fascism and communism despised.   This unique work tells the story of the tentative steps taken by young men and women into the  afterlife of Nazi Germany'. Encompassing memoirs along the way, it presents a quirky portrayal of charm, humour, mischief and personal accomplishment along with a vitally important slice of (West) Germany's social history, which has remained hidden from the literary world for decades. As Tia Schuster remarked: The world suddenly became a very big piece of pie, we wouldn't be happy with just taking a slice of this pie, no, we wanted the whole damn thing and we didn't care if it made us sick or not!'","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128678482098,"sku":"9781526777775","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781526777775_cc7233cb-d766-4203-b828-ff8ec408e889.jpg?v=1786021858"},{"product_id":"9781473897922","title":"The Tudors","description":"Everything you never knew about the powerful Tudor dynasty - from Henry VII to the glorious Elizabeth I. From Battles at Bosworth to battles for supremacy of the royal bedchamber, marriage, war, murder, divorce, religious dissent, Renaissance letters, science and art, political alliances, the Reformation, treason, a Virgin Queen, phantom pregnancies, global exploration, bloody beheadings and a fresh look at why Henry VIII became such a terrifying tyrant.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128696438962,"sku":"9781473897922","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781473897922_fe4b1e44-efb2-44b0-9f71-079a31fa3040.jpg?v=1786020552"},{"product_id":"9781399099233","title":"The Edinburgh Seven","description":"Women have healed since the beginning of time, but accessing a formal degree in medicine was impossible for them in Britain until the late 19th century. In 1869, a group of women began arriving in Edinburgh to study at the medical faculty, led by the indomitable Sophia Jex Blake. They would eventually be known around the world as The Edinburgh Seven. They were delighted to become students of medicine and as Sophia said, they simply wanted 'a fair field and no favour'.But some of the traditional professors at the university did not approve of women becoming practicing doctors. The medical women would soon discover that they were welcome as hobbyists but not as competitors with male students. There were legal wrangles, court cases, personal attacks and even a full blown riot - all because some male medics wanted rid of the women. And the women did leave Edinburgh - without degrees. But they finished their studies in mainland Europe and came back as fully fledged doctors.In 2019, the University of Edinburgh awarded the Seven their degrees posthumously via current day medical students. At last, the right thing was done, but the struggles of the original Seven should never be forgotten. This is their story.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128745623730,"sku":"9781399099233","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399099233.jpg?v=1786020034"},{"product_id":"9781399096874","title":"Walking Literary London","description":"London possesses a literary heritage which is unique and in large part unrivalled in any city in the world.   In this book, literary London is presented through its authors and literature: William Shakespeare, Andrea Levy, G.A. Henty, Geoffrey Chaucer, P.L. Travers, Samuel Pepys, Sherlock Holmes, Charles Dickens, Una Marson, Joe Orton, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Phillis Wheatley, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Katherine Mansfield, Harry Potter and Samuel Selvon to name just a very few. The text takes the reader on a series of walks, each of which is original and unique, the result of twenty years' exploration of this wonderful city by the author. Detailed maps have been specially commissioned.   The text is accompanied by over 80 original photographs taken by the author.   In these pages you will find the details of hundreds of writers and their works; wherever you walk in the great city of London - even if solely in imagination from an armchair - the experience is going to be extraordinary.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128745689266,"sku":"9781399096874","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399096874_6d94f9ab-889a-437b-8a8b-242b16884d15.jpg?v=1786019997"},{"product_id":"9781399096584","title":"The Samurai Castle Master","description":"When the samurai warlord and respected castle architect Todo Takatora died in 1630, the funeral attendants responsible for preparing his body were shocked to note that there was not a single part of his body not scarred or disfigured by sword, spear, glaive or matchlock gun wound.   Todo Takatora lived a life that unfolds like a drama. Born to a small landholding samurai family, the maverick youth worked his way to the top, becoming one of the most successful of daimyo warlords. He had served on the front lines of some of the most violent of battles, turning points that forged the nation. In a land and time in which loyalty was held dear, he changed his allegiances a record seven times, serving a record ten lords, more than any other samurai in history. Because of this, he has long been held in contempt by the Japanese.   Standing 190cm tall in a time when the average Japanese man stood between 150 to 165 cm, Todo Takatora was a giant among men. He died aged 74, when the normal life span was around 50. He was also the finest, most innovative of castle architects, responsible for the design and construction of over 30 of the strongest, most innovative Japanese castles and structures, and influencing samurai castle construction across Japan.   In explaining his life, his reasons for having served so many lords, his achievements in battle and in castle design, his political and personal ideals and how these attributes were shaped during the course of his adventurous life, this book will reveal the man, and show why Takatora deserves the epithet of National Hero. In this fascinating biography, the first ever published in the English language, Chris Glenn explores Todo Takatora's remarkable, and influential, life, the battles he fought in, the political intrigues he was part of, as well as detailing the magnificent castles he built.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128745722034,"sku":"9781399096584","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399096584_2aff6ca1-5785-46e0-b7bb-7e90cc6c9bda.jpg?v=1786019993"},{"product_id":"9781399093590","title":"James I , The King Who United Scotland and England","description":"The life of King James VI who united England and Scotland under one crown and became James I in 1603 is marked by contradictions. Generally praised as a good king of Scotland and a poor English one, James was a deep theological thinker, but he also inspired a superstitious frenzy which resulted in the North Berwick witch hunt and trials in the 1590s. Scholar and pedant, he was in his own view God's appointed ruler, yet also a foul mouthed sloven and forever tarnished with the title of the Wisest Fool in Christendom.   The most glaring contrast in his personal life was between his image as a married family man and as a ruler who lavished indiscreet affection on a series of men whom he invested with considerable power. This book approaches James through the lens of his relationships with his major favourites. First was Anglo-French lord Esme D'Aubigny, then Scottish squire Robert Carr (later Earl of Somerset), and finally the consummate nobleman George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. 'A king will have need to use secrecy in many things,' the king wrote in one of his books. Although his private life was sometimes astonishingly visible, there are still many mysteries about James I as a man rather than a ruler.   This work tracks the king's life from a barren childhood through a succession of plots, intrigues and conspiracies in Scotland which largely forged, or deformed, his character. Beyond his complex and disputed connection with these men the book looks at his relationship with his wife, sponsorship of the arts, and contains a reappraisal of the first and most neglected historical mystery of his first reign, the Gowrie Conspiracy.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128745820338,"sku":"9781399093590","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399093590_5bb4f676-d4a4-49e3-8d7e-a845f45576ef.jpg?v=1786019945"},{"product_id":"9781399093392","title":"The Secret Life of Foxes","description":"Have you ever spotted a fox and wondered where it was going? Or perhaps you want to know what all the commotion was about when they woke you up the other night with their ear-piercing screams? Or maybe you just want to know how you can tell if these elusive mammals have visited your back garden when you weren't looking?The Secret Life of Foxes contains everything you need to know (and everything you didn't know that you needed to know!) about these beautiful opportunists. From identifying the various species of fox found around the world to learning about their anatomy and super sharp senses, as well as finding out more about our relationship with them - both past and present - get ready to become a fox expert with every page you turn.   The Secret Life of Foxes is for anyone who wants to learn and understand more about the animals we share this fragile planet with - especially the creatures we are able to spot a little closer to home. With useful tips on how to help the foxes near you and lots of other ways in which you can show your support, there's so much to learn that you won't want to put this book down for a single second.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128745885874,"sku":"9781399093392","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399093392_dbe2a562-b5f1-4040-bc13-92649d3e55d1.jpg?v=1786034348"},{"product_id":"9781399092210","title":"Pandemic Obsession","description":"Pestilence entered   The ordinary pursuits of society were paralysed; all previously-formed plans of happiness, business, trade, occupation, and domestic arrangement, were checked as cruelly and abruptly as if every principle of the human mind were in a moment subverted   The physicians saw that human aid was vain, and that destruction inevitably awaited all who approached the infected. Terrific mortality! Appalling scourge of the human race!    George W.M. ReynoldsThroughout history humankind has faced a number of deadly pandemics and such diseases have left their mark in history books, fine art, novels, life writing, and newspapers. This book collects together writings from across the centuries which illuminate people's experiences with plagues and pandemics. From Ancient Greece there is Thucydides on the Athenian Plague; Procopius gives his account of Plague of Justinian; also included is many more extracts of writings on plagues from medieval and early modern writers. Readers can enjoy several works of fiction including an abridged version of Mary Shelley's The Last Man (1826), a reproduction in full of Jack London's Scarlet Plague (1912), as well as short pandemic stories from Edgar Allan Poe, George W.M. Reynolds, Daniel Defoe, and William Harrison Ainsworth.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128745918642,"sku":"9781399092210","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399092210_a2372478-bbfc-43e7-befa-953d951d854a.jpg?v=1786019924"},{"product_id":"9781399084574","title":"Henry VIII and Charles V","description":"King Henry VIII and Emperor Charles V both ruled for almost forty years at a time when momentous changes in society, politics and religion were taking place in England and across Europe. Richard Heath takes a fresh look at these two individuals and the importance of their relationship in determining both their immediate policies and the future of their lands.   Although always rivals for status, Henry and Charles, despite their very different temperaments, had much in common. Both had been brought up as devout Christians and in the chivalric tradition. Ties between their lands (by 1520 Charles was Holy Roman Emperor as well as ruling Spain, the Low Countries and much of Italy) were close. There were alliances against a common enemy, France, valuable trading links and a personal connection - Henry was married to Charles' aunt, Catherine of Aragon.   The book provides a clear account of their complex and ever-changing relationship, both personal and political. It reveals the goodwill that existed between them, particularly during Emperor Charles' lengthy state visit to England in 1522. It also shows how this proved impossible to maintain once Henry decided to end his marriage to Catherine and his subsequent rejection of papal authority. On the occasions when they planned military action together their alliance collapsed in mutual recriminations. Yet they were officially at war for only a few months and their armies never faced each other.   The duplicitous world of international diplomacy, with dynastic marriages, fine words and broken promises, provides the backdrop to this fascinating story. In their search for honour and dynastic security, so important to both monarchs, the decisions of one could rarely be ignored by the other.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746016946,"sku":"9781399084574","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399084574.jpg?v=1786019828"},{"product_id":"9781399083973","title":"The General Strike 1926","description":"The General Strike was one of the most significant events in twentieth century Britain. The miners were locked out and the mass of rank-and-file trade unionists then came out on strike in their support. With their families and some middle-class sympathisers, the miners and the labour and trade union movement found itself pitched against the political establishment, the apparatus of the state, the powerful mineowners backed by the Conservative Government and most of the media of the time in what was the sharpest form of class conflict short of political revolution. It had always said that the British didn't do general strikes. In 1926 they certainly did!2026 will mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the General Strike and, under the very different economic, social and political conditions of post-industrial, post-Brexit Britain, it is worth revisiting and examining the complicated coming together of factors which were eventually to lead to those extraordinary days in May 1926 when the fate of the nation lay in the balance.   The author examines the economic, social and political processes taking places from the mid-nineteenth century and argues that this major confrontation between labour and capital was probably inevitable. He examines particularly the symbiotic relationship between the coal miners and the railway workers and the troubled industrial relations in those industries. His informed and lucid account should interest students of modern British history, labour history and the fortunes of the railways in this period.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746082482,"sku":"9781399083973","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399083973_a50cd5fb-2697-49d0-b95d-f76e09fc1676.jpg?v=1786019819"},{"product_id":"9781399082044","title":"The Rise and Fall of the Mounted Knight","description":"The medieval mounted knight was a fearsome weapon of war, captivating and horrifying in equal measure, they are a continuing source of fascination. They have been both held up as a paragon of chivalry, whilst often being condemned as oppressive and violent. Occupying a unique place in history, knights on their warhorses are an enigma hidden behind their metal armour, and seemingly unreachable on their steeds. This book seeks to understand the world of the medieval knight by studying their origins, their accomplishments and their eventual decline. Forged in the death throes of the Roman Empire, the mounted knight found a place in a harsh and dangerous world where their skills and mentality carved them into history. From the First Crusade to the fields of Scotland, knights could be found, and their human side is examined to see how these men came to both rule Europe, and ride into enduring legend.   The challenges facing the mounted knight were vast and deadly, from increasingly professional and competent infantry forces to gunpowder, the rise of political unity and the crunch of finance. The factors which forced the knight into the past help to define who and what they were, as well as the legacy that they have left indelibly imprinted on the world.   The standout feature of this book is the focus on the equine half of the partnership, from an author who practices the arts of horsemanship on a daily basis, including combat with sword and lance. The psychology of the horse, refined by the experience of actually training warhorses, has helped the author to add to the body of academic work on the subject. This insight opens up the world of the mounted knight, and importantly and uniquely, challenges the perception of what he and his horse could really do.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746115250,"sku":"9781399082044","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399082044_6e96d588-7f60-43ba-8a7b-67ca7a11fc89.jpg?v=1786019788"},{"product_id":"9781399073523","title":"Epicurus and His Influence on History","description":"How should we live?In ancient Greece one man came up with a pleasingly simple answer to this question. The philosopher Epicurus taught his followers that pleasure and contentment were the aims of the good life. For hundreds of years Epicureanism was one of the dominant schools of philosophy.   But by the 6th century it had all but disappeared. Discovering how and why Epicureanism was driven from philosophy and public discourse reveals much about how Western thought developed. Despite attempts to erase him, the lessons of Epicurus have been recovered from the mists of time and the ashes of Vesuvius. How he was restored to his place in history is a story of brilliant Renaissance scholars, chance discoveries, and a hunger for intellectual freedom.   This new biography of Epicurus reveals the life of Epicurus and traces how his teachings have influenced thinkers across time. Epicurus still has much to teach us about friendship, happiness, and our place in the world.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746180786,"sku":"9781399073523","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399073523_11a9888f-81e1-4b77-9241-ab42c4832822.jpg?v=1786019622"},{"product_id":"9781399072540","title":"The Secret Life of a Meadow","description":"Glorious flower meadows were part of our life force for 2000 years or more before we swept them away last century on the altar of progress. Is there to be no more drinking from their font of well being? This book says not. Lavishly illustrated, it describes their history and, from the few remaining examples, it shows us how beautiful they are, how rich in plants and animals. It coaches us in their creation, even in small gardens, or their restoration in larger fields. It tells of the extraordinary lives of even the most ordinary denizens, little secrets that make the meadow's world go around and the convoluted links between the many plants and animals that keep everything in balance. Their stories are woven, season-by-season, into a year in the life of two meadows, a small, garden meadow and a larger old paddock. We hear of birds that plant trees, bacteria that become plant organelles, plants that drink from other plants, plants that fool or poison insects and insects that turn the tables, ants that foster butterflies, mice that navigate by compass, snails that house bees and how all of these connections, together with the flow of energy and nutrients, result in a healthy ecosystem. The book even suggests how adults and children alike can see these things for themselves. So, read this book and help your local green space to become a meadow and revel in it.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746246322,"sku":"9781399072540","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399072540.jpg?v=1786019602"},{"product_id":"9781399071864","title":"The Greatest Spy Writers of the 20th Century","description":"The spy novel has, over the past hundred years, become one of the most popular literary genres. The best exponents have become household names, as have their characters, heroes and villains alike. From Richard Hannay to James Bond and George Smiley, the spies and spy-hunters of fiction have developed from the printed page to grace the movie and television screens - with huge success.   Uncovering the greatest or best spy writers of the Twentieth Century has not been easy. There are so many to choose from. Ultimately, however, the choice has come down to three highly significant and successful exponents of the art, writers who cannot be ignored but, more significantly, who were leaders, movers and shakers in the art of writing spy fiction.   John Buchan was at the forefront, arguably the first in a long line of spy writers - and still one of the finest. Classic tales like The Thirty-Nine Steps and Greenmantle set the benchmark for everyone else to follow. Ian Fleming's creation of James Bond in books like Goldfinger and From Russia with Love took the spy novel to new heights of glamour and exotic settings. John le Carre's world of spies, double-dealing, betrayal and seedy backstreet assignations is the very antithesis of Fleming's Bond but its realism and stark reality took the art of spy fiction to a new level.   Buchan, Fleming, Le Carre, arguably the greatest spy writers of the Twentieth Century. Do you agree? Read the book and make your own judgement. Whatever you decide, you will not be disappointed by the writing and the judgements.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746279090,"sku":"9781399071864","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399071864_0d22a53a-ba4e-4b99-bfd9-0552cddfa519.jpg?v=1786019590"},{"product_id":"9781399067348","title":"The Royal Bastards of Twelfth Century England","description":"The many storied monarchs of twelfth century England lived, fought, loved, and died surrounded by their illegitimate relatives. While their many contributions have too often been overlooked, these illegitimate sons, daughters and siblings occupied crucial positions within the edifice of royal authority, serving their legitimate relatives as proxies and lieutenants. In addition to occupying roles and offices at the centre of royal administration, Anglo-Norman and Angevin royal bastards, exiled to the fringes of family identity by a twist of fate, provided the kings of England with military and political support from amidst the aristocratic affinities into which they were embedded. Rather than merely inert pieces on the dynastic game board or passive conduits of royal association, these men and women were engaged participants in contemporary politics, proactively cultivating and shaping the thrones' relationship with its principal subjects. This book, the first full length study dedicated to the subject, examines the seminal conflicts and changing shape of the royal dynasty during a period of turbulent and formative development in the nature and institutions royal government through the rarely before accessed perspective of the reigning monarchs' illegitimate family members and deputies. More than that this study aims, as far as possible, to illuminate and bring to life the lives, triumphs and tragedies of these fascinating half-forgotten personages. The victims of a rapid and profound demographic and social change which drastically recontextualised their position with royal family identity and aristocratic society, the bastards of the English royal family found new methods to survive and thrive.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746344626,"sku":"9781399067348","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399067348.jpg?v=1786019518"},{"product_id":"9781399066952","title":"James Stewart at War","description":"James Stewart was already a Hollywood star when the United States went to war in December 1941\\. Having received an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1940 for his role in The Philadelphia Story, he had become a familiar face to movie goers by the time that the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor. By that time  Jimmy' had already received his private pilot's licence and when his name was drawn by the Drafting Commission on 29 October 1940, he applied to join the US Army Air Corps. He continued his pilot training and just twelve days before he received his draft, he had obtained his commercial pilot's licence. It was on 18 January 1942, that the Hollywood star was called into active duty.   Jimmy was transferred to the 929th Bombardier Training School, based at Kirtland Field in New Mexico, on 19 August 1942\\. There he served as a pilot almost until the end of the year. Though his film company had managed to secure a  static personnel' role, Jimmy was determined to fly in combat. So it was that Captain James Maitland Stewart was appointed as the Commander of the 703rd Bombardment Squadron. Finally, on 17 November 1943, he landed in the UK and his operational war began.   Flying in a Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Jimmy undertook his first bombing mission on 13 December 1943, the target on this occasion being the German U-boat facilities at Kiel. Just seven days later he was once again sent to attack a target in Germany, this time the port of Bremen.   A further eighteen missions followed over the following fifteen months. Stewart took part in raids against targets across Germany, including Berlin, all of which are analysed in detail along with a fabulous collection of photographs of the aircraft Jimmy flew and the men he flew with.   His contribution to victory over Germany was not confined to flying B-24 bombers, He also functioned as an Operations Officer for a period and led the Liberators of the 2nd Combat Bomb Wing to an attack on the railway marshalling yards at Halle from the navigator's seat of a de Haviland Mosquito.   James Stewart rose to the rank of major from private in just four years, an achievement few can claim. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions as deputy commander of the 2nd Bombardment Wing, and the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. The French bestowed him with the Croix de Guerre with palm.   Having risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel, James Stewart returned to the silver screen after the war. He continued to play a role in the Army Air Forces reserve, during which period he was promoted to brigadier general. In so doing, Stewart became the highest-ranking actor in American military history.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746410162,"sku":"9781399066952","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399066952_7c91f350-4ce7-4da5-8b5f-26f7467cdbc3.jpg?v=1786019514"},{"product_id":"9781399066808","title":"Florence Nightingale's Sister","description":"They say that behind every great man is a hard-working woman. Behind the titanic that was Florence Nightingale, there was a lesser-known sister, Frances Parthenope. While Florence achieved iconic fame for her work with wounded soldiers in the Crimea, Parthenope spent her days gathering supplies for those same soldiers, especially the ever-needed dry socks, and sending them overseas. With hands badly damaged by rheumatic fever, Parthenope tirelessly penned letters to Florence’s supporters and tactfully requested donations. Eventually, Parthenope married and turned her writing talents to fiction and non-fiction that exposed Victorian injustices toward the poor and women.Florence Nightingale’s older sister never achieved the fame that came to the “Lady of the Lamp.” However, in her own right, Frances Parthenope Verney was a great Victorian. A novelist, journalist, and activist, she supported her sister’s reform of the medical profession while being a thought influencer on the subject of the urban poor and the British peasantry.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746639538,"sku":"9781399066808","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399066808.jpg?v=1786019510"},{"product_id":"9781399066013","title":"Nigeria's Un-Civil War","description":"'The peace had been desecrated. I knew because people spoke in low tones and laughter dried up. Outside, things unfolded without grace or colour, even the harmattan leaves were more skeletal than usual. The sun still shone but didn't smile; it was as if it could tell that the worst was yet to come. Change should not have been bad, but this one was heavy and stubborn. Months later I learned about the 15 January 1966 coup d'etat.'In Nigeria's un-Civil War: Memories of a Biafran Child, Philip Effiong reveals the many characters of war: the horror and the chaos, the surrealism and the absurdity and the desperate need to conjure a semblance of normalcy against a backdrop of air raids, starvation and massacre. This is his, and his family's, story before, during and after the Biafra-Nigeria War of July 1967 to January 1970. He begins in Lagos with the January 1966 coup and describes his high-ranking military father's narrow assassination escape at the hands of the executors of the second coup six months later. Flight and relocation dog the next three-and-a-half years as his family tries to maintain a sense of stability amid crumbling education, health services and failing infrastructure. Lessons in literacy and numeracy are exchanged for creativity in foraging as food becomes ever scarcer. Death, fear, destitution and the madness in which the family repeatedly finds itself are told obliquely through a child's eyes and leave the reader gutted by the senselessness and cruelty of war, yet equally buoyed by the resilience of the Biafran people's inextinguishable hope.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746672306,"sku":"9781399066013","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399066013.jpg?v=1786019500"},{"product_id":"9781399064750","title":"Life in Post-War Britain","description":"On New Year's Day 1946, the people of Britain desperately wanted to look forward to a new and better life. The Second World War had ended four months earlier with the formal surrender of Imperial Japan. The war in Europe had been over for eight months. But, upon announcing to Parliament the German surrender, Winston Churchill had told the nation: \"Let us not forget the toils and efforts that lie ahead.\"In 1946, Clement Attlee, leader of the newly elected Labour Government, underlined Churchill's words, warning the nation that victory over Nazi Germany and Japan had heralded not a future of plenty - but one of greater austerity. The huge debt left by the war had crippled the British economy.   Those who fought in the Great War had been promised a land fit for heroes. That had not happened. After another world war, people now expected a better life than the poverty and hardship that had characterised much of the 1920s and 1930s, and Attlee pledged to end society's five \"Giant Evils\" - squalor, ignorance, want, idleness, and disease - and to provide for the people \"from the cradle to the grave\". It was going to be far from easy.   Life in Post-War Britain: \"Toils and Efforts Ahead\" tells what it was like to live in Britain as the nation battled to recover while still facing many hardships, including food rationing that, ironically, was to become more severe than that in wartime.   This was a unique time in British history and Life in Post-War Britain: \"Toils and Efforts Ahead\" captures the mood of the nation, examining all the great events of the post-war years and the effect that they had on the everyday life of the people who had won a war but who now faced an uncertain peace both at home and abroad.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746705074,"sku":"9781399064750","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399064750_5fb1f68e-2ab6-4a7e-8ffd-20890e8469d1.jpg?v=1786019483"},{"product_id":"9781399064286","title":"The Sweating Sickness Epidemic","description":"Among the array of diseases which brought death to Tudor England, the sweating sickness stood out, for the speed with which it struck, its dreadful effects on its victims and the death rates which it produced, that together generated a fear verging on panic when it was identified. The sweating sickness attacked the cities, towns and the countryside, not sparing the palaces. It threatened everyone, from the king in his castle to the beggars at his gates, including members of the dynasty and the political structure, the courtiers and those who directed the government, the church and the law. Contemporaries could do little more than make a bolt for it, and that included the king and his closest advisors, who moved furtively in a small group from one house to another away from London. The principal epidemics came between 1485, when it made its first appearance, and 1551, and it was confined to England and Wales, apart from one major eruption across northern Europe in 1529. Known as the English disease, this rapidly acting virus became Henry VIII's overriding fear, aggravating his well-known hypochondria and controlling his movements.   The nature of the sweating sickness, its incidence and impact are all examined in this book, in the context not only of Tudor England and the problems of the Henrician succession, but also in the context of epidemic disease in Europe more widely. This book teases out the similarities and differences between  'the sweat' and its better-known, if equally feared, contemporary infectious disease, bubonic plague.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746770610,"sku":"9781399064286","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399064286.jpg?v=1786019472"},{"product_id":"9781399061285","title":"Churchill's German Special Forces","description":"The existence of German-speaking units fighting for the Allied cause during WW2 has remained largely a well-kept secret. But seventy-five years on these units' contribution to victory needs to be fully acknowledged.   Prime Minister Winston Churchill had no qualms about using native German speakers from Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia and of course Germany itself. The majority were Jews who had fled persecution.   Two examples of these secret units were X Troop Commandos and the Special Interrogation Group.   The SIG men deserve their legendary status. They fought, and often died, wearing Wehmacht uniform. As this superbly researched book reveals that, after infiltrating Field Marshal Rommel's Afrika Korps, one detachment even drew Nazi pay. Inevitably once the existence of SIG units became known, their immediate execution on capture was ordered, unless their temporary reprieve would reveal intelligence under torture.   We learn how Churchill's initiative was copied by both the Americans and the Russians.   Post-war SIG and X Troop survivors joined British special forces or were used to hunt down Nazi war criminals.   All this and more is covered in this ground-breaking book by a writer who is both a leading historian and foreign correspondent.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746868914,"sku":"9781399061285","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399061285_9c174ddd-f749-449d-941b-4755e7969883.jpg?v=1786019436"},{"product_id":"9781399060844","title":"Living in Early Victorian London","description":"London in the 1840s was sprawling and smoke-filled, a city of extreme wealth and abject poverty. Some streets were elegant with brilliantly gas-lit shop windows full of expensive items, while others were narrow, fetid, muddy, and in many cases foul with refuse and human filth. Railways, stations and sidings were devouring whole districts and creating acres of slums or ‘rookeries’ into which the poor of the city were jammed and where crime, disease and prostitution were rife.The most sensational crime of the epoch, the murder of Patrick O’Connor by Frederick and Maria Manning, filled the press in the summer and autumn of 1849. Michael Alpert uses the trial record of this murder, accompanied by numerous other contemporary sources, among them journalism, diaries and fiction, to show how day-to-day lives, birth, death, sickness, work, shopping, cooking, and buying clothes, were lived in the crowded, noisy capital in the early decades of Victoria’s reign. These sources illustrate how ordinary people lived in London, their incomes, entertainments, religious practice, reading and education, their hopes and anxieties. Life in Early Victorian London reveals how ordinary people like the Mannings and thousands of others experienced their multifaceted lives in the greatest capital city of the world.Early Victorian London lived on the cusp of great improvements, but it was a city which in some aspects was mediaeval. Its inhabitants enjoyed the benefit of the Penny Post and the omnibus, and they were protected to some extent by a police force. The Mannings fled their crime on the railway, were trapped by the recently-invented telegraph and arrested by ‘detectives’ (a new concept and word), but they were hanged in public as murderers had been for centuries, watched by a baying, drunken and swearing mob.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128746934450,"sku":"9781399060844","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399060844.jpg?v=1786019427"},{"product_id":"9781399048958","title":"The Titanic Disaster","description":"It was on Wednesday, 10 April 1912, that the imposing bulk of the RMS Titanic slipped her berth, and, to great fanfare, headed out into the Solent at the start of her maiden voyage.   By all accounts, the liner was at the time the largest man-made object ever to move on water. The space her decks created allowed her designers to introduce previously unseen levels of luxury. In first class, for example, there were many new features such as squash courts, a Turkish bath, a gymnasium, a barber shop and even the first swimming pool built on board a ship. There was also the bold claim by its builders that Titanic was  practically unsinkable'. Sadly, just four days later, this assertion was found wanting. At 23.40 hours on the evening of 14 April, Titanic struck an iceberg. In less than three hours she had slipped beneath the waves.   While the liner's loss has been the subject of numerous films, documentaries and publications in the years that followed, in this book the author James W. Bancroft asks if the RMS Titanic had been doomed to a watery grave even before it sailed? Certainly, many people experienced feelings of foreboding about the ship, and there were many strange omens and unexplained events surrounding its construction and maiden voyage.   A novel written many years before Titanic was built mirrored almost exactly the details of the disaster, and the well-known spiritualist, W.T. Stead, wrote a story of a similar nature. As a passenger on the ship, he seemed to have accepted his fate and did not try to save himself. Even animals seem to have sensed danger, such as the dog which tried to stop its owner from travelling to board the vessel, and Titanic's cat had kittens and was seen taking them all off the liner before it sailed. The voyage was fatefully delayed for three weeks, and at least fifty travellers had forebodings about the  Ghost Ship', some of whom missed the sailing or refused to board.   Following years of research, James has uncovered some 100 fascinating stories concerning omens and premonitions of people who sailed - or in fact decided not to - on the ill-fated liner. This is the first time that all of these incidents have been brought together. Together they provide an unusual insight into the Titanic disaster.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":43128746999986,"sku":"9781399048958","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682578932085,"sku":"9781399048965","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399048958.jpg?v=1792511511"},{"product_id":"9781399017626","title":"R.E.M. Album by Album","description":"From cowering, introverted founders of the alternative rock movement to one of the twenty best-selling American bands of all time, the story of R.E.M. covers three decades, two generations and the passions of millions. First, they lifted a humble, Southern college town into myth, re-calibrating rock music at the moment that it threatened to reach the point of terminal excess, and then, unsatisfied, they carried their progressive ideology right into the heart of mainstream popular culture, selling over 85 million records and winning universal acclaim along the way, totally without compromise.   R.E.M. Album by Album tells that story, tracing the band from its formation in 1980 when four young men sought respite from the difficulties of real life by starting a covers band, right up until their eventual split in 2011, shedding new light on the lyrical and musical development of the band as artists, from their esoteric early masterpieces to the moment that they signed the world's largest ever recording contract. For the very first time, too, we examine the first decade after the band's demise, scrutinising the shifting sands of their legacy as the dust settles on one of pop music's most extraordinary careers.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128747131058,"sku":"9781399017626","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399017626.jpg?v=1786019765"},{"product_id":"9781399016360","title":"Defenders of the Norman Crown","description":"In the reign of Edward I, when asked Quo Warranto - by what warrant he held his lands - John de Warenne, the 6th earl of Surrey, is said to have drawn a rusty sword, claiming 'My ancestors came with William the Bastard, and conquered their lands with the sword, and I will defend them with the sword against anyone wishing to seize them'.   John's ancestor, William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, fought for William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He was rewarded with enough land to make him one of the richest men of all time. In his search for a royal bride, the 2nd earl kidnapped the wife of a fellow baron. The 3rd earl died on crusade, fighting for his royal cousin, Louis VII of France...   For three centuries, the Warennes were at the heart of English politics at the highest level, until one unhappy marriage brought an end to the dynasty. The family moved in the highest circles, married into royalty and were not immune to scandal.   Defenders of the Norman Crown tells the fascinating story of the Warenne dynasty, of the successes and failures of one of the most powerful families in England, from its origins in Normandy, through the Conquest, Magna Carta, the wars and marriages that led to its ultimate demise in the reign of Edward III.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128747196594,"sku":"9781399016360","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399016360_9ae593d7-e751-4e13-a99b-13b2371b7714.jpg?v=1786019746"},{"product_id":"9781399013161","title":"The Historical Atlas of the British Isles","description":"This atlas covers the history of the British Isles from earliest times to the present day.The first hunter-gatherers,who crossed into what would become our familiar islands by the land-bridge, and later followed by more familiar peoples the Celts,Angles, Saxons,Vikings and Normans,who together would create our islands unique history. Each contributed ideas which shaped our lands, languages and thoughts that are at the core of our identities to this day.   This story is illustrated with 150 full-colour maps and plans that range across many topics, such as agricultural, political and industrial revolutions. The expansion of our islands peoples across the oceans and the lasting legacy that movement left on the world and on our home islands. We show the fluctuating fortunes of the states we now identify ourselves by, from an Anglo-Scottish imperium to devolved power, independence and the often painful process by which the modern map of our islands evolved.The forces of history and religion divided the islands peoples but our DNA unites us much more that most would realise the islands have gone on to embrace new cultures that have come to seek refuge, opportunity and equalitry this is a peoples history.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128747262130,"sku":"9781399013161","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399013161_d8566a68-d0fb-4186-9c1b-5156fdbe9951.jpg?v=1786019683"},{"product_id":"9781399009119","title":"Death in the Theatre","description":"* \"A richly entertaining account of tragic theatre accidents and murders most foul. If theatre walls could talk, what secrets would they reveal? Chris Wood provides fascinating answers with tales of brawling ushers, murderously jealous husbands, stampeding crowds and infant tragedies. A meticulously researched and vivid collection of lives lost in the palaces of dreams. A must-read for all lovers of the theatre, providing shocks and gasps of horror when real life proves to be more dramatic than any play on stage.\" - Hugh Bonneville* \"Immaculately researched and beautifully macabre. This is a real treat for anyone who is either a fan of the theatre or of untimely deaths. I loved it!\" - Peter JamesBritain's theatrical wonderland has been a cornerstone of culture for centuries, delighting and thrilling audiences with an assemblage of exhilarating spectacles. Beyond the trodden boards, and tucked neatly behind the curtain however, lies a catalogue of real life destruction and grisly murder that our greatest tragedians would surely be proud to have presided over. Tread the bloodied boards of Britain's theatres and witness the deathly dramas that have played out so dramatically within them.   Death in the Theatre collects an astonishing selection of startling tragedies from Britain's throng of theatres. There is something especially staggering when the player exits life on their adorned stage, and yet, with this by no means an infrequent occurrence, death has made many a fearful cameo appearance - stalking the stalls and grimly reaping the galleries in its macabre and relentless fashion.   In 1910 a strange midnight tragedy was enacted in a London theatre, where the brutal murder of an elderly stage carpenter prompted huge excitement among the theatre-going world and indeed wider public.   How did a children's magic show descend into such unspeakable horror that would leave 183 youngsters dead in a Sunderland theatre, their tiny bodies brutally laid out in the dress circle for the bleakest of identity parades?Learn of outrageous tragedy such as the young man mauled to death by a lion in a Gloucester theatre, and the unfortunate victim killed in the Dumfries Theatre Royal - quite literally - by the limelight.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128747327666,"sku":"9781399009119","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399009119.jpg?v=1786019620"},{"product_id":"9781399006064","title":"Voices of the Georgian Age","description":"Voices of the Georgian Age is the story of seventeen witnesses to the remarkably diverse Georgian century after 1720. While being very different in many ways, the voices have two things in common: they have an outstanding story to tell, and that story is available to all for free on the internet. Despite the obvious constraints of surviving evidence, men and woman, rich and poor and respectable and criminal are all covered. Some wrote out their life story with deliberation, knowing that it would be read in future, while others simply put their private thoughts to paper for their own benefit. All are witnesses to their age.   This book guides you through their diaries, memoirs and travelogues, providing an entertaining insight in their lives, and a personal history of the period. It is also a preparatory guide for those wishing to read the original documents themselves.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128747360434,"sku":"9781399006064","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399006064_e600153c-f0a8-4a6a-8539-2a1a3bc2151c.jpg?v=1786019579"},{"product_id":"9781399089272","title":"Inside the Tudor Home","description":"Power. Politics. Prosperity. Plague.   Tudor England; a country replete with sprawling landscapes, dense forests and twisting urban labyrinths. This is a place of stagnation and of progress; of glorious cultural revolution, where the wheel of fortune is forever turning.   From the plush royal palaces to the draughtiest of wattle-and-daub cottages, sixteenth-century England revolved around the people who formed the beating heart of Tudor society. These people celebrated scientific progress and lamented religious persecution; championed the rights of women and the underrepresented; fell in love with sweethearts, cared for pets and mourned the deaths of their loved ones.   In her first book, Bethan Catherine Watts sheds light on the Tudor home and the everyday lives of those who lived there.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43172648485042,"sku":"9781399089272","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399089272_9104479b-f92f-4d57-aa3c-8d4107d238a9.jpg?v=1786019884"},{"product_id":"9781399000949","title":"Charles II's Illegitimate Children","description":"Charles II had at least twelve illegitimate children that we know of. Although his queen, Catherine of Braganza, fell pregnant several times she was not able to bear any children to full term. The king, who was known for his many mistresses, had his first recognised child out of wedlock in 1649; the child was James Croft who would become Duke of Monmouth and mastermind of an infamous rebellion. Not all of his children would gain such notoriety but they would live long and full lives creating a Stuart bloodline that descends to the present day.   There was Nell Gywn's son, Charles Beauclerk, Duke of St Albans who was present at the siege of Belgrade in 1688\\. The French mistress, Louise de Keroualle's son, Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond who was an early patron of cricket. Catherine Pegge's son, Charles Fitzcharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth who was a colonel in the King's Own Royal Regiment and lost his life in Tangier and Moll Davis' daughter Mary Tudor, Countess of Derwentwater who separated from her husband because she refused to be a Catholic.   Not to mention Charles's offspring by Barbara Villiers, Lady Castlemaine and later Duchess of Cleveland - there was Anne who had an affair with one of her father's mistresses, Charles who succeeded to the dukedom of Cleveland, Henry who became vice-admiral of England, George who was in the secret service in Venice, Barbara who after a torrid affair with the Earl of Arran gave birth to illegitimate twins and became a nun in France and Charlotte, who became Countess of Lichfield and had eighteen children!And then there are the stories of other children like James de la Cloche and Charlotte Boyle whose births and lives are shrouded in mystery and rumour. This book will bring to life the king's many illegitimate children and tell their stories.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43172648517810,"sku":"9781399000949","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399000949_d3c56f92-c1ad-4591-b8f1-acc705d52256.jpg?v=1786019518"},{"product_id":"9781399088824","title":"The Man Who Built the Berlin Wall","description":"In The Man Who Built the Berlin Wall, Nathan Morley brings to life the story of the longtime leader of the German Democratic Republic. Drawing from a wealth of untapped archival sources - and firsthand interviews with Honecker's lawyers, journalists, and contemporary witnesses - Morley paints a vivid portrait of how an uneducated miner's son from the Saarland rose to the highest ranks of the German Communist Party.   Having survived a decade of brutality in Nazi prisons, Honecker emerged as an ambitious political player and became the shadowy mastermind behind the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, a crucial moment in twentieth-century history.   Although frequently on the verge of being relegated to obscurity, he managed to overthrow strongman Walter Ulbricht at the height of the Cold War and reigned supreme over the GDR between 1971-1989.   However, by 1980, the Honecker honeymoon was on the wane as a decade of economic and social difficulties blighted the GDR. Then, as tumultuous changes swept through the Soviet bloc, everything in and around him collapsed in 1989. His health, his certainties, his ideology, his apparatus of power, and his beloved SED party.   Terminally ill, he was literally kidnapped from Russia to answer for his crimes in a Berlin court.   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And when, in 1922, Doyle published a book in which he professed to believe in fairies, his devotees were nonplussed. How could the creator of the inexorably logical Sherlock Holmes claim to believe in something as vague, esoteric, and unproven as the paranormal?In this fascinating study of the life of the creator of one of the greatest detectives of all time, Dr Andrew Norman traces the origin of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's strange beliefs. Can it be that Doyle's alcoholic father holds the key to the unanswered questions about his son? 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The research is brought to life with maps, figures, and photographic evidence throughout the book.   In pulling together our current knowledge of South Yorkshire during this pivotal era, the book acts as a reminder of how the wealth of local character is easily destroyed unless we become more aware of its fragility and celebrate its diversity. Written in accessible language, this book will be of interest to both academics and anyone who wants to know more about South Yorkshire in the post-Roman and Early Medieval periods.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43172946346162,"sku":"9781399065566","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399065566_7b0373ae-1103-48ab-8350-837b1b5a3c87.jpg?v=1786019495"},{"product_id":"9781399049504","title":"Children of the 1940s","description":"What was it really like growing up in the 1940s? 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It was women who first noticed the rhythmic noise of a pulsar, the temperature discrepancy that announced the existence of white dwarf stars, and the irregularities in galactic motion that informed us that the universe we see might be only a small part of the universe that exists.   And yet, in spite of the magnitude of their achievements, for centuries women were treated as essentially second class citizens within the astronomical community, contained in back rooms, forbidden from communicating with their male colleagues, provided with repetitive and menial tasks, and paid starvation wages. This book tells the tale of how, in spite of all those impediments, women managed, by sheer determination and genius, to unlock the secrets of the night sky. It is the story of some of science's most hallowed names - Maria Mitchell, Caroline Herschel, Vera Rubin, Nancy Grace Roman, and Jocelyn Bell-Burnell - and also the story of scientists whose accomplishments were great, but whose names have faded through lack of use - Queen Seondeok of Korea, who built an observatory in the 7th century that still stands today, Wang Zhenyi, who brought heliocentrism to China, Margaret Huggins, who perfected the techniques that allowed us to photograph stellar spectra and thereby completely changed the direction of modern astronomy, and Hisako Koyama, whose multi-decade study of the sun's surface is as impressive a feat of steadfast scientific dedication as it is a rigorous and valuable treasure trove of solar data.   A History of Women in Astronomy and Space Exploration is not only a book, however, of those who study space, but of those who have ventured into it, from the fabled Mercury 13, whose attempt to join the American space program was ultimately foiled by betrayal from within, to mythical figures like Kathryn Sullivan and Sally Ride, who were not only pioneering space explorers, but scientific researchers and engineers in their own rights, aided in their work by scientists like Mamta Patel Nagaraja, who studied the effects of space upon the human body, and computer programmers like Marianne Dyson, whose simulations prepared astronauts for every possible catastrophe that can occur in space.   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Its members volunteered and were spirited out of Finland to Germany under watchful Russian eyes. Unlike other legions from various countries, the battalion did not fight until the end of the war. In fact, upon its return home, its soldiers were immediately drafted into the Finnish army and fought against the Soviets. When Finland sued for peace, former Finnish SS-men fought against German troops as they retreated from Finland. The Battalion joined the SS-Wiking Division in January 1942 and fought in southern Russia and the Caucasus until its mission ended in April 1943. With its soldiers badly needed on the home front, it was recalled due to intense pressure from the Finnish government. 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It looks at his military career and his love of drama and at why protesters wanted to topple his statue on Poole Quay in the pandemic summer of 2020.   It also considers a recently-discovered telegraph that adds fuel to the speculation over the nature of his relationship with a fellow-soldier that endured for 30 years - until he married a 22-year-old woman in secret when he was 55.   Baden-Powell achieved great prominence, as well as notoriety, in both his military and scouting lives, driven largely by a constant yearning to win his mother's approval.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204233756850,"sku":"9781399009300","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399009300.jpg?v=1786019621"},{"product_id":"9781399071611","title":"Jane Seymour","description":"Jane Seymour is the wife of Henry VIII we know the least about, often written off as  'Plain Jane'. Queen of England for just seventeen months, during her life Jane witnessed some of the most extraordinary events ever to take place in English history, later becoming a part of them. Jane ensured her place in Henry's affections by giving him his much longed for male heir only to tragically lose her life twelve days later leaving behind a motherless son and a devastated husband. For the remainder of his life Henry would honour the mother of his only legitimate son and would come to regard Jane as his 'true and loving wife'.   But who was Jane Seymour? Throughout this illustrated book we will find a woman who was neither saint or sinner, but a human being with her own beliefs and causes.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204233986226,"sku":"9781399071611","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399071611.jpg?v=1786019583"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/publisher-pen-sword-books-ltd.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}