Ireland

The classic story of the man who stole from the rich and gave to the poor

Before the Nazies could destroy the files, famed foreign correspondent and historian William L. Shirer sifted through the massive self-documentation of the Third Reich, to create a monumental study that has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of one of the most frightening chapters in the history of mankind--now in a special 30th anniversary edition.
"One of the most important works of history of our time."
THE NEW YORK TIMES

The story of the sinking of the Titanic based on first hand accounts collected in the days and weeks following the disaster. The story of the Titanic is now well known, but in the months following the disaster wild speculation was rife. On Thursday 22 May 1912, a mere 37 days after the sinking, respected London publisher Grant Richards, delivered Filson Young's book to booksellers around the capital. It was the first attempt to plot the demise of the unsinkable ship from a well-respected writer who had already argued in the light of the Oceana sinking, for proper use of the wireless on board ships. Both Filson and Grant knew victims of the sinking and both worked hard to gather first-hand testimony to use in the book. Much of his telling of the story still stands today and his speculations about the feeling of daily life aboard the doomed ship are used in books and films on the subject.

John Bunyan (1628-1688) was a Christian writer and preacher. He was born at Harrowden, in the Parish of Elstow, England. He wrote The Pilgrim's Progress (1678- 1684), arguably the most famous published Christian allegory. In the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August. Bunyan had very little schooling (about 2-4 years). He followed his father in the Tarish Tinker's trade, and he served in the parliamentary army at Newport Pagnell (1644-1647). In 1655, Bunyan became a deacon and began preaching, with marked success from the start. He also became a popular preacher as well as a prolific author, though most of his works consist of expanded sermons. He was no scholar, except of the English Bible, but he knew scripture thoroughly. In his autobiographical book, Grace Abounding (1666), Bunyan describes himself as having led an abandoned life in his youth, and as having been morally reprehensible as a result. However, there appears to be no evidence that he was outwardly worse than the average of his neighbours.

Mary Smith and her friends live in Cranford, a town predominantly inhabited by women. The return of a long-lost brother named Peter is the most dramatic event to occur over the course of the sixteen tales that comprise the novel. Elizabeth Gaskell s Cranford is an ironic portrayal of female life in a secluded English village.

As early as the introduction of Christianity Ireland was already divided into four such aggregations of tribes--kingdoms they are commonly called--answering pretty nearly to the present four provinces, with the addition of Meath, which was the appanage of the house of Ulster, and included West Meath, Longford, and a fragment of the King's County. Of the other four provinces, Connaught acknowledged the rule of the O'Connors, Munster that of the O'Briens, Leinster of the McMurroughs, and Ulster of the O'Neills, who were also in theory over-kings, or, as the native word was, Ard-Reaghs of the entire island.

Nicholas & Alexandra is the internationally famous biography from Pulitzer prize-winner Robert Massie. Massie shows conclusively how the personal curse of the young heir's haemophilia, and the decisive influence it brought Rasputin, became fatally linked with the collapse of Imperial Russia. As an engrossing account of one of the century's most dramatic episodes ' and an intimate portrait of two people caught at the centre of a maelstrom ' Nicholas & Alexandra is unlikely ever to be surpassed. 'The story of the last Tsar has probably never been so powerfully ' and so accurately ' told' Guardian