I Never Knew That About Scotland

Author: Christopher Winn
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448146089
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Book Description
The inspiration for the primetime ITV series on Great Britain, this is the ultimate journey around Scotland from bestselling author Christopher Winn. Travelling county by county, this irresistible miscellany unearths the enthralling stories, firsts, birthplaces, legends and inventions that shape the country's rich and majestic history. To uncover the spellbinding tales that lie hidden within Scotland's wild and romantic shores, to experience what inspired the country's powerful literature and towering castles, and to tread in the footsteps of her villains and victors, is to capture the spirit of this fascinating country and bring every place you visit to life. You will discover the story of the original 'sweetheart', John Balliol, whose embalmed heart is buried beside his devoted wife Devorgilla at Sweetheart Abbey in Kirkcudbrightshire. In Aberdeen you will find the only granite cathedral in the world. And you will hear the haunting echo of the Bear Gates of Traquair House in Peeblesshire were slammed shut when Bonnie Prince Charlie left Scotland in 1746 - legend has it that they will never be re-opened until a Stuart King once more sits on the throne. This beautifully illustrated treasure trove of interesting facts about the history of Scotland is the perfect gift, and will act as an eye-opening guide to this thrilling, alluring and ever-bewitching country.

No Gods and Precious Few Heroes

Author: Christopher Harvie
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748682570
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Book Description
This introductory history takes Scotland through two world wars and subsequent social exhaustion, through the re-energising adjustments loosely referred to as 'the sixties' to a final endgame of Union versus Independence. The novel structure of Harvie's history mirrors that of a grand engineering project, or a structure as complex as the Forth Railway Bridge: 'three periods of change rendered as towers, and two great cantilevered arches of life-in-common, over which day-to-day life proceeds'.

The Year of No Summer

Author: Rachel Lebowitz
Publisher: Biblioasis
ISBN: 1771962208
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 107

Book Description
“Lebowitz highlights the parables, fables and myths we humans created in order to weave meaning into our lives and to which we return for comfort.” —Atlantic Books Today On April 10th, 1815, Indonesia’s Mount Tambora erupted. The resulting build-up of ash in the stratosphere altered weather patterns and led, in 1816, to a year without summer. Instead, there were June snowstorms, food shortages, epidemics, inventions, and the proliferation of new cults and religious revivals. Hauntingly meaningful in today’s climate crisis, Lebowitz’s lyric essay charts the events and effects of that apocalyptic year. Weaving together history, mythology, and memoir, The Year of No Summer ruminates on weather, war, and our search for God and meaning in times of disaster.

Letters of Louis MacNeice

Author: Louis MacNeice
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571263461
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 711

Book Description
Louis MacNeice is increasingly recognised as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century, and his work has been a defining influence upon a generation of Irish poets that includes Derek Mahon, Michael Longley and Paul Muldoon. The Selected Letters is indispensable as a resource for an understanding of the intellectual culture of the mid-twentieth century. A Classics don, poet, playwright and globetrotting BBC producer, the medley and blend of MacNeice's cultural influences seems exemplary in its modernity. He kept up a significant correspondence with E. R. Dodds, Anthony Blunt and T. S. Eliot, to name but three prominent figures of the time. During his time at the BBC MacNeice witnessed many key events, including the partition of India in 1947 and the independence of the Gold Coast from Britain in 1957, and these are recorded in two long sequences to his wife, the singer Hedli Anderson. His complex relationship to Ireland and to his Irish heritages speak resonantly to contemporary debates about Irish and Northern Irish cultural identity. Finally, the Letters will do much to broaden our understanding of a vivid and often enigmatic personality whose varied life and individual charisma have often resisted explanation.

The Letters of Seamus Heaney

Author: Seamus Heaney
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374720061
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 594

Book Description
The letters provide us with an intimate, multilayered understanding of this extraordinary poet’s life and mind. Every now and again I need to get down here, to get into the Diogenes tub, as it were, or the Colmcille beehive hut, or the Mossbawn scullery. At any rate, a hedge surrounds me, the blackbird calls, the soul settles for an hour or two. In this astute selection from Seamus Heaney’s vast correspondence, we are given direct access to the life and poetic development of a literary titan, from his early days in Belfast, through his controversial decision to settle in the Republic, to the gradual broadening of horizons that culminated in the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature and the years of international eminence that kept him heroically busy until his death. Christopher Reid draws from both public and private archives to reveal this remarkable story in the poet’s own words. Generous, funny, exuberant, confiding, irreverent, empathetic, and deeply thoughtful, The Letters of Seamus Heaney encompasses decades-long relationships with friends and colleagues, as well as an unstinted responsiveness to passing acquaintances. Heaney’s mastery of language is as evident here as it is in any of his writings; listening to his voice we find ourselves in the same room as a man whose presence enriched the world and whose legacy deepens our sense of what truly matters.

A Walk to the Western Isles

Author: Frank Delaney
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Book Description

Chasing Lost Time

Author: Jean Findlay
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0374119279
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
Provides a biography of Marcel Proust translator C.K. Scott Moncrieff, a man revealed to be a homosexual Catholic, a secretly lonely partygoer, a covert spy in Mussolini's Italy, and a brave war hero.

The Rough Guide to Scotland

Author: Rob Humphreys
Publisher: Rough Guides UK
ISBN: 1405389362
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 857

Book Description
The Rough Guide to Scotland is the ultimate travel guide to this beguiling and beautiful country. It will guide you through Scotland with reliable information and detailed coverage of all of Scotland's attractions, from the world-class cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow to its many idyllic islands. The Rough Guide to Scotland features detailed practical advice on what to see and do and how to get about, plus up-to-date reviews of the best hotels, B&Bs, shops and restaurants. Whether you're looking for traditional village pubs or want to go puffin-spotting on Shetland, it's covered. Accurate maps and comprehensive practical information help you get under the skin of Scotland, whilst stunning photography and an inspirational introduction make this your ultimate travelling companion. Make the most of your time on Earth with The Rough Guide to Scotland. Now available in epub format.

Creating the Arabian Gulf

Author: Paul J. Rich
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739141589
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 359

Book Description
Even whether to call the Gulf 'Arabian' or 'Persian' is an unending argument. Regardless of its name, the Gulf is one of the most politically important regions of the world. Despite its constant presence in the headlines, the fact that it was part of the British Indian empire for many years has gone unappreciated. The long period of British control and the connections with India are, in fact, necessary in understanding the contemporary Middle East. With more than ten years of experience as a government advisor in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Paul Rich draws on previously closed archives to document the actual heritage of the area and dispel the myths. Rich shows that the influences of Britain and India are far deeper than commonly acknowledged, and that the sheikhs are actually the creation of the British Raj. He explains that they owe their thrones to a small group of British political agents_the 'Heaven Born'_who created the satraps and then proceeded to rule from behind the scenes by a clever use of stagecraft and ritual that was heavily flavored by their experiences at English public schools and in Masonic lodges. In its attempt to make sense of the complexity of Arab sheikhdoms in the Gulf, Creating the Arabian Gulf is an ideal book for students and scholars interested in Middle East studies and international relations.

Raptor

Author: James Macdonald Lockhart
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022647058X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 391

Book Description
As evidenced by the incredible success of Helen MacDonald's H is for Hawk, and the legions of fans of Pale Male, the incredible red-tailed hawk of 5th avenue, we are full of rapture for raptors. James Macdonald Lockhart, is among the many who have sought out these incredible birds, and in this lyrical work of natural history he seeks out 15 different raptors, in 15 different landscapes across England: a journey in search of raptors, a journey through the birds and into their worlds. Raptors are by nature scarce and extremely elusive. Of Pandionidae (osprey), Accipitridae (broad-winged harrier, eagle, buzzard, red kite) and Falconidae (peregrine, sparrowhawk etc.) only widespread buzzards, kestrels and kites are easily seen. Lockhart follows loosely the trail of 19th-century Scottish naturalist and artist William MacGillivray (1796-1852), As Philip Hoare wrote of it, James MacDonald Lockhart puts the rapture back in the raptor. This is in-the-moment writing, raw in beak and claw. With its gorgeously felt sense of life and place, Raptor rips at its words, turning them into exquisite portraits of the utter wild, shaping soaring, obsessive beauty out of the British landscape and its imperial birds"