Author:Olaudah Equiano
In an adventurous and extraordinary life, Equiano (c.1745-c.1797) criss-crossed the Atlantic world, from West Africa to the Caribbean to the USA to Britain, either as a slave or fighting with the Royal Navy. His account of his life is not only one of the great documents of the abolition movement, but also a startling, moving story of danger and betrayal.
Great Journeys allows readers to travel both around the planet and back through the centuries – but also back into ideas and worlds frightening, ruthless and cruel in different ways from our own. Few reading experiences can begin to match that of engaging with writers who saw astounding things: Great civilisations, walls of ice, violent and implacable jungles, deserts and mountains, multitudes of birds and flowers new to science. Reading these books is to see the world afresh, to rediscover a time when many cultures were quite strange to each other, where legends and stories were treated as facts and in which so much was still to be discovered.
This gem of a history book is slim enough to squeeze into the smallest piece of carry-on luggage but contains a wealth of stories about Istanbul's famous Galata bridge...Weaving the long history of the bridge with those who populate it today, the sensitive Mak shines a light on contemporary Turkey and its changing relationship with the rest of Europe
—— Sunday TelegraphGeert Mak introduces us to the city's denizen and history, stressing the symbolic importance of the bridge to a nation that sees itself as the meeting place between Europe and Asia
—— London Review of BooksGeert Mak's thoughtful travelogue sketches out Istanbul's past, and provides a touching portrait of its present inhabitants... his thoughtful, beautifully written book is suffused with respect for the richness of the individual life
—— IndependentStories from the heart of a travelogue written with sympathy and acute observation
—— Financial TimesPart history lesson, part cultural essay, The Bridge's slender size does not diminish it's riches
—— Viola Fort , GuardianMason brings together a wealth of inspiring stories of workers' struggles of the past with accounts of workers' fights today
—— Socialist ReviewIt has taken a mere 2,700 years for archaeology to reveal Homer as a truly talented historian, not just a peddler of second hand myths. Contrary to age-old academic prejudice, finds since 1988 have confirmed that the Trojan War happened much as Homer - the Iron Age writer with an inspired grasp of Bronze Age culture - related it. Homer's heroes remain mythical, but so much else is spot-on that Barry Strauss extends the benefit of the doubt by re-telling The Iliad in his own chattily lyrical style as if Achilles & Co were as real as the other proven evidence. Cracking book ...
—— The Daily TelegraphIn this gripping reconstruction [Strauss] deploys an impressive array of archaeological, historical and linguistic evidence...
—— Mail on SundayA gripping account
—— Adam Forrest , The HeraldDeGroot tells the story of the American lunar mission with verve and elegance
—— Richard Aldous , Irish TimesFascinating, gossipy and occasionally hilarious
—— Jeffrey Taylor , Express