There are many stories we can tell about the past, and we are not, perhaps, as free as we might imagine in our choice of which stories to tell, or where those stories end. John Arnold's addition to Oxford's popular Very Short Introductions series is a stimulating essay about how people study and understand history. The book begins by inviting us to think about various questions provoked by our …
This Very Short Introduction looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented, both in Africa and beyond. The author illustrates important aspects of Africa's history with a range of fascinating historical examples, drawn from over 5 millennia across this vast continent. The multitude of topics that the reader will learn about in this succinct work i…
John Hagee's breathtaking biblical tour of the three heavens takes you inside the timeless clash between the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness and explains why that battle makes all the difference in this world and the world to come. In The Three Heavens, Hagee uses the Word of God, science, and incredible true stories of the supernatural to explore the First Heaven. He then expos…
Many children and adults experience considerable difficulty producing or understanding a spoken language despite having adequate hearing levels. Some of these persons may benefit from learning a full and genuine sign language, such as one of the sign languages used by members of a Deaf1 community. They may acquire a substantial vocabulary of signs and learn to combine them into complex s…
In this 7th edition of his award-winning Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction, John Storey has extensively revised the text throughout. As before, the book presents a clear and critical survey of competing theories of and various approaches to popular culture. Its breadth and theoretical unity, exemplified through popular culture, means that it can be flexibly and relevantly app…
The hoard that forms the focus for this book was discovered on farmland in the vicinity of the small Oxfordshire town of Watlington in October 2015. It consists of 203 coins, most of which were issued by the early-medieval kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia in the late 870s, and silver ingots and metalwork — some in the form of fragmented hack-silver and a single piece of hack-gold. The metalwork …
In a brisk revisionist history, William Rowe challenges the standard narrative of Qing China as a decadent, inward-looking state that failed to keep pace with the modern West. The Great Qing was the second major Chinese empire ruled by foreigners. Three strong Manchu emperors worked diligently to secure an alliance with the conquered Ming gentry, though many of their social edicts—especial…
The Great Wall of China is a wonder of the world. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists take the five-mile journey from Beijing to climb its battlements. While myriad photographs have made this extraordinary landmark familiar to millions more, its story remains mysterious and steeped in myth. In this riveting account, John Man travels the entire length of the Great Wall and across two m…
Assynt is well known for its complex geology and was the field laboratory of 19th-century geologists Benjamin Peach and John Horne, who pioneered geological mapping techniques and the modern understanding of processes of geological thrust, opening up new possibilities in the study of landscape formation and evolution. Some of the world’s oldest rocks are found in Assynt, gneis…
The significance of Garranes lies partly in the date of Lisnacaheragh, believed to have been built in the fifth century AD. That is early in the history of the Irish ringfort, the origins of which remain unclear. The evidence of specialist craftworking in metal, glass and enamel from Lisnacaheragh testifies to the importance of the site. The dis…