16 Historical Biography


72179 FIRST AID MANUAL: The Authorised Manual of the Irish Red Cross 9th Edition by Dr Andrew Kelly and Anthony Lawlor Chapters are grouped by body system, for instance Breathing Problems or the type of injury such as Effects of Heat and Cold. There are clear computer-generated artworks. At the back of the manual is a quick-reference emergency section that provides additional at-a-glance plans for potentially life-threatening injuries and conditions, from unconsciousness and bleeding to asthma and heart attack. 288 pages with photos in colour plus diagrams.


£12.99 NOW £3.50


73388 THE WARMTH OF THE HEART PREVENTS YOUR


BODY FROM RUSTING: Ageing Without Growing Old by Marie de Hennezel The author is an esteemed psychologist and psychotherapist entrusted by the French ministry of health with the mission of raising palliative-care awareness. Her fervent belief is that the ageing process does not have to condemn us to solitude, suffering, degradation, or dependency.


Through encounters with extraordinary people at the end of their lives, in her native France and also in different cultures around the world, she discovers how to embrace life at any age, how to avoid depression, how to stay happy, and what it really means to grow old gracefully. Citing many persuasive examples, such as a philologist aged 93 and a publisher of 90, she shows just how to maintain our joie de vivre. 274 paperback pages. £12.99 NOW £5.50


72685 BEURER FOREHEAD THERMOMETER by Beurer Medical **REDUCED** An infrared ear thermometer with a three-in-one function, LED fever alarm and nine memory places. Many adults may prefer to test their own temperature on their forehead rather than using an oral thermometer. With safety control for forehead, surface and ambiance, this is one to keep in the medical cabinet at home in a rather snazzy metallic silver zipper case to keep it safe and clean after you have disposed of the packaging. £31.50 NOW £8


72769 HEALTH... GREAT ADVICE, SIMPLY PUT


by Joe Kita and Reader’s Digest Magazine There are decade-by-decade checklists for what tests to take and what areas of your health to focus on at each stage of your life. Let your pet be your doctor, cut your cholesterol naturally, never suffer from osteoporosis, quit smoking, check for skin cancer, turn off a headache, stay calm in an MRI, avoid medical errors, outsmart a restaurant menu, boost your immunity and live to 100 plus. 174pp with lovely coloured line art. £9.99 NOW £2


72778 A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SELF- MASSAGE by Mary Atkinson


The author demonstrates the ten basic techniques of massage, including feathering and stroking, the stronger pressures of kneading and rubbing, and the percussive benefits of beating and tapping. Acupressure provides carefully targeted massage on key points. A section on preparation covers oils, safety and understanding the body’s systems. The massage routines address problems arising at home (insomnia, tired face, puffy ankles), work (tension headache, eye strain, memory lapses), and on the move (anxiety, indigestion, jet lag). There are also programmes to boost circulation, tone from head to toe, relax the face and scalp, conquer back pain, improve hair conditioning and alleviate stress. Over 50 sequences in total. Colour photos. 192pp. ONLY £6.50


72804 HEALTH SECRETS HANDBOOK by Esme Floyd


Work away joint pain, power up your memory, munch down your blood pressure, bone up on cheese, and cull your cravings culprits. 2000 wellness and nutrition tips and quick solutions to all minor health concerns from allergies to weight worries, both medical and dietary solutions as well as preventative and alternative therapies. Reveals the real truth about ingredients in your food and nutrients, additives, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, calories and more. 300 page softback. £9.99 NOW £3.50


72969 CAROL VORDERMAN’S SUMMER DETOX


by Carol Vorderman and Anita Bean Lose up to 3lb in the three day ultra detox and 7lb in the 14 day mini detox or perhaps just use the seven day re- energise plan in this three-in-one quick and easy diet planning book. There are delicious recipes to give you protein power, learn about healthy fats, steering clear of saturated fats, antioxidants, and learn the six rules for success. Cut the junk, eat raw or lightly cooked food, drink water, eat when you are hungry and enjoy it, make your skin glow and learn about nutrition along the way. With shopping list and recipes. 144pp in large softback, colour illus. £11.99 NOW £3


73644 EAT RIGHT FOR YOUR PERSONALITY TYPE: How to Work with Your Personality to


Create the Perfect Diet for You by Karen Knowler


Readers might be surprised to learn that the dietary choices they make are more often than not totally unconscious decisions, and that their personality type is in fact the number one driver for their behaviour around food. The author’s discovery of the 10 different eater types has fast become one of the most potent tools for self-knowledge and conscious personal change. Whether they want to achieve weight loss, energy gain, improved health or inner peace - or simply find a more convenient way to eat to suit their lifestyle - this book claims to put them firmly in control of their relationship with food. 268 paperback pages. £12.99 NOW £3.75


73012 OLDER, WISER, SEXIER by Bev Williams


Growing old disgracefully has never been as much fun as in the cartoons of Bev Williams, very well known for her greetings cards artwork. Our collection of probably over 100 cartoons raises a giggle or a smirk on every page as we watch these harlots and jezebels, naughty ladies teetering into old age. ‘Good cheekbones are the brassiere of old age.’ - Barbara De Portago. Fun pithy quotes.


£5.99 NOW £3


73242 TEMPORARY TATTOOS FOR GIRLS by Anita Rattigan and Betsy Badwater Now this could be great fun to spook your friends or grandchildren! The final pages of the book are tear-out sheets of temporary tattoo transfers and more than 100 designs to choose from. They include an eagle, panther, mermaid, unicorn, a pair of doves, dragons, Celtic symbols, flowers and fairies, stars, the sun, scorpions to tribal designs. Place the tattoo face down on your clean dry skin, wet completely with a damp cloth or sponge, press down quite hard for a few seconds and peel the corner off gently. It can last several days and can be removed with baby oil or alcohol and will fade over the course of a week. The book is actually designed for those considering getting a permanent tattoo or just wondering what it might look like but don’t know where to start. 96 very large pages, colour photos of tattooed young ladies, spiral bound with 100 high quality long lasting needle-free body art transfers. ONLY £6


73351 THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES: A


Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee Physician, researcher and award-winning science writer examines the disease with a cellular biologist’s precision, a biographer’s passion and from the perspective of a historian. From the Persian Queen Atossa, whose Greek slave may have treated a cancer in her breast, through the 19th century recipients of primitive radiation and chemotherapy, to the author’s own leukaemia patient Carla, this incredible volume is about the people who have soldiered through toxic, bruising and draining regimes to survive, and to increase the store of human knowledge. It is a brilliant new perspective and also a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments. A huge 571 paperback pages, photos. £12.99 NOW £5.50


73370 NEW COMPLETE GUIDE TO NUTRITIONAL HEALTH


by Pierre Jean Cousin and Kirsten Hartvig Sub-titled ‘More Than 600 Foods and Recipes for Overcoming Illness and Boosting Your Immunity’. This fully revised and updated two-part guide to the healing and preventative properties of the foods we eat, includes all the latest nutritional facts. Food is Medicine, encourages readers to discover the healing power of food and learn how to fight common ailments through their diet. Part Two, Eat for Immunity shows how certain foods can boost immunity and keep the body’s defences strong - both to prevent illness and combat disease. As well as providing over 350 delicious recipes, this volume gives detailed profiles of 300 common foods and includes in-depth descriptions of upwards of 100 ailments, from colds, flu and infections to more serious conditions such as heart disease and pneumonia. 304 softback pages 23.5cm x 19cm. Colour photos. $19.95 NOW £6.50


HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY


I am only an average man but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man. - Theodore Roosevelt


73889 CAESAR: A Life in


Western Culture by Maria Wyke


His Caesarian birth, the conquest of Gaul, crossing the Rubicon, his love affair with Cleopatra and foretold death on the Ides of March - even the clichés of his life reveal the extent to which Julius Caesar has become an enduring part of the fabric of Western culture. In the Middle Ages he was a “pagan saint”


and kings, emperors and popes would incorporate him into their family trees. Shakespeare and Handel found his life to be the stuff of high drama, and Napoleon, Mussolini and the Borgias looked to his example for practical lessons in how to seize and hold on to power. With the Queen of Egypt and his best friend Mark Antony he was one corner of the most famous love triangle in history, the archetypal tale of the interplay of sex, luxury and power, and his increasing power and the manner of his death has become the watchword for explorations of ambition, tyranny, liberty and betrayal. From the paucity of information regarding his birth (either 12 or 13 July 100BC and descended from the legendary Trojan Prince Aeneas) and early years and up to his portrayal in literature and film and even Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, this is a witty, sharply insightful and reflective account of how political and historical imagination works using one of Ancient Rome’s most important characters. B/w illus, 287pp. £18.99 NOW £8


73930 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA


by Adrian Goldsworthy Grounded in a scrupulous analysis of ancient sources, from documents on papyrus to archaeological evidence, here is a story of ambition, pride, cruelty, ruthlessness, jealousy, deceit, savagery and passion. Through the lives of probably the most famous couple of lovers ever, we see the transition of the Greek


and Roman world into a culture that would have a profound influence on our own. Here, a distinguished historian transcends myth to create a nuanced portrayal of the pair who, he avers, are ‘first and foremost political animals’ who place politics and ideology at the heart of their turbulent and intensely erotic relationship. Neither turns out to have been quite what we expect. Cleopatra has more glamour but, in terms of sheer power, was the far less important of the two. She was not an Egyptian but a Greek, and her rule was contingent on Roman support. It was Rome that dominated the world and Antony was an aristocrat who implicitly believed that it was his birthright to lead the Republic. His own propaganda styled him as a great soldier, but the truth was that he spent very little time with the army and displayed only a modest talent. More than 2,000 years after their deaths, the two are not only still famous as lovers, but are also infamous as figures who took their own lives in spectacular fashion. Yet their earlier lives were every bit as thrilling, and interwoven with them was a world that was changing as the Roman Republic turned into an empire that was ruled by the Caesars. 470 turbulent pages with colour photos, chronology, glossary, family trees, list of maps, list of abbreviations and conclusion: History and the Great Romance. $35 NOW £7


73988 QUEEN OF THE WITS:


A Life of Laetitia Pilkington by Norma Clarke Poet, fallen woman and wit, admired by Jonathan Swift in the 1730s but later dismissed by him as ‘the most profligate whore in either kingdom’, this colourful biography tells of a woman determined to be known as a writer on equal terms with men. Divorced by her husband after she was uncovered


as an adulteress, Laetitia led a life of precarious self- sufficiency. Through humour, intelligence and her skilful use of scandal, most notably in her Memoirs, she survived on the very fringes of respectability. 364 pages in paperback with colour and b/w plates, A Note on Laetitia Pilkington’s Early Literary Reception. £10.99 NOW £5


73871 ALEXANDER: Destiny and Myth by Claude Mossé


and Paul Cartledge Described as ‘at once sweeping, succinct and spellbinding’, here is a strikingly fresh account of a man who, 2,500 years after his death, continues to intrigue and excite the historical imagination. The author, a distinguished historian, rigorously and imaginatively draws on a vast array of sources to create an


indelible portrait of Alexander the Great as legend, conqueror, and man. Carefully navigating between fact and fable, she offers a compelling new assessment of the Macedonian king and his legacy. From his ascension to the throne of Macedon in 336 BC in the wake of his father’s assassination, to his stunning conquest of Darius III’s Persian empire, through his Indian campaign, and to his premature death aged 32, she reconstructs the major stages of his reign. Next, paying special attention to the cities he founded, she explores the perception of him as a ruler - and even a god - among the diverse peoples he governed. Then she turns to the elusive question of his character, offering provocative insights on this millennia-old debate. The book’s final two parts concern Alexander’s legacy, both immediate and far reaching. Here is the fate of his empire and the limits of his accomplishments, particularly his attempt to Hellenize the east, and here is the idea of him as a mythical hero from antiquity to the present time, as reflected in ancient, medieval, early modern and 20th century words and images. Absolutely gripping. 244 pages with chronology, map, Alexander’s Principal Companions, the Succession of the Achaemenid Kings. $22.95 NOW £6


73893 MARY BOLEYN: The


Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir


Everyone knows about Anne Boleyn, queen of King Henry VIII, who was beheaded. The story of her sister, however, is less well known but just as sensational. In this riveting book a noted British historian and author brings to bear detailed forensic research to explode much of the mythology that


surrounds Mary Boleyn and uncover the truth about her much-vaunted notoriety at the French court and her relations with King François I. She also brings forward new evidence regarding the reputation of Mary’s mother who was rumoured to have been an early mistress of Henry VIII. Revealed, too, is Mary’s role at the English court and how she became Henry’s mistress, tracking the course of their affair and presenting the most conclusive answer to date on the paternity of her children - long speculated to have been the king’s progeny. A gripping new angle on the so-called ‘great and infamous whore’. 364 pages with plates in colour and b/w, note on monetary values, genealogical tables of the Boleyns, the Careys and the Knollys, and two appendices: Of Her Grace’s Kin and Portraits of Mary Boleyn and William Carey. $28 NOW £8.50


73934 THE BLOODY WHITE


BARON by James Palmer There have been few characters more sadistic, sinister and deeply demented than Baron Ungern- Sternberg. A violent, anti-Semitic fanatic with a penchant for Eastern mysticism and a hatred of communists, the Baron conquered Mongolia in 1919 with a ragtag force of White Russians, Siberians, Japanese and native Mongolians,


and dreamed of assembling a horse-borne army to


retake Moscow. Ungern foreshadowed the Nazis in his combination of mysticism and genocidal barbarity. His subjects believed him an incarnate god of war, destined to restore the greatness of the Mongolian Empire. In this saga that ranges from Austria to the Mongolian Steppe, historian and travel writer James Palmer traces Ungern’s shocking, savage and grotesque story as he recounts the crimes and conquests of this monster compellingly, colourfully and with cinematic relish. 274pp in paperback. $15.99 NOW £6.50


73966 KATHERINE THE QUEEN: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr The Last


Wife of Henry VIII by Linda Porter


All that most people know about Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth wife, is that she survived. She has often been dismissed as a matronly figure who nursed Henry as his health declined and made little impact at the drama-ridden Tudor


court. The truth, however, is much more interesting. Katherine was only 30 when she married King Henry VIII in July 1543. Born in 1512, her motto was ‘To be useful in all I do’. She was the eldest surviving child of Sir Thomas Parr, Lord of the Manor of Kendal in Westmoreland (now Cumbria). Katherine was beautiful, passionate, radical and highly intelligent; there was even a moment in their three-year marriage when she almost became the third of Henry’s wives to lose her head but was saved only by her quick wits and the king’s affection. She was also the most frequently married English queen, having four husbands. Her book Prayers or Meditations was the first to be published by an English queen under her own name. After Henry’s death, she hastily and secretly married her old flame, the rakish Sir Thomas Seymour, believing that she had at last found true love. But her happiness was brief. Rumour spread through the court about Seymour’s open flirtation with Katherine’s own step-daughter, the young Princess Elizabeth. Tragically, with the scandal still at its height, she died in 1548 giving birth to her only child. Paperback, 383 pages, 34 illustrations. $19.99 NOW £6


73145 SIX WIVES OF HENRY


VIII by Antonia Fraser Henry VIII changed the course of history with his exorbitant sexual appetite and his possibly genuine belief in the Protestant Reformation. The six wives were all exceptional women in their own right. Katherine of Aragon knew him when he was young and maintained a genuine love for her long-term partner in spite of being


thrust aside for Anne Boleyn. Anne’s fierce Protestantism was allied with an aura of sexuality she could not control had she wished to, although most accusations against her were probably false. Jane Seymour achieved a permanent place in Henry’s volatile heart by dying quickly in childbirth. Humiliated by Henry for her ugliness, Anne of Cleves remained as a valued member of the court after the divorce. Katherine Howard was an independent young girl, coached by her relatives to attract Henry who was extremely happy with her. Catherine Parr was a woman of education, the author of several devotional works. Unites scholarship with readability. 589pp, paperback. Reproductions, some in colour. £12.99 NOW £5


73317 ROB ROY by W. H. Murray Rob Roy Macgregor is Scotland’s most romantic and elusive hero, but with no recorded descriptions of him, tracking down the real Rob Roy has been painstaking archive research and much sifting through lore. W. H. Murray brings together new interpretations of Rob Roy’s life in order to produce a clearer understanding of the character, actions and motifs of a man who became a myth and a symbol of Scotland. Macgregor’s political mission outwardly failed, but his extraordinary revolution in adversity earned him a place in history, legend and film. With map, a facsimile of Rob Roy’s actual signature, this edition was first published in 1982 and is here in paperback reprint, 301pp. £6.99 NOW £3.50


73549 ELIZABETH: The Struggle for the Throne by David Starkey


The best account in English of the early years of Elizabeth I in a racy, first rate history. An abused child, yet confident of her destiny to reign, a woman in a man’s world, passionately sexual though as she maintained a virgin, Elizabeth I is famed as England’s most successful ruler. From princess and heir apparent to bastardised and disinherited royal, accused traitor to head of the princely household, Elizabeth experienced every vicissitude of fortune and extreme of condition in Tudor England. She rose above it all to reign during a watershed moment in history. Starkey stirringly relies on Elizabeth’s eloquence and ability to use words to move people. Remainder mark. 363pp in paperback, colour plates.


$14.99 NOW £5


68717 MAN WHO OUTSHONE THE SUN KING by Charles Drazin


The subtitle of this richly textured biography is ‘A Life of Gleaming Opulence and Wretched Reversals in the Reign of Louis XIV’. This is the biography of 17th century French royal minister Nicolas Foucquet. Late in 1664, the musketeer D’artagnan rode beside the carriage, as it left Paris, carrying his friend Nicolas Foucquet to life imprisonment in a cell next door to the Man in the Iron Mask. From Cardinal Mazarin’s protégé and eventual protector, as the builder of the stunningly opulent Chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte and as patron of the arts and lover of beautiful women, Foucquet had suffered a wretched decline. Charged with embezzlement and treason, Foucquet was convicted. 338pp with photos. $26 NOW £4.50


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