I imprint: 1291 books

If the burlesque stripper, with her bawdy spirit and unruly insubordination, has emerged for many as a new 'empowering' model for the sexually aware woman, then she also strikes horror in the heart of second wave feminism. Embodied by high profile artistes such as Dita von Teese and Catherine d'Lish,...

In his writing on the 'mirror stage', the psychoanalytic theorist Jacques Lacan describes the female body as lacking: a mere symptom of man, an object constructed by male desire. However, what happens if the woman in art follows Jean Baudrillard's advice to 'swallow the mirror', and is made real?...

In the wake of September 11th instant theories have emerged that try to root Osama Bin Laden's attacks on Wahhabism. Muslim critics have dismissed this conservative interpretation of Islam that is the official creed of Saudi Arabia as an unorthodox innovation that manipulated a suggestible people...

In 1922, his dreams of an independent Arabia shattered, T.E. Lawrence enlisted in the RAF under the assumed name John Hume Ross. Though methodical and restrictive, life there seemed to suit Lawrence: "The Air Force is not a man-crushing humiliating slavery, all its days. There is sun & decent...

Before unification, Germany was a loose collection of variously sovereign principalities, nurtured on deep thought, fine music and hard rye bread. It was known across Europe for the plentiful supply of consorts to be found among its abundant royalty, but the language and culture was largely incomprehensible...

Almost from the moment, some five centuries ago, that their religion was founded in the Punjab by Guru Nanak, Sikhs have enjoyed a distinctive identity. This sense of difference, forged during Sikhism's fierce struggles with the Mughal Empire, is still symbolised by the 'Five Ks' ('panj kakar', in...

An insurgency in Nigeria by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has left thousands dead, shaken Africa's biggest country and worried the world. Yet it remains a mysterious – almost unknowable – organisation. ˜ rough exhaustive on-the-ground reporting, Mike Smith takes readers inside the con°...

The massacre of one million Rwandan Tutsis by ethnic Hutus in 1994 has become a symbol of the international community's helplessness in the face of human rights atrocities. It is assumed that the West was well-intentioned, but ultimately ineffectual. But as Andrew Wallis reveals in this shocking book,...

The Armenian Genocide was one of the greatest atrocities of the twentieth century, an episode in which up to 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives. In this major new history, Raymond Kévorkian provides a long-awaited authoritative account of origins, events, and consequences of the years 1915 and...

Mustafa Kemal – latterly and better known as Atatürk - is without doubt the most famous figure in modern Turkish history. But what was his path to power? And how did his early career as a soldier in the Ottoman army affect his later decisions as President? The Young Atatürk tracks the lesser...

The paradise of adventurers, Shanghai during World War II was suffused with dangerous glamour. Racketeers, cutthroats and con-men jostled for advantage as secret agents of the great powers waged a complex and sinister struggle for power. In this classic account, Bernard Wasserstein draws on the files...

One of the great figures of the twentieth century, Chairman Mao looms irrepressibly over the economic rise of China. Mao Zedong was the leader of a revolution, a communist who lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, an aggressive and distrustful leader, and a man responsible for more civilian...

The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars were the first truly global conflicts. The Royal Navy was a key player in the wars and the key enabler of British success - at the cessation of hostilities Britain emerged as the only power capable of sustained global hegemony based on maritime and naval...

Who was the enigmatic Jean Moulin, a man as skilled in deception as he was in acts of heroism? The memory of this French Resistance hero, who was betrayed to the Gestapo and tortured to death by Klaus Barbie, the infamous 'Butcher of Lyon', is revered alongside that of other national icons. But Moulin's...