THE LAST LEOPARD - A Life of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Biographies & Memoirs

Gilmour, David

Arts & Literature

Harvill Press

It was an unconventional deal: Jesse could leave school, sleep all day, not work, not pay rent - but he had to watch three films a week...of his father's choosing. Week by week, side by side, father and son watch the world's best (and occasionally worst) films - from "True Romance" to "Chungking Express", "A Hard Day's Night" to "Rosemary's Baby", "Showgirls" to "La Dolce Vita". The films get them talking - about girls, music, heartbreak, work, drugs, money, love, friendship - and they open doors to a young man's interior life at a time when parents are normally shut out. Gradually, the son develops from a chaotic teenager into a self-assured young adult, but as the film club moves towards its bittersweat and inevitable conclusion, Jesse makes a decision which surprises even his father..."The Film Club" is a book that goes straight to the heart. Honest, unsparing and poignant, it is the true story of one man's attempt to chart a course for his beloved son's rocky passage into adulthood.

Film Club: A Dad, His Teenage Son and the Education He Couldn't Refuse

Twelve

Jesse didn't want to go to school anymore. After much deliberation, his father offers him an unconventional deal: he can drop out, sleep all day, not work, not pay rent, but on one condition - that he watches three films a week, of his father's choosing. What follows is an unusual journey as week by week, side by side, they watch the world's best (and occasionally worst) films - from True Romance to Chunking Express, A Hard Day's Night to Rosemary's Baby, and La Dolce Vita to Giant. The films get them talking: about girls, music, heartbreak, work, drugs, money, friendship - but they also open doors to a young man's interior life at a time when a parent is normally shut out. Gradually the father's initial worries are set aside as he watches his son morph from chaotic teenager to self-assured adult - who even starts to get up before noon. As the film club moves towards its poignant and inevitable conclusion, the young man makes a decision which surprises even his father... The Film Club is a book that goes straight to the heart. Honest, unsparing, and emotive, it follows one man's attempt to chart a course for his beloved son's rocky passage into adulthood.

The Film Club: No School. No Work ... Just Three Films a Week

Ebury Press

The book that explains the whole extraordinary course of Italian history like no other in English The Pursuit of Italy traces the whole history of the Italian peninsula in a wonderfully readable style, full of well-chosen stories and observations from personal experience, and peopled by many of the great figures of the Italian past, from Cicero and Virgil to Dante and the Medici, from Cavour and Verdi to the controversial political figures of the twentieth century. The book gives a clear-eyed view of the Risorgimento, the pivotal event in modern Italian history, debunking the influential myths which have grown up around it. Gilmour shows that the glory of Italy has always lain in its regions, with their distinctive art, civic cultures, identities and cuisine and whose inhabitants identified themselves not as Italians, but as Tuscans and Venetians, Sicilians and Lombards, Neapolitans and Genoese. This is where the strength and culture of Italy still comes from, rather than from misconceived and mishandled concepts of nationalism and unity. This wise and enormously engaging book explains the course of Italian history in a manner and with a coherence which no one with an interest in the country could fail to enjoy. David Gilmour is one of Britain's most admired and accomplished historical writers and biographers. His previous books include The Last Leopard : A Life of Giuseppe di Lampedusa (winner of the Marsh Biography Award) Curzon (Duff Cooper Prize) and Long Recessional:The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling (Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography).

The Pursuit of Italy

History

Europe

Penguin Uk

The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience

A SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, SPECTATOR, NEW STATESMAN, TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A richly panoramic exploration of the British experience of India ... hugely researched and elegantly written, sensitive to the ironies of the past and brimming with colourful details' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times The British in this book lived in India from shortly after the reign of Elizabeth I until well into the reign of Elizabeth II. Who were they? What drove these men and women to risk their lives on long voyages down the Atlantic and across the Indian Ocean or later via the Suez Canal? And when they got to India, what did they do and how did they live?
This book explores the lives of the many different sorts of Briton who went to India: viceroys and offcials, soldiers and missionaries, planters and foresters, merchants, engineers, teachers and doctors. It evokes the three and a half centuries of their ambitions and experiences, together with the lives of their families, recording the diversity of their work and their leisure, and the complexity of their relationships with the peoples of India. It also describes the lives of many who did not fit in with the usual image of the Raj: the tramps and rascals, the men who 'went native', the women who scorned the role of the traditional memsahib.
David Gilmour has spent decades researching in archives, studying the papers of many people who have never been written about before, to create a magnificent tapestry of British life in India. It is exceptional work of scholarly recovery portrays individuals with understanding and humour, and makes an original and engaging contribution to a long and important period of British and Indian history.

Asia

Penguin

'A fast-moving, entertaining and finely written story' Simon Schama 
'Masterly ... a remarkable portrait of a brilliant complex and tragic genius' William Dalrymple, Los Angeles Times\nGeorge Nathaniel Curzon's controversial life in public service stretched from the high noon of the British Empire to the traumatized years following the First World War. As Viceroy of India under Queen Victoria and Foreign Secretary under George V, the obsessive Lord Curzon left his unmistakable mark on the era. David Gilmour's lucid and elegant biography is a brilliant assessment of Curzon's character and achievements, offering a rich and dramatic account of the infamous vendettas, the turbulent friendships, and the passionate, reckless love affairs that complicated and enriched his life. 
'A magnificent work ... entirely convincing in its evocation of Curzon's extraordinary character ... It is, in short, the definitive life' David Cannadine, Observer\n'Exemplary biography ... meticulously researched and elegantly written' C.A.Bayly, The Times Literary Supplement 
'A superb new biography ... a tragic story, brilliantly told' Andrew Roberts, Literary Review 
'An absorbing, witty and intelligent biography ... David Gilmour's mix of erudition, hard analysis and quizzical amusement will give this volume a unique place on the ever more crowded shelves of political biography' Ben Pimlott, Independent on Sunday

Curzon: Imperial Statesman

Historical

'Superb, beautifully written, touching and occasionally very funny' Andrew Roberts\nDavid Gilmour's superb biography of Rudyard Kipling is the first to show how the life and work of the great writer mirrored the trajectory of the British Empire, from its zenith to its final decades. His famous poem 'Recessional' celebrated Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, but his last poems warned of the dangers of Nazism, and in those intervening years Kipling, himself an icon of the Empire, was transformed from an apostle of success to a prophet of national decline. As Gilmour makes clear, Kipling's mysterious stories and poetry deeply influenced the way his readers saw both themselves and the British Empire, and they continue to challenge us today. 
'A fine, fair and generous work ... Gilmour's celebrated life of Curzon demonstrated his mastery of imperial nuance and esoteric character, and he brings to this book just the right combination of empathy, distaste and 
fastidious detachment ... there is never a flaccid line, and never a hasty judgement' Jan Morris, New Statesman 
'Every now and again a book comes along that sheds new light on a life we thought we knew. David Gilmour's beautifully-written biography of Rudyard Kipling is just such a work ... This is literary biography at its very finest' George Rosie, Sunday Herald 
'An enthralling biography of a mind ... essential reading for anyone who cares about how a writer finds, and passionately lives, his subject' Ruth Padel, Daily Telegraph 
'The best Kipling biography yet written ... Gilmour's account of this driven man shines with intelligence' J. B. Pick, Scotsman

The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling

The British in this book lived in India from shortly after the reign of Elizabeth I until well into the reign of Elizabeth II. They were soldiers, officials, businessmen, doctors and missionaries of both sexes, planters, engineers and many others, together with children, wives and sisters. This book describes their lives, their work and their extraordinarily varied interactions with the native populations; it also records the very diverse roles they played in the three centuries of British-Indian history. Gilmour writes of people who have never been written about before, men and women who are presented here with humanity and often with humour. The result is a magnificent tapestry of life, an exceptional work of scholarly recovery which reads like a great nineteenth-century novel. It makes a highly original and engaging contribution to a long an important period of British and Indian history.

Allen Lane.

Traces the history of the Palestinian exile, analyzes the political situation in the Middle East, and looks at changing world opinion

The Dispossessed: The Ordeal of the Palestinians, 1917-1980

Middle East

SIDGWICK JACKSON

Explains the causes of the civil war in Lebanon, describes the ideologies of the major factions, and examines the results of foreign intervention

Lebanon: The Fractured Country

St.Martin's Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gilmour, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gilmour, David

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gilmour, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

THE LAST LEOPARD - A Life of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Film Club: A Dad, His Teenage Son and the Education He Couldn't Refuse

The Film Club: No School. No Work ... Just Three Films a Week

The Pursuit of Italy

The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience

Curzon: Imperial Statesman

The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling

The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience

The Dispossessed: The Ordeal of the Palestinians, 1917-1980

Lebanon: The Fractured Country