This volume includes the stories which appeared in Scholar Gipsies and Grey weather, which have never been published. Most of these stories feature the farmers and shepherds of the Scottish Borders.

John Buchan: The Complete Short Stories vol 1

Lownie, Andrew

Buchan, John.

Thistle Publishing

Complete Short Stories of John Buchan (Vol 3)

John, Buchan

Complete Short Stories of John Buchan (v. 2)

Winner of the 1997 Edith McLeod Literary Prize, given annually to the British book which 'has contributed most to Franco-British understanding'. Winner of the 1997 Stern Silver PEN Award for Non-Fiction. The real story of the Occupation uncovers a reality more complex, more human and ultimately more moving than the myths which have grown after the event. Defeat in 1940 left the French so demoralized that they readily supported the Vichy regime, committed not just to pragmatic collaborations but to finding scapegoats for the nation's disgrace. Jews and Communists became the chief victims of a witch-hunt which left plenty of scope for private grudges as well. Resistance came late: the Occupation was fourteen months old before the first German soldier was killed. The public mood changed only as the Reich's original correctness gave way to brutality, and as events outside France prefigured possible German defeat. But even as Liberation approached, resistance was far from being the mass army of later myth. Different visions of who should inherit France complicated the pursuit of collaborators and foreshadowed the chaos of post-war politics. During the Occupation selfishness, bigotry and cowardice played parts as great as courage and idealism. They left a 'poisoned memory' which persists even today. But others should not feel superior. In such an ordeal, who can claim they would have done better?

Occupation: The Ordeal of France 1940-1944

History

Ousby, Ian

Military

Blackstone

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Falkirk, Richard

Mystery

Churchills in Africa

'The period of the 1890s and early 1900s, when South Africa cast its strongest spell... makes a good story, and Mr Roberts has told it well, in fluent style and with an impartiality that is rare in anyone writing on so perennially controversial a subject.' Times Literary Supplement  `A clever and amusing piece of biographical reconstruction which not only puts Winston Churchill's exploits in the Boer War in new perspective but contains a shamingly hilarious account of his father's visit to Mashonaland in search of gold in 1891.’ Sunday Times  `Dramatic and most readable . . . The author illuminates the story of Winston Churchill's capture, escape and return to battle with a valuable commentary of his own.' Sunday Telegraph  For the Churchill family, the 1890s were fateful years. The first half of the decade saw the tragic decline and death of Lord Randolph Churchill; the second half launched his young son, Winston, on his spectacular career.  Both events were influenced by the turbulent state of affairs prevailing in South Africa—a place then attracting the attentions of ambitious men throughout the world. It offered not only riches but the chance of political involvement and military renown; behind the glitter of Kimberley's diamonds, the Transvaal's gold and the opening-up of Rhodesia, a situation was developing which led inevitably to the Anglo-Boer War. Such a set of circumstances proved irresistible to the spirited Churchills.  In his last book, Cecil Rhodes and the Princess, Brian Roberts threw a new light on a little-known aspect of Rhodes's life. Here he shows how, in their various ways, Lord Randolph, his remarkable sister, Lady Sarah Wilson, and the young Winston made their mark on the African scene. Though their stories have been told before, Mr. Roberts sets the results of his own unsparing research against the earlier versions with revealing results.  Lord Randolph's elaborate expedition to Mashonaland in 1891, though ostensibly a patriotic venture connected with state-aided emigration, is shown also to have been a desperate attempt to "strike it rich" by a man who, four years out of office and extremely short of money, had formed his own gold prospecting syndicate. Far from making him an immediate fortune, his tour was an ignominious failure. His tactless comments in conversation and in dispatches to a London newspaper exacerbated Boers and Britons alike, provoking endless controversy and friction. The adventures of his courageous sister, Lady Sarah Wilson—known as the "heroine of Mafeking"—are here told in full for the first time.  Winston Churchill's exploits in South Africa as correspondent, escaped prisoner of war and army officer are well-known but Mr. Roberts fills in many gaps (some no doubt deliberate) in My Early Life and puts into new perspective such important points as whether he broke his parole, was he armed when arrested, and did the Boers deliberately let him escape. Winston's mother, brother and cousin, the Duke of Marlborough, also figure, though less prominently, in this immensely lively account of Churchills in Africa.

Biographies & Memoirs

Roberts, Brian

Leaders & Notable People

‘You had yourself often told me,’ Oscar Wilde wrote to Lord Alfred Douglas, ‘how many of your race there had been who had stained their hands in their own blood; your uncle certainly, your grandfather possibly; many others in the mad, bad line from which you come.’ Wilde’s tragic involvement with Lord Alfred Douglas’s family led him to believe anything he was told about the ‘mad, bad line.’ The truth was even stranger than he imagined.  That Lord Alfred’s grandfather, the 7th Marquess of Queensberry, committed suicide is more than a possibility. His eldest son, the 8th Marquess, was that noted eccentric famous for giving his name to the rules of boxing and for his persecution of Oscar Wilde. He had other claims to notoriety. His agnosticism resulted in his expulsion from the House of Lords; he quarrelled violently with all his sons, the eldest of whom was found dead in suspicious circumstances.  His part in the Wilde affair is well-known, but this book throws new light on the trials. It reveals, among other things, that when Lord Queensberry supposedly forced Wilde to prosecute him — by leaving a libellous visiting card — Wilde had already instructed his solicitors to take legal action. It also explores Lord Rosebery’s role in the cause célèbre. There is, in addition, the curious story of the arrest in America, while the Wilde trials were proceeding, of Lord Queensberry’s youngest son.  Nor was the 8th Marquess the only eccentric in the Douglas family. His mother shocked London society by supporting the Fenians; one of his brothers was killed in the first ascent of the Matterhorn; another brother cut his throat in a London hotel. The Marquess’s eldest sister created a scandal by marrying a baker’s boy, twenty years her junior, and his youngest sister, Lady Florence Dixie — author, explorer, ardent feminist and champion of the Zulus — was, in her day, almost as controversial as Marquess himself.  Based on much original research, Brian Roberts’ immensely readable book examines this extraordinary family more fully than  ever before, previous studies of the Queensberrys having been mainly concerned with the various Marquesses’ sporting activities.

The Mad Bad Line: The Family of Lord Alfred Douglas

Historical

Randolph: A study of Churchill's son

‘Born to succeed; doomed to failure’. For all its cruel accuracy, this quip about Randolph Churchill is not quite fair.  He was certainly born to succeed. A member of a great patrician family, good-looking, intelligent, energetic, with great oratorical gifts and quickness of mind, the young Randolph Churchill was the Golden Boy of popular imagination and seen as a young man of destiny.  Grandson of the colourful late-Victorian politician Lord Randolph Churchill and son of the even more celebrated and controversial Winston Churchill, Randolph seemed set fair to continue the family tradition. His father even referred to him as 'the younger Pitt'.  What went wrong? This book provides a convincing and fascinating answer. Both circumstances and his own defects of character worked against Randolph Churchill. He was spoiled by his father, his relationship with his strong-willed mother was not happy. Too much privilege sapped his initiative, he could never live up to his father's expectations and had an inability to establish close and loving relationships. His two marriages fell apart, the great love affair of his life was unrequited and, most important of all, he was handicapped by his self-willed, argumentative, bombastic and cantankerous nature.  Passionately interested in politics, he fought and lost six elections; the only time he got into parliament was when he was returned unopposed. Although his wartime experiences – in the Western Desert and with the SAS in Yugoslavia – showed his courage and were probably the high water mark of his achievements, he never covered himself in the glory he so ardently sought. A talented and occasionally brilliant journalist, he did not have much success in his final career as a biographer, dying after publishing only two volumes of what was designed to be a great five-volume life of his famous father.  In this shrewd analysis of Randolph's character, the author shows there was far more to him than just the self-indulgent braggart of popular legend. He was an ambitious, talented, unexpectedly sensitive man; touchingly devoted to his father, surprisingly loved by his friends and, although often offensive, never dull.

Randolph: A Study of Churchill's Son

In Blackstone on Broadway, the Bow Street Runner pits his wits against the criminals of New York, in search of Captain Kidd's treasure. *** An exquisite ruby lay on a piece of velvet between Edmund Blackstone, Bow Street Runner, and a nervous Mr Fogarty, the well-known London jewel fence. 'Now, Fogarty, ' said Blackstone. 'Suppose you tell me everything you know about the ruby.' Fogarty did not at first speak, but opened a drawer in the table with trembling hands and took out a scroll of parchment. 'This is a copy of the inventory of a vessel named the Quedah, an Armenian merchant ship that was captured on 30 January 1698.' Blackstone ran his finger down the list and stopped when he came to an item referring to the ruby. He looked up. 'And who captured her?' 'Captain Kidd, ' Fogarty said. *** The search for Captain Kidd's fabulous treasure is on and Blackstone, the Bow Street Runner, follows the trail from London's underworld to the raw, exciting city of early nineteenth-century New York. Once again he finds himself working on both sides of the law, with allies and enemies alike amongst criminals and the police force. Despite the help of the emancipated Fanny Campbell, the odds against him are enormous, but then so is the possible reward-the treasure.

Blackstone on Broadway

“Readers who are not familiar with these arguments, and the science of the past forty years that supports them, should read this book. Especially fathers who have daughters, as Evans does.” Times Literary Supplement In Mapreaders and Multitaskers, Gavin Evans argues that male and female minds do not emerge from different planets, and that our emotional and intellectual capacities are moulded more by culture than biology.  A great many of the supposedly innate gender differences between men and women have been invented or exaggerated by evolutionary psychologists and self-help authors. Evans offers fresh insight on gender roles through proposing unconventionally wide and flexible definitions of what it is to be masculine and feminine, from a firm biological base.  This book challenges ideas rooted in conventional wisdom, including the idea that ‘male brains’ are fundamentally different from ‘female brains’; that men have evolved to be inherently more promiscuous than women; that women have evolved to spend more time in front of the mirror; that there are more male geniuses and more idiots, that maternal instinct is ‘hard-wired’, and that men are better at mapreading and women at multitasking.

Mapreaders & Multitaskers: Men, Women, Nature, Nurture

Politics & Social Sciences

Evans, Gavin

Anthropology

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