First published in 1868, Whitaker's is the ultimate single-volume reference source - packed with thousands of facts, figures, overviews and statistics relating to the UK and the world. Whitaker's 2017 contains a comprehensive explanation of every aspect of national and local government infrastructure in the UK, astronomical and tidal data for 2017, guides to UK law, education and taxation, overviews of the water, energy and transport industries, essential calendar information, chapters on royalty and peerage, MPs, government departments and public bodies, directory listings of societies and institutions, sports results and records - including complete results of the 2016 Rio Olympics, reviews of the year 2015-16 - covering the arts, science and politics - and monthly summaries of the year's news. Whitaker's is also an excellent introduction to world politics with in-depth profiles of international organisations, the European Union and every country of the world. Our dedicated team of both in-house editors and specialist contributors spend a total of 6,000 hours updating Whitaker's annually - this includes contacting over 5,000 people to update their own organisation's details, researching information from official annual reports, and gathering statistics and facts from the most up-to-date authoritative sources available. For last year's edition, one editor spent an entire day contacting individual departments of HM Treasury to ascertain the correct name of each minister's Private Secretary - information which is just not available elsewhere, including the gov.uk website. Of the 6,000 hours spent updating Whitaker's annually around 2,000 hours of editorial time is dedicated to verifying every piece of information to ensure that, unlike collaborative online sources such as Wikipedia, all the material in Whitaker's is neutral and reliable. Now in its 149th edition, the book is completely revised and updated every year with at least 60% of the contents - including maps, diagrams and colour infographics - newly compiled specifically for this edition. A totally unique combination of every aspect of UK infrastructure, current affairs, world politics, history, finance, astronomical data and reviews of the year, 'Whitaker's remains the most comprehensive compendium of information in the English language' (Jon Snow) and will save hours of research and cross-referencing between different sources.

The twentieth century - with its unprecedented advances in technology and scientific understanding - saw the birth of a distinctively new and 'modern' age. Henri Bergson stood as one of the most important philosophical voices of that tumultuous time. An intellectual celebrity in his own life time, his work was widely discussed by such thinkers as William James, Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, as well as having a profound influence on modernist writers such as Wallace Stevens, Willa Cather and Wyndham Lewis and later thinkers, most notably Gilles Deleuze."Key Writings" brings together Bergson's most essential writings in a single volume, including crucial passages from such major work as "Time and Free Will," "Matter and Memory," "Creative Evolution," "Mind-Energy," "The Creative Mind," "The Two Sources of Morality and Religion" and "Laughter." The book also includes Bergson's correspondences with William James and a chronology of his life and work.

Everyman and Mankind are morality plays which mark the turn of the medieval period to the early modern, with their focus on the individual. Everyman follows a man's journey towards death and his efforts to secure himself a life thereafter, whilst Mankind shows a man battling with temptation and sin, often with great humour. Both texts are modernised here and edited to the highest standards of scholarship, with full on-page commentaries giving the depth of information and insight associated with all Arden editions. The comprehensive, illustrated introduction argues that the plays signal the birth of the early modern consciousness and puts them in their historic and religious contexts. An account is also given of the staging and performance history of the plays and their critical history and significance. With a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary this is the finest edition of the plays available.

At the heart of South Africa's 'miracle' transition from intractable ethno-racial conflict to democracy was an improvised nation born out of war weariness, hope, idealism and calculated pragmatism on the part of the elites who negotiated the compromise settlement. In the absence of any of the conventional bonds of national consciousness, the improvised nation was fixed on the civic identity and national citizenship envisaged in the new constitution. In the twentieth anniversary year of the country's democracy, "South Africa" reviews the progress of nation-building in post-apartheid South Africa, assesses how well the improvised nation has been embedded in a shared life for South Africans and offers a prognosis for its future. It draws up a socio-economic profile of the population which is the raw material of nation-building. It measures the contributions of the polity and the constitution, religion and values, as well as sport and the media, to building a sense of national citizenship. The book explains the abrupt discontinuity between the contributions of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki to nation-building and goes on to note the changing focus from reconciliation between black and white to include a concern for social cohesion in a society beset by violent crime, corruption and citizen deviance and dissidence. "South Africa" reconsiders the short, intense life cycle of Afrikaner nationalism and portrays the ambiguous relationships between African nationalism, non-racialism, civic nationalism and 'African tradition' in the ideology and practice of the African National Congress. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive analysis of a crucial aspect of South Africa's first twenty years of democracy, as well as exploring intriguing questions for the student of nationalism.""

Linked by their common setting in Thebes, Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus stand at the fountainhead of world drama. This volume presents a new, and accurate yet poetic and playable translation by playwright Don Taylor, who has also directed plays for a BBC-TV production.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2016 'One of Britain's most original, inimitable writers' The Times 'The field looks completely wrong now,' she announced, one blustery afternoon. 'It's all gone out of balance' The Great Field lies in the bend of a broad, meandering river. Bounded on three sides by water, on the fourth side it dwindles gradually into wilderness. A handful of tents are scattered far and wide across its immensity. Their flags flutter in the warm breeze, rich with the promise of halcyon days. But more and more people are setting up camp in the lush pastures and with each new arrival life becomes a little more complicated. And when a large and disciplined group arrive from across the river emotions run so high that even a surplus of milk pudding can't soothe ruffled feathers. Change is coming; change that threatens the delicate balance of power in the Great Field. This simultaneously down to earth and surreal fable cements Magnus Mills' status as one of Britain's most original novelists.

"Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics" brings together some of Jacques Ranciere's most recent writings on art and politics to show the critical potential of two of his most important concepts: the aesthetics of politics and the politics of aesthetics.

In this fascinating collection, Ranciere engages in a radical critique of some of his major contemporaries on questions of art and politics: Gilles Deleuze, Antonio Negri, Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou and Jacques Derrida. The essays show how Ranciere's ideas can be used to analyse contemporary trends in both art and politics, including the events surrounding 9/11, war in the contemporary consensual age, and the ethical turn of aesthetics and politics. Ranciere elaborates new directions for the concepts of politics and communism, as well as the notion of what a 'politics of art' might be.

This important collection includes several essays that have never previously been published in English, as well as a brand new afterword. Together these essays serve as a superb introduction to the work of one of the world's most influential contemporary thinkers.

How are love and emotion embodied in material form? "Love Objects" explores the emotional potency of things, addressing how objects can function as fetishes, symbols and representations, active participants in and mediators of our relationships, as well as tokens of affection, symbols of virility, triggers of nostalgia, replacements for lost loved ones, and symbols of lost places and times.Addressing both designed 'things with attitude' and the 'wild things' of material culture, "Love Objects" explores a wide range of objects, from 19th-century American portraits displaying men's passionate friendships to the devotional and political meanings of religious statues in 1920s Ireland.

If Zechariah's vision report (Zechariah 1.8-6.8) reflects the seer's visionary experience, how does that impact our understanding of the gradual growth of the text? Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer builds on the work done in her previous book Zechariah and His Visions (Bloomsbury-T&T Clark, 2014), to demonstrate that the visionary material forms the primary textual layer. The oracular texts constitute chronologically later interpretations. Zechariah and/or later authors/editors sought guidance in the earlier vision accounts, and the oracular material reflects these endeavours. Tiemeyer's investigation is guided by the question: what is the latter material doing with the former? Is it enforcing, contradicting, or adding to it? Using a ratio composed of the difference between the intratexts and intertexts of Zech 1-8, Tiemeyer shows how this ratio is higher in the oracular material than in the visionary material. This difference points to the different origin and the different purpose of the two sets of material. While the earlier vision report draws on images found primarily in other biblical vision reports, the later oracular material has the characteristics of scribal interpretation. By drawing on earlier material, it seeks to anchor its proposed interpretations of the various vision accounts within the Israelite textual tradition. It is clear that the divine oracles were added to give, modify, and specify the meaning of the earlier vision report.

The Royal Palace is in chaos yet again - not since the Royal Baby's birth has there been so much excitement! Why? Well it's the Royal Baby's first birthday, of course, and the palace is awash with activity! There's the cake to think about, balloons, presents - and don't forget the bouncy castle and the Royal Baby's favourite game of Pin the Tail on the Corgi. The Queen may even do a spot of parachuting - it is a special occasion, after all. Busily brilliant and fabulously funny, Happy Birthday, Royal Baby! is the must-have picture book, perfect for all little ones.

A magical moving castle sky-high with secrets! Everyone knows Castle Glower only really comes to life on a Tuesday. So when Princess Celie spies a new turret on a Wednesday, she is certain something isn't right. Inside the tower is hidden a giant egg, and it seems the castle wants Celie to look after it! Caring for this extraordinary new pet is going to be very tricky, especially once Celie and her siblings realise what else the Castle is hiding . . . This New York Times bestseller and egg-citing sequel to the enchanting adventure Tuesdays at the Castle is out of this world!

The Vita Nuova, with its unusual blend of prose and poetry, is universally recognized as Dante's early masterpiece and provides an indispensable prequel to The Divine Comedy. Set in thirteenth-century Florence, part autobiography and part religious allegory, it traces Dante's quest to find a poetic idiom worthy of Beatrice, whom he had loved since boyhood. Her premature death plunges him into an emotional turmoil that finds release only through his faith in her continuing spiritual influence and through his determination "to write of her what has never been written of any woman". The Vita Nuova remains a central document in European culture's examination of love and the self. It is a hundred and fifty years since Dante Gabriel Rossetti's groundbreaking version of the Vita Nuova. Now Anthony Mortimer, already acclaimed as translator of Cavalcanti, Petrarch and Michelangelo, produces a verse translation that avoids Rossetti's disturbing archaisms but preserves a lyric immediacy worthy of the original. This is a Vita Nuova for the twenty-first century.

The career of Mikhail Bulgakov, the author of Master and Margarita - now regarded as one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century literature - was characterized by a constant and largely unsuccessful struggle against state censorship. This suppression did not only apply to his art: in 1926 his personal diary was seized by the authorities. From then on he confined his thoughts to letters to his friends and family, as well as to public figures such as Stalin and his fellow Soviet writer Gorky, while also encouraging his wife Yelena to keep a diary, with many entries influenced or even dictated by him. This ample selection from the diaries and letters of the Bulgakovs, mostly translated for the first time into English, provides an insightful glimpse into a fascinating period of Russian history and literature, telling the tragic tale of the fate of an artist under a totalitarian regime.

Lorina, a young schoolgirl, is led by a black rabbit through a wood to a magical land. There she finds a race of green people, who are all overworked, starving and suffering from the toxic fumes billowing out of a nearby castle. She decides to gain access to the castle for the poor green people, and within its walls she meets the "insiders", selfish creatures who hoard all the resources and treat the outsiders as slaves. Her quest leads her to encounter the bureaurat, the superviper, the farmadillo and, eventually, the awful Piggident himself.Will she be able to save the green people from the cruelty of these "insiders"?

Lieven Boeve examines the place of theology in the university, the church and society. He emphasizes that theology certainly belongs to all of these three domains as it belongs to the nature of theology to involve itself in all three spheres, especially at the crossroads where they overlap. Boeve discusses the recent document Theology Today from the International Theological Commission which circumscribes theology's place and task in the Catholic Church. Boeve discusses how the difficult relation between theology and philosophy is typical for a Church which has difficulty with the dialogue in today's world; as well as examines the relation between theology and religious studies. Going further, Boeve offers a reflection on Catholic identity today, focusing more specifically on education. He presents four models for considering the identity of Catholic schools in the light of the changed society and argues that dialogue in a context of plurality and difference can lead to new, fruitful ways to shape even the Catholic identity. Boeve concludes his discussion with a short assessment of Pope Benedict's papacy and emphasizes the need for the Catholic Church to convert itself before it can call the world to do the same.

The present selection traces the development of Yeats's verse, encompassing the poet's interest in Irish folklore and national identity, his engagement with the political situation of his day and the rich symbolism that is the hallmark of his work and a reflection of his lifelong fascination with the occult. It contains some of his best-known pieces, including the elegiac 'Easter 1916', the apocalyptic 'The Second Coming' and the reflective and spiritual 'Sailing to Byzantium'. Often radical in content but always traditional in form, these poems are by turns startling and affecting, and never less than inspired. Taken together, they form an ideal introduction to the poetic career of one of Ireland's greatest literary figures.

Timothy Radcliffe holds a unique position in the modern Catholic Church. As Master of the Dominican Order in Rome for nine years, he held one of the most senior and influential appointments the Catholic Church has on offer. But he is a member of an Order of Preachers and is thus truly apostolic. The order's motto consists of one word, Veritas (Truth), and it is the vigorous pursuit of intellectual and emotional truth which is the hallmark of his writing. This new book will not disappoint his admirers. Here, Fr Radcliffe argues that Christianity will only thrive today, overcoming the challenges of secularism and religious fundamentalism, if we rediscover the beauty of baptism. It touches the deepest dramas of human life: birth, growing up, falling in love, daring to give oneself to others, searching for meaning, coping with suffering and failure, and eventually death.

Highly controversial when it was first published in 1981, Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue has since established itself as a landmark work in contemporary moral philosophy. In this book, MacIntyre sought to address a crisis in moral language that he traced back to a European Enlightenment that had made the formulation of moral principles increasingly difficult. In the search for a way out of this impasse, MacIntyre returns to an earlier strand of ethical thinking, that of Aristotle, who emphasised the importance of 'virtue' to the ethical life. More than thirty years after its original publication, After Virtue remains a work that is impossible to ignore for anyone interested in our understanding of ethics and morality today.

Lambert Wiesing's" The Philosophy of Perception" challenges current theories of perception. Instead of attempting to understand how a subject perceives the world, Wiesing starts by taking perception to be real. He then asks what this reality means for a subject. In his original approach, the question of how human perception is possible is displaced by questions about what perception obliges us to be and do. He argues that perception requires us to be embodied, to be visible, and to continually participate in the public and physical world we perceive. Only in looking at images, he proposes, can we achieve something like a break in participation, a temporary respite from this, one of perception's relentless demands. Wiesing's methods chart a markedly new path in contemporary perception theory. In addition to identifying common ground among diverse philosophical positions, he identifies how his own, phenomenological approach differs from those of many other philosophers, past and present. As part of the argument, he provides a succinct but comprehensive survey of the philosophy of imagesHis original critical exposition presents scholars of phenomenology, perception and aesthetics with a new, important understanding of the old phenomenon, the human being in the world.

Mauled at Stalingrad, the German army looked to regain the initiative on the Eastern Front with a huge offensive launched near the city of Kursk, 280 miles south-west of Moscow. Armed with the new Panther tank, Hitler and Field Marshal von Manstein were confident that they could inflict another crushing defeat on the Soviet Union. What they did not know is that the Soviets knew about the coming attack, and they were ready. This book focuses on the southern front of this campaign, which featured one of the biggest clash of armour of the warin the battle of Prokhorovka which involved over a thousand tanks. It examines in detail the tactics and mistakes of the army commanders as they orchestrated one of the bloodiest battles in World War II. Using campaign maps, stunning photographs and vivid artwork, this new study, a companion to Campaign 272 Kursk 1943: The Northern Front, examines whether that the German offensive was doomed from the start as it takes the reader through this titanic clash of armour.

Rhythmanalysis displays all the characteristics which made Lefebvre one of the most important Marxist thinkers of the twentieth century. In the analysis of rhythms -- both biological and social -- Lefebvre shows the interrelation of space and time in the understanding of everyday life.With dazzling skills, Lefebvre moves between discussions of music, the commodity, measurement, the media and the city. In doing so he shows how a non-linear conception of time and history balanced his famous rethinking of the question of space. This volume also includes his earlier essays on "The Rhythmanalysis Project" and "Attempt at the Rhythmanalysis of Mediterranean Towns."

Copleston, an Oxford Jesuit and specialist in the history of philosophy, first created his history as an introduction for Catholic ecclesiastical seminaries. However, since its first publication (the last volume appearing in the mid-1970s) the series has become the classic account for all philosophy scholars and students. The 11-volume series gives an accessible account of each philosopher's work, but also explains their relationship to the work of other philosophers.

There are many types of political scandals, to include political sex scandals, corruption scandals, and election scandals. All are public events of significant consequence for politicians and for the voting public. As we pay attention to scandal, we ignore more weighty matters and we over-estimate the bad behavior of our elected officials. Political scandals have tremendous consequence on citizenry and might possibly undermine democratic institutions. This volume brings together academics from different backgrounds to explore the impact and long-term effects of political scandals. What makes this book different from others is the wide spectrum of perspectives brought together to help analyze a singular subject.

During World War II, the United States built 72 light cruisers of various classes. In response to the severe air threat that surface ships faced, new cruisers were designed with increasingly heavy antiaircraft weaponry as well as the traditional 6in guns. With the speed and range to keep up with aircraft carriers, and their considerable antiaircraft capability, they were a mainstay of the carrier escorts. This book examines every US light cruiser produced, including those of the Fargo and Worcester classes, which were actually complete after World War II had ended, tracing their design, development and evolution throughout the war and beyond.

A Victorian scientist and inventor creates a machine for propelling himself through time, and voyages to the year AD 802701, where he discovers a race of humanoids called the Eloi. Their gently indolent way of life, set in a decaying cityscape, leads the scientist to believe that they are the remnants of a once great civilization. He is forced to revise this assessment when he comes across the cave dwellings of threatening ape-like creatures known as Morlocks, whose dark underground world he must explore to discover the terrible secrets of this fractured society, and the means of getting back to his own time. A biting critique of class and social equality as well as an innovative and much imitated piece of science fiction which introduced the idea of time travel into the popular consciousness, The Time Machine is a profound and extraordinarily prescient novel.