Over a period of five years, award-winning photographer Paul Floyd Blake regularly photographed sixteen young athletes in the build up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. His work documents a unique time in British history, and captures the development of a generation of sportspeople as they grow from childhood to adulthood within the intense world of elite sport. Blake's restrained and subtle portraits offer an alternative to conventional sports photography, with its emphasis on dramatic moments of action. Instead, his images pay tribute to the long slog towards glory that is not usually seen or celebrated, whilst excerpts from the athletes' own writings offer insights into their personal hopes and fears. Blake's approach emphasises the individual's own story and motivations beyond the values and structures of competitive sport, as the title Personal Best suggests. These complex portraits bear repeated viewing and will continue to reward the onlooker long after London 2012 is over. With specially commissioned texts by curator Pippa Oldfield, Impressions Gallery, Bradford and Professor Jonathan Long, Leeds Metropolitan University, this book will interest sports fans, cultural historians and those interested in new approaches to contemporary photography.

London is one of the world's greatest cities. Filled with people of all races, religions and nationalities, and packed with energy, it is a dynamic melting pot and a colourful testimony to the human spirit. Over five years, photographer Richard Slater has traversed the streets of the city, photographing, meeting and talking with ordinary Londoners from all walks of life. The result is this rich and vibrant celebration of London in its many different guises. Accompanied by insightful commentary that tells the stories behind the images, the book features London's tribes - whether identified by class, wealth, or taste; the extraordinary number of faith groups; the population's diversity of race and ethnicity; the creative and political life of London's streets; the numerous festivals and celebrations that take place throughout the year; and, finally, the many surprises that lie hidden within the metropolis. Utterly unique, People in London is a celebration of diversity, and a love letter to this great city.

'The Automaton' is based on a story told to Paolo Ventura as a child. It centres on an elderly, Jewish watchmaker living in the Venice ghetto in 1943, one of the darkest periods of the Nazi occupation and the rule of the fascist regime in Italy. The city where the watchmaker has lived his entire life, now desolate and fearful, is the stage on which the story unfolds. The old man decides to build an automaton (a robot), to keep him company while he awaits the arrival of the fascist police who will deport the last of the remaining Jews from the ghetto. Paolo Ventura is internationally known for the complex creative process he adopts. Having created the narrative script for the book, he then builds elaborate models and miniature figurines in his studio and incorporates them in what appear as almost film sets. These are then photographed and his final artworks are the photographs of these constructed tableaux. 'The Automaton' is a photographic narrative from beginning to end.

Venetia Dearden's new photo series takes us on a journey to America's Burning Man Festival. It offers a glimpse of the diversity of the people converging on this festival juxtaposed against the breathtaking backdrop of the wild American landscape, from awe-inspiring mountain ranges to the raw beauty of the Nevada desert.

Red Thistle, the 2011 winner of The European Publishers Award for Photography, is a powerful and fascinating exploration of the important but relatively unknown region and people of the Northern Caucasus. It lies between the Black and Caspian Seas and is within European Russia. Wars have been fought here for centuries - the most recent in Chechnya. Monteleone examines the stubborn, rebellious culture of this region, which although part of Russia, differs in the ethnicity, religion and social customs of its inhabitants.

Israel's history can be understood through its vast archaeological heritage. Its past exists not only in the written word but also in its land, in the architecture and ruins, in the stones themselves. Each civilization overwrites another, layer upon layer - a sophisticated palimpsest. A single frame can expose the sediment of thousands of years. The recycling of spaces, from one empire to the next, shows how each sought to conquer and rule the land, all with a similar outcome: eventual failure. Kremer shows the vestiges of this complex multi-cultural saga, testimonies unearthed from the past that show a different perspective. It is landscape as a place of amnesia and erasure, for Israel is a strategic site where the past has been buried and history veiled by natural beauty. Kremer's Israel exists beyond the media headlines and tourist hotspots: it is landscape as cultural force, an instrument in the construction of national and social identity. For Kremer, it is a provocation to critical debate about a country where different perspectives existed, and continue to exist, and where new possibilities can be reflected upon.

For thirty years photo-historian Carole Glauber photographed her young family with a 1950s Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera. The resulting catalogue of images is as rich in color and warmth as it is dreamily faded from the past. Accompanied by an essay by acclaimed photographer Elinor Carucci, this monograph is testament to a mother's love and time's relentless melt.

About "Exiles," Cornell Capa once wrote, "Koudelka's unsentimental, stark, brooding, intensely human imagery reflects his own spirit, the very essence of an exile who is at home wherever his wandering body finds haven in the night. " In this newly revised and expanded edition of the 1988 classic, which includes ten new images and a new commentary with Robert Delpire, Koudelka's work once more forms a powerful document of the spiritual and physical state of exile. The sense of private mystery that fills these photographs--mostly taken during Koudelka's many years of wandering through Europe and Great Britain since leaving his native Czechoslovakia in 1968--speaks of passion and reserve, of his rage to see. Solitary, moving, deeply felt and strangely disturbing, the images in "Exiles" suggest alienation, disconnection and love. "Exiles" evokes some of the most compelling and troubling themes of the twentieth century, while resonating with equal force in this current moment of profound migrations and transience.
Josef Koudelka (born 1938) has published ten books of photographs, many of which focus on the relationship between man and the landscape, including "Gypsies" (1975; revised and enlarged edition in 2011), "Exiles" (1988), "Black Triangle" (1994), "Invasion 68: Prague" (2008) and "Wall" (2013). Significant exhibitions of his work have been held at The Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography, both in New York; Hayward Gallery, London; and Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Koudelka is the recipient of the Medal of Merit awarded by the Czech Republic (2002) and numerous other awards. In 2012, he was named Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. He is based in Paris and Prague.

On a summer's day in 1858, in a garden behind Christ Church College in Oxford, Charles Dodgson, a lecturer in mathematics, photographed six-year-old Alice Liddell, the daughter of the college dean, with a Thomas Ottewill Registered Double Folding camera, recently purchased in London. Simon Winchester deftly uses the resulting image-as unsettling as it is famous, and the subject of bottomless speculation-as the vehicle for a brief excursion behind the lens, a focal point on the origins of a classic work of English literature. Dodgson's love of photography framed his view of the world, and was partly responsible for transforming a shy and half-deaf mathematician into one of the world's best-loved observers of childhood. Little wonder that there is more to "Alice Liddell as the Beggar Maid" than meets the eye. Using Dodgson's published writings, private diaries, and of course his photographic portraits, Winchester gently exposes the development of Lewis Carroll and the making of his Alice. Acclaim for Simon Winchester "An exceptionally engaging guide at home everywhere, ready for anything, full of gusto and seemingly omnivorous curiosity." -Pico Iyer, The New York Times Book Review "A master at telling a complex story compellingly and lucidly." -USA Today "Extraordinarily graceful." -Time "Winchester is an exquisite writer and a deft anecdoteur." -Christopher Buckley "A lyrical writer and an indefatigable researcher." -Newsweek

Harald (75) and Mathias (80) had always lived on the small farm in which they were born. Neither had married. Mathias once worked in Oslo for two months, but hadn't like it, whilst Harald spent one night, 'the worst of his life,' he would say, in a hotel in Lillehammer, some three hours away. They'd worked for an electricity company, as loggers and also as carpenters, but now much of their time was taken up just managing firewood for their home. As Harald said, they chopped wood, carried wood and burned wood. At least twice a day, they also fed wild birds in the twenty bird boxes that they monitored. Their days followed a predictable and comforting routine. In their free time they each listened to a radio or read the local paper. In the 1960s they had rented a TV for a one month trial but returned it after deciding that it took up too much time. Little changed from year to year, though Mathias once said that changes were happening the whole time and it would probably end up with them getting an inside toilet with running water. Harald died from an asthma attack while shovelling snow in conditions of -20C. Mathias continued to live alone in the house until he moved into an old people's home. He died in 2007.

100 Churches of Venice and the Lagoon is a photographic project started by Merizalde in 2014, alongside a broader body of work that began in the city in 2008. The color photographs in this book document religious temples from every "sestiere" of Venice, and the smaller towns of the Venetian lagoon. Starting in every neighborhood in the city, and navigating the Venetian lagoon-from Murano to Burano and Torcello, from Pellestrina to Chioggia, and deep into the northern lagoon to areas like Lio Piccolo, Mesole and beyond-he found and photographed their respective churches whether they remained in service or were deconsecrated or repurposed. Following their architectural similarities, the book presents a layout that favors the facade, relying on this subtle repetition for artistic sustenance and balance. A poignant essay by Marina Gasparini Lagrange provides an account tthat combines her personal experience as a former resident with a balanced historical perspective. 100 Churches of Venice and the Lagoon presents an in-depth view of Venetian culture and history through its place of worship in a book of exceptional appeal.

Executive Order is a trenchant look at corporate America, featuring portraits and office interiors shot during the 1970s in Los Angeles and the Mountain West. A daring critique of wealth and power, Ressler wields photography with humor and insight, and her work is especially relevant today. Susan Ressler is an internationally renowned photographer, author and educator. An NEA fellow, her work is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Library Archives of Canada, among other important collections. Mark Rice is an award-winning author and the founding chair of the American Studies Department at St. John Fisher College near Rochester, New York.

'Authentic and fresh - the streets remain the preserve of those who live there - and when photographing the people he is among them, not sneaking a snap from across the street" - Photography Magazine reviewing 'A Few Streets', John Comino-James's first book about Havana. In his second book of photographs made in Havana, John Comino-James has again set out to explore a part of the city not normally visited by tourists. The geographical scope of the photographs is restricted to a single road, the Calzada del Diez de Octubre. The route itself predates the foundation of the Parish of Jesus del Monte in the 17th century and was formerly known as the Calzada de Jesus del Monte. In 1918 the road was renamed in commemoration of one of the most important events in Cuban history - the declaration of the first full-scale war of independence against Spanish colonial rule on 10th October 1868 by Carlos Manuel de Cespedes. Although its once important function as the principal route to the south has been superseded with the construction of new highways, the Calzada still remains a busy urban thoroughfare. Through engaged portraits and candid observation and with an eye for both architectural detail and the imposing facades that stand as testimony to the changing architectural styles of well over a century, John Comino-James creates an intimate and sympathetic record of the Calzada del Diez de Octubre which, through its long history, occupies an important place in the imagination and memory of Habaneros today.

The nature of any society and its future can be read in its entrails - in what is left behind, what is discarded. Each creates, uses and casts aside its wastelands in very different ways and it seems that a proportion of every city is always wasteland. These neglected or abandoned places are fragile and ephemeral, a transient aspect of a changing, living city, yet development appears unable to clear them away for good, only to move them on to a different site. This book explores some of these wastelands that collectively form a sustained and permanent feature of the modern city.

In 2008 Jason Bell undertook a photo assignment for American Vogue in 'Tea & Sympathy', an English tea room in the heart of Manhattan. In conversation with the owner, Nicky Perry, he was astonished to discover that over 120,000 British men and women lived in New York City. As an Englishman, himself living in New York, Jason was inspired by this and decided to investigate further. His latest book An Englishman in New York is the result. The book documents a wide cross-section of English people living in the City. It features cops, taxi drivers, construction workers, divers, helicopter pilots, chefs, burlesque dancers, UN ambassadors and even dog walkers. Jason was also struck by the significant influence that many Brits exercise on New York's cultural agenda, which led to him to include amongst his subjects: writer, ZoA" Heller; director, Stephen Daldry; artists, Cecily Brown and Bill Jacklin; Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas P Campbell; historian, Simon Schama; actor, Kate Winslet; and the musician, Sting. The book offers an extraordinary insight into the British sub-culture which forms an intrinsic part of everyday life in New York City. As Bell says, "I went for a walk in Central Park with Sting, for a cup of tea on Kate Winslet's roof terrace, sat on ZoA" Heller's stoop and watched Stephen Daldry cycle down 8th Avenue. I was given a private tour of both the Metropolitan Museum and Barneys' shop windows. And amidst all the questions about why people had come here and what they had left behind, I learnt a little bit more about what it means to be English, what it means to be a New Yorker, and where the two intersect."

How does it feel to leave the safety of home and not be able to return? How do you survive at subsistence level? What is life like for a child who is forced to flee from his home? What is it like to live in constant fear for your life and of losing those close to you? For almost seven years, photographer Espen Rasmussen has travelled the world to document refugees and displaced people. The book TRANSIT tells the stories of some of the 43.2 million people on the run in the world today. From the makeshift camps in DR Congo to the slums of Colombia, the book presents stories of everyday life and the challenges displaced people and refugees meet every day, no matter in which country or which continent they find themselves.

Liz Hingley, the daughter of two Anglican priests, grew up in Birmingham, one of the UK's most culturally diverse cities, where over 90 different nationalities now live. It is hardly surprising therefore that she developed an interest in multi-faith communities and began to explore the complex issues involved, ranging from immigration, through to secularism and religious revival. Between 2007-2009, Hingley focused on the three-mile stretch of Soho Road in Birmingham, one of the most varied and fascinating corners of the country. It is a junction of diverse faith, where Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Jain, Rastafarian, Christian and Sikh meet. Faith is exhibited in all the shops, shown off as symbols on hats and t-shirts, branded in tattoos,A" says Hingley. It is religion rather than race that now defines the local communities.A" With more than twenty different religions represented in a single road various buildings are used for religious purposes from churches in a school gym hall, to makeshift baptism tents in the local park. And with so many communities co-existing in such close proximity, the boundaries between faiths can, as Hingley has observed, become exaggerated. It was as if these religions were challenging each other,A" Hingley said challenging each other to show themselves off the most.A" Under Gods is a powerful celebration of the rich diversity of these religions and of the reality and intensity of their different lifestyles.

When the Peoples' Republic set up its Special Economic Zones in the 1980s communist China entered into global trade and international capital. The goal was financial but new money also brought new values and new ways of life. Polly Braden's photography is an intimate response to the material and psychological effects of the changes experienced by the country's new urban class. Shot over three years in Shanghai, Xiamen, Shenzhen and Kunming, "China Between" is a revelatory portrait. No longer will images of epic scenes dominate our view of this country. Braden shows how a casual glance, a moment of doubt or a quick trip to the shopping mall can tell us as much about modern China as any image of a dam, a protest or a teeming workforce.