Epicentre of the Revolution of 1789, erstwhile bastion of the skilled working-class and centre of radical agitation, along with Pigalle and Montmartre a focus for popular and raffish night-life in the early twentieth century, the Bastille area of Eastern Paris (also known as the Faubourg Saint-Antoine) is now an ethnically and socially mixed quartier which still bears the traces of its previous avatars. In a fascinating tour, Keith Reader charts the history and cultural geography of this unique area of Paris, from the fortress and prison that gave the area its name to the building of the largest and costliest opera house in the world.

The reputed home of the Queen of Sheba, Yemen has been at the crossroads of Africa, the Middle East and Asia for thousands of years thanks to its position on the ancient spice routes. Ten thousand years of trade along Yemen's Red Sea and Indian Ocean coasts, over its mountains and across its deserts made it a meeting point of people, ideas, money and goods and the centuries of trading generated much wealth. There has been a British presence in Yemen ever since the early 1600s when the East India Company set up trading posts in Mukha (Mocha in the west), a port then famous as the world centre for trade in coffee. In 1839 the port city of Aden was captured to provide a base to protect British trade routes. This began an even stronger relationship which would last some 130 years until 1967 when the Britain finally pulled out, having granted independence after several years of insurgency against British rule including riots and attacks on its troops.But Britain's links do not end there. Yemen is the mother country of the longest-established of Britain's Muslim communities. Yemenis came to Britain from the 1890s onwards, many as an indirect result of having joined the British Merchant Navy, and after World War Two there was further emigration. By the mid-1970s there were some 15,000 Yemenis in Britain, though today this figure has shrunk back considerably. One of the poorest countries in the region, Yemen still maintains much of its tribal character and old ways. People wear traditional dress and the custom of chewing the narcotic plant khat in the afternoons is still widely observed. Yemen remains a country of great mystery and in recent years it has attracted the curiosity of a growing number of the more adventurous tourists.

The go-to Dolomites walking guide for discovering the best walks and bike tours. Strap on your boots and discover the Dolomites on foot with the Sunflower Dolomites travel guide which covers the North and West including Scillar/Schlern and Cainaccio/Rosengarten. The Sunflower Dolomites guide is indispensable for hiking in the Dolomites. Gentle green valleys and towering limestone pinnacles: the Dolomites are a holiday paradise for lovers of the countryside. This guide for touring and walking explores Val Gardena, Val Badia and and areas to the east and south. Other highlights include the Sella Group, Marmolada, the Ladin 'viles', Lagazuoi Piccolo, Cortina and the Tre Cime, approached from the south. The book is an ideal companion for motorists, walkers and cyclists, but those who go for the skiing season will find it equally useful. Inside the Sunflower Dolomites guide book you'll find: Coverage of all the sights as well as practical information 35 long and short walks for all ages and abilities - each walk is graded so you can easily match your ability to the level of walk with plenty of walking and cycling tips Topographical walking maps - give you a clear sense of the surrounding terrain Free downloadable gps tracks - for the techies Fold-out area maps so you can easily get your bearings Plans of major towns are also included Lift opening times, with prices Online update service keeping the guide fully up-to-date Whether you choose to tour the Dolomites by bike or explore on foot, we look forward to showing you around.

This book offers an in-depth engagement with the growing body of Anglophone Arab fiction in the context of theoretical debates around memory and identity. Against the critical tendency to dismiss nostalgia as a sentimental trope of immigrant narratives, Qutait sheds light on the creative uses to which it is put in the works of Rabih Alameddine, Ahdaf Soueif, Hisham Matar, Leila Aboulela, Randa Jarrar, Rawi Hage, and others. Arguing for the necessity of theorising cultural memory beyond Eurocentric frameworks, the book demonstrates how Arab novelists writing in English draw on nostalgia as a touchstone of Arabic literary tradition from pre-Islamic poetry to the present. Qutait situates Anglophone Arab fiction within contentious debates about the place of the past in the Arab world, tracing how writers have deployed nostalgia as an aesthetic strategy to deal with subject matter ranging from the Islamic golden age, the era of anti-colonial struggle, the failures of the postcolonial state and of pan-Arabism, and the perennial issue of the diaspora's relationship to the homeland. Making a contribution to the transnational turn in memory studies while focusing on a region underrepresented in this field, this book will be of interest for researchers interested in cultural memory, postcolonial studies and the literatures of the Middle East.

The go-to Basque Country walking guide for discovering the best walks and car tours. Strap on your boots and discover Basque Country on foot with the Sunflower Basque Country travel guide. And on the days when your feet may have had enough, enjoy some spectacular scenery on one of our legendary car tours. The Sunflower Basque Country guide is indispensable for hiking in Basque Country or seeing Basque Country by car. This is the first guidebook to bring together hikes and tours in the Basque Country, which runs east from Bilbao in Spain to Biarritz in France and takes in famous places like Pamplona and stages on the Camino de Santiago. The entire Basque coast is mostly very rugged, with many thriving fishing towns and villages, plus the added attraction of splendid beaches. Inland the countryside is more mountainous, with lush green countryside. Don't miss the award-winning Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Pilgrims' Route to Santiago, the San Fermines fiestas at Iruna-Pamplona, or stunning coastal resorts like Donostia-San Sebastian and Biarritz. But most of all, explore the remote picture-postcard villages and lush mountainous countryside straddling both sides of the Pyrenees - preferably on foot. Whatever your age or ability we've got some glorious walks and car tours to ensure you have a memorable holiday in Basque Country. Inside the Sunflower Basque Country guide book you'll find: 52 long and short walks for all ages and abilities - each walk is graded so you can easily match your ability to the level of walk Topographical walking maps - give you a clear sense of the surrounding terrain Free downloadable gps tracks - for the techies Satnav guidance to walk starts for motorists 8 car tours and fold-out touring map - for easy reference on your tour Strolls to idyllic picnic spots - enjoy our recommendations for where to picnic along the way Timetables for public transport - ideal if you want to link two walks or avoid hiring a car on your holiday Online update service for the latest information Whether you tour the region by car or explore on foot, we look forward to showing you around.

Situated in picturesque countryside on the North Staffordshire / South Cheshire border, the villages of Betley, Balterley and Wrinehill are steeped in centuries of history. Betley was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and was granted a Royal Charter in the 13th century to hold a weekly market. Famous Victorian visitors to Betley included author Elizabeth Gaskell and the young Florence Nightingale, who went boating on Betley Hall Pool. The three villages also had a brush with royalty when a Grand Duke of Russia opened the local flower show and The Queen's grandparents George V and Queen Mary passed through on their tour of North Staffordshire. Published in the milestone year of The Queen's Platinum Jubilee, this collection of pictures from the 19th century onwards captures and collates some well-known landmarks of Betley, Balterley and Wrinehill, both past and present. From garages to pubs, churches to country mansions, 'Snapshots of Village Life' outlines their stories within the villages they helped to shape. Celebrations of local and national events (such as the 50th anniversary of VE Day) also demonstrate a strong sense of community running through that village life. A community depicted, a heritage captured. 'Snapshots of Village Life' creates an engaging pictorial record of Betley, Balterley and Wrinehill and provides a fascinating glimpse of their journey through time.

This book is the perfect antidote to the stress of life in the 21st Century. It portrays the idyll of life in an 1850s village, "far from the sound of the train's whistle". The identity of the village was lost to the world for 150 years, and only by a miracle does this magical set of stereoscopic views survive, brought together for the very first time by Brian May and his co-author, photohistorian Elena Vidal. Their research is amazingly in-depth, but the book is utterly readable, and the pictures leap into glorious 3-D, viewed in the new focussing stereoscope which May has designed and produced, to bring the stereos to life, and then fold neatly into the slip-case of the book. The book gives an extraordinary insight into everyday village life at the time - with a woman at her spinning wheel, the blacksmith outside his smithy, three men at the grind stone sharpening a tool, the villagers in the fields, bringing in the harvest as well as often taking time to enjoy a good gossip. In every case the original verse which accompanied the view is reproduced. In addition, May and Vidal have researched and annotated all the views, revealing another layer of meaning, by exploring the history of these real characters, this idyllic village and its links with the present day. The result is a powerfully atmospheric and touching set of photographs." A Village Lost and Found brings master pioneering stereographer T. R. Williams's passionate life-work Scenes in Our Village to a new audience - in glorious 3-D, as never before. For an Electronic Press Kit for A Village Lost and Found click here

'When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford,' said Samuel Johnson in 1777. Since then the capital has been characterised variously as a 'riddle', a 'cesspool' and a 'modern Babylon', and both Londoners and visitors alike have continued to share their candid views of a great city in a variety of literary forms. This compact gift book is packed full of witty, scandalous and entertaining quotations about this famous city from the Middle Ages to the current decade.