This amazingly informative book has now been redesigned and republished as the first volume in The British Natural History Collection. Sadly Chris Mead died in 2003 so the original text has been brought right up to date by his former colleague and friend Mike Toms.Now includes colour photographs. A feature of the book is the beautiful and accurate line drawings and cartoons by renowned wildlife artist Guy Troughton. This special edition also features an eight-page gallery of stunning colour images by bird photographer Mark Hancox including his photograph of a Short-eared Owl, winner of the Bird-Guides Photo of the Year 2010 competition.Owls reveals all sorts of curious and unexpected facts about the owls found in Britain, and also some oddities about those species found elsewhere. The book gives readers helpful advice on how to observe and count their local owls and how to assist in protecting them. It even has a section on the design and construction of nest-boxes and where best to position them.

Australia has a dynamic collection of stories and cultures-yet how many make it to our nation's stages? Is today's new work really reflecting our cultural diversity? Do we wait too long for writers to walk through our doors? Have we as an industry failed our playwrights and our audiences? How have other countries responded to the challenge of reflecting diversity? Dramaturg and director Chris Mead examines the way the UK handles the issue, reviews the national scene, asks some tough questions about institutional racism, colonial, national and community theatre, and proposes some exciting new ways to develop a more dynamic theatre culture.

"A stunning piece of work that transcends the genre of sports biography." "-- Kirkus Reviews
""Boxing aficionados will be fascinated . . . a valuable addition to American social history." -- "Washington Post Book World
""This outstanding book not only chronicles the career of a great boxer, but charts the rise of sports as a legitimate form of American recreation and the public's changing perception of the Afro-American athlete. . . . Thorough and compelling." "-- San Francisco Chronicle
"This critically acclaimed biography chronicles the life and times of Joe Louis, the famed African-American pugilist. Known affectionately as The Brown Bomber, Louis held the heavyweight boxing championship for a record eleven years and blazed a trail in professional sports for Jackie Robinson and other black athletes.
A dynamic combination of sports and social history, this narrative traces the champion's rise from abject poverty in the segregated South to his gradual acceptance and eventual adulation by the American public of the 1930s and '40s. Dramatic accounts of his triumphs in the ring include his finest hour: the 1938 defeat of Max Schmeling, Hitler's champion, which made Louis the living symbol of American freedom and human rights. Fourteen photographs illustrate this compelling biography.