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Beneath Drapers' Gardens, in what was once a damp and uninviting
quarter of the Roman city of Londinium lies the buried valley of
the Walbrook, home to some of the more unpleasant industries of the
town, as well as some remarkable and unexpected finds, including a
hoard of metal objects buried in a fourth century well. However,
what really sets this site apart is both the extraordinary
preservation of finds due to the particular soil conditions of the
Walbrook Valley, and the sheer size of the area investigated. A
near complete urban street with associated buildings spanning many
years of the Roman occupation was uncovered. The land was purchased
by the Drapers' Company in the mid 16th century and remained open
gardens for the next 400 years, contributing to the amazing
preservation on site. Secrets of the Gardens is a lavishly
illustrated, full colour, popular interim account of the
excavations, aimed at the general reader and published in advance
of a fuller account in standard monograph format. It also includes
sections on the Drapers' Company history and the story of the
construction of the new building.
Kissing the big-city life goodbye, Udo Nomi returns to Newfoundland
from Toronto for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a hero for his
people, to help free The Republic. In a comic, quasi-parody of the
liberties taken by contemporary writers of historical fiction, Udo
discovers the quagmires which exist in historical scholarship. The
past is not so certain after all. Perhaps what really matters, Udo
comes to learn, is the way we narrate the present and our own role
in it.
"A bravura performance...An entertaining book" (Kirkus Reviews)
about the dramatic 2016 World Chess Championship between Norway's
Magnus Carlsen and Russia's Sergey Karjakin, which mirrored the
world's geopolitical unrest and rekindled a global fascination with
the sport. The first week of November 2016, hundreds of people
descended on New York City's South Street Seaport to watch the
World Chess Championship between Norway's Magnus Carlsen and
Russia's Sergey Karjakin. By the time it was over would be
front-page news and thought by many the greatest finish in chess
history. With both Carlsen and Karjakin just twenty-five years old,
it was the first time the championship had been waged among those
who grew up playing chess against computers. Originally from
Crimea, Karjakin had recently repatriated to Russia under the
direct assistance of Putin. Carlsen, meanwhile, had expressed
admiration for Donald Trump, and the first move of the tournament
he played was called a Trompowsky Attack. Then there was the
Russian leader of the World Chess Federation being barred from
attending due to US sanctions, and chess fanatic and Trump adviser
Peter Thiel being called on to make the honorary first move in
sudden death. That the tournament even required sudden death was a
shock. Oddsmakers had given Carlsen, the defending champion, an
eighty percent chance of winning. It would take everything he had
to retain his title. Author Brin-Jonathan Butler was granted unique
access to the two-and-half-week tournament and watched every move.
The Grandmaster "is not the usual chronicle of a world-championship
chess match....Butler offers insight into what it takes to become
the best chess player on the planet...A vibrant and provocative
look at chess and its metaphorical battle for territory and power"
(Booklist).
Tokenhouse Yard in the City of London lies in the upper reaches of
the valley of the Walbrook. The Walbrook was undoubtedly a powerful
and important topographical feature of the Roman city, rising to
the north and coursing through the centre of the settlement
cleaving it into two low hills, Cornhill and Ludgate Hill, before
discharging into the Thames to the south. This area witnessed the
build up of almost 4m of stratified deposits in the years between
c. AD 43 and 400. The results of excavation presented in this
volume tell the story of the struggle to live alongside the river,
attempts to control its course and alleviate flooding. Waterlogged
conditions resulted in outstanding preservation of organic remains
and artefacts.
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