Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

When Indonesia's Minister of Agriculture discovers, in the run up to the Presidential elections, that the country's usual sugar stockpile is in short supply, the government's principal concern shifts to the replenishment of this staple commodity in a desperate attempt to avoid social unrest at a time when it is least desired. Such a mammoth purchase of sugar, however, offers scope for fraudulent activity and the Chinese trading company employed to oversee the transaction uses the purchase as cover-up for an illegal drugs deal. The door is inevitably opened for the various contributors to the overlapping deals to engage themselves in a series of seemingly independent illegal activities, and when the first sugar shipment arrives, complete with one tonne of heroin, the latter is adulterated. with fatal consequences for some and leaving everyone else fearing for their own safety and wondering just whom they can trust in the deal.

'A delightful book ... the perfect companion as you wait for the 8.10 from Hove' Observer After the Beeching cuts of the 1960s, many railways were gradually shut down. Rural communities were isolated and steam trains slowly gave way to diesel and electric traction. But some people were not prepared to let the romance of train travel die. Thanks to their efforts, many lines passed into community ownership and are now booming with new armies of dedicated volunteers. Andrew Martin meets these volunteer enthusiasts, finding out just what it is about preserved railways that makes people so devoted. From the inspiration for Thomas the Tank Engine to John Betjeman's battle against encroaching modernity, Steam Trains Today will take you on a heart-warming journey across Britain from Aviemore to Epping.

Europeans use 'social models' to refer to the combination of welfare state, industrial relations, and educational institutions jointly structuring what we can think of as the supply-side of the labor market. The dominant view in controversy over the social models has been that in the name of equity they have impaired the labor market's efficiency, thereby causing unemployment. But doubt is cast on this supply-side-only diagnosis by powerful macroeconomic developments, from the Europe-wide recession following Germany's post-unification boom to the deepest economic crisis since the interwar Great Depression, which the Eurozone's truncated economic governance structure transformed into a sovereign debt crisis, threatening the Euro's and even EU's very survival. This book explores the interaction of Europe's diverse social models with the major developments that shaped their macroeconomic environment over the quarter century since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It concludes that this environment rather than the social models are primarily responsible for the immense social costs of the crisis.

Such novels as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days have made Jules Verne the most widely translated of all French authors. But he has typically been categorized as the father of science fiction or a writer of harmless fantasies for children. Now, in this brilliantly original new book, Andrew Martin relocates Verne squarely at the centre of the literary map. Dr Martin shows that a recurrent narrative (exemplified in short stories by Napoleon Bonaparte and Jorge Luis Borges), relating the strange destiny of a masked prophet who revolts against an empire, runs through Verne's Voyages Extraordinaires. This approach illuminates the paradoxical coalition in Verne of realism and invention, repression and transgression, imperialism and anarchy. In this book Verne emerges not just as a key to the political and literary imagination of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries but as a model for reading fiction in general.

The annual classic, which has been given the lofty title of "the bible of interior design" by the British Times, shows the latest design trends in the hottest interior styles. From minimalist Scandinavian to charming Boho, to decadent, bright and colourful, Martin Waller presents not only houses and flats but also restaurants, cafés and office spaces designed by the leading top designers around the world in this lavishly designed illustrated book. Interior Design Review Vol. 27 is an inspiration for everyone who is passionate about interior design. On more than 500 pages, the beautifully designed coffee-table book presents trends on the subject of furnishing and design in more than 1,000 photographs. Everything is shown that meets the high standards of Martin Waller, founder of the designer brand "Andrew Martin", as an impulse for his own designer brand. A highlight of the coffee table book this year is once again the presentation of the "Designer of the Year", who Martin Waller selects together with his team and presents in his book.

Cool for America is bookended by the misadventures of Leslie, a young woman first introduced in Early Work, who moves from New York to Missoula, Montana, to try to draw herself out of a lingering depression and, over the course of the book, gains painful insight into herself through a series of intense friendships and relationships. Other stories follow young men and women, alone and in couples, pushing hard against, and often crashing into, the limits of their abilities as writers and partners. In one story, two New Jersey siblings with substance-abuse problems relapse together on Christmas Eve; in another, a young couple tries to make sense of an increasingly unhinged veterinarian who seems to be tapping, deliberately or otherwise, into the unspoken troubles between them. In stories that follow characters as they age from punk shows and benders to book clubs and art museums, and the promise of community acts, at least temporarily as a stay against despair. Running throughout is the characters' yearning for a transcendence through art: the hope that, maybe, the perfect, or even just the good- enough sentence, can finally make things right.

European union movements played a central role in promoting a "European model of society" -- a humane industrial relations system, high labor standards, generous welfare states, and collective political representation -- which reached its pinnacle in the post-World Was II era. The recent shift to lower growth, rising unemployment, renewed European integration, neo-liberalism, and globalization has challenged this "European Model" and the unions' place in it. These essays, written by some of the leading scholars in the field, examine responses of six major European union movements to the dramatic changes in economic and political conditions in the last two decades. They are the result of a group research effort and are based on a common framework which lends it quite an exceptional coherence. Its value is enhanced by the editors' conclusion that reflects upon new union positions and their implications, in particular the most important question of what will happen to the 'European model of society' in consequence.

'Ingeniously constructed . . . Andrew Martin's wry, amused tone is a constant joy . . . An altogether superior performance, The Martian Girl is a violent, funny, deadly serious entertainment' Irish Times London, present day. Jean, a failing journalist in her late thirties, finds herself entertaining a married man - a handsome, arrogant ex-barrister, universally known by his surname: Coates. Unsure of the relationship and wanting to develop her career, she begins to write a one-woman show about a mind-reader she comes across in her research - a woman who performed in the 19th Century under the name The Martian Girl, before disappearing without a trace. * London, 1898. Kate French, a striking young woman with a love for the stage, is honing her craft in the music halls of East London at the turn of the century. As the Martian Girl, she performs each night with her mind-reading partner, the cynical and money-grubbing Joseph Draper. As Jean makes progress on her show, Kate - long since dead - begins to consume her thoughts. Jean starts to suspect that Draper fully believed in Kate's ability to read minds and that he found the idea deeply disturbing. What really happened between the two of them all those years ago? And why does Jean feel such an intense bond with The Martian Girl? As the line between Jean and Kate begins to blur, the fates of the two women are destined to transcend time, and finally to intersect. Brilliantly conceived, The Martian Girl is a dazzling thriller that will get inside your mind.

The O'Kelly variation of the Sicilian Defence (1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 a6) is a wonderful system for those who enjoy playing Sicilian positions but don't want to get bogged down in heavy theory. The O'Kelly relies far more on an understanding of general strategic ideas and middlegame planning than on rote memorisation of opening moves. One of the benefits of the O'Kelly is that White's natural continuation of 3 d4, although very frequently played, permits Black confortable development and an easy game. In Play the O'Kelly Sicilian, highly experienced chess author and coach Andrew Martin guides the reader through the complexities of the O'Kelly and carves out a repertoire for Black. He examines all aspects of this fascinating opening and provides the reader with well-researched, fresh, and innovative analysis. Each annotated game has valuable lessons on how to play the opening and contains instructive commentary on typical middlegame plans. * A complete repertoire for Black against 1 e4. * All key variations analysed in detail.

For more than 40 years, Martin Waller and his company Andrew Martin have continued to demonstrate that furniture is more than just a functional object, and that a living space always finds new stories to tell. His Interior Design Review, the definitive standard work, unmatched in its variety and broad range of topics, is now being published in its 26th edition. One hundred designers, 500+ pages, 1,000 photographs - such is the opulent presentation of the latest interior trends in this magnificent coffee table book. With its special arrangement, the latest edition is once again a feast for the eyes of design lovers who want to unleash their creativity.

Night trains have long fascinated us with the possibilities of their private sleeping compartments, gilded dining cars, champagne bars and wealthy travellers. Authors from Agatha Christie to Graham Greene have used night trains to tell tales of romance, intrigue and decadence against a rolling background of dramatic landscapes. The reality could often be as thrilling: early British travellers on the Orient Express were advised to carry a revolver (as well as a teapot).

In Night Trains, Andrew Martin attempts to relive the golden age of the great European sleeper trains by using their modern-day equivalents. This is no simple matter. The night trains have fallen on hard times, and the services are disappearing one by one. But if the Orient Express experience can only be recreated by taking three separate sleepers, the intriguing characters and exotic atmospheres have survived. Whether the backdrop is 3am at a Turkish customs post, the sun rising over the Riviera, or the constant twilight of a Norwegian summer night, Martin rediscovers the pleasures of a continent connected by rail. By tracing the history of the sleeper trains, he reveals much of the recent history of Europe itself. The original sleepers helped break down national barriers and unify the continent. Martin uncovers modern instances of European unity - and otherwise - as he traverses the continent during 'interesting times', with Brexit looming. Against this tumultuous backdrop, he experiences his own smaller dramas, as he fails to find crucial connecting stations, ponders the mystery of the compartment dog, and becomes embroiled in his very own night train whodunit.

On the first day of the Somme enlisted railwayman Jim Stringer lies trapped in a shell hole, smoking cigarette after cigarette under the bullets and the blazing sun. He calculates his chances of survival - even before they departed for France, a member of Jim's unit had been found dead. During the stand-off that follows, Jim and his comrades must operate by night the vitally important trains carrying munitions to the Front, through a ghostly landscape of shattered trees where high explosive and shrapnel shells rain down. Close co-operation and trust are vital. Yet proof piles up of an enemy within, and as a ferocious military policeman pursues his investigation into the original killing, the finger of accusation begins to point towards Jim himself . . .

In Yorkshire: There and Back, Andrew Martin celebrates Britain's most charismatic county, looking back at the Yorkshire of his 1970s childhood and as it is today. Journeying to every historic corner, Martin writes affectionally about its past, present and peculiarities. York is an evolving city of chocolate, trains, pubs and tourists. Scarborough should be viewed as the posh place it once was, with surprising secrets pertaining to Adolf Hitler and the sea. Leeds is seen as the 'hard' town with its party goers and late-night provocateurs, but its indoor market never fails to offer a sense of quintessential Yorkshireness on a rainy Saturday afternoon, with milky tea served in beakers and the Leeds United result coming through by osmosis. And the Moors and Dales continue to boast beauty and danger alike. Effortlessly entertaining and wonderfully detailed, Yorkshire: There and Back is a memoir, guide, and all-round appreciation of 'God's own county'. Praise for Andrew Martin 'There is no one else who is writing like Andrew Martin today...unique and important' Guardian 'Iconoclastic, entertaining and often devastatingly witty' Barry Forshaw, Independent 'He can stop you in your tracks with a well-turned phrase' Sunday Times 'A genuinely funny writer...also a daring one' The Times

'Ingeniously constructed . . . Andrew Martin's wry, amused tone is a constant joy . . . An altogether superior performance, The Martian Girl is a violent, funny, deadly serious entertainment' Irish Times London, present day. Jean, a failing journalist in her late thirties, finds herself entertaining a married man - a handsome, arrogant ex-barrister, universally known by his surname: Coates. Unsure of the relationship and wanting to develop her career, she begins to write a one-woman show about a mind-reader she comes across in her research - a woman who performed in the 19th Century under the name The Martian Girl, before disappearing without a trace. * London, 1898. Kate French, a striking young woman with a love for the stage, is honing her craft in the music halls of East London at the turn of the century. As the Martian Girl, she performs each night with her mind-reading partner, the cynical and money-grubbing Joseph Draper. As Jean makes progress on her show, Kate - long since dead - begins to consume her thoughts. Jean starts to suspect that Draper fully believed in Kate's ability to read minds and that he found the idea deeply disturbing. What really happened between the two of them all those years ago? And why does Jean feel such an intense bond with The Martian Girl? As the line between Jean and Kate begins to blur, the fates of the two women are destined to transcend time, and finally to intersect. Brilliantly conceived, The Martian Girl is a dazzling thriller that will get inside your mind.

In the heroic days of rail travel, you could dine on kippers and champagne aboard the Brighton Belle; smoke a post-prandial cigar as the Golden Arrow closed in on Paris, or be shaved by the Flying Scotsman's on-board barber. Everyone from schoolboys to socialites knew of these glamorous 'named trains' and aspired to ride aboard them. In Belles and Whistles, Andrew Martin recreates these famous train journeys by travelling aboard their nearest modern day equivalents. Sometimes their names have survived, even if only as a footnote on a timetable leaflet, but what has usually - if not always - disappeared is the extravagance and luxury. As Martin explains how we got from there to here, evocations of the Golden Age contrast with the starker modern reality: from monogrammed cutlery to stirring sticks, from silence on trains to tannoy announcements, from compartments to airline seating. For those who wonder whatever happened to porters, dining cars, mellow lighting, timetables, luggage in advance, trunk murders, the answers are all here. Martin's five journeys add up to an idiosyncratic history of Britain's railways, combining humour, historical anecdote and reportage from the present and romantic evocations of the past.

Moquette is the carpet-like fabric covering the seats we sit on in London's Tubes, buses, trams and Overground trains - and here is a brilliantly colourful guide to all its patterns. London Transport has always wanted the best design, be it Charles Holden's superb art deco Tube stations on the Piccadilly Line, its elegant Johnston typeface or Harry Beck's Tube map. And this pursuit of excellence has extended even to the design of the fabrics it covers our bus and Tube seats with: moquette. In the Thirties top artists like Paul Nash and Enid Marx were commissioned to design patterns; nowadays every line like Crossrail or the Overground gets its own unique, colour-co-ordinated moquette pattern. Now, in conjunction with the London Transport Museum, which has the definitive London Transport moquette archive, Andrew Martin has written a delightful, surprising and covetable guide to all these patterns, from the first horse bus to the latest Tube train.

Why is the Victoria Line so hot? What is an Electrical Multiple Unit? Is it really possible to ride from King's Cross to King's Cross on the Circle line? The London Underground is the oldest, most sprawling and illogical metropolitan transport system in the world, the result of a series of botch-jobs and improvisations.Yet it transports over one billion passengers every year - and this figure is rising. It is iconic, recognised the world over, and loved and despised by Londoners in equal measure. Blending reportage, humour and personal encounters, Andrew Martin embarks on a wonderfully engaging social history of London's underground railway system (which despite its name, is in fact fifty-five per cent overground). Underground, Overground is a highly enjoyable, witty and informative history of everything you need to know about the Tube.

European union movements played a central role in promoting a "European model of society" -- a humane industrial relations system, high labor standards, generous welfare states, and collective political representation -- which reached its pinnacle in the post-World Was II era. The recent shift to lower growth, rising unemployment, renewed European integration, neo-liberalism, and globalization has challenged this "European Model" and the unions' place in it. These essays, written by some of the leading scholars in the field, examine responses of six major European union movements to the dramatic changes in economic and political conditions in the last two decades. They are the result of a group research effort and are based on a common framework which lends it quite an exceptional coherence. Its value is enhanced by the editors' conclusion that reflects upon new union positions and their implications, in particular the most important question of what will happen to the 'European model of society' in consequence.

In Yorkshire: There and Back, Andrew Martin celebrates Britain's most charismatic county, looking back at the Yorkshire of his 1970s childhood and as it is today. Journeying to every historic corner, Martin writes affectionally about its past, present and peculiarities. York is an evolving city of chocolate, trains, pubs and tourists. Scarborough should be viewed as the posh place it once was, with surprising secrets pertaining to Adolf Hitler and the sea. Leeds is seen as the 'hard' town with its party goers and late-night provocateurs, but its indoor market never fails to offer a sense of quintessential Yorkshireness on a rainy Saturday afternoon, with milky tea served in beakers and the Leeds United result coming through by osmosis. And the Moors and Dales continue to boast beauty and danger alike. Effortlessly entertaining and wonderfully detailed, Yorkshire: There and Back is a memoir, guide, and all-round appreciation of 'God's own county'. Praise for Andrew Martin 'There is no one else who is writing like Andrew Martin today...unique and important' Guardian 'Iconoclastic, entertaining and often devastatingly witty' Barry Forshaw, Independent 'He can stop you in your tracks with a well-turned phrase' Sunday Times 'A genuinely funny writer...also a daring one' The Times