Few cities have been so celebrated in print as Bath - from Smollett to Jane Austen, from Dickens to Fanny Burney, and from Sheridan to Georgette Heyer. Many other famous writers have passed through as well - Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in a house in the Abbey Church Yard, Coleridge met his wife in the city, and in the twentieth century John Betjeman championed its architectural heritage. Even Shakespeare - or so it is believed - turned up to take a dip in the hot springs. These eleven walks look at Bath through their eyes, creating a vivid social history of the city over the last 300 years and bringing the past alive with unparalleled immediacy. Fully illustrated, and including in-depth accounts of the writers and works featured, they can either be followed on foot or - with the aid of historic maps of the city - read as a series of essays.

Bristol is one of the best cities in the world for exploring on foot and the Severn Beach Line - once hailed as one of Britain's most scenic railways - is the gateway to some of its finest sights. The walks in this guide range from short strolls exploring Georgian crescents and city parks to all-day excursions through ancient woodlands, eighteenth-century estates and spectacular river gorges. Among the places visited are St Anne's Woods, Arno's Vale, the Floating Harbour, Royate Hill, the Frome Valley, St Paul's, Kingsdown, Montpelier, Redland and Cotham, St Werburgh's, Purdown, Stoke Park, Frenchay, Oldbury Court, Westbury on Trym, Clifton and Hotwells, Leigh Woods, Coombe Dingle, Blaise Castle, Kingsweston, Bishop's Knoll, Pill and Paradise Bottom, Patchway and the Three Brooks, and Ashton Court, while the final walk heads from Severn Beach over the Severn Bridge to the Wales Coast Path. With a brief history of the Severn Beach Line and a description of a journey along it, this book is an indispensable companion not only for anyone lucky enough to live near the line, but also for anyone who can catch a train to Bristol and explore it from there.

Ghost signs - those faded advertisements for long defunct businesses on the walls of old buildings - are among the most potent reminders of a bygone age - and nowhere are they found in greater abundance or variety than on the streets of Bath.Long a source of fascination for visitors and residents alike, signs for forgotten trades such as brushmakers, corn factors and perfumers still jostle for attention alongside modern shopfronts. Canalside coal wharves, a pump room where Jane Austen's brother took the waters, the sinister-sounding Asylum for Teaching Young Females Household Work, and a Regency tea warehouse - all still proclaim their ghostly presence a century or more after they closed their doors for ever.This book tells the story behind these tantalising echoes from the past. Trawling through old newspapers, deeds and documents to discover when and why the signs were painted, the authors have revealed a hidden history of the city.Over 160 ghost signs are featured, arranged by area into a series of short walks, with historic maps to guide you through the city streets. Ghost signs in the suburbs and surrounding villages, as well as in Bradford on Avon and Corsham, are also included, and the book ends with an intriguing look at Bath's lost ghost signs.

From moorland taverns to ancient coaching inns, and from harbourside hostelries to backstreet beerhouses - the history of Devon's pubs is as rich, diverse and colourful as that of the county itself. Over 450 of Devon's pubs - some long gone, some still thriving - feature here in archive photographs and tales from the past. To all who know and love the county this book is an indispensable companion to its pubs, both past and present, as well as much else - the history of cider making, Devon's lost breweries, church house inns, the folk song revival and Uncle Tom Cobley and all. It is less an exercise in nostalgia, though, than a celebration of a tradition very much alive. Sadly, it is a tradition under threat as never before, with pubs closing at an unprecedented rate, and many communities left without a social hub for the first time in centuries. That there is, amid the doom and gloom, still much to celebrate, is thanks to those individuals who, in these most trying of times, maintain traditions of cheer and hospitality, lubricated by local ale and cider and fortified by fine food.Devon has some of the best pubs anywhere, and if these journeys into the past inspire you to explore - and defend - what remains of the county's pub heritage, it will have achieved its object.

This practical guide encourages a proactive approach to seeing dreams become reality. From spending time with God, to asking the right questions; from building character to becoming more disciplined, Swifts down-to-earth style strikes a balance between thinking big and gettingthings done.

Challenges Facing Chinese Political Development is a topical examination of some of the most recent developments in Chinese politics. Featuring a roster of international scholars, the book comprosises an assortment of essays focusing on a particular dimension or specific issue of political culture, political economy, foreign policy, environmental and social challenges. The editors, Sujian Guo and Baogang Guo, have divided the essays into five pairs: Political Legitimacy, Political Economy, External Challenges, Environmental Challenges, and Social Challenges. Each of these dimensions serves as a window through which the reader can glimpse various challenges in Chinese political development in the new century.Challenges Facing Chinese Political Development is suitable for all levels of students and researchers of Chinese Politics.

Challenges Facing Chinese Political Development is a topical examination of some of the most recent developments in Chinese politics. Featuring a roster of international scholars, the book comprosises an assortment of essays focusing on a particular dimension or specific issue of political culture, political economy, foreign policy, environmental and social challenges. The editors, Sujian Guo and Baogang Guo, have divided the essays into five pairs: Political Legitimacy, Political Economy, External Challenges, Environmental Challenges, and Social Challenges. Each of these dimensions serves as a window through which the reader can glimpse various challenges in Chinese political development in the new century.Challenges Facing Chinese Political Development is suitable for all levels of students and researchers of Chinese Politics.