'We citizens of the world are neither famous nor spectacular. But there is a slow fire burning within us, and it is time for our latent energies to swell forth anew. It is time for us to reassert ourselves. And it is our duty to remind our fellow creatures of what they are fast forgetting, that true culture is universal.' In this classic memoir Harold Acton offers a witty and vivid account of the first thirty-five years of his life (1904-39): from a boyhood among the dilettanti in Florence before the First World War, through his friendships with some of the great writers of his generation in Oxford and Paris, to his discovery of a spiritual home in Peking. 'As if he were a latter-day Beckford or Horace Walpole, people will long study his books if only to catch an echo of his voice.' Alan Pryce-Jones, Independent

British thinkers have considered Marxism primarily as a body of economic and social doctrine. They have concentrated attention on the class struggle and the alleged decline of capitalism but Marxism is also in a wide sense of the word, a system of thought and conduct comprising views about the principle purposes of human life. This book discusses this philosophy ? the metaphysics, ethics and intellectual tradition inaugurated by Marx and Engels and continued by Lenin and Stalin. It first discusses Dialectical materialism and secondly the social theories and ethics known as Scientific Socialism.

Naples is one of Europe's most fascinating cities and the ruling dynasty which left its mark more than any other was that of the Bourbons, who arrived in 1734 and were only displaced by the Unification of Italy in 1870. Before that time Naples was the largest of the Italian kingdoms and, with Pompeii and Vesuvius as its main attractions, it drew hundreds of aristocratic travellers and visitors in the 18th century. The city also attracted the armies of revolutionary France and the royal family escaped to Sicily thanks to Admiral Nelson. The Bourbons of Naples was welcomed as a masterpiece at the time of first publication in 1956, and was chosen by Sir Osbert Sitwell as his book of the year. Sir Harold Acton (1904-1994) - famous aesthete and historian - brings 18th-century Naples vividly to life, with unforgettable characters such as Lady Hamilton and Nelson, royal eccentrics and plenty of court intrigue. 'An elaborate comedy of manners played out over 700 pages.' The Times

In his remarkable account of the last Medici, famous aesthete and historian Harold Acton (1904-1994) takes up the causes which led to the disappearance of a house which has left indelible traces on the art, literature and commerce of the world; and his book was one of the first attempts to deal with this despotic dynasty in a scholarly and impartial spirit. Much has been written about the phenomenal career of the early Medici: and there are many biographies of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Cosimo I, and the Medicean Popes. But less has been written of the final phase, and Acton demonstrates the hand of death overshadowing the great family in a series of unfortunate marriages - how one by one they vanished into the void. The Last Medici centres mainly round the fantastic figures of Princess Marguerite-Louise d'Orleans and her husband Cosimo III, most fatal of all the Medicean sovereigns. The last act closes on Gian Gastone, their cynical younger son, bedridden in the Pitti Palace, a florid figure of despair, with the Powers of Europe ever on the alert for the sound of his death-rattle. Full of brilliant colour, rich comedy and lurid tragedy, The Last Medici is at the same time a scientific contribution to the records of an extraordinary and unforgettable period.

In this delightful sequel to Memoirs of an Aesthete Harold Acton continues where he left off in 1939. Packed with recollections of the famous personalities he knew such as the Sitwells, Norman Douglas, Bernard Berenson, Gertrude Stein and Evelyn Waugh, this book brilliantly evokes a society that now seems remote.

Written in 1699 and based on the recollections of survivors, "The Peach Blossom Fan "is a grand historical play about the last days of the Ming dynasty as it fell to the invading Manchus. With compelling vividness, K'ung re-creates confrontations between loyalists and those who sell out to the newest master; nostalgic scenes of dalliance in riverside pavilions; desperate stands on battlements; and rituals of commemoration for the lost empire. Here are gallant generals and sycophantic ministers, court musicians and singing girls, and the love of a talented scholar and a beautiful courtesan. Immensely popular in its own time, "The Peach Blossom Fan" continues to be performed and has been adapted into films, operas, and modern theater pieces. This lively translation has been out of print for almost four decades.

'The best conceivable guide to the city' - an essential cultural history for all visitors of Florence The rich and glorious past of one of the best loved cities in the world, Florence, is brought vividly to life for today's visitor in this collection which draws on letters, diaries and memoirs of travellers to Florence and the Florentines themselves. Of all Italian cities, Florence has always had the strongest English accent: the Goncourt brothers in 1855 called it 'ville tout anglaise'. Though that accent is diminished now, Florence remains for the English-speaking traveller what it always has been - one of the best loved, and most visited, of cities. In this Traveller's Reader, Florence's rich and glorious past is brought vividly to life for the tourist of today through the medium of letters, diaries and memoirs of travellers to Florence from past centuries and of the Florentines themselves. The extracts chosen by cultural historain Edward Chaney include: Boccaccio on the Black Death; Vasari on the building of Giotto's Campanile; an eye-witness account of the installation of Michaelangelo's 'David'; the death of Elizabeth Barrett Browning at the Casa Guidi; and D. H. Lawrence and Dylan Thomas on twentieth-century Florentine society. Sir Harold Acton's introduction provides a concise history of the city from its origins, through its zenith as a prosperous city state which, under the Medici, gave birth to the Renaissance, and up to the Arno's devastating flood in 1966. Sir Harold Acton, man of letters, historian, aesthete, novelist and poet, spent most of his life in Florence. Among his best-known books is The Last Medici, Memoirs of an Aesthete.