`A beautiful book.' Zoe Ball Be it as Nicky Hutchinson in Our Friends In The North, Maurice in The A Word, or his reinvention of Doctor Who, one man, in life and death, has accompanied Christopher Eccleston every step of the way - his father Ronnie. In I Love The Bones Of You, Eccleston unveils a vivid portrait of a relationship that has shaped his entire career trajectory, mirroring and defining his own highs and lows, from stage and screen triumph to breakdown, anorexia, self-doubt, and a deep belief in the basic principles of access and equality denied to generations. The actor reveals how his background in Salford, and vision of a person, like millions, denied their true potential, shaped his desire to make drama forever entwined with the marginalised, the oppressed, and the outsider. Movingly, and in scenes sadly familiar to increasing numbers, Eccleston also describes how the tightening grip of dementia on his father slowly blinded him to his son's existence, forcing a new and final chapter in their connection, and how `Ronnie Ecc' still walks alongside him today. Told with trademark honesty and openness, I Love The Bones Of Youis a celebration of those on whom the spotlight so rarely shines, as told by a man who found his voice in its glare. A love letter to one man, and a paean to many. `My father was an "ordinary man", which of course means he was extraordinary. I aim to capture him and his impact on my life and career.' - Christopher Eccleston

From Publishers Weekly In 1923, reports Mango, a satirical magazine ran a cartoon showing the three faces of Turkey--the nation, the assembly and the government. All were identical: the features were those of Mustafa Kemal (1881-1938), an army officer who had salvaged the core of defeated Turkey after the 1914-1918 war to create a secular republic. A decade later, still trying to structure an identity for what remained of the polyglot, ramshackle Ottoman Empire, he decreed--as virtual dictator of a nation now largely populated by Muslims--that inhabitants had to take surnames. For himself, he adopted Ataturk, literally Father Turk. Mango (a retired BBC expert on Turkey and author of three previous books on the country) gives this man, one of the least-known nation-builders of the last century, full treatment, from his earliest days to his ascension to power and his death, from cirrhosis at the age of 57. Few leaders have so modernized an ancient society, instituting radical changes in dress, religion, government, education--even the alphabet. Ataturk abolished the monarchy, divided WWI's victors bent on partitioning all of Turkey, defeated rapacious Greeks intent on expanding their expatriate communities in Asia and destroyed or co-opted his domestic rivals. That so much of his legacy survives is evidence of his success. Mango's admiration for Ataturk doesn't keep him from displaying the dictator's arrogance, ruthlessness and authoritarianism; his Turkish expertise enables him to flesh out Ataturk's complex life via sources he translated himself. Mango gives a rounded, finely detailed portrait of the man who created modern Turkey. B&w photos. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Although there is no shortage of information on Mustafa Kemal Atat?rk in Turkish, no comprehensive biography has appeared recently in English. Mango's new book fills that gap in superlative fashion. Mango, born in Istanbul and fluent in Turkish, has published numerous articles and three other books on Turkey. Now more than ever, Atat?rk is a controversial figure in Turkey, so new sources on him continue to appear, on which Mango relies heavily. Almost unknown in the West in 1919, when he became the leader of the Turkish nationalist movement, Atat?rk had already accomplished much and set his course long before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. English readers are fortunate that Mango could distill what took place in Atat?rk's life up to the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923. This is a balanced and exhaustively researched account of the influential life of one of the most complex and controversial figures in 20th-century world history. Given its scholarly nature, it is highly recommended for academic and special Middle East or military collections and for larger public libraries. -Ruth K. Baacke, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Syst., Bellingham, WA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Born in 1883, King Faisal I of Iraq was a seminal figure not only in the founding of the state of Iraq but also in the making of the modern Middle East. In all the tumult leading to the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of new Arab states, Faisal was a central player. His life traversed each of the important political, military, and intellectual developments of his times. This comprehensive biography is the first to provide a fully rounded picture of Faisal the man and Faisal the monarch. Ali A. Allawi recounts the dramatic events of his subject’s life and provides a reassessment of his crucial role in developments in the pre– and post–World War I Middle East and of his lasting but underappreciated influence in the region even 80 years after his death. A battle-hardened military leader who, with the help of Lawrence of Arabia, organized the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire; a leading representative of the Arab cause, alongside Gertrude Bell, at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919; a founding father and king of the first independent state of Syria; the first king of Iraq—in his many roles Faisal overcame innumerable crises and opposing currents while striving to build the structures of a modern state. This book is the first to afford his contributions to Middle East history the attention they deserve.

Wilfred Thesiger is the last of the great British eccentric explorers, renowned for his travels through some of the most inaccessible places on earth. As a child in Abyssinia he watched the glorious armies of Ras Tafari returning from hand-to-hand battle, their prisoners in chains; at the age of 23 he made his first expedition into the country of the Danakil, a murderous race among whom a man's status in the tribe depended on the number of men he had killed and castrated. His books, "Arabian Sands" and "The Marsh Arabs", tell of his two sojourns in the Empty Quarter and the Marshes of Southern Iraq. In this autobiography, Wilfred Thesiger highlights the people who most profoundly influenced him and the events which enabled him to lead the life of his choice.

Robert Graves (1895-1985) was one of the greatest poets and polymaths of the twentieth century, whose long life matched the intensity of his imaginative output. From his distinguished exploits in the First World War, described in his memoir GOODBYE TO ALL THAT, to his dramatic relationships with women, most notably the American poet and essayist Laura Riding, his life was one of extremes: he sought pain, took huge emotional risks, and lived as if each day were his last. First published to mark the centenary of his birth, Miranda Seymour's acclaimed biography was written with the full co-operation of the Graves family. Her interviews and correspondence with many people who have not previously discussed Graves in public contribute to a rich and complex portrait of a troubled man and a great creative artist. "I have never been able to understand the contention that a poet's life is irrelevant to his work," Graves said. Miranda Seymour puts Graves's statement to the test in this superb biography and, thrillingly, demonstrates its validity.

This is the tragic story of the short-lived Iraqi monarchy. The first king of Iraq, Faisal I, was installed by the British in 1921. Faisal, who had led the Arab Revolt and fought alongside T.E. Lawrence, was a major player in the politics of the Middle East. He was also, most importantly, pro-British and thus 'suitable' to lead an independent Iraq. His son and successor, Ghazi, a strong pan-Arab nationalist, felt very differently. He supported the first military coup in the Arab world and was said to hold German sympathies. Ghazi's suspicious death in a car accident left his son, also named Faisal, King at the age of four. So Iraq was ruled by his uncle, Abdulillah, as regent until the boy came of age. Iraq's artificially-imposed monarchy came to an abrupt and bloody end in July 1958 when Faisal II and Abdulillah, along with the Prime Minister, Nuri al Said, and many members of Faisal's family, were gunned down and the country was declared a republic. Three Kings in Baghdad is a unique and timely account of this portentous moment in Iraq's history.

A fascinating examination of the extraordinary life of Roger Casement, executed as part of the 1916 rising, fighting the empire that had previously knighted him. Roger Casement was a British consul for two decades. However, his investigation into atrocities in the Congo led Casement to anti-Imperialist views. Ultimately, this led him to side with the Irish Republican movement, leading up to the 1916 rising. Arrested by the British for gun trafficking, he was incarcerated in the Tower of London and then placed in the dock at the Royal Courts of Justice in an internationally-publicised state trial for high treason. He was hanged in Pentonville prison on the 3 August-two years to the day after Britain's declaration of war in 1914.

A biography about the life of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in the ranks after his wartime campaign in the desert.

This volume charts the life of Harry St John Philby. For the most part of his career he was at odds with the British Government over broken promises to the Arabs, but it was out of admiration for the Arab king, Ibn Saud, that he chose to earn his living in Arabia.

Freya Stark—traveler, explorer, Arabist, and woman of letters—began the extraordinary adventures that would glamorize her—and would catapult her into public life for the next sixty years—in 1927. And with the publication of The Valley of the Assassins in 1934, her legend was launched. Leaving behind a miserable family life, Freya set out, at the age of thirty-four, to explore remote and dangerous regions of the Middle East. She was captured in 1927 by the French military police after penetrating their cordon around the rebellious Druze. She explored the mountainous territory of the mysterious Assassins of Persia, became the first woman to explore Luristan in western Iran, and followed ancient frankincense routes to locate a lost city. Admired by British officialdom, her knowledge of Middle Eastern languages and culture aided the military and diplomatic corps, for whom she conceived an effective propaganda network during WWII. But Stark’s indomitable spirit was forged by contradictions, her high-profile wanderings often masking deep insecurities. A child of privilege, she grew up in near poverty; she longed for love, but consistently focused on the wrong men. This is a brilliant and balanced biography—filled with sheikhs, diplomats, nomad warriors and chieftains, generals, would be lovers, and luminaries. Author Jane Geniesse digs beneath the mythology to uncover a complex, quixotic, and controversial woman.

The life of Siegfried Sassoon has been recorded and interpreted in literature and film for over half a century. He is one of the great figures of the First World War, and "Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man" and "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer" are still widely read, as are his poems, which did much to shape our present ideas about the Great War. Sassoon was a genuine hero, a brave young officer who also became the war's most famous opponent, risking imprisonment and even a death sentence by throwing his Military Cross into the Mersey. He was friend to Robert Graves, mentor to Wilfred Owen and much admired by Churchill. But Sassoon was more than the embodiment of a romantic ideal; he was in many senses the perfect product of a vanished age. And many questions about his character, unique experience and motivations have remained unanswered until now.

In this landmark biography of Winston Churchill based on extensive new material, the true genius of the man, statesman and leader can finally be fully seen and understood--by the bestselling, award-winning author of Napoleon and The Storm of War When we seek an example of great leaders with unalloyed courage, the person who comes to mind is Winston Churchill: the iconic, visionary war leader immune from the consensus of the day, who stood firmly for his beliefs when everyone doubted him. But how did young Winston become Churchill? What gave him the strength to take on the superior force of Nazi Germany when bombs rained on London and so many others had caved? In Churchill, Andrew Roberts gives readers the full and definitive Winston Churchill, from birth to lasting legacy, as personally revealing as it is compulsively readable. Roberts gained exclusive access to extensive new material: transcripts of War Cabinet meetings, diaries, letters and unpublished memoirs from Churchill's contemporaries. The Royal Family permitted Roberts--in a first for a Churchill biographer--to read the detailed notes taken by King George VI in his diary after his weekly meetings with Churchill during World War II. This treasure trove of access allows Roberts to understand the man in revelatory new ways, and to identify the hidden forces fueling Churchill's legendary drive. We think of Churchill as a hero who saved civilization from the evils of Nazism and warned of the grave crimes of Soviet communism, but Roberts's masterwork reveals that he has as much to teach us about the challenges leaders face today--and the fundamental values of courage, tenacity, leadership and moral conviction.

An essentially private person, Siegfried Sassoon's work nevertheless constitutes a chorus of self-revelation. John Stuart Roberts has written the first full length biography of this complex man. A quintessential Edwardian gentleman, who celebrated the English countryside in his much-loved quasi-autobiography, "The Sherston Trilogy", Sassoon nevertheless owed his poetic vision to Sephardic Jewish roots abandoned by his dilettante father before his son's birth. His friendships and contacts ranged widely from Thomas Hardy and Edmund Gosse to the Sitwells, Wilfred Owen, Edmund Blunden, Rupert Brooke, T.E. Lawrence, Eddie Marsh and Stephen Tennant. In writing this biography, John Stuart Roberts has had access to much unpublished material, including the Hart-Davis papers which contain the diaries covering the last 30 years of Sassoon's life, and also to correspondence between Sassoon and Eddie Marsh, Edmund Blunden and Dame Felicitas Corrigan OSB. His interviews have ranged from Mother Margaret Mary to cricketer Dennis Silk and poet Ian Davie. Sassoon's homosexuality is examined sensitively, and the war poems are discussed in full, while his inner journey to Catholicism in his final years is charted.

This “richly textured biography” (Chicago Tribune) inspired the mesmerizing documentary, Letters from Baghdad, soon to air on public television. Here is the story of Gertrude Bell, who explored, mapped, and excavated the Arab world throughout the early twentieth century. Recruited by British intelligence during World War I, she played a crucial role in obtaining the loyalty of Arab leaders, and her connections and information provided the brains to match T. E. Lawrence's brawn. After the war, she played a major role in creating the modern Middle East and was, at the time, considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire. In this masterful biography, Janet Wallach shows us the woman behind these achievements–a woman whose passion and defiant independence were at odds with the confined and custom-bound England she left behind. Too long eclipsed by Lawrence, Gertrude Bell emerges at last in her own right as a vital player on the stage of modern history, and as a woman whose life was both a heartbreaking story and a grand adventure.

Kim Philby was the greatest spy in history, a brilliant and charming man who rose to head Britain’s counterintelligence against the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War—while he was secretly working for the enemy. And nobody thought he knew Philby like Nicholas Elliott, Philby’s best friend and fellow officer in MI6. The two men had gone to the same schools, belonged to the same exclusive clubs, grown close through the crucible of wartime intelligence work and long nights of drink and revelry. It was madness for one to think the other might be a communist spy, bent on subverting Western values and the power of the free world. But Philby was secretly betraying his friend. Every word Elliott breathed to Philby was transmitted back to Moscow—and not just Elliott’s words, for in America, Philby had made another powerful friend: James Jesus Angleton, the crafty, paranoid head of CIA counterintelligence. Angleton's and Elliott’s unwitting disclosures helped Philby sink almost every important Anglo-American spy operation for twenty years, leading countless operatives to their doom. Even as the web of suspicion closed around him, and Philby was driven to greater lies to protect his cover, his two friends never abandoned him—until it was too late. The stunning truth of his betrayal would have devastating consequences on the two men who thought they knew him best, and on the intelligence services he left crippled in his wake. Told with heart-pounding suspense and keen psychological insight, and based on personal papers and never-before-seen British intelligence files, A Spy Among Friends is Ben Macintyre’s best book yet, a high-water mark in Cold War history telling.

Machiavelli praised his military genius. European royalty sought out his secret elixir against poison. His life inspired Mozart's first opera, while for centuries poets and playwrights recited bloody, romantic tales of his victories, defeats, intrigues, concubines, and mysterious death. But until now no modern historian has recounted the full story of Mithradates, the ruthless king and visionary rebel who challenged the power of Rome in the first century BC. In this richly illustrated book - the first biography of Mithradates in fifty years - Adrienne Mayor combines a storyteller's gifts with the most recent archaeological and scientific discoveries to tell the tale of Mithradates as it has never been told before. "The Poison King" describes a life brimming with spectacle and excitement. Claiming Alexander the Great and Darius of Persia as ancestors, Mithradates inherited a wealthy Black Sea kingdom at age fourteen after his mother poisoned his father. He fled into exile and returned in triumph to become a ruler of superb intelligence and fierce ambition. Hailed as a savior by his followers and feared as a second Hannibal by his enemies, he envisioned a grand Eastern empire to rival Rome. After massacring eighty thousand Roman citizens in 88 BC, he seized Greece and modern-day Turkey. Fighting some of the most spectacular battles in ancient history, he dragged Rome into a long round of wars and threatened to invade Italy itself. His uncanny ability to elude capture and surge back after devastating losses unnerved the Romans, while his mastery of poisons allowed him to foil assassination attempts and eliminate rivals. "The Poison King" is a gripping account of one of Rome's most relentless but least understood foes.

From Publishers Weekly Thomas Edward Lawrence's discovery that he was an illegitimate child filled him with deep bitterness and insecurity. As "Lawrence of Arabia," he struggled to achieve a sense of identity and personal worth missing in his boyhood. His homosexual rape by Turkish captors in 1917 scarred him with guilt and shame, making the prospect of consummation in a marriage abhorrent, contends Wilson, official biographer as authorized by the Lawrence estate, who rebuts claims that his subject had homosexual affairs. According to this 1200-page tome, Lawrence was not the benevolent imperialist some critics have made him out to be, but an ardent supporter of Arab self-determination who felt morally degraded by the compromising role the British forced him to play in the Arab revolt against Turkish rule. This sense of debasement, argues Wison, engendered a masochistic disorder that later led Lawrence to enlist in the Royal Air Force. Through its comprehensive amassing of facts and documents, the book credibly replaces the romantic legend of Lawrence with the image of a tragic idealist whose political aims were frustrated by diplomacy. Photos. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

你真的會跑步嗎？ ●你以為人天生就會跑，所以不需要學習就可以跑步嗎？ ●你以為跑步的里程數只要累積得多，跑步技術就會變好嗎？ ●你以為要跑得更快，身體就必須使勁全力才能達成嗎？ ●你以為跑步的人到最後一定會和運動傷害當朋友嗎？ 大部分的跑步書籍在開頭就先預設跑步並非一項需要學習的技術，而只是需要不斷操練的運動。這些書籍著重在體能訓練的知識──要跑多少、強度多高、如何交叉訓練、該吃什麼等等。這些當然是很重要的知識，但沒有人討論最核心的議題──如何跑步。 尼可拉斯．羅曼諾夫博士的「姿勢跑法」是他25年來研究人類動作與開發跑步技術成果。有很多原本因慣性傷害準備退出跑步生涯的優秀跑者，在學到他所開發的跑步技術後，現在跑步都不會痛了，而且跑得竟然比二十年前更快、更不費力。《跑步，該怎麼跑？》要從根本徹底改變你的跑步技術，教你如何用「姿勢跑法」不費力的跑得更快、更遠，而且再也不會受傷！ ◆掌握「姿勢跑法」的關鍵技術，包括： ．腳呈Ｓ形姿勢。 ．不能以腳跟著地，要以腳掌前緣著地。 ．轉化重力為身體往前進的力量。 ．注意力放在抬腳動作，而非腳往下踩的動作。 ．跑得快是因為步頻高，不是因為步伐大。

《英国文学史》是中国现代文学大师梁实秋先生晚年的力作，叙述了英国上溯盎格鲁撒克逊时代，下至维多利亚时代的文学进程，重要作家作品，并作出相对应的评价。本书分上中下三卷，文笔古雅，见解独到，是一部极具个人特色的文学史。