Means to be God, and do as pleases himself Martin Luther observed. It was a shrewd comment, not merely on the divorce in which the King was then embroiled, but upon his whole career. Henry VIII was self righteous, and convinced that he enjoyed a special relationship with the Almighty, which gave him a unique claim upon the obedience of his subjects. He subdued the church, sidelined the old nobility, and reorganised the government of his realm, all in the name of that Good Lordship which wa...

Thomas Cromwell was a self-made lawyer who served first Cardinal Wolsey and then Henry VIII. His time with Wolsey served him well in his work for the king after the cardinal’s fall from power in 1529. Cromwell’s time in office from 1530 until his execution in 1540 was one of the most crucial periods in English history. This biography explores Cromwell’s relationship with Henry VIII and why it failed. It also shows how he manipulated the politics of the court that eventually destroyed him. ...

Is neoclassical economics dead? Why have the biggest industrial economies stagnated since the financial crisis? Is the competitive threat from China a tired metaphor or a genuine danger to our standard of living?Lord David Sainsbury draws on his experience in business and government to assemble the evidence and comes to some startling conclusions. In Windows of Opportunity, he argues that economic growth comes not as a steady process, but as a series of jumps, based on inv...

Benedict Rogers, born in London, England, first went to China at age eighteen to teach English for six months in Qingdao, three years after the Tiananmen Square massacre. That opened the door to a thirty-year adventure with China, from teaching English in schools and hospitals to working as a journalist in Hong Kong for the first five years after the handover to travelling to China’s borders with Myanmar/Burma and North Korea to document the plight of refugees escaping from Beijing-backed ...

`My object is to have you fit to live; which, if you are not, I do not desire that you should live at all.' So wrote Lord Chesterfield in one of the most celebrated and controversial correspondences between a father and son. Chesterfield wrote almost daily to his natural son, Philip, from 1737 onwards, providing him with instruction in etiquette and the worldly arts. Praised in their day as a complete manual of education, and despised by Samuel Johnson for teaching `the morals of a whore a...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR IN THE POLITICAL BOOK AWARDS 2015Tim Bell was the original 'spin doctor'; the Chairman of Bell Pottinger public relations, and one of the best known figures in UK media communications. Right or Wrong is his highly personal account of political, commercial and social life from the '70s to the present day.With a refreshingly uncompromising manner, Bell applies his acerbic wit and re...

Deep in the jungles of India, nature lived as the Creator intended. Yes, there were those who were predator and those who were prey. But balance was maintained, and the symmetry of Life's plan would take your breath away.Then Man came to the jungle.Tiggra, a white Royal Bengal Tiger, and his family must find a way to survive in a world where human and animal fight over dwindling natural resources. But this is a world where Man is king of the beasts and the gun of the Killer...

Dreamworlds, magic; faerie - an entrancing collection from **'**One of the greatest writers of this century' Arthur C ClarkeOf all the weavers of magic, there is none like Lord Dunsany. During his long lifetime he wrote more than sixty books including novels, plays, poetry collections most memorably, innumerable exotic and fantastical short stories.Here is the very best of Dunsany's extraordinarily evocative tales of Faerie, of dreamworlds and of magic. Con...

Volume 2. Poetry can capture the imagination in a few short lines but Narrative Verse or Poetry takes the form of telling a story whether it be simple or complex in a longer form. Among the most ancient forms of poetry it has widespread roots through almost every culture. In Volume 2 we bring you the classics of Sohrab & Rustum - Matthew Arnold, The Prisoner Of Chillon - Lord Byron and Faithless Sally Brown - Thomas Hood. They are read for you by the renowned actors Sean Barrett and David ...

The language of Poetry is an art that most of us attempt at some point in our lives. Although its commonplace exposure has been somewhat marginalised in today’s often fast-paced lives we all recognise good verse that can empathise with our thoughts or open us up to experience new things in new ways, to better understand and to enjoy the many strands of our lives.But finding a starting point can be overwhelming, even off-putting, so in this series we offer up our Top 10 classic poet...

Mary Tudor was the first female English sovereign a ruling queen who was not simply the consort of the king. Yet little is known about this complex woman, whose reputation for ruthlessness belied her emotional fragility and who, like her half-sister Elizabeth, had to survive from childhood in the turbulent Tudor court.David Loades explores the twisting path whereby Princess Mary, daughter of a rejected wife, Catherine of Aragon, and a capricious father - Henry VIII - endured disfav...

The story of Henry VIII and his six wives has passed from history into legend taught in the cradle as a cautionary tale and remembered in adulthood as an object lesson in the dangers of marrying into royalty. The true story behind the legend, however, remains obscure to most people, whose knowledge of the affair begins and ends with the aide memoire Divorced, executed, died, divorce, executed, survived.David Loades masterly book recounts the whole sorry tale in detail from Henrys f...