'There is hard-won wisdom here, and good cheer, and a reminder that the world is much wider, older and more interesting than you'd think' BILL McKIBBEN'Kind, wise and immensely readable' TIM FLANNERYA thoughtful, illuminating rumination on the life lessons we can take from those who work the land and the millennia of wisdom they draw upon when they go about their day, 'making a living by turning light and time into money'.As with his...

This book examines the key development challenges facing the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the Caribbean and the Pacific, focusing on livelihoods and state security and stability in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It provides a comprehensive overview by exploring six broad and interrelated themes: state capacity to provide basic services (such as health, water, education, electrification); migration, remittances and aid; climate change adaptation, biodiv...

Farming has been in John Connell's family for generations, but he never intended to follow in his father's footsteps. Until, one winter, he finds himself back on the farm and begins to learn the ways of the farmer and the way of the cows.Connell records the hypnotic rhythm of the farming day - cleaning the outhouses, milking the herd, tending to sickly lambs, helping the cows give birth. But alongside the routine events, there are the unforeseen moments when things go wrong: when a...

Gerard McQuaid has been waiting for his start in life: his house, his girl, his land. And with rural Ireland being swept up by the Celtic Tiger and villages becoming towns, the electrician's moment has finally arrived.With the chance to run a big job, McQuaid finds himself on Birchview Manor, a decrepit estate where the dreams of modern Ireland crash up against the weight of history. As McQuaid gets further into the restoration, he falls deeper into the story of the estate's previou...

It is summer, the hay and silage have not yet been made on John Connell’s farm, so he has time to indulge his other great passion: running. John sets off on a marathon run of 42.2 kilometres through his native Longford, the scene of his award-winning book The Cow Book.As he runs across woodlands, fields and tiny roads, he tells the story of his life and contemplates Ireland’s history, old and new. He also remembers other great runs he has done, from Australia to Canada, an...

Originally published in 1989, this book analyses France’s distinctive role in international affairs and examines the characteristics of French foreign policy in the Fifth Republic. The introduction provides an overview of France’s role in international relations, then specific chapters look at topics such as French military strategy and relations with the superpowers of the late 20th Century; France and the European Community; immigrant workers and their impact on France’s international pr...

This book investigates all facets of Chinese tourism in a single destination, and its fascinating rise and evolution. It provides an overview of the first two decades of twenty-first century Chinese tourism in Australia, covering the early days, when Chinese tourism was mainly guided package tours with tourists visiting standard iconic sites, and its evolution into more individualistic tourism, with younger tourists seeking out sites of particular interest. Many of these ‘new sites’ are pl...

This book provides the first wide-ranging account of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in two contrasting island regions - the Caribbean and the Pacific - and in several islands and island states. It traces the complexity of effects and responses, at different scales, through the first critical year. Written by a range of scholars and practitioners working in the region the book focuses on six key themes: public health; the economies (notably the collapse of tourism, the revival of local...

‘Sensational! John Connell has done it again’ – Dean KarnazesFrom the award-winning, No.1 bestselling author of The Cow BookIn The Running Book, John Connell vividly describes a marathon through County Longford, Ireland, where he lives and farms. Because running is as much about the mind as the body, the book is about more than the physical experience. What John sees on his journey prompts him to contempla...

For John Connell, the lambing season on his County Longford farm begins in the autumn. In the sheep shed, he surveys the dozen females in his care and contemplates the work ahead as the season slowly turns to winter, then spring.The twelve sheep have come into his life at just the right moment. After years of hard work, John felt a deep tiredness creeping up on him, a sadness that he couldn't shrug off. Having always sought spiritual guidance, he comes to realise that, in addition ...

First published in 1978, The End of Tradition is the history of four Surrey villages, the Horsleys and Clandons, close to London but isolated and protected from it by the Green Belt. Towards the end of the last century, a period of rapid change began in rural England as a new way of life centred on the nearby towns and cities replaced a traditional rural village life. Estates were broken up, agricultural life declined, village schools and parish councils were set up, and the perva...

This is the first book to examine the contemporary seasonal migration of Pacific islanders to Australia through the Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP). It reflects on this new age of guestwork from a broad social, economic, political and cultural perspective in both source countries and destinations. In so doing, it offers a critical perspective on different phases of managed labour migration from nineteenth century practices of ‘blackbirding’ to the present day. This book examines why and ho...