Lou Clark ?tie o mul?ime de lucruri. ?tie c??i pa?i sunt de la sta?ia de autobuz p?n? acas?. ?tie c? ?i place s? lucreze la ceain?ria The Buttered Bun ?i c? s-ar putea s? nu fie ?ndr?gostit? de iubitul ei, Patrick. Ceea ce Lou nu ?tie este c? e pe cale s?-?i piard? locul de munc? ?i c? via?a ei r?m?ne normal? doar pentru c? e, ?n esen??, previzibil?. Will Traynor ?tie c? accidentul de motociclet? pe care l-a suferit l-a f?cut s?-?i piard? dorin?a de a tr?i. ?tie c? totul i se pare acum insignifiant ?i lipsit de bucurie ?i ?tie totodat? ?i cum s? pun? cap?t acestei st?ri de lucruri. Ceea ce Will nu ?tie este c? Lou e pe cale s?-?i fac? apari?ia ?n lumea lui ?ntr-o explozie de culoare. ?i nici unul dintre ei nu ?tie c? urmeaz? s? schimbe destinul celuilalt pentru totdeauna. ?nainte s? te cunosc e o poveste de dragoste pentru genera?ia de azi, despre o iubire nea?teptat? ?ntre doi oameni care nu au nimic ?n comun. O carte romantic? ?i imprevizibil?, care ?i va provoca pe cititori s? se ?ntrebe ce e de f?cut atunci c?nd, de dragul celui pe care ?l iube?ti, trebuie s?-?i sacrifici propria fericire. ?O nara?iune ingenioas?, cu personaje ?nc?nt?toare. O poveste dulce-am?ruie despre dragoste ?i renun?are. O lectur? extraordinar?.“ – Daily Mail Carte v?ndut? ?n peste 6 milioane de exemplare

La v?rst? de nou?sprezece ani, Hannah Reid a devenit ducesa de Dunbarton. Un deceniu mai t?rziu, dup? moartea so?ului ei, mai frumoas? ca niciodat?, este ?n sf?r?it liber? ?i bogat?. Ca s?-?i ?ocheze cunoscu?ii conven?ionali, inten?ioneaz? s? guste din pl?cerile interzise ale vie?ii ?i s?-?i ia un amant. Dar nu orice amant, ci pe ?nsu?i Constantine Huxtable, cel mai periculos, dar ?i cel mai atr?g?tor b?rbat din lumea bun? londonez?. Faptul c? na?terea lui a fost considerat? ilegitim? i-a r?pit lui Constantine titlul de conte. ?i de?i i s-a refuzat astfel pe nedrept intrarea ?n r?ndurile aristocra?iei, Constantine nu-?i refuz? nimic, c?nd vine vorba de deliciile vie?ii. Se zvone?te c? re?edin?a lui de la ?ar? este martora unor nop?i fierbin?i, iar v?duvele sunt ?inta lui cu predilec?ie pentru aventurile care nu ?in mai mult de un sezon. Ducesa de Dunbarton pare s? se potriveasc? perfect rolului, fiind singur?, v?duv?, independent? ?i aparent superficial? ?i vanitoas?. Dar oare a?a s? fie? C?ci odat? ce aceste dou? fiin?e pasionale ?i scandaloase se ?nt?lnesc, descoper? c? nu este deloc u?or s? ?ncerce fl?c?rile dorin?ei... f?r? s? cad? ?n mrejele iubirii.

Ac?iunea romanului Catch-22 se concentreaz? asupra evenimentelor dintr-o baz? militar? american? fictiv?, ?n ultimele luni ale celui de-al Doilea R?zboi Mondial. Neobi?nuitul protagonist al pove?tii este Yossarian, un erou de o inventivitate ?i o energie inepuizabile, hot?r?t s? supravie?uiasc? r?zboiului cu orice pre?. Romanul oscileaz? ?ntre comic ?i teroare cu o u?urin?? fenomenal?, explor?nd ingenios absurdul existen?ei ?ntr-un mediu ?n care oamenii au ?ncetat s?-?i mai vorbeasc?. Birocra?ia ?i autismul sunt acum la ordinea zilei, ca ?i violen?a ?i amenin?area mor?ii, iar p?strarea judec??ii ?i a sim?ului realit??ii necesit? eforturi aproape supraomene?ti.

Plot twists, action and excitement will keep you turning the pages of this bestselling YA fantasy! Still reeling from a shocking revelation, guardian trainee Calla Larkenwood finds the threads of her world unraveling further when she's accused of a horrifying crime she didn't commit: A deadly magical disease has entered the Guild, threatening to wipe out every guardian--and someone is intent on framing Calla for it. With the Guild Council focusing their investigation on her instead of searching for the real criminal, Calla watches her dream of becoming a guardian rapidly slipping away. Time is running out. As the lines between good and bad, right and wrong, begin to blur, whom can she turn to for help? Perfect for fans of The Mortal Instruments, The Iron Fey, and Graceling.

Эта невероятно весёлая повесть адресована дошкольникам и младшим школьникам, а также педагогам, воспитателям, родителям и родителям родителей. Она состоит из нескольких самостоятельных глав, рассказывающих о похождениях двух дачных обитателей – щенка Борьки и его закадычной подружки киски Лариски как на самой даче, так и в её окрестностях. В каждой главе хвостатые герои обязательно ?влипают? в?какую-нибудь авантюрную историю или узнают для себя что-то новое и полезное. Сделав героями повести щенка и киску, автор, конечно же, имел в виду мальчишку и девчонку – двух любопытных непосед, ребят типа ?хочу всё знать?, для которых дача – распахнутое настежь окно в окружающий мир – прекрасный, подчас опасный, однако безумно интересный. Так, например, в первой истории мама щенка Борьки открывает школу и начинает обучать сына и других обитателей дачи читать и считать. Во второй истории щенок и киска отправляются на поиски страшного чудища, которое вдруг появилось на ближайшем пруду. А в третьей главные герои попадают в западню… Впрочем, не будем пересказывать все весёлые и познавательные истории, вошедшие в эту книжку, а то читать её будет совсем неинтересно. ?Тайна летающей тарелки? является переизданием вышедшей ранее книги ?Чудовище из пруда?. Издательство Animedia Company желает вам приятного чтения.

Представляем вам красочный сборник сказок для детей автора Алексея Лукшина. В книге собраны десять поучительных и волшебных историй о приключениях жителей Дружного леса: Ёжика-путешественника, зайца Турбо, волка Прямой хвост и других забавных зверят. Главной задачей автора при написании этой книги было научить детей дружбе, гуманному отношению друг к другу, умению из всего делать праздник и создавать хорошее настроение. И все это без лишнего морализаторства. Все сказки представлены в виде коротких и смешных историй. Книга будет интересна и взрослым читателям, которые с ее помощью смогут вернуться в мир детства, из которого мы все вышли. ?Сказки дружного леса? были изданы Animedia Company в формате аудио-книги, а также на английском языке.

The Count of Monte Cristo (is an adventure novel by French author Alexandre Dumas. Completed in 1844, it is one of the author's most popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean, and in the Levant during the historical events of 1815–1838. It begins from just before the Hundred Days period (when Napoleon returned to power after his exile) and spans through to the reign of Louis-Philippe of France. The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. An adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy and forgiveness, it focuses on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune and sets about getting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. However, his plans have devastating consequences for the innocent as well as the guilty. The book is considered a literary classic today. According to Luc Sante, "The Count of Monte Cristo has become a fixture of Western civilization's literature, as inescapable and immediately identifiable as Mickey Mouse, Noah's flood, and the story of Little Red Riding Hood." Chapter 1. Marseilles—The Arrival. "On the 24th of February, 1815, the look-out at Notre-Dame de la Garde signalled the three-master, the Pharaon from Smyrna, Trieste, and Naples. As usual, a pilot put off immediately, and rounding the Chateau d'If, got on board the vessel between Cape Morgion and Rion island. Immediately, and according to custom, the ramparts of Fort Saint-Jean were covered with spectators; it is always an event at Marseilles for a ship to come into port, especially when this ship, like the Pharaon, has been built, rigged, and laden at the old Phocee docks, and belongs to an owner of the city..." The ship drew on and had safely passed the strait, which some volcanic shock has made between the Calasareigne and Jaros islands; had doubled Pomegue, and approached the harbor under topsails, jib, and spanker, but so slowly and sedately that the idlers, with that instinct which is the forerunner of evil, asked one another what misfortune could have happened on board. However, those experienced in navigation saw plainly that if any accident had occurred, it was not to the vessel herself, for she bore down with all the evidence of being skilfully handled, the anchor a-cockbill, the jib-boom guys already eased off, and standing by the side of the pilot, who was steering the Pharaon towards the narrow entrance of the inner port, was a young man, who, with activity and vigilant eye, watched every motion of the ship, and repeated each direction of the pilot. The vague disquietude which prevailed among the spectators had so much affected one of the crowd that he did not await the arrival of the vessel in harbor, but jumping into a small skiff, desired to be pulled alongside the Pharaon, which he reached as she rounded into La Reserve basin. When the young man on board saw this person approach, he left his station by the pilot, and, hat in hand, leaned over the ship's bulwarks. He was a fine, tall, slim young fellow of eighteen or twenty, with black eyes, and hair as dark as a raven's wing; and his whole appearance bespoke that calmness and resolution peculiar to men accustomed from their cradle to contend with danger. "Ah, is it you, Dantes?" cried the man in the skiff. "What's the matter? and why have you such an air of sadness aboard?" "A great misfortune, M. Morrel," replied the young man,—"a great misfortune, for me especially! Off Civita Vecchia we lost our brave Captain Leclere." "And the cargo?" inquired the owner, eagerly. "Is all safe, M. Morrel; and I think you will be satisfied on that head. But poor Captain Leclere—""What happened to him?" asked the owner, with an air of considerable resignation. "What happened to the worthy captain?" "He died." "Fell into the sea?" "No, sir, he died of brain-fever in dreadful agony."

#1 New York Times BestsellerBestseller absolut icircn Marea BritanieTu nu o cuno?ti.Dar ea te cunoa?te.Peste 1,8 milioane de exemplare vacircndute icircn doar patru luni, icircn Statele Unite. Rachel merge icircn fiecare diminea?? cu acela?i tren. ?tie c? va a?tepta la acela?i semnal defect, timp icircn care va urm?ri ritualul de diminea?? al unui cuplu ce locuie?te icircntr-o cas? de lacircng? calea ferat?. I-a botezat bdquo Jess ?i Jason; ?i via?a lor i se pare perfect?. Pacircn? cacircnd icircntr-o zi vede ceva ce o ?ocheaz?. Totul se schimb? ?i Rachel are ?ansa de a lua parte la vie?ile pe care le-a observat doar de pe margine. Misterios ?i pasionant Fata din tren este un thriller de prim? macircn?, care te face dependent de viciul cititului. S.J. Watson, autorul bestsellerului Icircnainte s? adorm. Fata din tren este un roman de suspans remarcabil. M-a ?inut treaz o noapte icircntreag?. Stephen King Cu siguran?? va atrage nenum?ra?i fani ndash; The New York Times Precum trenul care o poart? pe Rachel icirc;n fiecare zi, povestea ?erpuie?te printre vie?ile anoste din suburbiile Londrei, iar cititorii o vor urm?ri cu sufletul la gur?. The Boston Globe Dac? ?i-a pl?cut Fata disp?rut?, vei devora acest thriller psihologic: icirc?i va schimba pentru totdeauna felul icircn care prive?ti vie?ile celorlal?i. People Dac? nu e niciun tren care s? mearg? icircn sensul opus ?i dac? mergem suficient de icircncet, cacircteodat? pot s?-i z?resc, pentru o clip?, pe terasa casei lor. Dac? nu, a?a cum se icircnt acircmpl? azi, mi-i icircnchipui. Jess ?ade cu picioarele ridicate pe masa de pe teras?, cu un pahar de vin icircn macircn?, Jason e icircn spatele s?u, cu macircinile pe umerii ei. Icircmi imaginez atingerea macirc inilor lui, greutatea lor, senza?ia de siguran?? ?i confort. Uneori m? surprind icircncerc acircnd s?-mi amintesc cacircnd am avut parte ultima dat? de atingerea real? a unei persoane, de o icircmbr??i?are din tot sufletul sau de o stracircngere de macircn?, ?i simt cum mi se fracircnge inima.

Another volume in the popular New Naturalist series, this book covers all aspects of the plant life of Britain and Ireland. Michael Proctor, an expert in his field, discusses the development of the landscape of Britain and Ireland from prehistoric times, including the influence of people and their agricultural practices on the vegetation. He provides a comprehensive account of all the different types of plant habitat in Britain and Ireland: from woodlands and scrubland to meadows and grasslands, from wetlands and peatlands to heaths, and from the mountain vegetation to the sea coast. He examines the history and ecology of each of these habitats, and describes the rich variety of flora found living there. The author concludes with an account of the changes to our landscape which have taken place during the twentieth century, and prospects for the future, including the effects of environmental change.

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. The sinking of the Titanic 100 years ago in 1912, and the subsequent deaths of over 1,500 passengers, sent shock waves around the world. Never before or since has a maritime disaster in a time of peace had such an impact. TITANIC: HISTORY IN AN HOUR is an entertaining and well researched account of the events leading up to the sinking of this ‘unsinkable’ ship, providing an fascinating commentary on the pressures of the White Star Line, the importance of class to Titanic’s unfortunate passengers and the legacy of the disaster in Britain and America. TITANIC:HISTORY IN AN HOUR is a gripping and accessible account. Know your stuff: read about the Titanic in just one hour.

During the Blitz, the Sugar Girls kept Britain sweet. The work was back-breakingly hard, but the Tate & Lyle factory was more than just a workplace - it was a community, a calling, a place of love and support and an uproarious, tribal part of East London. This is Ethel’s story, one of four stories from The Sugar Girls. ‘On an autumn day in 1944, Ethel Alleyne walked the short distance from her house to Tate & Lyle’s refinery on the shining curve of the Thames. Looking up at the giant gates, Ethel felt like she had been preparing for this moment all her life. She smoothed down her frizzy hair, scraped a bit of dirt off the corner of her shoe and strode through. She was quite unprepared for the sight that met her eyes …’ In the years leading up to and after the Second World War thousands of women left school at fourteen to work in the bustling factories of London’s East End. Despite long hours, hard and often hazardous work, factory life afforded exciting opportunities for independence, friendship and romance. Of all the factories that lined the docks, it was at Tate and Lyle’s where you could earn the most generous wages and enjoy the best social life, and it was here where The Sugar Girls worked. This is an evocative, moving story of hunger, hardship and happiness, providing a moving insight into a lost way of life, as well as a timeless testament to the experience of being young and female.

This is Gladys’s story, one of four stories from The Sugar Girls. During the Blitz and the years of rationing, the Sugar Girls kept Britain sweet. The work was back-breakingly hard, but the Tate & Lyle factory was more than just a workplace - it was a community, a calling, a place of love and support and an uproarious, tribal part of East London. ‘Gladys changed into her new uniform. The dungarees hung loosely on her boyish frame, the crotch resting somewhere down by her knees and the backside looking like a crumpled sack waiting to be filled with potatoes. The short-sleeved blouse seemed to have been designed with a buxom matron in mind, and one with arms as thick as her legs, not a skinny, flat-chested 14-year-old. What kind of monstrous creatures worked in this Blue Room?’ In the years leading up to and after the Second World War thousands of women left school at fourteen to work in the bustling factories of London’s East End. Despite long hours, hard and often hazardous work, factory life afforded exciting opportunities for independence, friendship and romance. Of all the factories that lined the docks, it was at Tate & Lyle’s where you could earn the most generous wages and enjoy the best social life, and it was here where The Sugar Girls worked. This is an evocative, moving story of hunger, hardship and happiness, providing a moving insight into a lost way of life, as well as a timeless testament to the experience of being young and female. Includes Gladys’s own personal photographs of life as a sugar girl.

World War II affected the lives of ordinary men and women more directly than any other conflict before or since. This is an unprecedented look at the lives of twenty-one young men who answered their country’s call to arms and left their homes to fight in unfamiliar and far-reaching corners of the globe. Many never returned, and those who did found their homes and countries much changed by long years of war. Most discovered they had become different people: having seen death and destruction on a scale they had never imagined they would witness, the return to civilian life was often far from easy. Now, more than sixty years on, this remarkable generation is fading. Most are now over eighty and around the world more than two thousand veterans of the war are passing away every day. In this new book ‘Sunday Times’ bestselling author James Holland recounts the real-life stories of twenty-one young men from around the world who served in different services and theatres of the war. Whether it be the Byers brothers from Canada or Bill Laity from Cornwall, Wlad Rubnikowicz from Poland or Tom Finney from Preston, each began the war with little idea of what lay in store; and yet, each displayed astonishing courage, fortitude and resilience, united by a sense of honour and duty, and bound by the fellowship of their comrades. Often reacting in very different ways to the strange and frequently terrifying situations in which they found themselves, they each suffered hardships and loss, making sacrifices that have ensured a lasting peace amongst the warring nations; and if some of these survivors are perplexed by how the world has developed, none doubts the value of what they did all those years ago. Moving, poignant, and conveying all the drama, tension and fear experienced in war, ‘Twenty-One’ is an uplifting tribute to a passing generation, describing the wide range of experiences and extremes these remarkable men and women witnessed during World War II. Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.

From the author of ‘Britain BC’, ‘Britain AD’ and ‘Britain in the Middle Ages’ comes the fourth and final part in a critically acclaimed series on Britain's hidden past. The relevance of archaeology to the study of the ancient world is indisputable. But, when exploring our recent past, does it have any role to play? In ‘The Birth of Modern Britain’ Francis Pryor highlights archaeology’s continued importance to the world around us. The pioneers of the Industrial Revolution were too busy innovating to record what was happening around them but fortunately the buildings and machines they left behind bring the period to life. During the Second World War, the imminent threat of invasion meant that constructing strong defences was much more important than keeping precise records. As a result, when towns were flattened, archaeology provided the only real means of discovering what had been destroyed. Surveying the whole post-medieval period, from 1550 until the present day, Francis Pryor takes us on an exhilarating journey, bringing to a gripping conclusion his illuminating study of Britain’s hidden past.

This moving and timely book explores the way the First World War has been thought about and commemorated, and how it has affected its own, and later, generations. On 11 November 1920, huge crowds lined the streets of London for the funeral of the Unknown Warrior. As the coffin was drawn on a gun carriage from the Cenotaph to Westminster Abbey, the King and Ministers of State followed silently behind. The modern world had tilted on its axis, but it had been saved. Armistice Day was born, the acknowledgement of the great sacrifice made by a whole generation of British men and women. Now, almost a century later, Harry Patch, the last British veteran who saw active service, has died. Our final link with the First World War is broken. Harry Patch was born in 1898 and was con*ed in 1916. He served with a Lewis gun team at the Battle of Passchendaele and in September 1917 was wounded by a shell that killed three of his comrades. After the war, Patch returned to Somerset to work as a plumber, a job he continued to do until his retirement. The First World War was fought not by a professional army but by ordinary civilians like Patch, who epitomised Edwardian Britain and the sense, now lost, of what Britain stood for and why it was worth fighting for. The Last Veteran tells Patch's story, and explores the meaning of the war to those who fought in it and the generations that have followed. Peter Parker's illuminating and timely book is a moving tribute to a remarkable generation.

the first clear anatomy of a confused decade, the 1990s – ‘Bracewell, with great verve and style, animates the cultural conversation’, Greil Marcus 'Michael Bracewell is the most adroitly gifted writer of his generation.' Morrissey Michael Bracewell is now clearly established as one of the most subtle, penetrating, amusing and far-sighted of all observers of the contemporary scene in Britain. His writing on culture high and low is coveted by every broadsheet, every stylish glossy monthly magazine and on radio and TV punditry platforms. His book, England Is Mine, about the distinctive Englishness of these islands’ twentieth-century popular culture, earned him incredible reviews and an unchallenged position as the first person any right-minded arts producer/editor turns to when they need a definitive opinion about how English or otherwise some new-fangled cultural phenomenon is. With this book Bracewell gives us the first consideration of that still-warm, still-bizarre, still-confused and confusing decade. He talks to and talks about a host of representative Nineties figures, some already forgotten, some absolutely emblematic of their times – from Hanson to Alexander McQueen, from Tracey Emin to Ulrika Jonsson, from the Spice Girls to Duran Duran (yes, Duran Duran). Painstakingly, sometimes painfully, he puts all the pieces together and starts to make sense of it all…

The leading historian on the Spanish Civil War reveals the truth about one of the most horrifying events of the twentieth century – the destruction of Guernica. Guernica, a quiet market town in the Basque region of northern Spain. On Monday 26 April 1937, as the Spanish Civil War raged, the market square was busy with farmers and townspeople. Just before five o’clock in the afternoon the sky darkened as the Luftwaffe swarmed overhead and began an unrelentingly vicious assault, the first ever on an undefended civilian target in Europe. The savage attack on Guernica marked the birth of a horrific new kind of warfare. In this searing account of the tragedy, Paul Preston, the foremost historian of 20th century Spain, tells the whole story of the attack, from Franco’s tactics to how events unfolded on the day and how the world responded. Published to tie in with the 75th anniversary of the bombing this short ebook is a deeply moving account of what happened on that day in Guernica.

‘Boldly planned, bravely executed and brilliantly accomplished’ was Margaret Thatcher’s assessment of the Falklands campaign. But what did the war mean to the men in the trenches and below decks? This gripping first-hand account of the Falklands War, written by bestselling military historian Patrick Bishop and Sunday Times Editor John Witherow, reveals the true experiences of the British soldiers and seamen on the front line. The authors, then rookie reporters, lived alongside the fighting men, experiencing the daily realities of a British task force that was hugely outnumbered on a barren island 8,000 miles from home. The Falklands: The Winter War looks at the covert role of the SAS and the heroic death of Colonel ‘H’ Jones at Goose Green, and considers just how close Britain came to defeat. This is an extraordinarily frank and unsparing account of a military campaign that has held a defining place within the British national conscience since victory in 1982.

This is Gwendolyn’s story, one of four true stories from the book GI Brides. They sat down together and Ben pulled her close. ‘Lyn,’ he whispered. ‘You know I’m head over heels in love with you. I’ll never love anyone else as long as I live.’ It was the most romantic thing Lyn had ever heard – and coming from Ben she knew that it was true. Gwendolyn’s hometown of Southampton is taken over by the Americans of the ‘friendly invasion’ as they prepare for D-Day. She falls in love with a romantic Italian-American officer, and excitedly travels to California to be with him. But once there, Gwendolyn clashes with a formidable mother-in-law, who tells her husband: ‘It’s her or me!’ Gwendolyn’s story is extracted from GI Brides, written by the bestselling authors of The Sugar Girls. It captures the memories of the thousands of women who crossed the Atlantic for love after the Second World War.

This short bonus ebook tells June’s story, a true account of a woman who crossed the Atlantic for love after the Second World War. June noticed an American soldier walking towards her … In the drab setting of the churchyard he looked utterly out of place, as if a movie star had just dropped out of the sky. Raised in Birmingham, June marries a handsome GI called Borgy and looks forward to a new life in America. But when war ends, June is horrified to receive a letter from her husband telling her they are moving to Germany instead. June’s life soon takes a shocking turn. June’s story is an additional extra to the four tales in GI Brides, written by the bestselling authors of The Sugar Girls. It tells the true story of one of the 70,000 British women who crossed the Atlantic for love after the Second World War.

The story of how Europe was converted to Christianity from 300AD until the barbarian Lithuanians finally capitulated at the astonishingly late date of 1386. It is an epic tale from one of the most gifted historians of today. This remarkable book examines the conversion of Europe to the Christian faith in the period following the collapse of the Roman Empire to approximately 1300 when the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire was firmly established. One of the book’s great strengths is the degree to which it shows how little was inevitable about this process, how surrounded by uncertainties. What was the origin of the missionary impulse? Who were the activists who engaged in this work – the toilsome, often unrewarding, sometimes dangerous work of evangelisation, and how did they set about putting over this faith? How did a structure of ecclesiastical government come into being? Above all, at what point can one say that an individual or a society has become Christian? Fletcher’s range, lucidity and mastery of his sources brings the answers to these and many other questions as far within our grasp as they probably ever can be. Like Alan Bullock and Simon Schama, Fletcher is a historian with the true gift of a storyteller and a wide general readership ahead of him. Fletcher’s previous book, The Quest for El Cid won both the Wolfson History Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for History. This book is even better – the most impressive achievement so far of this strikingly gifted historian.