Historia & samhälle

THE TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLERAN IRISH INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR'A gripping story in which Justine Picardie brilliantly contrasts the cruel Old World of wartime France with the hopeful New World epitomised by Christian Dior's New Look.'ANTONIA FRASER'An incredible story of courage, endurance and passion.'MARIA GRAZIA CHIURI, Creative Director of Dior'An extraordinary biography.'SUNDAY TIMES'Exceptional . . . Miss Dior is so much more than a biography.'DAILY TELEGRAPHMiss Dior is a story of freedom and fascism, beauty and betrayal, roses and repression, and how the polished surface of fashion conceals hidden depths. It paints a portrait of the enigmatic woman behind the designer Christian Dior: his beloved younger sister Catherine, who inspired his most famous perfume and shaped his vision of femininity. Justine Picardie's journey takes her to Occupied Paris, where Christian honed his couture skills while Catherine dedicated herself to the French Resistance, until she was captured by the Gestapo and deported to the German concentration camp of Ravensbruck.With unparalleled access to the Dior family homes and archives, Picardie's research into Catherine's courageous life shines a new light on Christian Dior's legendary work, and reveals how his enchanting 'New Look' emerged out of the shadows of his sister's suffering.Tracing the wartime paths of the Dior siblings leads Picardie deep into other hidden histories, and different forms of resistance and sisterhood. She explores what it means to believe in beauty and hope, despite our knowledge of darkness and despair, and discovers the timeless solace of the natural world in the aftermath of devastation and destruction. The result is an exquisite and unforgettably moving book.*A beautiful, full colour illustrated book featuring exclusive images from the Dior archives*'Catherine's story is beautifully, hauntingly told in spare and elegant prose by Picardie . . . moving and evocative.'THE TIMES'The juxtaposition of the terrible shadows and dazzling light is one of the great strengths of this book . . . A very personal, very passionate book.'ARTEMIS COOPER, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT'Picardie writes: 'The vestiges of Catherine's presence remain as a powerful reminder of the importance of freedom, and why it is worth fighting for.' There are few truer words.'THE SPECTATOR'Picardie's book is of the moment, celebrating an unsung hero at a time when female influences are earning new acclaim.'VOGUE'Miss Dior ensures the bravery of the women at Ravensbruck is not merely a distant echo.'i'Beautiful.' OBSERVER'Moving and beautifully illustrated.' NEW STATESMAN'Stunning.' RED'Not just beautifully written, this is also a stunningly beautiful book.' NOON

Things fall apart. And they break sometimes. Like many of you, my journey hasn't always been easy. Pain is very real. And so is loss. Sometimes it's hard not to let the weight of what we carry-or the memory of what we've lost-take over. Many of us know the reality of struggle, and so many people suffer in silence. It's hard. It's hard not to give up when we face the repeated disappointments of life. Like some of you, I've known loneliness. I've known defeat. I've fallen many times chasing mirages, and broken many bones making castles in life's fading sands. Sometimes, all it took was one solid wave to destroy what I had spent years building.So I decided to give it a voice. All of it: the tears, the pain. And the lessons. The things I saw and learned and gained along my lifepath needed a voice. I wanted to give back, in hopes of helping myself and others survive. But then it wasn't just about surviving. I didn't just want people to survive inside their storms. I wanted people to thrive inside their storms. And so I wrote, as I walked through my own.The words found in this book became my voice and my letter to the world. They became my deepest attempt to, not just pick myself up, but others along the way. I wrote because, just as we will fall in life, so will we rise. That's the thing about this world. It never gives us only one kind of path. There is pain. Yes. And loss. And even darkness. But there is also light. There is hope. There is beauty.And there is also love and happiness.

Acclaimed writer and pastor Timothy Keller grapples with the age-old question: how do we deal with pain and suffering, both in our own lives and in the world around us?

Timothy Keller focuses on Jesus' best-known parable - the prodigal son - as a paradigm for the central messages of Christianity: grace, hope and salvation

Adam Zmith reveals the long history of the quick rush from sniffing poppers.

'Not only a riveting tale of Black women's leadership of slave revolts but an equally dramatic story of the engaged scholarship that enabled its discovery' Angela Y. DavisWomen warriors planned and led slave revolts on slave ships during the passage across the Atlantic. They fought their enslavers throughout the Americas. And then they were erased from history.In Wake Rebecca Hall, a historian, a granddaughter of slaves, and a woman haunted by the legacy of slavery, tells their story. With in-depth archival research and a measured use of historical imagination, she constructs the likely pasts of women rebels who fought for freedom on slave ships bound to America, as well as the stories of women who led slave revolts in Colonial New York. Beneath both is Hall's own tale: of a life lived in the shadow of slavery and its consequences.Strikingly illustrated in black and white, Wake explores both a personal and a global legacy. Part graphic novel, part memoir, it is a powerful reminder that while the past is gone, we still live in its wake.

This bestseller explores the principles of each of five qualitative inquiry traditions: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography and case study. The Fourth Edition features more visual representations of the five approaches.

An essential guide to exploring and practicing non-monogamy, which prioritises your mental health and wellbeing. Suitable for any stage in your journey, it provides advice on understanding your 'why', setting boundaries, finding independence, cultivating self-compassion as well as practical considerations.

"For decades it has been nearly universal dogma among environmentalists that many forms of livestock-goats, sheep, and others, but especially cattle-are Public Enemy Number One. They erode soils, pollute air and water, damage riparian areas, and decimate wildlife populations. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations bolstered the credibility of this notion with its 2007 report that declared livestock to be the single largest contributor to human-generated greenhouse-gas emissions. But is the matter really so clear-cut? Hardly. In Defending Beef, Second Edition, environmental lawyer turned rancher Nicolette Hahn Niman argues that cattle are not inherently bad for the earth. The impact of grazing can be either negative or positive, depending on how livestock are managed. In fact, with proper oversight, livestock can play an essential role in maintaining grassland ecosystems by performing the same functions as the natural herbivores that once roamed and grazed there. The ideas and information covered in the first edition of Defending Beef are even more timely than when the book was originally published in 2014. In public discussions and media, more attention than ever is being paid to connections between health and diet, food and climate, and climate and farming-especially cattle farming. A wealth of new resources, studies, and analyses-along with a great deal of mainstream media coverage-is now devoted to these important topics. But it's not all good news, because the vast majority of such media coverage is devoid of essential details, holistic thinking, or even the slightest hint of nuance. It is reductionist and simplistic, with facile descriptions of problems and overly simplified solutions. As H. L. Mencken said so well, "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." For instance, Niman exposes the widespread fallacy that changing your diet and eating far less meat is in fact the best thing an individual can do to combat climate change. After thirty-plus years as a vegetarian, she has recently become an omnivore for nutritional and health reasons. In this newly revised and updated edition, the author addresses the explosion in popularity of "fake meat" (both highly processed "plant-based foods" and meat grown from cells in a lab, rather than on the hoof). Defending Beef, Second Edition is simultaneously a book about big issues and ideas and the personal tale of the author, who continues to fight for animal welfare and good science. She shows how dispersed, grass-based, smaller-scale farms can and should become the basis of American food production"--

Reveals the forgotten history of the white slaves who were transported from Europe to Africa.

A comprehensive and celebratory journey through the history of popular music, from the former New York Times music critic

Military Aircraft features 52 of the most important military aircraft, from biplane fighters to tactical bombers, transports, multirole fighters and stealth bombers. Packed with over 200 illustrations, each entry includes a description of the model's development and history, a profile view, key features and specifications.

For as long as Ravneet Gill can remember sugar been her friend and constant companion, so it's little wonder that she grew up to become a pastry chef for some of London's most respected food institutions. Rav's first book, The Pastry Chef's Guide laid down the basics, but now she is back - serving more gems to help you build up your baking armory.

'You'll never think about your largest organ the same way again' David Epstein, author of RangeIntroducing the new science of skin and a more natural approach to being clean. Our skin plays an essential role in our health.