Small Mercies
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'Mrs. Fennessy, please go home.' 'And do what?' 'Whatever you do when you're home.' 'And then...
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On Life-Writing
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Chapter 12 of this publication is open access, available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0...
All Those Strangers: The Art and Lives of James Baldwin
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Adored by many, appalling to some, baffling still to others, few authors defy any single critical...
The Prophets
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The Ophelia Girls
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A mother's secret past collides with her daughter's present in this intoxicating novel from Jane...
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The Book of Last Letters
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Inspired by an incredible true story, a young nurse captures the final letters of injured soldiers...
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LilyLovesIndie (123 KP) rated Watersheds of World History in Books
Nov 5, 2018
Firstly, I have to be honest, world history from start to finish in 200 pages? I know, I asked myself that question so many times before I sat down to finally read this and I was highly sceptical whether it could be achieved. How very wrong I was.
Taylor has a unique take on history, succinct and incredibly to the point. I read a lot of history books and most historians get a little 'flowery' with their language in an attempt to make the reader love the history but Taylor takes a completely contrasting methodology in being almost blunt with the delivery of the historical facts. Usually, I would prefer more description but in this book it is much more apt to have this short, sharp burst approach as it keeps the reader hooked to the very end, even if they already know the history being told. That being said, I'm a self professed history enthusiast who reads history like fiction, and Taylor, in this masterpiece, managed to teach me a thing or two about periods of history I thought I knew inside out.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone interested in getting a beginners knowledge of world history, whether to help decide options for school, find a new hobby or even brush up on quiz knowledge. Taylor has written an immensely useful and informative text that I would, if I were a teacher of history, make a compulsory text for all my children. As it is, I'm in primary teaching and I can see myself recommending this to colleagues who are less confident in general historical knowledge to make sure they meet the grade! A fantastic talent has emerged in the literary world of non-fiction history, and I look forward to reading more from this incredibly talented and unique author.
Against the Loveless World
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Nahr has been confined to the Cube: nine square metres of glossy grey cinderblock, devoid of time,...
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The Island of Missing Trees
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It is 1974 on the island of Cyprus. Two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided land, meet at a...
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Friedrichstrasse 19
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Sometimes I get fanciful and think the buildings speak. That all their history is locked into the...
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