Penguin Ring of Steel. Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918 Watson Alexander

Один из величайших британских философов, епископ Джордж Беркли (1685-1753) был основателем влиятельной доктрины нематериализма - убеждения в том, что нет реальности вне разума и что существование материальных объектов зависит от их восприятия. Книга "Принципы человеческого познания и три диалога между Гиласом и Филонусом" красноречиво излагает эту философскую концепцию и убедительно доказывает, что мир состоит исключительно из конечных разумов и идей и из бесконечного духа, Бога. Отрицая всякую недуховную реальность, теория Беркли поначалу подверглась резкой критике со стороны его современников, которые опасались, что ее идеи приведут к скептицизму и атеизму. Три диалога дают мощный ответ на эти страхи • Книга на английском языке • One of the greatest British philosophers, Bishop Berkeley (1685-1753) was the founder of the influential doctrine of Immaterialism - the belief that there is no reality outside the mind, and that the existence of material objects depends upon their being perceived

Мемуары,полные удивительной силы,жестокости и мрачного лиризма,повествуют об опыте Эрнста Юнгера в боях на передовой - он возглавлял рейдерские группы,защищал окопы от смертоносных британских вторжений и просто терпел,когда снаряды разрывали его товарищей на части. Одна из величайших книг,вышедших после катастрофы Первой мировой войны,она освещает не только ужасы,но и очарование войны,которая заставляла людей продолжать сражаться в течение долгих четырех лет • Эрнст Юнгер (1895-1998),сын богатого химика,сбежал из дома,чтобы вступить в Иностранный легион. Отец оттащил его обратно,но он вернулся на военную службу,вступив в немецкую армию с началом Первой мировой войны. "Стальная буря" была первой книгой Юнгера, опубликованной в 1920 году. Вызывавший большое восхищение нацистов, Юнгер держался на расстоянии от режима,и такие книги,как его аллегорическая работа "На мраморных утесах" (1939),служили скрытой критикой нацистской идеологии и методов

Эпическая, страшная и меняющая мир история, переданная словами и дополненная впервые цветными изображениями, картина глобального конфликта от убийства эрцгерцога Франца Фердинанда до уничтожения Хиросимы в первой в истории человечества атомной бомбардировке. Книга "Пылающий мир" охватывает не только тотальные пожары 1914-18 и 1939-45 годов и международную напряженность, конфликтующие идеологии и вредоносные экономические процессы, которые привели их в движение, но и гражданские войны в Ирландии, Испании, в Латинской Америке происходившие между двумя мировыми войнами, амбициозные имперские выпады Великобритании в таких местах, как Ирландия, Сомали и Палестина, а также события на внутренних "фронтах" воюющих стран • Как и "Цвет времени", это совместная работа талантливой бразильской художницы Марины Амарал и ведущего британского историка Дэна Джонса

В 843 году нашей эры трое оставшихся в живых внуков великого императора Карла Великого встретились в Вердене. После долгих лет ожесточенных споров о том, кто унаследует семейную землю, они, наконец, решили разделить территорию и разойтись в разные стороны. В момент ошеломляющей значимости один внук унаследовал то, что стало Францией, другой - Германией, а третий - Лотарингией: кусок, который первоначально разделил два других. Динамика отношений между этими тремя великими зонами во многом определила нашу последующую судьбу • В увлекательной, веселой и неотразимой книге Саймона Уиндера "Лотарингия. Личная история Франции, Германии и стран, расположенных между ними" мы прослеживаем, как с запада и востока множество амбициозных персонажей пытались и потерпели неудачу в борьбе с этими лотарингцами

In The Habsburgs, Martyn Rady tells the epic story of a dynasty and the world it built - and then lost - over nearly a millennium • From modest origins, the Habsburgs grew in power to gain control of the Holy Roman Empire in the fifteenth century. Then, in just a few decades, their possessions rapidly expanded to take in a large part of Europe stretching from Hungary to Spain, and from the Far East to the New World. The family continued to dominate Central Europe until the catastrophe of the First World War • With its seemingly disorganized mass of large and small territories, its tangle of laws and privileges and its medley of languages, the Habsburg Empire has always appeared haphazard and incomplete. But here Martyn Rady shows the reasons for the family's incredible endurance, driven by the belief that they were destined to rule the world as defenders of the Roman Catholic Church, guarantors of peace and patrons of learning

Karen Blixen's Out of Africa is the lyrical and luminous memoir of Kenya that launched a million tourist trails, beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range • 'I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills... Up in this high air you breathed easily... you woke up in the morning and thought: Here I am, where I ought to be.' • From the moment Karen Blixen arrived in Kenya in 1914 to manage a coffee plantation, her heart belonged to Africa. Drawn to the intense colours and ravishing landscapes, Blixen spent her happiest years on the farm, and her experiences and friendships with the people around her are vividly recalled in these memoirs • Out of Africa is the story of a remarkable and unconventional woman, and of a way of life that has vanished for ever

Evelyn Waugh's masterful depiction of World War II, now in a beautiful hardback edition with a new Introduction by Martin Stannard • Waugh's own unhappy experience of being a soldier is superbly re-enacted in this story of Guy Crouchback, a Catholic and a gentleman, commissioned into the Royal Corps of Halberdiers during the war years 1939-45. High comedy - in the company of Brigadier Ritchie-Hook or the denizens of Bellamy's Club - is only part of the shambles of Crouchback's war. When action comes in Crete and in Yugoslavia, he discovers not heroism, but humanity. Sword of Honour combines three volumes: Officers and Gentlemen, Men at Arms and Unconditional Surrender, which were originally published separately. Extensively revised by Waugh, they were published as the one-volume Sword of Honour in 1965, in the form in which Waugh himself wished them to be read

When war comes, friendship will see them through the tough times • As the First World War rages on, Leonora has been separated from best friend Victoria as they both do their bit for the war effort by volunteering for the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. Despite the hardships of war, Leonora is delighted to be reunited with her sweetheart Colonel Malkovic • But her happiness is short-lived when she falls pregnant. When she finally plucks up the courage to tell him the news, tragedy strikes and he is reported missing in action. Leonora is forced to give birth on the battlefield and leave her baby behind, returning to England heartbroken and alone. In the toughest of times, she will need the support of her closest friends to get through. Can Leonora find happiness when the country is still at war? • A moving emotional wartime saga about brave nurses on the battlefield, based on an amazing true story

Louis XIV dominated his age. He extended France's frontiers into Netherlands and Germany, and established colonies overseas. The stupendous palace he built at Versailles became the envy of monarchs all over Europe. In his palaces, Louis encouraged dancing, hunting, music and gambling. He loved conversation, especially with women: the power of women in Louis's life and reign is a particular theme of this book. Louis was obsessed by the details of government but the cost of building palaces and waging continuous wars devastated the country's finances and helped set it on the path to revolution. Nevertheless, by his death, he had helped make his grandson king of Spain, where his descendants still reign, and France had taken essentially the shape it has today

Asser's Life of King Alfred, written in 893, is a revealing account of one of the greatest of medieval kings. Composed by a monk of St David's in Wales who became Bishop of Sherborne in Alfred's service and worked with him in his efforts to revive religion and learning in his kingdom, this life is among the earliest surviving royal biographies. It is an admiring account of King Alfred's life, written in absorbing detail - chronicling his battles against Viking invaders and his struggle to increase the strength and knowledge of his people, and to unite his people at a time of conflict, uncertainty and war

A collection of the most famous cases faced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's peerless creation, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes contains an introduction by Iain Pears and notes by Ed Glinert in Penguin Classics • This collection includes many of the famous cases - and great strokes of brilliance - that made the legendary Sherlock Holmes one of fiction's most popular creations. With his devoted amanuensis Dr Watson, Holmes emerges from his smoke filled room in Baker Street to grapple with the forces of treachery, intrigue and evil in such cases as 'The Speckled Band', in which a terrified woman begs their help in solving the mystery surrounding her sister's death, or 'A Scandal in Bohemia', which portrays a European king blackmailed by his mistress

A superb new translation of the libretto to Wagner's Ring cycle • 'Smiling in sorrow • I sing of love' • The Ring of the Nibelung, Wagner's epic cycle of four musical dramas about primal envy, cosmic conflict, the search for glory, spectacular self-sacrifice, redeeming human love and the downfall of gods, revolutionized the nature of opera and conjured up an entire mythological world. It is also one of the greatest texts ever written for the lyric stage, where words are not an adjunct to the music, but an essential part of a transformative experience. John Deathridge's superb new facing page translation of the Ring libretto conveys the pungency and vitality of Wagner's words, reflecting the work's literary power while retaining its sense and dramatic energy