by Patricia Fara (1996)
In this interdisciplinary study of eighteenth-century England, Patricia Fara explores how natural philosophers constructed magnetism as a science, appropriating the skills and knowledge of experienced navigators. For people of this period, magnetic phenomena reverberated with the symbolism of occult mystery, sexual attraction, and universal sympathies; in this maritime nation, magnetic instruments such as navigational compasses heralded imperial expansion, commercial gain, and scientific progress. By analyzing such multiple associations, Fara reconstructs cultural interactions in the days just prior to the creation of disciplinary science. Not only does this illustrated book provide a kaleidoscopic view of a changing society, but it also portrays the emergence of public science.
Richard Howells
"Why does the story of the Titanic retain such a hold on the popular imagination, one hundred years after it sank on the night of 15 April 1912? Howells explores the myths around the Titanic legend, showing what they reveal about the culture of their time, as well as the role that myth still plays in our lives today"--
Tim Bowler
A fourteen-year-old British street person with extraordinary powers of observation and self-control must face murderous thugs connected with a past he has tried to forget, when his skills with a knife earned him the nickname, Blade.
Jeffery Deaver
A James Bond thriller set in the present day finds the iconic British spy engaging a horrific modern villain in a cat-and-mouse chase that takes him from the Balkans and London to the African Continent.
Olive Etchells
In a small village on the incomparable Roseland Peninsula of Cornwall sits an old round house by the sea, beloved home of the Baxter family-relative newcomers to this lovely land. The close-knit farming community has been kindly, and has taken the new arrivals to its heart. But then a murder takes place. The body of a teenage girl is washed up on the beach, discovered by the Baxters' younger son.DCI Channon-quiet compassion masking a clever mind-is the investigating officer on the case. His assistant, Sergeant Bowles, is his very opposite: abrasive, cynical, and keen to pin the crime on Luke, the Baxters' older son.And so a violent crime changes the lives of everyone it troubles. Sally Baxter finds herself protecting one son and fighting for the other, while trying to fathom her husband's odd attitude toward the murder. Then there are the devastated parents of the murdered girl and the wide mixture of reactions from their farming neighbors. And through all the mayhem, there is DCI Channon, trying to make some sense of a seemingly impossible task as he finds himself increasingly drawn to the family at the round house, and especially to Sally herself.