Cambridge University Press – The Bell Bookshop

A climate of truth

Emma — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We have most of the technology we need to combat the climate crisis – and most people want to see more action. But after three decades of climate COPs, we are accelerating into a polycrisis of climate, food security, biodiversity, pollution, inequality, and more. What, exactly, has been holding us back? Mike Berners-Lee looks at the challenge from new angles. He stands further back to gain perspective; he digs deeper under the surface to see the root causes; he joins up every element of the challenge; and he learns lessons from our failures of the past. He spells out why, if humanity is to thrive in the future, the most critical step is to raise standards of honesty in our politics, our media, and our businesses. Anyone asking ‘what can each of us do right now to help?’ will find inspiration in this practical and important book.

Living with Jane Austen

Emma — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Fanny Price, in Mansfield Park, tells her persistent suitor that ‘we have all a better guide in ourselves…than any other person can be’. Sometimes, however, we crave external guidance: and when this happens we could do worse than seek it in Jane Austen’s own subtle novels. Written to coincide with Austen’s 250th birthday, this approachable and intimate work shows why and how – for over half a century – Austen has inspired and challenged its author through different phases of her life. Part personal memoir, part expert interaction with all the letters, manuscripts and published novels, Janet Todd’s book reveals what living with Jane Austen has meant to her and what it might also mean to others. Todd celebrates the undimmable power of Austen’s work to help us understand our own bodies and our environment, and teach us about patience, humour, beauty and the meaning of home.

On a knife edge

Emma — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Was the outcome of the First World War on a knife edge? In this major new account of German wartime politics and strategy Holger Afflerbach argues that the outcome of the war was actually in the balance until relatively late in the war. Using new evidence from diaries, letters and memoirs, he fundamentally revises our understanding of German strategy from the decision to go to war and the failure of the western offensive to the radicalisation of Germany’s war effort under Hindenburg and Ludendorff and the ultimate collapse of the Central Powers. He uncovers the struggles in wartime Germany between supporters of peace and hardliners who wanted to fight to the finish. He suggests that Germany was not nearly as committed to all-out conquest as previous accounts argue. Numerous German peace advances could have offered the opportunity to end the war before it dragged Europe into the abyss.

Blood Royal

Emma — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Throughout medieval Europe, for hundreds of years, monarchy was the way that politics worked in most countries. This meant power was in the hands of a family – a dynasty; that politics was family politics; and political life was shaped by the births, marriages and deaths of the ruling family. How did the dynastic system cope with female rule, or pretenders to the throne? How did dynasties use names, the numbering of rulers and the visual display of heraldry to express their identity? And why did some royal families survive and thrive, while others did not? Drawing on a rich and memorable body of sources, this engaging and original history of dynastic power in Latin Christendom and Byzantium explores the role played by family dynamics and family consciousness in the politics of the royal and imperial dynasties of Europe. From royal marriages and the birth of sons, to female sovereigns, mistresses and wicked uncles, Robert Bartlett makes enthralling sense of the complex web of internal rivalries and loyalties of the ruling dynasties and casts fresh light on an essential feature of the medieval world.

The World of Bob Dylan

Emma — Thu, 06 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Bob Dylan has helped transform music, literature, pop culture, and even politics. The World of Bob Dylan chronicles a lifetime of creative invention that has made a global impact. Leading rock and pop critics and music scholars address themes and topics central to Dylan’s life and work: the Blues, his religious faith, Civil Rights, Gender, Race, and American and World literature. Incorporating a rich array of new archival material from never before accessed archives, The World of Bob Dylan offers a comprehensive, uniquely informed and wholly fresh account of the songwriter, artist, filmmaker, and Nobel Laureate whose unique voice has permanently reshaped our cultural landscape.

The Chinese Communist Party

Emma — Thu, 06 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Ten engaging personal histories introduce readers to what it was like to live in and with the most powerful political machine ever created: the Chinese Communist Party. Detailing the life of ten people who led or engaged with the Chinese Communist Party, one each for one of its ten decades of its existence, these essays reflect on the Party’s relentless pursuit of power and extraordinary adaptability through the transformative decades since 1921. Demonstrating that the history of the Chinese Communist Party is not one story but many stories, readers learn about paths not taken, the role of chance, ideas and persons silenced, hopes both lost and fulfilled. This vivid mosaic of lives and voices draws together one hundred years of modern Chinese history – and illuminates possible paths for China’s future.

The Cambridge Greek Lexicon

Emma — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The Cambridge Greek Lexicon is based upon principles differing from those of existing Greek lexica. Entries are organised according to meaning, with a view to showing the developing senses of words and the relationships between those senses. Other contextual and explanatory information, all expressed in contemporary English, is included, such as the typical circumstances in which a word may be used, thus giving fresh insights into aspects of Greek language and culture. The editors have systematically re-examined the source material (including that which has been discovered since the end of the nineteenth century) and have made use of the most recent textual and philological scholarship. The Lexicon, which has been twenty years in the making, is written by an editorial team based in the Faculty of Classics in Cambridge, consisting of Professor James Diggle (Editor-in-Chief), Dr Bruce Fraser, Dr Patrick James, Dr Oliver Simkin, Dr Anne Thompson, and Mr Simon Westripp.

The impossible office?

Emma — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Marking the third centenary of the office of Prime Minister, this book tells its extraordinary story, explaining how and why it has endured longer than any other democratic political office in world history. Sir Anthony Seldon, historian of Number 10 Downing Street, explores the lives and careers, loves and scandals, successes and failures, of all our great Prime Ministers. From Robert Walpole and William Pitt the Younger, to Clement Attlee and Margaret Thatcher, Seldon discusses which of our Prime Ministers have been most effective and why. He reveals the changing relationship between the Monarchy and the office of the Prime Minister in intimate detail, describing how the increasing power of the Prime Minister in becoming leader of Britain coincided with the steadily falling influence of the Monarchy. This book celebrates the humanity and frailty, work and achievement, of these 55 remarkable individuals, who averted revolution and civil war, leading the country through times of peace, crisis and war.

Gravity’s Fatal Attraction

Emma — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Richly illustrated with the images from observatories on the ground and in space, and computer simulations, this book shows how black holes were discovered, and discusses what we’ve learned about their nature and their role in cosmic evolution. This thoroughly updated third edition covers new discoveries made in the past decade, including the discovery of gravitational waves from merging black holes and neutron stars, the first close-up images of the region near a black hole event horizon, and observations of debris from stars torn apart when they ventured too close to a supermassive black hole. Avoiding mathematics, the authors blend theoretical arguments with observational results to demonstrate how both have contributed to the subject. Clear, explanatory illustrations and photographs reveal the strange and amazing workings of our universe. The engaging style makes this book suitable for introductory undergraduate courses, amateur astronomers, and all readers interested in astronomy and physics.