Everything about Sarah Bernhardt is fascinating, from her obscure birth to her glorious career – redefining the very nature of her art – to her amazing (and highly public) romantic life to her indomitable spirit. Well into her seventies, after the am...

Lionel Trilling, regarded at the time of his death in 1975 as America's preeminent literary critic, is today often seen as a relic of a vanished era. His was an age when literary criticism and ideas seemed to matter profoundly in the intellectual lif...

In the first fully comprehensive study of one of the world's most iconic musical instruments, Stephen Cottrell examines the saxophone's full social, historical and cultural trajectory, and considers how and why this instrument, with its idiosyncratic...

A powerful hero of the Bible, Jacob is also one of its most complex figures. Bible stories recounting his life often expose his deception, lies, and greed, then puzzlingly attempt to justify them. In this book an eminent biblical scholar looks at Jac...

From 1900 to 1907, John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) travelled considerably, visiting the Alps, Italy, Spain, Norway, and Palestine. In Palestine in 1905, he painted a significant group of oils and watercolours as well as a group of studies of the Bedo...

Ayrshire and Arran is an area of striking contrasts. Its landscape ranges from dune-backed sands to rolling pastures to moors. The local architecture is similarly diverse, marrying natural beauty with industry and modernity. It is the county of Rober...

Philosophy begins with questions about the nature of reality and how we should live. These were the concerns of Socrates, who spent his days in the ancient Athenian marketplace asking awkward questions, disconcerting the people he met by showing them...

Instantly recognizable with his iconic eye patch, Moshe Dayan (1915-1981) was a powerful yet controversial figure in Israel from the 1950s through 70s. A fearless warrior and a strong-headed, charismatic politician, he was admired for his leadership...

This classic architectural survey of West Kent has been used by students and travellers for more than forty years. Now fully revised and expanded to include the great variety of buildings added to the landscape during that time, this indispensable gu...

Rene Magritte (1898-1967) was a surrealist artist whose thought-provoking works used ordinary objects to challenge how viewers perceived reality. His extensive oeuvre was documented in a comprehensive five-volume project, led by distinguished art cri...