Marx's prediction that the state would wither away of its own accord has proved inaccurate, and he did not foresee the tyrannies which have ruled large parts of the globe in his name. But some of his suggestions (progressive income tax, abolition of child labour, free education for all children) are now accepted with little question. In a world where capitalism is no longer held in check by fear of a communist alternative, 'The Communist Manifesto' (with Socialism Utopian and Scientific, Engels's brief and clear exposition of Marxist thought) is essential reading. 394pp in paperback.

2021 paperback edition sub-titled 'Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers.' Stephen Fry said 'We are supremely lucky to have the fabulously readable, lucid, witty and authoritative Tim Harford to remind us why facts, reason, numbers, clarity and truth matter, how beautiful they are and how crucial to our understanding of the natural world and human society.' If you aren't in love with stats before reading this book, you will be by this powerful and persuasive book by the well-respected economist from the Financial Times. This book was the winner of the Sunday Times Book of the Year 2020. Harford takes us deep into the world of disinformation and obfuscation, bad research and misplaced motivation to find those priceless jewels of data and analysis that make communicating with numbers so rewarding. We see statistics in the newspapers and social media and hear them in everyday conversation, and yet we doubt them more than ever. But numbers in the right hands have the power to change the world for the better. Good statistics are not a trick, although they are a kind of magic. Harford's characters range from the art forger who conned the Nazis to the stripper who fell in love with the most powerful congressman in Washington, to the famous data detectives such as John Maynard Keynes, Daniel Kahneman and Florence Nightingale. He reveals how we can evaluate the claims that surround us with confidence, curiosity and a healthy level of scepticism. Using ten simple rules for understanding numbers, plus one golden rule, this extraordinarily insightful book shows how if we keep our wits about us, thinking carefully about the way numbers are sourced and presented, we can look around us and see with crystal clarity how the world adds up. 340pp, paperback.

Set contains Undercover Economist, Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy and How to Make the World Add Up. Buy all three paperbacks and save even more.

'The Queen was very approachable. I felt that if I had met her in the street she would have talked to me, or to anyone for that matter. She seemed to be very interested, and seemed to have an unspoken understanding.' Having medals pinned on, trophy awards, on a Windsor walkabout during the Diamond Jubilee, receiving an MBE at Windsor Castle, performing for the Queen's birthday, being recognised for fund raising, official openings for example of the Perpetual Park in Henley-on-Thames or the Henley Royal Regatta Headquarters, here are members of the public who have been privileged to have met the late Her Majesty the Queen. 'The Queen asked Heather about going off to Afghanistan and me about my training for the World Championships in South Korea. She finished by saying she could see our rowing careers were still going very well. It did seem like quite a long chat which I enjoyed immensely and worth every second.' - Heather Glover MBE and Heather Stanning MBE, 2013. Lots of smiles and handshaking and never-before-seen photographs of Her Majesty at work, there is a colour page portrait of each contributor, a summary of what the Queen said in one paragraph, pithy quotes and memories galore, lifechanging moments of inspiration and wonderful anecdotes from 35 contributors who have shared the Queen's company as she has brought a smile to many faces. Her personality and sense of humour shine through and there are wonderful historical facts about The Queen's Watermen or the role of Mace Bearers, the Royal British Legion or MENCAP and the differences in meaning of OBEs. CBEs, KBEs etc. Each anecdote is written with its own integrity at its heart with no frills. Our Editor Annie Quigley has her own anecdotes! A wonderful way to say Thank You to our late monarch. With golden satin page marker, colour photos, 196pp.

With beautifully designed flexicover and colour coordinated pages in red, orange, pale green and lilac, the book contains over 1,000 buildings including more than 50 additional projects, each accompanied with a single colour image, description, addresses, websites, phone numbers, whether exterior and or interior can be viewed, abbreviations whether they are commercial buildings, cultural, educational, government, public, recreation, religious, residential, sports, tourism or transportation buildings. Organised geographically by Oceania, Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, there are hundreds of locator maps and one to three entries per page in this condensed travel edition contained in the 'Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture'. We can see into places now out of bounds like the Russian Federation Copper House built by Sergey Skuratob Architects, a brightly green six story apartment block in the metal framework or Atrium Architects' Boarding School in Moscow with its portico-like structure on inclined columns supporting a cascade of inner staircases defining the lobby. A fantastic way to appreciate what we see when we are travelling. Remainder mark. 472pp, colour.
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Migration is one of the key issues of our time and this highly praised study steps back from current anxieties round the subject and looks at the whole picture in Europe since the end of World War II. The author discusses both economic migrants and those seeking asylum, examining the impact of a wide variety of forces driving the movement of peoples, from Irish nurses crossing the Irish sea to work in the newly-formed NHS to the controversies surrounding the people-trafficking in the English Channel today. The term 'migration' rather than 'immigration' suggests a two-way traffic and an unwillingness on the part of many migrants to close the option of returning to their birth-country. After the war there was a huge and chaotic movement of displaced people, with 17 million Europeans on the move. The Hungarian uprising of 1956, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the disintegration of the Soviet bloc in 1989 and the upheaval of Yugoslavia in the 1990s were further events prompting mass migration. At the same time there was colonial migration of Moroccans to France and Indians to the UK. In the 21st century the rhetoric has changed as migrants are perceived as a possible threat. There are abundant instances of generosity on the part of nations and individuals, but there is also the "hostile environment" which was an aim of Theresa May's government. The author looks in detail at cases such as the Italian island of Lampedusa which took the brunt of Libyans escaping Colonel Gaddafi. Rarely has it been acknowledged that many asylum seekers are extremely resourceful and well-educated, with news reports dismissing them as a "wave" or "flood". The author believes that migration in Europe is multi-layered and open-ended, and is a testament to co-operation and cultural encounter. 548pp, photos, maps.

The Cold War spy Kim Philby lied and tricked his way through life and Hanning's masterful research lays bare the extraordinary hypocrisy in a tale as gripping as any thriller. It tells the extraordinary story of how Eleanor, a cultured American living in the espionage hotspot of 1950s Beirut, fell in love with the kindest of men. Unknown to her that man, Kim Philby, was under suspicion by the British and US intelligence services of having secretly signed up to help the Russians fight fascism in the 1930s, and of remaining in their pay at the height of the Cold War. Despite his mysterious past, Eleanor adored and married Philby, but the strength of their love was challenged as the net steadily closed in on him. His story may be familiar, but this angle breaks remarkable new ground and is an eye-opening tale of friendship, politics, love and loyalty which surpasses the best spy fiction and is a cautionary tale about the true costs of male privilege on the higher echelons of the British establishment. 408pp, paperback with 16 pages of photos and useful timeline. In the words of David Cornwell, aka John le Carré, 'The scale of Philby's betrayal is barely calculable to anyone who has not been in the business. In Eastern Europe alone, dozens and perhaps hundreds of British agents were imprisoned, tortured and shot.' Map. Paperback, 2022.

Sub-titled 'Magnificent Ocean Liners and the Women Who Travelled and Worked Aboard Them', this is an engaging and anecdotal social history which explores how women's lives were transformed by the golden age of travel between Europe and North America. Transatlantic travel was the province of the great ocean liners and an extraordinary undertaking made by many women. Some travelled for leisure, some for work and others to reinvent themselves or find new opportunities. They were celebrities, migrants and millionaires, refugees, aristocrats and crew members whose stories have remained mostly untold until now. The ocean liner was a microcosm of contemporary society, divided by class: from the luxury of the upper deck, playground for the rich and famous, to the cramped conditions of steerage or third class travel. In first class you will meet A-listers like Marlene Dietrich, Wallis Simpson and Josephine Baker; the second class carried a new generation of professional and independent women like pioneering interior designer Sibyl Colefax. Down in steerage you will follow the journey of émigré Maria Riffelmacher as she escapes poverty in Europe. Bustling between decks is a crew of female workers including Violet 'The Unsinkable Stewardess' Jessop, who survived the Titanic disaster and Maida Dixson who reluctantly went to sea as a stewardess in 1937 and defied wartime torpedoes to escort evacuees to safety around the globe. And Austrian-born Hedwig Kiesler who embarked on the Normandie in 1937 and arrived in New York a week later as MGM's latest signing, renamed Hedy Lamarr. Here are the GI brides and their babies during Operation Diaper Run, newly married British born wives reunited with their husbands in America. Victoria Drummond MBE, Britain's first female seagoing marine engineer, is pictured with anti-aircraft guns in March 1942. Deck games, chic swimwear and swimming pools, formal evening dress, refreshments on deck, the interior designed by the Ritz Hotel recalling aristocratic country houses in the luxurious Aquitania and a poster for the Cunard Line are among the 16 pages of illustrations. 354pp with fairly large print and by the author of Queen Bees code 92482.

'Unpublished Letters to The Daily Telegraph', readers of the Letters Page will be fondly aware of the eclectic combination of learned wisdom, wistful nostalgia and robust good sense of humour that characterises its correspondence. Whether it's suggesting the sci-fi Vulcan salute as an alternative to the now-discouraged handshake, or a parable of political dysfunction drawn from shopping in Ikea, Bob Pringle from Shrewsbury writes about the subject of the nude and that Anthony Whishaw on his 90th birthday notes that he tends to work from imagination, not looking at flesh and blood as the artist works. 'Sadly, speaking as another born in the Thirties, I fell that's the case for a lot of us.' Mike Lloyd of Cheltenham writes 'SIR - if members of the eco-protest group Extinction Rebellion would like to make themselves useful, perhaps they could come and teach my young adult children how to recycle.' The impact of self-isolation, lockdown and coronavirus is particularly notable in the Family Trials and Tribulations section. Then there is A Year In Politics with Corbyn, Brexit, Megxit, VAR to Mar, Trump to Top Gear - no one escapes the hilariously whimsical and sometimes risqué musings. So long, and thanks for all the fish writes one reader about access to 'our fishing waters after Brexit.' 181pp to dip into time and again.

The Parliamentary sketch writer and theatre critic for the Daily Mail loves gossip as well as hymn-singing and cricket. His target is the plotters and schemers, the "technocrats who dehumanise our country's institutions". Western capitalism's élites are bemused - Brexit, Trump and maybe more eruptions to follow. Hillary Clinton calls the ingrates 'A basket of deplorables'; Tony Blair thought voters too thick to understand the question. Wigged judges stared down their legalistic noses at the pongy populace. Those people who know best, those snooterati with their faux-liberal ways are the Patronising Bastards. Their downfall is largely of their own making - their Sybaritic excesses, an obsession with political correctness, the prolonged rape of reason and rite. You find these show-ponies not just in politics and the old institutions, but also in high fashion, football, clean-eating foodies and where celebritydom hires PR smoothies to massage reputations and mislead, distort and twist. Political columnist Quentin Letts identifies these condescending creeps and their networks, their methods and their dubious morals and kebabs them like mutton. He is juicy on Richard Branson, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Dan and Jon Snow, Sadiq Khan, Michael Eavis, Bono, Fiona Millar, Shami Chakrabarti, Nicholas Serota, Jean-Claude Juncker and his chapters include Boaty McVolteface, Cordon Bleuh, Harmful Harriet, Corporate Balls, Dismal Dons, and Top 100 Patronising Bastards. Shockingly hilarious. Fun images too (page 44), 305pp.