'The Hidden Heroines of British Anthropology' is the sub-title of this multiple biography of five women who arrived at the University of Oxford determined to study remote communities a world away from their own. Barbara Freire-Marreco travelled to New Mexico and Arizona in 1910 and 1913. Katherine Routledge voyaged to Easter Island in 1913-16 and to French Polynesia, south of Ecuador to Mangareva 1921-23. Maria Czaplicka journeyed from Paris through Moscow and Minusinsk to Golchikha in Siberia 1914-15. Winifred Blackman travelled from London to Cairo via Venice and Corfu in 1920-39. Beatrice Blackwood took a voyage from Port Said via Columbo, Sydney and through New Caledonia to Papua New Guinea to Melanesia in 1929 and also to the Solomon Islands 1929-30 and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea 1936-38. These are the voyages as mapped in colour on the endpapers and there are 28 further illustrations in the text showing the intrepid travellers taking tea with local officials or in a family group photograph on a rare visit home, travelling in a wicker carriage through Siberia or as students on an Archaeology summer camp. In the unchartered interiors of New Guinea amid uprisings along the Nile and on remote Easter Island, they found new freedoms and bore witness to now-vanished worlds. Through their work they overturned some of the most pernicious myths that dogged their gender, and proved that women could be explorers and scientists too. Yet when they returned to England they found only loss, madness and regret waiting for them. Following the lives of her subjects through women's suffrage, two world wars and into the second half of the 20th century, Larson's masterful biography is a revelatory portrait of a pioneering quintet who went on search of nomadic reindeer-herders who had never before seen a European woman or to work in the pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona or to live in the New Guinea interior with warriors who still made their weapons from wood and stone. Their travels were sensationalised in the press. These five women were not simply adventurers, they were intellectual pioneers, professional anthropologists who set out to study human cultural diversity as part of an academic community. On her return from Siberia, Maria Czaplicka was given a lectureship at Oxford, but she lost her job when the male lecturer she had replaced came home at the end of the war. Routledge married a man who shared her intellectual interests, but when their marriage fell apart, she had no recourse when he secured a High Court order to take control of her formidable assets. Anthropology offered all five women an escape and field work a temporary relief from the strictures of English society and in new cultures an opportunity to negotiate their own identity. 337pp, illus.

The confession of Laurence Jago, clerk, gentleman, reluctant spy. July 1794 and the streets of London are filled with rumours of revolution. Political radical Thomas Hardy is to go on trial for treason, the war against the French is not going in Britain's favour, and negotiations with the independent American colonies are on a knife edge. Laurence Jago, clerk to the Foreign Office, is ever more reliant on the Black Drop to ease his nightmares. A highly sensitive letter has been leaked to the press which may lead to the destruction of the British Army, and Laurence is a suspect. Then he discovers the body of a fellow clerk, supposedly suicide. Blame for the leak is shifted to the dead man, but even as the body is taken to the anatomists, Laurence is certain both of his friend's innocence and that he was murdered. But after years of hiding his own secrets from his powerful employers, and at a time when even the slightest hint of treason can lead to the gallows, how can Laurence find the true culprit without incriminating himself? With historical note on the year when war against Revolutionary France was one year old. 340pp and cast of characters in Downing Street, the Americans, the lawyers, the accused, the French and the writers like Thomas Paine, author of The Rights of Man.

These fascinating short articles from Country Life in the first half of the 20th century plunge us into a nostalgic world when gentlemen's leisure pursuits were rarely penetrated by women. "Yachting in London" describes the Peter Pan pleasures of sailing models boats on the Round Pond, while "Ferreting" is accompanied by an archive photo of a man heading down a rabbit hole with only his legs visible. "The pleasures of a cold" from 1939 describes what we now know as man-flu with uncanny accuracy. In 1900 an article praising the master tattooist, Sutherland Macdonald, promises absence of pain if alleviated by cocaine. "Hitch and hike" is a popular pastime in 1926, and the secret to getting a ride is to have a clean collar; the illustration in fact shows the hitchhiker wearing a jacket and tie. In 1934, the year driving tests were introduced, a letter to the editor suggests that licences should be accompanied by a set of rules forbidding cutting in, driving in the middle of the road, and parking on bends. Boxing, cricket, rugby and polo all elicit strong opinions, while fishing has a whole section to itself, concluding with "Experiments with fishing gut". Lord Baden Powell writes in 1937 about the importance of fitness for all in the face of the coming conflict. Hunting and point-to-point are popular pastimes among readers of Country Life, and in 1921 the Prince of Wales's first steeplechase is deemed worthy of close analysis. Everything from fine brandy to crocodile shooting is dissected, usually with advice about how to dress for it. 244pp, black and white illustrations.

A smiling white whippet wearing a Tudor ruff and lace collar graces the front cover of these artistically refined portraits of dogs which look like Old Masters. In humorous, almost philosophical texts, Tein Lucasson gives each of his animal protagonists an unmistakeable character, from the Labrador to the Pug, the Spaniel to the Dalmatian dressed as Wellington, the little Italian Greyhound with her big doe eyes dressed as Greta Garbo with a shy, all-knowing look, in full Tudor costume with human hands, slim and always happy, "Maisie has been widowed four times and lives on bottled grape juice to keep herself slim and happy (in a spaced-out way)". With text in English, German and Italian on the facing pages opposite the full page colour portraits of these anthropomorphised mix of dogs of many breeds, poodles and terriers and pugs and mongrel in a sailor suit, our favourite must be Olive, standing upright as a pensive young bride she is another white whippet. Truly a dog lover, this artist is rarely seen in Great Britain and you will either find this icky or adore his 88 quirky, humorous portraits by the talented graphic designer and digital photographer. A quality teNeues publication, 192 pages, 22.23 x 28.7cm. All in colour.
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Imagine your cat dressed as Elvis with a wild gleam in his eye and pulsating hips, or your prim and proper guinea pig kitted out as our dear late Queen, with a slightly disapproving stare and a bit of a twinkle. The artworks blend comic-con and the global celebrity phenomenon with our fascination with anthropomorphising pets. All your pet fantasies come true in this bewitching volume, where your pets "live their best lives" through the medium of fantasy. Michael Jackson in his trademark frogged jacket regards us mournfully in the face of an uncanny canine lookalike, while David Bowie as a Zigzaggy Starman looks out of the frame with his customary detachment. Ozzie Osbourne in purple specs and Gothic gear is perfectly captured by a jowly Labrador. From the world of film, Captain Jack Sparrow is a spiky black feline with high boots and a swagger, Miss Piggy has a personalised pink handbag and red bow, while a guinea pig as Count Dracula sports impressive prosthetic teeth - or are they actually his own? Sherlock Holmes and Poirot are easily identifiable by the deerstalker and moustache, the yellow eyes of Sally Bowles look out from beneath her trademark hat, and a white feline with spectacular false eyelashes makes a fabulous Marilyn, contrasting with the Blues Brothers glowering at the reader on a nearby page. Clint Eastwood's narrowed eyes beneath the battered brown hat convey the swashbuckling hero of dozens of westerns, Del Boy is unmistakeable under the check cap, Tommy Cooper has his fez, and we go back to our guinea pig friend for Dame Edna Everage with sparkly flyway specs, purple hair and a dress encrusted with bling. World leaders include the Pope, Churchill, Mother Teresa and Donald Trump. No page numbers, but about 80 fantastically costumed pets. 25 x 32cm. Text in English, French and German.
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'The Story of AMISOM's Successful War Against Somali Insurgents 2007-2014' is the sub-title of this book which acknowledges the formation and deployment of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM). Initially confined to peacekeeping within the Mogadishu enclave, it transformed into a peace-making mission. Many, including the author, predicted the mission Dead on Arrival with little chance of success, yet the fighting force took on the Somali insurgents in 2010, expelled them from Central Mogadishu in August 2011, and expanded control of territory under the Somali Government in the succeeding years to most of Somalia. The book highlights the inconsistent and sometimes disastrous US policy in the Horn of Africa and how under President George Bush it sponsored Somali factions to fight against each other, and when that flopped, egged on Ethiopia to invade Somalia in December 2006 which caused the rise of violent insurgency that spilled across borders. Young jihadists streamed into the heart of the USA to fight the invaders. The Bush administration finally supported the deployment of regional troops and this book intimately captures the stories of the men and women, their triumphs, setbacks and victories. The spotlight focuses on the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) supported by Burundi National Defence Forces (BNDF) and later the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces pivotal to the success of the mission. Their dedication, professionalism, ideological commitment, hard work and humanity turned Somalia from a wasted nation to one with hope for peace, stability and a better future for its people. The book introduces this new breed of African peace-warriors and their work across borders, resolving conflicts wherever and whenever they arise and preventing genocides before they happen. 262pp, colour photos, five maps and useful list of abbreviations and acronyms.

This is a stand-out volume among the many photographic histories of World War I, with the effects of the conflict vividly demonstrated in archive photos showing day to day life on the home fronts of the warring nations. Young Germans living in Britain are seen crowding round the German consulate as war breaks out, almost all wearing Panama hats, while over in Germany similarly hatted young men read the mobilisation orders posted on the Rathaus (Town Hall). The Grenadier Guards, including the Prince of Wales, are seen leaving for France, where the headgear of choice is a flat cap. Further afield, the Commander-in-Chief is seen marching his Turkish troops through Jerusalem, and the first Tasmanian contingent to leave Hobart throngs the decks of a departing ship. Spy fever was running riot and Britain's east coast and railway bridges are heavily guarded by Territorials, while the Dutch frontier has a barrier of revolving spikes. High school students are now working in the fields, and a German monk is seen tending horses. Propaganda posters announce that England Expects Every Man To Do His Duty. A Brussels school is used as a hospital, and even more extraordinarily the Orangery Palace in Potsdam houses hospital beds among the grandiose pillars, while the Royal Palace in St Petersburg is also requisitioned. In Britain, there are makeshift wards in the Great Hall of Birmingham University and the cloisters of Trinity College Cambridge. Refugees on the eastern front struggle to safety without shoes, and meanwhile women work in munitions factories, sew balloons and make bandages in this fascinating cross section of wartime life. 192pp, chronology, archive photos on every page.

First published under the sub-title in 1917 in New York, Albert Rhys Williams (1883-1962) was an American journalist, author and labour organiser who studied on a fellowship at Cambridge University. In 1914 he found work as a journalist with the magazine Outlook as a special war correspondent, with the duty of reporting the events of the Great War. He was arrested in Belgium and detained by Germans who suspected him of being a British spy. In the early days of the conflict, Williams had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the Imperial German Army and, arrested in Belgium, they marched him into captivity. On his return to the USA, he published 'In the Claws of the German Eagle' in 1917. He then joined the New York Post and was sent to Petrograd to report on the conflict that was taking place in Russia following the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II, and he remained an ardent supporter of Russia until the end of his life. 'The horrible and incomprehensible hates and brutalities of the European War! Unspeakable atrocities! Men blood-lusting like a lot of tigers! Horrible they are indeed. But my experiences in the war zone render them no longer incomprehensible... Two weeks later I fell under the spell of the self-same Germans. That long gray column swinging on through Liege so mesmerised me that my natural revulsion against slaughter was changed to actual admiration. Had an officer right them thrust a musket into my hand, I could have mechanically fallen into step and fared forth to the killing of the French...' 142 pages.

In delicate silk and organza ribbon with printed panels for embroidery, integrate crafts such as card making, jewellery making, knitting, crazy quilting, fibre art and dress design into an easy, enjoyable and rewarding hobby. Learn to make flat Nuno felting and felt surfaces using wool, silk and silk paper and adorn these with exquisite silk ribbon designs. The book has four sections covering felted backgrounds explained with step-by-step instructions, making the different flowers like tiny roses or dreamy creatures, adding shadows. Fuchsias on felted wool and silk are 3D and appear to float, wild roses in pale lilac, pansy with silk and organza ribbons and the English rose in small, medium or large petals and how to make the stems trail and look realistic. There is a beautiful sparrow design with little feet, legs and beak, red corn poppies on a small purse bag which fastens with a button, a wild Michaelmas daisy in a floral scene, buttercup, meadow grass and a butterfly, cosmos and a little sunbird and a Nasturtium circle on silk paper for wool art or a hat box cover. There are hot water bottle covers, samplers, handbags, purses, spectacle case, clutch bag, holdall, beaded scarf, bracelets and needle cases and a small throw or blanket, all eye catching, colourful and delicately beautiful. 15 complete projects, gorgeous colour photos, lists of requirements, stitch gallery and patterns to scan or trace. 160 very large glossy pages, colour photos, softback.

'The Epic Journey of The Man They Couldn't Stop' is the sub-title of this brilliantly told tragic story of a man condemned not only by authority but also by his own stubbornness. John Tarrant was an extraordinary man whom nobody could stop. As a hapless teenage boxer in the 1950s, he had been paid £15 in expenses. When he wanted to run, he was banned for life. His amateur status had been compromised forever, but now he was fighting back, gate-crashing races all over Britain. No number on his shirt, no friends in high places, soon he would be a record breaker, one of the greatest long-distance runners the world had ever seen. This is his incredible story, a cross between 'Once A Runner' and 'Chariots of Fire'. The author is an award-winning documentary maker who was researching a film about the centenary of the Manchester running club the Salford Harriers when he first came across the story of John Tarrant, a former Harriers member. 352pp, 16 pages of archive photos.