In 1855, when Jose da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino wrote an English phrasebook for Portuguese students, they faced just one problem: The didn't know any English. All they had was a Portuguese-to-French dictionary, and a French-to-English dictionary. The linguistic train wreck that ensued is a classic of unintentional humor, now revived in the first newly selected edition in a century.

The tenth century dawned in violence and disorder. Charlemagne's empire was in ruins, most of Spain had been claimed by Moorish invaders, and even the papacy in Rome was embroiled in petty, provincial conflicts. To many historians, it was a prime example of the ignorance and uncertainty of the Dark Ages. Yet according to historian Paul Collins, the story of the tenth century is the story of our culture's birth, of the emergence of our civilization into the light of day.The Birth of the West tells the story of a transformation from chaos to order, exploring the alien landscape of Europe in transition. It is a fascinatingnarrative that thoroughly renovates older conceptions of feudalism and what medieval life was actually like. The result is a wholly new vision of how civilization sprang from the unlikeliest of origins, and proof that our tenth-century ancestors are not as remote as we might think.

Product Description: Rad de La'rel is a street urchin who yearns to be a guide to adventures in the rift caves of Quentaris. Before he can claim his birthright, he must escape the Thieves' Guild and the notorious Vindon Nibhelline with the help of his friend Tulcia...read more

Yukin and his mate, Yulen, flee their campsite when Akcarum slave-traders attack. Unable to escape the Akcarum hunter birds, they are caught and transported to Quentaris. On their journey through the rift caves Yukin discovers a power that taps into the senses of insects and animals. But can it save them in time?

Product Description: After charting the line's history, 'The Kinver Light Railway' recreates a ride along the line to Kinver using a plethora of historic photographs, many of which have not been published before.

Product Description: It began quietly enough one morning in February 1880, with a mutton-chopped Acme Safe Company salesman knocking on the door of Reverend Morgan Dix, the starchiest clergyman in Manhattan's most respectable church. The salesman was surely misdirected, Reverend Dix explained—he had no need for a safe, and he had not made an appointment...read more

Product Description: Mack 'Max' Dunstan has played Moses, Marc Anthony, Ben-Hur, President Andrew Jackson, and Long John Silver. He has starred in The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, El Cid, 55 Days in Peking, Planet of the Apes, Omega Man, and Soylent Green, to name a few...read more

Product Description: The Black Country has more miles of canal than Venice. During the industrial revolution this transport system developed to serve the steel, coal, lime, and glass industries that grew up so extensively. Now much of the area’s heavy industry has disappeared, but many of the canals remain—to be utilized as an integral part of the Black Country's thriving tourist industry...read more

Product Description: Conditioning helps to steer you through essential foundational exercises, key movement and swing patterns prior to undertaking more complex power drills using both single and double kettlebells.

Product Description: The Roman Catholic Church has always been concerned with the quality of the music used in the liturgy, and the essays in this volume trace the church’s efforts, during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, to cultivate a more appropriate liturgical music for its Latin Rite...read more

Product Description: "Dry heat and hot, dry winds worked upon a land already dry, to suck from it the last, least drop of moisture. Men who had lived their lives in the bush went their ways in the shadow of dread expectancy. But though they felt the imminence of danger they could not tell that it was to be far greater than they could imagine...read more

Product Description: Core Fitness provides the latest cutting edge training regime with its breakthrough 'Cavity Based Training Approach' and Core-in-Motion Method (CIMM) delivered in a four phase progression for helping you achieve peak level fitness.

Product Description: Develop core strength, power and a rock hard mid section to help drive your athletic performance to a new level. This book combines a progressive series of abdominal strengthening exercises aimed at improving posture, body awareness, core strength, motor control and athletic performance...read more