Ian Crofton

Discover the 50 key developments and events that form the backbone of the story of humanity. People often complain that in history lessons at school they were taught just a few topics - the Romans, the Tudors, the Nazis - and how they have no idea about what happened in between. Offering stimulating outlines of key developments in the history of the world, this book aims to remedy this. Author Ian Crofton brings history to life in essays ranging from ancient Egypt to modern China, from the Vikings and the Mongols to the French Revolution and the Cold War.

'Fascinating and lyrical . . . A beautifully written celebration of a lifelong passion' – Stephen Venables The relationship of people with hills and mountains has been complex, rich and varied – from awe and wonder to fear and loathing, from spiritual longing to peaceful acceptance. As he explores our high places, Ian Crofton conjures up those who have been there before: Neolithic axe-makers, mass trespassers, shepherds, quarrymen, botanists, poets and pioneering cragsmen and women among them. At the same time, he is ever attuned to the present moment – a flash of bright moss in a bog, the swoop of an eagle above a skyline, a winter sun sinking into a sea of cloud. Following an arc from the gentle Downs of southern England to the wild peaks of Scotland’s far north, Upland combines personal experiences with a keen curiosity about the history and nature of mountain landscapes, and the people who once worked and wandered among them. The result is a meditation on the enduring yet ever-changing hills, on the transience of human experience, and on the shifts and twists of time itself. Locations included: Chilterns (following The Ridgeway) Malverns Snowdon Peak District Pennines Lake District Ben Nevis The Cuillin, Skye Assynt (Suilven) Cairngorms

'If I had to choose between betraying my friend and betraying my country, I hope I should have the courage to betray my country.' E. M. FORSTERPeople have betrayed their country, or their friends, for all kinds of different reasons - conscience, conviction, love, as well as pride, vengeance and greed. The stories in Traitors range from the faith-inspired terrorism of Guy Fawkes to the non-violent White Rose gang of students who defied Hitler; from patriotic rebels such as Roger Casement to ambivalent ideologues such as Lord Haw-Haw and the Cambridge spy Kim Philby; and from femmes fatales such as Mata Hari to unwitting victims such as Lady Jane Grey. Those found guilty of treason have usually faced the same penalty: death. But as these thoroughly researched and grippingly told tales of treachery show, one man's traitor may sometimes be another man's hero . . .

'Fascinating and lyrical . . . A beautifully written celebration of a lifelong passion' – Stephen Venables The relationship of people with hills and mountains has been complex, rich and varied – from awe and wonder to fear and loathing, from spiritual longing to peaceful acceptance. As he explores our high places, Ian Crofton conjures up those who have been there before: Neolithic axe-makers, mass trespassers, shepherds, quarrymen, botanists, poets and pioneering cragsmen and women among them. At the same time, he is ever attuned to the present moment – a flash of bright moss in a bog, the swoop of an eagle above a skyline, a winter sun sinking into a sea of cloud. Following an arc from the gentle Downs of southern England to the wild peaks of Scotland’s far north, Upland combines personal experiences with a keen curiosity about the history and nature of mountain landscapes, and the people who once worked and wandered among them. The result is a meditation on the enduring yet ever-changing hills, on the transience of human experience, and on the shifts and twists of time itself. Locations included: Chilterns (following The Ridgeway)MalvernsSnowdonPeak DistrictPenninesLake DistrictBen NevisThe Cuillin, SkyeAssynt (Suilven)Cairngorms

This authoritative, entertaining and eminently browsable reference book, arranged in easily accessible A-Z format, is an absorbing and imaginative feast of Scottish lore, language, history and culture, from the mythical origins of the Scots in Scythia to the contemporary Scotland of the Holyrood parliament and Trainspotting.

One of the Daily Telegraph's 20 Books Perfect for Travel Scotland has its rugged Hebrides; Ireland its cliff-girt Arans; Wales its Island of Twenty Thousand Saints. And what has England got? The isles of Canvey, Sheppey, Wight and Dogs, Mersea, Brownsea, Foulness and Rat. But there are also wilder, rockier places – Lundy, the Scillies, the Farnes. These islands and their inhabitants not only cast varied lights on the mainland, they also possess their own peculiar stories, from the Barbary slavers who once occupied Lundy, to the ex-major who seized a wartime fort in the North Sea and declared himself Prince of Sealand. Ian Crofton embarks on a personal odyssey to a number of the islands encircling England, exploring how some were places of refuge or holiness, while others have been turned into personal fiefdoms by their owners, or become locations for prisons, rubbish dumps and military installations. He also describes the varied ways in which England's islands have been formed, and how they are constantly changing, so making a mockery of human claims to sovereignty.

This is the story of Scotland as it's never been told before. From the 4th millennium BC, when the first Scot was expelled from Eden, right up to the 21st century, when US intelligence identified a distillery on Islay as a possible threat to world peace, Ian Crofton presents a host of little-known tales that you won't find in conventional history books. Packed with fascinating facts and extraordinary events, Scottish History Without the Boring Bits also includes some remarkable personalities, such as the duke who ate his own fingers, the poet who sought inspiration from a tooth, the vampire-hunting children of the Gorbals, and the MP accused of stealing his ex-mistress's knickers.

A lively history of the universe and human civilization, this authoritative volume tells the story of the cosmos, the stars, and human development on earth. The Little Book of Big History is an endeavor to encapsulate the entire story of the cosmos, from the Big Bang to the current day, into an engaging and comprehensive narrative. Combining methods from history, astronomy, physics, and biology to draw together the big story arcs of how the universe was created, why planets formed, and how life developed, the result is a unique perspective of mankind's place in the universe. Excited by the alternative "framework for all knowledge" that is offered by this approach, Bill Gates is funding the Big History Project, which aims to bring this concept to a wider audience around the world. The Little Book of Big History breaks down the main themes of Big History into highly informative and accessible parts for all readers to enjoy. By giving a truly complete timeline of world events, this book shines a whole different light on science as we learned it and makes us think of our history--and our future--in a very different way.

This book breaks down the main themes of Big History into highly informative and accessible parts for all readers to enjoy.

By turns bizarre, surprising, trivial, and enlightening, History without the Boring Bits offers rich pickings for the browser, and entertainment and inspiration aplenty for those who have grown weary of more conventional works of history.

Big Ideas in Brief provides an accessible and easily understood tour of 200 key concepts that really matter. The ideas covered come from a wide range of subjects - Philosophy, Religion, Science, Politics, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology and the Arts. A series of short and lively articles accompanied by 100 illustrations, introduce a host of diverse topics, from Existentialism to Expressionism, from Consciousness to Constitutionalism, from Feminism to Free Trade, from Class to Cognitive Theory, from Reincarnation to Relativity - all explained simply and clearly. Incredibly quick - clear artworks and simple explanations that can be easily remembered. Based on scientific research that the brain best absorbs information visually. Compact and portable format - the ideal, handy reference.

People often complain that in history lessons at school they were taught just a few topics - the Romans, the Tudors, the Nazis - and how they have no idea at all about what happened in between. To remedy this, World History: 50 Key Milestones You Really Need to Know offers brief and stimulating outlines of key developments in the history of the world, from the beginning of agriculture 10,000 years ago to the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11. Ian Crofton, the author of several books of popular history including The Kings and Queens of England, Traitors and Turncoats and History Without the Boring Bits, brings his lively style to bear in a series of essays ranging from ancient Egypt to modern China, from the Vikings and the Mongols to the French Revolution and the Cold War. Each essay is accompanied by a detailed time line of dates and events, and the flavour of the period concerned is brought to life by selected contemporary quotations from figures as diverse as Aristotle, Ashoka, Saladin, Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther, Suleiman the Magnificent, Galileo, Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, Mary Wollstonecraft, Napoleon, Lincoln, Lenin and Winston Churchill. In addition, box features throw light on a range of related topics, from the Nazca Lines to Renaissance man, from Confucianism and the state to Alexander the Great's horse, from Islamic science and the Barbary corsairs to the Enigma code and the atomic bomb.