** A FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN AND GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR ** 'A must read for anyone wanting to understand where the roots of our sense of a nation originated' - Janina Ramirez, bestselling author of Femina 'A sharp new history of longing for the good old days' - Financial Times 'Our national story is so much stranger than we think- this book brilliantly insists that we look at it afresh' - James Hawes, bestselling author of The Shortest History of England ____________________________________________________ How has nostalgia shaped Britain? Modern politicians implore us to draw on the 'Blitz Spirit' of wartime Britain, post-war Britons mourned the lost innocence of Edwardian life, anxious Edwardians longed to return to a golden era of Victorian optimism, while Victorian artists dreamt of retreating to a medieval, pre-industrial age. Longing to go back to the 'good old days' is nothing new, but it's also not what it used to be. Rule, Nostalgia is an eye-opening history of Britain's perennial fixation with its own past that explores why nostalgia has been such an enduring and seductive emotion across hundreds of years of change. Cultural historian Hannah Rose Woods paints a novel picture of Britain, both strange and familiar, separating the fact from the fantasy, debunking pervasive myths and illuminating the remarkable influence that nostalgia's perpetual backwards glance has had on our history, politics and society over the last five hundred years. This is a timely and enlightening interrogation of national character, emotion, identity and myth making that explores how this nostalgic isle's history was written, re-written and (rightly or wrongly) remembered.

Looking Backward: 2000-1887 is a utopian science fiction novel by Edward Bellamy, a lawyer and writer from Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts; it was first published in 1887. According to Erich Fromm, Looking Backward is "one of the most remarkable books ever published in America".

“[Le Carré’s] novels are so brilliant because they’re emotionally and psychologically absolutely true, but of course they’re novels.” —New York Times Book Review A thrilling tale for our times from the undisputed master of the spy genre Nat, a 47 year-old veteran of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, believes his years as an agent runner are over. He is back in London with his wife, the long-suffering Prue. But with the growing threat from Moscow Centre, the office has one more job for him. Nat is to take over The Haven, a defunct substation of London General with a rag-tag band of spies. The only bright light on the team is young Florence, who has her eye on Russia Department and a Ukrainian oligarch with a finger in the Russia pie. Nat is not only a spy, he is a passionate badminton player. His regular Monday evening opponent is half his age: the introspective and solitary Ed. Ed hates Brexit, hates Trump and hates his job at some soulless media agency. And it is Ed, of all unlikely people, who will take Prue, Florence and Nat himself down the path of political anger that will ensnare them all. Agent Running in the Field is a chilling portrait of our time, now heartbreaking, now darkly humorous, told to us with unflagging tension by the greatest chronicler of our age.

Sam Marsdyke is a lonely young man, dogged by an incident in his past and forced to work his family farm instead of attending school in his Yorkshire village. He methodically fills his life with daily routines and adheres to strict boundaries that keep him at a remove from the townspeople. But one day he spies Josephine, his new neighbor from London. From that moment on, Sam's carefully constructed protections begin to crumble—and what starts off as a harmless friendship between an isolated loner and a defiant teenage girl takes a most disturbing turn.

"First published in Great Britain by Bantam Press"--T.p. verso.

There are poems about winning, and about taking part; poems about having all the right kit, but no talent; poems that show that it if you are at school being the best egg and spoon racer really is as important to your mum and dad as being an Olympic athlete; poems about being a team player and poems about being an individual hero. In fact, this book is packed with sporting gems of all kinds.

The official biography--for the first time all three artists have allowed access to their vaults.