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The Business of Sports: A Primer for Journalists
by Mark ConradThis book explores the business aspect of sports with an orientation to those topics that are most relevant to journalists, providing the foundation for understanding the various parts of the sports business. Moving beyond sports writing, this text offers a distinct perspective on professional, college, and international sports organizations – structure, governance, labor issues, and other business factors within the sports community. Written clearly and compellingly, The Business of Sports includes cases (historical, current, and hypothetical) to illustrate how business concerns play a role in the reporting of sports. New features for the second edition include: updates throughout, including disciplinary policies throughout the major sports leagues expanded discussion of intellectual property issues and merchandising new sections on ethical issues in sports, aimed at journalists. Offering critical insights on the business of sports, this text is a required resource for sports journalists and students in sports journalism.
The Business of Sports: A Primer for Journalists
by Mark ConradThis book explores the business aspect of sports with an orientation to those topics that are most relevant to journalists, providing the foundation for understanding the various parts of the sports business. Moving beyond sports writing, this text offers a distinct perspective on professional, college, and international sports organizations – structure, governance, labor issues, and other business factors within the sports community. Written clearly and compellingly, The Business of Sports includes cases (historical, current, and hypothetical) to illustrate how business concerns play a role in the reporting of sports. New features for the second edition include: updates throughout, including disciplinary policies throughout the major sports leagues expanded discussion of intellectual property issues and merchandising new sections on ethical issues in sports, aimed at journalists. Offering critical insights on the business of sports, this text is a required resource for sports journalists and students in sports journalism.
The Business of Sports: Off the Field, in the Office, on the News
by Mark ConradThe Business of Sports provides a comprehensive foundation of the economic, organizational, legal and political components of the sports industry. Geared for journalism, communication and business students, but also an excellent resource for those working in sports, this text introduces readers to the ever-increasing complexity of an industry that is in constant flux. Now in its third edition, the volume continues to offer a wealth of statistics and case studies, up to date with the newest developments in sports business and focused on cutting-edge issues and topics, including the many changes in international sports and the role of analytics in decision-making and tax rules that have a major effect on athletes and teams.
The Business of Sports: Off the Field, in the Office, on the News
by Mark ConradThe Business of Sports provides a comprehensive foundation of the economic, organizational, legal and political components of the sports industry. Geared for journalism, communication and business students, but also an excellent resource for those working in sports, this text introduces readers to the ever-increasing complexity of an industry that is in constant flux. Now in its third edition, the volume continues to offer a wealth of statistics and case studies, up to date with the newest developments in sports business and focused on cutting-edge issues and topics, including the many changes in international sports and the role of analytics in decision-making and tax rules that have a major effect on athletes and teams.
The Business of the Novel: Economics, Aesthetics and the Case of Middlemarch (Literary Texts and the Popular Marketplace)
by Simon R FrostThis study shows how aesthetics and economics have been combined in a great work of literature. Frost examines the history of Middlemarch’s composition and publication within the context of Victorian demand, then goes on to consider the interpretation, reception and consumption of the book.
The Business of the Novel: Economics, Aesthetics and the Case of Middlemarch (Literary Texts and the Popular Marketplace #1)
by Simon R FrostThis study shows how aesthetics and economics have been combined in a great work of literature. Frost examines the history of Middlemarch’s composition and publication within the context of Victorian demand, then goes on to consider the interpretation, reception and consumption of the book.
The Business of Words: Wordsmiths, Linguists, and Other Language Workers
by Crispin ThurlowThe Business of Words examines the practices of ‘high-end’ language workers or wordsmiths where we find words being professionally designed, institutionally managed, and, inevitably, objectified for status and profit. Aligned with existing work on language and political economy in critical sociolinguistics and discourse studies, the volume offers a novel, complementary insight into the relatively elite practices of language workers such as advertisers, dialect coaches, publishers, judges, translators, public relations officers, fine artists, journalists, and linguists themselves. In fact, the book considers what academics might learn about language from other wordsmiths, opening a space for ‘dialogue’ between those researching language and those who also stake a claim to linguistic expertise and a way with words. Bringing together an array of leading international scholars from the cognate fields of discourse studies, sociolinguistics, and linguistic anthropology, this book is an essential resource for researchers, advanced undergraduate, and postgraduate students of English language, linguistics and applied linguistics, communication and media studies, and anthropology.
The Business of Words: Wordsmiths, Linguists, and Other Language Workers
by Crispin ThurlowThe Business of Words examines the practices of ‘high-end’ language workers or wordsmiths where we find words being professionally designed, institutionally managed, and, inevitably, objectified for status and profit. Aligned with existing work on language and political economy in critical sociolinguistics and discourse studies, the volume offers a novel, complementary insight into the relatively elite practices of language workers such as advertisers, dialect coaches, publishers, judges, translators, public relations officers, fine artists, journalists, and linguists themselves. In fact, the book considers what academics might learn about language from other wordsmiths, opening a space for ‘dialogue’ between those researching language and those who also stake a claim to linguistic expertise and a way with words. Bringing together an array of leading international scholars from the cognate fields of discourse studies, sociolinguistics, and linguistic anthropology, this book is an essential resource for researchers, advanced undergraduate, and postgraduate students of English language, linguistics and applied linguistics, communication and media studies, and anthropology.
Business Writing for Technical People: The most effective ways to get your message across
by Carrie MarshallTechnically-minded people can struggle with business writing and many businesses get it wrong, losing their readers in avalanches of acronyms and jungles of technical jargon. It doesn’t have to be that way. In this book you’ll discover how to give your communication skills an upgrade, exploring the tips and tricks that will enable you to write effectively and persuasively for any audience. You’ll discover how to write for maximum impact and how to make your enthusiasm even more infectious.
Business Writing for Technical People: The most effective ways to get your message across
by Carrie MarshallTechnically-minded people can struggle with business writing and many businesses get it wrong, losing their readers in avalanches of acronyms and jungles of technical jargon. It doesn’t have to be that way. In this book you’ll discover how to give your communication skills an upgrade, exploring the tips and tricks that will enable you to write effectively and persuasively for any audience. You’ll discover how to write for maximum impact and how to make your enthusiasm even more infectious.
But Can I Start a Sentence with "But"?: Advice from the Chicago Style Q&A (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
by The University of Chicago Press Editorial StaffQ. Is it “happy medium” or “happy median”? My author writes: “We would all be much better served as stewards of finite public funds if we could find that happy median where trust reigns supreme.” Thanks! A. The idiom is “happy medium,” but I like the image of commuters taking refuge from road rage on the happy median. Q. How do I write a title of a song in the body of the work (caps, bold, underline, italics, etc.)? Example: The Zombies’ “She’s Not There” looped in his head. A. Noooo! Now that song is looping in my head (“but it’s too late to say you’re sorry . . .”). Use quotation marks. Thanks a lot. Every month, tens of thousands of self-declared word nerds converge upon a single site: The Chicago Manual of Style Online's Q&A. There the Manual’s editors open the mailbag and tackle readers’ questions on topics ranging from abbreviation to word division to how to reform that coworker who still insists on two spaces between sentences. Champions of common sense, the editors offer smart, direct, and occasionally tongue-in-cheek responses that have guided writers and settled arguments for more than fifteen years. But Can I Start a Sentence with “But”? brings together the best of the Chicago Style Q&A. Curated from years of entries, it features some of the most popular—and hotly debated—rulings and also recovers old favorites long buried in the archives. Questions touch on myriad matters of editorial style—capitalization, punctuation, alphabetizing, special characters—as well as grammar, usage, and beyond (“How do I spell out the sound of a scream?”). A foreword by Carol Fisher Saller, the Q&A’s longtime editor, takes readers through the history of the Q&A and addresses its reputation for mischief. (“It’s not that we set out to be cheeky,” she writes.) Taken together, the questions and answers offer insights into some of the most common issues that face anyone who works with words. They’re also a comforting reminder that even the best writer or editor needs a little help—and humor—sometimes.
But Can I Start a Sentence with "But"?: Advice from the Chicago Style Q&A (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
by The University of Chicago Press Editorial StaffQ. Is it “happy medium” or “happy median”? My author writes: “We would all be much better served as stewards of finite public funds if we could find that happy median where trust reigns supreme.” Thanks! A. The idiom is “happy medium,” but I like the image of commuters taking refuge from road rage on the happy median. Q. How do I write a title of a song in the body of the work (caps, bold, underline, italics, etc.)? Example: The Zombies’ “She’s Not There” looped in his head. A. Noooo! Now that song is looping in my head (“but it’s too late to say you’re sorry . . .”). Use quotation marks. Thanks a lot. Every month, tens of thousands of self-declared word nerds converge upon a single site: The Chicago Manual of Style Online's Q&A. There the Manual’s editors open the mailbag and tackle readers’ questions on topics ranging from abbreviation to word division to how to reform that coworker who still insists on two spaces between sentences. Champions of common sense, the editors offer smart, direct, and occasionally tongue-in-cheek responses that have guided writers and settled arguments for more than fifteen years. But Can I Start a Sentence with “But”? brings together the best of the Chicago Style Q&A. Curated from years of entries, it features some of the most popular—and hotly debated—rulings and also recovers old favorites long buried in the archives. Questions touch on myriad matters of editorial style—capitalization, punctuation, alphabetizing, special characters—as well as grammar, usage, and beyond (“How do I spell out the sound of a scream?”). A foreword by Carol Fisher Saller, the Q&A’s longtime editor, takes readers through the history of the Q&A and addresses its reputation for mischief. (“It’s not that we set out to be cheeky,” she writes.) Taken together, the questions and answers offer insights into some of the most common issues that face anyone who works with words. They’re also a comforting reminder that even the best writer or editor needs a little help—and humor—sometimes.
But Can I Start a Sentence with "But"?: Advice from the Chicago Style Q&A (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
by The University of Chicago Press Editorial StaffQ. Is it “happy medium” or “happy median”? My author writes: “We would all be much better served as stewards of finite public funds if we could find that happy median where trust reigns supreme.” Thanks! A. The idiom is “happy medium,” but I like the image of commuters taking refuge from road rage on the happy median. Q. How do I write a title of a song in the body of the work (caps, bold, underline, italics, etc.)? Example: The Zombies’ “She’s Not There” looped in his head. A. Noooo! Now that song is looping in my head (“but it’s too late to say you’re sorry . . .”). Use quotation marks. Thanks a lot. Every month, tens of thousands of self-declared word nerds converge upon a single site: The Chicago Manual of Style Online's Q&A. There the Manual’s editors open the mailbag and tackle readers’ questions on topics ranging from abbreviation to word division to how to reform that coworker who still insists on two spaces between sentences. Champions of common sense, the editors offer smart, direct, and occasionally tongue-in-cheek responses that have guided writers and settled arguments for more than fifteen years. But Can I Start a Sentence with “But”? brings together the best of the Chicago Style Q&A. Curated from years of entries, it features some of the most popular—and hotly debated—rulings and also recovers old favorites long buried in the archives. Questions touch on myriad matters of editorial style—capitalization, punctuation, alphabetizing, special characters—as well as grammar, usage, and beyond (“How do I spell out the sound of a scream?”). A foreword by Carol Fisher Saller, the Q&A’s longtime editor, takes readers through the history of the Q&A and addresses its reputation for mischief. (“It’s not that we set out to be cheeky,” she writes.) Taken together, the questions and answers offer insights into some of the most common issues that face anyone who works with words. They’re also a comforting reminder that even the best writer or editor needs a little help—and humor—sometimes.
But Can I Start a Sentence with "But"?: Advice from the Chicago Style Q&A (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
by The University of Chicago Press Editorial StaffQ. Is it “happy medium” or “happy median”? My author writes: “We would all be much better served as stewards of finite public funds if we could find that happy median where trust reigns supreme.” Thanks! A. The idiom is “happy medium,” but I like the image of commuters taking refuge from road rage on the happy median. Q. How do I write a title of a song in the body of the work (caps, bold, underline, italics, etc.)? Example: The Zombies’ “She’s Not There” looped in his head. A. Noooo! Now that song is looping in my head (“but it’s too late to say you’re sorry . . .”). Use quotation marks. Thanks a lot. Every month, tens of thousands of self-declared word nerds converge upon a single site: The Chicago Manual of Style Online's Q&A. There the Manual’s editors open the mailbag and tackle readers’ questions on topics ranging from abbreviation to word division to how to reform that coworker who still insists on two spaces between sentences. Champions of common sense, the editors offer smart, direct, and occasionally tongue-in-cheek responses that have guided writers and settled arguments for more than fifteen years. But Can I Start a Sentence with “But”? brings together the best of the Chicago Style Q&A. Curated from years of entries, it features some of the most popular—and hotly debated—rulings and also recovers old favorites long buried in the archives. Questions touch on myriad matters of editorial style—capitalization, punctuation, alphabetizing, special characters—as well as grammar, usage, and beyond (“How do I spell out the sound of a scream?”). A foreword by Carol Fisher Saller, the Q&A’s longtime editor, takes readers through the history of the Q&A and addresses its reputation for mischief. (“It’s not that we set out to be cheeky,” she writes.) Taken together, the questions and answers offer insights into some of the most common issues that face anyone who works with words. They’re also a comforting reminder that even the best writer or editor needs a little help—and humor—sometimes.
But Have You Read the Book?: 52 Literary Gems That Inspired Our Favorite Films (Turner Classic Movies)
by Kristen LopezFor film buffs and literature lovers alike, Turner Classic Movies presents an essential guide to 52 cinema classics and the literary works that served as their inspiration. &“I love that movie!&” &“But have you read the book?&” Within these pages, Turner Classic Movies offers an endlessly fascinating look at 52 beloved screen adaptations and the great reads that inspired them. Some films, like Clueless—Amy Heckerling&’s interpretation of Jane Austen&’s Emma—diverge wildly from the original source material, while others, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, shift the point of view to craft a different experience within the same story. Author Kristen Lopez explores just what makes these works classics of both the page and screen, and why each made for an exceptional adaptation—whether faithful to the book or exemplifying cinematic creative license. Other featured works include:Children of Men · The Color Purple · Crazy Rich Asians · Dr. No · Dune · Gentlemen Prefer Blondes · Kiss Me Deadly · The Last Picture Show · Little Women · Passing · The Princess Bride · The Shining · The Thin Man · True Grit · Valley of the Dolls · The Virgin Suicides · Wuthering Heights
Butler Plays 2: Airbag; I'll Be the Devil; Faces in the Crowd; Juicy Fruits; 69; Do It! (Contemporary Dramatists)
by Leo ButlerButler Plays: Two brings together a selection of Leo Butler's work, currently both published and previously unpublished, covering the years 2007 to 2013. It showcases his incredible variety in style and tone, and brings together some of his best-loved works alongside some of his lesser known pieces.Airbag (Royal Court, Rough Cuts, 2007) an old woman is lying on her death bed, imagining that she is being terrorised by gorillas. Butler's play is an exploration of death and the dying.I'll Be The Devil (RSC/Tricycle Theatre, 2008): With a poetic fearlessness, Leo Butler looks at what happens when a brutal foreign power is in intimate and callous contact with the primitive heart of an ancient society. Faces in the Crowd (Royal Court Theatre, 2008): Faces in the Crowd is a darkly comic play that offers a unique insight into twenty-first century London and the debts we accrue in the wake of seeking out our ambitions. Juicy Fruits (Paines Plough and Òran Mór, 2011): a one-act comedy set in a coffee shop in which two old friends from university meet again after many years.69 (Natural Shocks Theatre Company; Pleasance, 2012): a series of 69 short vignettes, all on the subject of sex, offering a glimpse on a whole range of issues surrounding sexuality. Do It! (Royal Court, Open Court Season, 2013) is an unsettling journey through the secrets and innermost thoughts of a group of pedestrians, unwittingly watched over by a violent force. The volume includes an introduction by the playwright.
Butler Plays 2: Airbag; I'll Be the Devil; Faces in the Crowd; Juicy Fruits; 69; Do It! (Contemporary Dramatists)
by Leo ButlerButler Plays: Two brings together a selection of Leo Butler's work, currently both published and previously unpublished, covering the years 2007 to 2013. It showcases his incredible variety in style and tone, and brings together some of his best-loved works alongside some of his lesser known pieces.Airbag (Royal Court, Rough Cuts, 2007) an old woman is lying on her death bed, imagining that she is being terrorised by gorillas. Butler's play is an exploration of death and the dying.I'll Be The Devil (RSC/Tricycle Theatre, 2008): With a poetic fearlessness, Leo Butler looks at what happens when a brutal foreign power is in intimate and callous contact with the primitive heart of an ancient society. Faces in the Crowd (Royal Court Theatre, 2008): Faces in the Crowd is a darkly comic play that offers a unique insight into twenty-first century London and the debts we accrue in the wake of seeking out our ambitions. Juicy Fruits (Paines Plough and Òran Mór, 2011): a one-act comedy set in a coffee shop in which two old friends from university meet again after many years.69 (Natural Shocks Theatre Company; Pleasance, 2012): a series of 69 short vignettes, all on the subject of sex, offering a glimpse on a whole range of issues surrounding sexuality. Do It! (Royal Court, Open Court Season, 2013) is an unsettling journey through the secrets and innermost thoughts of a group of pedestrians, unwittingly watched over by a violent force. The volume includes an introduction by the playwright.
Butterflies and Sweaty Palms: 25 sure-fire ways to speak and present with confidence
by Judy AppsIf you have ever carried a lucky talisman in your pocket to give yourself courage before a big event then carry this book instead. Based on Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), the ground-breaking solutions to performance anxiety in this book will carry you through the most daunting experience of public speaking.The exercises are simple and highly effective. Even if you have suffered intolerably from performance nerves in the past this book will enable you to perform with passion and determination and wow your audience. How many times have you picked up a self-help book and thought "It's all very well but it won't work for me." This time the book meets you where you are and helps you to succeed by approaching the problem on many different levels.Judy inspires and encourages you with her descriptions and anecdotes. There are exercises that you can easily do at home and which are interesting and fun to do. The exercises are diverse so that issues are tackled in a variety of different ways. You can do the exercises either alone or with other people. The book is brief and easy to read, the techniques highly practical and the methods simple yet profound.
The Butterfly Hatch: Literary Experience in the Quest for Wisdom: Uncanonically Seating H.D.
by Richard VytniorguSome of H.D.s most oft-quoted lines have to do with the meaning and value of words; they are conditioned to hatch butterflies. Yet rather than seeking merely to understand how H.D. represented the meaning and value of words, this volume uses the butterfly hatch as a metaphor for thinking more broadly about the capacity of literary experience to hatch transformed persons butterflies in quest of wisdom in university English studies. Dislodging H.D. from her usual modernist context, this book positions her as a thinker and reads her autobiographical prose and recently published work of the 1940s for its ability to offer new insights into such pertinent and interconnected areas as literary contexts, imagination, and personal and social transformation. H.D. has, in her own words, always been uncanonically seated, resistant to rigid classification; the texture of her work celebrates internal, existential resonances that evidence the emergence of personality. The author capitalizes on this facet of H.D.s work and uncanonically seats her in conversation with the neglected literary theorist, Louise Rosenblatt (19042005), whose transactional contribution uniquely fuses critical theory, politics, philosophy, and educational vision. This book synthesizes the work of H.D. and Rosenblatt to create an emergent personalist theory of literary experience in the quest for wisdom, crystallizing links between philosophical anthropology, aesthetics, pedagogy, and the politics of human relations. Benefiting from access to unpublished material housed at Columbia, New York, and Yale universities, Vytniorgu combines analysis and theorizing to offer a significant, pedagogically-inflected intervention in literary studies, arguing that university English studies must incorporate critical and pedagogical vantages which open a window on wisdom as well as knowledge.
The Butterfly Hatch: Literary Experience in the Quest for Wisdom: Uncanonically Seating H.D.
by Richard VytniorguSome of H.D.s most oft-quoted lines have to do with the meaning and value of words; they are conditioned to hatch butterflies. Yet rather than seeking merely to understand how H.D. represented the meaning and value of words, this volume uses the butterfly hatch as a metaphor for thinking more broadly about the capacity of literary experience to hatch transformed persons butterflies in quest of wisdom in university English studies. Dislodging H.D. from her usual modernist context, this book positions her as a thinker and reads her autobiographical prose and recently published work of the 1940s for its ability to offer new insights into such pertinent and interconnected areas as literary contexts, imagination, and personal and social transformation. H.D. has, in her own words, always been uncanonically seated, resistant to rigid classification; the texture of her work celebrates internal, existential resonances that evidence the emergence of personality. The author capitalizes on this facet of H.D.s work and uncanonically seats her in conversation with the neglected literary theorist, Louise Rosenblatt (19042005), whose transactional contribution uniquely fuses critical theory, politics, philosophy, and educational vision. This book synthesizes the work of H.D. and Rosenblatt to create an emergent personalist theory of literary experience in the quest for wisdom, crystallizing links between philosophical anthropology, aesthetics, pedagogy, and the politics of human relations. Benefiting from access to unpublished material housed at Columbia, New York, and Yale universities, Vytniorgu combines analysis and theorizing to offer a significant, pedagogically-inflected intervention in literary studies, arguing that university English studies must incorporate critical and pedagogical vantages which open a window on wisdom as well as knowledge.
Buttering Parsnips, Twocking Chavs: The Secret Life Of The English Language
by Martin H. ManserA more-ishly browsable collection of words and phrases, linguistic quirks, lexical oddities and syntactic surprises.Our langauge is one of delight and curiosity. BUTTERING PARSNIPS, TWOCKING CHAVS is a guided tour of English, exploring the origins of words, their changing meaning, lexical peculiarities, word games and lost words, presented in lists, small passages of narrative text, amusing quotations and nuggets of amazing facts.This must-have compendium shows that words have a matchless power to entertain. Here you will find enough new words and phrases to last a lifetime. Idioms frolic beside cliches, catchphrases, proverbs, eponyms, acronyms, spoonerisms and split infinitives. Text messages cavort alongside business jargon and rap slang to produce a language that is both witty and bizarre, and sometimes frankly outstanding.So whether you're a yuppie or a woopie, a sinbad or dinky, a spod or even a wazzock, these pages will provide endless hours of delight and fascination.
Buzz Buzz! Playwrights, Actors and Directors at the National Theatre (Plays and Playwrights)
by Jonathan CroallContaining over a hundred interviews conducted over the last fifteen years with leading directors, actors and writers at the National Theatre, Buzz Buzz! is a fantastic compendium that offers unrivalled insight into the work and practice of the best theatre talent.The first section features interviews with twenty-six leading playwrights about their work, including Tom Stoppard, Alan Bennett, Michael Frayn and April de Angelis. The second section examines how writers and directors have adapted works for the National's stage, including recent hits War Horse and Coram Boy. The final section features actors and directors discussing their work on plays from across the international spectrum, including Helen Mirren on Antony and Cleopatra, Ian McKellen on Ibsen's Enemy of the People, and Kenneth Branagh on Mamet's Edmond. Well-known theatre journalist and biographer Jonathan Croall draws on the vast wealth of interviews he's conducted at the National Theatre in this fascinating and wide-ranging book.
By Hook Or By Crook: A Journey In Search Of Language
by David CrystalA delightfully discursive, Bill Bryson-esque and personal journey through the groves and the thickets of the English language, by our foremost scholar of the history and structure of the English language.
By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean: The Birth of Eurasia
by Barry CunliffeBy Steppe, Desert, and Ocean is nothing less than the story of how humans first started building the globalized world we know today. Set on a huge continental stage, from Europe to China, it is a tale covering over 10,000 years, from the origins of farming around 9000 BC to the expansion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century AD. An unashamedly 'big history', it charts the development of European, Near Eastern, and Chinese civilizations and the growing links between them by way of the Indian Ocean, the silk Roads, and the great steppe corridor (which crucially allowed horse riders to travel from Mongolia to the Great Hungarian Plain within a year). Along the way, it is also the story of the rise and fall of empires, the development of maritime trade, and the shattering impact of predatory nomads on their urban neighbours. Above all, as this immense historical panorama unfolds, we begin to see in clearer focus those basic underlying factors - the acquisitive nature of humanity, the differing environments in which people live, and the dislocating effect of even slight climatic variation - which have driven change throughout the ages, and which help us better understand our world today.
By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean: The Birth of Eurasia
by Barry CunliffeBy Steppe, Desert, and Ocean is nothing less than the story of how humans first started building the globalized world we know today. Set on a huge continental stage, from Europe to China, it is a tale covering over 10,000 years, from the origins of farming around 9000 BC to the expansion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century AD. An unashamedly 'big history', it charts the development of European, Near Eastern, and Chinese civilizations and the growing links between them by way of the Indian Ocean, the silk Roads, and the great steppe corridor (which crucially allowed horse riders to travel from Mongolia to the Great Hungarian Plain within a year). Along the way, it is also the story of the rise and fall of empires, the development of maritime trade, and the shattering impact of predatory nomads on their urban neighbours. Above all, as this immense historical panorama unfolds, we begin to see in clearer focus those basic underlying factors - the acquisitive nature of humanity, the differing environments in which people live, and the dislocating effect of even slight climatic variation - which have driven change throughout the ages, and which help us better understand our world today.