Anna Reid Knihy

Osmého září 1941, krátce po zahájení operace Barbarossa, byl Leningrad obklíčen. Obležení trvalo dva a půl roku, během kterého zahynuly dva miliony lidí. Autorka v knize podrobně popisuje blokádu a její příčiny, přičemž čerpá z rozhovorů s pamětníky, deníkových zápisků účastníků bojů a oficiálních dokumentů. Nově otevřené sovětské archivy jí umožňují odhalit realitu města, kterou dlouho zakrývala propaganda. Obyvatelé, kteří zažívali neuvěřitelné útrapy, se museli pohybovat po zamrzlých ulicích a schodech a čelili extrémním podmínkám. Základními potřebami byly sáňky, kamínka a lampy. V obleženém městě docházelo k rabování, vraždám a kanibalismu, ale také k neobyčejné statečnosti a sebeobětování. Autorka se zabývá otázkami týkajícími se vedení města, jeho krutosti a nekompetentnosti, blízkosti pádu do německých rukou, role Stalina a Moskvy a důvodů, proč město nikdy nebylo dobyto. Zkoumá, co rozhodovalo o přežití a jak lidé dokázali čelit nesmírným útrapám.

Kniha Šamanův plášť je hlubokou sondou do života sibiřských domorodců, kteří se potýkají s historickými tragédiemi a současnými výzvami. V sedmnáctém století byli porobeni kozáky a ruskou vládou, což vedlo k jejich nevolnictví a devastujícím epidemiím. I přes tyto útrapy se domorodí Sibiřané, dnes přes milion, drží svých tradic, jako je šamanismus a buddhismus, a usilují o práva na své bohaté území, které obsahuje ropu a diamanty. Mnoho lidí na Západě však o jejich existenci nemá ani ponětí. Kniha čerpá z širokého spektra pramenů, včetně lidových pověstí, zpráv KGB a rozhovorů s mnichy, šamany a etnografy, kteří přežili vyhnanství. Čtenář prochází čtyřmi sty lety sibiřských dějin, od kozáckých nájezdů po současný boj za práva domorodců proti rozvoji ropného průmyslu. Cestuje napříč rozlehlou zemí, od mongolských jurt po arktické velrybářské stanice. Výsledkem je živý portrét národů, které patří k nejpozoruhodnějším a nejohroženějším na světě, a připomínka, že Rusko, i když ztratilo své středoevropské impérium, stále vlastní své asijské území.

On 8 September 1941, 11 weeks after Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, Leningrad was surrounded. The siege would not end for 2 and a half years and as many as 2 million Soviet lives would be lost. This narrative history is interwoven with personal stories of daily siege life drawn from diarists and memoirists on both sides

The siege of Leningrad is one of the great stories of extraordinary and heroic endurance in World War II

In Isla Negra Pablo Neruda set out to explore his landscape, his roots and experience in an attempt to gather into unity the various “lives” he had left behind in the huge span of his writing career. From the more than a hundred poems he created a poetic autobiography centred round his home of Isla Negra. Neruda had come to consider Isla Negra, a small village on the Pacific coast of Chile, as the centre of his world. The poems move from childhood impressions and awakenings through his early loves, travels and the dawning of his political awareness to self-scrutiny and self-definition. Among their variety Neruda embraces the apparent contradictions of his life. Through-out the poems present and past interact, and this collection becomes the most revealing of Neruda’s long career. The poems of Isla Negra display the astonishing abundance of the human imagination when mingled with memory.

The Ukraine is one of the most neglected countries in the world. It has a population of 52 million - larger than Britain's - and a land mass the size of France; it also has Chernobyl, and after Russia is the largest nuclear power. The word 'Ukraine' means 'borderland' and for most of its history the lands that make up present-day Ukraine have been a collection of other countries' border regions. Prior to Stalinism and Nazism, Ukraine was ethnically extremely diverse, including Russians, Poles, Jews, Greeks and Armenians. Their ghosts linger in language, literature, and architecture, quite distinct from Russia's.

A classic and vivid history of Ukraine 'Gripping history' The Times'Beautifully written and lovingly researched' Daily Telegraph

The fascinating history of an unknown people A vivid mixture of history and reporting, The Shaman's Coat tells the story of some of the world's least-known peoples-the indigenous tribes of Siberia. Russia's equivalent to the Native Americans or Australian Aborigines, they divide into two dozen different and ancient nationalities-among them Buryat, Tuvans, Sakha, and Chukchi. Though they number more than one million and have begun to demand land rights and political autonomy since the fall of communism, most Westerners are not even aware that they exist. Journalist and historian Anna Reid traveled the length and breadth of Siberia-one-twelfth of the world's land surface, larger than the United States and Western Europe combined-to tell the story of its people. Drawing on sources ranging from folktales to KGB reports, and on interviews with shamans and Buddhist monks, reindeer herders and whale hunters, camp survivors and Party apparatchiks, The Shaman's Coat travels through four hundred years of history, from the Cossacks' campaigns against the last of the Tatar khans to native rights activists against oil development. The result is a moving group portrait of extraordinary and threatened peoples, and a unique and intrepid travel chronicle.

There is no more fundamental substance to life on earth than water. Three quarter of the Earth's surface is covered by either saltwater or freshwater, yet millions face a daily struggle to access enough water for survival. The effects of ongoing climate change have expanded the water crisis to areas previously considered water secure. This book addresses the role rainwater harvesting (rwh) can play in developing a resilient water infrastructure that will prove adaptive to climate change. The book features three sections.The first section presents the concepts underpinning a new approach to water infrastructure. The term "the worth of water" was developed to reflect the importance of the social life of water. This encompasses all human relationships with water including the social, cultural, hydrological, political, economic, technical and spiritual. A technology portfolio showcasing the worth of water from the Qanats of the ancient world to the modern Rain Cities is presented. Other concepts discussed include the circular economy of water and the concept of multiple waters for multiple users of multiple qualities. Water and its properties are a function of its peculiar molecular structure and this is illustrated in the book. Rainwater harvesting is considered by the authors as containing an inherent treatment train which functions as a complex water treatment system providing physical, chemical and biological removal mechanisms. Part two presents a new design methodology together with design templates and worked examples for the hydraulic and economic analysis of rwh systems. A state-of-the-art literature review of the potential health implications of utilizing rwh is also presented. The final section of the book discusses how rwh can play a vital role in contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and to living within the Planetary Boundaries. Inhaltsverzeichnis Chapter1: The circular economy of water (CEW).- Chapter2: Water treatment: pollution removal mechanisms in the rainwater harvesting process.- Chapter3: Supply & demand: multiple waters for multiple purposes and multiple uses.- Chapter4: The components of a rainwater harvesting system: modular, standardised, plug and play.- Chapter5: Climate resilient RWH: a technological portfolio.- Chapter6: Rainwater harvesting design.- Chapter7: The economics of rainwater harvesting.- Chapter8: Rainwater harvesting and the sustainable development goals (SDG's).

Educating Musicians for Sustainability explores the intersections of sustainability and music, investigating how sustainability affects the development and professional preparation of musicians while asking the question, 'What does sustainability have to do with music?'