“A latter-day Orwell” Guardian
'Beckett should be on the radar of anyone who professes concern for science fiction as a literary form' Alastair Reynolds A marooned outpost of humanity struggles to survive on a startlingly alien world. One man will break ancient law, destroy his tribe and discover the truth. Germany: Droemer
Non-Fiction
THE GARMENTS OF COURT AND PALACE: Machiavelli and the World He Made
Philip Bobbitt
Genre: History / Politics
One of the world’s leading constitutional theorists presents a gripping new interpretation of Niccolò Machiavelli's infamous work on the machinations of government: The Prince.
In this groundbreaking book Bobbitt explores an often misunderstood work, widely regarded as the single most influential treatise on the politics of power, as a commentary on the emerging Renaissance state. He describes The Prince as one half of a masterpiece that, along with Machiavelli's often neglected Discourses, prophesies the end of the feudal era and describes the birth of the neoclassical State. Using both Renaissance examples and cases drawn from the present day, Bobbitt situates Machiavelli's vital work as a turning point in our understanding of the relations between war and law as these create and maintain the State.
Philip Bobbitt is a writer who, like Machiavelli, is a philosopher and has a deep knowledge of power and politics. There is no-one better placed to reinterpret Machiavelli's book .
From the reviews for The Shield of Achilles:
'We are all about to have our view of the world turned upside down by this superb book.' Chris Patten, Guardian
'A majestic book... All empires need their Macaulay, and America has Philip Bobbitt.' The Times
PHILIP BOBBITT is professor of Federal Jurisprudence at Columbia University. He has served as a senior official at the White House, the State Department and the National Security Council (including as Director for Intelligence and Senior Director for Strategic Planning). A Fellow of the American Academy for Arts and Sciences, he has written seminal works in constitutional theory, diplomatic history and social choice, including The Shield of Achilles and Terror and Consent, a New York Times bestseller.
Edited manuscript available: September 2012
Extent: 256pp
Publication: March 2013
Acquiring editor: Toby Mundy
Rights: World
Brazil: Zahar; China (complex): Linking; Finland: Gummerus; India (English): Manjul; Italy: Newton & Compton; Japan: Poplar; Korea: Sejong; Poland: Muza; Russia: AST;
The Netherlands: Mets & Schilt; Turkey: Versus; US: Grove/Atlantic
A ND MAN CREATED GOD: Kings, Cults and Conquests at the Time of Jesus
Selina O’Grady
Genre: History
A sweeping and colourful recreation of the empires and peoples of the first century BC and the first century AD, and a masterly study of the interaction of faith and power in an era of political and religious transformation.
‘A dazzling, dizzying, compelling panorama of the world that Jesus knew and the worlds he had never heard of… astonishingly vivid… remarkable.’ The Tablet
‘A masterful narrative, clearly told, with great panache, insight and humour.’ Independent
‘This vividly compelling account of how Christianity rose triumphant from the religious and civil tumults of its earliest days is a must read. No-one should be allowed to lay claim to Christian or indeed any religious faith who has not read this book first, and meditated
on its import.’ A. C. Grayling
And Man Created God takes the reader on both a geographical and an intellectual journey: from Augustan Rome to Han China via the kingdoms of Axum and Judaea and the empires of the Parthians and Kushans; and from the old pagan world of a thousand impersonal gods to a newly evolving world where, in teeming, multi-ethnic cities forged by the burgeoning growth of trade, displaced peoples sought the consolations of new and gentler faiths that spoke to the individual and to the heart, rather than to the traditions of family, village and tribe.
And Man Created God presents a dazzling sequence of portraits of the kingdoms and empires of the ancient world, and a wealth of contrasting examples of the relationship between centralized political power and religious observance. In Rome the new regime of Augustus sought to strengthen its hold on its myriad imperial subjects via the a cult of emperor-worship; in Judaea the demanding God of the Jews commanded utter loyalty and commitment; in what is now Afghanistan the Kushans were moulding a severe form of Buddhism, fit for a spiritual elite, into a more comforting religion fit for ordinary people.
SELINA O’GRADY is a television producer and book reviewer specializing in popular history. She is the co-editor of two books: Great Spirits: The Fifty-Two Christians who Most Influenced their Millennium, and A Deep But Dazzling Darkness, an anthology from Anglo-Saxon to modern times of the experience of belief and disbelief.
Finished copies available
Extent: 336pp with integrated illustrations and maps
Publication: September 2012
Acquiring editor: Toby Mundy
Rights: World
The Netherlands: Kok Ten Have; Turkey: Ayrinti Yayinlari; US: St Martins
VENI, VIDI, VICI: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About the Romans But Were Afraid To Ask
Peter Jones
Genre: History
An entertaining and authoritative survey of the civilization of ancient Rome, which also reveals a host of intriguing – and often surprising – aspects of Roman culture.
Veni, Vidi, Vici is a finely detailed and richly informative history of the Roman Empire, which takes the reader from the foundation of Rome to the demise of the Republic, and from the age of Augustus to the barbarian invasions. Along the way we are introduced to many curiosities, such as the Seven Hills on which Rome was built, the war elephants of the Carthaginian commander Hannibal, the ingredients of the popular fish sauce known as garum and the workings of the Roman toilet.
Fusing rigorous research with entertaining and crisply informative writing, Veni, Vidi, Vici is an invigorating work of popular scholarship that breaks down each major period into a series of concise nuggets, thereby enabling the reader to explore ancient Rome with ease. Through the twists, forks and ever-changing landscapes of his 1250-year itinerary, Peter Jones is a friendly and clear-thinking guide. In this book he has produced the most beguiling and authoritative of introductions to Roman history and to the deep roots of European civilization.
From the reviews of Vote for Caesar:
‘Jones’s is a vital public service. He reminds us that while we shouldn't live in the past, we are wiser and stronger when we live with it’ Bettany Hughes, Sunday Telegraph
‘As a comprehensive, robust and intelligent guide to the practices of the Greeks and Romans, this is second to none’ Literary Review
PETER JONES was educated at Cambridge University and taught Classics at Cambridge and at Newcastle University, before retiring in 1997. He has written a regular column, ‘Ancient & Modern’, in the Spectator for many years and is the author of various books on the Classics, including the bestselling Learn Latin and Learn Ancient Greek, as well as Vote for Caesar and Reading Virgil's Aeneid I and II.
Edited manuscript available: September 2012
Extent: 320pp with 50 b&w integrated images
Publication: September 2013
Editor: James Nightingale
Rights: World
BAND OF ANGELS: The Story of Early Christian Women
Kate Cooper
Genre: History
The story of the beginnings of Christianity, told as never before, Band of Angels uncovers the vital role women played in spreading the Christian religion and seeks to restore their rightful place in history.
Women can be found throughout early Christian literature, yet they tend to appear on the sidelines and are rarely the main focus of the narrative. This is not because they played no role in Christian beginnings. Rather, it reflects the way the story of the early movement came to be written down.
In Band of Angels, Kate Cooper tells the story of early Christianity from the woman's point of view by examining the lives of key female figures from antiquity. Most of the women at this time lived out their lives almost invisibly; their time and energy was not spent in establishing institutions, but in small acts of caring and community-building. Nonetheless, by sharing the ideas that had inspired them with their friends and family, they changed the world around them, and helped to create what has proved to be an enduring legacy.
This remarkable book examines that legacy and shows how their story is a testament to what invisible people can achieve, and to how the world can be changed by friendship and the power of ideas, one household at a time. It is not a story only about women, but it is an attempt to understand how ancient women made their way in a man's world and to see the wider landscape of ancient society through their eyes.
KATE COOPER is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Manchester. She studied at Harvard and gained her doctorate from Princeton.
Manuscript available: October 2012
Extent: 320pp
Publication: August 2013
Editor: James Nightingale
Rights: World
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