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The first of our titles for Autumn 2009 is a fascinating read for both men and women: Manhood: The Rise and Fall of the Penis by Mels van Driel presents an all-round history of the male sexual organ, from medical, psychological and cultural perspectives. Running by Thor Gotaas is a global history of the role of running in human culture: from Classical times and within societies and religions around the world; from Native Americans to Vikings to the sport of running in more modern times.

This season sees three significant new books in the Animal series: firstly, Owl by the renowned writer, broadcaster and zoologist Desmond Morris. In his moving introduction to the book Desmond Morris tells how he first encountered an injured owl and how his fascination for these creatures followed. Pigeon by Barbara Allen covers both pigeons and doves; the humble and the pure. The story of the pigeon entails both the sad fate of the dodo and the massacre and extinction of the passenger pigeon in the United States. Snail by Peter Williams takes a philosophical look at life from the point of view of a snail and covers slugs and sea snails. He shows that the snail is far more than simply the gardener’s nemesis.

In the Edible series we have three new titles. Cheese by the well-known food writer Andrew Dalby, which gives us insights into the whole history of a vast variety of cheeses. Chocolate by Sarah Moss and Alexander Badenoch relates the history of chocolate from the Aztecs and Mayans to today’s mass production, not forgetting chocolate’s sexual and sinful connotations. Curry by Colleen Taylor Sen presents for the first time a truly global history of this dish, covering not only India but Europe, the Caribbean, Japan and Thailand.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict by Ian J. Bickerton provides a much-needed resumé of the intractable conflict since the formation of the state of Israel. This book is unfortunately of vital relevance at the present time.

Lastly, two fascinating and highly-illustrated titles are presented this season: Art, Word and Image provides a survey of the uses of words in art over the past 2,000 years; A History of Bullfighting brings together depictions by both those opposed to and those in favour of bullfighting with a kaleidoscopic presentation of amazing images from artists and photographers.

We hope you enjoy these and all our new titles this season – for a complete list please click here.

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To download a PDF version of our Autumn 2009 catalogue click here (4Mb), for our Spring 2009 catalogue click here (1.2Mb), and for our complete backlist catalogue click here (3.3Mb).

Please note: All prices on this website are recommended retail prices and are subject to alteration without notice. Details given of illustrations, format, content, and month of publication were as accurate as possible at the time the website was last updated.