The present book is the first volume in each of two new additions to the Nutshell Books stable; The Nutshell Shakespeare and the Nutshell ESL Readers series. The first three volumes in the Nutshell Shakespeare will present a retelling of the stories behind the plays; too many people, especially younger people, now find the language of the 16th. Century very difficult to understand and, as a result, the glories of Shakespeare remain a blank page to them. This first volume presents the stories behind the eleven Tragedies. The approach to the story telling has not being to write a prose version...

Hallowe'en is now a multi-million dollar international celebration, but very few people know exactly what they are celebrating. There are many websites that claim to tell the story of Hallowe'en, but the vast majority have managed to jumble history, surmise and fiction into a range of fanciful concoctions. In fact, Hallowe'en is the oldest celebration in the West, going back at least 3,000 years. Using information from a wide range of sources, including the oldest Literature in Western Europe and modern DNA studies, this little book brings you the fascinating story of why and how this...

To many Europeans, perhaps to a great many, Islam is something of a puzzle. In the news media and on the Internet they witness scenes of great piety during the hajj in Mecca, but also witness scenes of great barbarity in that same holy city itself and in other great cities and the deserts of Islam. They can experience the glorious and highly sophisticated architectural, horticultural and culinary delights of Moorish Spain, but are then faced with evidence of corruption, depravity, and terrible slaughter within and by the Muslim communities in their own cities. And now, in the 21st century...

London's Blue Plaques in fewer than 170 characters - including spaces Never has a nutshell been bursting with such wisdom, humanity, dreams realised, and dreams dashed. The heart of London's Blue Plaques in a Nutshell lies in the aphorism - a short, pithy summing up of essential facts. The life and achievements of the subject of each plaque is summarised in a number of aphorisms, none of which contains more than 170 characters. Crammed into this nutshell you will find the character, achievements, peccadilloes and humanity of the great and good (and the not so great and not so good) who once...

This is the first volume in a planned series on the Catholic Popes. It takes us from St. Peter in AD 32 to the papacy of Sylvester I and the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. This is the Age of Persecutions, in which many Christians died for their faith and many, many more suffered daily hostility and harassment at. A brief Introduction provides background by introducing the papacy and the Holy See and describing the main features that distinguish a Pope and define his place in the Catholic Hierarchy. The nutshell profiles of the first Popes are followed by a Concluding Essay which attempts...

Paper, the umbrella, gunpowder, the compass, porcelain, the civil service, silk, printing, ice cream, football and pasta. These and much else were first given to the world by China. She also has longest continuous civilisation the world has ever known, stretching back for more than 4,600 years. For a little over 4,500 of those years she was ruled by a single emperor. Her history under those emperors stretches from the end of the New Stone Age, through the Bronze and Iron Ages right down to the early 20th century. We are fortunate that the Chinese began to keep detailed records of the lives of...

London's Blue Plaques in fewer than 170 characters - including spaces Never has a nutshell been bursting with such wisdom, humanity, dreams realised, and dreams dashed. The heart of London's Blue Plaques in a Nutshell lies in the aphorism - a short, pithy summing up of essential facts. The life and achievements of the subject of each plaque is summarised in a number of aphorisms, none of which contains more than 170 characters. Crammed into this nutshell you will find the character, achievements, peccadilloes and humanity of the great and good (and the not so great and not so good) who once...

This is the Second volume in a planned series on the Catholic Popes. It takes us from St. Mark in AD 325 to the papacy of Gregory The Great which ended in AD 604. This is the Age of Heresies, a particularly difficult period in the early Church. Not only was there the, often fierce, internal arguments about doctrine which inevitably gave rise to a number of heresies, but there was political turmoil as the Western Roman Empire collapsed and Rome itself was sacked by the Germanic hordes. An Introductory Essay outlines the rise and fate of the succeeding Byzantine Empire, whilst the...

This book is part of a series which aims to help English Language Learners to become fluent in Spoken English. It is the first in a planned series of three and caters for those Learners who are ready to move up to the ESL (English as a Second Language) Pre-Intermediate level in Spoken English. We begin here because, in terms of the spoken language, the leap from the Elementary to the Pre-Intermediate level is one of the biggest hurdles faced by English Language Learners. It is one of the greatest hurdles because it is at this stage that the Learner must move from simple spoken forms to a...

This book is part of a series which aims to help English Language Learners to become fluent in Spoken English. The first in the planned series, it caters for those Learners who are ready to move up to the ESL (English as a Second Language) Intermediate level in Spoken English. Very often, English Language Learners at the Pre-Intermediate level are faced with two major difficulties. The first is that they have difficulty in understanding native English speakers who are speaking normally. The second is that they themselves are struggling to use more complex language structures fluently. There...