{"title":"Ruth Scurr","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"napoleon-book-ruth-scurr-9781784741006","title":"Napoleon","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e**A \u003ci\u003eFINANCIAL TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, SUNDAY TIMES, TIMES, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH\u003c\/i\u003e AND \u003ci\u003eHISTORY TODAY\u003c\/i\u003e BOOK OF THE YEAR**\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Glorious . . . Scurr   has achieved something remarkable: a completely original book on a completely   unoriginal subject . . . a truly remarkable writer, one of the most gifted   non-fiction authors alive' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eSimon Schama, \u003ci\u003eFinancial   Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e     A revelatory portrait of Napoleon to mark the 200th anniversary of his   death, written for our own time, not in power politics or epic battles, but   through his love of nature and the gardens that gave his revolutionary life   its light and shade\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     Napoleon's gardens range from his childhood olive groves in Corsica, to   Josephine's gardens and menageries in Paris, to gardens in Cairo, Rome and on   Elba, to the walled garden of Hougoumont at the battle of Waterloo, and   ultimately to Napoleon's final garden on St Helena, where Chinese labourers   built him a summerhouse where he could sit and scan the sea in his final   months.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     During the French Revolution ideas about nature - human nature, the natural   world and exchanges between the two - were at the centre of fierce political   debates and events. In this lively and perceptive cultural history, Napoleon   is placed firmly in this context: he wanted to see himself as a patron of the   sciences and progress, bringing an end to the Revolution and binding up its   wounds. In fact he unleashed an era of destruction and war, causing millions   of deaths across Europe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     In this innovative biography, as uniquely fitting its subject as Ruth   Scurr's applauded portraits of Robespierre and John Aubrey, Napoleon emerges   a giant figure made human, seen through the eyes of those who knew him best -   close witnesses, rich and poor, famed and obscure - in the shade of his   gardens. The result is vivid, multidimensional and haunting, throwing us back   in time, so that we see him before us, both as the Emperor hunting for glory   and the man in an old straw hat, leaning on his spade.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e     'An immensely satisfying and captivating book .   . . charming and intelligent' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eAndrew Roberts, \u003ci\u003eTimes   Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49510510100753,"sku":"GOR011402035","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50109943283985,"sku":"GOR012561999","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50235929002257,"sku":"CIN1784741000VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1784741000.jpg?v=1786087651"},{"product_id":"napoleon-book-ruth-scurr-9781784704032","title":"Napoleon","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Glorious... Scurr is one of the most gifted non-fiction writers alive' Simon Schama, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA revelatory portrait of Napoleon written for our own time, exploring his love of nature and the gardens that gave his revolutionary life its light and shade.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNapoleon's gardens range from his childhood olive groves in Corsica, to Josephine's menageries in Paris, to the walled garden of Hougoumont at the battle of Waterloo, and ultimately to St Helena, where he could sit and scan the sea in his final months.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this innovative biography, Ruth Scurr follows the dramatic trajectory of Napoleon's life through the land he cultivated and that offered him retreat from the manifold frustrations of war and politics. Seen through the eyes of those who knew him in the shade of his gardens, Napoleon emerges a giant figure made human - both as the Emperor hunting for glory and the man in an old straw hat, leaning on his spade.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Immensely satisfying and captivating... 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This is quite the calmest and least abusive history of the Revolution you will ever read.\" --Hilary Mantel, \u003ci\u003eLondon Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Written with epic sweep, full of nuance and insight, \u003ci\u003eFatal Purity\u003c\/i\u003e is a fascinating portrait of a man who identified with the Revolution to the point of madness, and in so doing changed the course of history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Since his execution by guillotine in July 1794, Maximilien Robespierre has been contested terrain for historians. Was he a bloodthirsty charlatan or the only true defender of revolutionary ideals? The first modern dictator or the earliest democrat? Was his extreme moralism a heroic virtue or a ruinous flaw?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Against the dramatic backdrop of the French Revolution, historian Ruth Scurr tracks Robespierre's evolution from provincial lawyer to devastatingly efficient revolutionary leader, righteous and paranoid in equal measure. She explores his reformist zeal, his role in the fall of the monarchy, his passionate attempts to design a modern republic, even his extraordinary effort to found a perfect religion. And she follows him into the Terror, as the former death- penalty opponent makes summary execution the order of the day, himself falling victim to the violence at the age of thirty-six.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49916462366993,"sku":"CIN0805082611G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50015785419025,"sku":"CIN0805082611A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50300328476945,"sku":"CIN0805082611VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51007602131217,"sku":"NIN9780805082616","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0805082611.jpg?v=1751296486"},{"product_id":"john-aubrey-my-own-life-book-ruth-scurr-9781681370422","title":"John Aubrey, My Own Life","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"A game-changer in the world of biography.\" --Mary Beard, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eShortlisted for the Costa Biography Award\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Born on the brink of the modern world, John Aubrey was witness to the great intellectual and political upheavals of the seventeenth century. He knew everyone of note in England--writers, philosophers, mathematicians, doctors, astrologers, lawyers, statesmen--and wrote about them all, leaving behind a great gift to posterity: a compilation of biographical information titled \u003ci\u003eBrief Lives\u003c\/i\u003e, which in a strikingly modest and radical way invented the art of biography.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Aubrey was born in Wiltshire, England, in 1626. The reign of Queen Elizabeth and, earlier, the dissolution of the monasteries were not too far distant in memory during his boyhood. He lived through England's Civil War, the execution of Charles I, the brief rule of Oliver Cromwell and his son, and the restoration of Charles II. Experiencing these constitutional crises and regime changes, Aubrey was impassioned by the preservation of traces of Ancient Britain, of English monuments, manor houses, monasteries, abbeys, and churches. He was a natural philosopher, an antiquary, a book collector, and a chronicler of the world around him and of the lives of his friends, both men and women. His method of writing was characteristic of his manner: modest, self-deprecating, witty, and concerned above all with the collection of facts that would otherwise be lost to time.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eJohn Aubrey, My Own Life\u003c\/i\u003e is an extraordinary book about the first modern biographer, which reimagines what biography can be. This intimate diary of Aubrey's days is composed of his own words, collected, collated, and enlarged upon by Ruth Scurr in an act of meticulous scholarship and daring imagination. Scurr's biography honors and echoes Aubrey's own innovations in the art of biography. Rather than subject his life to a conventional narrative, Scurr has collected the evidence--the remnants of a life from manuscripts, letters, and books--and arranged it chronologically, modernizing words and spellings, and adding explanations when necessary, with sources provided in the extensive endnotes. Here are Aubrey's intricate drawings of Stonehenge and the ancient Avebury stones; Aubrey on Charles I's execution (\"On this day, the King was executed. It was bitter cold, so he wore two heavy shirts, lest he should shiver and seem afraid\"); and Aubrey on antiquity (\"Matters of antiquity are like the light after sunset--clear at first--but by and by \u003ci\u003ecrepusculum\u003c\/i\u003e--the twilight--comes--then total darkness\"). From the darkness, Scurr has wrested a vibrant, intimate account of the life of an ingenious man.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49995434983697,"sku":"CIN1681370425VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50388736311569,"sku":"CIN1681370425G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53692390408465,"sku":"GOR010317831","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1681370425.jpg?v=1751376989"},{"product_id":"napoleon-book-ruth-scurr-9781631492419","title":"Napoleon","description":"“How should one envisage this subject? With a great pomp of words, or with simplicity?” —Charlotte Brontë, “The Death of Napoleon”\nThe most celebrated general in history, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) has for centuries attracted eminent male writers. Since Thomas Carlyle first christened him “our last Great Man,” regiments of biographers have marched across the same territory, weighing campaigns and conflicts, military tactics and power politics. Yet in all this time, no definitive portrait of Napoleon has endured, and a mere handful of women have written his biography—a fact that surely would have pleased him.\n\n\nWith Napoleon, Ruth Scurr, one of our most eloquent and original historians, emphatically rejects the shibboleth of the “Great Man” theory of history, instead following the dramatic trajectory of Napoleon’s life through gardens, parks, and forests. As Scurr reveals, gardening was the first and last love of Napoleon, offering him a retreat from the manifold frustrations of war and politics. Gardens were, at the same time, a mirror image to the battlefields on which he fought, discrete settings in which terrain and weather were as important as they were in combat, but for creative rather than destructive purposes.\n\n\nDrawing on a wealth of contemporary and historical scholarship, and taking us from his early days at the military school in Brienne-le-Château through his canny seizure of power and eventual exile, Napoleon frames the general’s story through the green spaces he cultivated. Amid Corsican olive groves, ornate menageries in Paris, and lone garden plots on the island of Saint Helena, Scurr introduces a diverse cast of scientists, architects, family members, and gardeners, all of whom stood in the shadows of Napoleon’s meteoric rise and fall. Building a cumulative panorama, she offers indelible portraits of Augustin Bon Joseph de Robespierre, the younger brother of Maximilien Robespierre, who used his position to advance Napoleon’s career; Marianne Peusol, the fourteen-year-old girl manipulated into a Christmas-Eve assassination attempt on Napoleon that resulted in her death; and Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases, the atlas maker to whom Napoleon dictated his memoirs. As Scurr contends, Napoleon’s dealings with these people offer unusual and unguarded opportunities to see how he grafted a new empire onto the remnants of the ancien régime and the French Revolution.\n\n\nEpic in scale and novelistic in its detail, Napoleon, with stunning illustrations, is a work of revelatory range and depth, revealing the contours of the general’s personality and power as no conventional biography can.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50136870453521,"sku":"CIN1631492411G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50397144908049,"sku":"CIN1631492411VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51213742833937,"sku":"NIN9781631492419","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1631492411.jpg?v=1750762784"},{"product_id":"carlyle-s-the-french-revolution-book-ruth-scurr-9780826440525","title":"Carlyle's The French Revolution","description":"Ruth Scurr offers a substantial introduction to Carlyle and his masterwork, followed by a series of carefully selected extracts. In 1837 Thomas Carlyle published his two-volume work \"The French Revolution: A History\" and overnight became a celebrity. The work was filled with a passionate intensity, hitherto unknown in historical writing. In a politically charged Europe, filled with fears and hopes of revolution, Carlyle's account of the motivations and urges that inspired the events in France, became powerfully relevant. Carlyle's style emphasised this, continually pointing to the urgency of action - often using the present tense. For him, chaotic events demanded 'heroes' to take control over the competing forces erupting within society. In Carlyle's view only dynamic individuals could master events and direct these energies effectively. As soon as ideological formulas replaced heroes and human action society became dehumanised.\nAs Dr Scurr shows in her masterly introduction and through the texts she has selected from Carlyle's masterpiece of historical writing, \"The French Revolution\" needs still to be read for its relevance and as one of the finest examples of English prose writing ever. \"Continuum Histories\" will attract a new generation of readers to some of the greatest narrative history ever written. 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