Sean Barrett

"The son of pirate and merchant Sir Frances Courtney, Henry "Hal" Courtney was raised at sea. When war broke out between the English and the Dutch empires, his father, fighting for the English crown, attacked a fleet of Dutch East India Company ships off the coast of Africa. That bravery was met with betrayal, and Sir Francis was executed. His heartbroken son witnessed his death and dedicated his young adulthood to avenging his father's name. Now,...

In this book Niall Ferguson argues that the British Empire should be regarded not merely as vanished Victoriana but as the very cradle of modernity. Nearly all the key features of the twenty-first-century world can be traced back to the extraordinary expansion of Britain's economy, population, and culture from the seventeenth century until the mid-twentieth--economic globalization, the communications revolution, the racial make-up of North America,...

A documentary about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart told through dramatic readings from his personal letters. Includes interviews with noted personalities and excerpts from numerous musical performances.

In this entertaining anthology of seven new ghost stories we meet all kinds of phantoms in different situations: a kind hearted but accident prone specter unwittingly upsetting a family home; ghosts in Ancient Egypt, on board a pirate ship, in the making of a television film and in a Newcastle swimming pool. Engaging, inspiring and slightly sinister; a delightful shiver for all the family, complete with music, sound effects and compelling story telling....