Mark P Donnelly

The brooding grey walls of the Tower of London circumscribe one of the most recognisable buildings on the planet. Over its thousand-year history the Tower stood as a symbol of the English monarchy and served as both a palace and a prison. It is a place where court intrigues, clandestine liaisons, unimaginable tortures and grisly executions took place with frightening regularity.Tales from the Tower of London is the factual history of the great building itself told through the true stories of the people, royal and common, good and bad, heroes and villains, who lived and died there. Including characters such as William the Conqueror, the Princes in the Tower, Jane Grey, Guy Fawkes, Colonel Blood and Rudolf Hess, the broad range of stories encompassed in Tales from the Tower of London present a microcosm of all human experience, from love and death to greed and betrayal, all played out against romantic period settings ranging from medieval knights in shining armour to the darkest days of World War II. Anyone who loves history and adventure will find Tales from the Tower of London a classic page turner.

Pirates and privateers (thieves who had the blessings of their home countries) were major players in Chesapeake Bay history. For nearly 200 years, pirates roamed the Bay’s waters looking for prey and outfitting themselves to search for prizes in other parts of the world. In the early 17th century, pirates settled near the southern portion of the Chesapeake Bay, increasing the possibility of pirate attacks in the region. As the young Virginia colony flourished and commerce with Europe expanded, pirates and privateers found plenty of opportunities to prey upon vessels. The first act of piracy was committed on the Chesapeake in 1635. William Claiborne, who owned a plantation on Kent Island, Maryland, sent his agent to capture a small boat as it approached Palmer's Island at the head of the Bay. Fueled by growing tensions between Maryland and Virginia, Claiborne– a Virginian – was angry that the Maryland boat had invaded his plantation’s territory. This event kicked off almost 200 years of piracy on the Bay. Even though they victimized colonial ships, pirates were often tolerated and even courted by governors, merchants and citizens of the colonies. In some ways, supporting piracy marked their growing desire to be independent from England. Pirates sold colonial merchants the black market goods they could not buy from England. Despite their apparent prosperity, most pirates led hard lives and died early. Life aboard pirate vessels was miserable. The wooden ships were dank and moldy, and stank of waste, rotted meat and unwashed bodies. Pirates’work was unending. Half a crew could be lost to disease on a single voyage. If pirates did not succumb to disease, they could easily lose their life or limbs in battle. And, on occasion, punishment awaited them when they returned to shore. The brutal life onboard and the likelihood of injury or death did not dissuade all seamen from becoming pirates. The slim possibility of financial reward was a strong incentive. Although many pirates died with little to their names, others somehow managed to thwart authority and find riches.

Detailed plans based on careful study and measurement of original pieces and accurate reproductions. Step-by-step instructions, materials lists, and notes on woodworking, metalworking, and finishing. 36 photos and 159 line drawings illustrate how to construct each project. Includes an extensive resource guide. Foreword by Roy Underhill of the PBS series The Woodwright's Shop.

This is a full-colour, revised edition. It features: plans for weddings, holiday parties, and Renaissance fairs; ideas for properly decorating the dining hall; lyrics and music for songs and dances; recipes for food and drink; patterns for period costumes; and, games and plays.

For millennia, mankind has devised ingenious and diabolical means of inflicting pain on fellow human beings. This deplorable but seemingly universal trait has eaten away at mankind’s very claim to civilisation. Despite how repugnant the practice of torture appears to us today, for at least 3,000 years it formed part of most legal codes throughout Europe and the Far East. The Big Book of Pain is an exploration of the systematic use throughout the ages of various means of punishment, torture, coercion and torment. It takes the reader into the Ancient Roman Coliseum, the medieval dungeon, the Inquisitional interrogation, the auto-da-fe, the witch-trial, and the worst of prisons. It is a shocking and compelling study of the shameful methods and motives of the torturer and the executioner, and of the heinous duty they have performed through the ages.

Cannibalism is unquestionably one of the oldest and deepest-seated taboos. Even in an age when almost nothing is sacred, religious, moral and social prohibitions surround the topic. But even as our minds recoil at the mention of actual acts of cannibalism there is some dark fascination with the subject. Appalling crimes of humans eating other humans are blown into major news stories and gory movies: both Hitchcock's 'Psycho' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' were based on the crimes of Ed Gein, who is profiled, along with others, in this book. In 'Eat Thy Neighbour' the authors put the subject of cannibalism into its social and historical perspective.

If you could go back in time and ask any historical figure for advice on how best to manage your business or staff, who would it be? Benjamin Franklin, Niccolo Machiavelli, Elizabeth I or Helena Rubinstein? Well, they are all here, and more... Featuring nearly 20 figures from across two and a half millennia, this fascinating book brings you peerless advice on, and insights into, the essential nature of leadership and the human condition. Presented in their own words - through diaries, letters and published works (plus contemporary analysis and commentary from Diehl and Donnelly) - the advice is sometimes extreme, occasionally humorous, always profound.

Cannibalism is unquestionably one of the oldest and deepest-seated taboos. Even in an age when almost nothing is sacred, religious, moral and social prohibitions surround the topic. But even as our minds recoil at the mention of actual acts of cannibalism there is some dark fascination with the subject. Appalling crimes of humans eating other humans are blown into major news stories and gory movies: both Hitchcock's 'Psycho' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' were based on the crimes of Ed Gein, who is profiled, along with others, in this book. In 'Eat Thy Neighbour' the authors put the subject of cannibalism into its social and historical perspective.

A history of the building itself, told through the stories of the people, royal and common, good and bad, heroes and villains, who lived and died there. This book presents a microcosm of human experience, from love and death to greed and betrayal, all played out against romantic period settings ranging from medieval knights to the days of World War Two.

The brooding grey walls of the Tower of London circumscribe one of the most recognisable buildings on the planet. Over its thousand-year history the Tower stood as a symbol of the English monarchy and served as both a palace and a prison. It is a place where court intrigues, clandestine liaisons, unimaginable tortures and grisly executions took place with frightening regularity.Tales from the Tower of London is the factual history of the great building itself told through the true stories of the people, royal and common, good and bad, heroes and villains, who lived and died there. Including characters such as William the Conqueror, the Princes in the Tower, Jane Grey, Guy Fawkes, Colonel Blood and Rudolf Hess, the broad range of stories encompassed in Tales from the Tower of London present a microcosm of all human experience, from love and death to greed and betrayal, all played out against romantic period settings ranging from medieval knights in shining armour to the darkest days of World War II. Anyone who loves history and adventure will find Tales from the Tower of London a classic page turner.