Books published by Quarto Publishing Plc

This is a book about young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and then went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the team that broke the colour barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a book by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for the Herald Tribune. This is a book about what happened to Jackie, Carl Erskine, Pee Wee Reese, and the others when their glory days were behind them. In short, it is a book fathers and sons and about the making of modern America. 'At a point in life when one is through with boyhood, but has not yet discovered how to be a man, it was my fortune to travel with the most marvelously appealing of teams.' Sentimental because it holds such promise, and bittersweet because that promise is past, the first sentence of this masterpiece of sporting literature, first published in the early '70s, sets its tone. The team is the mid-20th-century Brooklyn Dodgers, the team of Robinson and Snyder and Hodges and Reese, a team of great triumph and historical import composed of men whose fragile lives were filled with dignity and pathos. Roger Kahn, who covered that team for the New York Herald Tribune, makes understandable humans of his heroes as he chronicles the dreams and exploits of their young lives, beautifully intertwining them with his own, then recounts how so many of those sweet dreams curdled as the body of these once shining stars grew rusty with age and battered by experience.

With even World War II now just on the edges of living memory, and with British forces now engaged in a lengthy, brutal and attritional old-fashioned war in Afghanistan, historical attention is starting to turn to the Korean War of the early 1950s. And remarkably, the most notorious and celebrated battle in that conflict, from a British point of view, has never previously been written about at length. Andrew Salmons book, which has garnered excellent reviews and sold out two hardback printings already, has filled that gap. This is the story of the Battle of the Imjin River, when the British 29th Infantry Brigade, and above all the Glorious Glosters of the Gloster Regiment, fought an epic last stand against the largest communist offensive of the war. It lasted three days, of bitter hand-to-hand combat. By the end of it one battalion of the Glosters some 750 men had been reduced to just 50 survivors. Andrew Salmons definitive history, which gained excellent reviews in hardback and sold very steadily, is very much in the Antony Beevor mould: accessible, pacy, narrative, and painting a moving and exciting picture through the extensive use of eyewitness accounts of veterans, of whom he has tracked down and interviewed dozens.

The inspirational true story of Walter Tull' s life, vividly reimagined here in scrapbook form, drawing on photographs, documents and records of his life.

Ten of Australia's ancient aboriginal legends, illustrated by one of the most well-known artists working in the tradition.

The hardback edition of this book, published in 2009 under the title A Lifetime in the Building, saw its extraordinary story featured not only in the Daily Mail but also Hello magazine and quickly sold out two printings. Now it is re-launched in paperback under a new title to highlight its appeal as the tale of an extraordinary, maverick woman and her even more remarkable achievement. May Savidge lived in a half-timbered house in Hertfordshire. When the council served her with a compulsory purchase notice to make way for a roundabout, May decided she had to move but so did the house. So she had the whole thing dismantled and shipped to the North Norfolk coast and then spent the rest of her life rebuilding it, single-handed. Her fame spread around the world. Antiques Roadshow broadcast, unprecedentedly, two features about her house. Now her niece, Christine Adams, who inherited Mays house and completed it at the cost of her own marriage - tells her aunts life story from the voluminous diaries and letters she left behind

25 London adventure walks, based around historic, literary and artistic themes, all starting from points accessible by public transport .

A pocket-sized guide for road cyclists of all abilities.

Alice Cooper has not formally written his autobiography. But nothing could come closer than this book which, in telling the story of how one of the wild men of rock has ended up a demon, driven golfer, has to tell the story of his whole life. No surprise, then, that the hardback publication of Golf Monster was greeted with queues all round the shop at his London signing at Borders, and that the book quickly went into three printings and racked up sales of over 9000 copies. This is a celebrity autobiography which, like Slashs surprise Christmas bestseller, has a real story to tell. This is the story of how Cooper became one of the biggest rock stars on the planet with hits like Schools Out and Elected, nearly lost it all to drink, and turned things around by finding a healthy obsession golf to replace the unhealthy addiction to alcohol. Cooper is still a major live act (toured last autumn with Motorhead), but also one of the best celebrity golfers. Hes also a highly intelligent and urbanely witty man (as his regular chat show appearances and Planet Rock radio show testify) who writes as well as he speaks.

From deserts to polar lands, this title looks at different ecosystems around the world. It helps you learn about how these ecosystems are formed, the wildlife that lives there, and how climate change and human interaction are affecting the planet. It features photographs of different environments, including animals and human inhabitants.

For over thirty years Hattie Jacques was a familiar presence on radio (Hancocks Half Hour), television (60 episodes of Sykes alone) and film (she was a stalwart of the Carry On series). But her stage persona of a buxom, masterful female dragon who, both literally and figuratively, carried all before her (the formidable matron of Carry On, Nurse was a typical role) could hardly have been more at odds with her off-stage personality. Warm, impetuous and generous to a fault, she was almost pathetically grateful for any show of affection and painfully self-conscious about her figure which, she believed, had caused her to be type-cast in comic roles and never given the opportunity to tackle more serious parts. In 1947, after a tempestuous wartime affair with an American officer, she married the actor John Le Mesurier who was persuaded to divorce her in 1965 though only after she had moved her chauffeur-lover into the marital home. It was, however typical of her that she actively encouraged Le Mesurier to remarry and the two remained firm friends until her death. Her lovers subsequent desertion was a bitter blow from which she never fully recovered, though she compensated my involving herself deeply in charity work and becoming a confidante to many of the young actors and actresses with whom she worked. This biography has been written with the help and encouragement of Hatties surviving son and her many friends, including Barbara Windsor, Clive Dunn, Bill Pertwee and John Le Mesurier.

Lila's Kenyan village is suffering a terrible drought, until she saves the day by telling the sky the saddest thing she knows...

Pat Gilberts definitive biography of the Clash universally acclaimed as a great book has already sold over 20,000 copies in paperback. Now, for the 30th anniversary of the bands classic London Calling album, it is reissued with a stunning new cover. For the book Pat Gilbert a former Mojo editor with the highest credentials talked to everyone, in over 70 interviews with the key participants roadies, producers, friends and fans - and above all the band members themselves, including Joe Strummer before his death, to be able to give the first real insight into what went on behind the scenes during the Clashs ten-year career. With the surge in interest generated by the Shea Stadium live CD and the official Clash book, Passion Is A Fashion will attract a new sale as the only truly indispensable Clash book.

Alvina's two grannies want to do different things, but Alvina thinks of a way they can compromise so the grannies can become the best of friends.

Grace has the chance to be a princess in a school parade. But what does a princess do, apart from wearing beautiful clothes and looking pretty?

The story of Mary Anning, probably the world's best known fossil-hunter.

West African Asante folktale with bold illustration inspired by shadow puppets.

Byron Rogers' biography of Wales' s national poet and vicar, R.S. Thomas has been hailed as a ' masterpiece' , even as a work of ' genius' , by reviewers from Craig Brown to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

An old woman sets off through the forest to visit her granddaughter. She escapes a hungry fox, bear and tiger by telling them she'll taste even better on the way back, once she's eaten her dinner.

To Grace, family has always meant her Ma, her Nana and a cat called Paw-Paw, so when Papa invites her to visit him in The Gambia, she dreams of finding the kind of fairy-tale family she has read about in stories. But, as Nana reminds her, families are what you make them.