great britain

"If one keeps on walking, everything will be alright." So said Danish writer Soren Kierkegaard, and so thought philosophy buff Gary Hayden as he set off on Britain's most challenging trek: to walk from John O'Groats to Land's End. But it wasn't all quaint country lanes, picture-postcard villages and cosy bed and breakfasts. In this humorous, inspiring and delightfully British tale, Gary finds solitude and weary limbs bring him closer to the wisdom of the world's greatest thinkers. Recalling Rousseau's reverie, Bertrand Russell's misery, Plato's love of beauty and Epicurus' joy in simplicity, "Walking with Plato" offers a breath of fresh, country air and clarity for anyone craving an escape from the humdrum of everyday life.

In 1936, the British monarchy faced the greatest threats to its survival in the modern era. First came the crisis of abdication and then the menace of Nazism. The fate of the country rested in the hands of the late King George V's sons: the stammering King George VI (who became king when his eldest brother, Edward VIII abdicated in December, 1936), the dull-witted Duke of Gloucester, the too-glamorous Duke of Kent, and the Nazi-sympathizer and ex-king, who became known as the Duke of Windsor after his abdication. They were four men, miscast by fate, and one would save the monarchy at great personal cost to himself and his family.

"Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to discover and celebrate that green and pleasant land... Now he has traveled about Britain again, by bus and train and rental car and on foot, to see what has changed-and what hasn't. Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis in the south to Cape Wrath in the north, by way of places few travelers ever get to at all, Bryson rediscovers the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly singular country that he both celebrates and, when called for, twits."--Amazon.

"What does Roman Britain mean to us now? How were its physical remains rediscovered and made sense of? How has it been reimagined, in story and song and verse? Sometimes on foot, sometimes in a magnificent, if not entirely reliable, VW camper van, Charlotte Higgins sets out to explore the ancient monuments of Roman Britain. She explores the land that was once Rome's northernmost territory and how it has changed since the years after the empire fell. Under Another Sky invites us to see the British landscape, and British history, in an entirely fresh way: as indelibly marked by how the Romans first imagined and wrote, these strange and exotic islands, perched on the edge of the known world, into existence"--.

The author describes his experiences and what he learned about his adopted country while traveling clockwise around the coast of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 1982.

Before the time of Arthur and Camelot, Britain was invaded by Rome and savaged by warring factions of Picts, Celts, and invading Saxons. The Roman citizens who lived there were faced with a choice once the Roman Legions left in the fourth century: to be killed or move to the continent. For Publius Varrus and his friend, Caius Britannicus, there is only one answer. They will stay and try to preserve what is best of Roman life. Unknowingly, they create a legend for they are King Arthur's great-grandfathers.

The saga continues for the colony known as Camulod and the descendants of those brave Romans who forged a new way of life for the Roman peoples when the legions departed Britain. Colony leader Caius Merlyn Britannicus is responsible for their safety and together with his cousin, Uther Pendragon, the man who will father the legendary King Arthur, the colony knows few enemies until a vicious crime is committed and a wedge is driven between the two cousins that could be fatal.

As the the Dark Ages begin for Roman Britain, King Arthur's great-grandfather, Publius Varrus, and his British-born wife, Luceiia, struggle to build a crude hill-fort which they hope will help people survive these times. Known as Camulod, it will develop into Camelot. Publius has also crafted a one-of-a-kind sword called Excalibur, which will one day belong to his great-grandson, King Arthur.