Robert McCrum Books

E. F. Fritz Schumacher was a profound, influential thinker and economist, and this fascinating biography traces his life: from his early years in Germany and his move to England and internment during World War II, through to his later years, with the publication of "Small Is Beautiful" and the worldwide fame that resulted. Schumacher, at a time of unlimited economic growth, challenged this ideology and proposed an approach that recognized the impossibility of continuous growth in a finite world, and warned against the world's increasing dependence on oil. He was a key figure in the development of the environmental movement and was adamantly opposed to what he saw as violent solutions to economic problems, arguing against nuclear energy and advocating human-scale technology and organic cultivation. Schumacher's particular genius was to bring together the theoretical and the practical. He set up the Intermediate Technology Development Group (now Practical Action) to provide small-scale technology for developing countries, and his people-centered approach to development has now been adopted throughout the world. "Alias Papa," written by his eldest daughter, shows how his thinking and beliefs changed and evolved as his rigorous and questioning search for truth caused him to reflect on the events of his life and embark on a spiritual journey which was to change him as an economist and as a person."

Now revised, The Story of English is the first book to tell the whole story of the English language. Originally paired with a major PBS miniseries, this book presents a stimulating and comprehensive record of spoken and written English—from its Anglo-Saxon origins some two thousand years ago to the present day, when English is the dominant language of commerce and culture with more than one billion English speakers around the world. From Cockney, Scouse, and Scots to Gulla, Singlish, Franglais, and the latest African American slang, this sweeping history of the English language is the essential introduction for anyone who wants to know more about our common tongue.

Go anywhere in the world today and you'll see or hear English in some form. It may not be the Queen's English that you're hearing, but it is a form of universally recognised English. This title explores the history of English and ponders why, while British and American empires have waxed and waned, the English language, has taken over the world.

A deeply personal journey into Shakespeare's work that explores how it remains relevant and always has something to say about the times we are living in.

The narrative explores the remarkable transformation of a small North Atlantic island, once colonized by Rome and ravaged by invaders, into a dominant world power in the nineteenth century. It also traces the evolution of its colony across the Atlantic into a formidable military and cultural force in the twentieth century. This journey of power is attributed not only to warfare and industrial innovation but intriguingly, to the unifying strength of their shared language.

One hundred years after his first novel was published P.G. Wodehouse still promises a release from everyday cares into a paradise of innocent comic mayhem. His many books are still in print, his characters Jeeves, Wooster and Lord Emsworth have passed into the language and his admirers range from Dorothy Parker, Evelyn Waugh to Salman Rushdie, Stephen Fry and Gerry Adams.In a new biography based on research throughout Britain, Europe and the USA Robert McCrum delves deep beneath the brilliant surface of P.G. Wodehouse's extraordinary life: his youth in Edwardian Britain, his golden years in Jazz Age America and his internment in Nazi Germany, the experience that haunted him to his death in 1975, to create a moving and extremely funny portrait of an English writer of genius.

Part biography, part showcase for some of McConnell's most celebrated designs, this book gathers McConnell's exclusive redesign for Faber & Faber - a revolutionary new approach to book covers from the early 1980s.