Best Selling Books by Peter Ackroyd

Exploring the universe has always been a dream of humans and, especially for the last 50 years, a constant aim of science. From the early days of rocketry to the creative minds of science fiction writers, Escape from Earth covers the thrilling history of humans venturing into space. Peter Ackroyd''s Voyages Through Time is a series of highly illustrated nonfiction books that illuminate the world''s defining eras of history-from our humble beginnings to the exploration of space. Written in a fresh, bold narrative, this series is sure to become a publishing classic.

A paper reprint of the 1982 edition. The novel is not set in 1666 but in the cold, destructive modern city where the sane lack purpose and the mad triumph. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In Civil War, Peter Ackroyd continues his dazzling account of England''s history, beginning with the progress south of the Scottish king, James VI, who on the death of Elizabeth I became the first Stuart king of England, and ends with the deposition and flight into exile of his grandson, James II. The Stuart dynasty brought together the two nations of England and Scotland into one realm, albeit a realm still marked by political divisions that echo to this day. More importantly, perhaps, the Stuart era was marked by the cruel depredations of civil war, and the killing of a king. Ackroyd paints a vivid portrait of James I and his heirs. Shrewd and opinionated, the new King was eloquent on matters as diverse as theology, witchcraft and the abuses of tobacco, but his attitude to the English parliament sowed the seeds of the division that would split the country in the reign of his hapless heir, Charles I. Ackroyd offers a brilliant - warts and all - portrayal of Charles''s nemesis Oliver Cromwell, Parliament''s great military leader and England''s only dictator, who began his career as a political liberator but ended it as much of a despot as ''that man of blood'', the king he executed. England''s turbulent seventeenth century is vividly laid out before us, but so too is the cultural and social life of the period, notable for its extraordinarily rich literature, including Shakespeare''s late masterpieces, Jacobean tragedy, the poetry of John Donne and Milton and Thomas Hobbes'' great philosophical treatise, Leviathan. Civil War also gives us a very real sense of the lives of ordinary English men and women, lived out against a backdrop of constant disruption and uncertainty.

Nella Londra romana l’omosessualità era più che accettata. La città era ricca di lupanari e piscine pubbliche deputate al piacere, terme e bordelli. Poi arrivò l’imperatore Costantino con vescovi e missionari; il suo regolamento conteneva le prime leggi contro le pratiche queer. Seguì un’alternanza infinita di permissività e censura, dal travestitismo femminile alla moda nel 1620 alle frenetiche esecuzioni per sodomia dei primi dell’Ottocento, fino alla ‘peste’ gay negli anni Ottanta. Ackroyd ci porta in una città nascosta, celebrandone la diversità e l’energia; nel contempo ci ricorda i suoi terrori e i rischi. In una città di superlativi, forse sono questa fluidità sessuale e l’infinita resilienza che incarnano il vero trionfo della City. Dopo la monumentale opera Londra. Una biografia, l’autore offre un’altra esperienza di lettura unica. Con questo libro Ackroyd lancia un avviso sull’accettazione dell’omosessualità. Trasportandoci in tutti i periodi oscuri della storia gay, Queer City è un preoccupante promemoria di una peculiarità della storia: ciò che è oggi non significa che sarà sempre.

Innovation, the sixth and final volume in Peter Ackroyd''s magnificent History of England series, takes readers from the Boer War to the Millennium Dome almost a hundred years later. Innovation brings Peter Ackroyd''s History of England to a triumphant close. Ackroyd takes readers from the end of the Boer War and the accession of Edward VII to the end of the twentieth century, when his great-granddaughter Elizabeth II had been on the throne for almost five decades. It was a century of enormous change, encompassing two world wars, four monarchs (Edward VII, George V, George VI and the Queen), the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of the Labour Party, women''s suffrage, the birth of the NHS, the march of suburbia and the clearance of the slums. It was a period that saw the work of the Bloomsbury Group and T.S. Eliot, of Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin, from the end of the post-war slump to the technicolor explosion of the 1960s, to free love and punk rock, and from Thatcher to Blair. A vividly readable, richly peopled tour de force, Innovation is Peter Ackroyd writing at the height of his powers.

From medieval times to today, stories have been told and apparitions seen - ghosts who avenge injustice, souls who long for peace, spooks who just want to have fun. This title is a treasury of such sightings. It includes accounts ranging from the door-slamming, shrieking ghost of Hinton Manor in the 1760s to the headless bear of Kidderminster.

From celebrated historian and writer Peter Ackroyd, a magisterial portrayal of English Christianity over the centuries. This book portrays the spirit and nature of English Christianity, as it has developed over the last fourteen hundred years. During this time, Christianity has been the predominant faith of the people and the reflection of the English soul. This fascinating new history is an account of the Christian English soul, which recognizes the fact that Christianity has been the anchoring and defining doctrine of England while accepting respectfully that other powerful and significant faiths have influenced the religious sensibility of this nation. Peter Ackroyd surveys the lives and faith of the most important figures of English Christianity from the Venerable Bede to C. S. Lewis, exploring the mysticism of Julian of Norwich and William Blake; the tumultuous years of the Reformation; the emergence of the English bible; the evangelical tradition, including John Wesley; and the contemporary contest between tradition, revival, and atheism. This is an essential, comprehensive, and accessible survey of English Christianity.

Biographe des plus grands auteurs britanniques, Peter Ackroyd rêvait depuis toujours de se pencher sur Shakespeare, quintessence du génie d''outre-Manche. Plusieurs lignes de force dessinent le personnage et sa vie : l''attachement à la terre natale, Stratford ; l''amour du théâtre ; le lien fort avec sa troupe d''amis comédiens, condition sine qua non de l''émergence du théâtre shakespearien ; le rapport à la ville, Londres, lieu de violences dont la scène se fait le reflet ; l''ambiguïté face à la hiérarchie sociale ; les pièces elles-mêmes, évoquées avec verve. A chaque page de ce livre, désormais de référence, émerge ainsi le portrait d''un pays et d''une époque tout autant que d''un homme, fabuleux témoin de son temps. Traduit de l''anglais par Bernard Turle.

Een jonge dichter ontdekt een 18e-eeuws manuscript waaruit zou blijken dat de zelfmoord van de Engelse dichter en vervalser Thomas Chatterton gefingeerd is.