Oxford University Press

This is the fourth edition of the most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary of ecology available. Written in a clear, accessible style, it contains over 6,000 entries on all aspects of ecology and related environmental scientific disciplines such as biogeography, genetics, soil science, geomorphology, atmospheric science, and oceanography. Coverage is wide-ranging and includes plant and animal physiology, animal behaviour, pollution, conservation, habitat management, population, evolution, environmental pollution, climatology and meteorology. It also includes many line drawings and useful appendices including estimations of population parameters, the geologic time-scale, SI units, and — new to this edition — a web linked appendix of relevant organizations including both governmental agencies and conservation societies. Fully revised, updated, and expanded, with over 100 new entries, this new edition also contains new web links for dozens of entries — which are accessed and kept up to date via the Dictionary of Ecology companion website. The dictionary will be invaluable to students of ecology, biology, conservation studies, environmental sciences, and professionals in related areas, as well as the general reader with an interest in the natural world.

Combining both accessibility and authority, the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins describes the origins and development of over 3,000 words and phrases in the English language. The book draws on Oxford's unrivalled dictionary research programme and language monitoring, and relates the fascinating stories behind many of our most curious terms and expressions in order to offer the reader a much more explicit account than can be found in a general English dictionary. Organized A-Z, the entries include first known use along with examples that illustrate the many faces of the particular word or phrase, from 'handsome' to 'bachelor' and 'cute' to 'baby', from 'pagan' to 'palaver' and 'toff' to 'torpedo'. Also featured are almost 20 special panels that cover expressions common in English but drawn from other languages, such as 'coffee', 'sugar', and 'candy' from Arabic or 'booze', 'brandy', and 'gin' (Dutch). This absorbing volume is useful for language students and enthusiasts, but also an intriguing read for any person interested in the development of the English language and of language development in general. Includes an extended introduction on the history of the English language.

The Arab-speaking nations are becoming more and more important in American and world affairs, but there are few reliable language resources to help bridge the gap between languages and culture. The Oxford Essential Arabic Dictionary is a brand-new, compact Arabic-English and English-Arabic dictionary that offers up-to-date coverage of all the essential day-to-day vocabulary of both languages, with over 16,000 words, phrases, and translations. This compact paperback is easy to use and authoritative, making it ideal for students, travelers, and anyone else who needs a portable and reliable resource on English and Arabic. The vocabulary is completely up to date and includes high-profile words and phrases not found in most of the completing dictionaries of this size and larger, including such words as broadband, browser, cell phone, DVD recorder, and flight attendant. Designed with both native English and Arabic speakers in mind, the Dictionarys supplementary sections offer guidance on Arabic verbs and irregular verbs. The book provides phonetic transcriptions for each English entry as well as phonetic respelling for irregular Arabic pronunciations. Arabic entries are also listed according to alphabetical order, not by root, in order to make word searches more user-friendly. Additional supplements give help with tricky language areas such as numerals and expressions of time. Compact and affordable, the Oxford Essential Arabic Dictionary is the ideal companion for anyone needing a reliable and portable Arabic-English and English-Arabic dictionary for study, work or travel.

The Oxford Essential French Dictionary is a new compact French-English and English-French dictionary that offers up-to-date coverage of all the essential day-to-day vocabulary with over 40,000 words and phrases and 60,000 translations. This dictionary is easy to use and ideal for travel, work, or study. The latest words in each language have been added, reflecting all aspects of life today, from computing and technology to lifestyle and business. Additional features include guides to French and English pronunciation, as well as help with both French and English verbs. The Oxford Essential French Dictionary is ideal for anyone in need of a handy quick reference. An essential book for the study of French.

The Oxford Essential German Dictionary is a new compact German-English and English-German dictionary that offers up-to-date coverage of all the essential day-to-day vocabulary with over 40,000 words and phrases and 60,000 translations. This dictionary is easy to use and ideal for travel, work, or study. The latest words in each language have been added, reflecting all aspects of life today, from computing and technology to lifestyle and business. Additional features include guides to German and English pronunciation, as well as help with both German and English verbs. The Oxford Essential German Dictionary is ideal for anyone in need of a handy quick reference. An essential book for the study of German.

Portable, affordable, authoritative, and up to date, this fourth edition of the Pocket Oxford Italian Dictionary covers over 90,000 words and phrases, and 120,000 translations of contemporary Italian and English. Hundreds of new words from Italian and English have been added from computing and technology to health and lifestyle, based on findings from the Oxford Languages Tracker. More than just a dictionary, this handy reference book also includes extensive sections on grammar, culture, and communication, giving you the tools you need to communicate effectively and understand aspects of Italian culture. The grammar supplement provides full information on key points of Italian grammar, including verb tables for quick reference. The section on culture offers lively and useful information on life in both the Italian-speaking world and the English-speaking world, covering everything from political institutions to how weddings are celebrated. The communication supplement gives help with all types of correspondence, including example letters, emails, and resumes, and a guide to text messaging. Also new to this edition is a brand-new section on the Internet and online services.

An A-Z of Effective Vocabulary covers the meaning and usage of 1001 words that you really do need to know. Whether you need guidance for a letter, job application, essay, proposal, interview, or presentation, this book can help you choose the words you need to create the right effect. Each word is defined according to Oxford Dictionaries' latest research and includes sample sentences of real usage drawn from the Oxford English Corpus (the world's largest language databank). The book also gives examples of pitfalls to avoid, hints on similar words, and advice on how to express yourself persuasively. Learn the words that will help you to describe an event, discuss a topic, speak in an interview, evaluate a point of view and write clearly using this book which contains essential information for anyone wanting to achieve greater success in any written or spoken task. This is the latest addition to the popular mini-series that includes the Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation, the Oxford Guide to Plain English, and the Oxford A-Z of Better Spelling.

The Oxford Essential Italian Dictionary is a new compact Italian-English and English-Italian dictionary that offers up-to-date coverage of all the essential day-to-day vocabulary with over 40,000 words and phrases and 60,000 translations. This dictionary is easy to use and ideal for travel, work, or study. The latest words in each language have been added, reflecting all aspects of life today, from computing and technology to lifestyle and business. Additional features include guides to Italian and English pronunciation, as well as help with both Italian and English verbs. The Oxford Essential Italian Dictionary is ideal for anyone in need of a handy quick reference. An essential book for the study of Italian.

Grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary practice for every unit Extra Listening and Reading Multi-ROM with video, quizzes, audio, dictations, exam practice, and reference material.

Designed specifically for students, Blackstone's Statutes lead the market in providing a carefully selected, regularly updated, and well sourced collection of legislation for the core subjects and major options offered on the law syllabus. Each title is ideal for use throughout the course and in exams providing the student with: — Unparalleled coverage — Unannotated primary and secondary legislation — Detailed tables of content to aid quick and efficient research — Up-to-date and relevant material Online Resource Centre Updates Web links.

This authoritative dictionary covers all aspects of Hinduism, including practices, festivals, beliefs, gods, sacred sites, languages, and religious texts — everything from Tantra to temples, from bhakti to Divali. The most wide-ranging dictionary of its kind, it features almost 2,800 clear, concise, up-to-date, and fully cross-referenced entries, including many biographical entries for key thinkers, teachers, and scholars. Its detailed appendices include maps, a useful pronunciation guide, a chronology, a list of principal sources, suggestions for further reading, and links to relevant websites. With accurate and easy-to-understand definitions that cover everything from the origins of the religion to Hinduism in the modern world, this dictionary is essential for students and teachers of Hinduism, theology, Asian studies, or philosophy, as well as the related disciplines of history, sociology, and anthropology. It is also a valuable source of information for all practicing Hindus and for anyone with an interest in Indian religions and culture.

'We were dumped at a roundabout with our labels on. People pulled and tugged at the children they wanted. It was a bit like a cattle market... people just waded in. I went with a lady and her daughter — she was like a second Mum'. Alexander King, evacuated aged eleven Based on the stories of thirteen children and adults, Churchill's Children tells the often moving story of the evacuation of schoolchildren in Britain during the Second World War, from the first mass evacuations of 1939 through to the lesser-known but equally important evacuations of 1940 and 1944. John Welshman skilfully captures the experience of evacuation — the happiness or sadness, excitement or boredom, resentment or acceptance, love or abuse that the children experienced during their time away from home. Along the way, the book addresses some of the fundamental questions raised by evacuation. How were relationships between children and parents affected by the long periods apart? What happened when brothers and sisters were separated? And how did the children feel when they went home? But the book looks at the adults too — at how the officials in charge of billeting and teachers got caught up in events, and at how civil servants and researchers became involved in the ensuing debates. As Welshman shows, the evacuation was to have a significant impact on shaping attitudes in the post-war world to everything from reconstruction and state intervention to poverty, social class, and the welfare state. However, the analysis aside, what this book perhaps offers above all is a highly evocative portrait of a very different Britain, reminding us just how much has changed in the seventy years since the Second World War.

Hitler claimed that his years as a soldier in the First World War were the most formative years of his life. However, for the six decades since his death in the ruins of Berlin, Hitler's time as a soldier on the Western Front has, remarkably, remained a blank spot. Until now, all that we knew about Hitler's life in these years and the regiment in which he served came from his own account in Mein Kampf and the equally mythical accounts of his comrades. Hitler's First War for the first time looks at what really happened to Private Hitler and the men of the Bavarian List Regiment of which he was a member. It is a radical revision of the period of Hitler's life that is said to have made him. Through the stories of the veterans of the regiment — an officer who became Hitler's personal adjutant in the 1930s but then offered himself to British intelligence, a soldier-turned-Concentration Camp Commander, Jewish veterans who fell victim to the Holocaust, or of veterans who simply returned to their lives in Bavaria — Thomas Weber presents a Private Hitler very different from the one portrayed in his own mythical account. Instead, we find a Hitler who was shunned by the frontline soldiers of his regiment as a 'rear area pig' and who was still unsure of his political ideology even at the end of the war in 1918. In looking at the post-war lives of Hitler's fellow veterans back in Bavaria, Thomas Weber also challenges the commonly accepted notion that the First World War was somehow a 'seminal catastrophe' in twentieth century German history and even questions just how deep-seated Nazi ideology really was in its home state.

Language is not fixed, but evolves over time, and exploring the routes taken by the words can lead us on fascinating journeys. How to Read a Word, written by the noted lexicographer Elizabeth Knowles, shows us how to explore the origins, associations, and evolution of words, focusing in particular on two points: what questions can be asked about a word? And how can they be answered? How to Read a Word offers clear guidance on how to explore the various aspects of words, with chapters on pronunciation, spelling, date of first use, etymology, regional distribution, and meaning, all spiced with intriguing examples. For instance, Knowles offers a fascinating account of how the word scientist originated in a public debate in 1834, explains The Economist's jocular suggestion that fish and chips be spelled ghoti and tchoghs, and weighs in on the nuclear-nucular controversy. Knowles also discusses the ever-expanding range of sources available to the curious word-hunter, from general and specialist dictionaries to websites devoted to areas of language, from Project Gutenberg and Google Book Search to various online newspaper archives. Knowles shows readers how to use this sometimes overwhelming mass of resources to get the best result, and how best to interpret the evidence retrieved. We learn, for example, how to use Google News to search the phrase thin as a as used today, uncovering hundreds of variants, from thin as a supermodel to thin as a lizard. Thought-provoking and practical, this guide provides readers with the essential tools to confidently interrogate the words by which we are surrounded. How to Read a Word is the perfect gift for anyone who is fascinated by the development and intricacies of the English language.

This dual biography of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, the thirty-ninth President of the United States and his wife, chronicles the unique political and business relationship of a couple who together rose from obscurity to national and international power. His life in an isolated, prosperous, locally powerful, Baptist farm family prepared him for a career in public service and business. Rosalynn came from a more modest, but well-connected and intelligent, Methodist family in the town of Plains. Each was the oldest of four children, ambitious, eager to learn, able to shoulder heavy responsibilities, and committed to humanitarian interests. Together, they compromised their religious and career differences, enjoyed a short career in the United States Navy, built a small agribusiness empire, plotted political strategy, won the governorship of Georgia in 1970, and announced his candidacy for President of the United States on December 12, 1974. This volume, which covers the years from his birth to the end of his governorship, offers substantial, detailed information about their childhoods, marriage, personal lives, Navy career, business success and entry into politics. In a racially-charged atmosphere, Carter won a contested state senate seat in 1962 but lost the governor's race to Lester Maddox in 1966. In 1970 he won a stunning victory over the old Georgia politics, revealing that Rosalynn was so emotionally and professionally close to her husband that his career often seemed inseparable from hers. Carter shocked the state of Georgia and the entire country with his statement in 1971 that the time for racial discrimination was over, thus launching a national political race. Godbold's research has spanned two decades, much of it in rarely seen documents in the Georgia Department of Archives and History and the better-known Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, both in Atlanta. Working from millions of pages of primary sources, he has added contemporary scholarship, oral histories, and new interviews. From academic and military records, the governor's correspondence, the memories of the Carters, the accounts of Georgia and national politicians, and public documents, this volume details how the Carters rose to power, managed their private and public lives, governed Georgia, and seized control of the national Democratic party. It is a blueprint for what they would do on the national and international stages after 1975. The cast of characters ranging from Jimmy, Rosalynn, Miss Allie Smith, Mr. Earl, Miss Lillian, Brother Billy, Rachel Clark, Admiral Rickover, George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Richard Nixon, Baby Amy, Charles Kirbo, Hamilton Jordan, Jody Powell, and many more is set in a true Faulknerian tale that has changed the image of the South in the national mind and the role of the South in the presidency. The Carters were ordinary people whose dramatic and colorful story resonates with human life, defeat, courage, inspiration, hope, and extraordinary accomplishments.

The power of words in politics is well known, and Lend Me Your Ears, the fourth edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations, brings together both words of wisdom and things that might have been better left unsaid. This unique reference book not only charts the most influential political events of recent times via the things people said about them — including an international financial crisis and a watershed in American presidential politics — but also digs deeper than ever into the rich heritage of political history from around the world. A mouth-watering collection for anyone with an interest in history and politics, Antony Jay (co-author of the famous TV series Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister) has assembled both a crash course in political wisdom past and present and a treasure trove of politicians' cock-ups and put-downs, with more than 300 new quotations and over 90 new authors, from Sarah Palin to David Cameron by way of Silvio Berlusconi. Lend Me Your Ears includes an essay by the political journalist Matthew Parris and keyword and subject indexes to help in tracing just the right quote. New quotations include: 'The inherited and permanent fact that North America speaks English'. Otto von Bismarck, when asked what was the greatest political fact of modern times 'British jobs for British workers'. Gordon Brown 'If I misspoke that was just a misstatement'. Hillary Rodham Clinton 'You never want a serious crisis to go to waste'. Rahm Emanuel 'A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to excuse his failure to keep his word'. Niccolo Machiavelli 'We are not going to give up our country for a mere X on a ballot. How can a ballpoint pen fight with a gun'? Robert Mugabe. 'We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist'.

In No Turning Back, Paul Addison takes the long view, charting the vastly changing character of British society since the end of the Second World War. As he shows, in this period a series of peaceful revolutions has completely transformed the country so that, with the advantage of a longer perspective, the comparative peace and growing prosperity of the second half of the twentieth century appear as more powerful solvents of settled ways of life than the Battle of the Somme or the Blitz. We have come to take for granted a welfare state which would have seemed extraordinary to our forebears in the first decades of the century, based upon the achievement of a hitherto undreamed of mass prosperity. Much of the sexual morality preached if not practised for centuries has been dismantled with the creation of a 'permissive society'. The employment and career chances of women have been revolutionized. A white nation has been transformed into a multiracial one. An economy founded on manufacturing under the watchful eye of the 'gentlemen in Whitehall' has morphed into a free market system, heavily dependent on finance, services, and housing, while a predominantly working class society has evolved into a predominantly middle class one. And the United Kingdom, which once looked as solid as the rock of Gibraltar, now looks increasingly fragile, as Wales and especially Scotland have started to go their separate ways. The book ends with an assessment of the gains and losses that have resulted. As this makes clear, this is not a story of progress pure and simple, it is a story of fundamental transformation in which much has been gained and much also lost, perhaps above all a sense of the ties that used to bind people together. Paul Addison brings to it the personal point of view of someone who has lived through it all and seen the Britain of his youth turn into a very different country, but who in the final reckoning still prefers the present to the past.

Parodies come in all shapes and sizes. There are broad parodies and subtle parodies, ingenious imitations and knockabout spoofs, scornful lampoons and affectionate pastiches. All these varieties, and many others, are represented in this stunning new anthology, which provides an unparalleled introduction to the parodist's art. The classics of the genre are all here, from Lewis Carroll to Max Beerbohm; but so are scores of lesser known but scarcely less gifted figures, and brilliant contemporaries such as Craig Brown and Wendy Cope. At every stage there are surprises. Chaucer celebrates Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, Proust visits Chelsea, Yeats re-writes 'Old King Cole', Harry Potter encounters Mick Jagger, a modernized Sermon on the Mount rubs shoulders with an obituary of Sherlock Holmes. The collection provides a hilarious running commentary on literary history, but it also looks beyond literature in the narrow sense to take in such things as advertisements, legal rituals, political warfare, and a scientific hoax.

If you love a good story, then look no further. Oxford Children's Classics bring together the most unforgettable stories ever told. They're books to treasure and return to again and again. Scientist Victor Frankenstein, is determined to create intelligent life. He works night and day on his experiment until at last he succeeds. Only then does he realize that what he has created is a monster. Abandoned by its maker and rejected by everyone it meets, the monster sets out to destroy Frankenstein and everything he holds dear.

If you love a good story, then look no further. Oxford Children's Classics bring together the most unforgettable stories ever told. They're books to treasure and return to again and again. When orphan Heidi is sent to live with her grandfather in the mountains, the two grow to love each other dearly. Heidi charms everyone she meets-but then her strict aunt sends her away again to live in the town. Despite a wonderful new friendship there, Heidi longs to return to her happy life in the mountains. Is there any way she can have both?

If you love a good story, then look no further. Oxford Children's Classics bring together the most unforgettable stories ever told. They're books to treasure and return to again and again. When Oliver Twist asks for more food it changes his life for ever. He flees his dreary life in the workhouse but enters a much more dangerous place-the dark streets of London. Oliver is soon in the clutches of Fagin and his gang of pickpockets, before eventually finding a true friend. But his happiness is short-lived as Fagin and the violent Bill Sykes are determined to drag Oliver back into a life of crime...

If you love a good story, then look no further. Oxford Children's Classics bring together the most unforgettable stories ever told. They're books to treasure and return to again and again. When Elizabeth Bennet first meets Mr Darcy she finds him to be most arrogant. He, in turn, is determined not to be impressed by Elizabeth's beauty and wit. As events unfold their paths cross with more and more frequency, and their disdain for each other grows. Can they ever overcome their prejudices and realize that first impressions are not always reliable?

The rich and deeply moving sounds of film music are as old as cinema itself. Even the very first projected moving images were accompanied by music in many places as a variety of performers — from single piano players to small orchestras — brought images to life through musical accompaniment. Film music has since become its own industry, an aesthetic platform for expressing creative visions and a commercial vehicle for growing musical stars of all varieties. This Very Short Introduction provides a lucid, accessible, and engaging overview of the subject of film music. Beginning with an analysis of the music from a well-known sequence in the film Reservoir Dogs, the book focuses on the most central issues in the practice of film music. Expert author Kay Kalinak takes readers behind the scenes to understand both the practical aspects of film music — what it is and how it is composed — and also the theories that have been developed to explain why film music works. This compact book not entertains with the fascinating stories of the composers and performers who have shaped film music across the globe but also gives readers a broad sense for the key questions in film music studies today.

This best-selling dictionary contains 9,200 entries on all aspects of chemistry, physics, biology (including human biology), earth sciences, and astronomy. This new edition includes expanded coverage of global warming, forensic science, astrophysics, quantam theory, and the solar system. Supported by over 200 diagrams and illustrations the dictionary features recommended web links for many entries, accessed and kept up-to-date via the Dictionary of Science companion website. Other features include short biographies of leading scientists, full page illustrated features on subjects such as the Solar System and Genetically Modified Organisms, and chronologies of specific scientific subjects including plastics, electronics, and cell biology. Both concise and wide-ranging, this dictionary is an ideal reference work for students and a great introduction for non-scientists.