2 Books Published by Profile Books on AALBC — Book Cover Collage

Click for more detail about Civilisations: First Contact / The Cult of Progress by David Olusoga Civilisations: First Contact / The Cult of Progress

by David Olusoga
Profile Books (Sep 03, 2019)
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There is nothing simple about the idea of civilization. It is a concept with multiple and contested meanings. Prefix it with the word ’western’ and you have a whole new set of problems. Equally thorny is the belief, once commonplace, that civilization was a singular project, a phenomenon that spread across parts of the world from a single source.

The view that multiple civilizations emerged independently at various times and in various places across the world was not an idea many Victorian thinkers had much time for. Indeed, in the age of European Empires, nations justified their domination of other peoples by claiming they were engaged in a great “civilizing mission.” Perhaps all that is certain about the concept of civilization is that its opposite, barbarism, is toxic. In Civilisations, David Olusoga travels the world to piece together the shared histories that link nations. In Part One, First Contact, we discover what happened to art in the great Age of Discovery, when civilizations encountered each other for the first time? Although undoubtedly a period of conquest and destruction it was also one of mutual curiosity, global trade, and the exchange of ideas In Part Two, The Cult of Progress we see how the Industrial Revolution transformed the world, impacting every corner, and every civilization, from the cotton mills of the Midlands, through Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt, to the demise of both Native American and Maori populations and the advent of photography in Paris in 1839. Incredible art - both looted and created - relays the key events and their outcomes throughout the world.


Click for more detail about The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene The Art of Seduction

by Robert Greene
Profile Books (Apr 01, 2004)
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Which sort of seducer could you be: *Siren? *Rake? *Cold Coquette? *Star? *Comedian? *Charismatic? or *Saint? This book will show you which. ’Charm, persuasion, the ability to create illusions: these are some of the many dazzling gifts of the Seducer, the compelling figure who is able to manipulate, mislead and give pleasure all at once. When raised to the level of art, seduction, an indirect and subtle form of power, has toppled empires, won elections and enslaved great minds. In this beautiful, sensually designed book, Greene unearths the two sides of seduction: the characters and the process. Discover who you, or your pursuer, most resembles. Learn, too, the pitfalls of the anti-Seducer. In part II, immerse yourself in the twenty-four manoeuvres and strategies of the seductive process, the ritual by which a seducer gains mastery over their target. Understand how to ’Choose the Right Victim’, ’Appear to Be an Object of Desire’ and ’Confuse Desire and Reality’. In addition, Greene provides instruction on how to identify victims by type. Each fascinating character and each cunning tactic demonstrates a fundamental truth about who we are, and the targets we’ve become - or hope to win over. The Art of Seduction is an indispensable primer on the essence of one of history’s greatest weapons and the ultimate power trip.