Showing results by narrator "Christopher Oxford" in All Categories

A business's overall strategy may be set at board level, but many people throughout the organisation will be involved in deciding that strategy and implementing it - making decisions that are strategic in nature. On these decisions hangs the future of the business: how successful it is, even whether it is successful. Yet business history is full of strategic decisions, both big and small, that were weak, poorly conceived and consequently disastrous.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra is one of the most extraordinary - and important - texts in Western philosophy. It was written by Friedrich Nietzsche between 1883 and 1885. He cast it in the form of a novel in the hope that his urgent message of the 'death of God' and the rise of the superman (Ubermensch) would have greater emotional as well as intellectual impact.

For centuries the Celts held sway in Europe. Even after their conquest by the Romans, their culture remained vigorous, ensuring that much of it endured to feed an endless fascination with Celtic history and myths, artwork and treasures. A foremost authority on the Celtic peoples and their culture, Peter Berresford Ellis presents an invigoration overview of their world. With his gift for making the scholarly accessible, he discusses the Celts' mysterious origins and early history and investigates their rich and complex society.

The Antichrist and Ecce Homo were two of the last works written by Friedrich Nietzsche just before his mental collapse in 1889. Though both written in 1888, they are very different in content and style. In The Antichrist, Nietzsche expands on his view that the submissive nature of Christianity undermined Western society, depressing and sapping energy.

B.K.S. Iyengar, whose teachings on yoga are followed throughout the world, reflects upon his lifetime's experience on the yoga path. The structure of the book follows the different aspects of that path (from Freedom Awaits, through The Physical Body, The Energy Body, The Mental Body, The Intellectual Body, and The Divine Body, to Living in Freedom) and provides a learning framework for yoga as well as an invaluable discourse on life.

The adventures of Patrick "Paddy" Leigh Fermor, Britain's most beloved traveler, began in 1933, when he embarked on a walk from Holland to Constantinople - the entire length of Europe - at the tender age of 18. Sleeping in barns, monasteries, and, on occasion, aristocratic country houses, the young adventurer made way his through the Old World just as everything was about to change.

Christmas 1913: In Britain, people are debating a new dance called ‘the tango’. In Germany, they are fascinated by the wedding of the Kaiser’s daughter to the Duke of Brunswick. Little did they know that their world was on ‘The Eve of War’, a catastrophe that was to engulf the continent, cost millions of lives, and change the course of the century. And yet behind the scenes, the Great Powers were marching towards what they thought was an inevitable conflict.

Set in Oxford in the 1660s – a time and place of great intellectual, scientific, religious and political ferment – this remarkable novel centres around a young woman, Sarah Blundy, who stands accused of the murder of Robert Grove, a fellow of New College. Four witnesses describe the events surrounding his death: Marco da Cola, a Venetian Catholic intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion;

Although the balance sheet may not even put a value on it, a company's brand or its portfolio of brands is in many cases its most valuable asset, accounting for as much as 70% of a firm's market value in some cases. This book argues that because of this and because of the power of not-for-profit brands like Oxfam, all organisations should make the brand their central organising principle, guiding every action and decision.

Twenty of the most crucial moments in Britain's history. BBC History Magazine asked a selection of leading historians to choose and describe the twenty most important turning points in British history from AD 1000 to 2000. Collected together, their choices present a new way of looking at our nation's story.

Get yourself up to guru speed. This insightful guide, which has proven hugely popular around the world in hardback, not only includes the most significant ideas that have influenced the management of business over the past century, but it also includes entries on the most influential business thinkers of the past and present.

Philip Mould is an international art dealer who has lived the high stakes game of art sleuthing for 20 years. In Sleuth, we encounter the fascinating dealers, experts auctioneers and restorers who risk fortunes and reputations to turn overlooked artworks into coveted treasures. Sleuth is a series of stories which not only reveals the extraordinary culture of detection but the people behind it.

In the spring of 1945, at Rechnitz on the Austrian-Hungarian border, not far from the front lines of the advancing Red Army, Countess Margit Batthyany gave a party in her mansion. The war was almost over, and the German aristocrats and SS officers dancing and drinking knew it was lost. Late that night, they walked down to the village, where 180 enslaved Jewish labourers waited, made them strip naked, and shot them all before returning to the bright lights of the party.

A wonderfully illuminating and witty guide to every -ism you could ever want explained. Entries include every -ism under the sun, from Absurdism to Militarism to Zoroastrianism.

A very accessable guide that fills the gap between academic analysis and less-critical retellings of the myths and legends. Marytn Whittock provides an accessible overview while also assessing the current state of research regarding the origins and significance of the myths. Since all records of the myths first occur in the early medieval period, the focus is on the survival of pre-Christian mythology and the interactions of the early Christian writers with these myths.

Capitan Daniel Rawson is a soldier, spy, linguist and ladies' man. Whether he is extracting valuable intelligence from the wife of a French general or leading his men in a Forlorn Hope, Rawson is a man on whom the Duke of Marlborough can always rely. Seething with intrigue and packed with swashbuckling heroics, the novel follows the Confederate army on the long, perilous trek across Europe to meet the French and their allies at the ferocious battle of Blenheim.

In science, no -one believes the Earth is flat anymore. Economists, on the other hand, haven't budged from their original worldview. Market capitalism depends on seven big ideas: competition, the "invisible hand", utility, agency theory, pricing, shareholder value, and limited liability. These served the world well in the past, but over the years they have become cancerous and are slowly killing the system as a whole.

When war broke out in 1914, Somerset Maugham was dispatched by the British Secret Service to Switzerland under the guise of completing a play. Multilingual, knowledgeable about many European countries, and a celebrated writer, Maugham had the perfect cover, and the assignment appealed to his love of romance, and of the ridiculous. The stories collected in Ashenden are rooted in Maugham's own experiences as an agent, reflecting the ruthlessness and brutality of espionage, its intrigue and treachery, as well as its absurdity.

A memoir of brutality, heroism, and personal discovery from Europe's dark heart, revealing one of the most extraordinary untold stories of World War II One night in March of 1945, on the Austrian-Hungarian border, a local countess hosted a party in her mansion, where guests and local Nazi...

It’s the Second World War and the Savoy, the Dorchester, and Claridge’s teem with those determined not to allow Hitler to impact on their way of life. Spies: Meet Marie-Jacqueline Lancaster, the woman from M15 who has the gravy browning licked from her legs by Dylan Thomas. Royals: Meet Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia, born in a suite at Claridge’s that was declared Yugoslav territory for the night. Players: Meet Joyce Stone, whose husband leads the band at the Dorchester. West End Front is a witty and eye-opening account of the extraordinary events that unfolded under the reinforced ceilings of London’s grand hotels.