"First published as an Oxford World's Classics paperback 2004; Reissued 2008."--Title page verso.

Mao Zedong was a giant of 20th century history. In this Very Short Introduction, Delia Davin provides an account of Mao the man. From his childhood as a peasant to ruler of the most populous nation on Earth, she considers the major events in his life, his revolutionary writing, and his utopian dreams that culminated in the Cultural Revolution.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's romance concerns a group of American expatriates in mid-nineteenth century Italy, and their tragic encounter with the faun-like Italian count, Donatello. It is both a murder story and a parable of the Fall of Man, dominated by the fragility and durability of human life and art.

A Downing Street diary with a difference; offering a unique record and a fascinating insight into the British government during WWI, written by Margot Asquith, the wife of the prime minister, H. H. Asquith.

The 15 stories in this volume include the only collection of short fiction Woolf published in her lifetime, the eight stories published as Monday and Tuesday, together with seven later stories.

Marketing Research: Tools & Techniques offers a lively and accessible introduction to the world of marketing research. The author explores three core aspects of research preparation: data collection; analysis and communication of findings; and how skills and techniques are used by researchers to offer services for specific contexts.

This Very Short Introduction aims to disentangle the 'real' Marquis de Sade from his mythical and demonic reputation of the past two hundred years. Phillips examines Sade's life and work: his libertine novels, his championing of atheism, and his uniqueness in bringing the body and sex back into philosophy.