In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Land introduces all aspects of the eye and vision in both human and animals. He looks at the features of the human eye and retina, explores the evolution of eyes, and considers aspects of visual perception, including eye movements, vision in three dimensions, colour vision, and visual recognition.

A selection of the travel and fictional texts which transported eighteenth-century readers to the exciting and exotic territories of Mughal India, Ottoman Turkey, Safavid Persia and Confucian China. The anthology illustrates the enduring influence of oriental narrative in the formation of the novel in early modern Europe.

The English poet, philosopher, and literary critic William Empson considered 'The Face of the Buddha' to be one of his finest works and was heartbroken when he lost the only copy in the wake of World War Two. Its recent rediscovery means the book can now be offered for the very first time exactly as he intended.

How can the poorer countries of the world be helped to help themselves through freer, fairer trade? In this challenging and controversial book Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph E Stiglitz and his co-author Andrew Charlton put forward a brand new model for managing trading relationships between the richest and the poorest countries.

Includes: The Tinder-Box; The Princess and the Pea; Thumbelina; The Little Mermaid; The Emperor's New Clothes; The Steadfast Soldier; The Ugly Duckling; The Snow Queen; The Little Match-Girl

This new book by Julian Jackson, a leading historian of twentieth-century France, charts the breathtakingly rapid events that led to the defeat and surrender of one of the key Allied powers, setting in motion the traumatic years of the Occupation, the Vichy regime, and the rapid escalation of World War Two.

The dominant view is that the 'fall of Rome' was a largely peaceful transition to Germanic rule, and the start of a positive cultural transformation. Encouraging the readers to think again by reclaiming the drama and violence of Rome's fall, this book examines how and why successive generations have understood this period differently.

What is a family? What makes someone a parent? What rights should children have? In this Very Short Introduction Jonathan Herring provides an insight not only into what the law is, but why it is the way it is. It also looks at the future to consider what families will look like in the years ahead, and what new dilemmas the courts may face.