The book explores Oakeshott's thought on the key role human imagination plays in relation to the political. It addresses four main themes: imagination, foundational narratives, the question of political societies' identities as well as that of human living-together, to use Hannah Arendt's expression. The book's main objective is to show that Oakeshott may be rightfully understood to be a philosopher of the imagination as well as a foundationalist thinker in the Arendtian narrative constructivist tradition.

The myths of the Romans are stories not about the gods but about the Romans themselves. Writers such as Livy, Virgil and Ovid presented myths as if they were actual histories of the origins and early days of Rome.

This superb book is devoted to trains past and present, all over the world. It is superbly illustrated with numerous magnificent photographs of locomotives then and now. The history of railways is comprehensively covered, from horse-drawn streetcars and George Stephenson's steam-powered 'Rocket' of 1829, through the glory days of steam, the development of diesel and electric locomotives, to the technical wonders of today's high-speed trains, such as the TGV and the Transrapid.

Inca Myths begins with an introduction to the land and people of the Andes and reviews the sources of our current knowledge of Inca mythology. Gary Urton then recounts various creation myths, including a selection from various ethnic groups and regions around the empire. Finally, he draws upon his extensive knowledge of the history and ethnography of the Incas to illuminate the nature and relationships of myth and history. The contents include: Introduction Creation myths Origin myths of the founding of the Inca empire Myths of the works and deeds of the Inca kings Selection of myths from around the empire Animal myths Myths from the Spanish Conquest Conclusions

Legendary Figures examines revolutionary views of the past that have played a crucial role in European and American literature of the last 150 years. Clayton Koelb traces these new approaches to history through an impressive range of novels,øfrom Flaubert?s Salammb– to Christa Wolf?s Cassandra. Koelb argues that this new ?historical sense,? which arose in the mid?nineteenth century, gained eloquent expression in Flaubert?s writings. What is crucial about the new historical sense is that it views the past as essentially ?alien? and ?other.? The connection between past and present may be powerful, but it is always indirect and difficult to negotiate. As a result, the past seems exotic and unattainable, the object of nostalgia and desire. Koelb distinguishes this sense of history, with its persistent discontinuities between past and present, from the more continuous and progressive views of history of novelists like Sir Walter Scott and such philosophers as Hegel, Marx, and Luk¾cs. In their writings, history ?proceeds according to the laws of cause and effect, and each epoch can be understood as both the result of the previous one and the cause of the next.? In contrast, the modernist writers that Koelb examines?Flaubert, Pater, Mann, Broch, Wilder, Yourcenar, and Wolf?imagine a past that is ?mythic? and ?legendary? and thus a metaphor for everything distant, complicated, unattainable, and unknowable.

"Legendary Rome" is the first book to offer a comparative treatment of the reinvention of Rome's origins in the poetry of Vergil, Tibullus and Propertius. It also examines the impact that the changing topography of Rome, as orchestrated by the emperor Augustus, had on those poets' renditions of Rome's legendary past. When the poets explore the significance of Augustus' reconstruction of the Palatine and Capitoline hills, they create new meaning and memories for the story of Rome's legendary foundations. As the tradition of Rome's mythic and legendary origins evolves through each poetic revision, the past transforms and is reinvented anew.The exploration of what constitutes a civilised landscape for each poet leads to significant conclusions about the dynamic and evolving nature of shared public memories. Written when Rome was in the process of defining a new, post-war identity, the poems studied here capture the growing tension between community and individual development, the restoration of peace versus expansion through military means, and stability and change within the city.