A guide to understanding the Belgians, best known for their fine chocolate, which reveals a humorous and insightful view of the people.

-300 new photos of absurd (and sometimes hilarious) solutions for everyday problems The Brussels-based artist David Helbich started -Belgian Solutions- in 2006. He made photos of the peculiar (and comical) no-nonsense solutions to problems that that he spotted in his daily surroundings. Once he started to share his photos online on Facebook in 2008 (the Belgian Solutions page has over 25,000 fans), the project gathered speed, with contributions by 'Belgian Solutions' spotters all over the world. And because Helbich keeps receiving pictures, he keeps creating content - much to the joy of his fans.

The Belgians in Ontario chronicles more than 300 years of Belgian presence in Ontario, beginning with Father Louis Hennepin, the Recollet missionary who accompanied La Salle on his explorations. This book examines the contributions of the Belgian community in a diverse range of activities including agriculture, sports, and the arts. Magee offers a detailed analysis of reasons and methods of immigration (including a study of the pioneering agricultural labourers who participated in the swallow migration). Of special interest to students of social and ethnic studies is the extensive survey of Belgian Canadians, reflecting their attitudes and experiences. Lavishly illustrated with more than 50 rare photographs culled from private and public collections, The Belgians in Ontario is a visually-interesting look at the many contributions of a determined people.

A portrait of the best architects and interior designers from Belgium and their works in a contemporary style.

* A nostalgic look at the most beautiful traditional cafes in Belgium and the stories they harbor"North or South, the soul of Belgium is in its cafés. I don't know of any book that captures their soul more beautifully and accurately than this one." - Joe Stange, CAMRA's Good Beer Guide Belgium This book is an ode to Belgium's traditional beer cafés, to their landlords and -ladies, and to the regular customers who have become part of the interior. It is also a plea to handle the café patrimony of Belgium with the greatest care. Because we have been taking these little cafés for granted for far too long and now their existence has become fragile, despite the fact that they are an important part of our social and cultural heritage. Regula Ysewijn is a Belgian culinary historian, writer, and photographer. She focuses on food and social history or Britain and the Low countries and consults for organisations such as the UK's National Trust, TV programmes and museums. Ysewijn is the author of six books among which: Pride and Pudding and Oats in the North, Wheat From the South have received international acclaim. She is also a judge on the Flemish version of the Great British Bake Off. For this book Regula visited 45 traditional cafés in Belgium. From the oldest café in the country (it opened in 1515) to the oldest Belgian café landlady, Juliette, who is 96. She visited cafés with beautiful Art Deco interiors, and cafés with the charm and warmth of a living room. In each of these establishments she talked to the landlords and -ladies and to the people who have become part or the soul of these cafés, and she managed to capture all of this in beautiful, touching photographs.

Reasons for walling a house' is a book about the unusual transformation of a small single family house by the Belgian architecture firm 51N4E. A couple living in a single family house on the Belgian countryside wanted to have 'more space'. But, instead, the architects that they hired enclosed their small house with a three-meter-tall steel wall. This paradoxical transformation challenged the owners to rethink their ideas of a home. Upon the project's completion they decided to open up their residence as a guest house for artists, designers, writers, and thinkers. Each person invited would receive a carte blanche, a fridge full of food, and the opportunity to have the run of the house without its inhabitants. Reasons for Walling a House unravels the secrets of an unlikely transformation, seen through the eyes of the first seven guests-the artists Enrique Marty and Dirk Braeckman, theater director and actor Josse de Pauw graphic designers Something Fantastic, as well as the architects Andrea Branzi, BeL and 51N4E.

The First World War saw many changes to Derbyshire that helped shape what the county is today. This book details the human experiences, thoughts, concerns, fears and hopes of the county during one the most important periods of its history. All aspects of civilian life are featured, including the run up to war and the reaction to its outbreak; the recruitment of men to the forces and the eventual conscription; the efforts of those who could not fight; industry and the munitions factories, where workers built the weapons and tools that helped win the war; the impact on agriculture and the role of farmers in feeding the nation; food shortages and rationing; the role of women; the role of the county in helping wounded servicemen and providing comforts and funds for those overseas; Belgian refugees; conscientious objectors and an alleged plot to kill the Prime Minister; anti-German feeling, hostility to Germans living in the county, and prisoners of war; civil defence and a Zeppelin raid that brought destruction and fear. For the first time in its history, the people of Derbyshire realised that the horrors of war were not confined to overseas battles but they could be witnessed and experienced in their own neighbourhoods.

This book explains how and why Belgium, a small but influential European country, was changed through its colonial activities in the Congo, from the first expeditions in 1880 to the Mobutu regime in the 1980s. Belgian politics, diplomacy, economic activity and culture were influenced by the imperial experience. Belgium and the Congo, 1885-1980 yields a better understanding of the Congo's past and present.

New and comprehensive insights into the seminal events that shaped Belgian identity In 1790, between the birth of America (1776) and the creation of the French National Assembly (1789), nine provinces nestled between the French and Dutch borders declared themselves a new free and independent country: the United States of Belgium. Before then, the provinces had been part of the vast Austrian Habsburg Empire ruled by Joseph II. In 1789 revolutionaries from Brussels to Ghent to Namur recruited a grass-roots army that, to the surprise of many, successfully chased imperial forces from the majority of the territories. The exhilaration of military triumph and political independence quickly faded as revolutionary factions fought each other and the European monarchies became more nervous in the face of French radicalization. Yet, the course of events had fostered the solidification of a new identity among the provinces’ inhabitants: Belgianness. This is the story of the emergence of Belgianness in the crucible of revolution. The United States of Belgium tells the story of the First Belgian Revolution before the creation of a language barrier between French and Dutch. It incorporates over 50 contemporary images of the revolutionary era.