European history Books

Book SynopsisAll the Kremlin's Men is a gripping narrative of an accidental king and a court out of control. Based on an unprecedented series of interviews with Vladimir Putin's inner circle, this book presents a radically different view of power and politics in Russia. The image of Putin as a strongman is dissolved. In its place is a weary figurehead buffeted--if not controlled--by the men who at once advise and deceive him.The regional governors and bureaucratic leaders are immovable objects, far more powerful in their fiefdoms than the president himself. So are the gatekeepers-those officials who guard the pathways to power-on whom Putin depends as much as they rely on him. The tenuous edifice is filled with all of the intrigue and plotting of a Medici court, as enemies of the state are invented and wars begun to justify personal gains, internal rivalries, or one faction's biased advantage.A bestseller in Russia, All the Kremlin's Men is a shocking revisionist portrait of the Putin era and a dazzling reconstruction of the machinations of courtiers running riot.

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Book SynopsisHistorian Jeremy Black is comprehensive, as ever, but in his treatment of the British Gothic novel his greatest service is the preservation of the detail––namely, the human impetus behind art that is often undervalued. Gothic novelists were purposeful, thoughtful, and engaged questions and feelings that ultimately shaped a century of culture. Black notes that the Gothic novel is also very much about "morality and deploying history accordingly." The true interest of the Gothic novel is more remarkable than it is grisly: the featured darkness and macabre are not meant to usurp heroism and purity, but will fall hard under the over-ruling hand of Providence and certainty of retribution. Black's understanding of the Gothic writer is a remarkable contribution to the legacy of British literature and the novel at large. Once again, in Black thoroughness meets fidelity and the reader is overcome with his own insights into the period on the merit of Black's efforts. In The Weight of Words Series, Black is devoted to the preservation of the memory of British literary genius, and in so doing he is carving out a niche for himself. As in the Gothic novel where landscapes give quarter to influences that seem to interact with the human fates that freely wander in, reading Black is an experience of suddenly finding oneself in possession of an education, and his allure takes a cue from the horrific Gothic tempt.

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Book SynopsisWritten by the renowned British historian who has been described as both utterly thorough and humanely delicate, Jeremy Black offers a guided tour through the mind of Agatha Christie and life during the Great World Wars. His incomparable treatment of literary craft developing alongside global military engagement nearly overshadows the natural draw of the crime drama that is the subject of his book. Indeed, the “prurience and sensationalism” of crime is not as exciting as Black’s aptitude for drawing the reality from the fiction (and periphery sources), giving Christie a much louder voice than she might ever have dreamed. If Christie is also moralist and mirror to her times, Black here plays his part as the detective and reveals layers of previously unmined truths in her stories. Hercule Poirot as a character is masterfully imagined, but Black shows us how he is inseparable from Christie’s turbulent and changing world. He also illuminates significant social commentary in Christie’s fiction, and in so doing Black often uses his authority to vindicate Christie’s work from hastily, at times stupidly, applied labels and interpretations. He is especially magnificent in his chapters, “Xenophobia” and “The Sixties.” Black nevertheless gives due recognition to Christie’s critics when they have something relevant and reasonable to say, and hence the reader finds yet another service in Black’s comprehensive review of the reviewers over the expanse of Christie’s writing career. For all this, Black proves himself to be a worthy history-teller because he can aptly ‘detect’ the meaning of stories that seeks to answer the past and guide the present. His erudition runs much deeper than his ability to navigate the stores of resources available on the subject, and the reader gets a glimpse of this early on when in the introduction he proffers his own defense for writing about the importance of a Hercule Poirot. Black writes, “the notion of crime had a moral component from the outset, and notably so in terms of the struggle between Good and Evil, and in the detection of the latter. Indeed, it is this detection that is the basis of the most powerful strand of detection story, because Evil disguises its purposes. It has to do so in a world and humanity made fundamentally benign and moral by God.” The Golden Age of detective novels represents much more than a triumph of a literary genre. It is in its own right a story of how the challenge to address the problem of evil was accepted. Its convergence with the plot-rich narrative of the twentieth century in the modern age renders Black’s account a thrilling masterpiece, seducing historians to read fiction and crime junkies to read more history.

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Book SynopsisHailed as one of the most important works on the Hitler period, this is an “astonishing, compelling, and unnerving” portrait of life in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1944—from a man who nearly shot Hitler himself (The New Yorker)   Friedrich Reck might seem an unlikely rebel against Nazism. Not just a conservative but a rock-ribbed reactionary, he played the part of a landed gentleman, deplored democracy, and rejected the modern world outright. To Reck, the Nazis were ruthless revolutionaries in Gothic drag, and helpless as he was to counter the spell they had cast on the German people, he felt compelled to record the corruptions of their rule.   The result is less a diary than a sequence of stark and astonishing snapshots of life in Germany between 1936 and 1944. We see the Nazis at the peak of power, and the murderous panic with which they respond to approaching defeat; their travesty of traditional folkways in the name of the Volk; and the author’s own missed opportunity to shoot Hitler. This riveting book is not only, as Hannah Arendt proclaimed it, “one of the most important documents of the Hitler period,” but a moving testament of a decent man struggling to do the right thing in a depraved world.

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Book SynopsisCompelling evidence that the events of Homer''s Iliad and Odyssey took place in the Baltic and not the Mediterranean• Reveals how a climate change forced the migration of a people and their myth to ancient Greece • Identifies the true geographic sites of Troy and Ithaca in the Baltic Sea and Calypso''s Isle in the North Atlantic OceanFor years scholars have debated the incongruities in Homer''s Iliad and Odyssey, given that his descriptions are at odds with the geography of the areas he purportedly describes. Inspired by Plutarch''s remark that Calypso''s Isle was only five days sailing from Britain, Felice Vinci convincingly argues that Homer''s epic tales originated not in the Mediterranean, but in the northern Baltic Sea. Using meticulous geographical analysis, Vinci shows that many Homeric places, such as Troy and Ithaca, can still be identified in the geographic landscape of the Baltic. He explains how the dense, foggy weather described by Ulysses befits northern not Mediterranean climes, and how battles lasting through the night would easily have been possible in the long days of the Baltic summer. Vinci''s meteorological analysis reveals how a decline of the "climatic optimum" caused the blond seafarers to migrate south to warmer climates, where they rebuilt their original world in the Mediterranean. Through many generations the memory of the heroic age and the feats performed by their ancestors in their lost homeland was preserved and handed down to the following ages, only later to be codified by Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey.Felice Vinci offers a key to open many doors that allow us to consider the age-old question of the Indo-European diaspora and the origin of the Greek civilization from a new perspective.

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Book SynopsisThe epitome of effervescence and centrepiece of celebration, Champagne has become a universal emblem of good fortune, and few can resist its sparkleIn Champagne, Uncorked , Alan Tardi journeys into the heartland of the world's most beloved wine. Anchored by the year he spent inside the prestigious and secretive Krug winery in Reims, the story follows the creation of the superlative Krug Grande Cuvée.Tardi also investigates the evocative history, quirky origins, and cultural significance of Champagne. He reveals how it became the essential celebratory toast ( merci Napoleon Bonaparte!), and introduces a cast of colourful characters, including Eugène Mercier, who in 1889 transported his Cathedral of Champagne," the largest wine cask in the world, to Paris by a team of white horses and oxen, and Joseph Krug, the reserved son of a German butcher who wound up in France, fell head over heels for Champagne, and risked everything to start up his own eponymous house.In the vineyards of Champagne, Tardi discovers how finicky grapes in an unstable climate can lead to a nerve-racking season for growers and winemakers alike. And he ventures deep into the caves , where the delicate and painstaking alchemy of blending takes place,all of which culminates in the glass we raise to toast life's finer moments.Trade Review"Knowledgeable and meticulously researched...[Tardi] takes the reader through the whole process, from picking and pressing the grapes--the vendange--through the storing, tasting and blending of the wine to its bottling and aging...A colorful history of Champagne." --Moira Hodgson, Wall Street Journal "Sparkles with information about the beverage of celebration and specifically the making of Krug Grande Cuvee, a great Champagne from arguably the greatest producer. History, harvesting, tasting, blending, marketing, presented with easy going style. You'll want to make a pilgrimage to Le Mesnil-sur-Oger." --Peter Gianotti, Newsday "In Tardi's fabulous new book, he explains the history of the Champagne region and why the land produces the grapes it does...while weaving together a rich cultural overview of the sparkling elixir's wild rise to becoming the world's symbol of celebration. When people try [Krug] for the first time, they talk about it effusively like love-struck Romeos. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself. But first read Tardi's book." --San Antonio Express-News "A book as effervescent and fascinating as the product it describes. Readers gain insight into a world as complex as the blending of a fine bottle of Champagne." --Galveston County Daily News "Champagne, Uncorked is a page-turner that offers up the wine's history, the characters who made it and, with appealing intimacy, those of the House of Krug from top to bottom. It is a must read for any Champagne lover and of course for 'Krugistes.'" --Stephen Spurrier, consulting editor of Decanter "A fascinating account of the making of one of the world's great wines, and one that will thrill both novice and connoisseur alike. This is one of the best books to ever be written about champagne, and it should be on the reading list of anyone interested in wine." --Peter Liem, senior correspondent for Wine & Spirits and founder of Champagneguide.net "Alan Tardi's background as a restaurateur, chef, and wine writer makes him uniquely qualified to write this exceptional book on Champagne. Throughout, he integrates the history of Champagne, the making of Champagne, along with the production of Krug's Grande Cuvee, one of the world's greatest Champagnes. Alan is a truly gifted writer, not only teaching us, but weaving a story that is fascinating and illuminating." --Ed McCarthy, author of Champagne For Dummies "The fascinating story of the most loved wine." --The Washington Book Review "Tardi chronicles his time following a tense year in the life cycle of champagne, from harvest to bottling, at the renowned Krug house, expertly balancing his personal experiences with extensive historical research of the development and sophistication of champagne as well as the establishment of the Krug winery. Part memoir and part history, Tardi's love letter to champagne can inspire the reader to delve deeper into viticulture." --Booklist, Starred Review "Champagne, Uncorked packs an enormous amount of detail and complexity (historical, chemical, biological, emotional) into a rather small package--a fitting tribute to the nuance and complexity found in every glass of champagne Krug has produced...A fascinating and detailed history." --Shelf Awareness "An unprecedented look into the process of crushing grapes, fermenting, tasting, blending, bottling, and aging that leads to the Krug Grande Cuvee, one of the most prestigious non-vintage champagnes on the market...Compelling and interesting...[Champagne, Uncorked] carries a wealth of information for a reader at any level of wine expertise." --Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisThe path from Moscow to Stalingrad was littered with successes and losses for both the Red Army and the Wehrmacht, with tensions remaining high and culminating in one of the harshest battles of the Second World War. Part of the Casemate Illustrated series, this volume outlines how it was that, less than a year after their defeat at Moscow, the German army had found a way to make the Soviet troops waver in their defence, with their persistence eventually leading to the Battle of Stalingrad.The successful expulsion of the German troops from Moscow in the winter of 1941 came at a cost for the Red Army. Weaknesses in the Soviet camp inspired the Wehrmacht, under Adolf Hitler’s close supervision, to make preparations for offensives along the Eastern Front to push the Russians further and further back into their territory. With a complex set of new tactics and the crucial aid of the Luftwaffe, the German army began to formulate a deadly two-pronged attack on Stalingrad to reduce the city to rubble.Initially only on the periphery of operations, bit by bit German ambitions focused on Stalingrad. In the lead up to this, Timoshenko’s failed attack on Kharkov followed by the Battle of Sebastopol in June 1942 prompted Operation Blue, the German campaign to advance east on their prized objective. This volume includes numerous photographs of the ships, planes, tanks, trucks, and weaponry used by both sides in battle, alongside detailed maps and text outlining the constantly changing strategies of the armies as events unfolded.Trade ReviewA useful book to have on the shelf […] Recommended. * Scale Military Modelling International Magazine *The photos have lots of inspiration for military modellers, with both aircraft, trucks and AFVs. There are diorama ideas aplenty. Good to see an English translation of these fine books by Yves Buffetaut. * Military Model Scene *Striking a good balance between informative text and illustrations this volume is a very digestible and interesting contribution * Classic Military Vehicle Magazine *Casemate should be praised for publishing this series of books, as although they may not be of an immediate interest to the modeller, when you take a closer look at the photographs there are a host of ideas that could be used in some interesting dioramas or vignettes. There are also the modifications and markings that could make for some unusual and different builds. * Britmodeller.com *A very informative title in bite size segments accompanied with very good photographs. The text is well written and so is easy to read and take in the provided information. Very highly recommended * Armorama *

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Book SynopsisIn the summer of 1943, the German launched Operation Zitadelle (Citadel), aimed at cutting off a large number of Soviet forces in the Kursk salient. This offensive resulted in the battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle of World War II.Kursk quickly became a fierce contest of attrition, as Wehrmacht and elite Waffen-SS Panzer-Divisions with their powerful Tiger and Panther tanks unsuccessfully tried to hammer their way through the intricate lines of strong Soviet defensive positions. What followed was unabated fighting for two weeks as German units were slowly and systematically ground down in a series of brutal armored battles.During this ferocious fighting the Red Army savagely contested every foot of ground, finally ending German invincibility forever. For the first time in its short history, the blitzkrieg concept had failed. The reverberations caused by the defeat at Kursk were immense, and never again did the German war machine go on the offensive in the East. Stiff defensive action was now the stratagem placed upon the dwindling Panzerwaffe right to the gates of Berlin.With comprehensive captions and text, Kursk tells the story of this dramatic battle using rare and unpublished photographs, maps, and highly detailed artist profiles. The book reveals the events leading up to the battle in the first half of 1943, and the build up of forces by both sides before their climatic showdown at Kursk.Trade ReviewThis is a well-rounded photographic work on Kursk … the photos cover a wide breadth of subjects and are well-supported by profiles and data tables … There are useful views of various tanks, self-propelled guns, half-tracks and other vehicles. Furthermore, images of personnel illustrate conditions, uniforms and equipment. Full-colour profiles are spread throughout the book and these are captioned with useful aids including paint and camouflage information. * Airfix Model World *An excellent mix of photographs accompanied by well presented captions that provide a pleasing level of information … and [an] informative read. * Armorama *There is a lot of reference material for your money. Well recommended to all with an interest in military history. * Scale Military Modelling International Magazine *

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Book SynopsisIn Romans at War ground-breaking research is presented in an accessible, entertaining, and sumptuously illustrated format, including:• A new consideration of the nature of late Roman military leaders; the author argues they were effectively independent warlords.• Cutting edge research regarding the Severan campaigns to conquer Scotland in the early 3rd century AD.• A new analysis of the nature of late Roman troops, both mounted and foot.The Roman military machine was the pre-eminent in the ancient world, projecting power across the known world over a vast chronology, and an increasing huge and diverse geography. One of the most powerful instruments of war in the history of conflict, it proved uniquely adept at learning from setbacks, always coming back the stronger for it. In so doing it displayed two of the most important traits associated with the world of Rome. Firstly grit, that key ability to remain steadfast and to overcome adversity, even in the most challenging of circumstances, as faced for example by the Republic in the Second Punic War against Hannibal. Secondly, the ability to copy the successful technical and tactical innovations of their enemies, enabling the Roman military to always stay one step ahead of its opponents on campaign and in battle.In this grand tour covering every aspect of the Roman military, leading expert Dr Simon Elliott first provides a detailed background to the Roman Republic and Empire to provide context for all that follows. He then looks specifically at the Roman military in its three key chronological phases: the Republic, the Principate Empire and the Dominate Empire. Next he forensically examines specific examples of the Roman military on campaign and in battle, and of its engineering prowess. Finally, he examines the many enemies faced by the Roman Republic and Empire. This all provides a firm structure to enable the reader to come to grips with this incredible military machine, one whose exploits still resonate in the world to this very day.Trade ReviewThis book is an excellent starting point for someone who wants to learn about the Roman system of war. It is also a handy reference guide for those of us who have already delved deeply into the field. […] It is a pretty amazing feat. * A Wargamers Needful Things *Ground-breaking insights into the Roman military presented a sumptuously illustrated package – this will make a glorious gift for Roman history aficionados. * Love Reading *Table of ContentsContents Introduction Timeline of the Roman Empire Glossary Chapter 1. Republic and Empire Chapter 2. The Republican Military Chapter 3. The Principate Military Chapter 4. The Dominate Military Chapter 5. On Campaign and in Battle Chapter 6. Non-Conflict Roles of the Roman Military Chapter 7. Allies and Enemies Chapter 8. Conclusion Select Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisBagration was the code word that the Soviet Army gave for their summer offensive in 1944. This massive offensive led to the destruction of the German Army Group Center and was the greatest military defeat ever experienced by the German Army during World War Two. This book provides an absorbing insight into the German defeat and the Russian offensive using a wide variety of rare and previously unpublished photographs. With detailed captions and text together with 20 artist profiles and maps, the book shows the compelling story of how German Army Group Center tried to counter the overwhelming might of the Soviet Army as it poured thousands of men, weapons and armor across the German lines, smashing its way through.What ensued was a swift and bloody battle of attrition as the German Army tried to contain the might of its unstoppable enemy. In the days and weeks that followed German units fought and gradually retreated under the constant hammer blows of Russian ground and aerial bombardments, and endless armored and infantry attacks. Many German units fighting to the grim death were duty-bound not to withdraw, and what followed was a disaster of a colossal magnitude. As the Soviet might punched a massive hole in the German lines it sent huge shock waves through Army Group Center forcing them to retreat or face total annihilation.However, the Russian offensive was so quick that many of the German units with their precious panzer and infantry divisions quickly became encircled and destroyed - its remnants retreating west in order to save itself. By the end of the battle this cataclysm was bigger than that experienced at Stalingrad. It saw the German Army being pushed out of Russia towards Poland with the loss of over 300,000 men and most of its weaponry lost.The story of the destruction of Army Group Center during the summer of 1944 has been completely overshadowed by the D-Day campaign in Normandy three weeks earlier. Yet, the battle in which the German forces endured on the Eastern Front that fateful summer was more catastrophic than that experienced by the Allies on the Western Front, but little is known of the operation. This book reveals the lesser-known battle in the East and shows how the German forces fought and lost against overwhelming odds.Trade ReviewIt is recommended for the general reader, the modeller and vehicle enthusiast and those with an interest in the Eastern Front. * Miniature Wargames *The photographs really make this book, as I do not recall seeing many in print before. Recommended. * Scale Military Modelling International Magazine *Table of ContentsPreparations Operation Bagration: The Attack: 22 June–28 June 1944 Fighting for Survival: 29 June–6 July 1944 Destruction: 6 July–11 July 1944 Aftermath: The fate of Army Group Center Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisIn the closing months of World War II, with Budapest’s fall on 12 February 1945 and the breakout attempt by the IX SS-Gebirgskorps having failed, the only thing the IV. SS-Panzerkorps could do was fall back to a more defensible line and fortify the key city of Stuhlweissenburg. Exhausted after three relief attempts in January 1945 and outnumbered by the ever-increasing power of Marshal Tolbukhin’s Third Ukrainian Front, SS-Obergruppenführer Gille’s veterans dug in for a lengthy period of defensive warfare.However, Adolf Hitler had not forgotten about the Hungarian theatre of operations nor the country’s rich oilfields and was sending help. To the detriment of the defence of Berlin, SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich’s legendary 6. Panzerarmee was on its way, not to retake Budapest, but to encircle and destroy Tolbukhin’s forces and completely reverse the situation in south-eastern Europe in Hitler’s favour. This overly ambitious offensive, known as Frühlingserwachen (Spring Awakening), was soon bogged down in the face of resolute Soviet defences aided by the springtime thaw. Heralded as Nazi Germany’s last great offensive of World War II, it resulted in great losses to Hitler’s last armoured reserve in exchange for only minor gains. Though it played a supporting role during the battle, the IV. SS-Panzerkorps was soon caught up in its aftermath, after the Red Army launched its Vienna Operation that nearly swept the armies of Heeresgruppe Süd from the battlefield.Withdrawing into Austria, Gille’s battered corps attempted to bar the route into Germany, while the Red Army bore down on Vienna. Forced to endure relentless Soviet attacks as well as the caustic leadership of the 6. Armee commander, General Hermann Balck, the men of the IV. SS-Panzerkorps fought their way through Austria to reach the safety of the demarcation line where it finally surrendered to U.S. forces on 9 May 1945 after nearly a year of relentless campaigning.Trade ReviewFor anyone with the slightest interest in the Eastern Front, this concluding volume of the trilogy of IV SS Panzer-korps is simply a must-read. Nash has done yeoman’s work in marshaling sources for this period of the war when records and record-keeping went into an abeyance, from the Lake Balaton Offensive to keeping the Hungarian oil fields. * ARMOR Magazine 21/12/2022 *Table of ContentsIntroduction List of Maps List of Figures Illustrations Chapter 1: A South Wind Brings Hope Chapter 2: Operation Spring Awakening Chapter 3: The Defense of Stuhlweissenburg Chapter 4: Withdrawal to the Reichsschutzstellung Chapter 5: Defending the Reich Chapter 6: War’s End Appendices Endnotes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisLord Alanbrooke was Churchill's right-hand man during World War II, and as Chief of the Imperial General Staff he had an integral part in shaping the strategy of Britain and the Allies. Despite this crucial role, he is very little known compared to military commanders such as Montgomery, Alexander, Slim, Mountbatten, Patton, or Eisenhower. This new biography of Lord Alanbrooke uses archival material and his diaries to trace his life, including his experiences in World War I and the development of his military career in the interwar years, with a focus on his post as the Chief of the Imperial General Staff during World War II.Voted the greatest Briton of the 20th century, Churchill has long been credited with almost single-handedly leading his country to victory in World War II. However without Brooke, a skilled tactician, at his side the outcome might well have been disastrous. Brooke more often than not served as a brake on some of Churchill's more impetuous ideas. However, while Brooke's diaries reveal his fury with some of Churchill's decisions, they also reveal his respect and admiration for the wartime prime minister. In return Churchill must surely have considered Brooke one of his most difficult subordinates but later wrote that he was "fearless, formidable, articulate, and in the end convincing".As CIGS, Brooke was integral to coordination between the Allied forces, and so had to wrestle with the cultural strategy clash between the British and Americans. Comments in his diaries offer up his opinions of both his British and American military colleagues – his negative assessments of Mountbatten’s ability, and acerbic comments on the difficult character of de Gaulle and the weaknesses of Eisenhower. Conversely he was clearly over-indulgent in the face of Montgomery's foibles. Brooke was often seen as a stern and humourless figure, but a study of his private life reveals an little-seen lighter side, a lifelong passion for birdwatching, and abiding love for his family. The two tragedies that befell his immediate family were a critical influence on his life. Sangster completes this new biography with a survey of the way various historians have assessed Brooke, explaining how he has lapsed into seeming obscurity in the years since his crucial part in the Allied victory in World War II.Trade ReviewSangster shows us a very skilled, knowledgeable, and thoughtful soldier, very focused on his mission, willing to criticise his superiors, notably Churchill, with whom he often disagreed and who usually came around to Brooke’s perspective. An excellent book for anyone interested in military leadership. * The NYMAS Review 31/08/2021 *As Sangster notes the central evidence in a study of Brooke is the diary he faithfully kept throughout the Second World War. * A Blog on Winston Churchill *A remote, aloof and obdurate character – once described by Churchill as “that stiff necked Ulsterman” – Alanbrooke was an extremely capable military strategist; a “thinker”, who saw the wider context of every scenario, in a way that many others didn’t, perceived as hard on those who didn’t share his gifts; yet, underneath the stern facade, Sangster’s book reveals a man who shouldered his wide responsibilities with considerable stress, and personal unhappiness. * Article for Aspects of History 14/07/2021 *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction 1: Early Background 2: Interbellum Years 3: War 4: 1940 5: 1941 6: 1942 7: 1943 8: 1944 9: Final Months 10: Postwar 11: Contemporaries 12: Historians 13: Brookie Abbreviations Appendices Bibliography Endnotes Index

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Book SynopsisAlthough Spain had been for many years on the periphery of the great affairs of Europe, within a few months of the Civil War breaking out in 1936, three out of the four major European powers - Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union - decided to intervene. Spain turned out to be the perfect proving ground to carry out controlled, realistic experiments with live weapons and troops.This book covers the theories of the three main contributors that provided armour to the warring parties in the civil war, how those contributions shaped combat, and how the lessons learnt were then applied to tank combat in World War II. The use of tanks in the Spanish Civil War wedded traditional war to modern technology. The fighting in Spain did not offer any easy answers, however, to the question of infantry-armour cooperation, primarily because the tanks supplied were not very worthy and had been supplied in small numbers, even though the Republicans organized an ‘armoured division’. The situation for the tanks on the Nationalist side was so bad in practical terms that they re-used captured Russian armour in their units.Tank employment in Spain did offer many lessons, but the lessons did not always lie in what was done or accomplished but precisely on what was not done and was not accomplished.Trade ReviewCandil offers an important contribution, both narrative and analytical, to this instructive topic. In particular, it is useful to consider how far the particular conflicts of an 'interwar' period assume not only a disproportionate but also a misleading significance. * Journal of Military History 11/01/2023 *It is even more interesting to read and learn about tanks during the Spanish Civil War from an author who was a Senior Armor Officer in the Spanish Army. This is a valuable book not only for modellers, but for history fans who want to know more about this conflict. * DetailScaleView *...a worthwhile investment for any wargamer with an interest in the period and might cause some to rethink their assumptions on armour and its use. * Wargames Illustrated *...offers important insight into the employment of tanks during the war, lessons learned (or not learned) by the participating armed forces… * Globe at War 21/06/2021 *…an interesting and well-rounded account of the beginnings of tank-on-tank warfare. Definitely recommended. * Miniature Wargames 31/08/2021 *Many theories on modern armored combat had their origin in the Spanish Civil War...This knowledge would soon be used to great effect in World War II. * Military Heritage *Making use of resources in Spanish and Italian hitherto largely overlooked by writers on the subject, defense analyst Candil, a former Spanish armor officer, has produced an excellent account of the role of armor in the Spanish Civil War, while also offering a fairly even-handed treatment of the conflict. A valuable read for anyone with an interest in armor or in the Spanish Civil War. * The NYMAS Review 31/08/2021 *Table of ContentsPreface A QUICK APPRAISAL OF THE MILITARY OPERATIONS FOREIGN INTERVENTION Part One: The Background The beginning: the early days of tanks in the Spanish Army Organization and structure of Armor in the Spanish Army on the eve of the Civil War Part Two: Foreign Aid Arrives Soviet Participation The Italian aid and the Volunteer Corps Germany enters the arena Part Three: Balance of Forces Organization and Structure of the Nationalist Armored Forces Organization and Structure of the Republican Armored Forces Part Four: Operations The Opening Rounds: Blitzkrieg “Franco’s style” On the Move: Republican armor always “not enough” Stalemate and Attrition The End: The Battle of the Ebro and the Catalonia offensive Antitank warfare Logistics TANK MAINTENANCE ON THE NATIONALIST SIDE AND THE SERVICE FOR WAR EQUIPMENT RECOVERY TANK COMBAT SERVICE SUPPORT IN THE PEOPLE’S ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC A KEY FEATURE: THE REPUBLICAN TANK SCHOOL AT ARCHENA Part Five: Aftermath The Experience Reconsidered: Conclusions A Reappraisal on the Equipment and Armament SOVIET EQUIPMENT ITALIAN EQUIPMENT GERMAN EQUIPMENT A SPECIAL CASE: CAPTURED RUSSIAN TANKS IN SERVICE WITH THE SPANISH NATIONALIST ARMY RESUME OF TANKS SUPPLIED BY FOREIGN POWERS Epilogue Gallery Spanish pre-war equipment Italian Aid German Aid Russian aid Russian tanks captured by the Nationalist Army Additional Bibliography and further recommended reading

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Book SynopsisIn 1941, military operations were conducted by large formations along the northern coast of Scandinavia – for the first time in history of warfare. A modern army suddenly swept into that isolated and inhospitable region that was yet to possess the level of importance it would later assume in Cold War polar strategy.The Arctic Front was the northernmost theatre in the war waged by Germany against Russia. For a period of four years, German troops from all branches of the Wehrmacht fought side by side with Finnish border guard units. The high point of the war on the Arctic Front was the assembly and advance of Germany’s Mountain Corps Norway in the summer and autumn of 1941. Commanded by general of the mountain troops, Eduard Dietl, and composed of the 2nd and 3rd Mountain Divisions, the Mountain Corps advanced out of occupied North Norway, assembled in the Petsamo Corridor in North Finland, and struck into Russian territory in an attempt to seize Murmansk. It did not reach its objective.This account of the operation was written by Wilhelm Hess, quartermaster of the Mountain Corps Norway. He draws upon his personal experience of the conditions and actions on the Arctic Front in order to describe and analyse the environment, the sequence of events, and the reasons behind certain decisions. In addition to describing how operations conducted by the Mountain Corps unfolded, Hess provides insight as to how the terrain, the flow of supplies, and the war at sea impacted those operations.Trade Review...if you have any kind of interest in understanding what it entails to wage warfare in the Arctic Circle or an interest in military logistics - then this book is a must read. * Misc US Reviewer *This is a serious, thoughtful book about war "on the right wing of the Western Front and the left wing of the Eastern Front" in conditions hardly conducive to survival, let alone combat. Definitely recommended. * Stone & Stone Second World War Books *Table of Contents1. The Mountain Corps Norway 2. Fennoscandia and Kola 3. The threat from the west 4. Assembly of forces in the east 5. Operational plans 6. Petsamo 7. Cutting off Rybachy Peninsula 8. Overcoming the border fortifications 9. Meeting engagements 10. The first attack over the Litsa River 11. The second attack over the Litsa River 12. The operations of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla 13. Mopping up the Duchy 14. The last days of summer 15. The third attack over the Litsa River 16. The reasons for failure 17. Upheaval and relief 18. Positional warfare and the line of security 19. On the Luttojoki River 20. The supply of the mountain corps

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Book SynopsisThis volume in the Die Wehrmacht im Kampf series examines Erich Hoepner's leadership of panzer formations in Poland in 1939, France in 1940, and Russia in 1941. It is written by Walter Chales de Beaulieu, a general staff officer who fought alongside Hoepner. Erich Hoepner was one of the most competent tank commanders of World War II, playing a significant role in Germany’s early successes. As the commander of the XVI Panzer Corps at the outbreak of war in 1939, Hoepner carried out the main thrust towards Warsaw. The panzer corps covered 250 kilometres and reached the outskirts of the city in only eight days.In 1940, commanding the same formation, Hoepner fought the French Cavalry Corps in Belgium, partook in the encirclement of Allied forces near Dunkirk, and advanced southwards over the Weygand Line deep into French territory. In 1941, Hoepner became the commander of Panzer Group 4, which was the main attack formation for the advance on Leningrad. It made rapid progress to begin with, but an increasingly wide and exposed front meant that the attack gradually ground to a halt. After one final attempt to capture the city in the middle of September failed, the panzer group was redeployed to the central sector of the Eastern Front. It was there that the panzer group was to help with the push towards Moscow. In conjunction with Panzer Group 3, Hoepner’s Panzer Group 4 completed and eliminated the Vyazma pocket. Hoepner frequently felt that he was not allowed to advance on Moscow quickly enough by his superiors, yet his decision to conduct a withdrawal in January 1942 led to his dismissal.In this book, Walter Chales de Beaulieu provides insight into Erich Hoepner’s ability as a panzer commander, painting a picture of a man who was committed to the military profession, who possessed a strong sense of responsibility, and who was confident enough to exercise his own will.Trade ReviewThis is an excellent military biography of one of the chief Panzer commanders of the early part of World War II. The author shows us the thoughts and writings of Hoepner during these campaigns. It is a window into the inner workings of the Panzer forces early in the war. * A Wargamer's Needful Things 28/09/2022 *Table of ContentsDuring the campaign in Poland 1939 Mission of 14th Panzerkorps Breakthrough of14th Panzerkorps in direction of Warsaw The 14th Panzerkorps in a blocking positionwest of Warsaw Decision at river Buzra Observations on Leadership. The campaign in France 1940 Time for preparations The push on to Belgium The main effort at Flanders The offensive against the Weygand line Over river Marne toriver Rhone. The push on to Leningrad 1941 Preparations and operational intents A quick push toriver Düna Through Lettland to the Stalin line The setting for the offensive against the city of Leningrad The Panzergruppe is stopped for the first time Restructuring measures Attack from the river Luga bridge head Armour in front of Leningrad. The attack on to Moscow Deployment of forces and intentions The “Kessel” of Wjasma The Deployment for Moscow The “general” order The dismissal of Colonel General Hoepner Conclusion

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Book SynopsisDuring Paris’s Belle Époque (1871-1914), many cultural movements and artistic styles flourished--Symbolism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau, the Decadents--all of which profoundly shaped modern culture. Inseparable from this cultural advancement was the explosion of occult activity taking place in the City of Light at the same time. Exploring the magical, artistic, and intellectual world of the Belle Époque, Tobias Churton shows how a wide variety of Theosophists, Rosicrucians, Martinists, Freemasons, Gnostics, and neo-Cathars called fin-de-siècle Paris home. He examines the precise interplay of occultists Joséphin Peladan, Papus, Stanislas de Guaïta, and founder of the modern Gnostic Church Jules Doinel, along with lesser known figures such as Saint-Yves d’Alveydre, Paul Sédir, Charles Barlet, Edmond Bailly, Albert Jounet, Abbé Lacuria, and Lady Caithness. He reveals how the work of many masters of modern culture such as composers Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, writers Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire, and painters Georges Seurat and Alphonse Osbert bear signs of immersion in the esoteric circles that were thriving in Paris at the time. The author demonstrates how the creative hermetic ferment that animated the City of Light in the decades leading up to World War I remains an enduring presence and powerful influence today. Where, he asks, would Aleister Crowley and all the magicians of today be without the Parisian source of so much creativity in this field?Trade Review". . . a massive, focused exploration of the relationship between the mystical and the creative. . .This entertaining volume will please fans of esoterica and the City of Light." * Publishers Weekly *“With Tobias Churton as the cicerone--or dare I say psychopomp?--the reader is expertly guided in the labyrinthine world of the Occult Paris of the Belle Époque (1871-1914). This is the best introduction to the French occult revival ever written in English.” * Henrik Bogdan, professor of religious studies at the University of Gothenburg *“Music, art, literature, mysticism--fin-de-siècle Paris had it all in great abundance, and in Tobias Churton’s latest tome he uncovers the hidden and not-so-hidden connections between Satie, Debussy, Redon, Rops, Khnopff, Gauguin, Crowley, Lévi, Papus, Mathers, Péladan, Michelet, Blavatsky, Reuss, Huysmans, Breton, and countless others. . . . Eminently readable and filled with meticulous historical details, this is a fabulous depiction of one of the most exciting and fervent periods of creativity in modern times.” * John Zorn, composer-performer *“A tour de force. A stunning account of fin-de-siècle Occult Paris and its lasting influence on the counterculture. . . . Churton gives comprehensive portrayals of such occult luminaries as Péladan, Papus, and de Guaita as well as a portrayal of their movements and a seminal analysis of esoteric art--in particular the ‘Rosicrucian’ art of the salons--locating its place in the intellectual, cultural, and political milieu of the Belle Époque. Tobias is as erudite as he is excited and exciting. His scholarship is alive with passion, imagination, humor, and, most of all, humanity. A must-read for students of European history, Art Nouveau, Symbolism, Idealism, Surrealism, and the Decadents as well as for neo-Rosicrucian, Templar and Gnostic esotericists, and modern-day alchemists and magicians.” * Stephen J. King (Shiva X°), Grand Master, Ordo Templi Orientis *“No one can evoke the feel of a place and an era like Tobias Churton! This is Paris in the Belle Époque, but behind the city of the can-can, Toulouse-Lautrec, and the Moulin Rouge, Churton shows us a Paris of seekers in mysterious worlds--magic, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, alchemy--and of artists, writers, and composers who were also drawn to those realms. The spirit of their compelling quest is stamped on every page of this book.” * Christopher McIntosh, Ph.D., author of Eliphas Lévi *“Tobias Churton brings this amazing era to life. Gnostics, Free Masons, Rosicrucians, Hermetics…The echos of Paris’ Belle Epoque is still heard in cultural and spiritual movements today.” * The Echo *Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments ONE "Memories Weigh More than Stone": Edmond Bailly's Bookshop 1888 Victor-Emile Michelet at Bailly's Bookshop TWO The Build Up Politics and Power Decadence Recovering Lost Powers THREE Meetings with Remarkable Men St. Martin Fabre d'Olivet Eliphas Levi FOUR Theosophy and the Tradition Lady Caithness Saint-Yves d'Alveydre Agarttha FIVE Stanislas de Guaita Abbe Lacuria SIX The Sar The Peladans SEVEN The Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross Vicomte Louis Charles Edouard de Lapasse and the Rose-Croix of Toulouse Peladan and the Templars De Guaita and Boullan The Order Paul Adam Barlet EIGHT Papus Paul Sedir and Marc Haven NINE Rosicrucial Differences The Order of the Catholic Rose-Croix, the Temple and the Graal TEN The Salon of the Century The Manifestation ELEVEN The Boullan Affair TWELVE Satie and Debussy: Moved by the Gnosis Gnossiennes--Erik's Gnostic Twist The Way Out The Esoteric Debussy The Magic in Music THIRTEEN The Gnostic Church Jules Doinel Leonce-Eugene Joseph Fabre des Essarts (1848-1917) Developments within the Gnostic Church--the Palladium Controversy FOURTEEN How to Become a Magus: The Rose-Croix Salons 1893-1897 The Salon of 1893 The Rose-Croix Salons of 1894 and 1895 FIFTEEN The Martinist Order SIXTEEN The Boys Move In Joanny Bricaud (1881-1934) Deodat Roche The Ancient & Primitive Rites of Memphis and Misraim Theodor Reuss, Ancient & Primitive, and the Universal Gnostic Church SEVENTEEN To the End with Papus EIGHTEEN The Legacy: A Forgotten Dream Extramural Synarchy Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisWith Germany in the World, award-winning historian David Blackbourn radically revises conventional narratives of German history, demonstrating the existence of a distinctly German presence in the world centuries before its unification—and revealing a national identity far more complicated than previously imagined. Blackbourn traces Germany’s evolution from the loosely bound Holy Roman Empire of 1500 to a sprawling colonial power to a twenty-first-century beacon of democracy. Viewed through a global lens, familiar landmarks of German history—the Reformation, the Revolution of 1848, the Nazi regime—are transformed, while others are unearthed and explored, as Blackbourn reveals Germany’s leading role in creating modern universities and its sinister involvement in slave-trade economies. A global history for a global age, Germany in the World is a bold and original account that upends the idea that a nation’s history should be written as though it took place entirely within that nation’s borders.Trade Review"[A] rich and full-throated book"" -- Neal Ascherson - The Observer"[An] all-embracing history of Germany's relationship with the outside world... readers of this book will never see Germany in quite the same way again. " -- The Economist"In this detailed and original study, David Blackbourn argues that Germany's influence stretches around the world and has done so since long before there was a unified German geopolitical entity. " -- The New European

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Book SynopsisThe Nobel laureate Otto Warburg was widely regarded as one of the most important biochemists of the twentieth century. A Jewish homosexual living openly with his partner, he was also among the most despised figures in the Third Reich. Yet top Nazi officials—perhaps even Hitler himself—dreaded cancer and protected Warburg in the hope he could cure it. Using new archival sources and interviews with current cancer authorities, Sam Apple depicts a relentless figure, hungry for fame, who pursued his research even as the world around him disintegrated. Remarkably, Warburg’s theory about the metabolic origins of cancer has been revived in our own time, as scientists investigate the dangers of sugar and the link between obesity and cancer. Ravenous is a book for readers of Alan Turing and The Emperor of All Maladies: a tale of scientific discovery, personal peril and the race to end a disastrous disease.Trade Review"While millions of other Europeans with Jewish heritage were being rounded up and sent to their deaths, Otto Warburg enjoyed Nazi protection and a comfortable life in Berlin. Sam Apple, author of a new book, Ravenous, explores his remarkable tale of survival." -- BBC History Revealed"The research that Warburg is best known for today, and the work that forms the backbone of Ravenous, is his discovery that cancer cells behave differently from healthy cells in two very specific ways: They consume massive amounts of glucose — Apple compares them to ravenous shipwrecked sailors — and they eschew aerobic respiration in favor of fermentation... Apple covers everything from Hitler’s obsessive preoccupation with cancer to how the German Empire’s transformation into an industrial powerhouse led to a Romanticism-fueled movement that emphasized both environmental and racial purity. The fact that Apple can make these stories... feel so immediate is a testament to his canny knack for choosing apposite details." -- Seth Mnookin - The New York Times Book Review"Eye-opening... filled with... outrageous and entertaining stories... I walked away from Ravenous thinking of Otto Warburg as a sort of Sigmund Freud of cancer research." -- Sam Kean - The Wall Street Journal"Ravenous tells the story of an extraordinary life, and of the visionary work that sustained it... Apple has a gift for elegant analogies and illuminating similes… [An] exceptionally interesting and well-written book..." -- Thomas Morris - Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisSo shattering were the after-effects of Kishinev, the rampage that broke out in Russia in April 1903, that one historian remarked that it was “nothing less than a prototype for the Holocaust itself”. In three days of violence, 49 Jews were killed and 600 raped or wounded, whilst more than 1,000 Jewish-owned houses and stores were ransacked and destroyed. Recounted in lurid detail by newspapers throughout the Western world, the pre-Easter attacks seized the imagination of an international public, quickly becoming the prototype for what would become known as a “pogrom” and providing the impetus for efforts as varied as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the NAACP. With new evidence from Russia, Israel and Europe, Steven J. Zipperstein brings historical insight and clarity to a much-misunderstood event.Trade Review"Pogrom is an outstanding mix of detailed social history, close readings of texts and historical storytelling. It is never dry or merely academic. Zipperstein moves between the details of what happened in Kishinev but always has an eye for the bigger story, especially for what it tells us about both modern Russian and Jewish history, and what pogroms came to symbolise for generations of American immigrants, Zionists and socialists. It is a superb work." -- New Statesman"Zipperstein deserves praise for the detail, balance and originality of his book. His unwinding of the events, his careful analysis of the evidence and his sensitive description of the actors are commendable. Pogrom comes as close as we shall ever get to an authoritative account of one of the most awful chapters in modern times." -- Literary Review"... impressive, heart-wrenching new book on the subject... Zipperstein gives us a strong, clear narrative as well as appalling details... masterly work…" -- The International New York Times"This book is fascinating..." -- The Jewish Chronicle"The methodical slaughter of forty-nine Jews on the streets of Kishinev, the capital of Moldova, over the course of three days in April, 1903, was a pivotal event in the history of modern anti-Semitism, the rise of Zionism, and, as a symbol of racist violence, a catalyst for the rise of the N.A.A.C.P. With extraordinary scholarly energy, Zipperstein uncovers sources in Russian, Yiddish, and English that show not only why this bloody event ignited the Jewish imagination, its sense of embattlement in exile, but also why it had such lasting resonance internationally." -- The New Yorker"A riveting, often painful and vivid picture of a pogrom which captured attention worldwide, Zipperstein looks beyond the event itself and demonstrates how the tragedy at the heart of Russia served as a catalyst for the widest range of institutions including the NAACP. Written with the insight of an impeccable historian, his account—that will intrigue scholars as well as the widest array of readers—can be seen as a harbinger of what would come but four decades later." -- Deborah Lipstadt, author of The Eichmann Trial

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Book SynopsisThis is a compelling account of the German defense of the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Against overwhelming Soviet forces the book shows how the German Army Group North was driven across the Baltics from Leningrad and fought a number isolated battles including the defense of Narva, Memel and the Kurland pocket.The book outlines in dramatic detail how Hitler forbade his troops to withdraw, ordering them to follow his Halt Order Decree and fight to the death. However, exhausted and demoralized by continuous Soviet assaults, Army Group North became cut-off and isolated, fighting fanatically to hold the capital cities of Tallin, Vilnius and Riga. What followed were German forces fighting to the death in the last few small pockets of land surrounding three ports: Libau in Kurland, Pillau in East Prussia and Danzig at the mouth of the River Vistula. In the Kurland, German divisions became surrounded and fought a vicious defense until May 1945.Drawing on a host of rare and unpublished photographs accompanied by in-depth captions and text, the book provides an absorbing read of the Red Army's conquering of the Baltics.Trade ReviewThe publisher's ability to create com­pact yet detailed and well-illustrated volumes is shown in this latest edition covering the Baltic fighting. The photographs are excellent, as are the maps and artwork. There is also extensive information on unit organization and leader­ship. The work gives the reader a complete look at one of the lesser understood campaigns of the Eastern Front. * WWII History Magazine *Another impressive title in the Casement Illustrated series, and a useful book for modelers interested in the Axis and Soviet forces engaged in that epic struggle. The text is clear and informative, and the visual galleries alone are worth acquiring the book. * Armorama 11/01/2023 *Modelers of World War II Eastern Front will have a plethora of images to gain inspiration. The photographs show the desperation, strain of war, environmental conditions, and brutality of war. * IPMS USA 14/12/2022 *...it is the photographs that are really what makes this book special. * Modelling Madness *The text plus the photos and their captions, the artwork profiles and plenty of maps all fit nicely together to explain the story of the events in the Baltic States in the closing stages of WW2. * Military Model Scene *This highly informative volume details the Germans' resistance while trying to stem the inevitable collapse. … The situation was always going to end badly for the Germans as revealed so poignantly in this fascinating book. * Gun Mart 20/02/2023 *Table of Contents1. Prelude to destruction 2. Defensive positions 3. Defending the frontiers of Estonia & Lithuania 2 February–13 July 1944 – Narva Front, Crushing of Vilnius 4. Battle of Attrition – 21 July 1944–January 1945 – Withdrawal, Tallinn Offensive, Riga Offensive, Retreat to Kurland 5. Fortress Kurland 6. Baltic Exodus

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Book SynopsisThe German Army was all-conquering until late 1941 when, only a few miles short of Moscow, it ran out of steam. Maniacal defence, the Russian winter and exhaustion all played their part and, although they didn't realise it, the German forces wouldn't advance further on this front. While they continued their offensives into 1942, Soviet defenses had stiffened. Its equipment – notably the T-34 – had improved and the Germans had lost too many of their best men: the savvy NCOs and experienced junior officers that gave the Wehrmacht its edge over the opposition. They had lost their moral compass as well. Complicity in the massacres of the SS-Einsatzgruppen, the barbarity of the anti-Partisan operations and summary execution for those who flagged, were the hallmarks of the German Army's fight for survival against people it considered less than human.Outnumbered, under attack on many other fronts, their homeland bombarded unceasingly from the air, the German servicemen endured the hell of the Eastern Front until their armies were destroyed in 1945. While the morality of the regime they fought for and its reprehensible actions should never be forgotten, what cannot be denied is the indefatigable courage of the German infantrymen.Fully illustrated with over 200 contemporary photographs and illustrations – and exploring a broad range of topics from uniform, weapons and provisions to tactics and communications – this title provides valuable insights into the Germans' main theater of operations in World War II.Table of ContentsTimeline Introduction The Soldier Facilities Tactics Life in the Field Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe remarkable story of the cartographic masterpiece—the Venetian mappa mundi—that revolutionized how we see the world.In 1459 a Venetian monk named Fra Mauro completed an astonishing map of the world. Seven feet in diameter, Fra Mauro’s mappamundi is the oldest and most complete Medieval map to survive into modernity. And in its time, this groundbreaking mappamundi provided the most detailed description of the known world, incorporating accurate observation, and geographic reality, urging viewers to see water and land as they really existed. Fra Mauro's map was the first in history to show that a ship could circumnavigate Africa, and that the Indian “Sea” was in fact an ocean, enabling international trade to expand across the globe. Acclaimed anthropologist Meredith F. Small reveals how Fra Mauro’s mappamundi made cartography into a science rather than a practice based on religion and ancient myths. Here Begins the Dark Sea brings Fra Mauro’s masterpiece to life as a work of art and a window into Venetian society and culture. In telling the story of this cornerstone of modern cartography, Small takes the reader on a fascinating journey as she explores the human urge to find our way. Here Begins the Dark Sea is a riveting testament to the undeniable impact Fra Mauro and his mappamundi have had over the past five centuries and still holds relevance today.Trade Review“Around 1450, the Venetian government commissioned a monk named Fra Mauro to make a mappa mundi, a map of the world. His map is a circle nearly 7 feet in diameter, crammed with illustrations and annotations; the work took several years. When it was done, it was the most detailed and accurate map of the known world that anyone had yet made. Here Begins the Dark Sea is an engaging guide to Fra Mauro’s times and techniques.” -- The Wall Street Journal"For all interested in maps and the history of exploration, this book is a wonderful read." -- The Explorers Journal“A study of one of history’s most influential maps. Small provides a fascinating exploration of the impressively detailed mappa mundi created by Venetian monk Fra Mauro. Interesting and approachable, this book will appeal to any student of geography or world history.” -- Kirkus Reviews"Here Begins the Dark Sea is a captivating exploration of Fra Mauro’s creation of the most accurate world map of its time. The book takes readers on a journey through the history of mapmaking, revealing the innovative thinking and dedication that went into Fra Mauro’s masterpiece. It is a must-read for anyone with an interest in the history of mapmaking or medieval geography." -- Medieval Archives Praise for Inventing the World"Small catalogs a dizzying array of Venetian innovations in this illuminating account. Small enlivens her research with personal anecdotes about her love for Venice, and moves fluidly from one topic to the next. The result is a delightful and informative cabinet of wonders." * Publishers Weekly *"Venice does not lack admirers, but this is an inventive addition. An anthropologist at Cornell, Small emphasizes the city’s social structure as she describes “how one small place had an outsized influence on the development of Western culture.” Venice lovers already familiar with plaudits by other travelers and historians will enjoy this different perspective." * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisThis is the story of the decline and fall of an empire, a region devastated by war, and a world stage fundamentally transformed by the Russian Revolution. Bauer’s magisterial work -- available in English for the first time in full -- charts the evolution of three simultaneous, overlapping revolutionary waves: a national revolution for self-determination, which brought down imperial Austro-Hungary; a bourgeois revolution for parliamentary republics and universal suffrage; and a social revolution for workers’ control, factory councils, and industrial democracy.The brief but crowning achievement of Red Vienna, alongside Bauer’s unique theorization of an "integral socialism" -- an attempted synthesis of revolutionary communism and social democracy -- is a vital part of the left’s intellectual and historical heritage. Today, as movements once again struggle with questions of reform or revolution, political strategy, and state power, this is a crucial resource. Bauer tells the story of the Austrian Revolution with all the immediacy of a central participant, and all the insight of a brilliant and original theorist.Trade Review"The appearance of Otto Bauer’s classic study, The Austrian Revolution, ably translated for the first time by Walter Baier and Eric Canepa, is ... a welcome addition to the English-language literature on Austrian history. First published in 1923, the book examines the republic’s early years from the perspective of one of European socialism’s leading theorists and one of Austria’s most important political actors. It is a work of history deeply informed by the author’s concrete political experience as well as his commitment to a Marxist approach to understanding unfolding events.” —Jacobin"It is largely thanks to Otto Bauer’s The Austrian Revolution that I discovered the richness of the Austro-Marxist tradition and the many affinities between the writings of Bauer and of our Gramsci, especially on the question of hegemony.’ – Luciana Castellina, co-founder of Il Manifesto"The revolution in Central Europe in 1918-21 was a giant event that came closer to changing world history than most of us realize. For English-speakers, this translation opens a challenging new window on the Austrian workers’ council movement and the role of the Entente powers in the counter-revolution that followed. Published in 1923, it stands unique as an analysis of the revolution’s internal dynamics and the costs of defeat.’ – Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums"Otto Bauer’s The Austrian Revolution is one of the classics of Marxist political analysis comparable to Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire or Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution, and it is one of the forgotten shining gems of the extraordinarily rich literature of Austro-Marxism." – Michael R. Krätke, author of Friedrich Engels"Red Vienna and the contributions of its protagonists like Otto Bauer are tragically overlooked on the contemporary left. Baier and Canepa have edited a thrilling work from Bauer with the aim of correcting that―and to chart a new course for those looking for alternatives to bankrupt social-democratic parties and defeated Leninist ones."– Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin Table of ContentsFirst Section: War and RevolutionThe Southern Slavs and the WarThe Czechs and the EmpireThe Poles and the Central PowersGerman Austria in the WarSecond Section: The UpheavalThe Formation of the "Nation-States"The Disintegration of the EmpireThe German-Austrian RepublicNational and Social RevolutionThird Section: The Predominance of the Working ClassRevolutionary and Counter-Revolutionary ForcesBetween Imperialism and BolshevismThe Revolution in the FactoriesThe State and the Working ClassFourth Section: The Period of Equilibrium Between Class ForcesEconomic Upheaval and Social RegroupingThe Struggle for Republican InstitutionsThe Battle Against the Counter-RevolutionThe People’s RepublicFifth Section: The Restoration of the BourgeoisieThe Monetary CatastropheThe Geneva TreatyThe Outcome of the Revolution and the Tasks of Social DemocracIndex

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Book Synopsis“A Nazi resistance story like none you’ve ever heard or read.” —Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and On Desperate Ground"Every page is gripping, and the amount of new research is nothing short of mind-boggling. A brilliant book for the ages!” —Douglas Brinkley, author of American Moonshot A Stonewall Honor Book in Nonfiction Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in NonfictionPaper Bullets is the first book to tell the history of an audacious anti-Nazi campaign undertaken by an unlikely pair: two French women, Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe, who drew on their skills as Parisian avant-garde artists to write and distribute “paper bullets”—wicked insults against Hitler, calls to rebel, and subversive fictional dialogues designed to demoralize Nazi troops occupying their adopted home on the British Channel Island of Jersey. Devising their own PSYOPS campaign, they slipped their notes into soldier’s pockets or tucked them inside newsstand magazines. Hunted by the secret field police, Lucy and Suzanne were finally betrayed in 1944, when the Germans imprisoned them and tried them in a court martial, sentencing them to death for their actions. Ultimately they survived, but even in jail, they continued to fight the Nazis by reaching out to other prisoners and spreading a message of hope. Better remembered today by their artist names, Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, the couple’s actions were even more courageous because of who they were: lesbian partners known for cross-dressing and creating the kind of gender-bending work that the Nazis would come to call “degenerate art.” In addition, Lucy was half Jewish, and they had communist affiliations in Paris, where they attended political rallies with Surrealists and socialized with artists like Gertrude Stein.Paper Bullets is a compelling World War II story that has not been told before about the galvanizing power of art, and of resistance.Trade ReviewA Stonewall Honor Book in NonfictionLonglisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction'A Nazi resistance story like none you’ve ever heard or read.' —Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and On Desperate Ground'Every page is gripping, and the amount of new research is nothing short of mind-boggling. A brilliant book for the ages!' —Douglas Brinkley, author of American Moonshot A Booklist Editors' Choice, Biography Memoir “Every page is gripping, and the amount of new research is nothing short of mindboggling. A brilliant book for the ages!” —Douglas Brinkley, Rice University Professor and bestselling author of American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race “This is a Nazi resistance story like none you’ve ever heard or read, a story with two unlikely heroines who risked their lives in their subversive—and often wildly creative—struggle to face down evil. Paper Bullets prompts us to explore the boundaries of art, love, gender, and politics—and to question the true meaning of courage.”—Hampton Sides, bestselling author of In the Kingdom of Ice and On Desperate Ground “Cataloguing everything from their small but fearless acts of resistance to their harrowing stints in prison cells, author Jeffrey H. Jackson had us utterly riveted. His well-researched history goes deep into the characters of these two unlikely heroes, whose rebellion was fueled by love and compassion. Malherbe and Schwob’s inspiring story is barely known, but Paper Bullets will make you want to shout it from the rooftops.” —Apple Books (Best Book of November) “A captivating tale of queer love and resistance during World War II . . . Jackson’s research is impeccable and his writing is lively . . . Paper Bullets is a gem of a historical text about two women who stood up to power defiantly, living on their own terms.” —Foreword Reviews (starred review) “A remarkable story of creative courage . . . exceptional and inspiring.” —Booklist(starred review) “The book, at once tense and tender, is a scrupulously researched account of [Cahun and Moore's] lives. It is the first biography to comprehensively weave together their lifelong romance, radical art and fearless political resistance during World War II . . . Yet, even with its piercing wartime depictions of rationing and hunger, intimidation and depravity, and nail-biting acts of resistance, Paper Bullets is at its core a story of devotion.”—The Washington Post “A fascinating examination of community and resistance, gender and sexuality, and what it means to recognize the humanity in every person.”—Chapter 16 “Jeffrey Jackson brings to light Lucy and Suzanne’s courage and savvy in this book that reads like a classic WWII spy thriller, but with a modern focus on how these two heroes took society’s default tendency to underestimate women’s power and agency, especially during wartime, and used it to undermine the Nazis. We marvel at how they hide in plain sight as they stealthily fight the very forces trying to exterminate who they really are. And not only do they outsmart their German foes, but they survive to tell about it.” —Emily Yellin, author of Our Mothers’ War “A unique WWII history and absorbing story of two bold, unconventional women.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Paper Bullets has it all — it's a tale of romance in spite of the odds, a slice of art history, and an inspirational World War II story. It is, simply put, nearly impossible to put down.” —Memphis Flyer “Impeccably researched and meticulously sourced, Paper Bullets is a welcome and timely portrait of courage and creativity.” —Bookpage “Readers will delight in this unique and well-crafted story of wartime resistance.” — Publishers Weekly “This is a satisfying contribution to World War II scholarship, highlighting a sophisticated, cultured, and still grassroots resistance effort.” —Library Journal “Paper Bullets reads like a well-paced, nail-biting thriller. Jeffrey H Jackson leads us through a novel-like tale of intrigue, scandal and plucky war-time resistance . . . The power of art and the impact of political artists makes for a gripping rollercoaster ride that we thoroughly enjoyed.” —Daily Art Magazine “A gripping story. The lesbian couple Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe deployed their intellectual capacities and peacetime experience in dissembling their identities to challenge the German occupiers with artistic 'paper bullets.' The contest between the baffled Nazis and the crafty traitors animates this historical thriller.” —Bonnie G. Smith, author of Women In World History “A regular occurrence in queer history is erasure. This book allows the past to speak for itself. Jackson elevates and highlights these Nazi-fighters and avant-garde artists—better known today as Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore—and reminds us to use spiritual arms instead of firearms in the face of growing division and hate.”—Tommy Kha, artist and winner of the 2019 Creative Review Photography Annual “Riveting. Breaks new ground in our understanding of collaboration and resistance in Nazi-occupied Europe and the impact of women in wartime. A must-read for anyone interested in World War II, resistance, women's history, or the defense of democratic ideals during times of tyranny and oppression.”—Michael D. Bess, Vanderbilt University Professor and author of Choices Under Fire

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Book Synopsis“A tour de force of storytelling.” —Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Gamache series“Jobb’s excellent storytelling makes the book a pleasure to read.” —The New York Times Book Review “When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals,” Sherlock Holmes observed during one of his most baffling investigations. “He has nerve and he has knowledge.” In the span of fifteen years, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream murdered as many as ten people in the United States, Britain, and Canada, a death toll with almost no precedent. Poison was his weapon of choice. Largely forgotten today, this villain was as brazen as the notorious Jack the Ripper. Structured around the doctor’s London murder trial in 1892, when he was finally brought to justice, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream exposes the blind trust given to medical practitioners, as well as the flawed detection methods, bungled investigations, corrupt officials, and stifling morality of Victorian society that allowed Dr. Cream to prey on vulnerable and desperate women, many of whom had turned to him for medical help. Dean Jobb transports readers to the late nineteenth century as Scotland Yard traces Dr. Cream’s life through Canada and Chicago and finally to London, where new investigative tools called forensics were just coming into use, even as most police departments still scoffed at using science to solve crimes. But then, most investigators could hardly imagine that serial killers existed—the term was unknown. As the Chicago Tribune wrote, Dr. Cream’s crimes marked the emergence of a new breed of killer: one who operated without motive or remorse, who “murdered simply for the sake of murder.” For fans of Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, all things Sherlock Holmes, or the podcast My Favorite Murder, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream is an unforgettable true crime story from a master of the genre.Trade ReviewOne of the Most Anticipated Books of 2021: The New York Times Book Review * BuzzFeed * CNN * CrimeReads * Book Riot One of IndieWire's 10 Best Gifts for True Crime Fans One of The Washington Post's "50 Notable Works of Nonfiction" One of CrimeReads' "Best True Crime Books of 2021" "Jobb recounts Cream's life and evokes the societal attitudes that allowed him to kill: the blind faith placed in doctors, the power imbalance between Cream and the people who sought his care." --The New York Times "A deeply absorbing account of the life and deeds of one of the Ripper's earliest 'successors' . . . An admirable piece of work, a model for its kind." --The Wall Street Journal "[Dr. Thomas Neill Cream] will hauntingly occupy a space in your nightmares after you read of his life and crimes in The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream. An extraordinarily well-researched and arrestingly written work . . . this is a book that grabs you from its first sentence, weaving a suspenseful tale and taking readers on a grand, if gruesome, historical journey." --Chicago Tribune "Jobb . . . re-creates Cream's heartless life in short, highly dramatic chapters." --The Washington Post "If you've been hunting for your next true crime addiction this summer, Dean Jobb's The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream has it all: a serial-killer doctor, corrupt leaders, and a ground-breaking investigation by Scotland Yard, all within the spellbinding setting of London circa 1892." --Elle "True crime fans will want to pick up Dean Jobb's engrossing account of Thomas Neill Cream . . . Jobb builds Cream's world in vivid, transportive detail; I had a lot of fun being swept away." --BuzzFeed, "28 Summer Books to Get Excited About" "A must for true crime fans." --CNN "A tour de force of storytelling. One of the best books I've read this year. Dean Jobb breathes new life into Cream's victims--who they were, where and how they lived--all the while blending in thorny issues of policing, of the fictional detectives being created, of the other serial killers on the loose. This book is both chilling and thrilling." --Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Gamache series "The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream is a macabre, utterly suspenseful true crime thriller about a forgotten madman every bit as cunning and evil as Jack the Ripper. Dean Jobb combines scholarship with a breakneck narrative so relentless it kept me up all night. Warning: Read with the lights on." --Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park "The story of the infamous poisoner Thomas Neill Cream is so many things--horrifying, fascinating, and insightful, a portrait of late 19th-century police work at a time when the idea of the professional detective was just starting to take shape. And in this vivid and compelling book, Dean Jobb does full justice to that story." --Deborah Blum, New York Times bestselling author of The Poisoner's Handbook "[Jobb] creates a nuanced portrait of Cream that's much more chilling than Mr. Hyde." --BookPage "Masterful . . . True crime doesn't get any better than this." --Booklist "[A] fascinating read." --Oxygen.com, July Book Club Selection "Chilling and fascinating . . . Jobb's true crime stories are not to be missed." --CrimeReads "Jobb's extensive research pays off in a true crime masterpiece that will easily sit alongside The Devil in the White City." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "Jobb richly embellishes his grim central tale with carefully researched setting, detail, and social mores of the late Victorian era, elegantly contrasted with his eponymous fiend, Thomas Neill Cream . . . A vivid, engaging revival of a forgotten Victorian villain." --Kirkus Reviews "An illuminating, if frightening, book . . . Jobb handles this hideous yet compelling story so well . . . An absorbing and grim account, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream is a gripping addition to the true crime genre." --Bookreporter.com "Jobb uses Cream's spree to illuminate the era's surgical and policing practices, and despite Cream's monstrousness, Jobb's storytelling 'makes the book a pleasure to read.'" --The Week "[A] fascinating read." --Oxygen.com "The graphically told tale of a notorious 19th-century slayer... Impressive." --Washington Independent Review of Books "Jobb does a masterful job of following the investigation, which ranged from England to the United States to Canada, and of presenting Dr. Cream not merely as a murderer, but as a complex, unstable, and deeply fascinating individual. True crime doesn't get any better than this." --Booklist "Jobb's research is excellent . . . [His] compelling account of Cream's reign of terror will appeal to readers interested in Jack the Ripper or Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper." --Library Journal "Engrossing . . . An informative and entertaining true crime text." --Foreword Review "Jobb captures the hypocrisy, class differences, and gender inequality of the times in an extensively researched non-fiction telling of the forgotten nineteenth century serial killer Dr. Thomas Neill Cream . . . Both grim and hard to put down." --Southern Bookseller Review "Dean Jobb's meticulous research is evident on every page of his gripping study of the extraordinary serial killer Doctor Cream, a nineteenth century 'monster of iniquity' whose homicidal career was truly stranger than fiction." --Martin Edwards, author of Mortmain Hall and the Lake District Mysteries "Dean Jobb has produced another mesmerizing feat of historical storytelling. The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream vividly recreates the career of one of the most audacious--and deadly--criminals in history." --Gary Krist, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Sin and The Mirage Factory "Tense, atmospheric, and effortlessly readable, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream has all the sinister elegance of a hansom cab emerging from a late Victorian London smog." --Paul Willetts, author of King Con "Deeply researched and rich in grisly detail, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream fuses the blow-by-blow efforts to catch a serial killer with the larger picture of crime and detection in the late nineteenth century. A fine piece of social history as well as an extraordinary story, it engrossed me right up to its deeply satisfying conclusion." --Charlotte Gray, author of eleven nonfiction bestsellers, including The Massey Murder and Murdered Midas "A brilliant evocation of an age and a fascinating dissection of a serial killer's crimes. Dean Jobb is a first-rate storyteller and historical detective. A real page-turner." --Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine "Corruption, madness, murder: Dr. Cream has it all. This is a spectacular and absorbing tale, meticulously reported and vividly told. An enthralling page-turner." --Jonathan Eig, author of Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster "The definitive retelling of a story about a devious doctor, the dogged investigators who hunted him, and the murders that shocked the world. Dr. Cream's story comes to life in Jobb's spellbinding tale." --Kate Winkler Dawson, author American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI "A tour de force of research, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream conjures an era when poisoners roamed the earth--and police seemed powerless to stop them." --Margalit Fox, author of Conan Doyle for the Defense "An exciting whodunit . . . Jobb also does the unusual in true crime: he describes in detail the lives of Cream's victims. The scholarship he employed to tell this story is staggering . . . the numbing regard and treatment of women in Victorian times -- especially of unmarried pregnant, widowed and abandoned women -- tugs at the heart." --Winnipeg Free Press "A must-read... historically rich and shockingly poignant, Jobb's text is not one to miss." --True Crime Index "First-rate creative non-fiction [and] very hard to put down . . . Crime buffs are going to motor through this book." --Saltwire.com

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Book Synopsis• Examines the significant figures and groups of Finland’s occult world, including their esoteric practices and the secret societies to which they were connected • Investigates the relationship of nationalism and esotericism in Finland as well as the history of Finnish parapsychology and the Finnish UFO craze • Looks at the unique evolution of Freemasonry in Finland, showing how, when Finland was still part of Russia and the Masonic order was banned, adherents created a number of other secret societies Finland has long been viewed as the land of sorcerers and shamans. Exploring the rich history of Finnish occultism, Perttu Häkkinen and Vesa Iitti examine the significant figures and groups of Finland’s occult world from the late 19th century to the present day. They begin with Pekka Ervast, known as the Rudolf Steiner of the North, who was a major figure in Theosophy before starting a Rosicrucian group called Ruusu-Risti, and they look at the Finnish disciples of G. I. Gurdjieff and the grim case of the cult of Tattarisuo. Investigating the relationship of nationalism and esotericism in Finland, the authors tell the stories of Sigurd Wettenhovi-Aspa, who thought that Finns were the root of all Western civilization, and of Yrjö von Grönhagen, who became a close friend of Heinrich Himmler and Karl Maria Wiligut. They also explore the history of Finnish parapsychology, the Finnish UFO craze, and the unique evolution of Freemasonry in Finland, showing how, when the Masonic order was banned, adherents created a number of other secret societies, such as the Carpenter’s Order, the Hypotenuse Order, and the Brotherhood of February 17--which later became hubs for the OTO and AMORC. Unveiling both the light and dark sides of modern esotericism in Finland, the authors show how, because of its unique position as partially European and partially Russian, Finland’s occult influence extends into the very heart of left-hand and right-hand occult groups and secret societies around the world.Trade Review“A pioneering work, well-written, insightful, and darkly humorous, Lightbringers of the North allows English language readers to delve for the first time into that shadow side of the Finnish soul, where they will find many marvelous, strange, and terrifying things--both tragic and majestic but perhaps also illuminations of the True North.” * Aki Cederberg, author of Journeys in the Kali Yuga *“In any old Scandinavian ghost story, there’s always the ‘scary old Finn’ with the power of second sight. This stereotype from Finland’s neighbors reveals an archaic thread in Finnish culture that has made Finland a great place for the occult notions of the last three hundred years to grow and mutate into something rich and strange. Until this wonderful volume we had no idea how rich, how strange, and (in contrast) how useful and practical. This is a volume for every serious occultist and scholar’s shelf.” * Don Webb, author of Overthrowing the Old Gods and How to Become a Modern Magus *“This well-researched and fascinating book is a real mind-opener— in many ways. Not only thanks to Finland’s unique history, containing so many larger-than-life individuals and events, but also on a general level in which we learn again and again that human beings will always gravitate toward the magical and miraculous in order to achieve genuine transformation. This particular Finnish prism or perspective is engaging as well as inspiring and provides a truly mesmerizing reading experience.” * Carl Abrahamsson, author of Occulture: The Unseen Forces That Drive Culture Forward *“Lightbringers of the North is among the rarest sorts of work a reader can expect to find. It reveals dark corners of knowledge and experience in a completely contemporary setting, yet one that is deeply embedded in the traditions of the Finnish north-world. The events described seem to stem from the most profound realm, yet the authors are able to bring this into the sphere of understanding of the discerning reader of today--a treasure trove of dark powers.” * Stephen E. Flowers, Ph.D., author of Lords of the Left-Hand Path *“Lightbringers of the North takes the reader on an informative, vivid, and exciting journey to the esoteric world that has often been forgotten in the Finnish history of religions and spirituality. The gallery of the lightbringers and their life stories are truly captivating. The book shows how the hunger for the spiritual and arcane knowledge can take various forms, expressing many aspects of human life, tragic, deep, sometimes even hilarious.” * Jussi Sohlberg, research coordinator at the Church Institute for Research and Advanced Training of F *"The authors of Lightbringers of the North cover a tremendous amount of occult Finnish history. They even delve into the background of Freemasony there, back when Finland was still part of Russia and the Masonic order was banned, causing adherents to create a number of secret societies like the Carpenter’s Order, the Hypotenuse Order, and the Brotherhood of February 17, including how following Finland’s independence from Russia in 1917, lodges began to reappear once again. Being heavily into UFO personalities, stories, and groups for well over half a century now, I was especially interested in reading about Finnish Ufology." * Brent, Raynes, Alternate Perceptions Magazine *"The authors of Lightbringers of the North have an ambitious goal of providing a thorough account of Finnish esotericism, mainly through individual histories. While this is virtually impossible within one book, the authors offer an impressive contribution to the discourse on esotericism and New Age movements in Finland. Although the book is aimed at a general audience, it is also likely to be useful for scholarly researchers." * ntti Savinainen, Quest: Journal of the Theosophical Society in America *Table of ContentsIntroduction1 Pekka Ervast, the Light of the North 2 Gurdjieff and the Stjernvalls 3 The Hand in the Spring: The Mystery of Tattarisuo4 The Clairvoyant of the Nation 5 “Demon est Deus inversus, Christus verus Luciferus”: The Infernal Life of Pekka Siitoin, the Archbishop of Lucifer6 Occultism and Nationalism 7 Nightside of the Soul: Parapsychology, Hypnosis, and Strange Thrills 8 Jorma Elovaara, the Wellington Boot Prophet9 “We Come From Everywhere”: The Esoteric History of Finnish Ufology 10 Kauko Nieminen, the Santa Claus of Kulosaari 11 Ior Bock, the Sperm Magician of Gumbostrand12 Lin gHa-Rej, Alias Aswa Haidar el-Hayyat, Alias Reima Saarinen: The Sex Magick Soldier of Turku 13 The Initiation of Docent Hannu Rauhala 14 Tapio Kotkavuori, Escapee15 Finland’s Lightbringers Today Epilogue In Memory of Perttu Häkkinen Bibliography Index About the Authors

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Book SynopsisBased on years of archival research, ‘The Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto’ is the most detailed study ever undertaken into the fate of more than 800 Jewish doctors who devoted themselves, in many cases until the day they died, to the care of the sick and the dying in the Ghetto. The functioning of the Ghetto hospitals, clinics and laboratories is explained in fascinating detail. Readers will learn about the ground-breaking research undertaken in the Ghetto as well as about the underground medical university that prepared hundreds of students for a career in medicine; a career that, in most cases, was to be cut brutally short within weeks of them completing their first year of studies.Trade Review“[The Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto] sheds light on the influence of doctors, nurses and other health workers on daily coping while attempting to survive and save lives. The book broadens the perspective regarding participants in the Uprising. Ciesielska describes dozens of doctors and nurses who, rather than fleeing for their lives following Aktions in the ghetto, stayed behind to treat their patients in the bunkers, where nearly all of them died; a type of ‘white-coat rebellion’ alongside the armed struggle. These medical services also reflect the doctors’ and nurses’ ethical decisions made under extreme tragic circumstances during the ghetto’s final stages. … This book is a must read for researchers of the Holocaust, the history of medicine, in general, and particularly Jewish medicine. Its appendixes pose an interesting research challenge for further study.”— Miriam Offer, Social History of Medicine“It goes without saying that the Nazis had no interest whatsoever in the well-being and health of the captive Jewish inhabitants of the Warsaw ghetto. But because they feared that diseases and epidemics might spread beyond it and endanger German personnel and afflict the general Polish population, they provided a bare modicum of assistance to Jewish hospitals, health services, doctors, nurses and pharmacists.Innumerable books have been written about the Holocaust in Poland, but precious few have dealt with this important but overlooked issue. Maria Ciesielska’s The Doctors of the Warsaw Ghetto… examines it in voluminous detail from the moment the ghetto was established in November 1940 until it was destroyed during the uprising in April 1943.”— Sheldon Kirshner, The Times of Israel (blog)“Dr. Maria Ciesielska’s account of the Jewish doctors in the Warsaw Ghetto adds an important dimension to the existing material, but this is not just another historical account. Dr Ciesielska’s meticulous, detailed, and comprehensive use of many personal memoirs and testimonies to document their lives, and their deaths, provides a special lens through we which we can learn and understand more about the personal stories of those doctors, nurses, and pharmacists who worked and lived under those dire and extreme circumstances in the Ghetto. Through her unique way of storytelling, Dr. Ciesielska provides us with a humanistic glimpse into the complexities of the daily lives of these Jewish victims, and the ethical and moral complexities that they faced as healthcare professionals. This is a work of devotion to the memory of these individuals.”— Dr. Tessa Chelouche, M.D.“This remarkable book depicts the heroic efforts which the Warsaw Ghetto doctors deployed to protect the inhabitants from epidemics and treat them if they were sick. Weakened by starvation, overcrowding, catastrophic hygienic conditions and diseases, most Ghetto residents did not survive. Many also perished in death camps. The Ghetto medical community was also almost completely wiped out. The author studied accounts by surviving physicians and provides a chronological history of the Ghetto medical organization, interspersed with portraits of Ghetto doctors. The book offers many examples of doctors’ altruism and self-sacrifice. Their exact number is unknown, but Dr. Ciesielska lists the names of over 700 of them. Their tragic and often heroic stories will now be available to English readers, both in the medical community and in the general population interested in the history of the Warsaw Ghetto.”— Claude Romney, Professor Emerita, University of Calgary“The Warsaw Ghetto is one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century, ending with the Great Deportation to Treblinka’s gas chambers; at the same time, the Ghetto offers an empowering story of a new and resourceful system of medical care which was a form of sustained resistance to the Nazi occupation. Maria Ciesielska tells this story vividly: she offers many new insights into the Jewish physicians and nurses confined to the Ghetto. It is a narrative of hope in efforts to create a new system of healthcare, and of dark violence from the Nazi authorities in their determination to destroy the Ghetto. The culmination is the heroic resistance of the Ghetto Uprising. We are offered a vivid and authoritative narrative with many new and often touching insights in the efforts to overcome epidemics and starvation. Dr. Ciesielska has created a lucidly written and inspiring book.”— Paul Weindling, Research Professor in the History of Medicine, Oxford Brookes University“Ciesielska, however, a specialist in family medicine and an expert in the history of medicine, has delved into the various archives in Poland, producing highly impressive findings. She presents a new, preliminary database, which will serve as a foundation for additional studies and is a significant contribution to commemorating Jewish doctors, both men and women. …Ciesielska’s findings are impressive and an invaluable achievement. Her methodically written book follows a chronological development placed in broad historical contexts and enriched by diverse sources. …Maria Ciesielska’s book sheds light on the ‘other side of the coin’ in its description of Jewish doctors. They left behind a written legacy that is also still relevant today. Their stories provide food for thought on the potential of maintaining ethical and professional strength, even in the most difficult circumstances, and of the ability to resist the forces of evil while continuing to provide patients with devoted medical care in impossible and unexpected conditions. The book also draws attention to the dozens of non-Jewish doctors, who assisted their Jewish colleagues while risking their own lives. Although their numbers were few, their inspirational actions were extraordinary.”— Miriam Offer, Western Galilee College, Israel, Holocaust and Genocide Studies“This meticulous account of the Warsaw Ghetto’s medical community, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, is a long overdue tribute to an era’s unsung heroes. Drawing extensively on archives, with appendices and a photo gallery listing over seven hundred individuals, backgrounds, specialties, hospital affiliations, the author sheds light on a subculture that emerged in 1940, following the ghetto’s establishment, and their dedication under the most hellish of environments to saving or helping Jewish lives. …This poignant but well-researched book is essential for Holocaust collections.”— Hallie Cantor, Yeshiva University, AJL News & ReviewsTable of ContentsACKNOWLEDGEMENTSFOREWORD BY PROFESSOR MICHAEL BERENBAUMFOREWORD BY LUC ALBINSKI PREFACECHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN POLANDCHAPTER II: THE MEDICAL SYSTEM IN PRE-WAR POLANDDoctors in pre-war PolandThe education of doctors in PolandCareer prospects of doctors in PolandJewish doctors in Poland CHAPTER III: JEWISH DOCTORS AND ANTI-SEMITISM BETWEEN THE WARSAnti-Semitism in AcademiaAnti-Semitism in the Association of Doctors of the Polish StateActivities of the Association of Doctors of the Polish RepublicJews in the Warsaw Medical Society CHAPTER IV: HEALTHCARE DURING AND IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 1939 SIEGE OF WARSAWThe Czyste (Old Order) Hospital for Orthodox JewsThe Bersohn and Bauman Children’s HospitalThe Ujazdowski HospitalThe activities of the Jewish community organizations CHAPTER V: HEALTHCARE PRIOR TO THE CREATION OF THE GHETTOThe Polish medical system under occupationCreation of the JudenratThe functioning of the medical chambersThe activities of TOZThe Czyste Jewish HospitalThe Bersohn and Bauman Children’s HospitalPharmaciesEmergency servicesThe threat of labor campsTreatment of Jewish converts CHAPTER VI: HEALTHCARE AFTER THE SEALING OF THE WARSAW GHETTOThe doctors in the GhettoActivities of the Judenrat’s Health DepartmentThe fight against epidemicsTOZ activities after the sealing of the Warsaw GhettoEmergency servicesThe Czyste Jewish HospitalThe Bersohn and Bauman Children’s HospitalThe hospital at 109 Leszno StreetPharmaciesThe Chemical and Bacteriological InstituteMedical care for the Jewish PoliceThe prisonsChristian Convert DoctorsMental health in the GhettoThe threat of labor camps CHAPTER VII: THE GREAT DEPORTATION (GROSSAKTION)Events leading to the Great DeportationThe murder of Dr. Franciszek RaszejaHostage takingThe Great DeportationCzyste Jewish HospitalThe General Hospital on Stawki StreetDoctors during the Great DeportationPharmacists during the Great DeportationDoctors in the Jewish Police during the Deportation CHAPTER VIII: HEALTHCARE AFTER THE GREAT DEPORTATIONThe Hospital on 6–8 Gęsia StreetDoctors after the Great DeportationNurses after the Great DeportationPharmacists after the Great DeportationEmergency Services after the DeportationThe Fate of the Gęsia Street Hospital CHAPTER IX: THE GHETTO UPRISING AND ITS AFTERMATHThe last hospital in the GhettoThe fate of Jewish doctors after the Deportation CHAPTER X: RESISTANCE BY THE MEDICAL FRATERNITYThe underground medical schoolThe Blum-Bielicka School of NursingStudies in Hunger DiseaseStudies in Typhus CHAPTER XI: CONCLUSIONANNEXURE I: LIST OF JEWISH DOCTORS WHO WERE ARRESTED AND HELD HOSTAGE IN 1940 FOLLOWING ANDRZEJ KOTT’S ESCAPE FROM THE GESTAPOANNEXURE II: LIST OF NON-ARYAN DOCTORS IN WARSAW FROM THE ARCHIVES OF THE JEWISH HISTORICAL INSTITUTEANNEXURE III: LIST OF JEWISH DOCTORS WORKING AND LIVING IN WARSAW IN 1940–1942ANNEXURE IV: THE DOCTORS MOVED FROM THE WARSAW GHETTO TO THE ŁÓDŹ GHETTO IN 1941/42ANNEXURE V: SCHEDULE OF PHARMACIES OVERSEEN BY THE PHARMACY DEPARTMENT OF THE JUDENRATANNEXURE VI: A LIST OF PHARMACIES OVERSEEN BY THE PHARMACY DEPARTMENT OF THE JUDENRAT IN THE GHETTO IN SEPTEMBER 1942. ANNEXURE VII: DOCTORS SAVING JEWS IN WARSAW IN 1939–1945ANNEXURE VIII: PHOTOGRAPHS OF SELECTED DOCTORS AND NURSESINDEX

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Book SynopsisString Quartets in Beethoven’s Europe is the first detailed study of string quartets in late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Europe. It brings together the work of nine scholars who explore little-studied aspects of this multi-faceted genre. Together, this book’s chapters deal with compositional responses to Beethoven’s string quartets and the prestige of the genre; varied compositional practices in string quartet writing, with a particular emphasis on texture and performance elements; and the reception of Beethoven’s string quartets ca. 1800. They include discussions of quartets composed for the amateur and connoisseur markets in Beethoven’s Europe; virtuosity, the French Violin School, and the quatuor brillant; the relationship between quartet composers and their audiences during Beethoven’s era; and the cross-pollination of quartet styles in Europe’s musical centers such as Vienna, Paris, and St. Petersburg.Trade Review“Studies of string quartet compositions have long been skewed toward works by the triumvirate: Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. This collection of essays fills in some of the gaps by broadening that scope to consider other leading composers of their time, including members of Beethoven’s circle (Ferdinand Ries, Louis Spohr, Anton Reicha, Andreas Romberg, Franz Weiss), and the Frenchmen Pierre Rode and Hyacinthe Jadin.”— The Beethoven Newsletter (Winter 2023)“The nine essays November… has collected provide a broad view of the string quartet in Viennese musical life around 1800. This topic has been insufficiently studied, and the book helps remedy that. … Expanding the lens through which to view the period, analyses are in depth and detailed and comprehensive bibliographies and useful footnotes are included. … Recommended.” — M. N.-H. Cheng, Colgate University, CHOICE (April 2023: Vol. 60 No. 8)“String Quartets in Beethoven’s Europe seeks to expand the available information about, and intellectual approaches to, chamber music around the turn of the nineteenth century, moving the discourse beyond a focus on Vienna and its most famous triumvirate, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. As an introduction to string quartets by a number of mostly overlooked composers contemporaneous with Beethoven, the book is a success… [T]he book suggests many avenues for future research and opens opportunities for scholars and students to explore music that has until now received less than its due attention, especially in English-language scholarship.”— Marie Sumner Lott, Music & LettersTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. His Master’s Voice? Ries, Reputation, and the String QuartetAllan Badley2. The “Middle Period” String Quartets of Spohr and BeethovenNancy November3. Counterpoint without Anxiety? Andreas Romberg’s String Quartets Op. 2, Dedicated to HaydnW. Dean Sutcliffe4. On the Fugues in Anton Reicha’s Quatuor Scientifique: Between Tradition and InnovationMai Koshikakezawa5. The Other “Razumovsky” Quartets: Franz Weiss’s Op. 8 and the Formation of Vienna’s KennerpublikumMark Ferraguto6. Hyacinthe Jadin and the Sound of Revolution: Recovering French String Quartet Aesthetics in 1790s ParisCallum Blackmore7. “One for the Rode”: The Contribution of Pierre Rode and the Quatuor Brillant to the Early Nineteenth-Century String QuartetSam Girling8. A Surprise to the Ears, an Amusement for the Eyes: Compositional Strategy and Audience Response to String Quartets ca. 1800Yoko Maruyama9. The Canonization of Beethoven’s String Quartets in the Musikalisches Taschenbuch auf das Jahr 1803 Christian SpeckEpilogueAuthors’ BiographiesIndex

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisTales of the forty-eight classical constellations have captured the human imagination from ancient times to the present. Compiled from literature spanning from Homer to Claudius Ptolemy, with illustrations and star charts reconstructed from ancient sources, Ancient Skies immerses the reader in the world of ancient cosmology and constellation mapping.

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Book SynopsisAn exceptionally dramatic life of Joan of Arc and her previously unchronicled mentor, Yolande of Aragon.How did an illiterate seventeen-year-old peasant girl manage to become one of histories most salient females? It is almost 600 years since Joan of Arc heard the voices of angels that would change her life for ever: in a breathtaking story her quest saved France from English domination and restored France's hereditary monarchy.Just thirteen when her life was turned upside down, Joan's holy guidance led her on an arduous eleven-day journey into the unknown, restoring the Dauphin back to his original birthright in an official coronation, allowing him to resume his rule as France's legitimate king. Joan summoned and led an impressive army of French loyalists against the English; the siege at Orleans was an exhilarating English defeat that liberated the city. The following year witnessed Joan's capture by the enemy. After a series of heroic endeavours to escape cruel adversaries, she was subjected to trial by inquisition and then in Rouen, the heart of France, Joan's courageous journey came to a heartbreaking conclusion. This is the story at the core of centuries of myth-making.But what if we no longer accept this tale? What if we question whether the Heavens and their angels were truly Joan's only source of strength and power? What if we demand a different narrative? This revisionist biography unearths the secular and verifiable basis for Joan's heroic exploits: Yolande of Aragon, a forgotten mentor. This is a story of not one life, but two; two lives that together were intertwined in the restoration of France's greatness.Trade ReviewThis new book attempts a revisionist sweep at the myth and proposes to unearth a secular basis for Joan's exploits in the form of her mentor, Yolande of Aragon. Ultimately, we can never know what really happened and this book is an entertaining look at what might have been. * CATHOLIC HERALD *Gripping. * THE LADY *Nancy Goldstone's account is clear and she brings the dramatis personae to life in a most engaging way in this excellent history. * OXFORD TIMES *A convincing revisionist biography of Joan. * FAMILY TREE magazine *Goldstone rewrites history with all the drama and pace of a good thriller. * GOOD BOOK GUIDE *An eye-opening book that shows that Joan was part of a greater narrative, much of its evidence taken from primary sources. * GOOD BOOK GUIDE *

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Book SynopsisThe first single-volume biography of Berlin, one of the world's great cities - told via twenty-one portraits, from medieval times to the twenty-first century.A city devastated by Allied bombs, divided by a Wall, then reunited and reborn, Berlin today resonates with the echo of lives lived, dreams realised and evils executed. No other city has repeatedly been so powerful and fallen so low. And few other cities have been so shaped and defined by individual imaginations.Through vivid portraits spanning five centuries, Rory MacLean reveals the varied and rich history of Berlin, from its brightest to its darkest moments. We encounter an ambitious prostitute refashioning herself as a princess, a Scottish mercenary fighting for the Prussian Army, Marlene Dietrich flaunting her sexuality and Hitler fantasising about the mega-city Germania. The result is a uniquely imaginative biography of one of the world's most volatile yet creative cities.Trade Review(a) wonderful book -- THOMAS BRUSSIG * FINANCIAL TIMES *Berlin vies with London, currently, as the coolest city on the planet. MacLean's wonderfully knowledgable overview of the city's history helps explain the place's enduring fascination. -- WILLIAM BOYD * THE GUARDIAN *"Berlin: Portrait of a City Through the Centuries" is an extraordinary work of history. To call it history is, in fact, reductive. There's some historical analysis, quite a lot of fiction, some philosophizing, lashings of wit and a fair dose of invective. It's a work of imagination, reflection, reverence, perplexity and criticism that reveals as much about the author's precocious mind as it does about the city he adores. The book's most profound feature, however, is its beautiful writing - phrases of transcendent rhythm force the reader to reverse and read again. Never mind that the logic is occasionally shaky and the facts sometimes slip, the prose is perfect. MacLean calls Berlin "the capital of reinvention." This explains why his biography of the city is not about the place per se, but about those who shaped it or were shaped by it: Berlin as a canvas on which people paint their dreams. -- Gerard De Groot * THE WASHINGTON POST, Book of the Year *This grandly ambitious work has a noble intention: to re-create through art and imagination the whole historic presence of a great capital, from its beginnings to its present day...Maclean's book is a wonderful achievement, not justly to be summarised in the few hundred words of a review. but hauntingly representing, as in a tangled dream, 600 years of history. -- Jan Morris * THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *A brilliant new history of Berlin...What makes MacLean's history of Berlin stand out is that this is an intensely human document, a rich tapestry spanning five centuries and woven together through intimate portraits of 21 if its former inhabitants which collectively reveal the narrative of the city....This is how I love history to be told, through the people who live it...a fascinating book. * THE OBSERVER *The best history is biography: the story of the people who shaped and destroyed, entertained, beautified and murdered. Rory MacLean imagines Berlin through its inhabitants. * THE TIMES *Rory MacLean offers an entirely beguiling and original portrait of Berlin. His is a highly unusual history told in a variety of forms by 'vital anonymous players in history's grand drama' alongside some of the major thinkers, dreamers, artists, warmongers and idealists who have shaped this eternally enthralling metropolis....a perfect companion for those about to discover, or attempting to make sense of, their own Berlin. * THE INDEPENDENT *Rory MacLean's Berlin: Imagine a History is intelligent, entertaining and ambitious...MacLean has written a great book about Berliners. * NEW STATESMAN *MacLean's original and well-researched vignettes makes up a mosaic and kaleidoscope. MacLean is a highly visual writer, and his dialogue is crisp and believable. Rory MacLean deserves to win all the prizes going. -- Robert Carver * THE TABLET *[MacLean] writes with the lyricism of Bruce Chatwin and the traveller's eye of Marco Polo. He engages with his readers as if he is talking to an intelligent friend. Read this book if you already know Berlin, or will do one day. * THE OLDIE *The strength of MacClean's book is that he reveals how Berlin has served all of us as a multi-faceted prism, of time, of history, or artistic enterprise. The author is a non-academic historian wearing his knowledge lightly, sharing his experiences deftly.... He is a journalist too, and his style is concise, pithy, anecdotal. The book is more a collage than it is a chronology, and is stronger for it. -- Chris Moss * NEW WELSH REVIEW, Winter 2014 *I loved it. It is such a beautiful way of understanding history, its stories are so vivaciously told, it is so heartfelt, so intelligent, and so talkative a book. So many of the characters do end up talking to each other, and the author is eavesdropping. It paints the past and the present, portrays Berlin as a portrait of someone you love. It is beautiful. * Jay Griffiths *Berlin takes the form of 23 portraits of individuals...the text sings. A compelling piece about the industrialist and Weimar foreign minister Walter Rathenau is full of auguries of the nightmares of the 30s and 40s. * The Guardian *An atmospheric view of Berlin as seen through its people. * LONELY PLANET TRAVELLER MAGAZINE *This ambitious work hauntingly uncovers 600 years of Berlin's history... MacLean shows how the city.. embodies "an essence of perpetual reinvention", propelled by inhabitants from Frederick the Great to Goebbels, Bach to Bowie. * Daily Telegraph *A wonderful impressionistic portrait of this beguiling city. * CHOICE *This grandly ambitious work has a noble intention: to re-create through art and imagination the whole historic presence of a great capital, from its beginnings to its present day...Maclean's book is a wonderful achievement, not justly to be summarised in the few hundred words of a review. but hauntingly representing, as in a tangled dream, 600 years of history. -- Jan Morris * THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *I loved it. It is such a beautiful way of understanding history, its stories are so vivaciously told, it is so heartfelt, so intelligent, and so talkative a book. So many of the characters do end up talking to each other, and the author is eavesdropping. It paints the past and the present, portrays Berlin as a portrait of someone you love. It is beautiful. * Jay Griffiths *A brilliant new history of Berlin...What makes MacLean's history of Berlin stand out is that this is an intensely human document, a rich tapestry spanning five centuries and woven together through intimate portraits of 21 if its former inhabitants which collectively reveal the narrative of the city....This is how I love history to be told, through the people who live it...a fascinating book. * THE OBSERVER *The best history is biography: the story of the people who shaped and destroyed, entertained, beautified and murdered. Rory MacLean imagines Berlin through its inhabitants. * THE TIMES *Berlin takes the form of 23 portraits of individuals...the text sings. A compelling piece about the industrialist and Weimar foreign minister Walter Rathenau is full of auguries of the nightmares of the 30s and 40s. * THE GUARDIAN *Rory MacLean's Berlin: Imagine a History is intelligent, entertaining and ambitious...MacLean has written a great book about Berliners. * NEW STATESMAN *Rory MacLean offers an entirely beguiling and original portrait of Berlin. His is a highly unusual history told in a variety of forms by 'vital anonymous players in history's grand drama' alongside some of the major thinkers, dreamers, artists, warmongers and idealists who have shaped this eternally enthralling metropolis....a perfect companion for those about to discover, or attempting to make sense of, their own Berlin. * THE INDEPENDENT *An atmospheric view of Berlin as seen through its people. * LONELY PLANET TRAVELLER MAGAZINE *

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Book SynopsisBerlin is a party in a graveyard. It is Europe's youth capital, and its guilty war conscience. It is a disputed construction site, built on the ruins of regimes. Today's diversity - refugees, immigrants, arty expats, East and West - emerges from a history of violence. Berlin is as cutting-edge and contemporary as it is wary of its extreme past. Berlin is a comprehensive short history and portrait of the German capital today. The story of Berlin's vagaries over nine centuries - from a dry place in a bog to the control centre of modern Europe - is expertly portrayed by historian Joseph Pearson. The dynamic present is a palimpsest on this unsettling past. A long-time flaneur of Berlin's streets, Pearson explores how the city's history is visible today in bombsites, museums and industrial club spaces (and a lake hosting a man-nibbling monster). In this book, we find that elements of the city that for some can be unnerving - its emptiness, its provincialism, its ramshackle industrial eclecticism, its sexual freedoms, its confrontation with a murderous past - are precisely what give the city its charge.Pearson poses provocative questions as he reveals the city's many layers and varied neighbourhoods. He argues, ultimately, that Berlin's centrality in European and cultural affairs is only just beginning to be felt.Trade Review'For the travelers, artists, flaneurs, coders and students fascinated by Berlin, the historian Joseph Pearson masterfully offers a close reading of the metropolis in all its brutal immediacy. Berlin is an exploration of the German capital as it should be, drawing us into the teeming, tumbling life its streets, clubs and Kieze as well as the dark recesses of the city's scarred history.' - Patrick Donahue, political correspondent for Bloomberg News in Berlin; 'A comprehensive yet eminently readable - even exhilarating - romp through Berlin's history, coupled with a native's view of its colorful present. Everything you need to know about the German capital, and more.' - Kimberly Bradley, culture journalist and correspondent for Berlin and Vienna, Monocle magazine

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Book SynopsisA retired union rep teaches his granddaughter about the history of the British labour movement from the Peasants Revolt in the 14th century to the present day.

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Book SynopsisIn a boarding house in West Port, an old army pensioner dies of natural causes. He owes the landlord rent. Instead of burying the body, the landlord, William Hare, and his friend, William Burke, fill the coffin with bark and sell the corpse to Dr. Robert Knox, an ambitious Edinburgh anatomist. They make a profit of GBP3 and 10 shillings. After this encouraging outcome, Burke and Hare decide to suffocate another sickly tenant. So begins the criminal career of the most notorious double act in serial killing. Here is the unvarnished, human story behind the infamous Burke and Hare murders. We delve into their past, their personalities and the circumstances that made them resort to murder as a money-making scheme. It's a tale of desperation and greed, of outsiders, ambition, corruption and betrayal. And it's all true!

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Book SynopsisAn ancient and long-extinct volcano lies at the heart of Scotland's capital. It roared into life some 350 million years ago and has been a source of fascination since it was first studied in earnest during the Enlightenment by James Hutton, one of the most significant geologists of all time. Many of Hutton's ground-breaking ideas of how the world works were predicated on the rocks and landscapes of his home city and surrounding area. This book is a fascinating exploration into Edinburgh's geological history over millions of years - including the passage of ice during a great freeze that has left an indelible stamp on Edinburgh's cityscape, the use rocks quarried locally from ancient, now long disappeared seas to create the stunning elegance of Edinburgh's New Town, and the coal deposits and oil shale which were exploited from the Industrial Revolution to the present day.Trade Review'Alan McKirdy’s insights are valuable because he is the author of a string of accessible and informative short illustrated books on the geological history of Scotland' * West Highland Free Press *'Not only are they a wealth of information on Scotland's past, they offer valuable insight as Scotland’s future becomes increasingly uncertain due to climate change' * Dundee Courier *

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Book SynopsisThe island of Gigha is a small gem, the most southerly of the true Hebridean islands, lying just off Tayinloan on Scotland's Kintyre peninsula. Gigha's good harbours, fertile land, mild climate and strategically useful position have given it a fascinating history. Catherine Czerkawska relates the sometimes turbulent story of the people of Gigha, from the settlers of prehistoric times, through successive incomers including the Celts, the Vikings, and the McNeill lords of this island. A few years ago Gigha was the subject of the largest community buyout in British history, and she brings the story up to date, in examining the relationship between a contemporary island community and its own rich past. The author, like so many people, fell helplessly in love at first sight with Gigha and returns to it time and again. This book explores just what it is that makes the island such an enchanting place.

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Book SynopsisThe life of Robert Bruce is one of the greatest comeback stories in history. Heir and magnate, shrewd politician, briefly 'king of summer' and then a desperate fugitive who nevertheless returned from exile to recover the kingdom he claimed, Bruce became a gifted military leader and a wise statesman, a leader with vision and energy. Colm McNamee combines the most up to date scholarship on this crucial figure in the history of the British Isles with lucid explanation of the medieval context, so that readers of all backgrounds can appreciate Bruce's enormous contribution to the historical impact not just on Scotland, but on England and Ireland too. It is designed to encourage popular reassessment of Bruce as politician, warrior, monarch and saviour of Scottish identity from extinction at the hands of the Edwardian superstate. Peeling back the layers of misconception and propaganda, the author paints an accurate, sympathetic but balanced portrait of a much beloved national hero who has fallen out of fashion of late for no good reason.

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Book SynopsisOn a hillside near Ballachulish in the Scottish Highlands in May 1752 a rider is assassinated by a gunman. The murdered man is Colin Campbell, a government agent travelling to nearby Duror where he’s evicting farm tenants to make way for his relatives. Campbell’s killer evades capture, but Britain’s rulers insist this challenge to their authority must result in a hanging. The sacrificial victim is James Stewart, who is organising resistance to Campbell’s takeover of lands long held by his clan, the Appin Stewarts. James is a veteran of the Highland uprising crushed in April 1746 at Culloden. In Duror he sees homes torched by troops using terror tactics against rebel Highlanders. The same brutal response to dissent means that James’s corpse will for years hang from a towering gibbet and leave a community utterly ravaged. Introducing this new and updated edition of his account of what came to be called the Appin Murder, historian James Hunter tells how his own Duror upbringing introduced him to the tragic story of James Stewart.Trade Review'Hunter has left no stone unturned in his research… Hunter infuses his writing with a sense of urgency that drives the reader through the more expository sections towards the tragic, foregone conclusion' -- Kai Durkin * Dundee Courier, Book of the Week *

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Book SynopsisJames VI and I, the first monarch to reign over Scotland, England and Ireland, has long endured a mixed reputation. To many, he is simply the homosexual King, the inveterate witch-roaster, the smelly sovereign who never washed, the colourless man behind the authorised Bible bearing his name, or the drooling fool whose speech could barely be understood. For too long, he has paled in comparison to his more celebrated Tudor and Stuart forebears. But who was he really? To what extent have myth, anecdote, and rumour obscured him? In this new and ground-breaking biography, James’s story is laid bare and a welter of scurrilous, outrageous assumptions penned by his political opponents put to rest. What emerges is a portrait of Elizabeth I's successor as his contemporaries knew him: a gregarious, idealistic man obsessed with the idea of family, whose personal and political goals could never match up to reality. With reference to letters, libels and state papers, it casts fresh light on the personal, domestic, international and sexual politics of this misunderstood sovereign. 'A real page-turner for lovers of history' - Philippa GregoryTrade Review'The Wisest Fool is a sensitive portrait of a king who, despite errors of judgement managed to negotiate a period of exceptional political and religious turbulence... this is a probing, wellrounded and very readable account of a king too often over-looked, despite his pivotal role in modern British politics.' -- Rosemary Goring * Herald *'It does not flinch from the flaws of character and errors of rule but makes a fair analysis of James the man as he struggled to become James the king ... a real page-turner for lovers of history' -- Philippa Gregory'Two kingdoms, two very different reputations. Veerapen brings fresh life and acute insight into the conundrum that is the reigns of King James' -- Leanda de Lisle'[James] was derided as "the wisest fool in Christendom" - wise in small things, but a fool when it came to weightier matters. That image has now been punctured. Not for the first time a historical parody emerges on closer inspection to be largely based on manufactured propaganda' -- Magnus Linklater * The Times *'Steven Veerapen's biography of James VI/I is so good that it seems likely to become the definitive work about the life of a much maligned and perhaps poorly understood character.' * Undiscovered Scotland *'He may not always have acted wisely during his reign, but a new biography shows that James VI and I was no fool...this is a very engaging book' -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *'an extremely well-balanced account of James' character... a highly accomplished and well-written work of creative non-fiction' * Country Life *'It takes someone with the scholarship and narrative skills of Steven Veerapen to weave his way with through the evidence to provide a cohesive and plausible story, providing a book that will become essential reading for academics and ordinary history lovers alike' -- Robert Stedall * Amazon Five Stars *'A really interesting biography… a deep dive into the facts and information paints something of a different story… busts some of the false ideas and presents a better picture of this historical person' -- Dr Miranda Melcher * Newbooks Network (British Studies) *'Veerapen weaves a fresh and honest tapestry of James’s character in all its imperfect glory. It is based on scholarly study and achieved with appropriate gravitas . . . Only by examining his time as King of Scotland can later years be fully understood – and this is expertly done' -- Mark Turnbull * GoodReads, FIVE stars *'Steven Veerapen has done a splendid job in bringing this neglected king and the extraordinary life he led so vividly to the page . . . Expertly researched and eminently readable' -- Linda Porter * The Writing Desk blog *

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