History Books

Book SynopsisAn engaging range of period texts and theme books for AS and A Level history.Table of Contents1. Historic anti-semitism in Europe; 2. The roots of anti-semitism in Germany; 3. Anti-semitism and the mind of Adolf Hitler; 4. Anti-semitism as part of the Nazi party programme; 5. The coming of the Holocaust 1938-41; 6. The killing machine 1942-45; 7. The Jewish resistance divisions in Jewish society between resisters and accommodators; 8. The response of the democracies to persecution of the Jews and the Holocaust. 9. Holocaust denial; 10. The legacy of the Holocaust in the modern world.

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Book SynopsisAt the end of his life the emperor Augustus wrote an account of his achievements in which he reviewed his rise to power, his conquest of the world and his unparalleled generosity towards his subjects. This edition provides a text, translation and detailed commentary - the first substantial one in English for more than four decades - which is suitable for use with students of all levels. The commentary deals with linguistic, stylistic and historical matters. It elucidates how Augustus understood his role in Roman society, and how he wished to be remembered by posterity; and it sets this picture that emerges from the Res Gestae into the context of the emergence both of a new visual language and of an official set of expressions. The book also includes illustrations in order to demonstrate how the Augustan era witnessed the rise of a whole new visual language.Trade Review"...Alison Cooley provides what will be the standard textbook for the RGDA in this generation... Cooley has provided students and colleagues with an edition of the RGDA that will serve as a textbook and as a work of reference. ..a book that is at the same time a pleasure to read and highly useful. That is no small accomplishment." --BMCRTable of ContentsIntroduction; Text and translation; Commentary; Appendix.

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Book SynopsisA History of Portugal and the Portuguese Empire offers readers a comprehensive overview and reinterpretation of the history of Portugal and its empire up to the start of the nineteenth century. Volume I concerns the formation and subsequent history of Portugal itself from pre-Roman times to the climactic French invasion of 1807.Trade Review'In response to the global turn in scholarship on colonial and early modern history, this book provides a fresh and much-needed perspective integrating metropolitan and colonial Portuguese histories. In fact, this analytical combination of national and imperial dimensions is totally original in the panorama of Portuguese histories where almost all the works available in English tend to concentrate exclusively on overseas expansion.' Diogo Ramada Curto, European University Institute, Florence and Universidade Nova de Lisboa'Anthony Disney has provided in this impressive two-volume survey of the history of Portugal and its overseas empire to the beginning of the nineteenth century a work of synthesis that has long been needed. Up-to-date in its scholarship, lucid and coherent in its exposition, his account, skillfully blending narrative and analysis, will immediately take its place as the essential starting-point for all those interested in the origins and character of the first truly global empire in world history.' Sir John Elliott, Regius Professor Emeritus of Modern History, University of Oxford'The history of the Portuguese world is barnacled with accretions: traditional errors, apparently ineradicable myths, partisan controversies, irrational passions. Anthony Disney has scraped the bottom and set the ship to rights. His book is sober but engaging, meticulous but well paced, comprehensive but concise: a monument of scholarship and discernment, which everyone interested in the subject will want to hand.' Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Tufts UniversityTable of Contents1. Hunter-gatherers to Iron Age farmers; 2. The Roman experience; 3. The Germanic kingdoms; 4. Gharb al-Andalus; 5. The medieval kingdom; 6. The fourteenth century; 7. The making of Avis Portugal; 8. The golden age; 9. The tarnished age; 10. Habsburg Portugal; 11. Restoration and reconstruction; 12. The age of gold and baroque splendour; 13. The age of Pombal; 14. The late eighteenth century: finale of the old regime.

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Book SynopsisWoven through this richly crafted study of America's shifting social and political landscapes are the multiple voices of the nation's history: slaves and slave owners, revolutionaries and reformers, soldiers and statesmen, immigrants and refugees. These voices help define the United States at the dawn of a new century.Trade Review“Susan-Mary Grant's vigorous new history of the United States is the ideal text for our troubled times. A fast-paced account of the martial roots of American national identity, it fairly bristles with insight, information, and indignation. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in the making of today's uneasy superpower.” – Robert Cook, Professor of American History, University of Sussex“In this elegantly written, immensely readable and fresh distillation of American history, Susan-Mary Grant brings a keen eye to bear on the processes that created and have since sustained the United States’ sense of nationhood. Notably, she shows how war and conflict, from colonial times to the present, have shaped and redefined American identity, and how – despite the gap between civic ideals and reality – national ligaments have remained remarkably strong. A Concise History of the United States provides the general reader with a superb introduction to the American past, while the author’s authoritative but lightly-worn scholarship offers much to reward the specialist, too.” – Professor Richard Carwardine, President, Corpus Christi College, Oxford"Recommended." -ChoiceTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. New found land: imagining America; 2. A city on a hill: the origins of a redeemer nation; 3. The cause of all mankind: from colonies to Common Sense; 4. Self-evident truths: founding the revolutionary republic; 5. The last, best hope of Earth: toward the second American revolution; 6. Westward the course of empire: from union to nation; 7. A promised land: gateway to the American century; 8. The soldier's faith: conflict and conformity; 9. Beyond the last frontier: a new deal for America; 10. A land in transition: America in the atomic age; 11. Armies of the night: counterculture and counterrevolution.

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Book SynopsisAn engaging range of period texts and theme books for AS and A Level history.Table of Contents1. The question of authority; 2. Law and Power; 3. The church, religion and authority; 4. The great web - informal authority; 5. The mid-Tudor crisis; 6. The Celtic nations; 7. Elizabeth I and the recovery of monarchy; 8. Puritanism, the Church of England and the Queen's peace; 9. Tudor rebellions; 10. The flowering of the Elizabethan state; Select biography; Chronology; Index.

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Book SynopsisAn authoritative 2007 history of one of the world's most important empires on the road to decolonisation. Ronald Hyam offers a major reassessment of the end of empire which combines a study of British policymaking with case studies on the experience of decolonization after 1945.Trade Review'There is no shortage of books on end of empire, but Britain's Declining Empire stands out from the crowd for reliability, readability and scholarship. Writing with an originality and authority that few can match, he has produced a vivid, riveting, frequently amusing and profoundly thoughtful book that marks a significant advance on other studies of decolonization and deserves a wide audience.' A. J. Stockwell, Emeritus Professor of Modern History, Royal Holloway, University of London'No one writes with more authority and felicity on the history of the British Empire than Ronald Hyam. This book on British rule and decolonization is destined to become a classic.' Wm Roger Louis, Kerr Chair in English History and Culture, University of Texas at Austin'This magisterial volume, a sequel to Britain's Imperial Century, 1815–1914 (1976), is the distillation of a lifetime's learning and teaching about the British Empire. … [Hyam] is a consummate historian with a transcendent literary style and he has crowned his career with a tour de force.' Literary Review'It will probably come to be regarded as the best single-volume general account of decolonisation that has been written and answers familiar questions about the end of empire exceptionally well. In a field that has grown rich with general accounts, it offers the greatest sense of colour and personality in considering the end of empire, combined with an Olympian breadth of vision.' English Historical ReviewTable of ContentsPreface; Introduction; 1. 'The whole world is rocking': British governments and a dysfunctional imperial system, 1918–45; 2. 'British imperialism is dead': the Attlee government and the end of empire, 1945–51; 3. 'Rugged and tangled difficulties': the Churchill and Eden governments and the end of Empire, 1951–6; 4. 'The wind of change is blowing…': the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments and the end of empire, 1957–64; 5. 'We could no longer afford to honour our pledges': the Wilson government and the end of empire, 1964–8; Epilogue; Select bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisClassical Athens boasted some of the most original and influential achievements in literature, art, philosophy, medicine and politics. This best-selling book, now issued in a second edition, provides a comprehensive and highly illustrated introduction to its history, society, culture and values aimed at the student and the general reader. The text has been extensively revised from the first edition and the bibliography updated. A wide range of topics is discussed, but the book refuses to divide up the Athenian world neatly into separate compartments, insisting that sense can only be made of the society by making connections between its history, institutions, values and environment. The book can be used either on its own or as an accompaniment to students learning Greek with the Reading Greek course.Table of ContentsPreface; 1. An outline history of Athens to the death of Alexander the Great; 2. Environment and settlement of Athens and Attikê; 3. Gods and festivals; 4. Human obligations, values and concerns; 5. Athenian society; 6. Athenian democracy and imperialism; 7. Athens at war; 8. The culture of Athens; 9. Postscript: the world of Athens and other worlds.

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Book SynopsisNew approaches to the history of print have allowed historians of early modern Europe to re-evaluate major shifts in religious, intellectual, cultural and political life across Europe. Drawing on precise and detailed study of the contexts of different types of print, including books, pamphlets, newspapers and flysheets, combined with quantitative analysis and a study of texts as material objects, Thomas Munck offers a transformed picture of early modern political culture, and through analysis of new styles and genres of writing he offers a fresh perspective on the intended readership. Conflict and Enlightenment uses a resolutely comparative approach to re-examine what was being disseminated in print, and how. By mapping the transmission of texts across cultural and linguistic divides, Munck reveals how far new forms of political discourse varied depending on the particular perspectives of authors, readers and regulatory authorities, as well as the cultural adaptability of translators aTrade Review'This impressive and ambitious study of the interplay of print, political thought and expression, and social and cultural change is a compelling, fine-tuned and original account of how the printing press served as an agent of change across the early modern period and Enlightenment.' Simon Burrows, Western Sydney University'With remarkable command of the Germanic languages, not to ignore his facility with French and other languages, Munck has written the history of books and publishing from the 1630s to the turbulent 1790s into Enlightenment historiography. The sheer quantity and quality of print culture, expanding more rapidly than the literate public, shows that without it, the origins and power of the Enlightenment cannot be understood.' Margaret C. Jacob, Distinguished Research Professor, University of California, Los Angeles'This weighty study takes the reader from the depths of the Thirty Years War to the end of the Enlightenment. Surveying the previous fifty years of research on the topic, it asks how print media reshaped ideas and impacted political culture in an era when polemic was rife and print was becoming the most powerful tool available to form opinion in the new reading public.' Dorinda Outram, Professor Emerita of History, University of Rochester, New York'Munck skilfully combines observation and classification at the meta level, and presents the interaction between political events and the production, distribution, and reception of print media, whose format allowed them to adapt to different political conditions.' Christine Haug, German Historical Institute London BulletinTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Print, production, authors and readers; 2. Instability and politicisation (1630–77); 3. Subversive print in the early Enlightenment; 4. Translation and transmission across cultural borders; 5. High enlightenment, political texts and reform (1748–89); 6. Revolution: democracy and loyalism in print (1789–95); Conclusions.

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Book SynopsisOdd Arne Westad offers a compelling and panoramic new history of the global conflict waged by the United States and Soviet Union during the Cold War and the part it played in fuelling the ideologies, movements and states which increasingly dominate international affairs today.Trade Review'This is a genuinely 'international' history … few genuine research monographs are so wide ranging chronologically and geographically, while also trying to absorb insights from sociology and social anthropology … taken as a whole no historian has dealt with the links between the Cold War so fully, so broadly and so thoughtfully as Westad in this new account … a truly seminal work, whose findings will exercise those researching the Cold War for many years.' Reviews in History'The Global Cold War is a powerful account of the way in which the third world moved to the center of international politics in the closing decades of the 20th century. Drawing on a stunning multiplicity of archival material, Odd Arne Westad integrates perspectives and disciplines which have, until now, remained separate: US and Soviet ideologies, their politics and the interventions that flowed from both; insurrection, rebellion, revolution and the power of competing models of development, systems of support or subversion (sometimes synonymous) that in part determined their outcome. Westad writes with the combination of clarity, wit and passion that have always characterized his work. This time the canvas is large enough to do full justice to his scholarship and his humanity.' Marilyn B. Young, New York University'Odd Arne Westad's new book is an extremely important contribution to the historiography of the Cold War. With broad erudition, amazing geographical range, and inventive research in archives around the globe, Westad tells the tragic story of the United States and Soviet Union's involvement in what became the 'Third World'. The newly emerging nations of the 'South' - of Africa, Asia, and Latin America - barely emerged from their humiliating subservience to European colonialism before being dragged by Cold War rivalries into ideologically-inspired upheavals that ended up bankrupting their countries and devastating their peoples. Westad's study enables his readers to integrate the Third World into the history of the Cold War and confronts them with the meaning of intervention in the past for the international system today.' Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University'In a reinterpretation of the Cold War that is as thorough as it is important, Westad places Soviet and American interventions in the Third World at the center of their struggle. Driven by ideology and the need to affirm the rightness of their principles, both superpowers felt compelled to contest with the other in areas of little intrinsic importance. The results were almost uniformly failures, and in the process brought much sorrow and destruction to the Third World. The picture is not a pretty one, but Westad shows that studying it reveals much about the Cold War, and about the current world scene.' Robert Jervis, Columbia University'Based on prodigious research, this ambitious and wide-ranging book presents the most important account to date of the Cold War in the Third World. Westad's study represents broad-based, international history at its best. He deftly weaves together the tale of world politics writ large with stories about variegated processes of revolution and social change across the Third World. This should prove an indispensable work for anyone interested in the history of the twentieth-century.' Robert J. McMahon, University of Florida'For the serious student of our times Odd Arne Westad's The Global Cold War could provide a serious weapon for their scholastic arsenal.' Open History: The Journal of the Open University History Society'… Westad's work combines sophisticated analysis, insight into the motivations and behaviours of non-Western actors, historical perspective, fair-mindedness and a sympathy for the victims on all sides. Westad's pioneering work in Soviet archives means that his book illuminates better than any other work I have read in English the thinking and motivations of the Soviet leadership and its advisers when it came to the Third World.' London Review of Books'… Westad presents a finely crafted and immaculately researched study that presents some of the findings from the archives of the former Soviet Union and its communist allies alongside the more familiar American and western sources.' International Affairs'There are already a number of books on the Cold War, and more are likely as more information becomes available. This work will remain important, however, for shifting the focus away from Europe and North Korea, to the wider world in which the superpower struggle took place. It is well written and draws on a wide range of materials. Many will not agree with all the arguments, but it is a major contribution to our understanding of how the world became as it is.' Asian Affairs'Westad's brilliant, bitter account, based on prodigious research, is an indictment of the superpowers. They treated the Third World as their playground and left it devastated.' Martin McCauleyTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. The empire of liberty: American ideology and foreign interventions; 2. The empire of justice: Soviet ideology and foreign interventions; 3. The revolutionaries: anti-colonial politics and transformations; 4. Creating the Third World: the United States confronts revolution; 5. The Cuban and Vietnamese challenges; 6. The crisis of decolonization: Southern Africa; 7. The prospects of socialism: Ethiopia and the Horn; 8. The Islamist defiance; 9. The 1980s: the Reagan offensive; 10. The Gorbachev withdrawal and the end of the Cold War; Conclusion: Revolutions, interventions and Great Power collapse.

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Book SynopsisThis volume surveys the archaeology of Native North Americans from their arrival on the continent 15,000 years ago up to contact with European colonizers. Offering rich descriptions of monumental structures, domestic architecture, vibrant objects, and spiritual forces, Timothy R. Pauketat and Kenneth E. Sassaman show how indigenous people shaped both their history and North America''s many varied environments. They place the student in the past as they trace how Native Americans dealt with challenges such as climate change, the rise of social hierarchies and political power, and ethnic conflict. Written in a clear and engaging style with a compelling narrative, The Archaeology of Ancient North America presents the grand historical themes and intimate stories of ancient Americans in full, living color.Table of Contents1. Envisioning North America; 2. A social history of North American archaeologists and Native Americans; 3. Contact, colonialism, and convergence; 4. Ancient immigrants; 5. Sea change, see change; 6. Gender, kinship, and the commune: the Great Basin and greater Western Archaic; 7. Identity, ethnicity, and inequality: Holocene hunter-gatherers east of the Mississippi; 8. Animism, shamanism, and technology: life in the Arctic; 9. Building mounds, communities, histories; 10. The momentous late Woodland-Mississippian millennium; 11. Two worlds on the Great Plains; 12. The final centuries of the Northeast; 13. Divergence in the Far West; 14. Order and chaos in the Southwest: the Hohokam and Puebloan worlds; 15. Pots, peripheries, and Paquimé: the Southwest inside out; 16. 1984 BCE.

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Book SynopsisAs a successful senator, Tacitus was ideally placed to comment on the Roman political system. This selection of extracts from his histories sheds light on the rise and fall of emperors such as Domitian and Nero.

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Book SynopsisVolume 3 of The Cambridge History of the First World War explores the social and cultural history of the war and considers the role of civil society throughout the conflict; that is to say those institutions and practices outside the state through which the war effort was waged. Drawing on 25 years of historical scholarship, it sheds new light on culturally significant issues such as how families and medical authorities adapted to the challenges of war and the shift that occurred in gender roles and behaviour that would subsequently reshape society. Adopting a transnational approach, this volume surveys the war's treatment of populations at risk, including refugees, minorities and internees, to show the full extent of the disaster of war and, with it, the stubborn survival of irrational kindness and the generosity of spirit that persisted amidst the bitterness at the heart of warfare, with all its contradictions and enduring legacies.Trade Review'… both scholarly and deftly drafted, a joy to read. It provides broad as well as deep analysis of just about every conceivable facet of this global catastrophe. It deserves close reading and contemplation.' Len Shurtleff, World War One Historical Association'The global perspective on the war, represented in these volumes, adds further layers of complexity to our understanding of this foundational moment in modern history. The conjunction of early twentieth-century patterns of globalization and industrialized great power war was singular, distinguishing it from earlier European conflicts fought across the globe and the Second World War, which followed the collapse of globalization in the 1930s.' William Mulligan, European History QuarterlyTable of ContentsIntroduction to Volume 3 Jay Winter; Part I. Private Life: Introduction to Part I Jay Winter and Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau; 1. The couple Martha Hanna; 2. Children Manon Pignot; 3. Families Jay Winter; Part II. Gender at Home: Introduction to Part II John Horne and Jay Winter; 4. War work Laura Lee Downs; 5. Gender at home Susan R. Grayzel; 6. At the Front Margaret Higonnet; 7. Gender roles in killing zones Joanna Bourke; Part III. Populations at Risk: Introduction to Part III Heather Jones and Laurence Van Ypersele; 8. Refugees and exiles Peter Gatrell and Philippe Nivet; 9. Minorities Panikos Panayi; 10. Populations under occupation Sophie de Schaepdrijver; 11. Captive civilians Annette Becker; Part IV. Bodies in Pain: Introduction to Part IV Jay Winter and Anne Rasmussen; 12. Military medicine Leo van Bergen; 13. Shell shock Jay Winter; 14. The Spanish Flu Anne Rasmussen; 15. Mourning practices Joy Damousi; Part V. The Social History of Cultural Life: Introduction to Part V Nicolas Beaupre and Annette Becker; 16. Mobilising minds Anne Rasmussen; 17. Beliefs and religion Adrian Gregory; 18. Soldier-writers and poets Nicolas Beaupre; 19. Cinema Laurent Veray; 20. Arts Annette Becker; 21. War memorials Bruce Scates and Rebecca Wheatley; Part VI. A Reckoning: Costs and Outcomes: Introduction to Part VI Jay Winter; 22. The dead Antoine Prost; 23. The living John Horne; 24. The Great War at its centenary John Horne; 25. Visual essay: civil society Annette Becker.

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Book SynopsisA profound new rendering of the struggle by African-Americans for equality after the Civil War.

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Book SynopsisBryan Sykes, the world''s first genetic archaeologist, takes us on a journey around the family tree of Britain and Ireland, to reveal how our tribal history still colours the country today.In 54BC Julius Caesar launched the first Roman invasion of Britain. His was the first detailed account of the Celtic tribes that inhabited the Isles. But where had they come from and how long had they been there? When the Romans eventually left five hundred years later, they were succeeded by invasions of Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans. Did these successive invasions obliterate the genetic legacy of the Celts, or have very little effect?After two decades tracing the genetic origins of peoples from all over the world, Bryan Sykes has now turned the spotlight on his own back yard. In a major research programme, the first of its kind, he set out to test the DNA of over 10,000 volunteers from across Britain and Ireland with the specific aim of answering this very question: what is oTrade ReviewThe science is explained with an infectious zest. His book is so revealing that the new... as well as the old should read it -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *Syke's scientific presentation is chatty and readable * The Sunday Times *Professor Sykes has an admirably free and easy style for an academic * Daily Mail *A fascinating overview of genealogical patterns and tribal heritage... [with] a stong narrative drive, pushed on by Sykes's energetic search for answers * Telegraph Review *Fascinating reading. This book has all the tension of a good detective story but is actually science at its most accessible * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisIn April 2006 a small British peace-keeping force was sent to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Within weeks they were cut off and besieged by some of the world''s toughest fighters: the infamous Taliban, who were determined to send the foreigners home again. Defence Secretary John Reid had hoped that Operation Herrick 4 could be accomplished without a shot being fired; instead, the Army was drawn into the fiercest fighting it had seen for fifty years. Millions of bullets and thousands of lives have been expended since then in an under-publicized but bitter conflict whose end is still not in sight. Some people consider it the fourth Anglo-Afghan War since Victorian times. How on earth did this happen? And what is it like for the troops on the front line of the ''War on Terror''?James Fergusson takes us to the dark heart of the battle zone. Here, in their own words and for the first time, are the young veterans of Herrick 4. Here, unmasked, are the civilian and military oTrade ReviewThe lessons drawn by James Fergusson are deeply uncomfortable; but his account cannot be ignored by anyone seriously interested in the future of the British armed forces -- Douglas Hurda riveting, blistering, deeply reported narrative of the recent British military interventions in Afghanistan -- Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc.If you read anything on Afghanistan this year, then read this strong, intelligent book of crafted anger and insight -- Anthony LoydFascinating... Succeeds brilliantly in detailing the emotional impact on soldiers killing for the first time and seeing comrades killed * The Sunday Times *The only thoughtful and informed book to come out of the UK's venture into Helmand -- Frank Ledwidge * Royal United Services Institute Journal *

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Book SynopsisA notable account of an epic human experience'' Max Hastings, Sunday TimesHitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war' Sir Winston Churchill, speech to the House of Commons, 18 June 1940The Nazi Blitzkrieg was unlike any invasion the world had ever seen. It hit Europe with a force and aggression that no-one could counter. Within weeks the German armies were at the French coast and looking across at Britain. It seemed impossible that she would be able to resist invasion.Between the Nazis and glory stood an apparently fragile defence, but the men and women of Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and the Royal Navy would not be cowed. Their heroics that summer would go down in history.In The Battle of Britain for the first time, James Holland tells this most epic of stories from a 360 perspective when the fate of the world truly hung by a thread.Trade ReviewHolland is excellent on telling detail... This is a notable account of an epic human experience, told with the informality and enthusiasm that distinguish Holland's work... If the story is familiar, Holland tells it with authority and exuberant panache -- Max Hastings * The Sunday Times *Holland is one of a new generation of historians who were born long after the war but who bring to the subject a freshness and proper spirit of enquiry. A great achievement -- John Sergeant * Sunday Express *Excellent on all the technicalities of the conflict... full of lively pen portraits and unusual insights * Spectator *Stuffed with personal accounts that drive the narrative along at a cracking pace -- Patrick Bishop * Mail on Sunday *Ambitious and comprehensive... the pace never flags as the narrative ranges effortlessly from the cockpit of the Spitfire to the gallery of the House of Commons -- Saul David * Daily Telegraph *

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Book Synopsis____________________As vivid and compelling as the best adventure thriller, and a fitting tribute to a small band of men who became heroes' ANDY MCNAB Gripping, revealing and extraordinarily well-researched, this is a riveting new account of a little known but crucial war' SIR RANULPH FIENNES____________________Dawn. 19 July 1972. A force of nearly three hundred heavily armed, well-trained guerrillas launches a surprise attack on the small fishing village of Mirbat. All that stands in their way is a troop of just nine SAS, aided only by an elite band of fighter pilots overhead.Two years earlier a Communist rebellion had threatened the Arabian Peninsula, in the strategically critical Sultanate of Oman. Following a covert intelligence mission, 22 SAS deployed their largest ever assault force against the rebels.But this was to be a bitter and hard-fought campaign culminating the BattlTrade ReviewCatapulting us from the cockpits of heavily armed, low-level attack jets to the beating heart of elite Special Forces soldiers under siege, Storm Front tells this epic story as only the author of Vulcan 607 can. It's as vivid and compelling as the best adventure thriller, and a fitting tribute to a small band of men who became heroes -- Andy McNabGripping, revealing and extraordinarily well-researched, Storm Front is a riveting new account of a little known, but crucial war. Combining page-turning military action in the air and on the ground with a clear-sighted understanding of the big picture it brings to life the campaign in Oman more vividly than any other book I've read -- Sir Ranulph FiennesThe best account I've ever read of this legendary battle. Takes you right to the heart of the action -- Sgt Dan Mills, author of "Sniper One"This is a rare insight into the battle that defined the modern SAS. Storm Front is the best book you will read this year -- Tim CollinsI loved Storm Front. A period of history - and more particularly a single shining moment - that has been obscured by myth and legend. Here is the truth of it all at last in all its spine-tingling, spine-straightening glory -- Neil Oliver

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Book SynopsisThe night of May 16th, 1943. Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, each with a huge 9,000lb cylindrical bomb strapped underneath it. Their mission: to destroy three dams deep within the German heartland, which provide the lifeblood to the industries supplying the Third Reich''s war machine.From the outset it was an almost impossible task, a suicide mission: to fly low and at night in formationover many miles of enemy-occupied territory at the very limit of the Lancasters'' capacity, and drop a new weapon that had never been tried operationally before from a precise height of just sixty feet from the water at some of the most heavily defended targets in Germany.More than that, the entire operation had to be put together in less than ten weeks. When visionary aviation engineer Barnes Wallis''s concept of the bouncing bomb was green lighted, he hadn''t even drawn up his plans for the weapon that was to smash the dams. WTrade ReviewIn his previous books... Holland combined a lively style with fresh insights based on deep historical research. Those qualities shine through this new account * Literary Review *Though it is such a well-known story, it has never been told in such depth before. James Holland has mastered every detail * Daily Mail *Holland tells the story with gusto and pace... he has truly and brilliantly plugged an enormous gap * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisIn the bleakest years of the Second World War when it appeared that nothing could slow the advance of the German army, Hitler set his sights on the Mediterranean island of Crete, the ideal staging ground for domination of the Middle East. But German command had not counted on the strength of the Cretan resistance or the eccentric band of British intelligence officers who would stand in their way, conducting audacious sabotage operations in the very shadow of the Nazi occupation force.The Ariadne Objective tells the remarkable story of the secret war on Crete from the perspective of these amateur soldiers who found themselves serving because, as one of them put it, they had made ''the obsolete choice of Greek at school''. John Pendlebury, a swashbuckling archaeologist with a glass eye and a swordstick; Xan Fielding, a writer who would later produce the English translations of books like Bridge on the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes; Sandy Rendel, a futuTrade ReviewAn exciting, fast-moving and crisply written adventure story… Highly recommended * The Literary Review *Wes Davis’s fast-paced tale of wartime sabotage reads more like an Ian Fleming thriller than a mere retelling of events * Wall Street Journal *What really sets the book apart from the host of look-alikes is Davis’s dedication to fleshing out the eccentricity of the main players… It is surely a good thing that we no longer associate war with adventure; if it were always as appealing as Davis has made it here, we would grow to love it too much * Daily Beast *

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Book SynopsisIt's 1985, and as Jack returns for another year as headteacher at Ragley village school, some changes are in store.It's the year of Halley's Comet, Band Aid, Trivial Pursuit, Dynasty shoulder pads, Roland Rat and Microsoft Windows. And at Ragley-on-the-Forest, Heathcliffe Earnshaw decides to enter the village scarecrow competition, Ruby the caretaker finds romance, and retirement looms for Vera the secretary.Meanwhile, Jack has to battle with some rising stars of the teaching profession to save his job and his school . . .Readers love Jack Sheffield:''Wry observation and heartwarming humour in equal measure'' Alan Titchmarsh''Overflowing with amusing anecdotes'' Daily Express''Amusing adventures at the North Yorkshire village school'' Choice''Jack Sheffield''s in a class of his own'' York PressTrade ReviewWry observation and heartwarming humour in equal measure * Alan Titchmarsh *Overflowing with amusing anecdotes * Daily Express *Amusing adventures at the North Yorkshire village school * Choice *Jack Sheffield's in a class of his own * York Press *

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Book Synopsis'I cannot think of a better biography of a spy chief'Richard Davenport-Hines, The SpectatorSir Maurice Oldfield was one of the most important British spies of the Cold War era.Trade ReviewAn exemplary biography... it is full of perceptive intimacies and plenty of tradecraft, subterfuge, deception and revelation. I cannot think of a better biography of a spy chief. -- Richard Davenport-Hines * The Spectator *a frank and clear-eyed, if affectionate, biography of a great public servant, cruelly traduced -- Matthew Parris * Spectator, Books of the Year 2016 *An intriguing portrait of a brilliant man * Mail on Sunday *Gripping and candid. * The Times *A welcome biography of a man able to combine warm family and personal relationships with hard-headed intellectual analysis, taking the cold decisions needed to succeed in the most unaccountable and secret of government agencies. -- Richard Norton-Taylor * Guardian *[Maurice Oldfield] was the first professional intelligence officer to make it all the way to the top and become Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service and he was a seminal figure in the creation of the modern MI6. An invisible legend, but a legend nevertheless. -- Frederick ForsythA lively, readable and delightful portrait of one of the most charming men to emerge from the shadows. * Sunday Telegraph *This is the finest biography of a British Spymaster ever written. From Oldfield’s Derbyshire roots to the peaks and valleys of his MI6 career, the insights are revealing, the judgements are fair and the well-wrought narrative makes a compelling read. This is a marvellous addition to the historical literature of the secret world. -- Jonathan AitkenDenied access to the official files but with the co-operation of former intelligence officers, Oldfield's nephew has produced an immensely enjoyable biography of the most important post-war spy chief of Britain's still very, very secret Secret Intelligence Service, revealing the previously unknown private person and the man who kept the British government informed during the Cold War. -- Stephen Dorril, author of MI6: Fifty Years of Special OperationsA revealing study of this most unlikely of spy chiefs, the clever farmer’s son from Derbyshire who reached the top of the most class-bound of professions. Pearce paints a rounded portrait of an enigmatic personality, but one whose skilful reading of human nature and empathy with colleagues made him a popular ‘Chief’ of the Secret Intelligence Service in the dangerous days of the Cold War. * Roger Hermiston, author of The Greatest Traitor *Fuller and more rounded than previous accounts... Pearce amplifies and clarifies our image of a man who contributed significantly to the national zeal and, arguably, world peace. -- Alan Judd * Literary Review *A fascinating insight into the complex world of a master spy. -- Charles Cumming, author of A Divided Spy

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Book SynopsisIn the summer of 1962, one year after the rise of the Berlin Wall, a group of daring young West Germans risked prison, Stasi torture and even death to liberate friends, lovers, and strangers in East Berlin by digging tunnels under the Wall. This book tells their story.Trade ReviewA story with so much inherent drama it sounds far-fetched even for a Hollywood thriller... Mitchell tells a kaleidoscopic cold war story from 1962, recreating a world seemingly on the edge of a third world war. * The Guardian *This book serves as a stark reminder that barriers can never cut people off entirely but only succeed in driving them underground. * New York Times *The Tunnels is one of the great untold stories of the Cold War. Brilliantly researched and told with great flair, Greg Mitchell’s non-fiction narrative reads like the best spy thriller, something le Carre might have imagined. Easily the best book I’ve read all year.Every hour of my year in East Berlin - 1963/64 - the escape tunnels beneath our feet were being dug. This is their story: those who dug them, those who used them and those who betrayed them to the Stasi. Fascinating - and it is all true.A fascinating and complex picture of the interplay between politics and media in the Cold War era. * The Washington Post *I was stunned by the tunnelling exploits detailed by Greg Mitchell. This intricately detailed account was eye-opening and an exhilarating read. Not knowing who made it out of the East, and who was arrested, or worse, kept me glued to this book until the last page. [An] important work. -- Antonio Mendez, author of ArgoAn extraordinarily revealing political thriller... Mitchell presents us with a radically changed perspective on one of the Cold War’s most dramatic episodes. His book is both priceless as history and just about impossible to beat for sheer narrative grip. -- Frederick Taylor, author of The Berlin WallGreg Mitchell's The Tunnels uncovers an unexplored underworld of Cold War intrigue. As nuclear tensions grip Berlin, a whole realm of heroes and villains, of plot and counterplot, unfolds beneath the surface of the city. True historical drama. -- Ron Rosenbaum, author of Explaining Hitler and How The End BeginsWhen you have read the last page of Greg Mitchell's The Tunnels you will close the book. But not until then. -- Alan Furst, author of A Hero of France and Night SoldiersGreg Mitchell is the best kind of historian, a true storyteller. The Tunnels is a gripping tale about heroic individuals defying an authoritarian state at a critical moment in the Cold War. A brilliantly told thriller—but all true. -- Kai Bird, author of The Good SpyA compelling look at a wrenching chapter of the Cold War that chronicles the desperate flights for freedom beneath the streets of post-war Berlin and the costs that politics extracted in lives -- Barry Meier, author of Missing ManA riveting story. Mitchell, an exemplary journalist, goes deep into the political dynamics of Cold War Berlin. John Le Carré couldn’t have done it better. -- Bill MoyersA narrative full of interest and acute observation. -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *Tense, fascinating... Mitchell delivers a gripping, blow-by-blow account. * Publishers Weekly *A gripping page-turner that thrills like fiction. * Kirkus Reviews *One of the most gripping stories of the Cold War. * Omnivoracious - The Amazon Book Review *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewSuperb, enthralling and necessarily terrifying . . . the accident unfurls with a horrible inevitability. Weaving together the experiences of those who were there that night, Higginbotham marshals the details so meticulously that every step feels spring-loaded with tension. . . . Amid so much rich reporting and scrupulous analysis, some major themes emerge. . . . Higginbotham’s extraordinary book is another advance in the long struggle to fill in some of the gaps, bringing much of what was hidden into the light. * New York Times *An invaluable contribution to history... tells a compelling story exceptionally well. -- Serhii Plokhy * Evening Standard *Reads like a thriller: forensic, compelling and utterly terrifying. * Mail on Sunday *Higginbotham tells the story of the disaster and its gruesome aftermath with thriller-like flair. Midnight in Chernobyl is wonderful and chilling ... written with skill and passion. A tale of hubris and doomed ambition. * The Observer *Adam Higginbotham uses all of the techniques of the top-notch longform journalist to full effect. He swoops us into the heart of the catastrophe. * The Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA riveting, revealing and news-making account of the CIA''s interrogation of Saddam, written by the CIA agent who conducted the questioning. In December 2003, after one of the largest, most aggressive manhunts in history, US military forces captured Iraqi president Saddam Hussein near his hometown of Tikrit. Beset by body-double rumors and false alarms during a nine-month search, the Bush administration needed positive identification of the prisoner before it could make the announcement that would rocket around the world. At the time, John Nixon was a senior CIA leadership analyst who had spent years studying the Iraqi dictator. Called upon to make the official ID, Nixon looked for telltale scars and tribal tattoos and asked Hussein a list of questions only he could answer. The man was indeed Saddam Hussein, but as Nixon learned in the ensuing weeks, both he and America had greatly misunderstood just who Saddam Hussein really was. DTrade ReviewExcellent -- John Simpson * New Statesman *Refreshingly candid… [Mr. Nixon] reveals gobsmacking facts about that deposed Iraqi leader that raise new questions about why the United States bothered to invade Iraq to oust him from power * The New York Times *A damning indictment of the perversion of a major intelligence service by little minds inside and above it -- Michael Burleigh * The Times *Gripping…Nixon’s book, Debriefing the President, gives more ammunition to the skeptics; indeed, some of its contents can only be described as sensational * The New Yorker *The gripping behind-the-scenes story of Saddam Hussein's downfall * Soldier *

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Book SynopsisJack Sheffield grew up in the tough environment of Gipton Estate, in North East Leeds. After a job as a 'pitch boy', repairing roofs, he became a Corona Pop man before going to St John's College, York, and training to be a teacher. In the late seventies and eighties, he was a headteacher of two schools in North Yorkshire before becoming Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at Bretton Hall College of the University of Leeds. It was at this time he began to record his many amusing stories of village life as portrayed in Teacher, Teacher!, Mister Teacher, Dear Teacher, Village Teacher, Please Sir!, Educating Jack, School's Out!, Silent Night, Star Teacher, Happiest Days, Starting Over, Changing Times, Back to School and School Days. He lives in Hampshire.

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Book Synopsis''Man does for the reader that most difficult of tasks: he conjures up an ancient people in an alien landscape in such a way as to make them live.'' - GuardianThe people of the first nomadic empire left no written records, but from 200 BC they dominated the heart of Asia for 400 years. They changed the world. The Mongols, today's descendants of Genghis Khan, see them as ancestors. Their rise cemented Chinese unity and inspired the first Great Wall. Their heirs under Attila the Hun helped destroy the Roman Empire.We don't know what language they spoke, but they became known as Xiongnu, or Hunnu, a term passed down the centuries and across Eurasia, enduring today in shortened form as Hun'. Outside Asia precious little is known of their rich history, but new evidence reframes our understanding of the indelible mark they left on a vast region stretching from Europe and sweeping right across Central Asia deep into China.Based on meticulous research aTrade ReviewMan does for the reader that most difficult of tasks: he conjures up an ancient people in an alien landscape in such a way as to make them live. * Guardian *His ability to put us in the picture, to feel, smell and almost touch the surroundings he describes, is matched by his ability to tell a good story. * Michael Palin *

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Book SynopsisThe year is 1969 and Jack Sheffield is a young teacher in need of a job. In a room full of twenty-nine other newly qualified teachers, he''s overjoyed when he''s appointed to Heather View Primary. Jack is excited to start his first year there and to begin shaping young minds in a beautiful new location on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.But Heather View isn''t as idyllic as it first sounds. In fact, it looks more like a prison than a primary school. With less than adequate funding and a head teacher who doesn''t seem to care, it''s no easy task to give the kids the education they deserve. But Jack''s determined to do just that.Full of warmth and good humour, Back to School is like taking a nostalgic walk through the past to a simpler time..._____________________What readers are saying: ***** ''I felt I was transported back in time. This was a joy to read.''***** ''By chapter 3 I loved this book so much that I orderTrade ReviewWith his customary warmth and good humour Jack tells of the many challenges that faced this idealistic young teacher * Choice magazine *This book makes for a perfect escape to a simpler time * Living North *Wry observation and heartwarming humour in equal measure * Alan Titchmarsh *Overflowing with amusing anecdotes * Daily Express *Amusing adventures at the North Yorkshire village school * Choice *

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Book SynopsisThe year is 1976 and Jack Sheffield never wants to leave his job.Jack has been the deputy head teacher at Newbridge Primary School for six years now, and he''s happy exactly where he is - even if it sometimes feels like there are a few things missing from his life. After all, the kids keep him busy and there''s always a game of rugby to play.But it''s a time of change, and Jack''s world is no exception. New and old faces appear in his life and a romance blossoms, bringing with it a buried secret and hidden threat. Soon, Jack must make a decision as to where his future is heading, and prepare to face whatever change is yet to come . . .A classic Jack Sheffield tale, ready to transport you back to a simpler time._____________________Praise for Jack Sheffield:''Wry observation and heartwarming humour in equal measure.'' Alan Titchmarsh''Overflowing with amusing anecdotes.'' Daily ExpressTrade ReviewWith his customary warmth and good humour Jack tells of the many challenges that faced this idealistic young teacher * Choice magazine *This book makes for a perfect escape to a simpler time * Living North *

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Book Synopsis''Fascinating ... an extremely courageous work.'' The Lady''Absolutely extraordinary ... Findlay reveals a vast, hidden European story that few nations have ever been brave enough to confront'' Keith Lowe''''Beautifully written, poignant and acutely perceptive'' Sinclair McKay''Moving and powerful'' Julia Samuel......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................In My Grandfather''s Shadow is an unflinching, thought-provoking fusion of memoir and history, and an exploration of the hidden scars left across generations by the conflict and horrors of the Second World War.In a quest to discover the truth about her German grandfather, first a proud Wehrmacht General serving on the Eastern front, then a broken POW on trial for Nazi war crimes, AngeTrade ReviewA remarkable cross-pollination of memoir, psychology and history in which the author comes to grips with being the granddaughter of a Nazi general. * i Paper *Brave ... full of insights and good research. -- Caroline Moorehead * Times Literary Supplement *A compelling journey through guilt and shame that asks fundamental and painful questions about the extent of a family member's participation in one of the biggest crimes of the 20th century. -- Derek Niemann, author of A Nazi in the FamilyIn My Grandfather's Shadow is an extraordinary book. Beautifully written, poignant and acutely perceptive; endlessly thought-provoking and challenging. From the nature of wickedness to the phenomenon of epigenetics, it is also an extremely powerful and different way of seeing the vast and terrible tides of history. -- Sinclair McKay, author of Berlin, Dresden, and The Secret Life of Bletchley ParkSeeking to untangle the complexities of her own life, the author goes in search of a WW2 German general - the grandfather she never knew. The outcome is a powerful and at times painfully honest story that will touch readers at many levels. -- Julia Boyd, author of Travellers in the Third Reich and A Village in the Third Reich

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Book SynopsisWilliam Dampier, (1651-1715), was an English adventurer and pirate who preyed on ships on the Spanish Main. Poor and ill-educated and determined to make his fortune, he nonetheless had a passion for exploration and scientific research. Dampier was the first to map the winds and currents of the world''s oceans; led the first recorded party of Englishmen to set foot on Australia - 80 years before Cook; wrote about Galapagos wildlife 150 years before Darwin, who drew on Dampier''s notes in his own work; was the first travel writer: A NEW VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD was instant bestseller when it was published in 1697 - said to have influenced the novels of Swift and Defoe. A man full of contradictions: he who achieved so much ''blew it'' later in life, declining into scandal, failure and even farce. A unique man ahead of his time, he lived a large part of his life among pirates yet managed to preserve what Coleridge called his exquisite refinement of mind. A classic exampleTrade ReviewLively... extraordinary life - an unlikely combination of plundering and pioneering achievements in natural history and exploration * The Sunday Times *Gripping and well-researched... An impressive achievement * Guardian *This long overdue biography wonderfully brings to life one of the most important explorers of the seventeenth century -- Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the SeaThis eloquently enthusiastic biography, besides charting Dampier's astonishing achievements, offers fascinating information about his times * The Age, Melbourne *

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Book Synopsisa base from which they are able to launch attacks against the Middle East.Once again John Pilger gives a voice to the people living through these momentous times and, in gripping detail, shows us the lives behind the headlines.Trade ReviewPilger is the closest we have to the great correspondents of the 1930s... The truth in his hands is a weapon, to be picked up and brandished and used in the struggle against evil and injustice * Guardian *John Pilger is the antidote to easy, comfortable thinking, to smugness, to ignorance * Daily Telegraph *Pilger's gift is for finding the image, the instant, that reveals all - he is a photographer using words instead of a camera -- Salman RushdieJohn Pilger unearths, with steely attention to facts, the filthy truth and tells it as it is. I salute him -- Harold PinterThe array of interviews with the voiceless and abused provides an indispensable corrective to the litany of disinformation we are fed by the media, and for this achievement Pilger is surely the most outstanding journalist in the world today * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisMany of us were put off history by the dry and dreary way it was taught at school. Back then ''The Origins of the Industrial Revolution'' somehow seemed less compelling than the chance to test the bold claim on Timothy Johnson''s ''Shatterproof'' ruler.But here at last is a chance to have a good laugh and learn all that stuff you feel you really ought to know by now...In this ''Horrible History for Grown Ups'' you can read how Anglo-Saxon liberals struggled to be positive about immigration; ''Look I think we have to try and respect the religious customs of our new Viking friends - oi, he''s nicked my bloody ox!''Discover how England''s peculiar class system was established by some snobby French nobles whose posh descendents still have wine cellars and second homes in the Dordogne today. And explore the complex socio-economic reasons why Britain''s kings were the first in Europe to be brought to heel; (because the Stuarts were such a useless bunch of untalented, incompetent, arrogant, upper-class thickoes that Parliament didn''t have much choice.)A book about then that is also incisive and illuminating about now, ''2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge'', is an hilarious, informative and cantankerous journey through Britain'' fascinating and bizarre history.As entertaining as a witch burning, and a lot more laughs.

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Book SynopsisEpsom Downs, 3rd May, 1769: a chestnut with a white blaze scorches across the turf towards the finishing post. His four rivals are so far behind him that, in racing terms, they are ''nowhere''. Watching Eclipse is the man who wants to buy him. An adventurer who has made his money through roguery and gambling, Dennis O''Kelly is also the companion of the madam of one of London''s most notorious brothels. While O''Kelly is destined to remain an outcast to the racing establishment, his horse will go on to become the undisputed, undefeated champion of his sport. Eclipse''s male-line descendants will include Desert Orchid, Arkel and all but three of the Derby winners of the past fifty years. And his astonishing life will be matched only by that of the rogue who owned him.Trade ReviewA ripping yarn expertly told: part Flashman at the Races; part Seabiscuit without the schmaltz * Observer *Clee combines the story of Eclipse's racing and breeding career with the lives of those who bred and owned him, a crowd who were racy in every conceivable sense * Daily Telegraph *Clee knows how to tell a gripping story: he weaves the halves together into a well-written narrative of social change... fascinating * Independent *This splendid book... This is a read bursting with life, and Clee has the balance and worldliness to weigh all his material with sense and perspective. No racing home should be without it * The Times *It brings to life a horse that has left behind a matchless legacy. For the casual reader, it is an enjoyable romp through a period knee-deep in fops, fools and fraudsters * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisFollowing his hugely popular account of the previous 2000 years, John O''Farrell now comes bang up to date with a hilarious modern history asking ''How the hell did we end up here?'' An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain informs, elucidates and laughs at all the bizarre events, ridiculous characters and stupid decisions that have shaped Britain''s story since 1945; leaving the Twenty-First Century reader feeling fantastically smug for having the benefit of hindsight.

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Book SynopsisPaul Ham is the author of the critically acclaimed Sandakan, Hiroshima Nagasaki, Vietnam: The Australian War, Kokoda and 1914: The Year the World Ended.A former correspondent for the Sunday Times (between 1998-2012), Paul was born in Sydney and educated in Australia and Britain, where he completed a Masters degree in Economic History at the London School of Economics and Political Science.He now writes history full-time, and lives in Sydney and Paris.

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Book SynopsisThe history of Parliament is the history of the United Kingdom itself. It has a cast of thousands. Some were ambitious, visionary and altruistic. Others were hot-headed, violent and self-serving. Few were unambiguously noble. Yet their rowdy confrontations, their campaigning zeal and their unstable alliances framed our nation.This first of two volumes takes us on a 500-year journey from Parliament''s earliest days in the thirteenth century through the turbulent years of the Wars of the Roses and the upheavals of the Civil Wars, and up to 1801, when Parliament and the United Kingdom, embracing Scotland and Ireland emerged in a modern form.Chris Bryant tells this epic tale through the lives of the myriad MPs, lords and bishops who passed through Parliament. It is the vivid, colourful biography of a cast of characters whose passions and obsessions, strengths and weaknesses laid the foundations of modern democracy.Trade ReviewThis magnificent book... Bryant is a fine historian. His understanding of political processes shines through. After this epic the next volume will be eagerly awaited -- Leo McKinstry * Express *A bravura ‘biography’ of Parliament… both charming and important… A carefully constructed and lucidly written adventure story about the institution that – like it or not – still shapes our lives -- Roy Hattersley * Telegraph *Admirably comprehensive… and written in the kind of lucid, elegant prose now rarely associated with our elected representatives * New Statesman *a fascinating study into the lives and reputations of those who, honourable or not, have sat as parliamentarians... compelling reading -- Chris Skidmore * Times Literary Supplement *This book tells the story of our greatest national institution. It is well-written, contains much truth, and a great deal of important information. It is a wonderful idea. -- Peter OborneLively... a warts-and-all account of how MPs have first survived and subsequently shaped and initiated policy * The Lady *This is a wonderful, wry view of the history of parliament "from the inside". Chris Bryant is a great myth-buster. If you ever thought that modern MPs were more corrupt or worse behaved than their predecessors, then read on. You'll find it's not quite so simple. -- Mary BeardA remarkably readable and scholarly account of the emergence of the British Parliament over its first five hundred years or so -- Ken ClarkeA wonderfully iconoclastic yet affectionate history ... Bryant tells the story with clarity and verve. -- Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church, Oxford UniversityWorthy of its venerable subject * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisOver the last two hundred years Parliament has witnessed and effected dramatic and often turbulent change. Political parties rose and fell. The old aristocratic order passed away. The vote was won for the working classes and, eventually, for women. The world was torn apart by two extraordinarily bloody wars. And individual politicians were cheered for their altruism or their bravery and jeered for their sexual or financial misdemeanours.This second volume of Chris Bryant's majestic Parliament: The Biography has a cast of characters that includes some of British history's most famous names: the Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, Gladstone, Disraeli, Lloyd George, Churchill and Thatcher. Its recurring theme is reform and innovation, but it also lays bare obsessive respect for the past and a dedication to evolution rather than revolution, which has left us with a fudged constitution still perilously dependent on custom, convention and gentlemen's agreements.This is riveting, flawlessly researched and accessible popular history for anyone with an interest in why modern Britain is the nation it is today.Trade ReviewImpressive * Independent *A sweeping history of Britain's political system... One of the most thoughtful accounts I have read -- Francis Beckett * BBC History *Parliament is a very good read, with interesting anecdotes and observations enriched by the fact the author is an MP * Total Politics *An entertaining read * The Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisOn 30 July 1945 the USS Indianapolis was steaming through the South Pacific, on her way home having delivered the bomb that was to decimate Hiroshima seven days later, when she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Of a crew of 1196 men an estimated 300 were killed upon impact; the remaining 900 sailors went into the sea. Undetected for five days, they struggled to stay alive, fighting off sharks, hypothermia and madness. By the time rescue arrived, only 317 men were left alive. Interweaving the stories of some of these survivors (including the ship''s Captain Butler McVay, who would be unjustly court-martialled for the loss of his ship and, twenty years later and tormented by the experience, take his own life), Doug Stanton brings this incredible human drama to life in a narrative that is at once immediate and timeless. The definitive account of a near-forgotten chapter in the history of the last war, In Harm''s Way has become a classic.And, some 72 years laTrade ReviewThe story of the 1945 sinking of the USS Indianapolis ... 1196 men went into the Pacific... their entire ordeal, from the intial fireball to the 1968 suicide of the captian, is spelt out here in vivd, horrific detail. Brilliant stuff. * Later *A thoroughly researched, powerfully written account of a nightmare at sea, one of the most poignant tragedies and injustices of World War II -- Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk DownSuperb...it's the stuff about the men in the sea that'll make you weep. Four days without water, being picked off one by one by sharks...and no-one in the world even realising they are missing. Gripping * FHM *How could a WWII battleship carrying over 1,000 men be torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sink, leaving the survivors to bob in the Pacific Ocean at the mercy of elements and predators, without anyone realizing the loss for more than four days? Stanton not only offers a well-researched chronicle of what is widely regarded as the worst naval disaster in U.S. history, but also vividly renders the combatants' hellish ordeal during the sinking, and the ensuing days at sea as well as attempts to cope with the traumatic aftermath . . . absorbing, novelistic . . . illuminating and emotional without being maudlin * Publishers Weekly *

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Book Synopsis''Because it was fought so close to his old home ground, Homer might have seen this war on the Gallipoli Peninsula as an epic. Brief by his standards, but essentially heroic. Shakespeare might have seen it as a tragedy with splendid bit-parts for buffoons and brigands and lots of graveyard scenes. Those thigh bones you occasionally see rearing out of the yellow earth of Gully ravine, snapped open so that they look like pumice, belong to a generation of young men who on this peninsula first lost their innocence and then their lives, and maybe something else as well...''Gallipoli remains one of the most poignant battlefronts of the First World War and L. A. Carlyon''s monumental account of that campaign has been rightfully acclaimed and a massive bestseller in Australia. Brilliantly told, supremely readable and deeply moving, Gallipoli brings this epic tragedy to life and stands as both a landmark chapter in the history of the war and a salutary reminder of all that is fine anTrade Review'Superb...Carlyon's writing is so vivid that you almost imagine yourself present. A stunning achievement' -- Saul David * Daily Telegraph *'Incisive, emotionally-charged and visceral...blends a real feel for the fighting soldier with a firm grasp of the strangely beautiful countryside which saw such a bewildering mix of tragedy, missed opportunity and wasted heroism. A hard-hitting and heart-breaking book' -- Richard Holmes'Carlyon is a gifted writer...his book deserves to take its place alongside other classic accounts of Gallipoli. He conveys the beauty of the place and its ugliness 90 years ago' -- John Keegan * Daily Telegraph *'The book of the year...the most stunning account of the Anzac boneyard' -- Alan Ramsey * Sydney Morning Herald *'A brilliantly managed narrative and remarkably even-handed...a superb account' -- Trevor Royle * Glasgow Herald *

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Book SynopsisRobert Whitaker is a science journalist and the author, most recently, of the much-acclaimed Mad in America. He has won the George Polk Award for Medical Writing and a National Association of Science Writers' Award for best magazine article. He was a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, considered US journalism's top prize. Robert Whitaker's long fascination with South America began in the late 1970s, when he built and lived in a bamboo hut on the Ecuadorian coast. He now lives and writes in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Trade Review'Gripping...one of the best books I have read this year' * DAILY TELEGRAPH *'An unlikely page-turner...as a testament to frustration, endurance and mutual devotion, this takes some beating' * SUNDAY TIMES *'Enthralling...Full of mystery and danger, bravery and tragedy, with a rapturous love story at its core that transcends both time and continents. A marvellous read' * DENNIS LEHANE *'In the brilliant tradition of Dava Sobel's Longitude...combines powerful storytelling with excellent historical research in a book that reads like a novel' * ALAN LIGHTMAN, author of 'Einstein's Dreams' *'An exemplary narrative history and a fascinating tale of science, love and survival' * MARK HONIGSBAUM, author of 'The Fever Trail' *

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Book SynopsisA professional solder for thirty-five years, Allan Mallinson began writing while still serving. His first book was a history of four regiments of British light dragoons, one of which he commanded. His debut novel was the bestselling A Close Run Thing, the first in an acclaimed series chronicling the life of a fictitious cavalry officer before and after Waterloo (The Tigress of Mysore is the fourteenth in the series). His The Making of the British Army was shortlisted for a number of prizes, while 1914: Fight the Good Fight won the British Army's Book of the Year' Award. Its sequel, Too Important for the Generals, is a provocative look at leadership during the Great War, while Fight to the Finish is a comprehensive history of the First World War, month by month.Allan Mallinson reviews for the Spectator and the TLS and also writes for The Times. He lives on Salisbury Plain.Trade ReviewFascinating... clear and concise... important. It is hard to see this book being bettered in the near future -- Simon Heffer * DAILY TELEGRAPH *I learned a lot -- Jeremy Paxman * OBSERVER *This is no mere paperback edition of Mallinson's acclaimed 2009 hardback. He presents a revised and updated version that no self-respecting defense commentator can risk being without * THE TIMES *A compelling history of the British Army -- Emmanuelle Smith * FT *Mallinson is surely right to stress the one enduring quality of the British Army: 'operational resilience' -- Saul David * SPECTATOR *

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Book SynopsisJohn Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia. After reading German and French at Oxford he did two postgraduate courses, one in the history of science at Oxford, the other in Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His Gobi: Tracking the Desert (Weidenfeld, 1997) was the first book on the subject in English since the 1920s. He is also the author of The Atlas of the Year 1000, (Penguin 1999), Alpha Beta (Headline, 2000) on the roots of the Roman alphabet, The Gutenberg Revolution (Headline 2002) on the origins and impact of printing, and the bestselling Genghis Khan. His latest book, Kublai Khan, is now available from Bantam Press.Trade Review'One could not wish for a better storyteller or analyst than John Man... His Attila is superb, as compellingly readable as it is impressive in its scholarship: with his light touch, the Huns and their king live as never before... There is something fascinating and new on every page' -- Simon Sebag Montefiore'Man does for the reader that most difficult of tasks: he conjures up an ancient people in an alien landscape in such a way as to make them live . . . a gripping present day quest' * Guardian *'Attila is known as a savage but there was much more to this great warrior. Man takes his readers on a thrilling ride alongside the man who marauded across Europe, striking terror into the hearts of entire nations' -- The Good Book Guide'Racy and imaginative...sympathetically and readably puts flesh and bones on one of history's most turbulent characters' -- Sunday Telegraph'Man's excellent writing breathes new life into a character whose spirit lives on in China and Mongolia today' -- Historical Novels Review

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Book SynopsisJohn Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia. After reading German and French at Oxford he did two postgraduate courses, one in the history of science at Oxford , the other in Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His GOBI: TRACKING THE DESERT (Weidenfeld, 1997) was the first book on the subject in English since the 1920s. He is also the author of THE ATLAS OF THE YEAR 1000, (Penguin 1999), ALPHA BETA (Headline, 2000) on the roots of the Roman alphabet, THE GUTENBERG REVOLUTION (Headline 2002) on the origins and impact of printing, GENGHIS KHAN, ATTILA THE HUN and KUBLAI KHAN.

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