Military History Books

Book SynopsisOne of our most provocative military historians, Victor Davis Hanson has given us painstakingly researched and pathbreaking accounts of wars ranging from classical antiquity to the twenty-first century. Now he juxtaposes an ancient conflict with our most urgent modern concerns to create his most engrossing work to date, A War Like No Other.Over the course of a generation, the Hellenic city-states of Athens and Sparta fought a bloody conflict that resulted in the collapse of Athens and the end of its golden age. Thucydides wrote the standard history of the Peloponnesian War, which has given readers throughout the ages a vivid and authoritative narrative. But Hanson offers readers something new: a complete chronological account that reflects the political background of the time, the strategic thinking of the combatants, the misery of battle in multifaceted theaters, and important insight into how these events echo in the present.Hanson compellingly portrays the ways Athen

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Book SynopsisA riveting double biography of Nazi Germany's most highly decorated women test pilots - Hitler's personal Valkyries.Hanna Reitsch and Melitta von Stauffenberg were talented, courageous and strikingly attractive women who fought convention to make their names in the male-dominated field of flight in 1930s Germany. With the war, both became pioneering test pilots and both were awarded the Iron Cross for service to the Third Reich. But they could not have been more different and neither woman had a good word to say for the other.Hanna was middle-class, vivacious and distinctly Aryan, while the darker, more self-effacing Melitta, came from an aristocratic Prussian family. Both were driven by deeply held convictions about honour and patriotism but ultimately while Hanna tried to save Hitler's life, begging him to let her fly him to safety in April 1945, Melitta covertly supported the most famous attempt to assassinate the Führer. Their interwovenTrade ReviewVividly drawn . . . this is a thrilling story. * Telegraph *This is popular history of a high order. * Times *A satisfying, rollicking read . . . well researched and beautifully written. * Spectator *This compelling work has the drama and suspense of the best movie scripts. * Library Journal USA *Biographer Mulley comes through in a major way . . . absolutely gripping. * Booklist, USA *An utterly compelling read * Historia *Packed with detail and colour. * History Revealed *

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Book SynopsisExamines how Anglo-American ideas about "strategic" bombing were formed and implemented. This book argues that ideas about bombing civilian targets rested on - and gained validity from - widespread but substantially erroneous assumptions about the nature of modern industrial societies and their vulnerability to aerial bombardment.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2002 "Well written, full of nuance and detail, and solidly researched. Biddle has done a thorough job of cutting through the thicket of contradictions and fantasies that surround the strategic bombing debate from 1914 to 1945."--Dominick A. Pisano, Military History "There are books about military ideas and books about military practice. This work by a talented young historian integrates the two forms. In addition to a deft pen and an eye for wry anecdote, Biddle possesses an instinct for the ways in which ideas about new forms of warfare germinate, spread, and are adopted in the absence of good data. The importance of this book therefore not only stems from what it tells the reader about how the two great air powers of the first half of the twentieth century thought about this new instrument of war. It also offers cautionary lessons in an age of radical military change. Sleek and dazzling new technology is one thing; sensible doctrine for its use in war is another."--Foreign Affairs "This is one of the most cogent, in-depth analyses of an important international historical controversy. Biddle's insight into the persistence of cognitive structures and processes serves as a model for future historical inquiry."--Choice "An extremely well-crafted history... [It] can now be recommended as the best treatment of its subject matter in a single volume."--John Gooch, International History Review "Tami Davis Biddle ... has set air power into its widest historical contexts yet and, while many of her arguments are not entirely new, has advanced the field considerably with a well-researched and carefully thought-out book."--Michael S. Neiberg, American Historical Review "By synthesizing so many complex issues, Biddle offers a landmark piece of scholarship that should appeal to both experts and history enthusiasts through its balance, lucidity, and clarity."--Guillaume de Syon, Air Power History "Anyone interested in understanding the United States Air Force's bombing operations in Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan over the past decade should begin by reading this book. Today's aircraft and weapons differ dramatically from those used over the western front in World War I, but--as Tami Davis Biddle points out--ideas about strategic bombing from that era have remained remarkably resilient... Biddle's work should be read by anyone interested in understanding the shaping of ideas behind the use of military force and how these ideas ultimately affect political decisions."--Thomas E. Griffith, Jr., American DiplomacyTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Chapter One The Beginning: Strategic Bombing in the First World War 11 Chapter Two Britain in the Interwar Years 69 Chapter Three The United States in the Interwar Years 128 Chapter Four Rhetoric and Reality, 1939-1942 176 Chapter Five The Combined Bomber Offensive, 1943-1945 214 Conclusion 289 Notes 303 Bibliography of Archival Sources 387 Index 391

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Book SynopsisIn this prequel to the now-classic Makers of Modern Strategy, Victor Davis Hanson, a leading scholar of ancient military history, gathers prominent thinkers to explore key facets of warfare, strategy, and foreign policy in the Greco-Roman world. From the Persian Wars to the final defense of the Roman Empire, Makers of Ancient Strategy demonstratesTrade ReviewWinner of the 2010 PROSE Award in Classics & Ancient History, Association of American Publishers "The book is a worthwhile read and some of the articles would do well as reading material on courses of ancient warfare or even modern strategic studies."--Joonas Sipila, Acto Philogica Fennica "At every point throughout this superb collection of essays, one cannot but reflect on Western engagements in far-off, alien places."--Peter Jones, Sunday Telegraph "Mr. Hanson's examination of the dangers implicit in pre-emptive warfare is riveting, as is John W.I. Lee's explanation of why the specter of urban warfare was as despised by ancient strategists as it is today by modern warriors... Mr. Hanson and Mr. Luttwak have begun the serious study of what the ancients might have to teach us about a world where traditional nation-states not only have to coexist with armed non-state actors but must negotiate with them on nearly equal terms or sometimes fight them."--Gary Anderson, Washington Times "This is a worthy edition to the literature of military history."--Kevin Winter, Sacramento Book Review "The essays are all thought provoking, and readers will find surprises, insights, and things to argue about."--Choice "Coming up for air after a couple of hours with this recent Victor Davis Hanson book, I switched on CNN and was briefly confused as to what century it was. Did his point on the overwhelming impact of organized military force refer to Moammar Gaddafi's generals chasing down Libyan rebels or to Roman soldiers crushing a slave revolt? The parallels are striking. 'Spartacus was overmatched by the logistics, discipline and generalship of the Roman legions,' Hanson writes in his fine introduction to Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome. The Libyan rebels face the same odds today, reduced by Western media to a 'ragtag' band of fighters rapidly losing the initiative, pretty much like those of Spartacus when it all ended for him. Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a respected military historian, has assembled here ten succinct studies by academic colleagues that demonstrate, with variable persuasiveness, the 'relevance of the past to military challenges of the present.' ... Hanson encouraged his contributors to choose a subject of special interest to them. As a result, the studies make for a diverse and refreshing collection."--Michael Johnson, American Spectator "This exciting collection reflects a publishing as well as an academic opportunity. The publishing opportunity is that of providing a prequel to the highly successful collection, Makers of Modern Strategy, while the academic opportunity is offered by the wealth of talent available to write on the earlier period."--Jeremy Black, European Review of HistoryTable of ContentsList of Contributors vii Introduction: Makers of Ancient Strategy 1 From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome by Victor Davis Hanson Chapter 1: From Persia with Love 11 Propaganda and Imperial Overreach in the Greco-Persian Wars by Tom Holland Chapter 2: Pericles, Thucydides, and the Defense of Empire 31 by Donald Kagan Chapter 3: Why Fortifications Endure 58 A Case Study of the Walls of Athens during the Classical Period by David L. Berkey Chapter 4: Epaminondas the Theban and the Doctrine of Preemptive War 93 by Victor Davis Hanson Chapter 5: Alexander the Great, Nation Building, and the Creation and Maintenance of Empire 118 by Ian Worthington Chapter 6: Urban Warfare in the Classical Greek World 138 by John W. I. Lee Chapter 7: Counterinsurgency and the Enemies of Rome 163 by Susan Mattern Chapter 8: Slave Wars of Greece and Rome 185 by Barry Strauss Chapter 9: Julius Caesar and the General as State 206 by Adrian Goldsworthy 10. Holding the Line 227 Frontier Defense and the Later Roman Empire by Peter J. Heather Acknowledgments 247 Index 249

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Book SynopsisRising '44 is a brilliant narrative account of one of the most dramatic episodes in 20th century history, drawing on Davies' unique understanding of the issues and characters involved. In August 1944 Warsaw offered the Wehrmacht the last line of defence against the Red Army's march from Moscow to Berlin. When the Red Army reached the river Vistula, the people of Warsaw believed that liberation had come. The Resistance took to the streets in celebration, but the Soviets remained where they were, allowing the Wehrmacht time to regroup and Hitler to order that the city of Warsaw be razed to the ground. For 63 days the Resistance fought on in the cellars and the sewers. Defenceless citizens were slaughtered in their tens of thousands. One by one the City's monuments were reduced to rubble, watched by Soviet troops on the other bank of the river. The Allies expressed regret but decided that there was nothing to be done, Poland would not be allowed to be governed by Poles. The sacrifice was in vain and the Soviet tanks rolled in to the flattened city. It is a hugely dramatic story, vividly and authoritatively told by one of our greatest historians.Trade Review[His] knowledge and his passion are displayed in this notable book. His research among Polish and Soviet sources is exhaustive -- Max Hastings * Sunday Telegraph *Davies reveals a comprehensive design, tremendous narrative power, a remarkable gift for compression, and a shrewd sense of overall balance * The New York Review of Books *Davies has been widely recognised as the historian of that benighted country. Now he has used the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the uprising not only to provide a comprehensive account but to make us rethink the central trauma of the 20th century - the conflict between democracies and the totalitarian fantasies of fascism and communism. * Guardian *Much more than the story of the Warsaw uprising. It is one of the most savage indictments of Allied malfeasance yet leveled by a historian. Unsparing in his depictions of the slaughter of the Polish fighters and the destruction of their capital, Davies challenges the popular assumption that World War II was entirely the triumph of good over evil. * New York Times *

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Book Synopsis''Fascinating . . . Shot through with fresh insights . . . No previous biography has attempted anything so comprehensive.'' ObserverNelson is a thrilling new appraisal of Horatio Nelson, the greatest practitioner of naval command the world has ever seen. It explores the professional, personal, intellectual and practical origins of one man''s genius, to understand how the greatest warrior that Britain has ever produced transformed the art of conflict, and enabled his country to survive the challenge of total war and international isolation. In Nelson, Andrew Lambert - described by David Cannadine as ''the outstanding British naval historian of his generation'' - is able to offer new insights into the individual quality which led Byron rightly to celebrate Nelson''s genius as ''Britannia''s God of War''. He demonstrates how Admiral Nelson elevated the business of naval warfare to the level of the sublime. Nelson''s unique gift was to take that which other commanders found complex, and reduce it to simplicity. Where his predecessors and opponents saw a particular battle as an end in itself, Nelson was always a step ahead - even in the midst of terrifying, close-quarters action, with officers and men struck down all around him. ''Excellent . . . Worthy of the stirring events [it celebrates].'' IndependentTrade Review"'It addresses Nelson's career with energy and good sense.' Max Hastings, Sunday Telegraph 'Good on the influence of sea power on history, and also examines in some detail the two controversial episodes of Nelson's life: his treatment of his wife, Fanny, after leaving her for Emma Hamilton, and his alleged betrayal of the armistice given to the defeated Jacobin rebels at Naples, followed by the execution of the Neapolitan officer Francesco Caracciolo.' Evening Standard 'No previous biography has attempted anything so comprehensive... fascinating' Observer"

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Book SynopsisIn 1942, Lieutenant-Commander Ian Fleming was personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence - the dynamic figure behind James Bond''s fictional chief, ''M''. Here, Fleming had a brilliant idea: why not set up a unit of authorised looters, men who would go in hard with the front-line troops and steal enemy intelligence?Known as ''30 Assault Unit'', they took part in the major campaigns of the Second World War, landing on the Normandy beaches and helping to liberate Paris. 30AU''s final amazing coup was to seize the entire archives of the German Navy - thirty tons of documents. Ian Fleming flew out in person to get the loot back to Britain, where it was combed for evidence to use in the Nuremburg trials. In this gripping and highly enjoyable book, Nicholas Rankin, author of the best-selling Churchill''s Wizards, puts 30 Assault Unit''s fascinating story in a strategic and intelligence context. He also argues that Ian Fleming''s Second Wor

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Book SynopsisThe diary as Anne Frank wrote it: “The single most compelling personal account of the Holocaust ... remains astonishing and excruciating (The New York Times Book Review).In a modern translation, this definitive edition contains entries about Anne’s burgeoning sexuality and confrontations with her mother that were cut from previous editions. Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl is among the most enduring documents of the twentieth century. Since its publication in 1947, it has been a beloved and deeply admired monument to the indestructible nature of the human spirit, read by millions of people and translated into more than fifty-five languages. Doubleday, which published the first English translation of the diary in 1952, now offers a new translation that captures Anne’s youthful spirit and restores the original material omitted by Anne’s father, Otto—approximately thirty percent of the diary. The elder Frank excis

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Book SynopsisPublished in association with the Imperial War Museums, this book will provide the ultimate challenge to even the most knowledgeable military historian.You might think you know a great deal about World War II but have you ever really tested your knowledge? This compelling book, published in association with Imperial War Museums, contains over 1,000 questions (and answers, if you need them) that cover every aspect of the Second World War, from its beginnings, though the widening of the conflict, the leaders and their strategies, armies, battles, weapons, bombing raids – everything to provide a real challenge to even the most committed history lover.With multiple-choice questions, truth or fiction sections to baffle and intrigue, picture quizzes from the Imperial War Museums' archive – one of the largest military photographic archives in the world – and much more, you will find there is still something new to learn about this compelling conflict, and your answers will be ranked accordingly.Trade ReviewHighly recommended, and a superb stocking filler * Britain at War Magazine *

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Book SynopsisVOLUME TWO OF SPIKE MILLIGAN''S LEGENDARY MEMOIRS IS A OUTRAGEOUS, HILARIOUS WW2 MEMOIRS''Brilliant verbal pyrotechnics, throwaway lines and marvelous anecdotes'' Daily Mail''Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar'' Sunday Times______________''Keep talking, Milligan. I think I can get you out on Mental Grounds.''''That''s how I got in, sir.''''Didn''t we all.''The second volume of Spike Milligan''s legendary recollections of life as a gunner in World War Two sees our hero into battle in North Africa - eventually. First, there is important preparation to be done: extensive periods of loitering (''We had been standing by vehicles for an hour and nothing had happened, but it happened frequently''), psychological toughening (''If a man dies when you hang him, keep hanging him until he gets used to it'') and living dangerously (''no underwear!''). At last the battle for Tunis is upTrade ReviewThe most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read * Sunday Express *Brilliant verbal pyrotechnics ... throwaway lines and marvelous anecdotes * Daily Mail *Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar * Sunday Times *Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense * Guardian *Milligan is the Great God to all of us -- John CleeseThe Godfather of Alternative Comedy -- Eddie IzzardThat absolutely glorious way of looking at things differently. A great man -- Stephen FryManifestly a genius, a comic surrealist genius and had no equal -- Terry WoganA totally original comedy writer -- Michael Palin

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The Only Thing Worth Dying For is not only brilliant, it's the one book you must read if you have any hope of understanding what our fine American soldiers are up against in Afghanistan." -- Former Congressman Charlie Wilson "A skillfully reported and masterfully written account of one of the most crucial moments of the War Against Terror. Blehm reminds us of the perils, the triumphs and the sacrifices made in the name of freedom." -- Bob Woodruff, ABC News correspondent "Through careful reporting and crisp narrative pacing, Eric Blehm has given us a thrilling, forgotten drama from the opening chapter of the war in Afghanistan. The Only Thing Worth Dying For will become an enduring classic of this extraordinary theater, where so much hangs in the balance." -- Hampton Sides, bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder "Blehm provides powerful and unflinching insight into a real-life mission that ended in tragedy but left an indelible mark on history. From the comic moments to the bleakest hour, it's a testament to how a small team of well-trained men can shape a nation's destiny." -- Stephen Grey, award-winning author of Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA's Torture Program and Operation Snakebite: The Story of an Afghan Desert Siege "Eric Blehm has written a literary masterpiece about modern war. The whole witches' brew is here: valor, honor, heroism, cowardice, incompetence, stupidity, triumph, blood, death and despair. That America has soldiers like these should fill every American heart with pride. Read this book!" -- Stephen Coonts, bestselling author of Flight of the Intruder and The Disciple "No other book has gone to such depths in research, nor been so descriptive in recounting this critical mission during the earliest days after 9/11 when the US Army Special Forces successfully waged unconventional warfare in Afghanistan." -- Sergeant Major Billy Waugh, author of Hunting The Jackal and Isaac Camacho, An American Hero "The greatest story of a small unit's battle through an untamed land since Lawrence of Arabia." -- Adam Makos, editor of Valor Magazine "A captivating account of our heroic warriors-a remarkable U.S. Army Special Forces unit's hard-fought success against incredible odds. It reads with the thrill of fiction-but this is the damned deadly real deal." -- W.E.B. Griffin & William E. Butterworth IV, best-selling authors of The Traffickers and The Honor of Spies

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This is history written on a grand scale, a masterful treatment of one of the most complex periods of American history." — New Republic “The [book’s] rewards stem from Foner’s deep understanding of the literature of the period and his ability to draw freely from it, so that his arguments sprout in deep soil; and from his disciplined imagination, which neither approves nor condemns, but characterizes, and at its best dramatizes situations, preserving and savoring their possibilities, so that the betrayal of Reconstruction with a terrible poignancy.” — Theodore Rosengarten, The Nation "With this book, Mr. Foner becomes the preeminent historian of Reconstruction." — New York Times Book Review "[Reconstruction] may very well turn out to be this generation's defining interpretation of this most misunderstood passage in the nation's history." — Wall Street Journal "A remarkable clarity is one of the many beauties of this book that dwells on so many conflicts and ambiguities . . . Foner's Reconstruction is a smart book of enormous strengths." — Boston Globe “Eric Foner has put together this terrible story with greater cogency and power, I believe, than has been brought to the subject heretofore.” — New York Review of Books “Foner’s book traces in rich detail the bitter course of the history of the South’s failure to adjust to the revolution that brought the Civil War. Only by tracing that history and understanding can the region fully disenthrall itself even today. No book could be more timely. ” — Atlanta Constitution “Foner’s book brings to distinguished fruition one great cycle of Reconstruction historiography.” — New York Review of Books

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Book SynopsisThe Russian T-72 Ural tank is the most widely-deployed main battle tank of the current generation. Used by the armies of the former Warsaw pact and Soviet Union, it has also been exported in large numbers to many of the states in the Middle East. This book reveals the previously secret history behind the tank. Steven J Zaloga examines the conditions under which the T-72 was designed and produced. Technical aspects of the weapon are also discussed, including its EDZ reactive armour which, when it first appeared in December 1984, gave NATO a nasty shock.Table of ContentsDesign and Development · Foreign T-72 Development · Inside the T-72M1 · Operational Use · T-72 Variants

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Book SynopsisWith war against Germany looming, Britain pushed forward its carrier program in the late 1930s. In 1938, the Royal Navy launched the HMS Ark Royal, its first-ever purpose-built aircraft carrier. This was quickly followed by others, including the highly-successful Illustrious class. Smaller and tougher than their American cousins, the British carriers were designed to fight in the tight confines of the North Sea and the Mediterranean. Over the next six years, these carriers battled the Axis powers in every theatre, attacking Italian naval bases, hunting the Bismark, and even joining the fight in the Pacific. This book tells the story of the small, but resilient, carriers and the crucial role they played in the British war effort.Table of ContentsIntroduction 350 words Outlines the origins of naval aviation, and the growing importance of aircraft carriers in naval warfare. Design & Development 2,400 words Covers the chronological development of these Carriers, and covering modifications made during their operational lives. Operational History 2,250 words Follows the service history of each of the 14 Fleet Aircraft Carriers covered in this volume. Carrier Operation 2,150 words Describes the way aircraft were handled on a typical British wartime fleet aircraft carrier, including a description the wat launcing operations were conducted. Carrier Aircraft 2,000 words This section provides a brief description of the types of aircraft carried by these carriers, and their relative merits, and touches on the way they were used in action. Carriers in Action 2,400 words Provides a brief description of three actions involving British aircraft carriers; Taranto (1940), Matapan (1941) and the sinking of the Bismarck (1941) Bibiography 250 words

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Book SynopsisDesigned with little more than a passing nod to the international naval treaties of the inter-war period, the Imperial Japanese Navy's heavy cruisers were fast and heavily armed. Like the other vessels of the Japanese Navy, the heavy cruisers were technologically superior to and far more innovative than their Allied rivals, whom they met in many of the major Pacific Theatre battles, including Midway and Leyte Gulf. Mark Stille continues his study of the IJN of WWII with this fascinating topic, addressing the design and development of all 18 ships in the six heavy cruiser classes, from pre-war construction and mid-war alterations, to their operational histories and eventual fates.Table of ContentsIntroduction Japanese naval strategy and the role of the heavy cruiser Japanese heavy cruiser doctrine Japanese heavy cruiser design and development and impact of the Washington and London Naval Treaties Japanese heavy cruiser weapons Japanese heavy cruiser radar The Heavy Cruiser Classes Furutaka Class Aoba Class Myoko Class Takao Class Mogami Class Tone Class Analysis and Conclusion

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Book SynopsisDes Curtis was one of the founder members of 618 Squadron. Formed within days of the illustrious 617, 618’s primary objective was to mount a daylight low-level attack by Mosquitos on the German battleship Tirpitz within hours of the attack on the Ruhr dams. The operation, codenamed Operation Servant, was given top security classification, to the point where the subject was excluded from the minutes of the meetings of the Chiefs of Staff of the air and naval forces. The author reveals the dilemmas and conflicting priorities existing to the highest levels, setting out in detail the technicalities of developing the ‘bouncing bomb’. He also writes first hand about the tactical problems of getting to and from the target; and the tensions and strains endured by the Mosquito crews themselves, as they took the war to the German U-Boats within the sight and safety of their bases.

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Book SynopsisIn An Army at Dawn - winner of the Pulitzer Prize - Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of the Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north.The Italian campaign''s outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill and their military advisors engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once underway, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to push the Germans up the Italian peninsula. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.Drawing on a

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Book SynopsisJimmy Sheddan was one of the many New Zealanders who joined the RNZAF, then left his native land to come to England to fight the enemies of Great Britain and her Empire during World War Two. Through his recollections we can share some of the trials and wartime tribulations they faced. Yet we can read too of the enormous amount of fun these men had despite the dangers and sacrifices of war. It is this quality which endears his book to us as well as the achievements of the airmen with whom he served. During the war, Jim Sheddan rose from the rank of sergeant pilot to squadron leader with 486 Squadron, a considerable achievement. After starting with Spitfires, then going onto the Typhoon, Jim became an expert on the Hawker Tempest, winning the DFC. In many ways his is a very special account as, amongst other things, he survived 19 hours in a dinghy off the French coast, a crash landing in a Tempest after a battle with a V1 flying bomb, and the advance across northern Europe in the final weeks of the war. Few Tempest pilots have told their story but Jim has, and in an honest, self-effacing way that will astound and enthral. With a foreword by AVM J E Johnnie Johnson, CB, CBE, DSO and 2 bars, DFC and bar.

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Book SynopsisTHE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERTHE EPIC TRUE STORY OF DUNKIRK - NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER NOLAN AND STARRING KENNETH BRANAGH, TOM HARDY AND MARK RYLANCE.In 1940, at the French port of Dunkirk, more than 300,000 trapped Allied troops were dramatically rescued from destruction at the hands of Nazi Germany by an extraordinary seaborne evacuation. The true history of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians involved in the nine-day skirmish has passed into legend. Now, the story Winston Churchill described as a ''miracle'' is narrated by bestselling author Joshua Levine in its full, sweeping context, including new interviews with veterans and survivors.Told from the viewpoints of land, sea and air, Joshua Levine's Dunkirk is a dramatic account of a defeat that paved the way to ultimate victory and preserved liberty for generations to come.Trade Review‘Not merely the essential companion to the film but probably the finest work we’ve seen on the evacuation full stop’ Waterstones Weekly

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Book SynopsisAviation has revolutionised warfare over the last 100 years, and this new pocket guide gives the reader the essential details of 70 iconic aircraft, including the Sopwith Camel, the Spitfire, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the P-51 Mustang and the F-4 Phantom. Drawing on Osprey’s comprehensive aviation archive, the Plane Spotter’s Guide uses detailed profile artwork to illustrate and aid recognition, as well as specification boxes to provide all the technical details.Table of ContentsSopwith Pup /Albatros D III /Nieuport 17 /SPAD VII /Sopwith Camel /RAF SE 5/5a /Fokker Dr I /Fokker D VII /Polikarpov 1-16 /Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress /Bristol Blenheim /Consolidated PBY Catalina /Messerschmitt Bf 109 /Gloster Gladiator /Hawker Hurricane /Junkers Ju 87 /Supermarine Spitfire /Short Sunderland /Messerschmitt Bf 110 /Fiat CR.42 Falco /Junkers Ju 88 /Mitsubishi A6M Zero-sen /Curtiss P-40 Warhawk /North American B-25 Mitchell /Grumman F4F Wildcat /Douglas SBD Dauntless /Bristol Beaufighter /de Havilland Mosquito /Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik /Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa /Martin B-26 Marauder /Lockheed P-38 Lightning /Focke-Wulf Fw 190 /Hawker Typhoon /Consolidated B-24 Liberator /Republic P-47 Thunderbolt /Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien /Macchi C.202 Folgore /North American P-51 Mustang /Curtiss SB2C Helldiver /Grumman TBF/TBM Avenger /Vought F4U Corsair /Avro Lancaster /Lavochkin La-5/7 /Boeing B-29 Superfortress /Grumman F6F Hellcat /Messerschmitt Me 262 /Yakovlev Yak-3 /Mikoyan MiG-15 /North American F-86 Sabre /Grumman F9F Panther /Martin B-57 Canberra /North American F-100 Super Sabre /Boeing B-52 Stratofortress /Douglas A-4 Skyhawk /Handley Page Victor /Avro Vulcan /Vought F-8 Crusader /Republic F-105 Thunderchief /Mikoyan MiG-21 /McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II /Dassault Mirage III /Lockheed SR-71 /Grumman F-14 Tomcat /McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle/Strike Eagle /General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon /McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet /Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk /McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II /Rockwell B-1B Lancer

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Book SynopsisThis is a very thorough account of the experience of the Jews of Europe during World War II. It is virtually a day-by-day account, in men and women's own words, of the horrifying events of the Holocaust - the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jewish race.

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Book Synopsis"In this state of mind, which excludes any falsehood, I declare that not a single word of what I have written in my diaries is false or exaggerated or dictated by selfish resentment. It is all just what I have seen and heard. And if, when making ready to take leave of life, I consider allowing the publication of my hurried notes, it is not because I expect posthumous revaluation or vindication, but because I believe that honest testimonial of the truth in this sad world may still be useful in bringing relief to the innocent and striking at those who are responsible."Count Galeazzo Ciano was foreign minister in Fascist Italy from 1936 until 1943. He was also Mussolini's son-in-law. This fascinating diary gives a day to day account of this passage through the war, his meetings with the Duce and other key figures of the conflict including Hitler and Von Ribbentrop. It becomes, in effect, a history of Italy under Mussolini. But the story does not end happily. Ciano was dismissed as Foreign Minister in 1943 after his involvement in a plot to depose Mussolini, as the Italian war effort began to crumble in the wake of allied invasion from the South.Under pressure from the Nazi's he was executed by firing squad in Verona in January 1944. Nonetheless, his diaries provide an unique and perceptive insight into this remarkable period of history, from a man that did not embrace war as many of his colleagues did.

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times No.1 bestseller. 'Sixty special forces against 100,000 - a feat of British arms to take the breath away' Frederick Forsyth.They were branded as cowards and accused of being the British Special Forces Squadron that ran away from the Iraqis. But nothing could be further from the truth. Ten years on, the story of these sixty men can finally be told. In March 2003 M Squadron - an SBS unit with SAS embeds - was sent 1,000 kilometres behind enemy lines on a true mission impossible, to take the surrender of the 100,000-strong Iraqi Army 5th Corps. From the very start their tasking earned the nickname 'Operation No Return'. Caught in a ferocious ambush by thousands of die-hard fanatics from Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen, plus the awesome firepower of the 5th Corps' heavy armour, and with eight of their vehicles bogged in Iraqi swamps, M Squadron launched a desperate bid to escape, inflicting massive damage on their enemies. Running low on fuel and ammunition, outnumbered, outmanoeuvred and outgunned, the elite operators destroyed sensitive kit and prepared for death or capture as the Iraqis closed their deadly trap. Zero Six Bravo recounts in vivid and compelling detail the most desperate battle fought by British and allied Special Forces trapped behind enemy lines since World War Two. It is a classic account of elite soldiering that ranks with Bravo Two Zero and the very greatest Special Forces missions of our time.Trade ReviewBehind enemy lines: setting the record straight on an epic escape from Iraq * Soldier Magazine *More action than Call of Duty. Lifts the lid on the Special Forces mission they tried to keep secre * Captain David Blakeley *More than a tale of bravery against desperate odds. It provides an object lesson in what can go wrong when intelligence is flawed and insufficient resources and too few troops are used in war -- Toby Harnden * Sunday Times *One of the best accounts of a behind-enemy-lines mission ever * Phil Campion, ex-SAS and author of Born Fearless *One of the most remarkable stories in the history of special forces' operations * Daily Express. *Sixty special forces against 100,000 - a feat of British arms to take the breath away * Frederick Forsyth *Ten years after a near disastrous mission during the Second Gulf War, which ended in allegations of cowardice, the story of M Squadron Special Boat Service is finally being told * Daily Telegraph. *

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Book SynopsisLion Rampant is Robert Woollcombe's graphic account of his experiences as a front-line infantry officer with the King's Own Scottish Borderers during the desperate battle for Normandy and the Allied advance into Germany. Vividly evoking the confusion, horror and comradeship of war - from the killing fields of Normandy bocage, through house-to-house fighting in shattered Flemish towns, to the final Rhine crossing - Lion Rampant is a powerful, authentic and moving story, telling with extraordinary clarity how the author, his fellow officers and the men of his company lived through one of the most bitter campaigns in history.Trade Review"'One of the most vivid personal memoirs of the Second World War. Few writers have bettered his description of the experiences of front line infantrymen under the stress of battle.' (Max Hastings) 'Lion Rampant is much more than the story of one man's war: it speaks for many, with modesty, eloquence, and a fine blend of objectivity and enthusiasm. It is a story of comradeship, endurance and sheer fighting skill.' (Cecil Day-Lewis) 'Perhaps the best picture - painted in dark colours shot through by the bright light of valour - that has yet been given of war.' (Glasgow Herald)"

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Book Synopsis'The scene was tragically macabre: the image of desolation, the flames spared nothing. As for our young men, a few minutes ago, so alert, so self-confident, all now lying dead on the bare deck, blackened burned skeletons, twisted in all directions, no trace of any clothing, the fire having devoured all.' Vice Admiral P. E. Guéprette recalls the damage to the French ship Suffen during a naval battle in 1915. One of the most famous battles in history, Gallipoli forced Churchill from office, established Turkey's iconic founder Mustafa Kemal ('Ataturk') and marked Australia's emergence as a nation in its own right. It had begun as a bold move led by the British to ultimately capture Constantinople, but this definitive new history explains that from the initial landings - which ended with so much blood in the sea it could be seen from aircraft overhead - to the desperate attacks of early summer and the battle of attrition that followed, it was a lunacy that was never going to succeed. Drawing on unpublished personal accounts by individuals at all levels and from all sides - not only from Britain, Australia and New Zealand, but unusually from Turkey and France too - Peter Hart combines his trademark eye for vivid personal stories with a strong narrative to bring a modern view of this military disaster to a popular audience.Trade ReviewA marvellous book ... vivid and compelling * Economist *All good history books should be an assault on myth, and in Gallipoli Peter Hart mounts a supremely effective attack * Mail on Sunday *An impressive and timely reminder of the futility of war * Morning Star *[A] stirring account * Irish Examiner *Superb... a serious and important work on Gallipoli. It is researched in fine detail and written in Peter Hart's increasingly excellent style. If you are interested in this campaign, or the Great War, or just appreciate a well written book, then this is for you. -- David McLoughlin * Press Association *An account filled with insight and poignancy -- Craig Gibson * TLS *

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Book SynopsisThe Great War was the first truly global conflict, and it changed the course of world history In this magnum opus, critically-acclaimed historian Peter Hart examines the conflict in every arena around the world, in a history that combines cutting edge scholarship with vivid and unfamiliar eyewitness accounts, from kings and generals, and ordinary soldiers. He focuses in particular on explaining how technology and tactics developed during the conflict - and determines which battles were crucial to its outcome. Combatants from every corner of Earth joined the fray, but their voices are rarely heard together. This is a major history of the conflict whose centenary is fast approaching. Published in paperback for the anniversary of the conflict, this is a pioneering and comprehensive account of the First World War, comparable to Anthony Beevor or Max Hastings.Trade ReviewImmensely readable ... Hart excels not only at making it intelligible but also at turning it into a gripping narrative, which includes extensive and moving quotations from soldiers and sailors who bore the consequences of their commanders' decisions and faced the realities of combat ... Hart's book will contribute to a sea change in our understanding of the war during the years of the centenary * Irish Times *Gripping ... I would highly recommend this book, not only for the honest appraisal of all the main characters and countries involved, but because it gives a voice to those who paid the ultimate price, often for no purpose whatsoever * Morning Star *A valuable, timely and highly readable overview of the Great War on all major fronts -- Professor Peter SimkinsThought provoking, erudite, yet eminently readable and entertaining: Peter Hart is a historian and author at the peak of his powers -- Richard Van EmdenRiveting...bold enough to bring a new clarity to a subject that has been obscured by a creeping barrage of re-interpretations over the years * Catholic Herald *Very impressive * Military History Magazine *The sheer level of detail Hart presents is astonishing...fascinating * Press Association *A refreshing and engaging read * Soldier Magazine *Gripping...I would highly recommend this book, not only for the honest appraisal of all the main characters and countries involved, but because it gives a voice to those who paid the ultimate price, often for no purpose whatsoever * Morning Star *

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Book SynopsisWith three Military Crosses, three Croix de guerre, a Légion d'honneur and a papal knighthood for his heroics during the Second World War, Sir Tommy Macpherson is the most decorated living soldier of the British Army. Yet for 65 years the Highlander's story has remained untold. Few know how, aged 21, he persuaded 23,000 SS soldiers of the feared Das Reich tank column to surrender, or how Tommy almost single-handedly stopped Tito's Yugoslavia annexing the whole of north-east Italy. Twice captured, he escaped both times, marching through hundreds of miles of German-held territory to get home. Still a schoolboy when war broke out, Tommy quickly matured into a legendary commando, and his remarkable story features a dizzyingly diverse cast of characters, including Winston Churchill, Field Marshal Montgomery and Charles de Gaulle.Trade ReviewMy book of the year, without question . . . reads like a combination of a Biggles adventure and Dick Barton -- Jeffrey Archer in Books of the Year 2010 * Daily Telegraph *One of Scotland's most courageous sons * Sunday Herald *Recreates the adventure * The Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisA short and vivid biography, which deconstructs the Napoleonic myth and reveals the reality of his rule.'Written with his customary verve and certainty' Andrew Roberts, SUNDAY TELEGRAPHWritten with great wit and panache, this biography also has a serious purpose: to make us face up to the moral bankruptcy of Napoleon's dictatorship. Johnson tells the whole story: his astonishing gift for battle tactics and his complete control of propaganda. His audacious, hyperactive and aggressive leadership alongside his failure as an international statesman, as Europe grew to hate him. His marshals and ministers; his wives, mistresses. The mistakes he made; the escape from Elba, and the world-changing events leading up to Waterloo and the battle itself. This riveting account is a fascinating look at one of the most notorious military leaders of all time.Trade ReviewIt is lucidly written, and enlivened by personal details and well-chosen quotations -- William Doyle * TLS *Written with his customary verve and certainty -- Andrew Roberts * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Thoughtful and incisive * INDEPENDENT *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE 2012. This is the gripping story of the men of the Welsh Guards and their bloody battle for survival in Afghanistan in 2009. Underequipped and overstretched, they found themselves in the most intense fighting the British had experienced in a generation. They were led into battle by Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, a passionate believer in the justness of the war who was deeply dismayed by the way it was being resourced and conducted. Thorneloe was killed by an IED during Operation Panther's Claw, the biggest operation mounted by the British in Helmand. Dead Men Risen draws on secret documents written by Thorneloe, which raise questions from beyond the grave that will unnerve politicians and generals alike. The Welsh Guards also lost Major Sean Birchall, commanding officer of IX Company, and Lieutenant Mark Evison, a platoon commander whose candid personal diary was unnervingly prophetic. Not since the Second World War had a single British battalion lost officers at the three key levels of leadership. Harnden transports the reader into the heart of a conflict in which a soldier has to be prepared to kill and die, to ward off paralysing fear and watch comrades perish in agony. Given unprecedented access to the Welsh Guards, Harnden conducted hundreds of interviews in Afghanistan, England and Wales. He weaves the experiences of the guardsmen and the loved ones they left behind into a seamless and unsparing narrative that sits alongside a piercing analysis of the political and military strategy. No other book about modern warfare succeeds on so many levels.Trade Review'Dead Men Risen dilutes the saccarine perception of soldiering and replaces it with the gritty and gruesome reality of war' Patrick Hennessey, author of The Junior Officer's Book Club. * Patrick Hennessey *'Desperately moving ... Dead Men Risen is a serious work, far removed from the blood-and-thrills of the Bravo Two Zero school of military literary campaigning. Such books may grip but they do not engage. Harnden's does both' Spectator. * Spectator *'So vividly rendered that one can almost smell the sweat, the cordite and the acrid scent of fear' Daily Mail. * Daily Mail *'The best book so far on Britain's military adventure in Afghanistan ... Dead Men Risen will stand as a true, unsparing record of what happened there' Patrick Bishop, author of 3 PARA. * Patrick Bishop *Table of ContentsMaps. Order of Battle. Author's Note. Prologue. Cymru Am Byth. Green Zone. Whitehall Warrior. Fighting Season. The Afghan Factor. Barma Inshallah. Flashman's Fort. Life is Fragile. Mystery Junction. Low Metal Content. Heaven in Helmand. Big Hand, Small Map. On the Canal. Top Cover. Regret to Inform. Men of Harlech. Battle Shock. One Shot, Two Kills. Dragon Punch. Time and the Clock. Epilogue. List of Key Personnel. Chronology. Glossary. Notes. Bibliography. Acknowledgements. List of Maps. Picture Credits. Index.

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Book SynopsisThe Death of Yugoslavia is a survey of the pressures and events that contributed to the break-up of former Yugoslavia, considered from a historical rather than a political or sociological point of view.

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Book SynopsisThe bestselling story of Britain's most courageous and most famous flyer, the Second World War hero Sir Douglas Bader.Trade ReviewA remarkable story about a remarkable English WW 2 RAF pilot who refused to be put down or aside after a tragic accident left him without legs. An inspirational and real figure, just a normal man who refused to sit by * ReadsObserver *Brickhill, himself a fighter pilot and a POW, tells Bader's story with authenticity. He writes in an empathetic, almost affectionate manner, portraying his subject's personal qualities, both good and bad, in the best possible light * HistoryNet *In 1941 [Bader] was shot down and captured by the Germans, who treated him with great respect - even allowing the Brits to drop in a new prosthetic leg. He became such a nuisance for the Germans, who were becoming increasingly annoyed by the number of attempted escapes he made * DAILY MAIL *

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Book SynopsisPresents a devastating new perspective on the Greatest Generation and the liberation of France, one in which the US military use the lure of easy, sexually available French women to sell soldiers on the invasion, thus unleashing a tsunami of male lust among the war-weary GIs.Trade Review"Roberts has amassed an enormous amount of detailed information and her... book provides a refreshing view of the price of liberation." (Literary Review) "In this vivid account of GIs in wartime France, Roberts documents how the Greatest Generation was sometimes as badly behaved beyond the battlefield as it was brave in combat. What Soldiers Do is not a conventional history. It deeply-and often colorfully-textures our understanding of the experiences of men at war, the contours of mid-twentieth-century sexual (and racial) mores, and the frequently ignorant and even lurid attitudes toward other peoples that attended America's ascent to global hegemony." (David M. Kennedy, author of Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War) "This clear-eyed examination of what randy American soldiers got up to in France from D-Day through 1946 strips away the sentimentality from the overworked, cliched portrayal of the Greatest Generation." (Publishers Weekly)"

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Book SynopsisA three-volume study of the Holocaust. First published in 1961, Raul Hilberg's account of how Germany annihilated the Jewish community of Europe spurred discussion and shaped the field of Holocaust studies. This expanded edition includes new material, particularly from archives in Eastern Europe.

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Book SynopsisRobert Service is the author of Lenin: A Biography, and Russia: Experiment with a People and is the author of numerous other books on Russian history, including his History of Twentieth Century Russia

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Book SynopsisMoving from the Middle-Eastern campaigns of the First World War to bohemian Berlin in the 1920s, to the horror of the concentration camps and the trials in Belsen and Nuremberg, this book tells the story of two German men whose lives diverged, and intersected, in an unusual way.Trade ReviewThomas Harding has shed intriguing new light on the strange poison of Nazism, and one of its most lethal practitioners... Meticulously researched and deeply felt. -- Ben Macintyre * The Times, Book of the Week *Fascinating and moving...This is a remarkable book, which deserves a wide readership. -- Max Hastings * The Sunday Times *A gripping thriller, an unspeakable crime, an essential history. -- John Le CarréThis is a stunning book...both chilling and deeply disturbing. It is also an utterly compelling and exhilarating account of one man's extraordinary hunt for the Kommandant of the most notorious death camp of all, Auschwitz-Birkenau. -- James HollandOnly at his great uncle’s funeral in 2006 did Thomas Harding discover that Hanns Alexander, whose Jewish family fled to Britain from Nazi Germany in the 1930s, hunted down and captured Rudolf Höss, the ruthless commandant of Auschwitz, at the end of World War Two. By tracing the lives of these two men in parallel until their dramatic convergence in 1946, Harding puts the monstrous evil of the Final Solution in two specific but very different human contexts. The result is a compelling book full of unexpected revelations and insights, an authentic addition to our knowledge and understanding of this dark chapter in European history. No-one who starts reading it can fail to go on to the end. -- David Lodge

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Book SynopsisA moving and extraordinary book about courage and survival, friendship and endurance a portrait of ordinary women who faced the horror of the holocaust together.On an icy morning in Paris in January 1943, a group of 230 French women resisters were rounded up from the Gestapo detention camps and sent on a train to Auschwitz the only train, in the four years of German occupation, to take women of the resistance to a death camp. Of the group, only 49 survivors would return to France. Here is the story of these women told for the first time. A Train in Winter is a portrait of ordinary people, of their bravery and endurance, and of the friendships that kept so many of them alive. A story of stunning courage, generosity and hope' Mail on SundaySerious and heartfelt...profound' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewThis serious and heartfelt book does deliver on its promise of a tale of how female friendship "can make the difference between living and dying"... Profound -- Brian Schofield * Sunday Times *A harrowing but also uplifting shared story of friendship, courage and endurance * Independent *A story of stunning courage, generosity and hope. They risked their lives to defeat Fascism, by printing subversive literature, hiding Jewish friends or, in the case of one girl, simply insulting a French youth because he had decided to co-operate with the Nazis. The price they paid for their bravery was terrible. A Train in Winter could have been a sad, almost morbid book. In Moorehead's expert hands it is a triumphant one -- Kathryn Hughes * Mail on Sunday *Compassionate, meticulous and compulsively enthralling... This book is essential reading. The litany of names at the end, with their brief biographies (Yolande, Cecile, Poupette, Mitzy, Lucie...) reminds us weeping is not enough. It bears witness - and warns -- Bel Mooney * Daily Mail *Moorehead tells her appalling story in measured prose that sets off perfectly the reader's growing sense of wonder that such heroism is possible * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis''I think I could be a good woman if I had five thousand a year.''Becky Sharp is sharp, calculating, and determined to succeed. Craving wealth and a position in society, she charms, hoodwinks, manipulates everyone she meets, rising in the world as she attaches herself to a succession of rich men. Becky''s fortunes are contrasted with those of her best friend Amelia, who has none of Becky''s wit and vitality but whose gentle-heartedness attracts the devotion of the loyal Dobbin. Set during the Napoleonic wars, Vanity Fair follows Becky as she cuts a swathe through Regency society. Thackeray paints a panoramic portrait of the age, with war, money and national identity his great subjects. The battle for social success is as fierce as the battle of Waterloo, and its casualties as stricken. The satire is at once biting and profound, sparing none in a clear-eyed exposure of a world on the make. Thackeray''s scepticism of human motives borders on cynicism yet Vanity Fair is among the funniest novels of the Victorian age. This new edition includes all Thackeray''s original illustrations. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewWe are more immersed in war now than we have ever been; we experience it and are affected by it remotely even when our country isn't actively participating. By focusing on how war affects the people who aren't heroes, Thackeray has given us the greatest novel about Waterloo, and one that is just as relevant 200 years later." * Telegraph online, Jonathan McAloon *

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Book SynopsisThe words of the ancient Chinese sages are as timeless as they are wise.IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Award Winner 2017! The words of ancient Chinese philosophers have influenced other thinkers across the world for more than 2,000 years, and continue to shape our ideas today. The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy includes translations of Sun Tzu's Art of War, Lao-Tzu's Tao Te Ching, the teachings of the master sage Confucius, and the writings of Mencius. From insights on warfare and diplomacy to advice on how to deal with one's neighbors and colleagues, this collection of classical Eastern philosophy will provide readers with countless nuggets of wisdom.

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