Military History Books
WW Norton & Co Revolution on the Hudson New York City and the
Book SynopsisThe riveting untold story of the fight for the Hudson River Valley, the decisive campaign of the Revolutionary War.Trade Review"[A]n exacting account of the personal and national cost of the rebellion on both sides." -- Paula Uruburu - New York Times Book Review"Daughan’s narrative is by turns suspenseful, elegant, and moving." -- Ian W. Toll, best-selling author of Six Frigates"[Daughan] deftly highlights how naval power shaped even war on land." -- Wall Street Journal"In this fresh, vivid, and often surprising telling of the Revolutionary War, George Daughan explores the timeless theme of hubris and the critical role of geography in the making of American independence. A commanding, compelling performance by an inspired historian." -- Evan Thomas, author of John Paul Jones and Being Nixon"Fascinating…Daughan brings all his subjects to vivid life." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"An enlightening combination of military and regional history." -- Booklist
£16.23
WW Norton & Co William Tecumseh Sherman In the Service of My
Book SynopsisThe New York Times best-selling biography of one of America’s most storied military figures.Trade Review"[McDonough] offers a great deal of shrewd military analysis, but what gives the book its vigor is [his] presentation of Sherman’s propulsive personality." -- Richard Snow - The Wall Street Journal"[McDonough] tells this story well." -- Thomas E. Ricks - New York Times Book Review"A fascinating American life." -- John Timpane - Philadelphia Inquirer"Superbly researched and richly detailed, James McDonough’s William Tecumseh Sherman judiciously guides the reader through the epic life of the man who might be history’s most complicated soldier. For Sherman fans it is a must-read, and for others, a worthwhile endeavor." -- Robert L. O’Connell, best-selling author of Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman"James McDonough’s William Tecumseh Sherman is the first major biography of this complex, challenging figure in almost a quarter century, and it is deeply researched and thoughtfully presented. Engagingly written, it brings new perspective to Sherman’s prewar years and the benefit of a lifetime of study to his Civil War career. Perhaps no one will ever completely capture Sherman, but McDonough’s wide net snares more than enough of the new with the old to make this a life well worth reading." -- William C. Davis, author of Crucible of Command: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee—The War They Fought, the Peace They Forged"A vigorous military biography…welcome reading for any student of Civil War history." -- Kirkus, starred review"A well-rounded study…Everything about this book will interest readers who want to know more about antebellum America and the Civil War." -- Library Journal, starred review
£16.14
WW Norton & Co Inheriting the War Poetry and Prose by
Book SynopsisDescendants of Vietnam veterans and refugees confront the aftermath of war and, in verse and prose, deliver another kind of war story.Trade Review"A perspective that is essential for all Americans to ingest. Everything in its pages…displays unflinching eloquence. There is no doubt of the importance of Inheriting the War." -- Barbara Berman - The Rumpus" Inheriting the War mines…how we pursue the soul of those we love who are torn by war, and how those wounds weather our own hands and hearts." -- The Millions"Dense with confrontation, desperation, suffering, this volume also resonates with agency, empathy, even forgiveness." -- Booklist"[P]oignant…[Inheriting the War] reveals how psychological trauma can have ripple effects through later generations…those wishing to learn more about the Vietnam War, poetry, or transgenerational trauma will also find this an engrossing read." -- Library Journal
£15.19
WW Norton & Co Siege of Khe Sanh The Story of the Vietnam Wars
Book SynopsisA war correspondent’s masterful blow-by-blow account of the Battle of Khe Sanh, reissued with a new preface by Mark Bowden for the battle’s 50th anniversary.
£15.26
WW Norton & Co Why
Book SynopsisA bold exploration of the Holocaust by a pre-eminent scholar in the field.Trade Review"... this clear, well-written... book has much of importance to tell us in an age of sudden fear, propaganda and fake news, in which the Third Reich and its crimes reappear often as a "touchstone"." -- Times Higher Education
£14.24
WW Norton & Co March 1917 On the Brink of War and Revolution
Book SynopsisA riveting history of the month that transformed the world’s greatest nations as Russia faced revolution and America entered the First World War.
£15.19
WW Norton & Co Among the Living and the Dead A Tale of Exile and
Book SynopsisA New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice A BookPage Best Book of the Year "This exquisitely written book shows how recovery can come generations later through rebuilding connections—to people, the natural world, the past." —Robin Shulman, Washington PostTrade Review"Thoughtful and eloquent.…Verzemnieks is solid on her history. Even more, she offers a model for how to navigate it. When she reaches the limit of what she can know, she doesn't confuse it with the limit of what can be known." -- David Bezmozgis - New York Times Book Review"Verzemnieks’s account is personal, but by writing about national identity and asylum her book addresses our most urgent political questions. It insists with quiet elegance that, though the past eludes us, we cannot elude our past." -- Sarah Ditum - Guardian"In her elegiac new book, [Verzemnieks] describes how she hoped the faraway travels would restore her grandmother to her ‘in the old stories’ that still existed there.…Ultimately, what she found was even broader: the meaning of home, the power of stories, and the different ways survivors and their memories move forward." -- Rebekah Denn - Christian Science Monitor"Verzemnieks…is a gracious writer, inviting the readers on her journey into the past.…Armed with her wealth of knowledge in Latvian history and myths, and her masterful and lush observations, Verzemnieks remains an able guide, earning our undivided attention and admiration." -- Angela Ajayi - Minneapolis Star Tribune"[Verzemnieks] writes as if she’s recounting a fable, and fills the pages with werewolves and phantom villages and barons and journeys undertaken by simple men and women, in fairytale tones, lush language, the contrast between her prose and the tale it tells devastating in its crushing polarity." -- Kerri Arsenault - Brooklyn Rail"Extraordinarily tender and finely wrought." -- Eliza Griswold, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Amity and Prosperity"An exquisite book for the ages as it unfolds from its first mysterious sentence into a masterpiece about war, survival, memory, and, most movingly of all, human need." -- David Finkel, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Good Soldiers"In this moving, lyrical memoir that draws on vivid personal accounts and extensive research, Inara Verzemnieks does not shirk from confronting the extremities of human behavior; but she also gives us the rich textures of a world in which poetic mythology coexists with sophisticated modernity, the dead mingle with the living, and the hardships of a traumatic past are countered by the strength of memory and of lasting attachments." -- Eva Hoffman, author of Exit into History"The astute reportorial sensitivity of a master Eastern European historian like Timothy Snyder, as filtered through the lyric sensibility of a García Márquez, and suffused with the aching nostalgia of a latter-day Proust." -- Lawrence Weschler, author of And How Are You, Dr. Sacks?"Poetic, melancholy, colored by the dark beauty of the northern landscape Inara Verzemnieks inhabits (much more than merely describes), this memoir of loss and recovery from the tragedies of the twentieth century will linger in your imagination, widen your historical perspective, and make you grateful that language has such power." -- D. J. Waldie, author of Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir
£12.34
WW Norton & Co The Thin Light of Freedom
Book SynopsisWinner of the Lincoln Prize A landmark Civil War history told from a fresh, deeply researched ground-level perspective.Trade Review"Ayers’s splendid book… employs both a wide angle and zoom lens, interspersing fascinating individual stories with insightful historical context.… A seasoned historian… [and] a compelling writer. [Ayers] orchestrates many different voices into a steady rhythm, with a tempo that is fast-paced." -- Ronald C. White - New York Times Book Review"Ayers set out to re-create the lived experience of the Civil War—for Northerners and Southerners, blacks and whites, men and women, soldiers and civilians—without losing sight of the political turmoil and destructive violence that affected all of them. In that he has succeeded brilliantly." -- James Oakes - Washington Post"Beautifully, even spaciously, written,… [The Thin Light of Freedom is] an elegy for people trapped in webs of politics and war that they had, for the most part, spun for themselves." -- Allen C. Guelzo - Wall Street Journal"It’s through these individual stories that Ayers’s book achieves its most gripping reading stretches, dramatizing as few recent books have done the dual, entwined wars taking place in the years it chronicles—one a war of soldiers and battlefields, the other a war of social justice and the fight to enlarge the promise of liberty.… The Thin Light of Freedom gathers the stories of all these different aspects of the war’s final years and transmutes them into a dark and oddly uplifting tale of the forging of modern America." -- Steve Donoghue - Christian Science Monitor"Ayers tells multiple stories in The Thin Light of Freedom. Painting with a broad brush, he sketches a vast canvas—the bloodiest conflict in the Western world between 1815 and 1914. But the two localities in the Great Valley remain his principal focus.… Featured individuals carry Ayers’ narrative.… Soldiers and civilians, men and women, free and slave, white and black, the prominent and the obscure—all found themselves caught in an extraordinary, dangerous, and unpredictable maelstrom. Edward Ayers displays a… keen eye for moral complexity. His achievement will endure." -- Daniel W. Crofts - Civil War Book Review"Luminous.… An exemplary contribution to the history of the Civil War and its aftermath." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Superb.… An original contribution of unimpeachable scholarship." -- Library Journal (starred review)"Ayers focuses on the thoughts, fears, and hopes of normal people struggling to stay alive and make sense of the murderous events taking place around them. The result is a superb, readable work of history." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Edward Ayers masters a unique combination of detailed, granular, profoundly human social history with an extraordinary skill at narrative and a rare humility. This is the brilliant, long-awaited exclamation mark for the Valley of the Shadow." -- David W. Blight, author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom"Deftly crossing lines of race, party, and region, Ed Ayers embeds the Civil War and Reconstruction in social settings enriched by individual stories of freedom and slavery, suffering and loss, heroism and desperation. Eloquent, vivid, insightful, and powerful, The Thin Light of Freedom exposes racial and cultural fault lines of enduring relevance." -- Alan Taylor, author of American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804
£14.24
WW Norton & Co Lexington and Concord The Battle Heard Round the
Book Synopsis"A wonderful addition to the literature on the American Revolution, full of enlightening facts and figures." —Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewTrade Review"At the heart of Lexington and Concord are the people in the fray. Mr. Daughan probes their characters through their actions, correspondence and memoirs.… Mr. Daughan is at his most original when conveying military maneuvers and assessing strategies." -- Wall Street Journal"Mr. Daughan has captured the spirit and substance of the American resistance that led in 1775 to the battles of Lexington and Concord. A most stimulating and valuable book." -- Robert Middlekauff, Professor Emeritus of History at University of California, Berkeley"This sound, accessible history is geared toward general audiences, but it will also appeal to military historians and Revolutionary War enthusiasts." -- Library Journal
£12.34
WW Norton & Co The Regency Years
Book SynopsisAn Economist History Book of the Year “Elegant, entertaining and frequently surprising.” —Miranda Seymour, New York Times Book ReviewTrade Review"Given such plenty, what more could one ask from a work of cultural history?" -- Michael Dirda - Washington Post"A lively account of a turning point in British history.… Robert Morrison creates an indelible impression of the Regency." -- Clare Brant - Times Higher Education (UK)"Superb.… The Regency period lasted for less than a decade but, as Mr. Morrison argues, ‘its many legacies are still all around us.’ It was also, as this book amply proves, marvellously entertaining." -- Economist"[A] zippy and vivid portrait." -- Henry Hitchings - Sunday Times (UK)"The Prince Regent… ruled over a period of extraordinary creativity and it is that progressive cultural legacy that Mr. Morrison commends to contemporary Britain and the rest of the world." -- Ruth Scurr - Wall Street Journal"Robert Morrison is my ideal of what a scholar should be—lively and interesting, he makes the past relevant to today." -- David Morrell, author of the Thomas and Emily De Quincey trilogy"This engaging history transports readers to England." -- Tom Beer - Newsday"A triumph of historical storytelling." -- Deidre Shauna Lynch, author of Loving Literature: A Cultural History"The Regency Years reads like a romance novel of its period without the novel, but makes an entertaining nonfiction read with superior prose and dialogue." -- Robert S. Davis - New York Journal of Books"Readers of this brilliant book will enjoy a rich experience, full of memorable surprises." -- Patricia Meyer Spacks, author of The Female Imagination
£13.99
WW Norton & Co The Shadow King A Novel
Book SynopsisShortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, and named a best book of the year by the New York Times, NPR, Elle, Time, and more, The Shadow King is an “unforgettable epic from an immensely talented author who’s unafraid to take risks” (Michael Schaub, NPR).Trade Review"Lyrical, remarkable." -- New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice"Capacious.… adopts the register of myth to shape an epic of nationhood and resistance." -- The New Yorker"Unforgettable.… [A] propulsive read that captures a historical moment from a fresh perspective." -- Time"[The Shadow King] is written in a key of pride and exaltation, and its characters have the outsize form of national heroes.… Stirring." -- Sam Sacks - Wall Street Journal"In haunting and beautiful prose, Mengiste shines a light on those whose lives are not often heralded." -- Newsweek"Ambitious and illuminating." -- Elizabeth Sile - Real Simple"A beautiful and thoughtful epic." -- Francesca Capossela - Los Angeles Review of Books"Stunning.… [Mengiste] produced a work of fiction that is epic in reach, with brilliant borrowings from the forms of classic tragedy.… The book is impossible to put down or put out of mind." -- BookPage (starred review)"The Shadow King exposes a brutal chapter in Ethiopia’s history and urges readers to listen for the untold stories of war, especially those of women." -- Katie Noah Gibson - Shelf Awareness"Monumental.… Mengiste’s extraordinary characters—shrewd Kidane, militant Aster, the enigmatic cook, narcissistic Italian commander Fucelli, conflicted photographer Ettore, elusive prostitute Fifi, even haunted Selassie—epitomize the impossibly intricate ties between humanity and monstrosity, and the unthinkable, immeasurable cost of survival." -- Booklist (starred review)
£10.36
WW Norton & Co The Novel of Ferrara
Book SynopsisGiorgio Bassani’s six classic books, collected for the first time in English as the epic masterwork they were intended to be.Trade Review"A book of immense pathos, eloquence, elegiac splendor." -- Harold Bloom"The power of Bassani’s writing is such that, for a moment, his transitory world seems beautifully everlasting." -- Sam Sacks - Wall Street Journal"Essential reading for anyone thirsting for an understanding of the complex density of Europe’s multicultural inheritance." -- Fernanda Eberstadt - New York Times Book Review"By connecting with [Giorgio] Bassani’s souls, and sometimes by even becoming one (or all) of them, McKendrick brings to life—anew—the miracle of translation." -- John Florio Prize for Italian translation shortlist citation"[Bassani] could rightly place himself among the great Italian realist writers.… McKendrick is alert to Bassani’s cosmopolitanism and deep affinity for the English literary tradition, and doesn’t obscure the allusions Bassani certainly intended." -- Laura Kolbe - New York Review of Books"The fiction of this most dispassionate, most merciless and clear-eyed chronicler of the sequences and consequences of history?in stories almost always about the city’s decisions about whom to include or exclude as its own?is, in the end, against all the odds, a declaration of love." -- Ali Smith - Guardian"Sitting beside the author watching a fire blaze—destructive, beautiful, and above all compelling—is largely how it feels reading Bassani’s work." -- Tim Parks - Harper’s"As a mirror held up to Bassani’s generation, The Novel of Ferrara embodies a cautious optimism about how much this generation–and the ones to follow–might learn from its forebears’ mistakes. In its clear-eyed realism about the limits to such learning, as well as in the empathy with which it insists on pursuing it, Bassani’s Novel is a remarkable achievement." -- Marta Figlerowicz - Yale Review"Bassani’s monumental elegy to the city’s doomed Jewish community restores the dignity that it is owed even as it compels us to relive the devastation endured." -- Diane Cole - Jewish Review of Books"In a new translation by Jamie McKendrick, [The Novel of Ferrara] conveys a feeling of haze and depth, a sense of an old and inscrutable magic no less entrancing for often being dark." -- Talya Zaks - Forward
£16.14
WW Norton & Co Oceans Ventured
Book SynopsisA thrilling story of the Cold War, told by a former navy secretary on the basis of recently declassified documents.Trade Review"In the 1992 film "A Few Good Men," a furious Col. Nathan R. Jessep exclaimed to his courtroom tormentors—Navy Officers—words that are actually true regarding almost all civilians in this age of complex professional military establishments configured for myriad and rapidly evolving threats: "You have no idea how to defend a nation." Lehman's book is a rare window into that world, and a validation of the axiom that if you want peace, prepare for war." -- George F. Will - The Washington Post"Based upon meticulous research and newly declassified documents, Lehman’s fresh account has the grip of a well-crafted adventure novel. His perspective is uniquely authoritative: he was a key architect of American strategy, a crucial figure in its execution, and an active participant as a qualified naval aviator. A must-read." -- Senator John McCain"Lehman's words are essential to understanding the Navy's role and performance during the Cold War and its contribution to the downfall of the Soviet Union." -- Seapower Magazine
£19.84
WW Norton & Co The Black Banners Declassified
Book SynopsisThe definitive account of an FBI special agent’s al-Qaeda story, unredacted for the first time.Trade Review"Unfortunately, we only have one Ali Soufan. Had American intelligence listened to him, 9/11 might never have happened. No one did more to unravel the story of al-Qaeda than Ali Soufan. Thankfully, he’s left another legacy in this book. Anyone who wants to know what really happened should read it. It’s an inspiring but wrenching story told from the heart of a great American." -- Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11"Paints a devastating picture of rivalry and dysfunction inside the government’s counterterrorism agencies…The account offered by the agent, Ali H. Soufan is the most detailed to date by an insider." -- Scott Shane - New York Times"One of the most valuable and detailed accounts of its subject to appear in the past decade." -- Economist"Soufan knows exactly what he is talking about, and does us all a service by having it set down in The Black Banners." -- Glenn L. Carle - Foreign Policy"Superb. An education. And the best book on al-Qaeda out there, bar none." -- Robert Baer
£21.84
WW Norton & Co Nuclear Folly A History of the Cuban Missile
Book SynopsisA harrowing account of the Cuban missile crisis and how the US and USSR came to the brink of nuclear apocalypse.Trade Review"Superb.... an immense scholarly achievement, engrossing and terrifying, and surely one of the most important books ever written about the Cuban Missile Crisis and 20th century international relations." -- James Rosen - Wall Street Journal"The story is extraordinary, and Plokhy is an accomplished narrator.... This account is probably as authoritative a version of the Soviet side as we are likely to get." -- Max Hastings - Sunday Times (UK)"[Plokhy] provides fresh and horrifying new details.... Finishing this sobering account, I could not help but think of the dangers that exist today from nuclear standoffs involving Pakistan, India, China, North Korea and the United States." -- Max Boot - Washington Post"A magisterial work based on a bevy of U.S. and Soviet archival sources, including previously classified KGB documents. The perspective Plokhy provides exposes the perverse incentives that fueled dangerous nuclear power plays during the Cold War and, he suggests, beyond." -- Andre Pagliarini - New Republic"What makes this the definitive history is Mr Plokhy’s telling of the tale in gripping detail from the Soviet perspective.... It is the picture Mr Plokhy paints of the complete failure of the key decision-makers to get inside the minds of their counterparts that is most telling.... With his masterly book, Mr Plokhy has sounded a warning bell." -- The Economist"Arguably the most authoritative and cleverly written work on the subject yet produced. Packed with fresh information from newly declassified Russian sources, including a KGB archive no researcher has previously accessed.... Gripping." -- Victor Sebestyen - Financial Times"Nearly sixty years after the Cuban missile crisis, Serhii Plokhy, the author of multiple groundbreaking books on Soviet history, once again uses newly released KGB archives to offer a new perspective: In gripping, granular detail, he shows us just how close the United States and the Soviet Union came to Armageddon. At a moment when nuclear technology is still spreading, Nuclear Folly reminds us of the danger we all still face." -- Anne Applebaum, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism"If you think the story of the Cuban missile crisis has been told so often that nothing remains to be learned, think again! Drawing on KGB documents preserved in Ukrainian archives and Soviet military memoirs, as well as American documents and Cuban materials, Serhii Plokhy’s almost hour-by-hour account freshly illuminates mistakes by the Kremlin and the White House that triggered the crisis and snafus at sea and in Cuba that almost sparked a nuclear war, while drawing ominous lessons for our own once again hair-trigger nuclear age." -- William Taubman, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Gorbachev"An excellent overview of the Cuban missile crisis from one of America’s leading Cold War historians. Serhii Plokhy has mined previously untapped Soviet archives to shed new light on the thirteen days that brought the world closer than ever before to nuclear destruction, and the pivotal roles of John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev. A thrilling read that justifies his sobering conclusion: we may not be so lucky next time." -- Michael Dobbs, author of One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War"A fresh examination of the historical milestone.... Plokhy keeps the pages turning, and he includes far more Soviet material than earlier scholars.... Far from the first account but superbly researched and uncomfortably timely." -- Kirkus, starred review"Paint[s] a clearer picture of the behind-the-scenes machinations, the motivations, the politics, and the errors in judgment that almost brought about a nuclear holocaust. Plokhy pulls it all together with sober yet accessible prose that reads like a suspenseful thriller. For anyone interested in the Cold War, this is an indispensable read." -- Booklist, starred review"This important, absorbing work shows that the full story of the Cuban Missile Crisis must be told from its global perspective." -- Library Journal, starred review
£23.72
WW Norton & Co The Plum Trees
Book SynopsisA poignant tale about one woman’s quest to recover her family’s history, and a story of loss and survival during the Holocaust.Trade Review"In Victoria Shorr’s searing novel, horror encompasses the characters in ways unknown to others less afflicted as they struggle to understand all that has been sacrificed and lost, at last finding solace in their uncompromising refusal to allow the crimes of the past to diminish and defeat them." -- Susanna Moore, author of Miss Aluminum"Victoria Shorr’s poignant novel, The Plum Trees, is less fiction than a reckoning with the past. Shorr tells a story of the evils that confronted millions of wartime Jews through the prism of one family’s desperate attempt to survive and the narrator’s equally desperate effort to find them decades later." -- Steven J. Ross, author of Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America"You’ll have trouble putting it down at all, much less slamming it shut. Written with urgency, elegance, and grace." -- Kirkus"Immersive ... This moving account makes clear the need to remember the horrors of war." -- Publishers Weekly
£19.79
WW Norton & Co The Surgeons Mate
Book Synopsis"It has been said that this series is some of the finest historical fiction of our time....Aubrey and Maturin have been described as better than Holmes and Watson, the equal of Quixote and Panza....All this is true. And the marvel is, it hardly says enough."—John Balzar, Los Angeles TimesTrade Review"They’re funny, they’re exciting, they’re informative. . . . There are legions of us who gladly ship out time and time again under Captain Aubrey." -- Charles McGrath - The New Yorker"It has been something of a shock to find myself . . . obsessed with Patrick O’Brian’s Napoleonic-era historical novels. . . . What keeps me hooked are the evolving relationships between Jack and Stephen and the women they love. " -- Tamar Lewin - New York Times
£12.34
WW Norton & Co No Turning Back Life Loss and Hope in Wartime
Book SynopsisA New York Times Notable Book of 2018 This astonishing book by the prize-winning journalist Rania Abouzeid tells the tragedy of the Syrian War through the dramatic stories of four young people seeking safety and freedom in a shattered country.Trade Review"[S]earing and sparingly beautiful…War, she reminds us, alters the architecture of the city as much as it scrambles the human psyche." -- Najwa al-Qattan - Los Angeles Review of Books"Page after page of extraordinary reporting and many flashes of exquisitely descriptive prose. ... [U]nforgettable … Abouzeid’s remarkable journalistic and literary work has given us, at last, a book worthy of the enormous tragedy that is Syria." -- Christopher Dickey - New York Times Book Review"[An] unparalleled account of the Syrian uprising, drawing on six years of immersive reporting." -- The New Yorker"Excellent. ... [P]robably the most perceptive journalistic account of the war so far, highlighting the individual stories while never losing sight of the broader situation and history. ... Abouzeid’s understated bravery and ability to merge into the background speak to the power of immersive eyewitness reporting, foregrounding the experience of the people she meets and writing with modesty." -- Lindsey Hilsum - New York Review of Books"Extraordinary. … There is no better way to refocus on Syria than to read Rania Abouzeid’s book. Abouzeid tells the story of the conflict through the life stories of individuals. What could simply be a standard journalistic device succeeds triumphantly because of the skill and sensitivity of Abouzeid’s writing, the depth of her reporting and the extraordinary nature of the stories she tells. As a result, her book has the compelling qualities of a novel, rather than simply a work of reportage." -- Financial Times"[No Turning Back] offers page after page of extraordinary reporting and exquisite prose, rendering its individual subjects with tremendous intimacy." -- "8 New Books We Recommend This Week" - The New York Times"Eloquent and devastating … Abouzeid relates the drama of this chaos in gripping prose." -- The Christian Science Monitor"The civil war in Syria is the most catastrophic event of our time, and the most dimly understood. Most journalists won’t go near it. Rania Abouzeid has produced a work of stunning reportage from the very heart of the conflict, daring to go to the most dangerous places in order to get the story. The result is a sensational book that allows us a deeper, and more humane, understanding of this terrible war; it’s a credit to Abouzeid’s bravery and fortitude." -- Dexter Filkins, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Forever War"No Turning Back stands far above anything I have read about the Syrian war. Rania Abouzeid has produced a masterpiece, weaving together the lives of protesters, victims, and remorseless killers at the center of this century’s most appalling human tragedy. No one else, to my knowledge, has reported this story so bravely or narrated it with such intimacy and power." -- Robert F. Worth, author of A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS"Rania Abouzeid has written an intimate portrait of a chaotic war. Her profiles of Syrians caught up in the savage unraveling of the country heightens the tragedy, a lens missing from the news stories. This book is a must read for anyone who has watched the seemingly incomprehensible horror and for policy makers who must try to stop the violence." -- Deb Amos, author of Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle East"Widely recognized as the bravest of reporters…Abouzeid writes with great fluidity and authority about the most important foreign policy and moral crisis of our era, embedding with the men, women and children whose lives were torn apart by the Syrian civil war…No Turning Back works both on the level of deeply reported personal narratives of a tragedy that continues to unspool and also as a major work of history." -- Peter Bergen, author of United States of Jihad and Manhunt: The Ten Year Search for Bin Laden"In No Turning Back, Rania Abouzeid brings you up close and personal to the men and women who led the uprising in Syria. Abouzeid understands these people so well and her writing is so vivid that they practically jump off the page with all their dreams, ideals, and misplaced optimism. After No Turning Back, you won’t be able to hear anything more about Syria without feeling that you too know the people who are living (and dying) through it." -- Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea and Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood"No Turning Back is a monumental achievement. I can think of few other journalists, past or present, who have reported on any war as courageously, analyzed it as trenchantly, or rendered the lives of its participants and victims as movingly, as Abouzeid has done here for the war in Syria. The book will no doubt endure as a work of literature. But that is incidental. Right now it is an urgent and devastating dispatch from the world as it is." -- Luke Mogelson, National Magazine Award-winning journalist"A fabulous and illuminating account of the Syrian conflict told by a world-class journalist at the height of her powers. This is about real people, their real stories and how they web together to tell the wider story of a nation in crisis. A rich and rewarding book that informs, excites and inspires. A truly first-class piece of high-end reportage." -- Tim Butcher, author of The Trigger, Blood River, and Chasing the Devil"Rania Abouzeid has not just written a powerful human story of the most tangled war of our time. This is journalism at its very best: brave; personal; written with aching beauty. She has rewritten history’s first draft with great authority." -- Lyse Doucet, BBC presenter and chief international correspondent"Weaving together the lives of mothers and sons, fighters and civilians, the oppressors and the oppressed in one epic journey, Rania tells the story of a nation in the grips of revolution and social upheaval. From the initial feeling of hope to the ultimate struggle for survival, this is an essential read not only for those interested in Syria and the Middle East, but for anyone who strives to understand the mechanics of a society torn by civil war." -- Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Middle East correspondent, Guardian
£19.94
WW Norton & Co Gods Wolf The Life of the Most Notorious of all
Book Synopsis“[Jeffrey Lee] brings a blockbuster sensibility to this slice of the 12th century Levant.”—Dan Jones, Sunday Times (UK)Trade Review"[Jeffrey Lee] brings a blockbuster sensibility to this slice of the 12th-century Levant, dropping his man in the mountains of the Holy Land and letting him go to work, swinging swords, wooing princesses, toadying to emperors and smearing his enemies in honey before chaining them to the battlements… Reynald was a crusader on steroids: audacious, adventurous and violent. He earned his reputation, and like him or loathe him, his story is worth retelling, more than eight centuries on." -- Dan Jones - The Sunday Times (UK)"Always entertaining… There is nothing saintly, dull or life-denying about God’s Wolf. Reynald’s deliberate excesses are lovingly delineated; the shock value that was his hallmark runs undiluted through its easy and personal chronology… Reynald…is one of those giants of history who may repel but can never be forgotten." -- Minoo Dinshaw - The Spectator (UK)"A cracking read." -- Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads"A swashbuckling yet scholarly biography of the infamous 12th-century crusader Reynald de Chatillon." -- Sebastian Shakespeare - Tatler"God’s Wolf is well written, well informed, and exciting; in fact, it hooked me in straightaway… It is by far the liveliest work I’ve read on the subject." -- Patricia Crone, former professor of Islamic history, Institute for Advanced Study"God’s Wolf is enormously readable. It is written in a very lively style and with vigour and pace… This is a very exciting book, both scholarly and at the same time accessible to a wider readership." -- Carole Hillenbrand, professor of Islamic history, University of Edinburgh
£20.89
WW Norton & Co The Art of War
Book Synopsis“Each sentence is a struck match... [Nylan’s] translation is insightful and alert.” — Dwight Garner, The New York TimesTrade Review"... presents a fresh, distinctive and original rendition of the much-parsed classic... the text is presented in a form that is clear and readily understood and at the same time inexhaustibly rich in meaning." -- New Statesman"Michael Nylan’s masterful translation of The Art of War brings historical depth to our understanding of the classic and also illuminates its broad significance for our world today." -- Wai-yee Li, Harvard University
£22.24
WW Norton & Co Mengele
Book SynopsisA gripping account of the infamous Nazi doctor from a former US Justice Department official tasked with uncovering his fate.Trade Review"It must be the most thorough-going account of Mengele's life available to date, a calm and professional read, but one that inevitably makes you want to look away." -- The Spectator"What specifically distinguishes Marwell’s account from previous studies concerns his personal involvement in the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations (O.S.I.) and the search for and identification of Mengele." -- The International New York Times"Gripping… sober and meticulous." -- David Margolick - The Wall Street Journal"Marwell’s life has much new to tell us, both about Mengele himself and, more significant, about the social and scientific milieu that allowed him to flourish." -- Adam Gopnik - The New Yorker"Compelling... At once a compact biography of the notorious war criminal, a detailed account of Mengele’s flight to South America, and an absorbing narrative of the quest to bring him to justice." -- Patricia Heberer Rice - Science
£14.24
WW Norton & Co Twilight of the Gods War in the Western Pacific
Book SynopsisNew York Times Bestseller “No one has told the story of World War II in the Pacific, from beginning to bitter end, better than Ian W. Toll. This final volume concludes a brilliant trilogy.”—Alex Kershaw, New York Times best-selling author of The First Wave and Avenue of SpiesTrade Review"No one has told the story of World War II in the Pacific, from beginning to bitter end, better than Ian W. Toll. This final volume concludes a brilliant trilogy. Elegant and supremely readable—don’t miss the finest military history of 2020." -- Alex Kershaw, New York Times best-selling author of The First Wave and Avenue of Spies"I’ve been a fan of Ian W. Toll’s since his first book, Six Frigates, but this concluding volume of his Pacific War Trilogy has taken him to another level altogether. Twilight of the Gods grabs you from the beginning and doesn’t let go until the very end—an epic masterpiece of military history." -- Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award–winning author of In the Heart of the Sea and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize"Toll’s expertly navigated narrative includes a number of new insights…It is exhaustive and authoritative and it shows the Navy in World War II as it really was, warts and all." -- Mark Perry - New York Times Book Review"[A] magnificent saga of the last year of the Pacific War…every bit as captivating as his first two [volumes]—Pacific Crucible and The Conquering Tide." -- Evan Thomas - Air Mail"Toll weaves a brilliant final act depicting one of humanity’s epic tragedies. This book and its predecessors set a high bar for historians of the Pacific War." -- Jonathan W. Jordan - Wall Street Journal"Using meticulous research, including previously untapped primary sources, and a brisk narrative that combines strategic, operational, and personal perspectives, [Toll] presents a very balanced look at the critical decisions and actions on both sides that concluded the war." -- Jerry Lenaburg - New York Journal of Books"In his masterly narrative, Ian W. Toll brings clarity and a stinging immediacy to America’s long, bitter climb up the island ladder that led to Japan. With deft, incisive character sketches, Toll summons the leaders back to contentious life: arguing about what to do, making mistakes, bringing triumph out of disaster—and sometimes the reverse. This is maritime history at its best and most accessible." -- Richard Snow"Written with flair and chock-full of stories both familiar and fresh, this monumental history fires on all cylinders. WWII aficionados will be enthralled." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)"[A] richly rewarding history." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
£18.99
WW Norton & Co The Beauty of Living
Book SynopsisAn incisive biography of E.E. Cummings' early life, including his First World War ambulance service and subsequent imprisonment, inspirations for his inventive poetry
£16.19
WW Norton & Co The Apocalypse Factory
Book SynopsisA thrilling narrative of scientific triumph, decades of secrecy and the unimaginable destruction wrought by the creation of the atomic bomb
£14.24
W. W. Norton & Company Two Communities in the Civil War
Book Synopsis
£22.35
Random House USA Inc The Civil War
Book Synopsis
£67.50
Random House USA Inc Into That Darkness
Book SynopsisBased on 70 hours of interviews with Franz Stangl, commandant of Treblinka (the largest of the five Nazi extermination camps), this book bares the soul of a man who continually found ways to rationalize his role in Hitler's final solution.
£15.26
Random House USA Inc The Civil War A Narrative
Book Synopsis
£27.08
Random House USA Inc The Civil War A Narrative
Book Synopsis
£28.80
Random House USA Inc Civil War a Narrative 3 Volumes Fort Sumter to
Book SynopsisFoote's comprehensive history of the Civil War includes three compelling volumes: Fort Sumter to Perryville, Fredericksburg to Meridian, and Red River to Appomattox. Collected together in a handsome boxed set, this is the perfect gift for any Civil War buff.Fort Sumter to PerryvilleThe first volume opens with Jefferson Davis's farewell to the United States Senate and ends on the bloody battlefields of Antietam and Perryville, as the full, horrible scope of America's great war becomes clear.Fredericksburg to MeridianFocused on the pivotal year of 1863, the second volume of Shelby Foote’s masterful narrative history brings to life the Battle of Gettysburg and Grant’s Vicksburg campaign and covers some of the most dramatic and important moments in the Civil War.Red River to AppomattoxThis final volume brings to life the military endgame, the surrender at Appomattox, and the tragic dénouement o
£62.00
Random House USA Inc War without Mercy
Book Synopsis
£16.80
Houghton Mifflin The Second World War Volume 1 The Gathering Storm
Book Synopsis
£21.26
Houghton Mifflin Closing Ring Vol 5 PA
£21.81
Houghton Mifflin The Second World War Volume 6 Triumph and Tragedy
Book Synopsis
£21.30
Houghton Mifflin Churchill W Second World War
Book SynopsisThe definitive, Nobel Prize-winning history of World War II, universally acknowledged as a magnificent historical reconstruction and an enduring work of literature From Britain''s darkest and finest hour to the great alliance and ultimate victory, the Second World War remains the most pivotal event of the twentieth century. Winston Churchill was not only the war''s greatest leader, he was the free world''s singularly eloquent voice of defiance in the face of Nazi tyranny, and it''s that voice that animates this six-volume history. Remarkable both for its sweep and for its sense of personal involvement, it begins with The Gathering Storm; moves on to Their Finest Hour, The Grand Alliance, The Hinge of Fate, and Closing the Ring; and concludes with Triumph and Tragedy.
£112.50
Houghton Mifflin Memoirs of the Second World War
Book SynopsisFormer Prime Minister of Great Britain and Nobel Prizewinner Winston Churchill''s quintessential account of the Second World War.As not only the most powerful player in World War II, but also the most eloquent voice of defiance in the face of Nazi tyranny, Churchill recounts this epic time in world history. Remarkable for his grand sweep and incisive firsthand observations, Memoirs of the Second World War is a vital and illuminating work that retains the drama, eyewitness details, and magisterial prose of his classic six-volume history. Churchill''s accounts offers an invaluable view of pivotal events of the twentieth century.
£23.39
Houghton Mifflin Crusade
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£17.02
Houghton Mifflin Rites of Spring The Great War and the Birth of
Book Synopsis
£16.40
Random House USA Inc Spy
Book Synopsis#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A young woman is caught up in a dangerous double life on behalf of her country during World War II in Danielle Steel’s thrilling new novel. At eighteen, Alexandra Wickham is presented to King George V and Queen Mary in an exquisite white lace and satin dress her mother has ordered from Paris. With her delicate blond looks, she is a stunning beauty who seems destined for a privileged life. But fate, a world war, and her own quietly rebellious personality lead her down a different path. By 1939, Europe is on fire and England is at war. From her home in idyllic Hampshire, Alex makes her way to London as a volunteer in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. But she has skills that draw the attention of another branch of the service. Fluent in French and German, she would make the perfect secret agent. Within a year, Alex is shocking her family in trousers and bright red lipstick. They must never know about the
£8.54
Penguin Putnam Inc The Challenge of Command
Book SynopsisA must for those who aspire to follow the profession of arms.-Maj. Gen. George S. PattonHere is a unique book that emphasizes the attainment of military excellence through reading and field experience. Written to help men and women prepare for positions of command in the American Armed Forces, it is a product of the author''s years of discussions with military commanders about their roles as decision-makers, moral standard bearers, and energizers of military organizations.In his commentary on the problems of the commander as tactician, strategist, warrior, trainer, mentor, disciplinarian, and moral leader, the author analyzes and recommends both classical and current readings that are available for those who seek an expanded vision of their potential as commanders. This book is designed to raise new challenges to conventional thinking about the art of military command.
£13.29
Penguin Publishing Group Debriefing the President The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein
Book SynopsisDebriefing the President presents an astounding, candid portrait of one of our era’s most notorious strongmen. John Nixon, the first man to conduct a prolonged interrogation of Hussein after his capture, offers expert insight into the history and mind of America’s most enigmatic enemy. 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
£23.07
Penguin Putnam Inc As Good As Dead
Book Synopsis
£21.60
Random House USA Inc Last Witnesses
Book Synopsis“A masterpiece” (The Guardian) from the Nobel Prize–winning writer, an oral history of children’s experiences in World War II across RussiaNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST For more than three decades, Svetlana Alexievich has been the memory and conscience of the twentieth century. When the Swedish Academy awarded her the Nobel Prize, it cited her for inventing “a new kind of literary genre,” describing her work as “a history of emotions . . . a history of the soul.” Bringing together dozens of voices in her distinctive style, Last Witnesses is Alexievich’s collection of the memories of those who were children during World War II. They had sometimes been soldiers as well as witnesses, and their generation grew up with the trauma of the war deeply embedded—a trauma that would change the course of the Russian nation. Coll
£16.20
Methuen Publishing Ltd The Terrible Rain The War Poets 193945 A Methuen
Book SynopsisFrom the outbreak of war, through the Blitz, to fighting on land, sea and in the air, the poems mirror each phase of action in every theatre from the front line to the Home Front.
£8.99
Methuen Publishing Ltd fieldsofdeception
Book SynopsisDuring the Second World War, a secret department was formed at Britain's Air Ministry to co-ordinate a strategy to defeat German bombing by means of deception. This is a study of Britain's bombing decoys, both at war, through their design, locations and operations, and at peace, through their fragmentary survival.
£17.99
Methuen Publishing Ltd In the Ruins of the Reich
Book SynopsisRe-issue of a classic book on a fascinating but often overlooked period in the history of the Second World War.Trade Review"The best ... because it travels the least familiar ground" Max Hastings, The Standard * "Graphic and moving ... the Germans paid a frightful price for their sins of conquest" Desmond Albrow, The Sunday Telegraph*
£9.49
Methuen Publishing Ltd Atlantic Meeting
Book SynopsisIn August 1941 Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt met secretly on HMS Prince of Wales, moored just off the coast of Newfoundland. H. V. Morton was invited to accompany the Prime Minister and his entourage and this is H. V. Morton's account of the trip, now re-published to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the event.
£16.14
Taylor & Francis Ltd Whos Who in World War I
Book SynopsisOver the course of more than 1000 alphabetically arranged, biographical entries, Who's Who in World War One builds up a complete and vivid picture of the major figures involved in the Great War.Table of ContentsChapter 1 A; Chapter 2 B; Chapter 3 C; Chapter 4 D; Chapter 5 E; Chapter 6 F; Chapter 7 G; Chapter 8 H; Chapter 9 I; Chapter 10 J; Chapter 11 K; Chapter 12 L; Chapter 13 M; Chapter 14 N; Chapter 15 O; Chapter 16 P; Chapter 17 Q; Chapter 18 R; Chapter 19 S; Chapter 20 T; Chapter 21 U; Chapter 22 V; Chapter 23 W; Chapter 24 Y; Chapter 25 Z;
£32.29
