Modern warfare Books

Book SynopsisNOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES, featuring interviews with Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and Guillermo del ToroBefore the Second World War the Hollywood box office was booming, but the business was accused of being too foreign, too Jewish, too 'un-American'. Then the war changed everything. With Pearl Harbor came the opportunity for Hollywood to prove its critics wrong.America's most legendary directors played a huge role in the war effort: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. Between them they shaped the public perception of almost every major moment of the war. With characteristic insight and expert knowledge Harris tells the untold story of how Hollywood changed World War II, and how World War II changed Hollywood.Trade ReviewThe bombs fall on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Hollywood rolls up its sleeves and swaps the diplomatic velvet glove for the patriotic steel fist . . . A story well worth telling * * Observer * *A captivating history . . . makes you want to revisit many of the films * * Daily Telegraph * *Mark Harris conducts a fastidious investigation into the five top filmmakers who put their careers on hold to help the war effort . . . Fascinating * * Total Film * *Harris deftly threads the story of each man into the wider canvases of Hollywood and the war * * Scotland on Sunday * *Gripping . . . reveals how an elite squad of Hollywood's greatest directors recorded the bravest - and bloodiest - actions of World War II * * Mail on Sunday * *Tough-minded, information-packed and irresistibly readable * * New York Times * *Can't-put-it-down history of the World War II propaganda film * * San Francisco Chronicle * *Harris has a huge story to tell, and he does so brilliantly . . . an inspirational, if cautionary, tale of the triumph of the individual over the collective, of personal vision over groupthink, and ultimately of art over propaganda * * Wall Street Journal * *Harris is a lively commentator, and a master weaver of multifarious threads * * Empire * *Impeccably researched and irresistibly entertaining * * Belfast Telegraph * *Full of colourful anecdotes about the golden age of Hollywood as well as unflinching descriptions of what the directors faced on the frontline, the 500-plus pages just fly by. This would make a great movie... * * Aberdeen Evening Express * *This is as epic an undertaking as those historical Hollywood sagas of the '30s and '40s, including anecdotes from this golden age of film * * Good Book Guide * *I enjoyed the honesty of this book. It opened my eyes * * The Truth About Lies * *A startling account of how five exemplary film-makers (John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler, Frank Capra) enlisted in every branch of the US forces, only to return, deeply moved and changed, to approach cinema in new ways * * Financial Times * *

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Book SynopsisFrom Richard Pike, author of Grub Street's bestselling Lightning Boys series, comes Hunter Boys, a fascinating insight into the experiences of those who flew the iconic Hawker Hunter - an aircraft known affectionately to many as `Queen of the Skies'. In fifteen separate chapters, pilots' stories of the dramas and demands of this incredible aircraft, which changed the future of fighter development, are related in distinctive style, including experiences of the legendary test pilot Neville Duke. One chapter details the remarkable tale of a pilot who flew an unauthorised sortie under London's Tower Bridge at the time of the 50th anniversary of the Royal Air Force. In another, the realities of war are recounted in a poignant personal account taken from diaries penned at the time of the 1971 Indo/Pakistan conflict. Further chapters describe individual experiences of flying in places as diverse as Aden, Gibraltar, Jordan and Kenya. The exceptional performance of this aircraft is evident throughout as is its well-renowned lengthy service life with the RAF and internationally. The scope, flair and pace of the writing in this book will appeal to the general reader as well as to the enthusiast.Trade Review`The contributors have written entertaining and informative tales of success, heroics, fear, relief and exhilaration in and around the Hunter cockpit.' Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal; `An intriguing insight into the experiences of the Hawker Hunter pilots.' Military History Monthly; `The book is an entertaining window into what must have been one of the most glorious periods to be in Fighter Command.' The Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators

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Book SynopsisFor those who loved Stephen E. Ambrose's Band of Brothers and E.B. Sledge's With the Old Breed. Drawing on toughness and skills forged in hardscrabble Depression-era North Carolina, Bronze Star recipient and expert B.A.R. rifleman Harold Frank invades Normandy, fights Germans, and endures a grueling stint in a German POW camp where he witnesses the fire-bombing of Dresden.From D-Day to Dresden with a Crack Shot B.A.R. Rifleman D-Day 1944: twenty-year-old PFC Harold Frank had moved as one with his battalion onto the shores of Utah Beach, pushing into France to cut off and blockade the pivotal Nazi-occupied deep-water port of Cherbourg. As a recognized crack shot with WW II's iconic American automatic rifle, Frank fought bravely across the bloody hedgerows of the Cotentin Peninsula. During the most intense fighting, Frank was ambushed and wounded in a deadly, nine-hour firefight with Germans. Taken prisoner and with a bullet lodged under one arm, Frank found himself dumped first in a brutal Nazi POW concentration camp, then shipped to a grueling work camp on the outskirts of Dresden, Germany, where the young PFC was exposed to the vengeance of a crumbling Nazi regime, the menace of a rapidly advancing Russian military—and the danger of thousands of Allied bombers screaming overhead during the firebombing of Dresden. Historian Mark Hager builds on hundreds of hours of interviews with Harold Frank, sharing the intimate and heart-pounding account of Frank’s journey as a child of the Great Depression to the bloody shores of the D-Day invasion, into the bowels of Nazi Germany, and back to the U.S. where as a young man Harold would spend years resolutely dealing with the lingering effects of starvation rations while determinedly building a new life—a life always mindful of the legacy of his POW experience and his faithful service in America’s hard-fought war against Nazi aggression.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE TEMPLER MEDAL BOOK PRIZE 2020A SPECTATOR, FINANCIAL TIMES AND DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020''A stunning achievement'' Max Hastings, Sunday TimesPart Two of Daniel Todman''s epic history of the Second World War opens with one of the greatest disasters in British military history - the fall of Singapore in February 1942. Unlike the aftermath of Dunkirk, there was no redeeming narrative available here - Britain had been defeated by a far smaller Japanese force in her grandly proclaimed, invincible Asian ''fortress''.The unique skill of Daniel Todman''s history lies in its never losing sight of the inter-connectedness of the British experience. The agony of Singapore, for example, is seen through the eyes of its inhabitants, of its defenders, of Churchill''s Cabinet and of ordinary people at home. Each stage of the war, from the nadir of early 1942 to the great serTrade ReviewA stunning achievement, offering a new generation of readers and students an authoritative and original version of the greatest event in human history. -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times *The best one-stop shop for those wanting to understand our country during its last existential crisis ... epic, compendious, written with confidence and verve. -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *Magisterial. Virtually no aspect of British life is left untouched ... I cannot recommend this history highly enough. -- Keith Lowe * Literary Review *The book is a superb work of research and synthesis, and with its predecessor it completes an account of the British war that will prove hard to surpass... Todman takes us to the threshold of the world in which we live in. One of the prime ordinances of history is that it should help those who read it understand why we are where we are, who we are and how we are. Todman achieves that goal magnificently. -- Simon Heffer * Daily Telegraph *This second volume is as skilful as the first ... Todman brings youth, energy, industry and, above all, rare historical talent to his formidable task. -- Peter Clarke * The Guardian *Deserves to become a classic ... Todman is superb at human detail; but he is equally at home discussing grand strategy, war economics, campaigning, socio-cultural aspects and the political-military interface... a magnificent book. -- Allan Mallinson * The Spectator *Exceptional ... Todman's angle of vision does not follow the conventional Anglo-American narrative of the last three years of war. He rightly sees the imperial dimension as a critical factor in the formation of British strategy. -- Richard Overy * Times Literary Supplement *A staggering look at this country and the second world war... Todman is as good on the social aspects of the war as he is on the political and military. Both volumes come highly recommended. -- Paul Donnelley * Daily Express *Meticulously researched and densely detailed, shrewdly observed... excellent. -- Alan Allport * Wall Street Journal *Dan Todman has written a truly global history of Britain's Second World War. His second volume opens in December 1941. Even then, Britons knew that victory would come; not when, not at what cost, but they knew victory would be theirs one day. How they got there is at the core of this book. His account is particularly striking on the tides of war in the Middle East and in Asia; on the Labour party electoral victory of 1945, and on the origins of the Cold War. Fast-paced, accessible, comprehensive; in short, a triumph. -- Jay Winter, Charles J. Stille Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University

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Book SynopsisOperation Market Garden, September 1944, the Netherlands. Three parachute drops and one armoured charge. The prize was the last bridge at Arnhem over the Neder Rijn. Taken intact it would provide the Allies with a back door into Germany - the famous Bridge Too Far'. This was one of the most audacious and imaginative operations of the war, and it failed, and Anthony Tucker-Jones's photographic history is a vivid introduction to it. In a sequence of almost 200 archive photographs accompanied by a detailed narrative he describes the landing of British and American parachutists and glider troops. At the same time British tanks spearheaded a sixty-mile dash along Hell's Highway' to link up with the lightly armed and heavily outnumbered airborne forces. Most books about the resulting battle concentrate on the struggle at Arnhem and the heroism of the British 1st Airborne Division. This book puts that episode in its wider context. In particular it focuses on the efforts of the US 101st and 82nd airborne divisions to hold off counterattacks by German battlegroups during the tanks' advance. The photographs give a dramatic insight into all sides of a remarkable but ill-fated operation which has fascinated historians and been the subject of controversy ever since. They also portray, as only photographs can, the men who were involved and the places and conditions in which the fighting took place.

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Book SynopsisGerman Machine Guns of the Second World War is a highly illustrated record of the German war machine between 1939 - 1945. Many of the photographs, all from the authors collection, come originally from the albums of individuals who took part in the war. Arranged by theatre chronologically, the book analyses the development of the machine gun and describes how the Germans carefully utilised weapons such as the MG34 and the much vaunted MG42 into both offensive and defensive roles. Supported by a host of other machine guns like the MP28, MP38/40 and the lethal Sturmgerher 44, it depicts how these formidable machine guns fought against an ever increasing enemy threat. Using over 250 rare and unpublished photographs together with detailed captions and accompanying text, this book provides a unique insight into German weaponry from early Blitzkrieg campaigns to the final demise of the Nazi empire.

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Book SynopsisWorld War II saw the appearance of numerous revolutionary armaments on both sides of the conflict that would radically change the nature of warfare, from jet aircraft to the ballistic missile and the atomic bomb. The greatest conflagration in history also saw the conception of the first surface-to-air guided missile systems: technology pioneered by German scientists and engineers through an extensive development programme which ran from 1942 to 1945. Although the programme did not achieve its main objective – to introduce a functional weapon system into the Luftwaffe air defence network – German research and development in most aspects of the technology was ahead of comparable research in the United Kingdom and the United States.The history of the transfer of German SAM technology to the Allies after 1945 has previously been overshadowed by the well-published transfers of the V-1 and V-2 guided missiles. This book presents the first complete history of Germany’s wartime development of surface-to-air missile (SAM) technology, how the Allies acquired this secret research towards the end of World War II in Europe and in the early postwar period, and how they then exploited this knowledge.

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Book SynopsisThe daughter of a D-Day paratrooper and her husband, a PTSD therapist, discover a family legacy of love, trauma, and resilience when they set out to explore a vast trove of WWII correspondence, official military documents, personal effects, and unique militaria found in closets and basements after her father’s death.Young Sue Gurwell had always known that her father had been a paratrooper. An old camo parachute from Holland served as her backyard tent, and high on a shelf she mustn’t touch, eight red devils in parachutes grinned from the front of mysterious drinking glasses Dad had sent Mom during the war. And then there was the special poem in his roll-top desk she sometimes snuck a peek at, written by a member of Dad’s regiment. This poem was a premonition of the sergeant’s death. “Yes,” her dad told her, “He was right—he died on D-Day.” But it’s not until 2016, after her parents had both passed away, that Susan Gurwell Talley and her husband Jack L. Talley begin to understand the true extent and significance of the wartime artifacts that had been staples of Sue’s childhood. The Talley’s discovered that Sue’s father, Lt. George L. Gurwell, Executive Officer, HqHq, 508th PIR, had silently squirreled away thousands of wartime documents in the family home. Like most combat veterans, George was never one to talk about the war; but the historic collection of official records, correspondence, photographs, maps, memorabilia, cultural artifacts, and unique ephemera constitute quite possibly the most extensive, various, and complete documentation of the 508th held privately today. This precious resource could not have passed into better hands than those of Jack and Sue Talley. Jack, a PhD psychologist specializing in PTSD, was the first to understand that George had PTSD symptoms that still lingered from the war years when he and George were introduced on June 6, 2001. That evening, the 57th anniversary of D-Day, George first opened up about the war, and preceded to talk late into the night. In that conversation lies the genesis of this book.

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Book SynopsisOn December 7, 1941, an imperial Japanese carrier strike force attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, taking advantage of what was one of the most profound intelligence failures in US history. Galvanised into action, the branches of the U.S. military subsequently developed one of the greatest, albeit imperfect, intelligence-gathering and analysis networks of the combatant nations, opening an invaluable window onto the intentions of their enemies. The picture of U.S. military intelligence during World War II is a complex one. It was divided between the fields of signal intelligence (SIGINT) and human intelligence (HUMINT), combat intelligence and War Department intelligence, and between numerous different organisations, including the Military Intelligence Division (MID), Military Intelligence Service (MIS), the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC), the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the many intelligence units organic to Army, Navy, Army Air Forces, and Marine Corps.The documents collected in this book reveal the theoretical and practical principles behind wartime intelligence gathering and analysis, from the frontline intelligence officer to the Washington-based code-breaker. They explain fundamentals such as how to observe and record enemy activity and intercept enemy radio traffic, through to specialist activities such as cryptanalysis, photo-reconnaissance, prisoner interrogation, and undercover agent operations.The painstaking work of an intelligence operator required a sharp, attentive mind, whether working behind a desk or under fire on the frontlines. The outputs from these men and women could ultimately make the difference between victory and defeat in battle.

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Book SynopsisAdolf Hitler - a ranting, evil demagogue whose insane ambitions and beliefs took the world to the brink of extinction and caused the deaths of millions. And yet there was another side to the Fuhrer, one that was rarely seen and even now remains unknown by most people. It was a softer side, a gentler side that, in the main, came out only in his dealings with the women in his life. With his secretaries and other female staff he was caring and considerate - almost without exception they have recorded that he was an employer of compassion and understanding, someone who was really interested in their lives. Eva Braun is a well-known figure but she was not alone in her role as the Fuhrer's lover. Dozens of women preceded her, people like Mitzi Reiter, Henny Hoffmann and his own niece Geli Raubal. To them and the many more who spent time alone with him, Hitler was the ultimate romantic, someone to love and in return be loved back. Hitler was adored by the women of Germany. They flocked in their thousands to see him, to hear him speak. In their eyes he could do no wrong. They might never meet him but they could look, they could listen - and they could fantasise about a future that would never happen. Without the support of women, their help and guidance, Hitler might never have risen to power. In the wild post-war days the Society women of Munich gave him shelter and encouragement. They gave him space and time to climb the slippery political ladder to the top. At the pinnacle of the German state, he used and abused their adulation and support to maintain his position. Women had taught him how to behave, how to be accepted by polite society. Women had funded his Nazi Party and helped give him an ideology to underpin his movement. He accepted that as his right but ultimately he repaid them by leading the country to the edge of destruction. This book, _Hitler and His Women_, looks at all of the women in Hitler's life, his lovers and his passing flings. From his mother and sisters to a teenage infatuation with a girl he never actually met, from actresses like Zara Leander to English aristocrat Unity Mitford, it examines the relationships and how they affected the course of history. The findings may well astound you.

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Book SynopsisAllied victory in the Second World War owed much to air power. The success of military and naval operations invariably hinged on control of the skies, and the rise to dominance of the Allied air forces meant that the Nazi war machine was effectively doomed. Following the success of The Second World War in Colour, this book presents a further selection of original colour photographs from the IWM collection, focusing on Allied aircraft and airmen. Alongside these striking images, War in the Air examines how crucial aviation was to winning the war, from the defence of Britain’s skies and maritime trade, to battlefield support in North Africa and Europe and the strategic bombing offensive over Germany. Shot from the ground and from the air, these powerful images bring a vital aspect of the Second World War to life.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on a superb collection of rare and unpublished photographs the The 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen 1941 - 1945 is the 7th book in the Waffen-SS Images of War Series written by Ian Baxter. The book tells the story of the 7th SS Mountain Division was formed in 1941 from the Volksdeutsche (ethnic German) volunteers and conscripts from the Banat, Independent State of Croatia, Hungary and Romania. It fought a brutal counter insurgency campaign against communist-led Yugoslav Partisan resistance forces in the occupied Serbia and Montenegro. It was given the title Prinz Eugen after Prince Eugene of Savoy, an outstanding military leader of the Habsburg Empire who liberated the Banat and Belgrade from the Ottoman Empire in the Austro Turkish War. It was initially named the SS-Freiwilligen-Division Prinz Eugen (SS-Volunteer Division Prinz Eugen).

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Book SynopsisAfghanistan, 2008. After their eighteen-month epic tour of Helmand Province, the troops of 3 Para are back. This time, the weight of experience weighs heavily on their shoulders.Trade Review‘Are we winning or losing the war in Afghanistan? …Bishop offers no easy answers. The portrait he paints is one of selfless young men and women performing magnificently under near-intolerable conditions … “Ground Truth” is one of the best accounts you will ever read about contemporary warfare: shrewdly observed, action-packed and written with great sensitivity.’ James Delingpole, Mail on Sunday ‘A beguiling and often bewildering account of how this strange war seems to the fighting man and woman…Bishop gets to the core of their thoughts and fears. As a view from the ground, often with the author present at key points, Bishop’s books are invaluable’ Evening Standard ‘Well paced and well told. It is also very well informed…It is his sense of personal involvement in the testing physical and moral hardships of contemporary soldiering that gives the narrative such a sharp and poignant edge…inspiring’ Country Life

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Book SynopsisOperation Fortitude was the ingenious web of deception spun by the Allies to mislead the Nazis as to how and where the D-Day landings were to be mounted.''One of the most creative intelligence operations of all time'' Kim PhilbyThe story of how this web was woven is one of intrigue, personal drama, ground-breaking techniques, internal resistance, and good fortune. It is a tale of double agents, black radio broadcasts, phantom armies, ''Ultra'' decrypts, and dummy parachute drops. These diverse tactics were intended to come together to create a single narrative so compelling that it would convince Adolf Hitler of its authenticity.Operation Fortitude was intended to create the false impression that the Normandy landings were merely a feint to disguise a massive forthcoming invasion by this American force in the Pas de Calais. In other words, the success of D-Day the beginning of the end of the Second World War was made possible by the efforts of men and women who were not present on tTrade ReviewReviews for previous titles… ‘A vivid, moving story of the men who fought the Great War in the Air. Quite superb.’Max Arthur ‘Those magnificent men in their flying machines recount in their own words just how mad and magnificent it was to be an air-ace in World War One. Joshua Levine's compilation is enthralling and breathtaking’.Chris Powling, Classic FM Guestlist ‘This is a superior example of the genre from a writer at the top of his game.’ Air Marshal Stuart Peach

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Book SynopsisOf all the accounts written about the Second World War, none are more compelling than the personal diaries of those who lived through it. We Are At War is the story of five everyday folk, who, living on the brink of chaos, recorded privately on paper their most intimate hopes and fears.Pam Ashford, a woman who keeps her head when all around are losing theirs, writes with comic genius about life in her Glasgow shipping office. Christopher Tomlin, a writing-paper salesman for whom business is booming, longs to be called up like his brother. Eileen Potter organises evacuations for flea-ridden children, while mother-of-three Tilly Rice is frustrated to be sent to Cornwall. And Maggie Joy Blunt tries day-by-day to keep a semblance of her ordinary life.Entering their world as they lived it, each diary entry is poignantly engrossing. Amid the tumultuous start to the war, these ordinary British people are by turns apprehensive and despairing, spirited and cheerful - aTrade ReviewWonderful stuff * Sunday Times *Fascinating, delightful, illuminating. The diarists soon become like old friends ... and make our wartime past seem no more distant than yesterday * Mail on Sunday *It's always easy to imagine people in this period becalmed in a sepia-toned limbo. This book tells the messy, but far more interesting, truth * Time Out *Few books have so successfully stepped inside the minds of the British people during wartime * Metro *A fascinating account of everyday life in Britain * Good Housekeeping *

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Book SynopsisThe terrifying first use of nuclear weapons over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 was the most controversial act of warfare in history, dramatically ending the Second World War but ushering in the age of mass destruction. Yet it was also the climax of a story that extends beyond Japan and Washington: the culmination of decades of scientific achievement and centuries of colonial exploitation. Snake Dance is the account of a journey that turned into a quest to discover how humanity reaches this point. Patrick Marnham travels from the opulent nineteenth-century palaces of King Leopold II of Belgium, built with riches plundered from the Congo, to the lethally derelict nuclear reactor of modern-day Kinshasa. He follows the shipment of Congolese uranium to the deserts of New Mexico for the Manhattan Project's secret test detonation. Here he uncovers the legacies of Robert Oppenheimer and Aby Warburg, two mad geniuses' who confronted the devastating power of twentieth-Trade ReviewA beautifully written book – informative and entertaining -- Piers Paul Read * Spectator *Fascinating… Snake Dance is nothing less than the biography of nuclear power, the most awesome force humanity has yet unleashed upon the planet -- Peter Whittakar * New Internationalist *[Patrick Marnham’s] mastery of a vast trove of material makes him an erudite travel companion…perennially eager to poke about in radiation zones armed only with a wonky Geiger counter and a paper mask -- Matthew Green * Literary Review *The travel writing is first class… [A] thrillingly ominous account * Spectator *A superb book on the genesis and use of the atomic bomb * Scotsman *This is a humane and intelligent book, and one in which Marnham has clearly been deeply engaged -- Melanie McGrath * Sunday Telegraph *The great strength of Snake Dance is to create an atmosphere in which the advent of atomic energy is not just outrageous but tragic * Observer *Snake Dance is a hybrid of a film tie-in, travelogue, biography and history. It’s a blend that gels through Marnham’s unwavering verve as he follows the trail of a lethal cargo -- Christian House * Independent *Impeccably researched and written -- Giles Milton * Mail on Sunday *From colonial slavery to the blind potential of scientific exploration to enslave us in turn, he makes a circular journey: the nuclear snake eats its own tail * The Times *A twisting global journey in his devastating critique of nuclear policy…an honourable refusal to rationalise what boils down to an act of repeated mass murder * Metro *A penetrating historical x-ray of the first generation of people to live under the nuclear shadow * Prospect *A fascinating travelogue taking the reader from Joseph Conrad’s Congo to the Fukushima Nuclear Plant disaster of 2011, via New Mexico… a learned and compelling history of man trying to control the elements. It’s also a clarion call to arms to save ourselves and the planet * Bookseller *

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Book SynopsisRoger Moorhouse is an historian and author specialising in modern German history. He is the co-author, with Norman Davies, of Microcosm: Portrait of a Central European City, and the author of Killing Hitler and Berlin at War.Trade ReviewThe Devils' Alliance is a marvellous achievement. No event was more crucial to the outbreak of the Second World War than the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939, and no one is better qualified to explore its grim implications than Roger Moorhouse -- Norman DaviesSuperbly researched and academically impeccable, yet written with all the pace of a thriller, The Devils' Alliance shines a powerful beam into one of the undeservedly least known aspects of the Second World War -- Andrew RobertsMeticulous and vividly readable… Moorhouse’s grim and compelling book could not be more topical * Sunday Telegraph *A highly enjoyable history written with verve and attention to detail * Financial Times *Superb -- Brendan Simms * Wall Street Journal *

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Book SynopsisRichard Vinen is Reader in History at King's College, University of London. His last book was the highly acclaimed A History in Fragments: Europe in the Twentieth Century.

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Book SynopsisIn World War Two, 19 million people died in the conflicts across the globe. Yet in those same years, more than 20 million died from starvation and malnutrition. In The Taste of War Lizzie Collingham shows how food - and its lack - was central to the war''s causes and continuation. She explores how starvation was often a deliberate governmental policy, and reveals how the necessity of feeding whole countries lead to Pearl Harbour, Germany''s invasion of Russia, and the Holocaust itself.Trade ReviewRemarkable, powerful * The Times *Amazing... she makes it impossible to think of the war in the old terms * Daily Mail *Fascinating, shocking ... For anyone who thought that the subject of food in the Second World War could be dispatched with a few clichés about digging for victory * Mail on Sunday *Ambitious, compelling, fascinating... uncomfortable reading if you began by believing in the possibility of a just war * Guardian *This fascinating calorie-centric history of the greatest conflict in world history is wholly convincing -- Andrew RobertsA powerful and important book... One of the beauties of this book is its savage unpicking of cherished myths * Independent *Lizzie Collingham's book possesses the notable virtue of originality...[She] has gathered many strands to pursue an important theme across a global canvas. She reminds us of the timeless truth that all human and political behaviour is relative -- Max HastingsThe great merits of [this] book...lie in its extraordinary range...and in the entirely new perspective it throws on the Second World War -- Bernard Potter * London Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisWith many colourful anecdotes and vivid descriptions, this is the first authentic account of daily life at Government Communications Headquarters, Bletchley Park, the most successful intelligence agency in history. Described by Churchill as the ''secret weapon'' that ''won the war'', the men and women of Bletchley Park here combine to write their story in full.This book gives fascinating insights into recruitment and training, together with a full and accurate account of codes and ciphers and how they are broken.Trade Reviewit is an exciting story they have to tell. * Tom Greenwell, Yorkshire Post *... because of its intense secrecy, the work of the men and women at Bletchley received no public recognition for many years after the war, and many of those who made important contributions are no longer alive.This volume of personal recollections by some 30 of the survivors is ... especially welcome. Conditions of life and work at Bletchley, and its principal achievements, are faithfully sampled in Codebreakers, which is worth reading both for its historical interest and for the sidelights it throws on the problems encountered in the rapid assembly and organization of one of the greatest collections of talent that has ever occurred in Western civilization. * Nature *This unique volume will be of great interest to cryptologists in particular, and intelligence buffs in general. * Surveillant *While some of the chapters are so technical that Stella Rimmington would struggle to unscramble them, one still gets a strong sense of the excitement and frustrations of a war fought on the airwaves. * Daily Telegraph *the anecdotal material is fascinating in the insight it gives into everyday life at the institution. * Sunday Times *Hinsley and Stripp have assembled 30 reminiscers - most geniuses, a few slaves, all highly informative. * Robin Blake, Independent on Sunday *it is a remarkable tribute to the men and women who worked to crack the Germans' Enigma code. * David Hall,Oxford Times *The most interesting thing about this collection of essays is the light it throws on the personalities concerned. * Times Higher Education Supplement *These essays on the diverse activities at Bletchley Park (which remained secret until the 1970s) are enthralling. * The Observer *What makes Codebreakers so absorbing is that it has been written by the men and women who worked at Bletchley Park, all of whom were forbidden to talk about their work at the time. Codebreakers gives a fascinating insight into their daily lives. * Madeleine Burton, Hitchin Gazette *... one gets a strong sense of the excitement and frustrations of a war fought on the airwaves. * Daily Telegraph *Interesting stuff. * The Marine Society *This book has been put together from the personal memories of people none of whom would now be under 65. That they are so readable attests to the skill of the editors, who were themselves part of the Bletchley operation. Above all, it highlights the painstaking effort that intelligence work demands; but, as this volume shows, intelligence is useless there is force and a willingness to take advantage of it. * John Farquharson, Canberra Times *This new book is the first full account of Bletchley written by those who worked there. The book is superbly edited by F.H. Hinsley and Alan Stripp, Expositions are lucid and understandable to the layman - a considerable achievement. There are good photographs including those of Enigma cipher machines. Altogether, this is a splendid book for military historians, operational planners and especially intelligence officers. * Howard, Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Air Power History *This is a fascinating saga. * M. G. Bond, Army Quarterly and Defence Journal *editors and contributors have made Codebreakers an essential work ... It must be read by anyone and everyone concerned with intelligence during the Second World war .... It will be fundamental to anyone concerned with the techniques used during the Second World War to attack ciphers, super-enciphered codebooks or machine ciphers. * John Ferris, University of Calgary, Intelligence and National Secuirty *... a very intimate, anecdotal history. Despite the grim and far-reaching nature of their work, the reader goets a sense of a world bounded by four walls and shared with a few close associates whose common work made for very close relationships. The work of the codebreakers ... is fascinating, if sometimes barely comprehensible. ... a dramatic insight into just how remarkable the codebreakers' accomplishments were. * British Heritage *It comes with impeccable references in the shape of its editors' background and reputation, and does not disappoint. * The British Army Review *fascinating insiders' account of wartime code-cracking... and absorbing read. * Niall Fergusson *a highly revealing, even exciting book... that lays fascinating former secrets bare... It is a delight to have so crucial a subject so clearly and entertainingly described, by some thirty people who really understand what they are discussing and can set the record quite straight. * M. R. D. Foot, The Times *Anyone interested in the Second World War will sit up all night, and chess players and puzzle-solvers will be captivated by the later chapters. * Noel Annan, Independent on Sunday *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION. THE INFLUENCE OF ULTRA IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR; PART ONE. THE PRODUCTION OF ULTRA INTELLIGENCE; PART TWO. ENIGMA; PART THREE. FISH; PART FOUR. FIELD CIPHERS AND TACTICAL CODES; PART FIVE. JAPANESE CODES; APPENDIX. HOW THE BLETCHLY PARK BUILDINGS TOOK SHAPE

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Book SynopsisTerezín, as it was known in Czech, or Theresienstadt as it was known in German, was operated by the Nazis between November 1941 and May 1945 as a transit ghetto for Central and Western European Jews before their deportation for murder in the East. Terezín was the last ghetto to be liberated, one day after the end of World War II.The Last Ghetto is the first in-depth analytical history of a prison society during the Holocaust. Rather than depict the prison society which existed within the ghetto as an exceptional one, unique in kind and not understandable by normal analytical methods, Anna Hájková argues that such prison societies that developed during the Holocaust are best understood as simply other instances of the societies human beings create under normal circumstances. Challenging conventional claims of Holocaust exceptionalism, Hájková insists instead that we ought to view the Holocaust with the same analytical tools as other historical events. The prison society of Terezín produced its own social hierarchies under which seemingly small differences among prisoners (of age, ethnicity, or previous occupation) could determine whether one ultimately lived or died. During the three and a half years of the camp''s existence, prisoners created their own culture and habits, bonded, fell in love, and forged new families. Based on extensive archival research in nine languages and on empathetic reading of victim testimonies, The Last Ghetto is a transnational, cultural, social, gender, and organizational history of Terezín, revealing how human society works in extremis and highlighting the key issues of responsibility, agency and its boundaries, and belonging.Trade ReviewIn this overwhelming book, Anna Hájková has assembled - in extraordinary gutwrenching detail - these stories of Terez ... It is the loss of life in all its mucky beauty, and the loss of living-breathing-evolving community on such a mass scale, after all, that contributes to the breathtaking horror of genocide. * JORDANA SILVERSTEIN, University of Melbourne, Gender & History *This is a powerful contribution to our understanding of the ghetto and of how societies are constructed in general, revealing in complex detail the lived experiences of those who inhabited Theresienstadt. * Barnabas Balint, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, Journal of the Social History Society *Hájková has not simply written a book depicting the "transnational, cultural, social, gender, and organizational history" of the "well known, poorly understood ghetto", but she shows with great sensitivity, concisely and immense knowledge the everyday history of this limbo, the "last ghetto. * Thomas Krzenck , Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft *Anna Hájková's The Last Ghetto: An Everyday History of Theresienstadt is an essential addition to the literature about the camp, rivaled in scholarly insight only by H.G Adler... And since it is unlikely that many American readers will have the stamina to persevere through the more than 800 pages that examine the features of Adler's "coerced community," readers should feel no hesitation in turning to Hájková's thoughtful and thorough analysis. * Lawrence Langer, University of Wisconsin-Madison, George L. Mosse Program in History *Hájková's book The Last Ghetto is a well-researched, captivatingly written, and engaging scholarly work about the life of prisoners in Theresienstadt. Hájková's book is crucial reading and paradigm-shifting work for anyone who wants to understand a prisoners' society in extremis * Denisa Nešťáková, Herder Institute in Marburg, Marburg, GermanyComenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia, East Central Europe *This excellent study provides a critical investigation of the social, political, and even sexual relationships in the ghetto, their complex nature in a coerced setting and the developing power structures dominated by the young Czech elite. * Wolf Gruner, University of Southern California, AJS Review *Hájková brings solid research and a much-appreciated enrichment to readers' understanding of the Theresienstadt ghetto. The author worked for a decade with public and private archives in nine languages and offers readers a deeper understanding of what she calls "a forced community. * J. Kleiman, CHOICE *Hajkova's history of Terezin is a tour de force. Thanks to Hajkova's astonishing research and courageous reappraisal of victim society, aspects of this history that have been overlooked or marginalized are now before our eyes. A major contribution to the history of the Holocaust, The Last Ghetto also opens up new perspectives on class, nationalism, ethnicity, gender and sexuality in twentieth-century Europe. A deeply, wrenchingly human story that everyone ought to read. * Alexandra Garbarini, author of Numbered Days: Diaries and the Holocaust *This splendid and devastating, gorgeously written, paradigm-shifting book offers one transformative revelation after another. Exemplifying radical empathy without sentimentality, it represents the very best the new Holocaust history has to offer. * Dagmar Herzog, Graduate Center, City University of New York, author of Unlearning Eugenics: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Disability in Post-Nazi Europe *Theresienstadt has been shrouded in myths since Nazis first presented it as a 'model ghetto' to trick the world that Jewish prisoners were being treated humanely. Hájková's The Last Ghetto reveals the interior life of the ghetto and persuasively demonstrates that like the society that produced it, this society in extremis was riven by ethnic, gender, political, linguistic, and economic divisions that prevented a common sense of Jewishness from forming among the prisoners. * Barry Trachtenberg, Michael H. and Deborah K. Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History,Wake Forest University *The Last Ghetto is the most important book on Theresienstadt to appear in many years. With unparalleled knowledge of the sources and deep sensitivity, Anna Hájková has made a major contribution to the history of the Holocaust. With her focus on the everyday life of the ghetto's inhabitants, she also provides us with a model of social, cultural, and gender history. * Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History, Royal Holloway, University of London *[I]n my opinion, Hájková is the most revolutionary and groundbreaking of all—she asks the fundamental questions that historians usually ask about human societies and which tend to be avoided in writing on the Jews in the Holocaust. * Amos Goldberg, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel, American Historical Review *An excellently written book that will help shape future historiography on the ghettos under Nazi rule for years to come. * Marc Buggeln, University of Flensburg, Modern European History *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Well-Known, Poorly Understood Ghetto 1. "The Overorganized Ghetto" Administering Terezín 2. A Society Based on Inequality 3. The Age of Pearl Barley: Food and Hunger 4. Medicine and Illness 5. Cultural Life: Leisure Time Activities 6. Transports to the East Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe war between Nazi Germany and Stalin''s Soviet Union that raged between 1941 and 1945 was the ultimate confrontation between the two great totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century. Unprecedented in the scale of the destruction that it wrought and the deep historical scars that it left behind, it was a gargantuan conflict in every sense of the term: in the vast territories over which it ranged, its intensity and duration, the huge numbers of people involved -- and last but by no means least, the millions of victims that it claimed. The invasion of the Soviet Union was the conflict that Hitler had always ultimately planned for: a pitiless war of conquest and destruction in which the Fuehrer dreamed of creating his ''Thousand Year Reich'', destroying his ideological opponents, and enslaving or ''eliminating'' whole peoples in the process. It was right from the start a struggle for survival, conducted with great bitterness and savagery by opponents who knew that defeat meant the destruction of everything they stood for. The outcome of this bitter struggle was quite as momentous as the struggle which had preceded it. By 1945 a huge swathe of Europe between Berlin and Moscow had been reduced to a devastated wasteland in which whole societies had been erased from the face of the earth. Over 26 million Soviets and between four and five million Germans lay dead. The victory of the Red Army transformed the Soviet Union into one of the world''s two superpowers. It also saw the complete destruction of Hitler''s megalomaniac vision for the East, the division of the German Reich, and the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe for a generation. In Operation Barbarossa, German military historian Christian Hartmann draws upon the latest research, enriched by a wealth of eye-witness testimony from both the Soviet and the German sides, to paint a masterly overview of these momentous four years and their human consequences - one that is both gripping, and at times deeply moving.Trade Review"There are a lot of little gems...If you want a swift overview of the war in this theatre and its wider impacts this book is definitely worth a look." * James Hunwicke, Battlefield *a superbly written survey of a seminal conflict * Booklist *A masterly feat of compression * Richard J. Evans, author of the Third Reich trilogy *Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Politics 1940-1941 3: The Eve of War 4: War 1941-1942 5: The German Occupation 6: German War Crimes and Atrocities 7: Politics 1941-1945 8: War 1943-1945 9: Aftermath Chronology of Events Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisDrawing on material from eighty archives in six different countries worldwide, as well as eyewitness testimonies from over 100 former pupils, Helen Roche presents the first comprehensive history of the Third Reich''s most prominent elite schools, the National Political Education Institutes (Napolas / NPEA). The Napolas provided an all-encompassing National Socialist ''total education'', featuring ideological indoctrination, premilitary training, and a packed programme of extracurricular activities, including school trips and exchanges throughout Europe and beyond.Combining all the most seductive elements of reform-pedagogy, youth-movement traditions, and the militaristic ethos of the Prussian cadet schools, the schools took pupils from the age of ten, aiming to train them for leadership roles in all walks of life. Those who successfully passed the gruelling entrance examination, which tested applicants'' physical prowess, courage, and alleged ''racial purity'' along with their academicTrade ReviewThe Third Reich's Elite Schools can lay claim to the status of a standard work [...] The book's great merit lies in its abundance of meticulously researched case studies [...] At no point in her account does Roche indulge in moralisation or judgment, and that makes her investigation all the more nightmarish and impressive. * Rüdiger Gröner, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *Roche has managed what very few historians of institutional or organizational studies are able to do: she has successfully embedded the historical trajectory of an understudied system of Nazi elite schools in the wider currents of German and European history, employing a balanced and empathetic analytic approach, crystal-clear prose, and easy-to-follow expositional structure. Her work is therefore guaranteed to appeal to a wide and varied readership and hopefully attract other historians to this vital scholarly arena [...] [and is] written with a keen eye for the modern reader. * Tim Mueller, H-German *[E]xtensive, detailed and thorough... an essential reference point for future investigations into this field. This applies not only to historians of education but more broadly to people interested in the Nazi period and Nazi rule in particular... [Roche's] critical handling and deconstruction of autobiographical narratives [...] is exemplary [...] Overall, in combining a detail-oriented narration with anecdotal evidence, the book [...] explains the multifaceted functioning of the Napolas and of Nazi rule in an informative and captivating manner. * Lisbeth Matzer, History of Education *The first comprehensive study of these National Socialist educational institutions [...], founded on an impressive source base [...] Roche very effectively carves out the schools' ambivalent relationship between tradition and innovation [...] Overall, with her source-rich and interestingly-written total history of the NPEA, which includes countless individual case studies, Roche has not only achieved a weighty contribution to the history of education, but also offers beyond that vital insights into countless subjects of contemporary historical research * Jana Wolf, Sehepunkte *...an incredibly detailed, richly described, and meticulously researched book contribution to the education history of Nazi Germany... A word like "comprehensive" does not...capture just how detailed and expansive this study is. The source material Roche drew upon is mind-bogglingly varied and extensive. ...the conclusions to each chapter fulfill Roche's intention of embedding this educational history within the wider contexts of Third Reich history. The Napolas do indeed reveal the basic mechanics of the Hitler dictatorship writ small. The Third Reich's Elite Schools thus reminds us how enlightening and important the history of education can be. * Kristin Semmens, Historical Studies in Education/Revue d'histoire de l'éducation *...a comprehensive, timely account... Helen Roche's synthesis of long years' research on the "avant-garde of the Volksgemeinschaft" offers a highly welcome contribution to the history of the perversion of educational practice under National Socialism. * Klaus-Peter Friedrich, Neue Politische Literatur *This is a monograph that will be of interest to scholars and students of education and of the Third Reich alike. Roche has written a comprehensive and meticulous survey of a very specific area of German history, using an extensive source base... Throughout[,] Roche balances the detailed and divergent experiences of individual schools and students whilst highlighting the wider connections to the history of the Third Reich these experiences demonstrate. Her introduction argues for treating educational history not as a subgenre but as a valuable prism for exploring wider historical trends and how the ideals of a regime are inculcated in the next generation. This well-researched and scrupulously referenced monograph ably demonstrates how this can be achieved. * Robin Smith, German History *...a new foundational work on the topic... Roche's analysis is thorough and sound [with] a writing style that is both informative and easy to follow... Overall, Roche's book is a fine work of scholarship that deals with a subject that needs serious revision. She successfully distills her vast amounts of research into an easily consumable volume that is an asset to any historian studying the Third Reich. * James Lautens, H-War *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Napolas in Historical Context PART I: GENESIS 1: Foundation and Administration: The Napolas' Position within the Polycratic Nazi State 2: 'Selection', Teaching, and Everyday Life 3: 'Missions' and Extracurricular Activities PART II: VARIETY WITHIN UNITY 4: The Prussian Paradigm? Resurrecting Cadet-School Traditions at the Former Staatliche Bildungsanstalten 5: Centralism versus Particularism: Harnessing Regional Ambitions and Negotiating Federal Tensions at the NPEA in Saxony, Anhalt, and Württemberg 6: The Annihilation of Tradition? The 'Napolisation' of Humanistic and Religious Foundations 7: Ostmark: The Annexation of the Viennese Bundeserziehungsanstalten and Heißmeyer's 'Dissolution of the Monasteries' 8: The Reichsschulen and the Napolas' Germanizing Mission in Eastern and Western Europe 9: For Girls Only: The NPEA für Mädchen PART III: NEMESIS 10: The Demands of Total War 11: The Endkrieg and the Last of the Napolas 12: Epilogue: Post-war Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThe story of how the Japanese Imperial Navy defeated the Russian Imperial Navy in 1905, marking the first modern victory of an Asian power over a major European power.Trade ReviewThis book will undoubtedly attract the attention of domestic experts and all those interested in the history of the Russo-Japanese War...It seems as if nothing new can be added to what has already been written about the battle over more than a century, however this work shows that it is possible. Kowner's monograph is a solid and fundamental study with a good literary style. It will certainly stir up controversy [in Russia], which is also the hallmark of a quality historical work. * Dmitrii V. Likharev, Rossiya i ATR *Not only does this excellent book provide a good treatment of the battle itself...but a great deal of consideration is also given to its long-term effect in naval, political, and cultural spheres. * Andrew Choong Han Lin, The Mariner's Mirror *Very readable and informative, and gives an excellent insight into how naval tactics changed and developed after the battle. A must-read for anyone interested in early-twentieth century naval warfare. * Chris May *Rotem Kowner's Tsushima constitutes a tour de force treatment of this epic battle and its multiple legacies. He establishes remote and immediate contexts, provides accurate description and informed analysis, and delves deeply into aftermath. * Bruce W. Menning, Professor of Strategy (ret.), U. S. Army Command and General Staff College *A book of remarkable originality, daring, and openness of mind. Professor Kowner presents a skilful account of Tsushima which for the first time equally embraces Japanese and Russian sides of the battle and its consequences. * Dmitrii V. Likharev, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia *A penetrating and comprehensive study of the most consequential naval battle fought between Trafalgar (1805) and Pearl Harbor (1941). Where Kowner's work shines brightest is his insightful analysis of this battle's military, political, and cultural legacy for both participants and the wider world. Tsushima is masterful. * J. Charles Schencking, Author of Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, and the Emergence of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1969-1922 *Rotem Kowner's Tsushima presents a comprehensive account of the Battle of Tsushima Strait in 1905. It skilfully describes how and why it occurred and ended with a decisive and one-sided victory by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Among other things, this book is about the big battleships and guns. Well prepared and trained, the IJN made the best use of them against the Baltic Fleet and earned well-deserving glory and acclaim. However, the memory of decisive victory at Tsushima also planted in the minds of generations of IJN's leaders hubris, arrogance, and inflexibility to adjust and change IJN's naval doctrine until its last days in 1945. Kowner, as a true historian, re-enacts the days of the big battleships and guns, and beckons us all to return to the seas again. * Naoyuki Agawa, Author of Friendship Across the Seas: The US Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force *Table of Contents1: Background 2: Analysis of the battle and its unique points 3: The battle's immediate consequences and how it was seen at the time 4: The Japanese legacy of Tsushima as a model decisive battle 5: Tsushima and the destruction of the Imperial Russian Navy 6: Tsushima's impact on naval warfare in the 20th century Further Reading Notes Index

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Book SynopsisIn the mountain of books that have been written about the Third Reich, surprisingly little has been said about the role played by the German nobility in the Nazis'' rise to power. While often confidently referred to, the ''fateful'' role played by the German nobility is rarely, if ever, investigated in any real detail. Nazis and Nobles now fills this gap, providing the first systematic investigation of the role played by the nobility in German political life between Germany''s defeat in the First World War in 1918 and the consolidation of Nazi power in the 1930s. As Stephan Malinowski shows, the German nobility was too weak to prevent the German Revolution of 1918 but strong enough to take an active part in the struggle against the Weimar Republic. In a real twist of historical irony, members of the nobility were as prominent in the destruction of Weimar democracy as they were to be years later in Graf Stauffenberg''s July 1944 bomb plot against Hitler. In this skilful portrait of an aTrade ReviewA compelling and sobering dissection of the misalliance between the German nobility and the Nazis. * Paul Lay, The Times *Nazis and Nobles tells one of the under-documented stories of Hitler's war, how the royal and aristocratic families of Germany from the Hohenzollerns downwards offered support to this thuggish and brutal regime. * Simon Heffer, Best Books of 2021, The Telegraph *[A] weightily fascinating book * Julian Evans, The Telegraph *Stephan Malinowski's cultural-political study of nobles and Nazis, revised and stylishly translated from the German original (2003), invites us to reach our own judgement. Malinowski not only adds indispensable complexity to the bifurcated model of attraction and repulsion, but also offers a riveting and subtle portrait of an elite in decline and in denial after 1918. * Jane Caplan, Times Literary Supplement *[Nazis and Nobles] historiographical importance can hardly be exaggerated. * Mark Falcoff, New Criterion *Nazis and Nobles is not merely a translation of the prize-winning German original. It also includes incorporates many new sources. Malinowski looks at his subjects through an anthropological eye, showing them as great masters at self-portrayal. He provides fascinating biographical sketches of renegades too. * Karina Urbach, Literary Review *Stephan Malinowski shows in his award-winning German-language title (now translated into English), the success of Hitler's power grab was also highly reliant on the actions (and often inaction) of influential members of Germany's aristocracy. * BBC History Magazine *The complex question of the German aristocracy's relationship with the Nazis is at the heart of Stephan Malinowski's brilliant book, Nazis and Nobles [... ] Malinowski has provided the best available analysis of the political radicalisation of Germany's nobility in the 1920s and their widespread support for the Nazis in the early 1930s. * Robert Gerwarth, The Irish Times *Nazis and Nobles: The History of a Misalliance, is at last available in English translation. This important book focuses not on the narrow issue of the complicity of one dynastic family but on the broad social and political history of a diverse class and its relationship to the Nazis during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. * Christopher R. Browning, New York Review of Books *A timely book. * Air Mail *[Nazis and Nobles] is as enlightening as it is entertaining. Malinowski has succeeded in writing an outstanding political and cultural history of Prussia in particular, a portrait of the aristocratic elite in decline. * Ulrich Wangemann, Märkische Allgemeine *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Defining 'Nobility' 2. The Apocalypse and Beyond 3. The Nobility Reloaded 4. Nazis and Nobles: Conflicts 5. Nazis and Nobles: Affinities Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisOffers readers a portrait of the American people - industrialists, labor leaders, federal officials, municipal leaders, social reformers, and industrial workers and their families - that lays bare the foundations of community, the high costs of racism, and the tangled process of negotiation between New Deal visionaries and wartime planners.

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Book SynopsisThis book demonstrates that there is much about the New Deal that can be characterized as environmental, once one substitutes the word 'environmental' for 'conservation'.Trade Review'For those of us who lived through the era of the New Deal, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the hero of the conservation movement...Never before [this book] has the performance of an administration with respect to the environment been appraised so diligently. This book not only gives us a fresh view of one of the most significant features of the age of Roosevelt, but also informs our understanding of the directions we should pursue in the twenty-first century.' - William Leuchtenberg, from the Foreword 'Do you think that the environmental movement started in the 1960s? Think again. This book demonstrates that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a true environmentalist - and that his deep interest in conservation, and in environmental protection, continues to mark America's identity today. Woolner and Henderson have assembled a wonderful collection of essays that should produce a rethinking of the nation's environmental legacy.' - Cass R. Sunstein, University of Chicago Law School, USA and author of The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Constitutional Vision and Why We Need It More Than Ever 'This enlightening book recovers an important but generally forgotten era in environmental history, the New Deal. There is much of historical interest in the book - beginning with FDR's personal involvement in forestry issues, which will be news to many readers. More significantly, FDR and the Environment has important lessons for today's environmentalists. Rather than considering environmental problems in isolation as we often do today, the New Dealers thought in terms of relationships between humans and the land. Restoring our memory of the New Deal may be a key step toward a more integrated view of environmental and social problems.' - Dan Farber, Director of the Environmental Law Program, University of California at Berkeley, USA and author of EcoPragmatism: Making Sensible Environmental Decisions in an Uncertain WorldTable of ContentsForeword; W.Leuchtenburg Introduction; D.B.Woolner & H.L.Henderson FDR as Environmentalist Grassroots Democracy: FDR and the Land; J.F.Sears The Complex Environmentalist; B.Black The Progressive Era Origins of the Civilian Conservation Corps; N.Maher Agriculture and the Human Community - Conservation: Wilderness New Deal Conservation: A View From the Wilderness; P.Sutter FDR, Hoover and the New Rural Conservation, 1920-1932; S.T.Phillips Law, Policy and Planning The New Deal Roots of Modern Environmentalism; A.D.Tarlock FDR's Use of the Antiquities Act; J.Leshy Referendum on Planning: Imagining River Conservation in the 1938 TVA Hearings; B.Black FDR and Environmental Leadership; J.R.Lyons A Usable Past Recovering FDR's Environmental Legacy; R.N.L.Andrews Toward a New Deal for Nature - And Nature's People; R.G.Kennedy

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Book SynopsisBy the time Mark Clark''s Fifth Army reached the small village of San Pietro north of Naples in the first week of December 1943, a tough but rapid sweep through Sicily came to a muddy halt. On the slopes of a distant mountain, the death of a single platoon captain, Henry Waskow, epitomized the struggle. A Death in San Pietro chronicles the quietly heroic and beloved Captain Waskow and his company as they make their way into battle. Waskow''s 36th (&ldquoTexas&rdquo) Division would ultimately succeed in driving the Germans off the mountains but not before eighty percent of Waskow''s company is lost in action.For Americans back home, two of the war''s most lasting artistic expression brought horrified focus to the battlefield, already dubbedPurple Heart Valley&rdquo by the men of the 36th. Pulitzer Prize-winner Ernie Pyle''s dispatch about Waskow''s death and filmmaker John Huston''s award-winning documentary of the battle rivets- and shocks- the nation, bringing, as if for the first tiTrade ReviewDallas Morning News, 11/17/2013 "Concise and distinctive as Pyle's dispatches and forceful as a John Huston film, Tim Brady's A Death in San Pietro is no less a memorial." Kansas City Star, "The 100 Best Books of 2013" America in WWII Magazine, December 2013 "[Brady] begins with three stories...and effectively pulls them together to create a fascinating narrative...that evokes a deeper sense of the soldiers' fears, hopes, and sense of loss." The Mexia News, 1/7/2014 "[A] very well written book and should be read by anyone who remembers those terrible years. The characters are compelling...it is superbly written and full of action." New York Journal of Books, 1/21/2014 "A Death in San Pietro is a blood and mud soldier's eye view of a pointless messy slaughter that too often defines war." World War II Magazine, March 2014 "[A] colorful, moving tale." New World Review, 1/23/14

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1969, this book discusses the many factors which atomised German society from 1870 onwards and thus assisted Nazi evil, and it shows that Hitler and Nazism were mere phenomena of a mass age. The author wrote with the twin qualifications as historian and survivor of the camps. To have lived through it and then dissect it as a scholar is an astonishing achievement and it is this achievement that this book records. Table of Contents1. Are the Germans Human? 2. Power 3. Absolute Power 4. Absolute Corruption 5. There But For the Grace of God…

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Book SynopsisFinalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in History "Like Lauren Hillebrand's Unbroken…Target Tokyo brings to life an indelible era." —Ben Cosgrove, The Daily BeastTrade Review"Gripping, compulsively readable…will have great appeal to anyone with even a passing interest in the Second World War." -- Terry Hartle - Christian Science Monitor"Vividly narrates the saga…Scott uses original, almost untapped sources and carefully balances praise for the 80 airmen’s valor and a sober appraisal of the terrible costs." -- Alexander Rose - Wall Street Journal"Scott’s tight prose and meticulous research provide a gripping and at times heartbreaking account of the raid." -- Bob Carden - Philadelphia Inquirer"The Doolittle raid and its effects need to be remembered; Target Tokyo will make them hard to forget." -- Ray Locker - USA Today"Scott is an agile writer who offers strong portraits of key figures such as Doolittle. And his immense amount of research enabled him to produce a book that appeals not just to military buffs, but to a much broader audience." -- Hal Bernton - Seattle Times"[A] breakthrough work of popular history." -- Michael Giltz - Huffington Post"A fantastic story fantastically told." -- Charleston Mercury"Filled with thrilling heroism and sacrifice, Target Tokyo is the definitive account of the amazing Doolittle raid." -- Chris Patsilelis - Tampa Bay Times"[A] brilliant tale of adventure and bravery…The telling is fresh and packs a wallop that puts it up with the best of World War II combat stories." -- Edward Cuddihy - Buffalo News"A terrific story and a cracking good read." -- Ian Toll, author of Pacific Crucible, War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942"One of the most incredible accounts of American military valor I've ever read." -- Pat Conroy"The Doolittle raid on Tokyo was one of the most impossible, daring, and consequential missions ever taken by American military men, and James Scott brings it back to the reader with you-are-there immediacy and drama. Filled with great characters, great heroism, and great suffering, Target Tokyo is at once thorough, realistic, and thrilling." -- Evan Thomas, author of Sea of Thunder and Ike's Bluff

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Book SynopsisAs Hitler’s bombs threatened London during World War Two, eight-year-old David Merron was removed from his family and close-knit Jewish community in the East End and evacuated to the safety of the English countryside.Placed into the car of strangers, life was sometimes unpredictable and lonely. But, with time, the rural world became an exciting adventure playground in which he flourished.Set against a dramatic wartime backdrop, Goodbye East End is about the conflict between a London boy’s unexpected love of the countryside and his guilt about not missing home as much as he might. It’s the moving story of a childhood experience that changed a young boy’s life forever.

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Book SynopsisProfessor Iriye analyses the origins of the 1941 conflict against the background of international relations in the preceding decade in order to answer the key question: Why did Japan decide to go to war against so formidable a combination of powers?Trade Review 'xxx; a very nice, concise, balanced account of the events leading up to the Pacific War.' Academic Library Book ReviewTable of ContentsList of mapsEditor's ForewordPreface1. Introduction2. Japan isolated3. The forging of an anti-democratic coalition 4. The failure of an alliance5. The road to war6. Conclusion Bibliographical essay Maps Index

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Book SynopsisAmong the most moving documents I have read in years You will not forget it' Elie WieselFrom her small, sunny hometown between the beautiful Carpathian Mountains and the blue Danube River, Elli Friedmann was taken at a time when most girls are growing up, having boyfriends and embarking upon the adventure of life and thrown into the murderous hell of Hitler''s Final Solution.When Elli emerged from Auschwitz and Dachau just over a year later, she was fourteen. She looked like a sixty year old.This account of horrifyingly brutal inhumanity and dogged survival is Elli''s true story.Trade Review'Breathtaking lucidity … ELLI is destined to join the classics of Holocaust literature' – CHICAGO TRIBUNE

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Book SynopsisThe Pacific Profiles series presents the most accurate WWII profiles of aircraft which served throughout the South Pacific. Volume Nine covers the P-38 and variants including the photo-reconnaissance F-4 and F-5, along with field-modified P-38G night-fighters.Trade ReviewValuable as the erudite text is, this book would be worth shelf space just for the gallery of photographs and illustrations. Modelers should be inspired to build a Lightning with uncommon and unique camouflage and markings, and plenty of photos to inspire detailing and dioramas. * Aeroscale *

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Book SynopsisThis Volume Four of Pacific Adversaries conveys detailed stories of aerial warfare in the Solomons theatre, chosen because both Japanese and Allied records can be matched for an accurate accounting.Trade Review...very well researched volume presenting the aerial actions of both sides giving us a balanced perspective of the events in the Solomon Islands. […] This book is a welcome addition to the library of anyone interested in the Pacific War. * Scale Military Modelling 19/07/2021 *

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Book SynopsisMarie 'Missie' Vassiltchikov - later Mrs Peter Harnden - was born in St Petersburg in 1917, the fourth child of Prince and Princess Illarion Vassiltchikov. The family left Russia in 1919, and Missie grew up in Germany, France and Lithuanian, where her father's family had owned property before the Revolution. After the war she lived in France, Spain and England. She died in London in 1978.Trade ReviewQuite simply, one of the most extraordinary war diaries ever written. Innocent and knowing at once, it portrays the death of Old Europe through the eyes of a beautiful young aristocrat whose world itself is dying with the events that she describes -- John le CarréWritten with a vividness, detail, understanding and humanity that rank it beside Pepys on the Great Fire -- Bernard Levin * Observer *A fascinating insight into a circle whose independence of mind could not be crushed by totalitarianism, Soviet or Nazi * Financial Times *A remarkable historical document of the first importance -- A.J.P. Taylor

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