Search results for ""Author Dr Sam Willis""

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2013 MARITIME MEDIA AWARDSBetween 1794 and 1815 the Royal Navy repeatedly crushed her enemies at sea in a period of military dominance that equals any in history. When Napoleon eventually died in exile, the Lords of the Admiralty ordered that the original dispatches from seven major fleet battles - The Glorious First of June (1794), St Vincent (1797), Camperdown (1797), The Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801), Trafalgar (1805) and San Domingo (1806) - should be gathered together and presented to the Nation. These letters, written by Britain's admirals, captains, surgeons and boatswains and sent back home in the midst of conflict, were bound in an immense volume, to be admired as a jewel of British history. Sam Willis, one of Britain's finest naval historians, stumbled upon this collection by chance in the British Library in 2010 and soon found out that only a handful of people knew of its existence. The rediscovery of these first-hand reports, and the vivid commentary they provide, has enabled Willis to reassesses the key engagements in extraordinary and revelatory detail, and to paint an enthralling series of portraits of the Royal Navy's commanders at the time. In a compelling and dramatic narrative, In the Hour of Victory tells the story of these naval triumphs as never before, and allows us to hear once more the officer's voices as they describe the battles that made Britain great.

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With a cast of swaggering swashbuckling characters, The Struggle for Sea Power charts the greatest war in the age of sail.In 1775 thirteen isolated colonies, without a navy or an army, began a war with Britain to win their independence from the greatest naval and military power on earth. The American Revolution was a naval war of immense scope and variety, including no fewer than twenty-two navies fighting on five oceans - to say nothing of rivers and lakes. Not until the Second World War would any nation actively fight in so many different theatres. Using original logs, reports, diaries and archaeological discoveries, The Struggle for Sea Power traces every key military event in the path to American Independence from a naval perspective. This is the gripping tale of the birth of the New World.

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Histories of the Unexpected not only presents a new way of thinking about the past, but also reveals the world around us as never before.Traditionally, the Vikings have been understood in a straightforward way - but the period really comes alive if you take an unexpected approach to its history. Yes, ships, raiding and trade have a fascinating history... but so too do hair, break-ins, toys, teeth, mischief, luck and silk!Each of these subjects is equally fascinating in its own right, and each sheds new light on the traditional subjects and themes that we think we know so well.

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'History as you've never seen it before.' Dan SnowDid you know that the history of the beard is connected to the Crimean War; that the history of paperclips is all about the Stasi; and that the history of bubbles is all about the French Revolution? And who knew that Heinrich Himmler, Tutankhamun and the history of needlework are linked to napalm and Victorian orphans? In Histories of the Unexpected, Sam Willis and James Daybell lead us on a journey of discovery that tackles some of the greatest historical themes - from the Tudors to the Second World War, from the Roman Empire to the Victorians - but via entirely unexpected subjects. By taking this revolutionary approach, they not only present a new way of thinking about the past, but also reveal the everyday world around us as never before.

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