Search results for ""Author John Withington""

Assassins have been killing the powerful and famous for at least three thousand years. Personal ambition, revenge, and anger have encouraged many to violent deeds, like the Turkish sultan who had nineteen of his brothers strangled or the bodyguards who murdered a dozen Roman emperors. More recently have come new motives like religious and political fanaticism, revolution and liberation, with governments also getting in on the act, while many victims seem to have been surprisingly careless: Abraham Lincoln was killed after letting his bodyguard go for a drink. So, do assassinations work? Drawing on anecdote, historical evidence, and statistical analysis, Assassins' Deeds delves into some of history's most notorious acts, unveiling an intriguing cast of characters, ingenious methods of killing, and many unintended consequences.

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Crecy, Agincourt, Blenheim, Trafalgar, Waterloo, El Alamein – the names trip off the tongue and resound through our history. Great British military victories, often won against the odds. But what of the defeats and disasters – from our conquest by Roman armies to the fall of Singapore in 1942, described by Churchill as the ‘worst disaster’ in our military history. This is the story of those disasters, and the ones in between. From famous battles like Hastings and Yorktown, to those that are less well-known but had far-reaching consequences, such as Castillon. Others, like the Battle of the Medway in 1667, which were deeply shameful – ‘a dishonour never to be wiped off’ – but had relatively little long term impact. Sometimes, a brilliant retreat helped prevent an even greater calamity, as at Gallipoli and Dunkirk. It is an epic story following British armies and navies across the world to France, Africa, North and South America and the Far East. It is a tale of bungling, miscalculation, unpreparedness and heroism.

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From AD 61, when Queen Boudicca – outraged at her treatment at the hands of the Romans – marched on the city and burned it to the ground, London has been hit by wave upon wave of destruction. This fascinating and unique book tells the story of over 2000 years of disaster – fire, water, disease, pollution, accident, storm, riot, terrorism and enemy action. It chronicles well-known episodes like the Great Plague of 1665 and the Blitz, as well as lesser-known events such as whirlwinds and earthquakes. This new edition also includes the recent terrorist attack on 7 July 2005, as well as a new section on the crises which have plagued the financial City, including the near-collapse of Britain’s banks during 2008 and 2009. London’s Disasters ultimately celebrates the spirit of the people of London who have risen above it all and for whom London is still a great city in which to live and work.

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