Sophie Ambler0.0 A biography of one of the Middle Ages' most controversial, reckless, and heroic figures
Born in France in the early thirteenth century to a crusading father of the same name, Simon de Montfort traveled to England in his adulthood, where he claimed the earldom of Leicester and ingratiated himself into King Henry III's inner circles. Initially a trusted advisor, Simon's good relationship with the king did not last. Frustrated by the increasing injustice meted out to his subjects, Simon would go on to rebel against him, marching on the king's hall at Westminster and leading England's first revolution, and imposing a parliamentary system on Henry's rule.
Montfort's life touched on nearly every notable event of the thirteenth century, from the holy wars being fought both abroad and closer to home, to the rebellion against the Plantagenets, to his campaigns against Jews in Leicester. The account of his death in battle-swinging his sword to the last-is one of the most graphic ever written of a medieval battlefield. Ambler provides a living portrait of the Middle Ages, brimming with illuminating insights into religion, society, the nobility, warfare, and daily life. In the words of bestselling historian Dan Jones, Ambler is "a dazzlingly talented historian" and her book on Simon de Montfort "marks the arrival of a formidably gifted historian."
Rick Blom0.0 Among the numerous books that have been written about the First World War, Hunger stands out for its focus on the role of food in this bloodiest and most gruesome of conflicts. Dutch historian Rick Blom has created a fascinating and absorbing narrative from a wide range of source material, including personal diaries by active servicemen and civilians, historical accounts, food manuals, recipe books, and interviews with veterans. Direct quotes from diaries are deftly merged with an account of the war’s progress from the standpoint of the three principal nations involved: Britain, France, and Germany. Interwoven are vivid descriptions of the author’s own attempts at experiencing at first hand what it must have been like to be active in combat. Working as a sous-chef in a recreated field kitchen, he takes part in a re-enactment and later spends three cold, hungry, solitary days and nights in a restored trench. Throughout, the author’s focus remains firmly on food, or rather the lack of it, and everything related to it: production, distribution, preparation, quantities, and how these issues influenced the outcome of the war. Recipes from wartime sources conclude each chapter. Hunger makes for a gripping and at times harrowing read. Written by a historian from a country that was neutral during the war, this work offers a new perspective on the conflict on the centenary of the armistice.
John Nichol0.0 Praise for Spitfire: A Very British Love Story
‘The best book you will ever read about Britain’s greatest warplane.’ Patrick Bishop author of Fighter Boys
‘As the RAF marks its centenary, Nichol has created a thrilling and often moving tribute to some of its greatest heroes.’ Mail on Sunday
‘A stirring portrait of a piece of aviation art in motion flown by the bravest of the brave. Nichol’s Spitfire is still a sky-borne prima ballerina that kicks like Bruce Lee.’ RAF News
‘A superb journey through the remarkable tale of that British icon, the Spitfire. Brilliantly and engagingly written . . . Truly stunning.’ Andy Saunders, aviation historian
‘A rich and heartfelt tribute to this most iconic British machine. Focusing on the men (and women) who flew the Spitfire, John Nichol has brought a fresh and powerful perspective to the story. By recording their bravery, humility, camaraderie, tragedy and sheer joy in flying their beloved Spits he has done them, and us, a valuable service.’ Rowland White, author of Vulcan 607
‘A superb and compelling book. Brilliantly written with some incredible and astonishing stories; it is gripping, moving, emotional and sometimes humorous – just perfect.’ Squadron Leader (Ret) Clive Rowley, former Officer Commanding RAF Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight
‘There are not many of us left, most of us who survive are over 95 and this is a story of young men. We were the cutting edge of the ‘Shining Sword’ that Bomber Harris dubbed the Lancaster. We survived the Bomber Offensive in which 55,573 — almost half — of our friends and colleagues gave their lives to stop Hitler ruling the world. We are now a whole generation older than the young men and women who serve today and in a few years we will all be gone. Historians will then be able to throw around their insouciant opinions about what we did with no contradiction by those who were there. When we are gone our stories of flying and fighting the Lancaster should not die with us. We are the last witnesses to the legend of the Lancaster and those who fought and died within its metal body.’ - Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Beetham
After its maiden flight on 5th January 1941, Lancaster chief test pilot Sam Browne said, ‘Oh boy, oh boy. What an aircraft!’ With a maximum weight of over thirty tons, far heavier than the RAF’s previous generation of bomber, the standard version could lift, on average, 14,000lbs of bombs. Britain was ready to take the aerial war to Nazi Germany in a deadly fashion.
During the course of the Second World War, 7,377 Lancaster bombers were built, flying a total of 156,000 sorties and dropped 618,378 tonnes of bombs on German cities such as Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, and, of course, Dresden. Only thirty-five Lancasters completed more than 100 operations, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful, which completed 139 operations, was sent for scrap in 1947. One seventh of all deaths suffered by the British during WWII were incurred by Bomber Command. Over 50,000 aircrew were lost over the skies of Europe.
Now, John Nichol, Gulf War veteran, ex-POW in Iraq and Sunday Times bestselling author of Spitfire: A Very British Love Story reveals the true cost of flying this iconic and deadly airplane – through the few authentic voices of the RAF veterans who are left to us.
Десмонд Сьюард0.0 Spanning more than a century and involving almost every European country at one time or another (as well as America), the Jacobite cause is one of the epic stories of history. They may have failed in their aim to restore the house of Stuart to the British throne, but in that failure the Jacobites changed the course of history.
Intrigue, espionage, corruption and betrayal, as well as constancy to the cause in the face of terrible risks are all ingredients of this extraordinary tale. Few novels can boast such a colourful cast of characters - from the brilliant, mercurial Viscount Bolingbroke and the stiff, impossible Lord George Murray to the the half-mad Charles XII of Sweden and the suave and wily Cardinal Alberoni, not to mention one of the most well-known historical figures of all time - Bonnie Prince Charlie. Desmond Seward brings them all to life in this vivid, sweeping narrative, full of insight, anecdote and analysis.
David Stahel0.0 Germany's winter campaign of 1941-1942 is commonly seen as its first defeat. In Retreat from Moscow, a bold, gripping account of one of the seminal moments of World War II, David Stahel argues that instead it was its first strategic success in the East. The Soviet counteroffensive was in fact a Pyrrhic victory. Despite being pushed back from Moscow, the Wehrmacht lost far fewer men, frustrated its enemy's strategy, and emerged in the spring unbroken and poised to recapture the initiative.
Hitler's strategic plan called for holding important Russian industrial cities, and the German army succeeded. The Soviets as of January 1942 aimed for nothing less than the destruction of Army Group Center, yet not a single German unit was ever destroyed. Lacking the professionalism, training, and experience of the Wehrmacht, the Red Army's offensive attempting to break German lines in countless head-on assaults led to far more tactical defeats than victories.
Using accounts from journals, memoirs, and wartime correspondence, Stahel takes us directly into the Wolf's Lair to reveal a German command at war with itself as generals on the ground fought to maintain order and save their troops in the face of Hitler's capricious, increasingly irrational directives. Excerpts from soldiers' diaries and letters home paint a rich portrait of life and death on the front, where the men of the Ostheer battled frostbite nearly as deadly as Soviet artillery. With this latest installment of his pathbreaking series on the Eastern Front, David Stahel completes a military history of the highest order.
Frank Ledwidge0.0 Aerial warfare has dominated western war-making for over 100 years, and despite regular announcements of its demise, it shows no sign of becoming obsolete. Frank Ledwidge offers a sweeping look at the history of air warfare, introducing the major battles, crises, and controversies where air power has taken centre stage, and the changes in technology and air power capabilities over time. Highlighting the role played by air power in the First and Second World Wars, he also sheds light on the lesser-known theatres where the roles of air forces have been clearly decisive in conflicts, in Africa, South America, and Asia.
Along the way, Ledwidge asks key questions about the roles air power can deliver, and whether it is conceptually different from other forms of combat. Considering whether bombing has ever been truly effective, he discusses whether wars can be won from the air, and concludes by analyzing whether there is a future for manned air power, or if it is inevitable that drones will dominate twenty-first century war in the air.
Макс Гастингс0.0 A masterly history of the Dambusters raid from bestselling and critically acclaimed Max Hastings.
Operation Chastise was one of the most extraordinary episodes of the Second World War, yet it has also become one of the most misunderstood.
Max Hastings tells the gripping story of the Dambusters raid, from the invention of the bouncing bomb to the moonlit cockpits of young pilots flying at treetop height through lethal enemy fire. But Hastings also challenges what we think we know about the Dambusters, bringing to light the difficult truths that have often been left out of the legend.
Синклер МакКей0.0 A Times/Sunday Times Book of the Year
'Powerful... there is rage in his ink. McKay's book grips by its passion and originality. Some 25,000 people perished in the firestorm that raged through the city. I have never seen it better described' Max Hastings, Sunday Times
In February 1945 the Allies obliterated Dresden, the 'Florence of the Elbe'. Explosive bombs weighing over 1,000 lbs fell every seven and a half seconds and an estimated 25,000 people were killed. Was Dresden a legitimate military target or was the bombing a last act of atavistic in a war already won?
From the history of the city to the attack itself, conveyed in a minute-by-minute account from the first of the flares to the flames reaching almost a mile high - the wind so searingly hot that the lungs of those in its path were instantly scorched - through the eerie period of reconstruction, bestselling author Sinclair McKay creates a vast canvas and brings it alive with touching human detail.
Along the way we encounter, among many others across the city, a Jewish woman who thought the English bombs had been sent from heaven, novelist Kurt Vonnegut who wrote that the smouldering landscape was like walking on the surface of the moon, and 15-year-old Winfried Bielss, who, having spent the evening ushering refugees, wanted to get home to his stamp collection. He was not to know that there was not enough time.
Impeccably researched and deeply moving, McKay uses never-before-seen sources to relate the untold stories of civilians and vividly conveys the texture of contemporary life. Dresden is invoked as a byword for the illimitable cruelties of war, but with the distance of time, it is now possible to approach this subject with a much clearer gaze, and with a keener interest in the sorts of lives that ordinary people lived and lost, or tried to rebuild.
Writing with warmth and colour about morality in war, the instinct for survival, the gravity of mass destruction and the manipulation of memory, this is a master historian at work.
'Churchill said that if bombing cities was justified, it was always repugnant. Sinclair McKay has written a shrewd, humane and balanced account of this most controversial target of the Anglo-American strategic bombing campaign, the ferocious consequence of the scourge of sm' Allan Mallinson, author of Fight to the Finish
'Beautifully-crafted, elegiac, compelling - Dresden delivers with a dark intensity and incisive compassion rarely equalled. Authentic and authoritative, a masterpiece of its genre' Damien Lewis, author of Zero Six Bravo
'Compelling... Sinclair McKay brings a dark subject vividly to life' Keith Lowe, author of Savage Continent
'This is a brilliantly clear, and fair, account of one of the most notorious and destructive raids in the history aerial warfare. From planning to execution, the story is told by crucial participants - and the victims who suffered so cruelly on the ground from the attack itself and its aftermath' Robert Fox, author of We Were There
Даниэль Тодман0.0 The second volume in Daniel Todman's acclaimed history of Britain's experience of the Second World War
'A stunning achievement' Max Hastings, Sunday Times
'I cannot recommend this history highly enough' Keith Lowe, Literary Review
Part 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.
Robert Johnson0.0 One hundred years ago, Captain Lawrence and an unlikely band of Arab irregulars captured the strategic port of Aqaba after an epic journey through waterless tracts of desert. Their attacks on railways during the Great War are well known and have become the stuff of legend, but while Lawrence himself has been the subject of fascinating biographies, as well as an award-winning film, the context of his war in the desert, and his ideas on war itself, are less well-known.
This new title offers a high-paced evaluation of T. E. Lawrence ‘of Arabia' and the British military operations in the Near East, revising and adding to conventional narratives in order to tell the full story of this influential figure, as well as the Ottoman-Turkish perspective, and the Arabs' position, within the context of the war. It is also a study of warfare and the manner in which Lawrence and others made their assessments of what was changing, what was distinctive, and what was unique to the desert environment. This book sets Lawrence in context, examines the peace settlement he participated in, and describes how Lawrence's legacy has informed and inspired those partnering and mentoring local forces to the present day.
Richard van Emden0.0 In May 1918, Angela and Leopold Mond received a knock on the front door. It was the postman and he was delivering the letter every family in the United Kingdom dreaded: the notification of a loved one's battlefield death, in their case the death in action of their eldest child, their son, Lieutenant Francis Mond.
The twenty-two year old Royal Flying Corps pilot, along with his Observer, Lieutenant Edgar Martyn, had been shot down over no man's land, both being killed instantly. If there was one crumb of comfort, it was the news that a brave Australian officer, Lieutenant A.H. Hill, had gone out under fire and recovered both bodies: there would, at the very least, be a grave to visit after the war.
And then, nothing. No further news was forthcoming. Angela Mond wrote to the Imperial War Graves Commission asking for further details but there was confusion. No one knew where Mond's and Martyn's bodies were buried. There had been an initial trail: both bodies had been taken to the village of Corbie and a lorry summoned to take them away, but from that last sighting both men had simply disappeared. 'It seems incredible that all traces of the burial of two officers duly identified, should be lost, ' wrote Angela to the authorities in December 1918.
And so began one of the most extraordinary private investigations undertaken in the aftermath of the Great War. Aged 48 and the mother of five children, Angela, a wealthy and well-connected socialite from London's West End, embarked on an exhaustive personal quest to find her son, an investigation that took her to the battlefields and cemeteries of France and into correspondence with literally hundreds of French civilians and British and German servicemen. In the meantime, as she searched, she bought the ground on which her son's plane had crashed and erected a private memorial to Francis, a memorial that still survives.
Angela's quest for her son is reflective of the wider yearning amongst those who lost loved ones in the Great War: the absolute need find a form of solace through the resolution of a search. More than 750,000 servicemen and women had been killed, half of whom had no known grave. After the Great War there were families who hunted for their missing sons for a decade or more and when no body was recovered, back doors were forever left unlocked just in case that son should one day return. Lieutenant Francis Mond's case was exceptional, perhaps unique in the circumstances of his death and subsequent disappearance, but the emotions behind the search for his body were shared by families all over the country.
Саул Давид0.0 From award-winning historian Saul David, an action-packed and powerful new narrative of the Battle of Okinawa — the last great clash of the Second World War, and one that had profound consequences for the modern world.
For eighty-three blood-soaked days, the fighting on the island of Okinawa plumbed depths of savagery as bad as anything seen on the Eastern Front. When it was over, almost a quarter of a million people had lost th
