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First Blood: A best book of 2021 - Le Parisien
by Amelie NothombThe Republic of the Congo, 1964. A young man is facing a firing squad, preparing for his last moment on Earth. He reflects on his childhood with a distant mother, and the moments which have led to him finding himself staring death in the face. Patrick Nothomb is a young diplomat, aged 28, when he is taken hostage with thousands of others in Stanleyville (now Kisangani) by rebels. Over the course of four months, Nothomb has negotiated with his captors each and every day, saving the lives of 1500 citizens. Inspired by the life of her father, who died at the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic, Amélie Nothomb slips into his shoes to give voice to his story.
The First Blitz: Bombing London in the First World War (General Military Ser.)
by Ian CastleThis book tells the story of Germany's strategic air offensive against Britain, and how it came to be neutralized. The first Zeppelin attack on London came in May 1915 – and with it came the birth of a new arena of warfare, the 'home front'. German airships attempted to raid London on 26 separate occasions between May 1915 and October 1917, but only reached the capital and bombed successfully on nine occasions. From May 1917 onwards, this theatre of war entered a new phase as German Gotha bombers set out to attack London in the first bomber raid. London's defences were again overhauled to face this new threat, providing the basis for Britain's defence during World War II. This comprehensive volume tells the story of the first aerial campaign in history, as the famed Zeppelins, and then the Gotha and the massive Staaken 'Giant' bombers waged war against the civilian population of London in the first ever 'Blitz'.
The First Blitz: Bombing London in the First World War
by Ian CastleThis book tells the story of Germany's strategic air offensive against Britain, and how it came to be neutralized. The first Zeppelin attack on London came in May 1915 – and with it came the birth of a new arena of warfare, the 'home front'. German airships attempted to raid London on 26 separate occasions between May 1915 and October 1917, but only reached the capital and bombed successfully on nine occasions. From May 1917 onwards, this theatre of war entered a new phase as German Gotha bombers set out to attack London in the first bomber raid. London's defences were again overhauled to face this new threat, providing the basis for Britain's defence during World War II. This comprehensive volume tells the story of the first aerial campaign in history, as the famed Zeppelins, and then the Gotha and the massive Staaken 'Giant' bombers waged war against the civilian population of London in the first ever 'Blitz'.
The First Battle of the Marne 1914: The French ‘miracle’ halts the Germans (Campaign #221)
by Ian SumnerIn 1914 the Germans launched an offensive that swept through Belgium and into France, threatening to crush French resistance in one fell swoop. However, through careful maneuvering and stubborn resistance, the French Army, aided by the BEF, blunted the assault, winning an important strategic victory that kept France in the war. This victory ensured that Germany would have to fight a two-front war, and the Western Front descended into the stalemate of trench warfare. One of the most important battles in the First World War, the First Battle of the Marne would be the last battle of maneuver to be seen on the Western Front for several years to come.
The First Battle of the Marne 1914: The French ‘miracle’ halts the Germans (Campaign)
by Graham Turner Ian SumnerIn 1914 the Germans launched an offensive that swept through Belgium and into France, threatening to crush French resistance in one fell swoop. However, through careful maneuvering and stubborn resistance, the French Army, aided by the BEF, blunted the assault, winning an important strategic victory that kept France in the war. This victory ensured that Germany would have to fight a two-front war, and the Western Front descended into the stalemate of trench warfare. One of the most important battles in the First World War, the First Battle of the Marne would be the last battle of maneuver to be seen on the Western Front for several years to come.
The First Anglo-Sikh War 1845–46: The betrayal of the Khalsa (Campaign)
by David SmithThe First Anglo-Sikh War broke out due to escalating tensions between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in the Punjab region of India in the mid-nineteenth century. Political machinations were at the heart of the conflict, with Sikh rulers fearing the growing power of their own army, while several prominent Sikh generals actively collaborated with the East India Company.The British faced a disciplined opponent, trained along European lines, which fielded armies numbering in the tens of thousands. The war featured a number of closely contested battles, with both sides taking heavy losses. This fully illustrated study of the First Anglo-Sikh War tells the story of one of the major colonial wars of the nineteenth century, as the East India Company attempted to wrest control of the Punjab region from a Sikh Empire riven by infighting.
The First Anglo-Sikh War 1845–46: The betrayal of the Khalsa (Campaign)
by David SmithThe First Anglo-Sikh War broke out due to escalating tensions between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in the Punjab region of India in the mid-nineteenth century. Political machinations were at the heart of the conflict, with Sikh rulers fearing the growing power of their own army, while several prominent Sikh generals actively collaborated with the East India Company.The British faced a disciplined opponent, trained along European lines, which fielded armies numbering in the tens of thousands. The war featured a number of closely contested battles, with both sides taking heavy losses. This fully illustrated study of the First Anglo-Sikh War tells the story of one of the major colonial wars of the nineteenth century, as the East India Company attempted to wrest control of the Punjab region from a Sikh Empire riven by infighting.
Firestorm
by Tamara McKinleyIf you love Lesley Pearse, you're sure to fall for Tamara McKinley. A tale of hardship, hidden identities and our shared struggle to survive. Becky Jackson's family has been managing the hospital in far-flung Morgan's Reach for three generations. When Becky's husband is tragically lost at war, she and her young son Danny must leave the city and return to her birthplace to start over. But for all its charm, Morgan's Reach is a divided community, where blood is thicker than water and grudges run deep. So when a mysterious stranger appears outside the town and Danny begins to act strangely, it is not only Becky's newfound stability that's threatened. And what of the fact that there's not been a drop of rain in over three years? The risk of wildfire looms large and the hospital is already pushed to breaking point. A single spark could level the area in minutes - burning away everything for which the town has worked so hard; exposing the secrets they've fought to keep so close.
Firestorm
by Don PendletonBLOWBACK Mack Bolan's mission takes him to Bogot , Colombia, where an American corporation has been practicing bad business for nearly two decades. If it's a weapons contract, classified materials or soldiers for hire, the company will deal–all with the blessing of the CIA.
The Fires of Vengeance: The Burning, Book Two (The Burning)
by Evan Winter'CAPTIVATING EPIC FANTASY FROM A MAJOR NEW TALENT' Anthony Ryan, on The Rage of DragonsDesperate to delay an impending attack by the indigenous people of Xidda, Tau and his queen craft a dangerous plan. If Tau succeeds, the queen will have the time she needs to assemble her forces and launch an all-out assault on her own capital city, where her sister is being propped up as the 'true' Queen of the Omehi.If the city can be taken, if Tsiora can reclaim her throne and reunite her people, then the Omehi might have a chance to survive the coming onslaught.THE FIRES OF VENGEANCE CONTINUES THE UNMISSABLE EPIC FANTASY SERIES THAT BEGAN WITH EVAN WINTER'S ACCLAIMED DEBUT THE RAGE OF DRAGONSPraise for The Rage of Dragons:'Intense, inventive and action-packed from beginning to end - a relentlessly gripping, brilliant read' James Islington, author of The Shadow of What Was Lost'Stunning debut fantasy' Publishers Weekly'Intense, vivid and brilliantly realised - a necessary read'Anna Smith Spark, author of The Court of Broken Knives'Impossible to put down' Rick Riordan'People ask the last book I couldn't put down, and I tell them The Rage of Dragons. The tension rises with every page until you fear it will break you in two' Peter V. Brett, bestselling author of The Painted Man'Fans of Anthony Ryan's Blood Song will love this' Django Wexler, author of The Thousand Names'A Xhosa-inspired world complete with magic, dragons, demons and curses, The Rage of Dragons takes classic fantasy and imbues it with a fresh and exciting twist' Anna Stephens, author of Godblind
Fires Of Evening: Number 8 in series (Retallick Saga #Vol. 8)
by E. V. ThompsonJosh and Miriam Retallick and their grandson Ben seem almost part of the wild and rugged Cornish landscape of 1913. Yet a revolutionary spirit of change is sweeping across the country - and the whole of Europe - with terrifying haste.Even before the outbreak of the Great War, with strike action compromising his position in the community and threatening the future of the China clay industry, Ben is unsettled by the presence of his cousin Emma Cotton. Inspired by the blossoming suffragette movement, it is a cause which takes her to London and a meeting with ardent campaigner Tessa Wren. As Emma and Tessa are plunged into the turmoil of driving ambulances to the front line in France, Ben's wife, Lily, resigned to dying in a Swiss clinic, pushes her husband towards this courageous new woman . . .
The Fires of Autumn
by Irène Némirovsky Sandra SmithThe prequel to the bestselling Suite FrançaiseParis 1918, Bernard Jacquelain returns from the trenches a changed man. The city is a whirl of decadence and corruption and he embarks on a life of parties and shady business dealings, as well as an illicit affair. But as another war threatens, everything around him starts to crumble, and the future for him and for France suddenly looks dangerously uncertain.
Firepower: How Weapons Shaped Warfare
by Paul LockhartHow military technology has transformed the world The history of warfare cannot be fully understood without considering the technology of killing. In Firepower, acclaimed historian Paul Lockhart tells the story of the evolution of weaponry and how it transformed not only the conduct of warfare but also the very structure of power in the West, from the Renaissance to the dawn of the atomic era. Across this period, improvements in firepower shaped the evolving art of war. For centuries, weaponry had remained simple enough that any state could equip a respectable army. That all changed around 1870, when the cost of investing in increasingly complicated technology soon meant that only a handful of great powers could afford to manufacture advanced weaponry, while other countries fell behind. Going beyond the battlefield, Firepower ultimately reveals how changes in weapons technology reshaped human history.
Fire Strike 7/9
by Damien Lewis Paul Grahame'Being a JTAC is the closest a soldier on the ground in the midst of battle can get to feeling like one of the gods - unleashing pure hellfire, death and destruction' - Duncan FalconerMeet Sergeant 'Bommer' Grahame, one of the deadliest soldiers on the battlefield. He's an elite army JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller- pronounced 'jay-tack') - a specially trained warrior responsible for directing Allied air power with high-tech precision. Commanding Apache gunships, A10 tank-busters, F15s and Harrier jets, he brings down devastating fire strikes against the attacking Taliban, often danger close to his own side. Due to his specialist role, Sergeant Grahame usually operates in the thick of the action, where it's at its most fearsome and deadly. Conjuring the seemingly impossible from apparently hopeless situations, soldiers in battle rely on the skill and bravery of their JTAC to enable them to win through in the heat of the danger zone. Fire Strike 7/9 tells the story of Bommer Grahame and his five-man Fire Support Team on their tour of Afghanistan. Patrolling deep into enemy territory, they were hunted and targeted by the Taliban, shot at, blown-up, mortared and hit by rockets on numerous occasions. Under these conditions Sergeant Grahame notched up 203 confirmed enemy kills, making him the difference between life and death both for his own troops and the Taliban.
Fire in the Night: Wingate of Burma, Ethiopia and Zion
by C Smith J BiermanOrde Charles Wingate. Winston Churchill thought him a military genius; others considered him greatly over-rated; a few even thought him mad. His overriding passion was for Zionism, a cause which he embraced when posted to British-ruled Palestine in 1936. There he raised the Special Night Squads, an irregular force which decimated Arab rebel bands and taught a future generation of Israeli generals (including Moshe Dayan and Yitzhak Rabin) how to fight. In 1941, Wingate led another guerrilla-style force into Italian-occupied Ethiopia and was instrumental in restoring Emperor Haile Selassie to his throne. But his most famous campaign was conducted behind enemy lines in Burma, where his Chindits shattered the myth of Japanese invincibility in jungle fighting. A brilliant maverick, Wingate was a difficult if not impossible subordinate. He was also - as this riveting new study reveals - an inspiring leader.
Fire in My Eyes: An American Warrior's Journey from Being Blinded on the Battlefield to Gold Medal Victory
by Brad Snyder Tom Sileo"I am not going to let my blindness build a brick wall around me. I'd give my eyes one hundred times again to have the chance to do what I have done, and what I can still do."-Brad Snyder speaking with First Lady Michelle ObamaOn the night Osama bin Laden was killed, US Navy Lieutenant Brad Snyder was serving in Afghanistan as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer with SEAL Team Ten. When he learned of SEAL Team Six's heroics across the Pakistani border, Brad was thankful. Still, he knew that his dangerous combat deployment would continue.Less than five months later, Brad was engulfed by darkness after a massive blast caused by an enemy improvised explosive device. Suddenly Brad was blind, with vivid dreams serving as painful nightly reminders of his sacrifice.Exactly one year after losing his sight, Brad heard thousands cheer as he stood on a podium in London. Incredibly, Brad had just won a gold medal in swimming at the 2012 Paralympic Games.Fire in My Eyes is the astonishing true story of a wounded veteran who refused to give up. Lieutenant Brad Snyder did not let blindness build a wall around him-through tenacity and courage, he tore it down.
The Fire Dragon (The Dragon Mage #3)
by Katharine KerrBook eleven of the celebrated Deverry series, an epic fantasy rooted in Celtic mythology that intricately interweaves human and elven history over several hundred years.
Fire Basket
by June ShandleyIn the years between the wars, Edith May Faulks from the Rhondda Valley in Wales goes into service in the London home of Lord and Lady Havis, leaving behind her brothers and sisters and her old way of life. There she meets and falls in love with Peter. But he is sent away to New York, where he mysteriously disappears and Edith is forced to move on. Eventually marrying and settling on the Dorset coast, Edith has to raise her children on her own while her husband, Leslie, is away at war, and their lives are played out against a backdrop of air raids, ration books and shortages of food and clothing. Despite all their privations and difficulties, they get by. But the return of a ghost from Edith's past threatens to disrupt the life she has tried so hard to provide for herself and her family...
Fire and Sword: (Revolution 3) (The Wellington and Napoleon Quartet)
by Simon ScarrowFIRE AND SWORD is the unputdownable third novel in Simon Scarrow's bestselling Wellington and Napoleon Quartet. A must read for fans of Robert Harris.1804. Napoleon Bonaparte is Emperor of France, his ultimate aim: to rule Europe. After defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar, he wins a glorious victory against Austria at Austerlitz. He then deposes the Spanish king and places his own brother on the throne. But he is yet to triumph over his most hated enemy: Great Britain.Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) throws himself into the British campaign in Europe. After glory in Portugal, he commands the army in a series of triumphant battles across Spain. For those living reluctantly under French rule, his victories suggest that Napoleon's progress is not inexorable: freedom can be restored...
Fire and Sword: Throne Of Caesars: Book Three (Throne of the Caesars #3)
by Harry Sidebottom‘Absorbing and brilliant … Game of Thrones without the dragons’ THE TIMES The third book in Sidebottom’s epic series set in third century Rome; a dramatic era of murder, coup, counter-rebellions and civil war.
Fire and Steam: A New History of the Railways in Britain
by Christian WolmarThe opening of the pioneering Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 marked the beginning of the railways' vital role in changing the face of Britain. Fire and Steam celebrates the vision and determination of the ambitious Victorian pioneers who developed this revolutionary transport system and the navvies who cut through the land to enable a country-wide network to emerge. From the early days of steam to electrification, via the railways' magnificent contribution in two world wars, the chequered history of British Rail, and the buoyant future of the train, Fire and Steam examines the social and economical importance of the railway and how it helped to form the Britain of today.
Fire and Rain: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Wars in Southeast Asia
by Carolyn Woods EisenbergThis gripping account interweaves Nixon and Kissinger's pursuit of the war in Southeast Asia and their diplomacy with the Soviet Union and China with on-the-ground military events and US domestic reactions to the war conducted in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Fire and Rain is a compelling, meticulous narrative of the way national security decisions formed at the highest levels of government affect the lives of individuals at home and abroad. By drawing these connections, Carolyn Woods Eisenberg brings to life policy decisions about Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, conveying their significance to a new generation of readers. She breaks fresh ground in contextualizing Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger's decisions within a wider institutional and societal framework. While recognizing the distinctive personalities and ideas of these two men, this study more broadly conveys the competing roles and impact of the professional military, the Congress, and a mobilized peace movement. Drawing upon a vast collection of declassified documents, Eisenberg presents an important re-interpretation of the Nixon Administration's relations with the Soviet Union and China vis a vis the war in Southeast Asia. She argues that in their desperate effort to overcome, or at least overshadow, their failure in Vietnam, Nixon and Kissinger made major concessions to both nations in the field of arms control, their response to the India-Pakistan war, and the diplomacy surrounding Taiwan--much of this secret. Despite policymakers' claims that the Vietnam War was a "national security" necessity that would demonstrate American strength to the communist superpowers and "credibility" to friendly governments, the historical record suggests a different reality. A half-century after the Paris Peace Conference marking the withdrawal of US troops and advisors from Vietnam and foreign troops from Laos and Cambodia, Fire and Rain is a dramatic account of geopolitical decision making, civil society, and the human toll of the war on the people of Southeast Asia.
Fire and Rain: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Wars in Southeast Asia
by Carolyn Woods EisenbergThis gripping account interweaves Nixon and Kissinger's pursuit of the war in Southeast Asia and their diplomacy with the Soviet Union and China with on-the-ground military events and US domestic reactions to the war conducted in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Fire and Rain is a compelling, meticulous narrative of the way national security decisions formed at the highest levels of government affect the lives of individuals at home and abroad. By drawing these connections, Carolyn Woods Eisenberg brings to life policy decisions about Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, conveying their significance to a new generation of readers. She breaks fresh ground in contextualizing Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger's decisions within a wider institutional and societal framework. While recognizing the distinctive personalities and ideas of these two men, this study more broadly conveys the competing roles and impact of the professional military, the Congress, and a mobilized peace movement. Drawing upon a vast collection of declassified documents, Eisenberg presents an important re-interpretation of the Nixon Administration's relations with the Soviet Union and China vis a vis the war in Southeast Asia. She argues that in their desperate effort to overcome, or at least overshadow, their failure in Vietnam, Nixon and Kissinger made major concessions to both nations in the field of arms control, their response to the India-Pakistan war, and the diplomacy surrounding Taiwan--much of this secret. Despite policymakers' claims that the Vietnam War was a "national security" necessity that would demonstrate American strength to the communist superpowers and "credibility" to friendly governments, the historical record suggests a different reality. A half-century after the Paris Peace Conference marking the withdrawal of US troops and advisors from Vietnam and foreign troops from Laos and Cambodia, Fire and Rain is a dramatic account of geopolitical decision making, civil society, and the human toll of the war on the people of Southeast Asia.
Fire and Movement: The British Expeditionary Force and the Campaign of 1914
by Peter HartThe dramatic opening weeks of the Great War passed into legend long before the conflict ended. The British Expeditionary Force fought a mesmerizing campaign, outnumbered and outflanked but courageous and skillful, holding the line against impossible odds, sacrificing themselves to stop the last great German offensive of 1914. A remarkable story of high hopes and crushing disappointment, the campaign contains moments of sheer horror and nerve-shattering excitement; pathos and comic relief; occasional cowardice and much selfless courage--all culminating in the climax of the First Battle of Ypres. And yet, as Peter Hart shows in this gripping and revisionary look at the war's first year, for too long the British part in the 1914 campaigns has been veiled in layers of self-congratulatory myth: a tale of poor unprepared Britain, reliant on the peerless class of her regular soldiers to bolster the rabble of the unreliable French Army and defeat the teeming hordes of German troops. But the reality of those early months is in fact far more complex--and ultimately, Hart argues, far more powerful than the standard triumphalist narrative. Fire and Movement places the British role in 1914 into a proper historical context, incorporating the personal experiences of the men who were present on the front lines. The British regulars were indeed skillful soldiers, but as Hart reveals, they also lacked practice in many of the required disciplines of modern warfare, and the inexperience of officers led to severe mistakes. Hart also provides a more accurate portrait of the German Army they faced--not the caricature of hordes of automatons, but the reality of a well-trained and superlatively equipped force that outfought the BEF in the early battles--and allows readers to come to a full appreciation of the role of the French Army, without whom the Marne never would have been won. Ultimately Fire and Movement shows the story of the 1914 campaigns to be an epic tale, and one which needs no embellishment. Through the voices and recollections of the soldiers who were there, Hart strips away the myth to offer a clear-eyed account of the remarkable early days of the Great War.