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Goshawk Squadron (Cassell Military Paperbacks Ser.)
by Derek RobinsonWorld War One pilots were the knights of the sky, and the press and public idolised them as gallant young heroes. At just twenty-three, Major Stanley Woolley is the old man and commanding officer of Goshawk Squadron. He abhors any notion of chivalry in the clouds and is determined to obliterate the decent, gentlemanly outlook of his young, public school-educated pilots - for their own good. But as the war goes on he is forced to throw greener and greener pilots into the meat grinder. Goshawk Squadron finds its gallows humour and black camaraderie no defence against a Spandau bullet to the back of the head.
Hornet's Sting (Cassell Military Paperbacks Ser.)
by Derek RobinsonIt's 1917, and Captain Stanley Woolley joins an R.F.C. squadron whose pilots are starting to fear the worst: their war over the Western Front may go on for years. A pilot's life is usually short, so while it lasts it is celebrated strenuously. Distractions from the brutality of the air war include British nurses; eccentric Russian pilots; bureaucratic battles over the plum-jam ration; rat-hunting with Very pistols; and the C.O.'s patent, potent cocktail, known as 'Hornet's Sting'. But as the summer offensives boil up, none of these can offer any lasting comfort.
Hullo Russia, Goodbye England
by Derek RobinsonFlight Lieutenant Silk, a twice-decorated Lancaster pilot in WW II, rejoins the R.A.F. and qualifies to fly the Vulcan bomber. Piloting a Vulcan is an unforgettable experience: no other aircraft comes close to matching its all-round performance. And as bombers go, it's drop-dead gorgeous. But there's a catch. The Vulcan has only one role: to make a second strike. To act in retaliation for a Russian nuclear attack. Silk knows that knows that if he ever flies his Vulcan in anger, he'll be flying from a smoking wasteland, a Britain obliterated. But in the mad world of Mutually Assured Destruction, the Vulcan is the last - the only - deterrent. Derek Robinson returns with another rip-roaring, gung-ho R.A.F. adventure, one that exposes and confronts the brinkmanship and sabre-rattling of the Cold War Era.
Kramer's War
by Derek RobinsonJersey, 1944. Lieutenant Earl Kramer, sole survivor of a ditched USAF bomber, crawls out of the sea one night and cuts the throat of a German sentry. Big mistake. Jersey is under Nazi occupation, and the lives of its inhabitants depend on an uneasy co-existence with their oppressors. Though Kramer's motives were entirely patriotic, to the islanders he presents a terrifying risk to their very survival. But to Kramer, a man governed by an overriding sense of duty, this stronghold of Hitler's armies proves too irresistible a target to ignore... Kramer's War is a powerful novel about the savagery of war, from the bestselling and Booker-shortlisted author of Goshawk Squadron.
Operation Bamboozle
by Derek RobinsonFrom 1941 to 1943 it was the Germans. Then it was the turn of the British. Come the Cold War, he's conning McCarthy. Now he's going head to head with the L.A. mob. For high-stakes con artist Luis Cabrillo, once known as Eldorado, the million-dollar spy, trouble is never far away. And when he and his corker-of-a-New-Yorker squeeze, Julie Conroy, run into the cream of Los Angeles' shady side, the result is a heady brew of disorganised crime, hot dollars, triple virgins and dead bodies in the begonias. The fourth and final Luis Cabrillo novel is yet another fiendishly plotted rollercoaster ride of wit and wisecracking, as the Second World War's most daring and audacious spy finds that old habits die hard, even in peacetime.
Piece of Cake (R.A.F. Quartet #1)
by Derek RobinsonFrom the Phoney War of 1939 to the Battle of Britain in 1940, the pilots of Hornet Squadron learn their lessons the hard way. Hi-jinks are all very well on the ground, but once in a Hurricane's cockpit, the best killers keep their wits close. Newly promoted Commanding Officer Fanny Barton has a job on to whip the Hornets into shape before they face the Luftwaffe's seasoned pilots. And sometimes Fighter Command, with its obsolete tactics and stiff doctrines, is the real menace. As with all Robinson's novels, the raw dialogue, rich black humour and brilliantly rendered, adrenalin-packed dogfights bring the Battle of Britain, and the brave few who fought it, to life.
Red Rag Blues
by Derek RobinsonIt's 1953, and Luis Cabrillo has burned through the small fortune he earned from both British and German Intelligence in WW2. Now he has only his wits, his confidence, and his dazzling skills at lying and cheating to rely on.Teaming up with Julie Conroy (a corker of a New Yorker), he follows his wartime instincts and goes where arrogance breeds wealth: to Washington D.C. and Senator Joe McCarthy, high priest of America's holy war on Red treachery. Joe's problem is a sudden shortage of treachery. Luis can help him out, but for dollars. Big dollars. And when the C.I.A. gets into the act, followed by the K.G.B., F.B.I., M.I.6. and the Mafia, it makes for an explosive mixture ripe for a spark. In Red Rag Blues Derek Robinson lends his signature wit to the hysteria and paranoia of the McCarthy years, toying with the notion that the world's most powerful nation is occasionally its most stupid.
War Story (Sven Hassel War Classics)
by Derek RobinsonFresh from school in June 1916, Lieutenant Oliver Paxton's first solo flight is to lead a formation of biplanes across the Channel to join Hornet Squadron in France. Five days later, he crash-lands at his destination, having lost his map, his ballast and every single plane in his charge. To his C.O. he's an idiot, to everyone else - especially the tormenting Australian who shares his billet - a pompous bastard. This is 1916, the year of the Somme, giving Paxton precious little time to grow from innocent to veteran.
Why 1914?: The Causes of the Great War
by Derek RobinsonShort, brisk and highly readable, this account stands out from the flood of books written for the Centenary of the Great War. In Why 1914?, Derek Robinson - trained as a historian, shortlisted for the Booker Prize - applies his novelist's skills to asking how and why Europe hurried into such a massive disaster. He captures a world of kings and Kaisers, generals and infantrymen. None of them knew what a big European war meant. All the combatant nations assumed it would be short, and each expected to win. The roots of such folly began in the nineteenth century. Robinson traces the earliest warning signs, leading to a sudden crisis and an impulsive war that went massively wrong from the start. This book is the ideal introduction to the key question of the Great War: why did Europe explode?
The Plains Wars 1757–1900 (Guide to...)
by Charles M. Robinson IIIThe Great Plains cover the central two-thirds of the United States, and during the nineteenth century were home to some of the largest and most powerful Indian tribes on the continent. The conflict between those tribes and the newcomers from the Old World lasted about one hundred and fifty years, and required the resources of five nations - Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America and the United States - before fighting ended in the mid 1890s. This masterly exposition explains the background, causes and long term effects of these bitter wars, whose legacy can still be felt today.
The Spanish Invasion of Mexico 1519–1521 (Guide to... #60)
by Charles M. Robinson IIIThe Spanish conquest of Mexico was the most remarkable military expedition in history, and in achieving it, Hernan Cortes proved himself as one of the greatest generals of all time. This book explains the background of the Aztec Empire and of the Spanish presence in Mexico. It describes the lives of the Aztecs in their glittering capital and of the Europeans who learned to adapt and survive in an alien and often dangerous world. The invasion was a war between civilizations, pitting the fatalism and obsessive ritual of the Aztecs against soldiers fighting for riches, their lives, and eventually their souls.
Mary Seacole: The Charismatic Black Nurse Who Became a Heroine of the Crimea
by Jane RobinsonThe 'Greatest Black Briton in History' triumphed over the Crimea and Victorian England. "The Times" called her a heroine, Florence Nightingale called her a brothel-keeping quack, and Queen Victoria's nephew called her, simply, 'Mammy' - Mary Seacole was one of the most eccentric and charismatic women of her era. Born at her mother's hotel in Jamaica in 1805, she became an independent 'doctress' combining the herbal remedies of her African ancestry with sound surgical techniques. On the outbreak of the Crimean War, she arrived in London desperate to join Florence Nightingale at the Front, but the authorities refused to see her. Being black, nearly 50, rather stout, and gloriously loud in every way, she was obviously unsuitable. Undaunted, Mary travelled to Balaklava under her own steam to build the 'British Hotel', just behind the lines. It was an outrageous venture, and a huge success - she became known and loved by everyone from the rank and file to the royal family. For more than a century after her death this remarkable woman was all but forgotten. This, the first full-length biography of a Victorian celebrity recently voted the greatest black Briton in history, brings Mary Seacole centre stage at last.
The Complete Mars Trilogy: Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars
by Kim Stanley RobinsonAll three volumes of the worldwide bestselling Mars trilogy.
Red Mars: Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars (The\mars Trilogy Ser. #1)
by Kim Stanley RobinsonAnother timeless masterpiece in the Voyager Classics series
Diary Of A War Bride: Marianne's Marriage Of Convenience The Warrior's Runaway Wife Diary Of A War Bride (Mills And Boon Historical Ser.)
by Lauri RobinsonThe land girl and the US Officer July 1942
Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces
by Linda RobinsonSpecial Forces soldiers are daring, seasoned troops from America's heartland, selected in a tough competition and trained in an extraordinary range of skills. They know foreign languages and cultures and unconventional warfare better than any U.S. fighters, and while they prefer to stay out of the limelight, veteran war correspondent Linda Robinson gained access to their closed world. She traveled with them on the frontlines, interviewed them at length on their home bases, and studied their doctrine, methods and history. In Masters of Chaos she tells their story through a select group of senior sergeants and field-grade officers, a band of unforgettable characters like Rawhide, Killer, Michael T, and Alan -- led by the unflappable Lt. Col. Chris Conner and Col. Charlie Cleveland, a brilliant but self-effacing West Pointer who led the largest unconventional war campaign since Vietnam in northern Iraq. Robinson follows the Special Forces from their first post-Vietnam combat in Panama, El Salvador, Desert Storm, Somalia, and the Balkans to their recent trials and triumphs in Afghanistan and Iraq. She witnessed their secret sleuthing and unsung successes in southern Iraq, and recounts here for the first time the dramatic firefights of the western desert. Her blow-by-blow story of the attack on Ansar al-Islam's international terrorist training camp has never been told before. The most comprehensive account ever of the modern-day Special Forces in action, Masters of Chaos is filled with riveting, intimate detail in the words of a close-knit band of soldiers who have done it all.
Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces
by Linda RobinsonSpecial Forces soldiers are daring, seasoned troops from America's heartland, selected in a tough competition and trained in an extraordinary range of skills. They know foreign languages and cultures and unconventional warfare better than any U.S. fighters, and while they prefer to stay out of the limelight, veteran war correspondent Linda Robinson gained access to their closed world. She traveled with them on the frontlines, interviewed them at length on their home bases, and studied their doctrine, methods and history. In Masters of Chaos she tells their story through a select group of senior sergeants and field-grade officers, a band of unforgettable characters like Rawhide, Killer, Michael T, and Alan -- led by the unflappable Lt. Col. Chris Conner and Col. Charlie Cleveland, a brilliant but self-effacing West Pointer who led the largest unconventional war campaign since Vietnam in northern Iraq. Robinson follows the Special Forces from their first post-Vietnam combat in Panama, El Salvador, Desert Storm, Somalia, and the Balkans to their recent trials and triumphs in Afghanistan and Iraq. She witnessed their secret sleuthing and unsung successes in southern Iraq, and recounts here for the first time the dramatic firefights of the western desert. Her blow-by-blow story of the attack on Ansar al-Islam's international terrorist training camp has never been told before. The most comprehensive account ever of the modern-day Special Forces in action, Masters of Chaos is filled with riveting, intimate detail in the words of a close-knit band of soldiers who have done it all.
One Hundred Victories: Special Ops and the Future of American Warfare
by Linda RobinsonOne Hundred Victories is a portrait of how-after a decade of intensive combat operations-special operations forces have become the go-to force for US military endeavors worldwide.Linda Robinson follows the evolution of special ops in Afghanistan, their longest deployment since Vietnam. She has lived in mud-walled compounds in the mountains and deserts of insurgent-dominated regions, and uses those experiences to show the gritty reality of the challenges the SOF face and the constant danger in which they operate.She witnessed special operators befriending villagers to help them secure their homes, and fighting off insurgents in the most dangerous safe havens even as they navigated a constant series of conflicts, crises, and other "meteors” from conventional forces, the CIA, and the Pakistanis-not to mention weak links within their own ranks. They showed what a tiny band of warriors could do, and could not do, out on the wild frontiers of the next-generation wars.One Hundred Victories also includes the inside story of the dramatic November 2011 cross-border firefight with Pakistan, which sent the US commander into a fury and provoked an international crisis. It describes the murky world of armed factions operating along the world's longest disputed border, and the chaos and casualties that result when commanders with competing agendas cannot resolve their differences.
Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq
by Linda RobinsonAfter a series of disastrous missteps in its conduct of the war, the White House in 2006 appointed General David Petraeus as the Commanding General of the coalition forces. Tell Me How This Ends is an inside account of his attempt to turn around a failing war.Linda Robinson conducted extensive interviews with Petraeus and his subordinate commanders and spent weeks with key U.S. and Iraqi divisions. The result is the only book that ties together military operations in Iraq and the internecine political drama that is at the heart of the civil war.Replete with dramatic battles, behind-doors confrontations, and astute analysis, the book tells the full story of the Iraq War's endgame, and lays out the options that will be facing the next president when he or she takes office in January 2009.
Shell-shocked British Army veterans in Ireland, 1918-39: A difficult homecoming (Disability History)
by Michael RobinsonWith a focus on mental illness, Shell-shocked British Army veterans in Ireland provides the first in-depth investigation of disabled Great War veterans in Ireland. The book is a result of five years of researching previously untouched archival sources including psychiatric records of former patients otherwise closed to the public. The remit of the work contributes to various historiographical fields including disability history, the social history of medicine, the cultural history of modern war, the history of psychiatry and Irish studies. It also seeks to extend the scope of the First World War with an emphasis on how war-induced disability and trauma continued to affect large numbers of ex-servicemen beyond the official cessation of the conflict.
Shell-shocked British Army veterans in Ireland, 1918-39: A difficult homecoming (Disability History)
by Michael RobinsonWith a focus on mental illness, Shell-shocked British Army veterans in Ireland provides the first in-depth investigation of disabled Great War veterans in Ireland. The book is a result of five years of researching previously untouched archival sources including psychiatric records of former patients otherwise closed to the public. The remit of the work contributes to various historiographical fields including disability history, the social history of medicine, the cultural history of modern war, the history of psychiatry and Irish studies. It also seeks to extend the scope of the First World War with an emphasis on how war-induced disability and trauma continued to affect large numbers of ex-servicemen beyond the official cessation of the conflict.
The Battle of Quatre Bras 1815 (History Press Ser.)
by Mike RobinsonQuatre Bras was the battle that turned a campaign – a tale of triumph and disaster. The Battle of Quatre Bras 1815 is not only a significant addition to the written history of the Napoleonic Wars, it is also the first English language account to focus solely on this crucial battle of the Waterloo campaign. Mike Robinson’s compelling account is based on extensive original research and includes many unpublished personal accounts from all the participating nations. The author combines this testimony with an unparalleled study of the topography of the battlefield and deep knowledge of Napoleonic warfare to tell the story of a battle where commanders made errors of omission and commission and where cowardice rubbed shoulders with heroism. Above all, it is the story of the intense human experience of those who participated in the events of those two fateful days in June 1815.
Barracuda 945: a horribly compelling and devastatingly engrossing action thriller you won’t be able to put down…
by Patrick RobinsonMajor Ray Kerman, a high-ranking SAS officer and renowned submariner, mysteriously disappears amidst a blood bath on the streets of Hebron. In the following months, a series of utterly devastating Hamas terrorist hits, stuns the British and American governments. Plainly, a military genius is at work. Kerman, intelligence chiefs believe, has crossed over to the enemy's side. When, in quick succession, the main US oil supply lines from Alaska are attacked and destroyed, without trace or clue, one of the Pentagon's worst nightmares may have come true. Has Kerman acquired a nuclear submarine, and navigated the killing machine through the treacherous straights of the northern Pacific, and on down the American West Coast? The Pentagon now stands helpless in the face of an enemy they cannot see, and cannot stop -- the mysterious Barracuda 945. But Admiral Arnold Morgan, National Security Advisor to the President, and his intelligence specialist Jimmy Ramshawe, plan a massive US revenge ...
Honor and Betrayal: The Untold Story of the Navy SEALs Who Captured the ""Butcher of Fallujah""--and the Shameful Ordeal They Later Endured
by Patrick RobinsonTHEY JUST CAPTURED IRAQ'S MOST WANTED TERRORIST. NOW THEY HAD TO DEFEND THEIR HONOR. On a daring nighttime raid in September 2009, a team of Navy SEALs grabbed the notorious terrorist Ahmad Hashim Abd al-Isawi, the villainous "Butcher of Fallujah,” mastermind behind the 2004 murder and mutilation of four American contractors. Within hours of his capture, al-Isawi, with his lip bleeding, claimed he had been beaten in his holding cell. Three Navy SEALs-members of the same team that had just captured the notorious terrorist-were charged with prisoner abuse, dereliction of duty, and lying. On the word of a terrorist! The three Navy SEALs were placed under house arrest and forbidden contact with their comrades. Despite enormous pressure from their commanders to sign confessions to "lesser charges,” the three resolute and fearless SEALs each demanded a court-martial. They were determined to prove their innocence. When Fox News broke the story about the accusations, Americans were outraged. Over 300,000 people signed petitions demanding the SEALs be exonerated. Their SEAL teammates were furious; but nothing could stop the cold determination of the military's top brass to hang these guys out to dry-not even U.S. congressmen who petitioned the Pentagon to drop the charges.Honor and Betrayal is a no-holds-barred account by bestselling author Patrick Robinson. It reveals for the first time the entire story, from the night the SEALs stormed the al-Qaeda desert stronghold, the accusations and legal twists and turns that followed, to the cut-and-thrust drama in the courtroom where the fate of three American heroes hung in the balance.
The Shark Mutiny
by Patrick RobinsonIt is 2007, and three supertankers are ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz. World oil prices skyrocket. US Military Intelligence concludes that behind this catastrophe at the gateway to the Persian Gulf stands Iran, assisted by an expansionist China. Joined by new, young naval intelligence officer Lt. Jimmy Ramshawe, Admiral Arnold Morgan threatens the Iranian Navy with annihilation, deploying the US Navy to Hormuz along with the nuclear submarine, USS Shark, carrying two teams of Navy SEALS. With the US Navy distracted, China is able to unleash an attack on Taiwan, America's weak ally. The situation is critical as mutiny occurs onboard the USS Shark, jeopardising the entire operation by preventing the SEALS from assisting the increasingly desperate Taiwanese Air force ...