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Clive Cussler’s The Heist
by Jack du BrulIn summer 1914, a murder investigation leads Detective Isaac Bell to an explosive heist planned on the newly launched Federal Reserve System - a plot that will echo far into the future . . .----A MASTER THIEFAN ASSASSIN ACCOMPLICETHE MOST FIENDISH HEIST IN AMERICA’S HISTORYWashington D.C., 1914: President Woodrow Wilson is celebrating aboard his yacht, Mayflower, with the branch leaders of the newly created Federal Reserve. For Van Dorn agent, Detective Isaac Bell, few events could be duller. Until he notices the aeroplane flying dangerously low . . .Thwarting this aerial attack on the President and financial leaders, Bell soon learns that the strike was just the opening of an even deadlier gambit. It’s up to Bell to find the link between the attack, the mysterious death of a Newport heiress, and growing evidence of an unimaginably audacious heist: to steal a billion dollars from the country’s new and most secure banking system.Double-cross and betrayal are Bell’s stock and trade, but this time, the deeper he delves into the puzzle, the less he seems to understand. He is in a race against his most ruthless opponents yet, to prevent a financial panic that would bring the United States to its knees.----Praise for Clive Cussler:'The Adventure King' Sunday Express'Just about the best in the business' New York Post'Cussler is hard to beat' Daily Mail
The Golden Library (Ben Hope #29)
by null Scott MarianiLearn the secret – or die trying Has ex-SAS soldier Ben Hope finally got out of his depth? That’s the question Ben faces when the hunt for a missing girl takes him to China. He’s a stranger in a strange land – but he’s also the victim’s only hope. To make things worse, she’s almost family. As the pressure mounts, so does the gruesome death toll. With ruthless enemies in pursuit and an unlikely alliance with an enigmatic detective his only lifeline, Ben realises that this situation is far more explosive than even he’d bargained for. Suddenly it’s no longer just the missing girl’s fate depending on him. At the heart of the mystery lies an ancient secret dating back to China’s first emperor and the legendary Terracotta Army – a secret that people will still kill for, millennia later. Ben Hope has never turned his back on those in need, and he’s no stranger to tough odds. But can he survive long enough to discover the truth – and is he ready for the consequences? Discover more about Scott Mariani and Ben Hope at www.scottmariani.com
The Colonel and the Eunuch
by Mai JiaThe phenomenal #1 Chinese bestseller, with over 3 million copies sold. This is a searing exploration of what makes a hero: a literary masterpiece, available in the English language for the very first time.The boy grows up in a small village in south China listening to stories about the Colonel: some say he was a legendary army doctor during the war, some say he was a traitor to the Party, still others say he is a wicked sex machine. The stories are bawdy and mesmerizing, always larger than life. Yet in reality, the Colonel is just a middle-aged man who loves his cat. And why on earth does everyone call him 'the Eunuch'?From these disparate sources, the boy tries to piece together who the Colonel really is, just as he himself grows up in a rapidly changing China. It is not until many years later, when the boy also becomes a middle-aged man, that he would look back and finally solve the puzzle.The Colonel and the Eunuch is Mai Jia's first new novel in eight years and his most ambitious work to date. An exciting departure from spy thrillers, this is a coming-of-age story, a family saga, as well as a searing exploration of what makes a hero. The Colonel is Mai Jia's singular creation: an almost mythic figure shrouded in the tragedy of war and history, whose story will move even the most stone-hearted to tears.
The Stalin Affair: The Impossible Alliance that Won the War
by Giles Milton'Page-turning . . . a sizzling high-stakes tale' JAMES HOLLAND'This book might read like the screenplay of a gripping movie, yet every word is accurate and verified' ANDREW ROBERTS 'Giles Milton is a phenomenon' DAN SNOW'Another rollercoaster ride from Giles Milton. Endlessly surprising' ANTHONY HOROWITZFrom internationally bestselling historian Giles Milton comes the remarkable true story of the Allies' secret mission to wartime Moscow. In the summer of 1941, as Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, Stalin's forces faced a catastrophic defeat which would make the Allies' liberation of Europe virtually impossible. To avert this disaster, Britain and America mobilized an elite team of remarkable diplomats with the mission of keeping the Red Army in the war. Into to the heart of Stalin's Moscow Roosevelt sent Averell Harriman, the fourth richest man in America and his brilliant young daughter Kathy. Churchill dispatched the reckless but brilliant bon vivant Archie Clark Kerr - and occasionally himself - to negotiate with the Kremlin's wiliest operators. Together, this improbable group grappled with the ingenious, mercurial Stalin to make victory possible. But they also discovered that the Soviet dictator had a terrifying masterplan for the post-war world. Based on astonishing unpublished diaries, letters and secret reports, The Stalin Affair reveals troves of new material about the most unlikely coalition in history.
The War Artist: Brand-new for 2024, the next captivating, historical novel from Jan Casey about a female war artist in World War 2.
by Jan Casey'Excellent! Jan has written a memorable story about a war time artist that's so descriptive you are completely immersed in it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sybil is an extraordinary woman taking on this...' - NetGalley reviewer, 5****'Excuse me,' the man interrupted her as if there was absolutely nothing she could say to comfort him. 'I have to get on with my digging.' Then he stabbed violently at her sketchbook with his finger. 'Get it all down,' he snarled. 'Every single disgusting, pathetic detail. And shove it in their faces.'London, 1940Following a chance meeting with her former teacher, young painter Sybil Paige wins a coveted assignment from the War Artists' Advisory Committee, and so begins her journey across the length and breadth of the country, sketching everything from airfields and assembly lines to farms and factories.Sometimes it's milkmaids and poultry keepers, brave and hopeful; sometimes it's the harrowed faces of those digging through the rubble to find their loved ones and livelihoods. But armed with her sketchbook, Sybil captures it all, determined to tell the stories of the thousands of women fighting their own battles on the home front. Above all, she wants the voices of her subjects to shine through.But amidst the scenes of despair and courage, the one picture Sybil cannot paint and yet cannot purge from her brain, no matter how hard she tries, is the image of a woman folded into a chair, the crumpled telegram about her missing husband clasped in her hand. Because a self-portrait, Sybil well knows, requires the artist to find her own voice.With each new commission, Sybil grows in confidence. But, like the many people she meets and sketches, she fears the future: will it bring hope or heartbreak?***Readers love Jan Cacey:'[A] captivating, heart wrenching saga... I adamantly recommend' - 5* reader review'A story of courage and hope' - 5* reader review'I love this book... This book drew me in straight away and I just wanted to keep on reading until I finished it. A lovely story' - 5* reader review'Poignant, warm, gut wrenching and hopeful, this book is just beautiful. I stayed riveted the entire time and could not put it down' - 5* reader review'The book is full of fervor and the characters grow from beginning to end! I could not put the book down!' - 5* reader review
Angel of Grasmere: From Dunkirk to the Fells
by null Tom PalmerTarn grapples with the loss of her brother at Dunkirk as she faces the threat of Nazi invasion in the Cumbrian countryside in this gripping wartime tale from Tom Palmer. July 1940 – as Tarn struggles to come to terms with the loss of her beloved brother in the chaos of the British retreat at Dunkirk, she and her friends scour the hills around their Lake District home, watching for any signs of the long-dreaded Nazi invasion. But as the war drags on, with little good news from the front, the locals become aware of someone carrying out anonymous acts of kindness, such as saving a flock of sheep from a snowdrift and getting help for an injured farmer who might other wise have died. With no one claiming credit, they come to think of this unidentified stranger as a kind of guardian angel, but when his identity is finally revealed can Tarn come to terms with the truth…?
Man of Bones: From the author of The Times 'Thriller of the Year' (A\revol Rossel Thriller Ser.)
by Ben CreedTHE TIMES 'THRILLER OF THE YEAR' AND CWA GOLD DAGGER SHORTLISTED AUTHOR RETURNS!'Ben Creed has a genuine gift for conjuring up Stalin's Leningrad in all its beauty and misery' THE TIMES'You'll find yourself looking over your shoulder when you leave the house!' Trevor WoodWinter 1953. Beneath a pitch-black Leningrad sky, two bodies lie near the towering statue of Lenin outside the Finland Station. 'Nothing sinister, here, just a simple hit and run,' an officer in the MGB secret police assures militia detective Revol Rossel. Now he knows it's murder.Only recently released from a brutal Siberian labour camp and determined to find his missing sister at last, Rossel wants nothing to do with this new case. But his alcoholic, broken superior officer, Captain Lipukhin, seizes upon it as his salvation - a last chance to be a true Soviet hero.Along with sharp-witted Senior Lieutenant Lidia Gerashvili, and Major Nikitin, the interrogator who once cut off Rossel's fingers, Rossel sets off on the trail of a murderer whose crimes surpass those of even the deranged tsar Ivan the Terrible. A trail leading to a dark, hidden episode in Bolshevik history filled with unspeakable horrors.There is only one eyewitness - Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, whose giant right hand stretches out towards the frozen River Neva. Lenin, Rossel thinks, seems to be pointing at someone. But who?PRAISE FOR BEN CREED'Reminded me of Gorky Park, only I liked this tense, complex thriller even better'JAMES PATTERSON'Brilliantly orchestrated and totally engrossing' THE CRIME WRITERS' ASSOCIATION'A worthy successor to Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko' FINANCIAL TIMES'A fantastically tense atmosphere . . . A spine-tingling page-turner' SUN
1217: The Battles that Saved England
by Dr Catherine HanleyAn engrossing history of the pivotal year 1217 when invading French forces were defeated and the future of England secured. In 1215 King John had agreed to the terms of Magna Carta, but he then reneged on his word, plunging the kingdom into war. The rebellious barons offered the throne to the French prince Louis and set off the chain of events that almost changed the course of English history. Louis first arrived in May 1216, was proclaimed king in the heart of London, and by the autumn had around half of England under his control. However, the choice of a French prince had enormous repercussions: now not merely an internal rebellion, but a war in which the defenders were battling to prevent a foreign takeover. John's death in October 1216 left the throne in the hands of his nine-year-old son, Henry, and his regent, William Marshal, which changed the face of the war again, for now the king trying to fight off an invader was not a hated tyrant but an innocent child.1217 charts the nascent sense of national identity that began to swell. Three key battles would determine England's destiny. The fortress of Dover was besieged, the city of Lincoln was attacked, and a great invasion force set sail and, unusually for the time, was intercepted at sea. Catherine Hanley expertly navigates medieval siege warfare, royal politics, and fighting at sea to bring this remarkable period of English history to life.
The Pirate Menace: Uncovering the Golden Age of Piracy
by Angus KonstamThis new account explores the most notorious pirates in history and how their rise and fall can be traced back to a single pirate haven, Nassau. Angus Konstam, one of the world's leading pirate experts, has brought his 30 years of research to create the definitive book on the Golden Age of Piracy. Many of the privateers the British had used to prey on French and Spanish shipping during the War of the Spanish Succession turned to piracy. The pirates took over Nassau on the Bahamian island of New Providence and turned it into their own pirate haven, where shady merchants were happy to buy their plunder. It became the hub of a pirate network that included some of the most notorious pirates in history: Blackbeard, 'Calico Jack' Rackam, Charles Vane and Bartholomew Roberts. The growth of piracy led to a major surge in attacks in the Caribbean and along North America's Atlantic seaboard. With the fragile maritime economy of the Americas threatened with collapse, major ports were threatened and trade brought to a standstill, the British government finally declared war on the pirates. The Pirate Menace draws on extensive research, as well as a wide range of first-hand accounts, to produce a new history of the heyday of historical piracy.
1217: The Battles that Saved England
by Dr Catherine HanleyAn engrossing history of the pivotal year 1217 when invading French forces were defeated and the future of England secured. In 1215 King John had agreed to the terms of Magna Carta, but he then reneged on his word, plunging the kingdom into war. The rebellious barons offered the throne to the French prince Louis and set off the chain of events that almost changed the course of English history. Louis first arrived in May 1216, was proclaimed king in the heart of London, and by the autumn had around half of England under his control. However, the choice of a French prince had enormous repercussions: now not merely an internal rebellion, but a war in which the defenders were battling to prevent a foreign takeover. John's death in October 1216 left the throne in the hands of his nine-year-old son, Henry, and his regent, William Marshal, which changed the face of the war again, for now the king trying to fight off an invader was not a hated tyrant but an innocent child.1217 charts the nascent sense of national identity that began to swell. Three key battles would determine England's destiny. The fortress of Dover was besieged, the city of Lincoln was attacked, and a great invasion force set sail and, unusually for the time, was intercepted at sea. Catherine Hanley expertly navigates medieval siege warfare, royal politics, and fighting at sea to bring this remarkable period of English history to life.
The Pirate Menace: Uncovering the Golden Age of Piracy
by Angus KonstamThis new account explores the most notorious pirates in history and how their rise and fall can be traced back to a single pirate haven, Nassau. Angus Konstam, one of the world's leading pirate experts, has brought his 30 years of research to create the definitive book on the Golden Age of Piracy. Many of the privateers the British had used to prey on French and Spanish shipping during the War of the Spanish Succession turned to piracy. The pirates took over Nassau on the Bahamian island of New Providence and turned it into their own pirate haven, where shady merchants were happy to buy their plunder. It became the hub of a pirate network that included some of the most notorious pirates in history: Blackbeard, 'Calico Jack' Rackam, Charles Vane and Bartholomew Roberts. The growth of piracy led to a major surge in attacks in the Caribbean and along North America's Atlantic seaboard. With the fragile maritime economy of the Americas threatened with collapse, major ports were threatened and trade brought to a standstill, the British government finally declared war on the pirates. The Pirate Menace draws on extensive research, as well as a wide range of first-hand accounts, to produce a new history of the heyday of historical piracy.
A Mother’s Sorrow: The captivating new page-turner from the Queen of the Saga
by Margaret DickinsonA Mother's Sorrow is a heart-rending family saga set around WW1 from bestselling author and Queen of the Saga, Margaret Dickinson. Three young women. Two families united. A bond that can’t be broken . . . Sheffield, 1892. Patrick Halliday rules his family with a rod of iron. He’s hard on both his wife and his elder daughter, Flora, but he spoils his youngest, Mary Ellen, because she reminds him of his beloved mother.When Mary Ellen, aged seventeen, finds that she is pregnant, Patrick throws her out of the family home and Flora goes with her. After wandering the Derbyshire countryside for miles, they find shelter on a farm, working for their keep.When Flora must return to her job as a buffer girl in Sheffield’s cutlery trade, she is reunited with her friend, Evelyn Bonsor. As both young women find love and fall pregnant, the Halliday and Bonsor families are united, despite the many trials that cross their paths.Then comes the Great War. Through hardship and tragedy, these two families must stick together to weather the storm . . .
Icons of Dissent: The Global Resonance of Che, Marley, Tupac and Bin Laden
by Jeremy PrestholdtThe global icon is an omnipresent but poorly understood element of mass culture. This book asks why audiences around the world have embraced particular iconic figures, how perceptions of these figures have changed, and what this tells us about transnational relations since the Cold War era. Prestholdt addresses these questions by examining one type of icon: the anti-establishment figure. As symbols that represent sentiments, ideals, or something else recognizable to a wide audience, icons of dissent have been integrated into diverse political and consumer cultures, and global audiences have reinterpreted them over time. To illustrate these points the book examines four of the most evocative and controversial figures of the past fifty years: Che Guevara, Bob Marley, Tupac Shakur, and Osama bin Laden. Each has embodied a convergence of dissent, cultural politics, and consumerism, yet popular perceptions of each reveal the dissonance between shared, global references and locally contingent interpretations. By examining four very different figures, Icons of Dissent offers new insights into global symbolic idioms, the mutability of common references, and the commodification of political sentiment in the contemporary world.
The Oxford Handbook of Gender, War, and the Western World since 1600 (Oxford Handbooks)
by Karen Hagemann Stefan Dudink Sonya O. RoseTo date, the history of military and war has focused predominantly on men as historical agents, disregarding gender and its complex interrelationships with war and the military. The Oxford Handbook of Gender, War, and the Western World since 1600 investigates how conceptions of gender have contributed to the shaping of war and the military and were transformed by them. Covering the major periods in warfare since the seventeenth century, the Handbook focuses on Europe and the long-term processes of colonization and empire-building in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia. Thirty-two essays written by leading international scholars explore the cultural representations of war and the military, war mobilization, and war experiences at home and on the battle front. Essays address the gendered aftermath and memories of war, as well as gendered war violence. Essays also examine movements to regulate and prevent warfare, the consequences of participation in the military for citizenship, and challenges to ideals of Western military masculinity posed by female, gay, and lesbian soldiers and colonial soldiers of color. The Oxford Handbook of Gender, War, and the Western World since 1600 offers an authoritative account of the intricate relationships between gender, warfare, and military culture across time and space.
Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam (Pivotal Moments in American History)
by James M. McPhersonThe Battle of Antietam, fought on September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest single day in American history, with more than 6,000 soldiers killed--four times the number lost on D-Day, and twice the number killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks. In Crossroads of Freedom, America's most eminent Civil War historian, James M. McPherson, paints a masterful account of this pivotal battle, the events that led up to it, and its aftermath. As McPherson shows, by September 1862 the survival of the United States was in doubt. The Union had suffered a string of defeats, and Robert E. Lee's army was in Maryland, poised to threaten Washington. The British government was openly talking of recognizing the Confederacy and brokering a peace between North and South. Northern armies and voters were demoralized. And Lincoln had shelved his proposed edict of emancipation months before, waiting for a victory that had not come--that some thought would never come. Both Confederate and Union troops knew the war was at a crossroads, that they were marching toward a decisive battle. It came along the ridges and in the woods and cornfields between Antietam Creek and the Potomac River. Valor, misjudgment, and astonishing coincidence all played a role in the outcome. McPherson vividly describes a day of savage fighting in locales that became forever famous--The Cornfield, the Dunkard Church, the West Woods, and Bloody Lane. Lee's battered army escaped to fight another day, but Antietam was a critical victory for the Union. It restored morale in the North and kept Lincoln's party in control of Congress. It crushed Confederate hopes of British intervention. And it freed Lincoln to deliver the Emancipation Proclamation, which instantly changed the character of the war. McPherson brilliantly weaves these strands of diplomatic, political, and military history into a compact, swift-moving narrative that shows why America's bloodiest day is, indeed, a turning point in our history.
Catch-22: As recommended on BBC2’s Between the Covers (Le\livre De Poche Ser.)
by Joseph Heller**AS SEEN ON BBC TWO's BETWEEN THE COVERS**Discover Joseph Heller's hilarious and tragic satire on military madness, and the tale of one man's efforts to survive it.It's the closing months of World War II and Yossarian has never been closer to death. Stationed in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, each flight mission introduces him to thousands of people determined to kill him.But the enemy above is not Yossarian's problem - it is his own army intent on keeping him airborne, and the maddening 'Catch-22' that allows for no possibility of escape.'The greatest satirical work in the English language' Observer
The Battle of the Beams: The secret science of radar that turned the tide of the Second World War
by Tom Whipple'Deeply researched and engagingly written' The Times'Has the pace and style of a well-crafted thriller' Mail on Sunday'Chock full of memorable characters and written with all the drama and pace of a Robert Harris thriller' Rowland White, author of Harrier 809The radio war of 1939-45 is one of the great scientific battles in history.This is the story of that war.Relying on first-hand accounts as well as papers recently released by the Admiralty, The Battle of the Beams fills a huge missing piece in the canon of WW2 literature.It combines history, science, derring do and dogged determination and will appeal as much to fans of WW2 history as to those fascinated by the science behind the beams that changed our lives.The British believed that, through ingenuity and scientific prowess, they alone have a war-winning weapon: radar. They are wrong. The Germans have it too.They believe that their unique maritime history means their pilots have no need of navigational aids. Flying above the clouds they, like the seafarers of old, had the stars to guide them, and that is all that is required. They are wrong. Most of the bombs the RAF will drop in the first years of the war land miles from their target.They also believe that the Germans, without the same naval tradition, will never be able to find targets at night. They are, again, wrong. In 1939 the Germans don't just have radar to spot planes entering their airspace, they have radio beams to guide their own planes into enemy airspace.Luckily there was one young engineer, Reginald Jones, helping the British government with their own scientific developments. In June 1940, when Jones quietly explained the beams the Germans had devised to a room full of disbelieving sceptics, Churchill later described the moment as like sitting in the parlour while Sherlock Holmes finally reveals the killer. Churchill immediately supported Jones's efforts to develop radar technology that went on to help the Allies win the war.
Dear Mrs Bird: Cosy up with this heartwarming and heartbreaking novel set in wartime London (The Wartime Chronicles #1)
by AJ PearceRichard & Judy Book Club Pick --- Sunday Times BestsellerSet during London's blitz and filled with warmth, wit and heartbreak, Dear Mrs Bird is a wartime story about the power of friendship, the kindness of strangers and the courage of ordinary people.London, 1941. Amid the falling bombs Emmeline Lake dreams of becoming a fearless Lady War Correspondent. Unfortunately, Emmy instead finds herself employed as a typist for the terrifying Henrietta Bird, the renowned agony aunt at Woman’s Friend magazine. Mrs Bird refuses to read, let alone answer, letters containing any form of Unpleasantness, and definitely not letters from the women the war has left lovelorn, grief-stricken or conflicted.But the thought of these desperate women waiting for an answer becomes impossible for Emmy to ignore. She decides she simply must help and secretly starts to write back – after all, what harm could that possibly do?'The most uplifting, lovely book about courage, friendship, love' – Marian Keyes'Utterly charming and helplessly funny' – Jenny Colgan'A proper comfort read' – India Knight
SAS: The Illustrated History Of The Sas
by Joshua LevineThe authorised illustrated history of the SAS by the number one bestselling author of Dunkirk, Joshua Levine. With never-before-seen photographs and unheard stories, this is the SAS’s wartime history in vivid and astonishing detail.
Occupational Hazards: My Time Governing In Iraq
by Rory StewartA fascinating insight into the complexity, history and unpredictability of Iraq from Rory Stewart, bestselling author of Politics on the Edge and host of hit podcast The Rest Is Politics.‘Devastating’ - The Sunday Times‘Absolutely absorbing’ - Ken LoachBy September 2003, six months after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the anarchy had begun. Rory Stewart, then a young British diplomat, was appointed as the Coalition Provisional Authority's deputy governor of a province of 850,000 people in the southern marshland region. There, he and his colleagues confronted gangsters, Iranian-linked politicians, tribal vendettas and a full Islamist insurgency.Occupational Hazards is Rory Stewart's inside account of the attempt to rebuild a nation, the errors made, the misunderstandings and insurmountable difficulties encountered. It reveals an Iraq hidden from most foreign journalists and soldiers, a rare and compelling insight that remains just as important today.‘An extraordinarily vivid tale’ - The Guardian‘Wonderfully observed, wise, evocative’ - The Observer
Asian American Spies: How Asian Americans Helped Win the Allied Victory
by Brian Masaru HayashiA recovery of the vital role Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans played in US intelligence services in Asia during World War II. Spies deep behind enemy lines; double agents; a Chinese American James Bond; black propaganda radio broadcasters; guerrilla fighters; pirates; smugglers; prostitutes and dancers as spies; and Asian Americans collaborating with Axis Powers. All these colorful individuals form the story of Asian Americans in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of today's CIA. Brian Masaru Hayashi brings to light for the first time the role played by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans in America's first centralized intelligence agency in its fight against the Imperial Japanese forces in east Asia during World War II. They served deep behind enemy lines gathering intelligence for American and Chinese troops locked in a desperate struggle against Imperial Japanese forces on the Asian continent. Other Asian Americans produced and disseminated statements by bogus peace groups inside the Japanese empire to weaken the fighting resolve of the Japanese. Still others served with guerrilla forces attacking enemy supply and communication lines behind enemy lines. Engaged in this deadly conflict, these Asian Americans agents encountered pirates, smugglers, prostitutes, and dancers serving as the enemy's spies, all the while being subverted from within the OSS by a double agent and without by co-ethnic collaborators in wartime Shanghai. Drawing on recently declassified documents, Asian American Spies challenges the romanticized and stereotyped image of these Chinese, Japanese, and Korean American agents--the Model Minority-while offering a fresh perspective on the Allied victory in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
Making Makers: The Past, the Present, and the Study of War
by Michael P. FinchMaking Makers presents a comprehensive history of a seminal work of scholarship which has exerted a persistent attraction for scholars of war and strategy: Makers of Modern Strategy. It reveals the processes by which scholars conceived and devised the book, considering both successful and failed attempts to make and remake the work across the twentieth century, and illuminating its impact and legacy. It explains how and why these influential volumes took their particular forms, unearths the broader intellectual processes that shaped them, and reflects on the academic parameters of the study of war in the twentieth century. In presenting a complete genesis of the Makers project in the context of intellectual trends and historical contingency, this book reflects on a more complex and nuanced appraisal of the development of scholarship on war. In so doing it also offers contributions to the intellectual biographies of key figures in the history of war in the twentieth century, such as Edward Mead Earle, Peter Paret, Gordon Craig, and Theodore Ropp. Making Makers contributes to an intellectual history of military history and contextualises the place of history and historians in strategic and security studies. It is not only a history of the book, but a history of the networks of scholars involved in its creation, their careers, and lines of patronage, crossing international boundaries, from Europe to the USA, to Asia and Australia. It is an investigation of ideas, individuals, and groups, of work completed and scholarship produced, as well as contingency and opportunities missed.
Asian American Spies: How Asian Americans Helped Win the Allied Victory
by Brian Masaru HayashiA recovery of the vital role Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans played in US intelligence services in Asia during World War II. Spies deep behind enemy lines; double agents; a Chinese American James Bond; black propaganda radio broadcasters; guerrilla fighters; pirates; smugglers; prostitutes and dancers as spies; and Asian Americans collaborating with Axis Powers. All these colorful individuals form the story of Asian Americans in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of today's CIA. Brian Masaru Hayashi brings to light for the first time the role played by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans in America's first centralized intelligence agency in its fight against the Imperial Japanese forces in east Asia during World War II. They served deep behind enemy lines gathering intelligence for American and Chinese troops locked in a desperate struggle against Imperial Japanese forces on the Asian continent. Other Asian Americans produced and disseminated statements by bogus peace groups inside the Japanese empire to weaken the fighting resolve of the Japanese. Still others served with guerrilla forces attacking enemy supply and communication lines behind enemy lines. Engaged in this deadly conflict, these Asian Americans agents encountered pirates, smugglers, prostitutes, and dancers serving as the enemy's spies, all the while being subverted from within the OSS by a double agent and without by co-ethnic collaborators in wartime Shanghai. Drawing on recently declassified documents, Asian American Spies challenges the romanticized and stereotyped image of these Chinese, Japanese, and Korean American agents--the Model Minority-while offering a fresh perspective on the Allied victory in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
The Highland Girls at War (The Highland Girls series #1)
by null Helen YendallCan the Highland girls prove everyone wrong? Don’t miss this poignant and heartwarming WW2 novel for fans of Rosie Clarke, Dilly Court and Rosie Archer, from the author of A Wartime Secret. Scotland, 1942.The Lumberjills, the newest recruits in the Women’s Timber Corps, arrive in the Scottish Highlands to a hostile reception from doubtful locals. The young women are determined to prove them wrong and serve their country – but they’re also all looking for something more… Lady Persephone signed up to show everyone she’s more than just a pretty face – but it’ll take more than some charm and her noble credentials to win handsome Sergeant Fraser over. Tall, strong Grace has led a lonely life working on a croft, with just her mother for company. All she wants is to find her place in the world – even if that’s a thousand miles from home. And Irene misses her husband terribly, so until he returns home from the frontline, she’s distracting herself with war work. But one distraction too far leads to devastating consequences… Can the Lumberjills get through their struggles together – even when tragedy strikes? Readers LOVE The Highland Girls at War! ‘I adored it!!… From start to finish, I loved it and couldn’t wait to get back to it whenever I had to rip myself away… It certainly left me wanting more! It was brilliant.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Love this book… The characters came to life as the story unrolled and I was sad the book ended as I felt I knew them and they were my friends too. Recommended to read ASAP.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Absolutely loved [it], great book from start to finish.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Loved this book from start to finish, the characters were so real and I felt like a member of the family.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A compelling, heartwarming tale… Full of laughter, heartache, humour and wistful romance… A story of sisterhood and one I am certain will stay with me forever.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A heart-warming story… Thoroughly enjoyable.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Remembering Tommy: The British Soldier in the First World War
by Peter Doyle Chris FosterThe British soldier of the Great War has been depicted in many books. Invariably, a pen picture paints him as stoic, joining the army in a wave of patriotic fervour, and destined to serve four years on the Western Front in some of the most costly battles in history. Yet often the picture is difficult to resolve for the reader. What was it like in the trenches? How did the soldier live, where did he sleep? What was it like to go over the top, and when he did, what did he carry with him? For many, the idea of trench life is hazy, and usually involves ‘drowning in mud’, in, as one writer put it, ‘the pitiless misery’ of Passchendaele. Recently, military historians have presented an alternative picture, a picture in which the hopelessness of the First World War is given new life and purpose. Remembering Tommy pays tribute to the real life British soldier of the Great War from the moment of joining up to their final homecoming. Using original artefacts in historic settings, the men and their words are brought to life. The uniforms they wore, the equipment they carried, the letters they wrote home, their personal possessions, mementos and photographs come together in a powerful tribute to the indomitable Tommy. Each one of these precious artefacts bears witness to the men who left them behind – allowing us to almost reach out and touch history.