Bøker av David Rooney

Newfoundland, 1919. Buffeted by winds, an unwieldy aircraft - made mainly from wood and stiff linen - struggled to take off from the North American island's rocky slopes. Cramped side by side in its open cockpit were two men, freezing cold and barely able to move but resolute. They had a dream: to be the first in human history to fly, non-stop, across the Atlantic Ocean. But there were three other teams competing against them, and as the waves raged a few miles below, memories of wartime crashes resurfaced . . .It was just over six months since the 'War to End all Wars' had come to its close. Between them, the seven young aviators who would get off the ground for the transatlantic race had already defied death many times. Mining letters, diaries and evocative unpublished photographs, David Rooney's deeply researched account of the audacious contest shows how it was the airmen's thrilling wartime experiences that ultimately led them to the 'Big Hop', and brought old friends together for one more daring adventure.These Atlantic pioneers weren't scientists or stoical upper-class officers. They were ordinary, working men, risking their lives in the name of progress. Unjustly forgotten by history, they nonetheless paved the way for the Earharts and Lindberghs who came after - and ushered in the age of global connection in which we live now. A non-stop flight across the Atlantic might seem routine today; almost a chore. But it is only possible because of those who went first.

What lies beneath?The Great Irish Famine is a story that has been told for several generations and is the single most pivotal experience in modern Irish history.Now, acclaimed Irish illustrator David Rooney, through the evocative medium of scraperboard, scratches away at the detail of our shared history line by line, uncovering the collective memory that lies beneath us all.

Anyone with the slightest knowledge of the Burma campaign of 1942-45 will have heard not only of General Orde Wingate and the Chindits, but also of Mad Mike Calvert, Wingate's most intrepid column commander.

"e;The yearlong celebration of Ghana's Golden Jubilee provides a fitting context for the republication of the book Kwame Nkrumah: Vision and Tragedy. In the lead-up to the celebration and over the course of the year, the life and times of Kwame Nkrumah will receive unprecedented public attention, official and unofficial. Kwame Nkrumah's very wide name-recognition is, paradoxically, accompanied by sketchy, often oversimplified knowledge about the events and processes of his life and times. For most of those born after independence in 1957, such knowledge does not extend much beyond who Kwame Nkrumah was and vague notions about he won us Independence"e;"e;. This book presents new material and new analysis, which helps to clarify aspects of the record, while advancing new perspectives. What comes across clearly throughout the book is the significant contribution of Nkrumah's vision and personality at a critical moment in the history of Africa and the Third World. He, perhaps more than any other, was able to identify, focus and catalyse the major factors and players driving the struggle for political independence in Ghana and liberation in other parts of Africa. In the process, he committed his life and work totally to a wide variety of activities and processes in Ghana, the continent and in the global Non-Aligned Movement."e;"e; - Akilagpa Sawyerr Association of African Universities Accra, Ghana 10 March 2007 "e;"e;This is an objective study which should be read by all concerned with the history of post-colonial Africa."e;"e; - Conor Cruise O'Brien Former Vice Chancellor, University of Ghana, Legon. David Rooney is a specialist on Ghana from Cambridge. His research for this book unearthed unpublished material in Ghana, UK, and the United States, where he had access to CIA papers. He has written extensively on the Commonwealth and modern Africa, and is the author of a biography of Sir Charles Noble Arden Clarke."e;