Bøker av Frank McLynn

Genghis Khan was by far the greatest conqueror the world has ever known, whose empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to central Europe, including all of China, the Middle East and Russia. So how did an illiterate nomad rise to such colossal power, eclipsing Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon?

A vivid, brutal and enthralling account of the Burma Campaign - one of the most punishing and hard-fought military adventures of World War Two. The Burma Campaign was one of the most punishing and protracted military adventures of World War Two.

Marcus Aurelius is the one great figure of antiquity who still speaks to us today, nearly 2,000 years after his death.

Legend and lore surround the history of kings Richard and John, from the ballads of Robin Hood and the novels of Sir Walter Scott to Hollywood movies. Frank McLynn has returned to the original sources to discover what Richard and John, the warring sons of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, were really like, and how their history measures up to the old legends. With narrative panache and anecdotal detail (The Independent), McLynn explores the truth behind the early folklore tradition, confirming that Richard was everything youd hoped for, and his brother John was the toad youd always suspected.This is history at its besta story well-told, thoroughly researched, unexpectedly revealing, and a rattling good read (Spectator).

The age of discovery was at its peak in the eighteenth century, with heroic adventurers charting the furthest reaches of the globe. Foremost among these explorers was navigator and cartographer Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy.Recent writers have viewed Cook largely through the lens of colonial exploitation, regarding him as a villain and overlooking an important aspect of his identity: his nautical skills. In this authentic, engrossing biography, Frank McLynn reveals Cook's place in history as a brave and brilliant seaman. He shows how the Captain's life was one of struggle--with himself, with institutions, with the environment, with the desire to be remembered--and also one of great success.In Captain Cook, McLynn re-creates the voyages that took the famous navigator from his native England to the outer reaches of the Pacific Ocean. Ultimately, Cook, who began his career as a deckhand, transcended his humble beginnings and triumphed through good fortune, courage, and talent. Although Cook died in a senseless, avoidable conflict with the people of Hawaii, McLynn illustrates that to the men with whom he served, Cook was master of the seas and nothing less than a titan.

The contrast with Britain's European neighbours, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Russia, is dramatic - all have been convulsed by external warfare, revolution and civil war and experienced fundamental change to their ruling elites or social and economic structures.

McLynn provides the first comprehensive view of crime and its consequences in the eighteenth century: why was England notorious for violence? Why did the death penalty prove no deterrent? Was it a crude means of redistributing wealth?

In 1759 - the fourth year of the Seven Years War - the British defeated the French in arduous campaigns in India and the West Indies, in Germany and Canada, and also achieved absolute mastery of the seas.

Anyone who has seen The Lion in Winter will remember the vicious, compelling world of the Plantagenets and readers of the romance of Robin Hood will be familiar with the typecasting of Good King Richard, defending Christendom in the Holy Land, and Bad King John who usurps the kingdom in his absence.

Everyone knows what William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but in recent years is has become customary to assume that the victory was virtually inevitable, given the alleged superiority of Norman military technology.