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Is there a shark movie that is scarier than Jaws? What is the sneaky secret hidden in the Loch Ness monster‿s name? How did the Gill-man in Creature from the Black Lagoon become a romantic hero? Do mermaids count as sea monsters? What terrifying sea creature was discovered to really exist, and just what on earth is a globster?From Kraken to kaiju, Open Water to The Shallows, monsters of the deep have fascinated and horrified us for centuries. There‿s even a name for the fear of deep bodies of water: thalassophobia. Humans have a natural fear of predators in the water, and yet we just can‿t stop thinking about them! There are a lot of deep water monster movies out there; good, bad, strange and ‿so bad it‿s good‿. This book has collected some of the best, worst and most interesting out there to tell you about. If you ever wanted to know your crocodile from your Cthulhu and find out how they make the monsters come alive, whether you like your monsters in the ocean or in lakes, based on real animals or totally made up, with fins or tentacles, one head or five, if you love your movie monsters of the deep then this book was written for you.

_Taylor Swift for Adults_ is a tantalising opening salvo in Swiftology - the study of the work of Taylor Swift. While Swift's private life has been covered to death, her talent as a lyricist has rarely been analysed. Until now. Swifties are well aware that she's a lyricist par excellence but this book makes that case to the unbelievers. Swift's gift as a songwriter is not merely sentimentality and circumstance - and this book takes a deep look at her 10 albums to isolate what makes her a beloved lyricist for millions. Any serious study of a lyricist or poet needs to establish what are the tropes, the patterns, and the style of that artist, and this book does precisely that. With careful attention to poetic detail, the scansion, flow, and form of her writing, this brings out those details that pass by in a flash on the radio, bringing them fully into focus. Many have made the argument that Swift is a gifted lyricist - in online forums and YouTube comments - but this is the first time in writing those arguments have been given shape and serious attention. It's a book aimed at adults but not po-faced bores - taking a subject seriously can also mean laughing at swearwords and sex metaphors. Rather than po-faced and straitened, this is a lightly witty book expressing, at its core, a deep affection for this generation's favourite songwriter.

The personal side of James II and VII has long been obscured by the propaganda storm emanating from the “Glorious Revolutionâ€? of 1688, one of the great founding myths of modern Britain. Justine Brown unveils James the man, teasing out a fresh dimension. The Private Life of James II details the romantic adventures of a true Cavalier‿handsome, courageous, loyal, pleasure-seeking, lusty, determined and soulful. The Stuart “spareâ€? briefly experienced a golden childhood before, aged nine, he was flung headlong into the English Civil Wars of 1642-1649\. After escaping England in disguise, he endured the execution of his adored father, Charles I, and years of exile on the Continent. In 1660 the Duke of York returned to his native land in triumph. He rode into the capital at the right hand of his brother, Charles II. James fully embraced the role of Restoration rake, headed up the Royal Navy, fought the Fire of London with gusto, and was a great patron of theatre, painting, and music. “The darling of the peopleâ€? until his dramatic conversion to Roman Catholicism transformed him into England‿s scapegoat, the heir to the Crown had a turbulent road ahead. Come to understand what truly drove James, and learn about his complex relationships with his children, his two remarkable wives, Anne Hyde and Mary of Modena; his many mistresses, as well as the extraordinary friends and rivals who helped shape the fate of this consequential Stuart monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland.

There has always been a romance around ocean liners, but this book looks behind the romance to show the reality of travelling the oceans of the world. The book starts with the first scheduled transatlantic crossings in the age of sail, then moves on through the development of the steamers and ends in the present day, when ocean liners have given way to airliners. All aspects of the subject are discussed. The experience of travelling by sea varied enormously from the luxury of first-class travel to the often brutal conditions endured by immigrants. Ship design developed in the race between competing companies to provide the most powerful ships. But while technology came into the fundamental design, when it came to décor, for many of the great liners the interiors looked back with a romanticised view of the past. It is not always realised that a great liner might have almost as many crew as passengers, and this looks at all those who kept the ships running, from the black gang in the engine room to the captain on the bridge. The result is a rounded view of what it meant to travel on some of the greatest ships ever built.

Soaring over forest fires, a moonlight New Year‿s Eve flight over the Pennines, bungee-jumping from a paraglider as a birthday celebration, jumping off Mount Everest, or numerous several-hundred-mile flights over open country and on different continents. This book covering many exhilarating and enthralling stories from New Aviation ‿ including paragliding, hang-gliding, paramotoring and micro-lighting ‿ has them all. There is even the story of a pilot using flexwings to teach geese how to migrate ‿ and of a marriage proposal at 500 feet. The challenges explored by the renowned New Aviation expert Brian Milton includes Rich Pfieffer‿s legal charges of assault with a deadly weapon for flying a hang-glider over California‿s Rose Bowl American College Football competition, or Judy Leden‿s balloon drop from 40,000 feet over Jordan, with Israel on one side and Saudi on the other, despite her eyes being frozen shut. Along with this latter story, the author also discusses how women overcame prejudice and scorn to take on the men in the deathly arid wastes of Owens Valley, and the ways in which eagles and vultures ‿ and sometimes crows ‿ reacted violently to humans flying in their air and at their speed. The author describes the return to competitions in which the original British innovators lost their dominant status and how new champions emerged. A chapter is also devoted entirely into the tragedies that have befallen some pilots. This includes a chilling account of the Great Italian Killer Storm of 1989 when six top pilots lost their lives in just one day. As well as relating the dramatic stories about those that died, the author explains why, despite the risks, the New Aviators keep flying. The final story is about the _Beau Ideal_, the great Swiss pilot Didier Favre, ‿Vagabond of the skies‿, who travelled 1,111 kilometres from Monaco to Slovenia. Brian Milton also explains how the ultimate ambitions of the best flyers is to learn how to migrate, using only the power of the wind and the sun. The author concludes this book by exploring what the future might hold for the various forms of New Aviation and those who enjoy the thrills that they create.

In 2022, Volvo Bus UK celebrated fifty years of trading in the UK and Ireland. The first right-hand drive B58 chassis arrived on these shores at the end of 1971\. The double deck front engine Ailsa came in 1973\. Over the next fifty years, the various different models have been upgraded, redesigned, lengthened and fitted with bigger more powerful engines. And now, in 2023, Volvo electric single and double deck models are beginning to appear on UK roads. Volvo Bus is a subsidiary of the Swedish Vehicle builder Volvo AB, with a global presence worldwide. MCV is based in Salheya in Egypt. It was established in 1994 and has the capacity to build up to 6,000 buses and coaches per annum., with up to 5,000 employees. MCV and Volvo are collaborating in the development and building of the electric bus for the UK marketplace.

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery had a dynamic personality that often led to difficulties with political or military superiors but made him an immensely effective leader of men. He identified himself closely with his soldiers whose welfare was his continual concern and whom he treated almost as family. In return, they fought for him magnificently in some of the most important battles of the Second World War. These battles varied in type, terrain and tactics: defended river crossings including that of the Rhine; amphibious landings including the D-Day landings; defensive encounters including Alam Halfa and the Ardennes; mobile operations including the capture of Tripoli, the ‿left hook‿ at the Mareth Line and the dash from the Seine to the Scheldt culminating in the daring attempt to seize the Rhine bridges; ‿set piece‿ conflicts against enemies in prepared positions equipped with often superior weapons including Alamein and Normandy. In addition to describing the battles that made Montgomery the legendary military commander for which he is rightly remembered, this fascinating book examines both his qualities and weaknesses. Notwithstanding the latter, there is no doubt that he fully justified the trust and loyalty that soldiers gave to the man they knew as ‿Monty‿.

For Ireland, the year 1798 saw a major rebellion breaking out against rule from London, a time in which Britain was in its fifth year of a hard-fought war against revolutionary France. Set in motion by the Society of United Irishmen, an underground organisation with links to Paris, the rebellion was eventually crushed by an overwhelming force of arms. In this new, dramatic account, Philip MacDougall shines a light on a little covered aspect of this history: the United Irish plot to capture a number of British warships and the planned use of those vessels in support of the rebellion that broke out in 1798\. The means by which those ships were to be taken, not by direct external attack but by mutinous intrigue directed from on board, is fully explored. While ships blockading the French port of Brest returned to re-victual in Cawsand Bay, with many of the officers on shore leave, it was an ideal time for the plotting of mutinies. United Irishman alongside English and Scottish republicans could safely mix with those on other ships to develop a unified strategy. This book offers a micro study of how the planned mutiny plot developed and was co-ordinated. Personalities, cliques and idealists are seen as taking leading roles, with attention given to the motivating issues that lay behind those risk takers who knew that failure would result in likely hanging from the yardarm. Based on research from the National Archives, contemporary newspaper reports and the detailed hand written minutes of the courts martial held upon those identified as rebel leaders and some of their supporters (containing the actual words of the people of the lower deck) this is a full and balanced account of the plot which, if successful, would have re-written history.

Although Che Guevara was murdered almost sixty years ago, the famous red-and-black image of him is still widely seen around the world: at leftist political demonstrations and, ironically - given his strong opposition to capitalism - on many commercial products. However, he was a controversial figure during his lifetime - and remains so today. On both the political left and the political right, attitudes to him vary widely: while some see him as a romantic, highly-principled and legendary fighter for the world‿s poor and exploited masses, others depict him either as an unrealistic and thus irrelevant adventurer, or even as a ruthless and cold-blooded butcher. Consequently, biographies about him over the decades have ranged from the overly sympathetic, to the extremely hostile. As well as covering aspects of his family life and his loves - and his early, sometimes less-than-revolutionary, attitudes - this biography, as expected, deals with those areas for which Che is best known. These include his adventurous explorations, as a young man on a motorbike, of Latin and Central America; his leadership and bravery during Cuba‿s Revolutionary War; his practical and theoretical contributions to the conduct of guerrilla warfare; and his emergence as an international revolutionary legend who inspired radical young people in the 1960s, and who continues to inspire rebellious people around the world today. However, this biography also explores other aspects of Che‿s life which are not so well-known. From an early age, he developed a keen love of reading, covering an eclectic mix of adventure stories, poetry, history and philosophy - and, from his teens, he began a lifetime habit of making notes on what he read. He also became a strong chess player, able enough to draw with one of the world‿s leading grandmasters. Even during guerrilla campaigns, he managed to maintain those loves. Since his murder, he has emerged as an original contributor to Marxist economics and philosophy. It was his wide-ranging studies that led him to become an outspoken opponent of the ‿orthodox‿ communism followed in the Soviet Union - and of its Cold War foreign policy of ‿peaceful coexistence‿. His tolerance of, and willingness to work with, those having different views saw him accused of Maoism - and even Trotskyism. More accurately, Che has bequeathed the unique strand of revolutionary socialism known as ‿Guevarism‿.

_Daily Life in Victorian Britain_ sheds new light on the most remarkable era in British history. Here is a tapestry of time, unpacked and uncovered from January 1st to December 31st, a rich mosaic of facts, events and tales, exploring the most extraordinary moments of the most extraordinary age. Each day offers a different, vivid and accessible snapshot into our past, intermingling famous or renowned events, with rare, quirky and fun facts. What was the mysterious Sheep panic of 1888? Who was the notorious Spring heeled Jack? Why was William Gladstone run over by a cow? The Victorians transformed British society forever. From the Great Exhibition, to the Industrial Revolution, Dickens and Darwin, Entertainment and Empire, the 19th century was an epoch of momentous political, cultural and social change, charted day by day in this book. With meticulous research and a compelling, gripping narrative, _Daily Life in Victorian Britain_ is essential reading for anyone looking for great stories and absorbing events on every day of the year between 1837-1901\. Written in an accessible, easy flowing format, this can be dipped in and out effortlessly, time and time again. A handy reference guide at your fingertip, this books offers a unique, crafted window into our not-so-distant past, a period which still continues to enrapture, influence and shape British life even today.

Transcribed for the first time from Commissary General Tupper Carey's handwritten journals, this is the second of two volumes which cover the lively career of a Commissary who served throughout the Peninsular war and Waterloo campaign. Written with vivid detail, these journals offer a truly unique window into the life of a Commissary and the campaigns in which he served. Although a civilian and greatly discouraged from putting himself in mortal danger, Tupper was often to be found watching the fighting from some nearby vantage point and often describes the actions he witnessed, particularly where it affected his own charge, whether a battalion, a brigade or even later an entire division. Interspersed with these primary roles, he was often seconded to form supply bases in the rear of the army, or to hastily remove or destroy stores when threatened by enemy advances. He also talks freely about fellow officers, and being a private journal written simply for the eyes of his immediate family, he is not shy in giving his honest opinions of both his subordinates or indeed his superiors. This volume covers the period from the launch of Wellington‿s great advance into Spain in 1813 until the end of the war in 1814, the Waterloo campaign of 1815 and the Army of Occupation in France from 1815 to 1818, when Tupper became arguably the most important Commissary working for the Duke of Wellington.

During the period covered by this new book the Royal Navy faced some of its greatest challenges, both at sea confronting the increasingly capable and impressive Soviet Navy, and on shore when it faced policy crises that threatened the survival of much of the fleet. During this remarkable period, the Navy had rarely been so focussed on a single theatre of war ‿ the Eastern Atlantic ‿ but also rarely so politically vulnerable. The author sets out to analyse shadowing operations and confrontations at sea with Soviet ships and submarines; the Navy‿s role in the enormous NATO and Warsaw Pact naval exercises that acted out potential war scenarios; individual operations from the Falklands and the 1990‿91 Gulf War to the Beira and Armilla patrols; the development of advanced naval technologies to counter Soviet capabilities; policy-making controversies as the three services fought for resources ‿ including the controversial 1981 Nott defence review; and what life was like in the Cold War navy for ratings and officers. The book, the first to cover this subject in depth for more than thirty years, will make use of the full range of archival sources that have been publicly available over the last two decades, but of which little use has been made by historians. This work is destined to become a definitive naval history of the period, and also provide a fascinating and gripping narrative of a navy under threat from many directions but which survived and eventually prospered, winning a remarkable victory in the far South Atlantic more than 7,000 miles from its expected battleground in the North Atlantic. Elegantly written for a wide audience, it will be a very significant volume for professional and enthusiast alike.

Ernest Grimaud de Caux was _The Times_ correspondent in Madrid from 1910 to 1939, encompassing the period of Primo de Rivera‿s Dictatorship, the fall of the monarchy, and the Civil War. With his deep knowledge of Spain‿s history, culture and politics, he was widely respected in his profession and highly valued by _The Times_. _It Happened in France_ covers the immediate post Civil War years, when de Caux was living in France, under German Occupation. It contains a series of so far unpublished essays, written at the time, and recounting his experience of the Occupation, including the flight from Paris under the German advance, daily life in the Southwest, his three weeks in prison after arrest by the Gestapo, reflections on Vichy‿s political leaders, and what today we would call the geopolitics of the time. These essays, accompanied by a biography and personal appreciation of de Caux, constitute a fascinating and intimate account of an important aspect of the Second World War.

The airborne landings on D-Day played a major part in the success of the largest amphibious operation ever mounted. Yet just over three months later Operation _Market Garden_, the largest airborne operation ever attempted, failed to take all its objectives. It is notable, however, that in the film _A Bridge Too Far_ Dirk Bogarde‿s Lieutenant General ‿Boy‿ Browning refers to a large number of cancelled operations since D-Day. What were these operations? Why do we know so little about them? And what can they tell us about Allied airborne planning, and the way that the allies fought, in 1944?As James Daly reveals, plans were considered or drawn-up for a number of ambitious airborne assaults that could have formed part of the Allies‿ efforts to break out of the beachheads. Of these, three, operations _Wastage_, _Tuxedo_ and _Wild Oats_, might well have been part of the fighting in Normandy itself. Operation _Wild Oats_, for example, was to see the 1st Airborne Division help capture Caen in conjunction with the British I Corps and XXX Corps. Three others, operations _Beneficiary_, _Hands Up_ and _Swordhilt_, were to be combined airborne and amphibious descents to seize the vitally important ports of St Malo and Brest, as well as the Quiberon Bay area in southern Brittany. Airborne planning was frenetic and wide ranging during this period. One operation would have seen gliders landing on a beach; another would have seen the airborne troops taking off without maps. Some of them were months in the planning; others were merely an idea that lasted for a matter of days. Far from being standalone airborne operations, all of them were part of a wider strategy and several were major combined operations, effectively small-scale D-Days, complete with seaborne landings. For the first time, this book looks at each of these operations in detail. Using new research and drawing on original planning documents, including maps of planned drop zones and operational areas, most of which have never been published before, James Daly explores a little-known aspect of the Allies‿ landings in France in the summer of 1944.

When the Beatles burst onto the pop scene in 1962, they not only took the music world by storm but they also brought with them a counter culture that was to have far-reaching effects. With their long hair, humour and irreverent attitude towards authority, they were a breath of fresh air to a generation who had grown weary of the greyness of the post-war years. Beatlemania was to unleash a revolution against an outdated age. The 1950s with its oppressive and authoritarian attitudes was ready for change and young people, desperate to escape suburbia with its stifling formality, were set to lead that rebellion. In politics, fashion, education, the arts, religion, television, women‿s rights and universities, the time had come to challenge the old order. And in came the swinging sixties with its more liberal attitudes offering hope of change and a more peaceful and just world. The introduction of the contraceptive pill, legalized abortion, gay rights, easier divorce and the relaxing of censorship were all part of this social revolution. And it wasn‿t just in Britain. The influence of the Beatles reverberated across Europe and, most of all, in America where teenagers not only campaigned against a war in Vietnam but also for civil rights in their own country. This book tells the story of the Sixties and how the Beatles‿ influence had such an impact on British society. It‿s a social history of Britain told by Stephen Kelly who regularly watched the Beatles at the Cavern and experienced first hand the changes that were to take place.

The battle of Byland, on 14 October 1322, was a crucial battle in the Wars of Scottish Independence. This absorbing study from Harry Pearson sheds new light on one of the most overlooked battles in British history. The area of the North York Moors National Park contains some of the most dramatic and scenic landscapes in the North of England, and none more so than the section of the Cleveland Way, which clings to the edge of the escarpment that marks the western boundary of the Hambleton Hills. On a clear day, the entire Vale of Mowbray can be seen. When visiting the area today it is hard to imagine thousands of English and Scottish troops engaged in bitter conflict there. At first light on the morning of October 14th in 1322, the armies of two kings confronted each other over this same ground. The soldiers of King Edward II of England looked down from the heights at a force of several thousand men led by King Robert I 'the Bruce' of Scotland, as they deployed below Sutton Bank in the area around Gormire Lake, with thousands more approaching from the direction of Northallerton to the north-west. Although a daunting sight for the English defenders, they no doubt had confidence in the strength of their seemingly impregnable position. The early morning air would have been thick with the call of shouted orders and war cries and the clamour of the readying of weapons, armour and harness as the Scots drew up into battle-formation, ready to attack up the steep, narrow, and heavily defended pass. Complete with fresh research and over 100 images and maps, this new edition of _Clash of Crowns_ tells the story of the ensuing battle, the dramatic circumstances which brought it about and the impact of the outcome on the history of the British Isles.

_Empire Javelin_ an American-built LSI (Landing Ship, Infantry) in Royal Navy service, played an important role on D-Day. She carried A Company 116th RCT (the famous ‿Bedford‿ Boys‿) across the Channel and her landing craft put them ashore on Dog Green sector as part of the initial assault or ‿suicide wave‿, onto Omaha beach. In telling her story, Philip Kay-Bujak does justice to the contribution of the Royal Navy at Omaha Beach, which has been underappreciated in the past (when directing Saving Private Ryan, Stephen Spielberg notoriously said there was no British involvement). Drawing heavily on first-hand accounts, the author covers the actions of the ship herself and of the landing craft launched from her in great detail. One third of her landing craft were lost in the first wave alone. He also reveals _Empire Javelin‿s_ earlier life, from design and construction, through launch and training. Similarly, he relates her service after that fateful day in June 1944, when she continued to ferry troops across the Channel for several months. The events surrounding her sinking in December 1944, either by U-boat or a mine, while laden with troops, are also fully examined. The author‿s skilful narrative is supported by archive photos, the whole forming a fitting testament to the contribution of _Empire Javelin_ and ships like her, which, though less glamorous than battleships and destroyers, played a vital role in Operation Overlord and the liberation of Europe.

Bill Adlam‿s hair-raising escape from Dunkirk, his dramatic commando raids and his storming the D-Day beaches reads like fiction. But it all happened. Bill escaped the Dunkirk disaster via a bayonet charge into Nazi machine guns. He was presented with the Military Medal ‿for gallantry under fire‿ by King George VI. Later, Bill volunteered for commandos: he thrived on adrenaline. Number 4 Commando took him to a surgical strike in the north of Norway. The stated objective: to destroy oil installations. It was a feint. Ian Fleming of the Secret Intelligence Service had masterminded the raid. Its objective: to help break the Enigma Code. Number 4 Commando then sent him on a raid to Dieppe in August 1942 to spike naval guns to enable a landing by Canadian forces. Bill‿s commanding officer was Lord Lovat: cousin to Ian Fleming and (allegedly) template for the fictional James Bond. Bill‿s prowess as a commando saw him headhunted to a top secret location in the wilds of Scotland. Here he trained others in the dark arts of ‿butcher and bolt‿. On the morning o 6 June 1944, D-Day, Bill passed over the sands of Normandy in minutes. The next two months saw him up against Hitler‿s elite army and Waffen SS divisions. The reader will ask the same question that Bill asked: how would he ever come out alive?

PURCHASED to replace London Transport's ageing RT-type fleet, and also to ease staff shortages by extending one-man operation, the MB-types were not only a disappointment, but an unmitigated disaster! Their successors, the SM-types, were if anything worse, being underpowered as well as equally unsuitable for London operation. In this new volume of his photos, Jim Blake takes a critical look at what were therefore some of the most unsuccessful buses ever operated by London Transport, operating only between 1966 and 1981, most of them however achieving only six or seven years' service - if that. Most of the pictures featured have never been published before and many show rare and unusual scenes, several inside LT's garages and Aldenham Works, now themselves no longer in existence. In addition to the buses themselves, Jim also catches glimpses of London life spanning the period from the "swinging 'sixties" to the harsh first years of the Thatcher regime. The MB and SM family of vehicles also saw service with London Country, the latter being delivered new to them - but they fared just as badly in the outlying countryside around London as in Central London. They brought to a sad end London Transport's long association with A.E.C. buses, and could not have been more different from the legendary, long-lived RT, RF and Routemaster classes produced by that manufacturer!

Sarah Siddons grew up as a member of a family troupe of travelling actors, always poor and often hungry, resorting to foraging for turnips to eat. But before she was 30 she had become a superstar, her fees greater than any actor - male or female - had previously achieved. Her rise was not easy. Her London debut, aged just 20, was a disaster and could have condemned her to poverty and anonymity. But the young actress ‿ already a mother of two - rebuilt her career, returning triumphantly to the capital after years of remorseless provincial touring. She became Britain‿s greatest tragic actress, electrifying audiences with her performances. Her shows were sell-outs. Adored by theatre audiences, writers, artists and the royal family alike, Sarah grasped the importance of her image. She made sure that every leading portrait painter captured her likeness, so that engravings could be sold to her adoring public. In an eighteenth-century world of vicious satire and gossip, she also battled to manage her reputation. Married young, she took constant pains to portray herself as a respectable and happily married woman, even though her marriage did not live up to this ideal. Sarah‿s story is not just about rags to riches; this remarkable woman also redefined the world of theatre and became the first celebrity actress.

ARNHEM-OOSTERBEEK 1944 Then and Now shows and tells the story of the most daring part of operation Market-Garden: the landing of the British 1st Airborne Division west of Arnhem to capture the bridges over the Rhine. The operation did not go according to plan and the British soon had to go on the defensive. After the area around the Arnhem road bridge had completely fallen into German hands, a six-day siege of the remnants of the airborne troops followed in a small area in Oosterbeek.

The Victorian and Edwardian periods saw the development of the steam locomotive in Britain from a comparatively simple machine to a powerful main line express capable of speeds of a hundred miles an hour. The book starts with an introduction dealing with the main lines of development in the north of Britain and that is followed by a picture section with over a hundred photographs. Each illustration has an extended caption giving details of the engine and its history. The material is arranged geographically, with sections dealing with the north of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and a separate section on light railways. The photographs are all of the locomotives in their working days, many showing them in action on both passenger and goods trains. This splendid collection shows the rich diversity of Britain‿s railways and how different companies and their engineers produced engines of great individuality. This is a book that will be enjoyed by all lovers of the golden age of steam railways.

Why do bad things happen to good people? The current battle between superstitious and prejudiced forces from the past, against more enlightened modern ones, began when Winston Churchill was appointed colonial secretary in 1920\. With the defeat of the shadowy Turkish Empire in 1918 by the Allies, he was challenged by three grim forces of menace and coercion: Communism, Fascism, and Islamist Fundamentalism. Each aimed to extinguish every spark of democratic freedom across the Middle East and the West. Since every new generation tends to rearrange the past, today‿s new young generation might want to know how it led to the present situation when subversives undermined democracy from within and without. Churchill‿s Challenges describes how it really was. This book combines a social and cultural history of 1918-1940 with a biography of Winston Churchill, to reveal how he responded to his society at that time, and his impact on it. His own character transformed just as dramatically from the eager and ambitious youth to the shrewd and successful politician he became. This account of the first half of Winston Churchill‿s life will help readers focus on how the world developed as a consequence of his influence in each ministerial position he filled. It discusses how the changes in Churchill came about as a consequence of his experiences of the changing world with all its complexities. His decisions still impact world politics today.

When the Nazis came to power in January 1933, they began a programme of transforming Germany from a democracy into a totalitarian state, but it was not a matter of simply enforcing compliance. The people had to be coaxed into believing in the new regime. Hearts and minds had to be won over and one of the ways the Nazis did that was to create an ideal of German nationhood in which everyone could feel proud. This was especially the case with art, which came to be used as a powerful tool of propaganda both to disseminate the myth amongst the population and indicate to the Nazi administrators the sort of cultural environment they should create. It was not an easy thing to do. While the nation was being re-created as a dynamic, modern, and powerful industrial giant, all the signals coming from Hitler indicated that his own idyllic view of the German nation was of a traditional, rural people deep-rooted in a romantic-mystical aesthetic. Hitler‿s own experience as an artist in Vienna before the First World War had shown that, whilst technically proficient, his work was detached and impersonal. Despite being rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts he continued to see himself as artistically gifted, especially in the field of architecture. This book looks at how the artistic side of Hitler‿s personality dominated Nazi aesthetics and the ways in which the Third Reich manipulated public opinion and advanced its political agenda using the power of art. Despite his early setbacks, Hitler always thought of himself first and foremost an artist. He would frequently break off discussions with diplomats and soldiers to veer off on a lecture about his ideas on art and architecture which had been formed during his time in Vienna. _Nazi Propaganda Through Art and Architecture_ explores how Hitler‿s artistic and architectural vision for Germany led to the monumental structures which we now associate with the Third Reich, alongside the rural idyl he sought to espouse, and how they came to symbolise the re-emergent power of a German nation which would dominate Europe.

The first in-depth study of this innovative cruiser design and the modified classes that followed it.

This book is the first full length biography of Elizabeth Heyrick and it sets her life in the context of the British anti-slavery movement of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

The fascinating story of how a tiny island in the Irish Sea helped shape a global super-company.

This is the first book in a monumental history of one of the most elite units in the German military in WWII.

During the 1,000-year history of the English monarchy there have been eight kings with the name of Henry. The Eight King Henrys of England is the history of the reigns of these sovereign lords.

Describes the narrow gauge railways of Belgian West Flanders and French Flanders before WW1.