Gør som tusindvis af andre bogelskere
Tilmeld dig nyhedsbrevet og få gode tilbud og inspiration til din næste læsning.
Ved tilmelding accepterer du vores persondatapolitik.Du kan altid afmelde dig igen.
"This book examines the career of the notorious Gen. James Wilkinson, the highest ranking US official ever tried for treason and espionage. Wilkinson's military career began during the Revolutionary War, and he served with nearly every president and major military figure during the first forty years of US history. As he rose to the rank of commanding general of the US Army, Wilkinson betrayed virtually everyone he worked for or with to advance his career and finances. He was a handsomely paid spy for Spain, plotted to have western territories split from the United States, and accepted kickbacks from government contractors. His negligence and greed also caused the largest peacetime disaster in the history of the US Army. This book focuses on Wilkinson as a spy and makes unique contributions with its in depth analysis of how Wilkinson survived his 1811 court-martial trial. Cox concludes that the prosecution deliberately lost the case to ensure Wilkinson's acquittal in order to cover up presidential failures"--
Who said that dictatorship was dead? The world today is full of Strong Men and their imitators. Caesarism is alive and well. Yet in modern times it's become a strangely neglected subject. Ferdinand Mount opens up a fascinating exploration of how and why Caesars seize power and why they fall.There is a comforting illusion shared by historians and political commentators from Fukuyama back to Macaulay, Mill and Marx, that history progresses in a nice straight line towards liberal democracy or socialism, despite the odd hiccup. In reality, every democracy, however sophisticated or stable it may look, has been attacked or actually destroyed by a would-be Caesar, from Ancient Greece to the present day. Marx was wrong. This Caesarism is not an absurd throwback, it is an ever-present danger. There are Big Caesars who set out to achieve total social control and Little Caesars who merely want to run an agreeable kleptocracy without opposition: from Julius Caesar and Oliver Cromwell through Napoleon and Bolivar, to Mussolini, Salazar, De Gaulle and Trump. The saga of Boris Johnson and Brexit frequently crops up in this author's narrative as a vivid, if Lilliputian instance of the same phenomenon. The final part of this book describes how and why would-be Caesars come to grief, from the Gunpowder Plot to Trump's march on the Capitol and the ejection of Boris Johnson by his own MPs, and ends with a defence of the grubby glories of parliamentary politics and a thought-provoking roadmap of the way back to constitutional government.
February 2022, Nora Krug connected with 'K.', a Ukrainian journalist and 'D.', a Russian artist and communicated with each of them individually, condensing their answers into a narrative and then created illustrations for each entry. The personal accounts chronicle the first year of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in an intimate, epistolary format.
Dr John Sweetman has delved into his remarkable archive of material to present an unseen view of the Dambusters, for the historian or general reader, for the very first time.
Told through the eyes of witnesses to the fall of Kabul, Walkley award-winning journalist Andrew Quilty's debut book offers a remarkable record of this historic moment. As night fell on 15 August 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. After a 20-year conflict with the United States, its Western allies and a proxy Afghan government, the Islamic militant group once aligned with al Qaeda was about to bury yet another foreign foe in the graveyard of empires. And for the US, world superpower, this was yet another foreign disaster. As cities and towns fell to the Taliban in rapid succession, Western troops and embassy staff scrambled to flee a country of which its government had lost control. August in Kabul is the story of how America's longest mission came to an abrupt and humiliating end, told through the eyes of Afghans whose lives have been turned upside down: a young woman who harbours dreams of a university education; a presidential staffer who works desperately to hold things together as the government collapses around him; a prisoner in the notorious Bagram Prison who suddenly finds himself free when prison guards abandon their post. Andrew Quilty was one of only a handful of Western journalists who stayed in Kabul as the city fell. This is his first-hand account of those dramatic final days.
Operation Nordwind was the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front.
One of the last great untold stories of the Holocaust, The Survivor is an astonishing account of one man's unbreakable spirit, unshakeable faith, and extraordinary courage in the face of evil.At only sixteen years old, Josef Lewkowicz became a number, prisoner 85314. Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, he and his father were separated from their family and herded to the Kraków-Plaszów concentration camp. Forced to carry out hard labour in brutal conditions, and to live under the constant threat of extreme violence and sudden death, before the war was over Josef would witness the unique horrors of six of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Ebensee.From salt mines to forced marches, summary executions to Amstetten, where prisoners were used as human shields in Allied bombing, Josef lived under the spectre of death for many years. When he was liberated from Ebensee at the end of the war, conditions were amongst the worst witnessed by allied forces.With his freedom, Josef returned home to find that he was the only one left alive in an extended family of 150. Compelled by the need to do something to avenge that loss, he joined the Jewish police while still in a displaced persons' camp, and was recruited as an intelligence officer for the US Army who gave him a team to search for Nazis in hiding.Whilst rounding up SS leaders, he played a critical role in identifying and bringing to justice his greatest tormentor, the Butcher of Plaszow, Amon Göth, played by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List. He then committed his life to helping the orphaned children of the Holocaust rebuild their lives.The Survivor is Josef's extraordinary testimony.
Engaging the Crusades is a series of volumes which offer windows into a newly emerging field of historical study: the memory and legacy of the crusades. Together these volumes examine the reasons behind the enduring resonance of the crusades and present the memory of crusading in the modern period as a productive, exciting, and much needed area of investigation.This volume considers the appearance and use of the crusades in modern games; demonstrating that popular memory of the crusades is intrinsically and mutually linked with the design and play of these games. The essays engage with uses of crusading rhetoric and imagery within a range of genres - including roleplaying, action, strategy, and casual games - and from a variety of theoretical perspectives drawing on gender and race studies, game design and theory, and broader discussions on medievalism. Cumulatively, the authors reveal the complex position of the crusades within digital games, highlight the impact of these games on popular understanding of the crusades, and underline the connection between the portrayal of the crusades in digital games and academic crusade historiography.Playing the Crusades is invaluable for scholars and students interested in the crusades, popular representations of the crusades, historical games, and collective memory.
This definitive encyclopedia, originally published in 1983 and now available as an ebook for the first time, covers the American Revolution, comes in two volumes and contains 865 entries on the war for American independence.
Examines Eighth Army's 1,000-strong tank force - rebuilt, reorganized, and equipped with brand-new Sherman and Churchill tanks - that secured victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein.When Eighth Army retired into the defensive line at El Alamein on 30 June 1942, it was tired, dispirited and had lost almost all its tanks during a string of defeats at Gazala, Tobruk and Mersa Matruh. After savage defensive fighting at First Alamein, the reinforced Desert Rats defeated Rommel's last offensive in a tank-to-tank clash at Alam Halfa in September. The next month, a completely rebuilt and reorganized Eighth Army, equipped with over 1,000 tanks including the American M4 Sherman, launched the offensive that would finally drive Rommel out of Africa.Montgomery shaped the Eighth Army according to his own military ideas, and on 23 October was able to attack the Axis defenses with the largest force of armoured divisions in its history, with the 1st, 8th and 10th united in a new 'corps de chasse' intended to defeat the Afrika Korps at its own game, and the 7th and two infantry support tank brigades assigned to support the XXX and XIII Corps. With the exception of the A9, 10 and 13 cruisers of 1940-41, as the offensive began, the Eighth Army contained every type of tank employed during the North Africa campaign.Using detailed illustrations of the tanks involved with an analysis of the tactics employed for battle, this is a focused examination of the tank forces that won the Second Battle of El Alamein - the most famous British Army victory of World War II, and one of the turning points of the war.
Fully illustrated, this enthralling study explores how the Vandals in North Africa attempted to defend their kingdom against the resurgent Byzantine Empire during 533-36.In AD 533, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I launched the first of his campaigns to reconquer the Western Roman Empire. This effort began in North Africa (modern Algeria and Tunisia), targeting the Vandal kingdom established there a century earlier, which also included Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands. Featuring full-colour artwork and mapping alongside carefully chosen archive illustrations, this book shows how the Byzantine general Belisarius established his formidable reputation in the lightning-fast campaign that ensued, exploring the origins, tactics and reputation of the two sides' forces as they fought for control of North Africa.The landing of Belisarius' forces took the Vandal king, Gelimer, completely by surprise; in September 533 the two sides met in battle near Carthage in an encounter known to posterity as Ad Decimum, with Gelimer ambitiously attempting to trap Belisarius' forces as they advanced. In December, the two sides fought again in a momentous clash at Tricamarum, where the fate of Gelimer's regime would be determined. A third battle ensued in 536, when the rebel Stotzas' Byzantine and Vandal troops confronted Belisarius' forces, the outcome sealing the Byzantine general's standing as the foremost soldier of his age.Featuring specially commissioned artwork and mapping alongside archive illustrations and photographs, this vivid account compares and assesses the two sides' fighting men as they vied for supremacy in North Africa.
A fascinating exploration of the dramatic battles and Allied operations to wrest back control of Burma (Myanmar) from the Japanese.The Allied reconquest of Burma was not part of Allied Grand Strategy in 1944 and 1945. It happened despite it - in particular, because of the dramatic failure of the Japanese invasion of India (Operation U-Go), which ended ignominiously for the Japanese Empire in August 1944. The reconquest was one of the longest campaigns of World War II. It comprised 11 distinct battles and offensives that were part of the overall continuum of operations that resulted in the Allied victory.Written by a foremost expert on the British Army in World War II, this superbly illustrated work details the Allied operations to retake Burma from Japanese control. Accounts of Operation Capital, the capture of Meiktila and Mandalay, the Allied advance in the Arakan, the race for Rangoon, Operation Dracula, the Battle of the Sittang Bend and Japanese breakout operations across the Pegu Yomas are supported by easy to follow 2D maps and 3D diagrams. Among the events brought to life in vivid battlescene artworks are an SOE-led ambush in Operation Character, and the famous Defence of Hill 170 in the Arakan.
'Vivid. Shocking. [Miller] brings a seasoned, personal perspective to his account of both the 16-month conflict and its wider roots.'Daily Telegraph'A beautiful blend of memoir, reportage and history...superb.'Irish TimesA breathtaking exploration of Ukraine's past, present, and future, and a heartbreaking account of the war against Russia, written by the leading journalist of the conflict.When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine just before dawn on 24 February 2022, it marked his latest and most overt attempt to brutally conquer the country, and reshaped the world order. Christopher Miller, the Ukraine correspondent for the Financial Times and the foremost journalist covering the country, was there on the ground when the first Russian missiles struck and troops stormed over the border. But the seeds of Russia's war against Ukraine and the West were sown more than a decade earlier.This is the definitive, inside story of its long fight for freedom. Told through Miller's personal experiences, vivid front-line dispatches and illuminating interviews with unforgettable characters, The War Came To Us takes readers on a riveting journey through the key locales and pivotal events of Ukraine's modern history. From the coal-dusted, sunflower-covered steppe of the Donbas in the far east to the heart of the Euromaidan revolution camp in Kyiv; from the Black Sea shores of Crimea, where Russian troops stealthily annexed Ukraine's peninsula, to the bloody battlefields where Cossacks roamed before the Kremlin's warlords ruled with iron fists; and through the horror and destruction wrought by Russian forces in Bucha, Bakhmut, Mariupol, and beyond.With candor, wit and sensitivity, Miller captures Ukraine in all its glory: vast, defiant, resilient, and full of wonder. A breathtaking narrative that is at times both poignant and inspiring, The War Came To Us is the story of an American who fell in love with a foreign place and its people - and witnessed them do extraordinary things to escape the long shadow of their former imperial ruler and preserve their independence.
New York Times Editors' ChoiceWinner of the Bancroft PrizeWinner of the Francis Parkman Prize Winner of the Gotham Book PrizeWinner of the New York Society Library's New York City Book AwardJournal of the American Revolution Book of the YearWinner of the David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Legal History Winner of the James Bradford Best Biography PrizeA riveting Revolutionary Era drama of the first published rape trial in American history and its long, shattering aftermath, revealing how much has changed over two centuries-and how much has notOn a moonless night in the summer of 1793 a crime was committed in the back room of a New York brothel-the kind of crime that even victims usually kept secret. Instead, seventeen-year-old seamstress Lanah Sawyer did what virtually no one in US history had done before: she charged a gentleman with rape. Her accusation sparked a raw courtroom drama and a relentless struggle for vindication that threatened both Lanah's and her assailant's lives. The trial exposed a predatory sexual underworld, sparked riots in the streets, and ignited a vigorous debate about class privilege and sexual double standards. The ongoing conflict attracted the nation's top lawyers, including Alexander Hamilton, and shaped the development of American law. The crime and its consequences became a kind of parable about the power of seduction and the limits of justice. Eventually, Lanah Sawyer did succeed in holding her assailant accountable-but at a terrible cost to herself.Based on rigorous historical detective work, this book takes us from a chance encounter in the street into the sanctuaries of the city's elite, the shadows of its brothels, and the despair of its debtors' prison. The Sewing Girl's Tale shows that if our laws and our culture were changed by a persistent young woman and the power of words two hundred years ago, they can be changed again.Includes photographs
Tag med på en rejse fra Sovjetimperiets sidste dage, over det nye Ruslands fødsel, til den demokratiske genrejsning i 1990’erne. Dengang var landet omgærdet af så mange store forhåbninger, som dog hurtigt blev erstattet af en militaristisk og imperialistisk dagsorden, der udmøntede sig i en hævnlyst, som med årene er blevet selve drivkraften for Vladimir Putin.Med fokus på en broget skare af personligheder går bogen bag kulisserne i det politiske liv i Moskva, i Ruslands store virksomheder, i militæret og den hemmelige tjeneste, blandt mediefolk og spindoktorer. Centralt står spørgsmålet: Hvordan kunne det ske? Hvordan kunne et land, der med flyvende faner bevægede sig væk fra statsdiktat og stormagtsekspansionisme, havne i en situation, der på mange punkter er værre og mere udsigtsløs end dengang? Mange faktorer spiller ind – historiske, socialpsykologiske, kommercielle, menneskelige. Det er denne komplekse, historiske udvikling bogen beskriver i en række skæbnefortællinger, der til sammen udgør den store historie om det moderne Ruslands vej mod katastrofen.
Without the fundamental necessity of peace, we cannot possibly understand the greater things of life. With his signature insight and wisdom, world renowned thinker J. Krishnamurti offers a timely manifesto on the roots of conflict. In a series of six prescient talks, he reveals how changing our own behaviours to nurture a more peaceful mindset can create positive change for the wider world.
This book provides a fascinating exploration of the Japanese conquest of Burma, as the Allied forces were forced back in disarray to India and China.The Japanese invasion of Burma in January 1942 marked the beginning of the single longest campaign of World War II. In the Burmese jungles, the battle-hardened, highly trained and lightly equipped Imperial Japanese Army quickly proved itself a vastly superior fighting force in clashes against the British, Indian and Gurkha troops that formed Burma Army and Chinese nationalist forces deployed in eastern Burma. This superbly illustrated book narrates Burma Corps' epic fighting retreat northwards, carried out mostly in contact with the enemy and across hundreds of miles of highly malarial and extremely difficult terrain, to safety in India. Among the battles covered are the disaster at the Sittang Bridge on 22 February 1942 (where 17th Indian Division was all but destroyed), the fall of Rangoon in March 1942 and the clashes at Yenangyaung, Monywa and Shwegyin. The performance of the opposing commanders and forces is also examined in detail, highlighting the success of Japanese aggressive light infantry tactics, which ruthlessly exploited the cover and concealment provided by the jungle to outflank, bypass and encircle their bewildered enemy.
Tilmeld dig nyhedsbrevet og få gode tilbud og inspiration til din næste læsning.
Ved tilmelding accepterer du vores persondatapolitik.