A startling, gripping portrait of what it was like to be alive in Britain during the Blitz, and what it was like to be around Winston Churchill. On Winston Churchill's first day as Prime Minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next 12 months, the Nazis would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons and destroying two million homes. In this book, Erik Larson gives a new and brilliantly cinematic account of how Britain's most iconic leader set about unifying the nation at its most vulnerable moment, and teaching 'the art of being fearless.' Set in the shelled streets of London, the book traces the fraught decisions, personal clashes and intimate affairs that defined Churchill's first tempestuous months in power. Larson's deft portraits show the essential connection that words created between the powerful and the powerless, and the reader turns the pages with his gripping prose. There are narrative arcs, heroes, villains and suspense aplenty. Drawing on once-secret intelligence reports and diaries, the bestselling author takes us to Churchill's own chambers, giving a vivid vision of true leadership and perseverance bound a country together. 585pp, paperback.

From the Wars of the Roses and the Earl of Essex losing his head, London turning against Charles I, Wellington and Nelson crossing paths, Russell's despatches from the Crimean War, spies in World War One, women wearing the trousers in industry and services, World War Two and queueing becoming a pastime, weekly allowances, nylons, whiskey, knicker elastic, digging for victory, eating out, bombing casualties, Ian Fleming taking his naval role with zeal, hospitals, the BBC, over five million books destroyed in the Paternoster Row hit, Penguin revolutionising paperbacks, tensions developing between US troops and Londoners, the ATS and the Home Guards, here are stories of mighty battles, heroic deeds and staunch determination in the face of adversity. A rich history of our remarkable capital city in times of war, an absorbing collection of stories and trivia. 142pp, well illus. with line art and photos.

Michael Morpurgo writes about a Brodie helmet, A. L. Kennedy about a Verners Pattern compass, Tracy Chevalier about the Princess Mary Gift Fund Box, and others about a zeppelin bomb, a recruitment poster, a soldier's writing case, sheet music, a wartime butter dish, a Victoria Cross, school magazines and a little French toy soldier. It is a powerful collection of stories by bestselling authors, each inspired by a different object encompassing both world wars, the home front and the trenches, realism and imaginary friends. Morpurgo triggers tears, others write in blank verse, in the rhythm of jazz to relate the experience of a horn player from Harlem and Jim Kay's angular illustrations convey both atmosphere and fact. A big hardback heavyweight publication, 304pp, well illus. Designed for ages 9-12 years or for all interested in military matters. 21.5 x 17cm.

A powerful and moving collection of first person accounts, contributors include a rear gunner who took part in 60 bombing raids, a Jewish woman who played in the orchestra at Auschwitz, a Japanese man who survived Hiroshima, and Sir Nicholas Winton who saved 669 children by setting up the Kindertransport programme from Czechoslovakia. RAF pilots, evacuees, Resistance fighters, land-girls, US Navy sailors all pass on the lessons learned to a new generation. Many of the interviews were conducted by children, and is designed for 9-14 year olds in this award-winning children's newspaper First News series. Presented with striking black and white contemporary photographs reproduced at full page size to really make you feel part of the story. Plus familiar images like Red Army soldiers raising the Soviet flag in Berlin 1945 and American infantrymen in Paris 1944. For all interested in military matters a big tribute in heavyweight softback, 320pp, 17.8 x 23cm. Hundreds of photos.

No country on earth has a higher concentration of churches and castles than Wales. The most famous date from the late 1200s and are rightly associated with Edward I of England who commissioned the construction of what is now often known as the 'Iron Ring' to act as a sign of dominance over the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Assisting Edward was his master mason, James of St George, probably of Crusader pedigree judging by the castles' appearance. It was in 1277 that Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Gwynedd, met with Edward I in Aberconwy to finalise a treaty that would change the fate of both nations. His hand forced by Edward's invasion earlier that year, the acceptance of the terms confirmed not only short-term peace, but also that the rule of Wales would pass to Edward on Llywelyn's death. Both before and simultaneous to William the Conqueror's establishment of timber and stone fortresses in the south and borderlands, a process continued by many of his descendants, native structures also existed. Though often more palatial than protective, such constructions proved decisive to the ongoing wars, and were often chosen as sites for future castles. Many had begun as Roman forts whereas others date from more modern times and many now are romantic ruins, and others cherished family homes, hotels or museums. From blood-soaked heroes to long-lost legends, violent pirates to despotic Marcher lords, the book offers a fresh investigation into 69 castles and an extra Best of the Rest chapter covering another 30 with a paragraph or two each and a further 16 where gatehouses and ruins remain. 246pp, 16 pages of archive photos.
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On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed the German Chancellor of a coalition government by President Hindenburg. Within a few months he had installed a dictatorship, jailing and killing his leftwing opponents, terrorising the rest of the population and driving Jews out of public life. He embarked on a crash programme on militaristic Keynesianism, reviving the economy and achieving full employment through massive public works, vast armaments spending and the cancellations of foreign debts. After the grim years of the Great Depression, Germany seemed to have been reborn as a brutal and determined European power. Over the course of the years from 1933 to 1939, Hitler won over most of the population to his vision of a renewed Reich. In these years of domestic triumph, cunning manoeuvres, pitting neighbouring powers against each other and biding his time, we see Hitler preparing for the moment that would realise his ambition. But what drove Hitler's success was also to be the fatal flaw of his regime: a relentless belief in war as the motor of greatness, a dream of vast conquests in Eastern Europe and an astonishingly fanatical racism. Oxford scholar Frank McDonough charts the rise and fall of the Third Reich under Hitler's hand "like a thrilling Scorsese-directed gangster movie." It takes you through all of the major events of those years; the night of the long knives, the death of Hindenburg, the 1936 Olympics, Kristalllnacht, talks with Neville Chamberlain, and more, as Europe marched, again, into war. The first volume, Triumph, ends after Germany's comprehensive military defeat of Poland in 1939. Lavishly illus, and fine design. 'What makes this volume really stand out is its stylish design and more than 80 coloured photographs' - Military History. 488 pages.

Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, Heydrich, Bormann, Hess - names synonymous with power and influence in the Third Reich. Perhaps less familiar are Carin and Emmy Goering, Magda Goebbels, Margaret Himmler, Lina Heydrich, Gerda Bormann and Ilse Hess. These are the women behind the infamous men - complex individuals with distinctive personalities who were captivated by Hitler and whose everyday lives were governed by Nazi ideology. Throughout the rise and fall of Nazism these women loved and lost, raised families and quarrelled with their husbands and each other, all the while jostling for position with the mighty Führer himself. And yet they have been treated as minor characters, their significance ignored, as if they were unaware of their husband's murderous acts, despite the evidence that was all around them: the stolen art on their walls, the furniture made from human skin and bones stashed in the attic, the slave labour in their homes, and the produce grown in concentration camps on their tables. Births, weddings, funerals were inextricably linked to Nazi ideology. Relationships with family members were terminated abruptly and friendships jettisoned; their behaviour was a factor in the struggles within the Nazi elite. Falling out of favour with the Fuhrer would have serious implications for their husbands' careers. Yet their story offers important insights into the nature of Nazi rule and the psychology of its leaders, providing a fresh perspective on the key events that shaped its rise and fall. While they enjoyed luxury lifestyles they also endured broken marriages, cheating husbands, suicide, assassination, desertion, impoverishment and incarceration, but despite these trials, that commitment to Hitler's cause never wavered. Photos, 288 pages.

Sub-titled 'Previously Unpublished Tales of Derring-do from Pilots and Crew of the Lightning, Phantom and Hunter, Tornado and Other Aircraft'. The Cold War would persist for over 40 years from March 1947 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. In addition to nuclear and conventional military friction between the Eastern and Western blocs, the struggle for dominance involved a remarkable range of activities including the space race, psychological efforts, espionage, even rivalry at sporting functions and technological events. This diversity is reflected in the 20 chapters of this book which opens with a vivid description from the author of survival procedures used by English Electric Lightning pilots in the event of nuclear war. Various contributors share their original experiences on a range of fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft across the world including tales from RAF Germany, the Falklands and the Far East. At least 13 different aircraft are covered and each story demonstrates some of the intriguing circumstances faced by aircrew and ground crew whose tenacity and professionalism had to cope with miscellaneous situations of danger, excitement, risk, pathos and humour. Author Richard Pike became a flight cadet at Cranwell in 1961 and over his 40 year career converted to the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom and he eventually became a civilian helicopter pilot. 192pp, eight pages of colour and black and white photos.

A companion to Jet Provost Boys (code 94793) by the same author, here is definitive history of the basic and counter-insurgent aircraft at home and overseas in this revised edition. It is a complete and long overdue history of the Hunting/BAC Jet Provost and Strikemaster which for 38 years trained generations of pilots and pioneered the RAF's all-through flying training programme. Originally designed and built in 1951 as a private venture by Percival Aircraft in Luton, the Jet Provost became the primary jet-powered training aircraft for the RAF following a series of experimental courses at RAF Hullavington in 1955. By 1957 there was a contract for the production order of 100 T Mk 3s. The Jet Provost even had a display flying team between 1958 and 1976, but was eventually withdrawn from RAF service in September 1993. The development of the BAC 167 Strikemaster in the 1960s saw a light-attack aircraft designed for counter-insurgency operations, and predominantly used by overseas air forces. Adopted by 13 air forces, both types have seen an array of action, from the Dhofar War to operating as close support and counter-insurgency against well-armed, communist-backed guerrillas. Despite some 723 Jet Provost and Strikemaster airframes produced between 1954 and 1983, these aircraft have been overlooked in contrast to other jet types in the same period until now. David Watkins has accessed the archives of the Warton Collection and amassed a range of rare photography to accompany his extraordinary work of narrative and technical detail to satisfy the most avid aviation fans. 21.6 x 25.4cm, 224 large page softback packed with colour and other photos.

'Fifty Extraordinary and Little-Known Vignettes of British and Commonwealth Airmen in Action since 1914'. RAF Navigator Andrew Thomas had a career which was almost exactly bisected by the end of the Cold War and saw operational service in the Balkans, West Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan. He has chosen 50 fascinating cameos of individual actions or incidents across major and minor campaigns and scenarios ranging from the First World War to the present day. They include the RFC's first bombing attack in March 1915, the Zeppelin killer, a schoolboy pilot, the raid on Fort Alexandrovsk May 1919. In World War Two we see an Eritrean adventure, outnumbered over Rangoon, smoking over Dieppe, an Aleutian dogfight, Nuremburg nightmare, and the first sea fire over Japan. Post World War we see Kashmir rocketeers, Mau Mau, Cyprus mare's nest, ambush over Angola, curbing Saddam. We meet World War Two Timor Ace 'Butch' Gordon in his Beaufighter in 1943, Halifaxes over Nuremburg in 1944, to SAAF fighters over Angola in September 1985 and many more in between. 192pp packed with colour and other photos.