While serving as a volunteer nurse for the Union Army in the American Civil War, Louisa May Alcott recorded her experiences in the letters she sent home, later published under this title. They provide a raw and honest account of the reality of battlefield medicine in a conflict that tore her country apart. Her compassionate narrative also highlights the under-appreciated role of women in medicine. This short book marked the beginning of her astonishingly successful career which culminated in the publication of Little Women. Born in November 1832, on her 30th birthday she spent six transformative weeks at the Union Hotel Hospital in Georgetown, Washington DC, 500 miles from home and surrounded by dead, dying and diseased soldiers where twice as many died of disease as from fighting the enemy. Alcott nearly suffered the same fate, contracting typhoid pneumonia and was only saved when her father arrived at the hospital to take her home. He was an abolitionist and her mother a suffragist and their involvement in a number of radical movements meant Louisa and her siblings were surrounded by some of the periods best known writers and thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and she received tuition from Henry David Thoreau. 112 page new full price paperback.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the life of a petty tyrant in an obscure corner of the Ottoman Empire became the stuff of legend. What propelled this cold-blooded archetype of Oriental despotism, grandly known as the Lion of Ioannina and the Balkan Napoleon, into the consciousness of Western rulers and the general public? This book charts the rise of Ali Pasha from Albanian brigand leader to a player in world affairs and, ultimately, to a gruesome end. Ali exploited the internal weakness of the Ottoman Empire to carve out his own de facto state in Albania and Western Greece. Although a ruthless tyrant guilty of cruel atrocities, his lavish court in Yanina (Ioannina) became an attraction to Western travellers, most famously Lord Byron, and his military prowess led Britain, Russia and France to seek his alliance during the Napoleonic Wars. His activities undermined the Sultan's authority and helped bring about the Greek War of Independence. Quentin and Eugenia Russell describe his remarkable life and military career as well as the enigmatic legacy he bequeathed in his homeland both as a nationalist hero and a tyrant, and further afield as inspiration for writers and artists of the Romantic movement. 18 x 24.89cm. 206 pages.

At dawn on 12 August 1944, German SS troops arrived in the isolated Tuscan mountain village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema. On arrival, they proceeded to murder up to 560 Italian civilians in the olive groves and chestnut woods of the small hamlet in a savage reprisal operation. The victims were women, the elderly and over 80 children. One was a baby barely three weeks old. It was the most high-profile massacre committed by the Nazis in Italy and yet, despite three separate war crimes investigations, the Sant'Anna killers escaped justice. 60 years later, 10 of the SS men who were at Sant'Anna were sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia by Italian courts, but they died free men, protected by former SS colleagues working for the new Federal German government. Here is the full story of what happened at from Tuscany to Rome and Germany. Why were the survivors denied justice? With maps, rank structure of Waffen SS, we go back to a time of poor female migrant workers in the Po valley rice fields and the anti-Mussolini's Fascists songs like Bella Ciao. Illus, 288 pages.

History, Organization, and Uniforms. Gabriele Esposito presents a detailed overview of the military history of Colonial North America during its earliest period, from the first colonial settlement in Jamestown to the end of the first continental war fought in the Americas. He follows the development of organization and uniforms not only for the British Colonies of North America but also for the French ones of Canada. Every colonial unit formed by the Europeans in the New World, as well as the regular troops sent to America by Britain and France, is covered in detail, from the early militias of the Thirteen Colonies to the expeditionary forces formed during the War of the Spanish Succession. Great military events like King Philip's War or Bacon's Rebellion are analysed, and the evolution of tactics employed in this theatre are discussed, showing how much warfare was influenced by the terrain and conditions in North America. Dozens of illustrations, including colour art works, show the first military uniforms ever worn in North America, as well as interesting details of weaponry and equipment used. "Good general historical background to these units, their equipment and organisation." Certainly this is a rare topic and great for wargaming and modellers. Many full page colour illus, and line art and photos. 17.78 x 25.15cm, 180 pages.

'He has great gifts as a psychologist and excellent insight into the Continental mind.' In the darkest days of the Second World War, with Europe falling under German occupation in 1935 and Britain facing invasion, a 36-year-old refugee from the Nazis, Louis de Wohl, made a curious offer to British Intelligence. His popular autobiography was filled with name dropping of minor European royalty and Hollywood moguls. Based on the widely-held belief that Hitler's every action was guided by his horoscope, de Wohl claimed he could reveal precisely what advice the Fuhrer's astrologers were giving him. Rather than being dismissed out of hand as a crank, Churchill could see de Wohl's worth for himself. He was subsequently made an army captain and quartered in the Grosvenor House Hotel, from where he passed detailed astrological readings to the War Office and Naval Intelligence, before being transferred to work for the SOE in the United States. Was it possible that senior military and naval intelligence officers could take the ancient and arcane practice of astrology seriously? Was de Wohl genuine or merely a charlatan and imposter? When he began his involvement with MI5 in 1938 and British Intelligence in 1940 he was already a successful practising astrologer to London's 'great and good.' James Parris examines the evidence, including recently released files, and reaches remarkable conclusions about this bizarre aspect of the war. Archive photos, 288 pages.

Sinclair McKay's portrait of Berlin from 1919 forward explores the city's broad human history, from the end of the Great War to the Blockade, rise of the Wall, and beyond. It begins by taking readers back to 1919 when the city emerged from the shadows of the Great War to become an extraordinary by-word for modernity - in art, cinema, architecture, industry, science, and politics. McKay traces the city's history through the rise of Hitler and the Battle for Berlin which ended in the final conquest of the city in 1945. It was a key moment in modern world history, but beyond the global repercussions lay thousands of individual stories of agony. From the countless women who endured nightmare ordeals at the hands of the Soviet soldiers to the teenage boys fitted with steel helmets too big for their heads and guns too big for their hands, McKay thrusts readers into the human cataclysm that tore down the modernity of the streets and reduced what was once the most sophisticated city on earth to ruins. Amid the destruction, a collective instinct was also at work - a determination to restore not just the rhythms of urban life, but also its fierce creativity. In Berlin today, there is a growing and urgent recognition that the testimonies of the housewives, office clerks, factory workers, and exuberant teenagers who witnessed these years of terrifying - and for some, initially exhilarating - transformation should be heard. "The author devoted inordinate amount of details to the fall of the Third Reich and the action Red Army towards Berliners and raced through the years of the Weimar Republic between the construction of the wall till it was torn down. Nevertheless he did mention the American airlift, the Soviet blockade and the atomic research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute." "Dissolution" and "Necropolis," the largest parts of McKay's book, focus on Berlin in 1945, especially April and May, the fall of Berlin and arrival of the dreaded Red Army. The third part "Possession" deals with the GDR and ends with the tear down of the Berlin Wall. McKay believes that "You cannot understand the twentieth century without understanding Berlin." Many rare photos, 16.64 x 24.2 cm, 464 pages.

In three global conflicts and countless colonial campaigns between 1795 and 1945, tens of thousands of black West Indian soldiers fought and died for Britain, first as slave formation the West Indian Regiment, and then as volunteers including African troops. The British West Indies Regiment which served in Europe, the Middle East and Africa during WWI and the 1st Caribbean Infantry which served in Italy and the Middle East during WWII were also part of the British Army rather than colonial formations. All were stepchild units, despised and an embarrassment to an army that was loath to number black soldiers in its ranks and yet unable to do without them; their courage, endurance and loyalty were repaid with prejudice, mistreatment and imperial ingratitude, bigotry and abuse. For many years the West Indies rather than India was the heart of the British Empire. Control of the Caribbean and its riches dominated British colonial policy in the 17th and 18th centuries and Britain fought a long series of wars against France and other European powers for mastery of the islands. Barry Renfrew shines a light on the experiences of these overlooked soldiers who had travelled thousands of miles to serve the empire but were denied recognition in their lifetimes. From British campaigns in the Caribbean to the Second World War, this is a saga of war, bondage, hardship, mutiny, forlorn outposts and remarkable fortitude. Illus, 256 pages.

Many have questioned the decision to write about cooperation between enemies in warfare but far from surreptitiously sanitising the carnage of war or apologising for its injustices this project seeks to humanise it. These valiant and sometimes devastating efforts between enemies to constrain warfare and impose some boundaries order and meaning on what is fundamentally a radical anarchic and lawless activity is a moral philosophy. Drawing on an impressive survey of military history ancient and modern, Eastern and Western, many of the incidents recounted here are moving and inspiring and offer grounds for optimism about the future of warfare. The scholarship is impressively wide-ranging with an eye for anecdote, historical episode and quotation. Despite the strong influence of just war theory in military law and practice, warfare is commonly considered devoid of morality. Yet even in the most horrific of human activities, there is frequent communication and cooperation between enemies. One remarkable example is the Christmas truce - unofficial ceasefires between German and English trenches in December 1914 in which soldiers even mingled in No Man's Land. Yvonne Chiu offers a new understanding of why and how enemies work together to constrain violence in warfare. Chiu argues that what she calls an ethic of cooperation is found in modern warfare to such an extent that it is often taken for granted. The importance of cooperation becomes especially clear when wartime ethics reach a grey area: To whom should the laws of war apply? Who qualifies as a combatant? Should guerrillas or terrorists receive protections? Fundamentally, Chiu shows, the norms of war rely on consensus on the existence and content of the laws of war. In a wide-ranging consideration of pivotal instances of cooperation, Chiu examines weapons bans, treatment of prisoners of war, and the Geneva Conventions, as well as the tensions between the ethic of cooperation and the pillars of just war theory. A significant contribution to military ethics and political philosophy. 352 page paperback.

As elite troops, the German Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) were regularly engaged in front line combat during the Second World War. Their famed actions such as the fighting in Scandinavia, the taking of the Belgian fortress Eden-Emal in May 1940, and the Battle for Crete just a year later, have given them the reputation of being determined, courageous and loyal soldiers. This book continues the pictorial history of the Fallschirmjäger, focusing on the period following the bloody Battle for Crete. Used as elite infantry, first in the USSR and then in Africa, the Fallschirmjäger were able to reconnect with their glorious past, whether in Italy or on the Greek Islands, as they jumped from their Ju 52s to engage the enemy. Their hard fighting in Italy helped to cement the legend of 'the Green Devils', with the British General Harold Alexander describing them as 'tenacious, highly-trained men, hardened by their many actions and combats'. However, during the fighting in Normandy, the Ardennes and on the Eastern Front, the number of veterans decreased, meaning it was the young German paratroopers who finally surrendered the III Reich on 8 May 1945. Chapters cover Reinforcements, Tunisia, Italy 1943, the Aegean Sea 1943, Fighting in the East 1943-44, Italy 1944, the Normandy Invasion 1944, the Netherlands and the Ardennes. Pen and Sword 144 page large very well illustrated paperback.

In 1933, the celebrated German economist Robert Kuczynski and his wife Berta arrived in Britain as refugees from Nazism, followed shortly afterwards by their six children. Jürgen, known to be a leading Communist, was an object of considerable concern to MI5. Ursula, codenamed Sonya, was a colonel in Russia's Red Army who had spied on the Japanese in Manchuria, while MI5 also kept extensive files on her four sisters, Brigitte, Barbara, Sabine and Renate. In Britain, Ursula controlled the spies Klaus Fuchs and Melita Norwood, without whom the Soviet atomic bomb would have been delayed for at least five years. Drawing on newly released files, Family Betrayal reveals the operations of a network at the heart of Soviet intelligence in Britain. Over 70 years of espionage activity the Kuczynskis and their associates gained access to high-ranking officials in the British government, civil service and justice system. For the first time, acclaimed historian David Burke tells the whole story of one of the most accomplished spy rings in history. His chapters include Turning Hitler Eastwards, the Indian Communist Party and the BBC, the Manhattan Project and Bletchley Park, Vansittartism, William Skardon's Interrogation of Ursula, the Greek Civil War and the Haldane Society of Lawyers among them. 292 pages.