Sub-titled 'True Tales from the Operators of the Jet Provost and Strikemaster', the book is written with all the know-how of an ex-RAF officer. As a versatile and undemanding aircraft, the Jet Provost established itself as the basic trainer for the RAF from the late 1950s until its retirement in September 1993. This magnificent flying machine is explored through the vivid memories of former air crew from the RAF and foreign air forces. The aircraft had relative success within the civilian and military display flying circuit in the 1960s and 70s. It was also part of the prestige Golden Eagle Flight at RAF Cranwell which taught the then Prince of Wales how to fly. When the Mk.5 model became the BAC 167 Strikemaster after some modifications, it assumed a counter-insurgency and light-attack role and allowed it to be sold to air forces including Ceylon, Nigeria, New Zealand, Sudan and Venezuela where it played an effective role in many border disputes and internal warfare. It was crucial to the Sultan of Oman Air Force during the Dhofar War. The book includes a foreword by Squadron Leader Terry Lloyd who was leader of the 1964-65 Red Pelicans display team and is one of the 'Boys' series not to be missed for all aviation fans. 176 large pages, packed with colour and other photos and advertising.

The Fall of Acre in 1291, which was then by far the most important remaining vestige of the Crusader lands of Outremer, was the apocalyptic conclusion of two centuries of intervention in the Levant by the Christian states of Western Europe. It was a harrowing finale and one is made aware of the sense of terror of thousands of its citizens. Those with money purchased an over-inflated ticked to freedom on one of the last ships to leave the port. In the early Middle Ages the Christian presence in the Middle East took a series of blows from often superior Muslim forces, only for a fresh wave of Crusaders to regain territory. But the Fall of Acre finally brought dreams of a Christian Holy Land crashing down. The city had first been captured by under Richard the Lionheart in 1189-91. The aftermath was a horrific massacre of 3,000 Muslim prisoners on Richard's orders, which contrasted vividly with the peaceable capture of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187. Three quarters of a century later the Mamluk sultan Baybars had assumed Saladin's mantle. He was a powerful statesman who had turned back the Mongol tide that threatened to deluge Asia and Egypt, the mainstay of Muslim power. He was also utterly ruthless, conquering Crusader towns and castles with terrifying persistence. Eventually just a few towns were left, most crucially Acre, the Christians' capital since Jerusalem had been lost. Then Baybars suddenly died in what seemed like divine intervention, but in this chance for peace, visitors from Europe assaulted Muslim traders and the sultanate in Cairo reacted with force. In the harsh siege that followed, Templars and Hospitallers fought alongside secular knights in a frantic last stand, but the Muslim forces broke in and unleashed a reign of terror. As Venetian sea captains negotiated with the highest bidder to ship Christian refugees to safety, thousands were killed or taken into slavery in reprisal for the historic massacres of Muslims in Jerusalem in 1099 and Acre in 1191. The Crusaders' centuries-old campaign to unite Christendom around Jerusalem would never recover. But the storyline is far more than religion gone wrong - it is also a tale of political intrigue and miscalculation, of military brilliance and incompetence. It is an epic of emerging great powers of Mongols and Mamluks, a conniving and scheming commercial rivals from Genoa, Venice and Pisa, of unscrupulous Holy Roman Emperors, Popes seeking to expand their powers, and scheming Angevin princes. With all the plot twists of a novel, this is exciting history. 320pp, 16 pages of colour photos.

Mark Lause's investigation of the link between mass conscription, war and revolution is timely. Many of the classic revolutions and vast movements of social reforms on which the 21st century Left can base its reflection involve soldiers and ex-soldiers - the Paris Commune of course, but also the Russian, German and Chinese revolutions, the rise of social states around 1945 in Britain, France and even the US around the GI Bill. His book outlines the essential preconditions for this largest armed working-class uprising of its day, the Paris Commune of 1871. Behind this event are less well-defined rebellions of 1848-49, which not only generated new revolutionary ideas associated with figures such as Marx, Blanqui and Bakunin, but also inspired revolutionary cadres, individuals and networks willing to take up arms against state power. Lause explores how the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 left legions of people, in and out of uniform, ready to act, whether as German social democrats or French insurgents for commune self-government. The republicanism that crushed the Commune also marked the practical triumph of blood and iron over an old utopian faith that reason and moral persuasion could resolve social tensions. Lause makes the case that wars among nations recruited and trained soldiers of revolution are essential to resist the armed might of a murderous old order. We read in detail about the discontent amongst radicalised soldiers and civilians pressed into armed service on behalf of institutions they learned to mistrust. The Commune's subsequent repression not only butchered the tens of thousands of Parisians but slaughtered the old utopian faith. Lause is a Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati and born into a family of trade unionists. 288pp.

While battles such as Spartolus (429BC) and Solygeia (425BC) are important to our understanding of battle tactics, the sources do not allow for a thorough reconstruction like they can for Delium (424BC) or Leuctra (371BC). Most controversially, the author has chosen to leave out the Battle of Thermopylae (480BC) because although it is an amazing story of human endurance and military efficiency, 'tactically it is very boring.' The battles chosen follow a simple chronology of classical Greek warfare starting with the Peloponnesian War, which was the first fully reported conflict that pitched hoplite against hoplite. Greek sieges were varied and at times experimental, a ferocious battle for survival that included women and children amongst its participants. The placement of the battles of Marathon and Plataea at the beginning of the book about hoplite-based warfare begins with an anomaly of Greek military action. What is clear is that the Greeks did not fight the Persians in the same manner in which they fought each other. Three Persian battles have been chosen based upon the unique situations as they arose. Each battle is set in context with background, battlefield and opposing forces discussed and the aftermath of the engagements and strategic implications for both the victors and the defeated. The text is supported by dozens of tactical diagrams showing the deployment of troops and various phases of each battle. 17 battles chosen by the independent-minded historian. 284pp, a Pen & Sword publication. Illus.

A remarkable gallery of artworks, presented on big glossy white pages, all in original line art, charcoal and pencil drawings, the books showcases the work of contemporary combat artists and illustrators from the Great War era. It is a vivid graphic record of life and death on the high seas from the outbreak of the war just prior to the Battle of Jutland as reported to contemporary audiences while the events were still unfolding. There is a heart wrenchingly tragic image of rescue work after the disappearance of the Lusitania, with drowning and drowned casualties being hauled from the water into small rescue boats by sailors; a Zeppelin holding up a merchant vessel in the North Sea in a dramatic image, the sinking of the Turkish battleship Messudiyeh by submarine B11, a captioned diagram of the enemy destroyer sank at the mouth of the Ems River, a pen and ink portrait of the First Lord (Churchill with his two highest executive Officers), the famous exploit of Commander Cecil H. Fox who sent four German destroyers to the bottom, his men standing alongside their huge guns, watching the vessels flounder; upturned vessels and propellers, Britain's deadly mosquitos of the ocean, throwing overboard all inflammable luxuries when a battleship is cleared for action, mine layers at work and an amazing drawing giving a splendid idea of the hugeness of provisioning a warship with 120lbs of cake, six cases of sardines, 36 cooked hams and 270 dozen fresh eggs among the cargo. Here is a remarkable double page spread of the painting Gassed by John Singer Sargeant with many blinded casualties and 1st Artist Rifles by Paul Nash. Hundreds of images, 128 page softback, 8" x 10".

The centre of Britain's codebreaking operation was located at Bletchley Park where a hastily assembled army of codebreakers battled to decipher Germany's secret wartime communications. A motley collection of linguists, mathematicians and crossword enthusiasts pitted their combined wits against the 'unbreakable' naval Enigma codes and Lorenz ciphers used by Hitler and the German High Command. They deciphered high-level signals intelligence disseminated to military commanders was known as Ultra, and had a major influence on the outcome of the war and success in the battle for the Atlantic. British interest in codes and ciphers stretches back to the court of Elizabeth I and her spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham. The book traces the history of the school established by him in the 1570s to the work of the Secret Office of the Post Office in the 18th century to the creation of the Government Code and Cipher School in 1919. The exploits of the two World Wars form a major aspect of the story and include the achievements of the Admiralty's Room 40 and the infamous Zimmermann Telegram, the contribution made by Alan Turing and his ground-breaking work into computing, and a brief overview of post-war developments and the importance of signals intelligence in the Cold War. 132 page extra large softback, many illus.

This fascinating and nostalgic book is based on the letters of six prolific correspondents in the war years. Three of them were famous members of the London scene: Noel Coward, Cecil Beaton and Freya Stark, while the other three were ordinary servicemen: First Officer Tommy Davies, medical student Donald Macdonald, and the author's father, Jack Knott, who was called up to the Royal Air Force. The book partly chronicles the author's search for his elusive father's identity. Freya Stark, fluent in at least seven languages, was an acclaimed travel writer on the outbreak of war. An eccentric who had already travelled round the Lebanon, she was appointed as the Ministry of Information's "South Arab expert" and dispatched to Egypt. Tommy Davies had served on 20 different ships by the time war broke out and wrote constantly and lovingly to his wife Dorrie. His ship the Atlantis was transformed into a hospital vessel and set sail for the eastern Mediterranean. Noel Coward was a well-known entertainer who immediately set off on a tour of the European capitals, but meanwhile he had also been recruited as an agent reporting back on the morale he found among his audiences, and this led to his being constantly tailed round by suspicious local counter-espionage operatives. Cecil Beaton was a celebrated society photographer, initially assigned to an air-raid precautions role but soon dispatched with his camera to Cairo. Donald Macdonald also headed for Cairo on graduation as a doctor. Jack Knott was in Egypt too, and like all three famous writers passed through Habbaniya RAF base in Iraq. A superbly told account of six lives sharing similar experiences from very different perspectives. 15.2 x 23.6cm, 254pp, black and white photos.