Sub-titled 'A History of Those Who Rose to the Occasion and Those Who Didn't' written by a former officer in the Irish Guards. The book includes familiar battlefield heroes like Audie Murphy or 'H' Jones together with less well-known characters like Corporal Graham 'the bravest man at Waterloo', and the young Erwin Rommel decades before he became famous as the 'Desert Fox.' Those bucking the odds have to include Douglas Bader, Britain's flamboyant aircraft ace flying with his artificial legs, George Washington daringly crossing the Delaware, and John Paul Jones challenging the might of the Royal Navy. Joan of Arc was certainly one of those who had the courage of their convictions, while Sergeant York had to overcome his pacifist views in World War One France. There have been few better examples of the constant thread of valour than Joshua Chamberlain, the saviour of the Union position at Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg, Michael Wittmann, the ultimate tank ace, or Albert Jacka, the Australian who many feel deserved not just one but three Victoria Crosses. O'Brien also pays homage to the brilliant codebreakers Alan Turing and Captain Reginald Hall RN, photographic experts such as Constance Babington Smith, and medical pioneers like Napoleon's great surgeon Baron Larrey or 'Weary' Dunlop, Australia's hero of the Kwai railway. All had an influence on warfare as great as any warrior. And those who didn't rise to the occasion? Many were too confident by half like Saddam Hussein who was to lead his country to ruin, the corpulent and boastful Hermann Goering, wrecking the plans of others at Dunkirk and Stalingrad, or even the inexperienced Jack Kennedy during the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Other simply display fatal inattention like France's Constable Charles D'Albret at Agincourt, or General Ledlie at the Battle of the Crater. Flaws and obsessions can wreck the reputations of otherwise great men - Douglas MacArthur in Korea, Napoleon in Russia, Montgomery and Patton, due to their jealous feuding, and even Mark Antony who risked everything for such a non-military notion as love. Worst of all in warfare must be treachery and rank disobedience - Mark Clark vaingloriously capturing Rome instead of trapping the Germans, Lord Sackville refusing to charge at Minden, Mountbatten persisting with his disastrous raid at Dieppe, and Benedict Arnold changing sides to try to hand over West Point, becoming America's symbol of the ultimate traitor. And finally a streak of cruelty with unfeeling generals at the Easter Rising, Amritsar and My Lai. The ultimate judgement for those who received lavish praise or quite the opposite must be left to the reader. 288pp, well illustrated.

Originally warriors mounted on horseback, knights became associated with the concept of chivalry as it was popularised in medieval European literature. They were expected to fight bravely and honourably and be loyal to their lord until death if necessary. Later, chivalry came to encompass activities such as tournaments and hunting, and virtues including justice, charity and faith. The Crusades were instrumental in the development of the code of chivalry, and some crusading orders of knighthoods such as the Knights Templar have become legend. By the 15th century, advances in warfare had rendered knights obsolete, but the 'knight' had survived as an honorary title granted for services to a monarch or country, and remains an icon of popular culture. Chapter headings include 1066 and All That, Kingdom of Heaven, Longshanks, Braveheart, St Crispin's Day, Game of Thrones and Ivanhoe. The historical roots of chivalry lie in a mist-shrouded Teutonic past, sanctioned and effectively annexed by the church. The knighthood provided a core philosophy and set values that, while no means always adhered to, furnished the mystique. This ideology, combined with long years of training and expensive equipment, permitted the mounted knight to maintain his elite and largely unchallenged status as arbiter on the battlefield. Military service was bound into the mesh of feudalism. An intriguing Casemate Short History, 160pp illustrated paperback.

A new examination of Leonardo da Vinci's (1452-1519) ground-breaking anatomical drawings presented by two brothers, one a painter and the other a doctor. They discuss the artistic and scientific significance of these most beautiful and important drawings in the history of Western art. They are chiefly concerned with the skeletal, cardiovascular, muscular and nervous systems and the brothers discuss the impact they had both on art and medical understanding. Stephen looks at them from the artist's point of view, redrawing the occasional detail in the light of contemporary scientific knowledge. Michael provides a physician?s perspective. They find that for Leonardo, drawing constituted a way of thinking that was as fundamental as language, enabling him not only to refine his understanding, but to make imaginative leaps that were frequently but not always correct. These leaps were nothing short of revolutionary. We appreciate the proportions of the leg and foot, the foetus in the womb, the reproductive and abdominal organs, the vertebral column, the cranial nerve, the skull, muscles, bones and joints, the gastrointestinal tract and the bladder and the heart and cardiopulmonary circulation. Superbly reproduced in close up detail in 96 large pages, sepia colour. A Royal Academy of Arts publication, 17 x 23.4cm.

"Dogs have owners, cats have staff." Gone are the days when your cat could expect to prowl the streets at night and come home to a bowl of tinned food. Today's cat is a pampered feline surrounded by luxury products. The author wants her cat, Sushi, to feel she is queen of the palace, kindly entertaining her human as a guest. After traumatic events such as getting her teeth cleaned, Sushi always has a therapy session with the cat psychologist, sometimes receiving medication for depression, though this has led in the past to a 12-paw detox programme. Sushi has her own diamond tiara and a pink rhinestone collar, as well as a number of outfits for special occasions. This big and lavishly illustrated book shows how your cat can be like Sushi, starting with "Fashion and Accessories" in which a range of beautiful felines show off their luxury lifestyle. A long-haired white cat models a gold lame jacket, a hairless Sphinx has a heavy silver collar while another simply wears pearls. A handmade necklace by renowned artisan Dorothy Bower is matched by a Swarovski crystal tiara perched on the head of a cross-looking Persian. A range of boutique toys for cats is showcased here, with mobiles and mazes being pursued by an adorable blue-eyed Siamese. Architecture and Interiors features a top-end range of chairs and sofas made from the finest quality fabrics and fur in styles ranging from Louis Quatorze to Frank Lloyd Wright. When it comes to dining, cats are notoriously fussy, and the range of bowls here includes a signature folding Goyard travelling bowl. A section on Beauty and Wellness features shampooing, acupuncture and cat perfume. 220 pp, colour photos throughout, text in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian. Sources given for featured products. HUGE, 25.4 x 3.18 x 32.39 cm.
Click YouTube icon to see this book come to life on video.

Billed as a 'modern classic of LGBT writing'. Born in 1930, Lillian Faderman is the only child of an uneducated and unmarried Jewish woman who left Latvia to seek a better life in America. Lillian grew up in poverty but fantasised about becoming an actress. When her dreams led to the dangerous, seductive world of the sex trade and sham-marriages in Hollywood of the 50s, she realised she was attracted to women, and that showbiz is as cruel as they say. Desperately seeking to make her life meaningful, she studied at Berkeley, paying her way by working as a pin-up model and burlesque dancer, hiding her lesbian affairs from the outside world. At last she became a brilliant student and a loving partner, a devoted mother, an acclaimed writer and ground-breaking pioneer of gay and lesbian scholarship. She became a very powerful woman in the Californian university system during the 1970s and hers is an amazing story of survival and success. Very graphic in the lesbian experience in parts, this is certainly a woman determined to overcome life's obstacles. 465pp, eight pages of photos including a very curvaceous Lil as Mink Frost in her days as a stripper. Paperback.

A hilarious and true account of one man's struggle with the monthly tide of the books he has bought and the books he has been meaning to read, here is another collection of 14 months? of Nick Hornby essays from the Believer magazine to collect in this series we have acquired. 'Books are, let's face it, better than everything else. If we play cultural Fantasy Boxing League, and made books go 15 rounds in the ring against the best that any other artform had to offer, then books would win pretty much every time. Go on, try it. The Magic Flute v. Middlemarch? Middlemarch in six. The Last Supper v. Crime and Punishment? Fyodor on points. See? I mean, I don't know how scientific this is, but it feels like the novels are walking it. You might get the occasional exception - Blonde on Blonde might mash up 'The Old Curiosity Shop', and every now and then you can get a shock, because that happens in sport, so Back to the Future 3 might land a lucky punch on Rabbit Run - but I'm still backing literature 29 times out of 30.' Discussed in the book is Dickens's retort to minimalism, edible poems, the pros and cons of Salinger, the Dewey Decimal v. Trivial Pursuit system of organising a library, Britons in Los Angeles (indoor and wrapped in cold flannel), Mick Jagger's projected envy of Jonathan Lethem, the phenomenon of forgetting every book you've ever read, the effectiveness of blurbs, the shoddy memories of reappearing heroes, the death of pub culture, and the exact point at which innovations stop looking like mistakes are all included. With excerpts from the works by Chekhov, Tony Hoagland, Dickens, Patrick Hamilton and Charlotte Moore. 144pp, paperback to dip into and collect with the others in the series.

An intimate of the 1960s fashion scene and Fleet Street, Felicity Green never knew who she might be interviewing next - politicians, film stars, the latest pop stars, fashion designers. She was thrilled to be working for the Daily Mirror and she brought a new and original voice and look to the fashion pages of the newspaper. For the first time in newspaper history, she created fashion pages to appeal to both sexes, and the circulation soared to more than five million copies a day. And with all those magical names, which journalist could fail to shine? There was the inimitable Mary Quant, the sheer style genius of Barbara Hulanicki of BIBA fame, the irresistible Twiggy, Kiki Byrne, Foale and Tuffin, Jean Muir, John Bates and Ossie Clark. Felicity sailed happily through all the excitement and her role expanded. Long before her famous Dear Marje column was born, Marje Proops, columnist and agony aunt, had been beloved of the multimillion readers for six years before Felicity came on board as associate editor. Two powerful women, and together they represented the voice of women for The Mirror and got on famously, enjoying being women in a man's newspaper world under the guidance of the brilliant Editorial Director Hugh Cudlipp. There are fantastic cartoons of Felicity by cartoonist Moira Hodell picturing her from the back, and page after page of newsprint features reproduced in facsimile to take us right back to the 60s. Pictured are Her Majesty the Queen, Jackie Kennedy and Liz Taylor all wearing real leopard skin, full length coats, the rarest and best skins of which was the Somali leopard which could cost up to £3,000. 'Cheaper ones cost much less - a few hundred pounds - but who wants a CHEAP status symbol?' And then there are the most famous photographers of the time and their remarkable, classy pictures - David Bailey, Terry Donovan, John Cowan, Brian Duffy, Lewis Morley, John Adriaan and of course Terry O'Neill creating striking, saucy and stylish images bringing visual excitement to The Mirror pages. Here is all the glamour and style capturing the stellar time when London fashion conquered the world, with discussion on bikinis that let the sun shine through, tights to wear with miniskirts, new shapes in bras, the Paris catwalk fashions, a comparison of corset adverts, trouser suits and some crazy fashion statements. It is all fun, entertaining and informative in a big glamorous glossy 192 page history of beauty and fashion. 24.6 x 30.8cm published by the Antique Collectors Club.
Click YouTube icon to see this book come to life on video.

Sub-titled 'Two Years of Reading Begat More Reading', presented in easily digestible, hysterical monthly instalments. This is the final collection of Hornby's monthly column for The Believer magazine about the books he has bought and the books he has read. It begins in August 2006 and the challenges of reading during a World Cup month, knowing too much about the author whose work you are reading, taking seriously bad books, literature's obstruction by sex, his musical preferences, recommendations from Stephen Frears, Orwell on Dickens, good wine and Sartre, the third greatest children's book of the last 70 years, and blank-verse werewolf novels. A companion to Housekeeping vs. The Dirt, 131pp, paperback.

As a founding member of the influential English rock bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole and with a solo career which has lasted for over 40 years, Robert Wyatt has collaborated with artists including Bjork, Brian Eno, Carla Bley, Paul Weller and David Gilmour. His own music remains unclassifiably personal. Alfie Benge is a visual artist, songwriter and pioneering music manager, who has managed Robert's career for over 50 years and is also married to him. Since 1982 they have collaborated on many of Robert's most well-known songs. This unique Faber volume celebrates one of the most enduring creative partnerships of the last half century. Their work is unusual, perceptive, playful, songs that touch your mind and your heart, selected and arranged by the authors themselves and featuring an introduction by Jarvis Cocker. A full presentation of the lyrics, poems, writings and drawings, some of the titles include Dada Was Here, Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road, Pigs, and Vandalusia. The purity and fragility of Robert's singing can lead to the lyrics being overshadowed and finally this is readdressed. Some are fantastically funny like 'Winter of our discotheque' and 'Words take the place of meaning' and some are disturbingly prescient as in Born Again Cretin and NIO (New Information Order). Despite being rendered virtually immobile following his accident, Robert flies in his book so be prepared for lift off. 192pp, illus.

Charles A. Lindbergh's transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in his Ryan monoplane is given the Owners' Workshop Manual treatment in this comprehensive account of the flight, the plane, the context and the personalities. The first non-stop Atlantic crossing had been achieved in 1919 by Alcock and Brown in a Vickers Vimy bomber, winning them a Daily Mail prize of £10,000. This prompted Raymond Orteig to offer a bigger prize for the first flight from New York to Paris, and the race was on. A German airship made a transatlantic flight in 1924, though it did not quality for the prize, and in 1926 Sikorsky pilot Rene Fonck attempted a crossing which ended in tragedy for two of his crew as the overloaded plane crashed on take-off. In the following year Lindbergh finally claimed the prize, only just beating his rival Charles Levine whose Wright Bellanca was grounded by legal wrangles. Several other transatlantic flights quickly followed, including Ruth Elder's attempt which ended in her ditching in the Atlantic, but Lindbergh's is the name that has passed into history. Lindbergh had entered the US Army Air Service aged 22, and in 1926 took a job with the newly formed Air Mail, which entailed navigating at night over poorly marked routes, an experience which stood him in good stead on the transatlantic crossing. In the run-up to the flight, Ryan airlines met Lindbergh's deadline of a 60-day construction period for the Spirit of St Louis, which had a wider wingspan and undercarriage than its prototype. The construction process is illustrated by archive photos and also numerous shots of a reconstructed model. On the flight Lindbergh had to contend with storm clouds cutting off his vision and above all the urge to sleep, but the final touchdown at Le Bourget entered the history books. Lindbergh's later life was complex and tragic, including the sensational murder of his son in 1932. 180pp, numerous photos in black and white and colour, diagrams, maps.