Professor Dudley Buck invented the Cryotron: a tiny super-conducting computer chip that promised ever-smaller computers. An NSA consultant, he had a hand in countless top-secret projects linked to the space race, missiles and super computers. His inventions cleared a path for some of the most consequential developments of the last half century. Brilliant and unassuming, Buck might have benefitted greatly from his efforts had he not died in mysterious circumstances at the age of 32 soon after a visit to his lab by high-profile USSR government scientists. Was this a coincidence? Drawing on recently released papers, the books suggests a far more sinister picture. The sub-title of this highly acclaimed non-fiction book is 'The Strange Death of a Pioneering Cold War Computer Scientist' and the book is an incredibly thorough and fully accessible deep dive into the Cold War battle for computer supremacy. It details the increasingly relevant and increasingly eerie relationship between geopolitics and technology and is an insider's look at the 1950s military-industrial complex and the ease and informality with which academia, the military, intelligence agencies and industry collaborated. 286pp, paperback with photos.

Prize winning very, very funny and popular Dublin writer Mark O'Connell is not concerned himself by the end of days, but sets out to meet them. Are you ready for the end of the world? In the remote mountains of Scotland, in spartan bunkers in South Dakota and in the lush valleys of New Zealand, small groups of determined men and women are getting ready. They are environmentalists who fear the ravages of climate change, billionaire entrepreneurs dreaming of a life on Mars, and right-wing conspiracists yearning for a lost American idyll. One thing unites them - the certainty that we are only years away from the end of civilisation as we know it. Greta Thunberg said, 'I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis... because it is.' We meet all manner of cranks to the details of The Founder's paradox and uneasy fascination with the utopian future imagined by the techno-libertarians of Silicon Valley. Sounds like a strategy board game where you acquire land, rich resources and clean air, away from the chaos and ecological devastation gripping the rest of the world. Utterly fascinating and global in scope. 252pp.

Sub-titled 'How Britain Played the Greater Game From Afghanistan To Africa', much has been written about espionage, secret agents and MI6 missions abroad, but what of the origins of British Intelligence as we know it today? This is the story of intelligence at the height of the British Empire, and the characters that shaped its narrative. Beaver writes with authority and spritely wit about the men who ensured that Victorian Pax Britannica was intelligence-based and intelligence-led and demonstrates convincingly how its gifted operatives influenced and even created imperial policy. He unveils the men who staffed the War Office's Intelligence Division, and above all looks at their tenacity and imagination. He looks at their shrewd observations and analysis of international events which provided the basis for modern military espionage and changed the landscape of the British Empire from India to South Africa. He focusses on the years between the Crimean War and the formation of MI5 and MI6 at the start of the 20th century and charts the Intelligence Division's course from a misunderstood army unit to an elite body, central to the British military. The book is a rollicking adventure into the minds behind the muscles of the British Army, their successes, sacrifices and expertise in weaving a global net of information. 340pp, paperback, photos.

University of Oxford and Professor of History, University of Toronto, Margaret Macmillan's book is based on her 2018 Reith Lectures, The Mark of Cain. Despite the 'long peace' enjoyed by much of the world since 1940, there has been war somewhere in the world every year. Is war an essential part of being human? Macmillan explores the deep links between society and war and the questions they raise. As societies have changed and technologies have developed, we have fought wars differently and often over greater distances and for longer periods of time. In turn, war has brought huge changes to society, for better and worse. Economies, science, technology, medicine, culture - all are instrumental in war and have been shaped by it. Without war we would not have had centralised states, penicillin, radar or rockets. Throughout history, writers, artists, composers and philosophers have been inspired by war and we have tried again and again to limit and even outlaw war, but if we want to understand our own history and create a peaceful world, we must think about war. The writing style is crisp and there is an enviable clarity of thought as Macmillan cogently explains via colourful historical anecdotes how we understand what war means, our emotions, our ideas and capacity for good as well as cruelty. Winner of the Sunday Times Best Book for Autumn 2020. 328pp, colour and other photos.

After 16 years of bloody war, Hannibal Barca is on the verge of defeat. On the plains of Zama, Felix stands in the formidable Roman legions, ready to deliver the decisive blow. Victory will establish Rome as the pre-eminent power in the ancient world. Meanwhile young senator Flaminius is set on becoming one of the Republic's greatest military commanders with his eyes on as-yet-unconquered Macedon and Greece. But in the north of Greece, Philip V of Macedon has his own agenda and is determined to restore his kingdom to its former glory but needs a strong army to help him do it. Young Demetrios dreams of fighting in the Phalanx but is just a poor oarsman. Thirsty, hungry, burnt by the unforgiving Mediterranean sun, dreams are his only sustenance until a chance encounter changes everything. A thrilling novel by the bestselling writer about the Roman invasion of Greece and the heroes of history for fans of Simon Scarrow. 430pp in large softback with useful glossary.

Sub-titled 'What the World War Two Generation can teach us about how we live our lives', the late Her Majesty the Queen once said: 'We will overcome it [and] I hope in the years to come, everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge, and those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any.' The coronavirus pandemic forced the great British people to dig to the very depths of their resolve. It was during this crisis, the gravest the country faced since WW2, that members of the Greatest Generation - Captain Tom Moore, Dame Vera Lynn, the Queen - proved vital reminders of the self-effacing stoicism required in times of emergency - to summon our Blitz Spirit and to Keep Calm and Carry On. 12 qualities including fellowship, courage, integrity, vitality, liberality, ingenuity, self-discipline, duty and humour, the book draws on personal interviews with over 200 WW2 veterans from SAS officers to London firewomen. In Marlow, Buckinghamshire, some local women opened the 'Cosy Corner Club', one of many such organisations to spring up across Britain. It was for mothers and children who had lost their homes in the London Blitz and acted as a happy meeting ground and gave a hearty welcome to any evacuee of whatever nationality, race or religion, especially to those who were feeling lonely and in need of simple, helpful friendship. In this way the books shows how we can improve our individual character and our collective approach to life. 193pp, paperback.

Donaldson returns to the word of his Great God's War fantasy epic as two kingdoms, with their alliance failing, prepare to be challenged by a merciless enemy. It has been 20 years since Prince Bifalt of Belleger discovered the Last Repository and the sorcerous knowledge hidden there and brought peace to the kingdoms of Belleger and Amika. Founded upon the uneasy marriage between Bifalt and Estie, the crown princess of Amika, they now fear a new war is soon to begin. An ancient enemy has discovered the location of the Last Repository. Dark forces are massing and making their way to the library to seize the magical knowledge it guards. That horde will slaughter every man, woman and child in its path to get what it desires and destroy both Belleger and Amika along the way. They must beat the odds and unite their people and fight back against this terrible foe despite the alliance undermined by lingering hostility and old feuds and conspiracies threatening. Parallels will be found in this wonderful style of Donaldson's writing with his Covenant novels. Military scifi at its best, 564pp in huge softback.

Royalty was popular in Barnsley in the early 20th century, and in 1912 King George V and Queen Mary paid a highly successful visit, attracting masses of cheering crowds to the town centre. Featured in the Domesday Book, Barnsley became an important centre in the 13th century when a market was established by Royal Charter, and in later centuries it was a staging post for coaches travelling further north. In 1914 Barnsley's Territorial Army numbered 220 and when war was declared they headed for Rotherham to receive their orders after listening to a patriotic address form Barnsley's Mayor. As the Battle of the Marne commenced, a fundraising concert at the Barnsley Empire raised over £44 for the war effort. At this time only about 30 per cent of the workforce was female, and most were in domestic service, but from the start of hostilities women began to work in a larger range of jobs. In October Mrs W K Peace signalled her willingness to receive a wounded soldier during his recuperation, and soon afterwards a group of about 35 Belgian refugees arrived in the town. At Christmas the Barnsley Union Workhouse, housing 100 women, 144 men and 44 children, received Christmas treats including a threepenny piece for each child. In April 1915 an outbreak of pilfering from local shops was traced back to a gang of children who were put on probation except for one girl who was sent to a reformatory. In October a new Variety Theatre was opened in the presence of the local aristocracy and dignitaries. The town rose to the demands of warfare, but by 1917 women working in jobs such as engineering were being warned they would have to relinquish them to men when the war ended. 198pp, paperback, black and white photos from the Barnsley Chronicle.

The day after war broke out in 1914 a battalion of the Durham Light Infantry set up camp in the city centre, accompanied by the Royal Field Artillery trundling their heavy weaponry. A recruiting drive had begun which was ultimately to see 360 of Durham's young people killed in warfare. When Corporal Bellaby was wounded at Mons in October it made the local news, but by the end of 1914 tens of thousands of soldiers had lost their lives, including members of Durham's mining community. 1914 had been a great year for England's rugby team, and local hero Arthur Dingle, who graduated from Oxford and then returned to teach at his old school in Durham, was a rugby international player. By the end of the war, 11 of the 30 members of the pre-war team had been killed, including Dingle who died at Gallipoli. 1915 saw the death of colourful Durham coal-owner Charles Stewart Vane Tempest Stewart, the 6th Marquess of Londonderry, who had been Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and a Conservative politician. The Durham Light Infantry managed to raise a total of 43 battalions during the whole war, including a "bantam" battalion where the height requirement was reduced to five feet. In 1916 the Mayor of Durham took delivery of a captured German field gun, and although the purpose of the acquisition was unclear, the Dean of Durham Cathedral made a rousing speech. Many aspects of life went on as normal, and in 1917 two men were up before the magistrates charged with spitting on the floor of a train. Women were active in the town's two Voluntary Aid Detachment hospitals during the war, mainly in nursing and catering. 144pp, paperback, photos.

It is the rule of unforeseen circumstances that says that the best intentions can lead to the worst results, and never was this more succinctly played out than when, in attempting to take the moral high ground, in 1908 Great Britain ended its lucrative trade in opium from Imperial India to China. This immediately ushered in a century of organised criminality in which gangs grew spectacularly wealthy on the illegal narcotics trade, something which Gladstone had accurately predicted when arguing against the abolition of the imperial opium trade in Parliament. The world price of opium soared to a new high and a century of lucrative drug smuggling began. The book introduces the reader to a whole new collection of heroes and villains, including US international drug-buster Harry J. Anslinger, Shanghai underworld master criminal Du Yue-sheng, and tough North-West Frontier police chief Lieutenant Colonel Roos-Keppel, nemesis of Afghan criminal gangs. It was the well-established global trade routes of the Empire which made the gangsters' work easy - in a few short years the Empire upon which the sun never set had become the criminal network with the same attribute. Even the greatest symbols of power - the ships of the Royal Navy - were being used to shift drugs between continents, and soon guns too were being smuggled along the trade routes, by people who had no interest in where they ended up. In another twist of irony, having handed this great gift to organised crime Britain then took on the burden of pursuing the purveyors of the evil it had created, with Scotland Yard providing some of the most innovative drugs-busters, many of whom came to a sticky end when they became too successful for the gangsters' liking. 268pp, photos.