One small East African country embodies the battered history of the continent: patronised by colonialists, riven by civil war, confused by Cold War manoeuvring, proud, colorful, with Africa's best espresso and worst rail service. Michela Wrong brilliantly reveals the contradictions and comedy, past and present, of Eritrea.Just as the beat of a butterfly’s wings is said to cause hurricanes on the other side of the world, so the affairs of tiny Er ...
A story of grim comedy amid the apocalypse and a celebration of the sheer indestructibility of the human spirit in a nation run riot: Michela Wrong’s vision of Congo/Zaire during the Mobutu years is incisive, ironic and revelatory.Mr Kurtz, the colonial white master, brought evil to the remote upper reaches of the Congo River. A century after Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ was first published, Michela Wrong revisits the Congo during the turbulent ...
The first heroes of the air.Rewriting the rules of military engagement and changing the course of modern history as a result, the pioneering airmen of the First World War took incredible risks to perform their vital contribution to the war effort.Fighter Heroes of WWI is a narrative history that conveys the perils of early flight, the thrills of being airborne, and the horrors of war in the air at a time when pilots carried little defensive arma ...
The bestselling author of The Endurance reveals the startling truth behind the legend of the Mutiny on the Bounty – the most famous sea story of all time.More than two centuries have passed since Fletcher Christian mutinied against Lt. Bligh on a small armed transport vessel called Bounty. Why the details of this obscure adventure at the end of the world remain vivid and enthralling is as intriguing as the truth behind the legend. Caroline Alexa ...
In this fascinating look at the unique conjuncture of factors surrounding Il Duce’s seizure of power, eminent historian Donald Sassoon traces the political circumstances that sent Italy on a collision course with the most destructive war of the century.On the morning of 30 October 1922, Mussolini arrived in Rome to accept the premiership of a constitutional, conservative government. Within five years, however, his regime would morph into a dicta ...
From the best-selling author of THE DINOSAUR HUNTERS and THE LOST KING OF FRANCE comes the story of how our modern world was forged – in rivets, grease and steam; in blood, sweat and human imagination.The nineteenth century saw the creation of some of the world's most incredible feats of engineering. Deborah Cadbury explores the history behind the epic monuments that spanned the industrial revolution from Brunel's extraordinary Great Eastern, th ...
An authoritative and radical rethinking of the whole of British history before the coming of the Romans, based on remarkable new archaeological finds.So many extraordinary archaeological discoveries (many of them involving the author) have been made in the last thirty years that our whole understanding of British prehistory needs to be updated. So far only the specialists have twigged on to these developments; now, for the first time, Francis Pr ...
The epic true-life story of one of the most notorious maritime disasters of the nineteenth century – and inspiration for ‘Moby-Dick’ – reissued to accompany a major motion picture due for release in December 2015, directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker and Cillian Murphy.When the whaleship Essex set sail from Nantucket in 1819, the unthinkable happened. A mere speck in the vast Pacific ocean – and powerless against ...
‘California Rancher Seeks Agreeable Woman for Purposes of Matrimony… ’Anna O’Malley is desperate to put her impoverished past behind her. Posing as a respectable lady, she becomes a mail-order bride, hoping to find security by marrying a wealthy ranch-owner.When her stagecoach is held up Anna shoots one of the bandits. But the man she wounds is none other than her fiance! His brother – sinfully attractive Daniel Werner – must conceal that fact b ...
