Warfare & Defence

That September 2, 1939, the day of the Spanish exiles' splendid arrival in Chile, the Second World War broke out in Europe. Victor Dalmau is a young doctor when he is caught up in the Spanish Civil War, a tragedy that leaves his life - and the fate of his country - forever change...d. Together with his sister-in-law, the pianist Roser Bruguera, he is forced out of his beloved Barcelona and into exile. When opportunity to seek refuge in Chile arises, they take it, boarding a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda to the promised `long petal of sea and wine and snow' over the seas. There, they find themselves enmeshed in a rich web of characters who come together in love and tragedy over the course of four generations, destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world. A masterful work of historical fiction about hope, exile and belonging, A Long Petal of the Sea is Isabel Allende at the height of her powers.
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A natural leader, Eddie Norman's first experience of action was at El Alamein in 1942 as a platoon commander, and during the Italian campaign he quickly rose to command 25 Battalion. Eddie Norman and 25 Battalion is told by Eddie's daughter Elizabeth Kay using his letters and oth...er writings, 200 images and a series of custom-made maps.
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A major figure behind his nephew Philip's marriage to Queen Elizabeth II and instrumental in the royal family taking the Mountbatten name, Dickie Mountbatten's career included being Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia during World War Two and the last Viceroy of India. On...ce the richest woman in Britain and a playgirl who enjoyed numerous affairs, Edwina Mountbatten emerged from World War Two as a magnetic and talented charity worker loved around the world. From the prize-winning and bestselling historian, Andrew Lownie, comes a nuanced portrayal of two very unusual people and their complex marriage to mark the 40th anniversary of Lord Mountbatten's assassination by the IRA. From British high society and the South of France to the battlefields of Burma and the Viceroy's House, this is a rich and filmic story whose characters include all the key figures of the Second World War. From Churchill and Montgomery to Roosevelt and Eisenhower; the Royal Family, including the Duke of Windsor, George VI, the Queen, Prince Philip and Prince Charles; to Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, Salvador Dali, George Gershwin, Grace Kelly and Merle Oberon. ****************************** Praise for Stalin's Englishman, a Guardian Book of the Year, Times Best Biography of the Year and Mail on Sunday Biography of the Year: 'An abundance of vivid detail... a matchless and splendidly exciting read' Times 'Complicated, revelatory: a superb biography more riveting than a spy novel' Sunday Telegraph
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In August 1765 the East India Company defeated the young Mughal emperor and set up, in his place, a government run by English traders who collected taxes through means of a private army. The creation of this new government marked the moment that the East India Company ceased to b...e a conventional trading company, dealing in silks and spices, and became something much more unusual: an international corporation and an aggressive colonial power. In less than half a century it had trained up a private security force of around 260,000 men - twice the size of the British army - and had subdued an entire subcontinent, conquering Bengal and later the Mughal capital Delhi. The company's reach stretched relentlessly until almost all of India south of Delhi was effectively ruled from a boardroom in London. The Anarchy tells the remarkable story of how one of the world's most magnificent Empires disintegrated and was replaced by a dangerously unregulated company - based thousands of miles overseas and answerable only to shareholders. In his most ambitious and riveting book to date, William Dalrymple tells the story of the East India Company as it has never been told before, unfolding a timely cautionary tale of the first global corporate power - and the violence and corruption that have reverberated across a continent for generations.
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A history of the SAS from the men on the ground