Sub-titled 'How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I', the book explores the birth of a world-changing idea in the middle of a bloodbath. It is a riveting exploration of the beauty of scientific creativity and the enduring horrors of human nature - two great forces battling in a story, the mind-bending theory of general relativity. The Great War was industrialised slaughter that bled Europe from 1914-18 and shaped Einstein's life and work. While he never held a rifle, he formulated general relativity while blockaded in Berlin, literally starving. He lost 50 pounds in weight in three months, unable to communicate with his most important colleagues, some of whom fought against rabid nationalism. Others were busy inventing chemical warfare. Being a scientist trapped a person in the powerplays of empire. Meanwhile, Einstein struggled to craft relativity and persuade the world that it was correct. This was after all the first complete revision of our conception of the Universe since Isaac Newton's, and its victory was far from certain. Scientists seeking to confirm Einstein's ideas were arrested as spies. Technical journals were banned as enemy propaganda. Colleagues died in the trenches. Einstein was separated from his most crucial ally by barbed wire and U-boats. This ally was the Quaker astronomer and Cambridge don A. S. Eddington, who would go on to convince the world of the truth of relativity and of the greatness of Einstein. Eddington in May 1919 led a globe-spanning expedition to catch a fleeting solar eclipse for a rare opportunity to confirm Einstein's bold prediction that light has weight. It was as a result of this that the proof of relativity as many saw it put Einstein on front pages around the world. This is an epic tale and celebration of how bigotry and nationalism can be defeated, and of what science can offer when they are. This moving and beautifully written account captures the heady thrills and the crushing setbacks amid the divided line that World War One had drawn across Europe. 390pp, illus.

'A deft blend of historical research, moving interviews and challenging psychological insights, Lowe writes with elegance and perception.' - Jonathan Dimbleby. The fruit of five years labour, Lowe dissects the impact of the Second World War on society, politics, urban planning and more besides. The war created new philosophies, new ways of living, new architecture - this was the era of Le Corbusier, Simone de Beauvoir and Chairman Mao. But amid the waves of revolution and idealism there are also fears of globalisation, a dread of the atom bomb, and an unexpressed longing for a past forever gone. WWII was one of the most catastrophic events in human history, but how did the experience and memory of bloodshed - and bonding - affect the modern world? How did fears of violence, dreams of equality, and craving for freedom and belonging affect the world, countries and communities we live in today? The book describes and analyses a period of unprecedented geopolitical, social and economic change. The new order as it emerged after 1945 saw the collapse of European colonialism and the birth of two new superpowers - the USA and the Soviet Union - in a new, global Cold War. Scientists delivered new technologies beginning the nuclear age. Politicians fanaticised about overhauled societies. Some argued for global government, others for independence. Living standards were altered dramatically. It was a time of both terror and wonder which resonates in the arguments about nationalism, immigration and globalisation that exist today. Chapters include Planned Utopias, Equality and Diversity, Freedom and Belonging, The Birth of An Asian Nation, An African Nation, Democracy in Latin America and Israel. 561pp, 45 illustrations and 17 colour plates. Maps on endpapers.

The remarkable story of the Spanish Civil War as seen through the eyes of the reporters, writers, artists, doctors and nurses who witnessed it. The War (1936-39) inspired and haunted an extraordinary number of exceptional artists and writers including Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Martha Gellhorn, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell and John Dos Passos. The idealism of the cause, defending democracy from Fascism at a time when Europe was darkening towards another World War, and the brutality of the conflict drew from them some of their best work - Guernica, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Homage to Catalonia, The Spanish Earth. The war spurred breakthroughs in military and medical technology as well - new aircraft, weapons, tactics and strategy all emerged. Indiscriminate destruction, raining from the sky, became a dreaded reality for the first time. Progress also arose from the horror - the doctors and nurses who volunteered to serve with the Spanish defenders devised major advances in battlefield surgery and frontline blood transfusion. In many ways the war served as a test bed for World War Two and for the entire 20th century. From the life of John James Audubon to the invention of the atomic bomb, readers have relied on Richard Rhodes to distil and dramatize crucial moments in history. Now he takes us into the battlefields and bomb shelters, into the studios of artists, the crowded wards of war hospitals and into the hearts and minds of a rich cast of characters to show how the ideological, aesthetic and technological developments that emerged in Spain changed the world for ever. 16 pages of plates, 302pp.

Sub-titled 'The Beer Hall Putsch and the Rise of Nazi Germany', this has been described as 'The definitive book on the Hitler trial in English, German or any language.' The book tells the true story of the monumental criminal proceedings that thrust Hitler into the limelight after the failed Beer Hall Putsch and which provided him with an unprecedented stage for his demagoguery, and set him on his improbable path to power. Reporters from as far away as Argentina and Australia flocked to Munich for the sensational, four-week spectacle. It was 26th February 1924, the first day of the anticipated high treason trial that would mesmerise the country. The defendant, Adolf Hitler, wore a black suit with an Iron Cross First Class and an Iron Cross Second Class pinned to his jacket, his hair slicked to the left and his moustache clipped short and square, standing five foot nine and tipping the scales at 170lbs looking small and insignificant. On the way to his seat in the front, he stopped to kiss the hands of a few women in the audience. On the eve of the trial Hitler was a minor, if ambitious, local party leader idolised by a relatively small number of supporters. His name was still sometimes misspelt in the international press, but all that was to change. Since he was Austrian born, Hitler could now be convicted, imprisoned, deported and then forgotten. This was the fate he feared most. By the end, Hitler would transform a fiasco into a stunning victory for the fledgeling Nazi party. This is the first book on the subject which recreates in riveting detail a haunting failure of justice with catastrophic consequences. A superb contribution to the understanding of modern totalitarianism. 455pp, paperback with cast of characters.

A companion to 91574 Black Swan Class Sloops, this volume is devoted to a ship best known for her demise, one of three sisters sunk in a matter of hours by a single U-boat in 1914. When first designed, Cressy and her sister ships were highly original, representing a novel concept that anticipated the battlecruiser and pointed the way to a line of sequentially improved armoured cruiser classes. As such they warrant more attention than is usually accorded them, and this volume details many of their interesting features and innovations. Including spectacular large gatefolds, here are the detailed original builders' technical plans, annotated and labelled drawn in multi-coloured inks and showcasing such features as a 24 inch electric light projector, the arrangement of submerged torpedo room, belt armour, fore and aft bridges, the lower deck as fitted and arranged of wood and corticene decks, the arrangement of ventilation, magazine cooling arrangements and the ship?s profile. The very gentle sheer of the Upper and Main Decks can be seen, as can the form of the 'cruiser' stern. The lower part of the hull is dominated by the propellors and rudder. The space on the Protective Deck was used for storage, with the captain's living space on the Upper Deck. The text and plans are copyright of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, in spectacular 2020 first edition publication by Pen & Sword. 128 very large pages, colour diagrams and plans throughout.
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Widely regarded as the Rolls Royce of Second World War convey escorts, heavily armed and superbly equipped for their role, the Black Swan Class of sloops and their modified derivatives were among the most effective anti-submarine ships of the Battle in the Atlantic. The design was gradually improved, and this book uses plans of four selected ships to chart that development in detail. They comprise of the original group Black Swan as built, and Flamingo as Modified post-war, and of the Modified Class Starling, the single most successful U-boat hunter of the war, shown as in 1943, and Amethyst, as refitted in 1950 after her clash with Chinese Communists on the Yangtze. The technical details of British warships were recorded in a set of plans produced by the builders on completion of every ship. Known as the 'As Fitted' general arrangements, these drawings documented the exact appearance and fitting of the ship as it entered service. They were very large, more than 12 feet long for capital ships, highly detailed, annotated and labelled and drawn with exquisite skill, often in multi-coloured inks and washes. Intended to provide a permanent reference for the Admiralty and the dockyards, they represent the Acme of the draughtsman's art. Today these plans form part of the incomparable collection at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich which uses the latest scanning technology to make digital copies of the highest quality. This book is one of a series based entirely on these draughts depicting famous warships - complete sets in full colour with many close up and enlargements and extensive captions. The companion to code 91573 Armoured Cruiser Cressy. 128 very large pages including a spectacular gatefold, colour. A Pen & Sword lavish publication.
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Illustrated by the award-winning political cartoonist Chris Riddell OBE, this brand new 2020 edition of the 2011 classic text has been brought up to date with more than 400 new quotations and illustrations. This weighty tome features more than 6,000 quotations from 800 military figures - Napoleon, Machiavelli, Atatürk, Che Guevara, Rommel, Julius Caesar, Wellington, Crazy Horse, T. E. Lawrence, Saladin, Zhukov, Eisenhower, Hitler, Churchill, Joan of Arc, Captain Sir Basil Liddell Hart, de Gaulle to Flavius Vegetius Renatus: 'What can a soldier do who charges when out of breath?' Broken down into 500 categories covering ability, admirals, airborne, battlefield, civil-military relations, competence, diplomacy, doubt, luck, leadership, military intelligence, tactics, training, guerrilla warfare, surprise, surrender to victory and wounds among them, this definitive collection of military quotations draws on the collected wisdom of those who have experienced war at every level. It is also fascinating insight into the lives and deeds of great warriors. Beautifully typeset over two columns, 560 huge pages.

Despite the attention dedicated to castles, siege warfare is often given little more than a token chapter in books on these strongholds or medieval warfare more generally and little has been written since 1992. Since 2019, Israeli-led excavations are underway at Arsuf and Montfort, and French teams worked at a number of Syrian strongholds, the crusader town of Caesarea and excavations at Belvoir. Excavations in Syria the citadels of Aleppo and Damascus and countless other strongholds including Gaza and Jaffa, already lost to history, while Crac and others have been damaged during the course of wars in the last 50 years, adding urgency in what is still a volatile region prone to conflict. Sieges played a role in the crusades and the famous battles fought between the Franks and the Muslims. Fulton's graphic, wide-ranging book considers the history of siege warfare in the Holy Land from every angle - tactics and technology, fortifications, composition of the opposing armies and strategy at each stage of the conflict on either side. The differences and similarities between the Eastern and Western traditions are explored, as is the impact of the shifting balance of power in the region. He looks at truces, rapid attack, deception and negotiation, transfer of knowledge, walls and towers, entrances and concludes with an overview of the Siege of Acre 1291, a list of sieges, rulers and their reigns and a glossary. There are ten regional maps including Sinai, Egypt and Cyprus and further maps on major battles and Saladin's campaigns in Palestine 1187 and Syria 1188. Plus plans and dozens of images, graphs and tables. 344 large glossy pages, colour.

Sub-titled 'The Greatest Lost Love Letters of the Second World War', Eileen Alexander graduated in 1939 with a brilliant First Class degree in English from Girton College, Cambridge. Her subsequent accident in a car driven by her future husband, Gershon Ellenbogen, begins the correspondence and their love affair. There were approximately 1,400 of these letters, written almost daily, covering the years 1939 to 1947. Eileen became a noted teacher, writer and translator, especially of George Simenon's Maigret books. Her husband who was in the RAF in WW2 worked for British Military Intelligence in Cairo. With war brewing in 1939, Eileen wrote her first letter from her hospital bed, the first in this book after the car accident: 'Monday 17th July Gershon - what everyone seems to have forgotten is that if I hadn't asked you to drive me to London that Tuesday, you would never have had your arm broken and your life thoroughly disorganised for a considerable period of time. Furthermore if I had directed you rightly we'd never have got into that damned death trap of a side-road.' Her letters are vibrant, intimate, joyous, dark, angry, obsessive, neurotic, generous, scurrilous and very, very funny by turns and speak of the remarkable woman who wrote them. She is frank about sex and her ambitions, hilariously caustic about colleagues, rationing rules and life on the home front, and painfully honest about loving a man away at war. A magical literary find, condensed into one superb heavyweight volume of 474pp with 16 pages of archive b/w photos. 2020 first edition.

Edward R. Murrow, America's most prominent journalist, in March 1961 ended a quarter century career with the Columbia Broadcasting System to join the administration of John F, Kennedy as Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA). Charged with promoting a positive image abroad, the agency sponsored overseas research programmes, produced documentaries, and operated the Voice of America to spread the country's influence throughout the world. As Director, Murrow hired African Americans for top spots in the agency, and leveraged his celebrity status at home to challenge all Americans to correct the scourge of domestic racism that discouraged developing countries, viewed as strategic assets, from aligning with the West. Using both overt and covert propaganda programmes, he forged a positive public image for Kennedy's administration policies in an unsettled era that included the rise of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and support for Vietnam's Ngo Dinh Diem. This magnificent historical work tackles an understudied portion of Murrow's life and exposes the importance of public diplomacy in the advancement of US foreign policy. It is an invaluable look back on the virtues and a few vices of the approach taken 50 years ago by the legendary broadcast journalist in the service of a remarkable administration. The book is both fun and informative, 353pp, 12 illus, chapters include 1776 Pennsylvania Avenue, From Fiasco to Progress in Latin America and Birmingham, The Story Heard Round the World.