A pioneering study that looks at the 1914-18 War from the perspective of South Asia. 1.5 million Indians fought with the British in the First World War from Flanders to the African bush and the deserts of the Islamic world. They saved the Allies from defeat in 1914 and were vital to global victory in 1918. Beautifully written, the book uses previously unpublished veteran interviews to tell their story as never before and is of vital importance to understanding the war and our world today. Fluent and colourful, these interview transcripts were recorded in the 1970s and Morton-Jack has produced a multi-layered and rigorously researched and empathetic history told with an easy, flowing grace. The Indian Army was a war-winning machine, and his book exposes the cruel nature and sheer brutality of the British colonial regime and the Indian soldiers who served, and lays bare the endemic racism that they shamefully suffered. We meet an excellent cast of characters including the deserter brothers Mir Dast VC and Mir Mast, the tragic figure of General Willcocks, and many others in this highly original and dedicated history of the Indian experience. 595pp, paperback, maps and photos.

Working his way clockwise round Cornwall's stupendous coastline, the author crosses the Tamar Bridge from Devon and visits Saltash, a place where Neolithic flint arrowheads are two-a-penny and where William the Conqueror built a strategic fortification which later became the site of a key battle in the English Civil War. Nearby Launceston and Liskeard were Royalist towns, as was Fowey, where famous later residents of the area include Daphne du Maurier, author of Rebecca, the illustrator Mabel Lucie Attwell, and Kenneth Grahame who wrote The Wind in the Willows. West of St Austell is Falmouth, the most south-westerly harbour in Britain, and often the first place Royal Navy ships docked when returning from overseas. Truro, the county capital, was a stannary town, involved in the tin mining industry. Granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1877, its cathedral was built over the next 20 years. The rugged coastline of the Lizard peninsula was a notorious graveyard for ships, and continuing west, St Michael's Mount has a long history of strategic importance culminating in Hitler promising it to Ribbentrop should Germany win the war. Sennen is the first village in England travelling back from Land's End, followed by the bleak prehistoric settlement of St Just. St Ives, now Cornwall's most popular tourist destination, was a simple fishing village until the coming of the railway in 1877. The town of Bodmin is the only large Cornish settlement noted in the Domesday Book, though nearby Padstow also appears, now a renowned centre of gastronomy. 152pp, softback, numerous black and white photos.

Sussex-born tour guide, teacher, history consultant and journalist Kevin Newman regularly escapes up on the South Downs on walks much shorter than Belloc managed. Many writers have written about the delights of the former kingdom of the South Saxons, its Downs, villages, countryside, people and their ways, but this is the first book to take readers on a tour of discovery of each of the county's historic eras in turn. It looks at Ancient, Roman, Saxon, Viking, Norman, Medieval, Tudor and Second Iron Age, Stuart, Civil War and Restoration, Georgian, Napoleonic and Regency, Industrial, Victorian, Resort and Railway Era, Edwardian and First World War, Interwar, Art Deco/Modernist and Second World War, Post and Cold War Sussex. Points of interest like Church Norton, Chichester Cathedral, Arundel Castle, Goodwood, all houses and points of interest and where to lunch are marked in bold text in a book celebrating the writers, painters, royalty, artists and millions who have enjoyed Sussex's changing coastline and verdant villages. Hundreds of black and white photos, line art and maps. A super and quirky slice of history in one heavyweight softback handbook, 198pp, 15.5cm x 23cm.

The National Archive in Kew holds thousands of petitions from prisoners, their families, employers, supporters and even prosecutors written after the prisoner had been sentenced in the hope of gaining a commutation of their punishment. By using these primary sources, the book shows how little has changed in the types of crime committed, the circumstances and how human emotions remain constant across the centuries. From the woman accused of bigamy to the young men caught up in a duel and the middle-class forger, as cases are followed in this book, some far beyond the Home Secretary's decision, the criminals, supporters, prosecutors and judiciary are brought to life, occasionally with surprising results. Includes chapters Words from the Hulks, Theft, Words from the General Penitentiary, Mill Bank, London, Forgery, Shooting and Stabbing with Intent and Words from Newgate Prison, London. 169pp, paperback, illus.

Western culture has a popular tradition of women who dressed as men and joined the military, often immortalised in books or on stage and screen. Julie Wheelwright soon discovered many of these accounts are highly fictionalised and the real experience of warrior women was frequently one of isolation as they strove to maintain their disguise or, latterly, having to prove their worth against the men in a mixed regiment. 'She brings their temperaments, talents, fancies, and foibles to life.' - Professor Joanna Bourke, Birkbeck, University of London. Sisters in Arms charts the evolution of women in combat, from the Scythian warriors who inspired the Amazonian myth, to the passing soldiers and sailors of the eighteenth century, and on to the re-emergence of women as official members of the armed forces in the twentieth century. The female warrior often endured judgement and poverty and although some managed to fight for a pension, make a living from memoirs or settle back into domestic life, the majority faced hardship, obscurity and worse. Wheelwright uses verifiable official documents, diaries, letters and memoirs from the mid-18th century on as she follows the evolution of women in combat, both clandestine and as recognised soldiers, and shows us shocking parallels between the two experiences, such as the fight for acceptance, for equal pay and against the threat of sexual assault, which both how much and how little things have changed. 16 pages of excellent b/w plates, 320pp.

After the 'unsinkable' RMS Titanic - a White Star liner - struck an iceberg during her maiden voyage over the Atlantic on 14 April 1912, the ship sank with 1,503 people losing their lives. This companion includes fascinating archive illustrations, of which some have not previously been published, and facts about the fateful ship including why it was built and the events which led to the tragedy. Discover how, when Titanic was launched for the first time, an estimated 100,000 gathered at Belfast to see her enter the water and that there were 3,000 tons of coal in readiness for the ship's trial on Monday 1 April with bunkers which would smoulder from then until the hull was submerged in the Atlantic ocean on 13 April. Learn the particulars of the ship itself, including how there were four passenger lifts aboard the ship (some of the first afloat), stained glass in the Smoking Room was used to conceal the uptake to the fourth funnel, which was used as a vent, and the swimming pool was filled with heated salt water and First-Class passengers paid 4s for its use. The book doesn't shy away from the truth, acknowledging that, despite stories of the time, the £1.5 million Titanic travelled at a speed that was insufficient to break the North Atlantic speed record. There are also brilliant photos and images included, from images of the exterior and interior of the ship such as a shot of the framework surrounding the Titanic in the shipway as it was built, a photo of the Titanic in all its glory as the fourth (and last) funnel was erected, and a glimpse into a First Class suite decorated in the Empire style, to photographs of people on the ship, such as film star Dorothy Gibson who was a passenger, Mabel Evina Martin who was the second cashier in the elite restaurant, and the two Marconi operators 'Jack' Phillips, first wireless operator and Harold Bride, the second operator. This is a thorough companion that offers insight and detail into how the ship was built and how it came to sink. 7.3" x 4.9", black and white and colour photos and images, 128pp.

Told with skill, knowledge, enthusiasm and insight this is the enthralling history of Central Asia and the struggle between Tsarist Russia and Victorian Britain for the treasures of India, played out amidst the high passes and great deserts of Central Asia, and the political and military decisions taken in the 19th century which led to the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. For nearly a century these two most powerful nations fought a secret war and engaged in a shadowy struggle called 'The Great Game', a phrase immortalised in Rudyard Kipling's novel Kim. When play first began, the two rival empires lay nearly 2,000 miles apart, but in the end, some Russian outposts were within 20 miles of India. It is the story of that great imperial struggle for strategic and economic supremacy, fought across a cruel and desolate terrain stretching from the Caucasus to China - espionage and treachery on a grand scale and in exotic settings. This classic book tells the story through the exploits of the young officers both British and Russian who risked their lives playing it including Pottinger, Connolly and Burnes whose courage and resilience is quite astonishing. Disguised as holy men or native horse-traders, they mapped secret passes, gathered intelligence and sought the allegiance of powerful khans. Some never returned. This welcome chunky paperback reprint of the 1990 original includes 15 black and white illus. and six maps including Afghanistan and the NW Frontier, and the Pamir Region. 562pp, paperback.

First published by Oxford University Press in 1926, this paperback 2017 edition is a welcome reprint. The aim of the book is to give some idea of the French Revolution to the general reader who is not an historical student. The narrative is based on many years' study of contemporary documents such as the 40 volumes of Buchez and Roux's Histoire Parlementaire, containing much that is inaccessible elsewhere, and great books on the history of Paris during the Revolution, plus letters and memoirs and de Tocqueville's L'Ancien Regime et la Révolution. The 12 chapters begin with The Calling of the States-General 1787-1789, The Struggle with the King, The Rule of the Constituent Assembly, The King and the Constitution, The War 30th September 1791 to 3rd July 1792, The Struggle Between the Gironde and the Mountain, The Reign of Terror I, II and III, Famine and Vengeance and The End of the Convention. When picturing the infamous French Revolution most of us think of the guillotine, mass execution and terror. E. D. Bradby shows us the other side - the grand ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity. His portrayal of figures like Robespierre, who had come to be viewed as a butcher but who started out as a patriot, are fair and full of nuance. Likewise King Louis and Marie Antoinette are written not as innocent victims nor as cruel tyrants but as flawed people making difficult choices. A revelation for any reader, the history focuses on the potential for friend to turn against friend and Bradby shows us the legacy of the French Revolution and its lasting impact on modern society. 512pp, paperback.

The topic is how collaboration and curiosity has shaped mankind. As we recover from the pandemic of 2020, the world needs more open minds, open hearts, open communications, open markets, and Norberg's superb book demonstrates how openness has been key to the success of our species over 10,000 years. From Stone Age hunter-gatherers to contemporary Chinese-American relations, Open explores how across time and cultures we have struggled with a constant tension between our yearning for cooperation and our profound need for belonging. Providing a bold new framework for understanding human history, Norberg examines why we are often uncomfortable with openness, but also why it is essential for progress. As the world is ravaged by Coronavirus, climate change and financial uncertainty, our future feels in doubt. However, when we look at the world objectively, humanity is doing better than ever. The freedom to explore and exchange whether goods, ideas or people, has led to stunning achievements in science, health, technology and living standards. So why are we so intent on ruining it? Norberg makes a compelling case for why an open world with an open economy is worth fighting for more than ever. The World Bank has calculated that the greatest economic damage from epidemics like swine flu, SARS or the new coronavirus do not come from mortality, morbidity, treatment and associated loss of production, but from increased fear of associating with others which shuts down places of production, transportation, harbours and airports. 440 intriguing pages, large softback.

'Military Dress and Court Regalia in the Later Romano-Byzantine Empire' is the sub-title of this richly illustrated book. Drawing on literary and artistic sources, archaeology and reconstructions, this is the most detailed study of its kind to date accompanied by 60 black and white images and 24 specially commissioned colour plates by Graham Sumner. Dawson examines the range and style of clothing worn in the Roman Empire from the 6th century to the end of the Empire in 1453. The regalia embrace not only garments of distinctive form and decoration, but also both dress and non-dress accessories. Among the 24 full colour full page plates we can view up close judicial officers, soldiers on parade in the 10th century, a courtier and servant, ladies of the court circa 650-900, robing an emperor and an empress in the 6th century. Garments were crucial in displaying rank and function on an everyday basis and varied considerably for special occasions. Military dress largely reflected form current amongst ordinary men with an emphasis on functionality. In the colour image of the Empress we see the decoration of sementa on the shoulders and knees, and klavoi projecting up from the hem in accord with venerable Roman custom, although more typical of male dress. The sleeves are of the Persian form, and she holds a crown or diadema. The dress is pale blue, the decoration in rich gold with red and green embroidery. With full coverage of turbans, footwear, overgarments, headgear and regalia tunics called kamision and khiton. A Pen & Sword glamorous 170 large page volume.