THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - AND PERFECT GIFT FOR HISTORY BUFFS! 'A master at setting the pulse racing' Daily Mail 'A fine feat of storytelling . . . will surely become the last word on the subject' Telegraph _____________________________ THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF THE MOST INFAMOUS PRISON IN HISTORY -- FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SAS: ROGUE HEROES AND THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR In a forbidding Gothic castle on a hilltop in the heart of Nazi Germany, an unlikely band of British officers spent the Second World War plotting daring escapes from their German captors. Or so the story of Colditz has gone, unchallenged for 70 years. But that tale contains only part of the truth. The astonishing inside story, revealed for the first time in this new book by bestselling historian Ben Macintyre, is a tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of snobbery, class conflict, homosexuality, bullying, espionage, boredom, insanity and farce. With access to an astonishing range of material, Macintyre reveals a remarkable cast of characters of multiple nationalities hitherto hidden from history, with captors and prisoners living for years cheek-by-jowl in a thrilling game of cat and mouse. From the elitist members of the Colditz Bullingdon Club to America's oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent, the soldier-prisoners of Colditz were courageous and resilient as well as vulnerable and fearful -- and astonishingly imaginative in their desperate escape attempts. Deeply researched and full of incredible human stories, this is the definitive book on Colditz. _____________________________ 'Macintyre produces a highly nuanced and often disturbing tale of men struggling to get along in captivity . . .The Colditz story is told with sensitivity and insight, with an eye for telling detail' The Times BOOK OF THE WEEK 'Like watching a black-and-white photograph being colourised . . . Macintyre has thrown fresh light on Colditz and aligned the scratches left on its walls into another compelling narrative' Spectator 'Every Ben Macintyre book is a treat' The Tablet

The first volume of a new narrative history of the rise and fall of the Nazi regime, by an expert on the Third Reich. 'One of the books of the year' Dan Snow 'A masterclass in the history of Nazi Germany' Get History 'What makes this volume really stand out is its stylish design and more than 80 coloured photographs' Military History On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed the German Chancellor of a coalition government by President Hindenburg. Within a few months he had installed a dictatorship, jailing and killing his leftwing opponents, terrorising the rest of the population and driving Jews out of public life. He embarked on a crash programme on militaristic Keynesianism, reviving the economy and achieving full employment through massive public works, vast armaments spending and the cancellations of foreign debts. After the grim years of the Great Depression, Germany seemed to have been reborn as a brutal and determined European power. Over the course of the years from 1933 to 1939, Hitler won over most of the population to his vision of a renewed Reich. In these years of domestic triumph, cunning manoeuvres, pitting neighbouring powers against each other and biding his time, we see Hitler preparing for the moment that would realise his ambition. But what drove Hitler's success was also to be the fatal flaw of his regime: a relentless belief in war as the motor of greatness, a dream of vast conquests in Eastern Europe and an astonishingly fanatical racism. In The Hitler Years, Frank McDonough charts the rise and fall of the Third Reich under Hitler's hand. The first volume, Triumph, ends after Germany's comprehensive military defeat of Poland in 1939.

It is the tail end of the 1600s in rural Northamptonshire. For two centuries the whole of England has been under the grip of a great fear - witchcraft. After a spate of trials and executions in East Anglia under Matthew Hopkins, the superstitions are finally fading. Fewer people are being accused, but in the provincial town od Oundle, Elinor Shaw and Mary Phillips are two young women who find themselves victims of persecution. Rumours abound that they are practitioners of the dark arts. Their lives, loves and lore are all thrown into turmoil as their paths lead to trials, both literal and figurative. This story is based on the times of the last witches tried in the country for their craft. The witchcraft Act was repealed in 1735 - too late for many.

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 WINGATE LITERARY PRIZE 'Thrilling' Daily Mail 'Gripping' Guardian 'Heartwrenching' Yuval Noah Harari 'Magnificent' Philip Pullman 'Excellent' Sunday Times 'Inspiring' Daily Mail 'An immediate classic' Antony Beevor 'Awe inspiring' Simon Sebag Montefiore 'Shattering' Simon Schama 'Utterly compelling' Philippe Sands 'A must-read' Emily Maitlis 'Indispensable' Howard Jacobson Anne Frank. Primo Levi. Oskar Schindler . . . Rudolf Vrba. April 1944. Nineteen-year-old Rudolf Vrba and fellow inmate Fred Wetzler became two of the very first Jews to successfully escape Auschwitz. Evading the thousands of SS men hunting them, Vrba and Wetzler made the perilous journey on foot across Nazi-occupied Poland. Their mission: to reveal to the world the truth of the Holocaust. Vrba's unique testimony would save some 200,000 lives. But he kept on running - from his past, from his home country, his adopted country, even from his own name. Now, at last, Rudolf Vrba's heroism can be known.

Iimbali Zamandulo – ‘Stories of the Past’– is a selection of historical testimonies produced by Xhosa-speaking residents of the Eastern Cape between 1838 and 1910. These narratives offer fresh insights into the history of the Xhosa-speaking peoples, providing their own perspectives on their own past. The volume contains recollections reaching back to seventeenth-century dynastic disputes, to a period preceding the southward migrations in the early nineteenth century into territories settled by Xhosa-speaking peoples. It passes on through those migrations, the clashes and resettlement of peoples and of individuals, the contest for land throughout the century, and on to the struggle for social control and the assertion of cultural identity by the century’s end. To a remarkable extent, we are lent intimate access here to the lives of ordinary people, seeking better pastures for themselves, their families and their livestock; hunting, fighting and, above all, confronting personal conflict in their choices between mission Christianity and ancestral beliefs; between support for their chiefs or the colonial authorities; between active or passive resistance to encroachment on their territory; and between colonial distortions purveyed in the schools and their receding grasp of their own sustaining histories.

A stunningly illustrated history of Venice, from its beginnings as 'La Serenissima' – 'the Most Serene Republic' – to the Italian city that continues to enchant visitors today. 'Everything about Venice,' observed Lord Byron, 'is, or was, extraordinary – her aspect is like a dream, and her history is like a romance.' Dream and romance have conditioned myriad encounters with Venice across the centuries, but the city's story embodies another kind of experience altogether – the hard reality of an independent state built on conquest, profit and entitlement and on the toughness and resilience of a free people. Masters of the sea, the Venetians raised an empire through an ethos of service and loyalty to a republic that lasted a thousand years. In this new and beautifully illustrated study of key moments in Venice's history, from its half-legendary founding amid the collapse of the Roman empire to its modern survival as a fragile city of the arts menaced by saturation tourism and rising sea levels, Jonathan Keates shows us just how much this remarkable place has contributed to world culture and explains how it endures as an object of desire and inspiration for so many.

Has any war in history gone according to plan? Monarchs, autocrats and elected leaders alike have a dismal record on launching and prosecuting wars. From pursuing over- ambitious goals, to making decisions without considering intelligence, terrain, morale or the enemy's capabilities, they have all erred. This not only wastes the lives of civilians, the enemy and one's own soldiers, but also means a failure to accomplish your objectives. Conflict scholar and former soldier Mike Martin takes the reader through the hard, elegant logic of how to fight an interstate war on land, including the factors that are often overlooked: the importance of psychology, training, getting the logistics right, and maintaining your esprit de corps. He then explains how to orchestrate the building blocks of military force--from infantry, artillery and air support, to information and cyber warfare-- in order to prevail over your adversary. 'How to Fight a War' explains in cool and precise prose the art of using extreme violence to convince your enemy that they should submit. It should be read by everyone who seeks to understand today's conflicts and those to come--and by all those who wish to lead us through the next decade of wars.

  Discover all the blood-curdling stories with: The Horrible History of the World. The master of making history fun, Terry Deary, turns his attention to the foul but fascinating story of humans, from brain-nibbling Neanderthals to terrified teenage soldiers in the twentieth century. From gory stories of what smelly sport was played by samurais to who baked their enemies a cake made from poisoned bath-water, it's all in Horrible Histories: The Horrible History of the World: fully illustrated throughout and packed with hair-raising stories - with all the horribly hilarious bits included with a fresh take on the classic Horrible Histories style, perfect for fans old and new the perfect series for anyone looking for a fun and informative read Horrible Histories has been entertaining children and families for generations with books, TV, stage show, magazines, games and 2019's brilliantly funny Horrible Histories: the Movie - Rotten Romans.   Get your history right here and collect the whole horrible lot. Read all about it!

Setting the scene for this newly presented edition of The Singapore House & Residential Life 1819-1939, Edwards addresses the house's unique nature in the context of its colonial past. Architecture, the house plan, landscape, societal norms, recreation and more are all presented in a book where the past resonates on every page. Thirty years on, the book still provides an invaluable introduction to the history of architecture in the city-state.

Die geestelike leidsman, J.D. Kestell is die enigste Vrystaatse predikant wat tot aan die einde van die Anglo-Boereoorlog in die veld was – en hoewel president M.T. Steyn die pos as veggeneraal aan hom aangebied het, het hy verkies om geestelike leiding tydens die oorlog te gee. Sy wedervaringe gedurende die Anglo-Boereoorlog word beskryf in die van die beroemdste boeke oor die oorlog.

Kofi Abrefa Busia (1914–1978), born a member of the royal house of Wenchi, Ghana was a Ghanaian political leader and sociologist. He was a scholar by inclination and temperament and symbolized the dilemma of the intellectual in politics – the man of thought forced by events to become the man of action. These three volumes, originally published between 1962 and 1967, reissued here together for the first time, each with new introductory material, were all written in exile, and contemplate the continent of Africa undergoing rapid social transformation. Together they act as testimonials to the importance of, and difficulty in, implementing democratic traditions. In these works Busia considered the centrality of traditional African ideologies and practices and the institutions they supported, to comprehend the influence of native institutions and systems of thought on the modern national state and to reflect on their continuing role in creating a healthy democratic environment. The principles he taught continue to live on in the influences he made on African studies in general and Ghanaian politics in particular to the extent that his name had become a shorthand for the establishment of free Democratic traditions in Ghana today.

Biographical account of a vulnerable young school girl in the post war years who was indoctrinated and subtly led astray from the faith she was born into to a strange one which she was made to believe was not unlike her own. As the years went by she became spiritually and emotionally estranged from her family and friends turning to the ones she acquired from a new circle. Then in her teens she was expelled from her country of birth and as a refugee had to adapt to a new country, culture and language leaving them all behind. She began to experience identity crises and struggled spiritually to cling on to her new faith. Then marriage took her to yet again another country where as a wife and mother she struggled to identify her mother tongue. Over the years she felt increasingly isolated from her adopted faith and had to do a lot of heart searching till eventually both intellectually and spiritually she began to reconnect with the faith she was born into thus reacquainting with her real self, releasing her from the spiritual confusion and muddled theology she had been experiencing for over thirty years. In this account there is also social history related to her journey over the years.

The enthralling story of the German Empire, from its violent rise to its spectacular fall. Before 1871, Germany was not a nation but an idea. Its founder, Otto von Bismarck, had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring thirty-nine individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser? Could the young European nation build enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France? In a unique study of five decades that shaped the course of modern history, Katya Hoyer tells the story of the German Empire from its violent beginnings to its defeat in the First World War, a dramatic tale of national self-discovery that ended, as it started, in blood and iron. AUTHOR: Katja Hoyer is Head of History at the Judd School, one of the UK's leading state schools. She studied at the Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena and graduated with a master-level degree in history with distinction. She was born in Germany and lives in Sussex. Blood and Iron is her first book. 15 b/w illustrations

Always in the thick of it. A Chronology of the service with the R.A.F.R. from 1948. to 1958 R.A.F.R. Squadron Leader J.F.Wallace. M.C. 1948/1958. Mi D ROYAL AIR FORCE REGIMENT 2nd June 1948. J.F.Wallace, Commissioned. Flight Lieutenant, Royal Air Force. (59948) June 1948 - November 1948 J.F.Wallace Flight Lieutenant, Passed Officers Conversion Course and Tactics Course at Royal Air Force Regiment Depot. Attachment to Airbourne Squadron, and LAA Gunnery School. Posted to B.A.F.C. Germany. November 1948- September 1949. Flight Commander J.F.Wallace, No.56 (Rifle) Squadron, Germany. Attached 10 months for Berlin Airlift Staff Duties at Adv. H.Q. No 46 Group RA.F. Germany. September 1949-May 1951. Flight Commander, No 1 Armoured Car Squadron, Germany, passed Signals Instructors Course. Short Periods as Adjutant, H.Q. No 4 Wing R.A.F.R. when Adjutant on leave or courses etc. May 1951- September 1952 Officer i/c. Junior Gunner Instructors Courses. Royal Air Force Regiment Depot. September 1952-September 1953 Officer i/c Pre-O.C.T.U Courses. Royal Air Force Regiment Depot. Passed Promotion examination "C"for Squadron Leader Rank. October 1953- September 1954 Squadron Commander. Arab Rifle Squadron. Royal Air Force Levies (Irac). J.F.Wallace Promoted Squadron Leader 10th. September 1954. September 1954-April. 1957 Squadron Commander. J.F.Wallace No. l Squadron, Aden Protectorate Levies. Activities included several actions against Yemen Regular Army and tribesmen along-the frontier and numerous smaller actions against dissident tribesmen in the West Aden Protectorate. Also quelling of a tribal revolt, the siting and construction of operation airstrips, the opening up of trade routes closed by hostile tribesmen, and Aid to the Civil Power in Aden Colony. Commended by His Excellency the Governor of Aden. April 1957 - December 1957 Squadron Commander. J.F.Wallace Staff Appointment. RA.F.R. HQ Fighter Command Royal Air Force Bentley Priory, Stanmore. December 31st. 1957 Retired retaining the rank of Squadron Leader. Government White Paper 1957 refers. RA.F. Squadron Leader J. F. Wallace. M.C.M.i.D 1948/1958 By David C. Wallace.

'A rich and subtle exploration of the sacredness of nature, filled with a timeless wisdom and deep humanity' Guardian In this hugely powerful book, Karen Armstrong argues that it isn't enough to change our behaviour to avert environmental catastrophe - we must rekindle our spiritual bond with the natural world. From gratitude and compassion to sacrifice and non-violence, Armstrong draws themes from the world's religious traditions to offer practical steps to reconnect you with nature. Speaking to anyone interested in our relationship with nature, worried about environmental destruction, or searching for new actions to save our planet, Sacred Nature will uncover the most profound connections between humans and the natural world. 'A lamentation in the key of Greta Thunberg, with undertones of Carl Jung' Wall Street Journal 'Warm and witty... a challenge to think differently in the face of climate change' Tablet 'Karen Armstrong is one of the handful of wise and supremely commentators on religion' Alain de Botton

This book is a celebration of Oundle people. It is intended to amuse, interest and inform, while encapsuulating the lives and memories of folk who lived here. It poses answers to questions: Who lived in my house? Who were their neighbours? It promises a peek into the past that puts history into perspective though gernered commentary and facts. Current day residents have shared memories of their families and friends. They tell of times and lives very different from those of today as we move into the future.

This groundbreaking guide will take you through the city streets to uncover the scandalous, hilarious and empowering events of London's queerstory. Follow in the footprints of veteran activists, such as those who marched in London's first Pride parade in 1972 or witnessed the 1999 bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho. Accompanied by a chorus of voices of both iconic and unsung legends of the movement, readers can walk through parts of East, West, South and North London, dipping into beautifully illustrated maps and extraordinary tales of LGBTQIA+ solidarity, protest and pride. The shadows of gentrification, policing, homophobia and racism are time and again resisted. From the Brixton Fairies to Notting Hill Carnival to world-changing protests in Trafalgar Square, Rebel Dykes to drag queen communes, Queer Footprints celebrates the hidden histories of struggle and joy. Including an accessibility guide and a list of these gems for your pleasure - queer spaces, clubs, networks and resources galore.

An oral history of Britain’s first West Indian immigrants and their descendants from 1948 to the present day. In 1948 the former troop ship Windrush made the 30-day journey across the Atlantic from Jamaica. The arrival of its 500 passengers, the first generation of Caribbean migrants in the UK, was the initial step in the formation of a new identity: the black Briton. Fifty years later, Mike and Trevor Phillips spoke to those on the Windrush itself, as well as those who followed, to tell the story of Britain in the second half of the twentieth century through the eyes of the outsiders who became insiders. Now updated to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the ship’s voyage and including reflections on its political and cultural legacy in 2023, Windrush is an essential record of this transformative era in British social history.

The definitive history of coronations and the Royal Family, from acclaimed writer Roy Strong. ’What is the finest sight in the world? A Coronation. What do people talk most about? A Coronation. What is delightful to have passed? A Coronation.’ Horace Walpole, 1761 As a boy of sixteen, Roy Strong watched the grand procession carrying Queen Elizabeth II to her coronation. The spectacle was considered the greatest public event of the century. But now, so many years later, many people have little notion of what a coronation is and are unaware of the rich resonances of the ritual, or its deep significance in terms of the committal of monarch to people. This book is the first of its kind – a comprehensive history that sets each coronation into its political, social, religious and cultural context. The story is one of constant re-invention as the service has had to respond to all the changes in fortune of the monarchy or the country: everything from legitimising usurpers to reconciling a Catholic rite to the tenets of Protestantism. It even had to be recreated from scratch after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. In this way, Strong tells the story of the British monarchy since the tenth century, and looks forward to the coronation of King Charles III. The musical history alone is one of extraordinary richness – involving Henry Purcell, Handel, Edward Elgar, William Walton – plus the celebratory poetry, the art and the spectacular engravings published at coronations are all explored, as is the more recent role of photographers. The book particularly concentrates on post-1603 developments, including the incredible story of the Stuarts, when the crown jewels used for hundreds of years at coronations were melted down as symbols of the hated Divine Right of Kings. As Charles III succeeds to the throne and preparations are made for his coronation, Strong speculates as to the revisions now called for to its ritual and pageantry to meet the changes in the role of the monarchy in the twenty-first century.

The leader of the student uprising of 1968 and founding member of the notorious Weather Underground tells his story--for the first time

In 1968, Mark Rudd led the legendary occupation of five buildings at Columbia University, a dramatic act of protest against the university's support for the Vietnam War and its institutional racism. Rudd was the charismatic chairman of the Columbia chapter of SDS, Students for a Democratic Society, the largest radical student organization in the United States. After a violent police bust, the Columbia occupation turned into a student strike that closed down the entire campus, turning Rudd into a national symbol of student revolt. Rudd went on to become the cofounder of the Weatherman faction of SDS, which took control of the student organization and helped organize the notorious Days of Rage in Chicago in 1969.

But Mark Rudd wanted revolution.

Rudd and his friends sought to end war, racism, and injustice--by any means necessary, even violence. After a tragic turn that led to the death of three people, who were killed when the bombs they were making in a Greenwich Village town house exploded, they transformed themselves into the Weather Underground Organization. By the end of 1970, after a string of nonlethal bombings by the organization, Rudd, now one of the FBI's Most Wanted, went into hiding for more than seven years before turning himself in to great media fanfare.

In this gripping narrative, Rudd speaks out about this tumultuous period, the role he played in its crucial events, and its aftermath, revealing the drama and tension, as well as the naivete of young activists, fighting in the name of peace and social justice, who believed that their actions mattered.

"I've spoken and answered questions at scores of colleges, high schools, community centers, and theaters about why my friends and I opted for violent revolution, and how I've changed my thinking and how I haven't, and most of all, about the parallels between then and now," Rudd writes. Powerful and shocking, "Underground" sheds new light on this controversial time, which still haunts the nation.