The inspirational story of the ordinary people who forged the documents that saved thousands of Jewish lives in World War Two. 'Powerful ... gripping ... inspiring' JONATHAN DIMBLEBY Between 1940 and 1943, a small group of Polish diplomats and Jewish activists in Switzerland engaged in a wholly remarkable - and until now, almost completely unknown - humanitarian operation. Under the leadership of the Polish Ambassador, Aleksander Lados, they undertook a systematic programme of forging identity documents for Latin American countries, which were then smuggled into German-occupied Europe to save the lives of thousands of Jews facing extermination in the Holocaust. The Lados operation was one of the largest rescue missions of the entire war, and The Forgers tells this extraordinary story for the first time. We follow the desperate bids of Jews to obtain these life-saving documents, and their painful uncertainty over whether they will be granted protection from the Nazis' murderous fury. And we witness the quiet heroism of those who decided to act in an attempt to save thousands of lives. 'As gripping as it is moving' JULIA BOYD, author of Travellers in the Third Reich 'Original and thought-provoking' RICHARD OVERY, author of Blood and Ruins 'Astonishing' KATJA HOYER, author of Beyond the Wall

Many studies have covered aspects of military intelligence available to Britain and her allies during the Second World War. This distinguished book provides a succinct and authoritative survey of the vital role Ultra played in achieving final victory., When war began Britain was as ill-prepared in intelligence as armaments. Civilian scientists had discovered the principle of radar in the mid-1930s, but everything had to be learned from scratch in the heat of emergency. First signs of improvement came in mid-1941, when Ultra targeted naval vessels and bomber aircraft onto so many of Rommel's supply ships that the Africa Corps almost withered on the vine. From then on intelligence played an increasingly indispensable part in final victory. Ultra won the Battle of the Atlantic, driving U-boats back to coastal waters by June 1943. Ultra confirmed the whereabouts of the German tanks as Montgomery planned the breakthrough to Alamein. Only 'Bomber' Harris refused to give intelligence the credit it deserved; on the basis of new evidence this fascinating book strongly reinforces criticism this costly mistake.

The gripping account of how the IRA came astonishingly close to killing Margaret Thatcher KILLING THATCHER is the gripping account of how the IRA came astonishingly close to killing Margaret Thatcher and to wiping out the British Cabinet – an extraordinary assassination attempt linked to the Northern Ireland Troubles and the most daring conspiracy against the Crown since the Gunpowder Plot. In this fascinating and compelling book, veteran journalist Rory Carroll retraces the road to the infamous Brighton bombing in 1984 – an incident that shaped the political landscape in the UK for decades to come. He begins with the infamous execution of Lord Mountbatten in 1979 – for which the IRA took full responsibility – before tracing the rise of Margaret Thatcher, her response to the ‘Troubles’ in Ireland and the chain of events that culminated in the hunger strikes of 1981 and the death of 10 republican prisoners, including Bobby Sands. From that moment on Thatcher became an enemy of the IRA – and the organisation swore revenge. Opening with a brilliantly-paced prologue that introduces bomber Patrick Magee in the build up to the incident, Carroll sets out to deftly explore the intrigue before and after the assassination attempt – with the story spanning three continents, from pubs and palaces, safe houses and interrogation rooms, hotels and barracks. On one side, an elite IRA team aided by a renegade priest, US-raised funds and Libya’s Qaddafi and on the other, intelligence officers, police detectives, informers and bomb disposal officers. An exciting narrative that blends true crime with political history, this is the first major book to investigate the Brighton attack.

Although it offers an appropriately complex treatment of the American past, Boyer/Clark/Halttunen/Kett/Salisbury/Sitkoff/Woloch/Rieser's THE ENDURING VISION: A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, 10th EDITION, requires no prerequisite knowledge from students. The approach is not only comprehensive, but readable, lively and illuminating. It is attentive to the lived historical experiences of women, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans -- that is, of men and women of all ethnic groups, regions and social classes who make up the American mosaic. This text seeks to encourage students’ spatial thinking about historical developments by offering a map program rich in information, easy to read and visually appealing. Visual culture -- paintings, photographs, cartoons and other illustrations -- is investigated throughout all chapters in the volume.

'An indelible feat of reporting and an urgent read ... It's a privilege to read books like these' Te-Ping Chen, author of Land of Big Numbers 'A powerful reminder of the ways in which China's future depends on who controls the past' Peter Hessler A documentary filmmaker who spent years uncovering a Mao-era death camp; an independent journalist who gave voice to the millions who suffered through Covid; a magazine publisher who dodges the secret police: these are some of the people who make up Sparks: China's Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future, a vital account of how some of China's most important writers, filmmakers, and artists have overcome crackdowns and censorship to challenge the Chinese Communist Party on its most sacred ground - its monopoly on history. In traditional China, dynasties rewrote history to justify their rule by proving that their predecessors were unworthy of holding power. Marxism gave this a modern gloss, describing history as an unstoppable force heading toward Communism's triumph. The Chinese Communist Party builds on these ideas to whitewash its misdeeds and justify its rule. But in recent years, critical thinkers from across the land have begun to challenge this state-led disremembering. Using digital technologies to bypass China's legendary surveillance state, their samizdat journals, guerilla media posts, and underground films document a pattern of disasters: from past famines and purges to the ethnic clashes and virus outbreaks of the present. Based on years of research in Xi Jinping's China, Sparks challenges stereotypes of a China where the state has quashed all free thought, revealing instead a country engaged in one of humanity's great struggles of memory against forgetting - a battle that will shape the China that emerges in the mid-21st century.

Now in paperback, the #1 New York Times bestselling chronicle of the rise and fall of a legendary American dynasty, from CNN anchor and journalist Anderson Cooper and historian and novelist Katherine Howe. One of the Washington Post's Notable Works of Nonfiction When eleven-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt began to work on his father’s small boat ferrying supplies in New York Harbor at the beginning of the nineteenth century, no one could have imagined that one day he would, through ruthlessness, cunning, and a pathological desire for money, build two empires—one in shipping and another in railroads—that would make him the richest man in America. His staggering fortune was fought over by his heirs after his death in 1877, sowing familial discord that would never fully heal. Though his son Billy doubled the money left by “the Commodore,” subsequent generations competed to find new and ever more extraordinary ways of spending it. By 2018, when the last Vanderbilt was forced out of The Breakers—the seventy-room summer estate in Newport, Rhode Island, that Cornelius’s grandson and namesake had built—the family would have been unrecognizable to the tycoon who started it all. Now, the Commodore’s great-great-great-grandson Anderson Cooper, joins with historian Katherine Howe to explore the story of his legendary family and their outsized influence. Cooper and Howe breathe life into the ancestors who built the family’s empire, basked in the Commodore’s wealth, hosted lavish galas, and became synonymous with unfettered American capitalism and high society. Moving from the hardscrabble wharves of old Manhattan to the lavish drawing rooms of Gilded Age Fifth Avenue, from the ornate summer palaces of Newport to the courts of Europe, and all the way to modern-day New York, Cooper and Howe wryly recount the triumphs and tragedies of an American dynasty unlike any other. Written with a unique insider’s viewpoint, this is a rollicking, quintessentially American history as remarkable as the family it so vividly captures.

The gripping account of how the Royal family really operates from the man who has spent years watching the public face the Royal family chooses to present to the world in his role as Royal correspondent for The Times. Valentine Low asks the important questions: who really runs the show and, with Charles now King, what will happen next? Throughout history, the British monarchy has relied on its courtiers - the trusted advisers in the King or Queen's inner circle - to ensure its survival as a family, an ancient institution, and a pillar of the constitution. Today, as ever, a vast team of people hidden from view steers the royal family's path between public duty and private life. Queen Elizabeth II, after a remarkable 70 years of service, saw the final seasons of her reign without her husband Philip to guide her. Meanwhile, newly ascended Charles seeks to define what his future as King will be, his court having wielded ever greater influence in recent years. The question of who is entrusted to guide the royals has never been more vital, and yet the task those courtiers face has never been more challenging. With a cloud hanging over Prince Andrew as well as Harry and Meghan's departure from royal life, the complex relationship between modern courtiers and royal principals has been exposed to global scrutiny. William and Kate - equipped with a very 21st century approach to press and public relations - now hold the responsibility of making an ancient institution relevant for the decades to come. Courtiers reveals an ever-changing system of complex characters, shifting values and ideas over what the future of the institution should be. This is the story of how the monarchy really works, at a pivotal moment in its history.

This 9th edition of Martin Gilbert’s Atlas of Jewish History spans over four thousand years of history in 196 maps, starting with the worldwide migration of the Jews from ancient Mesopotamia and coming up into the first decades of the twenty-first century. It presents a vivid picture of a fascinating people and the trials and tribulations which have haunted the Jewish story, as well as Jewish achievements. The themes covered include: Prejudice and Violence – from the destruction of Jewish independence between 722 and 586 BC to the flight from German persecution in the 1930s. Also covers the incidence of anti-Semitic attacks in the Americas and Europe. Migrations and Movements – from ancient dispersals from the promised land, to new maps on the ingathering of exiles from Arab and Muslim lands from 1948, and from the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1992. Society, Trade and Culture – from Jewish trade routes between 800 and 900, the geography of the Jews of China, of India, to communal life in the ghettoes and the situation of world Jewry in the opening years of the twenty-first century. Politics, Government and War – from the Court Jews of the fifteenth century to the founding and growth of the modern State of Israel. This new edition now includes an additional 39 of Martin Gilbert’s maps, across the whole range of Jewish history, originally published across a range of publications, now gathered in this one volume for the first time. Over 50 years on from its first publication, this book is still an indispensable guide to Jewish history.

The graphic history of the Nazi attempt to destroy the Jews of Europe during the Second World War is illustrated in this series of 363 detailed maps. The maps, and the text and photographs that accompany them, powerfully depict the fate of the Jews between 1933 and 1945, while also setting the chronological story in the wider context of the war itself. The maps include: • Historical background – from the effects of anti-Jewish violence between 1880 and 1933 to the geography of the existing Jewish communities when the Nazi Party came to power • The beginning of the violence – from the destruction of the synagogues in November 1938 to Jewish migrations and deportations, the ghettos, and the establishment of the concentration camps and death camps throughout German-dominated Europe • The spread of Nazi rule – the fate of the Jews throughout Europe including Germany, Austria, Poland, Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Russia, Denmark, Norway, France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, and the Baltic States • Jewish revolts and resistance – acts of armed resistance, fighting in the forests, individual acts of courage • Jews in hiding – escape routes, Christians who helped Jews • The death marches – the advance of the Allies and the liberation of the camps, the survivors, and the final death toll. This new edition now includes an additional 30 of Martin Gilbert’s maps, with many additional camp and ghetto maps, further illustrating the layout and organization of some of the most significant towns and cities affected by the Holocaust, especially useful to those visiting the sites.