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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Historical, political & military
On 15 April 1989, ninety-six spectators lost their lives at
Sheffield's Hillsborough Stadium as they gathered for an FA Cup
semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. The
events of that spring afternoon sparked a controversy that
continues to reverberate through British football and policing to
this day.Norman Bettison, a Chief Inspector in the South Yorkshire
Police at the time of the Hillsborough disaster, witnessed the
tragedy as a spectator at the match. Since then, he has found
himself one of the focal points of outrage over the actions of the
police. Comments he made in the wake of the Hillsborough
Independent Panel in 2012 stoked further criticism in the press and
in Parliament and, in October 2012, he resigned from his job as
Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police.This personal account
describes how the Hillsborough disaster unfolded, provides an
insight into what was happening at South Yorkshire Police
headquarters in the aftermath, and gives an objective and
compassionate account of the bereaved families' long struggle for
justice, all the while charting the author's journey from innocent
bystander to a symbol of a perceived criminal conspiracy.
Brig.genl. Willem (Kaas) van der Waals kyk terugskouend na sy loopbaan
wat gekenmerk is deur veelsydigheid — valskermsoldaat en instrukteur,
operasionele diens in SWA, Angola en Rhodesië, militêre diplomaat en
SAW se hoof van buitelandse betrekkinge.
Hy was ook dosent in strategiese studies, hoof van sielkundige
oorlogvoering, inligtingsoffisier en strategiese beplanner by die
sekretariaat van die Staatsveiligheidsraad. Daarna is hy die eerste
veiligheidshoof van die stad Pretoria.
Dis juis díé veelsydigheid wat hom enersyds met gesagsfigure in die
weermag laat bots het en andersyds wyd aanwendbaar gemaak het.
'Living with him was like living at the centre of the universe. It was
electrifying and humbling, blissful and destructive, all at the same
time.'
Paris, 1936. When Dora Maar, a talented French photographer, painter
and poet, is introduced to Pablo Picasso, she is mesmerized by his dark
and intense stare. Drawn to his volcanic creativity, it isn't long
before she embarks on a passionate relationship with the Spanish artist
that sometimes includes sadism and masochism, and ultimately pushes her
to the edge.
The Paris Muse is the fictionalized retelling of this disturbing love
story, as we follow Dora on her journey of self-discovery and
expression. Set in Paris and the French Riviera, where Dora and Pablo
spent their holidays with their glamorous artist friends, it provides a
fascinating insight into how Picasso was a genius who side-stepped the
rules in his human relationships as he did in his art. Much to Dora's
torment, he refused to divorce his wife and conducted affairs with
Dora's friends. The Spanish Civil War made him depressed and violent,
an angst that culminated in his acclaimed painting 'Guernica', which
Dora documented as he painted.
As the encroaching darkness suffocates their relationship - a darkness
that escalates once the Second World War begins and the Nazis invade
the country - Dora has a nervous breakdown and is hospitalized.
Atmospheric, intense and moving, The Paris Muse is an astonishing read
that ensures that this talented, often overlooked woman who gave her
life to Picasso is no longer a footnote.
A dedicated career soldier and excellent division and corps
commander, Dominique Vandamme was a thorn in the side of
practically every officer he served. Outspoken to a fault, he even
criticized Napoleon, whom he never forgave for not appointing him
marshal. His military prowess so impressed the emperor, however,
that he returned Vandamme to command time and again.In this first
book-length study of Vandamme in English, John G. Gallaher traces
the career of one of Napoleon's most successful midrank officers.
He describes Vandamme's rise from a provincial youth with neither
fortune nor influence to an officer of the highest rank in the
French army. Gallaher thus offers a rare look at a Napoleonic
general who served for twenty-five years during the wars of the
French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire. This was a time when a
general could lose his head if he lost a battle. Despite Vandamme's
contentious nature, Gallaher shows, Napoleon needed his skills as a
commander, and Vandamme needed Napoleon to further his career.
Gallaher draws on a wealth of archival sources in France - notably
the Vandamme Papers in Lille - to draw a full portrait of the
general. He also reveals new information on such military events as
the Silesian campaign of 1807 and the disaster at Kulm in 1813.
Gallaher presents Vandamme in the context of the Napoleonic command
system, revealing how he related to both subordinates and
superiors. Napoleon's Enfant Terrible depicts an officer who was
his own worst enemy but who was instrumental in winning an empire.
In spring 1876 a physician named James Madison DeWolf accepted the
assignment of contract surgeon for the Seventh Cavalry, becoming
one of three surgeons who accompanied Custer's battalion at the
Battle of the Little Big Horn. Killed in the early stages of the
battle, he might easily have become a mere footnote in the many
chronicles of this epic campaign - but he left behind an eyewitness
account in his diary and correspondence. A Surgeon with Custer at
the Little Big Horn is the first annotated edition of these rare
accounts since 1958, and the most complete treatment to date. While
researchers have known of DeWolf's diary for many years, few
details have surfaced about the man himself. In A Surgeon with
Custer at the Little Big Horn, Todd E. Harburn bridges this gap,
providing a detailed biography of DeWolf as well as extensive
editorial insight into his writings. As one of the most highly
educated men who traveled with Custer, the surgeon was well
equipped to compose articulate descriptions of the 1876 campaign
against the Indians, a fateful journey that began for him at Fort
Lincoln, Dakota Territory, and ended on the battlefield in eastern
Montana Territory. In letters to his beloved wife, Fannie, and in
diary entries - reproduced in this volume exactly as he wrote them
- DeWolf describes the terrain, weather conditions, and medical
needs that he and his companions encountered along the way. After
DeWolf's death, his colleague Dr. Henry Porter, who survived the
conflict, retrieved his diary and sent it to DeWolf's widow. Later,
the DeWolf family donated it to the Little Bighorn Battlefield
National Monument. Now available in this accessible and fully
annotated format, the diary, along with the DeWolf's personal
correspondence, serves as a unique primary resource for information
about the Little Big Horn campaign and medical practices on the
western frontier.
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