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A brilliant and poignant history of the friendship between two
great war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, alongside a
narrative investigation of the origins of PTSD and the literary
response to World War I Second Lieutenant Wilfred Owen was
twenty-four years old when he was admitted to the newly established
Craiglockhart War Hospital for treatment of shell shock. A
bourgeoning poet, trying to make sense of the terror he had
witnessed, he read a collection of poems from a fellow officer,
Siegfried Sassoon, and was impressed by his portrayal of the
soldier’s plight. One month later, Sassoon himself arrived at
Craiglockhart, having refused to return to the front after being
wounded during battle. As their friendship evolved over their
months as patients at Craiglockhart, each encouraged the other in
their work, in their personal reckonings with the morality of war,
as well as in their treatment. Therapy provided Owen, Sassoon, and
fellow patients with insights that allowed them express themselves
better, and for the 28 months that Craiglockhart was in operation,
it notably incubated the era’s most significant developments in
both psychiatry and poetry. Drawing on rich source materials, as
well as Glass’s own deep understanding of trauma and war,
Soldiers Don’t Go Mad tells for the first time the story of the
soldiers and doctors who struggled with the effects of industrial
warfare on the human psyche. As he investigates the roots of what
we now know as post-traumatic stress disorder, Glass brings
historical bearing to how we must consider war’s ravaging effects
on mental health, and the ways in which creative work helps us come
to terms with even the darkest of times.
A powerful and insightful narrative of a journey - once violently
interrupted and here resumed - through one of the most compelling
regions on earth. From Aqaba to Jerusalem and on into Palestine,
veteran commentator on the Middle East, Charles Glass writes a
thoughtful, inquisitive and dispassionate book on the politics and
peoples of the region. He has traversed the Jordanian desert to the
Iraqi border with Bedouin guides, explored modern Israel and
revisited the scene of his captivity, confronting the men who
kidnapped him. Written with elegance, flair and a wonderfully acute
eye for the idiosyncrasies of the places through which he passes,
this is a travel book full of enemies and friends both old and new:
Arabs and Jews, soldiers and shopkeepers, Syrians and Israelis, the
cowed and the vengeful, affording us an unprecedented and intimate
portrait of these bruised and troubled lands.
A poet, a gangster and an agent of the Resistance; 'Deserter'
details three astonishing lives shaped by the decision to flee
during WWII. During the Second World War, the British lost 100,000
troops to desertion, and the Americans 50,000. Commonwealth forces
from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Britain's
colonial empire also left the ranks in their thousands. But,
surprisingly, only one WWII deserter was executed for his crime. In
'Deserter', veteran reporter and historian Charles Glass gives
voice to the powerful stories of three soldiers, two Americans and
one Brit, who all ran from the conflict to meet with distinctly
different fates. He follows each into the heat of battle, exploring
the pressures that formed their decisions and the lasting impact of
their choices. The result is a highly emotional and engaging study
of an under-explored area of World War II history.
An elegantly written and highly informative account of a group of
Americans living in Paris when the city fell to the Nazis in June
1940. In the early hours of 14 June 1940, Nazi troops paraded
through the streets of Paris, marking the beginning of the city's
four-year occupation. French troops withdrew in order to avoid a
battle and the potential destruction of their capital. It wasn't
long before German tanks rumbled past the Arc de Triomphe and down
the Champs Elysees to the Place de la Concorde. The American
community in Paris was the largest in Continental Europe, totalling
approximately 30,000 before the Second World War. Although
Ambassodor Bullitt advised those without vital business in the city
to leave in 1939, over half of the Americans in Paris chose to
stay. Many had professional and family ties to the city; the
majority, though, had a peculiarly American love for the city,
rooted in the bravery of the Marquis de la Fayette and the 17,000
Frenchmen who volunteered to fight for American independence in
1776. An eclectic group, they included black soldiers from the
Harlem Hellfighters, who were determined not to return to the
racial segregation that they faced at home, rich socialites like
Peggy Guggenheim and Florence Jay Gould, as well as painters,
musicians, bankers and businessmen. There were those whose lives
went on as if the Germans were ephemera, those who collaborated and
those, like Dr Sumner Jackson and Etta Shiber, who worked
underground for the resistance movement. This is a book about
adventure, intrigue, passion and deceit, and one which follows its
characters into the Maquis, the concentration camps and overseas.
Filled with a huge amount of new analysis on the Second World War,
'Americans in Paris' is a fascinating, revealing and moving read.
The WikiLeaks publisher and free speech campaigner Julian Assange
has, since April 2019, been remanded at a maximum security prison
in London facing extradition to the United States over WikiLeaks'
groundbreaking 2010 publications. Now, in this crisp anthology,
Assange's voice emerges - erudite, analytic and prophetic. Julian
Assange In His Own Words provides a highly accessible survey of
Assange's philosophy and politics, conveying his views on how
governments, corporations, intelligence agencies and the media
function. As well as addressing the significance of the vast trove
of leaked documents published by WikiLeaks, Assange draws on a
polymathic intelligence to range freely over quantum physics, Greek
mythology, macroeconomics, modern literature, and empires old and
new. Drawing on his insights as the world's most famous free speech
activist Assange invites us to ask further questions about how
power operates in a world increasingly dominated by a ubiquitous
internet. Assange may be gagged, but in these pages his words run
free, providing both an exhortation to fight for a better world and
an inspiration when doing so.
An unforgettable portrait of Paris and Vichy France during the Nazi
occupation
"
Americans in Paris" recounts tales of adventure, intrigue,
passion, deceit, and survival under the brutal Nazi occupation
through the eyes of the Americans who lived through it all.
Renowned journalist Charles Glass tells the story of a remarkable
cast of five thousand expatriates--artists, writers, scientists,
playboys, musicians, cultural mandarins, and ordinary
businessmen--and their struggles in Nazi Paris. Glass's discovery
of letters, diaries, war documents, and police files reveals as
never before how Americans were trapped in a web of intrigue,
collaboration, and courage.
Since the upsurge of the Arab Spring in 2011, the Syrian civil war
has claimed in excess of 200,000 lives, with an estimated 8 million
Syrians, more than a third of the country's population, forced to
flee their homes. Militant Sunni groups, such as ISIS, have taken
control of large swathes of the nation. The impact of this
catastrophe is now being felt on the streets of Europe and the
United States. Veteran Middle East expert Charles Glass combines
reportage, analysis, and history to provide an accessible overview
of the origins and permutations defining the conflict. He also
gives a powerful argument for why the West has failed to get to
grips with the consequences of the crisis.
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