of the British Museum, University College, RADA, the Friends House, the BMA, Great Ormond Street Hospital. Bloomsbury is crammed with history and with contemporary decision-making. But there is also working class Bloomsbury and, now, Bengali Bloomsbury in the east. Biographer and novelist Nicholas Murray walks this crowded square mile or so, among the locals, the students, the tourists, alone or in the company of local characters, to give Bloomsbury the 'Real' series treatment of history, memoir, 'psychogeography' and oblique approaches to the familiar. His entertaining and informative text is accompanied by equally oblique images, the sort you won't find in either tourist guides or regular history books. All of which present Bloomsbury as it's never been portrayed before: intimate, contemporary, exploratory and occasionally downright strange.

Nicholas Murray’s The Rocky Road to the Great War examines the evolution of field fortification theory and practice between 1877 and 1914. During this period field fortifications became increasingly important, and their construction evolved from primarily above to below ground. The reasons for these changes are crucial to explaining the landscape of World War I, yet they have remained largely unstudied. The transformation in field fortifications reflected not only the ongoing technological advances but also the changing priorities in the reasons for constructing them, such as preventing desertion, protecting troops, multiplying forces, reinforcing tactical points, providing a secure base, and dominating an area. Field fortification theory, however, did not evolve solely in response to improving firepower or technology. Rather, a combination of those factors and societal ones—for example, the rise of large conscript armies and the increasing participation of citizens rather than subjects—led directly to technical alterations in the actual construction of the fieldworks. These technical developments arose from the second wave of the Industrial Revolution in the late nineteenth century that provided new technologies that increased the firepower of artillery, which in turn drove the transition from above- to below-ground field fortification. Based largely on primary sources—including French, British, Austrian, and American military attaché reports—Murray’s enlightening study is unique in defining, fully examining, and contextualizing the theories and construction of field fortifications before World War I. About the Author NICHOLAS MURRAY is an associate professor of history at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He obtained his undergraduate degree in war studies at King’s College London and both his master’s and doctoral degrees in history from the University of Oxford. He was vice president and secretary of the Oxford University Strategic Studies Group and has taught at Middlebury College and the State University of New York–Adirondack. He lives in Lawrence, Kansas.

The poetry that emerged from the trenches of WWI is a remarkable body of work, at once political manifesto and literary beacon for the twentieth century. In this passionate recreation of the lives of the greatest poets to come out of the conflict, Nicholas Murray brilliantly reveals the men themselves as well as the struggle of the artist to live fully and to bear witness in the annihilating squalor of battle. Bringing into sharp focus the human detail of each life, using journals, letters and literary archives, Murray brings to life the men's indissoluble comradeship, their complex sexual mores and their extraordinary courage. Poignant, vivid and unfailingly intelligent, Nicholas Murray's study offers new and finely tuned insight into the - often devastatingly brief - lives of a remarkable generation of men.

A wise and witty fiction about love, the subject which obsesses at least half the world. Murray ranges across love in its many forms in his combining a comic retelling of the legend of Tristan and Iseut -- one of the world's greatest love stories -- and the story of Felix, growing up in post-war Liverpool and trying to come to terms with the changing nature of love. Nicholas Murray has created a pocket-sized epic about the world's favourite subject. In between the narratives of Tristan and Iseut and the steep learning curve of the young Felix in Liverpool are short, gem-like stories from Greece to Italy, from China to Russia, offering walk-on parts to nelson mandela, Clinton and Lewinsky, Oscar Wilde, lewis Carroll and many other poets, philosophers and legendary lovers, who have learned that 'a world without love is no world at all'. This is a literary confection which will amuse and provoke: read it, then give it to someone you love.

Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) is best known for his masterpiece of military theory On War, yet that work formed only the first three of ten volumes of his published writings. The others, historical analyses of the wars that roiled Europe from 1789 through 1815, informed and shaped Clausewitz's military thought, so they offer invaluable insight into his dialectical, often difficult theoretical masterwork. Among these historical works, perhaps the most important is Napoleon's 1796 Italian Campaign, which covers a crucial period in the French Revolutionary Wars. During this campaign the young, largely unknown Corsican, in his first command, led the French Army to triumph over the superior forces of the Austrian and Sardinian Armies. Moving from strategy to battle scene to analysis, this first English translation nimbly conveys the character of Clausewitz's writing in all its registers: the brisk, often powerful description of events as they unfolded; the critical reflections on strategic theory and its implications; and, most bracing, the dissection and sharp judgment of the actions of the French and Austrian commanders. From the thrill of the Battle of Montenotte-the youthful Bonaparte's first offensive-to the remorseless logic of Clausewitz's assessments, Napoleon's 1796 Italian Campaign will expand readers' experience and understanding of not only this critical moment in European history but also the thought and writings of the modern master of military philosophy.

Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) is best known for his masterpiece of military theory On War, yet that work formed only the first three of his ten-volume published writings. The others, historical analyses of the wars that roiled Europe from 1789 through 1815, informed and shaped Clausewitz's military thought, so they offer invaluable insight into his dialectical, often difficult theoretical masterwork. Among these historical works, one of the most important is Der Feldzug von 1799 in Italien und der Schweiz, which covers an important phase of the French Revolutionary Wars. The Coalition Crumbles, Napoleon Returns focuses mainly on the campaigns in Switzerland, where the cracks that finally fractured the alliance between Russia and Austria and led to the defeat of the Second Coalition first opened. Moving from strategy to battle scene to analysis, this first English translation of volume 6 of Clausewitz's collected works nimbly conveys the character of Clausewitz's writing in all its registers: the brisk, often powerful description of events as they unfolded and the critical reflections on strategic theory and its implications. The Coalition Crumbles, Napoleon Returns features Suvorov's astonishing march through the St. Gotthard Pass and major actions such as the Second Battle of Zurich and the Battle of Mannheim. The nature of the campaign highlighted the contrast between the opposing armies' different strengths and weaknesses and the problems of fighting as part of a coalition. This book will expand readers' experience and understanding of not only this critical moment in European history but also the thought and writings of the modern master of military philosophy.

Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) is best known for his masterpiece of military theory On War, yet that work formed only the first three of his ten-volume published writings. The others, historical analyses of the wars that roiled Europe from 1789 through 1815, informed and shaped Clausewitz's military thought, so they offer invaluable insight into his dialectical, often difficult theoretical masterwork. Among these historical works, one of the most important is Der Feldzug von 1799 in Italien und der Schweiz, which covers an important phase of the French Revolutionary Wars. Napoleon Absent, Coalition Ascendant covers the period of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and focuses on the Second Coalition's campaign in Italy and their victories under Suvorov's dynamic leadership that carried the tide of battle up against the French frontier. Moving from strategy to battle scene to analysis, this first English translation of volume 5 of Clausewitz's collected works nimbly conveys the character of Clausewitz's writing in all its registers: the brisk, often powerful description of events as they unfolded and the critical reflections on strategic theory and its implications. Napoleon Absent, Coalition Ascendant includes the major battles of Trebbia and Novi and will expand readers' experience and understanding of not only this critical moment in European history but also the thought and writings of the modern master of military philosophy.