This sensational 1941 memoir of life on wartime Europe's frontline by a trailblazing female reporter is an 'unforgettable' (The Times) rediscovered classic, introduced by Christina Lamb. Paris as it fell to the Nazis London on the first day of the Blitz Berlin the day Germany invaded Poland Madrid in the Spanish Civil War Prague during the Munich crisis Lapland as the Russians attacked Moscow betrayed by the Germans Virginia Cowles has seen it all. As a pioneering female correspondent, she reported from the frontline of 1930s Europe into WWII always in the right place at the right time. Flinging off her heels under shellfire; meeting Hitler ('an inconspicuous little man'); gossiping with Churchill by his goldfish pond; dancing in the bomb-blasted Ritz ... Introduced by Christina Lamb, Cowles' incredible dispatches make you an eyewitness to the twentieth century as you have never experienced it before. 'A tour-de-force.' Daily Mail 'Amazingly brilliant.' New York Times 'Fascinating.' Justine Picardie 'Breathtaking.' Anna Funder 'Thrilling.' Sue Prideaux 'An amazingly brilliant reporter ... One of the most engrossing [books] the war has produced.' New York Times Book Review What readers are saying: The queen of historical name-dropping Holy cow! What a wonderful find!! Most unexpectedly great book that I have read in years. Reads like a novel [but] this is real life. The best book I've read this year ... Exquisitely written [day-to-day] drama of history ... Breathtakingly fresh. I can't recommend this book enough. Cowles' voice and humanity are her greatest assets, but her willingness to be where the action was - and always find trouble - paid off. A marvel. Her ability to capture anecdotes and dialogue that offer surprising insights into historic personages and events is a frequent source of wonder. It was difficult for me not to drive my family crazy wanting to read them quotes. The intrepid Virginia Cowles was in the right places at the right times and connected to the right people. What a life she led!

In the dark and uncertain days of 1941 and 1942, when Rommel's Afrika Korps was sweeping towards Egypt and the Suez Canal, a small group of daring raiders made history for the Allies. They operated deep behind the German lines, driving hundreds of miles through the deserts of North Africa. They hid by day and struck by night, destroying aircraft, blowing up ammunition dumps, derailing trains and killing many times their own number. The men were the Special Air Service, the SAS, the brainchild of David Stirling, a deceptively mild-mannered man with a brilliant idea. Under his command, small teams of resourceful, highly trained men penetrated beyond the front lines of the opposing armies and wreaked havoc where the Germans least expected it. Virginia Cowles's The Phantom Major is a classic account of these raids, an amazing tale of courage, impudence and daring, packed with action and high adventure. Her narrative, based on the eyewitness testimony of the men who took part, gives a fascinating insight into the early years of the SAS.Virginia Cowles was an American war correspondent and historian. Her book about her own experiences as a journalist from 1936-42, Looking for Trouble, has recently been re-issued by Faber Finds. Her play, written with Martha Gellhorn, Love Goes to Press!, will have a revival on Broadway in 2011. Among her biographies are: Winston Churchill: The Era and the Man, The Astors: Story of a Transatlantic Family, The Romanovs, The Rothschilds: A Family of Fortune and Great Marlborough and His Duchess.

This sensational 1941 memoir of life on wartime Europe's frontline by a trailblazing female reporter is an 'unforgettable' (The Times) rediscovered classic, introduced by Christina Lamb (who calls her 'the Forrest Gump of journalism'). Paris as it fell to the Nazis London on the first day of the Blitz Berlin the day Germany invaded Poland Madrid in the Spanish Civil War Prague during the Munich crisis Lapland as the Russians attacked Moscow betrayed by the Germans Virginia Cowles has seen it all. As a pioneering female correspondent, she reported from the frontline of 1930s Europe into the Second World War, always in the right place at the right time. Flinging off her heels under shellfire; meeting Hitler ('an inconspicuous little man'); gossiping with Churchill by his goldfish pond; dancing in the bomb-blasted Ritz ... Introduced by Christina Lamb, Cowles' incredible dispatches make you an eyewitness to the twentieth century as you have never experienced it before. 'An amazingly brilliant reporter ... One of the most engrossing [books] the war has produced.' New York Times Book Review What readers are saying: The queen of historical name-dropping Holy cow! What a wonderful find!! Most unexpectedly great book that I have read in years. Reads like a novel [but] this is real life. The best book I've read this year ... Exquisitely written [day-to-day] drama of history ... Breathtakingly fresh. I can't recommend this book enough. Cowles' voice and humanity are her greatest assets, but her willingness to be where the action was - and always find trouble - paid off. A marvel. Her ability to capture anecdotes and dialogue that offer surprising insights into historic personages and events is a frequent source of wonder. It was difficult for me not to drive my family crazy wanting to read them quotes. The intrepid Virginia Cowles was in the right places at the right times and connected to the right people. What a life she led!

Winston Churchill THE ERA AND THE MAN By VIRGINIA COWLES The Universal Library GROSSET DUNLAP NEW YORK TO THE ENDURING INSPIRATION OF MY MOTHER FLORENCE JAQUITH COWLES FOREWORD IN THIS book I have attempted to tell of Mr. Churchills early days, the influences brought to bear upon him as a young man, and to present, as objectively as possible, an account of his prodigious career. I have not tried to draw a veil over the less successful periods nor, I hope, have I withheld praise and admiration for his great contributions. Mr. Churchill stands out as a titan among his fellow men. Consequently his mistakes and triumphs are often intermingled on a grandiose scale, and his personality seldom fails to draw a challenge. As a statesman he moved through four decades of tumultuous events before he reached the grand climax of his life. But in retrospect his political misfortunes seem provi dential, for without them he might not have been set apart, or spared, as Mr. Attlee once put it, to lead his country in the stirring days of 1940. When I saw Mr. Churchill at the French Embassy in 1950 and told him I was planning to write his biography he growled good-naturedly Theres nothing much in that field left unploughed. However, he did not tal into consideration the unusual fertility of the ground and I hope the reader will not be disappointed in the harvest I have been helped by the innumerable biographies and memoirs to which I have given acknow ledgment, by the newspapers and magazines of the last fifty years, and by information gathered from people whose paths at one time or another have crossed those of Mr. Churchill. A number of friends were kind enough to offer comment and criticism on thefinished work. Although I do not pretend to reflect their views in the interpretation I have given, I would like to thank Mr. Leo Amery, Mr. Robert Boothby and Mr. William Deakin for reading the book in manuscript form. VIRGINIA COWLES Kingsbridge, Steeple Ckydon, Buckingham. A CKNO WLEDGMEN TS GRATEFUL acknowledgment is made to the following publishers for some of the selections reprinted in this volume Christophers Ltd. London Incidents and Reflections by J. B. Atkins J. ML Dent Sons, Ltd. London Certain People of Importance Pillars of Society and Prophets, Priests and Kings by A. C. Gardiner Doubleday Company, Inc. Life of Lord Fisher by R. H. Bacon and Politicians and the War by Lord Beaverbrook Harcourt, Brace Company, Inc. The Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill by J. M. Keynes and Intimate Diary of the Peace Conference and Afterwards by Lord Riddell Henry Holt Conpany, Inc. A Shropshire Lad by A. E. Houseman Houghton Mifflin Company The Second World War by Winston S. Churchill Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. My Diaries by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt Little, Brown Company and Lord Beaverbrook War Memoirs of David Lloyd George by David Lloyd George Little, Brown Company Memories and Reflections by the Earl of Ox ford and Asquith Longmans, Green Company, Inc. Our Partnership by Beatrice Webb William Morrow Company Lifes Ebb and Flow by Frances, Countess of Warwick Nicholson Watson, Ltd. London C. F. G. Masterman by Luch Masterman and War Diary by Lord Riddell Odhams Press, Ltd. London Lord Randolph Churchill by Winston S. Churchill 3. P. Putnams Sons Great Contemporaries by Winston S. Churchill and Anglo-American Memories by George Smalley Charles Scribners Sons The Aftermath by Winston S.Churchill Amid These Storms by Winston S. Churchill, in footnotes referring to the British tide Thoughts and Adventures Marlborough by Winston S. Churchill A Roving Commission by Winston S. Churchill, in footnotes referring to the British tide My Early Life The World Crisis by Winston S. Churchill Fighting in Flanders by E...

Written in the aftermath of World War II, "Love Goes to Press" opened in London in 1946 and on Broadway in 1947. At the time a relief for the survivors of Blitzkrieg and ration cards, today it is a devilishly entertaining portrayal of the Battle of the Sexes. In this romantic farce, set in a press camp on the Italian front in 1944, two women war correspondents--smart, sexy, and famous for scooping their male competitors--struggle to balance their professional lives with their love lives. The American literary tradition is replete with stories of "men without women," but in "Love Goes to Press" Martha Gellhorn and Virginia Cowles have created a world of "women without men." Complications ensue when one of our heroines unexpectedly encounters her ex-husband, a famous writer whom she had divorced on the grounds of plagiarism. This Bison Books edition features a preface and an updated afterword by Sandra Spanier discussing her recent archival discoveries, her experience of working with Gellhorn to publish the play for the first time, and the strong resemblance of the leading man to Gellhorn's ex-husband, Ernest Hemingway.