At dawn on April 28, 1789, Captain William Bligh and eighteen men from HMS Bounty were herded onto a twenty-three-foot launch and abandoned in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Thus began their extraordinary journey to Java. Covering 4,162 miles, the small boat was battered by continuous storms, and the men on board suffered crippling illness, near starvation, and attacks by islanders. The journey was one of the greatest achievements in the history of European seafaring and a perso...

A boy faces the randomness of life, a soldier makes a difficult choice, a migrant seeks new chances, an academic loses something precious, an ageing monk can't escape his past. These are some of the stories of the boys and men of Blokeland. From their first decade to their eighties, these males chart passages through this land of curiosity and hope and loss and sometimes death. Blokeland needs no passport. Vaccination is unnecessary. You map your journey in your mind.At his fir...

A revealing glimpse into the tumultuous history of England’s medieval period, full of knights in shining armor and terrible peasant suffering.Covering the violent and disease-ridden period between 1272 to 1399, England in the Age of Chivalry. . . And Awful Diseases covers the events, personages and ideas most commonly known as "medieval". This includes Geoffrey Chaucer, the Peasants revolt, the Scottish wars of independence, the Great Famine of 1315, the Black Death...

A detailed history and analysis of the most controversial amphibious operation in the Pacific during WWII: the Battle for Peleliu.On September 15, 1944, the United States invaded the tiny Pacific island of Peleliu, located at the southern end of the Palau Islands. Boasting a large airfield from which the Americans could mount bomber campaigns, Peleliu was a strategically essential part of Gen. MacArthur's long-awaited liberation of the Philippines. With the famed 1...

When Leonardo da Vinci is commissioned to paint 'The Last Supper' , he believes it will seal his reputation as the finest artist in Italy.Yet all does not go as planned. The notorious Papal emissary, Father Rodrigo of Salamanca accuses him of blasphemy over his decision to choose a lowly peasant, Alessandro, to be his model for Jesus.To Leonardo's horror, Alessandro takes on quasi-religious significance for the populace of Milan, dragging both into a journey of pol...

The Extraordinary Story of a Young Winston Churchill in the Boer War, as Told by His GranddaughterIn this lively biography of a dashing, brash twenty-five-year-old Churchill, Celia Sandys chronicles her celebrated grandfather’s adventures as a correspondent and combatant during nine months of the Anglo-Boer War—events that took him from the bivouacs and battle sites of Transvaal to his incarceration as a prisoner of war in Pretoria and ultimately to a bold escape ac...

The airborne battle for the bridges across the Rhine at Arnhem ranks amongst the Second World Wars most famous actions inspiring innumerable books and the star-studded 1977 movie. This book, however, is unique: deeply moved, the author provides a fresh narrative and approach concentrating on the tragic stories of individual casualties.These men were killed at different junctures in the fighting, often requiring forensic analysis to ascertain their fates. Wider events contextualize the auth...

"The expertly researched biography of the man who created and led the British intelligence organization best known for cracking the Nazi's codes." — Midwest Book ReviewSome of the individuals who played key roles in the success of Bletchley Park in reading the secret communications of Britain's enemies during the Second World War have become well-known figures. However, the man who created and led the organization based there, from its inception in 1919 un...

Essays that explore quirky, counterintuitive aspects of brain function and "make us realize that what goes on in our minds is nothing short of magical" (Scientific American).Neuroscientist David J. Linden approached leading brain researchers and asked each the same question: "What idea about brain function would you most like to explain to the world?" Their responses make up this one-of-a-kind collection of popular science essays that seeks to expand our knowledge o...

This is an account of the British Expeditionary Forces battles in the summer and autumn of 1917. It begins with the Allied plan to free up the Flanders coast, to limit German naval and submarine attacks on British shipping.The opening offensive began with the detonation of nineteen mines on 7 June and ended with the capture of the Messines Ridge. The main offensive started with success on 31 July but was soon bogged down due to the August rains. Three huge attacks between 20 September and ...

They stand proudly gazing across the Hudson River at the cliffs of New Jersey. Their brows are marked by ornamental pediments. Greek columns stand as sentries by their entrances and stone medallions bedeck their chests. They are seven graceful relics of Beaux Arts New York, townhouses built more than 100 years ago for a new class of industrialists, actors and scientists -- many from abroad -- who made their fortunes in the United States and shaped the lives of Americans.This book b...

The gripping story of an extraordinary American hero, the most decorated man in US Marine Corps history, from a New York Times–bestselling author."We are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1. They can't get away from us now!" —Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMCIn the glorious chronicles of the US Marine Corps, no name is more revered than that of Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller. The only fighting man to receive the Navy C...