When Dorothy Pilley first set hand on the rope in the 1910s, women climbers were seen as a dangerous liability, their achievements ignored, unrecorded or disbelieved. Undeterred, Dorothy proved herself on the vertiginous slopes of Wales, Scotland and the Lake District before tackling the rock faces of the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Rockies, Mount Fuji and the Himalayas. Her tireless championing of other women climbers as well as her own trailblazing example led to women being seen as serious ...

'I have given my whole life to the mountains. Born at the foot of the Alps, I have been a ski champion, a professional guide, an amateur of the greatest climbs in the Alps and a member of eight expeditions to the Andes and the Himalayas. If the word has any meaning at all, I am a mountaineer.' So Terray begins Conquistadors of the Useless- not with arrogance, but with typical commitment. One of the most colourful characters of the mountaineering world, his writing is true to his uncompromi...

Includes the First World War Illustrations Pack – 73 battle plans and diagrams and 198 photos"A young British soldier who went to war on two wheels"When the Great War broke out, the author of this book decided to leave his university studies and join the struggle. What attracted him immediately was the potential to combine his military service with his love of motorcycles and so it was that he found himself one of a select group of motorcycle despatch riders within the 5th Di...

Writing by W.H.L. Watson, "Adventures of a Despatch Rider" is an interesting private tale of his life as a motorbike despatch rider throughout the First World War. In this powerful story, Watson paints a clear and shifting photo of the difficulties, risks, and interesting moments he faced while appearing this essential obligation. Watson wrote approximately his courageous adventures as a dispatch rider, travelling via the harmful landscapes of Europe at some stage in the warfare. Through h...

"Down South, in the Valley of the Somme, far from the spots recorded in this book, I began to write this story. In billets it was. I strolled across the old farmyard and into the wood beyond. Sitting by a gurgling little stream, I began, with the aid of a notebook and a pencil, to record the joys and sorrows of my first six months in France. I do not claim any unique quality for these experiences. Many thousands have had the same. I have merely, by request, made a record of my times out th...

This classic WWI memoir by a decorated infantryman and historian presents a vivid account of life in the trenches on the Western Front.During World War One, Major Guy Chapman, OBE MC, served in the Royal Fusiliers and was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery. Joining soon after war was declared, Chapman was stationed in France and fought in the Battle of Arras.When Chapman's memoir, A Passionate Prodigality, was first published in 1933 it was...

"If my library was to somehow catch fire and I could only save one book, the long out of print Conquistadors of the Useless, by Lionel Terray, would be it." -- Explore magazine"The finest mountaineering narrative ever written." -- David Roberts, author of Mountain of My Fear* One of National Geographic Adventure's "100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time"* The story of ground-breaking climbs told with insight and wit* A mountaineeri...

W.H.L Watson was studying at Balliol College, Oxford, when war was declared in 1914.  Caught up in a fever of patriotic duty and excited by the prospect of adventure, he along with his fellow students hurried to enlist in the British Army.   Seeing an advert from the War Office appealing for motor-cyclists, Watson volunteered and joined the 5th Division as a despatch rider.   From basic training in Ireland to life at the Front in France and Be...

August 1914. The German Army invades Belgium: it's the beginning of the First World War. Military operations in the little country involve one hundred thousands Belgian soldiers and seven hundred thousands German ones. Plus a woman. Louise Mack sailed to Belgium to write some articles for the "Daily Mail" from behind the front line, but soon she took part to dramatic events such as the siege of Anvers and the German occupation, that led her to become the first female war-correspondent ever...

One of the most powerful descriptions of the scourge of the First World War by a woman who was on the front lines and ultimately gave her life for the cause.Scottish-born English novelist, Sarah Broom Macnaughtan (1864 – 1916) spent much of her life in the service of others in need. She worked for the Red Cross to aid soldiers and civilians in the Balkans, the Boer War, and WWI. She was a suffragist and worked for the poor.She kept this diary during her service in WWI. Duri...

In Mountaineering Holiday, Frank Smythe records 'an outstanding Alpine climbing season' - his 1939 summer holiday. Writing in his typically engaging style of keen observation, entertaining anecdote and remarkable knack for description, Smythe takes the reader with him on his trip into the Alps. Arriving unfit and out of practice, he gets stuck behind slower climbers and spends rainy days confined to the valleys before making an impressive number of successful ascents and historic climbs: M...

This carefully crafted ebook: "Over There: War Scenes on the Western Front" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents.This bookwas written by British writer Arnold Bennett. He lived in France from 1903-1911, and was the first established author to be invited to tour the front for propaganda purposes, spending three weeks in France and Belgium in June 1915 and publishing this account later in the year. He was appointed Director of Propaganda in th...