It is 25 years since the end of the Cold War, now a generation old. It began over 75 years ago, in 1944long before the last shots of the Second World War had echoed across the wastelands of Eastern Europewith the brutal Greek Civil War. The battle lines are no longer drawn, but they linger on, unwittingly or not, in conflict zones such as Iraq, Somalia and Ukraine. In an era of mass-produced AK-47s and ICBMs, one such flashpoint was the Middle East On the afternoon of 6 October, 1973, the ...

It has been over three decades since the Union Jack was lowered on the colony of Rhodesia, but the bitter and divisive civil war that preceded it has continued to endure as a textbook counterinsurgency campaign fought between a mobile, motivated and highly trained Rhodesian security establishment and two constituted liberations movements motivated, resourced and inspired by the ideals of communist revolution in the third world.A complicated historical process of occupation and colo...

For 34 years from 1973 Peter Baxter was BBC producer of the hugely popular Test Match Special, and during that time he reported on Test matches from around the world. This funny and revealing book takes us behind the scenes as Baxter and his much-loved TMS colleagues do battle with local conditions and sometimes bizarre red tape to bring back home the latest news of England's progress (or otherwise) on the field. It should have been straightforward, but somehow it rarely was...

Nigeria was a unique concept in the formation of modern Africa. It began life as a highly lucrative if climatically challenging holding of the Royal Niger Company, a British Chartered Company under the control of Victorian capitalist Sir George Taubman Goldie. It was handed over to indigenous rule in 1960 with the best of intentions and a profound hope on the part of the British Crown that it would become the poster child of successful political transition in Africa.It did not. One...

Towards the end of 1906, a meeting took place between two emerging giants of the age, Mohandas K. Gandhi and General Jan Christian Smuts. United under the same empire, but separated by distance and culture, Smuts was born in the Cape Colony, and Gandhi in Porbandar, a duchy of the Indian province of Gujarat. Both, however, went on to study law in Britain, and while developing a great admiration for the institutions of empire, each man also suffered his own particular crisis of faith. From ...

The end of the Cold War introduced an altered global dynamic. The old bond of East/West patronage in Africa was broken, weakening the first crop of independent revolutionary leadership on the continent who no longer had the support of one or other of the superpowers. With collapse of the Soviet Union, all this changed. The question of global/strategic security devolved into regional peacekeeping and peace enforcement, characterized primarily by the Balkans War, but also many other minor re...

South African Mirages and Cuban MiG-21s dogfighting over Cuito Cuanavale, the largest tank battle on African soil since El Alamein; Puma troopships shot out of the skies by Strela missiles and RPG-7 rockets; Alouette III gunships hovering menacingly above Koevoet tracker-combat teams as they close in for the kill; Hercules and Transall transports disgorging their loads of Parabats over Cassinga; suicidal helicopter hot extractions of Recce operators deep in enemy territory; and a lone Alou...

A historian examines a disastrous, Victorian-era expedition in the Canadian Arctic, a shocking revelation, and the celebrity fallout that followed.The fate of the lost Franklin Expedition of 1847 is an enigma that has tantalized generations of historians, archaeologists, and adventurers. The expedition was lost without a trace, and all 129 men died in what is arguably the worst disaster in Britain's history of polar exploration.In the aftermath of the crew'...

A celebration of three decades of cricket and a unique insight into the world of radio and broadcasting. Test Match Special is both a sporting and broadcasting institution that has become synonymous with the British summertime. Since its first live broadcast back in 1957 it has proudly lived up to its original slogan 'Don't miss a Ball, we broadcast them all'. During much of this time the man behind the scenes was Peter Baxter and here, in this wonderful memoir, he recalls the best moments...

This military history of French Equatorial Africa examines the key players and operations from WWII to post-colonial conflicts.France in Centrafrique explores the history of French Equatorial Africa with a particular emphasis on the role of the Central African Republic in the Second World War and the Free French Movement. One of the key figures to emerge from this period was Jean-Bédel Bokassa, a man who would shape the destiny of the Central African Republ...

Winnerof the 2011 BMA book awards: medicine categoryIn the five decades since its first publication, Hunter's Diseases of Occupations has remained the pre-eminent text on diseases caused by work, universally recognized as the most authoritative source of information in the field. It is an important guide for doctors in all disciplines who may encounter occupational diseases in their practice, covering topics as diverse as work and stress, asbsetos-r...

A cricket tea is an integral part of any cricket match. It’s a well-known fact that some players only turn out at windswept grounds on the promise of a solid brew, a chewy wedge of cake and a sticky handful of egg mayo sandwiches. Likewise, there is always an occasional away fixture where the teas are traditionally so dire that mysterious illness and injury striking down a portion of the squad is all but guaranteed. Meanwhile, at the top level of the game, professionalism has now reached t...