- Table View
- List View
Ghost Platoon (Hachette Military Collection #1)
by Frank Walker'thoroughly researched and compelling . . . a chilling account' - The Sun HeraldAn eye-opening account of Australian combat history, untold . . . until now.In 1969 a ragtag unit of 39 men were thrown together at Nui Dat, Vietnam. It was so slapdash a group it didn't even have an officer or sergeant in charge. A rugged ex-Royal Marine stepped forward to take the lead. Jim Riddle was only an acting corporal but he knew enough of war to keep these young diggers alive.When the platoon was involved in a high-risk ambush Riddle proved his leadership skills, bringing his men through unscathed and leaving the battlefield littered with enemy bodies.Despite their success, immediately afterwards the platoon was disbanded. According to the army they'd never existed – theirs was a ghost platoon.Frank Walker details what happened at that ambush and why the army buried their existence, and the secrets that went with it. His findings are a shocking indictment of the long-term effects of war. The men of the platoon – who'd fought so hard for their country – had to fight again to reveal the truth. But the price they all paid was far too high.Ghost Platoon is a gripping story of the soldiers who should never be forgotten . . . or denied.
Ghost Riders: Operation Cowboy, the World War Two Mission to Save the World's Finest Horses
by Mark FeltonApril 1945. As Allied bombs rain down on Europe, a 400-year-old institution looks set to be wiped off the face of the Earth. The famous white Lipizzaner stallions of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, unique and precious animals representing centuries of careful breeding, are scattered across rural Austria and Czechoslovakia in areas soon to be swallowed up by Soviet forces – there, doubtless, to become rations for the Red Army. Their only hope lies with the Americans: what if a small, highly mobile US task force could be sent deep behind German lines, through fanatical SS troops, to rescue the horses before the Soviets arrive. Just five light tanks, a handful of armoured cars and jeeps, and 300 battle-weary GIs must plunge headlong into the unknown on a rescue mission that could change the course of European history. So begins Operation Cowboy, the greatest Second World War story that has never been fully told. GIs will join forces with surrendered German soldiers and liberated prisoners of war to save the world’s finest horses from fanatical SS and the ruthless Red Army in an extraordinary battle during the last few days of the war in Europe.
The Ghost Road (Regeneration #3)
by Pat BarkerThe Ghost Road is the final instalment in Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy.WINNER OF THE 1995 BOOKER PRIZE.1918, the closing months of the war. Army psychiatrist William Rivers is increasingly concerned for the men who have been in his care - particularly Billy Prior, who is about to return to combat in France with young poet Wilfred Owen. As Rivers tries to make sense of what, if anything, he has done to help these injured men, Prior and Owen await the final battles in a war that has decimated a generation ...The Ghost Road is the Booker Prize-winning account of the devastating final months of the First World War.'An extraordinary tour de force. I'm convinced that the trilogy will win recognition as one of the few real masterpieces of late twentieth-century British fiction' Jonathan Coe'Powerful, deeply moving' Barry Unsworth, Sunday Times'Harrowing, original, unforgettable' Independent'A triumph' Sunday TimesOther titles in the trilogy:RegenerationThe Eye in the Door
The Ghost Tree (A\betty Church Mystery Ser. #3)
by M.R.C. KasasianPitch-perfect World War Two crime for fans of Agatha Christie and Jasper Fforde. Detective Betty Church is forced to revisit ghosts from her past when a skeleton is found buried in the woods. July, 1914: Sixteen-year-old Etterly, running from something, hides inside the trunk of a tree and disappears. The police search but find no trace. Her family and friends wrack their brains, but come up with nothing. And so slowly life returns to normal. The hole in the tree is boarded up and the town of Sackwater moves on.Only Etterly's best friend, Betty, clings to hope, insisting she can hear her friend crying for help.June, 1940: A skeleton is discovered buried in the woods. Though most clues have long since decayed, it is wearing an unusual necklace.As soon as Inspector Betty Church sees the evidence she recognises it. The necklace belonged to Etterly. Fearing the worst, Betty is determined to solve this strange case once and for all.What happened to Etterly? And why has this secret remained buried for so long?
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden
by Steve CollThe news-breaking book that has sent schockwaves through the White House, Ghost Wars is the most accurate and revealing account yet of the CIA's secret involvement in al-Qaeada's evolution.Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll has spent years reporting from the Middle East, accessed previously classified government files and interviewed senior US officials and foreign spymasters. Here he gives the full inside story of the CIA's covert funding of an Islamic jihad against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, explores how this sowed the seeds of bn Laden's rise, traces how he built his global network and brings to life the dramatic battles within the US government over national security. Above all, he lays bare American intelligence's continual failure to grasp the rising threat of terrrorism in the years leading to 9/11 - and its devastating consequences.
Ghosts By Daylight: A Memoir of War and Love
by Janine Di GiovanniJanine and Bruno first fell in love as young reporters in the besieged city of Sarajevo. Years later - after endless phone calls, much of what the French call malentendu, secret trysts in foreign cities, numerous break-ups, three miscarriages, countless stories of rebel armies and a dozen wars that had passed between them - they arrive in Paris one rainy January to begin a new life together.The remnants of their separate lives, now left behind, are tentatively unpacked into their shared apartment on the Right Bank: Bruno's heavy blanket from Ethiopia, a set of long feathered arrows from Brazil, an ash tray stolen from a hotel in Algeria, and Janine's flak-jacket and canvas boots, still full of sand from the Western Desert in Iraq.But having met in another lifetime - in another world - ordinary, civilian life doesn't come easily. War has become part of them: it had brought them together, and, though both are damaged by it, neither can quite leave it behind. And the difficult journey that follows, through their mix of joy and terror at becoming parents, Bruno's battle with post-traumatic stress and addiction, and Janine's determination to make France her home, leads to an understanding of the truth that people who deeply love each other cannot always live together.A searing, profoundly moving love letter, beautifully written, Ghosts by Daylight is a powerfully raw portrait of marriage and motherhood in the aftermath of war.
Ghosts of War: Nazi Occupation and Its Aftermath in Soviet Belarus
by Franziska ExelerHow do states and societies confront the legacies of war and occupation, and what do truth, guilt, and justice mean in that process? In Ghosts of War, Franziska Exeler examines people's wartime choices and their aftermath in Belarus, a war-ravaged Soviet republic that was under Nazi occupation during the Second World War.After the Red Army reestablished control over Belarus, one question shaped encounters between the returning Soviet authorities and those who had lived under Nazi rule, between soldiers and family members, reevacuees and colleagues, Holocaust survivors and their neighbors: What did you do during the war?Ghosts of War analyzes the prosecution and punishment of Soviet citizens accused of wartime collaboration with the Nazis and shows how individuals sought justice, revenge, or assistance from neighbors and courts. The book uncovers the many absences, silences, and conflicts that were never resolved, as well as the truths that could only be spoken in private, yet it also investigates the extent to which individuals accommodated, contested, and reshaped official Soviet war memory. The result is a gripping examination of how efforts at coming to terms with the past played out within, and at times through, a dictatorship.
Ghosts of War: A History of World War I in Poetry and Prose
by Andrew FergusonThe First World War produced a unique outpouring of prose and poetry depicting the stark realism of a brutal and futile war; no war before or since has been so extensively chronicled nor its misery so exposed. First-hand experiences in the trenches compelled poets such as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen to write with a resolute honesty, describing events with more feeling and sincerity than the heavily censored letters that were sent home. Accounts of the Great War are typically written from an English perspective, but Ghosts of War encompasses a selection of contributions from across Europe and America, with an emphasis on the Scottish involvement. Using the words of over one hundred poets and writers, Andrew Ferguson recounts the war from its optimistic beginning to its sombre conclusion, bringing the conflict to life in a dramatic, emotive and, at times, humorous way.
Ghosts of War: A gripping military thriller from ex-Special Forces Commander Brad Taylor (Taskforce #10)
by Brad TaylorThis danger is far greater than a single attack. The Taskforce – a highly clandestine Special Forces unit – is on edge. Tensions are boiling over between the East and the West. One strike forces nations to start taking sides and seeking revenge. Only the Taskforce knows the escalation was a false flag attack. What they don't know is who was responsible. They're in a race to uncover the culprit before the point of no return, before the start of WW3. Praise for Brad Taylor: 'It's an excellent read, and I greatly enjoyed it' Nelson DeMille. 'Pike ranks right up there with Jason Bourne, Jack Reacher and Jack Bauer' John Lescroart. 'Logan is a tough, appealing hero you're sure to root for' Joseph Finder. 'Fresh plot, great actions, and Taylor clearly knows what he is writing about' Vince Flynn.
Ghostwritten
by Isabel Wolff‘A deeply moving read – I loved it’ Dinah Jeffries, author of The Tea Planter’s Wife
The GI Bill: The New Deal for Veterans (Pivotal Moments in American History)
by Glenn Altschuler Stuart BluminOn rare occasions in American history, Congress enacts a measure so astute, so far-reaching, so revolutionary, it enters the language as a metaphor. The Marshall Plan comes to mind, as does the Civil Rights Act. But perhaps none resonates in the American imagination like the G.I. Bill. In a brilliant addition to Oxford's acclaimed Pivotal Moments in American History series, historians Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin offer a compelling and often surprising account of the G.I. Bill and its sweeping and decisive impact on American life. Formally known as the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944, it was far from an obvious, straightforward piece of legislation, but resulted from tense political maneuvering and complex negotiations. As Altschuler and Blumin show, an unlikely coalition emerged to shape and pass the bill, bringing together both New Deal Democrats and conservatives who had vehemently opposed Roosevelt's social-welfare agenda. For the first time in American history returning soldiers were not only supported, but enabled to pursue success--a revolution in America's policy towards its veterans. Once enacted, the G.I. Bill had far-reaching consequences. By providing job training, unemployment compensation, housing loans, and tuition assistance, it allowed millions of Americans to fulfill long-held dreams of social mobility, reshaping the national landscape. The huge influx of veterans and federal money transformed the modern university and the surge in single home ownership vastly expanded America's suburbs. Perhaps most important, as Peter Drucker noted, the G.I. Bill "signaled the shift to the knowledge society." The authors highlight unusual or unexpected features of the law--its color blindness, the frankly sexist thinking behind it, and its consequent influence on race and gender relations. Not least important, Altschuler and Blumin illuminate its role in individual lives whose stories they weave into this thoughtful account. Written with insight and narrative verve by two leading historians, The G.I. Bill makes a major contribution to the scholarship of postwar America.
The GI Bill: The New Deal for Veterans (Pivotal Moments in American History)
by Glenn Altschuler Stuart BluminOn rare occasions in American history, Congress enacts a measure so astute, so far-reaching, so revolutionary, it enters the language as a metaphor. The Marshall Plan comes to mind, as does the Civil Rights Act. But perhaps none resonates in the American imagination like the G.I. Bill. In a brilliant addition to Oxford's acclaimed Pivotal Moments in American History series, historians Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin offer a compelling and often surprising account of the G.I. Bill and its sweeping and decisive impact on American life. Formally known as the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944, it was far from an obvious, straightforward piece of legislation, but resulted from tense political maneuvering and complex negotiations. As Altschuler and Blumin show, an unlikely coalition emerged to shape and pass the bill, bringing together both New Deal Democrats and conservatives who had vehemently opposed Roosevelt's social-welfare agenda. For the first time in American history returning soldiers were not only supported, but enabled to pursue success--a revolution in America's policy towards its veterans. Once enacted, the G.I. Bill had far-reaching consequences. By providing job training, unemployment compensation, housing loans, and tuition assistance, it allowed millions of Americans to fulfill long-held dreams of social mobility, reshaping the national landscape. The huge influx of veterans and federal money transformed the modern university and the surge in single home ownership vastly expanded America's suburbs. Perhaps most important, as Peter Drucker noted, the G.I. Bill "signaled the shift to the knowledge society." The authors highlight unusual or unexpected features of the law--its color blindness, the frankly sexist thinking behind it, and its consequent influence on race and gender relations. Not least important, Altschuler and Blumin illuminate its role in individual lives whose stories they weave into this thoughtful account. Written with insight and narrative verve by two leading historians, The G.I. Bill makes a major contribution to the scholarship of postwar America.
The GI War Against Japan: American Soldiers in Asia and the Pacific During World War II
by P. SchrijversBased on numerous diaries and letters, this book depicts the story of America's soldier sin Asia and the Pacific during World War II. Combining social and cultural history, the author examines the GIs' encounters with Asia's environmental, sociocultural and racial otherness and the impact that these encounters had on them. The Americans' experience in Asia and the Pacific presaged the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Giants: The Dwarfs of Auschwitz
by Eilat NegevDuring the 1930s and 40s the Lilliput Troupe, a beloved and successful family of singers and actors, dazzled with their vaudeville programme and unique performances. The only all-dwarf show of the time, their small stature earned them fame - and, ironically, ultimately saved their lives. As Hitler's war descended, the Ovitz family - seven of whom were dwarfs - was plunged into the horrors of the darkest moments in modern history. Descending from the cattle train into the death camp of Auschwitz, they were separated from other Jewish victims on the orders of one Dr Joseph Mengele, the 'Angel of Death'. Obsessed with eugenics, Dr Mengele carried out a series of loathsome experiments on the family and developed a disturbing fondness for his human lab-rats, so much so that when the Russian army liberated Auschwitz, all members of the family - the youngest, a baby boy just eighteen months old; the oldest, a 58-year-old woman - were still alive. Based on exhaustive research and interviews with Perla Ovitz, the troupe's last-surviving member, and scores of Auschwitz survivors, authors Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev deftly describe the moving and inspirational story of this remarkable family and their indomitable will to survive.
The Giants’ Dance (The\language Of Stones Ser. #Bk. 2)
by Robert CarterA rich and evocative tale set in a mythic 15th century Britain, to rival the work of Bernard Cornwell.
Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History
by Lesley Adkins Roy AdkinsFor over three and a half years, from 1779 to 1783, the tiny territory of Gibraltar was besieged and blockaded, on land and at sea, by the overwhelming forces of Spain and France. It became the longest siege in British history, and the obsession with saving Gibraltar was blamed for the loss of the American colonies in the War of Independence. Located between the Mediterranean and Atlantic, on the very edge of Europe, Gibraltar was a place of varied nationalities, languages, religions and social classes. During the siege, thousands of soldiers, civilians and their families withstood terrifying bombardments, starvation and diseases. Very ordinary people lived through extraordinary events, from shipwrecks and naval battles to an attempted invasion of England and a daring sortie out of Gibraltar into Spain. Deadly innovations included red-hot shot, shrapnel shells and a barrage from immense floating batteries.This is military and social history at its best, a story of soldiers, sailors and civilians, with royalty and rank-and-file, workmen and engineers, priests, prisoners-of-war, spies and surgeons, all caught up in a struggle for a fortress located on little more than two square miles of awe-inspiring rock. Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History is an epic page-turner, rich in dramatic human detail - a tale of courage, endurance, intrigue, desperation, greed and humanity. The everyday experiences of all those involved are brought vividly to life with eyewitness accounts and expert research.
Gideon Welles: Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy
by John NivenA full-scale life and times biography of an important Civil War figure.
Gideon's Revolution: A Novel
by Brian CarsoIt's 1780, days after Benedict Arnold flees to the British when his treasonous plot to surrender the American fort at West Point is discovered and Gideon's Revolution is about to begin. General George Washington orders a secret mission for two Continental Army soldiers to go behind enemy lines, abduct Arnold, and return him to his countrymen to be tried and hanged. Washington selects one of the soldiers, Gideon Wheatley, for the mission because Arnold would trust him. Wheatley fought under Arnold's command at Saratoga and tended to the gravely wounded general for several months at Albany's military hospital. After feigning desertion to the British Army to join Arnold's corps of loyalists, Wheatley and his comrade John Champe seek out Washington's spies in New York and develop a plan to seize the traitor. But when the abduction is foiled, the soldiers are trapped by their own deceit and forced to fight alongside Arnold's raiding army, as if they were traitors themselves. Years after the war, pressed by memories that haunt him and seeking redemption, Wheatley must decide whether he alone can exact revenge on his former friend and commander, a decision that sends him across the Atlantic to London to find and confront Arnold. Gideon's Revolution is an American origin story based on real historical events, an odyssey that reveals the profound human tensions between loyalty and betrayal, allegiance and treason, revenge and the possibility of forgiveness.
A Gift for the District Nurses (The District Nurses #4)
by Annie GrovesHeartwarming and nostalgic fiction from the best selling author of The District Nurses of Victory Walk.
A Gift from Woolworths: A Cosy Christmas Historical Fiction Novel (Woolworths #5)
by Elaine EverestWill the war be over by Christmas?As the war moves into 1945 the lives of the women of Woolworths continue. When store manager, Betty Billington, announces she is expecting Douglas’s baby her future life is about to change more than she expects.Freda has fallen in love with the handsome Scottish engineer but will it end happily?Maisie loves being a mother and also caring for her two nieces although she still has her own dreams. When her brother appears on the scene he brings unexpected danger to the family.Meanwhile Sarah dreams of her husband’s return and a cottage with roses around the door but Woolworths beckons.Will our girls sail into times of peace, or will they experience more heartache and sorrow? With a wedding on the horizon, surely only happiness lies ahead – or does it?A Gift from Woolworths is the next installment in Elaine Everest's much-loved Woolworths series.
The Gift of Rain (Canons)
by Tan Twan EngLONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE Penang, 1939. Being half Chinese and half English, Philip Hutton always felt like he never belonged. That is until he befriends Hayato Endo, a mysterious Japanese diplomat and master in the art of aikido. But when Japan invades Malaya, Philip realises Endo bears a secret, one powerful enough to jeopardise everything he loves. This masterful début conjures an unforgettable tale of courage, brutality, loyalty, deceit and love.
Girl at War: A Novel
by Sara NovicLONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2016Growing up in Zagreb in the summer of 1991, 10-year-old Ana Juric is a carefree tomboy; she runs the streets with her best friend, Luka, helps take care of her baby sister, Rahela, and idolizes her father. But when civil war breaks out across Yugoslavia, football games and school lessons are supplanted by sniper fire and air raid drills. The brutal ethnic cleansing of Croats and Bosnians tragically changes Ana's life, and she is lost to a world of genocide and child soldiers; a daring escape plan to America becomes her only chance for survival. Ten years later she returns to Croatia, a young woman struggling to belong to either country, forced to confront the trauma of her past and rediscover the place that was once her home.
The Girl Behind the Gates: A raw, heart-breaking historical novel based on a true story that will stay with you for ever
by Brenda Davies'Compelling. Poignant. Haunting. Heart wrenching. Just beautiful. Everyone needs to read this wonderful book.' - Renita D'Silva, bestselling author of The Forgotten Daughter1939. Seventeen-year-old Nora Jennings has spent her life secure in the certainty of a bright, happy future - until one night of passion has more catastrophic consequences than she ever could have anticipated. Labelled a moral defective and sectioned under the Mental Deficiency Act, she is forced to endure years of unspeakable cruelty at the hands of those who are supposed to care for her. 1981. When psychiatrist Janet Humphreys comes across Nora, heavily institutionalised and still living in the hospital more than forty years after her incarceration, she knows that she must be the one to help Nora rediscover what it is to live. But as she works to help Nora overcome her past, Janet realises she must finally face her own.Based on a true story, The Girl Behind the Gates is the raw, heart-breaking yet ultimately uplifting tale of a young woman cut down in her prime, and of the woman who finally brings her back to life, perfect for fans of The Girl in the Letter and Philomena.Further praise for THE GIRL BEHIND THE GATES:'The Girl behind the Gates absorbed me from the start. A haunting, heart-wrenching but ultimately heart-warming novel told in beautiful prose and with great compassion and insight.' - Gill Thompson, bestselling author of The Oceans Between Us'The Girl Behind the Gates is a powerful, emotional novel - harrowing in parts but always authentic and full of insights and compassion, and a sobering account of the best and worst of human nature. I was moved to tears by the ending and will certainly not hesitate to recommend it.' - Jill Childs, bestselling author of Gracie's Secret'A powerful story of trust, compassion, healing -- and the transforming power of love, that can give new life to a broken spirit.' - Sharon Maas, bestselling author of The Violin Maker's Daughter
The Girl Behind the Wall
by Mandy RobothamFrom the internationally bestselling WWII novelist comes a story set at the dawn of the Cold War in Berlin.