From the author of The Perfect Storm a gripping book about Sebastian Junger's almost fatal year with the 2nd battalion of the American Army For 15 months Sebastian Junger accompanied a single platoon of thirty men from the celebrated 2nd battalion of the US Army as they fought their way through a remote valley in Eastern Afghanistan Over the course of five trips Junger was in more firefights than he could count men he knew were killed or wounded & he himself was almost killed His relationship with these soldiers grew so close that they considered him part of the platoon & he enjoyed an access & a candidness that few if any journalists ever attain But this is more than just a book about Afghanistan or the ' War on Terror'; it is a book about the universal truth of all men in all wars Junger set out to answer what he thought of as the 'hand grenade question' why would a man throw himself on a hand grenade to save other men he has probably known for only a few months? The answer is elusive but profound & goes to the heart of what it means not just to be a soldier but to be human War' is a narrative about combat the fear of dying the trauma of killing & the love between platoon-mates who would rather die than let each other down Gripping honest intense it explores the neurological psychological & social elements of combat & the incredible bonds that form between these small groups of men ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Based on the classic novel by Leo Tolstoy Russia 1805 When we first meet Pierre (Paul Dano) Natasha (Lily James) & Andrei (James Norton) their youthful ambition despite their privileged circumstances is to find meaning in their lives Kind-hearted but awkward Pierre the illegitimate son of Russia’s richest man wants to change the world for the better The beautiful & spirited Natasha is searching for true love while handsome & gallant Andrei frustrated with the superficiality of society seeks a higher purpose At the same time Napoleon’s army edges ever closer to Russia’s borders As everything they thought they knew is thrown into question Pierre Andrei & Natasha find themselves in a time when Russian lives are about to change forever Extras
- Making of War & Peace Featurettes Also Starring Jim Broadbend Gillian Anderson Stephen Rea Brian Cox Kenneth Cranham Ken Stott Aneurin Barnard Jessie Buckley Tom Burke Adrian Edmonson Rebecca Front Matthieu Kassovirz Aisling Loftus Jack Lowden Tuppence Middleton Greta Scacchi & Callum Turner
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Bondarchuk took nearly five years to make this eight hour epic adaptation of Tolstoy&s novel writing the screenplay as well as starring in it Winning the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1968 & War & Peace& shows how Napoleon&s invasion of Russia in 1812 affected the lives of two upper class families centering on the love between Pierre & his vivacious young cousin Natasha married to army officer Andrei ...

A collection of war films & Black Hawk Down& (2001) is based on the US military blunders which took place in Somalia in 1993 Following a series of attacks by warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid on a Red Cross distribution centre a group of US Rangers are sent on a mission to capture two of Aidid&s close associates in the capital city Mogadishu However after successfully apprehending their targets the Americans come under heavy attack from the residents of the city In the ensuing chaos a US Black Hawk helicopter is shot down & the surviving crew find themselves trapped in a confused & relentless shooting battle with the enemy In & Born On the Fourth of July& (1989) Tom Cruise plays Ron Kovic a man brought up in the God-fearing All-American tradition the perfect material to fight for the US cause in Vietnam However nothing could prepare the young Marine for the horrors of the frontline & he returns home paralysed from chest down Embittered Kovic goes into a self-destructive downward spiral until he finds new direction by joining the anti-war movement Vietnam drama & Casualties of War& (1989) which is based on a real incident tells the story of one soldier&s quest for truth & justice amidst the violence & moral incertitude of war On patrol with the hard-nosed Sergeant Meserve (Sean Penn) US infantryman Private Eriksson (Michael J Fox) refuses to join in when Meserve & the other soldiers kidnap rape & murder a Vietnamese girl (Thuy Thu Le) Eriksson&s stance then puts him in a dangerous position when the patrol returns to base as the other soldiers get increasingly worried that he might report them Francis Ford Coppola directs & Gardens of Stone& (1987) a drama about soldiers stationed at home during the Vietnam war Sgt Hazard (James Caan) is frustrated by his role in a &toy soldier& regiment whose orders are to guard the Arlington National Cemetery However his outlook changes when he begins a love affair with an anti-war journalist (Anjelica Huston) In & Jarhead& (1989) young recruit Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) joins up with the US Marines (nicknamed & Jarheads& because of their distinctive haircuts) on the eve of the 1990 Gulf War After a brutal spell in boot camp during which Swofford & his fellow recruits are systematically geared up for the conflict the Marines are dispatched to the deserts of the Persian Gulf to take part in a war that sees them required to do very little in the way of fighting Finally in & The Kingdom& (2007) a terrorist bomb detonates inside a Western housing compound in Riyadh Saudi Arabia triggering an international incident While diplomats slowly debate equations of territorialism FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) quickly assembles an elite team & negotiates a secret five-day trip into Saudi Arabia to locate the madman behind the bombing Upon landing in the desert kingdom however Fleury & his team discover Saudi authorities suspicious & unwelcoming of American interlopers into what they consider a local matter ...

In examining one of the defining events of the twentieth century Doris L Bergen situates the Holocaust in its historical political social cultural & military contexts Unlike many other treatments of the Holocaust this revised third edition discusses not only the persecution of the Jews but also other segments of society victimized by the Nazis Roma homosexuals Poles Soviet POWs the disabled & other groups deemed undesirable In clear & eloquent prose Bergen explores the two interconnected goals that drove the Nazi German program of conquest & genocide-purification of the so-called Aryan race & expansion of its living space-and discusses how these goals affected the course of World War II Including firsthand accounts from perpetrators victims & eyewitnesses her book is immediate human & eminently readable ...

THE ACCLAIMED TRANSLATION BY RICHARD PEVEAR & LARISSA VOLOKHONSKY' If you've never read it now is the moment This translation will show that you don't read War & Peace you live it' The Times From sophisticated Moscow soirees to breathless troika rides through the snow from the bloody front line at Austerlitz to a wife's death in childbirth Tolstoy conjures a broad panorama of rich messy beautiful & debased human life We follow the fates of open-hearted impulsive Pierre Bezukhov his melancholy friend Prince Andrei & the enchanting Natasha Rostov as history & fiction are combined in one of the wisest & most enthralling novels ever written A joy to read The sense of actually being in the skin of these people is phenomenally brilliantly rendered by this translation' Simon Schama The Vintage Classic Russians Series Published for the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution these are must-have beautifully designed editions of six epic masterpieces that have survived controversy censorship & suppression to influence decades of thought & artistic expression ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Filmed over four tumultuous years in India Pakistan Japan & the USA following nuclear tests in the Indian sub-continent & framed by the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 an act whose portent & poignancy remains undiminished half a century later War & Peace is a documentary journey of peace activism in the face of global militarism & war The film examines the sub-continent s trajectory towards unabashed militarism & the costs being extracted from citizens in the name of national security From the plight of residents living near the nuclear test site to the horrendous effects of uranium mining on local indigenous populations it becomes abundantly clear that contrary to a myth first created by the United States there is no such thing as the &peaceful Atom& Patwrdhan&s documentary has become more potent & relevant than ever as we enter a 21st century where war has become perennial enemies are re-invented & economies inextricably tied to the production & sale of weapons In the moral wastelands of the world memories of Gandhi seem like a mirage that never was created by a suposed &thirst for peace& & our leaders very distance from it " Gives doomsday a human face" The Village Voice"A tour de force beautifully darkly funny" The Guardian" It has a riveting intelligence all its own & earns its epic title" The New York Times"A frightening examination of the continuing confrontation of immense interest & importance" Variety" It should be seen by everyone everywhere In schools in colleges in factories on television" The Times of India Festival ...

In 1862 Sonya Tolstoy married the greatest author the world has ever known For forty-eight years they shared their lives in an enmeshed union that was both passionate & combative Sixteen years younger than her husband Sonya bore him thirteen children & worked for years as his copyist rewriting countless drafts of his timeless novels Both were mercurial & personalities & towards the end & exhausted Tolstoy deserted her In War & Peace & Sonya Judith Armstrong tells Sonya's own story exploring the couple's devotion & ambivalence to one another their immense passion for great literature & the creative process & showing us just how remarkably true to life fiction can be ...

' If life could write it would write like Tolstoy' Isaac Babel Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private & public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars & the French invasion of Russia The fortunes of the Rostovs & the Bolkonskys of Pierre Natasha & Andrei are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives Balls & soirees alternate with councils of war & the machinations of statesmen & generals scenes of violent battles with everyday human passions in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed The prodigious cast of characters both great & small seem to act & move as if connected by threads of destiny as the novel relentlessly questions ideas of free will fate & providence Yet Tolstoy's portrayal of marital relations & scenes of domesticity is as truthful & poignant as the grand themes that underlie them In this revised & updated version of the definitive & highly acclaimed Maude translation Tolstoy's genius & the power of his prose are made newly available to the contemporary reader ABOUT THE SERIES For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more ...

This beautiful Penguin Classics clothbound edition of Tolstoy's great novel is translated with an introduction & notes by Anthony Briggs & with an afterword by Orlando Figes At a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805 conversations are dominated by the prospect of war Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon's army marches on Russia & the lives of three young people are changed forever The stories of quixotic Pierre cynical Andrey & impetuous Natasha interweave with a huge cast from aristocrats & peasants to soldiers & Napoleon himself In War & Peace Tolstoy entwines grand themes
- conflict & love birth & death free will & faith
- with unforgettable scenes of nineteenth-century Russia to create a magnificent epic of human life in all its imperfection & grandeur Anthony Briggs's superb translation combines stirring accessible prose with fidelity to Tolstoy's original while Orlando Figes's afterword discusses the novel's vast scope & depiction of Russian identity This edition also contains appendices notes a list of prominent characters & maps'A masterpiece This new translation is excellent'
- Anthony Beevor


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