On 7 August 1914, a week before the Battle of Tannenburg & two weeks before the Battle of the Marne, the French army attacked the Germans at Mulhouse in Alsace. Their objective was to recapture territory which had been lost after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, which made it a matter of pride for the French. However, after initial success in capturing Mulhouse, the Germans were able to reinforce more quickly, & drove them back within three days. After forty-three years of peace, this was the first test of strength between France & Germany. In 1929 Karl Deuringer wrote the official history of the battle for the Bavarian Army, an immensely detailed work of 890 pages; First World War expert & former army officer Terence Zuber has translated this study & edited it down to more accessible length, to produce the first account in English of the first major battle of the First World War. ...

This is the colourful, salacious & sumptuously illustrated story of Covent Garden
- the creative heart of Georgian London
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The colourful, salacious & sumptuously illustrated story of Covent Garden
- the creative heart of Georgian London
- from Wolfson

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Prior histories of the first Spanish mariners to circumnavigate the globe in the sixteenth century have focused on Ferdinand Magellan & the other illustrious leaders of these daring expeditions. Harry Kelsey`s masterfully researched study is the first to concentrate on the hitherto anonymous sailors, slaves, adventurers, & soldiers who manned the ships. The author contends that these initial transglobal voyages occurred by chance, beginning with the launch of Magellan`s armada in 1519, when the crews dispatched by the king of Spain to claim the Spice Islands in the western Pacific were forced to seek a longer way home, resulting in bitter confrontations with rival Portuguese. Kelsey`s enthralling history, based on more than thirty years of research in European & American archives, offers fascinating stories of treachery, greed, murder, desertion, sickness, & starvation but also of courage, dogged persistence, leadership, & loyalty. ...

On September 7, 1940, the Blitz began. The strategic bombing of London, by over one thousand planes on that night alone, was recognised at the time as being a direct measure to break the country`s resistance, `softening` Britain`s shores for the planned Operation Sealion. It was a day long feared & anticipated, but the physical, political & personal shockwaves it sent through the British population outstripped all expectations.” The First Day of the Blitz” tells of the enormous impact that this new terror from the skies had on the British people & the course of the war. From bureaucratic preparations, massively underestimating the decimation of housing, through the actual bombs dropped in the later afternoon & early evening, to the individual, collective & official responses, Peter Stansky argues that the first twelve hours of bombing determined much of the future of Britain. Not only was the country`s ultimate victory over Germany in evidence; so too was the need for a transformation of British society. The wave of terror designed to crush morale quite literally put into question what the British people were made from. The fact & idea of their stoicism & courage was fused into myth; with the intense feeling of camaraderie came a new consciousness of national identity, which paved the way towards the New Jerusalem of Beveridge & the 1945 Labour victory. The bombardment that so radically altered the physical face of London also changed the whole conception of what it meant
- & means
- to be ` British`.

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This is a unique book to accompany an extraordinary new exhibition of one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th centuries, the Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China. The Terracotta Army is evidence of the organisational power of the Qin Dynasty that unified China in 221 BC. It has become a symbol of China's long & coherent cultural history &, now that China is rapidly developing, it reminds the world of China's future potential. This book unfolds the historical & archaeological context of the Terracotta Warriors, & explores the new research & excavation that has been carried out in the years since the first discovery in 1974. The book is divided into five sections, all written by experts in the field. The first chapter concentrates on the Qin's rise & military conquest & unification of the Warring States. The second chapter explores the Qin Empire, its ideology & practices, & the emperor's achievements & legacy. The third chapter examines imperial tours & mountain inscriptions, & the fourth focuses on the mausoleum itself & the rituals that surrounded it. The fifth & final chapter, the crux of the book, examines the site itself, the Terracotta Army, the various new excavations that have taken place & future plans. Large numbers of the Terracotta Army's men & horses, displayed in military formation, are illustrated with striking photography. Their manufacture is explained & demonstrated with moulds, inscriptions, broken warriors & heads of warriors. Also illustrated & discussed are fascinating new discoveries such as terracotta bureaucrats, acrobats & strong men, life-size bronze birds, hundreds of suits of stone armour & terracotta warriors with coloured faces preserved with new technology. ...

This is a unique book to accompany an extraordinary new exhibition of one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th centuries, the Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China. The Terracotta Army is evidence of the organisational power of the Qin Dynasty that unified China in 221 BC. It has become a symbol of China's long & coherent cultural history &, now that China is rapidly developing, it reminds the world of China's future potential. This book unfolds the historical & archaeological context of the Terracotta Warriors, & explores the new research & excavation that has been carried out in the years since the first discovery in 1974. The book is divided into five sections, all written by experts in the field. The first chapter concentrates on the Qin's rise & military conquest & unification of the Warring States. The second chapter explores the Qin Empire, its ideology & practices, & the emperor's achievements & legacy. The third chapter examines imperial tours & mountain inscriptions, & the fourth focuses on the mausoleum itself & the rituals that surrounded it. The fifth & final chapter, the crux of the book, examines the site itself, the Terracotta Army, the various new excavations that have taken place & future plans. Large numbers of the Terracotta Army's men & horses, displayed in military formation, are illustrated with striking photography. Their manufacture is explained & demonstrated with moulds, inscriptions, broken warriors & heads of warriors. Also illustrated & discussed are fascinating new discoveries such as terracotta bureaucrats, acrobats & strong men, life-size bronze birds, hundreds of suits of stone armour & terracotta warriors with coloured faces preserved with new technology. ...

Here is a real treat for lovers of English
- the very first dictionary in our language. Contrary to popular opinion, this honour
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In an underwater cavern off the coast west of Marseille are the first human engravings known to man. Among them is a crude drawing of a three-fingered h&, which has long puzzled archaeologists. Is it a hunting signal? A mystic sign invoking the spirits? Or is it, as many believe, evidence of ritual mutilation in a Shamanistic world? ” The Hunter” evidently believes the latter. Driven by inhuman voices to maim & kill, he severs the body parts of his victims
- & signs his savagery with a print of a three-fingered h&. Commandant Michel de Palma, of the Marseille murder squad, heads to the university in Aix-en-Provence to investigate further, but the clique of pre-history professors he encounters are as hard to unravel as the meaning of the cave-drawing itself. As he gets closer to the truth, the group of academics close ranks. Slowly & alone, de Palma begins pursuing a mystery that dates back to the Ice age. The First Fingerprint introduces a policeman as polished as he is brutal, as charming as he is deceptive. Michel de Palma, called ”the Baron” by his colleagues, knows the dark underside of the city of Marseille as do none of his rivals. But his enemies are everywhere: in the crime-infested sinks of the suburbs; in the sleek & squalid bars of the old quarter; even in the police ranks themselves.
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From Ernest Hemingway`s Preface: ` There are many kinds of stories in this book. I hope you will find some that you like- In going where you have to go, & doing what you have to do, & seeing what you have to see, you dull & blunt the instrument you write with. But I would rather have it bent & dulled & know I had to put it on the grindstone & hammer it into shape & put a whetstone to it, & know that I had something to write about, than to have it bright & shining, & nothing to say, or smooth & well-oiled in the closet, but unused.` A collection of Hemingway`s first forty-nine short stories, featuring a brief introduction by the author & lesser known as well as familiar tales, including ` Up in Michigan`, ` Fifty Grand`, & ` The Light of the World`, & the Snows of Kilimanjaro, Winner Take Nothing` & Men Without Women collections. ...