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 U.S. 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. ...

Take a guided tour of every major conflict through the ages. Trace the epic 5, 000-year story of warfare from the earliest battles to the War on Terror with War, now in compact format. Explore the campaigns & conflicts, the warriors & commanders & the tactics, weapons & technology that have shaped human warfare, with fascinating features on topics including the role of infantry, siege warfare, military tactics & the treatment of wounded soldiers. Combining a clear & compelling historical narrative with a wealth of fascinating eyewitness accounts & photography throughout, War is a definitive visual guide to this brutal, intense & often heroic dimension of the human story. ...

Imagine if war broke out
- not in Iraq or Afghanistan, somewhere far far away, but here, in our country. In War, Janne Teller
...

Winner of the 2015 Man Booker International Prize War & War begins at a point of danger: on a dark train platform Korim is on the verge of being attacked & robbed by thuggish teenagers. From here, we are carried along by the insistent voice of this nervous clerk. Desperate, at times almost mad, but also keenly empathic, Korim has discovered in a small Hungarian town`s archives an antique manuscript of startling beauty: it narrates the epic tale of brothers-in-arms struggling to return home from a disastrous war. Korim is determined to do away with himself, but before he commits suicide, he feels he must escape to New York with the precious manuscript & commit it to eternity by typing it all out onto the world wide web. Following Korim with obsessive realism through the streets of New York (from his landing in a Bowery flophouse to his move far uptown with a mad interpreter), War & War relates his encounters with a fascinating range of people in a world torn between viciousness & mysterious beauty. Following the eight chapters of War & War is a short `prequel acting as a sequel`, ` Isaiah`, which brings us to a dark bar, years before in Hungary, where Korim rants against the world & threatens suicide. Written like nothing else (turning single sentences into chapters), War & War affirms W. G. Sebald`s comment that Krasznahorkai`s prose far surpasses all the lesser concerns of contemporary writing. ...

In the sixteenth century, Spanish conquistadors discovered the New World. The vast quantities of gold & silver would make their country rich, yet the new wealth, which was plunged into multiple wars, would eventually lead to the economic ruin of their empire. Here, historian & politician Kwasi Kwarteng shows that this moment in world history has been echoed many times, from the French Revolution to both World Wars, right up to the present day, when our own financial crisis saw many of our great nations slip into financial trouble. Kwarteng reveals a pattern of war-waging, financial debt & fluctuations between paper money & the gold standard, & creates a compelling study of the powerful relationship that has shaped the world as we know it, that between war & gold. ...

Tolstoy`s enthralling epic, War & Peace, depicts Russia`s war with Napoleon & its effects on the lives of those caught up in the conflict. He creates some of the most vital & involving characters in literature as he follows the rise & fall of families in St Petersburg & Moscow who are linked by their personal & political relationships. His heroes are the thoughtful yet impulsive Pierre Bezukhov, his ambitious friend, Prince Andrei, & the woman who becomes indispensable to both of them, the enchanting Natasha Rostov. ...

War & Peace is a vast epic centred on Napoleon`s war with Russia. While it expresses Tolstoy`s view that history is an inexorable process which man cannot influence, he peoples his great novel with a cast of over five hundred characters. Three of these, the artless & delightful Natasha Rostov, the world-weary Prince Andrew Bolkonsky & the idealistic Pierre Bezukhov illustrate Tolstoy`s philosophy in this novel of unquestioned mastery. This translation is one which received Tolstoy`s approval. ...

Leo Tolstoy`s epic Russian classic, retold in just 64 pages. First published in 1869, this novel is one of the most famous books in the world, & this simple but atmospheric retelling now makes it accessible for young readers. Set in Russia following the French invasion of Russia in 1812, as the Tsarist regime is succeeded by the Napoleonic era. ...

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. ...

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 husb&, 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 ...