Clive Aslet's War Memorial: The Story of One Village's Sacrifice from 1914 to 2003, is a powerful story of those who died in war. Who were the men & women whose names are commemorated on war memorials around the country? Where did they live
- & how & why did they die? Such questions usually go unanswered, but this book for the first time unravels the story of one war memorial, in the Dartmoor village of Lydford. Through original documents, Clive Aslet traces in vivid detail the lives of the twenty-two men, & one woman, who made the supreme sacrifice fighting for Britain in the two World Wars, the Falklands & Iraq. The result is an intimate portrait of one corner of the countryside in the twentieth century, & an extraordinary tale of the endurance & bravery of otherwise ordinary people
- farmers, masons, railway-workers, landowners, schoolchildren
- who, but for the war memorial, would be forgotten. The perfect book for those who loved The Real Dad's Army by Colonel Rodney Foster, War Memorial is about the people who laid down their lives for us, & who will always be remembered. Praise for War Memorial: With this book Aslet makes an important contribution to social history.. .the stories are not tidy portraits of heroism but achingly real portraits of wartime loss experienced by a changing rural community. (Daily Express). Leaves one with a profound sense of the vagaries & cruelties of fate, particularly during times of war. (Country Life). [A] fascinating history... Aslet tells their stories with great elegance, & though the period has been gone over in exhaustive detail, he still manages fresh insights that bring it to vivid life. (Daily Telegraph). Clive Aslet is an award-winning journalist & former Editor of Country Life who has spent his career observing Britain & its ways. An authority on British life, he has written several books on the subject
- including The Last Country Houses, Landmarks of Britain, & Villages of Britain.



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Clive Aslet`s War Memorial: The Story of One Village`s Sacrifice from 1914 to 2003, is a powerful story of those who died in war. Who were the men & women whose names are commemorated on war memorials around the country? Where did they live
- & how & why did they die? Such questions usually go unanswered, but this book for the first time unravels the story of one war memorial, in the Dartmoor village of Lydford. Through original documents, Clive Aslet traces in vivid detail the lives of the twenty-two men, & one woman, who made the supreme sacrifice fighting for Britain in the two World Wars, the Falklands & Iraq. The result is an intimate portrait of one corner of the countryside in the twentieth century, & an extraordinary tale of the endurance & bravery of otherwise ordinary people
- farmers, masons, railway-workers, landowners, schoolchildren
- who, but for the war memorial, would be forgotten. The perfect book for those who loved The Real Dad`s Army by Colonel Rodney Foster, War Memorial is about the people who laid down their lives for us, & who will always be remembered. Clive Aslet is an award-winning journalist & former Editor of Country Life who has spent his career observing Britain & its ways. An authority on British life, he has written several books on the subject
- including The Last Country Houses, Landmarks of Britain, & Villages of Britain. Praise for War Memorial: ” With this book Aslet makes an important contribution to social history.. .the stories are not tidy portraits of heroism but achingly real portraits of wartime loss experienced by a changing rural community”. (Daily Express). ” Leaves one with a profound sense of the vagaries & cruelties of fate, particularly during times of war”. (Country Life). ”[A] fascinating history... Aslet tells their stories with great elegance, & though the period has been gone over in exhaustive detail, he still manages fresh insights that bring it to vivid life”. (Daily Telegraph).



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War memorials are a feature of Britain`s landscape, often taken for granted, & part of the fabric of its history as a nation. The Imperial War Museum`s National Inventory has sixty thousand war memorials spanning two millennia. They include works of art & the artless, the sacred & the secular, vernacular & abstract forms, all redolent with symbolism ancient & modern. The examples shown here are an eclectic mix with, perhaps, a few surprises. They are intended as a tribute to the victims of war & as tangible reminders of significant events, deserving remembrance & necessitating their conservation as part of the national heritage. ...

A harrowing exploration of the collapse of American diplomacy & the abdication of global leadership. ” This is one of the most important books of our time.” Walter Isaacson US foreign policy is undergoing a dire transformation, forever changing America`s place in the world. Institutions of diplomacy & development are bleeding out after deep budget cuts; the diplomats who make America`s deals & protect democratic interests around the world are walking out in droves. Offices across the State Department sit empty, while abroad the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. Increasingly, America is a nation that shoots first & asks questions later. In an astonishing journey from the corridors of power in Washington, DC, to some of the most remote & dangerous places on earth
- Afghanistan, Somalia, & North Korea among them acclaimed investigative journalist Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential & poorly understood changes in American history. His first-hand experience as a former State Department official affords a personal look at some of the last standard bearers of traditional statecraft, including Richard Holbrooke, who made peace in Bosnia & died while trying to do so in Afghanistan. Drawing on newly unearthed documents, & richly informed by rare interviews with warlords, whistle-blowers, & policymakers
- including every living secretary of state from Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton to Rex Tillerson
- War on Peace makes a powerful case for an endangered profession. Diplomacy, Farrow argues, has declined after decades of political cowardice, short-sightedness, & outright malice
- but it may just offer a way out of a world at war.



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This charming gift book takes a humorous look at the little-known history of US/ Canadian hostilities, focusing on the top-secret invasion plans each country drew up for the other during the 1920`s & 30`s. Featuring extended (and hilarious) excerpts from each (now de-classified) plan, as well as invasion maps, illustrations, & historical anecdotes that chart the unneighbourly history along the 5, 000 miles of the ”world`s friendliest border.” ...

` Highly readable... an intimate & varied account of fascinating stories of people at war` History of War War Stories is a fascinating account of ordinary men & women swept up in the turbulence of war. These are the stories
- many untold until now
- of thirty-four individuals who have pushed the boundaries of love, bravery, suffering & terror beyond the imaginable. They span three centuries & five continents. There is the courage of Edward Seager who survived the Charge of the Light Brigade; the cunning of Krystyna Skarbek, quick-thinking spy & saboteur during the Second World War; the skullduggery of Benedict Arnold, who switched sides in the American War of Independence & the compassion of Magdalene de Lancey who tenderly nursed her dying husband at Waterloo. Told with vivid narrative flair & full of unexpected insights, War Stories moves effortlessly from tales of spies, escapes & innovation to uplifting acts of humanity, celebrating men & women whose wartime experiences are beyond compare.

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War Trash is the unforgettable story of Yu Yuan, a young Chinese army officer sent by Mao with a corps of volunteers` to help shore up the Communist side in Korea. When the Americans capture Yu, his command of English propels him into the role of unofficial interpreter in the psychological warfare that defines the POW camp. Desperate to return to his beloved fiancee & widowed mother, Yu is trapped by both barbed wire & politics. ...

War with the Newts (1936) is Karel Capek`s darkly humorous allegory of early twentieth-century Czech politics. Captain van Toch discovers a colony of newts in Sumatra which can not only be taught to trade & use tools, but also to speak. As the rest of the world learns of the creatures & their wonderful capabilities, it is clear that this new species is ripe for exploitation
- they can be traded in their thousands, will do the work no human wants to do, & can fight
- but the humans have given no thought to the terrible consequences of their actions.

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A darkly humorous Czech satire: a new super-breed tries to conquer the world... War with the Newts (1936) is Karel Capek`s darkly humorous allegory of early 20th-century Czech politics. Captain van Toch discovers a colony of newts in Sumatra which can not only be taught to trade & use tools, but also to speak. As the rest of the world learns of the creatures & their wonderful capabilities, it is clear that this new species is ripe for exploitation
- they can be traded in their thousands, will do the work no human wants to do, & can fight
- but the humans have given no thought to the terrible consequences of their actions.

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The year 2010 sees the official celebration of the bicentenary of the revolutions in the Ro de la Plata. This book contains the narrative that Thomas Kinder wrote of his voyage to that region in 1808-10 & of his stay in Madeira, Montevideo & Buenos Aires which has never been published nor, apparently, used by any historian. Thomas Kinder was an English banker who later featured among those who financed the new republic of Peru. His voyage to the Ro de la Plata followed the illfated British attempts to capture Buenos Aires in 1806-7. He obtained first hand information about the campaigns of Beresford & Whitelocke & became familiar with all the leading figures of the revolutionary period. ...