George Nipe author of Last Victory in Russia" & " Decision in the Ukraine " has written a revealing & unprecedented re-analysis of the II.SS-Panzer-Korps operations during the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. Unlike all previous books on the subject which refer almost exclusively to Russian accounts of the battle " Blood Steel & Myth" makes extensive use of original German source material. In so doing he convincingly exposes the conventional wisdom which through its constant repetition over the years has assumed mythic status as being fundamentally flawed & patently untrue. Based principally on Heer & Waffen-SS combat & intelligence reports from the southern sector of the Kursk salient as well as the individual accounts of veterans the book covers in detail the daily progress of Operation Citadel. With meticulous attention to detail the author illustrates the unfavorable circumstances & erroneous command decisions which doomed Germanys last major offensive in Russia irrevocably to failure. The personal notes conversations & official orders of generals Hausser Hoth & Manstein are all closely scrutinized to shed new light on this much celebrated but incorrectly recounted clash of arms with particular attention being paid to the "greatest tank battle in history" at Prochorovka. With " Blood Steel & Myth" George Nipe sets the record straight with all the conviction of an Eastern Front historian whose veracity & impeccable scholarship have been proven time & again. " Blood Steel & Myth" is heavily illustrated with hundreds of photos (many previously unpublished) & numerous maps to provide a strong visual component to this unique account of the Kursk Offensives southern front." ...

So what is the best thing to do when the bike goes down & you suffer a patch of Road Rash? How do you prevent infection & minimise scarring? Answers to these questions & practical advice on many other medical situations are contained in this new volume from Flash Gordon the motorcycling doctor. For years Flash Gordon MD has been dispensing practical medical advice with a liberal dose of dry humor through his Medical Motorcycling column in Motorcycle Consumer News. This collection of his articles has been organised into book form & enhanced with clever illustrations by Craig Harrison to bring his valuable insights to a wider audience. As a doctor who also rides motorcycles Flash Gordon combines knowledge gained from many years of medical practice with the straightforward no-nonsense style of a veteran motorcyclist. He has the knack of explaining medical conditions & injuries in plain language that makes sense. Though the advice is directed to motorcyclists all the medical information he provides is applicable to the general public. Being acquainted with typical behaviours of motorcyclists he explains how some of these habits can lead to problems in the future. The changes needed to avoid trouble down the road are sometimes very simple. He explains what signs to look for when a 3am visit to the emergency room is entirely justified & when a wait-&-see approach is indicated. Written in an entertaining & comfortable style this book provides much valuable insight into how to deal with or prevent a wide range of health problems. ...

A beautifully written insight into the stresses strains & successes of working for the London Ambulance service. Is there anyone who hasn't wondered about the state of the occupant of an ambulance screaming along with its sirens on & blue lights flashing? Have you? & have you wondered about the other people inside the ambulance maybe fighting to save the patient's life? Or have you considered that the ambulance may be another 'maternataxi' ordered by a woman who can't be bothered to book a real cab & who then complains she can't smoke on the way to hospital? & that the medical technician inside might just be desperate to get back home from a busy shift to have a cup of tea & catch up with his blog? Meet Tom Reynolds. Tom is an Emergency Medical Technician who works for the London Ambulance Service in East London. He has kept a blog of his daily working life since 2003 & his award-winning writing is by turn moving cynical funny heart-rending & compassionate. It is never less than compelling. From the tragic to the hilarious from the heartwarming to the terrifying the stories Tom tells give a fascinating
- & at times alarming
- picture of life in inner-city Britain & the people who are paid to mop up after it.

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Brook Reynolds died in a car crash. Tragic accident the police say. But her father Don Hoffman knows otherwise. & he wants Joe Hunter to find the men responsible. Joe is not convinced
- until he is attacked by two troublemakers & Dons other daughter is also threatened. Looks like more than coincidence. & sure enough the entire family is soon under siege with only Joe to protect them. The ensuing blood bath is the beginning of a trail of death that leads right to the heart of a racist conspiracy. White supremacists want to hold the government to ransom; & they have got hold of a dirty bomb to add weight to their case. Joe is on countdown: can he stop the plotters before they reduce the free world to ashes?
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Acclaimed novelist of the Italian Renaissance Sarah Dunant now takes on the era's most infamous family: the Borgias. By the end of the fifteenth century the beauty & creativity of Italy is matched by its brutality & corruption nowhere more than in Rome & in the Church. When Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia buys his way into the papacy as Alexander VI he is defined not just by his wealth or his passionate love for his illegitimate children but by his blood: he is a Spanish Pope in a city run by Italians. If the Borgias are to triumph this charismatic consummate politician with a huge appetite for life women & power must use papacy & family to succeed. His eldest son Cesare a dazzlingly cold intelligence & an even colder soul is his greatest
- though increasingly unstable
- weapon. Later immortalised in Machiavelli's The Prince he provides the energy & the muscle. His daughter Lucrezia beloved by both men is the prime dynastic tool. Twelve years old when the novel opens hers is a journey through three marriages: from childish innocence to painful experience from pawn to political player. Stripping away the myths around the Borgias Blood & Beauty is a majestic novel that breathes life into this astonishing family & celebrates the raw power of history itself: compelling complex & relentless.

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An uneducated youth William Booth left home in 1849 at the age of twenty to preach the gospel for the New Methodist Connexion. Six years later he founded a new religious movement which succeeded to such a degree that the Salvation Army (which it became) is now a worldwide operation with massive membership. But that is only part of Booths importance & heritage. In many ways his story is also that of the Victorian poor as he & his wife Catherine made it their lives work to battle against the poverty & deprivation which were endemic in the mid- to late 1800s. Indeed it was Catherine who although a chronic invalid inspired the Armys social policy & attitude to female authority. Her campaign against child prostitution resulted in the age of consent being raised & it was Catherine who dying of cancer encouraged William to clear the slums -- In Darkest England The Way Out. Roy Hattersleys masterful dual biography is not just the story of two fascinating lives but a portrait of an integral part of our history. ...

Here is the glorious & sinister life of Marius: patrician by birth scholar by choice & one of the oldest vampires of them all. From his genesis in ancient Rome to his present day we follow the story of this aristocratic & powerful killer. His is a tale that spans the breadth of time. When the Visigoths sack his city Marius is there; with the resurgence of the glory of Rome he is there still searching for his lost love Pandora. So prevalent is Marius that it is he who gives the dark gift to the illustrious vampire Arm&. Intertwined with the stories of a magnificent Pantheon of the undead this account of Marius is the most wondrous & mind-blowing of them all. ...

Today astonishing surgical breakthroughs are making face transplants limb transplants & a host of other previously undreamed of operations possible. But getting here has not been a simple story of selfless men working tirelessly in the pursuit of medical advancement. Instead its a bloodstained tale of blunders arrogance mishap & murder. In trying to keep us alive surgeons have all too often killed us off & life-saving solutions have often come from the most surprising places. Accompanying a BBC series Blood & Guts is an incredible story of stolen corpses medical fraud lobotomized patients
- & every now & then courageous advances that have saved the lives of millions around the world. You may think twice before going under the knife...
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Mankind's battle to stay alive is the greatest of all subjects. This brief witty & unusual book by Britain's greatest medical historian compresses into a tiny span a lifetime spent thinking about millennia of human ingenuity in the quest to cheat death. Each chapter sums up one of these battlefields (surgery doctors disease hospitals laboratories & the human body) in a way that is both frightening & elating. Startlingly illustrated A Short History of Medicine" is the ideal present for anyone who is keenly aware of their own mortality & wants to do something about it. It is also a wonderful memorial to one of Penguin's greatest historians." ...

When journalist Michael Wilde is commissioned to write a feature about a remote research station deep in the frozen beauty of Antarctica he is prepared for some extraordinary sights. But on a diving expedition in the polar sea he comes across something so extraordinary to be almost unbelievable
- a man & woman chained together deep in the ice. The doomed lovers are brought to the surface but as the ice begins to thaw the scientists discover the unusual contents of the bottles buried behind the pair & realise they are all in terrible danger...
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