The author an Anglo-American married to an Italian landowner in 1924 found herself raising a family during the civil war & foreign invasion in the remote Tuscan countryside. This diary records her concerns to keep her household & sixty orphans together & save a rural community from annihilation. It is a story of confusion & bewilderment as a peasant society is confronted by disaster when in the space of a few months a whole way of life is changed completely beyond recognition. It is also a story of tragedy & suffering of individual courage generosity & heroism. ...

An utterly gripping thriller that sees former cavalry Major turned hardened mercenary Alex Devereux plunged into conflict in the dark heart of Africa as he battles the dominant militia in the Congo. China intends to take over the Kivu region in The Democratic Republic of Congo a tribal slaughterhouse of rival militias who are butchering the local population & fighting over mineral resources. Alex's mission is to defeat the dominant militia the FDLR. But details of how Kivu will be governed under the new order are sketchy & Alex must run the gamut of the United Nations the Congolese army & the clash of superpower claims on the region. Alex knows that the plan is risky. But he can't resist -- could he succeed in bringing stability when everyone else has failed? He & his crack regiment take on their toughest assignment yet. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions & Alex is about to find out why the region has been called the dark heart of Africa! ...

Who were the men & women whose names are commemorated on war memorials around the country? Where did they live
- & how & why did
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This title presents 400+ thought-provoking reviews of the best war movies produced in the past 50 years! Finally here is a comprehensive war movie guide that reviews in detail dozens of compelling stories about men in the military & at war. Can you name the 25 best combat movies of all time the ten best WWII movies the five best military legal dramas fact-based military scandals or prisoner-of-war movies? This book attempts to do this & much more. Written with the goal of identifying the best war movies ever produced these reviews promise to stir discussion & provoke debate. ...

This heart-stopping account of the war in Iraq & Afghanistan reveals the grim reality of our soldiers daily battle for survival. From the embattled British outposts & insurgent hideouts of southern Iraq to the intense debates the war provoked inside 10 Downing Street & the Whitehouse here is the first on-the-ground report of the true costs of Britains involvement in Iraq. ...

Michael Morpurgo is a master storyteller former Childrens Laureate & multi-award winner. This is a fresh reissue of a much-loved story with a beautiful new cover. Toby Jenkins hates going to Redlands Boarding School
- he gets called Jinks & thinks hell never make the top rugby team. But then he meets Christopher who claims to have powers. Christopher promises Toby a miracle. When Toby goes fishing he crosses to the other side even though he knows it belongs to the villagers. The village boys catch Toby & beat him up injuring his ear. Thus the war of Jenkins ear begins with all-out sticks & stones battles. Will Christopher be able to provide much-needed miracle?
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The year is 1900 & China is plunged into barbaric chaos. The Boxers a cult of young peasants who blame the foreign barbarians living in their country particularly the missionaries for the nations ills are rampaging through the country killing foreigners. Chinas Dowager Empress The Dragon Lady secretly encourages them into this maelstrom land Simon Alice & Jenkins as they are enroute to visit Alices uncle a country missionary. Threatened by the Boxers the three escort the missionary & his family to the safety of Peking. En route the party is attacked by the red-bannered Boxers & the missionary is killed. The survivors reach Peking only to find that the capital is no sanctuary. The Legations of the foreign ministers within the city is surrounded & the Siege of Peking begins. Fonthill Jenkins & Chang the missionarys adopted son volunteer to slip through the enemy lines to bring help. It proves to be Fonthills most dangerous mission... ...

The dwarves have gone to battle & they have been victorious. But outside the realm dark forces are working.. .A secret army of Orcs made immortal by the hidden powers of the Black Water now marches towards Girdlegard set to unleash its fury upon the kingdom. Sooner than they realise Tungdil & his comrades will need to summon all their courage to do battle against this bloodthirsty horde. The Orcs are not the only threat. An unspeakable new power is growing & threatens the very existence of the dwarves. But both enemies have forgotten one very important truth: a dwarf is never more dangerous than when total obliteration seems inevitable.. . ...

The second of two companion volumes which documents the later writing of The Silmarillion Tolkiens epic tale of war. In The War of the Jewels Christopher Tolkien takes up his account of the later history of The Silmarillion from the point where it was left in Morgoths Ring. The story now returns to Middle-earth & the ruinous conflict of the High Elves & the Men who were their allies with the power fothe Dark Lord. With the publication in this book of all J.R.R. Tolkiens later narrative writing concerned with the last centuries of the First Age the long history of The Silmarillion from its beginning in The Book of Lost Tales is completed; & the enigmatic state of the work at his death can be understood. This book contains the full text of the Grey Annals the primary record of The War of the Jewels & a major story of Middle-earth now published for the first time: the tale of the disaster that overtook the forest people of Brethil when Hurin the Steadfast came among them after his release from long years of captivity in Angband the fortress of Morgoth. ...

The third part of The History of The Lord of the Rings an enthralling account of the writing of the Book of the Century which contains many additional scenes &

Includes:: the unpublished Epilogue in its entirety. The War of the Ring takes up the story of The Lord of the Rings with the Battle of Helms Deep & the drowning of Isengard by the Ents continues with the journey of Frodo Sam & Gollum to the Pass of Cirith Ungol describes the war in Gondor & ends with the parley between Gandalf & the ambassador of the Dark Lord before the Black Gate of Mordor. The book is illustrated with plans & drawings of the changing conceptions of Orthanc Dunharrow Minas Tirith & the tunnels of Shelobs Lair. This series of fascinating books has now been repackaged to complement the distinctive & classic style of the black cover A-format paperbacks of The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings The Silmarillion & Unfinished Tales.

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