There is nothing more charming & evocative to railway enthusiasts than a rural branch line. Most were built before the advent of motorised road transport & provided a vital lifeline for the communities served but these lines inevitably declined. Although the infamous Dr Beeching usually takes the blame for closures there were significant losses in the 1920s & 1930s when more than a 1 000 miles of track were declared redundant. More recently there has been regeneration of some lines & new stations opened. This beautifully illustrated book looks at lines from the steam age through to the present time of diesel & electric multiple units. ...

From modest beginnings Britain rose throughout the nineteenth century to become the greatest shipbuilding nation in the world yet by the end of the following century the British merchant fleet ranked just 38 in the world. The glory days of sail had given way to the introduction of the steam age. Traditional shipwrights had railed against new industrial methods resulting in the infamous demarcation disputes. Talented men like Brunel & Armstrong had always sought change & development but too many shipbuilders were relying on old technologies. From building mighty battleships & extravagant ocean liners the nation became complacent & its yards were eventually no longer as innovative as their foreign competitors. In the twenty-first century British shipbuilding has shrunk to a mere fraction of its former size & has become almost totally dependent on government contracts. The popularity of & fascination with this subject has prompted a new edition of Anthony Burton's successful book. With fresh images & a new final chapter the story of the rise & cataclysmic fall of British shipbuilding has been brought right up to date. ...

Warning: This book is not for the faint hearted. Like those that came before it this fifth instalment in the best-selling Dirty Dozen series is a true inside account of some of Australias most gruesome & intriguing crime cases. Get inside the head of Carl Williams u the now dead gangl&-war killer u through letters he wrote before his own violent murder in jail. Discover why other criminals in their own words helped him carry out his murder campaign & learn what detectives really thought of him. Why was he killed? You might be surprised. Step into the secret & salacious world of millionaire Herman Rockefeller: a devoted family man & church goer with an insatiable craving for sex with swingingo strangers. Follow the story through the eyes of two killer swingers who brought Rockefellers life to a grisly & undignified end. Read with horror why cheating husband Fred Boyle killed his wife & stuffed her in a 44-gallon drum u before carting her around with him for twenty three years until her remains were discovered by a spooked relative. From best-selling crime writer & journalist Paul Anderson this book gives you exclusive access through first-hand accounts of everyone involved in each case. ...

Winner of the 2010 W.J.M. Mackenzie Prize for Best Political Science Book of the Year 2010. The relentless rise of Communism was the most momentous political development of the first half of the twentieth century. No political change has been more fundamental than its demise in Europe & its decline elsewhere. In this hugely acclaimed book Archie Brown provides an indispensable history that examines the origins of the ideology its development in different countries its collapse in many states following the Soviet perestroika & its current incarnations around the globe. The Rise & Fall of Communism explains how & why Communists came to power; how they were able in a variety of countries on different continents to hold on to power for so long; & what brought about the downfall of so many Communist systems. A groundbreaking work from an internationally renowned specialist this is the definitive study of the most remarkable political & human story of our times. ...

ECW burst onto the sports entertainment scene in the early 1990s & redefined the industry with a reckless brutal death-defying & often bloody style that became known as hardcore. In the process it attracted a rabid cult-like following that is still going strong today. The ECW hardcore style changed the wrestling business forever; & more than any other single factor it was the adoption of this new breed of wrestling from the young upstart company by the WWE that was largely responsible for the subsequent WWE domination of the industry. Through extensive interviews with former ECW talent & management fans will have an inside look at what made the company great -- & what led to its ultimate demise. ...

The medical achievements of the post-war years rank as one of the supreme epochs of human endeavour. Advances in surgical technique new ideas about the nature of disease & huge innovations in drug manufacture vanquished most common causes of early death But since the mid-1970s the rate of development has slowed & the future of medicine is uncertain. How has this happened? James Le Fanu's hugely acclaimed survey of the 'twelve definitive moments' of modern medicine & the intellectual vacuum which followed them has been fully revised & updated for this edition. The Rise & Fall of Modern Medicine is both riveting drama & a clarion call for change. ...

THE RISE & FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE covers the history of British expansion overseas from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. Narrative & analysis are interwoven with revealing eyewitness"ation to provide keen insight into the minds of those involved in conquering settling & ruling the greatest Empire the world has seen. Throughout there are consistant themes; the search for profit & the moral misgivings it generated; domestic developments which made imperial expansion desirable; & the sense of national & personal destiny felt by the empire-builders. Spanning four centuries & six continents James' magnificent survey examines the imperial experience & its legacy with tremendous verve. Informed comprehensive & perceptive it is the essential summary of the era. ' James' epic is not only a first-rate narrative but also a penetrating portrait of the British... Having largely if often inadvertently selfishly or ham-fistedly engineered the world we live in we need the courage now to face up to our record as coolly & intelligently as Lawrence James has done'
- John Spurling TLS
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Paul Kennedy s international bestseller is a sweeping account of five hundred years of fluctuating economic muscle & military might among the great powers of the world. Kennedy begins with Europe s dramatic return to the forefront of world domination at the expense of China & the Muslim world & brings us up to modern times with both on the brink of remarkable recovery. Along the way he explores world wars & civil wars destructive ideologies the paranoia of superpowers & the inherent problems of a united Europe. He persuasively demonstrates the interdependence of economic & military power showing how imbalance between the two has historically led to spectacular political disaster. Erudite & brilliantly original The Rise & Fall of Great Powers is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the politics of power. ...

The Knights Templar a mysterious fraternity of warrior monks pledged their swords to defend pilgrims to the Holy Land from the bandits & marauders of the roads. Patronised by the aristocracy the Templars soon evolved into a formidable army & were the vanguard of the ongoing Crusades. They were widely acclaimed for their boldness & tenacity showered with gifts by Catholic nobles & granted special privileges by admiring Popes. Even after the failure of the Crusades the Templars remained one of the dominant forces in Christendom with political power to rival kings...until with shocking speed they were brought down by accusations of blasphemous crimes. With confessions tortured out of them by the Inquisition many knights were burnt as heretics & the Order was disbanded by the Pope. What really happended behind the closed doors of the Templars' preceptories? Was there truth in the rumours of secret rituals conducted in the dead of the night? Did heretical depravity & Devil-worship truly exist within the illustrious brotherhood? Why is their name associated today with the Freemasons? In this lively & authoritative account historian Gordon Napier unravels the many mysteries that surround the Knights Templar & their sudden fall from grace. Widely acclaimed for their boldness & tenacity showered with gifts by Catholic nobles & granted special privileges by admiring Popes. Even after the failure of the Crusades the Templars remained one of the dominant forces in Christendom with political power to rival kings...until with shocking speed they were brought down by accusations of blasphemous crimes. ...

The Tardis of the Doctor Who" BBC television series is all that most know about the police box. These boxes have a far more interesting history which was virtually unknown today before the publication of this book. The 1880s saw companies in America develop from earlier fire alarms police call points & kiosks before they pursued clients in Britain. Just a few police forces in this country took an interest in the idea in these early years. Although the Metropolitan Police in London experimented with systems it was the police in Glasgow & Liverpool that were particularly active before the end of the century. The hey days for the police box were the years between the 1920s & 1960s when a large proportion of the many police forces that existed at the time introduced some form of communication from the street for both police officers & the public to use. This important aspect of policing is described using the often amusing experiences of retired police officers from all areas of the United Kingdom. The dying days of the police box after 1960 show the lasting interest there has been in this abandoned method of policing with museums always keen to acquire a retired box for display. " The Rise & Fall of the Police Box" is a meticulously researched & illustrated book by a retired Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police who is well qualified to write on the subject as the boxes were an important part of his day to day duty as a young constable in London in the 1950s & 60s. Although this book is really directed at the ordinary reader with an interest in finding out more about this iconic part of police history it will also be a godsend for the researcher & academic. Libraries & museums will find it a source of unequalled reference as will police box afficionados & Doctor Who enthusiasts." ...