Moscow lies deep under snow & Arkady Renko is called in to handle a delicate matter: passengers riding the last metro of the night have reported seeing the ghost of Stalin on the platform edge. Not everyone it seems likes the fact that Stalin is dead.. . But in the midst of a blizzard nothing is as it first appears to be. Renkos girlfriend Eva & his adopted son Zhenya seem to be slipping into danger. The owner of a matrimonial agency wants her husband killed. An innocent Russian Bride employs a garrotte. A chess grandmaster wanders into Renkos life & leads him into the line of fire. Diehard Communists gather to sing along with Stalin. Red Diggers uncover secrets buried for half century in a desolate forest & Renko discovers ghosts that have been waiting for him all his life.. . As Russia swings more & more to the right Renko is more & more out of step. Not only an original & deeply humane thriller Stalins Ghost is also a wonderful evocation of the emerging New Russia. Praise for Martin Cruz Smith: Cruz Smith not only constructs grittily realistic plots he also has a gift for characterisation of which most thriller writers can only dream Mail on Sunday ...

In the summer of 1944 the Red Army crushed Army Group Centre in one of the largest offensives in military history. Operation Bagration
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The Access to History series is the most popular & trusted series for AS & A level history students. The new editions combine all the strengths of this well-loved series with a new design & features that allow all students access to the content & study skills needed to achieve exam success. This is a new edition of the bestselling title Bolshevik & Stalinist Russia 1918-56 which now focuses on the period from 1924-53. It has been revised & fully updated for the 2008 AS specifications for Edexcel & AQA providing both a narrative & an analysis of the impact of Stalins leadership on the USSR. It examines Stalins rise to power following Lenins death in 1924 the nature of his rule the economic changes he brought about & his foreign policies. Finally a concluding chapter focuses on what life was like in Stalinist Russia. Throughout the book key dates terms & issues are highlighted & historical interpretations of key debates are outlined. Summary diagrams are included to consolidate knowledge & understanding of the period & exam-style questions & tips written by examiners for each

Specification provide the opportunity to develop exam skills.

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Marshal Georgy Zhukov is one of military history's legendary names. He played a decisive role in the battles of Moscow Stalingrad & Kursk that brought down the Nazi regime. He was the first of the Allied generals to enter Berlin & it was he who took the German surrender. He led the huge victory parade in Red Square riding a white horse & in doing so dangerously provoking Stalin's envy. His post-war career was equally eventful
- Zhukov found himself sacked & banished twice & wrongfully accused of disloyalty. However he remains one of the most decorated officers in the history of both Russia & the Soviet Union. Since his death in 1974 Zhukov has increasingly been seen as the indispensable military leader of the Second World War surpassing Eisenhower Patton Montgomery & Mac Arthur in his military brilliance & ferocity. Making use of hundreds of documents from Russian military archives as well as unpublished versions of Zhukov's memoirs Geoffrey Roberts fashions a remarkably intimate portrait of a man whose personality was as fascinating as it was contradictory. Tough decisive strong-willed & brutal as a soldier in his private life he was charming & gentle. Zhukov's relations with Stalin's other generals were often prickly & fraught with rivalry but he was the only one among them to stand up to the Soviet dictator. Piercing the hyperbole of the Zhukov personality cult Roberts debunks many of the myths that have sprung up around Zhukov's life to deliver fresh insights into the marshal's relations with Stalin Khrushchev & Eisenhower. A highly regarded historian of Soviet Russia Roberts has fashioned the definitive biography of this seminal 20th-century figure.
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Antony Beevor's Stalingrad" is a harrowing look at one of history's darkest moments. In October 1942 a panzer officer wrote ' Stalingrad is no longer a town... Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure'. The battle for Stalingrad became the focus of Hitler & Stalin's determination to win the gruesome vicious war on the eastern front. The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle with fierce h&-to-hand fighting in each room of each building was brutally destructive to both armies. But the eventual victory of the Red Army & the failure of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa was the first defeat of Hitler's territorial ambitions in Europe & the start of his decline. An extraordinary story of tactical genius civilian bravery obsession carnage & the nature of war itself Stalingrad will act as a testament to the vital role of the soviet war effort. "A superb re-telling. Beevor combines a soldier's understanding of war's realities with the narrative techniques of a novelist... This is a book that lets the reader look into the face of battle". (Orlando Figes " Sunday Telegraph"). "A brilliantly researched tour de force of military history". (Sarah Bradford " The Times"). Antony Beevor is the renowned author of " Stalingrad" which won the Samuel Johnson Prize the Wolfson Prize for History & the Hawthornden Prize for Literature & Berlin which received the first Longman-History Today Trustees' Award. His books have sold nearly four million copies." ...

Jockey Josh Swallow is about to retire & hes aiming to go out at the top. Hes ridden over 1000 winners & landed all the big prizes in the sport
- all except one. So hes determined that this season the title of champion jockey will finally be his. But it wont be easy. Theres Ben OBrien the brilliant young Irish rider in his first full season who already has a lead on Josh in the championship race. & leading trainer Leo Lovall once Joshs best friend & now his most bitter enemy. Theres also someone else with a keen interest in Josh. Shes his biggest fan though he has no idea she exists. & hers is the kind of obsession that will never be satisfied
- not even by murder...

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It's time for Jamie Tom & Wanna to journey right back in time to the Permian era. A time of weird & wonderful creatures & lots of danger & adventure! The friends are on the hunt for a dimetrodon to find out what it used the huge sail on its back for. They discover lots of amazing things about this Permian carnivore but as they creep around trying to get a closer look they don't realize that they're the ones being stalked.. . ...

Erotica meets bonkbuster in this steamy tale of hunks & horses... The world of showjumping is as steamy as it is competitive. Ambitious young rider Penny Bennett enters into a wager with her oldest rival & friend Ariadne to win her thoroughbred stallion guaranteed to bring Penny money & success. But first she must attain the sponsorship & very personal attention of showjumpings biggest impresario Alister Beaumont. Beaumonts riding school however is not all it seems. Theres the weird relationship between Alister & his cigar-smoking sister. & the bizarre clothes they want Penny to wear. But in this atmosphere of unbridled kinkiness Penny is determined not only to win the wager but to discover the truth about Beaumonts strange hobbies. ...

With his sculpted physique & brooding good looks Sylvester Stallone remains the quintessential movie star. His love life has drawn as much attention as his $2 billion-grossing films. After a long-suffering first wife & a philandering second his current spouse is a supermodel 25 years his junior & between each marriage he was seen with a catwalks worth of women who seemed to live on the cover of Vogue. Stallone: A Rocky Life reveals the emotional background of this most private public figure. Based on exclusive interviews with the star himself his outspoken mother his second wife & a host of celebrity colleagues & friends the book presents an insiders view of the actor. Fans will find the stars personal life as compelling as any of his action adventures. The author also tells the story of Stallones film career from cartoon icon to failed comic actor to his incarnation as an overweight anti-hero in the critically acclaimed Cop L&. Stallone: A Rocky Life is a thoughtful examination of a man who faced up to tragedies & setbacks to win fame fortune & happiness. ...

Stamford has a reputation for being one of England's finest stone towns. It is a happy mix of medieval & Georgian architecture that was untouched by the Industrial Revolution or later large scale developments so its central core has survived remarkably intact. Its architecture is outstanding & for this reason in 1967 it became the country's first conservation area. In recent years the town has become a popular tourist destination for both home & overseas visitors. It has also attracted the attention of film makers who have been quick to see its potential as a back-drop for such TV productions as Middlemarch & Pride & Prejudice. Using contrasting photographs this book sets out to show something of both the continuity & change in the town during the last 100 years. ...