Leo Tolstoys War & Peace" is a sprawling epic covering the impact of Napoleons disastrous invasion of Russia on five different families. This " Penguin Classics" edition is translated with an introduction & notes by Anthony Briggs with an afterword by Orlando Figes author of "A Peoples Tragedy: Russian Revolution 1891-1924". At a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805 conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleons army marches on Russia & the lives of three young people are changed forever. The stories of quixotic Pierre cynical Andrey & impetuous Natasha interweave with a huge cast from aristocrats & peasants to soldiers & Napoleon himself. In " War & Peace" Tolstoy entwines grand themes
- conflict & love birth & death free will & faith
- with unforgettable scenes of nineteenth-century Russia to create a magnificent epic of human life in all its imperfection & grandeur. Anthony Briggs superb translation combines stirring accessible prose with fidelity to Tolstoys original while Orlando Figes afterword discusses the novels vast scope & depiction of Russian identity. This edition also contains appendices notes a list of prominent characters & maps. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born at Yasnaya Polyana in central Russia. After marrying Sofya Behrs in 1862 Tolstoy settled down managing his estates & writing two of his best-known novels " War & Peace" (1869) & " Anna Karenina" (1878). In 1884 Tolstoy experienced a spiritual crisis becoming an extreme moralist rejecting the state the church & private property. His last novel " Resurrection" (1900) was written to raise money for the Doukhobor sect of Christian spiritualists. If you enjoyed " War & Peace" you might also like Fyodor Dostoyevskys " The Brothers Karamazov". "A masterpiece... This new translation is excellent". (Anthony Beevor). "A book that you dont just read you live". (Simon Schama)."

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War & Peace is a vast epic centred on Napoleon's war with Russia. While it expresses Tolstoy's view that history is an inexorable process which man cannot influence he peoples his great novel with a cast of over five hundred characters. Three of these the artless & delightful Natasha Rostov the world-weary Prince Andrew Bolkonsky & the idealistic Pierre Bezukhov illustrate Tolstoy's philosophy in this novel of unquestioned mastery. This translation is one which received Tolstoy's approval. ...

War & Peace" is one of the richest novels ever written. Tolstoys enthralling epic combines history & fiction in his depiction of Russias lengthy war with the French armies of Napoleon & its effects on the domestic lives of those caught up in the conflict. He creates some of the most vital & involving characters in literature as he follows the rise & fall of families in St Petersburg & Moscow who are linked by their personal & political relationships. His heroes are the thoughtful yet impulsive Pierre Bezukhov his intelligentand ambitious friend Prince Andrei & the woman who becomes indispensable to both of them the enchanting Natasha Rostova. Stunningly translated with remarkable fidelity to the all-important tone of Tolstoys original & including an introduction notes a chapter summary & an index of historical figures this edition of " War & Peace" is destined to become the definitive English translation for our time." ...

This is a three-volume boxed set of Tolstoy's historical chronicle of Russia's struggle with Napoleon. The novel is an affirmation of life itself focusing on the lives of individuals & the physical reality of human experience & its bewildering complexity. ...

In the vast literature of the Second World War there has never been a naval atlas showing graphically the complexities of the war at sea a war which spread across every ocean. This new book will fill the gap. With more than 200 beautifully-designed maps & charts the atlas sets out to visualise the great campaigns & major battles as well as the smaller operations amphibious landings convoys sieges skirmishes & sinkings. While whole sections are given over to the Pacific war the battle of the Atlantic & the campaigns in the Mediterranean smaller but crucial events such as the landings at Dieppe receive in-depth treatment. The maps depict the dynamics of campaigns & battles but also include extensive information on the opposing forces their ships & equipment & the strategic significance of events. General thematic maps for instance on ship losses aerial strengths or convoy routes give the reader an understanding of the many contributing factors that shaped the tactics & strategies of the Allied & Axis forces. No other work has attempted such an ambitious coverage of the war at sea in this period & it is destined to become a definitive reference work for naval enthusiasts & historians as well as general readers fascinated by the naval war that extended from the coldest arctic seas to the tropical islands of the Pacific. ...

Emmanuel Jal was seven years old when he became a soldier & went into battle with the rebel army in Sudans bloody civil war. Believing he was being sent to school Emmanuel trekked his way to a refugee camp in Ethiopia where he became one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. After nearly five years of fighting Emmanuel was smuggled into Kenya by Emma Mc Cune a British aid worker & finally began to have a childhood & an education. When Emma died tragically Emmanuel struggled to find purpose in life but eventually
- through the power of prayer & music
- he succeeded. From child soldier to refugee to rap star War Child is one boys incredible story of survival & triumph.

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The opening years of the fifteenth century saw one of the most bitterly contested political & military convulsions in the history of the British Isles a conflict that is too-often overlooked by military historians. Henry IV who had overthrown & probably murdered his predecessor Richard II fought a protracted & bloody campaign against the most powerful nobles in the l&. This war is the subject of John Barratts gripping study. The Percy family the Kings of the North & their most famous leader Sir Henry Percy
- Hotspur whose fiery nature & military prowess were immortalized by Shakespeare
- stood out against Henrys rule. & the beleagured king also had to contend with a range of other unrelenting opponents among them Owain Glyn Dwr who led the Welsh revolt against English supremacy. In this graphic account of the first deeply troubled years of Henry IVs reign John Barratt concentrates on the warfare in particular on the setpiece pitched battles fought at Homildon Hill Pilleth & Shrewsbury. His story brings to life the embittered politics & the personal & family enmities that gave rise to armed conflict. & he describes in vivid detail the tactics & fighting methods of the day which were dominated by the devastating power of the English longbow.

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As a British infantry officer in the Royal Gurkha Rifles Emile Simpson completed three tours of Southern Afghanistan. Drawing on that experience & on a range of little-known case studies ranging from Nepal to Borneo War From The Ground Up offers a distinctive perspective on contemporary armed conflict: while most accounts of war look down at the battlefield from an academic perspective or across it as a personal narrative the author looks up from the battlefield to consider the concepts that put him there & how they played out on the ground. Simpson argues that in the Afghan conflict & in contemporary conflicts more generally liberal powers & their armed forces have blurred the line between military & political activity. More broadly they have challenged the distinction between war & peace. He contends that this loss of clarity is more a response to the conditions of combat in the early twenty-first century particularly that of globalisation than a deliberate choice. The issue is thus not whether the West should engage in such practices but how to manage gain advantage from & mitigate the risks of this evolution in warfare. War From The Ground Up draws heavily on personal anecdotes from the frontline related to historical context & strategic thought to offer a re-evaluation of the concept of war in modern conflict. ...

A special lavishly illustrated new edition of Michael Foremans classic story. Its 1914 when everything changes for a group of bys growing up & playing football in the Suffolk countryside. Far away in a place called Sarajevo an Archduke has been killed & a web of global events results in a call for all British men to do their duty for King & Country & join the army to fight the germans overseas. The boys sign up for what sounds like an adventure & a chance to see the world. After basic training the boys sail to France where they find themselves fighting on the front line. Living in the trenches in constant fear for their lives is nothing like they expected & only a bombed-out wasteland no-mans-land separates their trences from those of their German enemies. Then on Christmas Day something remarkable happens as the German & British armies stop fighting & meet in the middle of no-mans-l&. The enemies talk play football & become friends. But the war isnt over the two sides resume fighting & the group of Suffolk lads are ordered to charge across no-mans-l&... ...

All you will need to fight wargames covering the armies of the eighteenth century Following on from his fathers great wargaming classic The War Game Charles Grant Jr. has collated years of rule development alteration & additions to make this the updated & complete set of rules. This set of rules is all you will need to fight wargames covering the armies of the eighteenth century & will do very well even for later periods. The rules help you to organise your armies then cover play sequence movement rates for all troop types firing infantry & artillery how to melee fighting in built up areas morale engineers river transport special soldier types scaling down & much more! These are the master rules from the master wargamer. ...