We publish books on military history
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ADVANCE NEWS : 2014 TITLES
(publication dates to be announced soon)
Over 
Empires and Oceans
Pioneers, Aviators and Adventurers
Forging the International Air Routes 1918-1939
Robert Bluffield
This is a story of pioneers, intrepid aviators, adventurers, tycoons, innovators, flamboyant entrepreneurs, some well known, others forgotten, who risked fortunes and reputations to follow their dreams of reaching and ruling the skies over empires, continents and oceans. Robert Bluffield’s highly researched and detailed account tells dramatic stories of bewildering adversity, corruption, underhanded deals and dwindling resources; tenacious individuals who braved the elements using primitive, entirely unsuitable equipment to e stablish earth-shrinking aerial services that criss-crossed the great oceans and the globe’s most inhospitable territories. These are the stories of the pioneers who had a far-reaching impact on the way the modern world would travel.
Lawrence - Warrior and Scholar
Bruce Leigh
ISBN: 978-0-9543115-7-5
More than one hundred books have been written about T.E. Lawrence, exploring the man and his deeds. However, to date, nobody has gone in search of the mind of the man himself – of his formation and his deep beliefs. Nobody has asked the question, What, really, is the source of the extraordinary power of this man? – not only in terms of his incontestable qualities of leadership, but also in regard to the sheer range of his activities and accomplishments. Archaeologist, writer, guerilla warfare theorist and practitioner, diplomat, soldier and airman, Lawrence also possessed an unusual ability to cross boundaries of class, race, culture, and religion.
Bruce Leigh’s Lawrence – Warrior and Scholar is a quest. Drawing upon what Lawrence and those who knew him wrote, and did, and said, this book delves into Lawrence’s personal philosophy and practices, and his close relationship to the world of classical scholarship and chivalry, emphasising that Lawrence’s views were not abstractions only, but intimately tied to his actions and deeds. Read more
A Box of Sand
The Italo-Ottoman War 1911-1912
Charles Stephenson
ISBN: 978-0-9576892-2-0
An analysis of a conflict that, in so many ways, raised the curtain on the Great War. In September 1911, Italy declared war on the once mighty, transcontinental Ottoman Empire – but it was an Empire in decline. The ambitious Italy decided to add to her growing African empire by attacking Ottoman-ruled Tripoli (Libya). The Italian action began the rapid fall of the Ottoman Empire, which would end with its disintegration at the end of the First World War. The day after Ottoman Turkey made peace with Italy in October 1912, the Balkan League attacked in the First Balkan War.
As acclaimed historian Charles Stephenson portrays in this ground-breaking study, if there is an exemplar of the futility of war, this is it. Apart from the loss of life and the huge cost to Italy, the main outcome was to halve the Libyan population through emigration, famine and casualties. A Box of Sand will be of great interest to students of military history and those with an interest in the history of North Africa and the development of technology in war. Read more
'SPACESUIT' IS A HIT!
Read the reviews "... this book is a real gem ..."
E-book NOW AVAILABLE! A visual delight - don't miss it!
This book follows th
e remarkable history of the spacesuit through science fiction and fact.
With an absorbing blend of drama and detail, Brett Gooden explains how this seemingly impossible dream gradually evolved into the complex suits of today and how the quest continues for the ‘Mars and Beyond’ suits of tomorrow.
NOW AVAILABLE!
Liberty or Death!
The Life and Campaigns of Richard L. Vowell
British Legionnaire and Commander – Hero and Patriot of the Americas
Maria Páez Victor
ISBN: 978-0-9543115-8-2
E-book Coming Soon!
See photographs from the book's launches in London and Toronto on our News page
"An important first biography based on extensive research undertaken in three continents. It uncovers information previously unknown about Vowell's remarkable life and daring exploits." Military History Monthly
Crossing the Andes with Bolívar: Such as have never felt the sensation of extreme thirst, cannot possibly form an idea of the welcome refreshment the first long draught of water affords, although the tepid fluid in these pools would disgust any person who was not really and painfully thirsty. It is, in general, of a greenish colour, swarming with insects, and frequently containing the bodies of horses, and other animals, that have just had strength sufficient to reach the water and die….
This important first biography of Vowell is based on extensive research undertaken in three continents. It uncovers information previously unknown about Vowell’s exciting life and daring exploits – from his birth in a genteel English country town, to his campaigns in the far-off Americas, and to his period in the harsh landscape of Australia, where he confronted another empire and was subsequently and unjustly imprisoned on a remote Pacific island. This absorbing account sheds light on a lost but fascinating episode of British endeavour and valour and its contribution to the shaping of the modern Americas.
NOW AVAILABLE
and as an e-book
Stalin's Claws
From the Purges to the Winter War
Red Army operations before Barbarossa 1937-1941
E.R. Hooton
ISBN: 978-0-9543115-5-1
also available as an e-book ISBN: 978-0-9543115-9-9
"... This book makes an original and insightful contribution to our understanding of the political and social context of the Red Army during the Second World War. It should be read by anyone with an interest in the Soviet regime or the Red Army during this period." Military History Monthly (read the full review here)
Read interview with the author here
In this ground-breaking and important study, military historian E.R. Hooton tells the absorbing story of the bloody tidal wave which swept away the majority of the Soviet armed forces' most experienced officers in the 1930s. As the military leadership was cut to pieces, so the Red Army was deployed in operations at the extremities of Stalin’s empire. Using a range of specialist sources, Hooton tells the full story of the battles and campaigns mounted against the Japanese at Khalkin Gol, the disastrous Winter War with Finland of 1939-1940 as well as the invasion of Rumania’s eastern province of Bessarabia in June 1940 which ultimately would provoke ‘Barbarossa’ in 1941. Following detailed research, the author provides a vivid and important insight into the operations conducted by the Red Army from 1937 to 1941 and makes some surprising conclusions about the impact of the Purges.
A Major New Study of Bomber Command
(now available globally in e-book format (ISBN: 978-0-9555977-9-4) from Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Overdrive, Sony & Google and other international e-tailers)
'OPS'
Victory at all Costs: On operations over Hitler's Reich with the crews of Bomber Command
Their War - Their Words
Andrew R.B. Simpson
ISBN: 978-0-9555977-6-3
(also available as an e-book - ISBN 978-0-9555977-9-4)
Read interview with the author here
'Warfare' online magazine says of Ops' :
... 'Ops' is also a labour of love; running as a thread through the unfolding narrative are the experiences of Laurie Simpson, the author's father ... The story ... develops along a chronological line, covering training, life on squadron, ops, escape and evasion and life as a POW; each liberably ‘salted’ with personal accounts to make a very readable book...
... I, for one, am satisfied and the book will be on my 'go to' shelf.'
'Classic Wings' says of 'Ops' :
This year a Bomber Command Memorial was opened by the Queen in London in what was a long overdue tribute to the loss of some 55,000 aircrew of the service during the Second World War. With much controversy post war about the effectiveness and necessity of the RAF's bombing strategy, the fact that the crews were 'doing their job' has been lost in the fog. If anyone has ever doubted that this memorial is fitting they should read this outstanding work ... this book offers a unique and extraordinary insight into arguably the most stressful operations of the last war, where men faced the probability of death without flinching from their duty.'
'Military History Monthly' says of 'Ops' :
Andrew Simpson's 'Ops' bears all the hallmarks of becoming the definitive work on bomber operations during WWII.
Read the full review here.
'Waterstones' says of 'Ops' :
...Hence this outstanding book, ‘Ops’. There are no wizard prangs here. This is the bomber offensive at its most authentic, vivid and compelling. Aircrew are drummed out for LMF - ‘lack of moral fibre’. They drink, they swear. Their hands tremble so much they can barely write. Elsan toilets fling their disgusting contents all over the aircraft when it dives. Former POWs talk candidly about the grasses and moles, their own people, who hung around the camps trying to make them talk...
...To go out night after night, knowing with bleak mathematical certainty that the odds of survival diminished every time, knowing that all it took was too much ice on the wing, or a moment’s drowsiness by the rear gunner, or a slip of the navigator’s pencil taking you over a flak belt, or a Luftwaffe ace creeping invisibly beneath you with his ‘schragemusik’, his upwards-pointing guns, to send your aircraft plummeting from the sky – to do all this, knowing all that, required fortitude on a scale we in the 21st century can barely conceive....
...Richard Dimbleby put it best: ‘I only wish there were some way of telling people in Britain what all these men are doing for them’. Seventy years later, Andrew R.B. Simpson has found a way. His book is among the most impressive on this subject I have yet read; it matches in print what the Bomber Command Memorial achieves in bronze and stone...
Read the full review here.
See Peter Davies's feature in ‘The Times’ of Saturday 15 September 2012. Read the article .
'Ops' has also been nominated as 'Book of the Month' by 'Britain at War' magazine. Read the review by John Grehan here.
DON'T MISS OUR OTHER TITLES
For Kaiser and Hitler
ISBN: 978-0-9555977-4-9
(also available as an e-book - ISBN 978-0-9555977-7-0)
'... Having been involved with the growth of German military aviation in both its earliest days and then again during its renaissance in the 1930s and then demise in 1945, he has much to say. He does not mince his words and thus provides a truly fascinating story with some very critical comments of both German and Allied organisations. Told from the inside, this story brings to light many of the problems faced by the German people and forces between 1914 and 1945 .... This is an unusual personal window into events between 1908 and 1952. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and cannot recommend it enough. To my mind, this is the book of the year.' Cross & Cockade International. Read the full review here.
'A far cry from any other book of its kind... This rare memoir is unique in the sense that very few books that surface today concerning the war attempt to "set the record straight", but this factual narrative does just that... A great, factual and interesting read.' Warfare Magazine
A fascinating insight into the problems which the Luftwaffe faced, both in Russia and in Italy. For anyone interested in the evolution of German air power, it is essential reading. Read more
Hitler's Rocket Soldiers
ISBN: 978-0-9555977-5-6
(also available as an e-book - ISBN 978-0-9555977-8-7 )
' This fascinating and historically significant book fills a void ... The amount and quality of information in 'Hitler's Rocket Soldiers' is remarkable ... ' Hitler's Rocket Soldiers' is one of the most fascinating, best-produced and interesting books I've read in many years. I enthusiastically give it my highest recommendation…’ Terry Sunday, Digital Space Art
'Truly an invaluable contribution to the operational history of the V2 rocket...' 'Warfare' Magazine
'We V2 soldiers fulfilled our tasks with the knowledge that every firing meant innocent people lost their lives..' Read more
'For Kaiser and Hitler', 'Hitler's Rocket Soldiers', 'Ops', 'Stalin's Claws' and 'Spacesuit' are available globally as e-books from Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Overdrive, Sony & Google and other international e-tailers
E-book NOW AVAILABLE!
Spacesuit - A History through Fact and Fiction
Brett A. Gooden
ISBN: 978-0-9543115-4-4
See book review from 'Spaceflight' magazine "... Copiously illustrated throughout, this book is a real gem ..."
Read interview with the author here
THE FASCINATING, EXTRAORDINARY AND OFTEN BIZARRE STORY of the Spacesuit through science fiction and fact. Man has dreamed of flying into space and walking on other planets for hundreds of years but gradually it became clear that to leave the earth’s atmosphere and gravity, our frail bodies would need protection from many dangers. In the period between the World Wars, daring pilots, competing with each other, ventured higher and higher into the thinner atmosphere.They challenged the physiologists and engineers to provide them with special suits to achieve this goal. At the same time, cheap pulp fiction magazines pumped out colourful adventures of humans in space. Their eye-catching cover illustrations became the archetypical feature of these ‘pulps’ and allowed artists to give vent to their wildest fantasy. Nevertheless, their inventive dreams for spacesuits fed back to the scientific community. Fiction influenced fact. Complemented by astonishing and detailed illustrations, this book unlocks the seemingly impenetrable secrets of how the spacesuit was made into a practical and essential device. How simple everyday items such as the car tyre, the caterpillar and the concertina provided critical clues that eventually brought the spacesuit to reality. With an absorbing blend of drama and detail, the author explains how the seemingly impossible dream gradually evolved into the complex suits of today and how the quest continues for the ‘Mars and Beyond’ suits of tomorrow.
