An examination of the European exploration of the African continent probes the impact and reputation of the explorers and discusses the abnormal psychology that led these men to court death in the African wilderness.

Hearts Of Darkness

Travel

MCLYNN, Frank

Africa

RANDOM HOUSE UK

First edition. A new biography. x , 567 pages. cloth, dust jacket.. 8vo..

Robert Lewis Stevenson

Biographies & Memoirs

Bound in publisher's original cloth with the spine stamped in gilt.

Stanley - Sorcerers Apprentice

Constable

A vivid, brutal and enthralling account of the Burma Campaign -- one of the most punishing and hard-fought military adventures of World War Two. Often described as "the forgotten war", the Burma Campaign was one of the most punishing and protracted military adventures of World War Two. It has become notorious for the ingenious tactics used by Britain, America and their allies on the one hand and the Japanese and their allies on the other, as well as for the atrocious conditions that had to be endured by both sides. Seasonal monsoon rains -- which allowed effective campaigning for little more than half the year -- as well as famine, disease, snakes and crocodiles all bore heavily on the troops. Impenetrable jungle, poor transport infrastructure and the Allied preoccupation with the war in Europe made this the longest single campaign fought by the British in the Second World War. It is against this epic backdrop that Frank McLynn constructs the dramatic story of the four larger-than-life commanders directing the Allied effort: Louis Mountbatten, Orde Wingate, Joseph Stilwell and William Slim. Strikingly original in its approach, the book explores the Campaign through the prism of these four men and their often stormy relationship. From 1942 and the greatest defeat for British arms in the history of the Empire, through the crucial simultaneous battles of Imphal and Kohima -- 'the Stalingrad of the East' -- and on to ultimate victory in 1945, this is a vivid, brutal and enthralling account. By telling it through the interactions and antagonisms of its principal players, we see how the plans, designs and strategies of generals and politicians were translated into a hideous reality for the men on the ground.

The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph 1942-45

History

Asia

Vintage Books

Beginning with the accession of James I to the Scottish throne in 1406, the Royal House of Stuart was plagued by incredible, almost supernatural, misfortune. From the battle of Flodden field, through the executions of Mary, Queen of Scots and Charles I, King of England, to the exile of James II in 1688 during the Glorious Revolution, the tragedy of the Stuarts seemed to be re-enacted by each generation. But with the birth in 1720 of Charles Edward Stuart--the "Bonnie Prince Charlie" of romantic legend--the final act had at last begun. In this widely acclaimed biography--the first based on comprehensive research among previously untapped sources--Frank McLynn brings to life the elusive and enigmatic "Prince in the Heather." McLynn's ten years of work in such diverse libraries as the Vatican Archives in Rome, majors collections in the United States, France, and Spain, and the Royal archives in Windsor (where the Stuart Papers are housed) has enabled him to present an entirely new interpretation of the life and career of Charles Edward Stuart. Following the Prince from his birth and unhappy childhood in the Stuart's exiled court in Rome, through his rise as the charismatic "Young Pretender" and the crushing defeat at Culloden, to his exile and death in Italy, McLynn illuminates episodes in the Prince's life hitherto obscure or deliberately concealed. What emerges is truly the stuff of classical tragedy--a leader of promise brought down by a combination of ill-luck and his own fatally flawed character. Potentially the Stuart family's best hope to regain the throne of England, Bonnie Prince Charlie inherited the cunning and seductive charm of Charles II, the stubborn bravery of James II, and the rugged physique of his Scots ancestors. But, increasingly dominated by self destructive character traits and the complex politics of his age, he ended his life a sad, drunken figure, dissolute and physically wasted. When his death came on 31 January 1788--the anniversary of the execution of his great grandfather Charles I--the tragedy had come full circle. Filled with the excitement of adventure and brimming with tales too improbable for fiction, Charles Edward Stuart is a fascinating biography of a remarkable man.

Bonnie Prince Charlie: Charles Edward Stuart

Historical

Oxford University Press

Eighteenth-century England was a land of profound contradiction. On the one hand it exhibited the spirit of the Age of Reason, with the intellects of Alexander Pope, Adam Smith, and Samuel Johnson flourishing in Augustan calm and elegance. But on the other it was a Hogarthian caricature come to life, a world of crime, disease, and squalor, where life was cheap and visitors to English cities half expected to be robbed, raped, or murdered upon arrival--and often had their worst fears confirmed. Was it a society more open than its oppressive continental neighbors that allowed this chaos? Or was it, in some crude fashion, a means of redistributing wealth in a country where the line between rich and poor was a veritable abyss? While questions such as these have been raised and partly answered in the last decade, Frank McLynn here provides the first comprehensive view of crime and its consequences in eighteenth-century England. Much of the book dispels the traditonal myths of crime in the eighteenth century, but it does more than merely challenge these old assumptions. McLynn places crime and punishment in a wider social and political context, and shows how a pervading sense of insecurity--due in part to the constant threat of Jacobitism and instability of the economy--contributed in a large part to the rampant lawlessness. He also demonstrates how, despite the ever-growing list of capital offenses, a day at the Tyburn gallows offered more in the way of celebration than deterrance for would-be criminals. Drawing many parallels to our own often chaotic world, this book offers us a distant and disturbing mirror, one that helps readers focus not only on the social problems of yesterday, but on those of today as well.

Crime and Punishment in Eighteenth-Century England

Napoleon

Leaders & Notable People

JONATHAN CAPE.

Villa and Zapata: A Biography of the Mexican Revolution

Villa and Zapata

Anyone who has seen 'The Lion in Winter' will remember the vicious, compelling world of the Plantagenets: the towering, almost psychopathic Henry II, commander of the slaughter of Thomas a Becket, at war with both his wife, the formidable Eleanor of Aquitaine, and his sons (including the subjects of this remarkable book, Richard and John). And readers of the romance of Robin Hood will be familiar with the type-casting of Good King Richard, defending Christendom in the Holy Land, and Bad King John who usurps the kingdom in his absence. But how much do these popular stereotypes correspond with reality? 
 Frank Mclynn, known for a wide range of historical studies which are both scholarly and wonderfully readable, has returned to the original sources to discover what the Plantagenets were really like and how their history measures up to their myth. In a riveting narrative he turns the tables on modern revisionist historians by showing exactly how bad a king John was, despite his intellectual gifts, and in contrast how impressive Richard was -brilliantly successful in war, accomplished artistically and the nearest it is possible to be to the medieval ideal of chivalry. In a narrative that spans most of Europe and the Middle East he shows these larger-than-life characters as they really were -crusading, waging war in France, negotiating with the papacy, engaging in ruthless dynastic intrigue, often against each other: in Richard's case, holding the kingdom together even when fighting in the Holy Land; and in John's, losing Normandy, catastrophically antagonizing the barons over Magna Carta and losing the Crown Jewels in the Wash. 
 This is history at its most revealing and enjoyable. It conjures up a vanished world in vivid primary colours and in the process gives us the nearest we are likely to get to the truth about two compelling historical figures.

Lionheart and Lackland: King Richard, King John and the Wars of Conquest

Europe

Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. Fine, A fine copy in black cloth boards, gilt title on spine with a fine, illustrated dust-jacket. 1759: the year Britain became master of the world. x, 432 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.. . 1.The Struggle for New France -- 2.The Bonnie Prince and the Crafty Minister -- 3.Pitt and the West Indies -- 4.Canada -- 5.India -- 6.Wolfe at Quebec -- 7.Lagos Bay, Portugal -- 8.Minden -- 9.The Plains of Abraham -- 10.Rogers' Rangers -- 11.Quiberon Bay.. .

1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World

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