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In the Service of the Sultan
While the Americans were fighting in Vietnam, a struggle of even greater strategic significance was taking place in the Middle East: the Sultanate of Oman guards the entrance to the Arabian Gulf, and thus controls the movement of oil from that region. In the 1960s and 70s, the Communists tried to seize this artery and, had they succeeded, the consequences for the West and for the Middle East would have been disastrous - and yet, few people have ever heard of this geo-political drama at the height of the Cold War. In the Service of the Sultan tells, first-hand, the largely unknown story of a small number of British officers who led Muslim soldiers in this hard-fought anti-insurgency war which has shaped today's Gulf. After outlining the historical, geographical and political background, the book describes military action in a stark and mountainous environment, including operations with irregular forces and the SAS as well as action in the air and at sea. The book gives a gripping, moving, funny account of all these and paints a powerful and illuminating picture of the realities of war. It will appeal to all who are interested in the Cold War and relationships between the Western and the Arab worlds. Politics, history, irregular warfare, religion, international affairs: all are ingredients in this absorbing, informative read. In the light of the current insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is also timely to be reminded how a rare victory was won over Communist guerrillas.
Tracing Your Ancestors Using Newspapers
Unlock the captivating stories hidden within the pages of historical newspapers and bring your ancestors back to life with Tracing Your Ancestors Using Newspapers. Newspapers have long been an invaluable, yet often underused, resource for genealogists. Thanks to ongoing digitisation, it is now easier than ever to search for ancestral articles from the comfort of your own home, but finding meaningful results isn’t always as simple as entering a name into a search box — and even when you do, how can you be sure the article is really about your ancesto? his book guides you through the process of uncovering, understanding, and interpreting newspaper articles that feature your ancestors. You'll explore the wide range of stories that can be found, from court proceedings and military exploits to lost pets, acts of bravery, letters to the editor, and unexpected community involvement. Along the way, you'll learn how to assess the reliability of articles, trace relatives across regions and continents, and make the most of ever-expanding online archives. As well as identifying specific mentions of your ancestors, newspapers offer unparalleled context. They can help you understand the world your relatives lived in — what news they read, what challenges they faced, and how their lives were shaped by the events of their time. From scandal and gossip to marriage announcements and heroic deeds, newspapers preserve the everyday voices of the past in vivid detail. Packed with expert advice, practical guidance, and inspiring real-life examples, Tracing Your Ancestors Using Newspapers will help you deepen your research, break down brick walls, and discover the people behind the names on your family tree.
The Medieval Pilgrim
Since the early days of mankind there seems to have been an urge to travel. The undertaking of arduous journeys to visit a sacred, or magical place seems to be an integral part of the human psyche. The peak of English pilgrimage was during the medieval period. Some pilgrims spent large sums of money and risked their lives to travel to the Holy Land to see the places where Jesus had lived and died. The other major destinations, and closer to home, were Rome and Santiago de Compostela. Yet most pilgrimages were of a day or two to local shrines. Pilgrimage could be made as a form of personal devotion, to ask for a cure of illness or in thankfulness for help from the saints. This book explores the stories of the people who went on pilgrimage. Where did they go? What inspired them to make the journey? What hardships would they endure on the way? What would they experience when they arrived at their destination. Would there be miracles? and how would their life be changed when they returned home. The history of pilgrimage is the story of people, their hopes and fears, in this life and the next.
Ileana of Romania
Princess Ileana of Romania (1909–1991), known later in life as Mother Alexandra, was the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand I of Romania and his consort, Queen Marie. Kind, intelligent, and beautiful, she was exalted among the royal courts of Europe and the darling of the Romanian people. She married Archduke Anton of Austria in 1931 and made Schloss Sonnberg her home before returning to Romania during World War II, where she converted the famous Bran Castle into a hospital for wounded soldiers. Exiled after the Soviet occupation of 1944, she eventually settled near Boston, Massachusetts, where Senator John F. Kennedy helped her on the path to citizenship. Having pawned the magnificent Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik crown, once the possession of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, to buy a home and raise her six children in relative security, life could have taken a predictable course from then on—but not so for the princess. In 1961 she travelled to France to train as a monastic, and six years later founded a monastery in Ellwood, Pennsylvania. During the quiet decades that followed, she gradually revealed to intimate friends the startling secrets her mother had told her about the murder of her relatives, the Romanov family, by the Bolsheviks on July 16, 1918. Ileana of Romania: Princess, Exile and Mother Superior is both a narrative of an extraordinary life and an unveiling of new evidence pertaining to one of the great mysteries of the twentieth century. It is a story of war and struggle, the complete upending of an old order, and of finding peace at the end of it.
Understanding WW2
As oral history gains long-overdue recognition, its power to illuminate the past has never been more vital. From buried time capsules to the preserved voices, letters, diaries, photographs and films of those who lived through history’s most pivotal moments, this book explores how personal testimony shapes our understanding of truth. Split into six main chapters and focussing on the Second World War years, Andrew Sangster starts by analysing personal letters from key players on both sides – Himmler, Rommel and Patton – before exploring the diaries of Lord Alan Brooke, Goebbels and Galeazzo Ciano, to name but a few. The final chapters explore the significance of the recorded notes from the Nuremberg Trials, before explaining the merits of autobiographies written after the fact. With honesty and clarity, the author reveals the challenges historians face – how memories can shift, how documents can be altered and how autobiographies, even in their sincerity, must be handled with care. Still, within these fragile records lie invaluable insights: motives, emotions and the human reactions that traditional archives often overlook. Balanced and engaging, Understanding WW2 is an essential guide to the promise and pitfalls of oral history – and a compelling reminder that the voices of ordinary men and women are as crucial to our collective memory as those of the famous and powerful.
Operation Spider’s Web
It was a lazy Sunday morning in Russia on 1 June 2025. The war with Ukraine had been going for over three years. That morning 117 Ukrainian drones rose up from the back of four trucks deep inside Russia itself and started flying towards their targets – a number of Russian airbases. They were Ukrainian made Osa (‘Wasp’) quadcopters. They were packed in crates of around twenty-seven drones each and driven across the country in the back of cargo trucks. The unsuspecting Russian truck drivers thought they were delivering materials for pre-fabricated houses. Instead, several of the drivers were asked to pull over at a local gas station or parking lot, and then suddenly the cover of the cargo container came off and more than two dozen drones took off towards a nearby air base. The Russian drivers were taken completely by surprise. The drones then attacked the Russian bombers at four air bases across the vast expanse of Russia, from a base above the arctic circle near Murmansk, to the heart of European Russia, out to the middle of Siberia, near Lake Baikal. Large old Russian strategic bombers, like Tu-95s and Tu-22s came under attack, along with Russia’s valuable Airborne Early Warning and Control Beriat A-50s. Maybe two dozen planes were attacked by the drones on three of the airfields, and it appears that over a dozen were destroyed. This attack stunned Russia, as this was their strategic bomber force. Not only was it being used to regularly strike at Ukrainian infrastructure and cities, but these were the nuclear-capable strategic bombers that were an important part of their Strategic Deterrent Forces. Some Russians, in shock, equated it to a Russian Pearl Harbor. This book explores the full story of a covert attack that has changed the rules of military warfare forever.
The Social Life of a Georgian Novelist
Stored away and forgotten for 200 years, the private journals of Elizabeth Hervey (1749–1820) vividly describe her life and times. Her teenage years were spent in luxury at Fonthill Splendens, home of her stepfather, Alderman William Beckford. She married a handsome army officer who turned out to be a gambler, and with him fled abroad to escape his creditors. Soon widowed and with two small children, she returned to England, and after a brief affair with a political radical poet, settled in London. Intelligent, independent and well-educated, Herveybecame associated with Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill set and the Bluestockings. Every day she wrote her journal, vividly describing theatre visits, family dramas, servants, friends, society gossip, politics, her visits to country houses and lengthy tours at home and abroad. As a novelist she was first published in 1788, launching a career that, while earning her a living, put strain on her relationship with her half-brother, William Beckford, author of the classic gothic novel Vathek and builder of the infamous Fonthill Abbey. Theirs was a complex relationship, marred by literary rivalry, and after a quarrel in 1798 they never met again. Over the years Hervey’s social network widened to include Lord Byron, Richard and Maria Cosway, the Duchess of Devonshire, Eva Garrick, Lady Hamilton and Sarah Siddons. Yet just as vivid in her journals are her accounts of her household servants, her relationship with her sons, her problems with ill health (and drastic remedies) and her financial ups and downs. As a lively and entertaining window into late Georgian society, there are few sources to rival Elizabeth Hervey’s journals.
When In Rome
Since the time of ancient Rome, science has explained many phenomena, including the rotation of the Earth around the Sun. But the Romans, who built the first roads, aqueducts, baths, and security walls, didn’t have the comfort of an earth sciences textbook. They needed the powerful beings of religious imagination to explain why the world doesn’t end when winter comes and the food sources die. The story of Pluto and Proserpina explains why the world is warm one moment and freezing six months later. Pluto, the god of the underworld, falls madly in love with Proserpina, daughter of the harvest goddess Ceres. Ceres, whose good will powers agriculture, goes on a climate-ravaging rampage, flooding and scorching the earth’s food crops. In her grief, she brings humanity to the edge of starvation. But the gods need humanity. So Pluto brokers a deal with Ceres to share Proserpina. When she is with her mother, the world is spring and summer. When she is with Pluto, Ceres moderates her grief into a survivable winter. When in Rome is a new look at Roman gods, such as Pluto, Ceres, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus, as well as heroes like Hercules, Perseus, Jason, and Medea. Author Lynn Hamilton mines original Roman sources — Ovid, Apuleius, Virgil, and Hyginus — to uncover what is most enduring in this canon of ancient stories.
The Bard of Colour, Robert Rose
Born of private means, educated and eloquent, Robert Rose was once a fixture in the literary circles of 19th-century Manchester and Liverpool, but now nearly erased from history. Rose wrote poetry tinged with longing, loss, and quiet resistance. This deeply researched biography brings Rose back into the light, uncovering his words, his world, and the legacy he left behind. Though many questions remain, his story of displacement, artistic ambition, and the struggle for recognition resonates powerfully today. The Bard of Colour, Robert Rose brings Rose out of obscurity and into the light. This compelling biography explores his work, his world, and the prejudice he faced, offering a rare window into Black British life in the Victorian era.
Tanks and Armour in the Battle for Moscow
From the moment Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, code-named Operation Barbarossa, Hitler was fixated on the capture of Moscow. Yet his fear of exposing the flanks of the German Central Front led to costly diversions north and south at Leningrad and Kiev, delaying the assault on the Russian capital. When the Battle of Moscow – Operation Typhoon – finally began on 30 September, the Panzerwaffe was already weakened while Soviet forces had fortified their defences and reinforced their lines. Spanning a 370-mile front, 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies in the north and 2nd Panzer Army in the south surged towards Moscow in a vast pincer movement with hundreds of tanks and assault guns in tow, relying on the familiar tactics of Blitzkrieg. But what followed was no lightning war. Instead, German tanks and infantry were dragged into a gruelling battle of attrition during the coldest recorded winter of the twentieth century. Snowbound and under-supplied, with entire units freezing to death, the offensive ground to a halt before the gates of the capital. Tanks and Armour in the Battle for Moscow offers a compelling visual account of the Panzerwaffe’s doomed advance on Moscow, drawing on over 130 rare and unpublished wartime photographs. Through detailed captions and expert narrative, it follows the campaign from its faltering restart in the spring of 1942 to the bloody Rzhev-Sychyovka offensive and beyond, charting how the Germans lost the initiative on the Eastern Front. By early 1943, any hope of capturing Moscow had vanished, and a protracted retreat westward had begun – one that would not end until the Reich itself lay in ruins.
The Book Lover's Guide to Venice
Perfect for both lovers of Venice and lovers of books, this unique guide takes you step by step around the city of Venice in the footsteps of the writers who lived there and visited. See where they lived, ate, drink, and played. Find out where the parties were held, details of their illicit encounters, and where the patrician families of Venice’s famous Golden Book gathered in their literary salons, which after the Republic of Venice ended were continued in the homes of American society heiresses. This is a book to be savoured slowly, from the city’s cafes and bars where writers such as Patricia Highsmith and Ernest Hemingway went, or from the comfort of your own living room as you let Venice feed your imagination, just as the writers did themselves. Read about their lives and read their words through their novels and memoirs, poetry, travelogues, travel guides and biographies. This unique travel guide tells of literary Venice within the story of the city, and places early Venetian women writers firmly within the Venetian literary canon. It also includes a list of all works mentioned and suggested reading throughout the book.
Frida: The Making of an Icon
A sweeping new assessment of Frida Kahlo’s place in modern art, from her self-made image to her lasting influence for contemporary artists
Few artists have shaped popular culture as profoundly as Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907–1954), whose striking self-portraits and deeply personal symbolism have captivated audiences for decades. Remembered, too, for her tumultuous marriage to fellow artist Diego Rivera and her passionate political activism, Kahlo’s legacy transcends her artistic oeuvre. To this day, contemporary artists draw on Kahlo’s life and work for creative inspiration. Showcasing Kahlo’s paintings alongside the work of other artists from around the world and from midcentury to today, Frida: The Making of an Icon investigates the profound and lasting nature of Kahlo’s impact.
With essays by leading researchers, scholars, and curators, Frida: The Making of an Icon is the first major examination of how Kahlo became a global icon and an important artistic influence, especially beginning in the 1970s. In seven sections, addressing themes from Kahlo’s role as a gender-fluid intellectual to her political activism, and including conversations with contemporary artists Magali Lara and Mónica Mayer, this important book celebrates and bridges the complexities of her iconic status and cultural, political, commercial, and artistic legacy.
Published in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Exhibition Schedule:
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
(January–May 2026)
Tate Modern, London
(June 2026–January 2027)
RAF in Camera: 1980-1984
Britain changed more in the 1980s than in almost any recent decade, as readers will recall with differing emotions. A decade dominated by the rise of the City and the fall of the Unions, the wider retreat of the left and the return of military confidence, it also featured an energy of entrepreneurialism, but with entrenched unemployment – more than twice as high in the mid-1980s boom as when Margaret Thatcher took office in 1979. Innovation and technology reigned in the decade that spawned mobile telephones and the World Wide Web: where would the younger generation be without these items in their lives toda? o many, it was more simply seen as the decade of Margaret Thatcher, yuppies, chunky mobile telephones, and BMX bikes – although in reality it featured so much more, including the little matter of not one, but two royal weddings, and the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982. With little apparent diplomatic alternative, Britain set about creating a task force to recover the islands – effectively declaring war on Argentina.During the 1980s, only a few aircraft types were completely withdrawn from the RAF, most of them hardly creating a whimper. These included the Whirlwind HAR.10 helicopter, the Devon C.1, the Pembroke C.1, and some of the earlier Jet Provost T.3, T.4 and T.5 aircraft. However, during the decade, the RAF said farewell to a pair of military icons – the Avro Vulcan in 1984, and the English Electric Lightning in 1988.Aircraft arriving into RAF service included the Tornado GR.1 in the strike/attack role, an aircraft that had been developed as the Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) by a multi-national organisation from Italy, Germany, and the UK. It was soon followed into service by the Tornado F.2 and F.3 interceptor variants in the Air Defence role. Other new aircraft and helicopters to enter service during the decade included the Chinook HC.1, the Harrier GR.5, the British Aerospace BAe 146 CC.1, and the Tucano T.1.The 1980s was something of a decade of ‘mend and make do: the RAF purchased a batch of former US Navy F-4J Phantom aircraft as an air defence stop-gap, converted six Vulcan B.2 aircraft into AAR tanker platforms, and later, converted six Hercules C.1 aircraft into single-point C.1K tankers, initially for use on the Falklands Air Bridge. Further second-hand purchases included a number of former airline Lockheed Tristar and Vickers VC10 aircraft; once converted, these aircraft would later provide the backbone of the RAF’s strategic and tactical tanking force for the foreseeable future.Keith Wilson takes up from where he left off with RAF in Camera 1970s, continuing the journey through another significant decade. All of the landmark events are covered in this thorough, well-researched and image-packed publication.Each chapter focuses on a specific year, detailing all of the highlights and events that characterised it. As with previous volumes in this series, this new addition to the In Camera series is sure to be regarded as a collector’s edition and a real enthusiast’s favourite.
London Underground Gallery (1954-2000)
This book is a gallery of some 230 colour photographs featuring various types of London Transport Underground stock in use between 1954 and 2000. The emphasis is pictorial rather than factual and the material consists of pictures mainly in the care of a charity, the Online Transport Archive (OTA), plus some provided by OTA supporters and the authorwho is a trustee of OTA. Most photographs are believed never to have been previously published in print or on the Internet.Wherever possible, the pictures depict working trains, often in settings with recognisable infrastructure, ideally with people (staff or passengers) present. It has also been possible to include some unusual shots of London Underground activity.Whereas the majority of stock depicted is of course electric, there is also steam coverage, such motive power being in use on passenger trains until 1961 and in departmental (non-passenger) use until 1971. There are also a few images of railtours, some taking place on the Underground network and others on National Rail, the latter system also including Isle of Wight services following electrification there.To sum up, there is a rich variety of operations featuring London Underground stock in this volume for readers to enjoy.
Bella Italia
Kto z vás by nechcel zažiť Prázdniny v Ríme? Sadnúť si na Vespu a obehnúť pamiatky ? Španielske schody či Koloseum, ochutnať kávu, ktorá chutí tak, ako nikde na svete. Večer si posedieť pri skvelom jedle v najkrajšej rímskej štvrti Trastevere. Ráno nasadnúť do malého Fiatu 500 a vybrať sa k moru alebo k jednému z 1 500 talianskych jazier. Nevynechať Sicíliu, Kalábriu či nádhernú pätu tejto krajiny ? Pugliu. V milánskej pasáži si kúpiť šaty, ktoré budete nosiť celý život, zapiť tú radosť pravým proseccom a vychutnať si pizzu s olivami. Okúsiť na chvíľu to nádherné talianske dolce far niente. Tento netradičný sprievodca vás takýmto Talianskom prevedie.
Priepasť smrti (Kate Marshall 3)
Súkromná detektívna kancelária Kate Marshallovej a Tristana Harpera má svoj prvý veľký prípad. Pred dvanástimi rokmi zmizla novinárka Joanna Duncanová, ktorá sa naposledy zaoberala veľkým politickým škandálom. Veľa ľudí už na to zabudlo, ale Joannina matka zabudnúť odmieta. Kate a Tristan získajú prístup k pôvodným zložkám k prípadu a vydávajú sa po Joanniných stopách. Medzi Joanninými osobnými poznámkami, ktoré im poskytla jej matka, Kate nájde mená dvoch mladých mužov, ktorí tiež zmizli. Keď začnú Kate a Tristan prepájať posledné dni všetkých troch nezvestných, zisťujú, že Joanna pravdepodobne narazila na niečo oveľa tajomnejšie a hrozivejšie, než si ktokoľvek dokázal predstaviť. Na identitu sériového vraha...
Stopom až na koniec sveta
Petrovi stačila jediná zmienka v televízii nato, aby sa rozhodol pre dobrodružstvo, na ktoré väčšina z nás pravdepodobne nikdy nenaberie odvahu. Bez plánu, bez istoty a s hlavou plnou snov sa tak vydáva na cestu stopom až na miesto, ktoré bolo kedysi považované za koniec sveta.
Prespáva v parkoch, pod mostami, v opustených domoch aj pri benzínkach. Prechádza neznámymi mestami a nastupuje do áut k ľuďom, ktorých zrejme už nikdy viac neuvidí. Každý kilometer ho nielenže posúva bližšie k cieľu na mape, ale aj hlbšie do vlastných myšlienok. Medzi únavou, náhodnými stretnutiami a tichom dlhých ciest sa postupne menia predstavy o slobode, o dobrodružstvách aj o tom, čo znamená „ísť ďalej“.
Toto nie je romantický príbeh o cestovaní. Je to surová výpoveď o úniku zo všednosti každodenného života, samote a hľadaní miesta, ktoré možno vôbec neexistuje.
Peter Hlad, na Instagrame známy ako @pureaspirin, je umelec a voľnomyšlienkár, ktorý spája cestovanie s autentickou tvorbou. Jeho životný štýl balansuje medzi pohybom, spontánnosťou a hľadaním vlastného priestoru mimo zaužívaných pravidiel. Vo svojej tvorbe zachytáva realitu bez príkras.
dostupné aj ako:
Profesor Tekvička a Števko v domácom laboratóriu
Vedeli ste, že si doma môžete vyrobiť soľné šperky, vlastné jogurty, recyklovaný papier aj dúhu? Vyskúšajte so svojimi deťmi tridsať jednoduchých pokusov s bežnými predmetmi a materiálmi. Malí zvedavci si vyskúšajú prípravu experimentov a zároveň sa dozvedia množstvo zaujímavostí zo sveta prírodných vied.
dostupné aj ako:
Maximálna rýchlosť
Vo svete Formuly 1 sa nepreteká len na trati.
Nina vstupuje do prostredia Formuly 1 ako PR zástupkyňa vlastného brata. Ocitá sa medzi súkromnými lietadlami, päťhviezdičkovými hotelmi a ľuďmi, ktorí sú zvyknutí dostávať všetko, čo chcú. Luxus je tu samozrejmosťou.
Lenže súčasťou jej práce je aj Leo Logan. Dvojnásobný majster sveta je muž, ktorý si stráži súkromie rovnako tvrdo ako prvé miesto na štarte. Poznajú sa celý život, no vždy stáli na opačných stranách. Ona po boku svojho brata, on ako jeho najväčší rival.
V prostredí nepredstaviteľne bohatých a nebezpečne slávnych ľudí je každý pohľad zachytený objektívom a každý dotyk môže byť škandálom. V športe, kde sa nič neodpúšťa, je láska tým najväčším rizikom.
Maximálna rýchlosť je romantický príbeh zo sveta luxusu, moci a adrenalínu. O žene, ktorá sa odmieta stratiť v tieni mužského športu, a o mužovi, ktorý zistí, že najťažší súboj nemusí byť o titul majstra sveta.
Niektoré preteky sa jazdia srdcom.
