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The Little Book of Lincolnshire is a compendium of fascinating information about this historic county, past and present. Contained within is a plethora of entertaining facts about Lincolnshire’s famous and occasionally infamous men and women, its towns and countryside, history, natural history, literary, artistic and sporting achievements, customs ancient and modern, transport, battles and ghostly inhabitants. A reliable reference book and quirky guide, this can be dipped in to time and time again to reveal something new about the people, the heritage, the secrets and the enduring fascination of the county. A remarkably engaging little book, this is essential reading for visitors and locals alike.

From the award-winning author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia comes a new journey, following four 19th century elephants marched from the East African coast towards Congo to tell a heartbreaking story of folly and colonial greed. INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE STANFORD'S TRAVEL WRITING BOOK OF THE YEAR 2026WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR WRITING ON CONSERVATION 2025 SHORTLISTEDBest Summer Books of 2025: An illuminating tale of imperial ambition and ineptitude.' FINANCIAL TIMES'A beautiful, intelligent and heartfelt book, a brilliantly researched account of an imperial fever dream alongside a no less feverish contemporary journey' THE SUNDAY TIMES'History and travelogue combine wonderfully in this tale of colonial plunder and hubris.' GUARDIANIn 1879, King Leopold II of Belgium launched an ambitious plan to plunder Africa’s resources. The key to cracking open the continent, or so he thought, was its elephants ? if only he could train them. And so he commissioned the charismatic Irish adventurer Frederick Carter to ship four tamed Asian elephants from India to the East African coast, where they were marched inland towards Congo. The ultimate aim was to establish a training school for African elephants. Following in the footsteps of the four elephants, Roberts pieces together the incredible true story of this long-forgotten expedition, in travels that take her to Belgium, Iraq, India, Tanzania and Congo. The storytelling brings to life a compelling cast of historic characters and modern voices, from ivory dealers to Catholic nuns, set against rich descriptions of the landscapes travelled. Digging deep into historic records to reckon with our broken relationship with animals, Training School for Elephants reveals an extraordinary and enduring story of colonial greed, ineptitude, hypocrisy and folly. Praise for Training School for Elephants:'This is a marvellous book, an important footnote to history - of Sophy Roberts' intrepid travel with a real purpose, shining a light on colonialism, Belgian and British, and their peculiar obsessions.’' - Paul Theroux, author of The Great Railway Bazaar ‘Masterfully weaving adventure, intrigue and the darker truths of colonial ambition into a story as gripping as it is eye-opening.’ - Levison Wood, author of Walking the Nile'Deeply researched. Brings to life a bizarre and long-forgotten story of Africa with empathy, intriguing encounters and memorable characters, not least the elephants themselves.’ - Luke Pepera, author of Motherland: A Journey through 500,000 Years of African Culture and Identity‘Sophy Roberts brings history to life, tackling difficult, sensitive subjects with careful, exquisite prose. Unputdownable.’ - Mary Harper, author of Getting Somalia Wrong?'A brave and searching book, rich in history and fierce in spirit. The best sort of travel writing: handsome prose, teeming with humanity and an unwavering sense of wonder.' - Justin Marozzi, author of Baghdad, City of Peace, City of Blood ‘A cautionary tale from the early days of the Scramble for Africa, but poignant and scholarly too. Roberts writes beautifully.’ - Thomas Pakenham, author of The Scramble for Africa‘A rich, engrossing tapestry of greed and disregard for life … Few write as compellingly as Roberts, this is her as only she can write.’ - Amal Chatterjee, author of Across the Lakes

Chronicles the history of Zionism, Israel, and the United States. Fleeing from History offers an understanding of Zionism not as ideology or movement but rather as a multidimensional cosmopolitan arena for Jewish political debate and argument. Drawing on conversations in currently developing literature on colonialism and decolonization, exile and diaspora studies, as well as comparative history, Ylana N. Miller argues that Zionism must be seen through a multinational lens that illuminates the historical process by which it was reduced from a broad, diverse, generative arena of Jewish political creativity to an exclusionary nationalism. Central to the history of this process is the gradual transformation of the American political environment within which Zionism came to be identified with the state of Israel. A key and abiding insight that this history advances is that Jewish history cannot be told without recognition of parallel developments among other groups; for this study, Palestinian Arabs and Algerians. The shift in the diaspora/Zionist center of gravity from European dominance to that of the United States should be understood as representing a break and change rather than continuity. The US–Israel relationship that appears unquestionable today was not inevitable. It was the result of the gradual winnowing of dissenting voices and the embrace of a specific version of state identity.

AN INVESTIGATION INTO ONE OF THE OLDEST UNSOLVED CASES ON THE FBI'S BOOKS, SPANNING SIX DECADES AND THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 1967. ROCHESTER, NEW YORK. At his son's fifth birthday party, Joseph Maloney was alleged to have poisoned his wife. While awaiting trial in the psychiatric wing of a Rochester hospital, he escaped and vanished. Years later, a charming stranger calling himself Michael O'Shea surfaced in Dublin. Claiming roots in the west of Ireland, he married a local woman and sold his garage business to buy a grand country estate. For years he lived as a country gentleman and worked at the pinnacle of Ireland's film industry - until a US extradition treaty exposed his true identity. Arrested in 1985, Maloney escaped justice again when his trial collapsed on a technicality. He fled Ireland, leaving US and Irish investigators clueless as to his whereabouts - until an RTÉ Documentary on One podcast picked up his trail decades later. Runaway Joe is the story of a man who reinvented himself with chilling ease - a portrait of a remorseless manipulator whose acts left devastation across continents.

We often think of medieval medicine as strange, unhygienic and unscientific, but The Medieval Guide to Healthy Living reveals a far richer story. Long before modern wellness trends, people in the Middle Ages were actively thinking about how to live well. They followed detailed health regimens, balanced diet with exercise, considered the effects of emotions and sought to avoid illness through environmental awareness and routine care. This book sheds light on the practical and surprisingly relatable ways medieval individuals cared for body and mind. Drawing from historical sources that echo today’s wellness concerns, it offers a fresh, thoughtful view of a misunderstood era. In understanding their world, we might see our own in a new, more connected light.

From haunted barrows to ruined castles, Britain’s landscape is rich with tales of hidden treasure – stories not just of gold, but of ghosts, curses and forbidden knowledge. Treasures on Earth gathers hundreds of these traditions for the first time, showing how folklore, shaped by local memory and longing, has imagined wealth not merely as currency, but as power, danger and loss. These legends tell of dragons, demons and seekers armed with spells, but also of real hopes stirred by poverty, war and the mysteries of place. Through vivid storytelling and careful insight, this book reveals how treasure lore carries the emotional weight of history. In the end, these are stories not just about what is buried, but about why we still yearn to uncover it.

Richard Edgar Peter Brooker, always known as Peter to his family and friends, left school and joined the RAF in 1937. He was posted to 56 Squadron and in 1940 he served for several weeks as personal assistant to Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, before flying throughout the height of the Battle of Britain. In the spring of 1941, promoted to Acting Squadron Leader, Brooker commanded No.1 Squadron during the Blitz; for this he was awarded the D.F.C. After being posted to Singapore late in 1941, where he led Nos. 232 and 242 squadrons fighting the Japanese invasion, he was evacuated on the last flight out of Bandoeng, Java, to Australia in March 1942. For his gallantry, determination in the face of heavy odds during the fall of Singapore, Brooker was awarded a Bar to the D.F.C. In the spring of 1944, Brooker became Wing Commander Flying of 123 Wing of Hawker Typhoons at RAF Thorney Island, in preparation for the liberation of Europe. Exhausted after an intensive spell of operational flying during and after D-Day, Brooker was taken off flying in July and sent to complete the Senior Staff Officers’ course at the RAF Staff College. At this time, he was awarded the DSO. In January 1945 Brooker became Wing Commander Flying of 122 Wing operating Hawker Tempest Vs, initially in Holland and then in Germany. In this period he was awarded a Bar to his DSO – but it was an award that was made posthumously. It was from Rheine-Hopsten in Germany that Peter took off on the evening, of 16 April 1945, and failed to return, just twenty-two days from VE Day. His aircraft and his remains have never been accounted for. However, the answers to the mystery and controversy surrounding Brooker’s disappearance are finally revealed in this detailed biography.

Lost for centuries, the site of the East Anglian royal settlement at Rendlesham is now giving up its secrets. Noted by the Venerable Bede as a place of royal baptism in the seventh century CE, its location has been pin-pointed and its archaeology investigated. The settlement flourished from the early fifth century CE, but was at its peak between the late sixth and early eighth centuries – when it was larger and wealthier than any other of the time yet known in England. Rendlesham was then the centre of a major region of the East Anglian kingdom, a residence of the East Anglian ruling family – the Wuffings. Members of the royal kindred were buried at the princely burial grounds at Snape and Sutton Hoo, which were part of the same landscape of power. Rendlesham cannot be fully understood in isolation. There are other comparable sites in East Anglia that also appear to have been centres of wealth and power, set in their own discrete territories. Were these originally the residences of independent local leaders who were eventually dominated by the rulers of Rendlesham? Or were the latter dominant from the start, perhaps taking over the Roman civitas of the Iceni? Such questions go to the heart of current debates about the forces that shaped early England. This book tells the story of the initial discovery and subsequent archaeological investigations at Rendlesham, and places the site in its broader context as a focus of power in the early East Anglian kingdom. It considers the approaches in archaeology and landscape history that were used – including systematic metal detecting – and highlights the extraordinary results that off er new perspectives on early English society and the origins of the English kingdoms.

The Khalili Anis al-Hujjaj (Pilgrims’ Companion) presents a ground-breaking new exploration of Safi ibn Vali Qazwini''s richly illustrated manuscript dating from 1676-77. This beautifully produced volume, with a scholarly introduction by Qaisra M. Khan and translation by Michael Burns, documents the author''s year-long journey to Mecca and Medina from Mughal India via the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.Commissioned by Zeb un-Nisa, the daughter of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, this delightfully vivid account belongs to a long-established tradition of guides to the Holy Sanctuaries. It gives comprehensive advice to prospective pilgrims on every aspect of the maritime journey, such as which ships to select, the best foods to consume, rituals to observe, significant places to visit and the people one might encounter.This volume extensively explores the original manuscript''s detailed illustrations and text, providing an invaluable window into 17th-century religious practices, maritime travel, and the cultural landscape of the Indian Ocean world.

A controversial character largely known (as depicted in the movie Glory) as a Union colonel who led Black soldiers in the Civil War, James Montgomery (1814–71) waged a far more personal and radical war against slavery than popular history suggests. It is the true story of this militant abolitionist that Todd Mildfelt and David D. Schafer tell in Abolitionist of the Most Dangerous Kind, summoning a life fiercely lived in struggle against the expansion of slavery into the West and during the Civil War. This book follows a harrowing path through the turbulent world of the 1850s and 1860s as Montgomery, with the fervor of an Old Testament prophet, inflicts destructive retribution on Southern slaveholders wherever he finds them, crossing paths with notable abolitionists John Brown and Harriet Tubman along the way. During the tumultuous years of “Bleeding Kansas,” he became a guerilla chieftain of the antislavery vigilantes known as Jayhawkers. When the war broke out in 1861, Montgomery led a regiment of white troops who helped hundreds of enslaved people in Missouri reach freedom in Kansas. Drawing on regimental records in the National Archives, the authors provide new insights into the experiences of African American men who served in Montgomery’s next regiment, the Thirty-Fourth United States Colored Troops (formerly Second South Carolina Infantry). Montgomery helped enslaved men and women escape via one of the least-explored underground railways in the nation, from Arkansas and Missouri through Kansas and Nebraska. With support of abolitionists in Massachusetts, he spearheaded resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act in Kansas. And, when war came, he led Black soldiers in striking at the very heart of the Confederacy. His full story thus illuminates the actions of both militant abolitionists and the enslaved people fighting to destroy the peculiar institution.

Mollie Brumley, a thirteen-year-old orphan, was living on a farm in the mountainous Ozarks of northwest Arkansas when the Civil War broke out. In a borderland region on the northern periphery of slavery and the western edge of white settlement, her corner of Arkansas saw terrible destruction—but not primarily from fighting between opposing armies. Mollie Brumley's Civil War was one of guerilla warfare and outlawry, shifting loyalties, betrayals real and imagined, and, for some, death by starvation. In telling Mollie's story, drawing largely upon her 1901 autobiography, Theodore Catton offers a rare intimate look at the heroism and desperation of war conducted on the home front—all amidst the anything-but-ordinary romantic adventures of an adolescent who lived during an extraordinary time. In the course of this riveting narrative, Mollie—while still in her teens—falls in love with one Confederate soldier who is lost in battle, marries another who joins the Rebel guerrillas, and leaves the farm to become an army laundress during escalating guerrilla depredations against her home and family. Intertwined with Mollie's tale is that of Parthenia Hensley, an enslaved young woman living in the same rural community. The story of Parthenia and her white family of enslavers broadens Catton's portrait of a war-torn community of farmers on the edge of the Slave South. An unprecedented picture of the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi West, Mollie Brumley's Civil War is also a remarkable coming-of-age story shaped by the fight against slavery—a fight that Mollie didn't choose but that finally influenced the person she became and the outcome of her life.

From the acclaimed author of Michelangelo, God’s Architect, a dual biography of two towering artists of the Renaissance, whose decades-long rivalry spurred both to greater heightsIn 1529, Michelangelo was in Venice when he first met Titian, Venice’s famed painter of princes, gods, and goddesses. Coming face-to-face with Titian’s drama-infused, richly colored works, the creator of David and the Sistine Chapel ceiling realized he had met a worthy opponent. Twenty-five years later, Titian came to Rome to paint the pope, and the two met again. Painting in the Vatican, Titian experienced the full power of Michelangelo’s work and vowed to surpass the achievements of his older contemporary. Michelangelo and Titian is the untold story of history’s greatest artistic rivalry, a competition between two monumental figures more admiring of one another than either would ever admit. William Wallace brings the world of the sixteenth century to life, and in particular its culture of gossip and intrigue. Wallace challenges the established narrative of this relationship as mostly one-sided, with the younger artist in competition with the reigning master. He shows how the artists moved in overlapping courtly and papal circles, sharing the patronage, power, and sometimes friendship of the most important people of their era, including members of the Medici, Este, and Farnese families. Wallace traces how, over the span of some forty years, this unspoken rivalry was reciprocal and mutually beneficial, with each learning from the other’s brilliance, quietly seeking to best the other’s work and secure his own legacy. An extraordinary achievement, Michelangelo and Titian is a compelling account of two supremely gifted rivals who inspired each other to test the limits of their creative genius, and in doing so created some of the most astonishing works of art the world has ever known.

Britain abolished the death penalty for murder in 1965, but many of Britain's last colonies retained capital murder laws until the 1990s. In this book, James M. Campbell presents the first history of the death sentences imposed under British colonial rule in the late twentieth century; the decision-making processes that determined if condemned prisoners lived or died; and the diverse paths to death penalty abolition across the empire. Based on a rich archive of recently released government records, as well as legislative debates, court papers, newspapers and autobiographies, Reluctant Abolitionists examines connections between the death penalty, British politics, decolonisation and the rise of international abolitionist movements. Through analysis of murder trials, clemency appeals, executions and legal reforms across more than 30 British colonies, it reveals the limits of British opposition to the death penalty and the enduring connections between capital punishment and empire.

In 1950, France experienced two parallel but different outcomes in its Indochina war. While the conflict in the north ended with a disastrous defeat for the French at Dien Bien Phu, in southern Vietnam, or Cochinchina, France emerged victorious in a series of violent but now largely forgotten actions. In the Year of the Tiger tells the story of this critical southern campaign, revealing in dramatic detail how the French war for Cochinchina set the stage for the American war in Vietnam. In northern Vietnam, the French troops had focused on destroying Viet Minh main force units. A dearth of resources in the south dictated a different strategy. William M. Waddell III describes how, by avoiding costly attempts to defeat the Viet Minh in the traditional military sense, the southern French command was able to secure key economic and political strongholds. Consulting both French and Vietnamese sources, Waddell examines the principal commanders on both sides, their competing strategies, and the hard-fought military campaign that they waged for control of the south. The author’s deft analysis suggests that counter to widely accepted views, the Viet Minh were not invincible, and the outcome of the conflict in Indochina was not inevitable. A challenge to historical orthodoxy, In the Year of the Tiger presents a more balanced interpretation of the French war for Indochina. At the same time, the book alters and expands our understanding of the precedents and the dynamics of America’s Vietnam War.

With the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the Soviet armed forces were largely disbanded and some of their personnel were distributed among the newly independent republics. With few options, the author joined the Redut organisation which consisted of Russian mercenaries operating abroad. In the years that followed, the rise of Valdimir Putin after he became President led to a strong nationalist sentiment developing in the Kremlin. Two former Soviet republics, initially Chechnya and then Georgia, were the first to be subjected to a growing Russian aggression. Special sabotage teams and assault battalions were created, each based on the Redut group, and the author, who had acquired the call sign ‘Viper’, soon found himself once again in Russian pay. This time, though, he was leading a special forces group in operations in Donetsk in the eastern part of Ukraine. In the autumn of 2021, ‘Viper’ was appointed to command the intelligence unit of the Redut group as part of the GRU. He was given three secret agents. These were Ukrainian special forces officers who had defected to Russia. They were handed a secret mission – to attack the headquarters in Kyiv of the Ukrainian Counter-Intelligence and Security Service, the SBU, and destroy all its files ahead of Putin’s full-scale invasion of the country. Putin's ‘Viper’ Detachment is the first full account by ‘Viper’ himself of this secret operation and how his unit had to fight its way out of Ukraine after the attempt on the SBU headquarters failed. A tense, full-throttle, struggle ensued, which ultimately led the battle-hardened author refusing to fight or kill anymore. He pulled his platoon out of the Ukraine and into Belarus, pursued by Putin’s counter-intelligence officers. Eventually, ‘Viper’ managed to escape Russia and went to the International Criminal Court in Hague to testify about war crimes committed by Putin's government. This is the first time the world will read about this secret operation recounted by the man who led it. In this book, ‘Viper’ reveals true nature of the hidden war in Ukraine.

In the summer of 1943, Hitler set his sights on a decisive blow that he believed would turn the tide of war on the Eastern Front. That blow would be dealt at Kursk – site of a huge Soviet salient measuring some 120 miles wide and 75 miles deep, and the stage for what would become the largest tank battle in history. Fuelled by confidence in his elite Panzerwaffe and Waffen-SS divisions, Hitler launched Operation Citadel, unaware that the Red Army was not only prepared, but vastly superior in numbers, firepower, and defensive depth – they outnumbered their opponents by approximately 2.5 to 1. What followed was a brutal clash of steel and strategy, where German ambition collided with Soviet resilience. Tanks and Armour at Kursk 1943 presents a vivid and richly illustrated account of the German armoured forces that spearheaded this historic assault. With in-depth analysis, detailed captions and a wealth of rare and unpublished photographs, this book brings to life the machines, units, and men behind the last great German offensive on the Eastern Front.

Despite not existing as a free country for 123 years until the end of the First World War, the roots of Polish aviation, including military aviation, reach as far back as the days of pioneers such as Otto Lilienthal or the Wright Brothers. The Polish Military Aviation can trace its origins to the second half of 1917, and was officially established when Poland regained her independence on 11 November 1918. The country was then able to build its own air force with men being proud to call themselves Poles again. Despite its difficult rebirth, in the 1930s Poland developed a wide range of its own aircraft. These included the PZL P.6 fighter which gained fame for being the most advanced of its day and the first fighter aircraft made of metal in the world, or PZL P.24 fighter considered by the RAF as a purchase option. Towards the end of the decade, however, foreign aircraft design had overtaken them. In 1939, Poland fought its lonely war against overwhelming might of the German Third Reich, the fascist state of Slovakia and the Soviet Russia. Though surrounded, massively outnumbered and flying mostly inferior aircraft, Polish fliers caused the attacking forces considerable losses, including 500 aircraft, destroyed and damaged. As well as telling the story of the valiant Polish flyers, Polish Military Aircraft 1918-1939 includes a wonderful collection of photographs, the majority of which have never been seen in the West. Together, these take the reader on a journey throughout the early years of Polish military aviation, showing amazing pictures of German, Austro-Hungarian or Russian aeroplanes, in many cases scavenged by the Poles. Also included is selection of British aircraft which were used in Poland, as well as a host of photographs of Polish-designed and built machines, including these that had to face Luftwaffe in September of 1939.

During winter 1944/45 few German officers believed that the Allies would attack the wooded Reichswald Plug on the narrow neck of land between the rivers Rhine and Maas. Consequently, relying on the natural defences of the forest, the vaunted Siegfried Line had been allowed to peter out. The 84th Infantry Division held field defences that had been worked on all autumn, but the defenders were thinly spread, and most German soldiers now faced the certainty of defeat.Originally hoping to use the frozen winter ground for a speedy assault, days before Operation VERITABLE began a thaw set in and the Allies faced attacking in the worst possible ground conditions. On the morning of 8 February, after protracted bombardment, delays multiplied as vehicles became bogged in saturated fields and shell holes, and roads broke up under heavy armour. However, just enough assault engineer equipment reached the outer German defences, where they found the enemy infantry largely stunned by the bombardment.It took all of the first day to break through the mud and defences into the Reichswald, while to the north, Canadians and Scots struggled across equally sodden open country with the Rhine floods rising fast. Despite the conditions, overnight the Canadians took to the flood waters to seize what were now island villages and the Scots dashed to capture the vital Materborn, which overlooked Kleve.With heavy rain compounding difficulties, mud and flood waters made movement of men and supplies increasingly difficult. Despite this and the arrival of German reinforcements, the Allies fought their way forward, forcing the Reichswald Plug and opening the way into the Rhineland and the final phases of the war.

The Empire of Japan formally surrendered to the Allies on 2 September 1945, following the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While the fighting had ended, a new weapon had been unleashed onto the world stage that nations rushed frantically to develop and master. The USA needed somewhere extremely remote to conduct its experimental nuclear weapons testing. They chose Bikini Atoll – a beautiful Pacific coral atoll in the Marshall Islands in the middle of the Pacific and perhaps the most remote group of islands on the planet. The initial nuclear experiments were assigned the codename Operation Crossroads. The 167 local islanders were moved out of their once tranquil tropical paradise whilst American, and captured German and Japanese, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and aircraft carriers were moved to the lagoon and moored strategically around the test area so that the effects of a nuclear blast on them could be studied. In total, the US conducted twenty-five nuclear tests on the atoll between 1946 and 1957. Unsurprisingly, Bikini was closed to all visitors until the 1990s. But with radiation in the waters of the lagoon at safe levels, Bikini was able to open its lagoon to divers - and hosting wrecks of some of the most famous shipwrecks of the Second World War, Bikini soon became a magnet for technical divers. Today, diving the Bikini Atoll wrecks is seen as the ultimate diving experience. A renowned diver, Rod Macdonald is famous for his books about the Second World War shipwrecks of Truk Lagoon and Palau. He has now investigated the Bikini wrecks and presents a detailed analysis of the ABLE and BAKER nuclear tests, alongside a stunning collection of unique images of the wrecks, which graphically portray the effects of the most devastating weapons known to mankind.