British War

Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced upon the world’s richest deposits of diamonds and gold, setting off a titanic struggle between the British and the Boers for control of the land. The result was the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century, and the devastation of the Boer republics.

In February 1944, in one of the most astonishing battles of World War II, a ragtag collection of British clerks, drivers, doctors, muleteers, and other base troops, stiffened by a few dogged Yorkshiremen and a handful of tank crews, managed to defeat a much larger and sophisticated contingent of some of the finest infantry in the Japanese army on their march toward India.

From an acclaimed military historian, a bold reappraisal of young George Washington, an ambitious if reckless soldier destined to become the legendary general who took on the British and, through his leadership, defined the American character How did George Washington become an American icon?...

**One of AudioFile Magazine's Best Audiobooks of 2019** "The winning combination of George Newbern's engaging narration and Rick Atkinson's vivid new work of history--the first in a planned trilogy about the American Revolution--brings to life what could have been a dry account of Revolutionary...

AN ECONOMIST AND NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A fresh, exciting, “readable and informative” history (The New York Times) of seventeenth-century England, a time of revolution when society was on fire and simultaneously forging the modern world. “Recapture[s] a lost moment when...

1879. The British Empire marches into Zululand, and disaster. Newly commissioned and untested, Second Lieutenant William Blackwood arrives from Monmouthshire to the wild frontier of South Africa, as Her Majesty’s forces prepare to crush the Zulu Kingdom. For Blackwood, it is meant to be the beginning of a proud military career: clean uniforms, sharp commands, and the steady march of empire. Instead, he finds confusion, chaos, and the first bitter lessons of war. Tasked with reinforcing a remote column of British and colonial troops, Blackwood is plunged into a campaign of dust-choked ...

The Remains of the Day meets The Royal Tenenbaums in this darkly funny debut novel about a wealthy, eccentric family in decline and the secrets held within the walls of their crumbling country manor. Thornwalk, a once-stately English manor, is on the brink of transformation. Its keys are being...

In this vivid and compelling narrative, the Seven Years' War - long seen as a mere backdrop to the American Revolution - takes on a whole new significance. Relating the history of the war as it developed, Anderson shows how the complex array of forces brought into conflict helped both to create Britain's empire and to sow the seeds of its eventual dissolution. Beginning with a skirmish in the Pennsylvania backcountry involving an inexperienced George Washington, the Iroquois chief Tanaghrisson, and the ill-fated French emissary Jumonville, Anderson reveals a chain of events that would lead to world conflagration.

March 1879. Zululand burns, and the fate of the frontier will be decided on the blood-red heights of Kambula. Second Lieutenant William Blackwood, marches north with the Monmouthshire Fusiliers as Her Majesty’s forces prepare to strike a hammer blow against the enemy. Assigned to Colonel Evelyn Wood’s elite flying column on the untamed frontier, Blackwood is swept into a relentless campaign of raids, skirmishes, and mountain warfare. Here, loyalty is measured in blood, and every patrol could be a man’s last. From the shattered ridges of Hlobane to the storm-wracked heights of Kambula,...

Before the trenches of 1914 or the battles of the 1940s, there was a war that set the entire globe ablaze. This conflict, fought from 1754 to 1763, was the true first world war, a brutal contest for imperial domination that stretched from the wilderness of Pennsylvania to the palaces of India. It was here that the modern world was forged in a crucible of ambition, finance, and gunpowder. This single, sprawling conflict saw French and British regulars clash on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec, while Robert Clive's corporate mercenaries engineered a coup in Bengal. It was a war for the sugar-...

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Alan Taylor tells the riveting story of a war that redefined North America. In a world of double identities, slippery allegiances, and porous borders, the leaders of the American Republic and the British Empire struggled to control their own diverse peoples. Taylor’s vivid narrative of an often brutal—sometimes farcical—war reveals much about the tangled origins of the United States and Canada.

Rebellion happens in the shadows. In the sequel to the New York Times bestseller A Language of Dragons, language is the greatest weapon in a war between humans and dragons—and one translator has the power to change the world. Perfect for teen fans of Fourth Wing and Babel. Who is Vivien...

The H.M.S. Leopard pulled into the bay of Pulo Batang looking more like a shabby merchant ship that a man-of-war. The crew had endured a calamitous voyage plagued by gaol-fever, pursued by the Dutch Waakzaamheid, and struck by an iceberg. Suffice it to say, Jack Aubrey was ready for home.

This is the history of the world, in summarized form. Learn how the major figures, events, and ages of history connect without detail-overload. Spanning from the beginning of the Universe to the Space Age, and even predictions of the future, this is the shortest history book you will ever read.

It is the war that has been forgotten, yet it defined a continent. While Great Britain was locked in a life-or-death struggle with Napoleon, the young United States saw an opportunity to strike, launching an ambitious invasion to conquer Canada. What followed was a brutal, chaotic, and transformative conflict that pitted veteran redcoats against frontier militia, Indigenous confederacies against professional armies, and legendary frigates against the masters of the sea. This book tells the full story of that desperate war, from the humiliating failures at Detroit to the bloody, professional...

Under Fire, Under Command is a gripping WWII novel that plunges readers into a powerful story of courage and survival, set against the desperate retreat of the British Expeditionary Force in May 1940. It was a time when every decision meant life or death. As Nazi forces blitz through France, newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenant Tom Archer faces his first real command: a depleted, exhausted platoon that he must lead while battling his own fears and self-doubt. But the chaos is only just beginning. As the front collapses around them, Archer and his men are called upon time and again to achieve ...

World War II Begins... It's September of nineteen-thirty-nine, and King George of England has just announced to his people that he has declared war on Germany due to their invasion of the Allied country of Poland. This ghastly news immediately falls on the ears of Simon Bentley while he sits enjoying himself at his younger brother George's wedding. Being a Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force, he knows he must act immediately, so without any hesitation, Simon flees the church basement reception and heads straight for his air base. It is time for all the years of his pilot training to be ...

Were World Wars I and II–which can now be seen as a thirty-year paroxysm of slaughter and destruction–inevitable? Were they necessary wars? Were the bloodiest and most devastating conflicts ever suffered by mankind fated by forces beyond man’s control? Or were they products of calamitous...

Life has dealt him an unfair hand, leaving him with few options. Will a chance encounter with a caring American colonial family provide a poor English boy with a stable home, or will the boy be lost in events that are spiraling out of control? Peter Smith, a boy of humble beginnings, is a testament to the human spirit. Despite his impoverished upbringing, abduction, and mistreatment, he refuses to be defined by his circumstances. Born into poverty and hopelessness on the streets of Portsmouth, England, Peter is forced into a life of crime just to survive. His resilience is tested when he is...

Kurt is an English evacuee with a difference, his father is a Nazi. As Kurt grows into an adult and is forced to pretend he is someone he isn’t for his own protection, can he survive in the hostile world in which he finds himself? And with his enemies closing in, will even the woman he loves believe who he really is? Sent to a small town deep in the English countryside to escape the bombing of London during the Second World War, Kurt should have been safe but a chance discovery will change his life in ways he could never have imagined when the war finds him and challenges both his ...