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The Crimean War: A Reappraisal: Wordsworth Military Library

Item code: WMH-61781
ISBN: 1840222476
Authors: Philip Warner.
Pages/Length: 216
Publisher: Wordsworth
Publication Date: 2001
Format: Paperback
Primary Subject: History
Import: Yes
Date Added: 10/31/2006
Price: $13.98

For more than 100 years the Crimean War has been presented as the classic model of military and medical blundering. Even so, the war's military inefficiency was thought to have been slightly redeemed by the glamour surrounding the ill-fated heroism of the Charge of the Light Brigade, while the medical chaos was made palatable by the subsequent achievements of Florence Nightingale. Philip Warner here defines the army's achievements and setbacks, the medical and logistical misfortunes, and the horror of the war, placing all within the context of time and place. Each title in this highly readable and wide-ranging British series of popular military histories is illustrated with maps; many of the titles also include captioned black and white photographs, reproductions, and drawings.

Item code: WMH-52111
ISBN: 0786712384
Authors: Richard Russell Lawrence, ed.
Pages/Length: 640
Publisher: Carroll & Graf
Publication Date: 2003
Format: Paperback
Primary Subject: History
Date Added: 10/30/2006
Price: $12.95

Here are historic sea battles rendered in the words of those who fought them, ranging from broad views of the arena of engagement by those in command to the personal and hard-hitting insights of the officers and men in the thick of the fighting. In seven parts, the book begins with the classical world, where war galleys ruled the seas, then moves to the age of sail, with battles like the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, and in later centuries the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, including the Battle of Trafalgar, where Nelson famously broke the rules of the standard "line of battle." Following these are the ironclads and dreadnoughts, moving from the American Civil War through both World Wars. The modern era encompasses both submarines and aircraft carriers that project power throughout the world's oceans, including such conflicts as the Gulf War

Men-of-War: Life in Nelson's Navy


 

Item code: WMH-61550
ISBN: 0393038580
Authors: Patrick O'Brian.
Pages/Length: 96
Publisher: Norton
Publication Date: 1995
Format: Cloth
Primary Subject: History
Date Added: 11/20/2006
Price: $23.00
 

This richly illustrated little book, Patrick O'Brian's concise historical overview to his inimitable Aubrey/Maturin series, offers a straightforward exploration of what daily life in Nelson's navy was really like for everyone from the captain to the rawest recruit. What did they eat? What songs did they sing? What was the division of prize money to officers and crew? How did these men end up at sea in the first place? O'Brian's elegant narrative answers these questions with anecdotal material on the battles and commanders that established Britain's naval supremacy. Illustrations and charts help with an understanding of construction and rigging of the great ships, and contemporary drawings and cartoons depict aspects of naval life from the press gang to the scullery. Any Aubrey/Maturin reader determined to learn the locations of the orlop and the mizenmast, the etiquette of epaulettes, or the range of a 32-pounder will love this reference companion to the series.

On the Fields of Glory: The Battlefields of the 1815 Campaign

Item code: WHM-52521
ISBN: 1853675148
Authors: Andrew Uffindell & Michael Corum.
Pages/Length: 360
Publisher: Greenhill
Publication Date: 1996
Format: Paperback
Primary Subject: History
Date Added: 12/4/2006
Price: $19.95
 

This spirited history of the 1815 campaign not only provides a full account of the epic confrontation between Napoleon and the combined armies of British commander Wellington and Prussian commander Blücher at Waterloo, it is also a reliable guide to the battlefield and all related sites. The authors have divided the battlefield of Waterloo into three distinct sectors—one for each of the three armies involved—and follow the fighting from all three perspectives to render an objective understanding of the battle. Illustrated with 55 black and white photos and paintings, 23 drawings and diagrams, and 32 maps, the book presents vivid eyewitness testimony, including previously unpublished letters from British officers, the recollections of a Dutch-Belgian staff officer, and the memoirs of a French colonel of cuirassiers

The Searchers: Radio Intercept in Two World Wars

Item code: WMH-63804
ISBN: 030436651X
Authors: Kenneth Macksey.
Pages/Length: 288
Publisher: Cassell
Publication Date: 2003
Format: Paperback
Primary Subject: History
Date Added: 1/18/2007
Price: $9.95
 

The ability to transmit information by radio waves, made practical at the beginning of the 20th century and developed during World War I, revolutionized battlefield communication and warfare. Decades later, after radio had become a worldwide medium, the interception of radio signals was crucial to the course of World War II. This volume focuses not on the codebreakers but on the wartime radio operators themselves—men and women with headphones clamped to their ears, searching the radio bands for hours on end hoping to overhear the enemy—as well as the engineers continually pushing the frontiers of the technology

Halfhyde's Island

Author Philip McCutchan.
Publisher McBooks
Format paperback
ISBN 1590130790
Pages/Publication Date 223/2004
Item Code WMH-62683

Price $13.95
 

Fresh from his adventures at the Bight of Benin, Halfhyde is assigned as second in command of the heavy cruiser Viceroy and ordered to a volcanic island that has recently surfaced in the North Pacific. The Admiralty hopes to claim the island for the Crown and establish an outpost there, but the Russians do not look kindly on this idea, and the Japanese have their own agenda. Once again, Halfhyde prepares to square off with his nemesis Gorsinski. Philip McCutchan served on various British warships during World War II. Afterwards, he concentrated on writing, publishing more than 80 books, including the Lieutenant St. Vincent Halfhyde series, set in the Royal Navy at the turn of the 20th century. "Halfhyde is a fine hero, insubordinate and ingenious," assayed the New York Times. Widely read in Britain, the first seven books in the series are finally available in the U.S. with this edition.

Item code: WMH-60667
ISBN: 49742
Pages/Length: 4 hrs
Publisher: Radio Spirits Audio
Publication Date: 2005
Format: Audio Book CD
Primary Subject: Audiobooks
Date Added: 1/7/2007
Price: $29.95

Go undercover in this four-hour collection of classic espionage radio drama, from the early days of the Nazi threat to the height of the Red Menace, as spies and agents take listeners behind enemy lines and deep underground. Here are two episodes from I Was a Communist for the F.B.I., "The Flames Burned Red" and "Fifteen Minutes to Murder"; Studio One presents "The 39 Steps"; "Story of the Unknown Mission" comes from the files of Top Secret; This is Your F.B.I. gives us "The Traitor"; and The Lux Radio Theatre presents "British Agent." The plastic gift case for this collection resembles an old-fashioned tabletop tube radio.

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