20th Century

1980s Britain, told through the sport of the time.Travel back to the 1980s - to Botham's Ashes and the Brixton riots; the Moscow Olympics and the miners' strike; the Crucible Theatre and the Falklands - to explore how we got to where we are now. Discover...

'Simon Farquhar succeeds brilliantly (and with real empathy for all concerned) in setting the story in its historical, social and emotional context, with the victim and her family always at the heart of his writing ... A Desperate Business is an absolute...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781849353182Author Eric LaursenFormat PaperbackPage Count 132Imprint AK PressPublisher AK Press

'Robert Verkaik makes a revisionist case for an unsung aircraft, the Boulton Paul Defiant. This two-seat gun-turret fighter is, argues Verkaik, the forgotten fighter of Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain; the effectiveness as well as the courage of its...

'A really emotional read... it's wonderful' - Zoe Ball, BBC Radio 2'It's such a lovely book!' - Holly Willoughby, This Morning 'A lovely read... it's got everything - emotion and lots of laughs' - Alex Jones, The One Show'A gorgeous book!' -...

Remember the ninteties? Of course you do. Cool Britannia, New Labour, Blur vs Oasis, Geri Halliwell's Union Flag dress, TFI Friday, wasssssuuuuuuppppppp , Opal Fruits turning into Starburst without anyone asking your permission crazy times. This book...

From government ministers and spies to activists, drag queens and celebrities, Odd men out charts the tumultuous history of gay men in 1950s and 60s Britain. It takes us from the earliest tentative steps towards decriminalisation to the liberation...

The warm, funny memoir of Gregor Fisher, the much loved Scottish actor best known for Rab C. Nesbitt, told as he uncovers his dramatic family history. Growing up in the Glasgow suburbs, Gregor was 14 when he asked where he was christened and...

After listening to his mother-in-law talking about her experiences in the Second World War, David Bolton set out to record the wartime memories of British women before it was too late. Many of those he interviewed were child evacuees, some were single...

After the trauma of the Blitz and wartime restrictions, London embraced the arrival of a new decade. Austerity was slow to loosen its grip, but the Festival of Britain pointed a tentative way forward. Two years later saw the birth of a new Elizabethan...

*JEWISH CHRONICAL CRITICS' CHOICE: NON-FICTION OF THE YEAR 2022*'A devastatingly affecting book. . . Bunce Court! I keep saying the name to myself because it encapsulates all that is gentle and comically charming about wartime England' The Times ...

This accessible text covers the all of the major First World War battles, from Bloody April 1917, when the squadrons suffered enormous casualties, through Third Ypres and Passchendaele to the chaotic retreat from Ludendorff's offensive. Drawing...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781915893000Author Kestral GaianFormat PaperbackPage Count 330Imprint Reconnecting RainbowsPublisher Reconnecting Rainbows

Glamorous, fun and packed with scandalous anecdotes and exclusive interviews, Never Shaken, Never Stirred tells the story of two extraordinary sisters, Ann and Laura Charteris, who made marrying well an art form.While Laura eventually became the Duchess...

The true extent of Nazi secret agent activity in Britain during the Second World War has received little attention. In large part this is due to the highly classified nature of the subject. This fascinating book uses recently released documents to...

The technical details of British warships were recorded in a set of plans produced by the builders on completion of every ship. Known as the as fitted general arrangements, these drawings documented the exact appearance and fitting of the ship as it...

In 1941, as the Battle of the Atlantic raged and ship losses mounted, the British Admiralty desperately tried to find ways to defeat the U-Boat threat to Britain's maritime lifeline. Facing a shortage of traditional aircraft carriers and shore-based...

Discover the juicy, funny story of the three dysfunctional rulers of Germany, Russia and Great Britain at the turn of the last century, combined with a study of the larger forces around them.Three cousins. Three Emperors. And the road to ruin.As cousins,...

What are the 50 key events you need to understand to grasp British history? If you could choose the 50 things that define British history, events of significance not only in themselves, but in their importance to wider themes running through...

One of our most celebrated historians shows how we can use the lessons of the past to build a new post-covid society in BritainThe 'duty of care' which the state owes to its citizens is a phrase much used, but what has it actually meant in Britain...

Between 1939 and 1945, the British public was spellbound by the martial endeavours and dashing style of the young men of the RAF, especially those with silvery fabric wings sewn above the breast pocket of their glamorous slate-blue uniform. Martin...

When he died in 1930 aged 26, Frank Ramsey had already invented one branch of mathematics and two branches of economics, laying the foundations for decision theory and game theory. Keynes deferred to him; he was the only philosopher whom Wittgenstein...

Donald Maclean was a star diplomat, an establishment insider and a keeper of some of the West's greatest secrets. He was also a Russian spy...Codenamed 'Orphan' by his Russian recruiter, Maclean was Britain's most gifted traitor. But as he leaked huge...

Queen. Mother. Servant. Friend. This is the most intimate portrait of our longest serving monarch, an inspiration to her country: Queen Elizabeth II.Get to know the real Elizabeth in the definitive biography from the bestselling British Royal Family...

The untold story of Bletchley Park's key role in the success of the Normandy campaign Since the secret of Bletchley Park was revealed in the 1970s, the work of its codebreakers has become one of the most famous stories of the Second World War. But...

'Delighted to learn from this very enjoyable new book that the first ever game of football played in Austria was won by the Vienna Cricket Club.' - Tom Holland, Historian and BroadcasterHave we matched Wembley 1966 and 2022, or lost again on penalties?...

The key roles played by the Royal Observer Corps in the Second World War have, all too often, been overshadowed by more glamourous arms of the defence forces. The teams in the Sector Stations, plotting the battles raging above, and the Spitfires and...

Scotland’s unique geography and topography provided a useful base for Allied military preparations during the Cold War, a 40-year nuclear stand-off between the USA and the Soviet Union ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This book...

'A timely, powerful and gorgeously readable novel that represents everything that is good and important about the crime fiction genre' Irish Times1978: The National Front is gaining ground in Hackney. To counter their influence, anti-fascist groups...

The Cambridge Spies continue to fascinate - but one of them, John Cairncross, has always been more of an enigma than the others. He worked alone and was driven by his hostility to Fascism rather than to the promotion of Communism. During his war-time...

Scapa Flow was one of the world's great naval bases and the scene of many of the major events of twentieth-century naval history. During both World Wars, the Royal Navy made Scapa the home for its capital ships, and thousands of servicemen and women were...

During the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, the Christian Church will take centre stage once again, as the established religion in England. But why does the Church have such prominence in state affairs, and should it keep this privileged...

A compelling history of British imperial culture, showing how it was adopted and subverted by colonial subjects around the world As the British Empire expanded across the globe, it exported more than troops and goods. In every colony, imperial...

The Falklands Conflict was remarkable for many reasons: it was a hard fought, bloody and short conflict between a leading NATO power and one of the most capable armed forces in South America; it demonstrated the capabilities of a range of cutting-edge...

The Sunday Times bestseller THE STORY OF BRITAIN during the long reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Find out how Britain changed in this entrancing, lively portrait of Britain's Elizabethan Age by bestselling writer and broadcaster Andrew Marr ...

Other books have charted the VC10 in airline life, but this book blends that story with a well-researched tale of corporate and political power play. It asks: just what lay behind the sales failure of the VC10? Politics played an important part of...

By the beginning of the 1980s, British Rail's fleet of diesel shunters was in decline, this being caused by a rapid loss of freight traffic across the country as well as the modernisation of passenger train operations, both resulting in a reduced need...

Peace at last, after Lloyd George declared it had been 'the war to end all wars', would surely bring relief and a renewed sense of optimism? But this assumption turned out to be deeply misplaced as people began to realise that the men they loved were...

"I love London society! I think it has immensely improved. It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics. Just what Society should be." An Ideal Husband, OSCAR WILDE Beautiful Idiots and Brilliant Lunatics is based on the...

This is the true story of 21 young men desperately trying to survive the most brutal leadership course of modern times. A throw back to the Highland Fieldcraft Training Centre, the revolutionary brain child of Lord Rowallan during the Second World War,...