Other books that might interest you

• 

  To the Old Pagan Religion

  H.P. Lovecraft

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  LibriVox volunteers bring you 17 recordings of To the Old Pagan Religion by H. P. Lovecraft. This was the fortnightly poetry project for February 8th, 2009.

  Show book

• 

  Odd People - Hunting Spies in...

  Basil Thomson

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  First World War espionage was a fascinating and dangerous affair, spawning widespread paranoia in its clandestine wake. The hysteria of the age, stoked by those within the British establishment who sought to manipulate popular panic, meant there was no shortage of suspects. Exaggerated claims were rife: some 80,000 Germans were supposedly hidden all over Britain, just waiting for an impending (and imagined) invasion. No one could be trusted... Against this backdrop, as head of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department, it was Basil Thomson's responsibility to hunt, arrest and interrogate the potential German spies identified by the nascent British intelligence services. Thomson's story is an extraordinary compendium of sleuthing and secrets from a real-life Sherlock Holmes, following the trails of the many specimens he tracked, including the famous dancer, courtesan and spy, Mata Hari. Yet his activities gained him enemies, as did his criticism of British intelligence, his ambition to control MI5 and his efforts to root out left-wing revolutionaries - which would ultimately prove to be the undoing of his career. Odd People is the insightful and wittily observed account of Thomson's incomparably exciting job, offering us a rare glimpse into the dizzying world of spies and the mind of the detective charged with foiling their elaborate plots. The Dialogue Espionage Classics series began in 2010 with the purpose of bringing back classic out-of-print spy stories that should never be forgotten. From the Great War to the Cold War, from the French Resistance to the Cambridge Five, from Special Operations to Bletchley Park, this fascinating spy history series includes some of the best military, espionage and adventure stories ever told.

  Show book

• 

  Lydia Litvyak: The Life and...

  Charles River Editors

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Altogether, the Battle of Stalingrad was the deadliest battle in the history of warfare, and the Soviets’ decisive victory there is considered one of the biggest turning points in the entire war, and certainly in the European theater. Over the next two years, the German gains in Russia were steadily reversed, and the Red Army eventually began pushing west towards Berlin. Fittingly, the importance of Stalingrad was commemorated in several ways, from Churchill presenting Stalin with a “Sword of Stalingrad” to the Russians’ decision not to rebuild parts of the battle scarred city as a reminder of what happened there.  
  Partly out of dire circumstances and partly from a cultural worldview, it was the Soviet Union who first pressed female pilots into direct combat when Hitler invaded Russia. Ahead of Stalingrad, Stalin publicly declared that “women should be given the right to fly and fight for their country.” As a result, more than 800,000 women served in the Soviet military during the war years in hospitals, communication units, as road troops, anti-aircraft gunners, and snipers. 
  Of the Soviet female fighter pilots who fought the Nazis in the skies, led raids against ground targets, and stopped supply transports, the iconic Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak stands out as the most distinguished. The most productive and highly decorated of the Soviet Union’s female pilots, Litvyak was an expert aviator by the age of 14 and trained 45 pilots in the years leading up to the war, while still a teenager. She went on to serve in several of the elite air guard regiments, and she would be credited with numerous victories as the Soviets desperately tried to hold off the German onslaught around Stalingrad. The quirky and defiant Litvyak was described as a “silent modest beauty with a blonde shock of hair and blue eyes.” She “walked with a special gait, causing delight among others,” men in particular, and she tended to look neat at all times.

  Show book

• 

  Long Lost Log - Diary of a...

  Michael Chapman Pincher

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A virgin sailor's bawdy tale of a once in a lifetime adventure.Mick is the novice deckhand on a yacht, skippered by an Irishman who's off with his mistress to find a new life. Set in the 1970s, this witty, well-paced rite of passage is full of freshness, sexual impulse and a clash of values. Long Lost Log is a voyage of discovery into what it means to be free. During 'lockdown', Michel Chapman Pincher received a surprise package - a logbook of a sailing trip he'd made across the Atlantic 47 years ago – one he thought log-lost. Returned by a young love who found it in a keepsake box in her attic, Michael was inspired to tell a tale never told before. Michael wrote up the clash of a free-loving, dope-smoking hippy with the class prejudice, racial stereotyping and failed tweedy attitudes of his 'elders and betters' in the confines of a 37' cruising yacht, heading for the Caribbean. It was worth the effort as Lilliput Press, Dublin took the book on.Long Lost Log: Diary of a Virgin Sailor is witty, charming, and proof that some risks are worth taking. This once-in-a-lifetime adventure is easy to listen to - the story flows from one event to another. Long Lost Log is a true story, written like a novel – a rollicking page-turner written with verve, keen observations and sparkling with wry humour. A beautifully crafted audiobook, multi-layered and bravely written, Long Lost Log has many interesting insights into the skills and craft of sailing and the broader history of the day. Chapman Pincher describes the people he meets and the voyage he makes with incredible clarity and of the moment. Set in the 1970s, Long Lost Log is a period piece for the nostalgic traveller and the armchair adventurer of any age.

  Show book

• 

  Arise And Go - WB Yeats and the...

  Kevin Connolly

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The idea of place runs like a river through the life and works of the poet and playwright W.B. Yeats. This book focuses on his time in Dublin, London, Sligo and elsewhere in the west of Ireland, embracing the homes, landscapes and people that impacted his life and stimulated his vast body of work.
  Meet the poet's father, the struggling artist John Butler Yeats; his mother Susan, the well-to-do Sligo girl who had no choice but to follow her husband's path; his five siblings: Lily and Lolly, guiding lights in the Irish Arts and Crafts movement; Jack, the renowned painter; and Bobbie and Jane Grace, who died in infancy. Meet William Morris, John O'Leary, Katharine Tynan, George Moore, Oscar Wilde, Lady Gregory, Douglas Hyde, George Hyde-Lees, and, of course, Maud Gonne, as well as countless others who helped weave the cloth of Yeats's poetic gift.

  Show book

• 

  There's a Road to Everywhere...

  Bryan Charles

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  “A sneakily disturbing, disarmingly profound, casually devastating memoir” of a young writer in NYC—and the fateful turn his life takes on Sept. 11, 2001 (Michael Chabon).   In 1998, twenty-four-year-old Bryan Charles came to New York, following the well-trodden path of many before him—pursuing the life of a writer in the storied city far from his Midwestern roots. And like so many of his predecessors, his journey took him into squalid apartments and mind-numbing temp jobs, fleeting romances and dwindling finances, self-doubt and homesickness. He chronicles these experiences with equal parts witty observation and unguarded honesty, reflecting on the life of a solitary soul in a teeming metropolis, struggling to make a living . . . and struggling harder to make it as a writer.   His life takes a turn for the better when he lands in a lucrative job that pays the bills, builds his bank account, and buys him a chance to chase his dream—all from the seventieth floor of the World Trade Center. But the next turn his life takes, and which takes the lives of thousands of others, is a destiny-altering nightmare . . . and a call to action that can’t be ignored.   “A gripping account told in the muted style of a writer with true authority.” —Publishers Weekly   “This is the book I can’t forget . . . insightful, transcendent . . . it knocked me on my ass.” —Library Journal (starred review)   “A sneakily disturbing, disarmingly profound, casually devastating memoir, taut and adept, that cracked me up even at its saddest moments, and broke my heart almost without my quite noticing.” —Michael Chabon

  Show book