A startling and vivid account of World War I that uncovers how wartime code-breaking, aeronautics, and scientific research that laid the foundation for much of the innovations of the twentieth century. World War I is often viewed as a war fought by armies of millions living and fighting in trenches, aided by brutal machinery that cost the lives of many. But behind all of this an intellectual war was also being fought between engineers, chemists, code-breakers, physicists, doctors, mathematicians, and intelligence gatherers. This hidden war was to make a positive and lasting contribution to how war was conducted on land, at sea, and in the air, and most importantly, life at home. Secret Warriors provides an invaluable and fresh history of the World War I, profiling a number of the key incidents and figures which lead to great leaps forward for the twentieth century. Told in a lively and colorful narrative style, Secret Warriors reveals the unknown side of this tragic conflict. 16 pages of B&W illustrations

Product Description: The essential book on Churchill's passion for innovation and the science of war --from codes to radar to bouncing bombs. Indefatigable patriot, seasoned soldier, incomparable orator, and, with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, leader of men --Winston Churchill's greatness in the allies' triumphant victory in World War ii is undisputed...read more

Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia is one of the most controversial films ever made. Capitalizing on the success of Triumph of the Will, her propaganda film for the Nazi Party, Riefenstahl secured Hitler's approval for her grandiose plans to film the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The result was a work as notorious for its politics as celebrated for its aesthetic power. Taylor Downing provides an indispensable guide to this major work of film documentary. He gives the full story of how Riefenstahl negotiated relative independence from the Nazi authorities by pitting Hitler against Goebbels, the propaganda minister, who wanted complete control. Downing also gives a filmmaker's insights into the logistical and technical problems thrown up by managing a production which employed nearly forty cameramen to shoot 400,000 metres of film. He concludes that though its political effect was to glorify Nazi achievements, the film undeniably set the standard for Olympic filmmaking for the next five decades.

Product Description: SPIES IN THE SKY is the thrilling, little-known story of the partner organisation to the famous code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park. It is the story of the daring reconnaissance pilots who took aerial photographs over Occupied Europe during the most dangerous days of the Second World War, and of the photo interpreters who invented a completely new science to analyse those pictures...read more

A companion volume to the twenty-four-part documentary on the history of the Cold War ranges from the fall of Germany at the end of the Second World War to the fall of the Berlin Wall and dissolution of the Soviet Union. TV tie-in. (view table of contents)

Product Description: Based on a six-part Channel 4 television series, this book outlines the events and themes of the English Civil Wars of the 1640s, offering a guide to the complex religious divisions of the period and the radical political debate that ensued...read more