In May 1945 Italy was liberated from Nazism and Fascism by the British Eighth and American Fifth Armies. By that time the Italian resistance movement had emerged as one of the strongest in Europe - crucially aided and abetted by the UK's Special Operations Executive. As what Winston Churchill graphically described as the 'red-hot rake of the battle-line' advanced bloodily up the Italian peninsula, clandestine cells in the cities and partisan bands in the countryside fought to free their country from enemy occupation and shape the politics of Italy's post-war future. Based on recently released official files, documents retrieved from other agencies, diaries, memoirs and personal interviews, Mission Accomplished provides the first ever complete and authoritative account of Britain's secret war in Italy - the heroic exploits, the larger than life participants and the extraordinary, against-the-odds achievements.
The Silent Game traces the history of spy writers and their fiction from creator William Le Queux, of the Edwardian age, to John le Carré, of the Cold War era. David Stafford reveals the connections between fact and fiction as seen in the lives of writers with experience in intelligence, including John Buchan, Compton Mackenzie, Somerset Maugham, Ian Fleming, and Graham Greene. Le Queux used his spy fiction as xenophobic propaganda before and after World War I, and le Carré's novels have provided reflections on the Cold War and the decline of Britain's influence. Anxieties about the decline of the American “empire” have helped stimulate a more vigorous American literature of espionage, providing an index of contemporary American concerns about power relations. As Stafford suggests, the genre of espionage fiction rarely intends to document the real world of intelligence. Rather, it provides a popular vehicle for exploring themes of imperial decline, international crisis, and impending war.
To end a history of World War II at VE Day is to leave the tale half told. Endgame 1945 highlights the gripping personal stories of nine men and women, ranging from soldiers to POWs to war correspondents, who witnessed firsthand the Allied struggle to finish the terrible game at last. Endgame 1945 highlights the gripping personal stories of nine men and women, ranging from soldiers to POWs to war correspondents, who witnessed firsthand the Allied struggle to finish the terrible game at last. Through their ground-level movements, Stafford traces the elaborate web of events that led to the war's real resolution: the deaths of Hitler and Mussolini, the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau, and the Allies' race with the Red Army to establish a victors' foothold in Europe, to name a few. From Hitler's April decision never to surrender to the start of the Potsdam Conference, Stafford brings an unprecedented focus to the war's "final chapter." Narrative history at its most compelling, Endgame 1945 is the riveting story of three turbulent months that truly shaped the modern world.
An engaging and original account of 1921, a pivotal year for Churchill that had a lasting impact on his political and personal legacy After the tragic consequences of his involvement in the catastrophic Dardanelles Campaign of World War I, Churchill's political career seemed over. He was widely regarded as little more than a bombastic and unpredictable buccaneer until, in 1921, an unexpected inheritance heralded a series of events that laid the foundations for his future success. Renowned Churchill scholar David Stafford delves into the statesman's life in 1921, the year in which his political career revived. From his political negotiations in the Anglo-Irish treaty that created the Irish Free State to his tumultuous relationship with his "wild cousin" Clare Sheridan, sculptor of Lenin and subject of an MI5 investigation, this broad account explores the nuances of Churchill's private and public lives. This is an engaging portrait of this overlooked yet pivotal year in the great man's life.
Instead of retracing the much-dissected actions of heads of state, Stafford brings to life the preparations for history's most formidable invasion through the eyes of the ground-level participants.
This work is simply the crazy thinks of one man's life starting at age eight in 1948 and continuing to retirement in 2004. Probably not much different that many of you readers. The thoughts start in a small Midwestern town where growing up was strictly biological and without direction or purpose. A place where things were done because that was what you did. A time when everything seemed predestined. The stories were gathered by traveling on the roots of lightning strikes as they formed spider webs across the sky: by flowing with Kandinsky strokes down his canvas; from trekking the aortas to their essence; floating along with receding notes of warbling song birds; drifting with the lazy smoke from Colorado log cabins; and discovering where giggles of glee from children at first discovery call home. Come along with me and share in the Crazy Thinks.
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to housing policy and finance in Britain. It describes changes in the condition and tenure of housing in the post-war period, and contrasts the massive investment in house building and improvement with allegations that housing conditions are deteriorating. It describes the rise of the public housing sector and the slight decline in the face of the Thatcher government's policy on council house sales, which followed. The book thus provides a background for the development of housing policy over the next decade.
In June 1940 Britain and her allies were driven off the continent by the German Army and with it lost any chance of fighting the Germans in Europe. With democracy on its knees and invasion imminent Britain needed a new style of warfare, and a new organisation to wage ita And so the Special Operations Executive was created. With a brief from Winston Churchill to 'go, set Europe ablaze', the SOE's job was to co-ordinate subversive and sabotage activity against the enemy by any means necessary, using explosives, guerrilla warfare, even cold-blooded murder. In short, to aid the war effort by any secret and underhand methods possible. This book introduces us to the people who fought this secret war, men like Monty Woodhouse who was parachuted into occupied Greece and, with the help of rival resistance groups, successfully destroyed an essential supply route for the Germans. It explores the recruitment of new operatives, the network of people and codes used to send information back and forth across the channel, and the James Bond-style gadgets that were designed to help them carry out their sabotage operations. It also touches on the torture and death suffered by those operatives unable to evade capture by the Gestapo. More than just a war-time thriller, Secret Agent presents the true story of the secret war fought in occupied Europe.
A fascinating narrative and a scholarly exegesis' - SUNDAY TIMES Uniquely among modern British statesmen, Churchill believed passionately in the value of secret intelligence both in peace and war. As a young correspondent and soldier in Cuba, India, Sudan and South Africa, he experienced its worth at first hand. Later, preoccupied by fears of German spying before World War I, he was a member of the Cabinet that established the Secret Service. Churchill helped ensure the passing of the Official Secrets Act of 1911, and was the first Home Secretary to authorise general warrants for the secret interception of mail. As wartime Prime Minister he built a centralised intelligence community, created the Special Operations Executive to work behind enemy lines, and with Roosevelt built the transatlantic intelligence alliance that endures to this day. Based on wide-ranging sources, many never explored or only recently released, Churchill and Secret Service offers an intriguing insight into both modern intelligence and the mind and character of Churchill himself.
Uniquely among modern British statesmen, Churchill believed passionately in the value of secret intelligence both in peace and war. Shaped by his experiences as a war correspondent and soldier, he helped ensure the passing of the Official Secrets Act of 1911, and was the first Home Secretary to authorise general warrants for the secret interception of mail. As wartime Prime Minister he built a centralised intelligence community, created the Special Operations Executive to work behind enemy lines, and with Roosevelt built the transatlantic intelligence alliance that endures to this day. Based on wide-ranging sources, many never explored or only recently released, the book offers an intriguing insight into both modern intelligence and the mind and character of Churchill himself.
Jean Stafford burst on the literary scene in 1944, when, at the age of twenty-nine, she published her bestselling novel, Boston Adventure. Three years later, Life magazine hailed her as the "most brilliant of the new fiction writers." Bafflingly, for the rest of her life, Stafford would struggle--and fail--to capitalize on that early promise. David Roberts' compelling biography examines Stafford's disastrous marriages, including her first marriage to the volatile poet Robert Lowell, which culminated for her in a lengthy stay in a psychiatric hospital. Beautiful and gifted, Stafford squandered her health as well as her talent, ending her life embittered and alone.
A woman's dismembered corpse is discovered in a suitcase, and police quickly identify her husband, Doctor Ibrahim Aziz, as their chief suspect. Incriminating evidence is discovered at his home and his wife was rumoured to be having an affair, giving him clear motive. With his reputation for winning hopeless cases, barrister Arthur Skelton is asked to represent the accused. Though Aziz's guilt does not seem to be in doubt, a question of diplomacy and misplaced larvae soon lead Skelton to suspect there may be more to the victim's death. Aided by his loyal clerk Edgar, Skelton soon finds himself seeking justice for both victim and defendant. But can he uncover the truth before an innocent man is put on trial and condemned to the gallows?
Shortlisted for the CWA Sapere Books Historical Dagger 2021. January 1929. When Arthur Skelton won the legal case of the century, he went from being an unremarkable barrister to front-page sensation. Now he faces a new challenge. Mary Dutton is accused of poisoning her husband and the police are utterly convinced she is guilty. Even her supporters think she did it. Skelton agrees to take on what many consider an unwinnable case, a decision wholly unconcerned with the defendant's resemblance to a beautiful actress. With an army of women set to vote for the first time in history, the fate of Mary Dutton will have a significant impact on Britain's political future. Skelton faces mounting pressure to find the truth, but will that be enough to save a young woman's life?
Guy Fawkes Night, 5th November, 1930. Bonfires are blazing, rockets burst. In a country lane, revellers discover a car that has been set on fire. At first, they assume that this is the work of vandals taking the Guy Fawkes spirit a little too far, sitting at the wheel is a body, charred beyond recognition. The initial assumption is that the owner of the car, Mr Harold Musgrave, a successful travelling salesman has taken his own life in a particularly grisly act of self-immolation. The post-mortem, however, reveals that Mr Musgrave was either unconscious or dead before the fire was lit. When Tommy Prosser, a local criminal, is charged with the murder, barrister Arthur Skelton believes him to be innocent, so sets out to ensure justice is served.
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