Peter Ustinov's Books

Add a Dash of Pity

By: Peter Ustinov

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Peter Ustinov was revered as one of the world's truly legendary entertainers. As an actor, producer, director, novelist, playwright, and columnist, his body of work was not only vast and thoroughly impressive, but enduring. Add a Dash of Pity, a superb collection of short stories, shows Sir Peter at his narrative, perceptive best.Ustinov possessed the uncommon ability to amuse and touch readers simultaneously, a talent which has nowhere been better displayed than in this fascinating array of short stories, which includes: The Man Who Took It Easy, The Wingless Icarus, The Man in the Moon, A Place in the Shade, A Word in the World's Ear, There Are 43,200 Seconds in a Day, The Aftertaste, and the title piece, Add a Dash of Pity.[Ustinov] has the rarest of the satirist's gifts that of using mockery to build character and to express compassion. . . . His sympathy goes to weak, likeable people struggling to keep in step with the demands of social convention; it is against these . . . that he directs his most savage comedy. -The Times Literary Supplement[The title story is] superb, moving, intriguing. Ustinov, with perfect timing and detail, has here written a great short story, and from this point his book does not falter. -The Daily ExpressUstinov writes with great wit and fills these memorable tales with clever, parenthetical insights along with a clear moral thrust. -Publishers Weekly. . . sprightly, brightly written stories. Ustinov has a pleasantly light touch, both with his graceful, comma-sprinkled sentences and his characterization. . .It's almost surprising that Ustinov isn't a staple in creative writing classes; these carefully conceived slices of life are models of the 20th-century short story. -Sacramento News & Review. . . intelligent, philosophical and satirical. The characters are astonishingly vivid and dynamically presented. . . The writing is intensely detailed, journalistic, and yet Ustinov lets dialogue do what it should doshow rather than tell the unilluminated facts about characters and situations. -Small Press Magazine

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224

Publisher

Prometheus Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1615928162

ISBN 13

9781615928163

Klop

Britain's Most Ingenious Secret Agent

By: Peter Day

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Klop

Britain's Most Ingenious Secret Agent

By: Peter Day

Klop Ustinov was Britain's most ingenious secret agent, but he wasn't authorised to kill. Instead, he was authorised to tell tall tales, bemusing and beguiling his enemies into revealing their deepest, darkest secrets. From the Russian Revolution to the Cold War, he bluffed and tricked his way into the confidence of everyone from Soviet commissars to Gestapo Gruppenführer. In Klop: Britain's Most Ingenious Secret Agent, journalist Peter Day brings to life a man descended from Russian aristocrats and Ethiopian princesses but who fancied himself the perfect Englishman. His codename was U35 but his better-known nickname 'Klop' meant 'bedbug', a name given to him by a very understanding wife on account of his extraordinary capacity to hop from one woman's bed to another in the service of the King. Frequenting the social gatherings of Europe in the guise of innocent bon viveur, he displayed a showman's talent for entertaining (a trait his son, the actor Peter Ustinov, undoubtedly inherited), holding a captive audience and all the while scavenging secrets from his unsuspecting companions. Klop was masterful at gathering truth by telling a story; this is his.

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267

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Biteback Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1849547645

ISBN 13

9781849547642

Krumnagel

By: Peter Ustinov

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Krumnagel

By: Peter Ustinov

Given a round-the-world trip by the citizens of the midwestern city where he serves as police chief, Bartram Krumnagel accidentally shoots a Scotsman in an British pub, and finds himself charged with murder

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344

Publisher

Arcade Pub

Published Date

ISBN 10

1559700912

ISBN 13

9781559700917

The Bedbug

Klop Ustinov: Britain's Most Ingenious Spy

By: Peter Day

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The Bedbug

Klop Ustinov: Britain's Most Ingenious Spy

By: Peter Day

Klop Ustinov was Britain's most ingenious spy - but he was never licensed to kill. Instead, he was authorised to bemuse and beguile his enemies into revealing their deepest, darkest secrets. From the Russian Revolution to the Cold War, he bluffed and tricked his way into the confidence of everyone from Soviet commissars to Gestapo Gruppenführer. Although his official codename was U35, he was better known as 'Klop', meaning 'Bedbug' - a name given to him by a very understanding wife on account of his extraordinary capacity to hop from one woman's bed to another in the King's service. Frequenting the social gatherings of Europe under the guise of innocent bon viveur, he displayed a showman's talent for entertaining (a trait his son, the actor Peter Ustinov, undoubtedly inherited) and captivated unsuspecting audiences while scavenging their secrets. Using exciting anecdotes and first-hand accounts, Peter Day explores the fascinating life of one of espionage's most inventive and memorable characters. The Bedbug was a master of uncovering the truth through telling tales; now his own tale can be told.

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308

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Biteback Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

184954946X

ISBN 13

9781849549462

The Bedbug

Klop Ustinov: Britain's Most Ingenious Spy

By: Peter Day

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The Bedbug

Klop Ustinov: Britain's Most Ingenious Spy

By: Peter Day

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308

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Biteback Publishing

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ISBN 10

184954946X

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9781849549462

Brezhnev's Peace Program

A Study Of Soviet Domestic Political Process And Power

By: Peter M. E. Volten

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Brezhnev's Peace Program

A Study Of Soviet Domestic Political Process And Power

By: Peter M. E. Volten

Dr Volten analyses the foreign policy-making process in the Soviet Union, particularly in connection with the Brezhnev's Peace programme in the 1970s, which was supposed to normalise political-economic relations with the West and curb military rivalry.

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290

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

0429716818

ISBN 13

9780429716812

Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood Rebel

A Critical Survey and Filmography

By: Peter Hanson

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Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood Rebel

A Critical Survey and Filmography

By: Peter Hanson

As a screenwriter, novelist, and political activist, Dalton Trumbo stands among the key American literary figures of the 20th century--he wrote the classic antiwar novel Johnny Got His Gun, and his credits for Spartacus and Exodus broke the anticommunist blacklist that infected the movie industry for more than a decade. By defining connections between Trumbo's most highly acclaimed films (including Kitty Foyle, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, and Roman Holiday) and his important but lesser-known movies (The Remarkable Andrew, He Ran All the Way, and The Boss), the author identifies how for nearly four decades Trumbo used the archetype of the rebel hero to inject social consciousness into mainstream films. This new critical survey--the first book-length work on Trumbo's screenwriting career--examines the scores of films on which Trumbo worked and explores the techniques that made him, at the time he was blacklisted in 1947, Hollywood's highest-paid writer. Hanson reveals how Trumbo dealt with major themes including rebellion, radical politics, and individualism--while also detailing lesser-known areas of Trumbo's screenwriting, such as his troubling portrayal of women, the dichotomy between his proletarian attitude and bourgeois lifestyle, and the almost surreptitious manner in which he included antiestablishment rhetoric in seemingly innocuous scripts. An extensive filmography is included.

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256

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McFarland

Published Date

ISBN 10

147661041X

ISBN 13

9781476610412

Beyond My Dreams

By: Peter Marmureanu

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Beyond My Dreams

By: Peter Marmureanu

When Peter Marmureanu started learning tennis in communist-held Romania, he was ten years old, playing barefoot on clay courts, swinging a wooden paddle that served as a racket. Eight years later, as a member of Romania's Davis Cup team, Marmureanu was traveling side by side with Ilie Nastase and Ion Tiriac to the world's capitals playing tournaments in Cairo, Monte Carlo, Paris, London, Moscow, and scores of other cities. In Beyond My Dreams, Marmureanu recounts his life story and how he was forced to become a designated courier for the Securitate, traveling with packets of top-secret documents concealed in his racket cover for delivery to Romanian embassies. In a last-minute flight to freedom that sounds like an espionage thriller, Marmureanu narrates how he made his escape. But even in America, where Donald Rumsfeld and President Gerald Ford helped secure his citizenship, he lived for many years under FBI protection, carrying a handgun for his own safety, knowing the danger that loomed over Romania's defectors and what might happen if he ever went back. And yet, for the sake of his family, Marmureanu risked a return-witnessing, firsthand, the initial moments of insurrection preceding the fall of an evil regime. In this memoir-filled with intrigue, courage, and defiance-Marmureanu tells how he escaped one of the most repressive regimes on earth-the incredible but true adventure of one man's flight to freedom.

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395

Publisher

iUniverse

Published Date

ISBN 10

1491745398

ISBN 13

9781491745397

Russia’s Domestic Security Wars

Putin’s Use of Divide and Rule Against His Hardline Allies

By: Peter Reddaway

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Russia’s Domestic Security Wars

Putin’s Use of Divide and Rule Against His Hardline Allies

By: Peter Reddaway

The book is a case study of Putin’s use of the tactics of divide and rule in relation to, particularly, the hard-line elements among his supporters. It illustrates Putin's methods of staying in power vis-à-vis groups that might put too much pressure on him, or who might even try to oust him. The project also suggests that Putin’s survival tactics have brought Russia to a deeply corrupt, state-dominated form of authoritarianism, which lacks deep institutional roots and will probably lead in due course to some form of state collapse. This work will appeal to a wide audience including political scientists, academics, graduate students, and everyone who is interested in contemporary Russian politics.

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118

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Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

3319773925

ISBN 13

9783319773926

The Perfect American

A Novel of Walt Disney

By: Peter Stephan Jungk

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The Perfect American

A Novel of Walt Disney

By: Peter Stephan Jungk

The Perfect American is a fictionalized biography of Walt Disney's final months, as narrated by Wilhelm Dantine, an Austrian cartoonist who worked for Disney in the 40s and 50s, illustrating sequences for Sleeping Beauty. It is also the story of Dantine himself, who desperately seeks Disney's recognition at the risk of his own ruin. Peter Stephan Jungk has infused a new energy into the genre of fictionalized biography. Dantine, imbued with a sense of European superiority, first refuses to submit to Disney's rule, but is nevertheless fascinated by the childlike omnipotence of a man who identifies with Mickey Mouse. We discover Walt's delusions of immortality via cryogenic preservation, his tirades alongside his Abraham Lincoln talking robot, his invitation of Nikita Khruschev to Disneyland once he learns that the Soviet Premier wants to visit the park, his utopian visions of his EPCOT project, and his backyard labyrinth of toy trains. Yet, if at first Walt seems to have a magic wand granting him all his wishes, we soon discover that he is as tortured as the man who tells his story. After Disney refuses to acknowledge Dantine's self-professed talent and hard work, he fires the frustrated cartoonist for writing, along with other staff members, an anonymous polemical memorandum regarding Disney's jingoistic politics. Years later, in the late 60s, still deeply wounded by his dismissal, Dantine follows Disney's trail to capture what makes Walt tick. Dantine wants us to grasp what it is like to live and breathe around the man who thought of himself as more famous than Santa Claus. Walt's wife Lillian, his confidante and perhaps his mistress Hazel, his brother Roy, his children Diane and Sharon, his close and ill-treated collaborators, and famous figures such as Peter Ustinov, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, and Geraldine Chaplin, all contribute to the novel's animation, its feel for the life of the Disney world. This deeply researched work not only provides interesting interpretations of what made Walt Disney a central figure in American popular culture, but also explores the complex expectations of gifted European immigrants who came to the United States after World War II with preconceived notions of how to achieve the American dream.

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190

Publisher

Other Press, LLC

Published Date

ISBN 10

1590515781

ISBN 13

9781590515785

The Wars of Afghanistan

Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers

By: Peter Tomsen

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The Wars of Afghanistan

Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers

By: Peter Tomsen

As Ambassador and Special Envoy on Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992, Peter Tomsen has had close relationships with Afghan leaders and has dealt with senior Taliban, warlords, and religious leaders involved in the region's conflicts over the last two decades. Now Tomsen draws on a rich trove of never-before-published material to shed new light on the American involvement in the long and continuing Afghan war. This book offers a deeply informed perspective on how Afghanistan's history as a "shatter zone" for foreign invaders and its tribal society have shaped the modern Afghan narrative. It brings to life the appallingly misinformed secret operations by foreign intelligence agencies, including the Soviet NKVD and KGB, the Pakistani ISI, and the CIA. American policy makers, Tomsen argues, still do not understand Afghanistan; nor do they appreciate how the CIA's covert operations and the Pentagon's military strategy have strengthened extremism in the country. At this critical time, he shows how the U.S. and the coalition it leads can assist the region back to peace and stability.

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914

Publisher

PublicAffairs

Published Date

ISBN 10

1610394127

ISBN 13

9781610394123

Kursk

Russia's Lost Pride

By: Peter Truscott

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Kursk

Russia's Lost Pride

By: Peter Truscott

A gripping account of the Russian Navy's greatest peace-time disaster, the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk. On August 12, 2000, the Russian Navy experienced a devastating catastrophe as the nuclear-powered Kursk submarine, manned by a 118-member crew, sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea. Peter Truscott examines Russia's failure to respond to the crisis and explains this tragedy in Kursk, providing countless interviews with relatives of the crew and experts. The result is a fascinating, vivid recreation of the terrible final hours of the crew as they waited in vain for rescue--an illustration of human courage, human failing, and the tragic repercussions.

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Page Count

300

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

0684020890

ISBN 13

9780684020891

War Scare

Russia and America on the Nuclear Brink

By: Peter Pry

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War Scare

Russia and America on the Nuclear Brink

By: Peter Pry

Why do some American intelligence officials maintain fallout shelters and private contingency plans to evacuate their families in the event of a Russian nuclear strike—even in today's post-Cold War era of U.S.-Russian partnership? The frightening answer lies within the pages of War Scare, a terrifying assessment of the prospect for nuclear holocaust in our day. Written by Peter Vincent Pry, a former CIA military analyst, War Scare provides a history of our country's little-known brushes with nuclear war and warns that, contrary to popular opinion and the assurances of our political leaders, the possibility of a Russian attack still exists. Nuclear deterrence has been the foundation of Western security for the last 50 years, but since the end of the Cold War, Russian military doctrine has become more destabilizing, and much more dangerous, than is commonly believed. By making use of a wealth of declassified and unclassified material, Dr. Pry illustrates how Russia's brutal past continues to shape the consciousness and decision making of its leaders, many of whom are unreconstructed ideologues from the old Soviet regime. Gripped by a perpetual perception of imminent threat—a war scare—the Russian General Staff, which controls the technical capability of launching a nuclear strike, has shown itself to be unstable at best. The author explores recent history and near-disasters such as the Bosnian crisis, the Norway missile incident, and U.S. air strikes on Iraq from the perspective of the Russian General Staff, believing that only by understanding their viewpoint can we minimize the risk of unintentionally provoking a deadly attack. Wary of NATO expansion and reeling from the Russian economy's descent into chaos, the General Staff may interpret Western military exercises and operations in the Middle East and elsewhere as concealing surprise aggression against Russia. This is a grave situation, indeed, as even after the START I, II, and III agreements, Russia will retain enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world—not to mention significantly expanded chemical and biological warfare capability. War Scare convincingly shows that we ignore these facts at our peril.

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360

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0313007578

ISBN 13

9780313007576

Beethoven's Tenth

A Comedy in Two Acts

By: Peter Ustinov

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Beethoven's Tenth

A Comedy in Two Acts

By: Peter Ustinov

About an acidic music critic who is writing a book about what Beethoven's tenth symphony might have been like.

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124

Publisher

Samuel French, Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

0573619611

ISBN 13

9780573619618

Beethoven's Tenth

A Comedy in Two Acts

By: Peter Ustinov

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Beethoven's Tenth

A Comedy in Two Acts

By: Peter Ustinov

About an acidic music critic who is writing a book about what Beethoven's tenth symphony might have been like.

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124

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Samuel French, Inc.

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ISBN 10

0573619611

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9780573619618

Snakehead

The incredible heart-stopping mystery thriller case (The China Thrillers Book 4)

By: Peter May

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Snakehead

The incredible heart-stopping mystery thriller case (The China Thrillers Book 4)

By: Peter May

THE 12 MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE LEWIS TRILOGY AND THE ENZO FILES AWARD WINNING AUTHOR OF THE CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY 2021 'Peter May is one of the most accomplished novelists writing today.' Undiscovered Scotland 'No one can create a more eloquently written suspense novel than Peter May.' New York Journal of Books Human trafficking and inhuman terrorism - the fourth instalment in Peter May's critically acclaimed series. SUFFOCATED A vehicle crammed with dozens of dead Chinese immigrants is found in southern Texas. Pathologist Margaret Campbell must put aside her horror, and find out why. SUMMONED Detective Li Yan - an even more unwelcome memory for Campbell - has arrived stateside to investigate a link in the case to a lucrative trade in illegal labourers. SNAKEHEAD Li and Campbell will soon find that the crime scene hides another secret: a biological time bomb linking traffickers, politicians and migrants in Beijing, Washington and Texas - posing multiple countries one, very singular, threat. LOVED SNAKEHEAD? Read the fifth book in the series, THE RUNNER LOVE PETER MAY? Buy his new thriller, THE NIGHT GATE

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Page Count

340

Publisher

riverrun

Published Date

ISBN 10

1782065555

ISBN 13

9781782065555

Gwen Verdon

A Life on Stage and Screen

By: Peter Shelley

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Gwen Verdon

A Life on Stage and Screen

By: Peter Shelley

American dancer, singer and actress Gwen Verdon (1925-2000) won four Tony awards for her work on Broadway and also appeared in films and on television. Stricken with rickets as a child, Verdon overcame severe leg deformity through ballet training, making her film debut at 11 as a solo ballerina in the musical The King Steps Out (1936). Her theater credits include Can-Can (1953-1955), Damn Yankees (1955-1956), Redhead (1959-1960), New Girl in Town (1957-1958), Sweet Charity (1966-1967) and Chicago (1975-1977). When not dancing on stage or screen, she coached other actors, such as Jane Russell, Lana Turner, Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe and Shirley MacLaine. This first full-length biography of Verdon covers her life and career, her individual performances and her collaborations with choreographers Jack Cole and Bob Fosse, her husband.

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Page Count

273

Publisher

McFarland

Published Date

ISBN 10

1476621039

ISBN 13

9781476621036

Christians in the Movies

A Century of Saints and Sinners

By: Peter E. Dans

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Christians in the Movies

A Century of Saints and Sinners

By: Peter E. Dans

Contains summaries of nearly two hundred Christian-themed movies made between 1905 and 2008, each with commentary; arranged chronologically by decade to highlight the decline in positive portrayals.

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432

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0742570304

ISBN 13

9780742570306

Deterring Armageddon: A Biography of NATO

By: Peter Apps

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Deterring Armageddon: A Biography of NATO

By: Peter Apps

The history of the world's most successful military alliance, from the wrecked Europe of 1945 to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. As they signed NATO into being after World War II, its founders fervently believed that only if the West's democracies banded permanently together could they avoid a catastrophic global atomic conflict. Over the 75 years since, the alliance has indeed avoided war with Russia, also becoming a major political, strategic and diplomatic player well beyond its borders. It has survived disagreements between leaders from Eisenhower, Churchill and de Gaulle to Trump, Stoltenberg and Merkel, faced down Kremlin foes from Stalin to Putin and endured unending questions and debate over what new nations might be allowed to join. Deterring Armageddon takes the reader from backroom deals that led to NATO's creation, through the Cold War, the Balkans and Afghanistan to the current confrontation with the Kremlin following the invasion of Ukraine. It examines the tightrope walked by alliance leaders between a powerful United States sometimes flirting with isolationism and European nations with their ever-evolving wishes for autonomy and influence. Having spent much of its life preparing for conflicts that might never come, NATO has sometimes found itself in wars that few had predicted - and with its members now again planning for a potential major European conflict. It is a tale of tension, danger, rivalry, conflict, big personalities and high-stakes military and diplomatic posturing - as well as espionage, politics and protest. From the Korean War to the pandemic, the Berlin and Cuba crises to the chaotic evacuation from Kabul, Deterring Armageddon tells how the alliance has shaped and been shaped by history - and looks ahead to what might be the most dangerous era it has ever faced. 'Utterly eye-opening - compelling, haunting and continually illuminating. As Peter Apps so brilliantly demonstrates in this gripping book, the story of the NATO alliance is in many ways a parallel global history of the last 75 years. As well as all the outbreaks of seething tension between the US and its European allies - and the counter-moves of rival powers - this is also an account of just how often in those postwar years that we all stood on the edge of the most terrible abyss. With mesmerising fluency, and dazzling research, Apps follows the criss-crossing threads of the Cold War and beyond. Those threads converge in our shadowed present, and the conflict in Ukraine. In order to fathom today's dark world, Apps has explored a labyrinth of once-classified history, and he brings dazzling clarity.' - Sinclair McKay

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482

Publisher

Wildfire

Published Date

ISBN 10

1035405776

ISBN 13

9781035405770

Trotsky's Favourite Spy

The Life Of George Alexander Hill

By: Peter Day

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Trotsky's Favourite Spy

The Life Of George Alexander Hill

By: Peter Day

Una Kroll was eleven when she first met her father. They stopped for lunch on the way from Brighton to London and he took her outside to play with the innkeeper's Angora rabbit. In that pub garden this stranger uttered words that sent a chill through her heart, he would not be coming home. There was another woman. Scarcely comprehending, she buried her face in the white rabbit's fur and refused to cry. The lonely little girl already knew how to hide her tears and she had invented a childish fantasy about her absent father to fend off unsympathetic classmates. He was an aviator and explorer who had gone missing in the desert, she told them. This was less extraordinary than the truth. Only years later did she discover that George Hill, her father, was a British spy who had befriended Trotsky at the time of the Russian Revolution. He had smuggled the Romanian crown jewels out of the Soviet Union and was involved in a doomed attempt to rescue the Tsar. During the Second World War he acted as the link between Churchill's Special Operations Executive and Stalin's secret service, the NKVD. Una's mother, Hilda Pediani, had been one of his agents and one of many lovers. He married her so that Una would be legitimate, but took no part in the child's upbringing. It was a rare sympathetic act by a man who was capable of great bravery but little compassion.

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304

Publisher

Biteback Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1785903209

ISBN 13

9781785903205

Carol Reed

By: Peter William Evans

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Carol Reed

By: Peter William Evans

Carol Reed is one of the truly outstanding directors of British cinema, and one whose work is long overdue for reconsideration. This major study ranges over Reed’s entire career, combining observation of general trends and patterns with detailed analysis of twenty films, both acknowledged masterpieces and lesser-known works. Evans avoids a simplistic auteurist approach, placing the films in their autobiographical, socio-political and cultural contexts and relating these to the analysis of Reed’s art. The critical approach combines psychoanalysis, gender theory, and the analysis of form. Archival research is also relied on to clarify Reed’s relations with his creative team, financial backers and others. Films examined include Bank Holiday, A Girl Must Live, Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, The Third Man, Night Train to Munich, The Way Ahead, Outcast of the Islands, Trapeze and Oliver!.

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209

Publisher

Manchester University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1526141205

ISBN 13

9781526141200

Finding Peter

A True Story of the Hand of Providence and Evidence of Life after Death

By: William Peter Blatty

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Finding Peter

A True Story of the Hand of Providence and Evidence of Life after Death

By: William Peter Blatty

A New York Times Bestseller! For those who have lost a loved one to that liar and fraud named Death. So reads the dedication of William Peter Blatty's Finding Peter, a deeply moving memoir that tests the bounds of grief, love, and the soul. Blatty, the bestselling author and Oscar Award–winning screenwriter of The Exorcist, lived a charmed life among the elite stars of Hollywood. His son Peter, born over a decade after The Exorcist, grew from an apple-cheeked boy into an "imposing young man with a quick, warm smile." But when Peter died very suddenly from a rare disorder, Blatty's world turned upside down. As he and his wife struggled through their unrelenting grief, a series of strange and supernatural events began occurring—and Blatty became convinced that Peter was sending messages from the afterlife. A true and unabashedly personal story, Finding Peter will shake the most cynical of readers—and it will remind those in grief that our loved ones do truly live on.

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Page Count

210

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1621573907

ISBN 13

9781621573906

Joanne Woodward

Her Life and Career

By: Peter Shelley

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Joanne Woodward

Her Life and Career

By: Peter Shelley

In her 60-year career, Joanne Woodward has been a film, television and stage actress, television producer and director, stage director, and film director. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in The Three Faces of Eve and was nominated for Rachel, Rachel, Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams and Mr. & Mrs. Bridge. She also won the Best Actress Emmy Award for See How She Runs and Do You Remember Love. This book is the first to be solely devoted to Woodward's life and career, which were often overshadowed by the successes of her late husband, Paul Newman.

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185

Publisher

McFarland

Published Date

ISBN 10

1476675805

ISBN 13

9781476675800

Kremlin Rising

Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution

By: Peter Baker,Susan Glasser

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Kremlin Rising

Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution

By: Peter Baker,Susan Glasser

In the tradition of Hedrick Smith's The Russians, Robert G. Kaiser's Russia: The People and the Power, and David Remnick's Lenin's Tomb comes an eloquent and eye-opening chronicle of Vladimir Putin's Russia, from this generation's leading Moscow correspondents. With the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia launched itself on a fitful transition to Western-style democracy. But a decade later, Boris Yeltsin's handpicked successor, Vladimir Putin, a childhood hooligan turned KGB officer who rose from nowhere determined to restore the order of the Soviet past, resolved to bring an end to the revolution. Kremlin Rising goes behind the scenes of contemporary Russia to reveal the culmination of Project Putin, the secret plot to reconsolidate power in the Kremlin. During their four years as Moscow bureau chiefs for The Washington Post, Peter Baker and Susan Glasser witnessed firsthand the methodical campaign to reverse the post-Soviet revolution and transform Russia back into an authoritarian state. Their gripping narrative moves from the unlikely rise of Putin through the key moments of his tenure that re-centralized power into his hands, from his decision to take over Russia's only independent television network to the Moscow theater siege of 2002 to the "managed democracy" elections of 2003 and 2004 to the horrific slaughter of Beslan's schoolchildren in 2004, recounting a four-year period that has changed the direction of modern Russia. But the authors also go beyond the politics to draw a moving and vivid portrait of the Russian people they encountered -- both those who have prospered and those barely surviving -- and show how the political flux has shaped individual lives. Opening a window to a country on the brink, where behind the gleaming new shopping malls all things Soviet are chic again and even high school students wonder if Lenin was right after all, Kremlin Rising features the personal stories of Russians at all levels of society, including frightened army deserters, an imprisoned oil billionaire, Chechen villagers, a trendy Moscow restaurant king, a reluctant underwear salesman, and anguished AIDS patients in Siberia. With shrewd reporting and unprecedented access to Putin's insiders, Kremlin Rising offers both unsettling new revelations about Russia's leader and a compelling inside look at life in the land that he is building. As the first major book on Russia in years, it is an extraordinary contribution to our understanding of the country and promises to shape the debate about Russia, its uncertain future, and its relationship with the United States.

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475

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Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

0743281799

ISBN 13

9780743281799

Reagan's War

The Epic Story of His Forty-Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism

By: Peter Schweizer

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Reagan's War

The Epic Story of His Forty-Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism

By: Peter Schweizer

Reagan’s War is the story of Ronald Reagan’s personal and political journey as an anti-communist, from his early days as an actor to his years in the White House. Challenging popular misconceptions of Reagan as an empty suit who played only a passive role in the demise of the Soviet Union, Peter Schweizer details Reagan’s decades-long battle against communism. Bringing to light previously secret information obtained from archives in the United States, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Russia—including Reagan’s KGB file—Schweizer offers a compelling case that Reagan personally mapped out and directed his war against communism, often disagreeing with experts and advisers. An essential book for understanding the Cold War, Reagan’s War should be read by open-minded readers across the political spectrum.

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374

Publisher

Anchor

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ISBN 10

1400075564

ISBN 13

9781400075560

Falling into History

By: Peter Fleming

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Falling into History

By: Peter Fleming

It isn’t easy travelling with an extraterrestrial fl ower, especially an intelligent Martian one who has the power of thought and speech. Being pursued through time by homicidal maniacs hardly makes it any easier. Space ethicist Kim Hawthorne and our long-suffering narrator Ishmael Starbuck join Hymoliga Eight on a wild ride through history, to the Gold Rush, where time travelling robbers are stealing all the gold, to ancient Ephesus, where they become involved in a plot to kill Saint Paul, and to Pompeii, on the eve of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. But for Hymoliga Eight, the pressing question is: can he tell a story well enough to persuade Jonathan Swift to accept him into a famous 18th century writers’ club?

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187

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Xlibris Corporation

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ISBN 10

1462849199

ISBN 13

9781462849192

Rethinking Soviet Communism

By: Peter Shearman

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Rethinking Soviet Communism

By: Peter Shearman

The Soviet Union and the communist ideology on which it was founded were central to a great number of people's lives and pivotal to international relations for decades, most clearly in giving rise to the Cold War. Soviet Communism provided an alternative path forward, set apart from liberal capitalism and also from the various strands of fascism that took root in the early twentieth century, and its legacy can still be felt across the contemporary globe. This innovative analysis of Soviet Communism offers a fresh perspective on the Soviet Union's role in world politics by paying particular attention to the influence of Soviet ideology and the balance of power on different regions of the world, including the West, the Third World, and the East European Soviet bloc. A central theme of the book is the diverse effects nationalism had on the Soviet Union, which the author argues not only played an important and often overlooked part in shaping Bolshevik policy but also contributed to the demise of Soviet Communism and the collapse of the USSR.

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320

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Bloomsbury Publishing

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ISBN 10

1137489731

ISBN 13

9781137489739

Movie Anecdotes

By: Peter Hay

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Movie Anecdotes

By: Peter Hay

Hollywood, Walter Winchell quipped, is where they shoot too many movies and not enough actors. Always looking for an angle, always, scheming, always the scene of clashing egos, the movie industry is where they place you under contract instead of observation--and if you don't have anything nice to say, write it down. "In 1940, I had my choice between Hitler and Hollywood," French director Ren'e Clair recalled, "and I preferred Hollywood--just a little." In Movie Anecdotes, Peter Hay treats us to a delightful ride through the world that has captivated audiences for almost a century, with stories that are often hilarious, sometimes tragic, and always entertaining. He takes us from the rough-and tumble early days (when one studio paid Pancho Villa $25,000 to launch his attacks only in daylight, after a film crew had set up) to the studio era (when Joan Crawford refused to cross the street on the MGM lot except in a chauffeured limousine) to the shenanigans of today's global industry. Here are stories about all the legends: Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Mae West, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Sophia Loren, John Wayne, and, of course, Ronald Reagan. There are the great directors from D.W. Griffith, Hitchcock, and Eisenstein, to Kurosawa, Bergman, Visconti, Huston, Ford, and Woody Allen. And Hay has selected tales of the writers, the wits, and the grand moguls, including perhaps the largest collection of Goldwynisms--both genuine and apocryphal. Along with the laughter, this volume recreates the conflicts that have torn the movie world, from battles over money and contracts, to discrimination, divorces, and scandals. Colorful, incredible, bitter, funny--the stories about moviemaking are as fantastic as the pictures themselves. Now they have been gathered together in an irresistible bouquet that is certain to delight every movie buff and provide fascinating insights for serious students of film.

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Page Count

331

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195364422

ISBN 13

9780195364422

Book's by Peter Ustinov

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