"March 21st, 1945. Bursting through a hazy sky, dozens of Allied fighters and bombers sweep over German-occupied Venice.
Their mission: destroy Germany's strategic outposts nestled along the port, while leaving the floating city unscathed.
As bombs rained down upon Europe, flattening city after city, Venice—La Serenissima; home of Titian and Veronese; immortalized in the serene landscapes of Canaletto—remained sacrosanct. Its artistic and architectural treasure too considerable, too precious to risk destruction.
But as the push up through Italy reached its final, grueling months, the Allies were confronted with a terrible dilemma. The ancient city of Venice was now closer and closer to the line of fire. As casualties mounted, the value of art—of history—seemed diminished; just a month earlier Allied bombers had reduced the ancient hilltop abbey of Monte Cassino to a stony husk.
In this vivid narrative, bestselling author Jonathan Glancey reveals the story of Operation Bowler. Following the exploits of audacious Wing Commander George Westlake and his elite team, Operation Bowler explores how an unlikely squad of pilots executed the most meticulous and complex air raid of World War II."
"Britain is in the grip of a housing crisis.
It has, in fact, been in the grip of a housing crisis since the Industrial Revolution, when the population soared and people crammed into towns and cities in search of work. What followed is a tale of suburbia, green belts and, since the 1980s, the increasingly common sight of mass-produced and near identical housing across the land.
This book argues that British house building over the centuries has been an art. An art of which we can be proud and an art we can still learn from. The artistry involved includes not just the design and appearance, but the setting of homes into the fabric of urban and rural landscapes and the very fabric of people's lives. We need to get the art of new housing right before building ever more homes that, while considered a necessity, no one truly likes.
Where We Live is at once a critical history of the art of British housebuilding urban, suburban and rural, a study of where British housing has lost its way for the best part of a century, and a source of inspiration and hope for the future."
"Announced in 1912, the Schneider Trophy was a series of glamorous air contests, popularly known as races, that captivated both sides of the Atlantic. While there were many other aviation competitions, the Schneider proved to be, after a rocky start, by far the most memorable attracting a hugely popular and glamorous following whether Trophy races were held in Monaco, the Venice Lido, the Solent or Chesapeake Bay.
The Schneider Trophy was a focus not just of remarkable aircraft, derring-do pilots and swooning public attention, but also of fierce rivalries between the competitors: Britain, France, Italy and the United States. It gripped the imaginations of pioneering manufacturers and two of the world's finest aircraft designers - Reginald Mitchell and Mario Castoldi - who worked feverishly hard to outdo one another. Perhaps inevitably, the dynamism of rival engineering and politics led to the most potent military fighters of World War Two with Reginald Mitchell's record-breaking Supermarine seaplanes morphing, one way or another, into the Spitfire.
Wings Over Water not only tells the story of the Schneider Trophy afresh but also examines the backdrop and legacy of these legendary air races, which became a driver and celebration of speed and engineering prowess for both sea and ground-based aircraft. It is an exhilarating tale of raw adventure, public excitement, engineering genius and the fortunes of flying boats and seaplanes."
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