In November 1941, Hitler ordered German forces to complete the final drive on the Soviet capital, now less than 100 kilometers away. Army Group Center was pressed into the attack for one last attempt to break Soviet resistance before the onset of winter. From the German perspective, the final drive on Moscow had all the ingredients of a dramatic final battle in the east, which, according to previous accounts, only failed at the gates of Moscow. David Stahel challenges this well-established narrative by demonstrating that the last German offensive of 1941 was a forlorn effort, undermined by operational weakness and poor logistics and driven forward by what he identifies as National Socialist military thinking. With unparalleled research from previously undocumented army files and soldiers' letters, Stahel takes a fresh look at the battle for Moscow, which even before the Soviet winter offensive, threatened disaster for Germany's war in the east.
An epic account of how a new world order under Tamerlane was born out of the decline of the Mongol Empire
By the mid-fourteenth century, the world empire founded by Genghis Khan was in crisis. The Mongol Ilkhanate had ended in Iran and Iraq, China's Mongol rulers were threatened by the native Ming, and the Golden Horde and the Central Asian Mongols were prey to internal discord. Into this void moved the warlord Tamerlane, the last major conqueror to emerge from Inner Asia.
In this authoritative account, Peter Jackson traces Tamerlane's rise to power against the backdrop of the decline of Mongol rule. Jackson argues that Tamerlane, a keen exponent of Mongol custom and tradition, operated in Genghis Khan's shadow and took care to draw parallels between himself and his great precursor. But, as a Muslim, Tamerlane drew on Islamic traditions, and his waging of wars in the name of jihad, whether sincere or not, had a more powerful impact than those of any Muslim Mongol ruler before him.
He's a gambler, womanizer, opportunist, and inebriate . . . and the kingdom's only chance.
Greymond, the Scattered Kingdom has been without a king for hundreds of years, a place ruled by squabbling barons and dukes. Occasionally, rumors arise: a king of the old blood has returned to claim his throne. These days, such claims are met with groans and eye-rolls. Pretenders abound . . . and are generally ignored.
But scheming powers are plotting, machinations that have been in the works for years, and this time . . .
Enter Merrik Niles. A thief hired by dangerous people to steal a map, he instead keeps it for himself, hoping to follow it to some mysterious prize.
The treasure turns out to be an ancient artifact connected to Greymond's last king, and when Merrik touches it, he triggers long-dormant magic. Now, three ghosts have taken up permanent residence inside his mind: A cunning, smart-mouthed jester. A master swordsman. And a powerful wizard.
At first, Merrik believes he's going mad, but at times, these troublesome ghosts lend him their powers . . . for good or for bad.
A definitive, comprehensive and engrossing chronicle of one of the greatest dynasties of the world-the Mughal-from its founder Babur to Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last of the clan the magnificent Mughal legacy is an inexhaustible source of inspiration to historians, writers, moviemakers, artists and ordinary mortals alike. Mughal history abounds with all the ingredients of classical drama: ambition and frustration, hope and despair, grandeur and decline, love and hate, and loyalty and betrayal. Mughal history deserves to be widely read and reflected upon, because of its lasting cultural and socio-political relevance to today's world in general and the Indian subcontinent in particular. The Mughals have left us with a legacy that cannot be erased. With regard to the eventful reigns of Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb and their successors, crucial questions arise: Where did they succeed? Where did they fail? And more importantly, what should we learn from their triumphs and failures? In The Great Mughals and Their India, he has kept these objectives in mind in an attempt to narrate Mughal history from their perspective. At the same time, he does not shy away from dealing with controversial issues. Here is a fascinating and riveting saga that brings alive a spectacular bygone era-authentically and convincingly.
In Adrian Tchaikovsky's Elder Race, a junior anthropologist on a distant planet must help the locals he has sworn to study to save a planet from an unbeatable foe.
Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way.
But a demon is terrorizing the land, and now she's an adult (albeit barely) with responsibilities (she tells herself). Although she still gets in the way, she understands that the only way to save her people is to invoke the pact between her family and the Elder sorcerer who has inhabited the local tower for as long as her people have lived here (though none in living memory has approached it).
But Elder Nyr isn't a sorcerer, and he is forbidden to help, and his knowledge of science tells him the threat cannot possibly be a demon . . .
Acclaimed philosopher Alan Watts shows us how-in an age of unprecedented anxiety-we can find fulfillment by embracing the present and living more fully in the now. He is 'the perfect guide for a course correction in life' (from the Introduction by Deepak Chopra).
The brain can only assume its proper behavior when consciousness is doing what it is designed for: not writhing and whirling to get out of present experience, but being effortlessly aware of it.
Alan Watts draws on the wisdom of Eastern philosophy and religion in this timeless and classic guide to living a more fulfilling life. His central insight is more relevant now than ever: when we spend all of our time worrying about the future and lamenting the past, we are unable to enjoy the present moment-the only one we are actually able to inhabit.
Watts offers the liberating message that true certitude and security come only from understanding that impermanence and insecurity are the essence of our existence. He highlights the futility of endlessly chasing moving goalposts, whether they consist of financial success, stability, or escape from pain, and shows that it is only by acknowledging what we do not know that we can learn anything truly worth knowing.
In The Wisdom of Insecurity, Watts explains complex concepts in beautifully simple terms, making this the kind of book you can return to again and again for comfort and insight in challenging times.
"Perhaps the foremost interpreter of Eastern disciplines for the contemporary West, Watts had the rare gift of 'writing beautifully the unwritable.'" -Los Angeles Times
In the early years of the Third Reich, Hermann Göring, one of the most notorious leaders of the Third Reich, worked to establish his own personal army to rival Himmler's SS and Reichswehr. The result: a private Prussian police force which grew into one of the most powerful armored units in Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht.
This unit fought throughout the Second World War, meeting Anglo-American forces in vicious battles across the European theatres of Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy before finally being defeated by the Red Army on the Eastern Front. The Hermann Göring Panzer Division incorporates technical details of these battles with the turbulent politics and Machiavellian maneuvering of Hitler's inner circle, giving military-history enthusiasts fresh insights into the development and role of this unusual division through the war.
Drawing on firsthand accounts and extensive archive material, World War II historian Lawrence Paterson presents a comprehensive and unbiased history of the establishment of the famous Fallschirm-Panzer Division.
The war is over. The First Galactic Empire has collapsed into ruin and ash. Or has it?
Keira, having been hunted and almost killed by the Unified Planetary Government's regulators, for reasons she does not fully understand, finds herself rescued by Marines and stranded on the Imperial Starship Seringapatam.
More confusing, Keira has developed a strange power she cannot seem to control, let alone understand, the ability to interact with the machine in ways that are unexplainable.
Her father passes the responsibility for his critical mission, what the Seri was dispatched to accomplish . . . to her, instructing Keira to travel to the planet's core and find the precursor ruins. There she must somehow locate the Infinity Controller, a powerful and mysterious artifact.
But what is the Controller? She has been named a princess of the empire, and potential heir to the throne. But does the empire still exist? More troubling . . . can she even trust the crew of the Seri, or do they, like the UPG, want to use her ability to interact with the machine for their own nefarious purposes? The empire's ancient enemy has returned in strength. They want the Controller too and will stop at nothing to get it.
An astounding account of one young infantryman's personal experience of the Western Front in the last year of World War One.
Perfect for fans of Peter Hart, Max Hastings, and Barbara W. Tuchman.
In the spring of 1918 German forces broke through Allied lines in a last-ditch attempt to overcome their enemies. To hold back this tide young, inexperienced men from France, Britain, the United States, Australia, and Canada were sent into war against battle-hardened and desperate German soldiers.
What was it like to be an eighteen-year-old and sent to the frontlines in the First World War?
Frederick James Hodges was one of these young men and his book, Men of 18 in 1918, provides insight into the ordeals of an ordinary soldier who left Britain as a teenager but returned as a man having witnessed the full horrors of war.
Hodges charts his progress through the conflict from his short period of training to being thrown into defending Allied lines against the onslaught before being ordered, as part of Britain's prime assault troops, into a ninety-five-day non-stop attack which only ended with the armistice of November 1918.
In Preface to Paradise Lost, C. S. Lewis presents an illuminating reflection on John Milton's Paradise Lost, the seminal classic that profoundly influenced Christian thought as well as Lewis's own work.
Lewis a revered scholar and professor of literature closely examines the style, content, structure, and themes of Milton's masterpiece, a retelling of the biblical story from the Fall of Humankind, Satan's temptation, and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Considering this story within the context of the Western literary tradition, Lewis offers invaluable insights into Paradise Lost and the nature of literature itself, unveiling the poem's beauty and its wisdom.
With a clarity of thought and a style that are the trademarks of Lewis’s writing, he provides answers with a lucidity and lightness that deepens our understanding of Milton’s immortal work. Also inspiring new readers to revisit Paradise Lost, Lewis reminds us of why elements including ritual, splendour and joy deserve to exist and hold a sacred place in human life.
One of Lewis's most revered scholarly works, Preface to Paradise Lost is an indispensable read for new and lifelong fans of Lewis's writing.
