Summer, 1940: western Europe has been conquered, and all that stands between Hitler and the invasion of England is the matter of air supremacy. And the RAF… Hitler’s top-secret Directive No. 16, July 1940: ‘The English air force must be beaten down to such an extent, that it can no longer muster any power of attack worth mentioning against the German advance.’ ‘Fighter’ is Len Deighton’s thrilling history of the ensuing Battle of Britain – the aerial combat between the RAF and the Luftwaffe that was fought over the summer of 1940. Ex-RAF pilot Deighton has written a balanced study of strategies and tactics that also expertly recounts the development of the aeroplanes that fought each other in the skies – the Spitfires and Messerschmitts – and of radar. Behind the strategies and tactics, and in the cockpits of the aeroplanes, are the men brought vividly to life by Deighton’s skill as a novelist.

The ultimate book of sweetie nostalgia! AS SEEN ON THIS MORNING A colourful, witty and irreverent encyclopedia of all the sweets and crisps of your youth. From Mojos to Rainbow Drops, Space Raiders to Trios, Corona to Kia Ora and everything in between. Fully illustrated with hundreds of wrappers, ads and specially recreated packshots this book will lead you down memory lane until you reach the corner shop, load up a 10p mix up bag and rot your teeth on the contents. The authors have been given access to the archives, factories and warehouses of some of the leading sweet and snack manufacturers in the country and have delivered a book that is packed full of fascinating historical research… … and lots and lots of sweets. WITH A FOREWORD BY JONATHAN ROSS.

Fans of Outlander must read this Saltire Society Literary Awards Scottish First Book of the Year – a great non-fiction adventure about Scotland’s most notorious clan chief. Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, was the last of the great Scottish chiefs – and the last nobleman executed for treason. Determined to seek his fortune with the exiled Jacobite king in France, Fraser acted as a spy for both the Stuarts and the Hanoverians; claimed to be both Protestant and Roman Catholic. In July 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie launched his last attempt to seize back the throne, supported by Fraser and his clans. They were defeated at Culloden. Fraser was found hiding in a tree. This swashbuckling spy story recreates an extraordinary period of history in its retelling of Fraser’s life. He is surely one of Scotland’s most notorious and romantic figures, a cunning and ambitious soldier who died a martyr for his country and an independent Scotland.

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. The Holocaust, in which 11 million people died, was the largest atrocity of the 20th century and perhaps the hardest to understand. Approximately 6 million Jews and 5 million others including Roma people, Poles, Russian prisoners of war, political prisoners, homosexuals, people of colour, Jehovah's Witnesses, and various other minorities were first persecuted and then murdered. How, both morally and logistically, had this came to happen? From received sentiments of anti-Semitism at the beginning of the 20th century, through the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party, to the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and finally Second World War, the victimisation of these minorities intensified beyond precedent. With the complicity of a nation hatred became policy. Under the control of sadists, bureaucrats and even ordinary soldiers, irrational acts were then enacted on an industrial scale, and with the use of concentration camps, Western Europe witnessed its most shocking treatment of humanity in modern history. Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour…

A study of the moral state of the nation – the acid test of this being how we treat the weakest among us. Rabbi Julia Neuberger assesses the situation in the UK from her own unique viewpoint and draws some challenging and thought-provoking conclusions. Just as Will Hutton looked at the political landscape at a turning point in Britain, Rabbi Julia will take the moral temperature of the nation by looking at the ways in which we treat the weakest amongst us. The National Health Service, government pensions and asylum seekers all make daily headlines, and here is a writer with the moral authority and mastery of the necessary information to undertake this timely project. The way we treat the weak and vulnerable members of society has long been an established way to judge how civilised a society is. In this book, Julia looks at the extent to which the elderly are thought a burden, the way we care for the mentally ill, attitudes to asylum seekers and support for ex-offenders, as well as the care of children and the future of society in the UK. Her straight-forward approach to what has elsewhere proven highly esoteric, is here written with ease and fluidity and with a style that is highly approachable for those interested in the state of their nation with purely social, rather than academic, motivations. With her uncomplicated but extremely intelligent and candid take on the issues that make daily headlines, and with Julia’s high media profile, this book is guaranteed to tap into the state of our nation. Includes exciting new sections, reviewing the past year’s events, reception to her book and what – if anything – has changed in the way she sees our nation’s moral predicament.

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. Midnight, Tuesday 6 June 1944: the beginning of D-Day, the operation to invade Nazi-occupied Western Europe and initiate the final phase of World War II. A vast undertaking, it involved 12,000 aircraft and an amphibious assault of almost 7,000 vessels. 160,000 troops would cross the English Channel during Operation Overlord, paving the way for more than three million allied troops to enter France by the end of August 1944. Forces from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Free French and Poland all heavily participated, alongside contingents from Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway, They capitalised on the element of surprise achieved due to bad weather and the success of Operation Bodyguard – a feat of massive deception to convince Hitler that the landings would hit Pas-de-Calais. In just over a year, the war would be won. ‘D-Day: History in an Hour’ is the story of how the largest military operation in history had been planned, practised and executed. Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour…

A super-sweet guide to all your favourite sweets from years gone by. A History of Sweets in 50 Wrappers is a colourful and comical history of sweets and chocolates. If you ever dreamt of being the Milkybar Kid, if you remember when Snickers were Marathons and Double Deckers had raisins in them, if you ever checked the colour of your next Fruit Pastille before offering it out, this book is for you. It will lead you down memory lane until you reach the corner shop and load up a 10p mix-up bag. Fully illustrated, with hundreds of classic wrappers and adverts, A History of Sweets in 50 Wrappers is packed full of memories, fun facts, historical research … … and lots and lots of sweets!

A comprehensive and fully illustrated guide, this book is the definitive photographic reference guide for anyone interested in butterflies and moths found in Britain and Ireland. Every species that occurs regularly in Britain and Ireland is included, along with a section dealing with the ‘rarest of the rare’ – extinct species or very rare immigrants. There follows the main section of the book, which covers our larger moths; every species that occurs regularly in Britain and Ireland is mentioned.

‘Intriguing, gleefully contentious and – appropriately enough – fizzing with life, Victorians Undone is the most original history book I have read in a long while’ John Preston, Daily Mail A groundbreaking account of what it was like to live in a Victorian body from one of our best historians. Why did the great philosophical novelist George Eliot feel so self-conscious that her right hand was larger than her left? Exactly what made Darwin grow that iconic beard in 1862, a good five years after his contemporaries had all retired their razors? Who knew Queen Victoria had a personal hygiene problem as a young woman and the crisis that followed led to a hurried commitment to marry Albert? What did John Sell Cotman, a handsome drawing room operator who painted some of the most exquisite watercolours the world has ever seen, feel about marrying a woman whose big nose made smart people snigger? How did a working-class child called Fanny Adams disintegrate into pieces in 1867 before being reassembled into a popular joke, one we still reference today, but would stop, appalled, if we knew its origins? Kathryn Hughes follows a thickened index finger or deep baritone voice into the realms of social history, medical discourse, aesthetic practise and religious observance – its language is one of admiring glances, cruel sniggers, an implacably turned back. The result is an eye-opening, deeply intelligent, groundbreaking account that brings the Victorians back to life and helps us understand how they lived their lives.

Professor Tudor Parfitt, a real-life British Indiana Jones, has made the biggest discovery of the last 3,000 years – the secret location of the fabled Ark of the Covenant. In 2006, he made an incredible journey to its final resting place and in February 2008 he will reveal this to the world. This is the amazing story of his quest. This is the real-life account of Professor Tudor Parfitt's remarkable discovery – of the lost Ark of the Covenant that disappeared from the Temple of Jerusalem centuries ago. The holiest object in the world, the Ark of the Old Testament contains the tablets of law sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Scholar, orientalist and adventurer, Parfitt embarked on an incredible journey to discover where the Ark is hidden, and when he reveals his discovery history books will be rewritten forever. Parfitt's quest took him on an incredible detective trail across the Middle East and Africa. His search led him to ancient documents and codes in Oxford and Jerusalem, and even to discoveries in modern genetic science, for clues to take him closer to the Ark. But some people didn't want the Ark to be found. In the wilder reaches of the Yemen he narrowly escaped being kidnapped by Islamist fugitives. In Africa he was shot at, ambushed and arrested. Amongst crossing paths with a motley crowd of mystics, holy men, charlatans and politicians, he encountered a strange tribe in the mysterious lands of the Limpopo River who claimed that they knew the Ark's final resting place. When Parfitt finally set eyes on the Ark, it wasn't at all where he expected. His revelation of its whereabouts will cause an international story with an effect on Judaism, Islam and Christianity that may be the most controversial in history.

From the award-winning co-author of ‘I Am Malala’, this book asks just how the might of NATO, with 48 countries and 140,000 troops on the ground, failed to defeat a group of religious students and farmers? How did it go so wrong? Twenty-seven years ago, Christina Lamb left Britain to become a journalist in Pakistan. She crossed the Hindu Kush into Afghanistan with mujaheddin fighting the Russians and fell unequivocally in love with this fierce country of pomegranates and war, a relationship which has dominated her adult life. Since 2001, Lamb has watched with incredulity as the West fought a war with its hands tied, committed too little too late, failed to understand local dynamics and turned a blind eye as their Taliban enemy was helped by their ally Pakistan. Farewell Kabul tells how success was turned into defeat in the longest war fought by the United States in its history and by Britain since the Hundred Years War. It has been a fiasco which has left Afghanistan still one of the poorest nations on earth, the Taliban undefeated, and nuclear armed Pakistan perhaps the most dangerous place on earth. With unparalleled access to all key decision-makers in Afghanistan, Pakistan, London and Washington, from heads of state and generals as well as soldiers on the ground, Farewell Kabul tells how this happened. In Afghanistan, Lamb has travelled far beyond Helmand – from the caves of Tora Bora in the south to the mountainous bad lands of Kunar in the east; from Herat, city of poets and minarets in the west, to the very poorest province of Samangan in the north. She went to Guantánamo, met Taliban in Quetta, visited jihadi camps in Pakistan and saw bin Laden’s house just after he was killed. Saddest of all, she met women who had been made role models by the West and had then been shot, raped or forced to flee the country. This deeply personal book not only shows the human cost of political failure but explains how short-sighted encouragement of jihadis to fight the Russians, followed by prosecution of ill-thoughtout wars, has resulted in the spread of terrorism throughout the Islamic world

A personal and powerful essay from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the bestselling author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun, based on her 2013 TEDx Talk of the same name.

Avery Johnson is a coach, a teacher, and sometimes even a preacher, but most of all, he is a motivator, driving his team with the same fiery passion that allowed him to earn his championship credentials as an NBA player. Growing up in New Orleans's Lafitte Housing Project, he was never the biggest, fastest, or strongest, but by the strength of his will and character, he persevered. Now he offers the lessons he learned on his journey from the bottom of the bayou to the heights of success in this inspiring book. Aspire Higher is the essential game plan for reaching your goals. Johnson begins by outlining what it takes to get to the top: determination and discipline provide the foundation that allows you to make the right decisions, on the basketball court or in the boardroom. The goal isn't just to be successful, however; it's also about caring for other people along the way. I care about you more than I care about winning, Johnson often tells his players.Avery Johnson's personal and professional experiences illuminate crucial lessons, inspiring readers just as he has inspired teammates and players. His spirited message is for anyone looking for the tools and secrets of success in business, school, sports, and more anyone looking to aspire higher.

Everyone knows the New Testament begins with the Gospel of Matthew, but how many know Matthew was actually one of the later books to be written(It wasn't even the first Gospel!) But Evolution of the Word is not your typical New Testament.Marcus J. Borg, esteemed Bible scholar and bestselling author, shakes up the order of the New Testament as we know it by putting the books in a completely new order the order in which they were written. By doing so, Evolution of the Word allows us to read these documents in their historical context. For the first time, see how the core ideas of Christianity took shape and developed over time.Borg surveys what we know of the Jewish community of Jesus followers who passed on their stories orally. Into this context emerges the apostle Paul, whose seven authentic letters become the first collected writings that would later become the New Testament. Borg offers helpful introductions for each book so that as we read through these biblical documents, spanning over a century in time, we see afresh what concerns and pressures shaped this movement as it evolved into a new religion.In this groundbreaking format, Borg reveals how a radical and primitive apocalyptic Jewish faith slowly became more comfortable with the world, less Jewish, and more pre- occupied with maintaining power and control. Evolution of the Word promises to change forever how we think about this historic work.

The critically acclaimed author of Good-bye and Amen, Leeway Cottage, and More Than You Know returns with a sharply perceptive and emotionally resonant novel about all the ways we talk about one another, the sometimes fine line between showing concern and doing damage, and the difficulty of knowing the true obligations of friendshipGossipBeth Gutcheon "Did you know that the origin of the word gossip in English is 'god-sibling'It's the talk between people who are godparents to the same child, people who have a legitimate loving interest in the person they talk about. It's talk that weaves a net of support and connection beneath the people you want to protect."Loviah "Lovie" French owns a small, high-end dress shop on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Renowned for her taste and discretion, Lovie is the one to whom certain women turn when they need "just the thing" for major life events baptisms and balls, weddings and funerals or when they just want to dish in the dressing room. Among the people who depend on Lovie's confidence are her two best friends since boarding school: Dinah Wainwright and Avis Metcalf. Outspoken and brimming with confidence, Dinah made a name for herself as a columnist covering the doings of New York's wealthiest and most fabulous. Shy, proper Avis, in many ways Dinah's opposite, rose to prominence in the art world with her quiet manners, hard work, and precise judgment. Despite the deep affection they both feel for Lovie, they have been more or less allergic to each other since a minor incident decades earlier that has been remembered and resented with what will prove to be unimaginable consequences. These uneasy acquaintances become unwillingly bound to each other when Dinah's favorite son and Avis's only daughter fall in love and marry. On the surface, Nick and Grace are the perfect match a playful, romantic, buoyant, and beautiful pair. But their commitment will be strained by time and change: career setbacks, reckless choices, the birth of a child, jealousies, and rumor. At the center of their orbit is Lovie, who knows everyone's secrets and manages them as wisely as she can. Which is not wisely enough, as things turn out a fact that will have a shattering effect on all their lives.An astute chronicler of everything that makes us human, Beth Gutcheon delivers her most powerful and emotionally devastating novel to date. Gossip is a tale of intimacy and betrayal, trust and fidelity, friendship, competition, and motherhood that explores the myriad ways we use and abuse "information" about others be it true, false, or imagined to sustain, and occasionally destroy, one another.

The #1 New York Times bestsellerThe phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner. Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South’s segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America’s aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam’s call, moving to Hampton, Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Even as Virginia’s Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley’s all-black “West Computing” group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens. Starting in World War II and moving through to the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race, Hidden Figures follows the interwoven accounts of Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden, four African American women who participated in some of NASA’s greatest successes. It chronicles their careers over nearly three decades they faced challenges, forged alliances and used their intellect to change their own lives, and their country’s future.?

In her acclaimed 1993 book Denying the Holocaust, Deborah Lipstadt called David Irving, a prolific writer of books on World War II, “one of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial.” The following year, after Lipstadt’s book was published in the United Kingdom, Irving led a libel suit against Lipstadt and her publisher. She prepared her defense with the help of a first-rate team of solicitors, historians, and experts, and a dramatic trial unfolded.Denial, previously published as History on Trial, is Lipstadt’s riveting, blow- by-blow account of this singular legal battle, which resulted in a formal denunciation of a Holocaust denier that crippled the movement for years to come. Lipstadt’s victory was proclaimed on the front page of major news- papers around the world, such as The Times (UK), which declared that “history has had its day in court and scored a crushing victory.”

The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Your Mental StrengthEveryone knows that regular exercise and weight training lead to physical strength. But how do we strengthen ourselves mentally for the truly tough timesAnd what should we do when we face these challengesOr as psychotherapist Amy Morin asks, what should we avoid when we encounter adversityThrough her years counseling others and her own experiences navigating personal loss, Morin realized it is often the habits we cannot break that are holding us back from true success and happiness. Indulging in self-pity, agonizing over things beyond our control, obsessing over past events, resenting the achievements of others, or expecting immediate positive results holds us back. This list of things mentally strong people don't do resonated so much with readers that when it was picked up by Forbes.com it received ten million views.Now, for the first time, Morin expands upon the thirteen things from her viral post and shares her tried-and-true practices for increasing mental strength. Morin writes with searing honesty, incorporating anecdotes from her work as a college psychology instructor and psychotherapist as well as personal stories about how she bolstered her own mental strength when tragedy threatened to consume her.Increasing your mental strength can change your entire attitude. It takes practice and hard work, but with Morin's specific tips, exercises, and troubleshooting advice, it is possible to not only fortify your mental muscle but also drastically improve the quality of your life.

Would you like to know how to elicit 40% more information from your witnesses, saving time and moneyWhether you're a solicitor, barrister or legal executive, this comprehensive toolkit will help you master the cognitive interviewing technique. Written by cognitive interviewing expert and trainer to litigators involved in the Bloody Sunday and Shipman inquiries, Geoff Coughlin, this practical guide will teach you how to: Obtain the right information, faster and more efficiently Eliminate the need for re-interviewing Address specific common interview challenges, as identified by solicitors in the field Discover how to uncover lies and deceit based on the latest most reliable indicators Uncover more useful information in less time You'll also gain hints and tips on how to prepare for your witness interview and take notes during it. You'll take away knowledge on how to adapt your communication style for this purpose, and use Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques to decipher memory recall patterns. The problem is widespread. According to a Law Society survey, 95% of lawyers have some negative stress in their jobs, and 17% say that this is extreme. Lawyers feel overloaded with work, unappreciated, isolated, and unsupported; many complain of unattainable targets, poor pay, and long hours. And while many firms say they have programmes in place that are geared towards improving the wellbeing of staff, 66% of lawyers say they would be concerned about reporting feelings of stress to their employer because of the stigma involved. Nobody wishes to be seen as a weak link in the chain of a professional practice. A solution won’t be found overnight. This book is designed to encourage lawyers and firms to think more about the question of stress, how to recognise it in others and themselves, and how to take action before it becomes excessive. It is written for lawyers everywhere – regardless of location or career level.

On his day, Peter Williams was the best motorcycle road racer in the world and is one of that small band of sportsmen, 'the best never to win a World Championship'. Peter's unique career in the 1960s and 1970s as racer, designer and development engineer culminated in many great victories on bikes from 125cc to 750cc. For two months in 1967 he lead the 500cc class of the World Championship on his single cylinder 500cc MkI Arter Matchless Special against the much more powerful Honda and MV Augusta multis of Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini. Just when he was, perhaps, due for a 'works' ride, the Japanese withdrew from Grand Prix road racing and Peter joined the re-emergent manufacturers of Norton. Peter had two consuming passions; riding his motorcycles at 10/10ths of the limit, and for Britain to regain motorcycle supremacy. Indeed, the latter was his mission, his crusade, and so he rode almost exclusively British motorcycles but, interestingly, won his only Grand Prix on a foreign one. Peter's engineering designs gave him advantage on the race track and set the trends for what motorcycles are today. He was one of the first to design and race with disc brakes, the first in the world to design and use cast magnesium wheels and tubeless tyres. Peter won the 1970 500cc class British Championship and was the first in motorcycle racing to benefit from tobacco sponsorship. The 1973 John Player Norton 'Monocoque' incorporated all his previous experiments and the first twin spar frame. The pinnacle of his career came on this machine when he won the Formula 750 TT in the Isle of Man with record race and lap speeds. Peter's racing career came to an end in 1974 with a terrible crash at Oulton Park but his engineering continued with work at Cosworth Engineering and Lotus Engineering. Motorcycle innovation continues, too, with his true monocoque design, his Shell Chassis, which, in its electric drive form, finished 5th in its very first outing in the 2010 TT Zero.

Birds and bird lore provide a fascinating window onto our social and cultural history, and can tell us much about our changing relationship with the British landscape, our people and society. We Brits love our birds. They hold a special place in our hearts – whether it's the sound of birdsong on a spring morning, the sight of a Barn Owl hunting on a summer's evening, or a Robin perched on our garden spade. In this book, Stephen Moss focusses on some of our most beloved and charismatic birds. He explores their fascinating biology, and their place in the evolving culture and history of the British people. The author delves into the worlds of Sea Birds (Puffin, Sea Eagle and Gannet), Water Birds (Kingfisher, Swan and Avocet), Countryside Birds (Red Grouse, Nightingale and Skylark ) and Town & Garden Birds (Robin, House Sparrow and Magpie), weaving their stories together to tell four very different stories about the changing face of Britain.