Showing results for "first" in Politics & Government

The Special Boat Service (SBS) has long been the forgotten sibling of British Special Forces, but no longer. Duncan Falconer's grippingly personal memoir finally lifts the lid on life, loss, training and operations in the toughest unit of them all—the SBS. From joining up as a teenager, through SBS recruitment, training, and operational detachments, First into Action takes us on a journey through the SBS's history, operations and tactics seen through the lens of Duncan Falconer's remarkable story.

Duncan Falconer has survived five explosions, two only just, been shot at on numerous occasions, chased by machete wielders, hunted by man and beast, survived drowning once, a faulty parachute opening once, an air-crash, several vehicle crashes, blacked out with anaphylactic shock, walked through a minefield, barely escaped capture by fanatical terrorists when others were caught and executed, and experienced close calls so many times he has forgotten most of them. First Into Action Again is a sequel to Falconer's best-selling first autobiography, First Into Action.

* AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR * THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Shortlisted for the Airey Neave Memorial Book Prize Winner of 2018 National Jewish Book Award 'A gripping investigation of Israel's assassination policy' Sunday Times 'Remarkable' Observer 'Riveting' Daily Mail 'Compelling' John...

On any given night, there are over 643,000 homeless people residing in shelters and on the streets across America. What can we do to help? Listen for more.

The West is in shock. Al-Qaeda has struck the US on 9/11, and thousands are dead. Within weeks, UK Special Forces enter the fray in Afghanistan alongside the CIA's Team Alpha and US troops. Victory is swift but fragile. Hundreds of jihadists surrender, and two operatives from Team Alpha enter Qala-i Jangi - the 'Fort of War' - to interrogate them. The prisoners revolt; one CIA man falls, and the other is trapped inside the fort. Seven members of the SBS - elite British Special Forces - volunteer for the rescue force and race into danger and the unknown.

From the author of NUCLEAR WAR: A SCENARIO, a powerful story of war in our time, love of country, the experience of tragedy, and a platoon at the center of it all. This story might sound familiar at first: it is about a platoon of mostly nineteen-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an...

In 1949, a newly minted branch of the CIA (the precursor of today’s National Clandestine Service), flush with money and burning with determination to roll back the Iron Curtain, embarked on the first paramilitary operation in the history of the agency. They hatched an elaborate plan, coordinated with the British Secret Intelligence Service, to foment popular rebellion and detach Albania, the weakest of the Soviet satellites in Europe, from Moscow’s orbit. The operation resulted in dismal failure and was shut down by 1954.

The First World War hardly ended with the formal Armistice in Europe on November 11, 1918, amid the continuing violence of blockades and epidemics, amid numerous forms of reconstruction and revolution. For many at the time, the outbreak of what would become the First World War was an...

One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed.

The definitive account of India’s energy journey and a blueprint for an energy-efficient future. The historic oil crisis of 1973, which permanently altered significant economic policies worldwide, marked a turning point in India’s energy odyssey, putting the country on the path towards energy efficiency. A young energy researcher at the National Productivity Council at the time, Padu Padmanabhan soon found himself at a juncture that would lead him to the many watershed moments of this journey.

The spectacular rise and dramatic fall of super-assassin Carlos the Jackal-one of history's most infamous terrorist masterminds and the inspiration for numerous celebrated works of pop culture-told with new revelations from the Jackal himself, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Black Flags...

Elizabeth was not just Queen, she was ruler. In an age of male supremacy she, by sheer force of character, became not only the unchallenged leader of the English but also the first leader of an empire upon which the sun never set. Erickson’s biography tells the truth about this extraordinary woman and profiles some amazing people - their personalities and culture.

‘Thrilling … High-definition history: tight, thrilling and beautifully researched’ SUNDAY TIMES ‘This book is a triumph’ DAN SNOW 9.07 a.m., April 12, 1961. A top-secret rocket site in the USSR. A young Russian sits inside a tiny capsule on top of the Soviet Union’s most powerful...

Bloomsbury presents The Wild Men by David Torrance, read by Nathaniel Priestley. A century ago a Labour government took power for the first time, meet the Wild Men who led the way... 'Thoroughly researched… brings superbly to life figures whom history should not have forgotten.' – Simon...

Without Churchill's inspiring leadership, Britain could not have survived its darkest hour and repelled the Nazi menace. Without his wife, Clementine, however, he might never have become Prime Minister. By his own admission, the Second World War would have been 'impossible without her'. Clementine was Winston's emotional rock and his most trusted confidante. Yet her ability to charm Britain's allies and her humanitarian efforts on the home front earned her deep respect.

For the Western allies, 11 November 1918 has always been a solemn date - the end of fighting which had destroyed a generation and a vindication of a terrible sacrifice with the total collapse of their principal enemies: the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. But for much of the rest of Europe, this was a day with no meaning, as a continuing nightmarish series of conflicts engulfed country after country. In this highly original, gripping book, Robert Gerwarth asks us to think again about the true legacy of the First World War.

As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. But Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India and beat the Spanish to the spice kingdoms of the East - then set about creating the first long-range maritime empire.

This is the memoir of James C. Hormel - a man who grew up feeling different not only because his family owned the Hormel “empire” and lived in a 26 bedroom house in a small Midwest town, but because he was gay at a time when homosexuality was not discussed or accepted. Outwardly he tried to live up to the life his father wanted for him - he was a successful professional, had married a lovely woman, and had children - but as volatile changes in the late 1960s impeded on the American psyche, Hormel realized that he could not hide his true self forever.

In this remarkable biography, Carolly Erickson brings Elizabeth I to life and allows us to see her as a living, breathing, elegant, flirtatious, diplomatic, violent, arrogant, and outrageous woman who commands our attention, fascination, and awe. With the special skill for which she is acclaimed, Carolly Erickson electrifies the senses as she evokes with total fidelity the brilliant colors of Elizabethan clothing and jewelry, the texture of tapestries, and even the close, perfumed air of castle rooms. Erickson demonstrates her extraordinary ability to discern and bring to life psychological and physical reality.

For the past thirty years, post-Cold War triumphalism and a desire to reshape the world have defined United States foreign policy. But the failures of the global war on terror, the return of conflict to Europe, and growing tensions with China all suggest that this approach to the world is flawed. For the United States—the country that has ruled the international system largely alone since 1991—this moment is particularly perilous.