And The Dawn Came Up Like Thunder

"And the Dawn Came Up Like Thunder is the experience of an ordinary soldier captured by the Japanese at Singapore in February 1942. Leo Rawlings' story is told in his own pictures and his own words; a world that is uncompromising, vivid and raw. He pulls no punches. For the first time cruelty inflicted on the prisoners of war by their own officers is depicted as well as shocking images of POW life. This is truly a view of the River Kwai experience for a 21st Century audience. The new edition includes pictures never before published as well as an extensive new commentary by Dr Nigel Stanley, an expert on Rawlings and the medical problems faced on the Burma Railway. More than just a commentary on the history and terrible facts behind Rawlings' work, it stands on its own as a guide to the hidden lives of the prisoners."--Publishers website.

A memoir of the final days of the Second World War from the London of the flying bombs to the liberation of the concentration camps. Arthur Marshall, Sunday Telegraph "1945 - we are lucky indeed to have it here chronicled in such absorbing, if often horrifying, detail. Future historians will bless Tom Pocock's name, for other pivotal periods of our world's troubled life were less well served ... one would have given much for Mr. Pocock's presence accompanied by a Leica, at the Battle of Hastings." Marghanita Laski, Country Life "It is hard to think of where Pocock was not in that eventful year... Pocock's story is that of the year as a whole, not only of his own experiences, rich, terrible, funny as these were... It is clear that young Pocock had not only an eye for events but a feel for them. On nothing is he better than of the sudden switch of feeling as the war ended." John Grigg, Evening Standard "A picture of that extraordinary year which will be an eye-opener to those (now a large majority) who did not live through it and intensely evocative to those who did. Tom Pocock writes unusually well... His idealism never inhibits his curiosity or his lively sense of the absurd... The book conveys to perfection the atmosphere of 1945, in which exhilaration was tinged with doubt and disgust."

One of the great untold stories of World War II finally comes to light in this thrilling account of Torpedo Squadron Eight and their heroic efforts in helping an outmatched U.S. fleet win critical victories at Midway and Guadalcanal. Thirty-five American men -- many flying outmoded aircraft -- changed the course of the war, going on to become the war's most decorated naval air squadron, while suffering the heaviest losses in U.S. naval aviation history. Mrazek paints moving portraits of the men in the squadron, and exposes a shocking cover-up that cost many lives. Filled with thrilling scenes of battle, betrayal, and sacrifice, A Dawn Like Thunder is destined to become a classic in the literature of World War II.

This study is the first exploration of the impact of World War Two on Scottish poets of both the front line and the home front. World War One has always been thought of as a poet’s war, one of horror and futility. The poetry of World War Two, by contrast, has long languished in its shadow, though there was a much greater amount of it written. This book asks whether these poets felt they were grown for war or rather that they grew through war experience, with an emphasis on the possibilities of the future instead of cataloguing the senseless horror of the battlefield. How were the hopes of Scottish poets different from their English counterparts? How was their poetry different, and how did it impact on their later lives?

First published in 1972 under the title TOTAL WAR, THE PENGUIN HISTORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR was designed by its authors to show a rising generation why the Second World War happened and how it was conducted. In this bold feat of compression they give as much stress and space to political, social and moral forces (not to mention intelligence and other activities 'behind the line') as to the ensuing clashes of arms. This acclaimed analysis of the causes and courses of the Second World War has stood the tests of time and criticism.

Edwin Morgan's restless imagination moved easily between multiple worlds, voices and identities. His own life story, told here for the first time, also reveals a range of identities - as academic, cultural activist, radical writer, international traveller, gay man and national poet. These identities were sometimes in conflict, or kept hidden and apart. Beyond the Last Dragon, written with his full support, explores hitherto unknown archive resources and creative work. It recounts an amazing and sometimes troubled career, using the poet's own letters, poems and plays from the 1930s to the present day to uncover the origins of his remarkable - and life-long - inventiveness and flair. All this is set against Edwin Morgan's moving struggle against 'the last dragon' of cancer, and to remain creatively alive in the face of suffering in the final years of his life. This prize-winning biography was published just days after the poet's death. James McGonigal now adds a new chapter to describe subsequent events.