The World In Flames

The most shocking year in history. Week by week, hour by hour. In his brilliant reconstruction, Richard Collier vividly brings one of the most momentous years in world history to life once again. This was a time of blitzkrieg and the Blitz; of the Battle of Britain and Dunkirk. From the fighting in Finland to the destruction of Coventry, from the sinking of the French fleet in Oran to the invasion of Norway, this is history at its most extraordinary and engaging. By recounting major episodes from the viewpoint of those actually involved, Collier provides enlightening glimpses of just what war represented to both the great and to the unknown, and reveals that while 1940 was a year of incredible folly, it was also a time of inestimable bravery. Perfect for readers of Anthony Beevor and Max Hastings, this is an unforgettable book about an unforgettable year, a year that shaped the world we know today. ‘Masterly... you could be reading a spine-tingling thriller’ Sunday Express ‘I would like to see this book made compulsory reading’ Evening Standard

An edited volume of primary sources from the Second World War, The World in Flames: A World War II Sourcebook is the first of its kind to provide an ambitious and wide-ranging survey of the war in a convenient and comprehensive package. Conveying the sheer scale and reach of the conflict, the book's twelve chapters include sufficient narrative and analysis to enable students to grasp both the war's broad outlines and the context and significance of each particular source.

Who did what in World War II, and where and when did it take place?

Masterfully told, marked by irony and humor as well as outrage and a barely contained sadness, Jerald Walker’s Street Shadows is the story of a young man’s descent into the “thug life” and the wake-up call that led to his finding himself again. Walker was born in a Chicago housing project and raised, along with his six brothers and sisters, by blind parents of modest means but middle-class aspirations. A boy of great promise whose parents and teachers saw success in his future, he seemed destined to fulfill their hopes. But by age fourteen, like so many of his friends, he found himself drawn to the streets. By age seventeen he was a school dropout, a drug addict, and a gangbanger, his life spiraling toward the violent and premature end all too familiar to African American males. And then came the blast of gunfire that changed everything: His coke-dealing friend Greg was shot to death—less than an hour after Walker scored a gram from him. “Twenty-five years later, tossing the drug out the window is still the second most difficult thing I’ve ever done. The most difficult thing is still that I didn’t follow it.” So begins the story, told in alternating time frames, of the journey that Walker took to become the man he is today—a husband, father, teacher, and writer. But his struggle to escape the long shadows of the streets was not easy. There were racial stereotypes to overcome—his own as well as those of the very white world he found himself in—and a hard grappling with the meaning of race that came to an unexpected climax on a trip to Africa. An eloquent account of how the past shadows but need not determine the present, Street Shadows is the opposite of a victim narrative. Walker casts no blame (except upon himself), sheds no tears (except for those who have not shared his good fortune), and refuses the temptations of self-pity and self-exoneration. In the end, what Jerald Walker has written is a stirring portrait of two Americas—one hopeless, the other inspirational—embodied within one man.

Far from the battlefields of Europe and North Africa, Allied forces fought a very different war against another foe, from the jungles of Burma to the islands of the Pacific and the shores of Australia. This new Theatre Book for Bolt Action allows players to command the spearhead of the lightning Japanese conquests in the East or to fight tooth and nail as Chindits, US Marines and other Allied troops to halt the advance and drive them back. Scenarios, special rules and new units give players everything they need to recreate the ferocious battles and campaigns of the Far East, from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, Singapore, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and beyond.

A concise account of the war - including the war in Asia and the Pacific as well as the European arena. Covers the formation of the victorious Grand Alliance and to the problems that beset it, and to Nazi Germany's relations with its allies.

Four girls with the power to control the elements and save the world from a terrible evil must come together in the first epic novel in a brand-new series. When Phantoms--massive beasts made from nightmares and darkness--suddenly appeared and began terrorizing the world, four girls, the Effigies, each gained a unique power to control one of the classical elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Since then, four girls across the world have continually fought against the Phantoms, fulfilling their cosmic duty. And when one Effigy dies, another girl gains her power as a replacement. But now, with technologies in place to protect the world's major cities from Phantom attacks, the Effigies have stopped defending humanity and, instead, have become international celebrities, with their heroic feats ranked, televised, and talked about in online fandoms. Until the day that New York City's protection against the Phantoms fails, a man seems to be able to control them by sheer force of will, and Maia, a high school student, unexpectedly becomes the Fire Effigy. Now Maia has been thrown into battle with three girls who want nothing to do with one another. But with the first human villain that the girls have ever faced, and an army of Phantoms preparing for attack, there isn't much time for the Effigies to learn how to work together. Can the girls take control of their destinies before the world is destroyed forever?