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The War Queens: Extraordinary Women Who Ruled the Battlefield
by Jonathan W. Jordan Emily Anne JordanRecently adapted into the War Queens podcast hosted by authors Emily and Jon Jordan, featuring Game of Thrones star Nathalie Emmanuel. Now available on Apple, Spotify, Audible, and all major listening platforms.&“Masterfully captures the largely forgotten saga of warrior queens through the ages . . . an epic filled with victory, defeat, and legendary women.&” —Patrick K. O&’Donnell, bestselling author of The Indispensables History&’s killer queens come in all colors, ages, and leadership styles. Elizabeth Tudor and Golda Meir played the roles of high-stakes gamblers who studied maps with an unblinking, calculating eye. Angola&’s Queen Njinga was willing to shed (and occasionally drink) blood to establish a stable kingdom in an Africa ravaged by the slave trade. Caterina Sforza defended her Italian holdings with cannon and scimitar, and Indira Gandhi launched a war to solve a refugee crisis. From ancient Persia to modern-day Britain, the daunting thresholds these exceptional women had to cross—and the clever, sometimes violent ways in which they smashed obstacles in their paths—are evoked in vivid detail. The narrative sidles up to these war queens in the most dire, tumultuous moments of their reigns and examines the brilliant methods and maneuvers they each used to defend themselves and their people from enemy forces. Father-daughter duo Jonathan W. and Emily Anne Jordan extoll the extraordinary power and potential of women in history who walked through war&’s kiln and emerged from the other side—some burnished to greatness, others burned to cinders. All of them, legends. &“Reminds us intelligently, entertainingly and powerfully that strong-willed women have always been the equal—and very often the superior—of their male counterparts, even in the field historically most jealously reserved for men: warfare.&” —Andrew Roberts, New York Times–bestselling author &“This book should be required reading for anyone who loves history.&” —James M. Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist
The War Story Of Dillwyn Parrish Starr
by Louis Starr Dillwyn Parrish StarrDillwyn Parrish Starr led a short life but he lived it at a tremendous speed, when the First World War broke out he was a star American Football Player and scholar at Harvard. However spurred on by his convictions he sailed to the U.K. in a rush and signed up for service as soon as possible; thereafter he saw a great deal of fighting with the Royal Navy Armored car detachment. However as the war stagnated to the static bloody fighting in the trenches he felt compelled to transfer to the prestigious Grenadier Guards in the British Army. Always heavily engaged Dillwyn fought with great courage in both Flanders and on the Gallipoli campaign, before falling to the overwhelming fire of the Germans at Ginchy during the infernal Somme battle in 1916. His letters are a vivid memento to a man who was universally respected even in a regiment with such high standards as the Grenadiers Guards, cheerful and upbeat snuffed out too soon in the hell of World War One.
The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium
by Barry StraussA &“splendid&” (The Wall Street Journal) account of one of history&’s most important and yet little-known wars, the campaign culminating in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, whose outcome determined the future of the Roman Empire.Following Caesar&’s assassination and Mark Antony&’s defeat of the conspirators who killed Caesar, two powerful men remained in Rome—Antony and Caesar&’s chosen heir, young Octavian, the future Augustus. When Antony fell in love with the most powerful woman in the world, Egypt&’s ruler Cleopatra, and thwarted Octavian&’s ambition to rule the empire, another civil war broke out. In 31 BC one of the largest naval battles in the ancient world took place—more than 600 ships, almost 200,000 men, and one woman—the Battle of Actium. Octavian prevailed over Antony and Cleopatra, who subsequently killed themselves. The Battle of Actium had great consequences for the empire. Had Antony and Cleopatra won, the empire&’s capital might have moved from Rome to Alexandria, Cleopatra&’s capital, and Latin might have become the empire&’s second language after Greek, which was spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt. In this &“superbly recounted&” (The National Review) history, Barry Strauss, ancient history authority, describes this consequential battle with the drama and expertise that it deserves. The War That Made the Roman Empire is essential history that features three of the greatest figures of the ancient world.
The War The Infantry Knew, 1914-1919: A Chronicle Of Service In France And Belgium
by Capt. J. C. DunnMemoirs of British medical officer J. C. Dunn during World War I: "The first duty of a battalion medical officer in War is to discourage the evasion of duty...not seldom against one's better feelings, sometimes to the temporary hurt of the individual, but justice to all other men as well as discipline demands it.""Sometimes, through word of mouth and shared enthusiasm, a secret book becomes famous. The War the Infantry Knew is one of them. Published privately in a limited edition of five hundred copies in 1938, it gained a reputation as an outstanding account of an infantry battalion's experience on the Western Front."--Daily Telegraph"I have been waiting for a long time for someone to republish this classic. It is one of the most interesting and revealing books of its type and is a genuinely truthful and fascinating picture of the war as it was for the infantry"--John Keegan'A remarkably coherent narrative of the battalion's experiences in diary form...a moving historical record which deserves to be added to the select list of outstanding accounts of the First World War"--Times Literary Supplement"A magnificent tour de force, the length of three ordinary books."--London Review of Books
The War Trail of Big Bear, Being the Story of the Connection of Big Bear and other Cree Indian Chiefs
by William Bleasdell CameronFirst published in 1926, this book by William Bleasdell Cameron is the gripping account of his experiences of captivity following the Frog Lake Massacre of the North-West Rebellion of April 2, 1885, of which he was the only male survivor.“On that dread day in April, 1885, when savagery was blood-mad, his constant and understanding kindness to the Indians bore fruit: “Those women are starting for the camp. Go with them; and do not leave them. They will not shoot among the women.” And from that moment until the release of the prisoners two months later he lived amongst them in their wanderings, an intelligent and sympathetic eye-witness of all that happened. This is the story Mr. Cameron has to tell. It is of especial value for its treatment of events on the little-known western front.”—The Washington Historical Quarterly
The War We Won Apart: The Untold Story of Two Elite Agents Who Became One of the Most Decorated Couples of WWII
by Nahlah AyedLove, betrayal, and a secret war: the untold story of two elite agents, one Canadian, one British, who became one of the most decorated couples of WWII.On opposite sides of the pond, Sonia Butt, an adventurous young British woman, and Guy d&’Artois, a French-Canadian soldier and thunderstorm of a man, are preparing for war.From different worlds, their lives first intersect during clandestine training to become agents with Winston Churchill&’s secret army, the Special Operations Executive. As the world&’s deadliest conflict to date unfolds, Sonia and Guy learn how to parachute into enemy territory, how to kill, blow up rail lines, and eventually . . . how to love each other. But not long after their hasty marriage, their love is tested by separation, by a titanic invasion—and by indiscretion.Writing in vivid, heart-stopping prose, Ayed follows Sonia as she plunges into Nazi-occupied France and slinks into black market restaurants to throw off occupying Nazi forces, while at the same time participating in sabotage operations against them; and as Guy, in another corner of France, trains hundreds into a resistance army.Reconstructed from hours of unpublished interviews and hundreds of archival and personal documents, the story Ayed tells is about the ravaging costs of war paid for disproportionately by the young. But more than anything, The War We Won Apart is a story about love: two secret agents who were supposed to land in enemy territory together, but were fated to fight the war apart.
The War We Won Apart: The Untold Story of Two Elite Agents Who Became One of the Most Decorated Couples of WWII
by Nahlah AyedINSTANT #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLERLove, betrayal, and a secret war: the untold story of two elite agents, one Canadian, one British, who became one of the most decorated couples of WWII.On opposite sides of the pond, Sonia Butt, an adventurous young British woman, and Guy d&’Artois, a French-Canadian soldier and thunderstorm of a man, are preparing for war.From different worlds, their lives first intersect during clandestine training to become agents with Winston Churchill&’s secret army, the Special Operations Executive. As the world&’s deadliest conflict to date unfolds, Sonia and Guy learn how to parachute into enemy territory, how to kill, blow up rail lines, and eventually . . . how to love each other. But not long after their hasty marriage, their love is tested by separation, by a titanic invasion—and by indiscretion.Writing in vivid, heart-stopping prose, Ayed follows Sonia as she plunges into Nazi-occupied France and slinks into black market restaurants to throw off occupying Nazi forces, while at the same time participating in sabotage operations against them; and as Guy, in another corner of France, trains hundreds into a resistance army.Reconstructed from hours of unpublished interviews and hundreds of archival and personal documents, the story Ayed tells is about the ravaging costs of war paid for disproportionately by the young. But more than anything, The War We Won Apart is a story about love: two secret agents who were supposed to land in enemy territory together, but were fated to fight the war apart.
The War at Home: A Memoir
by Rachel StarnesWhen she fell in love with her brother's best friend, Rachel Starnes had no idea she was about to repeat a painful family pattern--marrying a man who leaves regularly and for long stretches to work a dangerous job far from home. Through constant relocations, separations, and the crippling doubts of early parenthood, Starnes effortlessly weaves together strands from her past with the relentless pace of Navy life in a time of war. Searingly honest and emotionally unflinching--and at times laugh out loud funny--Starnes eloquently evokes the challenges she faces in trying to find and claim a sense of home while struggling to chart a new path and avoid passing on the same legacy to her two young sons. At once a portrait of the devastating strains that military life puts on families and a meditation on what it means to be left behind, The War at Home is a brave portrait of a modern military family and the realities of separation, endurance, and love that overcomes. Praise for The War at Home:"Rachel Starnes's The War at Home navigates the joys, fears, compromises, and casualties that create the terrain of marriage. And if you are a military spouse, her memoir will reveal thoughts you never even knew you had. This is a wise and fearless book." --Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men Are Gone "One of the most honest and genuine memoirs I've ever read, as well as one of the most finely written. There's not a false note in these pages. Rachel Starnes's story is at once both singular and emblematic. . . . The War at Home is that rare thing: a book about the here and now that promises to last well beyond next month or next year." --Steve Yarbrough, award-winning author of The Realm of Last Chances and Safe from the NeighborsFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
The War at the Shore: Donald Trump, Steve Wynn, and the Epic Battle to Save Atlantic City
by Richard D. Bronson Andrew Meisler A. M. Silver“With Trump and Wynn, Skip Bronson nails the drama and muscle of a Super Bowl Sunday . . . A manual of strategy and tactics, smeared with sweat and blood” (Steve Tisch, chairman of the New York Giants). From 1995 to 2000, two of the world’s best-known companies―Mirage Resorts and Trump Resorts―run by two of the most flamboyant businessmen of our time, fought a bare-knuckled, high-stakes battle over a prime piece of real estate in one of America’s most famous resort towns. No money was spared, no punch was pulled, no invective went unhurled in what became known as “The War at the Shore.” Now Bronson, who was a member of the board of directors of the Mirage and president of New City Development Company, the Mirage subsidiary whose primary purpose was to build a top-level new casino and hotel complex in Atlantic City, tells the inside story of this epic struggle. Along the way, Bronson weaves in fascinating and inspiring anecdotes from his complicated past. Gripping from beginning to end, The War at the Shore is a rare up-close look at the world of casino development and the essential modern chapter in the history of America’s “Boardwalk Empire.” “Two powerful personalities clash in this first-hand account of Steve Wynn’s bid to open a new casino on Donald Trump’s turf. . . . An engaging insider’s account of the down-and-dirty machinations that go into high-stakes real estate development.” —Kirkus Reviews “Marked by casinos, boardrooms, and double-dealings, Bronson’s account is a vivid portrayal of Atlantic City’s revitalization.” —LA Confidential “What an amazing backstage look into the world of casinos, moguls and politics.” —Peter Morton, chairman & founder of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Hard Rock Cafes
The War for Gaul: A New Translation
by Julius CaesarA new translation that captures the gripping power of one of the greatest war stories ever told—Julius Caesar’s pitiless account of his brutal campaign to conquer GaulImagine a book about an unnecessary war written by the ruthless general of an occupying army—a vivid and dramatic propaganda piece that forces the reader to identify with the conquerors and that is designed, like the war itself, to fuel the limitless political ambitions of the author. Could such a campaign autobiography ever be a great work of literature—perhaps even one of the greatest? It would be easy to think not, but such a book exists—and it helped transform Julius Caesar from a politician on the make into the Caesar of legend. <P><P>This remarkable new translation of Caesar’s famous but underappreciated War for Gaul captures, like never before in English, the gripping and powerfully concise style of the future emperor’s dispatches from the front lines in what are today France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. <P><P>While letting Caesar tell his battle stories in his own way, distinguished classicist James O’Donnell also fills in the rest of the story in a substantial introduction and notes that together explain why Gaul is the “best bad man’s book ever written”—a great book in which a genuinely bad person offers a bald-faced, amoral description of just how bad he has been. <P><P>Complete with a chronology, a map of Gaul, suggestions for further reading, and an index, this feature-rich edition captures the forceful austerity of a troubling yet magnificent classic—a book that, as O’Donnell says, “gets war exactly right and morals exactly wrong.”
The War in the Peninsula and Recollections of the Storming of the Castle of Badajos: Some Letters of a Lancashire Officer
by Ian Fletcher Robert Knowles Captain MacCarthy MacCarthyLieutenant Knowles served in the 7th (Royal) Fusiliers 1811-1813, seeing action in several battles, being wounded at the storming of Badajoz and at the battle of Salamanca. He was killed at Roncesvalles on 25 July 1813 during the Battle of the Pyrenees. By combining the overall picture as painted by Lt Knowles with the specific, bloody narrative of the storming of the Castle by Captain MacCarthy in one volume, this work is not only fantastic value for money but also offers the discerning reader a whole new perspective on the campaign. What did these two men – of different temperaments – make of events? Wellington had watched helplessly at Badajos as the flower of his army was smashed against the ramparts of Badajos: the 4th and Light Divisions attacked no less than 40 times. When they finally succeeded, an orgy of rape, pillage and destruction followed that even the Iron Duke could not quell. What did both men have to say about this? Both of these rare classics are essential reading for students of the period.
The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II
by Colonel Wolfgang W. SamuelOne survivor tells of the fire-bombing of Dresden. Another survivor recounts the pervasive fear of marauding Russian and Czech bandits raping and killing. Children recall fathers who were only photographs and mothers who were saviors and heroes. These are typical in the stories collected in The War of Our Childhood: Memories of World War II. For this book Wolfgang W. E. Samuel, a childhood refugee himself after the fall of Nazi Germany, interviewed twenty-seven men and women who as children—by chance and sheer resilience—survived Allied bombs, invading armies, hunger, and chaos. “Our eyes carried no hate, only recognition of what was,” Samuel writes of his childhood. “Peace was an abstraction. The world we Kinder knew nearly always had the word ‘war’ appended to it.” Samuel's heartfelt narratives from these innocent survivors are invariably riveting and often terrifying. Each engrossing story has perilous and tragic moments—school children in Leuna who are sent home during an air raid but are strafed as moving targets; fathers who exist only as distant figures, returning to their families long after the war—or not at all; mothers who are raped and tortured; families who are forced into a seemingly endless relocation that replicates the terrors of war itself. In capturing such experiences from nearly every region of Germany and involving people of every socio-economic class, this is a collection of unique memories, but each account contributes to a cumulative understanding of the war that is more personal than strategic surveys and histories. For Samuel and the survivors he interviewed, agony and fright were part of everyday life, just as were play, wondrous experience, and above all perseverance. “My focus,” Samuel writes, “is on the astounding ability of a generation of German children to emerge from debilitating circumstances as sane and productive human beings.”
The War of the Motor Gun Boats: One Man's Personal War at Sea with the Coastal Forces, 1943–1945
by A. J. ChapmanTony Chapman was born in Southampton in 1924. Aged 16 he watched with horror as the historic High Street of Southampton burnt to the ground in a firestorm caused by a heavy German bombing raid on the night of 30 November 1940. He vowed to join up and fight back. Tony joined the Navy.Within hours of being posted to his first Motor Gun Boat, Telegraphist Tony Chapman was involved in an epic Coastal Forces engagement when his flotilla took on a force of thirty E-boats. Although their unit of two MGBs sank three E-Boats, it was at a high cost. Half of Tony's shipmates were killed or injured.This was the start of an eventful and dramatic wartime service with these little warships. Tony's flotilla operated in the Mediterranean and Aegean where the Motor Gun Boats played a key role in this important but often neglected theatre.rnDaily life on these small ships is vividly described. The flotilla had a busy time showing the flag in the Levant and on combined operations in the Aegean with the Greek Sacred Regiment of Commandos. The culmination of their efforts was when Tony's boat, ML838, took the surrender of the Island of Kos in 1945.rnrnWritten from the perspective of one of the other ranks, War of the Motor Gun Boats fills an important gap in the literature of the Second World War.As featured in the North Devon Journal and Exmoor Magazine.
The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free
by Pete HegsethReal men fought for our freedoms. It’s time we fought for theirs. <P><P> Pete Hegseth joined the Army to fight extremists. Then that same Army called him one. The military Pete joined twenty years ago was fiercely focused on lethality, competency, and color blindness. Today our brass are following the rest of our country off the cliff of cultural chaos and weakness. <P><P> Americans with common sense are fighting this on many fronts, but if we can’t save the meritocracy of our military, we’re definitely going to lose everywhere else. <P><P> The War on Warriors uncovers the deep roots of our dysfunction—a society that has forgotten the men who take risks, cut through red tape, and get their hands dirty. The only kind of men prepared to face the dangers that the Left pretends don’t exist. Unlike issues of education or taxes or crime, this problem doesn’t have a zip code solution. We can’t move away from it. We can’t avoid it. We have only one Pentagon. Either we take it back or surrender it altogether. <P><P> Combining his own war experiences, tales of outrage, and an incisive look at how the chain of command got so kinked, this book is the key to saving our warriors—and winning future wars. The War on Warriors must be won by the good guys, because when the shooting really starts, they’re the only ones who can save us. <p> <b>New York Times Bestseller</b>
The War with Hannibal (Books XXI-XXX of the History of Rome from its Foundation)
by Titus LivyThe author gives us a chronological account about the events of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage. Translated by Aubrey De Selincourt.
The Warburgs: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family
by Ron ChernowBankers, philanthropists, scholars, socialites, artists, and politicians, the Warburgs stood at the pinnacle of German (and, later, of German-American) Jewry. They forged economic dynasties, built mansions and estates, assembled libraries, endowed charities, and advised a German kaiser and two American presidents. But their very success made the Warburgs lightning rods for anti-Semitism, and their sense of patriotism became increasingly dangerous in a Germany that had declared Jews the enemy.Ron Chernow's hugely fascinating history is a group portrait of a clan whose members were renowned for their brilliance, culture, and personal energy yet tragically vulnerable to the dark and irrational currents of the twentieth century.
The Warm Bucket Brigade: The Story of the American Vice Presidency
by Jeremy LottWhat do you know about America’s vice presidents? An “altogether amusing” history filled with oft-forgotten names and fascinating anecdotes (AV Club).How many vice presidents went on to become president?How many vice presidents shot men while in office? Who was the better shot?Who was the first vice president to assume power when a president died? Why did he return official letters without reading them?What vice president was almost torn limb from limb in Venezuela?Which former VP was tried for treason for trying to start his own empire in the Southwest?How many vice presidents were assassinated?In the next presidential election, should you worry about the candidates for vice president?The vice presidency isn’t worth “a bucket of warm spit.” That’s the prudish version of what John Nance Garner had to say about the office—several years after serving as VP under FDR. Was he right? The vice presidency is one of America’s most historically complicated and underappreciated public offices. And Jeremy Lott’s sweeping, hilarious, and insightful history introduces the unusual, colorful, and sometimes shadowy cast of characters that have occupied it—their bitter rivalries and rank ambitions, glorious victories and tragic setbacks, revealed through hundreds of historical vignettes and drawn from extensive research and interviews. “Full of rich veep history.” —Baltimore Sun
The Warrior
by Frances RicheyA "heart-rending"(Anna Quindlen, Newsweek) memoir-in-verse that speaks to a mother's love for her son When Frances Richey's only child, Ben, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and a Green Beret, went on the first of his two deployments to Iraq, she began to write the twenty-eight unflinching poems that make up The Warrior. This urgent and intensely personal collection describes the world of those who wait while their loved ones are in combat or perilous situations; it is universal in its expression of the longing, anguish, love, and hope that constitute close relationships.
The Warrior Code: 11 Principles to Unleash the Badass Inside of You
by Denene Millner Tee Marie HanibleFrom American Grit co-star, former Marine Gunnery Sergeant Tee Marie Hanible comes the story of how she became a warrior...and how you can do it, too.In The Warrior Code, entrepreneur, philanthropist, reality star, and retired Gunnery Sergeant Tee Marie Hanible serves up eleven principles to awaken your inner badass and thrive in the face of adversity.After surviving the death of her father, enduring foster care, and being expelled from school, Tee joined military reform school, where she began uncovering her inner warrior. As part of one of the first female classes of recruits to complete the Marine Corps Crucible and the Marine Combat Training, and as the only woman to deploy with her unit to Iraq in 2003, Tee tested her mettle and learned the key to becoming an unbreakable woman. With insightful honesty and wisdom, and set against the backdrop of Tee’s life, The Warrior Code will help you understand that things can beat us back from realizing our true potential...but the key is finding the way to realize one’s own innate strength.
The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228
by Dick CouchWith a postscript describing SEAL efforts in Afghanistan, The Warrior Elite takes you into the toughest, longest, and most relentless military training in the world.What does it take to become a Navy SEAL? What makes talented, intelligent young men volunteer for physical punishment, cold water, and days without sleep? In The Warrior Elite, former Navy SEAL Dick Couch documents the process that transforms young men into warriors. SEAL training is the distillation of the human spirit, a tradition-bound ordeal that seeks to find men with character, courage, and the burning desire to win at all costs, men who would rather die than quit.
The Warrior Generals: Winning the British Civil Wars
by Malcolm WanklynIn this bold history of the men who directed and determined the outcome of the mid-seventeenth-century British wars--from Cromwell, Fairfax, and Essex to many more lesser-known figures--military historian Malcolm Wanklyn offers the first assessment of leadership and the importance of command in the civil wars.
The Warrior King: Hawaii's Kamehameha the Great
by Richard TregaskisThe classic, full-length biography of Hawaii&’s first king by the award-winning, New York Times–bestselling author of Guadalcanal Diary. King Kamehameha I is the most monumental figure in Hawaiian history. A glorious warrior, a wise diplomat, and a keen administrator, he established peace among warring tribes and was the first Polynesian ruler to conquer, unite, and rule over all the Hawaiian Islands. He grew to be a giant of a man at six feet, six inches, and his natural athletic and amorous prowess could not be denied. Kamehameha epitomized the highest Hawaiian values of pure beauty, freedom, and power. In The Warrior King, author Richard Tregaskis threads his way through legend and history to recreate the life of Kamehameha. He recounts the king&’s youth spent in exile and his exciting career as a leader and fighter in bloody battles featuring hand-to-hand combat and cannons. He examines Kamehameha&’s stormy love life, including his twenty-two wives, his fifty children, and his marriage to his most beloved queen, Ka&‘ahumanu. Through it all, Kamehameha remained faithful to the mores of his culture and religion, even as native Hawaiian life changed with the arrival of Europeans and Americans. First published in 1973, this colorful and compelling biography captures the life and achievements of the legendary young man who fulfilled prophecy by moving the Naha Stone, a massive black lava rock that foretold the coming of a great king, and went on to unite his people.
The Warrior's Heart: Becoming a Man of Compassion and Courage
by Eric Greitens Navy SEALIn this adaptation of his best-selling book, The Heart and the Fist, Eric speaks directly to teen readers, interweaving memoir and intimate second-person narratives that ask the reader to put themselves in the shoes of himself and others. Readers will share in Eric's evolution from average kid to globe-traveling humanitarian to warrior, training and serving with the most elite military outfit in the world: the Navy SEALs. Along the way, they'll be asked to consider the power of choices, of making the decision each and every day to act with courage and compassion so that they grow to be tomorrow's heroes. Sure to inspire and motivate.
The Warrior, the Voyager, and the Artist: Three Lives in an Age of Empire (The Lewis Walpole Series in Eighteenth-Century Culture and History)
by Kate FullagarA portrait of empire through the biographies of a Native American, a Pacific Islander, and the British artist who painted them both Three interconnected eighteenth-century lives offer a fresh account of the British Empire and its intrusion into Indigenous societies. This engaging history brings together the stories of Joshua Reynolds and two Indigenous men, the Cherokee Ostenaco and the Raiatean Mai. Fullagar uncovers the life of Ostenaco, tracing his emergence as a warrior, his engagement with colonists through war and peace, and his eventual rejection of imperial politics during the American Revolution. She delves into the story of Mai, his confrontation with conquest and displacement, his voyage to London on Cook’s imperial expedition, and his return home with a burning ambition to right past wrongs. Woven throughout is a new history of Reynolds, growing up in Devon near a key port in England, becoming a portraitist of empire, rising to the top of Britain’s art world and yet remaining ambivalent about his nation’s expansionist trajectory.
The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay
by Christopher ClareyFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Master comes an intimate biography of tennis&’s enduring champion Rafael Nadal. In The Warrior, Christopher Clarey illuminates the skill and determination it took to accomplish Rafael Nadal&’s most mind-blowing achievement: 14 French Open titles. Nadal has won big on tennis's many surfaces en route to becoming one of the greatest players of all time: securing two Wimbledon titles on grass and four U.S. Open titles on cushioned acrylic hardcourts. But clay, the slowest and grittiest of the game&’s playgrounds, is where it all comes together best for his tactical skills, whipping topspin forehand and gladiatorial mindset. Clay is to Rafael Nadal what water is to Michael Phelps, which helps explain one of the most impressive individual sports achievements of the 21st century. Clarey draws on interviews over many years with Nadal and his team and with rivals like Roger Federer. Not just a book about tennis, The Warrior draws much wider lessons from Nadal&’s approach to competition.