- Table View
- List View
Four Days in September: The Battle of Teutoburg
by Jason R. AbdaleThe author of The Great Illyrian Revolt examines one of the Roman Empire's most pivotal defeats—a surprise attack by Germanic barbarians in 9 AD. For twenty years, the Roman Empire conquered its way through modern-day Germany, claiming all lands from the Rhine to the Elbe. However, when at last all appeared to be under control, a catastrophe erupted that claimed the lives of 10,000 legionnaires and laid Rome's imperial ambitions for Germania into the dust. In late September of 9 AD, three Roman legions, while marching to suppress a distant tribal rebellion, were attacked in a four-day battle with the Germanic barbarians. The Romans under the leadership of the province's governor, Publius Quinctilius Varus, were taken completely by surprise, betrayed by a member of their own ranks: the German officer and secret rebel leader, Arminius. The defeat was a heavy blow to both Rome's military and its pride. Though the disaster was ruthlessly avenged soon afterwards, later attempts at conquering the Germans were half-hearted at best.Four Days in September thoroughly examines the ancient sources and challenges the hypotheses of modern scholars to present a clear picture of the prelude to the battle, the fighting itself and its aftermath.
The Great Illyrian Revolt: Rome's Forgotten War in the Balkans, AD 6–9
by Jason R. AbdaleThe little-known story of a fierce rebellion against the Romans:&“A very good read for anyone interested in ancient military history and historiography.&” —The NYMAS Review In the year AD 9, three Roman legions were crushed by the German warlord Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. This event is well known, but there was another uprising that Rome faced shortly before, which lasted from AD 6 to 9, and was just as intense. This rebellion occurred in the western Balkans—an area roughly corresponding to modern Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, and parts of Serbia and Albania—and it tested the Roman Empire to its limits. For three years, fifteen legions fought in the narrow valleys and forest-covered crags of the Dinaric Mountains in a ruthless war of attrition against an equally ruthless and determined foe, and yet this conflict is largely unknown today. The Great Illyrian Revolt is believed to be the first book ever devoted to this forgotten war of the Roman Empire. Within its pages, we examine the history and culture of the mysterious Illyrian people, the story of how Rome became involved in this volatile region, and what the Roman army had to face during those harrowing three years in the Balkans.
This Was Railroading, Part 1 (This Was Railroading #1)
by George B. AbdillThis is Part 1 of a historical collection of rare photos and true stories about the tracks, trains and trainmen of the Pacific Northwest…including Northern California.Railroading is the massive Mallet and the caboose hop. It is the lonely track walker, the roundhouse rumors, the water tender, the engineer’s long-spouted oil can. It is the age of steam centered in the most romantic field of industry and commerce ever to intrigue Mr. America. And here in this book of beauty and memory is the graphic story of railroading as the “New West” saw it and rode with it.Railroading to author George B. Abdill is the sound and picture of black bulk streaking and shrieking through the night with a jet of steam trailing back along the boiler. He saw and heard this as a boy on an Oregon farm and has carried it in his heart ever since. Now as a Southern Pacific engineer—“hoghead” to you—and a dedicated collector of railroadiana, he raises the lid of his personal locker to all other railroaders, active and armchair.Get into the cab and as Engineer Abdill steams up the grade he’ll spin you tales of the rails and illustrate them with a part of his precious collection, many of these photographs museum pieces of the first water, most of them never before published, all are rare.
This Was Railroading, Part 2 (This Was Railroading #2)
by George B. AbdillThis is Part 2 of a historical collection of rare photos and true stories about the tracks, trains and trainmen of the Pacific Northwest…including Northern California.Railroading is the massive Mallet and the caboose hop. It is the lonely track walker, the roundhouse rumors, the water tender, the engineer’s long-spouted oil can. It is the age of steam centered in the most romantic field of industry and commerce ever to intrigue Mr. America. And here in this book of beauty and memory is the graphic story of railroading as the “New West” saw it and rode with it.Railroading to author George B. Abdill is the sound and picture of black bulk streaking and shrieking through the night with a jet of steam trailing back along the boiler. He saw and heard this as a boy on an Oregon farm and has carried it in his heart ever since. Now as a Southern Pacific engineer—”hoghead” to you—and a dedicated collector of railroadiana, he raises the lid of his personal locker to all other railroaders, active and armchair.Get into the cab and as Engineer Abdill steams up the grade he’ll spin you tales of the rails and illustrate them with a part of his precious collection, many of these photographs museum pieces of the first water, most of them never before published, all are rare.
Out of Mesopotamia
by Salar AbdohInformed by firsthand experience on the battlefronts of Iraq and Syria, Abdoh captures the horror, confusion, and absurdity of combat from a seldom-glimpsed perspective that expands our understanding of the war novel. "Abdoh's powerful novel follows an Iranian war reporter who is torn between his wearying job on the front lines and a civilian existence that he finds increasingly alienating. The book is as much a reflection on memory and art as it is a war story, and Abdoh's writing captures beautifully the absurdity of both the battlefield and modern life." —New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice Saleh, the narrator of Out of Mesopotamia, is a middle-aged Iranian journalist who moonlights as a writer for one of Iran's most popular TV shows but cannot keep himself away from the front lines in neighboring Iraq and Syria. There, the fight against the Islamic State is a proxy war, an existential battle, a declaration of faith, and, for some, a passing weekend affair. After weeks spent dodging RPGs, witnessing acts of savagery and stupidity, Saleh returns to civilian life in Tehran but finds it to be an unbearably dislocating experience. Pursued by his official handler from state security, opportunistic colleagues, and the woman who broke his heart, Saleh has reason to again flee from everyday life. Surrounded by men whose willingness to achieve martyrdom both fascinates and appalls him, Saleh struggles to make sense of himself and the turmoil in his midst. An unprecedented glimpse into "endless war" from a Middle Eastern perspective, Out of Mesopotamia follows in the tradition of the Western canon of martial writers—from Hemingway and Orwell to Tim O'Brien and Philip Caputo—but then subverts and expands upon the genre before completely blowing it apart. Drawing from his firsthand experience of being embedded with Shia militias on the ground in Iraq and Syria, Abdoh gives agency to the voiceless while offering a meditation on war that is moving, humane, darkly funny, and resonantly true
A Stranger in Your Own City: Travels in the Middle East's Long War
by Ghaith Abdul-AhadAn award-winning journalist&’s powerful portrait of his native Baghdad, the people of Iraq, and twenty years of war.&“An essential insider account of the unravelling of Iraq…Driven by his intimate knowledge and deep personal stakes, Abdul-Ahad…offers an overdue reckoning with a broken history.&”—Declan Walsh, author of The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Precarious State&“A vital archive of a time and place in history…Impossible to put down.&”—Omar El Akkad, author of What Strange Paradise The history of reportage has often depended on outsiders—Ryszard Kapuściński witnessing the fall of the shah in Iran, Frances FitzGerald observing the aftermath of the American war in Vietnam. What would happen if a native son was so estranged from his city by war that he could, in essence, view it as an outsider? What kind of portrait of a war-wracked place and people might he present?A Stranger in Your Own City is award-winning writer Ghaith Abdul-Ahad&’s vivid, shattering response. This is not a book about Iraq&’s history or an inventory of the many Middle Eastern wars that have consumed the nation over the past several decades. This is the tale of a people who once lived under the rule of a megalomaniacal leader who shaped the state in his own image; a people who watched a foreign army invade, topple that leader, demolish the state, and then invent a new country; who experienced the horror of having their home fragmented into a hundred different cities.When the &“Shock and Awe&” campaign began in March 2003, Abdul-Ahad was an architect. Within months he would become a translator, then a fixer, then a reporter for The Guardian and elsewhere, chronicling the unbuilding of his centuries-old cosmopolitan city. Beginning at that moment and spanning twenty years, Abdul-Ahad&’s book decenters the West and in its place focuses on everyday people, soldiers, mercenaries, citizens blown sideways through life by the war, and the proliferation of sectarian battles that continue to this day. Here is their Iraq, seen from the inside: the human cost of violence, the shifting allegiances, the generational change.A Stranger in Your Own City is a rare work of beauty and tragedy whose power and relevance lie in its attempt to return the land to the people to whom it belongs.
Red Road from Stalingrad: Recollections of a Soviet Infantryman
by Mansur AbdulinA Soviet infantryman offers a raw and candid look at life and death on the Eastern Front of WWII in this harrowing military memoir. While the average Soviet infantryman survived the battlefield for mere weeks before being killed or wounded, Mansur Abdulin fought on the front ranks for an entire year—and survived to tell his remarkable story. His extensive service pitted him against the German invaders at Stalingrad, Kursk and on the banks of the Dnieper. He therefore saw and engaged in some of the most bitter fighting in all of World War II. Abdulin&’s vivid inside view of the ruthless war on the Eastern Front gives a rare insight into the reality of the fighting as well as the tactics and mentality of the Soviet army. In his own words and with a remarkable clarity, Abdulin describes what combat was like on the ground, face to face with a skilled, deadly and increasingly desperate enemy.
Brothers in Arms: THE EPIC STORY OF THE 761ST TANK BATTALION, WWII'S FORGOTTEN HEROES
by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Anthony WaltonA powerful wartime saga in the bestselling tradition of Flags of Our Fathers, Brothers in Arms recounts the extraordinary story of the 761st Tank Battalion, the first all-black armored unit to see combat in World War II.
The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration
by Frank Abe Floyd Cheung&“An essential volume&” —Hua Hsu, The New YorkerThe collective voice of Japanese Americans defined by a specific moment in time: the four years of World War II during which the US government expelled resident aliens and its own citizens from their homes and imprisoned 125,000 of them in American concentration camps, based solely upon the race they shared with a wartime enemy.A Penguin ClassicThis anthology presents a new vision that recovers and reframes the literature produced by the people targeted by the actions of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress to deny Americans of Japanese ancestry any individual hearings or other due process after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. From nearly seventy selections of fiction, poetry, essays, memoirs, and letters emerges a shared story of the struggle to retain personal integrity in the face of increasing dehumanization – all anchored by the key government documents that incite the action.The selections favor the pointed over the poignant, and the unknown over the familiar, with several new translations among previously unseen works that have been long overlooked on the shelf, buried in the archives, or languished unread in the Japanese language. The writings are presented chronologically so that readers can trace the continuum of events as the incarcerees experienced it.The contributors span incarcerees, their children born in or soon after the camps, and their descendants who reflect on the long-term consequences of mass incarceration for themselves and the nation. Many of the voices are those of protest. Some are those of accommodation. All are authentic. Together they form an epic narrative with a singular vision of America&’s past, one with disturbing resonances with the American present.
The Japan/America Film Wars: World War II Propaganda and its Cultural Contexts (Routledge Library Editions: WW2 #15)
by Abé Mark Nornes and Fukushima YukioWith contributions from noted critics and film historians from both countries, this book, first published in 1994, examines some of the most innovative and disturbing propaganda ever created. It analyses the conflicting images of these films and their effectiveness in defining public perception of the enemy. It also offers pointed commentary on the power of visual imagery to enhance racial tensions and enforce both positive and negative stereotypes of the Other.
The Martyr and the Red Kimono: A Fearless Priest’s Sacrifice and A New Generation of Hope in Japan
by Naoko AbeThe remarkable true story of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, and the two men in war-torn Japan whose lives he changed forever.On the 14th of August 1941, a Polish priest named Maximilian Maria Kolbe was murdered in Auschwitz.Kolbe's life had been remarkable. Fiercely intelligent and driven, he founded a movement of Catholicism and spent several years in Nagasaki, ministering to the 'hidden Christians' who had emerged after centuries of oppression. A Polish nationalist as well as a priest, he gave sanctuary to fleeing refugees and ran Poland's largest publishing operation, drawing the wrath of the Nazis. His death was no less remarkable: he volunteered to die, saving the life of a fellow prisoner.It was an act that profoundly transformed the lives of two Japanese men. Tomei Ozaki was just seventeen when the US dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, destroying his home and his family. Masatoshi Asari worked on a farm in Hokkaido during the war and was haunted by the inhumane treatment of prisoners in a nearby camp. Forged in the crucible of an unforgiving war, both men drew inspiration from Kolbe's sacrifice, dedicating their lives to humanity and justice. Ozaki followed in his footsteps and became a friar. Asari created cherry trees as peace offerings.In The Martyr and the Red Kimono, award-winning author Naoko Abe weaves together a deeply moving and inspirational true story of resistance, sacrifice, guilt and atonement.
The Aliens Step In
by Gene P. AbelIn the final installment of the Defenders of Time science fiction trilogy by Gene P. Able, The Aliens Step In, everything changes. Agent Lou Hessman and his team discover parts of their time travel facility are disappearing. The Chinese spies behind this event have successfully altered the past—and they are using means beyond current human technology that could prove disastrous for the time and space continuum. With only a small window of opportunity before their time travel operation is completely erased, the U. S. team visits the past to try and erase the Chinese attack in the first place. The impacts of interfering with time go far beyond anything Agent Hessman and his intrepid team of time defenders could have imagined—worlds beyond, in fact. Their efforts bring them face-to-face with an alien being, Sonsa Tabbak, who arrives to stop human time travel before a universal catastrophe can occur. What happens next changes everything, everywhere, forever. We are not alone. For more information go to: genepabelbooks.com
Are They Out There?: Diving for Answers In a Sea of Cover-Ups
by Gene P. Abel&“If you're ready to read a realistic approach to the possibility of alien life and whether we are visited by them, you will love Are They Out There? Diving for Answers In a Sea of Cover-Ups.&” – Readers&’ FavoriteNothing in the universe is unique and alone, and therefore in other regions there must be other earths inhabited by different tribes of men and different breeds of beast. - Titus Lucretius, De Rerum Natura circa 50BCE The question, Are They Out There? is not a new one. Since ancient times, humans have wondered about the potential of alien life. Between May 1, 2023, and June 1, 2024, alone, sightings of more than seven hundred unidentified aerial phenomena were reported-and twenty-one of these cases are still under investigation. They can't be explained by common objects. In Are They Out There? retired Colonel Gene P. Abel sifts through the accounts of military professionals and eyewitnesses alike in search of the truth about extra-terrestrial visitors. Discover what Colonel Abel has uncovered, and what the government might not be telling us, in this gripping new look at the history, and potential future impact, of UFOs, and alien contact. A newly released US report on unidentified flying objects says 143 sightings since 2004 remain unexplained. It does not rule out alien activity. - The New York Times, June 25, 2021
Cold Silence (Joe Rush #3)
by James AbelJames Abel--author of the electrifying Joe Rush novels Protocol Zero and White Plague--unleashes another heartstopping thriller in which an unholy plague from the past has been awakened...While trying to alleviate the suffering of thousands in drought-stricken, war-torn Africa, ex-Marine doctor and bio-terror expert Joe Rush receives a plea for help from a member of his old military unit, currently working as a geologist in a chaotic region of Somalia.Joe arrives on the scene to find an entire group showing horrific symptoms of an ancient sickness once thought to be sent as punishment from heaven. But before Joe can get hard evidence identifying the illness, a local warlord takes matters into his own hands--and the proof is gone just as the illness breaks out back in the United States.This outbreak is not a curse from God. It's a well-coordinated, meticulously planned attack with a specific goal that could overturn global stability and kill millions. And the only one who can stop the downfall of civilization is Joe Rush...From the Hardcover edition.
Protocol Zero
by James AbelMarine doctor and bio-terror expert Joe Rush returns in an electrifying new arctic adventure in which an apocalyptic plague threatens all of humanity ...
Vector
by James AbelJoe Rush takes on a new terror, spawned in the Amazon rain forest, that threatens to bring the world to its knees in James Abel's latest bio-thriller, now in paperback.While studying new forms of malaria at an Amazon gold rush, Joe Rush's best friend and partner, Eddie Nakamura, disappears. Learning that many of the sick miners have also vanished, Rush begins a search for Eddie that takes him into the heart of darkness--where while battling for his life, he discovers a secret that may change the world. Thousands of miles away, sick people are starting to flood into U.S. hospitals. When the White House admits that it has received terrorist threats, cities across the Northeast begin to shut down. Rush and his team must journey from one of the most remote spots on Earth to one of the busiest, as the clock ticks toward a kind of annihilation not thought possible. They have even less time than they think to solve the mystery, for the danger--as bad as it is--is about to get even worse.
White Plague (Joe Rush Series #1)
by James AbelIn the frozen waters of the Arctic, Marine bioterror expert Joe Rush races to save a submarine crew from a lethal threat..."The pleas for help stopped coming just after five in the morning, Washington time. <P><P> The Pentagon staffers cleared for handling sensitive messages sat in horror for a moment and then tried other ways to reach the victims. Nothing worked so they called the Director, who phoned me."In the remote, frozen waters of the Arctic Ocean, the high-powered and technically advanced submarine U.S.S. Montana is in peril. Adrift and in flames, the boat--and the entire crew--could be lost. The only team close enough to get to them in time is led by Marine doctor and bio-terror expert Joe Rush.With only thirty-six hours before the surviving crew perish, Joe and his team must race to rescue the Montana and ensure that the boat doesn't fall into enemy hands. <P> Because a fast-approaching foreign submarine is already en route, and tensions may explode.But that's the least of their troubles. For the surviving sailors are not alone on the sub. Something is trapped with them. Something deadly lethal. Something that plagued mankind long ago, when it devastated the entire world. And the crew of the Montana has unknowingly set it free. Now, Joe and his team must not only find a way to save the Montana and her crew, but stop a lethal horror of apocalyptic consequence from being unleashed on all humanity.
Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire
by Alex AbellaAn &“entertaining and fast-paced&” account of the organization that defines the military-industrial complex—and continues to shape our world today (The New York Times Book Review). The RAND Corporation was born in the wake of World War II as a think tank to generate research and analysis for the United States military. It was a magnet for the best and the brightest—and also the most dangerous. RAND quickly became the creator of America&’s anti-Soviet nuclear strategy, attracting such Cold War luminaries as Albert Wohlstetter, Bernard Brodie, and Herman Kahn, who arguably saved us from nuclear annihilation—and unquestionably created the military-industrial complex Eisenhower warned against. In the Kennedy era, RAND analysts and their theories of rational warfare steered our conduct in Vietnam. Those same theories drove our invasion of Iraq forty-five years later, championed by RAND affiliated actors such as Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, and Zalmay Khalilzad. But RAND&’s greatest contribution might be its least known: rational choice theory, a model explaining all human behavior through self-interest. Through it RAND sparked the Reagan-led transformation of our social and economic system, but also unleashed a resurgence of precisely the forces whose existence it denied: religion, patriotism, tribalism. With Soldiers of Reason, Alex Abella shares a &“well-researched&” history of America&’s last half century that casts a new light on our problematic present (San Francisco Chronicle).
National Poetry, Empires and War (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature)
by David AberbachNationalism has given the world a genre of poetry bright with ideals of justice, freedom and the brotherhood of man, but also, at times, burning with humiliation and grievance, hatred and lust for revenge, driving human kind, as the Austrian poet Grillparzer put it, ‘From humanity via nationality to bestiality’. National Poetry, Empires and War considers national poetry, and its glorification of war, from ancient to modern times, in a series of historical, social and political perspectives. Starting with the Hebrew Bible and Homer and moving through the Crusades and examples of subsequent empires, this book has much on pre-modern national poetry but focuses chiefly on post-1789 poetry which emerged from the weakening and collapse of empires, as the idealistic liberalism of nationalism in the age of Byron, Whitman, D’Annunzio, Yeats, Bialik, and Kipling was replaced by darker purposes culminating in World War I and the rise of fascism. Many national poets are the subject of countless critical and biographical studies, but this book aims to give a panoramic view of national poetry as a whole. It will be of great interest to any scholars of nationalism, Jewish Studies, history, comparative literature, and general cultural studies.
Before They Are Hanged: The First Law: Book Two (The First Law Trilogy #2)
by Joe AbercrombieThe second novel in the wildly popular First Law Trilogy from New York Times bestseller Joe Abercrombie. Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It's enough to make a torturer want to run -- if he could even walk without a stick. Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country. Crown Prince Ladisla is poised to drive them back and win undying glory. There is only one problem -- he commands the worst-armed, worst-trained, worst-led army in the world. And Bayaz, the First of the Magi, is leading a party of bold adventurers on a perilous mission through the ruins of the past. The most hated woman in the South, the most feared man in the North, and the most selfish boy in the Union make a strange alliance, but a deadly one. They might even stand a chance of saving mankind from the Eaters -- if they didn't hate each other quite so much. Ancient secrets will be uncovered. Bloody battles will be won and lost. Bitter enemies will be forgiven -- but not before they are hanged.First Law TrilogyThe Blade ItselfBefore They Are HangedLast Argument of KingsFor more from Joe Abercrombie, check out:Novels in the First Law worldBest Served ColdThe HeroesRed Country
Best Served Cold: A First Law Novel
by Joe AbercrombieSpringtime in Styria. And that means war.There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular - a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.Her allies include Styria's least reliable drunkard, Styria's most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that's all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started...Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.
Best Served Cold: A First Law Novel (World of the First Law)
by Joe AbercrombieSpringtime in Styria. And that means war.There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular - a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.Her allies include Styria's least reliable drunkard, Styria's most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that's all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started...Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.
Best Served Cold: A First Law Novel (World of the First Law)
by Joe AbercrombieSpringtime in Styria. And that means war.There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular - a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.Her allies include Styria's least reliable drunkard, Styria's most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that's all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started...Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.
The Heroes: A First Law Novel (World Of The First Law Ser.)
by Joe AbercrombieThey say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbour, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud.Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them.Bremer dan Gorst, disgraced master swordsman, has sworn to reclaim his stolen honour on the battlefield. Obsessed with redemption and addicted to violence, he's far past caring how much blood gets spilled in the attempt. Even if it's his own.Prince Calder isn't interested in honour, and still less in getting himself killed. All he wants is power, and he'll tell any lie, use any trick, and betray any friend to get it. Just as long as he doesn't have to fight for it himself.Curnden Craw, the last honest man in the North, has gained nothing from a life of warfare but swollen knees and frayed nerves. He hardly even cares who wins any more, he just wants to do the right thing. But can he even tell what that is with the world burning down around him?Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts, or even the strongest arms that prevail.Three men. One battle. No Heroes.
The Heroes: A First Law Novel (World of the First Law)
by Joe AbercrombieThey say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbour, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud.Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them.Bremer dan Gorst, disgraced master swordsman, has sworn to reclaim his stolen honour on the battlefield. Obsessed with redemption and addicted to violence, he's far past caring how much blood gets spilled in the attempt. Even if it's his own.Prince Calder isn't interested in honour, and still less in getting himself killed. All he wants is power, and he'll tell any lie, use any trick, and betray any friend to get it. Just as long as he doesn't have to fight for it himself.Curnden Craw, the last honest man in the North, has gained nothing from a life of warfare but swollen knees and frayed nerves. He hardly even cares who wins any more, he just wants to do the right thing. But can he even tell what that is with the world burning down around him?Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts, or even the strongest arms that prevail.Three men. One battle. No Heroes.