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The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington
When Roald Dahl, a dashing young wounded RAF pilot, took up his post at the British Embassy in Washington in 1942, his assignment was to use his good looks, wit, and considerable charm to gain access to the most powerful figures in American political life. A patriot eager to do his part to save his country from a Nazi invasion, he invaded the upper reaches of the U.S. government and Georgetown society, winning over First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband, Franklin; befriending wartime leaders from Henry Wallace to Henry Morgenthau; and seducing the glamorous freshman congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce. Dahl would soon be caught up in a complex web of deception masterminded by William Stephenson, aka Intrepid, Churchill's legendary spy chief, who, with President Roosevelt's tacit permission, mounted a secret campaign of propaganda and political subversion to weaken American isolationist forces, bring the country into the war against Germany, and influence U.S. policy in favor of England. Known as the British Security Coordination (BSC) -- though the initiated preferred to think of themselves as the Baker Street Irregulars in honor of the amateurs who aided Sherlock Holmes -- these audacious agents planted British propaganda in American newspapers and radio programs, covertly influenced leading journalists -- including Drew Pearson, Walter Winchell, and Walter Lippmann -- harassed prominent isolationists and anti-New Dealers, and plotted against American corporations that did business with the Third Reich. In an account better than spy fiction, Jennet Conant shows Dahl progressing from reluctant diplomat to sly man-about-town, parlaying his morale-boosting wartime propaganda work into a successful career as an author, which leads to his entrée into the Roosevelt White House and Hyde Park and initiation into British intelligence's elite dirty tricks squad, all in less than three years. He and his colorful coconspirators -- David Ogilvy, Ian Fleming, and Ivar Bryce, recruited more for their imagination and dramatic flair than any experience in the spy business -- gossiped, bugged, and often hilariously bungled their way across Washington, doing their best to carry out their cloak-and-dagger assignments, support the fledgling American intelligence agency (the OSS), and see that Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented fourth term. It is an extraordinary tale of deceit, double-dealing, and moral ambiguity -- all in the name of victory. Richly detailed and meticulously researched, Conant's compelling narrative draws on never-before-seen wartime letters, diaries, and interviews and provides a rare, and remarkably candid, insider's view of the counterintelligence game during the tumultuous days of World War II..
Price: $13.97
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Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime SarajevoRevised Edition
When Zlata’s Diary was first published at the height of the Bosnian conflict, it became an international bestseller and was compared to The Diary of Anne Frank, both for the freshness of its voice and the grimness of the world it describes. It begins as the day-today record of the life of a typical eleven-year-old girl, preoccupied by piano lessons and birthday parties. But as war engulfs Sarajevo, Zlata Filipovi´c becomes a witness to food shortages and the deaths of friends and learns to wait out bombardments in a neighbor’s cellar. Yet throughout she remains courageous and observant. The result is a book that has the power to move and instruct readers a world away..
Price: $6.93
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The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey
In 1940, Hans and Margret Rey fled their Paris home as the German army advanced They began their harrowing journey on bicycles, pedaling to Southern France with children's book manuscripts among their few possessions. Louise Borden combed primary resources, including Hans Rey's pocket diaries, to tell this dramatic true story. Archival materials introduce readers to the world of Hans and Margret Rey while Allan Drummond dramatically and colorfully illustrates their wartime trek to a new home. Follow the Rey's amazing story in this unique large format book that resembles a travel journal and includes full-color illustrations, original photos, actual ticket stubs and more. A perfect book for Curious George fans of all ages..
Price: $3.15
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U.S. M1 Carbines, Wartime Production, 5th Revised and Expanded Edition
U.S. M1 Carbines, Wartime Production, 5th edition, revised and expanded, by Craig Riesch. ISBN-13 978-1-882391-43-1. The 5th edition of this best-selling bible of the World War II M1 Carbine has been completely revised and expanded. The author, Craig Riesch, has compiled twenty years of surveys and research into this new 237 page volume. The book contains 38 charts and 212 photographs, and fourteen drawings. The book provides a history of the M1 Carbine s development, manufacture and use during World War II, as well as through the Korean War and the war in Vietnam. The M1 Carbine is analyzed and described by its ten manufacturers, model and serial number range. The U.S. Army Ordnance Department required that virtually every part of the M1 Carbine be marked with a manufacturer s or subcontractor s code. Riesch has unraveled the manufacturer s and subcontractor s codes by serial number range and eliminated many spurious codes. Every major and most minor parts can now be conclusively identified by manufacturer and serial number range, making it possible to examine an M1 Carbine to determine its authenticity with a high degree of confidence. Using the charts and photos the collector can identify the manufacturer and period of use for the receiver group, barrel group, trigger housing group, stock group and their component parts. Butt plates by the various manufacturers are shown in full-size photographs for easy identification. All variations of the M1 Carbine are discussed M1, M1A1, and M2 by manufacturer. The aspects that make up the two types of true M1A1 folding stock paratrooper carbines are described and photographed. Serial number ranges for original manufacture of the M1A1 are also included. Reproduction folding stocks are shown and points of difference are identified. The book is divided into six chapters and ten appendices. Each chapter describes a major subgroup of the M1 Carbine: receiver, barrel, trigger assembly, and stock. Chapter six covers.
Price: $14.89
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Marine! The Life of Chesty Puller
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Good Evening Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes (Persephone Classics)
"Boldly published, beautifully designed, dazzlingly written. . . . Profound as Katherine Mansfield, restrained as Jane Austen, sharp as Dorothy Parker."-Felipe Fernndez-Armesto, The Independent For fifty years, Mollie Panter-Downes' name was associated with The New Yorker. She wrote a regular column ("Letter from London"), book reviews, and over thirty short stories about English domestic life during World War Two. Twenty-one of these stories are included in Good Evening Mrs Craven-the first collected volume of her work. Mollie Panter-Downes writes about those coping on the periphery of the war who attend sewing parties, host evacuees sent to the country, and obsess over food and rationing. She captures the quiet moments of fear and courage. Here we find "the mistress, unlike the wife, who has to worry and mourn in secret for her man" and a "middle-aged spinster finds herself alone again when the camaraderie of the air-raids is over." "Don't think I'm being stupid and morbid," she said, "but supposing anything happens. . . . You might be wounded or ill and I wouldn't know." She tried to laugh. "The War Office doesn't have a service for sending telegrams to mistresses, does it?" Mollie Panter-Downes (19061997) published her first novel, The Shoreless Sea, when she was seventeen, which became a bestseller. She wrote three more popular novels as well as articles, short stories, and the very popular column "Letters from London" for The New Yorker. .
Price: $8.40
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The National Gallery in Wartime
On August 23, 1939, with World War II looming, the National Gallery, London, was forced temporarily to close its doors to the public to evacuate the bulk of its collection to secret locations in Wales for safe-keeping. By May 1940, the collection had been transferred to Manod Quarry, a slate mine in the mountains, beneath 200 feet of solid rock. The Gallery, meanwhile, remained “open for business” despite being bombed several times during the Blitz. This enthralling and richly documented book recounts for the first time the story of how the National Gallery functioned during this eventful period. With extensive archival photographs, many of which are published here for the first time, alongside press accounts and Gallery correspondence, it discusses the preparations to move the pictures; the Gallery’s decision to keep the building open for temporary exhibitions and lunchtime concerts fronted by internationally renowned pianist Myra Hess; director Kenneth Clark’s role as chairman of the War Artists Advisory Committee, whose aim was to commission and exhibit pictures recording the war; and the institution of the Picture of the Month, which exhibited in succession 43 of the Gallery’s best-known pictures during the war, and which continues today. .
Price: $16.47
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Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo
THE ASTONISHING STORY OF ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST ANIMAL RESCUES. When the Iraq war began, conservationist Lawrence Anthony could think of only one thing: the fate of the Baghdad Zoo, caught in the cross?re at the heart of the city. Once Anthony entered Iraq he discovered that hostilities and uncontrolled looting had devastated the zoo and its animals. Working with members of the zoo staff and a few compassionate U.S. soldiers, he defended the zoo, bartered for food on war-torn streets, and scoured bombed palaces for desperately needed supplies. Babylon’s Ark chronicles Anthony’s hair-raising efforts to save a pride of Saddam’s lions, close a deplorable black-market zoo, run ostriches through shoot-to-kill checkpoints, and rescue the dictator’s personal herd of Thoroughbred Arabian horses. A tale of the selfless courage and humanity of a few men and women living dangerously for all the right reasons, Babylon’s Ark is an inspiring and uplifting true-life adventure of individuals on both sides working together for the sake of magni?cent wildlife caught in a war zone. .
Price: $8.41
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