Ken Bartlett, an Australian sailor in a corvette in the Atlantic, took on a cloak-and-dagger mission into Nazi Germany. It was the start of a long and dangerous trail that led him to suspect that Allied firms traded with Germany and Japan during World War II. After arduous service in corvettes in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, he returned to his job as a journalist and followed the scent of the treason trade. This proved even more hazardous, with the FBI, CIA and thugs hired by the double-dealers out to get him. He achieved a victory - yet it was bitter.
- You cannot add "The Sea And The Snow: Philip Temple" to the cart because the product is out of stock.
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The Darwin Awards, for the uninitiated, are given to those who have removed themselves from the human gene pool in a variety of unusual ways. Such as... the guy who playfully pulled a stripper's pastie off with his teeth - then choked to death on it; the two blokes who found conventional fishing a bit slow and decided to liven it up using dynamite; and the missionary who fearlessly forged into the jungle depths with his wife and two daughters to convert a tribe of satan-worshippers and ended up treating them to lunch. (Detectives on that case say the banquet was quite a lively one.) Plus 177 more stories you would think are tall tales, but are actually true. Walt Disney said that the animal kingdom is the wackiest kingdom of them all, but after reading this, we at the Cauldron think he had it wrong!
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The oldest Biblical manuscripts in existence, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves near Jerusalem in 1947, only to be kept a tightly held secret for nearly fifty more years, until the Huntington Library unleashed a storm of controversy in 1991 by releasing copies of the Scrolls. Baigent and Leigh set out to discover how a small elite of orthodox biblical scholars gained control over the Scrolls, allowing access to no outsiders and issuing a strict "consensus" interpretation. The authors' questions begin in Israel, thence to the Vatican and into the offices of the Inquisition. With the help of independent scholars, historical research and careful analysis of available texts, the authors reveal what was at stake for these orthodox guardians: The Scrolls present startling insights into early Christianity that challenge the Church's version of the "facts" and present a new, highly significant perspective on Christianity. Illustrated with black and white photographs. -
Here is the definitive history of Qantas, tracing the formation of the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, its struggles in outback Queensland, its steady growth and the rivalry as the competition increased. Plenty of archival black and white photographs. -
To mark the centenary of its foundation, the British Security Service, MI5, opened its archives to an independent historian. This is an unprecedented publication, revealing the precise role of the Service in twentieth-century British history, from its foundation by Captain Kell of the British Army in October 1909 to root out 'the spies of the Kaiser' up to its present role in countering Islamic terrorism. It describes the distinctive ethos of MI5, how the organization has been managed, its relationship with the government, where it has triumphed and where it has failed. In all of this, no restriction has been placed on the judgements made by the author. There is also new light cast on many events and periods in British history: that MI5 was probably the pre-war department with the best understanding of Hitler's objectives; the department's success in turning German agents during the Second World War; and that it had much greater roles than has hitherto been realised during the end of the Empire and in responding to the recurrent fears of successive governments (both Conservative and Labour) regarding Cold War/ Communist subversion. It has new information about the Profumo affair and its aftermath, the 'Magnificent Five' and a range of formerly unconfirmed Soviet contacts. Also revealed: although MI5 had a file on Harold Wilson, there was no plot against him; and what really happened during the failed IRA attack in Gibraltar in March 1988. Illustrated with numerous black and white archival photographs. -
As we crowded the decks off Gallipoli and watched the first shells crash into Turkish soil... Trooper Ion L. Idriess of the 5th Australian Light Horse began keeping a diary. Over the next three years as the regiment moved onto Palestine, stormed Beersheba and pushed into the Sinai, his diary grew and became one of the most vivid pieces of war narrative ever written. Unconcerned with grand strategy or moralisations, Idriess records the realities of his war - maggot-ridden trenches crowded with the corpses of his mates, the good friendships, the bad tucker, the heat, the dust, the boredom of desert patrols - and always the fighting and his reactions to it, which reveal far better than mere description, since he was there. The rifle fire grew to a roar that drowned the voice of the man next to me. I felt as a stone age man might feel if volcanoes all around him suddenly spat life and roared...Believed to be Idriess' earliest work. -
Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost ... In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye. -
Pepys (1633 – 1703) was Chief Secretary for the Admiralty under both King Charles II and King James II through patronage, hard work, and his talent for administration. He was later a Member of Parliament but he is more well-known for his diary. The 1660s represent a turning point in English history, and for the main events - the Restoration, the Dutch War, the Great Plague and the Fire of London - Pepys provides a definitive eyewitness account. As well as recording public and historical events, Pepys paints a vivid picture of his personal life, from his socialising and amorous entanglements, to the theatre of the day and his work at the Navy Board. Told with high spirits, keen observation and humor, this enduring memoir serves as a window on the world of a significant decade in history. This edition edited by Ernest Rhys. -
In 1765, eminent botanist Philibert Commerson was appointed official naturalist to a grand new expedition: The first French circumnavigation of the world. Desperate not to be left behind, Jeanne Baret - Commerson's young mistress and collaborator - disguised herself as a teenage boy and signed on as his assistant. Amid deceit and deception she travelled the world, surviving for two years on a boat with over 100 men. When she next set foot on French soil, she had become the first woman to sail around the globe. Yet very little is known about this extraordinary woman - until now. Taken from accounts of Baret's crewmates and Baret's own recently discovered notebook, the author has unravelled this amazing true story.
