The First World War anthology for our time

The selections have extraordinary literary power…they speak with distinctive voices, which echo in the mind

A marvellous collection

This is a unique collection of contemporary accounts – and just as compelling as the work of any historian

A brilliantly fresh, achingly written memoir. Thrilling and frightening on virtually every page . . . Wellum takes you into battle with him. A book for all ages and generations, a treasure

Amazingly fresh and immediate . . . absolutely honest, it is an extraordinarily gripping and powerful story

There have been countless books about the Battle of Britain. But the combination of immediacy - Geoffrey Wellum had jotted down notes in an exercise book at the time - and distance - another 35 years would pass before he expanded his notes into a narrative - gives this account extraordinary depth and resonance . . . First Light will rank among the finest of Second World War memoirs

One of the most gripping personal accounts of aerial warfare ever written

Wellum's story is astonishing . . . moving yet startlingly clear-eyed

No other account of flying in the Battle of Britain has been articulated as well as Geoffrey's in First Light

A brilliantly fresh, achingly written memoir. Thrilling and frightening on virtually page . . . Wellum takes you into battle with him. A book for all ages and generations, a treasure

Amazing fresh and immediate . . . absolutely honest, it is an extraordinarily gripping and powerful story

Weimar Germany… was arty, tolerant, and forward-looking. But other forces lurked. Hett explains these forces, and their devastating effects, superbly well.

Chilling reading … Serves as a warning to the West’s imperilled democracies … Faced with jingoist politicians who resort to poisonous lies, [Hett’s] book fairly proclaims, the forces of democracy can prevail only if they muster courage, resolve and cooperative spirit.

Histories of Nazi Germany can be overwhelming. The Death of Democracy is carefully focused on the conditions and cynical choices that enabled Nazism, in just a few years turning one of the world’s most advanced and liberal societies into a monstrosity. Its author is also that rarity, a specialist who writes lucidly and engagingly. In this post-truth, alternative-facts American moment, The Death of Democracy is essential reading.

The story of how Germany turned from democracy to dictatorship in the fifteen years following World War I is not a simple one. But the moral lessons are exceptionally clear. Benjamin Carter Hett honours that complexity in this account while never straying from the path of moral clarity. An outstanding accomplishment.

Hett’s brisk and lucid study offers compelling new perspectives inspired by current threats to free societies around the world… It is both eerie and enlightening how much of Hett’s account rings true in our time. The larger story he tells resonates, too.

A first-rate history lesson with a surprisingly prescient message for the world of today... Hett's sharp prose and careful use of newfound material not only sets the work apart from that of his peers, but also effectively draws significant (and particularly scary) parallels with current socio-political climates.

Inspirational

Powerful ... hard to put down.

Comparisons to Man's Search for Meaning are natural but this work has the potential to be even more bold.

The distressed fabric of the author's traumatic past becomes a beautiful backdrop for a memoir written with integrity and conviction...A searing, astute study of intensive healing and self-acceptance through the absolution of suffering and atrocity.

A splendidly colourful read ... an enthralling and resonant story of populist politicians, and religious war, and the reshaping of nations

This book’s fascination is as a joint portrait of the royal couple, the most human of historical actors in England’s greatest political drama.

A highly intelligent, fair and sympathetic biography.

[ An] absorbing biography of Charles I

This is a striking insight into both developing contemporary thought and religious controversies

White King is a lively attempt to make him [Charles I] flesh and blood