Berlin: Life and Loss in the City That Shaped The Century by Sinclair McKay

$50.00 NZD

Category: History

The Sunday Times-bestselling author of Dresden returns with a monumental biography of the city that defined the twentieth century - Berlin Throughout the twentieth century, Berlin stood at the centre of a convulsing world. This history is often viewed as separate acts: the suffering of the First World W The Sunday Times-bestselling author of Dresden returns with a monumental biography of the city that defined the twentieth century - Berlin Throughout the twentieth century, Berlin stood at the centre of a convulsing world. This history is often viewed as separate acts: the suffering of the First World War, the cosmopolitan city of science, culture and sexual freedom Berlin became, steep economic plunges, the rise of the Nazis, the destruction of the Second World War, the psychosis of genocide, and a city rent in two by competing ideologies. But people do not live their lives in fixed eras. An epoch ends, yet the people continue - or try to continue - much as they did before. Berlin tells the story of the city as seen through the eyes not of its rulers, but of those who walked its streets. In this magisterial biography of a city and its inhabitants, bestselling historian Sinclair McKay sheds new light on well-known characters - from idealistic scientist Albert Einstein to Nazi architect Albert Speer - and draws on never-before-seen first-person accounts to introduce us to people of all walks of Berlin life. For example, we meet office worker Mechtild Evers, who in her efforts to escape an oncoming army runs into even more appalling jeopardy, and Reinhart Cruger, a 12-year-old boy in 1941 who witnesses with horror the Gestapo coming for each of his Jewish neighbours in turn. Ever a city of curious contrasts, moments of unbelievable darkness give way to a wry Berliner humour - from banned perms to the often ridiculous tit-for-tat between East and West Berlin - and moments of joyous hope - like forced labourers at a jam factory warmly welcoming their Soviet liberators. How did those ideologies - fascism and communism - come to flower so fully here? And how did their repercussions continue to be felt throughout Europe and the West right up until that extraordinary night in the autumn of 1989 when the Wall - that final expression of totalitarian oppression - was at last breached? You cannot understand the twentieth century without understanding Berlin; and you cannot understand Berlin without understanding the experiences of its people. Drawing on a staggering breadth of culture - from art to film, opera to literature, science to architecture - McKay's latest masterpiece shows us this hypnotic city as never before. ...Show more

British Spy Manual: The Authentic Special Operations Executive (SOE) Guide for WW II by Sinclair McKay (Foreword by); Imperial War Museum Staff

$47.99 NZD

Category: History

Imagine sitting behind a desk, in a classroom, miles from anywhere in the English countryside, alongside dozens of fellow students, dreaming of being parachuted into Occupied France to undertake daring missions against Hitler's forces. What were you taught? What text books did they give you, and what h Imagine sitting behind a desk, in a classroom, miles from anywhere in the English countryside, alongside dozens of fellow students, dreaming of being parachuted into Occupied France to undertake daring missions against Hitler's forces. What were you taught? What text books did they give you, and what homework and exams were you expected to pass in order to make the grade?    We now publish the classroom dossier that all secret agents being trained for missions against the Axis forces in the Second World War were supplied with and expected to implement when on service. Full of colourful and imaginative drawings, photographs and diagrams the two-volume set represents a unique piece of British military history at your finger tips. From techniques in camouflage, to setting up communications, concealing weapons caches and constructing booby traps - this is the original text book our heroes learned, to ply their trade to deadly effect. ...Show more

Meeting Churchill: A Life in 90 Encounters by Sinclair McKay

$39.99 NZD

$45.00 (11% off)

Category: No Category

Churchill through the eyes of those who met him, published for the 150th anniversary of his birth This insightful portrait of Winston Churchill delves beyond well-known political moments, incorporating perspectives from various individuals who encountered him throughout his life. From Bletchley Park cod Churchill through the eyes of those who met him, published for the 150th anniversary of his birth This insightful portrait of Winston Churchill delves beyond well-known political moments, incorporating perspectives from various individuals who encountered him throughout his life. From Bletchley Park codebreakers to Hollywood stars, Harold Wilson to Gandhi, these lesser-known interactions reveal glimpses of the man behind the legend. We meet Churchill the mischievous schoolboy with a penchant for singing obscene songs, and Churchill the elder statesman shedding a tear in the House of Commons smoking room. Other incidents include a young journalist rudely dismissing a call from Churchill as a prank, and a visiting Dwight D. Eisenhower dreaming of being strangled, only to awake entangled in Churchill's borrowed nightshirt. The book showcases the profound transformations during Churchill's lifetime, which ran from Benjamin Disraeli's premiership to the release of the Rolling Stones' Route 66, and the shift from steam to atomic power. Examining controversial aspects of his legacy, this multifaceted portrait challenges preconceived notions, inviting readers to reconsider the complexities of Churchill. ...Show more

The Bletchley Park: The Secret Archives by Sinclair McKay

$55.00 NZD

Category: History

This is beautifully presented collector's edition of the best selling title, The Lost World of Bletchley Park is a comprehensive illustrated history of this remarkable place, from its prewar heyday as a country estate, its wartime requisition and how it became the place where modern computing was invent This is beautifully presented collector's edition of the best selling title, The Lost World of Bletchley Park is a comprehensive illustrated history of this remarkable place, from its prewar heyday as a country estate, its wartime requisition and how it became the place where modern computing was invented and the German Enigma code was cracked, to its post-war dereliction and then rescue towards the end of the twentieth century as a museum. Removable memorabilia includes: 1938 recruiting memo with a big tick against Turing's name Churchill's 'Action this day' letter giving code breakers extra resources Handwritten Turing memos Top Secret Engima decryptions, about the sinking of the Bismark, German High Command's assessment of D-Day threat and the message announcing Hitler's suicide A wealth of everyday items such as authentic theatre posters, a map of Bletchley Park, canteen menus, teleprinter print-outs of codes, the Colossus paper tape spooled through machines Newly redesigned interiors with 25% new content, high end slipcase package featuring removable facsimile documents, this is an essential purchase for everyone interested and wanting to experience the place where code-breaking helped to win the war. ...Show more

The Lost World of Bletchley Park : The Illustrated History of the Wartime Codebreaking Centre by Sinclair McKay

$45.00 NZD

Category: History | Reading Level: good-very good

The first comprehensive illustrated history of a remarkable Victorian mansion in Buckinghamshire that played such an important role in British history. From its prewar heyday as a country estate under the Liberal MP Sir Herbert Leon, through its wartime requisition with the addition of the famous huts w The first comprehensive illustrated history of a remarkable Victorian mansion in Buckinghamshire that played such an important role in British history. From its prewar heyday as a country estate under the Liberal MP Sir Herbert Leon, through its wartime requisition with the addition of the famous huts within the grounds, to become the place where modern computing was invented and the German Enigma code was cracked, its post-war dereliction and then rescue towards the end of the twentieth century as an engrossing museum of wartime codebreaking whose visitor numbers have more than doubled in the last five years. Featuring over 200 photographs, some previously unseen, this is a complete and comprehensive guide to a country estate that played in pivotal role in winning the war against the Nazis. ...Show more

The Secret Life of Bletchley Park: The History of the Wartime Codebreaking Centre by the Men and Women Who Were There by Sinclair McKay

$24.99 NZD

Category: History | Reading Level: very good

Bletchley Park was where one of the warOCOs most famous OCo and crucial OCo achievements was made: the cracking of GermanyOCOs OC EnigmaOCO code in which its most important military communications were couched.This country house in the Buckinghamshire countryside was home to BritainOCOs most brilliant m Bletchley Park was where one of the warOCOs most famous OCo and crucial OCo achievements was made: the cracking of GermanyOCOs OC EnigmaOCO code in which its most important military communications were couched.This country house in the Buckinghamshire countryside was home to BritainOCOs most brilliant mathematical brains, like Alan Turing, and the scene of immense advances in technology OCo indeed, the birth of modern computing. The military codes deciphered there were instrumental in turning both the Battle of the Atlantic and the war in North Africa.But, though plenty has been written about the boffins, and the codebreaking, fictional and non-fiction OCo from Robert Harris and Ian McEwan to Andrew HodgesOCO biography of Turing OCo what of the thousands of men and women who lived and worked there during the war? What was life like for them OCo an odd, secret territory between the civilian and the military?Sinclair McKayOCOs book is the first history for the general reader of life at Bletchley Park, and an amazing compendium of memories from people now in their eighties OCo of skating on the frozen lake in the grounds (a depressed Angus Wilson, the novelist, once threw himself in) OCo of a youthful Roy Jenkins, useless at codebreaking, of the high jinks at nearby accommodation hostels OCo and of the implacable secrecy that meant girlfriend and boyfriend working in adjacent huts knew nothing about each otherOCOs work.Pre-order the new book, Secret Listeners, by Sinclair McKay. Published on October 4, 2012.Before Bletchley Park could break the German war machineOCOs code, its daily military communications had to be monitored and recording by OC the Listening ServiceOCO - the wartime department whose bases moved with every theatre of war: Cairo, Malta, Gibraltar, Iraq, Cyprus, as well as having listening stations along the eastern coast of Britain to intercept radio traffic in the European theatre. This is the story of the - usually very young - men and women sent out to farflung outposts to listen in for Bletchley Park, an oral history of exotic locations and ordinary lives turned upside down by a sudden remote posting - the heady nightlife in Cairo, filing cabinets full of snakes in North Africa, and flights out to Delhi by luxurious flying boat." ...Show more

The Secret Life of Fighter Command by McKay Sinclair

$0.00 NZD

Category: History

The Secret Listeners: How the Y service intercepted the secret German codes for Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay

$36.99 NZD

Category: History

Before Bletchley Park could break the German war machineÂ’s code, its daily military communications had to be monitored and recorded by 'the Listening Service', the wartime department whose bases moved with every theatre of war (Cairo, Malta, Gibraltar, Iraq, Cyprus) as well as having listening stations Before Bletchley Park could break the German war machineÂ’s code, its daily military communications had to be monitored and recorded by 'the Listening Service', the wartime department whose bases moved with every theatre of war (Cairo, Malta, Gibraltar, Iraq, Cyprus) as well as having listening stations along the eastern coast of Britain to intercept radio traffic in the European theatre. This is the story of the - usually very young - men and women sent out to farflung outposts to listen in for Bletchley Park, an oral history of exotic locations and ordinary lives turned upside down by a sudden remote posting - the heady nightlife in Cairo, filing cabinets full of snakes in North Africa, and flights out to Delhi by luxurious flying boat. ...Show more

The Spies of Winter: The GCHQ Codebreakers Who Fought the Cold War by Sinclair McKay

$21.99 NZD

Category: History

In 1945 the Second World War was over and a shattered world faced the future. For the men and women of the newly formed GCHQ, however, the next global conflict had already begun. Following on from the enormous success of his bestseller, The Secret Life of Bletchley Park, renowned author Sinclair McKay u In 1945 the Second World War was over and a shattered world faced the future. For the men and women of the newly formed GCHQ, however, the next global conflict had already begun. Following on from the enormous success of his bestseller, The Secret Life of Bletchley Park, renowned author Sinclair McKay uncovers the story of what happened after the end of the Second World War Once victory was declared, many of the individuals who had achieved the seemingly impossible at Bletchley Park by cracking the impenetrable Enigma codes and giving the Allies an invaluable insight directly into the Nazi war machine, moved on to GCHQ. This was the British government's new facility established to fight a different, but no less formidable foe - Stalin and the KGB. Fascinating and insightful revelations from deep within the archives of this secret organisation reveal the story of the tumultuous early years of GCHQ as it navigated its way through an era of double agents, deception and betrayals. From the defection of the Cambridge Five and the treachery of the atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs, to the collapse of the British Empire, the ascension of Chairman Mao and the emergence of the US as a superpower, McKay deftly explores the impact these events had on the fledgling organisation. During the years of the Cold War the men and women of GCHQ penetrated Soviet encryptions and gathered crucial intelligence from all over the world. The Spies of Winter tells the story of the codebreakers themselves and how they used new technology to expand the horizons of cryptography in order to defend the nation and maintain the fragile peace in a world now under the shadow of nuclear holocaust. ...Show more