Foreign Shores is the true story of Theodor Terhorst, a former German soldier held as a prisoner-of-war in England. Growing up in a small village in Nazi Germany, Theodor, like many other impressionable boys of his age, was a willing participant in the rallies and events organized by the Hitler Youth.Called up in 1944 at the age of seventeen, he underwent training as a member of the elite parachute regiment before being posted to northern France. Wounded in heavy fighting during the allied invasion of Normandy, Theodor was evacuated to Guernsey in the Channel Islands where, after recovering from his wounds, he was subjected to the horror of gradual starvation. Eventually captured when the islands were liberated, he was shipped back to England as a prisoner-of-war. Weak and emaciated after his ordeal, he was hospitalized and given a special diet to gain weight before being sent to a POW camp in Shropshire.By the end of 1945 with hostilities over, prisoners were allowed to work outside the camps, but many were prevented from returning to Germany in contravention of the Geneva Convention. Theodor was one of those and sent to work as a labourer on a nearby farm where he met and fell in love with the farmer’s eldest daughter.Some years later Theodor returned to his homeland to try and settle down, but his experience was an unhappy one. Convinced that he is resented by many people for his healthy young family, his prosperity and even for the simple fact that he is still alive, he returns to England where he spends the remainder of his life, developing a sense of belonging and love for the land against which he had once fought.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

This work argues that logistics in warfare is crucial to achieving strategic success. The author identifies logistical capabilities as an arbiter of opportunity, which plays a critical role in determining which side will hold the strategic iniative in war. Armies which have secured reliable resources of supply have a great advantage in determining the time and manner in which engagements take place. Often, they can fight in ways their opponents cannot. The author illustrates this point with case studies of British logistics during the Burma campaign in the World War II, American logistical innovations during the Pacific War, Communist supply methods during the American phase of the Vietnam War and the competing logistical systems of both NATO and Warsaw Pact conventional forces during the Cold War.

What did it mean to be Roman once the Roman Empire had collapsed in the West? Staying Roman examines Roman identities in the region of modern Tunisia and Algeria between the fifth-century Vandal conquest and the seventh-century Islamic invasions. Using historical, archaeological and epigraphic evidence, this study argues that the fracturing of the empire's political unity also led to a fracturing of Roman identity along political, cultural and religious lines, as individuals who continued to feel 'Roman' but who were no longer living under imperial rule sought to redefine what it was that connected them to their fellow Romans elsewhere. The resulting definitions of Romanness could overlap, but were not always mutually reinforcing. Significantly, in late antiquity Romanness had a practical value, and could be used in remarkably flexible ways to foster a sense of similarity or difference over space, time and ethnicity, in a wide variety of circumstances.

“Monumental… [A] vast and detailed study that is surely the finest single-volume history of World War II. Richard Overy has given us a powerful reminder of the horror of war and the threat posed by dictators with dreams of empire.” – The Wall Street Journal A thought-provoking and original reassessment of World War II, from Britain’s leading military historian A New York Times bestseller Richard Overy sets out in Blood and Ruins to recast the way in which we view the Second World War and its origins and aftermath. As one of Britain’s most decorated and respected World War II historians, he argues that this was the “last imperial war,” with almost a century-long lead-up of global imperial expansion, which reached its peak in the territorial ambitions of Italy, Germany and Japan in the 1930s and early 1940s, before descending into the largest and costliest war in human history and the end, after 1945, of all territorial empires. Overy also argues for a more global perspective on the war, one that looks broader than the typical focus on military conflict between the Allied and Axis states. Above all, Overy explains the bitter cost for those involved in fighting, and the exceptional level of crime and atrocity that marked the war and its protracted aftermath—which extended far beyond 1945. Blood and Ruins is a masterpiece, a new and definitive look at the ultimate struggle over the future of the global order, which will compel us to view the war in novel and unfamiliar ways. Thought-provoking, original and challenging, Blood and Ruins sets out to understand the war anew.