Two thousand years ago the name of France was Gaul. When Julius Caesar invaded the country, some fifty years before the birth of Christ, he found it divided into three principal parts: there was Aquitaine, the land of springs and waters, extending, in the southwest, from the ocean to the Garonne, already a land of pleasant life, rich in commerce and refinement; there was Celtic Gaul, the west, which reached from the Atlantic to the Marne and the Seine; and there was Belgian Gaul (as Caesar calls it), that north-eastern space between the Seine and the Rhine: an expanse which roughly corresponds to the provinces devastated by the Great War. Metz, Toul, Verdun, Soissons, Châlons, Saint-Quentin, Arras, Toumai, Cambrai, Noyon, Beauvais, Amiens, and Boulogne were even then the towns of Belgian Gaul. And the inhabitants of these districts, said the Roman General, are braver than any others "because not corrupted by the culture and humanities of the Roman Province [that is to say Provence, already completely Latinized] nor made effeminate by the passage of our merchants."

Author McLynn explores the Promethean legend from his Corsican roots, through the chaotic years of the French Revolution and his extraordinary military triumphs, to the coronation in 1804, to his fatal decision in 1812 to add Russia to his seemingly endless conquests, and his ultimate defeat, imprisonment, and death in Saint Helena. McLynn aptly reveals the extent to which Napoleon was both existential hero and plaything of fate, mathematician and mystic, intellectual giant and moral pygmy, great man and deeply flawed human being.

When Julius Caesar invaded the country, some fifty years before the birth of Christ, he found it divided into three principal parts: there was Aquitaine, the land of springs and waters, extending, in the southwest, from the ocean to the Garonne, already a land of pleasant life, rich in commerce and refinement; there was Celtic Gaul, the west, which reached from the Atlantic to the Marne and the Seine; and there was Belgian Gaul (as Caesar calls it), that north-eastern space between the Seine and the Rhine: an expanse which roughly corresponds to the provinces devastated by the Great War.

When Julius Caesar invaded the country, some fifty years before the birth of Christ, he found it divided into three principal parts: there was Aquitaine, the land of springs and waters, extending, in the southwest, from the ocean to the Garonne, already a land of pleasant life, rich in commerce and refinement; there was Celtic Gaul, the west, which reached from the Atlantic to the Marne and the Seine; and there was Belgian Gaul (as Caesar calls it), that north-eastern space between the Seine and the Rhine: an expanse which roughly corresponds to the provinces devastated by the Great War...

DIARIES OF A STRETCHER-BEARER is the story of a family that came to Australia before WWI and found itself immersed in the war with four family members taking part. It is a day-to-day account of the heroism of the stretcher-bearers during WWI. These men walked out into no man's land, picked up the wounded and dying and struggled back to their own trenches through the glutinous Somme mud under fire from German snipers. Intertwined in the book is the story of another brother evacuated from Gallipoli with typhoid fever. It tells of his whirlwind romance with the English Nurse who nursed him back to health, and the tragic end of their romance in a Royal Flying Corps training crash. Throughout the book the author maintains his steadfast spirit in finding the lighter side of war. Contrasting the horror of war are stories of army idiocy and the camaraderie of true mateship. DIARIES OF A STRETCHER-BEARER is a book that reveals both the best and worst of human nature.

The second edition of this bestselling narrative history has been revised and expanded to reflect recent scholarship. The book traces the transformation of England during the Tudor-Stuart period, from feudal European state to a constitutional monarchy and the wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth. Written by two leading scholars and experienced teachers of the subject, assuming no prior knowledge of British history Provides student aids such as maps, illustrations, genealogies, and glossary This edition reflects recent scholarship on Henry VIII and the Civil War Extends coverage of the Reformations, the Rump and Barebone's Parliament, Cromwellian settlement of Ireland, and the European, Scottish, and Irish contexts of the Restoration and Revolution of 1688-9 Includes a new section on women’s roles and the historiography of women and gender Click here for more discussion and debate on the authors’ blogspot: http://earlymodernengland.blogspot.com/ [Wiley disclaims all responsibility and liability for the content of any third-party websites that can be linked to from this website. Users assume sole responsibility for accessing third-party websites and the use of any content appearing on such websites. Any views expressed in such websites are the views of the authors of the content appearing on those websites and not the views of Wiley or its affiliates, nor do they in any way represent an endorsement by Wiley or its affiliates.]