Oorlog en vrede
Rain of Ruin
A Telegraph Book of the Year 2025
A History Extra History Book of the Year 2025
'A short but quietly devastating book, in which Overy adds new perspectives to a subject that has often been approached from a narrowly American angle... Overy's book is a sombre reminder that the border between civilisation and savagery is wafer-thin.' - Philip Snow, Literary Review
In the closing months of the Second World War hundreds of thousands of Japanese, mostly civilians, died in a final outburst of violence from the air. American planes were beginning to run low on plausible targets when it was decided to use two atomic weapons in a final, terrible flourish to try to end the war.
Richard Overy’s remarkable new book rethinks how we should regard this last stage of the war and the role of the bombing. This book explores the way in which the willingness to kill civilians and destroy cities became normalized in the course of a horrific war as moral concerns were blunted and scientists, airmen, and politicians followed a strategy of mass destruction they would never have endorsed before the war began. But it also engages with the new scholarship that shows how complex the effort to end the war was in Japan, where ‘surrender’ was entirely foreign to Japanese culture. Lees meer
Reflections on the Russia-Ukraine War
Refugee
This action-packed novel tackles topics both timely and timeless: courage, survival, and the quest for home.
JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world . . .
ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America . . .
MAHMOUD is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe . . . All three kids go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge.
All will face unimaginable dangers -- from drownings to bombings to betrayals.
But there is always the hope of tomorrow.
And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, shocking connections will tie their stories together in the end.
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Regen van verwoesting
Met ‘Regen van verwoesting’ doet historicus Richard Overy een belangrijke bijdrage aan een voortdurend debat: was de inzet van bommen en kernwapens tegen Japan in 1945 gerechtvaardigd?
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Resistance
*WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2023*
*A NEW YORKER BOOK OF THE YEAR*
'The best book about the subject I have ever read' Max Hastings, Sunday Times
A sweeping history of occupation and resistance in war-torn Europe, from the acclaimed author of The Eagle Unbowed
Across the whole of Nazi-ruled Europe the experience of occupation was sharply varied. Some countries - such as Denmark - were within tight limits allowed to run themselves. Others - such as France - were constrained not only by military occupation but by open collaboration. In a historical moment when Nazi victory seemed permanent and irreversible, the question 'why resist?' was therefore augmented by 'who was the enemy?'.
Resistance is an extraordinarily powerful, humane and haunting account of how and why all across Nazi-occupied Europe some people decided to resist the Third Reich. This could range from open partisan warfare in the occupied Soviet Union to dangerous acts of defiance in the Netherlands or Norway. Some of these resistance movements were entirely home-grown, others supported by the Allies.
Like no other book, Resistance shows the reader just how difficult such actions were. How could small bands of individuals undertake tasks which could lead not just to their own deaths but those of their families and their entire communities?
Filled with powerful and often little-known stories, Halik Kochanski's major new book is a fascinating examination of the convoluted challenges faced by those prepared to resist the Germans, ordinary people who carried out exceptional acts of defiance and resistance.
'A superb, myth-busting survey of the many ways in which the subjugated peoples of Europe tried to fight back' Saul David, Daily Telegraph
Samurai
It is 1615, and the samurai, Japan’s elite fighting class, are at the zenith of their powers. Trained in every manner of combat, from sword-fighting and archery to karate and jujitsu, the samurai warrior is the emperor’s last line of defense against the barbarians of Japan and beyond.
Learn how to master the "Way of the Warrior," know whom you should kill, and what to do with their heads afterward. Discover what the cultured samurai does between battles, how to storm or lay siege to a castle, and how to conduct a tea ceremony with Zen-like composure. With this handy guide you will never be at a loss should you need to command and maintain an army—you will even know how to prepare for entry into the White Jade Pavilion after your death.
Now available in a new paperback edition, this handy manual explains everything you need to know about maintaining the honor of the samurai class both on and off the battlefield.
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