The Spanish Armada conjures up images of age-old rivalries, bravery and treachery. However the same Spanish monarch who sent the Armada to invade England in 1588 was, just a few years previously, the King of England and husband of Mary Tudor. This important new book sheds new light on Philip II of Spain, England's forgotten sovereign. Previous accounts of Mary's brief reign have focused on the martyrdom of Protestant dissenters, the loss of English territory, as well as Mary's infamous personality, meaning that her husband Philip has remained in the shadows. In this book, Harry Kelsey uncovers Philip's life — from his childhood and education in Spain, to his marriage to Mary and the political manoeuvrings involved in the marriage contract, to the tumultuous aftermath of Mary's death which ultimately led to hostile relations between Queen Elizabeth and Philip, culminating in the Armada. Focusing especially on the period of Philip's marriage to Mary, Kelsey shows that Philip was, in fact, an active King of England and took a keen interest in the rule of his wife's kingdom. Casting fresh light on both Mary and Philip, as well as European history more generally, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the Tudor era.

«In Rory MacLean's groundbreaking debut travel book, Winston the pig drops on to Uncle Peter's head and kills him dead. Unwilling to be left alone in her house Aunt Zita, a faded Austrian aristocrat and a vivacious eccentric, hijacks her nephew and, together with Winston, sets out on one last ride. The Berlin Wall has fallen only weeks before and Zita is determined to reach across the reopened borders and rediscover her remarkable east European family.In a rattling Trabant the unlikely trio puff and wheeze across the changing continent, following the threads of memory. Zita's relations — the angel of Prague, the Hungarian grave digger who buried Stalin's nose, a dying Romanian propagandist — help tie together the loose ends of her life. They picnic at Auschwitz. They meet Lenin's embalmer. They carry a long-lost corpse over the Carpathian mountains. Through war and revolution, decay and regeneration, «Stalin's Noseis» a surreal and darkly comic ride and a portrait of Europe like no other.»

«Over the course of several months during 1931 and 1932, Robert Byron journeyed to three countries teetering on the brink of change. In Russia, which was stricken by famine, Lenin had just died, Stalin's dictatorship was in its infancy and the Great Terror was yet to begin. Having taken the first commercial flight to India, which took a week, Byron was thrown into the tumultuous last years of the British Raj. Gandhi was imprisoned while rioting and clashes between Hindus and Muslims had become commonplace. Finally Byron entered Tibet, the forbidden country. Exploring the Land of Snows, he saw Tibet as it was when the then Dalai Lama was still ensconced in the Potala Palace, twenty years before China's invasion. Blending classic travel writing with passionate observations on the deeper political and social issues of the time, Byron writes with uncanny prescience of the eventual horrors of the Soviet Union and the downfall of the Raj. As a piece of travel literature, «First Russia, Then Tibet» is compelling and beautifully-written. As a portrait of these countries in the 1930s, it is invaluable. Ultimately, it illuminates the constant quest for meaning that underscored Robert Byron's life and travels.»

I.B.Tauris is delighted to announce the reissue in paperback in three volumes of the definitive, most comprehensive edition, in the finest translations and fully annotated, of the writings of this great filmmaker, theorist and teacher of film -- and one of the most original aesthetic thinkers of the twentieth century. Now in paperback for the first time, Volume 1 documents from the definitive Russian texts the complex course of Sergei Eisenstein's writings during the revolutionary years in the Soviet Union. It presents Eisenstein the innovative aesthetic thinker, socialist artist and humourist, passionately engaged in the debates over the art forms of the future. Importantly, this was also the period of Eisenstein’s great silent masterpieces, The Strike, The Battleship Potemkin, October and The General Line, and of his controversial sojourns in Hollywood and Mexico.

I.B.Tauris is delighted to announce the reissue in paperback in three volumes of the definitive, most comprehensive edition, in the finest translations and fully annotated, of the writings of this great filmmaker, theorist and teacher of film — and one of the most original aesthetic thinkers of the twentieth century. The name of Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948) is synonymous with the idea of montage, as exemplified in his silent classics such as 'The Battleship Potemkin' (1925) and 'October' (1927). In the 1930s his style changed, partly to accommodate the arrival of sound, and his ideas on audio-visual counterpoint developed. Between 1937 and 1940 he elaborated his ideas on montage in a series of essays, most of which remained unpublished until after his death and which are published in English for the first time in this volume. They present the essence of Eisenstein's thinking on cinema and aesthetics more generally and reveal him as one of the most significant philosophers of art of the twentieth century.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) is often proclaimed as the greatest Briton in history and one of the world's eminent leaders. Born into a dazzling political family, Churchill was awkward and eccentric as a young man but flourished in the army, where he served in the North West Frontier, Sudan and during the Second Boer War as a successful war correspondent. As a politician he was brash and petulant, but succeeded in holding most of the major offices of state, acting as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer as well as First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State for War.On the resignation of Neville Chamberlain in 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister and led Britain through one of its darkest moments. Charismatic and adventurous, egotistical, visionary and unconventional, Churchill was an enigma, his life one of paradox. A child of his time, the years of his life spanned two world wars and the rise and fall of the Victorian British Empire. His death marked the end of a British era which gave way to the American century. In this, the definitive biography, Norman Rose brilliantly illuminates the man behind the myth, producing a fresh, balanced and incisive portrait of an extraordinary life and of the legacy that remains undimmed to this day.

This is the true story of a remarkable man who pulled off a seemingly impossible espionage mission in Tokyo, before and during World War II. Richard Sorge, born to a Russian mother and a German father, ran a network of Japanese and Europeans under the noses of Japan's dreaded secret police. From 1933 until he was caught in late 1941, he transmitted priceless secrets to Red Army intelligence. Sorge's espionage group — perhaps the most successful operating in this critical period — kept the Russians informed about Japanese and German intentions, and also helped influence decisions made by these governments.; Sorge's biggest coup was to inform Stalin of the German attack on Russia in 1941, weeks before it occurred — with details of troop deployments, movement of armaments and the actual date of the attack. Abandoned to his fate by Stalin, Sorge became the first European sentenced to death by a Japanese court. After a prolonged ordeal, he was executed in Sugamo prison in 1944.

Far from Moscow and St Petersburg, there lies another Russia. Overlooked by the new urban elites and almost unknown to the West, in the great provincial hinterlands of the Volga River and Siberia, Russians struggle to reconcile their old traditions with the new ways of living. Returning again and again to the deep heartland of this rapidly evolving country from 1992 to the present, Susan Richards struck up some extraordinary friendships. With Anna, a questing journalist struggling to express her passionate spirituality within the rules of the new society. And Natasha, a restless spirit, transplanted from Siberia in a bid to escape the demands of her upper class family and her own demons. And Tatiana and Misha, whose business empire has blossomed from the ashes of the Soviet Union but who, despite all their luxury, seem uneasy in this new world. Through their stories and her own experiences Susan Richards demonstrates how in Russia the past and the present cannot be separated. 'Lost and Found in Russia' is a magical and unforgettable portrait of a society in transition. 'Once again, Susan Richards gives a rare and wonderful evocation of ordinary lives in Russia. People fall in love, fall ill, make money, lose money; some are nobly defeated, some shamelessly successful. Each one tells us more about the lethal tides of recent Russian history than years of newspaper reports.' — Philip Marsden; 'Russia exerts a peculiar pull for English travellers...Susan Richards's version shines because she knows her subjects very well. These are stories of friendships across the miles, not just brief encounters plundered for material...This traveller's tale, with all the absorption and detail of the genre, is also the story of an entire country.' — Anne McElvoy, Evening Standard; 'Lost and Found in Russia is intense reading...bursting with good material...For a rich portrait of the new Russia, grab this off the shelf and skip all those biographies of Vladimir Putin.' — Thomas de Waal, Sunday Times; 'wonderful...Lost and Found in Russia is beautifully written, with arresting images on almost every page... It is a travelogue as rich and compelling as a novel' — Lesley Chamberlain, Independent; 'fascinating...You should buy the book to find out how [the] story ended, as well as what happened when Richards hopped on a cruise down the Volga organised by a mafia boss she had never met.. there is a human optimism that shines out of these hard lives and this loving account of them — an optimism that defies the rational. But then if there is one thing you learn from this book, it is that we must all live beyond the rational.' — Angus MacQueen, Guardian; 'moving, sometimes perplexing, even distressing...Susan Richards combines fluency in Russian with great tact, curiosity and a capacity for friendship which overcomes the barriers that defeat most foreign attempts to chronicle post-Soviet Russia...her book, being a bottom-to-top account, is perhaps equally important (as Anna Politkovskaya's Putin's Russia)...as admirable as it is honest'. — Donald Rayfield, Literary Review

The treacherous mountain passes and blasted desert plains of Afghanistan have been the graveyard of every would-be conquering army since the days of Alexander the Great. With America, Britain and NATO committed to a long-term political and military engagement there, it is imperative to understand the country's complex and bloody history. Afghanistan emerged in the mid-eighteenth century from the collapse of the Persian Safavid Empire and the decline of the Mughal dynasty in India. The nineteenth century saw the country ravaged by the rivalry of warring elites, and their great power supporters. In recent times, Afghanistan has experienced the Soviet invasion of 1979, the Pakistan-backed internal conflict of the 1990s, the Taliban regime and then the US invasion after the catastrophe of 9/11. Today, whilst the US-backed government is struggling to expand its control beyond Kabul, narco-warlords, jihadists and Western troops fight out the battle for control of this strategically vital country. Why has Afghanistan's course of development been so turbulent? Why does it remain so vulnerable to domestic instability, foreign intervention and ideological extremism? In reconstructing the tempestuous narrative of modern Afghanistan, Amin Saikal provides a sweeping new understanding of its troubled past. He identifies the country's inability to develop stable political structures as stemming from the inter-dynastic rivalry (exacerbated by polygamy) that scarred successive royal families from the end of the eighteenth century until the pro-Communist coup of April 1978. Outside interventions further weakened the country internally, preventing socio-economic development and leaving the country ripe for the politics of ideological extremism. Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival is the definitive study of Afghanistan and its troubles. It will be vital reading for all those who are interested in the changing politics of the Middle East and Central Asia.

What turned Adolf Hitler, a relatively normal and apparently unexceptional young man, into the very personification of evil? To answer this question, acclaimed historian Brigitte Hamann has turned to the critical, formative, years that the young Hitler spent in Vienna. As a failing, bitter, and desperately poor artist, Hitler experienced only the dark underbelly of Vienna, which was seething with fear, racial prejudice, anti-Semitism and conservatism. Drawing on previously untapped sources — from personal reminiscences to the records of shelters where Hitler slept — Hamann vividly recreates the dark side of fin de siecle Vienna and paints the fullest and most disturbing portrait of the young Hitler to date.

«Far from Moscow and St Petersburg, there lies another Russia. Overlooked by the new urban elites and almost unknown to the West, in the great provincial hinterlands of the Volga River and Siberia, Russians struggle to reconcile their old traditions with a new and unfamiliar world. Returning again and again, for over a decade, to the deep heartland of this rapidly-evolving country, Susan Richards has encountered extraordinary people and forged lasting friendships. Through their unforgettable stories and her own experiences she reveals how in Russia the past and the present cannot be separated. Illuminating a forgotten people and sweeping away traditional assumptions, «Lost and Found in Russia» is a compelling and essential portrait — poignant, yet full of hope for a new future.»

«As the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq peters out in failure, the historical debate is just beginning. How were we so misled in to such a disastrous war? What were its real goals? What did it achieve? Former UN Weapons inspector Scott Ritter offers a rare first-hand account of the build up to the war, and how the CIA exploited weapons inspections in pursuit of its secret regime-change agenda. The CIA tried to silence him. But in this book, he speaks out. Operating in a fog of espionage and counter-espionage, Ritter and his team were determined to find out the truth about Saddam's WMD after the 1991 Gulf war. The CIA, and Saddam Hussein, were determined to stop them. For the truth, we now know, was that Iraq was playing a deadly game of double-bluff. «Iraq Confidential» charts the disillusionment of a true patriot, who came to realise that his own government was trying to undermine weapons control in the Middle East. A host of characters from MI6 to Qusay Hussein flesh out this powerful story, which is an essential reading for anyone seeking to understand Iraq, the war on terror, and American power.»

As the dreadful reality of the Coalition's defeat in Iraq begins to sink in, one question dominates Washington and London: Why? In this controversial new book, award-winning journalist Jonathan Steele provides a stark and arresting answer: Bush and Blair were defeated from the day they decided to occupy the country. Iraq had enough of foreign armies. Steele describes the memories of centuries of humiliations that have scarred the Iraqi national psyche, creating a powerful and deeply felt nationalism. Drawing his unique access to senior Western policymakers, Steele shows how the key players in the occupying coalition totally failed to inform themselves about this smouldering back history of resentment and suspicion.Drawing on hundreds of interviews with ordinary Iraqis, Steele shows for the first time how the staging posts of the conflict so familiar to Western newspaper readers were seen by the Iraqis themselves. Blending vivid reportage, informed analysis and sweeping historical narrative, 'Defeat' is the definitive anatomy of an historic catastrophe.

«When Ahmadinejad was elected President in June 2005, anxiety replaced election fever amongst many Iranians. To let off steam they told jokes. Why did the new President part his hair so straight? To segregate the male and female lice. But while the laughter died down, the anxiety never went away... «As Iran's nuclear programme accelerates, all eyes are on the blacksmith's son who could have his finger on the trigger. Who is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? What drives him? What formed him? To whom, if anyone, does he answer? Internationally acclaimed journalist Kasra Naji, a native Persian speaker, has spent years in Iran interviewing friends, family and colleagues of the firebrand President to tell for the first time the true story of how he came to power. A picture emerges far more compelling than any of the caricatures offered up so far. While Naji documents the often strange behaviour of Ahmadinejad, with his visions of the Hidden Imam and diatribes against Israel, he also shows him to be full of contradictions: a strange and complex man, at once gripped by apocalyptic beliefs, yet capable of switching spiritual allegiance in the quest for power; a man tough enough to fight street battles in the name of Ayatollah Khomeini during the revolution, who was described by former army comrades as a «coward»; and a man crude enough to invite the German Chancellor to join him in an anti-Jewish alliance, yet sophisticated enough to win the political support of the all-powerful Revolutionary Guard. The unknown Ahmadinejad — revealed here by Naji — is much more of a force to be reckoned with than the bogeyman conjured up by Washington. Naji takes us inside the shadowy council chambers of Tehran, and shows us the plots, passions and personalities that will influence Ahmadinejad's next move, while the world waits with baited breath.»

Eisenstein's last, unfinished masterpiece is a strange, complex and haunting film. Commissioned personally by Stalin in 1941, the project placed Eisenstein in the paradoxical situation of having to glorify Stalinist tyranny in the image of Ivan, without sacrificing his own artistic and political integrity — or his life. Drawing on sources that include Eisenstein's personal archive and the memoirs of those involved in Ivan's making, Joan Neuberger's vivid account reveals how, in almost impossible circumstances, he managed to create a film of cinematic innovation, intellectual depth and political critique. She reveals the film to be both a great work of art and a product of the time and place in which it was made.

Queen Victoria fell in love with the Riviera when she discovered it on her first visit to Menton in 1882 and her enchantment with this 'paradise of nature' endured for almost twenty years. Victoria's visits helped to transform the French Riviera by paving the way for other European royalty, the aristocracy and the very rich, who were to turn it into their pleasure garden. Michael Nelson paints a fascinating portrait of Victoria and her dealings with local people of all classes, statesmen and the constant stream of visiting crown heads. In the process, we see an unexpected side to Victoria: not the imperious, petulant, mourning widow but rather an exuberant girlish old lady thrilled by her surroundings. Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera is an absorbing and revealing account that makes an important contribution to both our understanding of Victoria's character and personality and our view of the late Victorian period.

In the dark twilight of fifteenth-century Europe, the overriding question was how to survive the misery and suffering and violence that seemed to be rushing the world to its end. The answer that came was the conquest of Paradise. 'Christopher Columbus' arrival on a small Bahamian island in 1492 is often judged to be a defining moment in the history of mankind, changing forever the map of the world. The discovery of the Americas opened up horizons and previously unimagined possibilities for the dark and troubled Old World, which greedily plundered its natural wealth and decimated its indigenous populations. Columbus has been both venerated as the great Discoverer and despised as the progenitor of centuries of aggressive colonisation and the destruction of fragile cultures. Now, 500 years after his death in the heart of Castille, comes a fresh reassessment of the man and his legacy. Kirkpatrick Sale uniquely examines the global consequences of the Discovery, revealing the colossal impact this brief moment in history had on a continent and on the world.

This is an account of Soviet documentary output during the years between the Great October Socialist Revolution and the Great Patriotic War. Graeme Roberts re-views the examples of Soviet, and world, non-fiction cinema, like The Man With the Movie Camera and The Fall of the Romanovs, and uncovers many intriguing films. He discusses the careers of the men and women who made them, including Vertov, Shub, Medvedkin and Karmen, and investigates the problems of analysis and context, offering insights into that context. The text demonstrates how, through looking as the history of Soviet non-fiction film, it becomes possible to gain insight into the agencies that shaped Soviet culture and history under Stalinist regime into and beyond the 1930s.

The arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the head of the Yukos oil company, in October 2003, was a key turning point in modern Russian history. From being one of the world's richest and most powerful men, Khodorkovsky became Putin's prisoner. After two controversial trials, attracting widespread international condemnation, Khodorkovsky was sentenced to fourteen years in jail. In this book, Richard Sakwa examines the rise and fall of Yukos and considers the relationship between Putin's state and big business during Russia's traumatic shift from the Soviet planned economy to capitalism, as well as Russia's emergence as an energy superpower. The attack on Khodorkovsky had — and continues to have — far-reaching political and economic consequences but it also raises fundamental questions about the quality of freedom in Putin's Russia as well as in the world at large.

As surreal images become ever more common through the ease of computer manipulation, the place in history occupied by Surrealism and the Surrealists can easily be lost to sight. This challenging re-evaluation of the status and use of photographic images in historical Surrealism puts Surrealism's fundamental issues back into the framework of its historical purpose and function. David Bate examines automatism and the photographic image, the Surrealist passion for insanity, ambivalent use of Orientalism, use of Sadean philosophy and the effect of fascism of the Surrealists. The book is illustrated wtih a wide range of surrealist photographs.