War History in Braille (Word)
War: Non-Fiction
Braille - Grade 2. Compiled: 2007.
The titles in this booklist are just a selection of the titles available for loan from the RNIB National Library Service braille collection.
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British military greats. 2004. 3v.
Experts and enthusiasts in the field of military history and culture examine 40 military figures, events and wartime objects that shaped and inspired Britain's politics, social activity and even entertainment. Pioneering leaders like Alfred the Great and Boadicea sit alongside the spectacular bravery of the Spanish Armada's defeat and the Charge of the Light Brigade, and the pride and motivation given to soldiers by figures such as Lawrence of Arabia and Winston Churchill.
Adie, Kate.
Corsets to camouflage: women and war. 2004. Coming soon.
Uniform is universally seen as both a stamp of authority and of official acceptance. But the sight of a woman in military uniform still provokes controversy. Although more women are now taking prominent roles in combat, the status implied by uniform is often regarded as contrary to the general perception of womanhood. In association with the Imperial War Museum, this is the first book to look at the image of uniformed women, both in conflict and in civilian roles throughout the twentieth century.
Adie, Kate.
The kindness of strangers: the autobiography. 2002. 9v.
Kate Adie has courageously reported from all over the world since she joined the BBC in 1969. These memoirs encompass her reporting from, the siege at the Iranian embassy which shot her to public acclaim, to an alarming encounter with a drunken Libyan army commander who shot her at point-blank range, the chaos and mayhem of desert warfare to Gracie Field's bizarre funeral, Northern Ireland and Tiananmen Square.
Adkins, Roy and Adkins, Lesley.
The war for all the oceans: from Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo. 2006. 13v.
Brought vividly to life by the words and stories of people caught up in the conflict, this is a sweeping history of the years of naval warfare that set the balance of power in Europe for the following century. Encompassing gallant duels between single ships, bloody battles between huge fleets, daring coastal raids, amphibious assaults on naval bases and the subtleties of espionage and naval intelligence, this global conflict was the war for all the oceans.
Aharoni, Zvi.
Operation Eichmann: the truth about the pursuit, capture and trial. 1998. 5v. UK Loan only.
Written by the Israeli Mossad agent who was involved in the capture of Adolf Eichmann, this book tells the story of how he went to South America, tracked down the former German officer, captured and interrogated him, and was present throughout Eichmann's trial. This is the English translation. This is the inside story of history's most notorious manhunt, told by its chief protagonist. Aharoni traced Eichmann to his hideout in Argentina, and with others, plotted to capture Eichmann and smuggle him out to Israel to face trail. Eichmann was found guilty of instigating the killing of millions of Jews, and went calmly to his death in 1962. He showed no remorse: he had been "obeying orders".
Asbridge, Thomas S.
The first crusade: a new history. 2004. 9v. UK Loan only.
Nine hundred years ago Western Europe was ignited by a call to Holy War. Tens of thousands of Christians left their homes to recapture the city of Jerusalem from Islam. For four years these First Crusaders endured shattering exhaustion, deadly disease, wretched starvation and bloodthirsty battle on the road to the Holy Land. Stricken by thirst in the blistering summer heat, some resorted to drinking horses' blood; others, destitute in mid-winter, turned to cannibalism. Only a fraction survived the journey.
Barbary, James.
Puritan & cavalier: the English civil war. 1977. 3v. UK Loan only.
The author has written an account of the military events of the English Civil War during the years 1642-1649, setting them firmly in the context of the political background of the war but to appeal directly to the reader's imagination with his vivid presentations of the battles and sieges, and to stimulate interest in the human aspect, often overlooked in history books.
Beevor, Antony.
The Spanish Civil War. 2001. 9v.
The author describes in detail the major events of the Spanish Civil War, from the coup d'etat in the summer of 1936 to the final defeat of the Republicans in 1939. He traces the roots of the war, the course of the fighting, and each of the key campaigns and battles. He also unravels the complex of different factions who fought, each with their separate ideologies, and describes the self-interested motives which brought foreign powers into what was to become one of the most bitterly fought wars of modern times.
Bell, Martin.
Through gates of fire: a journey into world disorder. 2003. 3v.
Martin Bell uses his personal experiences as a reporter of eleven wars, and independent MP, to write an impassioned, heartfelt and coruscating call to arms. The three central themes are the way in which war, politics and journalism have changed beyond all recognition in the past thirty years. As Kofi Annan said, we have entered the 21st century 'through gates of fire' and Bell pleads with poetic conviction for a stark reappraisal of the world we're creating for ourselves.
Bennett, Michael J.
The Battle of Bosworth. 1985. 4v.
Richard III, king of England, lost his life and the Plantagenet line came to an end. But what do we really know of the battle which became known as Bosworth Field? How do we separate fact from legend? The author provides an authoritative reconstruction of the battle: the background of war and the politics in the thirty years before Bosworth, beginning with the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses.
Bishop, Patrick.
Fighter boys: saving Britain 1940. 2004. 6v.
The Battle of Britain, fought in the skies over Britain during the sweltering summer of 1940, was one of the most crucial battles ever fought: without the Luftwaffe's control of the skies it was unlikely that Nazi Germany would mount an invasion across the Channel. The pressure on the pilots, ground crew and their controllers was unimaginable. Patrick Bishop creates a new and surprising portrait of the Battle drawing on previously unseen source material and testimonies from survivors on both sides.
Blix, Hans.
Disarming Iraq. 2004. 4v. UK Loan only.
Hans Blix recounts the events leading up to the declaration of war on Iraq in March 2003, looking back to Saddam Hussein's long wrangle with the international community since the first Gulf War and forward to the implications for international security in the aftermath of the war just ended. In clear-eyed descriptions of his meetings with Blair, Bush, Chirac, Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Colin Powell and Kofi Annan, he conveys the frustrations, the tensions, the pressure and the drama of the months leading up to the US/UK-led attack on Iraq. He also asks and answers key questions including: Could the war have been prevented? Was it inevitable? Does Iraq have weapons of mass destruction? Why couldn't the US and the UK secure the backing of the member states of the UN Security Council? And: What can be learnt from the Iraq war for the prevention of the spread and use of WMDs in the future?
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich.
Letters and papers from prison. 1967. 4v. UK Loan only.
The text compiles the personal correspondence and legal papers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian imprisoned and executed for his part in a plot against Hitler.
Clayton, Tim.
Trafalgar: the men, the battle, the storm. 2004. 6v.
Having fought in the most confused and bloody naval conflict that any had known, English, American, Irish, Spanish and French seamen then had to endure a terrifying combination of weather and circumstances - the stuff of every mariner's nightmare. Intriguing characters abound: Geannette, wife of a Flemish 'main topman'; James Martin, a stalwart of the British lower deck; Dionisio Galiano, sailor, scientist and explorer of the New World, and many more. The demands of life at sea - and what this extraordinary mix of people had suffered and achieved in the turbulent years that led up to Trafalgar - make compelling reading.
Compton-Hall, Richard.
Submarine boats: the beginning of underwater warfare. 1983. 5v. UK Loan only.
This account of the early years of submarine development includes much new material on the lives of the forgotten pioneers. It tells of the more weird and wonderful inventions, and their even more colourful inventors, but concentrates on the greatest of them all - the brilliant Irish-American John Philip-Holland, who took submarine development out of the hands of lunatics and visionaries and turned it into a deadly weapon of war.
Downing, Taylor and Millman, Maggie.
Civil war. 1991. 4v.
Originally published to accompany a Channel Four series, this book recreates the experience of war during the tumultuous years of the 1640s. It provides an insight into a decade when, at times, one man in every ten was under arms and when father could be at war with son. This new edition includes a gazetteer.
Fall, Bernard B.
Hell in a very small place: the siege of Dien Bien Phu. 1967. 11v. UK Loan only.
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu marked the end of French attempts to regain control of Indo-China. The Viet-Minh, who are now the holders of power in communist North Vietnam, laid siege to the fortress of Den Bien Phu. They came away as the only guerrilla force to have defeated a major power on the battlefield. In this book Dr FAll gives a comprehensive and objective account of the battle. He was given access to France's still-secret military files on the battle, and, in addition, he went to both South and North Vietnam, to France, and to post independence Algeria, to interview participants of many nationalities and political persuasions.
Featherstone, Donald Frederick.
The bowmen of England: the story of the English longbow. 1967. 4v. UK Loan only.
The English bowman was the professional fighting man who during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries dominated Europe. He was the most significant single factor that revolutionized all the mediaeval concepts and old traditions of warfare. This study is a reconstruction in human terms of an age of courage, vitality and endurance.
Farwell, Byron.
The great Boer War. 1977. 10v. UK Loan only.
A definitive history of the great conflict that raged from 1899 to 1902 between the British Empire, at its peak of power and arrogance, and a tiny nation, stubbornly fighting to maintain its independence.
Gardner, Frank.
Blood and sand: love, death and survival in an age of global terror. 2006. Coming Soon.
On 6 June 2004, Frank Gardner and cameraman Simon Cumbers were in a quiet suburb of Riyadh, filming a piece on Al-Qaeda when they were confronted by Islamist gunmen. Simon was killed instantly. Frank was brought down by a shot in the shoulder, then the leg and four bullets at point blank range. This story follows how he survived what should have been death. Unsuitable for family reading.
Gelhorn, Martha.
The face of war. 1986. 5v.
The author, a passionate anti-Fascist and anti-Nazi covered the civil war in Spain, as well as World War II in France, Italy and Germany. The hallmark of the reporter is her quality of "heart." First published in 1959 and subsequently expanded and revised, the book is a collection of articles written as early as 1937 and as recently as 1985
Gilbert, Martin.
First World War. 1984. 21v.
If almost every war is worse than expected, none was more so than World War I. Instead of lasting a few months, its four years brought loss of life and enormous suffering millions. It caused the collapse of empires and redrew the map of Europe for ever. Illusions on all sides - military, political and cultural were shattered. This book charts the ever-growing development and horror of the war - not only the great battles on the Eastern and Western Fronts but the war at sea, in the air and the effects of the war far from the frontline. Throughout, the book records the courage and heroism of individual soldiers and civilians of many nations in this account of the Great War. A definitive history of the First World War, in which the European empires were ravaged and some destroyed. New states arose; mutiny and revolution rose from the trenches and nine million soldiers were killed.
Goldensohn, Leon.
The Nuremberg interviews. 2004. 8v. UK Loan only.
In 1946, with the Nuremberg trials underway, Leon Goldensohn, a U.S. army psychiatrist, was given the task of interviewing the two dozen German leaders who were under indictment, as well as many of the defence and prosecution witnesses. The conversations were then left largely unexamined for more than fifty years. Now, Robert Gellately - one of the premier historians of Nazi Germany - has transcribed, edited, and annotated thirty-three of the interviews, and makes them available to the public for the first time in this volume. Here are interviews with some of the highest-ranking Nazi officials in the Nuremberg jails, including Hans Frank, Hermann Goering, Ernest Kaltenbrunner, and Joachim von Ribbentrop. Here too are interviews with lesser-known officials who were, nonetheless, essential to the workings of the Third Reich. Goldensohn was a particularly astute interviewer, his training as a psychiatrist leading him to probe the motives, the rationales, and the skewing of morality that allowed these men to enact an unfathomable evil. Often shockingly candid, these interviews are deeply disturbing in their illumination of an ideology gone mad.