Deterring Armageddon: A Biography of NATO

The history of the world's most successful military alliance, from the wrecked Europe of 1945 to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. As they signed NATO into being after World War II, its founders fervently believed that only if the West's democracies banded permanently together could they avoid a catastrophic global atomic conflict. Over the 75 years since, the alliance has indeed avoided war with Russia, also becoming a major political, strategic and diplomatic player well beyond its borders. It has survived disagreements between leaders from Eisenhower, Churchill and de Gaulle to Trump, Stoltenberg and Merkel, faced down Kremlin foes from Stalin to Putin and endured unending questions and debate over what new nations might be allowed to join. Deterring Armageddon takes the reader from backroom deals that led to NATO's creation, through the Cold War, the Balkans and Afghanistan to the current confrontation with the Kremlin following the invasion of Ukraine. It examines the tightrope walked by alliance leaders between a powerful United States sometimes flirting with isolationism and European nations with their ever-evolving wishes for autonomy and influence. Having spent much of its life preparing for conflicts that might never come, NATO has sometimes found itself in wars that few had predicted - and with its members now again planning for a potential major European conflict. It is a tale of tension, danger, rivalry, conflict, big personalities and high-stakes military and diplomatic posturing - as well as espionage, politics and protest. From the Korean War to the pandemic, the Berlin and Cuba crises to the chaotic evacuation from Kabul, Deterring Armageddon tells how the alliance has shaped and been shaped by history - and looks ahead to what might be the most dangerous era it has ever faced. 'Utterly eye-opening - compelling, haunting and continually illuminating. As Peter Apps so brilliantly demonstrates in this gripping book, the story of the NATO alliance is in many ways a parallel global history of the last 75 years. As well as all the outbreaks of seething tension between the US and its European allies - and the counter-moves of rival powers - this is also an account of just how often in those postwar years that we all stood on the edge of the most terrible abyss. With mesmerising fluency, and dazzling research, Apps follows the criss-crossing threads of the Cold War and beyond. Those threads converge in our shadowed present, and the conflict in Ukraine. In order to fathom today's dark world, Apps has explored a labyrinth of once-classified history, and he brings dazzling clarity.' - Sinclair McKay

Engineering & Transportation

Apps, Peter

Engineering

Wildfire

'EXCELLENT' - THE TLS 
'HUGELY IMPRESSIVE' - THE INDEPENDENT 
'AN ASTONISHINGLY FINE HISTORY' - COUNTRY LIFE 
'FASCINATING' - DAILY MAIL\nThe history of the world's most successful military alliance, from the wrecked Europe of 1945 to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.\nAs they signed NATO into being after World War II, its founders fervently believed that only if the West's democracies banded permanently together could they avoid a catastrophic global atomic conflict. Over the 75 years since, the alliance has indeed avoided war with Russia, also becoming a major political, strategic and diplomatic player well beyond its borders. It has survived disagreements between leaders from Eisenhower, Churchill and de Gaulle to Trump, Stoltenberg and Merkel, faced down Kremlin foes from Stalin to Putin and endured unending questions and debate over what new nations might be allowed to join.\nDeterring Armageddon takes the reader from backroom deals that led to NATO's creation, through the Cold War, the Balkans and Afghanistan to the current confrontation with the Kremlin following the invasion of Ukraine. It examines the tightrope walked by alliance leaders between a powerful United States sometimes flirting with isolationism and European nations with their ever-evolving wishes for autonomy and influence. Having spent much of its life preparing for conflicts that might never come, NATO has sometimes found itself in wars that few had predicted - and with its members now again planning for a potential major European conflict.\nIt is a tale of tension, danger, rivalry, conflict, big personalities and high-stakes military and diplomatic posturing - as well as espionage, politics and protest. From the Korean War to the pandemic, the Berlin and Cuba crises to the chaotic evacuation from Kabul, Deterring Armageddon tells how the alliance has shaped and been shaped by history - and looks ahead to what might be the most dangerous era it has ever faced.\n'Utterly eye-opening - compelling, haunting and continually illuminating. As Peter Apps so brilliantly demonstrates in this gripping book, the story of the NATO alliance is in many ways a parallel global history of the last 75 years. As well as all the outbreaks of seething tension between the US and its European allies - and the counter-moves of rival powers - this is also an account of just how often in those postwar years that we all stood on the edge of the most terrible abyss. With mesmerising fluency, and dazzling research, Apps follows the criss-crossing threads of the Cold War and beyond. Those threads converge in our shadowed present, and the conflict in Ukraine. In order to fathom today's dark world, Apps has explored a labyrinth of once-classified history, and he brings dazzling clarity.' - Sinclair McKay

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

The Next World War: The new age of global conflict and the fight to stop it

History

November 1915: disgraced and stripped of high office, Winston Churchill heads to the trenches to fight. A quarter of a century before his "finest hour" in 1940, Britain's future Prime Minister faced a very different kind of crisis. As First Lord of the Admiralty at the start of the First World War, he found himself blamed for the catastrophic military fiasco of the Dardanelles. Thrown for the first time into the political wilderness, he decided to rejoin the British Army and take his place on the Western Front. The first standalone account of this period of his life published since the 1920s, CHURCHILL IN THE TRENCHES reconstructs his six months near the Belgian town of Ypres. It reveals he how he gradually won over the troops he commanded -- the tough but traumatised 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. And it tells the largely unknown story of how amid mud and squalor, one of the 20th century's most memorable characters became one of its greatest leaders.

Churchill in the Trenches

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

This is the latest update of the Smithers' field guide to Southern African Mammals. It includes the latest research results from the African bush, and the newest species names and classifications, all written in non-technical language. With full color illustrations, distribution maps, tracks and scale drawings, and descriptions of appearance, size, habitat, diet, life history, behaviour and conservation, it is the most detailed and accurate southern African mammals field guide available, and will be useful to everyone from game viewing safari-goers to professional wildlife guides. This is the mammals guide for people who are serious about wildlife.

Smither’s Mammals of Southern Africa: A Field Guide

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

Penguin Random House South Africa

Smithers' Mammals of Southern Africa: A Field Guide

Swan-Hill Press

Wild Ways: A Field Guide to Mammal Behavior in Southern Africa

Southern Book Pub of South Africa

With expanded information on each species, this book will satisfy the interests of the general reader as well as the wildlife enthusiast. The book now also includes entries on the whales, dolphins and seals that can be seen along the southern African coastline. Black and white line drawings showing the relative scale of groups of similar mammals have been included to further aid identification. Dr. Peter Apps is a respected mammologist and the author of Wild Ways: A Field Guide to the Behaviour of Southern African Mammals.

Smither's Mammals of Southern Africa: A Field Guide

• Why would a mongoose groom an impala?• Why are elephants so interested in their dead?• Which antelope eats small mammals? Wild Ways brings to life the fascinating behavior of southern Africa’s mammals, not only what mammals do, but also the often-surprising reasons why. From the spectacular big game of national parks to the bats and rodents that live on farms and in cities, Wild ways covers all the mammal species that outdoor enthusiasts are likely to see. Written in plain language for visitors to wildlife areas, hikers, hunters, farmers and nature lovers in general, this updated new-look guide brings together the latest research results from the African bush and is packed with new information in a reader-friendly format.

Wild Ways: Field Companion to the Behaviour of Southern African Mammals

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Books by Apps, Peter