Few are aware of the risks that the pioneering airmen of World War I took. This oral history conveys the perils of those early days, the thrills of learning to fly, and the horrors of war in the air at a time when pilots carried little defensive armament and no parachutes. The men who joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1914 were the original heroes of flying, treading into unknown territory and paving the way for later aerial combat. They became icons for the soldiers in the trenches, and a stark contrast to the hundreds on the ground fighting faceless hundreds as men fought aircraft to aircraft and man to man—for the first time the air became a battlefield of its own. In 1914 aircraft were a questionable technology, used for only basic reconnaissance. But by 1918, hastened by the terrible war, aircraft were understood to be the future of modern warfare. The war changed flying forever. The Wright brothers' achievements of a mere 10 years earlier and Blériot's crossing of the Channel just a few years before the war seemed a distant memory as aircraft became killing machines—the war becoming the ancestor of the fearsome air wars of later years. The stories are presented to the reader in a frank and open way, revealing the feelings of the men who defended the trenches from above and witnessed the war from a completely different perspective. These first-hand accounts tell the almost totally unknown tale of men who rewrote the rules of military engagement and changed the course of modern history as a result.

On a Wing and a Prayer: The Untold Story of the Pioneering Aviation Heroes of WWI, in Their Own Words

JOSHUA LEVINE

Harpercollins Reference

Operation Fortitude: The True Story of the Key Spy Operation of WWII That Saved D-Day

History

Military

Collins

Beauty and Atrocity: People, Politics and Ireland’s Fight for Peace

'Operation Fortitude' was the ingenious web of deception spun by the Allies to mislead the Nazis as to how and where the D-Day landings were to be mounted.

Operation Fortitude: The Greatest Hoax of the Second World War

Europe

Dunkirk & Operation Two Missions That Changed The Fate of WW2 [Hardcover] Joshua Levine

Dunkirk & Operation Fortitude: Two Missions That Changed The Fate of WW2

William Collins

THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
THE EPIC TRUE STORY OF DUNKIRK - NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER NOLAN AND STARRING KENNETH BRANAGH, TOM HARDY AND MARK RYLANCE.
In 1940, at the French port of Dunkirk, more than 300,000 trapped Allied troops were dramatically rescued from destruction at the hands of Nazi Germany by an extraordinary seaborne evacuation. The true history of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians involved in the nine-day skirmish has passed into legend. Now, the story Winston Churchill described as a 'miracle' is narrated by bestselling author Joshua Levine in its full, sweeping context, including new interviews with veterans and survivors.
Told from the viewpoints of land, sea and air, Joshua Levine s Dunkirk is a dramatic account of a defeat that paved the way to ultimate victory and preserved liberty for generations to come.

Dunkirk: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture

New York Times BestsellerThe epic true story of Dunkirk—now a major motion picture, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hardy, and Mark RylanceIn 1940, the Allies had been beaten back by the Nazis across France to the northern port of Dunkirk. In the ultimate race against time, more than 300,000 Allied soldiers were daringly evacuated across the Channel. This moment of German aggression was used by Winston Churchill as a call to Franklin Roosevelt to enter the war. Now, Joshua Levine, the film's official historian, explores the real lives of those soldiers, bombed and strafed on the beaches for days on end, without food or ammunition; the civilians whose boats were overloaded; the airmen who risked their lives to buy their companions on the ground precious time; and those who did not escape.

William Morrow Paperbacks

Drawing material from the Imperial War Museum's extensive aural archive, Joshua Levine brings together voices from both sides of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain to give us a unique, complete and compelling picture of this turbulent time. In June 1940, British citizens prepared for an imminent German onslaught. Hitler's troops had overrun Holland, Belgium and France in quick succession, and the British people anticipated an invasion would soon be upon them. From July to October, they watched the Battle of Britain play out in the skies above them, aware that the result would decide their fate. Over the next nine months, the Blitz killed more than 43,000 civilians. For a year, the citizens of Britain were effectively front-line soldiers in a battle which united the country against a hated enemy. We hear from the soldiers, airmen, fire-fighters, air-raid wardens and civilians, people in the air and on the ground, on both sides of the battle, giving us a thrilling account of Britain under siege. With first-hand testimonies from those involved in Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, Black Saturday on 7th September 1940 when the Luftwaffe began the Blitz, to its climax on the 10th May 1941, this is the definitive oral history of a period when Britain came closer to being overwhelmed by the enemy than at any other time in history.

Forgotten Voices of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain

Ebury & Vermilion

With over a million casualties, the Somme was the most brutal battle of the First World War. It is a clash that even now, over 90 years later, remains seared into the national consciousness, conjuring up images of muddy trenches and young lives tragically wasted. Its first day, July 1st 1916 - on which the British suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead - is the bloodiest day in the history of the British armed forces to date. On the German side, an officer famously described it as 'the muddy grave of the German field army'. By the end of the battle, the British had learned many lessons in modern warfare while the Germans had suffered irreplaceable losses, ultimately laying the foundations for the Allies' final victory on the Western Front.Drawing on a wealth of material from the vast Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, "Forgotten Voices of the Somme" presents an intimate, poignant, sometimes even bleakly funny insight into life on the front line: from the day-to-day struggle of extraordinary circumstances to the white heat of battle and the constant threat of injury or death. Featuring contributions from soldiers of differing backgrounds, ranks and roles, many of them previously unpublished, this is the definitive oral history of this unique and terrible conflict.

Forgotten Voices of the Somme

Random House]

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by JOSHUA LEVINE. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by JOSHUA LEVINE

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by JOSHUA LEVINE. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

On a Wing and a Prayer: The Untold Story of the Pioneering Aviation Heroes of WWI, in Their Own Words

Operation Fortitude: The True Story of the Key Spy Operation of WWII That Saved D-Day

Beauty and Atrocity: People, Politics and Ireland’s Fight for Peace

Operation Fortitude: The Greatest Hoax of the Second World War

Dunkirk & Operation Fortitude: Two Missions That Changed The Fate of WW2

Dunkirk: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture

Dunkirk: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture

Dunkirk: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture

Forgotten Voices of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain

Forgotten Voices of the Somme