Ultimate War Giftpack

On 25 June 1950 the invasion of South Korea by the Communist North launched one of the bloodiest conflicts of the last century. The seemingly limitless power of the Chinese-backed North was thrown against the ferocious firepower of the UN-backed South in a war that can be seen today as the stark prelude to Vietnam. Max Hastings has drawn on first-hand accounts of those who fought on both sides to produce this vivid and incisive reassessment of the Korean War, bringing the military and human dimensions into sharp focus. The Korean War was a 20th Century conflict that has never ended. South Korea, a powerhouse economy and dynamic democracy sits uneasily alongside North Korea, the world’s most secretive, belligerent, unpredictable and repressive totalitarian state. Today, tensions simmer and occasionally flare into outright violence on a peninsula dense with arms, munitions and nuclear warheads. Cameron Forbes, acclaimed author of Hellfire, tells the story of the war and Australia’s involvement in it in a riveting narrative. From the letters and diaries of those diggers who fought across Korea’s unforgiving hills and mountains to the grand strategies formulated in Washington, Moscow and Beijing, The Korean War reveals the conflict on all its levels - human, military and geopolitical. First published anonymously in 1929 because its language was considered far too frank for public circulation, The Middle Parts of Fortune was hailed by T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, by Lawrence of Arabia and Ernest Hemingway, as an extraordinary novel. Its author was in fact Frederic Manning, an Australian writer who fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and who told his story of men at war from the perspective of an ordinary soldier.

About the Author :
Max Hastings, author of over twenty books, has been editor of the Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard. He has received many awards for his journalism and was knighted in 2002. Cameron Forbes was born in Rockhampton, Queensland. He has been foreign editor and European and Asia correspondent for the Age and Washington correspondent for the Australian. He has reported on wars and civil wars in the Middle East, Rwanda, Afghanistan and Bougainville. He has received the Graham Perkin Journalist of the Year Award, the Canadian Award for Journalist Merit and the United Nations Association Media Peace Award. Frederic Manning (1882–1935) was an Australian poet and novelist. His confronting first hand account of World War I, The Middle Parts of Fortune, is considered to be an Australian classic. Cameron Stewart is an experienced audiobook narrator who has lent his voice to more than a hundred audiobooks. Among the titles he has narrated are The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, D-Day: The Battle for Normandy by Anthony Beevor and The Undercover Economist Strikes Back by Tim Harford. Richard Aspel is a talented narrator of children's and adult audiobooks. He trained and worked in London, before returning to Australia where he has worked extensively in television, theatre and radio. His television credits include Neighbours and Carson's Law, and he provided various voices for The Silver Brumby animated series. Richard was nominated for the prestigious Audie Award (US) for his narration of The Mark of the Angel by Nancy Huston. Stanley McGeagh is a gifted narrator and actor. Since starting his acting career in Ireland, he has worked in British repertory and on the West End. Stanley has appeared in various stage musicals, including Applause with Lauren Bacall at Her Majesty's Theatre London. He has extensive television, film and radio experience, including Frontline and Halifax f.p.

Review :
'A brilliant and compelling book which must rank, even by the standards Max Hastings has set, as a masterpiece.' 'Rings true and will surely stand the test of time ... Max Hastings has no peer as a writer of battlefield history.' "It is a splendid piece of storytelling …" "The finest and noblest book of men in war that I have ever read."