Frank McLynn

From an acclaimed historian, a new and definitive biography of the great Mongol conqueror, Genghis Khan

His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy

Genghis Khan

A profile of the second-century emperor, soldier, and philosopher traces his stabilization of the Roman empire, campaigns against Asia, and numerous reform efforts while offering insight into the events that inspired the writing of his famous Meditations.

A Life

Marcus Aurelius

The Man Who Conquered the World

Kings at War

Richard and John

The Year Britain Became Master of the World

1759

Although 1759 is not a date as well known in British history as 1215, 1588, or 1688, there is a strong case to be made that it is the most significant year since 1066. In the two great battles of 1759, Britain effectively beat France for global supremacy and founded the first British Empire. From the almost uninterrupted series of victories that year came momentous consequences. Victory in the East, in India and the Philippines, which in turn led to the colonisation of Australia and New Zealand. Victory in North America secured Canada for the empire and, by removing the French, created the conditions which inspired American rebellion. Until now, the story of the causes and consequences of The Seven Years War (1756- 63) has been largely obscured. As Thackeray famously remarked in Barry Lindon, it would take a theologian, rather than an historian, to unravel the true causes. Drawing on a mass of primary materials- from texts in the Vatican archives to oral histories of the North American Indians- Frank McLynn shows how the conflict between Britain and France triggered the first 'world war', raging from Europe to Africa; the Caribbean to the Pacific; the plains of the Ganges to the Great Lakes of North America, and also brought about the War of Independence, the acquisition by Britain of the Falkland Islands and ultimately, The French Revolution.

In this biography, Frank McLynn traces the life and career of Napoleon, from his Corsican roots through the years of triumph to his ultimate defeat. Particular emphasis is given to Napoleon's military genius and the feats of his Grand Armee.

A Biography

Napoleon

In this highly acclaimed study Frank McLynn brings vividly before us the man Charles Edward Stuart who became known to legend as Bonnie Prince Charlie and whose unsuccessful challenge to the Hanoverian throne was followed by the crushing defeat at Culloden in 1746. He argues powerfully that failure was far from inevitable and history in 1745 came close to taking quite a different turn.

Charles Edward Stuart

Bonnie Prince Charlie

If ever there was a year of destiny for the British Isles, 1066 must have a strong claim. King Harold faced invasion not just from William and the Normans across the English Channel but from the Dane, King Harald Hardrada. Before he faced the Normans at Hastings in October, he had defeated the Danes at York and Stamford Bridge in September. In this superbly researched study, Frank McLynn overturns long-accepted myths, showing how William's victory at the Battle of Hastings was not, in fact, a certainty, and arguing that Harald Hardrada was actually the greatest warrior of the three. This is a masterly study, and reveals the truth to be more interesting than the myths surrounding this pivotal year in history.

The Year of the Three Battles

1066

'Refreshing ... Frank McLynn has plunged into an important episode in the modern Mexican experience - namely, the social and political revolution that rocked the country for some twenty years, cost two million lives and reshaped its institutions.' The Wall Street Journal The Mexican Revolution erupted in 1910 to the cry of "Tierra y Libertad" - Land and Liberty. In the ten years that followed, bloody clashes between impassioned rebels and unscrupulous autocrats convulsed a nation in search of a new identity. It was the first massive social revolution of the twentieth century. Even as it visited further economic, cultural, and racial strife upon a country plagued by oppressive officials and crippled by poverty, it offered hope to the populace. And it made the rebel-outlaws Francisco (Pancho) Villa and Emiliano Zapata heroes in their time. Villa and Zapata vividly chronicles the decade of turbulent and violent events. The ruthless Pancho Villa and his army of ex-cowboys in the north and Emiliano Zapata, recruiting his infantry from the sugar plantations in the south, successfully waged a devastating war on two fronts and brought down a string of autocrats in Mexico City. Frank McLynn tells the story of the revolutionaries' chaotic fight for a cause that more towards agrarian reform than towards the amassing of political power. The struggle expertly reveals the inescapable influence of the United States, intertwined with the use of the railway network to transport men and weapons. This rousing history recounts, too, the downfall of these two revolutionary heroes. Despite their triumph and only meeting, in 1914, in the Mexican capital, they failed to make common cause and fell victim to intrigues more treacherous than their own. Frank McLynn is a British author, biographer, historian and journalist. He is noted for critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon Bonaparte, Robert Louis Stevenson, Carl Jung, Richard Francis Burton and Henry Morton Stanley. He is also the author of Fitzroy Maclean and Bipolar, a novel about Roald Amundsen, published by Sharpe Books. Praise for Frank McLynn: 'Frank McLynn's achievement ... is to give Charles Edward a solidarity and three-dimensional reality that he usually lacks ... His account of the risings themselves is exemplary and he offers the best case yet for the nearness to success of the '45. What is usually seen as the last shiver of an anachronistic and romantic throwback emerges as a genuine alternative to Whiggery and the Act of Settlement.' Brian Morton, TES 'A broad canvas, dealing not only with sober historical truth but with the magic spell that either seduced or repelled Fielding, Sterne, Smollett, Burns, Scott, Borrow, Buchan, Stevenson and a hundred Irish poets...' Diarmaid O'Muirithe, Irish Independent 'A readable and fresh study ... thoroughly researched.' Esmond Wright, Contemporary Review 'Valuable in covering the wide sweep of Scotland, England, Ireland and the Continent, and bringing together many diverse strands into a coherent whole. Its wide range and taut approach make it very useful.' Rennie McOwan, The Tablet 'Packed with fascinating detail.' Denis Hills, choosing his book of the year in the Spectator 'Fitzroy Maclean has found his Boswell in Frank McLynn.' Trevor Royle, Scotland on Sunday 'Most entertaining.' Richard West 'Important, timely and balanced.' Soldier

A Biography of the Mexican Revolution

Villa and Zapata

Britain has not been successfully invaded since 1066; nor, in nearly 1,000 years has it known a true revolution – one that brings radical, systemic and enduring change. The contrast with Britain’s European neighbours, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Russia, is dramatic – all have been convulsed by external warfare, revolution and civil war and experienced fundamental change to their ruling elites or social and economic structures. Frank McLynn takes seven occasions when Britain came closest to revolution: the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381; the Jack Cade rebellion of 1450; the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536; the English Civil Wars of the 1640s; the Jacobite Rising of 1745-6; the Chartist Movement of 1838-48; and the General Strike of 1926. Why, at these dramatic turning points, did history finally fail to turn? McLynn examines Britain’s history and themes of social, religious and political change to explain why social turbulence stopped short of revolution on so many occasions.

How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution, 1381-1926

The Road Not Taken

This is the second volume of Frank McLynn's biography of Henry Morton Stanley. It covers the years 1877 to 1904. During this period of his life King Leopold II of the Belgians was a dominant figure.

Sorcerer's Apprentice

Stanley

A vivid, brutal and enthralling account of the Burma Campaign – one of the most punishing and hard-fought military adventures of World War Two. The Burma Campaign was one of the most punishing and protracted military adventures of World War Two. Impenetrable jungle, poor transport infrastructure, seasonal monsoon rains, as well as famine, disease, snakes and crocodiles all bore heavily on the troops. Against this extraordinary backdrop, Frank McLynn constructs the dramatic story of the four larger-than-life commanders directing the Allied effort: Louis Mountbatten, Orde Wingate, Joseph Stilwell and William Slim, and explores the Campaign through their often stormy relationship. The Burma Campaign is a strikingly original account from one of our most celebrated historians. ‘Magnificent...a closely woven, tightly argued and beautifully written account of the extraordinary men and women who were responsible for the higher direction of the war...This book delights, page after page. McLynn held me spellbound’ BBC History Magazine

Disaster into Triumph 1942-45

The Burma Campaign

In this, the first full-length biography of the great Swiss psychologist, Carl Gustav Jung is remembered not only for his valuable contribution to psychotherapy and to our understanding of the inner workings of the mind, but for the enduring controversies he sparked. In Frank McLynn's capable hands, readers will come to understand the man who originated what are widely held to be some of the greatest ideas of this century.

Carl Gustav Jung

A biography of the famous psychologist examines Carl Jung's early career as an admirer of Freud, the bitter argument that made the men rivals, and the development of his highly influential theories.

In the history of warfare, an elite group of men have attained almost legendary status through their courage, ambition and unrivalled military genius. But many of these same men possessed deep personal character flaws. In Heroes & Villains, acclaimed historian Frank McLynn focuses on six of the most powerful and magnetic leaders of all time: Spartacus, Attila the Hun, Richard the Lionheart, Cortés, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Napoleon. How did these mortal men rise to positions of seemingly invincible power? What were the motives, the personal strengths and often weaknesses that drove them to achieve what no one else dared? In six powerful portraits, McLynn brilliantly evokes the critical moments when each of these warriors proved themselves in battle, changing their own lives, the destiny of their people and, in some cases, the history of the world. We discover what drove Spartacus to take on the might of Rome against seemingly impossible odds, and how the young Napoleon rose to power in dramatic fashion at the Siege of Toulon. Heroes & Villains is more than a collection of individual biographies. By examining the complex psychologies of these extraordinary men, McLynn builds up a convincing profile of the ultimate warrior. Accompanying a major BBC television series, this brilliant book takes us into the minds of the greatest warriors in history.

Inside the minds of the greatest warriors in history

Heroes & Villains

"Has anybody done more – done as much – as Frank McLynn in writing intelligent, combative, thoroughly researched and thoroughly readable history?" - The Independent Most people know that Britain was invaded by the Romans, by the Vikings and by the Normans. Many will know about the Spanish Armada, launched by Philip II in 1588 to bring Protestant England to submission. But fewer people know that Philip launched a second armada in 1596 or that invasion plans were drawn up by the French in 1692, 1708, 1743, 1756, 1759, 1796 and 1801, and by the French together with the Spanish in 1779. In 1719, Spanish troops even landed in Scotland. Charles XII and Peter the Great wished to invade Britain and Napoleon himself wrote that in his imagination he could see the tri-color fluttering over the Tower of London. New invasion plans were drawn up by the Germans in 1896 and by the French in 1898 and Britain narrowly avoided invasion by Nazi Germany in WW2. Yet despite the almost permanent threat of invasion by the Spanish in the 16th century, by the French from the 17th to the 19th centuries, and by the Germans in the 20th century, Britain has not been successfully invaded since 1066. Beginning with the first real invasion attempt of the modern era and one of the decisive naval battles in world history, McLynn takes us through the many invasion plans and attempts and shows us how each one failed due a mixture of incompetent management, clash of egos, unreliable weather and the strength of British Sea power. He concludes with Hitler’s failed invasion attempt during WW2 showing how despite all the risks, Hitler was lulled into a false sense of security by the ease with which Germany had managed to defeat France in 1940. McLynn discusses the different strategies involved for invading Britain by sea and the means by which Britain tried to defend itself using diplomacy, economic warfare, espionage and pre-emptive strikes. Finally, he shows that after having been threatened with invasion for four centuries, England was itself the springboard from which the greatest invasion fleet of all time was launched.

From The Armada to Hitler

Invasion

Why was the era of Augustan elegance also that of Hogarthian squalor? How far was the Industrial Revolution responsible for the rise of street gangs and highwaymen? Was it a coincidence that the autocratic monarchies of Europe suffered less from violent crime? Were such heroes as Dick Turpin motivated by Robin Hood impulses? Why were public executions regarded as entertainment and not deterrents? The author attempts to answer all these questions in this study of a society he characterizes as riddled with insecurities and governed by envies and fears. The book is aimed at students - graduate and undergraduate - of 18th European and British history, and those interested in crime, the law, criminality, and punishment.

Crime and Punishment in Eighteenth-century England

This is the gripping story of two legendary rebel leaders of the Mexican Revolution – Pancho Villa, the great military hero, and Emiliano Zapata who was its soul.

A stirring, authoritative account of the Mexican Revolution, told through the lives of its infamous rebel-outlaws: Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata Villa and Zapata vividly chronicles the decade of bloody events that followed the eruption of the Mexican Revolution in 1910 and made legends of the rebels Francisco "Pancho" Villa and Emiliano Zapata. Mexico's was the first massive social revolution of the twentieth century, visiting economic, cultural, and racial strife on a country already exploited by oppressive officials and crippled by poverty, but also offering hope to its people. The ruthless Villa and his army of ex-cowboys in the north and Zapata, recruiting his infantry from the sugar plantations of the south, successfully waged a devastating war on two fronts and brought down a string of autocrats in Mexico City. But the two men failed to make common cause and ultimately fell victim to intrigues more treacherous than their own.

Frank McLynn

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