Nigel Jones

Britain in 1914

Peace and war

In November 1939, the Nazis used the so-called Venlo Incident as a pretext for invading the Netherlands. Following orders from Himmler, two British intelligence officers, Sigismund Payne Best and Richard Stevens, were captured from the Café Backus in the town of Venlo. Best had been trying to contact German officers plotting against Hitler. The Netherlands had been an ideal ground for operations, because of its proximity to Germany and the fact that Dutch Intelligence was badly funded. When Best met the three agents  including Walter Schellenberg  he was carrying with him a list of British agents who were working in Europe. hen he arrived at the café, which was just over the Dutch border, he realised he had walked into a trap. A Dutch intelligence officer who accompanied them, Dirk Klop, was fatally wounded. Best and Stevens were taken into Germany. After their Berlin interrogation and torture they were taken to the notorious Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Hitler used the incident  together with the Elser bomb plot  as an excuse for war with the Netherlands, claiming their involvement with Britain violated their neutrality. As Nigel Jones explains, the incident was crucial in making the British suspicious of dealings with anti-Hitler resistance.

A True Story of Double-Dealing, Captivity, and a Murderous Nazi Plot

The Venlo Incident

Paragon of youthful beauty, romantic symbol of a lost England, and precociously gifted poet, Rupert Chawner Brooke died in a hospital ship off the Aegean island of Skyros in April 1915, aged just 27. All England mourned his passing. But behind the glow of myth lies a darker reality. At the height of his promise a disappointment in love triggered a mental and physical collapse that brought his inner complexities to the surface. Letters reveal a man who was sexually ambivalent, misogynistic, anti-Semitic – and sometimes alarmingly unstable. This revised edition of Nigel Jones's admired biography, including an account of a previously unknown affair of Brooke's, reveals a more conflicted and troubled individual than the gilded Adonis of English literary myth.

Life, Death and Myth

Rupert Brooke

A biography of Patrick Hamilton, the author of Rope, Gas Light and Hangover Square. After establishing his reputation, he suffered the pressures of personal setbacks and an increasing preoccupation with drink, but was nevertheless able to produce some of his best work.

The Life of Patrick Hamilton

Through a Glass Darkly

Penetrating biography of a fascinatingly contradictory writer who, despite a privileged background and early and sustained success, became increasingly embittered with the world. Doris Lessing calls him 'a marvellous novelist', Keith Waterhouse 'A riveting dissector of English life' and Nigel Jones makes excellent use of Hamilton's own letters and notes as well as his own highly perceptive insights. The Literary Review called Through a Glass Darkly 'One of the most stimulating biographies for years'.

A dramatic history of the Tower of London places its story in a context of national and international events, drawing on primary sources to explore its diverse functions as a British symbol, epicenter for violent events and modern tourist attraction. By the author of Through a Glass Darkly. 30,000 first printing.

An Epic History of the Tower of London

Tower

A candid, sometimes shocking, biography of Rupert Brooke reveals the very different reality behind the golden-boy facade of an English literary icon. Paragon of youthful beauty, romantic symbol of a lost England, and precociously gifted poet, Rupert Chawner Brooke died in a hospital ship off the Aegean island of Skyros in April 9 5. The 27-year-old author of the patriotic sonnet 'The Soldier' was buried in a grave strewn with olive branches and scented with sage. All England mourned his passing. But behind the glow of myth lies a darker reality. At the height of his promise a disappointment in love triggered a mental and physical collapse that brought his inner complexities to the surface. Letters reveal a man who was sexually ambivalent, misogynistic, anti-Semitic - and sometimes alarmingly unstable. This revised edition of Nigel Jones's admired biography, with a new chapter on a previously unknown affair of Brooke's, reveals a more conflicted and troubled individual than the gilded Adonis of English literary myth.

Jack Caravelli

This timely and compelling book presents a broad study of all key cyber security issues of the highest interest to government and business as well as their implications. • Takes a broad approach to the problems of cyber security, covering every important issue related to the threats cyber security poses to government and business • Provides detailed coverage of the political, financial, data protection, privacy, and reputational problems caused by cyber attacks • Offers a forward-looking approach, discussing emerging trends that will bring new challenges to those charged with enhancing cyber security • Makes insightful suggestions into how nations and businesses can take steps to enhance their cyber security

Cyber Security: Threats and Responses for Government and Business

No building has been more intimately involved in the story of Britain than the Tower of London - a mighty, brooding stronghold in the very heart of the capital. Castle, prison, torture chamber, execution site, zoo, mint, treasure house, armoury, observatory: the Tower has been all these things and more, standing at the epicentre of dramatic, bloody and frequently cruel events for almost a thousand years. Setting this dramatic story firmly in the context of national - and international - events, Nigel Jones's superb history portrays the Tower of London not just as an ancient structure but as a living symbol of the nation.

There were over forty plots to assassinate Hitler— This is the “compelling, fast-paced account” of the one that came closest to succeeding (Publishers Weekly). The July Plot of 1944 was masterminded by Count Claus von Stauffenberg, a member of the German General Staff, who had been rushed back from Africa after losing his left eye and right hand. For his injuries, he had been decorated as a war hero. However, he’d never been a supporter of Nazi ideology—and he was increasingly attracted by the approaches of the German resistance movement. After an attempt to assassinate Hitler in November 1943 failed, Stauffenberg developed a new plot to kill him at the Wolf’s Lair, fortified underground bunkers, on July 20, 1944. Besides the führer’s assassination, Stauffenberg organized plans to take over command of the German forces and sue for peace with the Allies. With the help of photographs, explanatory maps, and diagrams, author Nigel Jones dissects the events leading up to the attempt, the events of the day in minute-by-minute detail, and the aftermath in which the conspirators were hunted down. No other work on the July Plot contains such a full explanation of this attempt on Hitler’s life—in addition to a forensic analysis of the day, the book includes short biographies of the key characters involved, the first-person recollections of witnesses, and a “what if” section explaining the likely outcome of a successful assassination. “An engaging history by a talented and accomplished writer.” —Roger Moorhouse, author of Killing Hitler

Nigel Jones

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