An utterly compelling and much needed reminder of what war is really all about. In 1982 Private Ken Lukowiak served with 2 Para in the Falklands. He was away from home for little more than eight weeks, yet the experience of war was to change his life for ever. Ten years passed before he was able to write about this brief period in his life. In those ten years he was brought face to face with the legacy of his Parachute Regiment training and with the knowledge that he had seen many men die - some of whom he himself had killed. From the voyage 'down South' on the MV Norland, from Goose Green to Fitzroy and the anti-climactic journey home Lukowiak illustrates the madness and black comedy of the soldier's world. He tells his painfully honest story in spare and brutal language and is both profound and often profoundly shocking.

Dublin, 1914. As Ireland stands on the brink of political crisis, Europe plunges headlong into war. Among the thousands of Irishmen who volunteer to fight for the British Army is Stephen Ryan, a gifted young maths scholar whose working class background has marked him out as a misfit among his wealthy fellow students. Sent to fight in Turkey, he looks forward to the great adventure, unaware of the growing unrest back home in Ireland. His romantic notions of war are soon shattered and he is forced to wonder where his loyalties lie, on his return to a Dublin poised for rebellion in 1916 and a brother fighting for the rebels. Everything has changed utterly, and in a world gone mad his only hope is his growing friendship with the brilliant and enigmatic Lillian Bryce. The Soldier's Song is a poignant and deeply moving novel, a tribute to the durability of the human soul.

The dramatic story of an iconic love song, its three creators, and their lives under the Nazis. "Lili Marlene," the unlikely anthem of World War II, cut across front lines and ideological divides, uniting soldiers across the globe. This love song, telling the story of a young woman waiting for her lover to return from the battlefield, began as a poem written by a German solider during World War I. The soldier-poet's words found their way to Berlin's decadent cabaret scene in the 1930s, where they were set to music by one of Hitler's favored composers. The song's singer, however, soon found herself torn between her desire for fame and a personal hatred of the Nazi regime. In a gripping and suspenseful narrative, the three artists' remarkable stories of arrests and close calls intertwine with the recollections of soldiers on all sides who fought their way through deserts and towns, seeking solace and finding hope in "Lili Marlene."

The seeds of irreverent humour that inspired the likes of Wayne and Shuster and Monty Python were sown in the trenches of the First World War, and The Dumbells—concert parties made up of fighting soldiers—were central to this process. Soldiers of Song tells their story. Lucky soldiers who could sing a song, perform a skit, or pass as a “lady,” were taken from the line and put onstage for the benefit of their soldier-audiences. The intent was to bolster morale and thereby help soldiers survive the war. The Dumbells’ popularity was not limited to troop shows along the trenches. The group also managed a run in London’s West End and became the first ever Canadian production to score a hit on Broadway. Touring Canada for some twelve years after the war, the Dumbells became a household name and made more than twenty-five audio recordings. If nationhood was won on the crest of Vimy Ridge, it was the Dumbells who provided the country with its earliest soundtrack. Pioneers of sketch comedy, the Dumbells are as important to the history of Canadian theatre as they are to the cultural history of early-twentieth-century Canada.

Dublin, 1921. As the Irish War of Independence comes to a head, Republican leader Eamon de Valera is arrested but quickly released in order to facilitate peace talks with the British. Stephen Ryan, an Irishman who fought for the British in the trenches, is sent to London where negotiations are beginning, as part of the Irish delegation. He leaves behind his brother, Joe, who has been jailed for his actions in the IRA. There are those on both sides who would see the Treaty fail.... This is a story about two brothers, played out against the political and military upheavals that racked Ireland in the 1920s. The Anglo-Irish Treaty brings the war with the British to a close, and Joe too is released from jail - free, but changed. However, a new war is emerging; assassinations and guerrilla warfare are the backdrop to the call to arms, as both sides attempt to force a new order, in a conflict that will pit Irishman against Irishman, brother against brother...

Lili Marlene', the unlikely anthem of the Second World War, cut across front lines and ideological divides. This title the stories of arrests and close calls of the three artists' of this song. It also includes recollections of soldiers who sought solace and found hope in 'Lili Marlene.

'Sound Targets' explores the role of music in American military culture, focusing on the experiences of soldiers returning from active service in Iraq. Pieslak describes how American soldiers hear, share, use & produce music, both on & off duty.