Since 2001, Western forces have been involved in a series of major military campaigns, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan but also in Africa. For all the sophistication of the contemporary Western way of war with its digital technologies and precision weapons, infantry soldier have been frequently involved in close combat of an intensity which is comparable to the wars of the twentieth century. At the small unit level, combat has been as brutal as ever. Yet, in many cases, they have prevailed even when they were surprised or disadvantaged. How and why have professional Western soldiers been willing and able to fight effectively together during these campaigns? Through a series of rich historical and ethnographic case-studies, this collection seeks to analyse the experience of combat soldiers on operations in the last decade. The book explores the motivation, training, and culture of the professional Western soldier, highlighting differences and commonalities between the troops of different nations. This book is a project of the Changing Character of War programme at the University of Oxford.

In the nine years since the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan has rarely been out of the news. Over a thousand coalition military fatalities have been reported, and many times that number of Afghan civilians. The country is in the process of rebuilding, and yet the fighting continues. Following the success of his previous book, Battlefield Afghanistan, Mike Ryan looks at the state of this war-ravaged nation as Barack Obama finally decides to escalate America's military presence. He considers the current role of coalition troops and the progress being made, or not being made – more than 100 British troops died in Afghanistan in 2009, the highest death toll for any year since the mission began in October 2001 – things are getting worse, not better. The author has unrivalled access not only to commanding officers, but also to the 'boots on the ground'. With more than 200 colour photographs and analysis of the situation from those actually doing the fighting, Frontline Afghanistan may help the reader to make up his or her mind about the legitimacy of the conflict and the possible way forward.

The first Royal Navy pilot to fly transatlantic non-stop (in a Buccaneer) describes his thirty-five-year career in the Fleet Air Arm and as an Empire Test Pilot. The spectacle of Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus and the Fleet at anchor in Weymouth inspired the author’s lifelong passion for aeroplanes, flying and the Royal Navy. World War Two provided the opportunity to fulfil his ambition and at eighteen he volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm as a pilot. Training in Canada began a Naval flying career that spanned thirty-years. Front line squadron service, embarked on aircraft carriers was followed by qualification as a flying instructor. Selection for the Empire Test Pilots School at Farnborough and qualification as an experimental Test Pilot changed the direction of his naval career. In all he flew nearly one hundred types of aircraft and carried out close to a thousand deck landings. Initial flight testing of several new naval aircraft, as well as research flying in support of the development of aircraft such as the English Electric Lightning and Concorde added to a unique career. Such a long and varied period of flying was not without the inevitable mishaps. A near catastrophic catapult launch of a new naval aircraft, the jamming of the power control system in a research aircraft and hazardous flying through tropical storms at supersonic speeds to determine safety factors for Concorde’s intended Far East route were some of the dangers of flying at the cutting edge. As pilot, he flew the first Royal Naval aircraft to cross the Atlantic non-stop without in-flight refuelling or navigational aids. He describes the fascinating ten-day flight from Croydon to Rangoon across Europe, the Middle East, Pakistan and India to deliver a Percival Provost trainer to the Burmese Air Force. Praise for Frontline and Experimental Flying with the Fleet Air Arm “Follow Higgs from one cockpit/conference room/country to another. You’ll be as surprised as he is that he lived to tell about some of these adventures.” —Speedreaders “This hefty [book] chronicles . . . a life crammed with flying all types of aircraft, mostly shipboard, and the inevitable mishaps. . . . A good read, particularly for those of us who soak up anything to do with ships and aircraft. The shipboard accounts of catapult trials, amongst other sections, are gripping, and the times in Singapore and the Far East add to the appeal, as do the various accounts of life alongside the Americans. Geoffrey Higgs flew nearly 100 different types of aircraft in his career and his love of flying shines through the pages.” —Alan Rawlinson

IRELAND -  INDIA -  ENGLAND1915 – 1974A story based on the memoirs of Pte. Sarah Kathleen CunninghamA TRILOGY– entrusted to and written by Joe P. Plant1915. The true story of a young Irish Coleen. Sarah, eldest daughter of the Cunningham family. Exasperated by the drudgery of her home life, volunteers to serve in the Army. An adventure which is to change the course of her future life. Demobbed in 1919. Meets, falls in love with a young veteran of the war, her Gallant Sergeant Jack Plant. They court; due to the Troubles their marriage is almost a disaster, but that’s just the beginning? Seven postings later, a posting to India.1929 they sail to Bombay. Breakfast in the Taj Mahal gives Sarah a false image of her future life? After a four-day train journey, arrive in Nowshera. Sarah inherits 28 servants who only speak Urdu. During her stay Sarah endures loneliness, despair, illness, miscarriages, a birth, frightening escapades of her tribe, wild animals, the king cobra, visits to hill stations, a chance meeting with Kitty – a lifelong friendship provides amusement. They return to Blighty, the birth and death of Peter, more babies. Jack’s demobilisation; due to the pending war, his recall. Later a traumatic period, evacuation, her eldest daughter Mary contracts TB. During the London Blitz bombed out, necessitates a move to a Lancashire cotton town. Her eldest son is sent to the war in Burma. They return to a devastated London and rationing. What will happen next?

This is what austerity looks like: a nation surviving on the results of what conservatives privately call "the progressive nonsense" of the Big Society agenda. In a journey that begins and ends in the capital, but takes in Belfast, Aberdeen, Plymouth and Brighton, Hatherley explores modern Britain's urban landscape and finds a short-sighted disarray of empty buildings, malls and glass towers. Yet while A New Kind of Bleak anatomizes "broken Britain," Hatherley also looks to a hopeful future and discovers fragments of what it might look like. Illustrated by Laura Oldfield Ford, author and artist of Savage Messiah.

Young people can seem so worldly, cynical, resistant to traditional forms of evangelism, yet they have enormous capacity for the spiritual, an openness to faith and the imagination to approach God with awe and wonder. A majority of young people have no contact with the life of faith; they have not heard the stories of Christ and or had the opportunity to experience the powerful message of the Gospel. How can the church to proclaim the Gospel afresh for this generation with imagination, style and substance? This resource book is brimming with stories, techniques and ideas for creative mission and worship that engages children and young people. Based on extensive experience working with young people in churches, schools and youthwork settings, this is a toolkit which can help give voice to that first point of contact with young people, and the first faltering steps in evangelism.