Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure
Author :
Publisher : Vintage
Total Pages : 274
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780307538437
ISBN-13 : 0307538435
Rating : 4/5 (37 Downloads)

Synopsis Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure by : Giles Foden

When the First World War breaks out, the British navy is committed to engaging the enemy wherever there is water to float a ship—even if the body of water in question is a remote African lake and the enemy an intimidating fleet of German steamers. The leader of this improbable mission is Geoffrey Spicer-Simson whose navy career thus far had been distinguished by two sinkings. His seemingly impossible charge: to trek overland through the African bush hauling Mimi and Toutou—two forty-foot mahogany gunboats–with a band of cantankerous, insubordinate Scotsmen, Irishmen and Englishmen to defeat the Germans on Lake Tanganyika. With its powerfully evoked landscape, cast of hilariously colorful characters and remarkable story of hubris, ingenuity and perseverance, this incredibly bizarre story–inspiration for the classic film The African Queen–is history at its most entertaining and absorbing.

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth
Author :
Publisher : Penguin UK
Total Pages : 291
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780141946573
ISBN-13 : 0141946571
Rating : 4/5 (73 Downloads)

Synopsis Mimi and Toutou Go Forth by : Giles Foden

At the start of World War One, German warships controlled Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa. The British had no naval craft at all upon 'Tanganjikasee', as the Germans called it. This mattered: it was the longest lake in the world and of great strategic advantage. In June 1915, a force of 28 men was despatched from Britain on a vast journey. Their orders were to take control of the lake. To reach it, they had to haul two motorboats with the unlikely names of Mimi and Toutou through the wilds of the Congo. The 28 were a strange bunch -- one was addicted to Worcester sauce, another was a former racing driver -- but the strangest of all of them was their skirt-wearing, tattoo-covered commander, Geoffrey Spicer-Simson. Whatever it took, even if it meant becoming the god of a local tribe, he was determined to cover himself in glory. But the Germans had a surprise in store for Spicer-Simson, in the shape of their secret 'supership' the Graf von Gotzen . . . Unearthing new German and African records, the prize-winning author of The Last King of Scotland retells this most unlikely of true-life tales with his customary narrative energy and style. Fitzcarraldo meets Heart of Darkness, this is rich, vivid and flashmanesque in its appeal - military history at its most absorbing and entertaining

The Last King of Scotland

The Last King of Scotland
Author :
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Total Pages : 354
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780571246175
ISBN-13 : 0571246176
Rating : 4/5 (75 Downloads)

Synopsis The Last King of Scotland by : Giles Foden

What would it be like to become Idi Amin's personal physician? Giles Foden's bestselling thriller is the story of a young Scottish doctor drawn into the heart of the Ugandan dictator's surreal and brutal regime. Privy to Amin's thoughts and ambitions, he is both fascinated and appalled. As Uganda plunges into civil chaos he realises action is imperative - but which way should he jump?

Battle for the Bundu

Battle for the Bundu
Author :
Publisher : MacMillan Publishing Company
Total Pages : 382
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0025849301
ISBN-13 : 9780025849303
Rating : 4/5 (01 Downloads)

Synopsis Battle for the Bundu by : Charles Miller

Det ene af C. Millers værker om 1. Verdenskrig i Afrika - "Lunatic Express" haves ikke.

The Last Expedition

The Last Expedition
Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages : 410
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0393059030
ISBN-13 : 9780393059038
Rating : 4/5 (30 Downloads)

Synopsis The Last Expedition by : Daniel Liebowitz

Henry Morton Stanley undertook the greatest African expedition of the 19th century to rescue Emin Pasha, last lieutenant of the martyred General Gordon and governor of the southern Sudan. Instead of ten months, the trip took three years and cost the lives of thousands of people, as Stanley's column hacked its way across the last great, unexplored territory in Africa. Stanley's secret agenda was territorial expansion on the model of Leopold's Congo or the British East India Company.

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure
Author :
Publisher : National Geographic Books
Total Pages : 0
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781400075263
ISBN-13 : 1400075262
Rating : 4/5 (63 Downloads)

Synopsis Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure by : Giles Foden

When the First World War breaks out, the British navy is committed to engaging the enemy wherever there is water to float a ship—even if the body of water in question is a remote African lake and the enemy an intimidating fleet of German steamers. The leader of this improbable mission is Geoffrey Spicer-Simson whose navy career thus far had been distinguished by two sinkings. His seemingly impossible charge: to trek overland through the African bush hauling Mimi and Toutou—two forty-foot mahogany gunboats–with a band of cantankerous, insubordinate Scotsmen, Irishmen and Englishmen to defeat the Germans on Lake Tanganyika. With its powerfully evoked landscape, cast of hilariously colorful characters and remarkable story of hubris, ingenuity and perseverance, this incredibly bizarre story–inspiration for the classic film The African Queen–is history at its most entertaining and absorbing.

The Adventures of Dunsterforce

The Adventures of Dunsterforce
Author :
Publisher : Andrews UK Limited
Total Pages : 354
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781781499375
ISBN-13 : 1781499373
Rating : 4/5 (75 Downloads)

Synopsis The Adventures of Dunsterforce by : Major-General L. C. Dunsterville

Dunsterforce', named after its intrepid commander, Maj.-Gen. L.C. Dunsterville, was the small, secret expedition, known from its clandestine nature as 'the Hush-Hush army', sent to the Caucasus at the end of 1917 in a bid to nip Russia's Bolshevik revolution in the bud, or at least to forestall any Russian attempt to move south and and export their revolution to British-ruled India. Small and ill-supplied, Dunsterforce made up for its lack of numbers with the personal dash of its commander, (who had already been immortalised in literature as 'Stalky' in Rudyard Kipling's public school tales, 'Stalky & Co' based on Kipling's boyhood with Dunsterville at the United Services College at Westward Ho! in Devon). Dunsterville's own book has plenty of Kiplingesque derring do as the General and his subordinate officers (who led sub-expeditions) to parley with the Kurdish, Persian and Cossack tribesmen of the vast and mountainous area. In the end, Dunsterforce found itself battling in vain to save the oil rich town of Baku from the Bolsheviks before lack of resources and the fatal disunity among his allies forced the force to withdraw, their mission unfulfilled. This colourful memoir, reflecting the charismatic character of its author, is a key source for anyone interested in what Kipling called the Great Game (the great power rivalry between Russia and Britain) in British intervention in Russia and the history of unorhtodox warfare.

Freight Dogs

Freight Dogs
Author :
Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Total Pages : 0
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1409137422
ISBN-13 : 9781409137429
Rating : 4/5 (22 Downloads)

Synopsis Freight Dogs by : Giles Foden

'Every new novel by Giles Foden is something to celebrate' Paul Theroux 'An amazing and profound work, rich in memorable detail' Jay Parini 'Foden has cleverly reworked the grand African adventure novel' Aminatta Forna, Guardian 'A perceptive, compassionate history of an enormously complex conflict' Irish Times 'Sharp and fast-paced. Foden does a fine job of locating the reader in the maelstrom of this brutal period in Congo's past, taking us deep into the heart of a complex conflict' Observer 1996: in a Ugandan dive bar, the 'freight dogs' gather. An anarchic group of mercenary pilots from Texas, Russia, Kenya and Belgium who transport weapons between warring African nations, without allegiance. And tonight they have a new recruit - Manu, a nineteen-year-old cowherd fleeing Congo's bloody war. Taken in by this band of unlikely brothers, Manu hopes to reinvent himself. But no matter how fast he flies, trouble always seems to follow closely behind...

World War I and the Rise of Global Conflict

World War I and the Rise of Global Conflict
Author :
Publisher : Greenhaven Publishing LLC
Total Pages : 106
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781534560536
ISBN-13 : 153456053X
Rating : 4/5 (36 Downloads)

Synopsis World War I and the Rise of Global Conflict by : Elizabeth Morgan

World War I forever changed how nations engage in warfare. Airplanes, tanks, and submarines were used on a larger scale than ever before. This volume examines the root causes of World War I, which escalated from a small political incident into a massive global crisis. It also details the impact of this war in its immediate aftermath and in the decades that followed. Readers will be engaged by the accessible text, which is enhanced with historical photographs, primary sources, and in-depth sidebars.

The Pirates of Somalia

The Pirates of Somalia
Author :
Publisher : Vintage
Total Pages : 341
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780307906984
ISBN-13 : 0307906981
Rating : 4/5 (84 Downloads)

Synopsis The Pirates of Somalia by : Jay Bahadur

Soon to be a major motion picture The first close-up look at the hidden world of Somali pirates by a young journalist who dared to make his way into their remote havens and spent a year infiltrating their lives. For centuries, stories of pirates have captured imaginations around the world. The recent ragtag bands of pirates off the coast of Somalia, hijacking multimillion-dollar tankers owned by international shipping conglomerates, have brought the scourge of piracy into the modern era. Jay Bahadur’s riveting narrative exposé—the first of its kind—looks at who these men are, how they live, the forces that created piracy in Somalia, how the pirates spend the ransom money, how they deal with their hostages, among much, much more. It is a revelation of a dangerous world at the epicenter of political and natural disaster.