This British military biography tells the full story of the Lieutenant Colonel who helped turn the 22nd SAS into the world’s leading special forces unit. Despite its successes during World War II, the future of the British Army’s Special Air Service was uncertain for years afterward. In the 1950s, it was resurrected as the 22nd SAS Regiment to take part in the Malayan Emergency, and over time evolved into one of the British military’s most important units. This renaissance was brought about by a small group of highly motivated officers. Of these, Lieutenant Colonel John Woodhouse stood out for his energy, expertise, and courage. Written by an SAS insider, this biography demonstrates how Woodhouse played a pivotal role in transforming the 22nd SAS into an elite fighting force. Woodhouse led the regiment through campaigns in Oman, Borneo, Radfan and South Arabia, as it built its unrivaled reputation. After leaving the Army, Woodhouse became a sought-after counter-terrorist consultant taking an advisory and active role in operations worldwide. While Colonel Sir David Stirling publicly acknowledged Woodhouse as a cofounder of the 22nd SAS, the full story of his role has not been widely recognized. As this fascinating book reveals, without his efforts there would probably be no 22nd SAS today.

Originally published: London: Scholastic, 1999.

This is the first comprehensive history of all the British Special Forces, from their beginnings during the Second World War to the Falklands War. The birth of many of the Special Forces was controversial - they were accused of being 'private armies' and a waste of valuable manpower that could have been better used within the regular forces. Their existence was justified only by their successes. The secrecy that still surrounds some of the Special Forces makes writing an authoritative history no easy task. William Seymour's fascinating narrative draws on a wide variety of documentary sources and eye-witness accounts from surviving members of the Forces. The Special Forces covered are: The Commandos, the Special Boat Section, Combined Operations Pilotage Parties, the Long Range Desert Group, Popski's Private Army, The Special Air Service, the Special Boat Squadron and Raiding Forces, and the Royal Marines Special Forces. From the chaungs of Burma to the African desert, the Greek islands to the D-Day landing beaches, Special Forces played a vital part in Allied victory in the Second World War.

As a young lieutenant in 1941, David Stirling won a battle against military bureaucracy - he was able, against all odds, to introduce a new concept in fighting. Although it was disbanded after the war, the effectiveness of the Special Air Service resulted in its being re-formed six years later to meet the specialized demands of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism in a host of limited-intensity conflicts.

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This is the first study of the life and art of Sydney Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin's brother, a person notable not only for his importance in establishing his brother's career, but in several other early Hollywood enterprises, including the founding of United Artists and the Syd Chaplin Aircraft Corporation, America's first domestic airline. Sydney also had a successful film career, beginning in 1914 with Keystone and culminating with a string of popular films for Warner Bros. in the 1920s. Sydney's film career ended in 1929 because of an assault charge by an actress. This incident proved to be only the last in a string of scandals, each causing him to move to another place, another studio, or another business venture.

November issue includes abridged index to yearly volume.

Drawing from a rich corpus of art works, including sarcophagi, tomb paintings, and floor mosaics, Patrick R. Crowley investigates how something as insubstantial as a ghost could be made visible through the material grit of stone and paint. In this fresh and wide-ranging study, he uses the figure of the ghost to offer a new understanding of the status of the image in Roman art and visual culture. Tracing the shifting practices and debates in antiquity about the nature of vision and representation, Crowley shows how images of ghosts make visible structures of beholding and strategies of depiction. Yet the figure of the ghost simultaneously contributes to a broader conceptual history that accounts for how modalities of belief emerged and developed in antiquity. Neither illustrations of ancient beliefs in ghosts nor depictions of afterlife, these images show us something about the visual event of seeing itself. The Phantom Image offers essential insight into ancient art, visual culture, and the history of the image.