Showing results by narrator "Steven Crossley" in All Categories

Below a dark and angry sea, men in the submarines of the British Navy prowl. Explosive spherical mines lie silently in wait for their weathered vessels. At any time, the abyssals of the Atlantic can be rocked by the terrifying din of a mine exploding and a boat imploding. Manning these cramped vessels is a fulltime hardship, with myriad risks and sometimes terrifying emergencies.

Eisenhower's Armies is the story of two very different armies learning to live, work, and fight together even in the face of serious strategic disagreements. The Anglo-American relationship from 1941-1945 proved to be the most effective military alliance in history. Yet there were also constant tensions and disagreements that threatened to pull the alliance apart.

Sebastian, the alchemist's son, must face a new evil. An old enemy, a magician whose power lies in stealing souls, has reappeared in a new and cunning disguise. He is using an ancient spell book to bring about a terror beyond imagining. Once again, Pip and Tim brave sorcery and danger to help Sebastian as he pursues his enemies through the centuries.

In late 1756, as the British government collapses in the aftermath of the loss of Minorca, and the country and navy are thrown into political chaos, a small force of ships is sent to the West Indies to reinforce the Leeward Islands Squadron. Captain Edward Carlisle and his first lieutenant George Holbrooke are fresh from the Mediterranean and their capture of a powerful French man-of-war. Their new frigate Medina has orders to join a squadron commanded by a terminally ill commodore. Their mission: a near-suicidal assault on a strong Caribbean island fortress.

After the death of his sweetheart when he was at university, Daniel Herbert buried his grief in medical studies and his passion for healing. Viewed as a saint by those who know him, in his own mind, he never quite manages to live up to his own high standards. Most men would be thrilled to learn they've inherited a title and estate from a distant relative, but Daniel is appalled because the burden of wealth will interfere with his medical calling.

Iran and Iraq served as the first WWII theater in which the US, the UK, and the USSR fought alongside each other. Historian Ashley Jackson charts the intense Allied military activity in Iran and Iraq and reveals how deeply the war impacted common people's lives. He also provides revelations about the true nature of Anglo-American relations in the region, the beginnings of the Cold War, and the continuing corrosive legacy of Western influence in these lands.

Acclaimed biographer Carolly Erickson brings history vibrantly to life with her powerful flesh-and-blood portrait of Charles Stuart, the Young Pretender to the British throne. Courageously attempting to conquer England, this significant figure in Scottish history divides the troubled British kingdom and disturbs decadent monarchies throughout the entire European continent.

Captain Carlisle hails from Virginia, a loyal colony of the British Crown. As the clouds of war gather, Carlisle's small frigate is ordered to Toulon on a reconnaissance mission. If battling the winter weather in the Gulf of Lions is not a sufficient challenge, Carlisle must also juggle the delicate diplomatic issues in this period of pre-war tension while contending with an increasingly belligerent French frigate. But Carlisle has additional problems unique to his colonial origins.

Livingstone's first book revolutionized the way European readers saw Africa and made him a hero in England. He returned again to the Zambesi with his brother Charles and others, this time with more equipment and funds. Again he faced hippopotami, crocodiles, impossible terrain, and disease, but his greatest enemies on this trip prove to be human. The British eventually lost faith in the expedition, but Livingstone proved in the end to have had tremendous foresight.

Sometimes, even the most proper young lady yearns for adventure. But when the very well bred Miss Sarah Clarke-Townsend impulsively takes the place of her pregnant twin, it puts her own life at risk. If the kidnappers after her sister discover they've abducted Sarah instead, she will surely pay with her life....

For the first time in the history of our planet, more than half the population - 3.3 billion people - is now living in cities. City is the ultimate guidebook to our urban centers - the signature unit of human civilization. With erudite prose, this unique work of metatourism explores what cities are and how they work. It covers history, customs and language, districts, transport, money, work, shops and markets, and tourist sites, creating a fantastically detailed portrait of the city through history and into the future.

James, Lord Kirkland, owns a shipping fleet, half a London gaming house, and is a ruthlessly effective spymaster. He is seldom self-indulgent… except when it comes to the gentle, indomitable beauty who was once his wife. Laurel Herbert gave James her heart as an innocent young girl - until she saw him perform an act of shocking violence before her very eyes. That night she left her husband, and he let her go without a word of protest.

In this epic poem, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of the king of the Danes whose great hall is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel bare-handed and goes on to kill Grendel's mother with a giant’s sword that he recovers from her lair. Later, as king of the Geats, Beowulf confronts a dragon that terrorizes his kingdom. J.R.R. Tolkien said of Beowulf that it is in fact so interesting as poetry, that the poetry quite overshadows the historical content in places.

Great Britain, 1923: When Detective Inspector John Redfyre is invited to attend the annual St. Barnabas College Christmas concert in his Aunt Henrietta's stead, he is expecting a quiet evening. But he arrives to witness a minor scandal: Juno Proudfoot, the trumpeter of the headlining musical duo, is a woman, and a young one at that - practically unheard of in conservative academic circles. When she suffers a near-fatal fall after the close of the show, Redfyre must consider whether someone was trying to kill her.

At the outbreak of the Second World War D. M. Crook, of No. 609 Squadron AAF, was at Yeadon, still undergoing his training; by the winter of 1939-40, he had his wings. Successfully applying to return to his Squadron, then on defense duties in northern England, Crook began to familiarize himself with their new fighter: the Spitfire. Soon they were posted to RAF Northolt, and it was at this time that Crook, much to his chagrin, was left grounded, undergoing knee surgery as they flew over Dunkirk.

When the university merged his Department of Linguistics with English, Professor Desmond Bates took early retirement, but he is not enjoying it. But his daily discontent is nothing compared to the affliction of hearing loss, which is a constant source of domestic friction and social embarrassment. In the popular imagination, he observes, deafness is comic, as blindness is tragic, but for the deaf person himself it is no joke.

John Buchan takes us back to Edwardian Britain on the eve of the First World War in the modern thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps. An inexplicable murder drives the innocent Richard Hannay, on the run from a manhunt that never seems to end, to hide in remote Scottish moorland. Disguise and deception are his only weapons, as he struggles to decode the clues left by the murdered man to prevent the theft of naval secrets by an unfriendly foreign power.

Noble Prince Jen is the one person that his father, King Ta'i, trusts enough to send on a mission to the legendary kingdom of Tien-Kuo. The prince eagerly begins his quest bearing only enormous pride and humble gifts. From the onset, however, the young ruler marches headlong into misfortune. Separated from his faithful servant, the prince finds himself fending off murderers, falling prey to trickery, and searching for a village girl who plays a magic flute. But it isn’t until he faces his most challenging personal trial that the he fully realizes the power hidden in each humble gift.

After a pregnant she-wolf and her pack take shelter in an abandoned Transylvanian castle, they are set upon by Morgra, a lone wolf whose traveling companion feeds on the dead. One of the she-wolf's pups is destined to hold a key to unimaginable power, and Morgra will do anything to seize that power for herself.

It’s September 1592, and the dark streets of London are full of people up to no good. The redoubtable Sergeant Dodd and that dashing Elizabethan gunslinger Sir Robert Carey are in London where Carey’s powerful father, Lord Henry Hunsdon, wants him to solve the mystery of a corpse that has washed up from the Thames River onto Her Majesty’s privy steps.