TALES OF WAR
GREAT STORIES FROM MILITARY HISTORY FOR EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR

W.B.MARSH and BRUCE CARRICK

PUBLICATION DATE: 6 JANUARY 2011
£12.99 ● Paperback ● ISBN 978-184831-217-3

The latest in the bestselling 365 series, 365 TALES OF WAR brings together a powerful collection of vividly-drawn historical snapshots of military endeavour, from Pharaoh Thutmose III’s victory at Megiddo in the year 1479 BC (15 May), to the heroic action of Private Johnson Beharry in Iraq, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross in 2004 (11 June).

Spanning 3500 years and covering almost fifty different wars, over 250 separate battles, and some thirty sieges, each day of the year is marked with a momentous occasion, as renowned events that have changed the course of history are celebrated alongside the forgotten acts of unsung heroes.

365 TALES OF WAR is a unique tour of the many faces of armed conflict – the camaraderie, bravery and sacrifice as well as the bloodshed and waste of life. We learn of those like the American film star Audie Murphy (12 July) who displayed remarkable heroism and self-sacrifice under fire, about the ‘birth’ of Mata Hari (13 March), the notorious dancer and courtesan who was ultimately shot as a spy by a French firing squad, and of the 22-year old Arab prince-warrior Ibn Sa’ud, whose audacious surprise attack on Riyadh with only 15 followers created Saudi Arabia (15 January 1902).

Woven through these incredible stories are familiar words from legendary leaders of men that resonate throughout the ages, from Caesar’s famous ‘Veni, vidi, vici’ in 47 BC (21 May) to Churchill’s splendid rhetoric ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat’ in 1940 (13 May). There is room too for those such as American Marine sergeant Dan Daly’s less eloquent ‘Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?’, an inspirational call to his beleaguered men that echoes today as startling real.

These gripping tales are skilfully told, portraying the many facets of war and making the reader aware that, as the writer Arthur Koestler noted, ‘the most persistent sound which reverberates through man’s history is the beating of war drums.’

W.B. MARSH was born in New York, and now lives in London. On his birthday – 26 October – Alfred the Great, who famously defeated the Danes on British soil, died in 899. BRUCE CARRICK has worked in book publishing for many years in New York and London. On his birthday in 1856, the Gazette first published the creation of the Victoria Cross, the highest possible military award in the Commonwealth for valour in the face of the enemy.

Contact: Najma Finlay, Publicity Director Icon Books najma.finlay@iconbooks.co.uk/ D/L 020 7700 9962