Itch: The Explosive Adventures of an Element Hunter

Mayo, Simon

ISBN 10: 0713993340 / ISBN 13: 9780713993349

Published by Splinter, 2013

About this Item

fine book in fine dw 1st Splinter 2013 hardcover In stock shipped from our UK warehouse.

Seller Inventory # 128387

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Itch: The Explosive Adventures of an Element Hunter
• Publisher: Splinter
• Publication Date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0713993340
• ISBN 13: 9780713993349
• Binding: 1st edition
• Condition: fine/fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • 2

About this title

Synopsis

In October 1942 one of the most important battles in modern history was fought. For more than three years the Axis armies had seemed invincible. Now, in the Egyptian desert, they had been decisively beaten. The opening phase of the Second World War was over. The architect of this triumph was an almost unknown British general, Bernard Montgomery. Nigel Hamilton's award-winning three-volume official life, "Monty", worked within the constraints of the time and circumstances under which it was written. Now, at last, he is able to present us with "The Full Monty", based on new sources and a new interpretation of Monty's legendary ability to inspire young men on the field of battle. The story (the first of two volumes) is an extraordinarily rich and fascinating one revealing a withdrawn, stubborn, difficult individual who remained both highly characteristic of the Imperial tradition in which he was raised and yet utterly revolutionary in his criticism of that world. With immense skill Hamilton shows how Montgomery's repressed homosexuality was the key to his behaviour - homosexuality that distanced him from the conventional world which surrounded him, yet which made him uniquely value the welfare and lives of the soldiers under his care. Hamilton gives a superb re-creation of the worlds in which Montgomery lived: Tasmania, the Western Front 1914-18, the uneasy Imperial Britain, Egypt, India and Palestine of the 1920s and 1930s, the coming of the Second World War, the disasters of Dunkirk and Dieppe, and finally the bloody Allied victory of El Alamein. In re-examining Montgomery's life, Hamilton believes that we must now see him in terms of his ability to forge a unique relationship with the men under his command - a revolutioanry approach that put paid to the butchery and bungling of the First World War, and laid the foundations of successful battlefield leadership in modern democracy. Hamilton's powerful biography gives us a gripping and unflinching portrait of one of Britain's greatest heroes. This is, in all manner of ways, "The Full Monty".

About the Author

Nigel Hamilton is the author of the three-volume official life of Monty (which won the Whitbread Prize and the Templer Medal) and the bestselling JFK: Reckless Youth. He is currently working on The Full Monty: The Impact of Fame 1942-1976 and a biography of Bill Clinton.