Last Action Hero of the British Empire: CDR John Kerans 1915-1985 (Short Lives) - Softcover

Farndale, Nigel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571208258 ISBN 13: 9780571208258

Publisher: Short Books, 2001

Synopsis

In 1949, at the beginning of the Cold War, Lieutenant-Commander John Kerans, stuck in a desk job in Nanking, was suddenly called upon by the Admiralty to go to the rescue of a naval frigate, the HMS Amethyst, which had been caught in the crossfire of the Chinese civil war. In this thrilling account of the "Yangtse Incident," Nigel Farndale captures all the excitement that surrounded Kerans's unexpected hour of glory, and all the poignancy of his inevitable fall from grace.

About this title

From the Publisher:

April 1949: the Berlin airlift had ended, the Cold War had begun, and Britain needed a hero to cheer the nation. He came in the unlikely form of Commander John Kerans, then languishing in a backwater job in Nanking. A Royal Navy frigate, HMS Amethyst, had been shelled in an unprovoked attack by Chinese Communists and now lay trapped—and captain–less—in the Yangtze River. The Admiralty called upon Kerans, as the nearest local replacement, to go to the rescue. Nigel Farndale’s account of the Amethyst’s escape is not just a great naval adventure story—it also offers an absorbing portrait of a complex and self–destructive man who just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

About the Author:

Nigel Farndale's first novel. A Sympathatic Hanging, was published in May 2000 by Quartet. He is a features writer on the Sunday Telegraph Magazine.

About this edition

• Publisher: Short Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0571208258
• ISBN 13: 9780571208258
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96