Author: Roy Adkins File Type: epub A rip-roaring account of the dramatic four-year siege of Britains Mediterranean garrison by Spain and Francean overlooked key to the British loss in the American Revolution For more than three and a half years, from 1779 to 1783, the tiny territory of Gibraltar was besieged and blockaded, on land and at sea, by the overwhelming forces of Spain and France. It became the longest siege in British history, and the obsession with saving Gibraltar was blamed for the loss of the American colonies in the War of Independence. Located between the Mediterranean and Atlantic, on the very edge of Europe, Gibraltar was a place of varied nationalities, languages, religions, and social classes. During the siege, thousands of soldiers, civilians, and their families withstood terrifying bombardments, starvation, and disease. Very ordinary people lived through extraordinary events, from shipwrecks and naval battles to an attempted invasion of England and a daring sortie out of Gibraltar into Spain. Deadly innovations included red-hot shot, shrapnel shells, and a barrage from immense floating batteries. This is military and social history at its best, a story of soldiers, sailors, and civilians, with royalty and rank and file, workmen and engineers, priests, prisoners of war, spies, and surgeons, all caught up in a struggle for a fortress located on little more than two square miles of awe-inspiring rock. Gibraltar The Greatest Siege in British History is an epic page-turner, rich in dramatic human detaila tale of courage, endurance, intrigue, desperation, greed, and humanity. The everyday experiences of all those involved are brought vividly to life with eyewitness accounts and expert research. **Review Praise for *Nelsons Trafalgar* Captures the din, confusion, and sheer carnage of the battle. Mr. Adkins reminds us that in the cramped gun decks the noise of the battle could be felt as much as heard a maddening sensation of pressure on the skull. The Wall Street Journal Wonderful. . . . The equal of [Antony Beevors] Stalingrad. The Independent on Sunday (London) Hugely satisfying. Those who share my appetite for particulars will delight in this book. The Boston Globe Excellent. . . . Adkins is at his best on the nuances of seamanship and the minutiae of life within the wooden walls. The Independent This illustrious introduction to the Battle of Trafalgar from an archaeologist and historian is one of the best in generations for the non-seafaring reader curious about the nautical epic, and it also handsomely rewards those whose study of the battle goes back a generation or two. Publishers Weekly (starred review) Masterful. Bernard Cornwell, Mail on Sunday (London) Vivid, scrupulous, immensely moving, this is a terrific yarn. Christopher Hirst, The Independent (London) About the Author Roy and Lesley Adkins are husband-and-wife historians and archaeologists and the bestselling authors of Jane Austens England, Nelsons Trafalgar, Jack Tar, and The Keys of Egypt, among other books. They live in Devon, England.

Author: Sunil Sharma File Type: pdf At its height in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Mughal Empire was one of the largest empires in Eurasia, with territory extending over most of the Indian subcontinent and much of present-day Afghanistan. As part of the Persianate world that spanned from the Bosphorus to the Bay of Bengal, Mughal rulers were legendary connoisseurs of the arts. Their patronage attracted poets, artists, and scholars from all parts of the eastern Islamic world. Persian was the language of the court, and poets from Safavid Iran played a significant role in the cultural life of the nobility. Mughal Arcadia explores the rise and decline of Persian court poetry in India and the invention of an enduring ideafound in poetry, prose, paintings, and architectureof a literary paradise, a Persian garden located outside Iran, which was perfectly exemplified by the valley of Kashmir. Poets and artists from Iran moved freely throughout the Mughal empire and encountered a variety of cultures and landscapes that inspired aesthetic experiments which continue to inspire the visual arts, poetry, films, and music in contemporary South Asia. Sunil Sharma takes readers on a dazzling literary journey over a vast geographic terrain and across two centuries, from the accession of the first emperor, Babur, to the throne of Hindustan to the reign of the sixth great Mughal, Aurangzeb, in order to illuminate the life of Persian poetry in India. Along the way, we are offered a rare glimpse into the social and cultural life of the Mughals. **