Sam Willis: 14 books

A fascinating naval perspective on one of the greatest of all historical conundrums: How did thirteen isolated colonies, which in 1775 began a war with Britain without a navy or an army, win their independence from the greatest naval and military power on earth? The American Revolution involved...

The extraordinary story of the mighty Temeraire, the ship behind J. M. W. Turner's iconic painting. The H.M.S. Temeraire, one of Britain’s most illustrious fighting ships, is known to millions through J. M. W. Turner’s masterpiece, The Fighting Temeraire (1839), which portrays the battle-scarred...

Admiral John Benbow was an English naval hero, a fighting sailor of ruthless methods but indomitable courage. Benbow was a man to be reckoned with. In 1702, however, when Benbow engaged a French squadron off the Spanish main, other ships in his squadron failed to support him. His leg shattered...

France, early summer 1794. The French Revolution has been hijacked by the extreme Jacobins and is in the grip of The Terror. While the guillotine relentlessly takes the heads of innocents, two vast French and British fleets meet in mid-Atlantic after a week of skirmishing. The French, in ships...

Shipwrecks have captured our imagination for centuries. Here acclaimed historian Sam Willis traces the astonishing tales of ships that have met with disastrous ends, along with the ensuing acts of courage, moments of sacrifice and episodes of villainy that inevitably occurred in the extreme conditions....

'History as you've never seen it before.' Dan Snow'A wonderful, eclectic and entertaining history of everything, full of fascinating, surprising stories.' Suzannah LipscombDid you know that the history of the beard is connected to the Crimean War; that the history of paperclips is all about the Stasi;...

Part of the ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIES - Why was the Battle of the Nile so decisive in the French Revolutionary Wars? - Why did the French believe they were unassailable? - And why did Nelson and the British win? TRACK the revolutionary roots and dramatic turning points of the British...

Part of the ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIES. ____________ Why did the Spanish launch their Armada on England? How did Francis Drake counter the Spanish threat? And why were so many ships lost at sea? In 1585 Spain was the most POWERFUL Empire in the known world. As...

Part of the ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIES - Why was the Battle of Trafalgar such an important British victory in the Napoleonic Wars? - How did the British fleet show their strength against the French and Spanish? - How did Nelson excel in his final battle? FOLLOW the...

An essential text for the aspiring student paramedic, Fundamentals of Paramedic Practice makes paramedic science and pre-hospital care accessible, straightforward and exciting. It assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, presenting the must-have information that students need about both the theory...

Nathan Werner just got drafted. They give him a couple weeks to get his affairs in order–easy when you’ve dropped out of school, alienated your friends, and never had a job or a family life to begin with–then it’s off to basic training. Now he’s a pacifist without a cause and the drill sergeant’s...

History repeats itself...In the 1940's and 50's, the United States Penitentiary in Odessa was the home of a revolutionary inmate rehabilitation program: a fast, simple miracle surgery that could reform even the most hopeless case in minutes. Recipients were rendered quiet, docile,...

One night, a long time ago, Ian Kensington became the Angel of Death. His life made sense for a few perfect hours, until the police came. For the next ten years the courts and a team of doctors beat that Angel into submission, and held him there with an endless cocktail of pills. Battered into exhaustion...

A late-night phone call... No one seems to know what happened at Hamlin laboratory. There was a fire. There was a terrorist attack. There was a mass breakout. Director Hall is dead. Abhinav Howell is one of a few neuroscientists being transferred from the now-defunct Special Security Project Operations...