Charles Glass

This is the Iraq war as it really started, amid lies, confusion and profound distrust between the United States and its Iraqi allies. Charles Glass, who first covered the Kurds in 1974 and was in Iraq for their failed rebellion in 1991, depicts the tense epoch that sowed the seeds of Americas inevitable failure there. The Northern Front is the dramatic eyewitness account of the machinations of Iraqi leaders - Ahmad Chalabi, Abdel Aziz Hakim, Massoud Barzani and Jelal Talabani - to control the country before their opponents seized the initiative. Glass recounts what went wrong when the US, with Britain in tow, imposed its will on a people unlikely to accept foreign designs for their future. He indicts international media conglomerates that failed to tell the truth when public debate could have prevented the deaths and destruction that came with war. Witty and absorbing Essential, and humbling, reading for all those pundits and commentators who think they understand what happened in Iraq. Malise Ruthven, author of A History of the Arab Peoples A vivid picture of the events leading up to the war and the chaos of the war itself. Ian Gilmour Should be mandatory reading for all wannabe foreign correspondents. Jonathan Randal A beautifully written account of the full sweep of the war and of what it was like to report on it. A starting-point for any proper understanding of the whole contentious business of the Iraq war. John Simpson In the finest tradition of radical reporting - anti-war, sympathetic, compassionate and enlightening. Phillip Knightley, author of The First Casualty

A brilliant and poignant history of the friendship between two great war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, alongside a narrative investigation of the origins of PTSD and the literary response to World War IRecommended not only to psychiatrists but also to those with an interest in the complex relationships created by war and the management of traumaBritish Journal of PsychiatrySecond Lieutenant Wilfred Owen was twenty-four years old when he was admitted to the newly established Craiglockhart War Hospital for treatment of shell shock. A bourgeoning poet, trying to make sense of the terror he had witnessed, he read a collection of poems from a fellow officer, Siegfried Sassoon, and was impressed by his portrayal of the soldiers plight. One month later, Sassoon himself arrived at Craiglockhart, having refused to return to the front after being wounded during battle.As their friendship evolved over their months as patients at Craiglockhart, each encouraged the other in their work, in their personal reckonings with the morality of war, as well as in their treatment. Therapy provided Owen, Sassoon, and fellow patients with insights that allowed them express themselves better, and for the 28 months that Craiglockhart was in operation, it notably incubated the eras most significant developments in both psychiatry and poetry.Drawing on rich source materials, as well as Glasss own deep understanding of trauma and war, Soldiers Dont Go Mad tells for the first time the story of the soldiers and doctors who struggled with the effects of industrial warfare on the human psyche. As he investigates the roots of what we now know as post-traumatic stress disorder, Glass brings historical bearing to how we must consider wars ravaging effects on mental health, and the ways in which creative work helps us come to terms with even the darkest of times.

Highly detailed and fast-paced, Charles Glasss They Fought Alone is a must-read for those whose passion is the Resistance literature of World War II. Alan Furst, author of A Hero of FranceFrom the bestselling author of Americans in Paris and The Deserters, the astounding story of Britains Special Operations Executive, one of World War IIs most important secret fighting forcesAs far as the public knew, Britains Special Operations Executive (SOE) did not exist. After the defeat of the French Army and Britains retreat from the Continent in June 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill created the top-secret espionage operation to "set Europe ablaze." The agents infiltrated Nazi-occupied territory, parachuting behind enemy lines and hiding in plain sight, quietly but forcefully recruiting, training, and arming local French resistants to attack the German war machine. SOE would not only change the course of the war, but the nature of combat itself. Of the many brave men and women conscripted, two Anglo-American recruits, the Starr brothers, stood out to become legendary figures to the guerillas, assassins, and saboteurs they led.While both brothers were sent across the channel to organize against the Germans, their fates in war could hardly have been more different. Captain George Starr commanded networks of resistants in southwest France, cutting German communications, destroying weapons factories, and delaying the arrival of Nazi troops to Normandy by seventeen days after D-Day. Younger brother Lieutenant John Starr laid groundwork for resistance in the Burgundy countryside until he was betrayed, captured, tortured, and imprisoned by the Nazis in France and sent to a series of concentration camps in Germany and Austria. Feats of boldness and bravado were many, but appalling scandals, including Georges supposed torture and execution of Nazis prisoners, and Johns alleged collaboration with his German captors, overshadowed them all. At the wars end, Britain, France, and the United States awarded both brothers medals for heroism, and George would become one of only three among thousands of SOE operatives to achieve the rank of colonel. Yet, their battle honors did little to allay postwar allegations against them, and when they returned to England, their government accused both brothers of heinous war crimes.Here, for the first time, is the story of one of the great clandestine organizations of World War II, and of two heroic brothers whose ordeals during and after the war challenged the accepted myths of Britains wartime resistance in occupied France. Written with complete and unrivaled access to only recently declassified documents from Britains SOE files, French archives, family letters, diaries, and court records, along with interviews from surviving wartime Resistance fighters, They Fought Alone is a real-life thriller. Renowned journalist and war correspondent Charles Glass exposes a dramatic tale of spies, sabotage, and the daring men and women who risked everything to change the course of World War II.

Powerful and often startlingThe Deserters offers a provokingly fresh angle on this most studied of conflicts. --The Boston GlobeA groundbreaking history of ordinary soldiers struggling on the front lines, The Deserters offers a completely new perspective on the Second World War. Charles Glassrenowned journalist and author of the critically acclaimed Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupationdelves deep into army archives, personal diaries, court-martial records, and self-published memoirs to produce this dramatic and heartbreaking portrait of men overlooked by their commanders and ignored by history.Surveying the 150,000 American and British soldiers known to have deserted in the European Theater, The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II tells the life stories of three soldiers who abandoned their posts in France, Italy, and Africa. Their deeds form the backbone of Glasss arresting portrait of soldiers pushed to the breaking point, a sweeping reexamination of the conditions for ordinary soldiers.With the grace and pace of a novel, The Deserters moves beyond the false extremes of courage and cowardice to reveal the true experience of the frontline soldier. Glass shares the story of men like Private Alfred Whitehead, a Tennessee farm boy who earned Silver and Bronze Stars for bravery in Normandyyet became a gangster in liberated Paris, robbing Allied supply depots along with ordinary citizens. Here also is the story of British men like Private John Bain, who deserted three times but never fled from combatand who endured battles in North Africa and northern France before German machine guns cut his legs from under him. The heart of The Deserters resides with men like Private Steve Weiss, an idealistic teenage volunteer from Brooklyn who forced his fathera disillusioned First World War veteranto sign his enlistment papers because he was not yet eighteen. On the Anzio beachhead and in the Ardennes forest, as an infantryman with the 36th Division and as an accidental partisan in the French Resistance, Weiss lost his illusions about the nobility of conflict and the infallibility of American commanders.Far from the bright picture found in propaganda and nostalgia, the Second World War was a grim and brutal affair, a long and lonely effort that has never been fully reportedto the detriment of those who served and the danger of those nurtured on false tales today. Revealing the true costs of conflict on those forced to fight, The Deserters is an elegant and unforgettable story of ordinary men desperately struggling in extraordinary times.

A powerful and insightful narrative of a journey once violently interrupted and here resumed through one of the most compelling regions on earth. From Aqaba to Jerusalem and on into Palestine, veteran commentator on the Middle East, Charles Glass writes a thoughtful, inquisitive and dispassionate book on the politics and peoples of the region. He has traversed the Jordanian desert to the Iraqi border with Bedouin guides, explored modern Israel and revisited the scene of his captivity, confronting the men who kidnapped him. Written with elegance, flair and a wonderfully acute eye for the idiosyncrasies of the places through which he passes, this is a travel book full of enemies and friends both old and new: Arabs and Jews, soldiers and shopkeepers, Syrians and Israelis, the cowed and the vengeful, affording us an unprecedented and intimate portrait of these bruised and troubled lands.

The #1 Amazon UK bestseller in War PoetryA brilliant and poignant history of the friendship between two great war poets, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, alongside a narrative investigation of the origins of PTSD and the literary response to World War IFrom the moment war broke out across Europe in 1914, the world entered a new, unparalleled era of modern warfare. Soldiers faced relentless machine gun shelling, incredible artillery power, flame throwers, and gas attacks. Within the first four months of the war, the British Army recorded the nervous collapse of ten percent of its officers; the loss of such manpower to mental illness not to mention death and physical wounds left the army unable to fill its ranks. Second Lieutenant Wilfred Owen was twenty-four years old when he was admitted to the newly established Craiglockhart War Hospital for treatment of shell shock. A bourgeoning poet, trying to make sense of the terror he had witnessed, he read a collection of poems from a fellow officer, Siegfried Sassoon, and was impressed by his portrayal of the soldiers plight. One month later, Sassoon himself arrived at Craiglockhart, having refused to return to the front after being wounded during battle.Though Owen and Sassoon differed in age, class, education, and interests, both were outsiders as soldiers unfit to fight, as gay men in a homophobic country, and as Britons unwilling to support a war likely to wipe out an entire generation of young men. But more than anything else, they shared a love of the English language, and its highest expression of poetry. As their friendship evolved over their months as patients at Craiglockhart, each encouraged the other in their work, in their personal reckonings with the morality of war, as well as in their treatment. Therapy provided Owen, Sassoon, and fellow patients with insights that allowed them express themselves better, and for the 28 months that Craiglockhart was in operation, it notably incubated the eras most significant developments in both psychiatry and poetry.Drawing on rich source materials, as well as Glasss own deep understanding of trauma and war, Soldiers Dont Go Mad tells for the first time the story of the soldiers and doctors who struggled with the effects of industrial warfare on the human psyche. Writing beyond the battlefields, to the psychiatric couch of Craiglockhart but also the literary salons, halls of power, and country houses, Glass charts the experiences of Owen and Sassoon, and of their fellow soldier-poets, alongside the greater literary response to modern warfare. As he investigates the roots of what we now know as post-traumatic stress disorder, Glass brings historical bearing to how we must consider wars ravaging effects on mental health, and the ways in which creative work helps us come to terms with even the darkest of times.

Tribes With Flags is the gripping story of Charles Glasss dramatic journey through Greater Syria which provides background context to a troubled region once again in the headlines. Charles Glass began his journey through the former Arab nations of the Ottoman Empire by exploring farms, refugee camps and feudal palaces to capture the full spectrum of Levantine life. But his literary and spiritual ramble was abruptly interrupted when on 17 June 1987 he was kidnapped by Shia militants. What followed, 62 days later, was a daring escape that captivated the worlds media. In this classic travelogue, the former ABC Middle East correspondent records an adventure which took him through Turkey, Syria, Israel, Jordan and the Lebanon. An honest, colourful and immediate tale of wanderlust and history, Tribes with Flags is an essential back-story to our understanding of the complexity of the region, and the gripping testimony of one of the few hostages who has escaped its maelstrom to tell his tale.

Acclaimed journalist Charlie Glass looks to the American expatriate experience of Nazi-occupied Paris to reveal a fascinating forgotten history of the greatest generation. In Americans in Paris, tales of adventure, intrigue, passion, deceit, and survival unfold season by season, from the spring of 1940 to liberation in the summer of 1944, as renowned journalist Charles Glass tells the story of a remarkable cast of expatriates and their struggles in Nazi Paris. Before the Second World War began, approximately thirty thousand Americans lived in Paris, and when war broke out in 1939 almost five thousand remained. As citizens of a neutral nation, the Americans in Paris believed they had little to fear. They were wrong. Glasss discovery of letters, diaries, war documents, and police files reveals as never before how Americans were trapped in a web of intrigue, collaboration, and courage. Artists, writers, scientists, playboys, musicians, cultural mandarins, and ordinary businessmen-all were swept up in extraordinary circumstances and tested as few Americans before or since. Charles Bedaux, a French-born, naturalized American millionaire, determined his alliances as a businessman first, a decision that would ultimately make him an enemy to all. Countess Clara Longworth de Chambrun was torn by family ties to President Roosevelt and the Vichy government, but her fiercest loyalty was to her beloved American Library of Paris. Sylvia Beach attempted to run her famous English-language bookshop, Shakespeare & Company, while helping her Jewish friends and her colleagues in the Resistance. Dr. Sumner Jackson, wartime chief surgeon of the American Hospital in Paris, risked his life aiding Allied soldiers to escape to Britain and resisting the occupier from the first day. These stories and others come together to create a unique portrait of an eccentric, original, diverse American community. Charles Glass has written an exciting, fast-paced, and elegant account of the moral contradictions faced by Americans in Paris during Frances dangerous occupation years. For four hard years, from the summer of 1940 until U.S. troops liberated Paris in August 1944, Americans were intimately caught up in the citys fate. Americans in Paris is an unforgettable tale of treachery by some, cowardice by others, and unparalleled bravery by a few.

An elegantly written and highly informative account of a group of Americans living in Paris when the city fell to the Nazis in June 1940. When the German army occupied Paris in the early hours of 14 June 1940, a large American community awaited them. Although the US Ambassador had advised those without vital business to leave when war broke out in 1939, almost five thousand remained. Many had professional and family ties to Paris, and most had a peculiarly American love for the city that was rooted in the bravery of the thousands of Frenchmen who volunteered to help win American independence after 1776. As citizens of a neutral nation, they believed they had little to fear. They were wrong. For four hard years, from the summer of 1940 until US troops occupied Paris in August 1944, Americans were intimately caught up in the citys fate. Those who stayed behind were an eccentric, original and disparate group. Charles Bedaux, a Frenchborn, naturalized American millionaire, had played host to the Duke of Windsors wedding in 1937 and went on throwing lavish parties for European royalty and high-ranking Nazi officials. Countess Clara Longworth de Chambrun, who accepted the legitimacy of the Vichy regime, dealt with anyone, including the Nazis, to keep her beloved American Library of Paris open. Sylvia Beach attempted to run her famous English-language bookshop, Shakespeare & Company, whilst providing help to her Jewish friends and her colleagues in the Resistance. Dr Sumner Jackson, wartime chief surgeon of the American Hospital in Paris, risked his life aiding Allied soldiers to escape to Britain and resisting the occupier from the first day. Charles Glass has written an exciting, fast-paced and elegant account of the moral contradictions faced by Americans in Paris during Frances most dangerous years. His discovery of letters, diaries, war documents and police files reveals as never before how American expatriates were trapped in a web of intrigue, collaboration and courage. This is an unforgettable tale of treachery by some, cowardice by others and unparalleled bravery by a few.

The extraordinary story of the deserters of the Second World War. Who were they? What made them run? And what happened once they made the decision to flee? During the Second World War, the British lost 100,000 troops to desertion, and the Americans 40,000. Commonwealth forces from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Britains colonial empire also left the ranks in their thousands. The overwhelming majority of deserters from all armies were front-line infantry troops; without them, the war was harder to win. Many of these men were captured and court martialled, while others were never apprehended. Some remain wanted to this day. Why did these men decide to flee their ranks? In Deserter, veteran reporter and historian Charles Glass follows a group of British and American deserters into the heat of battle and explores what motivated them to take their fateful decision to run away. The result is a highly emotional and engaging study of an under-explored area of World War II history.

Una historia silenciada de la segunda guerra mundialEn la segunda guerra mundial, más de 150.000 soldados aliados desertaron. Ésta es la historia desconocida de algunos de esos hombres corrientes en