Armada: The Spanish Enterprise and England's Deliverance in 1588 ....

In July 1588 the Spanish Armada sailed from Corunna to conquer England. Three weeks later an English fireship attack in the Channel―and then a fierce naval battle―foiled the planned invasion. Many myths still surround these events. The genius of Sir Francis Drake is exalted, while Spain’s efforts are belittled. But what really happened during that fateful encounter?Drawing on archives from around the world, Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker also deploy vital new evidence from Armada shipwrecks off the coasts of Ireland and Scotland. Their gripping, beautifully illustrated account provides a fresh understanding of how the rival fleets came into being; how they looked, sounded, and smelled; and what happened when they finally clashed.....

A Little History of the World

The product of a generous and humane sensibility, this timeless account makes intelligible the full span of human history.In forty concise chapters, Gombrich tells the story of man from Stone Age to the atomic bomb. He paints a colourful picture of wars and conquests; of grand works of art; of the advances and limitations of science; of remarkable people and remarkable events - from Confucius to Catherine the Great to Winston Churchill.This is a text dominated not by dates and facts, but by the sweep of mankind’s experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity’s achievements and an acute witness to its frailties....