The ​Persian Boy

Ayelet Waldman - Love ​and Treasure
A ​spellbinding new novel of contraband masterpieces, tragic love, and the unexpected legacies of forgotten crimes, Ayelet Waldman’s Love and Treasure weaves a tale around the fascinating, true history of the Hungarian Gold Train in the Second World War. In 1945 on the outskirts of Salzburg, victorious American soldiers capture a train filled with unspeakable riches: piles of fine gold watches; mountains of fur coats; crates filled with wedding rings, silver picture frames, family heirlooms, and Shabbat candlesticks passed down through generations. Jack Wiseman, a tough, smart New York Jew, is the lieutenant charged with guarding this treasure - a responsibility that grows more complicated when he meets Ilona, a fierce, beautiful Hungarian who has lost everything in the ravages of the Holocaust. Seventy years later, amid the shadowy world of art dealers who profit off the sins of previous generations, Jack gives a necklace to his granddaughter, Natalie Stein, and charges her with searching for an unknown woman - a woman whose portrait and fate come to haunt Natalie, a woman whose secret may help Natalie to understand the guilt her grandfather will take to his grave and to find a way out of the mess she has made of her own life. A story of brilliantly drawn characters - a suave and shady art historian, a delusive and infatuated Freudian, a family of singing circus dwarfs fallen into the clutches of Josef Mengele, and desperate lovers facing choices that will tear them apart - Love and Treasure is Ayelet Waldman’s finest novel to date: a sad, funny, richly detailed work that poses hard questions about the value of precious things in a time when life itself has no value, and about the slenderest of chains that can bind us to the griefs and passions of the past.

Thuküdidész - A ​peloponnészoszi háború
A ​görög történetírás legnagyobb alakjának nyolc könyvből álló műve a peloponnészoszi háború (Kr. e. 431-404) lefolyását Kr. e. 410-ig ismerteti. Az eseményeket saját kutatásai segítségével rekonstruálta, s munkájához írott forrásokat is felhasznált. A leírás folyamatába szónoklatokat illesztett, hogy megvilágítsa a szereplők cselekedeteinek, a politikai döntéseknek az okait, kifejezve személyes értelmezését mindannak okairól, ami bekövetkezett. A könyv egyik legdrámaibb s a szofisztikus vitairodalom magaslataira emelkedő jelenete a kicsiny Mélosz szigetét körülzáró athéniak és az erőszaknak nem engedő mélosziak párbeszéde, amely a nagyhatalmak és a kisállamok örök és - a kicsikre nézve többnyire végzetes - konfliktusának legjobb összefoglalása az egész ókori irodalomban.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran - Imperial ​Life in the Emerald City
An ​unprecedented account of life in Baghdad’s Green Zone, a walled-off enclave of towering plants, posh villas, and sparkling swimming pools that was the headquarters for the American occupation of Iraq. The Washington Post’s former Baghdad bureau chief Rajiv Chandrasekaran takes us with him into the Zone: into a bubble, cut off from wartime realities, where the task of reconstructing a devastated nation competed with the distractions of a Little America—a half-dozen bars stocked with cold beer, a disco where women showed up in hot pants, a movie theater that screened shoot-’em-up films, an all-you-could-eat buffet piled high with pork, a shopping mall that sold pornographic movies, a parking lot filled with shiny new SUVs, and a snappy dry-cleaning service—much of it run by Halliburton. Most Iraqis were barred from entering the Emerald City for fear they would blow it up. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and internal documents, Chandrasekaran tells the story of the people and ideas that inhabited the Green Zone during the occupation, from the imperial viceroy L. Paul Bremer III to the fleet of twentysomethings hired to implement the idea that Americans could build a Jeffersonian democracy in an embattled Middle Eastern country. In the vacuum of postwar planning, Bremer ignores what Iraqis tell him they want or need and instead pursues irrelevant neoconservative solutions—a flat tax, a sell-off of Iraqi government assets, and an end to food rationing. His underlings spend their days drawing up pie-in-the-sky policies, among them a new traffic code and a law protecting microchip designs, instead of rebuilding lootedbuildings and restoring electricity production. His almost comic initiatives anger the locals and help fuel the insurgency. Chandrasekaran details Bernard Kerik’s ludicrous attempt to train the Iraqi police and brings to light lesser known but typical travesties: the case of the twenty-four-year-old who had never worked in finance put in charge of reestablishing Baghdad’s stock exchange; a contractor with no previous experience paid millions to guard a closed airport; a State Department employee forced to bribe Americans to enlist their help in preventing Iraqi weapons scientists from defecting to Iran; Americans willing to serve in Iraq screened by White House officials for their views on Roe v. Wade; people with prior expertise in the Middle East excluded in favor of lesser-qualified Republican Party loyalists. Finally, he describes Bremer’s ignominious departure in 2004, fleeing secretly in a helicopter two days ahead of schedule. This is a startling portrait of an Oz-like place where a vital aspect of our government’s folly in Iraq played out. It is a book certain to be talked about for years to come.

Ken Follett - Az ​örökkévalóság küszöbén
A ​VÉRES ÉS GYÖNYÖRŰ HUSZADIK SZÁZAD TÖRTÉNETE ÚGY, AHOGY AZT CSAK KEN FOLLETT TUDJA ELMESÉLNI Az Évszázad-trilógia öt család – egy amerikai, egy angol, egy walesi, egy német és egy orosz – történetét mutatja be a 20. században. A harmadik kötet a hidegháború, az 1960-as és az 1980-as évek közötti időszak hatalmas szociális, politikai és gazdasági változásait mutatja be: a polgárjogi mozgalmakat az USA-ban, a politikai gyilkosságokat, a vietnami háború elleni tiltakozásokat, a berlini fal felhúzását és lebontását, az atomcsendegyezményt, a gorbacsovi peresztrojkát és természetesen a rock and roll és a beat nemzedékét. Rebecca Hoffmann, a Kelet-Berlinben élő Von Ulrich család adoptált gyermeke rájön, hogy egy Stasi-ügynökhöz ment feleségül. A férfinak az volt a feladata, hogy a nagypolgári családot figyelje. Csodával határos módon az asszonynak sikerül átszöknie a falon, és Hamburgban kezd új életet… George Jakes, a félvér jogász Robert F. Kennedy csapatához kerül az Igazságügyi Minisztériumba, és belecsöppen a polgárjogi mozgalmak kellős közepébe… Cameron Dewar, a szenátor unokája a republikánusok oldalán a Watergate-ügy egyik ötletadója és kivitelezője lesz… Gyimka Dvorkin Moszkvában Nyikita Hruscsov személyi titkáraként kezdi politikusi karrierjét, így a leszerelési tárgyalások, a csehszlovákiai bevonulás aktív résztvevője. Újságíró ikertestvére, Tánya révén kapcsolatba kerül a másként gondolkodókkal… A fantasztikusan eleven történeti háttér előtt a szereplők rengeteg izgalmas világesemény résztvevői, nagyszerű karriert futnak be, magánéletükben azonban sokkal kevésbé sikeresek: gyakran több évtized múltán ismerik fel, hogy ki is az igazi társuk. Ken Follett sodró lendületű cselekményeken keresztül egy olyan világba vezet bennünket, amelyről azt gondoljuk, hogy ismerjük, hiszen átéltük, s most mégis másképpen látjuk.

Ken Follett - Winter ​of the World
Ken ​Follett’s Fall of Giants, the first novel in his extraordinary new historical epic, The Century Trilogy, was an international sensation, acclaimed as “sweeping and fascinating, a book that will consume you for days or weeks” (USA Today) and “grippingly told and readable to the end” (The New York Times Book Review). “If the next two volumes are as lively and entertaining as Fall of Giants,” said The Washington Post, “they should be well worth waiting for.” Winter of the World picks up right where the first book left off, as its five interrelated families—American, German, Russian, English, Welsh—enter a time of enormous social, political, and economic turmoil, beginning with the rise of the Third Reich, through the Spanish Civil War and the great dramas of World War II, up to the explosions of the American and Soviet atomic bombs. Carla von Ulrich, born of German and English parents, finds her life engulfed by the Nazi tide until she commits a deed of great courage and heartbreak. . . . American brothers Woody and Chuck Dewar, each with a secret, take separate paths to momentous events, one in Washington, the other in the bloody jungles of the Pacific. . . . English student Lloyd Williams discovers in the crucible of the Spanish Civil War that he must fight Communism just as hard as Fascism. . . . Daisy Peshkov, a driven American social climber, cares only for popularity and the fast set, until the war transforms her life, not just once but twice, while her cousin Volodya carves out a position in Soviet intelligence that will affect not only this war—but the war to come. These characters and many others find their lives inextricably entangled as their experiences illuminate the cataclysms that marked the century. From the drawing rooms of the rich to the blood and smoke of battle, their lives intertwine, propelling the reader into dramas of ever-increasing complexity. As always with Ken Follett, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. With passion and the hand of a master, he brings us into a world we thought we knew, but now will never seem the same again.

Lucinda Riley - The ​Light Behind the Window
The ​present Emilie de la Martiniéres has always fought against her aristocratic background, but after the death of her glamorous, distant mother, she finds herself alone in the world and sole inheritor of her grand childhood home in the south of France. An old notebook of poems leads her in search of the mysterious and beautiful Sophia, whose tragic love affair changed the course of her family history. As Emilie unravels the story, she too embarks on her own journey of discovery, realising that the château may provide clues to her own difficult past and finally unlock the future. The past London 1943. A young office clerk, Constance Carruthers, is drafted into the SOE, arriving in occupied Paris during the climax of the conflict. Separated from her contact in her very first hours in France, she stumbles into the heart of a wealthy family who are caught up in a deadly game of secrets and lies. Forced to surrender her identity and all ties to her homeland and her beloved husband, Constance finds herself drawn into a complex web of deception, the repercussions of which will affect generations to come. From the author of the international bestseller, Hothouse Flower, Lucinda Riley’s new novel is a breathtaking and intense story of love, war and, above all, forgiveness.

Ken Follett - Edge ​of Eternity
EDGE ​OF ETERNITY is the sweeping, passionate conclusion to Ken Follett’s extraordinary historical epic, The Century Trilogy. Throughout these books, Follett has followed the fortunes of five intertwined families – American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh – as they make their way through the twentieth century. Now they come to one of the most tumultuous eras of all: the enormous social, political, and economic turmoil of the 1960s through the 1980s, from civil rights, assassinations, mass political movements and Vietnam to the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, presidential impeachment, revolution – and rock and roll. East German teacher Rebecca Hoffman discovers she’s been spied on by the Stasi for years and commits an impulsive act that will affect her family for the rest of their lives.…George Jakes, the child of a mixed-race couple, bypasses a corporate law career to join Robert F. Kennedy’s Justice Department, and finds himself in the middle not only of the seminal events of the civil rights battle, but a much more personal battle of his own.…Cameron Dewar, the grandson of a senator, jumps at the chance to do some official and unofficial espionage for a cause he believes in, only to discover that the world is a much more dangerous place than he’d imagined.…Dimka Dvorkin, a young aide to Nikita Khrushchev, becomes a prime agent both for good and for ill as the United States and the Soviet Union race to the brink of nuclear war, while his twin sister, Tania, carves out a role that will take her from Moscow to Cuba to Prague to Warsaw – and into history. As always with Follett, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. With the hand of a master, he brings us into a world we thought we knew but now will never seem the same again.

John Biggins - Tomorrow ​The World
Laced ​with smart humor, this naval tale follows the early career of Lieutenant Otto Prohaska, a cadet in the Austro–Hungarian Navy at the turn of the century. Bad luck continues to shadow Otto, and when a fellow cadet breaks his leg, Otto must take his place on a scientific expedition bound for disaster. But even sinister quack scientists, a misguided attempt to establish a colony in Africa, and angry South Sea cannibals bent on destruction cannot keep Otto from fulfilling his patriotic duty.

Owen Matthews - Stalin's ​Children
On ​a midsummer day in 1937, the young Commissar Boris Bibikov kissed his two daughters goodbye and disappeared into the official Packard waiting outside. It was the last time his family ever saw him. Arrested by Stalin's secret police, the loyal Party man confessed to a grotesque series of crimes against the Revolution. His wife, an Enemy of the People by association, was sent to the gulag, leaving the young Lyudmila and Lenina alone to face separation in a world turned suddenly cold. Lyudmila grew up a fighter, and when she fell in love with a tall young foreigner in Moscow at the height of the Cold War, she knew there would be further battles ahead. Naively infatuated with Russia, Mervyn Matthews had embarked on a dangerous flirtation with the KGB. But when finally asked to work for the organisation, he refused. Revenge came quickly: Mervyn was thrown out of the country; Lyudmila lost her job. For six years, stranded on opposite sides of the ideological divide that shaped their generation, they kept their love alive in a daily stream of letters – some anguished, some funny, but all suffused with a hope that they would eventually be reunited. Decades later, Owen Matthews pieces together his grandfather's passage through the harrowing world of Stalin's purges, and tells the story of his parents' Cold War love affair through their letters and memories. Interspersed with the story of his family is his own journey as a young reporter in nineties Moscow. This is a raw, vivid memoir about a young man's struggle to understand his parents' lives and the strange country which 'made us and freed us and very nearly broke us.'

Judith Miller - Szaddám ​Huszein és az Öböl-válság
A ​két amerikai szerző - egyikük a New York Times tudósítója, másikuk a Harvard egyetemen ad elő - Szaddám Huszeint, az iraki elnököt olyan biciklistához hasonlítja, aki "keskeny ülésen ül, és ha nem mozog, felbukik". A modern Irak története és Szaddám, a "takríti maffiafőnök" pályafutása olyan izgalmas, mint a legagyafúrtabb krimi, és olyan véres, mint egy shakespeare-i királydráma. Irak valóságos orwelli rémálom. Ez a könyv megérteti, hogyan jutott el ez az állam és mindenható uralkodója odáig, hogy lerohanja és annektálja szomszédját, a kicsi, ám dúsgazdag Kuvaitot. Ennek következménye az, hogy ma közel egymillió katona néz egymással farkasszemet a sivatagban, a szaúdi-kuvaiti határon, és a háború napról napra elkerülhetetlenebbnek látszik. Judith Miller és Laurie Mylroie könyve tényekben gazdag, rendkívül informatív és egyben szinte letehetetlenül izgalmas olvasmány.

Nemere István - A ​sors rabjai
Nemere ​István legújabb könyvében Magyarország és a Horthy család történetét dolgozza fel, az Adolf Hitlerrel való első találkozástól kezdve az 1930-as évek végének kül- és belpolitikai történésein, majd a II. világháború eseményein át egészen az emigráció éveiig. Főszereplői részben fiktív, részben valós történelmi alakok. A szerteágazó kutatómunkán alapuló mű áttekintést nyújt a korabeli Magyarország szinte minden társadalmi osztályának a hétköznapjairól, a kormányzati politikai jobbra tolódásának hatásairól akár a hadsereg tisztikarára, akár a zsidó származású értelmiség, közhivatalnokok és tőkések, akár a budapesti éjszaka legendás mulatóinak és mulattatóinak körében. Különös hangsúlyt kap a két Horthy fiú, István és Miklós sorsa a korszakban, egészen az előbbi vitatott körülmények között, az orosz fronton bekövetkezett haláláig. A szerző részletesen bemutatja az 1944. március 19-i német megszállás előkészítését, a lehetséges német hírszerző és diverzáns tevékenységet, a bevonulás kulcsmozzanatait, a híres-hírhedt Otto Skorzeny budai akcióját és ifjabb Horthy Miklós elrablásának körülményeit. A sors rabjai nem történelmi ítélkezésre vállalkozik, hanem igyekszik az írói szabadsággal élve, de a történelmi tényeket nem megmásítva úgy bemutatni az 1930-as és 1940-es évek eseményeit, hogy az olvasó saját maga formálhasson véleményt azokról.

Michael Farquhar - Behind ​the Palace Doors
Spanning ​500 years of British history, a revealing look at the secret lives of some great (and not-so-great) Britons, courtesy of one of the world’s most engaging royal historians Beleaguered by scandal, betrayed by faithless spouses, bedeviled by ambitious children, the kings and queens of Great Britain have been many things, but they have never been dull. Some sacrificed everything for love, while others met a cruel fate at the edge of an axman’s blade. From the truth behind the supposed madness of King George to Queen Victoria’s surprisingly daring taste in sculpture, Behind the Palace Doors ventures beyond the rumors to tell the unvarnished history of Britain’s monarchs, highlighting the unique mix of tragedy, comedy, romance, heroism, and incompetence that has made the British throne a seat of such unparalleled fascination. Featuring: • stories covering every monarch, from randy Henry VIII to reserved Elizabeth II • historical myths debunked and surprising “Did you know . . . ?” anecdotes • four family trees spanning every royal house, from the Tudors to the Windsors

David Gemmell - Lord ​Of The Silver Bow
Troy: ​city of gold and heroes, beloved of the gods, where wealth, privilege and rapacious greed walk hand in hand, and where the greatest of tragedies is about to unfold. Helikaon, prince of Dardania, sets sail for Troy. On board his ship, the largest in the Aegean Sea, but regarded by many as dangerously unseaworthy, is his trusted friend and sea-captain Zidantas. Also aboard are a young, impressionable youth who has never been to sea, and a deadly Mykene warrior, intent on revenge. Their journey to the fabled city will encompass storm and near shipwreck, personal tragedy and a bloody sea-battle whose bloody aftermath will haunt Helikaon and his companions for the rest of their voyage. Helikaon will also meet his old friend and master-storyteller, Odysseus, and fall in love with a woman as beautiful as a goddess. But when he arrives in Troy — a city riven by the destructive rivalries of King Priam's younger sons —he finds a city ready to implode, and, with nearby enemy kingdoms eyeing the city's riches, he knows a terrible war cannot be long in coming. In Lord of the Silver Bow, David Gemmell has created a compelling fantasy — the first in an epic trilogy encompassing the Trojan War — combining vivid characterization and stunning action with a wealth of historical detail.

Páva István - Jelentések ​a Harmadik Birodalomból
A ​könyv a szerző korábbi, közönségsikert aratott munkáinak (Trianon-Belvedere-hadbalépés, 1994; Ország a hadak útján. Magyarország és a második világháború, 1996) sajátos folytatása, középpontjában a németországi magyar diplomáciai képviselet mindezidáig részleteiben nem vizsgált szerepének elemzésével. A kötet első része bemutatja az önálló magyar katonai attaséi szolgálat megalakulását az első világháborút követő években, kiemelve Sztójay Döme szerepét e szervezet létrehozásában. A háború alatti katonai attasé, Homlok Sándor altábornagy életpályájának ismertetésével párhuzamosan elemzi az 1938-1942 közötti évek katonapolitikai eseményeit. A második rész kronologikus feldolgozásban mutatja be a háború történéseit, annak visszatükröződését a berlini követség jelentéseiben, ül. ezek hatását a hazai katonai és politikai vezetés magatartására 1942-1943-ban. A harmadik rész a háború végkifejletével, valamint a diplomáciai képviselet megszűnésének folyamatával foglalkozik. A monográfia mellékleteként olvashatók Homlok Sándor és néhány konzulátus (Bécs, Prága, München) jelentései, valamint az un. Kardos hagyaték. Páva István (1928) évtizedek óta folytatott kutatásainak újabb eredményeit tartalmazza ez a könyv, amely a második világháború magyar vonatkozású történéseinek néhány meghatározó jelentőségű kérdését vizsgálja, olyanokat, melyek többnyire eddig feltáratlanok voltak. Az itt először közzétett dokumentumokkal együtt valódi hiánypótló munkát vehet kesébe a szakember és az érdeklődő olvasó.

Békés Rezső - Truman ​árnyéka
Ehhez a könyvhöz nincs fülszöveg, de ettől függetlenül még rukkolható/happolható.

Theresa Breslin - Remembrance
Scotland, ​1915. A group of teenagers from two families meet for a picnic, but the war across the Channel is soon to tear them away from such youthful pleasures. All too soon, the horror of what is to become known as The Great War engulfs them, their friends and the whole village. From the horror of the trenches, to the devastating reality seen daily by those nursing the wounded, they struggle to survive - and nothing will ever be the same again. A powerful and engrossing novel about love and war, from Carnegie Medal-winning author Theresa Breslin

Steven J. Zaloga - M8 ​Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91
The ​M8 light armored car was the only significant wheeled combat vehicle used by the US Army in World War II. In conjunction with the lightly armed utility version, the M20, it was the staple of the army's cavalry squadrons for use in reconnaissance and scouting. First entering combat in Italy in 1943, it was widely used throughout the campaign in northwest Europe, though its off-road performance was found to be wanting. This title describes the design and development of the M8, covering the many variants that were produced during World War II and afterwards, along with a comprehensive survey of its operational use.

John Biggins - A ​Sailor of Austria
For ​Lieutenant Otto Prohaska of the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy, life can be awkward to say the least. As a submarine captain of the largest land-locked empire in history, Otto faces a host of unlikely circumstances from petrol poisoning to exploding lavatories and an angry dromedary. Things scarcely improve on land where he finds himself the target of trigger - happy Turks and angry relatives with Medieval mindsets. All signs point to total collapse of the bloated empire he serves, but Otto refuses to abandoned the Habsburgs in their hour of need. With clever writing and a wry sense of irony, John Biggins shows us an unlikely empire on the wane and a well-meaning man caught on the brink of World War and the end of an era. Otto Prohaska speaks seven of the empire's eleven languages, but in a Navy hampered by nationalist sentiments and undermined by the very bureaucracy it defends, communication is an unlikely occurrence.

Valerio Massimo Manfredi - A ​Föld végső határáig
Nagy ​Sándor hadjárata Babilon és Perszepolisz égő romjain keresztül vezetett India titokzatos földjére. A makedón hadsereg előtt - kíméletlen menetelést követően - porba hullott a perzsa Nagykirály, Dareiosz világbirodalma. Egy új és véres kor hajnala jött el. Alexandrosz nekilátott, hogy megvalósítsa álmát: a meghódított népek közös hazában történő egyesítését, a Kelet és a Nyugat egybekapcsolódását. A királyt a végtelen puszták, a mesés kincseket rejtő városok és a Kelet legszebb asszonya, Róxané királyné meggyőzték arról, hogy ne forduljon vissza, míg el nem éri az álmaiban látott célt. A Föld végső határáig egyedülállóan izgalmas, drámai és érzelmekkel teli befejező része Valerio Massimo Manfredi Nagy Sándorról szóló regénytrilógiájának.

Sebastian Faulks - A ​Possible Life
Terrified, ​a young prisoner in the Second World War closes his eyes and pictures himself going out to bat on a sunlit cricket ground in Hampshire. Across the courtyard in a Victorian workhouse, a father is too ashamed to acknowledge his son. A skinny girl steps out of a Chevy with a guitar; her voice sends shivers through the skull. Soldiers and lovers, parents and children, scientists and musicians risk their bodies and hearts in search of connection - some key to understanding what makes us the people we become. Provocative and profound, Sebastian Faulks's dazzling novel journeys across continents and time to explore the chaos created by love, separation and missed opportunities. From the pain and drama of these highly particular lives emerges a mysterious consolation: the chance to feel your heart beat in someone else's life