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When Billy Glasheen picks up a trashy paperback he finds in his cab, its plot seems weirdly familiar. One of the main characters is based on him . . . Only one person knows enough about his past to have written it—Max, his double-crossing ex-partner in crime. But Max is dead. He famously went up in flames, along with a fortune in cash, after a bank heist. If Max is somehow still alive, Billy has a score to settle. And if he didn’t get fried to a crisp, maybe the money didn’t either. To find out, Billy has to follow the clues in the strange little book—and rapidly discovers he’s not the only one on Max’s trail. The Big Whatever is the fourth instalment of Peter Doyle’s acclaimed series, which has grown into an epic underground history of postwar Australia, where crooks, entertainers, scammers, corrupt cops and politicians all rub shoulders, chasing their big paydays.
At last the much anticipated follow up to City of Shadows. Peter Doyle's new book tells the real story behind the mysterious photographs from early Australian police records. He adds flesh to the haunting images of the crims, prostitutes, pick pockets and pimps that stare back at us from history.
The extensive collection of police forensic negatives casts a fascinating light on the shadowy underworld of Sydney between the wars. In the mugshots we encounter people of that world - thieves, breakers, receivers, 'magsmen', false pretenders, 'hotel barbers', dope users, prostitutes, makers of false oaths - and the occasional murderer. And within this medium of crime and accident scene photographs we are able to view, sometimes in extraordinary detail, their physical milieu - the mean kitchens, bedrooms and parlours, the pubs, boarding houses, corner shops and residentials, the garages, back lanes and byways of a city that is both eerily strange but all too familiar.
Meet Billy Glasheen, a fresh voice in crime fiction. It’s Sydney, the 1950s, and Billy’s trying to make a living, any way he can. Luckily, he’s a likeable guy, with a gift for masterminding elaborate scenarios—whether it’s a gambling scam, transporting a fortune in stolen jewels, or keeping the wheels greased during a hair-raising tour by Little Richard and his rock ‘n’ roll entourage. But trouble follows close behind—because Billy’s schemes always seem to interfere with the plans of Sydney’s big players, an unholy trinity of crooks, bent cops, and politicians on the make. Suddenly he’s in the frame for murder, and on the run from the police, who’ll happily send him down for it. Billy’s no sleuth, but there’s nowhere to turn for help. To prove it wasn’t him, he’ll have to find the real killer. Set in Sydney in the period following World War II, Doyle’s novels—featuring the irresistible Billy Glasheen—brilliantly explore the criminal underworld, high-level political corruption, and the postwar explosion of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll.
World War Two was the most terrible war that Europe, and indeed the world, had ever seen. Discover the truth behind the propaganda with this brilliantly informative, infographic guide to the real statistics behind WWII.How many soldiers went to war? How many came home? How many civilians were made homeless? How many bombs were dropped, and where did they land? With over 25 nations fighting the second world war on four different continents the numbers were staggering.Covering a huge amount of content World War II in Numbers brings these staggering statistics to life with easily digestible graphics depicting the conflict, casualties, weaponry, cost and technology, clearly illustrating the war's impact on individuals, whole countries, and the global social and economic effects that would last long into peacetime.
It was a war that shaped the modern world, fought on five continents, claiming the lives of ten million people. Two great nations met each other on the field of battle for the first time. But were they so very different? For the first time, and drawing widely on archive material in the form of original letters and diaries, Peter Doyle and Robin Schäfer bring together the two sides, 'Fritz' and 'Tommy', to examine cultural and military nuances that have until now been left untouched: their approaches to war, their lives at the front, their greatest fears and their hopes for the future. The soldiers on both sides went to war with high ideals; they experienced horror and misery, but also comradeship/Kameradschaft. And with increasing alienation from the people at home, they drew closer together, 'the Hun' transformed into 'good old Jerry' by the war's end. This unique collaboration is a refreshing yet touching examination of how little truly divided the men on either side of no-man'sland during the First World War.
The First World War largely directed the course of the twentieth century. Fought on three continents, the war saw 14 million killed and 34 million wounded. Its impact shaped the world we live in today, and the language of the trenches continues to live in the modern consciousness. One of the enduring myths of the First World War is that the experience of the trenches was not talked about. Yet dozens of words entered or became familiar in the English language as a direct result of the soldiers' experiences. This book looks at how the experience of the First World War changed the English language, adding words that were both in slang and standard military use, and modifying the usage and connotations of existing words and phrases. Illustrated with material from the authors' collections and photographs of the objects of the war, the book will look at how the words emerged into everyday language.
The First World War affected the lives of a whole generation of people in Britain and the Commonwealth. Most people living today will have an ancestor who fought or died in the conflict, and as the 90th anniversary of the conclusion of the war approaches, there has been a rush of people trying to trace their ancestors and understand what life for them was like during World War I. While the familiar images - the photographs, film, poetry and prose of the First World War focus on the hellish trenches, mud and death, there is another dimension to the soldiers life in the war - that of everyday life at the front. The Tommy was only in the trenches for at most one-quarter of his time overseas, and when away from the front, vigorous routine, training and order soon took over. Peter Doyle addresses this, describing the lives of British soldiers while not in the trenches at the front, exploring the life of the average soldier of the First World War and answering the question: what was it really like to be a soldier in the trenches on the frontline.