Ruth

Ruth’s Osprey Oscars

As I prepare to leave Osprey (sob), I thought I’d celebrate my seven years at Osprey by remembering a few of my favourites from among all the books I’ve worked on. I worked on several series before moving on to the Generals, and I can honestly say I’ve loved every book I’ve worked on for some reason or other, but these have stuck in the memory. So, the winners are…

Has military leadership changed in the modern world?

Recently I’ve been working on a book called Vanquished: Crushing Defeats from Cannae to the 21st century, which looks at a number of battles of annihilation through history. The author, Mir Bahmanyar is particularly interested in why there are fewer battles of annihilation in the modern era. His conclusion is that there are several factors that come into play, but really it’s all down to leadership.

Graeme Donald on Talk Radio

Graeme Donald, the author of Sticklers, Sideburns, and Bikinis http://tinyurl.com/dbdsq8 (AKA Fighting Talk) will be interviewed by the Army Wife Network on Monday, May 18th from 9-9 PM EST. Tune in to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/awtr to hear Donald discuss the world of military slang and miscellany, as well as speak about his new Osprey book, Loose Cannons, publishing in October 2009.

Osprey author Terry Crowdy on espionage lecture tour of the US.

Over the next couple of weeks one of our authors, Terry Crowdy, is speaking at a number of conferences in the USA. Terry has written 10 books for Osprey, on a wide range of subjects, but he is best known for his expertise and books about espionage throughout history.

The New Vanguard Discount - Naval titles take to the high seas

The 20% off discount on all of our New Vanguard titles ends at the end of the 31st January, and we have been looking at what you are all buying, and there is a rather interesting, surprising trend to what you are all buying - gone are the days of big tanks dominating the New Vanguard sales charts, not a Tiger, Panther or Sherman in sight - instead the list of New Vanguards that have sold well over the last 3 weeks is dominated by Naval New Vanguards.

Somali pirates, oil tankers and AK47s

The rapidly unfolding events off the horn of Africa has once again brought piracy back into the news. For decades pirates off the coast of Somalia have been wreaking havoc, but over the last twelve months they have increased the frequency and ambition of their attacks, culminating in the hijacking of one of the biggest man made machines, the Sirius Star.

New book appears in the Daily Mail and The Times

Last week one of our latest books made a big splash, getting reviews and extracts in both the Daily Mai and the Times. Fighting Talk: The military origin of everyday words and phrases (also known as Sticklers,Sideburns and Bikinis: The military origins of everyday words and phrases if you happen to live in the USA or Canada) has been one of favourite books this year so we are really pleased that it is getting the exposure it deserves.

A cunning plan - a metal tree

I stumbled across this blog the other day (actually someone posted it on the Osprey Facebook page) and thought I would share it with you. It is an amazing story of ingenuity and I particularly found the pictures of a desolate landscape poignant. An earlier entry provides some more background information...

We need Librarians

We are interested in making our new electronic database available to libraries and academic institutions. Are you a librarian who would be interested in joining our Libraries Advisory Board, or who would be happy to share your thoughts with us in a less formal capacity? If you are interested please contact Joanna Sharland....

Pirate radio - Angus Konstam on BBC Radio Scotland

Angus Konstam, author of our new book Piracy: The Complete History, which is available to pre-order now, was interviewed on Friday afternoon by the BBC Radio Scotland team...

Brushes and Bayonets on the BBC!

It is nice when a book that you really believe in begins to take off. I’m sure some of you remember me raving about Brushes and Bayonets on the blog a few months ago. It is a selection of 250 World War I images from the archives of the Illustrated London News, arranged thematically by the author, Lucinda Gosling. It is a new and really unique way of looking at the First World War...

Playing at War

Further to Richard’s posts about military history being in fashion, or not, and the comments about teaching of military history in schools, the other day I saw something which I thought might be perfect for getting a younger...

People's stories bring history to life for me

This Friday afternoon I'm (alongside eating biscuits, of course) working on a book we're publishing next summer, a new English translation of a memoir by Moritz Nachtstern, a Norwegian Jew who survived the Holocaust...

Anyone for weevils?

Most Friday afternoons will see the editorial department struggling through our remaining tasks for the week whilst stuffing our faces with sugary treats. It's a bit of a tradition really, usually someone comes back from...

When there’s a war going on, the last thing you need is watered down alcohol…

Watching British TV quiz show QI last week, there was a question about a Defence of the Realm Act, which was passed in Britain in August 1914 and gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war...

Bairnsfather, Brushes, Bullets, Bayonets and Billets!

I was interested to note some of the comments on Joe’s blog which expressed hope that Bruce Bairnsfather’s work would be collected and published in a similar way to that of Bill Maudlin's. Well… we aren’t publishing a...

Is this beauty just in the eye of the beholder?

As an editor of illustrated military history books, I’ve looked through, selected, captioned and arranged a lot more photos of military themes than most (though probably not as many as some of you have). Often authors have a ...