Most Popular Books by Andrew Williams

What history calls the "Battle of the Atlantic" was really a full-scale war-within-a-war, fought from the beginning of hostilities in 1939 to the moment of cease-fire in 1945. Andrew Williams focuses on the first four years of this bitter conflict, during which time German submarines sank an astounding twelve million tons of Allied shipping. The story reaches its climax in May 1943, when the introduction of new weapons and tactics turned the tide of the battle and enabled the Allies to contain and finally defeat the dreaded German "wolf packs." Interweaving scores of first-person accounts from survivors of both sides, The Battle of the Atlantic follows the exploits of the charismatic U-boat commanders who led their crews to the hunt-and often to their deaths. It goes aboard the merchantmen and escort ships that were both victim and nemesis to the "gray wolves" of the sea. And it enters the war rooms of the German, British, and American navies, where code-breakers and strategists angled for any advantage in a race that spelled doom to its loser. This dramatic chronicle sheds new light on one of the most dangerous conflicts of the Second World War.

Military power is now the main vehicle for regime change. The US army has been used on more than 30 different occasions in the post-Cold War world compared with just 10 during the whole of the Cold War era. Leading scholar Andrew Williams tackles contemporary thinking on war with a detailed study on liberal thinking over the last century about how wars should be ended, using a vast range of historical archival material from diplomatic, other official and personal papers, which this study situates within the debates that have emerged in political theory. He examines the main strategies used at the end, and in the aftermath, of wars by liberal states to consolidate their liberal gains and to prevent the re-occurrence of wars with those states they have fought. This new study also explores how various strategies: revenge; restitution; reparation; restraint; retribution; reconciliation; and reconstruction, have been used by liberal states not only to defeat their enemies but also transform them. This is a major new contribution to contemporary thinking and action. This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars of politics, international relations and security studies.

The growth of videogame design programs in higher education and explosion of amateur game development has created a need for a deeper understanding of game history that addresses not only "when," but "how" and "why." Andrew Williams takes the first step in creating a comprehensive survey on the history of digital games as commercial products and artistic forms in a textbook appropriate for university instruction. History of Digital Games adopts a unique approach and scope that traces the interrelated concepts of game design, art and design of input devices from the beginnings of coin-operated amusement in the late 1800s to the independent games of unconventional creators in the present. Rooted in the concept of videogames as designed objects, Williams investigates the sources that inspired specific game developers as well as establishing the historical, cultural, economic and technological contexts that helped shape larger design trends

Do you want to take your life to the next level? Are you eager to make more money, buy a house, take a much needed vacation or plan for a comfortable, stable future? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this is the guide for you. Packed with advice on everything from personal finance to the basics of home ownership and picking out a rental car, "You Need to Know" shows you the ins-and-outs of winning in life on your own terms. Read this book to learn how to get the most out of you

Using iPods or portable CD players, millions of people take their music with them every day to modify their daily experiences. Encased in headphones, they listen to music for entertainment, but also use it, among other things, as a buffer between themselves and the world outside, and to manage their moods. What is it about music that makes it useful in different ways to so many people? Have people always used music in these ways, or only since the technology of the Walkman and then the mp3 player made music portable? In this wide-ranging exploration of how and why we use portable music, Andrew Williams sheds new light on the role music plays in our everyday lives. Portable Music and Its Functions will be of use to students and scholars of sociology and cultural studies as well as of musicology.

Nightfall, 6 June 1944. D-Day is over and the Allies have carved a tenuous foothold in 'Fortress Europe'. The future of Europe hangs in the balance as Hitler's formidable SS Panzer troops threaten to drive them back into the sea. D-Day to Berlin is the remarkable story of the Allied struggle for survival - the battle from the beaches of Normandy to the heart of Hitler's Reich and ultimate victory just eleven months later. The campaign to free Europe from Nazi oppression through the collective operations from D-Day to Berlin mark one of the greatest ever military offensives. The Allies overcame initial setbacks to inflict a devastating defeat on Hitler's crack divisions in France - a victory that was threatened just months later in the bitter winter fighting of the Battle of the Bulge. The final crossing of the Rhine and the advance into Germany changed the course of European history forever. In D-Day to Berlin we meet men and women from both sides - British, American and German soldiers - whose bravery and endurance made the final push through Europe the defining drama of the Second World War.

The main purpose of this book is to explain how (mainly) American, but also British and other Western, policy makers have planned and largely managed to create an international order in their own image, the so-called ‘New World Order’. It shows how this seismic shift in international relations has developed through the major global wars of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It uses a wide variety of historical archival material to give the background to the current and historical American obsession with creating the world order, one that both reflects the American national interest but also can be said to have established the major security, economic, organisational and normative pillars of our epoch. In addition it provides excellent background reading for the current debate about American foreign policy and the origins of ‘neo-conservatism’ in international relations. This edition updates a very successful first edition of the title, with additional material to take into account changes in the global order since 2001 and the beginning of the ‘War on Terror’.

“A compelling exploration of ancient mysteries that will challenge your beliefs.” “An insightful and thought-provoking journey through the worlds of angels and giants.” “Andrew Williams skillfully blends faith, history, and speculation in this must-read book.” Angels and Giants is a work of religious nonfiction that explores the existence of angels, giants, and related biblical and ancient phenomena by using a scholarly approach. Angels and Giants stand out from more traditionally designed religious works. Angels and Giants encourages readers to think critically about religious texts and consider alternative interpretations. Its engaging blend of faith and speculation, offers an intriguing balance between traditional religious teachings and speculative theories, making it engaging to both believers and skeptics. Angels and Giants comprehensive approach covers a wide array of topics, from angels and giants to theological doctrines and ancient astronaut theories.

Ireland's Immortals tells the story of one of the world's great mythologies. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation's languages, the book describes how Ireland's pagan divinities were transformed into literary characters in the medieval Christian era--and how they were recast again during the Celtic Revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A lively narrative of supernatural beings and their fascinating and sometimes bizarre stories, Mark Williams's comprehensive history traces how these gods--known as the Túatha Dé Danann--have shifted shape across the centuries, from Iron Age cult to medieval saga to today's young-adult fiction. We meet the heroic Lug; the Morrígan, crow goddess of battle; the fire goddess Brigit, who moonlights as a Christian saint; the mist-cloaked sea god Manannán mac Lir; and the ageless fairies who inspired J.R.R. Tolkien's immortal elves. Medieval clerics speculated that the Irish divinities might be devils, angels, or enchanters. W. B. Yeats invoked them to reimagine the national condition, while his friend George Russell beheld them in visions and understood them to be local versions of Hindu deities. The book also tells how the Scots repackaged Ireland's divine beings as the gods of the Gael on both sides of the sea--and how Irish mythology continues to influence popular culture far beyond Ireland. An unmatched chronicle of the Irish gods, Ireland's Immortals illuminates why these mythical beings have loomed so large in the world's imagination for so long.

The concept of concerted mechanisms was formulated nearly 90 years ago and virtually all general organic chemistry texts mention it. Until now, however, no monograph has addressed the concept explicitly. Over the last two decades, substantial advancements made in the development of precise methods for elucidating concerted mechanisms have heightened the need for a comprehensive text on the subject. Concerted Organic and Bio-organic Mechanisms gathers the salient materials related to this emerging field into a single text. It sets forth the precise definition of concertedness-along with working sub-definitions-and describes rigorous experimental tools chemists can use to diagnose the existence or absence of concerted mechanisms. Advances in our understanding of concerted mechanisms lead to further questions. Concerted Organic and Bio-organic Mechanisms provides the background and the tools researchers need to consider these important questions and further advance the frontiers of reactions, synthesis, and catalysis.

Breakout is the story of one church's rediscovery of a Spirit empowered, New Testament model of church. Christianity Magazine Book of the Year. It is an honest, inspiring testimony to the truth that the Gospel of Jesus still maintains its life-changing power and God's people still have it in them to change the world. St Andrew's Chorleywood has been at the forefront of church renewal for over three decades. In the last five years, it has seen substantial growth as the congregation has moved from drawing people to one place, to a model in which well over a thousand believers have been sent out in mission-shaped communities of up to 50 members, meeting in school halls, community centres, coffee shops and other contexts. This daring move has resulted in the raising up of over a hundred new leaders, a massive release of spiritual gifts, great vision and creativity in outreach, and major growth through evangelism.

Understand how to use the Fyne toolkit to build exciting apps for a range of devices and deploy them effectively Key Features Learn how to use standard widgets, dialogs, and layouts as well as how to build your own Understand how to develop an app and package and distribute it to different operating systems and app stores Explore the design principles and vision of the Fyne toolkit and how that may align with your project Book DescriptionThe history of graphical application development is long and complicated, with various development challenges that persist to this day. The mix of technologies involved and the need to use different programming languages led to a very steep learning curve for developers looking to build applications across multiple platforms. In Building Cross-Platform GUI Applications with Fyne, you'll understand how the Go language, when paired with a modern graphical toolkit such as Fyne, can overcome these issues and make application development much easier. To provide an easy-to-use framework for cross-platform app development, the Fyne project offers many graphical concepts and design principles that are outlined throughout this book. By working through five example projects, you'll learn how to build apps effectively, focusing on each of the main areas, including the canvas, layouts, file handling, widgets, data binding, and themes. The book will also show you how the completed applications can then be run on your desktop computer, laptop, and smartphone. After completing these projects, you will discover how to prepare applications for release and distribute them to platform marketplaces and app stores. By the end of this book, you'll be able to create cross-platform graphical applications with visually appealing user interfaces and concise code.What you will learn Become well-versed with the history of GUI development and how Fyne and the Golang programming language make it easier Explore how the Fyne toolkit is architected and the various modules are provided Discover how Fyne apps can be tested and constructed using best practices Construct five complete applications and deploy them to your devices Customize the design of your apps by extending widgets and themes Understand the separation and presentation of data and how to test and build applications that present dynamic data Who this book is for This Fyne-Golang GUI book is for developers from any background who are looking to build cross-platform applications with a modern toolkit. It will also be useful for Go developers who are looking to explore graphical apps and GUI developers looking for a new toolkit for cross-platform development. Basic knowledge of Graphical User Interface (GUI) development is assumed (although a brief history is also included in the book). The book also features a short introduction to the Go language as a quick refresher.

Discover Golang\'s GUI libraries such as Go-GTK (GIMP Toolkit) and Go-Qt and build beautiful, performant, and responsive graphical applications Key Features Conceptualize and build state-of-art GUI applications with Golang (Go) Tackle the complexity of varying GUI application sizes with a structured and scalable approach Get hands-on experience of GUI development with Shiny, and labs/ui, Fyne, and Walk Book DescriptionGo is often compared to C++ when it comes to low-level programming and implementations that require faster processing, such as Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). In fact, many claim that Go is superior to C++ in terms of its concurrency and ease of use. Most graphical application toolkits, though, are still written using C or C++, and so they don't enjoy the benefits of using a modern programming language such as Go. This guide to programming GUIs with Go 1.11 explores the various toolkits available, including UI, Walk, Shiny, and Fyne. The book compares the vision behind each project to help you pick the right approach for your project. Each framework is described in detail, outlining how you can build performant applications that users will love. To aid you further in creating applications using these emerging technologies, you'll be able to easily refer to code samples and screenshots featured in the book. In addition to toolkit-specific discussions, you'll cover more complex topics, such as how to structure growing graphical applications, and how cross-platform applications can integrate with each desktop operating system to create a seamless user experience. By delving into techniques and best practices for organizing and scaling Go-based graphical applications, you'll also glimpse Go's impressive concurrency system. In the concluding chapters, you'll discover how to distribute to the main desktop marketplaces and distribution channels. By the end of this book, you'll be a confident GUI developer who can use the Go language to boost the performance of your applications. What you will learn Understand the benefits and complexities of building native graphical applications Gain insights into how Go makes cross-platform graphical application development simple Build platform-native GUI applications using andlabs/ui Develop graphical Windows applications using Walk Create multiplatform GUI applications using Shiny, Nuklear, and Fyne Use Go wrappers for GTK and Qt for GUI application development Streamline your requirements to pick the correct toolkit strategy Who this book is for This book is designed for Go developers who are interested in building native graphical applications for desktop computers and beyond. Some knowledge of building applications using Go is useful, but not essential. Experience in developing GUIs is not required as the book explores the benefits and challenges they pose. This book will also be beneficial for GUI application developers who are interested in trying Go.

Assessing Risk: A Relational Approach offers the practitioner a novel framework for understanding the complex and subtle issues involved in assessing and managing risks related to violence and sexual offending. The authors draw on their considerable experience working with high risk individuals in assessment and treatment. They have for many years consulted to practitioners in forensic mental health services and the criminal justice system and taught renowned courses at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. This book outlines a comprehensive model of risk which draws on mainstream empirical research, threat assessment, developmental psychopathology, attachment theory, and a relational model derived from psychoanalysis. The framework incorporates intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions and is designed to enhance the reader’s capacity to make a thorough risk formulation. The approach highlights the significance of childhood development in understanding violent and sexually violent acts, and the complicated interpersonal processes involved in managing individuals who have a propensity to violent enactment. These dynamic processes between people impact on risk and risk perception, and can distort judgement if not recognised and understood. Assessing Risk will be of practical use in enhancing the skills of professionals to assess and manage risk in a comprehensive and effective way, and will appeal to all those mental health and criminal justice practitioners working with risky individuals.

The gripping and immersive historical thriller from the author of Witchfinder, based on the true events of a scandalous blackmail plot hidden in the shadows... 'A compelling story of power, passion and intrigue based on real events. A terrific read' NICK ROBINSON, BBC Today presenter 'A wickedly entertaining tale of political chicanery' DAILY TELEGRAPH ___________ London 1929. Very much not a land fit for heroes. Frenchie knows his occasional work for MI5 serves only the ruling classes. But he needs to feed his children. Scruples died in the trenches. When Ramsay MacDonald, Britain's first Labour Prime Minister, is blackmailed by a former lover, Frenchie must go to Paris to buy her silence. It is clear there are many people who would see MacDonald fall - the Conservatives, their friends in the press, even some of his own colleagues. But his own secret service? When Frenchie hears the other side of the story, everything changes. ___________ 'If le Carre needs a successor, Williams has all the equipment for the role' TIMES Literary Supplement Books of the Year 'Spy tradecraft of the old school, with no computers, fast cars or mobile phones, but not a whit less exciting for that. Highly recommended as both a spy story and a piece of social and political history' Shots Magazine

St Petersburg, 1879. A shot rings out in Palace Square. Cossack guards tackle the would-be assassin to the ground. In the melee no one notices a striking dark haired young woman in a heavy coat slip away from the scene. Russia is alive with revolutionaries.

This book explores the hopeful possibility that emerging geographies of postsecularity are able to contribute significantly to the understanding of how common life may be shared, and how caring for the common goods of social justice, well-being, equality, solidarity and respect for difference may be imagined and practiced. Drawing on recent geographic theory to recalibrate ideas of the postsecular public sphere, the authors develop the case for postsecularity as a condition of being that is characterised by practices of receptive generosity, rapprochement between religious and secular ethics, and a hopeful re-enchantment and re-shaping of desire towards common life. The authors highlight the contested formation of ethical subjectivity under neoliberalism and the emergence of postsecularity within this process as an ethically-attuned politics which changes relations between religion and secularity and animates novel, hopeful imaginations, subjectivities, and praxes as alternatives to neoliberal norms. The spaces and subjectivities of emergent postsecularity are examined through a series of innovative case studies, including food banks, drug and alcohol treatment, refugee humanitarian activism in Calais, homeless participatory art projects, community responses to the Christchurch earthquakes in New Zealand, amongst others. The book also traces the global conditions for postsecularity beyond the Western and predominantly Christian-secular nexus of engagement. This is a valuable resource for students in several academic disciplines, including geography, sociology, politics, religious studies, international development and anthropology. It will be of great interest to secular and faith-based practitioners working in religion, spirituality, politics or more widely in public policy, urban planning and community development.