{"title":"Michael Korda","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplore the captivating world of Michael Korda, an acclaimed author known for his engaging narratives and meticulously researched works. With a rich tapestry of genres including Biography \u0026amp; Memoir, History \u0026amp; Military, and Travel \u0026amp; Adventure, Korda's books offer readers a chance to journey through time and explore extraordinary lives and events.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAmong his works, \u003cem\u003eAlone\u003c\/em\u003e stands out as a riveting account of Winston Churchill's pivotal role in Britain's fight for survival during World War II. This compelling narrative brings to life the political and personal challenges faced by Churchill during one of history's most turbulent times, making it a must-read for history enthusiasts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eCatnip\u003c\/em\u003e, Korda takes a delightful departure into the whimsical, offering charming insights into the feline world. This book is a treat for cat aficionados who wish to indulge in the quirks and characteristics that make cats such beloved companions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMuse of Fire\u003c\/em\u003e delivers a powerful exploration of the extraordinary contributions and sacrifices of those involved in the performing arts during wartime. Through vivid storytelling, Korda honours the courage and creativity found in the Theatre of War.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhether you are a history buff, cat lover, or an admirer of human resilience, Michael Korda's books promise to captivate and enlighten, providing a profound understanding of the subjects he passionately brings to life.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"alone-by-michael-korda-9781631491320","title":"Alone","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCombining epic history with rich family stories, Michael Korda chronicles the outbreak of World War II and the great events that led to Dunkirk.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn an absorbing work peopled with world leaders, generals, and ordinary citizens who fought on both sides of World War II, \u003ci\u003eAlone\u003c\/i\u003e brings to resounding life perhaps the most critical year of twentieth-century history. For, indeed, May 1940 was a month like no other, as the German war machine blazed into France while the supposedly impregnable Maginot Line crumbled. At the same time, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as prime minister in an astonishing political drama as Britain, isolated and alone, faced a triumphant Nazi Germany.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAgainst this vast historical canvas, Michael Korda relates what happened and why, and also tells his own story, that of a six-year-old boy in a glamorous movie family who would himself be evacuated. \u003ci\u003eAlone\u003c\/i\u003e is a work that seamlessly weaves a family memoir into an unforgettable account of a political and military disaster redeemed by the evacuation of more than 300,000 men in four days—surely one of the most heroic episodes of the war.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e12 maps; 68 illustrations\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46855700938988,"sku":"9781631491320","price":56.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/64ecb70cfd7c910092ca674e9da4064a.jpg?v=1759284972"},{"product_id":"alone-by-michael-korda-9781631494918","title":"Alone","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo one can evince the drama of what actually happened at Dunkirk in 1940 with as great narrative skill and superb delineation (\u003cem\u003eDavid McCullough\u003c\/em\u003e) as Michael Korda, the historian and legendary book editor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs dramatized in Christopher Nolan's film \u003cem\u003eDunkirk\u003c\/em\u003e, May 1940 was a month like no other: Germany's war machine blazed into France, the impregnable Maginot Line crumbled, and Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister as Britain, isolated and alone, faced a triumphant Nazi Germany.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAgainst this vast canvas, best-selling author Michael Korda relates his own personal story, by turns charming, powerful, and poignant (\u003cem\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/em\u003e): that of a six-year-old boy from a glamorous movie family who would himself be evacuated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWeaving together eyewitness detail and a fine sense of drama (\u003cem\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/em\u003e) to form an epic of remarkable originality, \u003cem\u003eAlone\u003c\/em\u003e movingly captures a moment of historic triumph—when an unlikely flotilla of destroyers brought 300,000 men home to safety.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000524783852,"sku":"9781631494918","price":35.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/24282463482768.jpg?v=1763281503"},{"product_id":"muse-of-fire-by-michael-korda-9781324096184","title":"Muse of Fire","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMichael Korda, the best-selling author of \u003cem\u003eHero\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eAlone\u003c\/em\u003e, tells the story of the First World War not in any conventional way but through the intertwined lives of the soldier poets who came to describe it best, and indeed to symbolise the war's tragic arc and lethal fury.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHis epic narrative begins with Rupert Brooke, \"the handsomest young man in England\" and perhaps its most famous young poet in the halcyon days of the Edwardian Age, and ends five years later with Wilfred Owen, killed in action at twenty-five, only one week before the armistice. With bitter irony, Owen's mother received the telegram informing her of his death on November 11, just as church bells tolled to celebrate the war's end.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKorda's dramatic account, which includes anecdotes from his own family history, not only brings to life the soldier poets but paints an unforgettable picture of life and death in the trenches, and the sacrifice of an entire generation. His cast of characters includes the young American poet Alan Seeger, who was killed in action as a private in the French Foreign Legion; Isaac Rosenberg, whose parents had fled czarist anti-Semitic persecution and who was killed in action at the age of twenty-eight before his fame as a poet and a painter was recognised; Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon, whose friendship and friendly rivalry endured through long, complicated private lives; and, finally, Owen, whose fame came only posthumously and whose poetry remains some of the most savage and heartbreaking to emerge from the cataclysmic war.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs Korda demonstrates, the poets of the First World War were soldiers, heroes, martyrs, victims, their lives and loves endlessly fascinating—that of Rupert Brooke alone reads like a novel, with his journey to Polynesia in pursuit of a life like Gauguin's and some of his finest poetry written only a year before his tragic death. \u003cem\u003eMuse of Fire\u003c\/em\u003e is at once a portrait of their lives and a narrative of a civilisation destroying itself, among the rubble, shadows, and the unresolved problems of which we still live, from the revival of brutal trench warfare in Ukraine and in the Middle East.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"John Wiley and Sons Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000686919916,"sku":"9781324096184","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11646233482659.jpg?v=1763297150"},{"product_id":"catnip-by-michael-korda-9781682681572","title":"Catnip","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the imagination of a writer and the eye of an artist, Michael Korda doodled on the backs of old manuscripts in his tackroom while his wife, Margaret, was out riding. They loved and acquired cats—a habit written about previously in their book, \u003cem\u003eCat People\u003c\/em\u003e—and the few in residence at this time would serve as inspiration for the drawings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese are no ordinary cat illustrations, though. Korda's cats read newspapers and books; go ice skating in the small country town where they live; comfort Margaret's horse, Monty, after a stressful vet visit; sell fried mice at the Farmer's Market, and undertake (on paper, at least) whatever fanciful endeavours their keeper conjures up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe result is a collection of magical pieces, filled with joy, that represent a year in the life of a couple in love with one another, and certainly with their cats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47072148750572,"sku":"9781682681572","price":28.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/2518993482787.jpg?v=1765081959"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/michael-korda.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}