{"title":"Simon Parkin","description":"Simon Parkin is an award-winning British writer and journalist. He is a contributing writer for the New Yorker, game critic for the Observer newspaper, and a regular contributor to the Guardian's Long Read. He is the recipient of two awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, and his work has been featured in The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He lives on the south coast of England.","products":[{"product_id":"a-game-of-birds-and-wolves-the-ingenious-young-women-whose-secret-board-game-helped-win-world-war-ii-paperback","title":"A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Ingenious Young Women Whose Secret Board Game Helped Win World War II - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAs heard on the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e Radio Hour: The triumphant and \"engaging history\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e) of the young women who devised a winning strategy that defeated Nazi U-boats and delivered a decisive victory in the Battle of the Atlantic.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e By 1941, Winston Churchill had come to believe that the outcome of World War II rested on the battle for the Atlantic. A grand strategy game was devised by Captain Gilbert Roberts and a group of ten Wrens (members of the Women's Royal Naval Service) assigned to his team in an attempt to reveal the tactics behind the vicious success of the German U-boats. Played on a linoleum floor divided into painted squares, it required model ships to be moved across a make-believe ocean in a manner reminiscent of the childhood game, Battleship. Through play, the designers developed \"Operation Raspberry,\" a counter-maneuver that helped turn the tide of World War II. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Combining vibrant novelistic storytelling with extensive research, interviews, and previously unpublished accounts, Simon Parkin describes for the first time the role that women played in developing the Allied strategy that, in the words of one admiral, \"contributed in no small measure to the final defeat of Germany.\" Rich with unforgettable cinematic detail and larger-than-life characters, \u003ci\u003eA Game of Birds and Wolves\u003c\/i\u003e is a heart-wrenching tale of ingenuity, dedication, perseverance, and love, bringing to life the imagination and sacrifice required to defeat the Nazis at sea.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51367987380447,"sku":"9780316492065","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/gXx2gzgXmv9780316492065.webp?v=1789117021"},{"product_id":"the-forbidden-garden-the-botanists-of-besieged-leningrad-and-their-impossible-choice-hardcover","title":"The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eScientific American\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003eThe riveting, untold true story of the botanists at the world's first seed bank who made \"the mad, heroic decision during the siege of Leningrad to guard biodiversity at the cost of human life\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, Editors' Choice)--from the award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Island of Extraordinary Captives\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded the Russian city of Leningrad--now St. Petersburg--and began the longest blockade in recorded history, one that would ultimately claim the lives of nearly three-quarters of a million people. At the center of the besieged city stood a converted palace that housed the world's largest collection of seeds--more than 250,000 samples hand-collected over two decades from all over the globe by world-famous explorer, geneticist, and dissident Nikolai Vavilov, who had recently been disappeared by the Soviet government. After attempts to evacuate the priceless collection failed and supplies dwindled amongst the three million starving citizens, the employees at the Plant Institute were left with a terrible choice. Should they save the collection? Or themselves? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThese were not just any seeds. The botanists believed they could be bred into heartier, disease-resistant, and more productive varieties suited for harsh climates, thereby changing the future of food production and preventing famines like those that had plagued their countrymen before. But protecting the seeds was no idle business. The scientists rescued potato samples under enemy fire, extinguished incendiary bombs landing on the seed bank's roof, and guarded the collection from scavengers, the bitter cold, and their own hunger. Then in the war's eleventh hour, Nazi plunderers presented a new threat to the collection... \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Drawing from previously unseen sources, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin tells the incredible true story of \"an extraordinary project and the bravery of the ordinary individuals who kept it going\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e, London) in the name of science.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51368259485919,"sku":"9781668007662","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/zA8-NaUdGp9781668007662.webp?v=1789125129"},{"product_id":"the-forbidden-garden-the-botanists-of-besieged-leningrad-and-their-impossible-choice-paperback","title":"The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eScientific American\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003eThe riveting, untold true story of the botanists at the world's first seed bank who made \"the mad, heroic decision during the siege of Leningrad to guard biodiversity at the cost of human life\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, Editors' Choice)--from the award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Island of Extraordinary Captives\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded the Russian city of Leningrad--now St. Petersburg--and began the longest blockade in recorded history, one that would ultimately claim the lives of nearly three-quarters of a million people. At the center of the besieged city stood a converted palace that housed the world's largest collection of seeds--more than 250,000 samples hand-collected over two decades from all over the globe by world-famous explorer, geneticist, and dissident Nikolai Vavilov, who had recently been disappeared by the Soviet government. After attempts to evacuate the priceless collection failed and supplies dwindled amongst the three million starving citizens, the employees at the Plant Institute were left with a terrible choice. Should they save the collection? Or themselves? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThese were not just any seeds. The botanists believed they could be bred into heartier, disease-resistant, and more productive varieties suited for harsh climates, thereby changing the future of food production and preventing famines like those that had plagued their countrymen before. But protecting the seeds was no idle business. The scientists rescued potato samples under enemy fire, extinguished incendiary bombs landing on the seed bank's roof, and guarded the collection from scavengers, the bitter cold, and their own hunger. Then in the war's eleventh hour, Nazi plunderers presented a new threat to the collection... \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Drawing from previously unseen sources, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin tells the incredible true story of \"an extraordinary project and the bravery of the ordinary individuals who kept it going\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e, London) in the name of science.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51368726331615,"sku":"9781668007679","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/4aY2eGpnq9781668007679.webp?v=1789132295"},{"product_id":"the-island-of-extraordinary-captives-a-painter-a-poet-an-heiress-and-a-spy-in-a-world-war-ii-british-internment-camp-paperback","title":"The Island of Extraordinary Captives: A Painter, a Poet, an Heiress, and a Spy in a World War II British Internment Camp - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe \"riveting...truly shocking\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e) story of a Jewish orphan who fled Nazi Germany for London, only to be arrested and sent to a British internment camp for suspected foreign agents on the Isle of Man, alongside a renowned group of refugee musicians, intellectuals, artists, and--possibly--genuine spies.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFollowing the events of \u003ci\u003eKristallnacht \u003c\/i\u003ein 1938, Peter Fleischmann evaded the Gestapo's roundups in Berlin by way of a perilous journey to England on a \u003ci\u003eKindertransport\u003c\/i\u003e rescue, an effort sanctioned by the UK government to evacuate minors from Nazi-controlled areas. But he could not escape the British police, who came for him in the early hours and shipped him off to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, under suspicion of being a spy for the very regime he had fled. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, tens of thousands of German and Austrian Jews like Peter escaped and found refuge in Britain. After war broke out and paranoia gripped the nation, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered that these innocent asylum seekers--so-called \"enemy aliens\"--be interned. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e When Peter arrived at Hutchinson Camp, he found one of history's most astounding prison populations: renowned professors, composers, journalists, and artists. Together, they created a thriving cultural community, complete with art exhibitions, lectures, musical performances, and poetry readings. The artists welcomed Peter as their pupil and forever changed the course of his life. Meanwhile, suspicions grew that a real spy was hiding among them--one connected to a vivacious heiress from Peter's past. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Drawing from unpublished first-person accounts and newly declassified government documents, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin reveals an \"extraordinary yet previously untold true story\" (\u003ci\u003eDaily Express\u003c\/i\u003e) that serves as a \"testimony to human fortitude despite callous, hypocritical injustice\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e) and \"an example of how individuals can find joy and meaning in the absurd and mundane\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Spectator\u003c\/i\u003e).","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51369763897567,"sku":"9781982178536","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/R5si--ske79781982178536.webp?v=1789146140"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/simon-parkin.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}