{"title":"Books by Jem Duducu","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781398122918","title":"The Devil's Horsemen","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the fifth century, Attila the Hun terrorised both the Eastern and Western Roman Empires; his were the first of the Devil’s horsemen. After his death his empire quickly disintegrated – but then came the Magyars, fighting the early Holy Roman Empire, and the heavy cavalry used to counter them is where the concept of the knight in armour comes from. Thirdly, there are the Turks, the only group that didn’t expand into Europe, but instead conquered the Middle East. Like the other groups, they were shamanistic pagans and yet within a generation they had converted to Islam.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFourthly, and most famously, we have the Mongol Empire, the largest land-based empire in history, spreading from Korea to Poland. It was hugely important for a century and its impact lasted for half a millennium. Finally, there is Tamerlane. Alexander the Great gets a lot of credit for fighting for eight years without a loss. Tamerlane fought for 25 without loss and he was paralysed down one side of his body. He would even vanquish two of the earlier groups, in wars against the Mongols and the Turkish Ottoman sultans.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat links them all is the horse as a weapon of war. In his own attractive style – ‘as accessible as it is informative’ (Deus Vult) – Jem Duducu rides across a thousand years of conquest on horseback.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55206123143541,"sku":"9781398122918","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398122918_5a0ba981-3ee6-4d60-a8cf-fc29aa84bdf9.jpg?v=1786018282"},{"product_id":"9781036115913","title":"The History of the Western Movie","description":"\u003cp\u003eEven while the frontiers of the Wild West were being fought over, its myth was being forged. Sometimes this was in the form of incredibly popular pulp novels, on others the likes of the hugely successful Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show that even toured Europe and delighted monarchs. By the turn of the 20th Century, just as the era was being consigned to history, motion pictures began telling these stories in a new medium. Some of the early films were supervised by the very legends of the old west the movie was about. The era of the western was born. Some of the most important films of the 20th century were westerns. Many of Hollywood’s brightest stars regularly played cowboys and for decades, the simple western was a guaranteed way to make money and fill a movie theatre.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike every art form, over the years the western evolved. At times it was as wholesome as apple pie. There were times when it redefined cinema in terms of scope and storytelling. In other decades it created great anxiety about levels of violence and moral nihilism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe genre has been used to entertain, reveal the plight of indigenous peoples, explore racism, sexism and even homophobia. There have been westerns that have been analogies for the perils of McCarthyism. A few have been heaped with awards and critical acclaim, others were reviled by critics (and sometimes even their own studio) only to go on and be massive box office successes. Lines, images and scores from westerns have seeped into pop culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eToday the western no longer dominates cinemas as it once did but they are still hugely popular. Once again they have evolved with the times, becoming hit video games or massively popular shows on TV or streaming services.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56296289698165,"sku":"9781036115913","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781036115913_559305aa-1aee-4fee-ac0a-304514b91042.jpg?v=1786016999"},{"product_id":"9781445643663","title":"The British Empire in 100 Facts","description":"Discover the history behind the facts.The British Empire had a rich, varied and controversial history, commonly perceived to have spanned 500 years from the era of Columbus and his voyages of discovery to the aftermath of the Second World War. Many statements are made about this era that shaped our nation, but what are the stories behind these facts? Which are true and which are merely beliefs that have grown into fact? Jem Duducu takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Empire and its history, condensing the gigantic story into easy-to-read, bitesize sections. He examines some of the most important aspects of the Empire, from exploration and discovery in the era of Elizabeth I, to the Slave Trade, to the eventual decline after the Second World War.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56299963285877,"sku":"9781445643663","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781445643663_fafe6fa7-1134-4a67-8322-d47ac948501b.jpg?v=1786020807"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-jem-duducu.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}