{"title":"Books by Jonathan Walker","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780197566336","title":"Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5","description":"The book is devoted to Shostakovich's most controversial symphony, composed at the height of Stalin's Purges. It rescued Shostakovich from official disfavour and deeply moved audiences. The critics recognized it as a masterpiece, but they were perplexed by its ambiguities, especially at the end of the Symphony: some imagined it as the joyful final victory of socialism, while others heard the triumph instead of a sinister and oppressive force. The second interpretation was pushed into the background, but the controversy persisted, with the further complication of two very different tempo markings for the closing section, both of which seemed to be approved by the composer. The authors give an authoritative account of the tempo controversy and the effect of the different tempos on the reception of the work in the West. Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 delves into the history of the work's composition, the pressures Shostakovich experienced at the time, and the cultural environment from the time the composer began work on Symphony through to the settling of its official critical reception. At the center of this exploration is the musical score itself, which is full of secrets that have taken decades to uncover, the most colorful of which is the case for Shostakovich's extensive references to Bizet's Carmen, and the connection between these and Shostakovich's lover of the mid-30s, Lala Carmen (Elena Konstantinovskaya). The authors show how Shostakovich largely (but not entirely) set aside his influences from Mahler and German modernists, and in replacement absorbed Beethoven and Tchaikovsky with the same ingenuity as his previous influences. Shostakovich decided to make a virtue of a necessity, and created one of the richest of symphonic scores, allowing himself to retain his artistic pride while winning the official approval necessary for regaining his livelihood. These events all unfolded in the atmosphere of terror created by Stalin's \"Great Purge\". This book is the first to be devoted to this watershed symphony, and includes secrets of the score that took decades to uncover.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56226393096565,"sku":"9780197566336","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780197566336_62e60bd5-9358-499f-9bd3-6ca83d590de3.jpg?v=1786011445"},{"product_id":"9781803999319","title":"Churchill's Third World War","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'A thrilling and ground-breaking account'\u003c\/strong\u003e - \u003cem\u003eEye-Spy\u003c\/em\u003e magazine\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAs the war in Europe entered its final months, the world teetered on the edge of a Third World War.\u003c\/strong\u003e While Soviet forces hammered their way into Berlin, Churchill ordered British military planners to prepare the top secret Operation Unthinkable - the plan for an Allied attack on the Soviet Union - on 1 July 1945. Using US, British and Polish forces, the invasion would reclaim Eastern Europe. The controversial plan called for the use of Nazi troops, and there was the spectre of the atomic bomb. Would yet another army make the fatal mistake of heading East?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eChurchill’s Third World War\u003c\/em\u003e Jonathan Walker presents a haunting study of the war that so nearly was. He outlines the motivations behind Churchill’s plan, the logistics of launching a vast assault against an enemy who had bested Hitler, potential sabotage by Polish communists, and he speculates whether the Allies would have succeeded had the operation gone forward.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWell supported by a wide range of primary sources from the Churchill Archives Centre, Sikorski Institute, National Archives and Imperial War Museum, this is a fascinating insight into the upheaval as the Second World War drew to a close and former alliances were shattered. Operation Unthinkable became the blueprint for the Cold War.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56306945294709,"sku":"9781803999319","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781803999319_982f3e9f-0d64-49e7-932f-838eef01b956.jpg?v=1786027454"},{"product_id":"9781838018139","title":"The Angels of L19","description":"Liverpool, 1984. The teenagers at Garston Chapel are the same as the rest of us: The Smiths, U2, crushes, football, mates. The politics of the Thatcher era casting deep shadows, but the kids have got other things on their minds... Jesus, for one. Almost normal kids, then. But Robert isn't normal. He's visited by angels and he can't tell a soul. All anyone can see is his strange behaviour as he desperately seeks to understand what they mean. As Robert's two worlds merge, the real and the visionary intersect with increasing intensity and what is being asked of him becomes terrifyingly clear.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307738411381,"sku":"9781838018139","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781838018139_42c5aacb-fc7b-4951-9807-1737d7f684e5.jpg?v=1786028191"},{"product_id":"9781838388782","title":"Push Process","description":"Venice, 2000. Richard is a postgraduate student living in the city to research its past. He's supposed to be working in the archive, but he meets Merlo and Lars, two art students who are more interested in Venice's present. He decides to pick up a camera and join them. The world comes alive for Richard through photographs: for the first time, he feels connected to a place - and other people. He's determined to continue, whatever the cost. Push Process is a novel about art, friendship and being European, illustrated with over fifty black-and-white photographs of Venice.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307866337653,"sku":"9781838388782","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781838388782_5dbeedac-b74f-487c-b662-3ea6e4930d14.jpg?v=1786028511"},{"product_id":"9780750993975","title":"Poland Alone","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePoland was the 'tripwire' that brought Britain into the Second World War, but it was largely the fear of the new Nazi-Soviet Pact rather than the cementing of an old relationship that created the formal alliance.\u003c\/strong\u003e But neither Britain, nor Poland's older ally, France, had the material means to prevent Poland being overrun in 1939. The broadcast, 'Poland is no longer alone' had a distinctly hollow ring. During the next four years the Polish Government in exile and armed forces made a significant contribution to the allied war effort; in return the Polish Home Army received a paltry 600 tons of supplies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePoland Alone\u003c\/em\u003e focuses on the bloody Warsaw Uprising of 1944, when the Polish Resistance attempted to gain control of their city from the German Army. They expected help from the Allies but received none, and they were left helpless as the Russians moved in. The War ended with over five million Poles dead, three million of whom died in the concentration camps.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJonathan Walker examines whether Britain could have done more to save the Polish people in their crisis year of 1944, dealing with many different aspects such as the actions of the RAF and SOE, the role of Polish Couriers, the failure of British Intelligence and the culpability of the British Press.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311901061493,"sku":"9780750993975","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780750993975_a1877788-784a-4d21-bdb7-191ad97be20d.jpg?v=1786014666"},{"product_id":"aden-insurgency-the-savage-war-in-yemen-1962-67","title":"Aden Insurgency: The Savage War in Yemen 1962-67","description":"During the early 1960s the Cold War reached its climax.  Britain's dwindling power in the Middle East was under siege from Arab nationalism, the Communist bloc and from American designs in the region. Aden, with its strategic military base and old Protectorate buffer zone, was soon the main battleground.  The 1962 Egyptian-inspired coup in the neighbouring Kingdom of North Yemen further tightened the noose. So began a bitter and bloody insurgency war in South Arabia.  British regular an special forces were soon pitted against growing and formidable insurgency forces, fighting both a war in the mountains and an urban conflict in the backstreets of Aden.  Intelligence agencies vied for control of 'hearts and minds'. The British launched a clandestine war in Yemen to keep their enemies at bay.  But still the situation in Aden spiralled out of control, culminating in a bloody slaughter in 1967.  In that November, the British Army finally withdrew from South Arabia.  Aden Insurgency is the extraordinary story of Britain's last colonial conflict.  Using a wide range of recently released archive and eye-witness accounts, the author charts the collapse of the South Arabian state.   Set against a background of ruthless political ambition, these events shaped the Yemen of today.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57520079896949,"sku":"9781473827639","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781473827639.jpg?v=1787581527"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-jonathan-walker.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}