{"title":"Books by Sean McMeekin","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780718199715","title":"The Ottoman Endgame","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'An outstanding history ... one of the best writers on the First World War' \u003ci\u003eSimon Sebag Montefiore\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eShortlisted for the Duke of Westminster Medal for Military Literature\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Ottoman Endgame\u003c\/i\u003e is the first, and definitive, single-volume history of the Ottoman empire's agonising war for survival.  Beginning with Italy's invasion of Ottoman Tripoli in September 1911, the Empire was in a permanent state of emergency, with hardly a frontier not under direct threat.   Assailed by enemies on all sides, the Empire-which had for generations been assumed to be a rotten shell-proved to be strikingly resilient, beating off major attacks at Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia before finally being brought down in the general ruin of the Central Powers in 1918.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the Europeans planned to partition all its lands between them and with even Istanbul seemingly helpless in the face of the triumphant Entente, an absolutely unexpected entity emerged: modern Turkey.  Under the startling genius of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a powerful new state emerged from the Empire's fragments.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the first time an author has woven the entire epic together from start to finish - and it will cause many readers to fundamentally re-evaluate their understanding of the conflict.  The consequences, well into the 21st century, could not have been more momentous - with countries as various as Serbia, Greece, Libya, Armenia, Iraq and Syria still living with them.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204131225778,"sku":"9780718199715","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780718199715.jpg?v=1786014687"},{"product_id":"9780141047652","title":"The Berlin-Baghdad Express","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE BARBARA JELAVICH BOOK PRIZE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Sean McMeekin has written a classic of First World War history ... This superb and original book is the reality behind Greenmantle' Norman Stone\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Berlin-Baghdad Express \u003c\/i\u003eexplores one of the big, previously unresearched subjects of the First World War: the German bid for world power - and the destruction of the British Empire - through the harnessing of the Ottoman Empire. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMcMeekin's book shows how incredibly high the stakes were in the Middle East - with the Germans in the tantalizing position of taking over the core of the British Empire via the extraordinary railway that would link Central Europe and the Persian Gulf. Germany sought the Ottoman Empire as an ally to create jihad against the British - whose Empire at the time was the largest Islamic power in the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Berlin-Baghdad Express \u003c\/i\u003eis a fascinating account of western interference in the Middle East and its lamentable results. It explains and brings to life a massive area of fighting, which in most other accounts is restricted to the disaster at Gallipoli and the British invasions of Iraq and Palestine.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56224618217845,"sku":"9780141047652","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141047652_b689e0fe-d963-4b4e-a88b-5798c21091e9.jpg?v=1786011139"},{"product_id":"9780141989297","title":"Stalin's War","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON MEDAL AND THE GILDER LEHRMAN PRIZE FOR MILITARY HISTORY 2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A terrific read ... McMeekin is a superb writer' David Aaronovitch, \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e'Gripping, authoritative, accessible and always bracingly revisionist' Simon Sebag Montefiore\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Impressive ... A new look at the conflict, which poses new questions and provides new and often unexpected answers to the old ones' Serhii Plokhy, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In this remarkable, ground-breaking new book Sean McMeekin marks a generational shift in our view of Stalin as an ally in the Second World War. Stalin's only difference from Hitler, he argues, was that he was a \u003ci\u003esuccessful \u003c\/i\u003emurderous predator. With Hitler dead and the Third Reich in ruins, Stalin created an immense new Communist empire. Among his holdings were Czechoslovakia and Poland, the fates of which had first set the West against the Nazis and, of course, China and North Korea, the ramifications of which we still live with today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Until Barbarossa wrought a public relations miracle, turning him into a plucky ally of the West, Stalin had murdered millions, subverted every norm of international behaviour, invaded as many countries as Hitler had, and taken great swathes of territory he would continue to keep. In the larger sense the global conflict grew out of not only German and Japanese aggression but Stalin's manoeuvrings, orchestrated to provoke wars of attrition between the capitalist powers in Europe and in Asia. Throughout the war Stalin chose to do only what would benefit his own regime, not even aiding in the effort against Japan until the conflict's last weeks. Above all, \u003ci\u003eStalin's War\u003c\/i\u003e uncovers the shocking details of how the US government (to the detriment of itself and its other allies) fuelled Stalin's war machine, blindly agreeing to every Soviet demand, right down to agents supplying details of the atomic bomb.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56225023492469,"sku":"9780141989297","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141989297_8b5fd99e-70ca-477a-9400-6f4d991802e7.jpg?v=1786011222"},{"product_id":"9780674072336","title":"The Russian Origins of the First World War","description":"The catastrophe of the First World War, and the destruction, revolution, and enduring hostilities it wrought, make the issue of its origins a perennial puzzle. Since World War II, Germany has been viewed as the primary culprit. Now, in a major reinterpretation of the conflict, Sean McMeekin rejects the standard notions of the war’s beginning as either a Germano-Austrian preemptive strike or a “tragedy of miscalculation.” Instead, he proposes that the key to the outbreak of violence lies in St. Petersburg.   It was Russian statesmen who unleashed the war through conscious policy decisions based on imperial ambitions in the Near East. Unlike their civilian counterparts in Berlin, who would have preferred to localize the Austro-Serbian conflict, Russian leaders desired a more general war so long as British participation was assured. The war of 1914 was launched at a propitious moment for harnessing the might of Britain and France to neutralize the German threat to Russia’s goal: partitioning the Ottoman Empire to ensure control of the Straits between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.   Nearly a century has passed since the guns fell silent on the western front. But in the lands of the former Ottoman Empire, World War I smolders still. Sunnis and Shiites, Arabs and Jews, and other regional antagonists continue fighting over the last scraps of the Ottoman inheritance. As we seek to make sense of these conflicts, McMeekin’s powerful exposé of Russia’s aims in the First World War will illuminate our understanding of the twentieth century.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56292821401973,"sku":"9780674072336","price":20.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780674072336_0cd27645-56ab-497f-bff7-ed01bc5c631d.jpg?v=1786015092"},{"product_id":"9781781259030","title":"The Russian Revolution","description":"At the turn of the century, the Russian economy was growing by about 10% annually and its population had reached 150 million. By 1920 the country was in desperate financial straits and more than 20 million Russians had died. And by 1950, a third of the globe had embraced communism. The triumph of Communism sets a profound puzzle. How did the  Bolsheviks win power and then cling to it amid the chaos they had created? Traditional histories remain a captive to Marxist ideas about class struggle. Analysing never before used files from the Tsarist military archives, McMeekin argues that war is the answer. The revolutionaries were aided at nearly every step by Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland who sought to benefit - politically and economically - from the changes overtaking the country. To make sense of Russia's careening path the essential question is not Lenin's \"who, whom?\", but who benefits?","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303408251253,"sku":"9781781259030","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781781259030_936e98ca-1339-4e9a-a511-51b7c3b0de7b.jpg?v=1786025532"},{"product_id":"9781911723530","title":"To Overthrow the World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'It is well worth reading.' — \u003cem\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'A sweeping, unsparing history of the oppression meted out to billions of people by Communist regimes.' — \u003cem\u003eTLS\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThree decades since the Soviet Union’s collapse prompted Francis Fukuyama to proclaim the ‘End of History’, things look different. Russia may no longer be Communist, but Stalin is more admired there than at any time since his death in 1953. The United States has bled power and prestige in uncanny parallel with China’s rise in economic strength and global influence—not least in the US itself. Liberal democratic capitalism seems moribund, while Chinese Communism assimilates the world. How and why did this happen?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn his sweeping history, Sean McMeekin investigates the evolution of Communism from the seductive ideal of a classless society into the ruling doctrine of tyrannical regimes. From Marx’s writings to the global resurgence of Communism in the twenty-first century, McMeekin argues that, despite the endurance of this political system, it remains deeply unpopular. Where it has arisen, it has always arisen by force.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlending narrative with cutting-edge scholarship, \u003cem\u003eTo Overthrow the World\u003c\/em\u003e revolutionises our understanding of Communism—an idea that seemingly cannot die.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA history of an ideology and its tyrannical adherents who stubbornly refuse to go away.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhile Soviet Communism collapsed three decades ago, the Chinese model has been thriving and spreading its influence globally.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSean McMeekin is the author of eight award-winning books including \u003cem\u003eStalin's War: A New History of World War\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308595294581,"sku":"9781911723530","price":27.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781911723530_ac49e90b-addd-4b11-8c79-ce2849bac11f.jpg?v=1786030475"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-sean-mcmeekin.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}