How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution, 1381-1926

The Road Not Taken

An incisive analysis cutting to the heart of Britain's most turbulent moments and looking at why Britain may have been brought to the brink at times, but didn't descend into revolution.

Elegantly written, highly opinionated and enormously enjoyable, this one...is among McLynn's best

Intelligent, combative, thoroughly researched and thoroughly readable history... Outstanding

A refreshing look at Britain’s relationship with revolution

Refreshing … [an] intelligent, provocative book

An impressively researched and thoroughgoing work

Frank McLynn is a highly regarded historian, who specializes in biographies and military history. He has written over 20 books, including critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon and Richard the Lionheart. Other books include 1066, Stanley, 1759, and Marcus Aurelius. He is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, and London University, where he obtained his doctorate.

Britain has not been successfully invaded since 1066; nor, in nearly 1,000 years has it known a true revolution – one that brings radical, systemic and enduring change. The contrast with Britain’s European neighbours, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Russia, is dramatic – all have been convulsed by external warfare, revolution and civil war and experienced fundamental change to their ruling elites or social and economic structures. 
 
 Frank McLynn takes seven occasions when Britain came closest to revolution: the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381; the Jack Cade rebellion of 1450; the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536; the English Civil Wars of the 1640s; the Jacobite Rising of 1745-6; the Chartist Movement of 1838-48; and the General Strike of 1926. Why, at these dramatic turning points, did history finally fail to turn? McLynn examines Britain’s history and themes of social, religious and political change to explain why social turbulence stopped short of revolution on so many occasions.

Disaster into Triumph 1942-45

The Burma Campaign

A vivid, brutal and enthralling account of the Burma Campaign - one of the most punishing and hard-fought military adventures of World War Two

Epic...a comprehensive and engrossing account

McLynn gives an honest, gruelling account of the longest most punishing campaign fought by the British during the Second World War

Easily one of the best books he has written in a long and distinguished career... A marvellous subject, too

Magnificent...a closely woven, tightly argued and beautifully written account of the extraordinary men and women who were responsible for the higher direction of the war... This book delights, page after page. McLynn held me spellbound

A vivid, brutal and enthralling account of the Burma Campaign – one of the most punishing and hard-fought military adventures of World War Two. 
 
The Burma Campaign was one of the most punishing and protracted military adventures of World War Two. Impenetrable jungle, poor transport infrastructure, seasonal monsoon rains, as well as famine, disease, snakes and crocodiles all bore heavily on the troops. 
 
 Against this extraordinary backdrop, Frank McLynn constructs the dramatic story of the four larger-than-life commanders directing the Allied effort: Louis Mountbatten, Orde Wingate, Joseph Stilwell and William Slim, and explores the Campaign through their often stormy relationship. 
 
 The Burma Campaign is a strikingly original account from one of our most celebrated historians. 
 
‘Magnificent...a closely woven, tightly argued and beautifully written account of the extraordinary men and women who were responsible for the higher direction of the war...This book delights, page after page. McLynn held me spellbound’ BBC History Magazine

Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor

Marcus Aurelius

The vivid, magisterial and long-awaited biography of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor and embodiment of the philosopher's king

A compendious and thought-provoking study

Impressively well-researched and unfailingly engaging

McLynn has written a huge, erudite survey of the social, cultural, economic and political world of the second century AD rather than a mere biography of Marcus Aurelius...there is much to enjoy here and even more to be learned

By exposing the real Marcus Aurelius, this biography illuminates an important era of transition...it was under Marcus that the delicate balance was disturbed and this, too, is his legacy.

A flickering torch in the darkness, and with his fine biography, Frank McLynn tends the flame.

If you like your history feisty, opinionated and judgemental McLynn is the man for you... it certainly makes for a terrific read.

Frank McLynn is the author of many critically acclaimed books, including Napoleon, 1066, Villa and Zapata, Wagons West, Stanley, 1759 and Lionheart and Lackland.

Marcus Aurelius is the one great figure of antiquity who still speaks to us today, nearly 2,000 years after his death. A philosopher as well as an emperor, his was an extraordinary reign. He proved himself a great leader, protecting the Empire from Germans in the North and fighting the Parthians in the East, and his Meditations - compared by John Stuart Mill to the Sermon on the Mount - remains one of the most widely-read Classical books. Impeccably researched and vividly told, Frank McLynn's Marcus Aurelius is the definitive biography of a monumental historical figure.

Inside the minds of the greatest warriors in history

Heroes & Villains

The greatest military leaders in history and the psychological qualities that made them the ultimate warriors

Frank McLynn is a highly regarded historian, who specialises in biographies and military history. He has written over 20 books, including critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon and Richard the Lionheart. Other books include 1066, Stanley, 1759, and Marcus Aurelius. He is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, and London University, where he obtained his doctorate.

In the history of warfare, an elite group of men have attained almost legendary status through their courage, ambition and unrivalled military genius. But many of these same men possessed deep personal character flaws. In Heroes &amp; Villains, acclaimed historian Frank McLynn focuses on six of the most powerful and magnetic leaders of all time: Spartacus, Attila the Hun, Richard the Lionheart, Cortés, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Napoleon. How did these mortal men rise to positions of seemingly invincible power? What were the motives, the personal strengths and often weaknesses that drove them to achieve what no one else dared? 
 
In six powerful portraits, McLynn brilliantly evokes the critical moments when each of these warriors proved themselves in battle, changing their own lives, the destiny of their people and, in some cases, the history of the world. We discover what drove Spartacus to take on the might of Rome against seemingly impossible odds, and how the young Napoleon rose to power in dramatic fashion at the Siege of Toulon. 
 
Heroes &amp; Villains is more than a collection of individual biographies. By examining the complex psychologies of these extraordinary men, McLynn builds up a convincing profile of the ultimate warrior. Accompanying a major BBC television series, this brilliant book takes us into the minds of the greatest warriors in history.

The Year Britain Became Master of the World

1759

A remarkable new book on a crucial moment in British and world history.

A marvellous book: elegantly written, convincingly argued and packed with fascinating detail... it will do much to restore 1759 to its rightful place among the great years of British history

An erudite and delightful literary and philosophical romp

McLynn's feisty and highly personal take on the pivot point of the Seven Years War adds fresh perspectives to the old story

A stylish and fascinating account of the first global struggle

Makes a great case for a better appreciation of this, the fourth year of the Seven Years' War

Robust, intelligent, panoramic history at its best

Frank McLynn is clearly one of those historian-writers so prolific and versatile that he makes you wonder why Simon Schama doesn't pull his finger out

Frank McLynn is a highly regarded historian, who specializes in biographies and military history. He has written over 20 books, including critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon and Richard the Lionheart. Other books include 1066, Stanley, Marcus Aurelius and The Road Not Taken. He is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, and London University, where he obtained his doctorate.

Although 1759 is not a date as well known in British history as 1215, 1588, or 1688, there is a strong case to be made that it is the most significant year since 1066. In 1759 - the fourth year of the Seven Years War - the British defeated the French in arduous campaigns on four continents and also achieved absolute mastery of the seas. 
 
Drawing on a mass of primary materials - from texts in the Vatican archives to oral histories of the North American Indians - Frank McLynn shows how the conflict between Brtiain and France triggered the first 'world war', raging from Europe to Africa; the Caribbean to the Pacific; the plains of the Ganges to the Great Lakes of North America. It also brought about the War of Independence, the acquisition by Britain of the Falkland Islands and, ultimately, the French Revolution.

King Richard, King John and the Wars of Conquest

Lionheart and Lackland

The truth behind Richard the Lionheart and Bad King John - brilliantly readable, scrupulously researched and full of powerful story-telling

I finished this book thoroughly convinced by McLynn's thesis about Richard and John, and his book kept me locked to its pages for four hours at a stretch without even stirring to switch on my kettle

Marvellously readable and strikingly opinionated... McLynn clearly relishes putting the boot into the villain of his piece... This is popular history as it should be written: full blooded, yet firmly grounded in scholarship

Brilliant... a good example of how fresh scholarship can illuminate dusty but vital corners of history

Brilliantly entertaining... Fascinating and brilliantly detailed

Anyone who has seen The Lion in Winter will remember the vicious, compelling world of the Plantagenets and readers of the romance of Robin Hood will be familiar with the typecasting of Good King Richard, defending Christendom in the Holy Land, and Bad King John who usurps the kingdom in his absence. But do these popular stereotypes correspond with reality? 
 
In this sweeping narrative, celebrated historian Frank McLynn turns the tables on modern revisionist historians and shows these larger-than-life characters as they really were - crusading, fighting vicious wars in France, negotiating with the papacy, engaging in ruthless dynastic intrigue, often against each other: in Richard's case, even holding the kingdom together when fighting in the Holy Land; and in John's, losing Normandy, catastrophically agonising the barons over Magna Carta and losing the Crown Jewels in the Wash.

The Year of The Three Battles

1066

One of our best popular historian tells the remarkable story of the events that took place in 1066, probably the most famous date in English history.

A splendid book... fascinatingly rich and thorough.

An exciting story well told... A most lively and rewarding book.

McLynn  is an astonishingly prolific historian. His books are always elegantly  written, highly opinionated and enormously enjoyable

Has  anybody done more – done as much – as Frank McLynn in writing  intelligent, combative, thoroughly researched and thoroughly readable  history?

Frank McLynn is a highly regarded historian, who specializes in biographies and military history. He has written over 20 books, including critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon and Richard the Lionheart. Other books include Stanley, 1759, Marcus Aurelius and his latest work, The Road Not Taken: How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution. He is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, and London University, where he obtained his doctorate.

Everyone knows what William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but in recent years is has become customary to assume that the victory was virtually inevitable, given the alleged superiority of Norman military technology. In this new study, underpinned by biographical sketches of the great warriors who fought for the crown of England in 1066, Frank McLynn shows that this view is mistaken. The battle on Senlac Hill on 14 October was a desperately close-run thing, which Harold lost only because of an incredible run of bad fortune and some treachery from the Saxon elite in England. Both William and Harold were fine generals, but Harold was the more inspirational of the two. 
 
Making use of all the latest scholarship, McLynn shows that most of our 'knowledge' of 1066 rests on myths or illusions: Harold did not fight at Hastings with the same army with which he had been victorious at Stamford Bridge three weeks earlier; the Battle of Senlac was not won by Norman archery; Harold did not die with an arrow in the eye. In overturning these myths, McLynn shows that the truth is even more astonishing than the legend. An original feature of the book is the space devoted to the career and achievements of Harald Hardrada, who usually appears in such narratives as the shadowy 'third man'. McLynn shows that he was probably the greatest warrior of the three and that he, in turn, lost a battle through unforeseen circumstances.

Napoleon

'A brilliant biography which will surely become a classic life of Napoleon.' The Times

One of the year's best biographies... A compelling portrait of one of history's greatest figures

McLynn writes with considerable verve: his pithy characterisations of Napoleon's subordinates, the alternating chapters of narrative and analysis, the dramatic set-pieces...all these combine to make his biography pleasurable and highly instructive to read

McLynn offers an admirably clear narrative, neither adulatory nor debunking. He acknowledges and displays the extraordinary tale and does not hide the pettiness

A robust, well-paced biography which pans confidently from the seventeen-year-old child educated by Jesuits to the ruins of the imperial grandeur and death by slow arsenic poisoning on a bleak St Helena

Frank McLynn is a highly regarded historian, who specializes in biographies and military history. He has written over 20 books, including critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon and Richard the Lionheart. Other books include 1066, Stanley, 1759, Marcus Aurelius and, most recently, The Road Not Taken: How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution. He is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, and London University, where he obtained his doctorate.

Napoleon Bonaparte's character and achievements have always divided critics and commentators. In this compelling new biography Frank McLynn draws on the most recent scholarship and throws a brilliant light on this most paradoxical of men - as military leader, lover and emperor. 
 
Tracing Napoleon's extraordinary career, Mc Lynn examines the Promethean legend from the Corsican roots, through the years of the French Revolution and the military triumphs, to the coronation in 1804 and ultimate defeat and imprisonment. Napoleon the man emerges as an even more fascinating character than previously imagined, and McLynn brilliantly reveals the extent to which he was both existential hero and plaything of Fate; mathematician and mystic; intellectual giant and moral pygmy; Great Man and deeply flawed human being.

Frank McLynn

This powerful and comprehensive study of the great Mongol takes your breath away with the sheer scale and fury of the man’s conquests and cruelties. Told with chilling relish

A formidable study of the world’s greatest conqueror. With this compelling history of a brilliant, complex leader and ruthless master of warfare, McLynn has done his man proud

McLynn has carefully synthesised the work of hundreds of scholars to create a sensitive and immensely detailed portrait of an extraordinary leader

Fuses classic biography with a colourful study of medieval Mongolian culture … recounts in detailed, elegant prose the life and legacy of one of history’s greatest monsters

Compendious and thoughtful … McLynn makes a case for Genghis as a brilliant political innovator … McLynn’s narrative is methodical and detailed … its arguments careful

Epic history on a grandiose scale and the author sets to his task with gusto … Much of McLynn’s book is rightly taken up with [Genghis Khan’s] remarkable military campaigns, notable for their sadistic cruelty

Even someone who writes as well as McLynn could not make a mass murderer likeable, but he does make you realise just how remarkable [Genghis Khan] must have been

A biography of extraordinary synthesis and historical vision

McLynn brings vividly to life the strange world of the Mongols, describes Temujin’s rise from boyhood outcast to become Genghis Khan, and provides one of the most accurate and absorbing account yet of one of the most powerful men ever to have lived

McLynn has plumbed great depths to produce such a book as this… A very interesting and compelling book, that informs us (in incredible depth) as to the magnitude of pre-planned and executed wars and battles.

In this formidable study McLynn has done his man proud.

The Man Who Conquered the World

Genghis Khan was by far the greatest conqueror the world has ever known, whose empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to central Europe, including all of China, the Middle East and Russia. So how did an illiterate nomad rise to such colossal power, eclipsing Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon? Credited by some with paving the way for the Renaissance, condemned by others for being the most heinous murderer in history, who was Genghis Khan? 
 
His actual name was Temujin, and the story of his success is that of the Mongol people: a loose collection of fractious tribes who tended livestock, considered bathing taboo and possessed an unparallelled genius for horseback warfare. United under Genghis, a strategist of astonishing cunning and versatility, they could dominate any sedentary society they chose. 
 
Combining fast-paced accounts of battles with rich cultural background and the latest scholarship, Frank McLynn brings vividly to life the strange world of the Mongols, describes Temujin’s rise from boyhood outcast to become Genghis Khan, and provides the most accurate and absorbing account yet of one of the most powerful men ever to have lived.

Genghis Khan

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Frank McLynn

Praise for Genghis Khan

This powerful and comprehensive study of the great Mongol takes your breath away with the sheer scale and fury of the man’s conquests and cruelties. Told with chilling relish

A formidable study of the world’s greatest conqueror. With this compelling history of a brilliant, complex leader and ruthless master of warfare, McLynn has done his man proud

McLynn has carefully synthesised the work of hundreds of scholars to create a sensitive and immensely detailed portrait of an extraordinary leader

This powerful and comprehensive study of the great Mongol takes your breath away with the sheer scale and fury of the man’s conquests and cruelties. Told with chilling relish

A formidable study of the world’s greatest conqueror. With this compelling history of a brilliant, complex leader and ruthless master of warfare, McLynn has done his man proud

McLynn has carefully synthesised the work of hundreds of scholars to create a sensitive and immensely detailed portrait of an extraordinary leader

This powerful and comprehensive study of the great Mongol takes your breath away with the sheer scale and fury of the man’s conquests and cruelties. Told with chilling relish

A formidable study of the world’s greatest conqueror. With this compelling history of a brilliant, complex leader and ruthless master of warfare, McLynn has done his man proud

McLynn has carefully synthesised the work of hundreds of scholars to create a sensitive and immensely detailed portrait of an extraordinary leader

Books by Frank McLynn

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