Peter Doyle


Book Description




Crooks Like Us


Book Description

At last the much anticipated follow up to City of Shadows. Peter Doyle's new book tells the real story behind the mysterious photographs from early Australian police records. He adds flesh to the haunting images of the crims, prostitutes, pick pockets and pimps that stare back at us from history.




Independence


Book Description




The Big Whatever


Book Description

When Billy Glasheen picks up a trashy paperback he finds in his cab, its plot seems weirdly familiar. One of the main characters is based on him . . . Only one person knows enough about his past to have written it—Max, his double-crossing ex-partner in crime. But Max is dead. He famously went up in flames, along with a fortune in cash, after a bank heist. If Max is somehow still alive, Billy has a score to settle. And if he didn’t get fried to a crisp, maybe the money didn’t either. To find out, Billy has to follow the clues in the strange little book—and rapidly discovers he’s not the only one on Max’s trail. The Big Whatever is the fourth instalment of Peter Doyle’s acclaimed series, which has grown into an epic underground history of postwar Australia, where crooks, entertainers, scammers, corrupt cops and politicians all rub shoulders, chasing their big paydays.




World War I in 100 Objects


Book Description

World War I in 100 Objects by Peter Doyle is a dynamic social history and perfect gift for history lovers. General readers and history buffs alike have made bestsellers of books like A History of the World in 100 Objects. In that tradition, this handsome commemorative volume gives a unique perspective on one of the most pivotal and volatile events of modern history. In World War I in 100 Objects, military historian Peter Doyle shares a fascinating collection of items, from patriotic badges worn by British citizens to field equipment developed by the United States. Beautifully photographed, each item is accompanied by the unique story it tells about the war, its strategy, its innovations, and the people who fought it.




Random Walks and Electric Networks


Book Description

Probability theory, like much of mathematics, is indebted to physics as a source of problems and intuition for solving these problems. Unfortunately, the level of abstraction of current mathematics often makes it difficult for anyone but an expert to appreciate this fact. Random Walks and electric networks looks at the interplay of physics and mathematics in terms of an example—the relation between elementary electric network theory and random walks —where the mathematics involved is at the college level.




Fritz and Tommy


Book Description

It was a war that shaped the modern world, fought on five continents, claiming the lives of ten million people. Two great nations met each other on the field of battle for the first time. But were they so very different? For the first time, and drawing widely on archive material in the form of original letters and diaries, Peter Doyle and Robin Schäfer bring together the two sides, 'Fritz' and 'Tommy', to examine cultural and military nuances that have until now been left untouched: their approaches to war, their lives at the front, their greatest fears and their hopes for the future. The soldiers on both sides went to war with high ideals; they experienced horror and misery, but also comradeship/Kameradschaft. And with increasing alienation from the people at home, they drew closer together, 'the Hun' transformed into 'good old Jerry' by the war's end. This unique collaboration is a refreshing yet touching examination of how little truly divided the men on either side of no-man'sland during the First World War.




Get Rich Quick


Book Description

Meet Billy Glasheen, a fresh voice in crime fiction. It’s Sydney, the 1950s, and Billy’s trying to make a living, any way he can. Luckily, he’s a likeable guy, with a gift for masterminding elaborate scenarios—whether it’s a gambling scam, transporting a fortune in stolen jewels, or keeping the wheels greased during a hair-raising tour by Little Richard and his rock ‘n’ roll entourage. But trouble follows close behind—because Billy’s schemes always seem to interfere with the plans of Sydney’s big players, an unholy trinity of crooks, bent cops, and politicians on the make. Suddenly he’s in the frame for murder, and on the run from the police, who’ll happily send him down for it. Billy’s no sleuth, but there’s nowhere to turn for help. To prove it wasn’t him, he’ll have to find the real killer. Set in Sydney in the period following World War II, Doyle’s novels—featuring the irresistible Billy Glasheen—brilliantly explore the criminal underworld, high-level political corruption, and the postwar explosion of sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll.




Trench Talk


Book Description

The First World War largely directed the course of the twentieth century. Fought on three continents, the war saw 14 million killed and 34 million wounded. Its impact shaped the world we live in today, and the language of the trenches continues to live in the modern consciousness. One of the enduring myths of the First World War is that the experience of the trenches was not talked about. Yet dozens of words entered or became familiar in the English language as a direct result of the soldiers' experiences. This book looks at how the experience of the First World War changed the English language, adding words that were both in slang and standard military use, and modifying the usage and connotations of existing words and phrases. Illustrated with material from the authors' collections and photographs of the objects of the war, the book will look at how the words emerged into everyday language.




Beneath Flanders Fields


Book Description

"The product of over twenty-five years of research, Beneath Flanders Fields illustrates the evolution of military mining, leading to its deployment in the greatest siege in military history - in the trenches of the Western Front." "In the words of the tunnellers themselves, and through previously unpublished photographs - many in colour - as well as contemporary plans and drawings, this book reveals how this most intense of battles was fought - and won. Few on the surface knew the horrific details of the tunnellers' work, yet this silent, claustrophobic conflict was a barbaric struggle that raged day and night for almost two and a half years, and one which generated mental and physical stresses often far beyond those suffered by the infantry in the trenches. On 7 June 1917 at Messines Ridge, the tension was broken with the opening of the most dramatic mine offensive in history."--BOOK JACKET.