Charles Allen Libri

This work chronicles the adventures of the last generation of British men and women who went East to seek their fortunes. Drawn into the colonial territories scattered around the South China Sea, they found themselves in an exotic, intoxicating world. It was a land of rickshaws and shanghai jars, sampans and Straits Steamers, set against a background of palm-fringed beaches and tropical rain-forests. But it was also a world of conflicting beliefs and many races, where the overlapping of widely differing moral standards and viewpoints created a heady and dangerous atmosphere.

The story follows a young woman navigating the hardships of street life, where she forms a deep friendship with two other unlikely women. Together, they support each other through daily struggles and discover resilience in their bond. As they encounter love through the young men they meet, their lives begin to change, highlighting themes of friendship, survival, and the transformative power of love.

This is the story of the thousand hour war as it was fought by the RAF; as viewed by the young men and women sent out to the Gulf initially to reinforce the air blockade against Iraq but who went on to play key roles in both the air and land wars that followed.

A classic history of Britons' experiences of India in the last days of the Raj.

Discussing the hidden roots of modern Jihad, Charles Allen sheds light on the historical roots of modern terrorism and shows how this dangerous 19th century theology lives on. Originally published: London: Little, Brown, 2006.

This is the second book of a trilogy based on the personal and recorded accounts of residents of the British Empire between the world wars and the closing stages of British rule. The first book is on India, Plain Tales from the Raj; the next, this work; and the third Tales from the South China Seas. These books are edited extracts from the British Broadcasting Company Radio archives. Charles Allen, the `oral historian' for the series was himself born (1940) in India to a family of six generations who served in the British Raj. This book helps to preserve the memory of what it was like, at the grass-roots level of daily routine, to live and work in Africa in the first sixty years of the 19th century. Excerpts are grouped according to subject: colonial administration, living conditions, travel, spouses, etc. Differences in various British African colonies become apparent, e.g., in Nigeria the British were concerned mainly with governing a large African population, while the Kenya colony was developed with European settlers in mind. An important contribution to Britain's social and Imperial history.

In today's post-9/11 world, the everyday news shows us images of fanatic fighters and suicide bombers willing to die in holy war, martyrs for jihad. But what are the roots of this militant fundamentalism in the Muslim world? In this insightful and wide-ranging history, Charles Allen finds an answer in the eighteenth-century reform movement of Muhammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab and his followers--the Wahhabi--who sought the restoration of Islamic purity and declared violent jihad on all who opposed them, Moslems and pagans alike. As the Wahhabi teaching spread in the nineteenth century, first, to the Arabian peninsula, and then, to the region around the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, their followers brought with them a vicious brand of political ideology and militant conflict. The Wahhabi deeply influenced the rulers of modern Saudi Arabia and their establishment of a strict Islamic code. A more militant expression of Wahhabism took root in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where fierce tribes have waged holy war for almost two hundred years. The ranks of the Taliban and al-Qaeda today are filled with young men who were taught the Wahhabi theology of Islamic purity while rifles were pressed into their hands for the sake of jihad. God's Terrorists sheds shocking light on the historical roots of modern terrorism and shows how this dangerous theology lives on today.

Delve into the longstanding debate of whether William Shakespeare was the true author of his own plays, and explore the evidence for and against the Baconian theory.