Books for your Kindle... #5

Time for another update for you Kindle readers out there .... 

I've recently downloaded the following - they were all free when I got them but the prices change often!

The Boston Massacre,March 5, 1770, Its Causes and Its Results by Frederic Kidder

Only 32 pages, as this is a synopsis of Kidders book of the same name, first published in 1870.If ever there was a good précis of the events in Boston that kick started the War of Independence this is it... 

The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo by Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy

Published in 1851 the book covers the following and is quite interesting for what it misses rather than what it covers.....  not read it yet, and I suspect I will dip into specific battles rather than reading it cover to cover, but it looked interesting..

1. The Battle of Marathon, 490 BC
2. Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, 413 BC
3. The Battle of Gaugamela, 331 BC
4. The Battle of the Metaurus, 207 BC
5. Victory of Arminius over the Roman Legions under Varus, AD 9
6. The Battle of Châlons, AD 451
7. The Battle of Tours, AD 732
8. The Battle of Hastings, AD 1066
9. Joan of Arc's Victory over the English at Orléans, AD 1429 (no Agincourt/Crecy??)
10. Defeat of the Spanish Armada, AD 1588
11. The Battle of Blenheim, AD 1704
12. The Battle of Pultava, AD 1709
13. Saratoga, AD 1777(not Yorktown??)
14. The Battle of Valmy, AD 1792
15. The Battle of Waterloo, AD 1815 (really? I would have thought Salamanca, Borodino, or any of the bigger battles, but I guess that in terms of outcome, this battle had the more profound after effects..)

Sparta's Shame: The Battle of Sphacteria and Pylos by Charles R. King

Only 15 pages - an analysis of one of the pivotal battles in the Peleponnesian War....  following the Battle of Pylos and the failure of subsequent peace negotiations, a Spartan army was stranded on the island of Sphacteria. An Athenian force attacked and forced them to surrender.....  this took in Navarrino Bay just around the coast from where I was on holiday a couple of years ago...

Last of all - one of my fellow bloggers posted a link to these two by the historian J B Bury - these links are for the US Amazon, but they're also available on the UK Amazon (and free on both at the moment)..  I've always had an interest in the Punic Wars so have downloaded the first one to read at a later date...   reviews I've seen say his writing is "scholarly and accessible to the layman"

A History of the Roman Empire from Its Foundation to the Death of Marcus Aurelius (27 B.C. - 180 A.D.)


History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian


Trust you find something to enjoy there.. either way you can't argue with the prices!