Noel Barber
Personal Information
Description
Noel Barber was a British novelist and journalist. Many of his novels, considered exotic romances, as well as his works of 20th century history, are based on his first-hand experiences as leading foreign correspondent for the Daily Mail. Most notably he reported from Morocco, where he was stabbed five times. In October 1956, Barber survived a gun shot wound to the head by a Soviet sentry in Hungary during the Hungarian revolution.
Books
La Femme du Caire
Sur fond politique (1919-1953) une idylle quasi victorienne dans l'Egypte de Farouk et du jeune Nasser.
From the land of lost content
"Nearly everyone knows the dramatic story of the Dalai Lama, who in 1959 was forced to flee Tibet and the people whom he ruled. Not as many know the stirring and terrible events behind that escape--events which culminated in a spontaneous uprising of the Tibetan people in the capital city of Lhasa. This book, based on interviews with many of the participants (including the Dalai Lama himself), and containing a wealth of unpublished material, carefully reconstructs both the revolt and the Dalai Lama's journey."--Jacket.
The Black Hole of Calcutta
Everyone has heard of the Black Hole of Calcutta, but Noel Barber brings the story of that Gehenna vividly to life as it has not been presented for a century. In 1756 came a seige by 50,000 Indians of Fort William, the British East India Company's stronghold. The ensuing events constitute one of the most dramatic episodes of British imperial history, as this graphic and exciting reconstruction shows. Like so much else in history, this was a tragedy of errors in which stupidity, treachery, and fear all played their parts, side by side with the most glowing courage.
The sultans
The subject of this vast, astonishing and brilliantly readable work of history is the bizarre story of the Ottoman Empire, seen through the lives and actions of its sultans, with their absolute power and terrifying cruelty, their love of pomp and magnificence and their overwhelming venality and corruption. The author describes the men, the events, the daily life, the strange customs of Turkey's court, from her emergence as a great power in the sixteenth century to the death of Kemal Ataturk, who overthrew the Sultanate to establish a new and more modern form of tyranny. This book is a unique and fascinating record of four centuries of glory, debauchery, splendor and cruelty. --from inside jacket flap.
The other side of paradise
"She lived only for pleasure ... until war forced her to find courage she did not know she had, and love where she least expected it. It is 1941, and while Britain is in the grip of war, life in the Far East is one of wealth and privilege. In Singapore Susan Roper, secure in the supremacy of the British Empire, enjoys dancing, clothes and fast cars, tennis and light flirtations with visiting naval officers - her life is devoted solely to pleasure. When she meets an Australian doctor who warns her of the danger that they all face she dismisses him as an ignorant colonial. Singapore goes on partying, oblivious to the threat of invasion. The British flag will, they believe, protect them from all enemies. But when Japan invades, Susan finds herself in grave danger. She become an ambulance driver and is taken prisoner by the Japanese. Gradually and reluctantly she realizes that she has fallen in love with the tough, arrogant and totally unsuitable doctor, but she has to face many hardships and witness terrible events before she can acknowledge the truth."--Jacket.