World War II affected every aspect of everyday life on the home front. From food rationing to air raid shelters, war work to the Squander Bug, those left at home had to take huge changes in their stride as Britain mobilized, economized, and saved in the name of Victory.

Wartime Britain takes a look at what these changes actually meant for families: how families coped when parents went to fight and children were evacuated; how pets were fed during rationing; the rise in road accidents during the blackout; and 'shelter cough'.

In the Middle East, not only were the 12th and 13th centuries punctuated by European Crusades but, even more significantly, the mid-11th century saw the invasion of the Saljuq Turks and the mid-13th century witnessed a devastating Mongol assault. Crucial to the Middle Eastern forces involved was the professional cavalryman, known as a faris or 'horseman'. A faris' training was far more wide-ranging than that of a contemporary European knight, including the use of horse-archery and the ability to fight on foot as well as general horsemanship and the use of the lance and sword. David Nicolle's...