Authorised biography by the editor of his diaries.

ISBN: 0 297 60714 6

No matter the importance of other matters, in Alan Clark's celebrated Diaries cars are rarely out of the picture for long.

Back Fire is devoted to this passion, which began when Clark was still in his teens. As a driver he was entirely self-taught - from watching others. He bought his first car - a 6.5-litre Bentley - while still at Eton and before he possessed a driving licence.

Some of his first published writing was about cars when he was in his twenties and became UK correspondent for the American magazine Road & Track. He revealed an enthusiast's knowledge, contributing over the years to specialist British magazines, latterly Classic Cars, as well as to the national press.

Back Fire also includes new and hitherto unsuspected autobiographical material from previously unpublished diaries, among them taking part in two Alpine rallies, in 1973 and 1993. Having bought and sold cars as a hobby-cum-business for forty years, he particularly enjoyed sharing with others the exhilaration that cars induced in him.

Clark often wrote of his favourites - Jaguars (particularly the XK), Porsches, Bentleys, Rolls-Royce - as well as his least favourite, notably anything Italian. Here too are his unmistakable views on women drivers, on the secrets of buying and selling and on the vexing question of restoration.

Back Fire will prove irresistible to all who have enjoyed his inimitable Diaries, as well as to the legion of car enthusiasts who may not always agree with his views, but will find then stimulating nevertheless.

Alan Clark describes his election to the Commons in the 1974 general election: his years as a backbencher coincide with Edward Heath as PM, his downfall and the arrival of Margaret Thatcher. This volume ends with the inside story of the Falklands War.

Alan Clark vividly narrates the course of the dramatic and brutal war between the German and Russians on the Eastern Front during World War II. From the invasion of Russia mounted on Midsummer's Day 1941 and the German Army's advance to Moscow, to the terrible turning point of Stalingrad and the eventual defeat of the Nazis at the fall of Berlin after the hard years of fighting and advance by the Red Army, this is epic history narrated by a militray historian, diarist and politician.

A study of the Western Front in 1915, this book is a stinging indictment of incompetent generalship. The author explores the truth of the observation that British troops were "lions led by donkeys" and shows how appalling losses almost completely destroyed the old professional army.

ISBN: 0 7126 5035 0