Short Lives is a revolutionary approach to books on history: a series of brief biographies that go backstage to tell the real-life stories behind the momentous events of the past. The series focuses not only on the iconic figures, but also on the unassuming protagonists who played a vital role in their time. Their stories are all the more revealing because they come to history at an oblique angle. Strikingly packaged and attractively priced, these books combine dynamic writing, compelling subjects, and editorial excellence.April 1949: the Berlin airlift had ended, the Cold War had begun, and Britain needed a hero to cheer the nation. He came in the unlikely form of Commander John Kerans, then languishing in a backwater job in Nanking. A Royal Navy frigate, HMS Amethyst, had been shelled in an unprovoked attack by Chinese Communists and now lay trapped-and captain-less -- in the Yangtze River. The Admiralty called upon Kerans, as the nearest local replacement, to go to the rescue.

Nigel Farndale's account of the Amethyst's escape is not just a great naval adventure story -- it also offers an absorbing portrait of a complex and self-destructive man who just happened to be in the right place at the right time.