This controversial book, by one of our finest military historians, reveals the squalid truth about Britain's highest military honour, exposing a shameful history of racism, misogyny and political expediency.
Gary Mead was a journalist for the Financial Times for ten years and has worked extensively for the BBC and Granada TV. He is the author of The Doughboys: America and the First World War (2000) and The Good Soldier (2007).