Military history: post-WW2 conflicts Books

Book SynopsisA BRACING ACCOUNT OF A WAR THAT IS EITHER MISUNDERSTOOD, FORGOTTEN, OR WILLFULLY IGNORED For Americans, it was a discrete conflict lasting from 1950 to 1953. But for the Asian world the Korean War was a generations-long struggle that still haunts contemporary events. With access to new evidence and secret materials from both here and abroad, including an archive of captured North Korean documents, Bruce Cumings reveals the war as it was actually fought. He describes its origin as a civil war, preordained long before the first shots were fired in June 1950 by lingering fury over Japan’s occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. Cumings then shares the neglected history of America’s post–World War II occupation of Korea, reveals untold stories of bloody insurgencies and rebellions, and tells of the United States officially entering the action on the side of the South, exposing as never before the appalling massacres and atrocities committed on all sides.

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Book SynopsisThe Royal Navy''s dramatic race to save the crew of a trapped Russian submarine.5 August 2005. On a secret mission to an underwater military installation 30 miles off the coast of Kamchatka, Russian Navy submersible AS-28 ran into a web of cables and stuck fast. With 600 feet of freezing water above them, there was no escape for the seven crew. Trapped in a titanium tomb, all they could do was wait as their air supply slowly dwindled.For more than 24 hours the Russian Navy tried to reach them. Finally - still haunted by the loss of the nuclear submarine Kursk five years before - they requested international assistance. On the other side of the world Commander Ian Riches, leader of the Royal Navy''s Submarine Rescue Service, got the call: there was a sub down.With the expertise and specialist equipment available to him Riches knew his team had a chance to save the men, but Kamchatka was at the very limit of their range and time was running out. A

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Book Synopsis''A fast-paced, thrilling account of British heroism, brave men surrounded and fighting against overwhelming odds. This is the real, sometimes shocking, and deeply personal story of modern warfare and PTSD.'' Andy McNab''This hugely timely book reveals in gripping detail the personal stories of its hidden victims - lest we forget.'' Damien LewisTrapped in an isolated outpost on the edge of the Helmand desert, a small force of British and Afghan soldiers is holding out against hundreds of Taliban fighters. Under brutal siege conditions, running low on food and ammunition, he experiences the full horror of combat. As the casualties begin to mount and the enemy closes in, Evans finds both his leadership and his belief in the war severely tested. Returning home, he is haunted by the memories of Afghanistan. He can''t move on and his life begins to spin out of control.Under the Bearskin was previously published as Code Trade ReviewAuthentic. Revelatory. Shocking. Edge-of-the seat heart-thumping dust and blood and sheer guts. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a hidden time-bomb amongst British veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. This hugely timely book reveals in gripping detail the personal stories of its hidden victims - lest we forget. * Damien Lewis *An absorbing, authentic and movingly accurate account of the fight in Helmand and at home. * Patrick Hennessey, author of Kandak and The Junior Officer's Reading Club *Code Black is a tale of our war in Afghanistan told by one of the men who fought there. It is visceral, truthful and, above all, thought-provoking. Code Black is an impressive achievement and a compelling read. * Bernard Cornwell *An excellent read, the pressures of command and combat intercut with the pressure of subsequently trying to make sense of what happened, how he reacted and whether it was worth it. -- Robert Crampton * Sunday Times Magazine *A fast-paced, thrilling account of British heroism, brave men surrounded and fighting against overwhelming odds. This is the real, sometimes shocking, and deeply personal story of modern warfare and PTSD. If you're going to buy one book about the Afghan conflict, make it this one A must read for anyone interested in our soldiers in Afghanistan. * Andy McNab *

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Book SynopsisThe Vietnam War ripped America apart and charted the nation''s tumultuous future. In their tens of thousands, young men went off to fight in what was an initially popular war only to face defeat and acrimony as national resolve wavered - and returned home to a nation that reviled them and tried to forget about them. Written by Andrew Wiest, the bestselling author of The Boys of ''67: Charlie Company''s War in Vietnam this book traces the American experience of Vietnam from the war''s popular inception to its morale-crushing and bitter conclusion. Based on rich collection housed at the Center of Military History and at the Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech, Vietnam allows the reader a grunt''s-eye view of the conflict - from the steaming rice paddies and swamps of the Mekong Delta, to the triple-canopy rainforest of the Central Highlands, and to the forlorn Marine bases that dotted the DMZ. The stories contained within these pages detail everything from heroism and battle to heliTable of ContentsIntroduction /1 Who We Were /2 Drop and Give Me 20 /3 Welcome to Vietnam /4 Life and Death in the Nam /5 Combat /6 Loss /7 A World of Hurt /8 Changing Attitudes /9 Freedom Bird /10 Life After Nam /Bibliography /Acknowledgements /Exclusive Extract from The Boys of ‘67 /Index

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Book SynopsisA new supplement bringing Bolt Action to a new period and conflict, the Korean War, with special rules, forces, and scenarios to game this conflict.This supplement for Bolt Action expands the rules-set from its World War Two roots to this new, and truly modern, conflict. Bolt Action: Korea contains all the rules, Theatre Lists, scenarios, and new and exciting units, never seen in Bolt Action before, to wargame this turbulent period of world history.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on a wealth of previously unseen documents, sourced by Freedom of Information requests, together with interviews with government and intelligence agency officials, Louise Kettle questions whether the British government has learned anything from its military interventions in the Middle East, from the 1950s to the 2016 Iraq Inquiry report.Trade Review'Failing to learn historical lessons is not new.　 As Louise Kettle demonstrates in this absorbing account history is full of enough tantalising clues about the future that government should take heed, but it rarely has in the past and probably won’t in the future.　 As Kettle ably shows, this is a serious mistake and until someone sits up and takes notice, the mistakes of the past will become the mistakes of the future.' - Michael Goodman, King's College LondonTable of Contents1. Learning from History; 2. No End of a Lesson – Suez 1956; 3. More like Korea – Jordan 1958; 4. Suez in Reverse – Kuwait 1961; 5. A Re-Run of Port Stanley – The Gulf 1990–1; 6. Afghanistan Part Two – Iraq 2003–9; 7. Failing History or Lessons Learned?; Notes; Index.

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Book Synopsis'Damien Lewis is both a meticulous historian and a born storyteller' Lee ChildIn the summer of 2007 the British Army's 662 Squadron deployed its most potent weapons system in combat for the very first time - the iconic Apache attack helicopter. This is the definitive story of the aircraft and of the crew who fly her, and of their baptism of fire in the battle for Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Under the call-sign Ugly, four of the Army Air Corps' finest pilots flew a relentless series of missions during their 100-day deployment, stretching the aircraft, and themselves, to the limit. Apache Dawn recounts these operations from the perspective of the aircrew, plus the soldiers on the ground who owe their lives to the Apaches' intervention during the white-hot heat of battle. Bestselling author Damien Lewis has been given unprecedented access to the pilots of the Apache Attack Squadrons - an elite band of warriors operating at the very limits of modern warfare. Apache Dawn is their story, and it is one of untold bravery and resilience against all odds.'As good as any thriller I have ever read' Freddie Forsyth'Reveals a true story of British courage and daring' The Sunday Times'Riveting' Richard & Judy Show'The most dramatic story of a secret wartime mission ever' News of the World

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Book SynopsisThis groundbreaking book provides the first systematic comparison of America’s modern wars and why they were won or lost. John D. Caldwell uses the World War II victory as the historical benchmark for evaluating the success and failure of later conflicts. Unlike WWII, the Korean, Vietnam, and Iraqi Wars were limited, but they required enormous national commitments, produced no lasting victories, and generated bitter political controversies. Caldwell comprehensively examines these four wars through the lens of a strategic architecture to explain how and why their outcomes were so dramatically different. He defines a strategic architecture as an interlinked set of continually evolving policies, strategies, and operations by which combatant states work toward a desired end. Policy defines the high-level goals a nation seeks to achieve once it initiates a conflict or finds itself drawn into one. Policy makers direct a broad course of action and strive to control the initiative. When they make decisions, they have to respond to unforeseen conditions to guide and determine future decisions. Effective leaders are skilled at organizing constituencies they need to succeed and communicating to them convincingly. Strategy means employing whatever resources are available to achieve policy goals in situations that are dynamic as conflicts change quickly over time. Operations are the actions that occur when politicians, soldiers, and diplomats execute plans. A strategic architecture, Caldwell argues, is thus not a static blueprint but a dynamic vision of how a state can succeed or fail in a conflict.Trade ReviewCaldwell, a defense analyst, offers up a strategic survey of America’s major wars since 1941 to determine why the U.S. was victorious in WWII but has not meet its objectives in the major wars since. . . . [For] those who are interested in but have not read deeply on military strategy, this will be illuminating. * Publishers Weekly *Excellent! Fills an important void in our understanding about policy, strategy, and operations. -- H. R. McMasterReaders can learn from and enjoy every page of this book, which displays the rare ability to seize immediately upon the essence of military questions. Unfortunately, not many of our generals—and far fewer of our elected leaders—have Caldwell’s talent for prescribing the necessities of victory and proscribing the causes of defeat. In masterful summaries that are equal parts history and analysis, he takes us on a truly professional tour of our wars since 1941, allowing us to share his great gift for strategic clarity. -- Mark HelprinAs interesting a book as it gets. . . . The central problem the author addresses is the unsatisfying outcome to the conflicts after 1945. This is something few of us who witnessed the World War think about. Why has the good Uncle become such a patsy? . . . Caldwell offers a set of guidelines about how to think about involvement in any continuing or future conflict. They make a lot of sense. First and foremost is to align an overseas mission goal with America’s core interests and how to achieve that goal. If alignment fails, however, the mission risks failure beyond America’s control. * Takimag *Table of ContentsMaps, Figures, and Table Preface Acknowledgments PART I: STRATEGIC ARCHITECTURES: INTRODUCTION PART II: WORLD WAR II 1 Battle of Britain: Winning by Not Losing 2 Battle of the Atlantic: Protecting the Maritime Lifeline 3 Invasion of Russia: Hitler’s Strategic Mistake 4 Battle of El Alamein and Operation Torch: Cracking German Invincibility 5 Battles of Midway and Guadalcanal: Regaining Initiative in the Pacific 6 Strategic Bombing Offensive: Breaking German Airpower 7 Invasion of Italy: Deciding to Fight Somewhere in Europe in 1943 8 D-Day and the Battle for Normandy: Retaking the Continent 9 Battle for the Rhine: Attacking Germany’s Vitals 10 Battle of Okinawa and the Bombing of Japan: Ending the War 11 The Strategic Architectures of World War II PART III: THE KOREAN WAR 12 Battle of the Pusan Perimeter: Getting the Most Out of a Bad Situation 13 Inchon—Operation Chromite: MacArthur’s Masterstroke 14 Crossing the 38th Parallel and Driving North to the Yalu: The Risks of Overreaching 15 Operations Ripper and Killer: Recovery and Frustration 16 The Strategic Architectures of the Korean War PART IV: THE VIETNAM WAR 17 Battle of the Ia Drang Valley: Not Fighting the Decisive Battle 18 Bombing Campaign and High-Tech Initiatives: Operations Rolling Thunder and Igloo White Airpower and Technology Indecisive 19 The Pacification Program (1967–1968): Failing to Change Behavior 20 The Tet Offensive (1968): Strategic Disaster 21 Vietnamization: Never a Winning Strategy 22 The Final Years (1969–1975): The Losing Path 23 The Strategic Architectures of the Vietnam War PART V: THE IRAQI WARS 24 Iraqi War I, Persian Gulf War: Defeating Saddam, Losing Politically 25 Iraqi War II, Thirteen-Year Air Conflict: The Limits of Airpower 26 Iraqi War III, Invasion of Iraq: Winning without an Endgame 27 Iraqi War IV, the Insurgency and the Surge (2007–2008): Relearning Counterinsurgency 28 Iraqi War V, the Rise of ISIS: A New, More Violent Enemy 29 The Strategic Architectures of the Iraqi Wars PART VI: STRATEGIC ARCHITECTURES: THE ENDGAME Acronyms and Selected Glossary Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn the early days of the Afghanistan war, Jeff Stern was scouring the streets of Kabul for a big story. He was accompanied by a driver, Aimal, who had ambitions of his own: to get rich off the sudden infusion of foreign attention and cash.In this gripping adventure story, Stern writes of how he and Aimal navigated an environment full of guns and danger and opportunity, and how they forged a deep bond.Then Stern got a call that changed everything. He discovered that Aimal had become an arms dealer, and was ultimately forced to flee the country to protect his family from his increasingly dangerous business partners.Tragic, powerful, and layered, The Mercenary is more than a wartime drama. It is a Rashomon-like story about how politics and violence warp our humanity, and keep the most important truths hidden.

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Book SynopsisIn That Time tells the story of the American experience in Vietnam through the life of Michael O'Donnell, a promising young poet who became a soldier and helicopter pilot in Vietnam. O'Donnell wrote with great sensitivity and poetic force about his world and especially the war that was slowly engulfing him and his most well-known poem is still frequently cited and reproduced. Nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honour, O'Donnell never fired a shot in Vietnam. During an ill-fated attempt to rescue fellow soldiers, O'Donnell's helicopter was shot down in the jungles of Cambodia where he and his crew remained missing for almost 30 years. In telling O'Donnell's story, In That Time also tells the stories of those around him, both famous and ordinary, who helped to shape the events of the time and who were themselves shaped by them. The book is both a powerful personal story and a compelling, universal one about how America lost its way in the 1960s.

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Book SynopsisSequel to the acclaimed Such a Lovely Little War: growing up Vietnamese in swinging London as the Vietnam war intensifies.

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Book SynopsisA refreshingly bold and informed analysis of the developments that led to the Nigerian Civil War.

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Book SynopsisFeminist Christine Delphy co-founded the journal Nouvelles questions féministes with Simone de Beauvoir in the 1970s and became one of the most influential figures in French feminism. Today, Delphy remains a prominent and controversial feminist thinker, a rare public voice denouncing the racist motivations of the government's 2011 ban of the Muslim veil. Castigating humanitarian liberals for demanding the cultural assimilation of the women they are purporting to "save," Delphy shows how criminalizing Islam in the name of feminism is fundamentally paradoxical. Separate and Dominate is Delphy's manifesto, lambasting liberal hypocrisy and calling for a fluid understanding of political identity that does not place different political struggles in a false opposition. She dismantles the absurd claim that Afghanistan was invaded to save women, and that homosexuals and immigrants alike should reserve their self-expression for private settings. She calls for a true universalism that sacrifices no one at the expense of others. In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, her arguments appear more prescient and pressing than ever.Trade ReviewFrance's most exciting feminist writer. -- Simone de BeauvoirShe writes with an extraordinarily clear-eyed passion . Delphy's words are persuasive. * Telegraph *Christine Delphy cuts through ideology like a knife. Her critical analyses of the justifications for the 'war on terror' are sharp, accurate and anger-inducing. Her ability to hone in on the contradictions that sustain racism and sexism and perpetuate exclusion is second to none. Delphy's insight and materialist approach lends her arguments a rare clarity-she deserves to be much more widely recognized in the anglophone world. -- Nina Power, author of One Dimensional WomanDelphy's sharp analyses serve as a corrective to widespread, unproductive ways of thinking about migration, racism, imperialism, and war. [Her] noteworthy contribution is to insistently connect geopolitical issues to constructions of feminist identity and French identity. Delphy's uncompromising critique of her feminist countrywomen's complicity with imperial war and national(ist) racism grows not only out of anti-imperialist, anti-racist commitments but, even more fundamentally, out of the belief that this complicity is antithetical to the feminist project she cherishes. * Journal of the Society for Contemporary Thought and the Islamicate World *

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Book SynopsisAnd Bring the Darkness Home is a haunting exploration of how the mental scars of war destroyed an international cricket career, tore a family apart and left destitute a man who seemed to have it all. Tony Dell was the only Test cricketer to fight in the Vietnam War. His journey to the summit of the game, playing for Australia against England in the Ashes, was as unlikely and meteoric as any in cricket history. His descent was painful and harrowing. It was in his mid-60s, living in his mother's garage, that he learned the truth about what had led him on a path of self-destruction. A diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder allowed him to piece together the ruins of his life and also to search for answers, for himself and the thousands of other sufferers. The restlessness and urgency that once drove him to the top of the game was turned on authorities who refused to learn the lessons from history. PTSD robbed Tony Dell of memories of his playing career and left a palpable sense of loss. It also gave him a life-changing mission.

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Book SynopsisEvening Standard's January 2019 Book of the WeekThe gripping story of one woman's war against ISIS on the frontlines of Syria.Joanna Palani made headlines across the world when her role fighting ISIS in the Syrian conflict was revealed. She is one of a handful of western women who joined the international recruits to the Kurdish forces in the region and this is the first time her extraordinary story has been told. Inspired by the Arab Spring, Joanna left behind her student life in Copenhagen and travelled to the Middle East in order to join the YPJ - the all-female brigade of the Kurdish militia in Syria. After undergoing considerable military training, including as a saboteur and sniper, Joanna served as a YPJ fighter over several years and took part in the brutal siege of Kobani. Despite her heroism, she was taken in to custody on her return to Denmark for breaking laws designed to stop its citizens from joining ISIS, making her the first person to be jailed for joining the international coalition. In this raw and unflinching memoir, Joanna not only provides an eye-witness account of this devastating war but also reveals the personal cost of the battles she has fought on and off the frontlines.Trade ReviewThere is something rather magnificent about this 25-year-old... Palani is a force of nature. * Evening Standard, Book of the Week *

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Book SynopsisNerve agents are the world’s deadliest means of chemical warfare. Nazi Germany developed the first military-grade nerve agents and massive industry for their manufacture—yet, strangely, the Third Reich never used them. At the end of the Second World War, the Allies were stunned to discover this advanced and extensive programme. The Soviets and Western powers embarked on a new arms race, amassing huge chemical arsenals. From their Nazi invention to the 2018 Novichok attack in Britain, Dan Kaszeta uncovers nerve agents’ gradual spread across the world, despite international arms control efforts. They’ve been deployed in the Iran–Iraq War, by terrorists in Japan, in the Syrian Civil War, and by assassins in Malaysia and Salisbury—always with bitter consequences. 'Toxic' recounts the grisly history of these weapons of mass destruction: a deadly suite of invisible, odourless killers.Trade Review‘[Kaszeta] reminds us that even with an international convention banning them, the threat of chemical weapons being used outside conventional warfare is ever-present … [his] book is informative.’ -- Nature‘Kaszeta has a difficult theme but he avoids both jargon and the intricacies of the science. …You feel part of the discussion, helped through the complexities and invited to turn back to previous pages to better understand a line of history or thinking.’ -- The Scotsman'Extremely useful.' -- Eliot Higgins, 'Books That Made Me', Sunday Times South Africa‘Dan Kaszeta weaves an extraordinary narrative from the secret history of some of the deadliest substances ever created. From the plains of north Germany to the suburbs of Damascus he explains the development and use of nerve agents, employing his own deep knowledge, telling detail, and deadpan humour.’ -- Mark Urban‘Impeccably researched and engagingly written, Toxic tells a fascinating, dark tale, which has a chilling resonance for our own times.’ -- Roger Moorhouse, historian, and author of 'The Devils’ Alliance: Hitler’s Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941' and 'First to Fight: The Polish War 1939'‘This is an accessible, well written and very useful book on a difficult and contentious topic. Offering a dispassionate account of the inception of nerve agents, Kaszeta does a great service by gathering up the history of these chemicals into one authoritatively written volume.’ -- Dr Matthew Ford, University of Sussex, author of 'Weapon of Choice: Small Arms and the Culture of Military Innovation'‘From Sarin to Novichok, the twenty-first century demonstrates that the use of nerve agents … is an increasing threat to civilian populations across the world. … How we reached this moment should not be forgotten, and nor should that history be twisted by conspiracists pursuing their own agendas.’ -- Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat, the open-source investigative journalism website‘Brings to life this macabre and secretive subject like never before ... the investigatory work demonstrated by Kaszeta is clear and second to none. … [A] highly thought-provoking and entertaining read.’ -- The RUSI Journal

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Book Synopsis'Gripping ... A terrific action narrative' Max Hastings 'Reads like a Tom Clancy thriller, yet every word is true ... This is modern warfare close-up and raw' Andrew Roberts Bestselling and Orwell Prize-winning author Toby Harnden tells the gripping and incredible story of the six-day battle that began the War in Afghanistan and how it set the scene for twenty years of conflict. The West is in shock. Al-Qaeda has struck the US on 9/11 and thousands are dead.Within weeks, UK Special Forces enter the fray in Afghanistan alongside the CIA's Team Alpha and US troops.Victory is swift, but fragile. Hundreds of jihadists surrender and two operatives from Team Alpha enter Qala-i Jangi – the 'Fort of War' – to interrogate them. The prisoners revolt, one CIA man falls, and the other is trapped inside the fort. Seven members of the SBS – elite British Special Forces – volunteer for the rescue force and race into danger and the unknown.The six-day battle that follows proves to be one of the bloodiest of the Afghanistan war as the SBS and their American comrades face an enemy determined to die in the mud citadel.Superbly researched, First Casualty is based on unprecedented access to the CIA, SBS, and US Special Forces. Orwell Prize-winning author Toby Harnden recounts the gripping story of that first battle in Afghanistan and how the haunting foretelling it contained – unreliable allies, ethnic rivalries, suicide attacks, and errant bombs – was ignored, fueling the twenty-year conflict to come.Trade Review'Gripping ... A terrific action narrative' -- Max Hastings'Reads like a Tom Clancy thriller, yet every word is true ... This is modern warfare close-up and raw' -- Andrew Roberts'Meticulously researched and told with page-turning pace and power' * Waterstones, Politics Books of the Year *

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Book SynopsisIn this book, first published in Hebrew in 1975 and now available in English for the first time with an introduction by Noam Chomsky, Amnon Kapeliouk traces the policies and attitudes that led to the 1973 Arab-Israel war. He describes the multiple diplomatic overtures from Egyptian presidents Nasser and Sadat after 1967 that Israel ignored or contemptuously rejected, as well as the complacent attitude that had become fully entrenched in the Israeli military establishment. On the political level, the triumvirate of Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan and Israel Galili feature prominently as a study in arrogance and incompetence. Kapeliouk also notes the protest movement that arose among active-duty soldiers as well as veterans in the wake of the war demanding political accountability for the failures of the war. Finally, the book examines Israel's policy of colonizing the territories occupied in 1967, starting with the Golan Heights and later spreading to the West Bank ("Judaea and Samaria") and the Sinai - a policy that did much to convince the leaders of Arab states that war was their only option.Introduced by Noam Chomsky and Irene Gendzier.Trade ReviewAmnon Kapeliouk's Not by Omission demonstrates conclusively that the 1973 Arab-Israeli War did not have to happen. Israel's dismissal of every Egyptian peace overture gave Egyptian President Anwar Sadat no option but to launch a war if he hoped to regain the Sinai Peninsula, occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Nonetheless, the arrogant over-confidence of Israel's military leadership that Arab armies would not dare to attack Israel so soon after their devastating defeat left Israel unprepared for war. The most impressive achievement of Not by Omission is that is based on publicly available documentation - newspaper reports and 42 published pages (out of 1,500) of the report of Israel's National Commission of Inquiry into the failures of the military. That is to say, diligent Hebrew-reading observers could have drawn conclusions similar to those Kapeliouk reached in real time. Why didn't they? -- Joel BeininThis superb analysis of the fateful policies of the Israeli political leadership that almost produced a national disaster in 1973 retains a crucial relevance 20 years after its original publication, and deserves the widest readership. It convincingly demonstrates that Israel rejected a golden opportunity after the 1967 War to achieve peace with its Arab neighbors as well as regional stability because of its unwillingness to forego further expansionist territorial ambitions. -- Richard A. FalkAvailable in English for the first time, the late Amnon Kapeliouk's study of the pivotal 1973 Yom Kippur/Ramadan War is a significant contribution to the field of Middle East Studies and deserves to be read widely. A critical yet intimate examination of Israel's political and military leaders and thinkers, Not by Omission, analyzes their failures and why they occurred, and how, for a time, they changed Israel and the Arab world particularly after Israel's stunning victory in the 1967 war. An important work full of prescient insights that remain as relevant today as when they were first written nearly 50 years ago. -- Sara Roy, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard UniversityAmnon Kapeliouk was a courageous Israeli journalist and writer who placed the Palestinians at the centre of his work. Long before it became fashionable, he argued that the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967 was unsustainable, morally and politically, and that, without a just peace, Israelis would face an uncertain future. Kapeliouk's most influential book was Lo Mehdal (Not By Omission, 1975) explaining why the 1973 war was not just an error of Israel's tactical intelligence, but was based on an entire misconception of Arab grievances and the determination to right them. -- Ian Black * Guardian *Amnon Kapeliouk, one of the oldest active journalists in Israel, worked for Al HaMishmar and Yedioth Aharonoth, as well as Le Monde and Le Monde Diplomatique. He was also known for his close ties to Yasser Arafat and other leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization. * Haaretz *

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Book SynopsisFrom Angola and Liberia to Iraq and the Congo, wars have taken place in resource rich countries full of poor people. In Wars of Plunder Philippe Le Billon explores how resources have shaped recent conflicts, and what the international community has tried to do about it. Focusing on key resources-oil, diamonds, and timber-he argues that resources and wars are linked in three main ways. First, resource revenues finance belligerents, a trend that has become all the more conspicuous since the withdrawal of Cold War foreign sponsorship in the late 1980s. Although the 'War on Terror' has redefined military assistance and the internationalisation of war, many belligerents continue to rely on and profit from 'conflict resources'. Second, resource exploitation generates conflict. As global demand for raw materials has sharply increased, competition over critical resources such as oil has resulted in a flurry of 'resource conflicts', from local community struggles against mining multinationals to regional and international tensions. Third, economic shocks and poor governance sharply increase the risk of war (the 'resource curse'). While today's resource boom is a major economic opportunity for resource rich but poor countries, reliance on resource exports often implies sharp economic downturns. Not all resources are the same, however, and effective responses are at hand. Sanctions, military interventions and wealth sharing have helped bring an end to conflicts, yet only deeper domestic and international reforms in resource governance can stop the plunder.Trade Review'The bottom line is that Wars of Plunder represents a near-exhaustive study of the relationship between resources and conflict. In light of its command of a vast literature and its wealth of descriptive details it should be given a prominent place on the bookshelf of any researcher in related fields and should be the first book read by any new student of the field.' * H-War, H-Net reviews *'Le Billon's uncovering of the complexities involved in resource conflict makes this book a valuable contribution to the discussion of intrastate violence ... Highly recommended.' * Choice *'This impressive book will be a very significant contribution to its field. It does a remarkable job of summarizing a multifarious, and often complex, body of literature without oversimplifying it ... and reveals a prodigious amount of reading by the author as well as the breadth of field research he has pursued over many years.' * Dr Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Oxford University *'For anyone interested in war economies and what to do about them, this book is a real 'must-read'. From Angola to Cambodia, from oil to timber, the author draws on two decades of scholarly research and field experience to paint a remarkable picture of the complex resource-conflict nexus: concise, and yet nuanced and comprehensive.' * Gilles Carbonnier, professor of development economics at the Graduate Institute / Geneva and editor-in-chief of International Development Policy *'Le Billon has written a deep, nuanced, analytically rich exploration of the many ways that oil, diamonds, and timber are intertwined with violent conflict. This is an important book for both scholars and activists.' * Michael L. Ross, Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Shapes the Development of Nations *'The complexity of contemporary resource wars is elegantly unpacked in this lucid investigation of geography and violence. It shows how resources are entangled in complicated geopolitical economies which require careful policy initiatives rather than simple moral certainties. This simply is the "must read" volume for anyone concerned to understand these issues in depth.' * Simon Dalby, Carleton University *

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Book SynopsisThere is a widespread belief that the Taliban and al-Qaeda are in many respects synonymous, that their ideology and objectives are closely intertwined and that they have made common cause against the West for decades. Such opinions have been stridently supported by politicians, media pundits and senior military figures, yet they have hardly ever been scrutinised. This is all the more surprising given that the West's present entanglement in Afghanistan is commonly predicated on the need to defeat the Taliban in order to forestall further terrorist attacks worldwide. The relationship between the two groups and the individuals who established them is undeniably complex, and has remained so for many years. Links between the Taliban and al-Qaeda were retained in the face of a shared enemy following the invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks, an adversary that was selected by al-Qaeda rather than by the Taliban, and which led the latter to become entangled in a war that was not of its choosing. This book is the first to examine in detail the relationship from the Taliban's perspective based on Arabic, Dari and Pashtu sources, drawing on the authors' many years experience in southern Afghanistan, the Taliban's heartland. They also interviewed Taliban decision-makers, field commanders and ordinary fighters while immersing themselves in Kandahar's society. Van Linschoten and Kuehn's forensic examination of the evolution of the two groups allows the background and historical context that informed their respective ideologies to come to the fore. The story of those individuals who were to become their key decision-makers, and the relationships among all those involved, from the mid-1990s onwards, reveal how complex the interactions were between the Taliban and al-Qaeda and how they frequently diverged rather than converged. An Enemy We Created concludes that there is room to engage the Taliban on the issues of renouncing al-Qaeda and guaranteeing that Afghanistan will deny sanctuary to international terrorists. Yet the insurgency is changing, and it could soon be too late to find a political solution. The authors contend that certain aspects of the campaign, especially night raids and attempts to fragment and decapitate the Taliban, are transforming the resistance, creating more opportunities for al-Qaeda and helping it to attain its goals.Trade Review'This book is one of the best informed, most sophisticated and most insightful works yet to appear on the Afghan Taliban and their relationship to Al-Qaeda. It makes a brilliant contribution to Afghan historiography, and should be compulsory reading for Western policymakers working on Afghanistan today.' -- Professor Anatol Lieven, King's College London'Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the war in Afghanistan. In offering a forensic dissection of the relationship between al Qaeda and the Taliban, over many years, it offers bad news, and good news: that, in taking on the Taliban, we may be fighting the wrong enemy in the wrong country; but that the Taliban may be open to a negotiated settlement - provided America gets on with it.' -- Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, British Ambassador to Kabul 2007-2009, Special Representative for Afghanistan'Ignore anybody claiming to be an expert on the Taliban or al Qaeda if they have not read An Enemy We Created. Most books on the subject are written without fieldwork, by people lacking the language skills, the courage, the integrity or the dedication of these two authors. Thanks to their Arabic, Dari and Pashtu skills as well as their groundbreaking and unprecedented fieldwork, Strick van Linschoten and Kuehn have written the essential book on the subject. Say nothing about the region until you have read it!' -- Nir Rosen, author of Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World and Fellow at New York University's Center on Law and Security'A fascinating look deep into the shifting interactions of the Taliban and Al Qaeda by authors who have lived close to the persons they study. Their conclusions about the radicalisation of the younger generation of the Afghan Taliban and the unintended consequences of NATO military actions are directly relevant to policy considerations of today's war in Afghanistan.' -- Ronald Neumann, Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan 2005-2007'One of the key justifications of the escalation of the war in Afghanistan is the (supposedly) unshakable link between Al Qaeda and the Taliban. So far, studies addressing this question have generally been written with a limited understanding of the Taliban movement. Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, who recently edited the memoirs of Mullah Zaeef, My Life With the Taliban, here offer a major contribution to the understanding of the complex and changing relationship between the two movements. Specialists in the field will find an erudite and balanced work based on multiple interviews with key players and a deep knowledge of local politics. But, beyond academia, their conclusions should be part of the discussion about the current strategy. If the Taliban are not controlled or even under the influence of Al Qaeda, a negotiated settlement becomes a reasonable goal. One can only hope that Washington will listen to these knowledgeable voices and start understanding the real nature of the Taliban movement.' -- Gilles Dorronsoro, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Professor at the Sorbonne University (Paris)'Finally, someone has taken on the often-repeated but not-much-sourced assumption that every group hiding in the Afpak mountains is more or less the same thing, that Afghan and Pakistani Taliban as well as Al Qaeda and Pakistani sectarians and jihadists are all part of a big 'terrorism syndicate'. This is not only wrong but also dangerous since policies are conceived on this basis. Strick van Linschoten and Kuehn provide plenty of material, amongst it a lot that has never been scrutinised before, and they do it from knowing what they are talking about from inside the country, not from behind Hesco walls. It is a gold mine for people who really want to know. Can the Obama administration spend some atoms of its Afpak budget to buy a couple of hundred copies and distribute it amongst those involved in the upcoming policy review?' -- Thomas Ruttig, Co-director and Senior Analyst of Afghanistan Analysts Network'Anybody who wants to stop the bloodshed in Afghanistan and Pakistan, anybody who wants the conflict to finally break from its feverish climb to new heights of violence, must study the relationship between the Taliban and Al Qaeda. We need to understand the difference between people who want to kill infidels all over the world, and those who merely want to be left alone. Making peace with the latter will help us survive the former. This excellent work represents the first serious examination of this crucial and mysterious relationship, at least in the unclassified realm, and deserves a close reading by students of the war.' -- Graeme Smith, Emmy-award winning journalist for The Globe and Mail'The authors' research and scholarship make a powerful case and their book is likely to become the definitive text on the matter.' -- Jonathan Steele in International Affairs'[Strick van Linschoten and Kuehn] bring the empathy and experience of old chroniclers such as Caroe but none of the romantic condescension towards the "wily Pathan". ... Their central thesis in An Enemy We Created is that "the issue of international terrorism from within Afghanistan's borders may not necessarily be as big a potential problem as is currently believed". That is because, like Tenet, we have persistently overestimated the degree of intellectual and operational agreement between two strains of jihad - one local and contingent, the other global and unyielding. These were forged in parallel during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. But, as Strick van Linschoten and Kuehn demonstrate, they had radically different influences.' -- Financial Times'A significant contribution to the history and understanding of the problems in Afghanistan.' -- Asian Affairs'[T]his book offers a rich, evidence-based contribution to the field, significant for its level of detail and the uncovering of new and valuable sources. The authors convey a welcome clarity of insight so often missing from press coverage, and which those who direct policy would do well to listen to.' -- South Asia Research

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Book SynopsisWarlords are charismatic military leaders who exploit weak central authorities in order to gain control of sub-national areas. Notwithstanding their bad reputation, warlords have often participated in state formation. In Empires of Mud Giustozzi analyses the dynamics of warlordism in Afghanistan within the context of such debates. He approaches this complex task by first analysing aspects of the Afghan environment that might have been conductive to the fragmentation of central authority and the emergence of warlords and then accounts for the emergence of warlordism in the 1980s and subsequently. He accounts for the phenomenon from the 1980s to today, considering Afghanistan's two foremost warlords, Ismail Khan and Abdul Rashid Dostum, and their political, economic, and military systems of rule. Despite the intervention of Allied forces in 2001, both of these leaders continue to wield considerable power. The author also discusses Ahmad Shah Massoud, whose 'system' incorporated elements of rule not dissimilar from that of the warlords. Giustozzi reveals common themes in the emergence of warlordism, particularly the role of local military leaders and their gradual acquisition of 'class consciousness,' which over time evolves into a more sophisticated, state-like, or political party-like, structure.Trade Review'Assesses the dynamics of warlordism... [It offers] a chilling prognosis for those who believe that the solution to stabilizing Afghanistan will come only from the top down - - by building strong central government institutions. Although creating a strong centralized state, assuming it ever happens, may help ensure long-term stability, it is not sufficient in Afghanistan. The current top-down state-building and counterinsurgency efforts must take place alongside bottom-up programs, such as reaching out to legitimate local leaders to enlist them in providing security and services at the village and district levels. Otherwise, the Afghan government will lose the war.' -- Foreign Affairs'Giustozzi has written a masterful account of the dilemmas of state-building in Afghanistan and his concluding words should be heeded when he warns that he doubts that strong national leadership will emerge in a context of external intervention in Afghanistan.' -- International Affairs'The first book to provide a political sociology of warlordism in Afghanistan; its purpose is to understand in detail how warlord polities work, expand and disintegrate. Empires of Mud will become required reading, both for academics and policy-makers studying the phenomenon of warlordism, and for those with a specialist interest in Afghanistan.' -- Dr Jonathan Goodhand, School of Oriental and African Studies'Antonio Giustozzi's books and articles on Afghanistan are uniformly penetrating, and this work is no exception. The issue of warlordism in conflict is one of the most challenging that one can confront in both conceptual and practical terms, and he has contributed significantly on both fronts. Empires of Mud is an enlightening study which in its detailed appraisal of two major Afghan cases adds valuably to the literature on developments in that country since the communist coup of April 1978 sent Afghanistan into a tailspin from which it is yet to recover.' -- William Maley, Australian National University

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Book SynopsisDecades of Pakistani resentment over India's stance on Kashmir, and its subsequent attempt to force a military solution on the issue, led to the 1965 war between the two neighbours. It ended in a stalemate on the battlefield, and after a mere twenty-one days, the war was brought to a dramatic end with the signing of a peace treaty at Tashkent. The opposing sides both claimed victory, however, and also catalogues of heroic deeds that have since taken on the character of mythology. Although neither prevailed outright, the one undoubted loser in the conflict was the incumbent President of Pakistan, General Ayub Khan, who staked his political and military reputation on Pakistan emerging victorious. With the superpowers unwilling assist in negotiations, and Pakistan reluctant to damage its alliance with America, the agreement that followed only reinforced India's position not to surrender anything during diplomacy that Pakistan had failed to gain militarily. This book examines in detail the politics, diplomacy and military manoeuvres of the war, using British and American declassified documents and memoirs, as well as some unpublished interviews. It provides a comprehensive overview of the conflict and makes sense of the morass of diplomacy and the confusion of war.Trade Review'Farooq Bajwa's book on the 1965 war is a mature study based on original research into hitherto unpublished material. ... [H]e eschews partisanship and strives to be fair. The reader is taken all the way through the dense thicket, by each chapter on Operation Gibraltar, Operation Grand Slam and Operation Riddle. [A] lucid account.' -- A.G. Noorani, Frontline' ... a panoptic account of the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. Bajwa debunks several myths. ... Bajwa has done a commendable job in providing a comprehensive account of the conflict that will benefit students, scholars, and general readers alike. The book should be included in university courses focusing on South Asian politics and history.' -- Contemporary South Asia

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Book SynopsisWar in Afghanistan will never be understood without getting to grips with the small places - the provinces, districts, and villages - where most of the fighting occurred, away from the cities, in hundreds of hamlets, valleys, and farms amid a vast landscape. Those small places and their people were the frontlines, and it is only there that we can truly find answers to the questions that lay at the heart of the war: why people supported the Taliban, whether intervention brought peace, whether a better outcome was ever possible. Garmser is a small place that has seen much violence; a single district within one of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Its 150,000 people inhabit a fertile strip along the Helmand River no more than 6 miles wide and 45 miles long. Carter Malkasian spent years in Garmser district as the political officer for the US Department of State. He tells the history of thirty years of war, from 1979 to 2012, explaining how the Taliban movement formed in Garmser; how, after being routed in 2001, they re- turned stronger than ever in 2006; and how Afghans, British, and Americans fought with them between 2006 and 2012. He describes the lives of Afghans who endured and tried to build some kind of order out of war. While Americans and British came and went, they carried on, year after year, inhabitants of a small place.Trade Review'War Comes to Garmser explores the war in Afghanistan from an explicitly provincial Afghan point of view, where foreigners (and even Kabul officials) are marginal actors rather than the centre of the story. Malkasian presents what is in effect a fifty-year oral history of a single district in volatile southern Afghanistan, illustrating the truism that all politics is local. - Even those with little interest in the politics cannot help but be drawn into the lives of the vivid characters Malkasian skilfully sketches.' * Times Literary Supplement *'Afghan officials and US commanders credit Malkasian with playing a critical role in the transformation of Garmser from one of the country's most violent, Taliban-infested districts to a place so quiet that some Marines wish they had more chances to fire their weapons.' * Washington Post *'... represents the kind of detailed study of Afghanistan that has been badly missing: Most people associated with the international military and development missions here come in for six-month or one-year stints. ... One mark of Malkasian's analytical mettle is that he presents, more so than any other writer I've read, a clear and fair picture of the Taliban and why they enjoyed so much support in the south. * New York Times *'The twelve years of this "Decade of War" have produced many good books on counterinsurgency. Carter Malkasian's War Comes to Garmser: Thirty Years of Conflict on the Afghan Frontier will be ranked among the best of them. Indeed, the value of this book extends beyond the case in question. It speaks to the unchanging nature of war and the complex, changing character of war in the information age.' * Parameters, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army *'There have been very few books about America's longest war, and even fewer good ones. ... To this short list can now be added another great book on the Afghan war, Carter Malkasian's War Comes to Garmser.' * John Nagl, Professor, US Naval War College *'In the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Malkasian spent two years in Garmser as a State Department political officer. His rich, shrewdly constructed history of the area shows how tribal elders used the United States and the Taliban as resources in their own turf battles [ - ] Malkasian's gem of a concluding chapter - which analyses the opportunities the United States missed during the early years of the war and offers specific recommendations on what could and should be done now - is best appreciated after a close reading of the preceding chapters. The effort will be amply repaid.' * John Waterbury, Foreign Affairs *'Add Malkasian - a brave, brilliant and practical man - to the names Lawrence, Galula, Lansdale and Vann. This is the definitive work on counterinsurgency at the district level. An absorbing detective story that answers the questions, "how does the Taliban take power at the village level, and how can they be defeated?"' * Bing West, author of The Village and The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy and the Way Out of Afghanistan *'War Comes to Garmser is a brilliantly written, minutely detailed and rigorously honest political-military history. A microcosm of the war in Afghanistan, it is evocative of opportunities missed and possibilities yet to exploit. A must-read for those who want understanding that is more than headline deep.' * Ronald E. Neumann, former United States Ambassador to Afghanistan (2005-2007), now president of the American Academy of Diplomacy *'In the nineteenth century Britain employed political officers on the troubled frontiers of its empire. They immersed themselves in their localities, learnt about the inhabitants and heard their stories. Carter Malkasian is an American twenty-first century political officer. Outwardly his deeply revealing book is about Afghanistan's experience of war over three decades, but it is also a mirror on the US itself. His message is clear: deep historical and cultural understanding is at the heart of good strategy.' * Hew Strachan, Chichele Professor of the History of War, Oxford University *

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Book SynopsisThe October War of 1973 (also known as the 'Yom Kippur War') was a watershed mo- ment in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the modern Middle East more broadly. It marked the beginning of a US-led peace process between Israel and her Arab neighbours; it introduced oil diplomacy as a new means of leverage in international politics; and it affected irreversibly the development of the European Community and the Palestinian struggle for independence. Moreover, the regional order which emerged at the end of the war remained largely unchallenged for nearly four decades, until the recent wave of democratic revolutions in the Arab world. The fortieth anniversary of the October War provides a timely opportunity to reassess the major themes that emerged during the war and in its aftermath, and the contributors to this book provide the first comprehensive ac- count of the domestic and international factors which informed the policies of Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan, as well as external actors before, during and after the war. In addition to chapters on the superpowers, the EU and the Palestinians, the book also deals with the strategic themes of intelligence and political of the war on Israeli and Arab societies.Trade Review'An important and authoritative reconstruction by one of the most talented stables of historians and experts ever assembled. "The Yom Kippur War" is highly relevant today, as the world faces a new era of upheaval with the potential for war in the Middle East. This comprehensive volume will help a new generation of readers - scholarly and otherwise - puzzle through the lessons learned from the region's most violent clash between Arabs and Israelis.' * Patrick Tyler, author of A World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East from the Cold War to the War on Terror and Fortress Israel: The Inside Story of the Military Elite Who Run the Country and Why They Can't Make Peace *'Finally, forty years after the October 1973 War, a comprehensive, 360-degree analysis of a seminal moment in the long-running dispute between Israel and her Arab neighbours. By looking at the war from every perspective, not only from Tel Aviv, Cairo, Damascus and Amman, but from Washington, Moscow, and Europe, the whole picture comes into focus. In the process, it shows those of us who covered the war, how little we knew and understood at the time.' * Terence Smith, Israel correspondent for The New York Times during the Yom Kippur War *

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Book SynopsisA former senior mujahidin figure and an ex-counter-terrorism analyst cooperating to write a book on the history and legacy of Arab-Afghan fighters in Afghanistan is a remarkable and improbable undertaking. Yet this is what Mustafa Hamid, aka Abu Walid al-Masri, and Leah Farrall have achieved with the publication of their ground-breaking work. The result of thousands of hours of discussions over several years, The Arabs at War in Afghanistan offers significant new insights into the history of many of today's militant Salafi groups and movements. By revealing the real origins of the Taliban and al-Qaeda and the jostling among the various jihadi groups, this account not only challenges conventional wisdom, but also raises uncomfortable questions as to how events from this important period have been so badly misconstrued.Trade ReviewAn extraordinary, fascinating document. This combination of investigation, testimony and analysis will be essential reading for any one interested in the truth about the foreign involvement in the war against the Soviets and the early history of al-Qaeda. -- Jason Burke, South Asia correspondent, The Guardian, and author of The 9/11 WarsLeah Farrall and Mustafa Hamid's creative dialogue provides a unique synthesis between an insider's knowledge and a critical expert's analysis of the origins of global jihadism. Each helps the other, and both help us, see this multi-faceted movement in new and sometimes contradictory ways. -- Barnett Rubin, Senior Fellow and Director at the Center on International Cooperation, New York UniversityThis is an incredible book. Gripping, detailed, and important, it lays bare a story that is all too often shrouded in myth. Read it and understand the roots of al-Qaeda, ISIS, and many of the other crises ripping through the Middle East. -- Gregory D. Johnsen, author of The Last Refuge: Yemen, Al-Qaeda, and America's War in ArabiaEssential reading for anyone who studies militancy in the Islamicate world. Hamid and Farrall offer a persuasive alternative history of the foundation of al-Qaeda and the internal politics of foreign fighters inside Afghanistan. This insider account is an important document that deserves to be studied for many years to come. -- Alex Strick van Linschoten, co-author of An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban/Al-Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan, 1970-2010…a rare piece of original research into a subject that remains little understood and is often over-simplified. The book argues, correctly, that without understanding the early history of the jihadist movement we cannot hope to assess how the movement will evolve. It is also one of the few works to try to explain this history from the perspective of an early, active participant. … The Arabs at War in Afghanistan should therefore be essential reading for specialists trying to understand the Islamic State, and serve as a warning against any attempt to provide static descriptions of Salafi jihadism rather than seeing it as a continually evolving process. * War on the Rocks *As Farrell's dialogue develops, she extracts intriguing nuggets of information from Hamid such as the participation of Afghan mujaheddin fighters in the first Gulf War; the early involvement of Pakistan’s spy agency, the ISI; divisions within the mujaheddin; and the rise of the Taliban. … As so many questions are being asked about what led to the rise of Islamic State, Farrell has done a commendable job in bringing us an alternative perspective on what historians will look back on as the defining period in the crisis now enveloping the Arab world. * The Australian *

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Book SynopsisA Long Watch offers a story of human complexity amid entrenched narratives of Sri Lanka's long civil war. Pulled from a dark ocean after a battle at sea, Commodore Boyagoda became the highest-ranking prisoner detained by the Tamil Tigers. For eight years, he lived at close quarters with his declared enemy, his imprisonment punctuated by high-level talks about his fate, but also by extended conversations with his jailers and scratch games of badminton played in jungle clearings. Throughout, he observed his captors and fellow prisoners acutely, and with discreet empathy for the lives of others undone by war.A memoir retold in Ajith Boyagoda's temperate voice, his is an unblinking relation of experiences difficult, moving and ironic. From going to sea, to war, imprisonment and eventual homecoming, he accepted successive realities as ordinary, in order to survive them.Trade Review'The best book yet on the war in Sri Lanka [...] It is subtle and intimate, human and generous. The author has distilled conversations about that period into a remarkable book. It is brilliant.' * Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient *'The only prisoner memoir to have emerged thus far from Sri Lanka's ill-prosecuted quarter-century-long domestic conflict, A Long Watch is an informative and important contribution to an underwritten subject, most particularly because Boyagoda unashamedly rejects the 'ruthless terrorist' narrative his countrymen might well have expected him to uphold.' * The Spectator *'A deeply nuanced, non-sensational book: it is bold, yet tender [...] an invaluable, close-up account of the ways in which those who fight in these wars survive and don't survive.' * Sonali Deraniyagala, author of Wave: A Memoir of Life after the Tsunami *'Clear, vivid, and elegant, without a trace of either false heroics or self-pity.' * Michael Frayn *

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Book Synopsis** Includes a New Postcript 'The Chilcot Report—Early Thoughts on Military Matters'** From 2001 Britain supported the United States in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 'Victory' in such conflicts is always hard to gauge and domestic political backing for them was never robust. For this, the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were held responsible, and paid the price, but the role played by the High Command in the Ministry of Defence also bears examination. Critics have noted that the armed services were riven by internal rivalry and their leadership was dysfunctional, but the truth is more complicated. In his book Elliott explores the circumstances that led to these wars and how the Ministry of Defence coped with the challenges presented. He reveals how the Service Chiefs were set at odds by the system, almost as rivals in the making, with responsibility diffuse and authority ambiguous. The MoD concentrated on making things work, rather than questioning whether what they were being asked to do was practicable.Trade ReviewLong overdue, 'High Command' is a study of what's wrong at the MoD, and an excellent primer for the Chilcot report. . . . Elliott sets out an agenda for reform as well as a narrative. He does so in terms that Evelyn Waugh could not have bettered. * The Spectator *Britain will lose more wars unless military chiefs stop agreeing to impossible missions after a decade of errors in Iraq and Afghanistan, a new book warns... High Command, based on interviews with many of those at the helm of the military and the Ministry of Defence from the turn of the century, also identifies fundamental flaws inside the ministry that set the conditions for failure... Offering a rare insight into the turmoil within the armed forces during one of the most critical decisions of the two wars -- the deployment of British forces to Helmand in 2006 when they were still fighting in southern Iraq. -- Deborah Haynes, Defence Editor, The TimesEnthralling, gripping and brutally honest . . . With a gentle, skilful hand Elliott guides the reader through the complex world of 'High Command' to explain why a valiant and well-trained military force was not afforded the proper conditions to succeed -- neither in resources nor in leadership at a political level. -- General Jack Keane, former Vice Chief of Staff, United States ArmyIt is the responsibility of the chiefs of staff to speak truth to power when Britain goes to war. However, until now they have been accorded little attention in the controversies generated by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Christopher Elliott has put that right, combining an insider's perspective with shrewdness, wit and strategic insight. If we are to learn lessons from the last decade, this is where to begin. -- Sir Hew Strachan, Chichele Professor of the History of War, University of OxfordThis is a diplomatically couched bombshell of criticism of UK decision-making and the conduct of war. A must-read for any journalist and student of IR, strategy, decision-making processes, and organisational psychology, it should be on every reading list right up there with Graham Allison's Essence of Decision. The UK MoD, and Defence Ministries the world over, should reflect on General Elliott's trenchant analysis and wise advice, lest lives and treasure continue to be wasted in ineffective or even counter-productive campaigns. -- Professor Beatrice Heuser, University of Reading'High Command' is a clear and balanced account of the strategic direction - and lack of it - in British operations over the past fifteen years. Christopher Elliott brings depressing evidence of gross institutional failure and indicates what should be done to make 'the machinery of government at war' fit for purpose. A well written book and extremely relevant to our times as yet another generation is busy involving us once again in the Middle East. -- General Sir Rupert Smith KCB DSO OBE QGM former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander EuropeElliott has provided the ideal primer for the Chilcot report, whenever it arrives. One of his best suggestions is the need for better education for senior offices, to the level of their American peers, particularly in human and political geography. -- Robert Fox, The World TodayAn outstanding book on British military leadership in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. * Changing Character of War, Oxford University *Elliott is particularly well qualified to shine a light on the performance of the 'High Command' and does so with highly rigorous analysis, shrewd observations and perceptive insights. A compelling and disquieting account. -- Lieutenant General (retired) Sir John Kiszely KCB MC, former Director of the Defence Academy of the United KingdomAn impressively original work. Elliott authoritatively describes the blindness and blunders committed by Britain's politicians, civil servants and the military before and after the invasion of Iraq and exposes how the lessons of failure in Iraq were ignored during the venture into Helmand -- Tom Bower, writer and journalistA very welcome present this Christmas was a copy of Major General (Retd) Christopher Elliott's book, 'High Command', about British Military Leadership in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. . . . An extremely well written and thoughtful book it examines the causes of these wars and how the Ministry of Defence coped with the challenges that they presented. * Salisbury Journal *[Elliott] is meticulous in setting out . . . who was who in key military positions during this period, the structures within which they were working and, based on interviews, their opinions on how 'the system' worked . . . Also, commendably, he concludes with some practical suggestions as to how the system might be changed for the better. * Asian Affairs *

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Book SynopsisRussia's forceful reentry into the Middle Eastern arena, and the accentuated continuity of Soviet policy and methods of the 1960s and '70s, highlight the topicality of this groundbreaking study, which confirms the USSR's role in shaping Middle Eastern and global history. This book covers the peak of the USSR's direct military involvement in the Egyptian-Israeli conflict. The head-on clash between US-armed Israeli forces and some 20,000 Soviet servicemen with state-of-the-art weaponry turned the Middle East into the hottest front of the Cold War. The Soviets' success in this war of attrition paved the way for their planning and support of Egypt's cross-canal offensive in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Ginor and Remez challenge a series of long-accepted notions as to the scope, timeline and character of the Soviet intervention and overturn the conventional view that detente with the US induced Moscow to restrain Egyptian ambitions to recapture of the land lost to Israel in 1967. Between this analytical rethink and the introduction of an entirely new genre of sources-- memoirs and other publications by Soviet veterans themselves--The Soviet-Israeli War paves the way for scholars to revisit this pivotal moment in world history.Trade Review'Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez’s account of the Arab-Israeli conflict’s military climax from 1967 to 1973 is a groundbreaking work of scholarship that reveals the Soviet Union’s hidden hand in the escalation of Egypt-Israel hostilities. [This book] is a valuable resource for Cold War historians.' -- Journal of Modern Jewish Studies'Ginor and Remez provide compelling evidence that the Soviet Union played a far more active role in preparing for the 1973 Arab-Israeli war than either Moscow or Cairo wanted to acknowledge at the time . . . Because their research is so thorough and meticulous, their critics will not find it easy to persuasively counter'.'Richly detailed.' 'Ginor and Remez’s new evidence not only brings us closer to understanding history but helps frame Putin’s current involvement in the Middle East. Their focus on primary sources from Soviet veterans raises critical questions about previous ideas on the Soviets’ role in Egypt.' 'Gives readers an unprecedented, granular look at how the Soviets supported the Egyptians during the six years between the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War . . . it should be required reading for anyone interested in recent Middle East history and Russian military history and doctrine.''This book captivated me the minute I started reading it. A forensic examination of the period, it fills in a lot of missing information and should help readers today understand Putin's Russia even better as the events in Crimea, Ukraine and other places have taken a page or two out of this Soviet playbook.' * Mark T. Clark, Director, National Security Studies, California State University, San Bernardino; President, Association for Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) *'In fascinating detail we learn from the authors just how much more deeply the USSR was involved in arming and defending Egypt during the War of Attrition and thereafter as well as how much of what we thought we knew at the time was wrong. Through their admirably diligent pursuit of post-Soviet sources Ginor and Remez have brought the period into much sharper focus. Their work offers an important lesson into how great power politics have shaped and misshaped the history of the Middle East.' * David A. Korn, former Chief of the Political Section, US Embassy, Tel Aviv; author of Stalemate: The War of Attrition and Great Power Diplomacy in the Middle East, 1967-1970 *'In an important and unconventional reading of Middle Eastern and global history Ginor and Remez challenge the widely accepted picture of the USSR s position leading up to the Yom Kippur War. They provide evidence of Soviet support for Egypt by collecting the testimonies of Soviet veterans and cross-checking them against Western, Israeli and Arab records. The result of this work is an original and a much enlightening picture of the USSR s active involvement in the Middle East before that war and the ensuing developments.' * Aryeh Levin, former Israel ambassador to the USSR and Russia, author of Envoy to Moscow: Memories of an Israeli Ambassador, 1988-92 *'This is the most comprehensive, important, and detailed piece of research on the USSR s active military intervention in the Arab-Israeli conflict during the years 1967-1973, mainly based on Soviet, Egyptian and Israeli documentary sources, until now insufficiently studied or analyzed. The book will certainly serve as instructive for Middle East researchers, teachers, students, and all interested in this subject.' * Yosef Govrin, former ambassador and Deputy Director-General for Eastern Europe, Israel Foreign Ministry, author of Israeli-Soviet Relations, 1953 1967: From Confrontation to Disruption *'A terrific book that is likely to provoke much discussion and debate -- not just history, but also a way of understanding the enduring interests and involvement of the Soviet Union in the Middle East. As we try to understand Russian behavior in that region today, this book will become indispensable in providing textured historical context.' * Daniel Kurtzer, Professor of Middle East Policy Studies, Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; former United States ambassador to Egypt and Israel *

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Book SynopsisQuicksilver War is a panoramic political history of the wars that coursed through Syria and Iraq in the wake of the 'Arab Spring' and eventually merged to become a regional catastrophe: a kaleidoscopic and constantly shifting conflict involving many different parties and phases. William Harris distils the highly complex dynamics behind the conflict, starting with the brutalising Baathist regimes in Damascus and Baghdad. He charts the malignant consequences of incompetent US occupation of Iraq and Bashar al-Assad's self-righteous mismanagement of Syria, through the implosion of Syria, and the emergence of eastern and western theatres of war focused respectively on future control of Syria and the challenge of ISIS. Beyond the immediate arena of conflict, geopolitical riptides have also been set in motion, including Turkey's embroilment in the war and the shifting circumstances of the Kurds. This sweeping history addresses urgent questions for our time. Will the world rubber-stamp and bankroll the Russian-led 'solution' in Syria, backed by Turkey and Iran? Is the 'Quicksilver War' about to reach an explosive finale? Or will ongoing political manoeuvring mutate into years of further violence?Trade Review'Well crafted and framed.' 'The strength of Quicksilver War lies in showing the dialectical interplay between domestic political authoritarianism, fierce geostrategic rivalries and constant foreign intervention. It fills a major gap in the field.' -- Fawaz A. Gerges, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics, and author of 'ISIS: A History''Combining factual breadth with analytical depth, this fine account of the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts manages to highlight both their intertwined character and key differences between the two countries' respective history and internal dynamics. It also challenges short-term explanations of the current fragmentation by showing how decades of Ba'thist rules have paved the way for it.' -- Thomas Pierret, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Islam, University of Edinburgh'A masterful book. William Harris is a veteran observer of the Fertile Crescent, and a particularly perceptive analyst. He offers a balanced and nuanced view of how Iraq and Syria descended into violence, instability and suffering at the hands of competing domestic, regional and international actors. In treating Iraq and Syria as a combined war Harris offers a better understanding of the complexities and the challenges awaiting both countries before a modicum of stability can be found.' -- Kemal Kirisci, TUSIAD Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and author of 'Turkey and the West: Fault Lines in a Troubled Alliance''William Harris artfully sketches the trajectory of Syria and Iraq — two core states of the Arab world, whose geography and history made them key to the understanding of the region's past as well as its future — from stability and solidity under the dictatorships of Saddam Hussein and the Assad dynasty to civil war and Jihad.' -- Eyal Zisser, Vice Rector of Tel Aviv University and Yona and Dina Ettinger Chair in the Contemporary History of the Middle East'The catastrophic conflict in Syria and Iraq doesn’t lend itself to easy analysis. But William Harris, a politics prof at the University of New Zealand, is a knowledgeable guide.'

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Book SynopsisThe Armed Conflict Survey provides in-depth analysis of the political, military and humanitarian dimensions of all major armed conflicts, as well as data on fatalities, refugees and internally displaced persons. Compiled by the IISS, publisher of The Military Balance, it is the standard reference work on contemporary conflict.The book assesses key developments in 36 high-, medium- and low-intensity conflicts, including those in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Israel–Palestine, Southern Thailand, Colombia and Ukraine.The Armed Conflict Survey features essays by some of the world’s leading experts on armed conflict, including Mats Berdal, Elisabeth Jean Wood, Julia Bleckner, Nelly Lahoud, William Reno and Carrie Manning. They write on:• UN peacekeeping;• conflict-related sexual violence;• the Islamic State’s shifting narrative;• the changing foundations of governance by armed groups; and• rebel-to-party transitions.The authors’ discussion of principal thematic and cross-national trends complements the detailed analysis of each conflict at the core of the book.The Armed Conflict Survey also includes maps, infographics and multi-year data, as well as the IISS Chart of Conflict.Table of ContentsEditor’s Introduction Chapter One - Thematic Essays Whither UN Peacekeeping? Conflict-related Sexual Violence The Islamic State’s Shifting Narrative The Changing Foundations of Governance by Armed Groups Rebel-to-party Transitions Chapter Two - Maps, Graphics and Data Territory lost by ISIS and operations against the group in Ten years of Mexico’s ‘war on drugs’Distribution of highest reported level of rape during civil warRefugee movements to selected non-Western countriesGlobal conflict fatalities Myanmar’s newest insurgencyChapter Three - Middle East Egypt Iraq Israel–Palestine Lebanon–Hizbullah–Syria Libya Mali (The Sahel) Syria Turkey (PKK) Yemen Chapter Four - Sub-Saharan Africa Central African Republic Democratic Republic of the Congo Ethiopia Nigeria (Boko Haram) Nigeria (Delta Region) Somalia South Sudan Sudan (Blue Nile, Darfur and South Kordofan) Chapter Five - South Asia Afghanistan India (Assam) India (CPI–Maoist) India (Manipur) India (Nagaland) India–Pakistan (Kashmir) Pakistan Chapter Six - Asia-Pacific China (Xinjiang) Myanmar Philippines (ASG) Philippines (MILF) Philippines (NPA) Southern Thailand Chapter Seven - Europe and Eurasia Armenia–Azerbaijan (Nagorno-Karabakh) Russia (North Caucasus) Ukraine Chapter Eight - Latin America Central America (Northern Triangle) Colombia Mexico Chapter Nine - Explanatory Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAir Chief Marshal Sir Richard Johns was commissioned at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in 1959 after completing flying training on Piston Provost and Meteor aircraft. For the next nine years, apart from a short intermission as an ADC, he served as an operational fast-jet pilot which included tours on Javelin night fighters and then fighter recce Hunters operating from Aden and Oman. Thereafter he qualified as a flying instructor, initially on the Gnat, and then the Jet Provost as a squadron commander at Cranwell. In his last year as a flying instructor he taught The Prince of Wales to wings standard. During the 1990s, Sir Richard held a succession of senior national and NATO appointments. During the first Gulf War, he was the Director of Operations in the National Joint Headquarters for all British Forces deployed to the Middle East. At the end of the conflict he led the British Recce Team to Turkey and north Iraq which resulted in the deployment of British land and air forces to the coalition that guaranteed the security of the Kurdish population in Iraq. Later, as a NATO C-in-C he was responsible for training and bringing to full operational capability the new Regional Command of Allied Forces, North West Europe. During this three-year tour, he acted as a supporting commander for joint operations in the Balkans while developing partnership for peace exercises with former Warsaw Pact countries. He returned to national duty in 1997 on his appointment as Chief of the Air Staff, responsible for the operational efficiency and morale of the Royal Air Force. During his last three years of service, the Air Chief Marshal was fully involved in the decision-making process of the Strategic Defence Review, the commitment of RAF aircraft to operations over and within Kosovo and continuing air operations over north and south Iraq. His illustrious career gave him the privilege of a rare, if not singular, perspective of the RAF, our sister services and national defence matters, witnessing a steady decline in the combat power of the UK’s armed forces as financial management took precedence over identifying strategic priorities and maintaining the vital skill-set of service personnel. His views are forensic and forthright, balanced and thought-provoking and this autobiography should be essential reading for anyone interested in the development of Allied air power over the last fifty years.

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Book Synopsis'Uplifting and utterly defiant' Matt Nixson, Daily Express 'Immediate and important ... This is an insider's account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary' Helen Davies, The TimesThis journal of the invasion, a collection of Andrey Kurkov's writings and broadcasts from Kyiv, is a remarkable record of a brilliant writer at the forefront of a 21st-century war. Andrey Kurkov has been a consistent satirical commentator on his adopted country of Ukraine. His most recent work, Grey Bees, is a dark foreshadowing of the devastation in the eastern part of Ukraine in which only two villagers remain in a village bombed to smithereens. The author has lived in Kyiv and in the remote countryside of Ukraine throughout the Russian invasion. He has also been able to fly to European capitals where he has been working to raise money for charities and to address crowded halls. Kurkov has been asked to write for every English newspaper, as also to be interviewed all over Europe. He has become an important voice for his people.Kurkov sees every video and every posted message, and he spends the sleepless nights of continuous bombardment of his city delivering the truth about this invasion to the world.Trade Review'Ukraine's greatest living novelist' -- Charlie Connelly, New European Books of the Year'No one with the slightest interest in this war, or the nation on which it is being waged, should fail to read Andrey Kurkov' -- Dominic Lawson, Daily Mail'A vivid, moving and sometimes funny account of the reality of life during Russia's invasion' -- Marc Bennetts, The Times'The author's on-the-ground account is packed with surprising details about the human effects of the Russian assault ... His voice is genial but also impassioned, never more so than when deploring Putin's efforts to erase Ukrainian culture and history. Ukraine, he says, "will either be free, independent and European, or it will not exist at all". That's why the war has to be fought, with no concession of territory. And he remains quietly hopeful that it will be won' -- Blake Morrison, Guardian'It is little wonder [...] Kurkov, known for his keen eye for the absurdities of life, would pack his diary of the war with fascinating and eccentric details ... yet what makes Kurkov's diary memorable is its departures into the more quotidian gossip-filled trips to the sauna, Ukraine's morale-boosting victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, ruminations on the status of Ukrainian literature amid paper shortages, and ploys to protect animals in the country's shuttered zoos' -- Megan Gibson, New Statesman'Uplifting and utterly defiant' -- Matt Nixson, Daily Express'Immediate and important ... This is an insider's account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary' -- Helen Davies, Times

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Book SynopsisThe story of what would become the tipping point of the Malayan Emergency in favour of the security forces is retold against a background of events in Moscow, Darjeeling, Delhi and Calcutta, where senior communist party members plot to infiltrate Gurkha units and destabilise Malaya.

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Book SynopsisSouth Africa's armed forces invaded Angola in 1975, setting off a war that had consequences for the whole region that are still felt today. A far-away war contributes to a wider understanding of this war in Angola and Namibia. The book does not only look at the war from an "old" South African (Defence Force) perspective, but also gives a voice to participants "on the other side" - emphasising the role of the Cubans and Russians. This focus is supplemented by the inclusion of many never-before-published photographs from Cuban and Russian archives, and a comprehensive bibliography.

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Book SynopsisA Marine officer's innter struggle with turht after coming home from Iraq.

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Book SynopsisExamining the American discourse over war and torture, the authors investigate the opinion pages of American newspapers, television commentary, and online discussion groups to offer the first empirical study of the national conversation about the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the revelations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib a year later.Trade Review"Timely and topical, Post-Ethical Society contributes to ongoing national soul-searching about who we are and how we want to go about sorting out our proper role in the world. This is not mere armchair philosophizing. Here we are presented with totally solid, historical, publicly accessible, empirical data on subjects of major national and international importance. I'm very impressed." (Christian Smith, University of Notre Dame)"

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Book SynopsisOver the years, the US has been fighting wars so far from the public eye as to risk being forgotten, the struggles and sacrifices of its volunteer soldiers almost ignored. This book features images that depict the bedrooms of forty fallen soldiers - the equivalent of a single platoon - from the US, Canada, and several European nations.Trade Review"The need to see America's twenty-first-century war dead, and to make them seen-to give their absence presence-has consumed Ashley Gilbertson for much of the past decade.... To picture death, Gilbertson decided to picture how and where the dead had lived. He set about photographing their bedrooms, many of which had been preserved by their families in much the same spirit that Gilbertson preserved them with his camera: as memorials.... But taken together, these photographs defy any effort to seek in a room's furnishings an echo of its former occupant's fate. Their power lies in reminding us of the disconnect between life and death." (Philip Gourevitch, from the foreword)"

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Book SynopsisAt the height of the Greek Civil War in 1948, thirty-eight thousand children were evacuated from their homes. The Greek Communist Party relocated half of them to orphanages in Eastern Europe, while their adversaries placed the rest in children's homes elsewhere in Greece. This book presents a comprehensive study of the two evacuation programs.Trade Review"This remarkable study breaks new ground in several areas: in its methodology, its style, and its topic. Balanced to an impressive degree, Children of the Greek Civil War succeeds magnificently in showing the parallels between the experiences of the two sides in a way that is moving as well as analytically compelling." (Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University)"

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