Military History Books

Book SynopsisWinner of the Northern California Book Award for Nonfiction "Both a serious work of history…and a marvelously readable dramatic narrative." —San Francisco ChronicleTrade Review"An entertaining, impressively researched chronicle of the tense period between the bombing of Pearl Harbor and American victory at the battle of Midway." -- Kirkus"Revealing and poignant, Toll’s latest deftly navigates the rough waters of the Pacific struggle with flying colors." -- Publishers Weekly"Excellent. The research is thorough, the writing clear, and the narrative flow exemplary…It is difficult to think of a recent book on this subject that is of such consistently outstanding value." -- Roland Green - Booklist (starred review)"Well documented—albeit from previously published materials—and well written. Experienced World War II history buffs may bypass if they feel no need to read another retelling of this phase of the Pacific War, but nonspecialists and general readers will want to consider it." -- Library Journal"Toll’s book does a good job of capturing strategy, tactics, weaponry and, especially, people, on the Japanese side as well as the American…You won’t set [Pacific Crucible] aside." -- Harry Levins - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Book SynopsisWelsh miners made up one of the largest contingents within the British Battalion of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Coming from the valleys all across South Wales, they brought with them a political tradition unique in Britain in its combination of trade union militancy, radical extra-parliamentary activity and internationalism. Hywel Francis draws on a wide variety of contemporary sources to paint a vivid picture of the tumultuous politics of South Wales in the 1920s and 1930s - the context for the decision made by so many to volunteer. The book describes the process of volunteering, the militant role played by the Welsh volunteers, and the mass movements of political solidarity with Spain within Wales. It also includes many illustrations, and reproduces letters written by volunteers to their relatives and friends back in Wales. This updated 2012 edition includes a new preface and a newly compiled complete list of all Welsh volunteers.Trade Review'A fascinating study - pays homage to Cambria rather than Catalonia, and memorably so' Kenneth O Morgan, TLS 'Succeeds brilliantly in restoring the humanity of his true subjects, the volunteers - men formed by their time and place who consciously chose to express their commitment to a cause in the bravest way possible.' Dai Smith, Guardian

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Book SynopsisIn the spring of 1945 the Allies arrested the physicists they believed had worked on the German nuclear programme during the war. Interned in an English country house, their conversations were secretly recorded. MI6's Operation Epsilon sought to determine how close Nazi Germany had come to building an atomic bomb. It was in this remote setting - Farm Hall, near Cambridge - that the German physicists first heard of the bombing ofHiroshima. August 6 1945 was a night that changed the course of history. The terrible weapon unleashed on Japan caused unprecedented destruction and loss of life. That the Allies had such a weapon at their disposal came as a great shock to the German scientists who had worked under the assumption that the Allies knew nothing of nuclear fission. This is the story of the wartime race to develop an atomic bomb, and the genius, guilt, complicity and hubris of Nobel Prize-winning scientists working to create a weapon that would undoubtedly have won the war for the Germans.

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Book SynopsisWhen Captain Ridley's shooting partyA" arrived at Bletchley Park in 1939 no-one would have guessed that by 1945 the guests would number nearly 10,000 and that collectively they would have contributed decisively to the Allied war effort. Their role? To decode the Enigma cypher used by the Germans for high-level communications. It is an astonishing story. A melting pot of Oxbridge dons maverick oddballs and more regular citizens worked night and day at Station X, as Bletchley Park was known, to derive intelligence information from German coded messages. Bear in mind that an Enigma machine had a possible 159 million million million different settings and the magnitude of the challenge becomes apparent. That they succeeded, despite military scepticism, supplying information that led to the sinking of the Bismarck, Montgomery's victory in North Africa and the D-Day landings, is testament to an indomitable spirit that wrenched British intelligence into the modern age, as the Second World War segued into the Cold War. Michael Smith constructs his absorbing narrative around the reminiscences of those who worked and played at Bletchley Park, and their stories add a very human colour to their cerebral activity. The code breakers of Station X did not win the war but they undoubtedly shortened it, and the lives saved on both sides stand as their greatest achievement.

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Book SynopsisIn 1938 the US Chief of Infantry requested that the Ordnance Department develop a carbine to be used by service and support troops, artillerymen, machine-gun crews, tankers, mortar crews and other troops not needing the power of the M1 Garand rifle. The development of this new weapon was given an added impetus by Germany's successful use of airborne and glider troops early on in World War II. This caused a fear amongst US officers that troops normally considered 'behind the lines' personnel might have to fight elite German troops and would therefore require a more effective weapon than their standard pistols. The resulting M1 Carbine was a not a shortened version of the standard service rifle but instead a brand-new design chambering a new cartridge. Eventually numerous manufacturers would combine to produce over six million M1 Carbines before the end of the war. This book charts the complete story of the weapon, from its design, to its operational history and its impact upon warfare.Table of ContentsIntroduction /Development /Use /Impact /Further Reading

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Book SynopsisOffers a profound reinterpretation of nationalism, racism, and wartime mobilization during the Asia-Pacific war. This book demonstrates that the United States and Japan became increasingly alike over the course of the war, perhaps most tellingly in their common attempts to disavow racism even as they reproduced it in new ways and forms.Trade Review"[A] monumental history... This magisterial book will be indispensable reading for historians of the United States, Japan, and Korea." -- Kornel S. Chang, Rutgers University Jrnl Of American History "[This book] is very important and should be read and studied by all serious students of Asian studies, Japanese American studies, and the Pacific War... Highly recommended." Choice "Truly impressive archival work and rigorous conceptualization... Provides compelling narratives and analyses of Japanese colonialism in Korea." -- Henry Em, Yonsei University Cross Currents: East Asian History & Cultural ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgments Note on Romanization and Naming Commonly Used Acronyms Introduction: Ethnic and Colonial Soldiers and the Politics of Disavowal Part One: From Vulgar to Polite Racism 1. Right to Kill, Right to Make Live: Koreans as Japanese 2. "Very Useful and Very Dangerous": The Global Politics of Life, Death, and Race Part Two: Japanese as Americans 3. Subject to Choice, Labyrinth of (Un)freedom 4. Reasoning, Counterreasonings, and Counter-conduct 5. Go for Broke, the Movie: The Transwar Making of American Heroes Part Three: Koreans as Japanese 6. National Mobilization 7. Nation, Blood, and Self-Determination 8. The Colonial and National Politics of Gender, Sex, and Family Epilogue: "Four Volunteer Soldiers" Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisExamines how the Vietnam War has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of American imperialist adventure and for the (re)production of American and Vietnamese American identities.Trade Review"An important addition to the transnational history of the Vietnam War, Cold War global history, and the history of Asian migration to the United States... An Innovative work." -- Heonik Kwon American Journal of Sociology (AJS)Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. Critical Refuge(e) Studies 2. Militarized Refuge(es) 3. Refugee Camps and the Politics of Living 4. The "Good Warriors" and the "Good Refugee" 5. Refugee Remembering--and Remembrance 6. Refugee Postmemories: The "Generation After" 7. "The Endings That Are Not Over" Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisBasing on inaccessible Vietnamese materials as well as French, British, Canadian, and American documents, this book examines the internal debates and other elements that shaped Hanoi's revolutionary strategy in the decade preceding US military intervention, and resulting domestic and foreign programs.Trade Review"Highly recommended." CHOICE "Excellent new [work] on the Vietnam War." -- Geoffrey C. Stewart Cross-Currents "Outstanding... Illuminating." Proceedings "A valuable contribution to any discussion of North Vietnam's road to war, and the origins of the American stage in the Vietnam War." -- Tal Tovy H-Net "Asselin's excellent study ... will remain an indispensible source for students of Vietnam, the Cold War, and twentieth-century world history for many years to come." -- Jessica Elkind The Journal of American History "This authoritative and compelling book fills a long-felt need for a scholarly treatment of policy making in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Pierre Asselin has conducted careful and exhaustive research into available Vietnamese and Western archival sources and consulted widely secondary writings on his topic. The result is a meticulously researched, lucidly written, and highly revealing volume on a previously obscure aspect of the Indochina conflict... Asselin pushes the frontier of our knowledge about Hanoi's strategic thinking and diplomatic maneuver during the Indochina conflict further than anyone else." Journal of American-East Asian RelationsTable of ContentsForeword by the series editors Acknowledgments Glossary of Terms and Acronyms Introduction 1. Choosing Peace, 1954--1956 2. Changing Course, 1957--1959 3. Treading Cautiously, 1960 4. Buying Time, 1961 5. Exploring Neutralization, 1962 6. Choosing War, 1963 7. Waging War, 1964 Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisHow did German intelligence agents in the First World War use dead fish to pass on vital information to their operatives? What did an advertisement for a dog in The Times have to do with the movement of British troops into Egypt? And why did British personnel become suspicious about the trousers hanging on a Belgian woman’s washing line? During the First World War, spymasters and their networks of secret agents developed many ingenious – and occasionally hilarious – methods of communication. Puffs of smoke from a chimney, stacks of bread in a bakery window, even knitted woollen jumpers were all used to convey secret messages decipherable only by well-trained eyes. Melanie King retells the astonishing story of these and many other tricks of the espionage trade, now long forgotten, through the memoirs of eight spies. Among them are British intelligence officers working undercover in France and Germany, including a former officer from the Metropolitan Police who once hunted Jack the Ripper. There is also the German Secret Service officer, codenamed Agricola, who spied on the Eastern Front, an American newspaperman and an Austrian agent who disguised himself as everything from a Jewish pedlar to a Russian officer. Drawing on the words of many of the spies themselves, Secrets in a Dead Fish is a fascinating compendium of clever and original ruses that casts new light into the murky world of espionage during the First World War.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on interviews with seventy Jewish men and women who, as children, were placed in non-Jewish families during the Nazi occupation of Holland, this book paints a portrait of Holocaust survivors whose experiences were often diametrically opposed to the experiences of those who suffered in concentration camps.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. The History and Memory of Hidden Children 2. Before and During the War: The Netherlands and the Jews 3. After the War: The Jews and the Netherlands 4. "My Mother Screamed and Screamed": Memories of Occupation, War, and Hiding 5. "I Came Home, but I Was Homesick": When Both Parents Returned 6. "They Were Out of Their Minds": When One Parent Returned 7. "Who Am I?": Orphans Living with Families 8. "There Was Never a Kind Word": Life in Jewish Orphanages 9. Creating Postwar Lives, Creating Collective Memory: From the Personal to the Political Conclusion Notes Glossary References Index

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Book SynopsisThe Missouri History Museum archives are bursting with collections that provide firsthand accounts of both historic and everyday moments, but when archivist M. E. Kodner came across the James Love letters, she knew she had discovered something extraordinary. My Dear Molly consists of the 166 letters that St. Louisan James Love wrote to his fiancee, Eliza Mary "Molly" Wilson, during his Civil War service. The letters discuss the war, including activities in Missouri, battles, Love's life as a soldier, and his time in a Confederate prison, in addition to detailing the love story of James and Molly. Spanning the entire Civil War period, the letters give a full account of both the ongoing conflict and the many different aspects of Love's life, making My Dear Molly a unique contribution to our literature of the time period. The book opens with a prologue describing Love's life before the war, including his immigration to the United States from Ireland, his early career, and a trip to Australia he took in the 1850s. The body of the text consists of his letters and is divided into three sections: Love's early service with the Fifth US Reserve Corps, most of which was spent in Missouri; his service with the Eighth Kansas Infantry, which includes descriptions of military life and battle, ending with him being wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga and taken prisoner; and his years in various Confederate prisons and his attempts to escape. Each portion of the book begins with an introduction to place the letters in their historical context and to briefly explain the events and people that Love mentions in his letters. It concludes with an epilogue describing his final, successful escape, his life with Molly after the war, how the letters came to the Missouri History Museum, and Kodner's discovery of her connections through family friends to James and Molly's descendants. My Dear Molly is a remarkable, riveting volume that will add much to our knowledge of the Civil War period-its battles and conflicts as well as the experiences of ordinary Americans like James and Molly.

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Book SynopsisAs commander of No. 11 Group, Fighter Command and responsible for the air defence of London and South-East England, Keith Park took charge of the day-to-day direction of the battle. In spotlighting his thoughts and actions during the crisis, Vincent Orange reveals a man whose unfailing energy, courage and cool resourcefulness won not only supreme praise from Churchill but the lasting respect and admiration of all who served under him. However, few officers in any of the services packed more action into their lives, and this book covers the whole of his career youth in New Zealand, success as an ace fighter pilot in World War I, postings to South America and Egypt, Battle of Britain, Command of the RAF in Malta 1942/43, and finally Allied Air Commander-in-Chief of SE Asia under Mountbatten in 1945. His contribution to victory and peace was immense and this biography does much to shed light on the Big Wing controversy of 1940 and give insight into the war in Burma, 1945, and how the huge problems remaining after the wars sudden end were dealt with. Drawn largely from unpublished sources and interviews with people who knew Park, and illustrated with maps and photographs, this is an authoritative biography of one of the worlds greatest unsung heroes.

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Book SynopsisIn the vast literature of the Second World War there has never been a naval atlas showing graphically the complexities of the war at sea, a war which spread across every ocean. This new book will fill the gap.With more than 200 beautifully-designed maps and charts, the atlas sets out to visualise the great campaigns and major battles as well as the smaller operations, amphibious landings, convoys, sieges, skirmishes and sinkings. While whole sections are given over to the Pacific war, the battle of the Atlantic and the campaigns in the Mediterranean, smaller but crucial events such as the landings at Dieppe receive in-depth treatment. The maps depict the dynamics of campaigns and battles but also include extensive information on the opposing forces, their ships and equipment and the strategic significance of events. General thematic maps, for instance, on ship losses, aerial strengths or convoy routes, give the reader an understanding of the many contributing factors that shaped the tactics and strategies of the Allied and Axis forces.No other work has attempted such an ambitious coverage of the war at sea in this period and it is destined to become a definitive reference work for naval enthusiasts and historians as well as general readers fascinated by the naval war that extended from the coldest arctic seas to the tropical islands of the Pacific.

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Book SynopsisThe Ploesti Raid took place on Sunday, August 1, 1943 and, but for a navigational error which put the leading formation on a course away from the target, the operation might have resulted in the destruction of the seven chosen targets. However, by the time the mistake was realised, the defences were on the alert and over 20 Liberators were brought down in and around Ploesti. A further 35 aircraft were lost. Although the operation resulted in the award of five Medals of Honor — America’s highest decoration for bravery — the cost was high: 308 airmen lost their lives and 208 were taken prisoner or interned. Out of the 1,753 men who are known to have set out on the mission, a total of 516 failed to return.

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Book SynopsisTHE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: “Beautifully told.”—CNN • “A remarkable story...worth retelling and celebrating.”—USA Today • “Oh, it’s a good one!”—Fox News A “beautiful story of a brotherhood between enemies” emerges from the horrors of World War II in this New York Times bestseller by the author of Devotion, now a Major Motion Picture. December, 1943: A badly damaged American bomber struggles to fly over wartime Germany. At the controls is twenty-one-year-old Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown. Half his crew lay wounded or dead on this, their first mission. Suddenly, a Messerschmitt fighter pulls up on the bomber’s tail. The pilot is German ace Franz Stigler—and he can destroy the young American crew with the squeeze of a trigger...What happened next would defy imagination and later be

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Book SynopsisUNDERSTAND AND EXPERIENCE THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY AERIAL EVER FOUGHTPart of the new Ladybird Expert series, Battle of Britain is an accessible, insightful and authoritative account of the most famous aerial battle in history.Historian, author and broadcaster James Holland draws on the latest research and interviews with participants to bring colour, detail and a fresh perspective to the story.Inside, you''ll discover how tactics, organisation and new technologies were brought to bear, about the different challenges faced by both the RAF and the Luftwaffe, and, above all, the skill, bravery and endurance of the airmen engaged in a contest that was of critical importance to the outcome of the war. Written by the leading lights and most outstanding communicators in their fields, the Ladybird Expert books provide clear, accessible and authoritative introductions to subjects drawn from science, history and culture.Other booksTrade ReviewBattle of Britain shines a light on some of the darkest and most dramatic moments of the six-year conflict. * The Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisThe M113 is the most widely used and versatile armored vehicle in the world. Fielded in 1960 as a simple battlefield taxi, over 80,000 M113s would see service with 50 nations around the world and 55 years later, many thousands are still in use. In addition to its original role of transporting troops across the battlefield, specialized versions perform a multitude of other functions including command and control, fire support, anti-tank and anti-aircraft defense, and casualty evacuation.This new fully illustrated study examines the service record of the M113 from its initial fielding through the end of the Vietnam War. It will also describe the many US, South Vietnamese, and Australian variants of the M113 used in the Vietnam War as well as information on tactics, unit tables of organization and equipment, and a selection of engagements in which the M113 played a decisive role.

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Book SynopsisFrom a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, a fresh, authoritative history that recasts thinking about America’s founding period.Trade Review"Excellent . . . deserves high praise. Mr. Taylor conveys this sprawling continental history with economy, clarity, and vividness." -- The Wall Street Journal"Alan Taylor’s remarkable and magnificent ‘continental history’... is indeed the history of the American Revolution for our times... In short, it is a towering achievement." -- Family and Community History Journal

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Book SynopsisMarianne van Velzen was born in the Netherlands in 1953 and emigrated to Australia in the mid-1950s. She has worked as a journalist and an editor, in radio and TV. Marianne is also the author of Call of the Outback (2016).

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Book SynopsisIn October 1996, a motley crew of ageing Marxists and unemployed youth coalesced to revolt against Mobutu Seso Seko, president of Zaire/Congo since 1965. The rebels of the AFDL marched over 1500km in seven months to crush the dictatorship, heralding liberation as a second independence for Central Africa as a whole. US President Bill Clinton toasted AFDL leader Laurent-Desire Kabila and his regional allies - having developed a unique camaraderie and personal trust on the region's battlefronts -- as a 'new generation of African leaders' ushering in an 'African Renaissance.' Within months, however, the Pan-Africanist alliance fell apart. The AFDL's collapse triggered a cataclysmic fratricide between the heroes of liberationthat became the deadliest conflict since the Second World War, drawing in eight African countries. This book draws on hundreds of interviews with protagonists from Africa and the international community to offer a novel theoretical and empirical account of Africa's Great War. Bridging the gap between comparative politics and international relations, it argues that the renewed outbreak of calamitous violence in August 1998 was a function of the kind of regime the AFDL was and how its leaders saw Congo, theregion and themselves. As a Pan-Africanist liberation movement, the collapse of the AFDL government internally and the unravelling of regional order externally were inextricably linked.Trade Review'[Roessler and Verhoeven’s] purpose is to answer the question: “Why did comrades go to war?” and to view the conflict through the prism of “liberation politics”. The merit of their book is that it includes interviews with many of the protagonists, clarifying critical details about their involvement … The depth of the authors’ research is impressive.' * Times Literary Supplement *'A novel lens through which to understand the First Congo War . . . sure to provoke renewed discussion.''Vivid and compelling . . . a precious contribution to our understanding of the most complex and deadliest African conflict of the late 20th century.'One of the most intelligent books on conflict in Africa that I have read in a long time. Based on an astoundingly comprehensive array of interviews with the key actors in this war.' * Professor William Reno, Northwestern University *'This is a rare combination: a book that combines exceptional academic rigor with deep, personal knowledge of a place and its main actors. As important for political scientists as it is for historians and congophiles.' * Jason Stearns, Director, Congo Research Group, New York University and author of Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa *'An exceptionally well researched and argued book. Based on a wealth of hitherto unknown information, including many interviews with crucial stakeholders, it offers new and refreshing insights into very complex and dramatic events that continue to impact Central Africa up to the present day.' * Filip Reyntjens, Professor of Law and Politics at the University of Antwerp, and author of Political Governance in Post-Genocide Rwanda and The Great African War: Congo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996-2006 *'Why Comrades Go To War is a detailed and compelling account of the bitter grapes of post-colonialism in Africa. The authors range widely over Central Africa but provide a detailed account of the often sordid and always tragic events that ruined the lives of millions of people. I find an almost Greek tragedy -- an inevitability -- in the events they relate, but the authors wisely temper this impression by showing how the leaders' choices, fears, ambitions, greed, and mistakes made the tragedy modern. An important book.' * William Polk, author of Violent Politics and Neighbors and Strangers, among many other books *'Why Comrades Go to War is a welcome addition to the literature on the Congo Wars, first to overthrow Mobutu and then to overthrow his successor, Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Roessler and Verhoeven demonstrate that a focus on elite actors (above all, Kabila and his Rwandan Tutsi backers, Generals Kagame and Kabarebe) is essential to understanding why the first war led inexorably to the second.' * Tom Turner, author of The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth and Reality *'Africa's most deadly war was rooted not only in geopolitics, but in an ideological state conspiracy as well. This puzzling story is told in Why Comrades Go to War, a cross between a political people's magazine and a late twentieth-century overview of eastern and central Africa. A must for those wanting to track the labyrinths underpinning visible African events.' * Gérard Prunier, author of The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide and From Genocide to Continental War *

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Book SynopsisIn 1944 the British War Office distributed a handbook to British soldiers informing them what to expect and how to behave in a newly-liberated France. Containing candid descriptions of this war-ravaged society (widespread malnourishment, rampant tuberculosis) as well as useful phrases and a pronunciation guide (Bonjewer, commont-allay-voo), it was an indispensable guide to everyday life. This small, unassuming publication had a deeper purpose: to bring together two allies who did not enjoy ideal relations in 1944. The book attempts to reconcile differences by stressing a shared history and the common aim — defeating Hitler. It also tried to dispel misapprehensions: ‘There is a fairly widespread belief among people in Britain that the French are a particularly gay, frivolous people with no morals and few convictions.’ Often unintentionally hilarious in its expression of these false impressions, the book is also a guide for avoiding social embarrassment: ‘If you should happen to imagine that the first pretty French girl who smiles at you intends to dance the can-can or take you to bed, you will risk stirring up a lot of trouble for yourself – and for our relations with the French.’ Many of its observations still ring true today. For example, ‘The French are more polite than most of us. Remember to call them “Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle,” not just “Oy!”’ Others remind us of how we recently we have adopted French customs: ‘Don’t drink yourself silly. If you get the chance to drink wine, learn to “‘take it”.’ Anyone with an interest in Britain, France or World War II will find this an irresistible insight into British attitudes towards the French and an interesting, timeless commentary on Anglo-French relations.Trade Review'set to become one of the most unlikely bestsellers of the year' - Chris Hastings, Sunday Telegraph

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Book SynopsisThe German campaign in France during the summer of 1940 was pivotal to Hitler's ambitions and fundamentally affected the course of the Second World War. Having squabbled about fighting methods right up to the start of the campaign, the German forces provided the Führer with a swift, efficient and decisive military victory over the Allied forces.In achieving in just six weeks what their fathers had failed to accomplish during the four years of the First World War, Germany altered the balance of power in Europe at a stroke. Yet, as Lloyd Clark shows in this enthralling new book, it was far from a foregone conclusion. Blitzkrieg tells the story of the campaign, while highlighting the key technologies, decisions and events that led to German success, and details the mistakes, good fortune and chronic weaknesses in their planning process and approach to war fighting. There are also compelling portraits of the officers who played key roles, including Heinz Guderian, Erwin Rommel, Kurt Student, Charles de Gaulle and Bernard Montgomery.Clark argues that far from being undefeatable, the France 1940 campaign revealed Germany and its armed forces to be highly vulnerable - a fact dismissed by Hitler as he began to plan for his invasion of the Soviet Union - and offers a gripping reassessment of the myths that have built up around one of the Second World War's greatest military victories.Trade ReviewThis genuinely revisionist account of the Battle of France in 1940 proves a deeply shocking fact - we are essentially still in thrall to the view of Blitzkrieg tactics that Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels wanted us to have, even over three-quarters of a century later. Lloyd Clark's brilliant analysis proves that Fall Gelb (the Germans' Plan Yellow) wasn't all about unstoppable, superior panzers and Stukas, but was in fact an audacious, highly risky infantry-based plan that could have gone badly wrong given a different Allied mindset. * Andrew Roberts *Lloyd Clark has written a lucid, intelligent and thought-provoking reappraisal... His groundbreaking, detailed research will make it the seminal work on the fall of France in 1940. The story of the breakthrough unfolds at a fascinating and cracking pace... Blitzkrieg is a remarkable book that will reshape many of the traditional assertions made about this battle. * Robert Kershaw *A breakthrough book, bringing the drama of Hitler's May 1940 offensive in France vividly to life - alongside a major reappraisal of the campaign's significance. Excellent. * Michael Jones *A compelling and fresh retelling of one of the century's most intriguing and significant campaigns. * BBC History Magazine *A masterly account teeming with vivid personalities and the usual mixture of heroism, incompetence, and luck * Kirkus Reviews *In this new volume, acclaimed historian Lloyd Clark . . . paints a very different look at the German victory . . . Clark does an excellent job of describing the first critical five days of the campaign . . . He highlights multiple opportunities the French and British had to stop the German advance at vulnerable moments . . . Lloyd presents a well-balanced narrative that highlights the knife-edge victory of the German forces. * New York Journal of Books *

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Book SynopsisKoonz’s latest work reveals how racial popularizers developed the infrastructure and rationale for genocide during the so-called normal years before World War II. Challenging conventional assumptions about Hitler, Koonz locates the source of his charisma not in his summons to hate, but in his appeal to the collective virtue of his people, the Volk.Trade ReviewFaced with the German degradation and murder of the Jews from 1933 to 1945, historians and, indeed, so many thoughtful men and women have posed no question more insistently than, 'How could it happen?' Claudia Koonz's powerfully written study of the inculcation of a Nazi racialist ethos in the years before extermination answers this question as persuasively as any other to date. -- Charles S. Maier, author of The Unmasterable Past: History, Holocaust, and German National IdentityIn this valuable and original book, Claudia Koonz analyzes how the Nazis legitimized the Third Reich and facilitated Hitler's consensual dictatorship and genocidal policies. This daring reinterpretation of the relationship between the Nazi leadership, its middle- and low-ranking cadres, and other sectors of the German population shows the gradual shift in public opinion toward the regime's worldview. Ultimately, Nazism created a positive, moral image of itself just as it sanctioned the annihilation of enemies perceived as unethical and immoral. -- Omer Bartov, author of Germany's War and the Holocaust: Disputed HistoriesClaudia Koonz's arresting new book makes the case that between 1933 and 1939, before the Second World War and the Holocaust, the Nazis built a perverse ethical consensus in Germany. Preaching fears of racial weakness along with pride and commitment to a new moral order, self-righteous opinion leaders created an ethnic fundamentalism--of which we have not, she suggests in a closing reflection, seen the last. -- Michael R. Marrus, author of The Holocaust In HistoryThis is an artfully written book, with engaging asides and a captivating sense of detail and touching comment that is rare for a volume on Nazism. I don't know where else I've learned so much about everyday life and culture under Nazism. -- Robert N. Proctor, author of The Nazi War on CancerHitler, Koonz says, understood the German people's need for a sense of coherence in the wake of what many saw as the degeneracy of the Weimar Republic--and 'he promised to rescue old-fashioned values of honor and dignity' by offering a secular faith to replace lost religious certainties. Koonz explores the promotion of these beliefs in German culture and law, and how they led to the catastrophe of the Holocaust, adding much to our understanding of how a civilized society could reach such infamous levels of violence. * Publishers Weekly *Claudia Koonz...explains in her insightful new book how Germans, who were among Europe's least anti-Semitic people, came to support a leadership that sought to annihilate European Jewry...The readiness of many Germans to acquiesce evolved as a consequence of their internalization of the knowledge that was disseminated apparently by legitimate institutions of the state. As Koonz notes, the indoctrination was successful because there was little reason to question the facts conveyed by experts, documentary films, educational materials, and popular science. The German public was reeducated to support the elimination of Jews, Gypsies, the chronically ill, and other categories of the 'unfit'--all as a moral good, consistent with the dictates of conscience. Koonz's prodigious work is a major contribution to our understanding of the social and ideological history of the Third Reich. -- Jack Fischel * Weekly Standard *Koonz does not deny the existence of extremist and violent anti-Semites in the Nazi leadership. But her stress on the moderate way their ultimately genocidal plans were presented as necessary cruelties adds an important dimension in our understanding of the Nazi regime and its crime. -- Antony Polonsky * Boston Globe *Trudl Junge, former personal secretary to Adolf Hitler, once noted that the Führer's success came with his ability to manipulate other people's conscience. On a vast scale, the German people no longer knew right from wrong. Koonz presents a compelling argument to suggest that Junge was in some degree right. The Germans did not surrender their conscience but submitted to its transformation away from conventional Western notions of right and wrong to a radical, racial nationalism that established criteria for assessing moral actions and outcomes. -- J. Kleiman * Choice *Koonz displays the gradual transformation of the traditional idea of conscience into something that was utterly shaped by the subordination of one's own self to that of the Volk. -- Aharon ben Anshel * Jewish Press *[Koonz] documents in exemplary fashion what the historical actors actually thought, felt, advocated, planned, and organized before they acted...impressively researched, lucidly organized, disturbing, yet eminently readable. -- Michael Meyer * American Historical Review *Table of ContentsPrologue 1. An Ethnic Conscience 2. The Politics of Virtue 3. Allies in the Academy 4. The Conquest of Political Culture 5. Ethnic Revival and Racist Anxiety 6. The Swastika in the Heart of the Youth 7. Law and the Racial Order 8. The Quest for a Respectable Racism 9. Racial Warriors 10. Racial War at Home Abbreviations Notes Acknowledgments Illustration Credits Index

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Book SynopsisHow did the conflict between Vietnamese nationalists and French colonial rulers erupt into a major Cold War struggle between communism and Western liberalism? In this work, leading scholars examine various dimensions of the struggle between France and Vietnamese revolutionaries that began in 1945 and reached its climax at Dien Bien Phu.Trade ReviewOffers a well-written, important step toward a refocus on the international context of an important Cold War conflict. -- Douglas Porch * Journal of Military History *Few Americans realize that the U.S. war in Vietnam was preceded by an equally destructive war waged by French troops attempting to reestablish French colonial domination over the country after Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnamese independence in Hanoi in 1945. Even fewer Americans are aware of the extent of U.S. involvement in the French war, and are equally ignorant of the astonishing extent to which Americans began their war in Vietnam from the same mistaken assumptions as the French, repeating many of the same errors of judgment as the French. This new collection will do much to dispel that ignorance. -- C. L. Yates * Choice *A fresh collection of stimulating and impressive essays on the First Vietnam War. Lawrence and Logevall have brought together the leading scholars of the period in what will be essential reading for anyone interested in colonialism and the early Cold War. -- Robert K. Brigham, Vassar CollegeThe most important contribution in decades to the international history of the First Vietnam War. These essays by leading specialists show how the Indochina War connected key participants and historical forces in the making of the post-1945 international system. This book belongs in the library of anyone interested in the Cold War, decolonization, Asian history, Vietnamese studies, and international history. -- Christopher Goscha, Université du Québec à MontréalA splendid collection of essays based on sources from across the world and covering a wide range of topics. An indispensable addition to the literature on the First Vietnam War. -- George C. Herring, University of KentuckyThe First Vietnam War beautifully illustrates the complex interplay between the emerging Cold War, the disintegrating colonial order, and the vibrant social, political, and cultural forces inside Indochina. The volume confirms the promise of the new international history—multi-archival, multi-national, and multi-causal. -- Melvyn P. Leffler, University of VirginiaIn this important book an impressive international group of historians sheds fresh light on the First Indochina War. The years 1945 to 1954 are not just a crucial, formative period for the Vietnamese–American relationship, but also a significant chapter in the international history of the twentieth century. This work will prove most welcome to scholars and general readers alike. -- Robert J. McMahon, The Ohio State UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Abbreviations 1. Introduction Mark Atwood Lawrence and Fredrik Logevall Part I. The First Vietnam War in History 2. Making Sense of the French War: The Postcolonial Moment and the First Vietnam War, 1945-1954 Mark Philip Bradley 3. Vietnamese Historians and the First Indochina War Lien-Hang T. Nguyen Part II. From One War to Another 4. Franklin Roosevelt, Trusteeship, and Indochina: A Reassessment Stein Tonnesson 5. Creating Defense Capacity in Vietnam, 1945-1947 David G. Marr 6. Forging the "Great Combination": Britain and the Indochina Problem, 1945-1950 Mark Atwood Lawrence 7. French Imperial Reconstruction and the Development of the Indochina War, 1945-1950 Martin Thomas Part III. Colonialism and Cold War 8. Ho Chi Minh and the Strategy of People's War William J. Duiker 9. The Declining Value of Indochina: France and the Economics of Empire, 1950-1955 Laurent Cesari 10. France, the United States, and Indochina Marilyn B. Young Part IV. The End of the French War and the Coming of the Americans 11. Assessing Dien Bien Phu John Prados 12. China and the Indochina Settlement at the Geneva Conference of 1954 Chen Jian 13. After Geneva: The French Presence in Vietnam, 1954-1963 Kathryn C. Statler 14. Chronicle of a War Foretold: The United States and Vietnam, 1945-1954 Andrew J. Rotter Notes Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisA fascinating and dramatic investigation into the events that led to Winston Churchill becoming Prime Minister against the odds.‘A gripping story of Churchill’s unlikely rise to power’ Observer London, May 1940. Britain is under threat of invasion and Neville Chamberlain’s government is about to fall. It is hard for us to imagine the Second World War without Winston Churchill taking the helm, but in Six Minutes in May Nicholas Shakespeare shows how easily events could have gone in a different direction. It took just six minutes for MPs to cast the votes that brought down Chamberlain. Shakespeare moves from Britain’s disastrous battle in Norway, for which many blamed Churchill, on to the dramatic developments in Westminster that led to Churchill becoming Prime Minister. Uncovering fascinating new research and delving into the key players’ backgrounds, Shakespeare gives us a new perspective on this critical moment in our history.‘Totally captivating. It will stand as the best account of those extraordinary few days for very many years’ Andrew Roberts ‘Superbly written… Shakespeare has a novelist’s flair for depicting the characters and motives of men’ The Times ‘Utterly wonderful… It reads like a thriller’ Peter Frankopan SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA NON-FICTION CROWN 2018*** Selected as a 2017 Book of the Year in the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Observer and The Economist ***Trade ReviewHistory books should give us insight and information, surprise and entertainment, and allow us to see the world, an incident or a character differently. Nicholas Shakespeare’s Six Minutes in May delivers in abundance. -- Anthony Sattin * Observer, Best Books of 2017 *Unputdownable… Us[es] new evidence with a novelist’s feeling for personality and atmosphere -- John Gray * Guardian, Best Books of 2017 *Of the abundant new books on the Second World War, Nicholas Shakespeare’s Six Minutes in May…takes the prize. The familiar story of how Churchill unexpectedly became prime minister in 1940 has never been told so amusingly, nor in such detail -- Simon Heffer * Daily Telegraph, Best History Books of 2017 *Nicholas Shakespeare’s Six Minutes in May: How Churchill Unexpectedly Became Prime Minister…is as gripping as a novel. Apart from being meticulously researched, thoroughly original and beautifully written, the book is an important reminder of the fact that the direction of history can change in a heartbeat -- Peter Frankopan * History Today, Best History Books of 2017 *An eloquent study in how quickly the political landscape can change -- and history with it * The Economist, Books of the Year 2017 *

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The first memoir of the Vietnam War and an all-time classic of war literature|40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION|In March 1965, Marine Lieutenant Philip J. Caputo landed in Danang with the first ground combat unit committed to fight in Vietnam. Sixteen months later, having served on the line in one of modern history's ugliest wars, he returned home - physically whole but emotionally destroyed, his youthful idealism shattered.A decade later, having reported first-hand the very final hours of the war, Caputo sat down to write ‘simply a story about war, about the things men do in war and the things war does to them’. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest war memoirs of all time.____________________‘A singular and marvellous work – a soldier’s-eye account that tells us, as no other book that I can think of has done, what it was actually like to be fighting in this hellish jungle’ The New York Times‘Unparalleled in its honesty, unapologetic in its candour and singular in its insights into the minds and hearts of men in combat, this book is as powerful to read today as the day it was published in 1977. Caputo has more than earned his place beside Sassoon, Owen, Vonnegut, and Heller’ Kevin Powers‘To call this the best book about Vietnam is to trivialize it. A Rumour of War is a dangerous and even subversive book, the first to insist that readers asks themselves the questions: How would I have acted? To what lengths would I have gone to survive? A terrifying book, it will make the strongest among us weep’ Los Angeles Times Book Review‘Caputo’s troubled, searching meditations on the love and the hate of war, on fear and the ambivalent discord warfare can create in the hearts of decent men are amongst the most eloquent I have read in modern literature’ New York Review of Books‘Superb. At times it is hard to remember that this is not a novel’ New Statesman

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis book is a must for anybody who is interested in machines that have changed the world of aviation and have been instrumental in the development of other iconic aircraft. It could also be used as reference for plastic modellers who may find it useful for some of the finer detail they require. The author has delivered another excellent volume and this will be a very welcome addition to any discerning aviation enthusiast. Anyone with a general interest in aviation will enjoy this book. Sven Atkin

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Book SynopsisIt was to be one of the most ambitious operations since 617 Squadron bounced their revolutionary bombs into the dams of the Ruhr Valley in 1943 . . . April 1982. Argentine forces had invaded the Falkland Islands. Britain needed an answer. And fast. The idea was simple: to destroy the vital landing strip at Port Stanley. The reality was more complicated. The only aircraft that could possibly do the job was three months from being scrapped, and the distance it had to travel was four thousand miles beyond its maximum range. It would take fifteen Victor tankers and seventeen separate in-flight refuellings to get one Avro Vulcan B2 over the target, and give its crew any chance of coming back alive.Yet less than a month later, a formation of elderly British jets launched from a remote island airbase to carry out the longest-range air attack in history. At its head was a single aircraft, six men, and twenty-one thousand-pound bombs, facing the hornet's nest oTrade ReviewExciting and breathtakingly pacy...This is exactly how modern history should be written * Andy McNab *Gripping, endlessly fascinating detail. I read the book in one sitting: it is an utterly compelling war story, brilliantly written * Simon Winchester *A masterwork of narrative history. Brilliantly described, the story of an impossible British mission is a compelling one; it's telling long overdue * Clive Cussler *Big heavy bombers. Proper old-fashioned heroism. And triumph of ingenuity over limited funding. So far as I'm concerned, it has the lot and to cap it all it reads like fiction when it's actually fact. I more than enjoyed it, it could have been written specially for me * Jeremy Clarkson *Exceptional...Written like the very best thriller, it draws the reader into the exclusive world of the combat crew in a unique and truly gripping way * John Nichol *

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Book SynopsisIn January 1991, eight members of SAS regiment embarked upon a top secret mission that was to infiltrate them deep behind enemy lines. Under the command of Sergeant Andy McNab, they were to sever the underground communication link between Baghdad and north-west Iraq, and to seek and destroy mobile Scud launchers. Their call sign: Bravo Two Zero.Trade Review"The best account yet of the SAS in action" Sunday Times "Extraordinary" The Times "Gripping" Daily Telegraph "Magnificent" Independent on Sunday "A gripping account of special forces at work...a tremendous adventure story" Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisOn 12th April 1981 a revolutionary new spacecraft blasted off from Florida on her maiden flight. NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia was the most advanced flying machine ever built the high watermark of post-war aviation development. A direct descendant of the record-breaking X-planes the likes of which Chuck Yeager had tested in the skies over the Mojave Desert, Columbia was a winged rocket plane, the size of an airliner, capable of flying to space and back before being made ready to fly again. She was the world's first real spaceship.On board were men with the Right Stuff. The Shuttle's Commander, moonwalker John Young, was already a veteran of five spaceflights. Alongside him, Pilot Bob Crippen was making his first, but Crip, taken in by the space agency after the cancellation of a top secret military space station programme in 1969, had worked on the Shuttle's development for a decade. Never before had a crew been so well prepared for their missionTrade ReviewThe Right Stuff of our times * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisThe German seige and Soviet defence of Leningrad in World War II was an epic struggle in an epic war, a drama of heroism and human misery unmatched in the annals of modern warfare. This work provides a military history of the conflict waged beyond the city's borders.Trade ReviewAn original and important contribution not only to the battle for Leningrad but also to a wider understanding of the Great Patriotic War. Drawing upon previously unavailable or neglected Soviet and German sources, it provides a major corrective to the shortcomings of previous accounts and will stand as a significant and durable achievement on a subject that continues to fascinate. John Erickson, Author Of The Road To Stalingrad; ""An outstanding contribution to the study of the Second World War as it was fought on the Eastern Front."" Malcolm Mackintosh, Author Of Juggernauti A History Of Soviet Armed Forces; ""An exceptional work on one of the great campaigns of World War II,"" James S. Corum, Author Of The Roots Of Blitzkrieg And The Luftwaffe

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Book SynopsisFrom 1980 to 1988 Iran and Iraq fought the longest conventional war of the century. It included tragic slaughter of child soldiers, use of chemical weapons, striking of civilian shipping, and destruction of cities. Pierre Razoux offers an unflinching look at a conflict seared into the region’s collective memory but little understood in the West.Trade Review[A] heavyweight work of history…[Razoux] brings a cool, factual approach to a large subject that has hitherto received too little attention…Razoux’s deep research and analytical style make the book something of a general-staff history…It adds up to something extraordinary. -- Bartle Bull * Wall Street Journal *Once a decade, a book appears in which the creative genius and technical skill of the author perfectly match a vast subject. The French defense expert Pierre Razoux’s book on the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq war is superb and hugely topical… Razoux has a brilliant and economical way of making what became huge and complex battles intensely readable (the maps are excellent too)… This is a masterwork and anyone interested in where Iran goes next—for Iraq will surely cease to be a unitary state—should read the historian of real genius. -- Michael Burleigh * The Times *Pierre Razoux’s The Iran-Iraq War is better by a mile than most of the military history that floods the English market. Very topical too since we will be getting to know Iran much more in future and its history should be required reading. -- Michael Burleigh * Evening Standard *What emerges in illuminating detail from Razoux’s study is the impact of the power struggle between Ayatollah Khomeini’s two protégés, the men he promoted and protected till the end of his life in June 1989, and left in charge of a house divided by their rivalry: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Hosseini Khamenei. -- Joost Hiltermann * London Review of Books *Oddly this war isn’t discussed much any more, even though it is arguably the breakthrough event for the ongoing collapse of parts of the Middle East…I found Pierre Razoux’s The Iran-Iraq War to be a highly readable and useful account. -- Tyler Cowen * Marginal Revolution *This is an impressive, well-researched account of a conflict that helped define the modern Middle East, and it explains, as Razoux shows, much subsequent Iraqi and Iranian history… Razoux brilliantly links the conflict to the regional and Great Power politics of the period… Thus the Iran–Iraq war led directly into post–Cold War geopolitics and conflict. Razoux has produced the best book available on this important war. -- Jeremy Black * Military History *Although it was the longest war of the 20th century and caused over a million casualties, the Iran-Iraq War is largely forgotten by the Western world outside of a few military analysts and Middle East scholars…In spite of the ramifications of this war, a complete and readable single volume narrative has not been written in the West, until now. Razoux…has written a comprehensive and engrossing account of this war. Using a wealth of new or untapped sources, including the complete set of transcripts of the American debriefing of Saddam Hussein after his capture in 2004 and numerous interviews with Iranian and Iraqi commanders, Razoux provides unique insights into the strategic and operational thinking of both sides throughout the war…What makes this book so useful to both military historians and students of Middle Eastern politics is that Razoux is able to incorporate a complete look at the ripples caused by this conflict throughout the Middle East and within the Cold War as a whole…There is almost nothing occurring in the Middle East today that wasn’t somehow influenced by this virtually unknown war. It has been long overdue for a comprehensive single-volume history, which this book ably fulfills. This is definitely a volume that both military historians and Middle Eastern scholars should have on their bookshelf. -- Jerry D. Lenaburg * New York Journal of Books *The Iran–Iraq War marked a turning point in the history of the Middle East. One cannot comprehend the situation in the Gulf today—the Iranian nuclear program or the political crises in Baghdad and Tehran—without understanding the frustrations and fears that sprang from that war. * Diplomatie *This is an important book, not least for the time devoted to it: ten years’ work by the author, with hundreds of meetings and interviews, unpublished archives, and the deciphering of the famous audiotapes of Saddam Hussein and his staff. And for the first time, Iranian sources are included as well… Razoux examines the military dimension with a knack for detail and a commanding narrative sense, but also addresses the political, diplomatic, and economic aspects. * Libération Week-End *The chapter on the tribulations of the Iranian child-soldiers is poignant, the one on the torment of the Kurds gassed at Halabja overwhelming… It is impossible to grasp the Iraqi and Iranian crises of the twenty-first century without going back to this first, brutal war in the Gulf. * Le Monde *Razoux’s detailed, wide-ranging and elegantly written account is the best hope we have of seeing this epoch-defining conflict for what it was. Drawing on a decade of research, during which he accessed Saddam's audio records of military and political meetings, investigated Iranian sources and conducted countless interviews with military, political and business figures from around the world, Razoux gives the reader a uniquely broad and deep look at the conflict…One of the most fascinating insights this book offers is its illustration of the impact the conflict had on the Islamic Republic of Iran and how that nation moved from fledgling revolutionary state to an established Islamic theocracy…Razoux’s excellent and lucidly translated study does this awful conflict justice in an even-handed and professional manner. It is a must read for anyone with an interest in Iran, Iraq and the region as it stands today. -- C. P. W. Gammell * Literary Review *Using published Western sources, interviews, still-classified French intelligence reports, and the translated transcripts of the audio tapes Saddam kept of all his meetings, Razoux…has produced a blow-by-blow military history which is the first significant reappraisal of the war since the downfall of Saddam…Razoux writes well on the interplay of war and politics (and has been translated well and sympathetically); there are many insights and telling anecdotes. -- James Barr * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisThis collection of vignettes was written by Soviet junior officers describing their experiences fighting the Mujahideen guerillas. It is not a history of the Soviet-Afghan war, but snapshots of combat as seen by young platoon leaders, company commanders, battalion commanders and military advisers.Table of ContentsThis volume puts a human face on the Soviet Afghan experience and begins to add flesh and blood to our previously skeletal appreciation of the war ... The book provides a revealing portrait of war in general, tactics in particular, and, coincidentally, the soldiers "human condition"." David M GlantzMilitary History Illustrated-"This is an interesting and unusual book from Cass, composed of several reports written by Soviet junior officers describing their experiences fighting the Mujahideen in Afghanistan"Army Quarterly and Defense Journal- "...making the work valuable for all those likely to be involved in similar future conflicts.."RTR PUBLICATIONS LTD- "I doubt if any of the "superpowers" will try again, but if they do, then this series of books should be invaluable, although many of the lessons they teach, can be equally well applied to other areas in inhospitable terrain and implacable foes."Engineer - "The Bear Went Over the Mountains provides an outstanding look at and commentary on Soviet tactics against the mujahideen fighters from 1979 to 1989...The Bear Went Over the Mountain is a valuable learning tool, especially for leaders at the battalion level and below."TANK -"I doubt if the "superpowers"will try again, but if they do, then this series of books should be invaluable, although many of the lessons they teach, can be equally well applied to other areas in inhospitable terrain and implacable foes."Armor-"This book offers valuable professional insight into the Russian military"s tactics and operational art, and their ability and willingness to innovate. Intelligence and operations officers might find the vignettes an excellent source as they design wargame and training scenarios in preparing units for deployment" Marine Corps Gazette- " The volume provides plenty of material to motivate serious thinking. This book is worth yout time. The individual reader can stimulate his thinking with the variety of situations. The instructor can draw on this volume to illustrate his points, pose tactical decision problems, and motivate an appreciation for minor tactics"European Security, Vol 8, No 1, Spring 99 - reviewed by Major James C. Larsen, Center for Army Tactics, Fort Leavenworth"This collection of vignettes on the Soviet experience in Afghanistan is essential reading for the soldier and military historian ... For the young platoon leader of compant commander who may face a guerilla threat, the book may help him understand how to win - or how to lose. For the historian who may be well acquainted with the war, many of Grau"s insights are truly original thought and will provide an entirely new perspective on the conflict."Parameters, Spring 2000"Grau translated, edited and added to the book, providing US perspectives and an analysis of the Frunze comments as well as vivid insights into Soviet troop practice."War in History"an excellent source for those wanting to understand how the Soviet army operated in Afghanistan

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Book SynopsisExamining the strengths and weaknesses of European and Chinese military techniques during the period, this title provides a balanced perspective on long-held assumptions about Western power, Chinese might, and the nature of war.Trade Review"In this page-turning historical narrative, Andrade chronicles the 1661-62 battle for Taiwan in what is often seen as the first modern conflict between an Eastern and Western power. While historians have traditionally viewed Europeans then as more advanced in science, technology, and political infrastructures than their Eastern counterparts, Andrade reveals that Chinese warfare tactics based on ancient texts and military philosophy, built up over a millennia of a rich cultural heritage, actually allowed for the enigmatic leader Koxinga and his Chinese generals to neutralize any European superiority in weaponry and defeat the Dutch and thus the Dutch East India Company's hold on Taiwan... For the global and military history enthusiast, this book is exceptionally insightful about the early-modern history of European contact in Asia."--Library Journal "Tonio Andrade succeeds brilliantly not only in writing good history but in telling a gripping story. If you read only one book on Chinese history this year ... make it this one."--Timothy Brook, Literary Review "A most interesting, very well-written and highly important account of the Dutch loss of Taiwan that is deliberately located in terms of the debate over Western military proficiency vis-a-vis that of China. The book offers much."--Jeremy Black, European Review of History "[The Lost Colony] could easily pass for an exciting historical novel. Andrade spins a gripping tale, full of excellent anecdotes and insights ... well written with a wealth of details that are well documented."--Gerrit van der Wees, Taipei Times "Lost Colony proves to be a good read as Andrade turns that would seem like a minor footnote in history into a stirring and insightful account of military campaigns, pirates, sieges, treachery, and naval battles."--Hilton Yip, Asian Review of Books "Andrade's provocatively titled book is a much-needed addition to the relatively small body of work about pre-modern Taiwan in English that tells how the infamous Zheng Chenggong (Coxinga) threw the Dutch off the island in 1662. He draws very deeply on rich archival sources in both Dutch and Chinese to give a vivid, almost overly detailed, account from both sides of the conflict."--Choice "[T]his monograph is a triumph of narrative brilliance and academic depth at the same time. It rarely happens that a work of such scholarly profundity will appeal to scholars ... and a general non-specialist readership hungry for an exciting story."--Barend Noordam, Shilin "Andrade gives a colourful, detailed explanation of the Chinese victory at Zeelandia, carefully weighing both sides' leadership, tactics, weaponry, ships and fortifications... This is engaging history, rooted in copious records kept at the time, by a reflective writer with a good story to tell--both about the events of 1661 and how history itself gets written."--Michael Clugston, South China Morning Post "[T]his is an excellent work, a must-read for scholars interested in early modern contact between Asia and Europe, the histories of Taiwan and China, and the history of warfare. It would also serve as an excellent addition to courses due to its readable and engrossing narrative, solid research, and well-reasoned argument."--Scott Relyea, Historian "Andrade's larger argument is supported by an engaging narrative that is written in accessible prose that makes it suitable for use in high school or undergraduate university classes. Andrade lays out large themes and historiographical controversies in clear, understandable language. Perhaps more importantly, the engaging narrative will hold students' interest... I look forward to using it in my own world history and Asian history courses in the future."--Robert Hoppens, Education about Asia "Lost Colony is ambitiously theorized, well researched, stimulatingly argued, and beautifully written. Those interested in Chinese, Asian, military, and global history will find it fruitful, stimulating reading. In terms of Asian military history, Lost Colony is another excellent addition to accomplishments over the last decade by scholars on South, Southeast, and East Asia, but military history of Asia still lags behind that of Europe. A genuine global (non-Eurocentric and non-Asiacentric) military history is one step closer due to Lost Colony."--Sun Laichen, Journal of Asian Studies "This is an intriguing book with remarkable and lively accounts written in accessible prose and with engaging humour. It also offers valuable information and insight about Europe's first war with China as well as Chinese history in general, and provides a welcome and much-needed addition to our understanding of military and maritime history more specifically."--Chia-Lin Huang, European History Quarterly "Lost Colony makes a major contribution not only to the historiography of Taiwan, but indeed to that of the wider genre of maritime Asia. It provides an excellent basis for comparative inter-disciplinary studies."--Niki Alsford, IRA "With its meticulous use of detailed and colorful sources, this account should appeal to a wide readership."--Roger Des Forges, HistorianTable of ContentsIllustrations ix Dramatis Personae xi Preamble An Execution 3 ONE Destinies Entwined 21 Pirate War 34 War Is the Art of Deception 45 The Wrath of Heaven 54 The Samurai 60 The General 68 The Sea King 82 Heaven Has Not Tired of Chaos on Earth 99 TWO An Extreme and Terrifying Storm 111 A Foggy Morning 117 Koxinga's Victories 124 Parleys and Capitulations 137 The Castle 152 An Assault 165 A Summer of Misery 181 Relief from the Sea 194 THREE The Fleet 207 A Foolish Attack 218 The Defectors 227 Koxinga Closes In 239 The Accidental Embassy 250 Acrimony 269 The Last Battle 278 Surrender 290 A Mad Death 298 CLOSING Epilogues and Conclusions 307 Acknowledgments 331 Notes 335 References 399 Index 423

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Book SynopsisPeter Tunstall's unforgettable memoir of his days in the RAF and as one of the most celebrated of all British POWs.Trade Review'A remarkable memoir of a British lad's salad days flying bombers against the Nazis and then repeatedly escaping their prison camps... An engrossing valediction to the tough, imaginative generation forged by the war' Kirkus Reviews'The historical account of behind-the-scenes drama makes this a valuable addition to the period literature' Publishers Weekly'The story is not sugar coated to make things lighter than they were. The stark reality of war is ever present in his detailed accounting of life as a prisoner of war. We are taken through the highs and lows of not only each failed attempt but the psychological effects of imprisonment on himself, others in the camps and ultimately how it changed each person involved' Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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Book SynopsisNarrates how two charismatic, exceptionally talented physicists - J Robert Oppenheimer and Hans A Bethe - came to terms with the nuclear weapons they helped to create. This work tells the story of modern physics, the development of atomic weapons, and the Cold War.Trade Review"An absorbing investigation of how the two physicists, each formidable in his own way, attempted to shoulder responsibility for their creation."--The New Yorker "There is merit to Schweber's contrasting portraits of Oppenheimer and Bethe... Trained as a physicist, Schweber is the first biographer to explain the significance of the scientific work that Oppenheimer and Bethe did--a fascinating topic in itself."--Gregg Herken, American Scientist "The author of this book studied physics with J. Robert Oppenheimer and Hans Bethe. His remarkably clear account of their rise to intellectual leadership in the 1930's pulses with an insider's love. Mostly, however, S. S. Schweber writes as a historian and philosopher of science, elegantly exploring the morally fractured stories of American physicists transformed by the Cold War."--John M. Staudenmaier, The Historian "In the Shadow of the Bomb is a rare example of a successful hybrid work... Schweber entwines issues of science, technology, ethics, and politics in a relatively seamless manner, bringing in each lens of analysis at the appropriate time... [He] presents a model of how to write respectfully of individuals while portraying them as fallible human beings in a complex cultural, political, intellectual, and scientific context."--Russell Olwell, Technology & Culture "For a world in which scientific power must be checked by visionary words linked to prudent politics, Schweber has written a book of compelling insight."--Booklist "Schweber is to be commended for pulling together, with comprehensive referencing, many of the relevant events in the interlocking sagas of Oppenheimer and Bethe... Bethe is the dominant figure in this volume, and Schweber knows and describes him well."--Sidney D. Drell, Physics Today "Silvan Schweber [worries] about the gap between moral ideals and moral realities among scientists who brought the Atomic Age into being and who lived with its postwar consequences... In the Shadow of the Bomb ...contrasts Bethe's exemplary conduct with Oppenheimer's moral ambiguity."--Steven Shapin, London Review of Books "[A] fascinating account... [It offers] gripping accounts that capture the essence of an era through panoramic detail."--Nicole Johnston, The Globe and Mail "[A] book, well footnoted and scholarly, that poses fundamental moral and ethical questions and seeks their answers through examination of the lives of Oppenheimer and Bethe. This is very much a book for current times..."--Choice "Schweber's book ... offers intriguing insights into the creativity of [Robert Oppenheimer and Hans Bethe] and the shaping of their moral outlooks in the atomic age. How they balanced the ethical equation between uncovering truths about nature and inventing the most terrible weapons of mass destruction makes for fascinating reading."--PD Smith, The Guardian UnlimitedTable of ContentsPreface ix Acknowledgments xvii INTRODUCTION 3 1. WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT? 28 2. J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER 42 Oppenheimer and the Ethical Culture Movement 42 The Agenda of the Ethical Culture Society 46 The Teaching of Ethics at the School 50 The Maturation of Oppenheimer 53 Becoming a Physicist: Oppenheimer and His School 61 3. HANS BETHE 76 Becoming a Bildungstrager 76 Becoming a Physicist: Arnold Sommerfeld 87 Wholeness and Stability 91 Los Alamos 104 Bethe and Oppenheimer: Their Entanglement 107 4.THE CHALLENGE OF McCARTHYISM 115 The Bernard Peters Case 115 The Philip Morrison Case 130 Some Concluding Comments 146 5.NUCLEAR WEAPONS 149 Atomic Bombs 149 Hydrogen Bombs 156 PSAC and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 168 6.ON SCIENCE AND SOCIETY 178 EPILOGUE 183 Notes to the Chapters 187 Bibliography 239 Index 257

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