Specific wars and military campaigns Books
Loose Chippings Books Call Of The Litany Bird: Surviving the Zimbabwe
Book SynopsisAs a trained nurse, newly married to the son of the Governor of Rhodesia during the UDI years, Susan writes compellingly about bringing up a family on their farm in Matabeleland in the midst of the unfolding terror and growing number of atrocities. Above all it is a human story. Sometimes shocking and always moving, there is also warmth and humour as Susan creates a gripping picture of the conflict and tells of her family's survival when many of her friends and neighbouring farmers didn't. The book is a testament to the courage displayed by so many people who were tested day after day by almost unimaginable horrors. The Litany Bird is the popular name of the Nightjar, a largely nocturnal bird found throughout southern Africa. Its haunting call sounds like 'Good Lord, Deliver Us.'Trade ReviewThis is a moving book, calmly written despite the horrors it details. The Spectator Susan Gibbs's extraordinary memoir. She writes vividly about her love of Africa and its people, and it is impossible not to admire her courage. Her account is threaded with amusing anecdotes. Daily Mail Sue Gibbs is a gifted writer. She tells a compelling personal story of bringing up a family on a farm whilst living through the harrowing times as Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. It is a wonderfully evocative read. Tom Benyon OBE, Founder of ZANE Deeply moving. Douglas Hurd (Former Foreign Secretary) This book reminds us of the courage which they (the Gibbs) and so many of their friends and neighbours showed. Lord Carrington (Former Foreign Secretary) Sometimes a book can touch a part of the soul and for me, Call Of The Litany Bird is such a one. New Books Magazine One really does feel, as the book progresses, the deterioration in the situation and the worries and concerns both of the white farming community and the Africans who shared so much of their lives. The definitive account. Major General Colin Shortis (Former BMATT Commander in Zimbabwe) A heartfelt account of human endeavour to try and lead as normal and productive lives as possible throughout grave turmoil. New Africa Analysis This book is a gem. Robin Byatt CMG (British High Commissioner to Zimbabwe 1980 to 1983) There are not many books which cause me to cancel any thought of doing anything else just so I can get stuck in to them, but this one did it for me today. Go buy this book, you will not be disappointed. John Gaye (Blogger) This is an amazing story, told with modesty and without undue drama. Amazon ***** Review An elegant and easy style. Amazon ***** Review
£17.09
Helion & Company A New Battlefield: The Royal Ulster Rifles in
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£21.25
Helion & Company Jet Age Man: SAC B-47 and B-52 Operations in the
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£22.46
Helion & Company The End of Empire: Napoleon'S 1814 Campaign
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£44.96
Helion & Company Counterinsurgency in Paradise: Seven Decades of
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£16.10
Helion & Company Israeli Air Force Operations in the 1948 War:
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£16.10
Helion & Company Libyan Air Wars Part 2: 1985-1986: Part 2:
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£16.10
Helion & Company Libyan Air Wars Part 3: 1985-1989: Part 3:
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£16.10
Grub Street Publishing Harrier Boys: Volume Two: New Threats, New
Book SynopsisIn the second volume of Harrier Boys, as with the first, the history of this remarkable aircraft in service with UK armed forces is illustrated through personal reminiscences of the people who worked with it. The book begins with explanations of the mature concept of operations with the Harrier GR3 in the Cold War. It then progresses through the evolution of Harrier II, starting with the GR5, and updates to the Sea Harrier, while the potential battles to be fought necessitated ever-changing tactics and technology. The new Harriers used digital developments for airframe, engine and weapons control. Conflicts in Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan saw ground-attack missions move towards the delivery of smart weapons from medium level, rather than the dumb bombs and low level of the Cold War era meaning that the Harrier had once more to demonstrate its legendary versatility. The introduction of the Sea Harrier FA2, with its beyond visual range air-to-air missiles and improved radar, gave much improved air defence. The UK Harrier story ends with the closer integration of the RN and RAF forces, before the aircraft's all-too-early retirement in 2010, possibly decades before other countries forsake this unique capability.
£17.00
Helion & Company Hawker Hunters at War: Iraq and Jordan, 1958-1967
£16.10
Helion & Company Wings Over Sinai: The Egyptian Air Force During
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£16.10
Helion & Company Target Saigon 1973-75 Volume 1: The Fall of South
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£16.10
Helion & Company Four Flags, the Odyssey of a Professional Soldier
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£24.39
Helion & Company 1973: the First Nuclear War: Crucial Air Battles
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£16.10
Helion & Company Recollections from the Ranks: Three Russian
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£16.10
Helion & Company Hot Skies Over Yemen: Volume 1: Aerial Warfare
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£16.10
Helion & Company Target Saigon: the Fall of South Vietnam: Volume 3 - the Final Collapse (March - April 1975)
£16.10
Helion & Company Portuguese Dragoons, 1966-1974: The Return to
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£16.10
Helion & Company They Fought with Extraordinary Bravery!: The III
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£21.25
Helion & Company Zambezi Valley Insurgency: Early Rhodesian Bush
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£16.10
Helion & Company Kargil 1999: South Asia's First Post-Nuclear
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£16.10
Helion & Company The Rescue They Called a Raid: The Jameson
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£21.25
Helion & Company Ripe for Rebellion: Insurgency and Covert War in
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£16.96
Helion & Company Into the Iron Triangle: Operation Attleboro and
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£16.10
Helion & Company Operation Danube: Soviet and Warsaw Pact
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£999.99
Helion & Company Tsar Bomba: Live Testing of Soviet Nuclear Bombs,
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£16.10
Helion & Company Air Power and the Arab World, 1909-1955: Volume
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£16.96
Helion & Company Paulista War Volume 2: The Last Civil War in Brazil, 1932
£16.96
Helion & Company Austrian Cavalry of the Revolutionary and
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£28.00
Helion & Company Riflemen: The History of the 5th Battalion, 60th
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£999.99
Casemate Winning the Ten Crucial Days
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£23.96
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC US Marine Corps F-4 Phantom II Units of the
Book SynopsisTwenty-five US Marine Corps squadrons flew versions of the Phantom II and 11 of them used the aircraft in South-East Asia from May 1965 through to early 1973. Rather than the air-to-air missiles that were the main component in the original F-4 armament, these aircraft carried an ever-expanding range of weaponry. Some toted 24,500-lb bombs and others strafed with up to three 20 mm gun pods, while most flew daily sorties delivering napalm, Snakeye bombs and big Zuni rockets. Many US Marines holding small outpost positions in Laos and South Vietnam against heavy Viet Cong attack owed their lives to the Phantom II pilots who repeatedly drove off the enemy. The book will examine these missions in the context of US Marine Corps close-support doctrine, using the direct experience of a selection of the aircrew who flew and organised those missions.Trade ReviewHighly recommended. - IPMS/USATable of ContentsIn the beginning /To battle /CAS, McCutcheon and Control, The toughest years /Golden hawk eyes /Appendices
£14.24
Harvard University Press Under the Starry Flag
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA stunning accomplishment…As the Trump administration works to expatriate naturalized U.S. citizens, understanding the history of individual rights and state power at the heart of Under the Starry Flag could not be more important…Salyer’s work on expatriation recalls a different time, when the U.S. government worked hard to protect and reinforce the rights of immigrants in the United States and those that became U.S. citizens. -- Torrie Hester * Passport *Under the Starry Flag is a brilliant piece of historical writing as well as a real page-turner. Salyer seamlessly integrates analysis of big, complicated historical questions—allegiance, naturalization, citizenship, politics, diplomacy, race, and gender—into a gripping narrative. -- Kevin Kenny, author of The American Irish: A HistorySalyer offers a compelling account of how the right of expatriation won recognition during the second half of the nineteenth century through the efforts of immigrants themselves, and then gestures at the darker story of how the U.S. government wielded expatriation against both native-born and naturalized citizens in the twentieth century, often to devastating effect. -- Kunal Parker, author of Making Foreigners: Immigration and Citizenship Law in America, 1600–2000Under the Starry Flag is a beautifully written account of the Irish Americans who fought for Ireland’s freedom in the 1860s and for their protection, as naturalized U.S. citizens, from British prosecution. Irish freedom fighters, the Civil War and slave emancipation, the color line in American law, and international relations—all told by Lucy Salyer with elegance, drama, and erudition. -- Mae Ngai, author of Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern AmericaBeautifully crafted and compelling, Lucy Salyer’s illuminating narrative of Irish American freedom fighters is a reminder of the pathos and passion in the history of citizenship. Highly recommended. -- Mary Dudziak, author of War Time: An Idea, Its History, Its ConsequencesDo individuals have an inherent right to change their national allegiance? Are naturalized citizens the equal of birthright citizens? What power do sovereign states wield in a world of nation-states? Salyer gives us a history of expatriation in the era of Reconstruction that is both a riveting story and a brilliant contribution to our understanding of citizenship. -- Barbara Young Welke, author of Law and the Borders of Belonging in the Long Nineteenth Century United States
£20.66
University Press of Kansas Postwar Journeys American and Vietnamese
Book SynopsisTells the story of the roles played by American and Vietnamese citizens in their postwar quest for peace. Hang Thi Thu Le-Tormala deepens our understanding of the Vietnam War and its aftermath by taking examining postwar Vietnam and offering a fresh analysis of the effects of the war and what postwar reconstruction meant for ordinary citizens.Trade ReviewPostwar Journeys fills a significant gap in the literature regarding post-Vietnam War efforts at creating peace and normal relations between the United States and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam by examining nonstate groups and people and demonstrating how they influenced their governments' policies. Employing a framework of transnationalism, Le-Tormala skillfully weaves together powerful stories with international politics to demonstrate how 'hidden historical actors' were able to make two hostile governments in Washington, DC, and Hanoi engage with each other to solve problems that were being ignored. There is no comparable study that has the breadth and depth in examining the efforts of veterans, peace groups, and individuals that ultimately helped forge peace between the United States and Vietnam." - David F. Schmitz, Robert Allen Skotheim Chair of History, Whitman College, and author of Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War: The End of the American Century "Much has been written about the normalization of US-Vietnamese relations in the 1990s. Far less attention has been given to the decades of grassroots peace efforts that led to and followed that normalization. Hang Thi Thu Le-Tormala has now beautifully excavated this history. Through poignant stories and incisive analysis, Postwar Journeys provides a much-needed examination of the ongoing importance of people-to-people diplomacy." - Scott Laderman, author of Tours of Vietnam: War, Travel Guides, and Memory and The 'Silent Majority' Speech: Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War, and the Origins of the New Right"Postwar Journeys is an impressive study that details the transnational interactions between ordinary Vietnamese and American citizens who helped reshape the struggle for peace and reconciliation after the end of what the Vietnamese call the 'American War.' Addressing the efforts of Vietnamese refugees, Amerasian children of American GIs, American and Vietnamese veterans and their families, relatives of fallen soldiers on both sides, and other citizens who experienced the war in one way or the other, the author examines the journeys of individuals from varied political, cultural, and social backgrounds. In doing so, this book bridges a gap in the scholarship that often overlooks the role of individual citizens on both sides in the postwar effort that led to reconciliation between the former foes. Far-ranging in scope and impressively researched, this book is a valuable addition to the ever-growing historiography of the war." - James H. Willbanks, professor emeritus of military history, US Command and General Staff College, and author of Abandoning Vietnam: How America Left and South Vietnam Lost Its War
£43.20
University of Toronto Press The Spanish Blue Division on the Eastern Front
Book SynopsisIn 1941, the Franco regime established the Spanish Division of Volunteers to take part in the Russian campaign as a unit integrated into the German Wehrmacht. Recruited by both the Fascist Party (Falange) and the Spanish army, around 47,000 Spanish volunteers joined what would become known as the Blue Division. The Spanish Blue Division on the Eastern Front, 19411945 explores an intimate history of the Blue Division from below, using personal war diaries, letters, and memoirs, as well as official documents from military archives in Spain, Germany, Britain, and Russia. In addition to describing the Spanish experience on the Eastern Front, Xosé M. Núñez Seixas takes on controversial topics including the Blue Division’s proximity to the Holocaust and how members of the Blue Division have been remembered and commemorated. Addressing issues such as the behaviour of the Spaniards as occupiers, their perception by the Russians, their witnessing of the Holocaust,Trade Review“The Spanish Blue Division on the Eastern Front makes for compelling reading…This accessible book should be read by anyone interested in modern Spain, the Eastern Front, Axis allies, or soldier motivation.” -- Grant T. Harward, US Army Center of Military History * Michigan War Studies Review *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction: The Blue Division, the Franco Regime, and the Second World War 1. Russia Is Guilty! 2. A Long March: From Central Europe to the Volkhov Front 3. The Blue Division On the Front 4. Occupation Practices of the Blue Division in Northwest Russia 5. The Last Crusaders of the Nazi New Order, 1944–1945 6. War Veterans and Memories from the Eastern Front in Franco’s Spain Conclusion: A Spanish Exception in the War of Extermination? Sources Bibliography
£23.39
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb: Shadow of Terror
Book SynopsisInsurgencies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere-the majority linked to al Qaeda-are in the news on an almost daily basis. But very little surfaces about a festering insurgency that has been on the go for six years in West Africa under the acronym of AQIM, or al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. This low-level series of guerrilla conflicts is widespread and sporadic, covering an area as vast as Europe. Nigeria has been drawn into the equation because its Boko Haram insurgent faction maintains close ties with AQIM and Islamic State. For now though, the focus is on Mali where several jihadist groups-despite formal peace agreements-remain active. Involved is the French army and air force as well as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), the European Union Training Mission in Mali (EUTM) as well as the European Union Capacity Building Mission (EUCAP). The insurrection that fostered all this broke out early 2012 when President Fran�ois Hollande announced the beginning of Operation Serval. Five hours later the first squadrons of French Gazelle helicopter gunships began attacking Islamist columns. A day later French fighter jets based in Chad, almost 2,000 kilometres away, were making sorties against rebel ground targets in northern Mali.
£11.69
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The French at Waterloo: Eyewitness Accounts: 2nd
Book SynopsisThis volume of French eyewitness accounts of Waterloo, published for the first time in full in English, completes Andrew Field's pioneering work on the French experience in this decisive battle. These vivid recollections add a new dimension to our understanding of what happened on 18 June 1815. Readers will now be in a position to come to their own conclusions and they can compare the French accounts with those of soldiers from the allied armies, in particular the British, which have largely determined our assumptions about the battle for the last 200 years. They will also gain a heightened insight into the trauma that the French eyewitnesses went through on the battlefield and afterwards as they tried to explain and come to terms their loss. This second volume features graphic descriptions of the battle as it was remembered by men of the 2nd and 6th corps, cavalry, artillery and Imperial Guard and medical services of Napoleon's army. Their words give us not only a telling inside view their actions during that extraordinary day, but they also record in graphic detail what they saw and show us how they reacted to Napoleon's historic defeat.
£16.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Big Week 1944
Book SynopsisA rigorous new analysis of America''s legendary Big Week air campaign which enabled the Allies to gain air superiority before D-Day.In the years before the outbreak of World War II, there was a general consensus among military strategists that strategic bombing had the ability to win wars. However, no-one could foresee the devastation that German radar-directed interceptors would inflict on large bomber formations.With the increasingly urgent need to eliminate these German fighter-aircraft prior to D-Day, a concerted two-phase effort, code-named Operation Argument, was launched by USSAF. Targeting aircraft factories with hundreds of heavy bombers escorted by the new long-range P-51 Mustang, the operation, now known as the Big Week campaign, was designed to destroy aircraft production on the ground and force the Luftwaffe into combat to defend these vital facilities, allowing the new escort fighters to take their toll on the German interceptors. Packed with speTrade ReviewThe book is wonderfully supplemented by the usual stunning artwork known in many of the Osprey series. There are excellent maps, orders of battle, and a good selection of photographs. I found few if any editing errors in this book. It is a fantastic look at a very focused and short campaign in February 1944 that was deemed crucial to the success of the impending Allied invasion. In fact by April 1944, the USAAF switched priorities and focus by being subordinated to Eisenhower for invasion support. If you are looking for a compact yet comprehensive and affordable look at Operation Argument, then this is the book for you. -- Todd Shughart * Aviation News Magazine *Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION CHRONOLOGY ATTACKER’S CAPABILITIES -The Pointblank Directive -Aircraft: their capabilities, roles, and missions -Commanders ORDERS OF BATTLE, February 1944 DEFENDER’S CAPABILITIES -The Luftwaffe’s air defence system -Aircraft: their capabilities, roles, and missions -Commanders CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES -“Black Week” – the crisis of American daylight strategic bombing -The Luftwaffe’s response -Operation Argument planning THE CAMPAIGN -Eighth AF Mission 226, February 20 -Eighth AF Mission 228, February 21 -Eighth AF Mission 230, February 22 -Fifteenth AF Missions, February 22, 23, and 24 -Eighth AF Mission No.233, February 24 -Eighth and Fifteenth AF Missions, February 25 AFTERMATH AND ASSESSMENT BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX
£13.49
Savas Beatie Fighting for Philadelphia
Book SynopsisThe weeks of bloody maneuvering and fighting along the Delaware River at Fort Mercer, Fort Mifflin, and Gloucester receive but scant attention in the literature of the American Revolution. The same is true for the five-day Whitemarsh operation and other important events in December 1777. Award-winning author Michael C. Harris's impressive Fighting for Philadelphia: Forts Mercer and Mifflin, the Battle of Whitemarsh, and the Road to Valley Forge, October 5-December 19, 1777 rescues these important actions from obscurity, puts them in context with the Saratoga Campaign, and closes his magnificent trilogy that began with Brandywine and left off with Germantown.This period of the war began when General Sir William Howe's army of 16,500 British and Hessian soldiers set out aboard a 265-ship armada from New York to capture Philadelphia in late July 1777. Six difficult weeks later, Howe landed near Elkton, Maryland, moved north into Pennsylvania, and defeated Washington's army in the large battle at Brandywine on September 11. Philadelphia fell to the British.On October 4, Washington launched a successful surprise attack obscured by darkness and a heavy morning fog against the British garrison at Germantown. The recapture of the colonial capital seemed within Washington's grasp until poor battlefield decisions brought about a reversal of fortune and a clear British victory. Like Brandywine, however, the bloody Germantown scrap proved Continental soldiers could stand toe-to-toe with British Regulars. What followed was a protected quasi-siege of the British garrison in Germantown prior to the travails soon to come that winter at Valley Forge.Harris's Fighting for Philadelphia is the first complete study to merge the strategic, political, and tactical history of the complex operations sandwiched between Germantown and the arrival of the Continental Army at Valley Forge. Harris's sweeping prose relies almost exclusively on original archival research and a deep personal knowledge of the terrain, highlighted by eighteen original maps, illustrations, and modern photos. Told largely through the words of those who fought there, Fighting for Philadelphia is sure to please the most discriminating reader and assume its place as one of the finest military studies of its kind.
£24.64
Cambridge University Press The Spanish Labyrinth An Account Of The Social And Political Background Of The Spanish Civil War Canto Classics
Gerald Brenan's The Spanish Labyrinth has become the classic account of the background to the Spanish Civil War. Written during and immediately after the Civil War, this book has all the vividness of the author's experience. It represents a struggle to see the issues in Spanish politics objectively, whilst bearing witness to the deep involvement which is the only possible source of much of this richly detailed account. As a literary figure on the fringe of the Bloomsbury group, Gerald Brenan lends to this narrative an engaging personal style that has become familiar to many thousands of readers over the decades since it was first published.
£18.99
Grub Street Publishing Hunter Boys: True Tales from Pilots of the Hawker
Book SynopsisFrom Richard Pike, author of Grub Street's bestselling Lightning Boys series, comes Hunter Boys, a fascinating insight into the experiences of those who flew the iconic Hawker Hunter - an aircraft known affectionately to many as `Queen of the Skies'. In fifteen separate chapters, pilots' stories of the dramas and demands of this incredible aircraft, which changed the future of fighter development, are related in distinctive style, including experiences of the legendary test pilot Neville Duke. One chapter details the remarkable tale of a pilot who flew an unauthorised sortie under London's Tower Bridge at the time of the 50th anniversary of the Royal Air Force. In another, the realities of war are recounted in a poignant personal account taken from diaries penned at the time of the 1971 Indo/Pakistan conflict. Further chapters describe individual experiences of flying in places as diverse as Aden, Gibraltar, Jordan and Kenya. The exceptional performance of this aircraft is evident throughout as is its well-renowned lengthy service life with the RAF and internationally. The scope, flair and pace of the writing in this book will appeal to the general reader as well as to the enthusiast.Trade Review`The contributors have written entertaining and informative tales of success, heroics, fear, relief and exhilaration in and around the Hunter cockpit.' Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal; `An intriguing insight into the experiences of the Hawker Hunter pilots.' Military History Monthly; `The book is an entertaining window into what must have been one of the most glorious periods to be in Fighter Command.' The Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators
£12.34
Stanford University Press When the Iron Bird Flies: China's Secret War in
Book SynopsisAn untold story that reshapes our understanding of Chinese and Tibetan history From 1956 to 1962, devastating military conflicts took place in China's southwestern and northwestern regions. Official record at the time scarcely made mention of the campaign, and in the years since only lukewarm acknowledgment of the violence has surfaced. When the Iron Bird Flies, by Jianglin Li, breaks this decades long silence to reveal for the first time a comprehensive and explosive picture of the six years that would prove definitive in modern Tibetan and Chinese history. The CCP referred to the campaign as "suppressing the Tibetan rebellion." It would lead to the 14th Dalai Lama's exile in India, as well as the Tibetan diaspora in 1959, though the battles lasted three additional years after these events. Featuring key figures in modern Chinese history, the battles waged in this period covered a vast geographical region. This book offers a portrait of chaos, deception, heroism, and massive loss. Beyond the significant death toll across the Tibetan regions, the war also destroyed most Tibetan monasteries in a concerted effort to eradicate local religion and scholarship. Despite being considered a military success, to this day, the operations in the agricultural regions remain unknown. As large numbers of Tibetans have self-immolated in recent years to protest Chinese occupation, Li shows that the largest number of cases occurred in the sites most heavily affected by this hidden war. She argues persuasively that the events described in this book will shed more light on our current moment, and will help us understand the unrelenting struggle of the Tibetan people for their freedom.Trade Review"In this book we have the for the first time a Chinese historian presenting conclusive research on Tibet's recent history. It is my hope that through this historical documentation establishing the truth of what happened, Chinese intellectuals, and all other readers, will come to understand the real situation and be able to deepen their approach to and understanding of the Tibet problem in the spirit of seeking truth from facts. With my praise and admiration for the author on the fruition of her many labours." –His Holiness the Dalai Lama"Jianglin Li is a treasure. The confines of our knowledge about Tibet have expanded dramatically as a result of her dogged research. She has done for Tibet what Chinese historians like Yang Jisheng have done for the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution: uncovered, at considerable personal cost, a history that the Communist Party tried hard to conceal."—Barbara Demick, author of Eat the Buddha"Jianglin Li has pieced together by far the most comprehensive and compelling picture of the devastation wreaked by China upon Tibet. This book is likely to remain the definitive source, and therefore required reading, for anyone interested in this history."—Anne F. Thurston, co-author with Gyalo Thondup of The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong"To have this kind of detail about these events is exceptional. Until now, historians had assumed that 1959 marked the end of major conflict between the PLA and Tibet. This important study corrects those notions, and expands our understanding about the deep tensions that continue to reverberate in much of China's western territories."—Robert Barnett, editor of Forbidden Memory: Tibet during the Cultural Revolution"When the Iron Bird Flies provides the most comprehensive account to date of the brutal and bloody conflicts that took place between the PLA and Tibetans. Combining rigorous research with extensive interviews with Tibetan refugees, this book sheds light on those violent critical years of state incorporation."—Emily T. Yeh, author of Taming Tibet"Authoritative, exhaustive, and reliable, Jianglin Li's account sets a new standard for the history of Sino-Tibetan relations and deftly depicts the momentous historical transition of a region little known to outsiders."—David G. Atwill, coauthor with Yurong Y. Atwill of Sources in Chinese History"This extraordinarily important book reveals for the first time the ruthless military campaign against local rebellions that the PLA waged across vast Tibetan regions. This long-hidden story, told in a series of powerfully dramatic vignettes, reshapes our understanding of the formative years of the People's Republic of China."—Andrew G. Walder, author of China Under Mao"[When the Iron Bird Flies] provides many startling details about how the Chinese Communist Party cracked down on Tibetans from 1956 through 1962. The work of Li, an independent scholar born in China, has an aspect of a detective story because the Chinese government has never disclosed much of what happened... Does any of this matter now, decades later? I think so. As I read Li's study, I thought of the current Chinese government crackdown on the Uyghurs of far northwestern China. I suspect that many of the lessons the Communist Party learned in Tibet are being applied now."—Thomas E. Ricks, The New York Times Book Review"Li draws on interviews with exiled Tibetans and on classified Chinese-language sources to describe battle after battle and the enormous destruction and loss of civilian life that the PLA caused... The story is all the more heartbreaking for the clinical tone of Li's reporting."—Andrew J. Nathan, Foreign AffairsThe book's strength is Li's detailed account and descriptions of events based on rarely accessed Chinese sources supplemented by interviews with Tibetans living in exile. Li sees the book as a personal exploration in pursuit of truth.... Overall, Li tells a powerful story of the Tibetan resistance and provides vivid details about the clash between vastly different value systems that underlay that conflict."—Tsering Shakya, Pacific AffairsTable of Contents1. The Storm Rising in the Mountains 2. Rebellion Sparked in the Year of the Fire Monkey 3. Lithang: The Fallen Buddha of the Future 4. Chatreng: The Broken Mala 5. Nyarong: The Wrath of the Dragoness 6. The First Bend in the Yellow River 7. Tibet: Occupation and "Reform" 8. The Chamdo Pilot Project and "Six Years without Change" 9. Diplomatic Clashes: Zhou Enlai, Nehru, and the Dalai Lama 10. Obscure Events in 1957 11. Gunshots in the Golok Grasslands 12. The Yellow River Massacre 13. Yulshul in Flames 14. Tubten Nyima, a monk from the area, confirmed to the author the location of the battles referred to as the "battle of encirclement and annihilation in southeastern Xinghai" in Chinese sources. It was one of the major campaigns of Qinghai's 1958-1959 suppression of the Tibetan resistance and fleeing Tibetans. 15. The Crossed-Sword Banner at Drigu Lake 16. The 1958 "Religious Reform Movement" 17. Lhasa, the Last Hope 18. "Lhasa Is No More!" 19. The Battle of Lhoka 20. From Namtso to Mitikha 21. Encircling the Plateau in the Depths of Winter 22. The Men Who Fell from the Sky 23. Chamdo's Fight to the Death 24. The Life-or-Death Journey 25. When the Iron Horse Raced Across the Plateau
£26.99
Pen & Sword Books Ltd The Waterloo Armies: Men, Organization and
Book SynopsisWaterloo is one of the most famous battles in history and it has given rise to a vast and varied literature. The strategy and tactics of the battle and the entire Waterloo campaign have been analysed at length. The commanders, manoeuvres and critical episodes, and the intense experiences of the men who took part, have all been recorded in minute detail. But the organization, structure and fighting strength of the armies that fought in the battle have received less attention, and this is the subject of Philip Haythornthwaite\'s detailed, authoritative and engaging study. Through a close description of the structure and personnel of each of the armies he builds up a fascinating picture of their makeup, their methods and their capabilities. The insight he offers into the contrasting styles and national characteristics of the forces that came together on the Waterloo battlefield gives a fresh perspective on the extraordinary clash of arms that ended the Napoleonic era.
£14.39
Oxford University Press Inc A Most Holy War
Book SynopsisThe Albigensian Crusade, the first in which Christians were promised salvation for killing other Christians, lasted twenty bloody years--a long savage war for the soul of Christendom. In A Most Holy War, historian Mark Pegg has produced a swift-moving, gripping narrative of this horrific crusade. Pegg draws in part on thousands of testimonies collected by inquisitors in the years 1235 to 1245, accounts of ordinary men and women remembering what it was like to live through such brutal times. In responding to heresy with a holy genocidal war, Innocent III fundamentally changed how Western civilization dealt with individuals accused of corrupting society. This change, Pegg argues, led directly to the creation of the inquisition, the rise of an anti-Semitism, and even the holy violence of the Reconquista in Spain. A bold, erudite, engaging, and superbly written study of what has long been one of the most central topics in medieval and Mediterranean history. --Teofilo F. Ruiz, Professor oTrade ReviewCompelling account. * Christopher Hirst, the Independent *Table of ContentsPreface ; Acknowledgments ; Dramatis Personae ; Genealogical Charts ; A Most Holy War ; Abbreviations Used in Notes ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index
£999.99
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Waterloo: The French Perspective
Book SynopsisThe story of the Battle of Waterloo - of the ultimate defeat of Napoleon and the French, the triumph of Wellington, Bl cher and their allied armies - is most often told from the viewpoint of the victors, not the vanquished. Even after 200 years of intensive research and the publication of hundreds of books and articles on the battle, the French perspective and many of the primary French sources are under-represented in the written record. So it is high time this weakness in the literature - and in our understanding of the battle - was addressed, and that is the purpose of Andrew Field's thought-provoking new study. He has tracked down over ninety first-hand French accounts, many of which have never been previously published in English, and he has combined them with accounts from the other participants in order to create a graphic new narrative of one of the world's decisive battles. Virtually all of the hitherto unpublished testimony provides fascinating new detail on the battle and many of the accounts are vivid, revealing and exciting. .
£999.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC MiG1719 Aces of the Vietnam War
Book SynopsisAt the beginning of the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese People''s Air Force (VPAF) was equipped with slow, old Korean War-generation fighters--a combination of MiG-17s and MiG-19s,types that should have offered little opposition to the cutting-edge fighter-bombers such as the F-4 Phantom II, F-105 Thunderchief, and the F-8 Crusader. Yet when the USAF and US Navy unleashed their aircraft on North Vietnam in 1965, the inexperienced pilots of the VPAF were able to shatter the illusion of U.S. air superiority. Taking advantage of its jet''s unequaled low-speed maneuverability, small size, and powerful cannon armament, the VPAF was able to take the fight to its missile-guided opponents, with a number of Vietnamese pilots racking up ace scores. Packed with information previously unavailable in the West and only recently released from archives in Vietnam, this is the first major analysis of the exploits of Vietnamese pilots in the David and Goliath contest with the U.S. over the skiesTable of ContentsIntroduction /Swallows Leave the Nest /The Air War Intensifies /New Tactics /MiG-17 Swansong /The 'White Bandits' /Appendices /Colour Plates Commentary /Bibliography /Index
£16.14
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Waterloo The Attack of I Corps
Book SynopsisThis book provides a detailed analysis of the attack of the Comte d'Erlon's French I Corps, and the subsequent allied counterattack, at the Battle of Waterloo. This assault by 20,000 men and eighty guns in the early afternoon of 18 June 1815 came as close as any to winning the battle for Napoleon. It was eventually repulsed just by two stretched Allied infantry divisions and two brigades of cavalry and was, in the words of the Duke of Wellington himself, one of the most serious attacks made by the enemy. Until now, there has been surprisingly little in-depth analysis of this crucial moment in the battle something that this book seeks to remedy. Graeme Callister combines a detailed narrative with a thorough analysis of how the event unfolded. All aspects of the attack are covered; from the grand tactics to the human experience of being in the firing lines, considering the soldiers' experience, morale, leadership, condition and cohesion. Using rarely before analysed material from th
£999.99
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Napoleons Undefeated Marshal
Book SynopsisThe war of 1809 between France and Habsburg Austria, culminating in the titanic battle of Wagram, has been described often as Napoleon's last successful campaign. Napoleon said later that the manoeuvres and actions of the French army and their German allies in the opening two weeks of this conflict were among the most brilliant and skilful of his entire career. But matters might have gone very differently. A series of miscalculations, mistakes and poor communications, both prior to Austria's declaration of war and in the early days of hostilities, might have resulted in a major setback, if not a disaster, for the French Emperor. That they did not is due in large part to the decisions and actions of Marshal Louis Davout, the so-called Iron MarshallThis is the first English study of Marshal Davout's command and leadership in over fifty years. Little known outside of France, Louis Davout was one of the finest generals in Napoleon's army, as evidenced by his comprehensive defeat of the mai
£21.25
