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Showing 21181 - 21200 of 21281 items
By Michael Karpin. 2007
THE BOMB IN THE BASEMENT tells the fascinating story of how Israel became the Middle East's only nuclear power and…
-- unlike Iraq and Iran -- succeeded in keeping its atomic program secret. Veteran Israeli journalist Michael Karpin explains how Israel, by far the smallest of the nuclear powers, succeeded in its ambitious effort. David Ben-Gurion saw the need for an atomic capability to offset the numerical superiority of Arab armies at war with Israel. The Israeli program relied heavily on French assistance in its early years, until President Charles de Gaulle reduced his country's cooperation. Once it was discovered, Israel's nuclear program cast a shadow over relations between Israel and the United States. The Kennedy administration opposed it, and President Lyndon Johnson approved it only tacitly. Significant change took place when President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger adopted a new strategy. An Israel that possessed nuclear capability was a more valuable asset to the West than an Israel without such an option. President Nixon ceased to press Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and dropped U.S. surveillance of the Israeli reactor at Dimona. In exchange, Israel committed itself to maintain official ambiguity about its nuclear program. That policy remains in place nearly forty years later. Without American approval and the financial assistance and lobbying of Jews in North America, Israel could not have achieved its nuclear capability. This is a fascinating story of scientists, politicians, spies, and major international personalities who all played a part in an extraordinary undertaking that continues to shape the politics of the world's most volatile region. Today it remains to be seen whether Israel will permit Iran to build a nuclear bomb and threaten Israel's security.By Joseph Glatthaar. 2009
"You would be surprised to see what men we have in the ranks," Virginia cavalryman Thomas Rowland informed his mother…
in May 1861, just after joining the Army of Northern Virginia. His army -- General Robert E. Lee's army -- was a surprise to almost everyone: With daring early victories and an invasion into the North, they nearly managed to convince the North to give up the fight. Even in 1865, facing certain defeat after the loss of 30,000 men, a Louisiana private fighting in Lee's army still had hope. "I must not despair," he scribbled in his diary. "Lee will bring order out of chaos, and with the help of our Heavenly Father, all will be well." Astonishingly, after 150 years of scholarship, there are still some major surprises about the Army of Northern Virginia. In General Lee's Army, renowned historian Joseph T. Glatthaar draws on an impressive range of sources assembled over two decades -- from letters and diaries, to official war records, to a new, definitive database of statistics -- to rewrite the history of the Civil War's most important army and, indeed, of the war itself. Glatthaar takes readers from the home front to the heart of the most famous battles of the war: Manassas, the Peninsula campaign, Antietam, Gettysburg, all the way to the final surrender at Appomattox. General Lee's Army penetrates headquarters tents and winter shanties, eliciting the officers' plans, wishes, and prayers; it portrays a world of life, death, healing, and hardship; it investigates the South's commitment to the war and its gradual erosion; and it depicts and analyzes Lee's men in triumph and defeat. The history of Lee's army is a powerful lens on the entire war. The fate of Lee's army explains why the South almost won -- and why it lost. The story of his men -- their reasons for fighting, their cohesion, mounting casualties, diseases, supply problems, and discipline problems -- tells it all. Glatthaar's definitive account settles many historical arguments. The Rebels were fighting above all to defend slavery. More than half of Lee's men were killed, wounded, or captured -- a staggering statistic. Their leader, Robert E. Lee, though far from perfect, held an exalted place in his men's eyes despite a number of mistakes and despite a range of problems among some of his key lieutenants. General Lee's Army is a masterpiece of scholarship and vivid storytelling, narrated as much as possible in the words of the enlisted men and their officers.By Joshua Kurlantzick. 2017
The untold story of how America&’s secret war in Laos in the 1960s transformed the CIA from a loose collection…
of spies into a military operation and a key player in American foreign policy.January, 1961: Laos, a tiny nation few Americans have heard of, is at risk of falling to communism and triggering a domino effect throughout Southeast Asia. This is what President Eisenhower believed when he approved the CIA&’s Operation Momentum, creating an army of ethnic Hmong to fight communist forces there. Largely hidden from the American public—and most of Congress—Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States. The brutal war lasted more than a decade, left the ground littered with thousands of unexploded bombs, and changed the nature of the CIA forever.With &“revelatory reporting&” and &“lucid prose&” (The Economist), Kurlantzick provides the definitive account of the Laos war, focusing on the four key people who led the operation: the CIA operative whose idea it was, the Hmong general who led the proxy army in the field, the paramilitary specialist who trained the Hmong forces, and the State Department careerist who took control over the war as it grew.Using recently declassified records and extensive interviews, Kurlantzick shows for the first time how the CIA&’s clandestine adventures in one small, Southeast Asian country became the template for how the United States has conducted war ever since—all the way to today&’s war on terrorism.By Thomas Alexander Hughes. 1995
Over Lord is the fascinating story of how American tactical air power was developed by General Elwood "Pete" Quesada during…
World War II, including its decisive role in Operation OVERLORD and the liberation of Europe.Pete Quesada is one of World War II's unsung yet crucial heroes. With his famous "Ninth Tactical Air Command," Quesada established the best air-ground team in the European theater. he pioneered the use of radar in close air support operations, introducing weapons systems specifically geared to tactical operations. He nurtured new flying methods designed for the kind of precision bombing the battlefields of Europe demanded. And more than anything else, Pete Quesada championed efforts to model air and ground officers into a single fighting unit. His relationships with ground leaders like Generals Omar Bradley and "Lightning Joe" Collins were a model for the kind of interservice harmony that was essential for dislodging the entrenched German Army.At war's end everybody from General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower to ordinary infantrymen recognized Pete Quesada as the premier expert and dogged patron of close air support. Allied airplanes over the battlefields of Europe had undoubtedly shortened the war and saved many thousands of lives, and Pete Quesada came home to a hero's welcome in 1945. By then he was the personification of tactical air power. Indeed, he was its over lord.Unfortunately, Quesada's groundbreaking methods were all but forgotten after the war. As the Cold War deepened, Air Force leaders stressed the role of big bombers flying deep into enemy territory and renounced the importance of close air support missions. Quesada himself was shunted into jobs that were both illsuited to his fiery temperament and divorced from his wartime expertise in tactical aviation. Frustrated, he retired from the Air Force in 1951 at forty-seven years of age.Fortunately, the story of Quesada's innovative tactics did not end there for the American military. In Korea in the 1950s and Vietnam in the 1960s, U.S. servicemen struggled -- and died -- relearning and recreating the kinds of tactics that Quesada had made commonplace in 1944-45. Had the U.S. Air Force nurtured its capacity for close air support, those two conflicts may have unfolded differently. Since then, the Air Force has struggled for a better balance between its bombardment missions and its support functions.This is the definitive story of an extraordinary man, whose remarkable efforts to aid foot soldiers in World War II contributed significantly to the Allies' success. America's belated rediscovery of Quesada's precepts some forty years later in conflicts like Operation DESERT STORM only underscores the importance of Quesada's story.A NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2019 SELECTIONThe dramatic story of the most famous regiment in American history:…
the Rough Riders, a motley group of soldiers led by Theodore Roosevelt, whose daring exploits marked the beginning of American imperialism in the 20th century. When America declared war on Spain in 1898, the US Army had just 26,000 men, spread around the country—hardly an army at all. In desperation, the Rough Riders were born. A unique group of volunteers, ranging from Ivy League athletes to Arizona cowboys and led by Theodore Roosevelt, they helped secure victory in Cuba in a series of gripping, bloody fights across the island. Roosevelt called their charge in the Battle of San Juan Hill his &“crowded hour&”—a turning point in his life, one that led directly to the White House. &“The instant I received the order,&” wrote Roosevelt, &“I sprang on my horse and then my &‘crowded hour&’ began.&” As The Crowded Hour reveals, it was a turning point for America as well, uniting the country and ushering in a new era of global power. Both a portrait of these men, few of whom were traditional soldiers, and of the Spanish-American War itself, The Crowded Hour dives deep into the daily lives and struggles of Roosevelt and his regiment. Using diaries, letters, and memoirs, Risen illuminates a disproportionately influential moment in American history: a war of only six months&’ time that dramatically altered the United States&’ standing in the world. In this brilliant, enlightening narrative, the Rough Riders—and a country on the brink of a new global dominance—are brought fully and gloriously to life.By Michael Franzak. 2010
Winner of the 2012 Colby Award and the first Afghanistan memoir ever to be written by a Marine Harrier pilot,…
A Nightmare’s Prayer portrays the realities of war in the twenty-first century, taking a unique and powerful perspective on combat in Afghanistan as told by a former enlisted man turned officer. Lt. Col. Michael “Zak” Franzak was an AV-8B Marine Corps Harrier pilot who served as executive officer of VMA-513, “The Flying Nightmares,” while deployed in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2003. The squadron was the first to base Harriers in Bagram in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. But what should have been a standard six-month deployment soon turned to a yearlong ordeal as the Iraq conflict intensified. And in what appeared to be a forgotten war half a world away from home, Franzak and his colleagues struggled to stay motivated and do their job providing air cover to soldiers patrolling the inhospitable terrain. I wasn’t in a foxhole. I was above it. I was safe and comfortable in my sheltered cocoon 20,000 feet over the Hindu Kush. But I prayed. I prayed when I heard the muted cries of men who at last understood their fate.Franzak’s personal narrative captures the day-by-day details of his deployment, from family good-byes on departure day to the squadron’s return home. He explains the role the Harrier played over the Afghanistan battlefields and chronicles the life of an attack pilot—from the challenges of nighttime, weather, and the austere mountain environment to the frustrations of working under higher command whose micromanagement often exacerbated difficulties. In vivid and poignant passages, he delivers the full impact of enemy ambushes, the violence of combat, and the heartbreaking aftermath.And as the Iraq War unfolded, Franzak became embroiled in another battle: one within himself. Plagued with doubts and wrestling with his ego and his belief in God, he discovered in himself a man he loathed. But the hardest test of his lifetime and career was still to come—one that would change him forever.A stunning true account of service and sacrifice that takes the reader from the harrowing dangers of the cockpit to the secret, interior spiritual struggle facing a man trained for combat, A Nightmare’s Prayer brings to life a Marine’s public and personal trials set against “the fine talcum brown soot of Afghanistan that permeated everything—even one’s soul.”By Rufus R Dawes. 2024
Includes Civil War Map and Illustrations Pack - 224 battle plans, campaign maps and detailed analyses of actions spanning the…
entire period of hostilities.“With the Iron Brigade on campaign and battlefieldFor students of the American Civil War, the name Rufus Dawes will be forever associated with the famous Iron Brigade of the Union Army—that hardy and courageous assembly of regiments from the western states whose steadfastness in the thickest of battlefield conflicts earned them their descriptive nickname. Born in 1838, Dawes was just 23 years old when the Civil War broke out and he became a captain in the 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, the regiment he would, in time, come to famously command. Dawes was always an ardent and aggressive battlefield commander. He served with the regiment at Groveton, Antietam, Fredericksburg and through the Chancellorsville campaign. At Gettysburg he notably led the counter-attack on Davis's Confederate brigade sheltering in a railway cutting and there took some 200 prisoners. Dawes served at Mine Run, the Wilderness Campaign, the sieges of Petersburg and Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor in 1864. Worn out physically and mentally, Dawes was mustered out after three years of the most intensive combat—he was just 26 years old. The following year he was promoted to brevet brigadier general. This book, Dawes' own account of his regiment of 'Black Hats' of the Iron Brigade, is an acknowledged classic of the period.”-Print ed.By Edward John Thompson. 2024
India’s political framework was made in twenty years: in 1799-1819, between the death of Tipu Sultan and the elimination of…
the Peshwa. The period opens with the destruction of the Muslim kingdom of Mysore and ends with the disintegration of the Maratha Confederacy into a series of separate chieftaincies. These two conquests gave the British the control of India.After Tipu’s destruction the Marathas remained. When they were finally beaten down, Modern India was formed and its map in essentials drawn. The arrangement was to stay until the slow process of time and the coming of new systems of political thinking made it an anachronism, calling for Round Table Conferences, White Papers, and their sequel in constitutional legislation and political offers. India, as we knew it yesterday and the world has known it, was made in the space of these twenty years, first by the shattering of what Lord Wellesley styled ‘the Mahratta Empire’ and then, after a brief period of uncertain and faltering doctrine, by Lord Hastings’ firm establishment of the States which had survived, each in the niche and status which was to be legally accepted as its own until our day. The Indian ‘Prince’ emerged in 1806, arising, like the Puranic Urvasi, from the churning of the Ocean by the Gods and Demons, and received his position in India’s polity in 1819.“The first volume of a two volume anniversary history of the early Royal Marines.The Royal Marines can trace their origins…
back to the formation of 'The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot' in 1664…The Royal Marines as we know them today were formed in 1755 and since that time they have distinguished themselves in many conflicts fought by the British to the present day. Numerous books have been written about the exploits of the Royal Marines, particularly in the 20th century, but this special two volume edition concentrates on the earliest period of their history. The presence of red-coated marines was inseparable from the blue uniform of their naval comrades during the great age of sail and this book covers that period in detail including the American War of Independence. The great contest of the early 19th century was against Revolutionary, Consulate and Napoleon Bonaparte's First Empire of the French. The Royal Marines fought in every major naval engagement of that long war, all of which are detailed in these pages together with many minor engagements, the War of 1812 and the imperial campaigns including the Chinese Opium Wars.”-Print ed.By Demetrius Charles Boulger. 2024
“A great British soldierThis is the biography of one of the most famous soldiers of the Victorian age—Major-General Charles Gordon.…
Certainly he is now known as Gordon of Khartoum, but highly regarded in his own lifetime, he was to many also Chinese Gordon and Gordon Pasha. Commissioned as a Royal Engineer, Gordon first saw action during the Crimean War taking part in the siege of Sebastopol, the assault on the Redan and the expedition to Kinburn. In 1860 the Second Opium War broke out in China and it was here and during the Taiping Rebellion that Gordon earned his reputation and the recognition that set him towards high military rank. But it was Africa where he achieved his greatest fame. Gordon was engaged in much vital and interesting service before he found himself behind the walls of Khartoum in an unequal struggle against the religious fervour of the Mahdist forces. This is a thorough account of the man and his times which will be of great interest to those who wish to learn more about Gordon than just his martyrdom in the Sudan.”-Print ed.By Lilian Rixey. 2024
Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth once remarked that if her “Auntie Bye” had been a man, she would have…
been the president.Anna Roosevelt Cowles was Theodore Roosevelt’s older sister by almost four years. She was nicknamed Bamie as a child. Her siblings, nieces, and nephews later called her “Auntie Bye” because she was always on the go.After overcoming a childhood disability, Bamie grew into a tower of strength for her immediate family and supported them throughout her life, especially after her father passed away. She also assisted her extended family at every opportunity.Throughout his life, Bamie was Theodore’s close confidante and political advisor, as well as a guiding force to other family members and friends. She was the only family member to encourage Theodore to enter politics. She planned her brother's political campaigns with Cabot Lodge and other Washington luminaries.She used her charm, perceptive judgment, and extensive contacts on both sides of the Atlantic to promote TR and his policies while and after she served as an unofficial ambassador to England.In Washington, Anna hosted regular luncheons and parties to help Theodore meet people and discuss issues with them. In fact, while he was president, Theodore was so often at his sister’s DC home that it was referred to as “the other White House”. He wrote her weekly letters, explaining he needed her help in clarifying his thoughts.Anna was a history-maker in her own right, helping to establish the US Army’s corps of nurses.Author Lillian Rixey was the grand-niece of TR’s White House physician and a journalist who was given access to unpublished material including a memoir that Bamie wrote for her son.This sparkling biography overflows with personal writings from the close-knit Roosevelt family and quotes from journalists and significant historical figures.By Mrs Elizabeth Wagentreiber. 2024
“Elizabeth Wagentreiber was the youngest daughter of Colonel James Skinner of the famous cavalry regiment 'Skinner's Horse'. She had originally…
married a Captain Radclyffe Haldane, an officer of Skinner's Horse who was killed at the Battle of Chillianwallah during the Second Anglo-Sikh War. She subsequently married George Wagentreiber. And in the Spring of 1857 the couple were living in the civilian lines at Delhi when the Indian Mutiny broke out in the Bengal Army and reports arrived that the native cavalry was running amok in the city, slaughtering Europeans. Fearful for their lives the couple escaped with their children and the harrowing account of their time as fugitives makes compelling reading.”-Print ed.On campaign under the tricolor“This is an essential book for all those interested in the French Foreign Legion because it…
is a brilliant first hand account written by an English 'gentleman volunteer' who experienced 'life in the legion' in the late 1880's and who had previously been a serving officer in one of the cavalry regiments of the British Army. Far from being a tale of hardship and abuse, the author had nothing but admiration for the Legion and—as an experienced soldier—obviously thoroughly enjoyed the five years he spent serving in its ranks. The writer quite simply could not have enough action and he volunteered to serve in Tonkin, Dahomey and against the Tuareg tribesmen of North Africa. In consequence this book is full of colourful and detailed campaign and battle action which is compellingly recounted by a fighting soldier more than capable of putting his engrossing story into words. Highly recommended.”-Print ed.By Mrs Elizabeth Muter. 2024
“Mrs Elizabeth McMullin Muter was married to a captain of the 1st Battalion 60th King's Royal Rifles stationed in Meerut,…
a few hours travel east of Delhi, when the mutiny among the sepoys of the garrison broke out there on Sunday morning of May 10th, 1857. Elizabeth Muter graphically describes the horrors of those first days of the conflict from the perspective of the wives of officers who were set adrift in times of peril and uncertainty as their husbands left them to fight. This book also contains some campaign recollections by Captain Muter.”-Print ed.By J. J. Snodgrass. 2024
“The author—a staff officer—who was an eyewitness to most of the major events of the First Anglo-Burmese War, gives us…
an incisive overview of the whole war. This provides the reader with a unique insight into the actions of the various troops during the course of the campaign. However it is the author's descriptions of pitched battles against a richly caparisoned foe—including everything from umbrella bearing generals and war elephants to "invincibles" and Amazons—that bring this exotic and spectacular conflict vividly to life. Re-living this war from just one step away, whether witnessing fighting in jungle stockades or experiencing river actions against Burmese war boats, will remain with and intrigue all who are interested in the British in the East.”-Print ed.By Samuel E Chamberlain. 2024
“From soldier to wagon master to scalp hunterChamberlain left Boston as a mere youth and joined the United States Army.…
He became a soldier in the 1st US Dragoons and determined to become the very ideal of the daring cavalryman both on and off the battlefields of the American-Mexican War. His is a tale—not a little tall—that includes accounts of passionate love affairs, duels to the death, pitched battles and exploits of daring in which Chamberlain himself features as the central heroic figure. Certainly he was a larger than life character, as his accounts of constant troubles with his superiors for brawling, drunkenness and insubordination appear with a detail and frequency which suggest authenticity. At the end of the war Chamberlain became a wagon master—possibly after deserting the army—and then threw himself into a series of adventures with a notorious band of scalp hunters led by the infamous John Glanton. A highly entertaining and informative account of the United States cavalry at war, in which many of the principal characters of the American Civil War—who appear within its pages—learned their craft.”-Print ed.By Nakaba Yamada. 2024
“A ferocious conflict between Mongol and Samurai.The Japanese word 'Ghenko' is the term employed for the Mongol invasion of Japan.…
The event was an immensely significant one for the Japanese and it remained so for centuries because, in part, the defeat of the invaders was attributed to divine intervention. There can be little doubt that Japan's salvation had much to do with the fact that they are an island race and in that they have much in common with other islanders, Great Britain among them, who on more than one occasion might claim the sea as their principal and most powerful ally. Indeed, the author of this book draws parallels with Britain and the Spanish Armada. The Mongols had rapidly risen to power during the 13th century and had created an unstoppable empire that spread over huge areas of land from the Yellow Sea of Asia to the Danube in Europe. Although massively stronger than the Japanese, the Mongols attacked the Japanese islands, attempting domination by invasion and yet were repulsed with finality. To modern students of military history the contents of this book has a compelling allure, since there can be no doubt that in the Mongol warrior and the Japanese Samurai there resided a martial spirit and expertise which, perhaps inevitably, could not both exist in the same sphere, but which in collision could not fail to instigate conflict of the most singular kind. This account of the clash between the ultimate warriors of their day analyses this time of warfare in superb detail. An essential addition to the library of anyone interested in the warfare of the East.”-Print ed.By James Henry Lawrence-Archer. 2024
“An infantry officer's view of the fall of the Sikhs.The author of this book served with No 6 company of…
HM 24th Regiment-an infantry regiment of the British Army-which saw much service in the Second Sikh War and suffered greatly in the fighting particularly at Chillianwalla. So there could hardly be a more qualified writer—or one with closer connections to other participants—to take on the task of reporting the war. At the conclusion of the First Sikh War there remained a sense of business unfinished. The Sikhs were yet masters of the Punjab and the Khalsa remained one of the most formidable armies the Sub-Continent had ever seen. Most importantly the centre of Sikh power, the seemingly impregnable and daunting fortress of Mooltan remained defiant. Once again the British Empire learnt the lesson of what a formidable foe the Sikhs were as they joined battle with them at Ramnuggar, Chillianwalla, Mooltan and Googerat. Archer takes us through this campaign in compelling detail embellished by an insight only first hand experience can provide.”-Print ed.By Charles G Addison. 2024
“The warrior knights of the crossThe Knights Templar were one of the most famous Christian military orders of the medieval…
period. Officially endorsed by the church in the early decades of the 12th century the express purpose of the order was to provide defence and protection to Christian pilgrims. The concept became a popular one and with patronage came wealth and power so that the order, through a substantial infrastructure of non-warrior members spread throughout Europe promoting its objectives, developing financial institutions and building fortification on a grand scale. However, the Knights Templar are especially remembered today for the prowess of their military knights. Clad in white mantles bearing the distinctive red cross the Templars both attracted and created some of the most expert and effective fighting men of their time. Naturally, the order was closely connected to the Holy Land and with the Crusades. For some two hundred years it fought the forces of Islam for dominance of Jerusalem experiencing mixed fortunes in dozens of actions and major battles. The eventual loss of the Holy Land could do no other than promote a decline in their fortunes, and indeed, the support for the Templars. Furthermore, the order's wealth and its independent structure, wielding power outside state and church, inevitably made it a target for both suspicion and dissolution. The end came in 1312—in a welter of torture, bloodshed and burnings at the stake. The legend has lived on however, and today the times of Knights Templar are to many more intriguing and evocative than ever.”-Print ed.“The first volume of a two volume anniversary history of the early Royal Marines.The Royal Marines can trace their origins…
back to the formation of 'The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot' in 1664…The Royal Marines as we know them today were formed in 1755 and since that time they have distinguished themselves in many conflicts fought by the British to the present day. Numerous books have been written about the exploits of the Royal Marines, particularly in the 20th century, but this special two volume edition concentrates on the earliest period of their history. The presence of red-coated marines was inseparable from the blue uniform of their naval comrades during the great age of sail and this book covers that period in detail including the American War of Independence. The great contest of the early 19th century was against Revolutionary, Consulate and Napoleon Bonaparte's First Empire of the French. The Royal Marines fought in every major naval engagement of that long war, all of which are detailed in these pages together with many minor engagements, the War of 1812 and the imperial campaigns including the Chinese Opium Wars.”-Print ed.