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The Devils Will Get No Rest: FDR, Churchill, and the Plan That Won the War
By James B. Conroy. 2023
Written with &“a cinematic sense of urgency and realism&” (Evan Osnos, National Book Award–winning author), this is the first full…
account of the Casablanca Conference of January 1943, the secret ten-day parlay in Morocco where FDR, Churchill, and their divided high command hammered out a winning strategy at the tipping point of World War II.The Devils Will Get No Rest is a &“vivid and engaging&” (Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author) character-driven account of the Casablanca Conference of January 1943, an Anglo-American clash over military strategy that produced a winning plan when World War II could have gone either way. Churchill called it the most important Allied conclave of the war. Until now, it has never been explored in a full-length book. In a secret, no-holds-barred, ten-day debate in a Moroccan warzone, protected by British marines and elite American troops, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton Jr., Sir Alan Brooke, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Sir Harold Alexander, and their military peers questioned each other&’s competence, doubted each other&’s visions, and argued their way through choices that could win or lose the war. You will be treated to a master class in strategy by the legendary statesmen, generals, and admirals who overcame their differences, transformed their alliance from a necessity to a bond, forged a war-winning plan, and glimpsed the postwar world.What the Taliban Told Me
By Ian Fritz. 2023
An &“essential&” (Kevin Maurer, #1 New York Times bestselling author) memoir of a young Air Force linguist coming-of-age in a…
war that is lost.When Ian Fritz joined the Air Force at eighteen, he did so out of necessity. He hadn&’t been accepted into colleges thanks to an indifferent high school career. He&’d too often slept through his classes as he worked long hours at a Chinese restaurant to help pay the bills for his trailer-dwelling family in Lake City, Florida. But the Air Force recognizes his potential and sends him to the elite Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, to learn Dari and Pashto, the main languages of Afghanistan. By 2011, Fritz was an airborne cryptologic linguist and one of only a tiny number of people in the world trained to do this job on low-flying gunships. He monitors communications on the ground and determines in real time which Afghans are Taliban and which are innocent civilians. This eavesdropping is critical to supporting Special Forces units on the ground, but there is no training to counter the emotional complexity that develops as you listen to people&’s most intimate conversations over the course of two tours, Fritz listens to the Taliban for hundreds of hours, all over the country night and day, in moments of peace and in the middle of battle. What he hears teaches him about the people of Afghanistan—Taliban and otherwise—the war, and himself. Fritz&’s fluency is his greatest asset to the military, yet it becomes the greatest liability to his own commitment to the cause. Both proud of his service and in despair that he is instrumental in destroying the voices that he hears, What the Taliban Told Me is a &“fraught, moving&” (Kirkus Reviews) coming-of-age memoir and a reckoning with our twenty years of war in Afghanistan.Military, Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy
By Ayesha Siddiqa. 2017
Pakistan occupies a paradoxical, even contradictory place in American foreign policy. Nominally a strategic ally in the war on terror,…
it is the third-largest recipient of US aid in the world. At the same time, it is run by its military and intelligence service—whose goals certainly do not always overlap with US priorities. This book offers a close look at what the rise of the military has meant for Pakistani society. Ayesha Siddiqa shows how entrenched the military has become, not just in day-to-day governance, but in the Pakistani corporate sector as well. What are the consequences of this unprecedented merging of the military and corporate sectors? What does it mean for Pakistan’s economic development—let alone for hopes of an eventual return to democracy and de-militarization? This new edition brings Siddiqa’s account fully up to date with a new preface and conclusion that emphasize the changing role of the media.Worcestor, 1651: English Civil War, September 1651 (Battleground Britain 1642 - 1651 Ser.)
By Malcolm Atkin. 2004
The Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651 was the final decisive engagement of the English Civil Wars. In this…
fascinating guide, Malcolm Atkin sets out in a graphic and easily understood way the movements of the opposing armies of Cromwell and Charles II as they approached Worcester and gives a detailed and gripping account of the deadly combat that followed. He also describes of the fate of 10,000 Scottish prisoners and retraces the route of Charles II as he made his dramatic escape.The scenes are familiar ones; the young Brylcream Boys sat at dispersal waiting for the haunting call of Scramble, lounging…
in their shirt sleeves and fur-lined boots, their leather flying helmets lying limp by their side. But what did the RAF fighter pilots of the Battle of Britain really wear, and what vital items would their kitbags have held?The casual air of the dashing pilots of Fighter Command in the Spitfire Summer of 1940 conceals a necessarily professional approach to their task of holding Hitlers Luftwaffe at bay. Therefore, each item of clothing and equipment they wore and carried had a role and a function, be it for warmth and comfort, communication, or for fighting and survival.All the objects that an RAF fighter pilot was issued with during the Battle of Britain are explored in this book in high-definition color photographs, showing everything from the differing uniforms, to headgear, personal weapons, gloves, goggles, parachute packs and the essential Mae West life jacket. Each item is fully described and its purpose and use explained.Relive Britains finest hour as never before through the actually clothing and accouterments of The Few.Demolishing the Myth: The Tank Battle at Prokhorovka, Kursk, July 1943: An Operational Narrative
By Valeriy Zamulin. 2018
&“Comprehensive scholarship and convincing reasoning, enhanced by an excellent translation, place this work on a level with the best of…
David Glantz&” (Dennis Showalter, award-winning author of Patton and Rommel). This groundbreaking book examines the battle of Kursk between the Red Army and Wehrmacht, with a particular emphasis on its beginning on July 12, as the author works to clarify the relative size of the contending forces, the actual area of this battle, and the costs suffered by both sides. Valeriy Zamulin&’s study of the crucible of combat during the titanic clash at Kursk—the fighting at Prokhorovka—is now available in English. A former staff member of the Prokhorovka Battlefield State Museum, Zamulin has dedicated years of his life to the study of the battle of Kursk, and especially the fighting on its southern flank involving the famous attack of the II SS Panzer Corps into the teeth of deeply echeloned Red Army defenses. A product of five years of intense research into the once-secret Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, this book lays out in enormous detail the plans and tactics of both sides, culminating in the famous and controversial clash at Prokhorovka on July 12, 1943. Zamulin skillfully weaves reminiscences of Red Army and Wehrmacht soldiers and officers into the narrative of the fighting, using in part files belonging to the Prokhorovka Battlefield State Museum. Zamulin has the advantage of living in Prokhorovka, so he has walked the ground of the battlefield many times and has an intimate knowledge of the terrain. Examining the battle primarily from the Soviet side, Zamulin reveals the real costs and real achievements of the Red Army at Kursk, and especially Prokhorovka. He examines mistaken deployments and faulty decisions that hampered the Voronezh Front&’s efforts to contain the Fourth Panzer Army&’s assault, and the valiant, self-sacrificial fighting of the Red Army&’s soldiers and junior officers as they sought to slow the German advance and crush the II SS Panzer Corps with a heavy counterattack at Prokhorovka. Illustrated with numerous maps and photographs (including present-day views of the battlefield), and supplemented with extensive tables of data, Zamulin&’s book is an outstanding contribution to the growing literature on the battle of Kursk, and further demolishes many of the myths and legends that grew up around it.Book of Queens: The True Story of the Middle Eastern Horsewomen Who Fought the War on Terror
By Pardis Mahdavi. 2023
The untold story of generations of Middle Eastern freedom fighters—horsewomen who safeguarded an ancient breed of Caspian horse—and their efforts…
to defend their homelands from the Taliban and others seeking to destroy them."A breathtaking book that revisits nearly one hundred years of Iranian history, highlighting the power and beauty of women who refuse to be subdued.&” ―Alison Hawthorne Deming, author of A Woven WorldBook of Queens reaches back centuries to the Persian Empire and a woman disguised as a man, facing an invading army, protected only by light armor and the stallion she sat astride. Mahdavi draws a thread from past to present: from her fearless Iranian grandmother, who guided survivors of domestic violence to independent mountain colonies in Afghanistan where the women, led by a general named Mina, became their country&’s first line of defense from marauding warlords. To the female warriors who helped train and breed the horses used by US Green Berets when they touched down in October 2001, with a mission but insufficient intelligence on the ground—women whose contributions were then forgotten. Pardis Mahdavi chases the legacy of Caspian horses and the women whose lives are saved by them, drawing on decades of research, newly-discovered diaries, and exclusive military sources. Among those intersecting stories is that of American Louise Firouz, who helped bring the breed back from the brink of extinction, connecting Virginia traders to British royals to the son of the Shah. Firouz&’s life is forever changed when she meets Mahdavi&’s own family, who run an unusual smuggling operation in addition to raising horses in a wild bid for freedom.Book of Queens is an epic tale of hidden women whose communal knowledge was instrumental in saving an animal as ancient as civilization, and who were the genesis of their own liberation.Ninja: Unmasking the Myth
By Stephen Turnbull. 2017
This history of the ninja uncovers the truth behind the image—from the exploits of medieval ninjas to their modern incarnation…
as pop culture icons. The ninja is a legendary figure in Japanese military culture, a fighter widely regarded as the world&’s greatest expert in secret warfare. The word alone conjures the image of a masked assassin dressed in black, capable of extraordinary feats of daring; a mercenary who disposes of enemies by sending sharp iron stars spinning towards them. This is, of course, a popular myth, based on exaggerations and Hollywood movies. But the truth, as Stephen Turnbull explains in Ninja, is even more fascinating. A leading expert on samurai culture, Turnbull presents an authoritative study of ninja history based on original Japanese sources, many of which have never been translated before. These include accounts of castle attacks, assassinations and espionage, as well as the last great ninja manual, which reveals the spiritual and religious ideals that were believed to lie behind the ninja&’s arts. Turnbull&’s critical examination of the ninja phenomenon ranges from undercover operations during the age of Japan&’s civil wars to the modern emergence of the superman ninja as a comic book character. The book concludes with a detailed investigation of the ninja in popular culture.Churchill's Navigator
By Air Commodore John Mitchell, Sean Feast. 2010
An RAF pilot who flew around the world with Winston Churchill during World War II tells his story. An…
RAF Volunteer Reserve officer, John Mitchell was mobilized on the outbreak of war—and just missed going to join a Battle Squadron in France where he would have undoubtedly been killed. Instead, he was posted to No. 58 Squadron flying Whitleys, surviving a tour of operations in 1940–41 that included ditching in the North Sea. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, he was sent to the US, becoming involved in the development of the first navigation training simulators with the famous Link Trainer factory. There, he was awarded the US Legion of Merit, signed by Harry S. Truman. Then, returning to the UK in 1942, he was personally selected to join the crew of Winston Churchill&’s private aircraft, one of the early prototype Avro Yorks called Ascalon. For two years he navigated Churchill to conferences around the world—from North Africa to Italy, the Middle East to Moscow, including the famous Teheran and Yalta conferences. He also flew &“General Lyon&” (aka His Majesty George VI) on several occasions. After the war, he enjoyed an eventful career as an air attaché, including an intelligence posting to Moscow, and was senior navigation officer for the long range exercises over the Pole in the converted Lincoln, Aries III. His is an exceptional story, told with wit and verve to military aviation historian Sean Feast, who adds authoritative and informed insights.Les super six du hockey : N° 4 - Les étoiles du match
By Kevin Sylvester. 2022
See below for English description.Benny, Jenny, Karl, Stella, DJ et Mo sont transformés lors d’une expérience qui tourne mal, et…
ils deviennent « l’équipe la plus super que le monde ait jamais vue ».Heureusement, car ils doivent affronter des joueurs de hockey tardigrades à plusieurs appendices DANS L’ESPACE! Il se trouve que le dernier des Formatrons n’a pas été détruit lorsque les super six ont combattu le lapin géant et maléfique dans Méchant coup de lapin. Et maintenant, des Formatrons géants et très améliorés qui travaillent pour Richard, un astronaute reconverti en scientifique diabolique, menacent le monde avec un astéroïde qui pourrait tout détruire. Les super six pourront-ils utiliser leurs pouvoirs pour déjouer ces méchants engins? Découvrez-le dans ce quatrième livre de la série rempli d’action et d’humour.Meet six kids a lot like you. Except……Benny, Jenny, Karl, Starlight, DJ and Mo got zapped in an evil plot gone wrong — and became the super-est team the world has ever seen. Lucky thing, because they have to face off against enormous, multi-appendaged, hockey-playing tardigrades IN SPACE! Turns out the last of the Sizematrons was not destroyed in the Six-versus-evil-bunny saga of Hat Tricked. And now very enhanced giant tardigrades working for astronaut-turned-evil-scientist Richard threaten the world with an asteroid that would end it all. Can the Super Six use their hockey superpowers to thwart the baddies? Find out in this fourth action-packed, laugh-a-minute book in the Les super six du hockey series.Original title: Hockey Super Six #4: Shooting StarsGrossly unsanitary living conditions, cruel and abusive treatment by camp officials, the withholding of medical treatment - these were common…
experiences for refugees imprisoned at internment camps in Britain and Canada. Walter Igersheimer's memoir exposes this bleak period in the British and Canadian war record.Caldo afgano
By Steve Stone. 2024
Il libro "Bruciati dall'Afghanistan" racconta la storia frenetica di un agente delle forze armate speciali SAS dalle selezioni per essere…
ammesso fino alle missioni sui campi di battaglia dell'Afghanistan. Il libro segue le forze speciali in singole operazioni con aerei e le più recenti tecnologie militari per catturare figure chiave dei guerriglieri talebani o semplicemente per distruggere le fortificazioni nemiche. Il contenuto del libro riporta sia l'azione che elementi più crudi di grande impatto visivo, seguendo le vicende di un soldato delle SAS ritrovatosi a combattere contro avversari spietati in un paese ostile. Combatte contro un nemico agguerrito, forte di anni di esperienza nella lotta contro le forze di occupazione. Anche questi soldati scelti, con armi avanzate e un immenso supporto di fuoco a loro disposizione, devono superare l'ultima prova di abilità e coraggio misurandosi nello "Stan".Behind Rebel Lines: The Incredible Story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy (Great Episodes)
By Seymour Reit. 1988
Seymour Reit, the creator of Casper the friendly ghost, blends fact with fiction in this captivating tale about one woman…
who dared to go behind enemy lines as a spy for the Union Army. Canadian-born Emma Edmonds loved the thrill of adventure and chasing freedom, so in 1861 when the Civil War began, she enlisted in the Union Army. With cropped hair and men&’s clothing, Emma transformed herself into a peddler, slave, bookkeeper and more, seamlessly gathering information and safely escaping each time. This fictionalized biography about the daring exploits of a cunning master of disguise, risking discovery and death for the sake of freedom, will inspire readers for generations to come.Praised as an “unforgettable love story” by Heather Morris, New York Times bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, this is the real-life,…
unlikely romance between a resistance fighter and prisoner of war set in World War II Europe.In this true love story that defies all odds, Josefine Lobnik, a Yugoslav partisan heroine, and Bruce Murray, a New Zealand soldier, discover love in the midst of a brutal war.In the heart of Nazi-occupied Europe, two people meet fleetingly in a chance encounter. One an underground resistance fighter, a bold young woman determined to vanquish the enemy occupiers; the other a prisoner of war, a man longing to escape the confines of the camp so he can battle again. A crumpled note passes between these two strangers, slipped through the wire of the compound, and sets them on a course that will change their lives forever.Woven through their tales of great bravery, daring escapes, betrayal, torture, and retaliation is their remarkable love story that survived against all odds. This is an extraordinary account of two ordinary people who found love during the unimaginable hardships of Hitler’s barbaric regime as told by their son-in-law Doug Gold, who decided to tell their story from the moment he heard about their remarkable tale of bravery, resilience, and resistance.Bundeswehr und Gesellschaft - Wahrnehmungen im Wandel (Militär und Sozialwissenschaften/The Military and Social Research #57)
By Martin Elbe, Angelika Dörfler-Dierken. 2024
Das Buch erscheint als Band 57 der Reihe Militär und Sozialwissenschaften/The Military and Social Research, herausgegeben von Martin Elbe und…
Angelika Dörfler-Dierken im Auftrag des Arbeitskreises Militär und Sozialwissenschaften (AMS). Anlässlich des 50. Jahrestages des AMS fand eine Tagung in Kiel zum Thema „Bundeswehr und Gesellschaft – Wahrnehmungen im Wandel" statt. Das vorliegende Buch fasst die dort vorgestellten Beiträge zum Thema zusammen und ergänzt diese um ausgewählte Beiträge. Das Thema wird von zahlreichen Professorinnen und Professoren, Praktikern aus dem BMVg und von Forschenden aus unterschiedlichen Forschungseinrichtungen beleuchtet sowie von der Wehrbeauftragten des Deutschen Bundestages kommentiert. Wandlungspotenziale und -bedarfe werden ebenso deutlich wie Kontinuitätsmuster.X Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos of World War II
By Leah Garrett. 2021
WALL STREET JOURNAL BOOK OF THE MONTH "This is the incredible World War II saga of the German-Jewish commandos who fought…
in Britain’s most secretive special-forces unit—but whose story has gone untold until now." —Wall Street Journal“Brilliantly researched, utterly gripping history: the first full account of a remarkable group of Jewish refugees—a top-secret band of brothers—who waged war on Hitler.”—Alex Kershaw, New York Times best-selling author of The Longest Winter and The LiberatorThe incredible World War II saga of the German-Jewish commandos who fought in Britain’s most secretive special-forces unit—but whose story has gone untold until now June 1942. The shadow of the Third Reich has fallen across the European continent. In desperation, Winston Churchill and his chief of staff form an unusual plan: a new commando unit made up of Jewish refugees who have escaped to Britain. The resulting volunteers are a motley group of intellectuals, artists, and athletes, most from Germany and Austria. Many have been interned as enemy aliens, and have lost their families, their homes—their whole worlds. They will stop at nothing to defeat the Nazis. Trained in counterintelligence and advanced combat, this top secret unit becomes known as X Troop. Some simply call them a suicide squad. Drawing on extensive original research, including interviews with the last surviving members, Leah Garrett follows this unique band of brothers from Germany to England and back again, with stops at British internment camps, the beaches of Normandy, the battlefields of Italy and Holland, and the hellscape of Terezin concentration camp—the scene of one of the most dramatic, untold rescues of the war. For the first time, X Troop tells the astonishing story of these secret shock troops and their devastating blows against the Nazis.“Garrett’s detective work is stunning, and her storytelling is masterful. This is an original account of Jewish rescue, resistance, and revenge.”—Wendy Lower, author of The Ravine and National Book Award finalist Hitler’s FuriesWonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands
By Mary Seacole. 2005
Written in 1857, this is the autobiography of a Jamaican woman whose fame rivalled Florence Nightingale's during the Crimean War.…
Seacole's offer to volunteer as a nurse in the war met with racism and refusal. Undaunted, Seacole set out independently to the Crimea where she acted as doctor and 'mother' to wounded soldiers while running her business, the 'British Hotel'. A witness to key battles, she gives vivid accounts of how she coped with disease, bombardment and other hardships at the Crimean battlefront."In her introduction to the very welcome Penguin edition, Sara Salih expertly analyses the rhetorical complexities of Seacole's book to explore the richness of her story. Traveller, entrepreneur, healer and woman of colour, Mary Seacole is a singular and fascinating figure, overstepping all conventional boundaries." Jan Marsh, Independent"It's hard to believe that this amazing adventure story is the true-life experience of a Jamaican woman - it would make a great film." Andrea Levy, Sunday TimesWinkle: The Extraordinary Life of Britain’s Greatest Pilot
By Paul Beaver. 2023
Discover the daring life story and astonishing adventures of Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown - Britain's greatest-ever pilotSmall in stature but…
immense in reputation and talent, there was more to Eric 'Winkle' Brown than met the eye.From shooting down Luftwaffe bombers from the deck of a carrier in the Battle of the Atlantic and narrowly escaping death when his ship was torpedoed, to accumulating a never-to-be repeated litany of world records and firsts as a test pilot, his unparalleled flying career saw him take the controls of over four hundred different kinds of aircraft - more than any other pilot in history.A rival to Chuck Yeager and hero to Neil Armstrong, by the time of his appearance on Desert Island Discs' 1000th episode Winkle had become a legend in his own lifetime, and by his death, a national treasure.But despite his enormous fame, there have always been mysteries at the heart of Winkle's story.Now, drawing on previously unseen documents and unfettered access to Winkle's own personal archive, Paul Beaver uncovers the complex and enigmatic man behind the legend - the real story of Britain's greatest pilot.A story Winkle insisted could only be told after his death . . .----------'Compelling, fascinating and frequently jaw-dropping. A brilliant and revelatory biography' JAMES HOLLAND'Beaver recounts the story of a man he regarded as a mentor in unshowy but fascinating detail, and restores a British hero to his rightful place' OBSERVER'[A] thumping great biography by Britain's leading aviation historian' DAILY MAIL, 'BOOK OF THE WEEK''Winkle Brown's astonishing adventures make for fascinating reading' SUNDAY TIMES'An excellent biography' PATRICK BISHOP, DAILY TELEGRAPH'The extraordinary story [of] a fearless pilot and decorated war hero. Epic' THE HERALD'A thrilling new biography' DAILY EXPRESS'A thumping great biography of the flying ace who made Top Gun look tame ... enthralling' DAILY MAIL'Riveting ... one of those must-read books, compelling and full of incidents that leave you gasping with surprise ... an incredible story' FLYER'An incredible life ... Brown took a secret to the grave that makes his story all the more remarkable' THE SUNWilliam Wallace: Brave Heart
By Dr James Mackay. 1995
Sir William Wallace of Ellerslie is one of history's greatest heroes, but also one of its greatest enigmas - a…
shadowy figure whose edges have been blurred by myth and legend. Even the date and place of his birth have been mis-stated - until now. James Mackay uses all his skills as a historical detective to produce this definitive biography, telling the incredible story of a man who, without wealth or noble birth, rose to become Guardian of Scotland. William Wallace, with superb generalship and tactical genius, led a country with no previous warlike tradition to triumph gloriously over the much larger, better-armed and better-trained English forces. Seven hundred years later, the heroism and betrayal, the valiant deeds and the dark atrocities, and the struggle of a small nation against a brutal and powerful empire, still create a compelling tale.