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Helicopter pilots in Vietnam kidded one another about being nothing but glorified bus drivers. But these “rotor heads” saved thousands of American lives while performing what the Army classified as the most dangerous job it had to offer. One in eighteen did not return home.Tom A. Johnson flew the UH-1 “Iroquois” - better known as the “Huey” - in the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion of the First Air Cavalry Division. From June 1967 through June 1968, he accumulated an astonishing 1,600 flying hours (1,150 combat and 450 noncombat). His battalion was one of the most highly decorated units in the Vietnam War and, as part of the famous First Air Cavalry Division, helped redefine modern warfare. With tremendous flying skill, Johnson survived rescue missions and key battles that included those for Hue and Khe Sanh and operations in the A Shau and Song Re valleys, while many of his comrades did not.His heartfelt and riveting memoir will strike a chord with any soldier who ever flew in the ubiquitous Huey and any reader with an interest in how the Vietnam War was really fought.

War by Numbers assesses the nature of conventional warfare through the analysis of historical combat. Christopher A. Lawrence establishes what we know about conventional combat and why we know it. By demonstrating the impact a variety of factors have on combat he moves such analysis beyond the work of Carl von Clausewitz and into modern data and interpretation.Using vast data sets, Lawrence examines force ratios, the human factor in case studies from World War II and beyond, the combat value of superior situational awareness, and the effects of dispersion, among other elements. Lawrence challenges existing interpretations of conventional warfare and shows how such combat should be conducted in the future, simultaneously broadening our understanding of what it means to fight wars by the numbers.

"[A] must-read for students of history and historians alike."-Washington Book ReviewAlthough southern Poland and western Ukraine are not often thought of in terms of decisive battles in World War I, the impulses that precipitated the battle for Galicia in August 1914-and the unprecedented carnage that resulted-effectively doomed the Austro-Hungarian Empire just six weeks into the war.In Fall of the Double Eagle, John R. Schindler explains how Austria-Hungary, despite military weakness and the foreseeable ill consequences, consciously chose war in that fateful summer of 1914. Through close examination of the Austro-Hungarian military, especially its elite general staff, Schindler shows how even a war that Vienna would likely lose appeared preferable to the “foul peace” the senior generals loathed. After Serbia outgunned the polyglot empire in a humiliating defeat, and the offensive into Russian Poland ended in the massacre of more than four hundred thousand Austro-Hungarians in just three weeks, the empire never recovered. While Austria-Hungary’s ultimate defeat and dissolution were postponed until the autumn of 1918, the late summer of 1914 on the plains and hills of Galicia sealed its fate.

. . . .rich in colourful detail, and displays impressive knowledge of sailing and fighting skills. --Richard Hill, The Naval ReviewAccessible to both the general and the more scholarly reader, it will appeal not only to those with an interest in piracy and in maritime, naval, and military history, but also to mariners in general, tall-ship and ship-modeling enthusiasts, tacticians and military analysts, readers of historical fiction, writers, and the adventurer in all of us.To read of sea roving's various incarnations - piracy, privateering, buccaneering, la flibuste, la course - is to bring forth romantic, and often violent, imagery. Indeed, much of this imagery has become a literary and cinematic clich?. And what an image it is! But its truth is by halves, and paradoxically it is the picaresque imagery of Pyle, Wyeth, Sabatini, and Hollywood that is often closer to the reality, while the historical details of arms, tactics, and language are often inaccurate or entirely anachronistic.Successful sea rovers were careful practitioners of a complex profession that sought wealth by stratagem and force of arms. Drawn from the European tradition, yet of various races and nationalities, they raided both ship and town throughout much of the world from roughly 1630 until 1730. Using a variety of innovative tactics and often armed with little more than musket and grenade, many of these self-described "soldiers and privateers" successfully assaulted fortifications, attacked shipping from small craft, crossed the mountains and jungles of Panama, and even circumnavigated the globe. Successful sea rovers were often supreme seamen, soldiers, and above all, tacticians. It can be argued that their influence on certain naval tactics is felt even today. The Sea Rover's Practice is the only book that describes in exceptional detail the tactics of sea rovers of the period - how they actually sought out and attacked vessels and towns.

Nebraska Book Award, Biography HonorMost Americans familiar with General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing know him as the commander of American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during the latter days of World War I. But Pershing was in his late fifties by then. Pershing’s military career began in 1886, with his graduation from West Point and his first assignments in the American West as a horsebound cavalry officer during the final days of Apache resistance in the Southwest, where Arizona and New Mexico still represented a frontier of blue-clad soldiers, Native Americans, cowboys, rustlers, and miners.But the Southwest was just the beginning of Pershing’s West. He would see assignments over the years in the Dakotas, during the Ghost Dance uprising and the battle of Wounded Knee; a posting at Montana’s Fort Assiniboine; and, following his years in Asia, a return to the West with a posting at the Presidio in San Francisco and a prolonged assignment on the Mexican-American border in El Paso, which led to his command of the Punitive Expedition, tasked with riding deep into Northern Mexico to capture the pistolero Pancho Villa.During those thirty years from West Point to the Western Front, Pershing had a colorful and varied military career, including action during the Spanish-American War and lengthy service in the Philippines. Both were new versions of the American frontier abroad, even as the frontier days of the American West were closing.All of Pershing’s experiences in the American West prepared him for his ultimate assignment as the top American commander during the Great War. If the American frontier and, more broadly, the American West provided a cauldron in which Americans tested themselves during the nineteenth century, they did the same for John Pershing. His story was a historical Western.

First published in 1976. This study continues an endeavour whose aim was to use traditional concepts as a basis for the discussion of contemporary political predicaments. The endeavour began with the publication of the symposium In Defense of Sovereignty (1969). Its long-range goal is to consider under a common denominator—relativism in politics— various aspects of theory such as the basic concepts discussed in the present essay, together with more modern theories of democracy and the wider spectrum of political ideologies.

The Reagan administration spent eight years and a vast amount of money backing the Contras in their bid to overthrow the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Although the Sandinistas eventually were ousted, it was by the ballot box and not the M-16, for by that time the Contras had ceased to be a viable force. What caused their untimely demise? Some of the fault lies with the Contras themselves, but in this account of villainy, courage, incompetence and violent death in a country at war with itself, the author sets out to show that there is blame in Washington, too. Garvin covered the war for six years, often travelling with Contra combat units, and his work was nominated for Pulitzer Prizes in 1988 and 1989. He won the Mencken Award for Investigative Reporting.

2014 SLA Baseball Caucus Readers’ Choice Award winner from the Special Libraries AssociationThe Deadball Era (1901–1920) is a baseball fan’s dream. Hope and despair, innocence and cynicism, and levity and hostility blended then to create an air of excitement, anticipation, and concern for all who entered the confines of a major league ballpark. Cheating for the sake of victory earned respect, corrupt ballplayers fixed games with impunity, and violence plagued the sport. Spectators stormed the field to attack players and umpires, ballplayers charged the stands to pummel hecklers, and physical battles between opposing clubs occurred regularly in a phenomenon known as “rowdyism.”  At the same time, endearing practices infused baseball with lightheartedness, kindness, and laughter. Fans ran onto the field with baskets of flowers, loving cups, diamond jewelry, gold watches, and cash for their favorite players in the middle of games. Ballplayers volunteered for “benefit contests” to aid fellow big leaguers and the country in times of need. “Joke games” reduced sport to pure theater as outfielders intentionally dropped fly balls, infielders happily booted easy grounders, hurlers tossed soft pitches over the middle of the plate, and umpires ignored the rules. Winning meant nothing, amusement meant everything, and league officials looked the other way. Mark Halfon looks at life in the major leagues in the early 1900s, the careers of John McGraw, Ty Cobb, and Walter Johnson, and the events that brought about the end of the Deadball Era. He highlights the strategies, underhanded tactics, and bitter battles that defined this storied time in baseball history, while providing detailed insights into the players and teams involved in bringing to a conclusion this remarkable period in baseball history.

The United States of Sports takes kids on a first-of-its-kind journey across the U.S. with stops in every state in the union. Super cool maps with unique hand-illustrated icons show where all the great sites can be found, including arenas, stadiums, halls of fame, championship golf clubs, the greatest ski mountains, Olympic cities, and more. Each state’s Greatest Moments and homegrown heroes are pro led, and we wouldn’t forget to run down all the numbers! Championships, pro teams, famous events, and more— spread by spread—it’s the book to pore over this season.

This handsome commemorative volume contains hundreds of Allied and German photographs, many never seen before by the general public. Written by the coauthors of Gordon W. Prange's acclaimed bestsellers, At Dawn We Slept and Miracle at Midway, it is in the tradition of their highly successful series of pictorial war chronicles. With text keyed to photos on the same page, Goldstein, Dillon, and Wenger lead the reader through the dramatic experiences of D-Day combatants on both sides, from the invasion's complex preparations, to the furious combat vividly portrayed in the film Saving Private Ryan, to its ultimate result-the beginning of the end for Hitler's Third Reich.

Women Warriors takes the reader back through history and around the world to uncover a clear pattern of women as warriors. It is a fascinating comment on the nature of gender, on the power of the warrior image, and on the image's source in history.

From Kirkus Reviews: A friendly yet not uncritical biography of the secretary of state in the Lincoln and Andrew Johnson Cabinets. Taylor--who chronicled his father's life in General Maxwell Taylor (1987)- -offers neither much original scholarship nor a fresh approach, but writes smoothly and with balance. Why did Seward, front-runner for the 1860 GOP presidential nomination, lose his party's nod to the relatively unknown Lincoln, and why has he been so completely eclipsed by him since? Taylor depicts a politico whose manifold talents were often undermined by his own ambiguity (even Seward admitted that he "found myself an enigma to myself''). Intellectual, shrewd, diligent, convivial, and even charitable toward enemies, Seward was also willing to trim his sails in pursuit of political objectives. Linking up with Albany political boss Thurlow Weed, he worked ably for liberal causes as New York's governor and, later, in the Senate, where he became leader of the antislavery faction. Losing his bid for the Presidency because of his alliance with Weed and his statements about a "higher law'' and "irrepressible conflict'' with the South, Seward later undercut his political base still further by meddling with other Cabinet members' business and clashing with Radical Republicans during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Taylor does not fully explain why Seward muted his opposition to slavery during the secession crisis in the hope of reconciling the South, and fails to criticize Seward's mistakes adequately (e.g., saber-rattling gestures toward England and France that Lincoln rightly rejected). Yet Taylor correctly praises him for keeping the South in diplomatic isolation, bucking up the melancholy Lincoln's spirits, and having the vision to push through the initially scorned Alaska purchase ("Seward's Icebox''). An orthodox but sensible treatment of a dedicated politician-statesman who was sometimes too clever and complex for his own good.

Documenting the transformation of the U.S. military from Vietnam to the Gulf War, a history of a generation of officers examines changing ideas about war, ending the draft, reducing racial tensions, and integrating women into the ranks.

Written in a colorful, readable style, Certain Victory chronicles the Army's remarkable regeneration in the two decades after Vietnam–the foundation of the Desert Storm victory. Each chapter starts with a compelling personal combat story that puts the conflict into human perspective. A "quick read" without military jargon, Certain Victory brings the civilian reader into battle alongside individual soldiers. With a foreword by former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan.

The British Army's Special Air Service is one of the world's premier special operations units. During the Gulf War, deep behind Iraqi lines, an SAS team was compromised. A fierce firefight ensued, and the eight men were forced to run for their lives. Only one, Chris Ryan, escaped capture or death, and he did it by walking nearly 180 miles through the desert for seven days and eight nights. This story features extraordinary courage under fire, narrow escapes, a battle against the most adverse physical conditions, and, above all, of one man's courageous refusal to lie down and die.

An account of World War II from the perspective of historians and firsthand observers, this study seeks to provide readers with an accurate picture of how the war was perceived at the time it was fought.

The first book to analyze the critical partnership among the Navy, industry, and science forged by World War II and responsible for producing submarines in the United States until 1961, Forged in War by Gary E. Weir won the Roosevelt Prize for naval history.

A systematic, comprehensive, and straightforward textbook for analyzing and comparing insurgencies and terrorist movements, Insurgency and Terrorism was first published in 1990 to broad acclaim. Observers, scholars, students, military personnel, journalists, and government analysts worldwide found it worthy of study. Now Insurgency and Terrorism has been thoroughly revised and updated to cover activity that has since occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Philippines, Colombia, and elsewhere and to address the new tactics and weapons used-and threatened.Author Bard E. O'Neill, the director of studies of insurgency and revolution at the National War College, addresses insurgencies with respect to ultimate goals, strategies, forms of warfare, the role and means of acquiring popular support, organizational dynamics, causes and effects of disunity, types of external support, and government responses. Course syllabi included.

This book covers many topics that are crucial to military planning but often receive only passing mention in histories or briefings. Collins, a former Army officer, stresses land geography, but he does not stint oceans, the atmosphere, or interplanetary space. His discussions of urban areas are too brief, given the increasing amount of large-scale violence in cities since the end of World War II.

Bestselling authors Donald Goldstein and Katherine Dillon provide new insights into a mystery that has confounded searchers for over sixty years. Much more than an investigation of Amelia Earhart's disappearance, however, this intimate biography describes a compelling young woman who rejected society's traditional female role to pursue an exciting, path-breaking career and who overcame the stigma such independence brought her. Amelia Earhart inspired many to reach for the skies. Her indefatigable spirit was, and still is, an inspiration to millions.

This narrative about Wilson’s Creek starts with the backdrop of issues-from abolition to succession-in Missouri preceding the Civil War and continues to cover early war issues, such as the search for the Swamp Fox and Battle of Boonville, before culminating with the Battle of Wilson's Creek and its sub-battle at Bloody Hill.

Brave Decisions presents true stories of men in American military history who met a moral challenge and did “the right thing.” Having the courage to choose the right path, these fifteen men, including Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas MacArthur, and Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., have become American heroes. Their dilemmas did not involve simple choices of honor and dishonor but hard, courageous, and ethical paths that had both professional and personal consequences. Brave Decisions highlights leaders who recognized the right course.

Now in trade paperback, War Dogs provides an eye-opening look at unsung canine heroes from World War I to the present. Terriers, shepherds, beagles, collies, huskies, and Dobermans are only a few of the breeds that have pulled sleds, searched caves and bunkers, and even parachuted into combat. Michael Lemish has collected true stories and rare photographs that reflect the strong bonds that have formed between war dogs and their masters as they worked together in dangerous situations. Anyone who has ever loved a dog will love this salute to these four-legged heroes.

More Terrible Than Victory is the poignant history of the 1st North Carolina Volunteers (later designated the 11th Regiment North Carolina Troops), which figured prominently in many of the most famous campaigns of the American Civil War. Better known as the Bethel Regiment, it was a distinguished but tragic unit that suffered the South's first battlefield death and, remarkably, was still serving proudly when the end came at Appomattox. Craig Chapman's unit-focused tour of the war's Eastern Theater provides fresh insights into the enigmatic character of the Southern soldier, a man who fought valiantly, suffered horribly, and ultimately lost a war that just could not be won.

Coauthor Erich Friedrich won the Iron Cross fighting the Soviets. But when he refused to give the Nazi salute and criticized Hermann Göring, he was charged with subversion and thrown into a cell. With him were a suspected spy, two accused deserters, a Jehovah’s Witness, a draft dodger, and a leftist. To try to push back the terror of the unknown, each man took a turn telling why he was awaiting torture and possibly death. Friedrich vowed to remember their remarkable stories forever.

This World War II classic is the first comprehensive photographic record of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By the prolific team of Dr. Donald M. Goldstein, Katherine V. Dillon, and J. Michael Wenger, it contains over four hundred photographs of the U.S. preparations for the attack and of the two cities and their people before, during, and after those fateful days. Many are U.S. government and Japanese photographs never before seen by the public. Rain of Ruin is an objective, informative account of the momentous events that changed the world in 1945 and are still debated today.

The Pearl Harbor Papers comprises the original Japanese documents related to the attack of December 7, 1941. Donald M. Goldstein, the dean of Pearl Harbor historians, and his frequent collaborator, Katherine V. Dillon, explain and place into context secret plans, battle group histories, and intimate letters and diary extracts of the key Japanese naval officers. It also features a reproduction of one of the most important documents of the war-the top-secret map drawn by the attack's lead pilot, Mitsuo Fuchida, to show Emperor Hirohito the battle's results. The Pearl Harbor Papers puts readers inside the Japanese thought process leading up to, during, and after the battle that changed the world.

This is the first history of the U.S. Army Air Corps unit that incorporated Gen. Claire Chennault's famous "Flying Tigers." During the dark days immediately after Pearl Harbor, most news from the Asian front was bad-with the exception of reports about the Flying Tigers and their successors, the 23rd Fighter Group. Day after day in the deadly skies over China, the 23rd's shark-mouthed P-40s outfought the Japanese. No single American fighter group in World War II performed more varied missions, was more successful, or was more central to the war effort in its theater of operations. By the end of the war, the 23rd had tallied nearly six hundred aerial victories and destroyed nearly four hundred more Japanese aircraft on the ground. Carl Molesworth's Sharks Over China is based on his interviews with the group's survivors and contains numerous rare photographs.

Victor's book is the first to show that implementing the Final Solution was actually the root of Hitler's most disastrous military decisions.