Best of
Military-History

1989

About Face: Odyssey Of An American Warrior


David H. Hackworth - 1989
    Hackworth presents a vivid and powerful portrait of a life of patriotism.From age fifteen to forty David Hackworth devoted himself to the US Army and fast became a living legend. In 1971, however, he appeared on television to decry the doomed war effort in Vietnam. With About Face, he has written what many Vietnam veterans have called the most important book of their generation.From Korea to Berlin, from the Cuban missile crisis to Vietnam, Hackworth’s story is that of an exemplary patriot, played out against the backdrop of the changing fortunes of America and the American military. It is also a stunning indictment of the Pentagon’s fundamental misunderstanding of the Vietnam conflict and of the bureaucracy of self-interest that fuelled the war.Heavily decorated Colonel Hackworth narrates his life and disillusionment during Vietnam. Orphaned before he was a year old, he found his home at 15 in the Army. In Korea, heroism gave him a battlefield commission at 20. During the Cold War, he commanded at the Berlin wall and the Cuban missile crises. But Vietnam led to disillusionment.

The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966


Rick Atkinson - 1989
    With novelistic detail, Atkinson tells the story of West Point's Class of 1966 primarily through the experiences of three classmates and the women they loved--from the boisterous cadet years and youthful romances to the fires of Vietnam, where dozens of their classmates died and hundreds more grew disillusioned, to the hard peace and family adjustments that followed. The rich cast of characters includes Douglas MacArthur, William Westmoreland, and a score of other memorable figures. The West Point Class of 1966 straddled a fault line in American history, and Rick Atkinson's masterly book speaks for a generation of American men and women about innocence, patriotism, and the price we pay for our dreams.

A Lonely Kind of War: Forward Air Controller, Vietnam


Marshall Harrison - 1989
    It was a dangerous life as they flew low and slow, always a prime target for enemy small arms fire.

Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck


Hans von Luck - 1989
    El Alamein, Kasserine Pass, Poland, Belgium, Normandy on D-Day, the disastrous Russian front--von Luck fought there with some of the best soldiers in the world. German soldiers.Awarded the German Cross in Gold and the Knight's Cross, von Luck writes as an officer and a gentleman. Told with the vivid detail of an impassioned eyewitness, his rare and moving memoir has become a classic in the literature of World War II, a first-person chronicle of the glory--and the inevitable tragedy--of a superb soldier fighting Hitler's war.

Fighting for the Confederacy: The Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander


Edward Porter Alexander - 1989
    Alexander was involved in nearly all of the great battles of the East, from First Manassas through Appomattox, and his duties brought him into frequent contact with most of the high command of the Army of Northern Virginia, including Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and James Longstreet. No other Civil War veteran of his stature matched Alexander's ability to discuss operations in penetrating detail - this is especially true of his description of Gettysburg. His narrative is also remarkable for its utterly candid appraisals of leaders on both sides.

Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War


Paul Fussell - 1989
    Frank Kermode, in The New York Times Book Review, hailed it as "an important contribution to our understanding of how we came to make World War I part of our minds," and Lionel Trilling called it simply "one of the most deeply moving books I have read in a long time." In its panaramic scope and poetic intensity, it illuminated a war that changed a generation and revolutionized the way we see the world.Now, in Wartime, Fussell turns to the Second World War, the conflict he himself fought in, to weave a narrative that is both more intensely personal and more wide-ranging. Whereas his former book focused primarily on literary figures, on the image of the Great War in literature, here Fussell examines the immediate impact of the war on common soldiers and civilians. He describes the psychological and emotional atmosphere of World War II. He analyzes the euphemisms people needed to deal with unacceptable reality (the early belief, for instance, that the war could be won by "precision bombing," that is, by long distance); he describes the abnormally intense frustration of desire and some of the means by which desire was satisfied; and, most important, he emphasizes the damage the war did to intellect, discrimination, honesty, individuality, complexity, ambiguity and wit. Of course, no Fussell book would be complete without some serious discussion of the literature of the time. He examines, for instance, how the great privations of wartime (when oranges would be raffled off as valued prizes) resulted in roccoco prose styles that dwelt longingly on lavish dinners, and how the "high-mindedness" of the era and the almost pathological need to "accentuate the positive" led to the downfall of the acerbic H.L. Mencken and the ascent of E.B. White. He also offers astute commentary on Edmund Wilson's argument with Archibald MacLeish, Cyril Connolly's Horizon magazine, the war poetry of Randall Jarrell and Louis Simpson, and many other aspects of the wartime literary world. Fussell conveys the essence of that wartime as no other writer before him. For the past fifty years, the Allied War has been sanitized and romanticized almost beyond recognition by "the sentimental, the loony patriotic, the ignorant, and the bloodthirsty." Americans, he says, have never understood what the Second World War was really like. In this stunning volume, he offers such an understanding.

Dunkirk


Norman Gelb - 1989
     In less than three weeks, Hitler achieved the most extraordinary military triumph of modern times: Holland, Luxembourg, and Belgium had been overrun; the French army was about to collapse; and the entire British Expeditionary Force, which had been sent across the Channel to help stop the Germans, was trapped against the sea at Dunkirk. Unless they could be rescued, Britain would be left without an army. ‘Dunkirk’ is the first book to present an overview of those awful days and show the effect the battle on the beaches was having on the rest of the world. It is also the day-by-day story of a great escape, of the transformation of a massive defeat into what would ultimately prove a disaster for Germany. “Norman Gelb demonstrates in Dunkirk how productive it is to focus on an individual operation or battle … Dunkirk is both a good adventure read and an instructive case study yielding modern lessons.” — JOHN LEHMAN, Former Secretary of the Navy, The Wall Street Journal “Norman Gelb finds fresh angles … Dunkirk stands as an exemplar of the perils of vacillation and the possibilities of action.” — The New York Times Book Review “Mr. Gelb has excavated beneath surface events, delved into political and psychological factors, and produced an intelligent, fast-moving narrative.” — PROFESSOR ARNOLD AGES, Baltimore Sun — “Vivid and comprehensive … Absorbing … Sets a high standard for other reconstructions” — Kirkus Reviews NORMAN GELB was born in New York and is the author of seven highly acclaimed books, including The Berlin Wall, Scramble: A Narrative History of the Battle of Britain, and Less Than Glory. He was, for many years, correspondent for the Mutual Broadcasting System, first in Berlin and then in London. He is currently the London correspondent for New Leader magazine. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

The Siege of Khe Sanh: The Oral History


Eric Hammel - 1989
    Surrounded by two divisions of North Vietnamese soldiers and resupplied entirely by air, hungry and thirsty U.S. Marines engaged in some of the most savage hand-to-hand combat of the entire war. The vividly detailed recollections of key participants place readers at the heart of the action, as mortars fall continuously and Marines struggle to cut down the enemy. A gripping narrative that illustrates the harrowing nature of a battle in which superior American fire and air power proved decisive, but at a terrible cost.

Jackspeak: A Guide to British Naval Slang & Usage


Rick Jolly - 1989
    Compiled by a decorated ex-Royal Marine surgeon, it contains often-hilarious examples of common usage, useful cross-references, and comic illustrations by Tugg, the popular cartoonist from the service newspaper Navy News. Jackspeak is essential for anyone with an interest in the Royal Navy--or who just enjoys fun wordplay!

Argentine Fight for the Falklands


Martin Middlebrook - 1989
    Martin Middlebrook has produced a genuine 'first' with this unique work.Martin Middlebrook is the only British historian to have been granted open access to the Argentines who planned and fought the Falklands War. It ranks with Liddel Hart's The Other side of the Hill in analyzing and understanding the military thinking and strategies of Britain's sometime enemy, and is essential reading for all who wish to understand the workings of military minds.The book provides new light on the way Argentine forces were organized for war, the plans and reactions of the commanders, the sufferings of the soldiers and the shame and disillusionment of defeat.

I Shall Not Die: Titokowaru's War, New Zealand 1868-9


James Belich - 1989
    

U.S. Marine Corps Scout/Sniper Training Manual


USMC Development-Education Command Staff - 1989
    It outlines lessons on sniping, care and cleaning of the M40A1 sniper rifle and equipment, sights, camouflage, the effects of weather, range-estimation techniques, target detection and selection, offensive and defensive employment, construction and occupation of hides, mental conditioning and more. Samples score cards, observation logs and range estimation score sheets.

The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece


Victor Davis Hanson - 1989
    Instead of ambush, skirmish, maneuver, or combat between individual heroes, the Greeks of the fifth century b.c. devised a ferocious, brief, and destructive head-on clash between armed men of all ages. In this bold, original study, Victor Davis Hanson shows how this brutal enterprise was dedicated to the same outcome as consensual government--an unequivocal, instant resolution to dispute.The Western Way of War draws from an extraordinary range of sources--Greek poetry, drama, and vase painting, as well as historical records--to describe what actually took place on the battlefield. It is the first study to explore the actual mechanics of classical Greek battle from the vantage point of the infantryman--the brutal spear-thrusting, the difficulty of fighting in heavy bronze armor which made it hard to see, hear and move, and the fear. Hanson also discusses the physical condition and age of the men, weaponry, wounds, and morale.This compelling account of what happened on the killing fields of the ancient Greeks ultimately shows that their style of armament and battle was contrived to minimize time and life lost by making the battle experience as decisive and appalling as possible. Linking this new style of fighting to the rise of constitutional government, Hanson raises new issues and questions old assumptions about the history of war.

No Better Place to Die: The Battle Of Stones River


Peter Cozzens - 1989
    Yet another name belongs on that infamous list: Stones River, the setting for Peter Cozzens's No Better Place to Die.

Stormtroop Tactics: Innovation in the German Army, 1914-1918


Bruce I. Gudmundsson - 1989
    It covers areas previously left unexplored: the German Infantry's tactical heritage, the squad's evolution as a tactical unit, the use of new weapons for close combat, the role of the elite assault units in the development of new tactics, and detailed descriptions of offensive battles that provided the inspiration and testing ground for this new way of fighting. Both a historical investigation and a standard of excellence in infantry tactics, Stormtroop Tactics is required reading for professional military officers and historians as well as enthusiasts.Contrary to previous studies, Stormtroop Tactics proposes that the German Infantry adaption to modern warfare was not a straightforward process resulting from the top down intervention of reformers but instead a bottom up phenomenon. It was an accumulation of improvisations and ways of dealing with pressing situations that were later sewn together to form what we now call Blitzkrieg. Focusing on action at the company, platoon, and squad level, Stormtroop Tactics provides a detailed description of the evolution of German defensive tactics during World War I--tactics that were the direct forbears of those used in World War II.

Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer


Brian D. O'Neill - 1989
     A well-researched, highly readable account of a B-17 combat crew's experience In 1943, when the outcome of World War II hung in the balance, B-17 crews of the Eighth Air Force flew harrowing, unescorted daylight bombing missions deep into Occupied Europe and Germany. These devastating raids have long been storied in film and fiction, but here is a firsthand, blow-by-blow account of these perilous missions as they really happened. In these pages, you'll see the events unfold as they were recorded and recalled by one crew's officers and enlisted men (pilot, copilot, navigator, radioman, and gunners), corroborated by other crews they flew with, and painstakingly correlated with the official records of the men's 303rd Hell's Angels Bomb Group.The publication of Half a Wing, Three Engines, and a Prayer in 1989 prompted a flood of fresh recollections, correspondence, and personal records from other veterans of the 303rd. This Special Revised Edition incorporates that wealth of new material into a vivid, thorough recreation -- complete with actual combat photographs -- of one of the most dramatic chapters in military aviation history.New in this Special Revised Edition: * New veteran interviews* Expanded coverage * Revised data * 90 photographs & illustrations* Epilogue: crewmen's post-war careersA well-researched, highly readable account of a B-17 combat crew's experience...excellent. -- Roger A. Freeman, author of The Mighty EighthThe best collection of stories about a B-17 Bomb Group that has ever been published. -- Harry D. Gobrecht, President, 303rd Bomb Group Association and author of Might in Flight: Daily Diary of the Eighth Air Force's 'Hell's Angels' Bomb Group

Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy


Joseph Balkoski - 1989
    Using interviews, official records and unit histories, this book follows the 29th from bloody landings at Omaha through the hedgerows of Normandy, illustrating the brutal realities of life on the front line.

The First Battle of Manassas: An End to Innocence July 18-21, 1861


John J. Hennessy - 1989
    

Chained Eagle


Everett Alvarez - 1989
    Photos.

The World at Arms


Reader's Digest Association - 1989
    Clearly and comprehensively written, with a wealth of detail, it relives the hopes, fears, dangers, and triumphs of those perilous days. Over 800 photographs, illustrations and charts and over 50 maps in color.

The Borrowed Years: 1938-1941 America On The Way To War


Richard M. Ketchum - 1989
    A one-volume popular history of the three years before America entered World War II--those years when England, France, Poland, and Finland fought and we borrowed against the bank of history.

One Day In A Long War: May 10, 1972 Air War, North Vietnam


Jeffrey L. Ethell - 1989
    A minute-by-minute account--researched from almost a hundred eyewitnesses, cockpit voice recordings, and official documents--which amounts to a definitive reconstruction of the most intense, dawn-to-dark aerial action in the Vietnam War.

Child at War: The True Story of a Young Belgian Resistance Fighter


Mark Bles - 1989
    

One Woman's Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC


Charity Adams Earley - 1989
    Congress authorized the organization of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (later renamed Women's Army Corps) in 1942, and hundreds of women were able to join in the war effort. Charity Edna Adams became the first black woman commissioned as an officer. Black members of the WAC had to fight the prejudices not only of males who did not want women in their "man's army," but also of those who could not accept blacks in positions of authority or responsibility, even in the segregated military. With unblinking candor, Charity Adams Earley tells of her struggles and successes as the WAC's first black officer and as commanding officer of the only organization of black women to serve overseas during World War II. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion broke all records for redirecting military mail as she commanded the group through its moves from England to France and stood up to the racist slurs of the general under whose command the battalion operated. The Six Triple Eight stood up for its commanding officer, supporting her boycott of segregated living quarters and recreational facilities. This book is a tribute to those courageous women who paved the way for patriots, regardless of color or gender, to serve their country.

Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II


Leonard Bridgman - 1989
    The classic, illustrated, standard reference encyclopedia to the fighting aircraft of World War II. An authoritative, comprehensive review of the airpower of 68 countries with more extensive information than in any previous edition or reprint of Jane's. Over 1,000 black-and-white photographs, line drawings, and data tables.

SAS: Phantoms of War: A History of the Australian Special Air Service


David Horner - 1989
    The Special Air Service (SAS) operated deep behind enemy lines, conducting surveillance at close range, poised to spring into action at a moment's notice. This Australian military classic tells the story of the formation of the military known to the Viet Cong as “phantoms of the jungle,” its secret role in Borneo during confrontation with Indonesia, and its operations in Vietnam. After its involvement in Vietnam, the SAS formed a crack counter-terrorist force that saw action in Somalia, Kuwait, and East Timor and in the security of the 2000 Olympic Games.

Beyond Nationalism: A Social and Political History of the Habsburg Officer Corps, 1848-1918


István Deák - 1989
    Still, it preserved domestic peace and provided the conditions for social, economic, and cultural progress in a vast area inhabited by eleven majornationalities and almost as many confessional groups. This study investigates the social origin, education, training, code of honor, lifestyle, and political role of the Habsburg officers. Simultaneously conservative and liberal, the officer corps, originally composed mainly of noblemen, willinglycoopted thousands of commoners--among them an extraordinary number of Jews. Even during World War I, the army and its officers endured, surviving the dissolution of the state in October 1918, if only by a few days. The end of the multinational Habsburg army also marked the end of confessional andethnic tolerance in Central and East Central Europe.

A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times


George Cameron Stone - 1989
    Originally published in 1934, it remains an essential guide to the field. To describe the worldwide range and variety of weaponry, Stone drew upon the more than 4,000 items in his private collection of Eastern arms and armor, as well as the European arms collection of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a variety of other sources. Since the author subsequently bequeathed his entire collection to the Metropolitan Museum, this volume serves as an abbreviated visual reference to that institution's Arms and Armor collection.By profession a metallurgist, the author focused on techniques of manufacture and workmanship to derive his method of codifying the typology of weapons, relying on an alphabetized dictionary format to avoid the confusions he found in a field without standardized nomenclature. This "glossary" format makes it easy for anyone to locate material on the astonishing variety of weapons covered. These include arquebuses, blunderbusses, flintlocks, wheel locks, matchlocks, and other antique guns; German armor; French rapiers; Roman short swords; Turkish crossbows; all the Japanese bladed weapons (katana, wakizashi, naginata, etc.); the East Asian kris in its countless permutations; and many more.Illustrated with 875 detailed figures, incorporating thousands of individual photographs and drawings, the book was written from the unique viewpoint of an expert who devoted a lifetime to the field. Hard to locate today (original editions are worth hundreds of dollars), Stone's Glossary represents a peerless resource for scholars, experts, collectors, students, hobbyists, and institutions — any student of the long history and development of weapons and armor around the world.

The Times Atlas of the Second World War


John Keegan - 1989
    Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Europe, this atlas contains hundreds of full-color maps and photos of every aspect of World War II in Europe, the Pacific, and on the Soviet front.

Unaccustomed Mercy: Soldier-Poets of the Vietnam War


W.D. Ehrhart - 1989
    I could touch the tears on page after page."—Wallace Terry

"Seeing the Elephant": Raw Recruits at the Battle of Shiloh


Joseph Allan Frank - 1989
    Fighting alongside seasoned veterans were more than 160 newly recruited regiments and other soldiers who had yet to encounter serious action. In the phrase of the time, these men came to Shiloh to “see the elephant.” Drawing on the letters, diaries, and other reminiscences of these raw recruits on both sides of the conflict, “Seeing the Elephant” gives a vivid and valuable primary account of the terrible struggle. From the wide range of voices included in this volume emerges a nuanced picture of the psychology and motivations of the novice soldiers and the ways in which their attitudes toward the war were affected by their experiences at Shiloh.

The West Point Military History of the Second World War/Military Campaign Atlas/Europe & the Mediterranean/Asia & the Pacific (West Point Military)


Thomas E. Griess - 1989
    

Field Artillery and Firepower: Updated and Expanded Edition


Jonathan B.A. Bailey - 1989
    The author, until recently chief of artillery for the British Army, is considered one of the world's foremost experts on the subject. Unlike other books that either describe the technical aspects of present-day firepower or outline its history during specific wars, this work provides both a detailed explanation of the modern artillery system and a history of its development over the past six hundred fifty years, identifying its enduring principles and changing practices against an ever-changing background of technology, tactics, and strategy. When an earlier version of this book was published in 1989, it became known as the best single source on field artillery in the English language. This new edition has been fully updated and substantially expanded to cover a wide range of contemporary military debates and the role of firepower, and is certain to be regarded as the ultimate work on the subject for years to come.J.B.A. Bailey assesses major developments over the past decade, analyzing artillery operations in airborne, urban, littoral, desert, jungle, mountain, arctic, and nocturnal environments. He examines direct fire, counterfire, the suppression of enemy air defenses, and force protection methods. He explains field artillery from its primitive beginnings to its dominance as an art in World War II and its potent utility in operations since 1945 and into the future. The book will be of particular interest to military historians and those engaged in debating firepower's future.

Bonds of wire: A memoir


Kingsley Brown - 1989
    On July 3, 1942, RCAF Bomber Pilot Kingsley Brown was shot down over Holland, and so began what would prove to be a three-year incarceration in the most famous of all German prisoner of war camps, Stalag Luft 3, from which the Great Escape was launched.Brown recalls the years spent behind barbed wire with amazing good humour and generosity.

Flavius Josephus: Eyewitness to Rome's First-Century Conquest of Judea


Mireille Hadas-Lebel - 1989
    His position as a Jewish leader and then as the Roman court historian during the reign of Vespasian ensured that his historical works would be read and preserved by Jews and Romans alike. His narrative is not a mere chronicle; it is, in the best historiographical tradition, an attempt to make events intelligible. He does what no other historian, Greek or Latin, could have done: He examines the past in order to elucidate the underlying origins of the war. Other works chronicling the war between the Jews and the Romans circulated at the time, but soon disappeared without a trace. We know of them only because of Josephus' irritation with their inaccuracies and prejudices. Josephus, unlike the other writers, was present during the war, not as a mere bystander, but as a participant in the negotiations. The Romans employed him as an ambassador between themselves and the Jews, in the hope that Josephus could quell his people's passionate uprising. As our only eyewitness to these events, Josephus will remain important. But for his role as a Jew working with the Roman army, he will remain forever controversial. Whether Josephus was a traitor or a wise man who tried to salvage the Jewish kingdom is a question that modern historians still argue. In 1937 a group of law students in Antwerp reopened the case of Flavius Josephus, and after a mock trial found him guilty of "treason." In 1941, in the midst of the Second World War, a group of young resistance fighters who were strong supporters of Zionism reacting as French and Jewish patriots accused Josephus of "collaboration." Today, Josephus' works are read more widely in Israel than in any other country. Archaeology, Israel's "national sport," could not do without him. Caesarea, Sepphoris, Gamala, Masada, and the Jerusalem of the

Armies Of Feudal Europe, 1066 1300


Ian Heath - 1989
    

Men Of The Battle Of Britain: A Who Was Who Of The Pilots And Aircrew, British, Commonwealth And Allied, Who Flew With Royal Air Force Fighter Command July 10 To October 31, 1940


Kenneth G. Wynn - 1989
    

South Africa's Border War 1966-89


Willem Steenkamp - 1989
    A significant, full-color volume, it originally sold 31,000 copies in South Africa alone and has been out of print for decades.This version is the first reissue of the original, written by Willem Steenkamp. Almost all the photos were taken by Al J. Venter who covered that conflict intermittently for almost two decades.Both Steenkamp and Venter have gone on to produce other works on that bitter conflict, but neither they nor anybody else has been able to match this beautiful coffee-table volume. Both agree that the book should be regarded as a tribute to a generation of fighting men, where sons often followed in the footsteps of their fathers, serving in the same units a generation apart.Though South Africa's 'Border War' started slowly with the first major clash of the conflict taking place on South West African soil at Omugulugwombashe in August 1966, hostilities escalated steadily, to the point where Moscow provided the Marxist Luanda government with all the military hardware it needed. Tens of thousands of Cuban troops were drafted into Angola after Portugal had abandoned its African territories.The conflict then entered several conventional phases that involved long-range South African armored strikes into Angola's interior and several major tank battles that eventually brought hostilities to an end. Luanda by then had already used chemical weapons on a limited scale and Pretoria was considering deploying its newly developed nuclear arsenal.Willem Steenkamp, a seasoned war correspondent, covers all these historical issues in South Africa's Border War, as well as ancillary military strikes in several other black African countries that included Zambia and Mozambique.The book is exceptionally well illustrated, with hundreds of color as well as black-and-white photos; truly a valuable addition to recent African military history.

Great Captains


Theodore Ayrault Dodge - 1989
    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

The Great Tank Scandal


David Fletcher - 1989
    

King of the Killing Zone: The Story of the M-1, America's Super Tank


Orr Kelly - 1989
    Traces the development of the M-1 tank, discusses the criticism of opponents, and explains how it has affected battle strategy.

Guns and Butter, Powder and Rice: U.S. Army Logistics in the Korean War


James A. Huston - 1989
    

The Shrinking Circle: Memories of Nazi Berlin, 1933-1939


Marion Freyer Wolff - 1989
    It includes tales of Kristallnacht, the disappearance of friends and relatives, and a family's frantic efforts at emigration. Ideal for junior high school readers.

Writers on World War II: An Anthology


Mordecai Richler - 1989
    Contributors include Auden, Doctorow, Orwell, Shaw, Mailer, Sartre, Terkel, Vonnegut, Shirer, Levi, and many others.

Geronimo!: American Paratroopers in World War II


William B. Breuer - 1989
    129 photos.

Soviet Military Deception in the Second World War


David M. Glantz - 1989
    Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Lincoln Brigade: A Picture History


William Loren Katz - 1989
    Through a skillful interweaving of first-hand reports and photographs, this riveting volume brings to life the young American poets, laborers, professors, students, seamen and journalists who challenged their government's Depression-era inaction to take up arms against the rising Facist tide in Europe.

The Samogitian Crusade


William L. Urban - 1989
    

Commander of the Armada: The Seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia


Peter Pierson - 1989
    The seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia is best known as the man who led to defeat the Spanish Armada of 1588.  This book by Peter Pierson is the first complete biography in any language of this important figure.  Based on previously inaccessible documents from the Medina Sidonia archives, it offers fascinating material on sixteenth-century Spain and new and exciting details about the armada campaign.Pierson begins by describing the Duke’s youth and his close ties to the court of Philip II.  He discusses the Duke’s lifelong involvement with the shipping that navigated the treasure route from Spain to the Indies, his significant role in Philip’s successful quest for the Portuguese Crown, and his appointment as Captain General of the Ocean-Sea.  Spain’s war with England dominates the central chapters of the book.  Pierson relates how Medina Sidonia embargoed ships and recruited men for the armada, the largest fleet yet concentrated in early modern Europe, and he analyzes Philip’s choice of the Duke to command the armada.  Pierson provides a radical reinterpretation of the armada campaign, and with the aid of ten superb maps and diagrams he reconstructs the positions of the two navies, the number and names of ships, and their movements from the fleet’s departure for England to the surviving vessel’s arrival home.  Pierson continues with Medina Sidonia’s life after the armada campaign and discusses his second appearance on the world stage, as the unsuccessful defender of Cádiz against a major Anglo-Dutch attack in 1596.  “This superb book is both the definitive biography of an important man and an indispensable source on the Armada campaign.” –Geoffrey Parker, coauthor of The Spanish Armada

No Name on the Bullet: A Biography of Audie Murphy


Don Graham - 1989
    In world War II, over the course of more than two years of continuous combat in Europe, this Texas sharecropper's son entered the ranks of the immortals who can claim a sustained series of hard-to-believe (but thoroughly documented) exploits on the bloody battlegrounds of Sicily, Anzio, France, and Germany. For his heroic achievements, which left some 240 German soldiers dead, Murphy received the most medals ever awarded to an American soldier, including the Congressional Medal of Honor. When the portrait of this freckled, baby-faced foot soldier appeared on the cover of Life magazine, Audie Murphy became the living symbol of America's desire for its sons to return, unravaged, from the war. After the war, Murphy went on to launch a long and surprisingly durable career as a screen actor, starring in such films as The Red Badge of Courage, The Quiet American, his autobiographical war movie To Hell and Back, and a long series of Westerns (where he was inevitably cast as 'the Kid'). But just beneath the surface of his life lay a numbness, a delayed stress relieved only by bouts of womanizing, nocturnal adventures, reckless gambling, and dangerous practical jokes. Murphy would survive into the Vietnam era as an anachronism of sorts, whose baroque schemes for financial salvation plunged him into the American political and criminal netherworld - a hero badly out of time. Don Graham tells the story of this emblematic American life in vivid detail, with a rich appreciation for the ironies and multiple meanings to be found there, and with awe at the combat heroics of this 'fugitive from the law of averages.' Audie Murphy's grave is the most visited one in Arlington national Cemetery, save JFK's, even today; No Name on the Bullet explains why this is so to a whole new generation of Americans

TC 23-14 Sniper Training and Employment


U.S. Department of the Army - 1989
    

The Life And Death Of Hermann Goering


Ewan Butler - 1989
    

The Anatomy of Victory: Battle Tactics 1689-1763


Brent Nosworthy - 1989
    Many books have been written about the battles of that period, but few tell how the soldiers actually fought those battles using the weapons at hand. This book does. Painstakingly researched, and using actual battles for illustration, it tells the reader the "how" and "why" about the tactics used by infantry, cavalry and artillery. Well written, it provides a valuable resource to historians and history lovers of that long ago age.

Armies on the Danube: 1809


Scott Bowden - 1989
    In addition to discussion of such battles as Aspern-Essling and Wagram, the authors provide an extensive analysis of the opposing armies, their organization, and field strengths.

The Great Crusade: A New Complete History of the Second World War


H.P. Willmott - 1989
    This book examines chronologically the course of the World War II, taking issue with commonly held notions about the war, and offering new interpretations of major campaigns and individuals.