Focusing on a vast cast of characters -- from Dutch civilians to British and American strategists to common soldiers and commanders -- Ryan brings to life one of the most daring and ill-fated operations of the war. A Bridge Too Far superbly recreates the terror and suspense, the heroism and tragedy of this epic operation, which ended in bitter defeat for the Allies.

    There she witnessed the full impact of the war and first formed the ambition to write an account of what history - the great political events driven by men of power, wealth, and ambition - does when it reaches the realm of ordinary people struggling for life and bread. The central character in this powerful and unforgiving novel is Ida Mancuso, a schoolteacher whose husband has died and whose feckless teenage son treats the war as his playground. A German soldier on his way to North Africa rapes her, falls in love with her, and leaves her pregnant with a boy whose survival becomes Ida's passion. Around these two other characters come and go, each caught up by the war which is like a river in flood. We catch glimpses of bombing raids, street crimes, a cattle car from which human cries emerge, an Italian soldier succumbing to frostbite on the Russian front, the dumb endurance of peasants who have lived their whole lives with nothing and now must get by with less than nothing.

    Based on seventy hours of interviews with Franz Stangl, commandant of Treblinka (the largest of the Nazi extermination camps), Sereny's book bares the soul of a man who continually found ways to rationalize his role in Hitler's final solution.

    Fest tells and interprets the extraordinary story of a man's and a nation's rise from impotence to absolute power, as Germany and Hitler, from shared premises, entered into their covenant. He shows Hitler exploiting the resentments of the shaken, post-World War I social order and seeing through all that was hollow behind the appearance of power, at home and abroad. Fest reveals the singularly penetrating politician, hypnotizing Germans and outsiders alike with the scope of his projects and the theatricality of their presentation. Fest also, perhaps most importantly, brilliantly uncovers the destructive personality who aimed at and achieved devastation on an unprecedented scale. As history and as biography, this is a towering achievement, a compelling story told in a way only a German could tell it, "dispassionately, but from the inside." (Time)

    A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties without rancor and even rise up through military ranks. Pvt. Mandella is willing to do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries.

    Through anecdotes, stories, and notations - some as brief as "I was slapped today in Zlota Street" - there emerges the agonizing, eyewitness accounts of human beings caught in the furor of senseless, unrelenting brutality. In the Journal, there is the whole of life in the Ghetto, from the erection of the Wall, in November 1940, for hygienic reasons, through the brief period of deceptive calm to the eventual mass murders. It is a portrait of man tested by crisis, stained at times by the meanness of avarice and self-preservation, illumined more often by moments of nobility. Emmanual Ringelblum was 39 when he began his notes. When the Germans first invaded Poland, Ringelblum, who could have stayed abroad and escaped, returned to Warsaw from Switzerland knowing that his was an historical event of importance for his people and a moment in time that must be forever a part of written history. As the recognized archivist of the Ghetto he gathered around him a staff, and assigned each to cover a specific part of Ghetto life. From these reports and this notes, he assembled his Journal. On March 7, 1944, Emmanual Ringelblum was executed among the ruins of Warsaw, together with his wife, his son, and thirt-eight others who shared his hiding place.

    Hunted in turn by American troops, the Philippine police, hostile islanders, and successive Japanese search parties, Onoda had skillfully outmaneuvered all his pursuers, convinced that World War II was still being fought and that one day his fellow soldiers would return victorious. This account of those years is an epic tale of the will to survive that offers a rare glimpse of man's invincible spirit, resourcefulness, and ingenuity. A hero to his people, Onoda wrote down his experiences soon after his return to civilization. This book was translated into English the following year and has enjoyed an approving audience ever since.

    This multigenerational saga follows the Kent family and their pursuit of a foothold and future in the expanding United States. From the family’s initial journey traveling to America’s shore to their voyage to the Western frontier, their fate is intertwined with the course of American history in these first three volumes of the series.  The Bastard: Denied his birthright as the illegitimate son of the Duke of Kentland, Philippe Charboneau seeks a new life in London, where he meets Benjamin Franklin and reads the works of patriot firebrand Sam Adams. Inspired by such brave new ideas, he travels to the American colonies at the brink of the Revolution. There he will choose his own name—Philip Kent—and finally decide his own fate.  The Rebels: Philip Kent fights as a Continental soldier at the Battle of Bunker Hill. In a bold move, he has taken up arms for the future of his new family. Spirited and unwavering in his dedication to his adopted homeland, Philip fights in the most violent battles in America’s early history. But far from the front lines, another battle rages that will sweep his wife, Anne, on her own perilous journey that may destroy all Philip has fought for.  The Seekers: Returning from fighting valiantly on the frontier, Abraham Kent—son of Philip and Anne—returns to Boston, only to realize that he cannot abide the confines of civilization. Determined not to live in his father’s shadow, he takes his young bride and settles on the American frontier. But the life of a pioneer comes at a high price, and the cost of Abraham’s restless ambitions may be more than he can bear.

    Wodehouse did for the English.

    First published in 1974, this work remains in the forefront of the many books, movies, and television programs about the epic World War II drama played out in the stormy Atlantic. It is a thrilling firsthand account of the hunting down and sinking of the battleship 'Bismarck', pride of the German Fleet, told by a member of the Royal Navy's destroyer force who participated in the pursuit. The author's own experiences add fire and immediacy to the account that has come to be considered a classic by critic and general reader alike. The world's largest warship when she first sailed into the Atlantic in May 1941, the 'Bismarck' was a serious threat to Britain's survival and her sinking of the beloved battle cruiser 'HMS Hood' with nearly fifteen hundred aboard sent shock waves throughout Britain. Determined to track her down, the Royal Navy engaged in pursuit, finding the mammoth warship just hours from her safe harbor. The chess-like plotting, the horror and heroism on both sides, the final apocalyptic action have never been portrayed more vividly and objectively - and never with the benefit of such detailed documentation from both British and German sources. A measure of the book's epic qualities is that knowledge of the outcome in no way lessens the tension. When she was sunk just days after her own victorious action with the 'Hood<', the 'Bismarck' took more than two thousand German sailors to the bottom of the ocean and with them the dreams of the German naval high command. For sheer suspense, this book can hardly be equalled. For carefully researched history, it is an admirable example of fine writing. Ludovic Kennedy's introduction to this new edition places the event in perspective for today's audiences.

    The author recalls the adventure and danger of his espionage activities during the Second World War as a British agent posing as a Nazi supporter.

    Burning with anger and humiliation, Drona was filled with a desire for revenge. That was the only tragic flaw in a brave and supremely talented archer who taught the use of arms to the Kaurava and the Pandava princes.

    The last gentlemans war. Illustrated

    A DEFIANCE THAT SAW NO SLACKING UNTIL CANDLES COULD SHINE IN DANISH WINDOWS AGAIN

    The reasons behind the Great War and its profound effect on the attitudes and ideals of Australia are intertwined with intimate personal details in this beautifully constructed narrative.

    Journey with Ernest and Elisabeth from the horror of the Holocaust to salvation in Jesus the Messiah. Not only is this a powerful testimony of how God sustained several Jewish families during the worst nightmare of our time, it is also a tender love story. You won't be able to put it down!

    The irony was made more bitter as black troops struggled with the racist policies of the American military itself. The overwhelming majority were assigned to labor companies; those selected for combat were under-trained, poorly equipped, ad commanded by white officers who insisted on black inferiority. Still, African Americans performed admirably under fire: the 369th Infantry regiment was in continuous combat loner than any other American unit, and was the first Allied regiment to cross the Rhine in the offensive against Germany.The Unknown Soldiers, the only full-scale examination of the subject, chronicles the rigid segregation; the limited opportunities for advancement; the inadequate training, food, medical attention, housing, and clothing; the verbal harassment and physical abuse, including lynchings; the ingratitude, unemployment, and unprecedented racial violence that greeted their return. The Unknown Soldiers is an unforgettable, searing study of those wartime experiences that forced African Americans to realize that equality and justice could never be earned in Jim Crow America, but only wrested from its strangling grip.

    Breckinridge was the vice president of the United States. Later he came closest to defeating Abraham Lincoln for the presidency in 1860. In a short time he became secretary of war in the Confederate cabinet. This -- the first -- comprehensive biography of this remarkable man and his generation covers one of the turbulent eras of the American past. Breckinridge was a Kentucky lawyer and veteran of the Mexican War when he was elected to the state legislature in 1849. Soon thereafter he was elected to Congress and in 1856 became James Buchanan's running mate. After his defeat by Lincoln in the 1860 election, he took his seat in the Senate and supported the Union on the question of succession. Because he opposed most of Lincoln's other policies, he was considered dangerous. When Lincoln ordered him arrested, even though no charges had been filed against him, Breckinridge escaped to the South and joined the Confederate army as a brigadier general. Later he was appointed secretary of war by Jefferson Davis. Prominent in every field he entered, Breckinridge was a leading statesman and soldier. As a moderate and earnest supporter of compromise, he became the symbol of peaceful reconciliation between the states after the Civil War.

    Florence Farmborough was a 27-year-old Englishwoman employed as a governess to a family in Moscow when war broke out. She volunteered with the Red Cross and found herself at the forefront of military events in Poland, Austria, and Rumania. She witnessed the effects of Lenin and Trotsky's bloody revolution, and of Russia's collapse into chaos and civil war. Illustrated with nearly 48 of Farmborough's photographs.

    Only the SS Charon, a rusty eight-knot coal burner, moves with an ease in these dangerous waters. So the Royal Navy decides to use her. And her captain, Edward Trapp, privateer and professional survivor, with his ramshackle, unorthodox crew, suddenly finds himself fighting for the allies in a strange, harrowing, unorthodox war.

    an important addition to the history of those times... here is a book to read and enjoy. The Sunday Times Constance Babington Smith, who worked during the war with the Allied Central Interpretation Unit, tells the story of the men and women who pioneered and fostered photographic intelligence, and of the work they did.

    Mosley, an accomplished journalist & biographer with a long list of books to his credit, offers a readable & entertaining biography of Hitler's onetime deputy. This isn't a scholarly work along the lines of the biographies of other Nazi personalities such as Ian Kershaw has done for Hitler, Peter Padfield for Himmler or Ralf Reuth for Goebbels. Don't look for meticulous endnotes or deep analysis. That isn't because Mosely didn't use sources. He did & lists them at the end. He gives a full-length portrait of Goering the man as he was in real life--bigger than life, that was Goering--& while Mosely is sometimes sympathetic, sometimes judgmental, he's honest & in the end he succeeded in capturing the essence of this intriguing & tragic figure. Mosely has one great advantage over other biographers, however: He actually met Goering before the war, was a guest at his estate in E. Prussia & after the war conducted extensive interviews with people who knew the Reichsmarshal intimately his whole life. That sets him apart from other biographers. While I disagree with Mosely's conclusion that his greatest fault was his lack of moral courage to stand up to Hitler, that certainly was a defect in his makeup. But this book proves that Goering had no control over his relationship with Hitler. He, like many others, couldn't stand up to Hitler because he worshipped him. In Goering's particular case, he was totally under the influence of the Fuhrer's charisma & so dependent upon him for so long that in the end it was impossible for him to contradict the dictator. When his god rejected him & then failed him, & Goering knew in the end that Hitler had failed him, there was nothing he could do but accept his fate. Those who condemn Goering because he didn't have the courage to defy his idol haven't been put to that test themselves. For serious students of the history of the 3rd Reich, this book is valuable.--Daniel J. Cragg (edited)

    A village that was burned to the ground with its inhabitants in 1943. Anyone familiar with this small corner of Eastern Europe is chilled to the bone by the events that transpired there, and the village’s name Khatyn has now come to embody a horrific national tragedy. But tragedy is not all this name embodies, for it also reminds people of the tremendous courage of those who fought for the life and freedom of their country. It is the story of this village and the events that surround its annihilation that are the focus of Ales Adamovich’s novel Khatyn, which was written on the basis of historical documents. The author, himself a World War II veteran and partisan, depicts the reality of the partisan resistance to fascism in Belarus. The main character is a man named Florian, who in his memories returns to events that transpired some thirty years ago, when as a teenager he joined a partisan unit and met his future wife, Glasha. He witnesses how the villagers of Khatyn are burned alive as reprisal for supporting the partisan movement. The monstrous cruelty of the death squad and its commanders manifested itself in the act of punishing the entire community for the deeds of those who had helped the partisans. The village, composed mostly of the elderly and mothers with children, was locked inside a barn. After being covered with dry hay, the barn was set ablaze with the families inside.Over half a century later, Adamovich’s story about the courage of ordinary people has not lost its immediacy. Today, the world is still marred by war crimes committed against communities of noncombatant. Khatyn is a testament to an event that must not be forgotten, and to a reality that must not be repeated.

    For the next six years its members lived the heartbreak, the horror, and the glory of a bitter conflict on foreign soil. This is the heart-and-soul story of the Hasty P's and their part in the Second World War, told by their most eloquent spokesman. First printed over fifty years ago and out of print since 1982, The Regiment has lost none of its immediacy or emotional power. This new edition contains the complete, unabridged original text in all its rich detail. For the first time, it also contains a selection of photographs, and lists the Regiment's Honours and Awards, its Honour Roll, as well as lists of personnel and Second World War casualties. In 1957 The Regiment was awarded 31 Battle Honours for its actions in the war, the most awarded to any Canadian regiment.

    General Mordechai Gur, who played a major role in Israel's military operations since statehood, has vividly written an unforgettable account of the events surrounding the critical Battle for Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War. General Gur's fast-paced narrative brings alive all the tension, terror, uncertainty, hope and desperation of the conflict.

    

    In the fragile safety of catacombs revealed by the explosions, he tends to the flood of homeless, starving, and frightened people seeking shelter, giving messages of inspiration and hope. His story, and that of the island, unfold in superbly graphic images of six days during the siege.

    It was the first war to be fought with modern weapons.The Japanese had fought the Chinese at sea in 1894 and had gained a foothold in Manchuria by taking control of Port Authur. In 1895, however, Japan was forced to abandon its claims by the Russian fleet's presence in the Straits of Tsushima. Tsar Nicholas had obtained a window to the East for his empire and Japan had been humiliated. Tensions between the two countries would rise inexorably over the next decade.Around the world, no one doubted that little Japan would be no match for the mighty armies of Tsar Nicholas II. Yet Russia was in an advanced state of decay, the government corrupt and its troops inept and demoralized. Japan, meanwhile, was emerging from centuries of feudal isolation and becoming an industrial power, led by zealous nationalist warlords keen to lead the Orient to victory over the oppressive West. From the opening surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Authur in 1904, the Japanese out-fought and out-thought the Russians.This is a definitive account of one of the pivotal conflicts of the twentieth century whose impact was felt around the world.