Best of
War

1985

Word of Honor


Nelson DeMille - 1985
    But a lifetime ago Ben Tyson was a lieutenant in Vietnam.There the men under his command committed a murderous atrocity and together swore never to tell the world what they had done.Now the press, army justice, and the events he tried to forget have caught up with Ben Tyson. His family, his career, and his personal sense of honor hang in the balance. And only one woman can reveal the truth of his past and set him free."

Charlie Mike


Leonard B. Scott - 1985
    This is a novel about some of the very best. Some led. Some followed. Some died. Meet Sergeant David Grady, Sarah Boyce, Major John Colven, Lieutenant Le Be Son...in the great Vietnam war novel, CHARLIE MIKE.

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam


Bernard Edelman - 1985
    In this collection of more than 200 letters, they share their first impressions of the rigors of life in the bush, their longing for home and family, their emotions over the conduct of the war, and their ache at the loss of a friend in battle. Poignant in their rare honesty, the letters from Vietnam are "riveting,... extraordinary by [their] very ordinariness... for the most part, neither deep nor philosophical, only very, very human" (Los Angeles Times). Revealing the complex emotions and daily realities of fighting in the war, these close accounts offer a powerful, uniquely personal portrait of the many faces of Vietnam's veterans.

At the Going Down of the Sun


Elizabeth Darrell - 1985
    The Sheridan brothers pursue the pastimes of the rich and talented in the idyllic village of Tarrant Royal, unaware of the coming war that will test their courage and family loyalty to the limit. Roland, an aspiring surgeon, believes his duty lies in remaining as squire of his Dorset village. But charges of cowardice force him into a conflict his conscience cannot condone. Rex, a womanizer and daredevil aviator, dons the RFC uniform. As time passes and he becomes an ace over the skies of France he knows that one day soon his luck must run out. Chris, a brilliant scholar about to enter university, is driven to enlist by a scandal which shatters his golden future. Hopelessly unfitted for battle, he faces the carnage of Gallipoli not caring whether he lives or dies. In Elizabeth Darrell's richly detailed, mesmeric novel the Sheridans live, love and fight for survival like the sons of all families caught up in a savage war which changed the old ways forever. ‘Moving romance’ - Yorkshire Evening Post ‘A wonderful story, compellingly told…the authenticity - both historical and emotional - really shines through’ - Sarah Harrison Elizabeth Darrell served as an officer in the WRAC. She is the author of seven acclaimed novels, including ‘Concerto’, ‘And in the Morning’ and ‘We Will Remember’. Under the pen-name Emma Drummond she has written eleven historical novels. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

Once A Warrior King: Memories of an Officer in Vietnam


David Donovan - 1985
    But as he was the highest-ranking person in the entire district, his life there was far more complex than anyone could have imagined.This is Donovan's gripping account of combat missions and night ambushes in the swamps and jungles of the Delta; his heartrending tale of personal involvement with the culture and families in his charge; his humane introspection on his awesome responsibility as both warrior and king; and his stark reflections on the changes he saw in himself and his country upon his return to the United States."Donovan's memoir . . . provides valuable documentation on a relatively obscure part of the American military effort--it describes how the war really worked on the front line of 'Vietnamization, ' the training of local militia. His reflections on his own use of power raise serious and important questions about the American expierence in Vietnam."--The New York Times Book Review

Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land


Sara Nomberg-Przytyk - 1985
    I disconnected my heart and intellect in an act of self-defense, despair, and hopelessness." With these words Sara Nomberg-Przytyk begins this painful and compelling account of her experiences while imprisoned for two years in the infamous death camp. Writing twenty years after her liberation, she recreates the events of a dark past which, in her own words, would have driven her mad had she tried to relive it sooner. But while she records unimaginable atrocities, she also richly describes the human compassion that stubbornly survived despite the backdrop of camp depersonalization and imminent extermination.Commemorative in spirit and artistic in form, Auschwitz convincingly portrays the paradoxes of human nature in extreme circumstances. With consummate understatement Nomberg-Przytyk describes the behavior of concentration camp inmates as she relentlessly and pitilessly examines her own motives and feelings. In this world unmitigated cruelty coexisted with nobility, rapacity with self-sacrifice, indifference with selfless compassion. This book offers a chilling view of the human drama that existed in Auschwitz.From her portraits of camp personalities, an extraordinary and horrifying profile emerges of Dr. Josef Mengele, whose medical experiments resulted in the slaughter of nearly half a million Jews. Nomberg-Przytyk's job as an attendant in Mengle's hospital allowed her to observe this Angel of Death firsthand and to provide us with the most complete description to date of his monstrous activities.The original Polish manuscript was discovered by Eli Pfefferkorn in 1980 in the Yad Vashem Archive in Jerusalem. Not knowing the fate of the journal's author, Pfefferkorn spent two years searching and finally located Nomberg-Przytyk in Canada. Subsequent interviews revealed the history of the manuscript, the author's background, and brought the journal into perspective.

Platoon Leader: A Memoir of Command in Combat


James R. McDonough - 1985
    platoon taking part in the 'strategic hamlet' program. . . . Rather than present a potpourri of combat yarns. . . McDonough has focused a seasoned storyteller's eye on the details, people, and incidents that best communicate a visceral feel of command under fire. . . . For the author's honesty and literary craftsmanship, Platoon Leader seems destined to be read for a long time by second lieutenants trying to prepare for the future, veterans trying to remember the past, and civilians trying to understand what the profession of arms is all about."-Army Times

Rose Blanche


Roberto Innocenti - 1985
    Then, one day, she follows a truck into the woods and discovers a terrible secret.

War: The Lethal Custom


Gwynne Dyer - 1985
    In War, noted military historian Gwynne Dyer ranges from the tumbling walls of Jericho to the modern advent of total war in which no one is exempt from the horrors of armed conflict. He shows how the martial instinct has evolved over the human generations and among our close primate relations, such as the chimpanzee. Dyer squarely confronts the reality of war, and the threat of nuclear weapons, but does not despair that war is our eternal legacy. He likes and respects soldiers, even while he knows their job is to kill; he understands the physics and the psychology of battles, but he is no war junkie. Dyer surveys the fiery battlefields of human history, never losing sight of the people caught up in war. He actually believes there is hope that war can be abolished, that human beings are more than just our genes. War is an award-winning book that explores the human past to imagine a different future.

Charley's War, Volume 1: 2 June – 1 August 1916


Pat Mills - 1985
    In 1916, Charley Bourne lies about his age to enlist and fight on the battlefields of France. But thoughts of glory and patriotism are swept aside by the bloody artillery barrage of horror and needless sacrifice amidst the trenches of the First World War. Rich in the detailed minutiae of the terror-punctuated existence of a Tommy, Charley's War features a brand new introduction and director's commentary by Pat Mills, a cultural history of the comic, and an essay on the Battle of the Somme.

The Death and Life of Dith Pran


Sydney Schanberg - 1985
    

And a Hard Rain Fell


John Ketwig - 1985
    It was 1982, fourteen years after I had last set foot in Vietnam, and thirteen years after I returned to The World. I had a family and a career. I'd never written more than an occasional letter to the editor in my life. My twisted insides had spawned ulcers. The nightmares were more frequent. I needed to get Vietnam out into the open, but I couldn't talk about it. Not after all those years. Thus begins John Ketwig's powerful memoir of the Vietnam War. Now, over 15 years after its initial publication, Sourcebooks is proud to bring ...and a hard rain fell back into print in a newly updated edition, with a new introduction by the author and eight pages of never-before-published photographs. From the country roads of upstate New York to the jungles of Vietnam, and finally to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., ...and a hard rain fell is a gripping and visceral account of one young man's struggle to make sense of his place in a world gone mad.

This Shining Land


Rosalind Laker - 1985
    In one terrifying night, her gentle life is shattered and her innocence ends. Then she meets Steffen Larsen who ignites in her feelings as fierce as the war raging around them. Risking everything, Johanna joins Steffen in Norway's Resistance and enters a dangerous double life...

I Came, I Saw: An Autobiography


Norman Lewis - 1985
    It is now re-published with 50 new pages increasing in depth the story in the 1960s and 1970s, recording his time spent in the south of Italy.

And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway--Breaking the Secrets


Edwin T. Layton - 1985
    The first book by a top-ranking American navy officer to answer these questions: : Why did the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor? How did they inflict so much damage? What went wrong in our system?

Maneuver Warfare Handbook


William S. Lind - 1985
    Its purpose is to defeat the enemy by disrupting the opponent's ability to react, rather than by physical destruction of forces. This book develops and explains the theory of maneuver warfare and offers specific tactical, operational, and organizational recommendations for improving ground combat forces. The authors translate concepts—too often vaguely stated by manuever warfare advocates—into concrete doctrine. Although the book uses the Marine Corps as a model, the concepts, tactics, and doctrine discussed apply to any ground combat force.

The Fringes of Power: 10 Downing Street Diaries, 1939 - 1955


John Colville - 1985
    An intimate and unvarnished view of Winston Churchill at his best.

The Volunteers


Douglas Reeman - 1985
    He also writes as his pen author Alexander Kent; author of the bestselling Bolitho adventures.They were the men and women of the Royal Navy's Special Operations units. Carrying out lightning raids on hostile coasts, they became a navy within a navy - each hand-picked for their individual skills, and all of them courageous. Against the mighty backdrop of World War II they performed their small but deadly operations - living often beyond hope, sometimes beyond mercy. This is the dramatic story of a handful of such people - The Volunteers.

The White Mouse


Nancy Wake - 1985
    Nancy Wake, a New Zealander who became one of the most highly decorated women of WW II, here she tells her own story.

We Survived: Fourteen Histories Of The Hidden And Hunted In Nazi Germany


Eric H. Boehm - 1985
    They survived in various ways; some as ordinary citizens taking part in the work-day life, others with fake passports, hidden in cellars, living precariously in all the dark corners of a vigilantly policed country. In fourteen autobiographical accounts, author Eric Boehm offers a cross-section of these heroic personalities. We Survived is itself an historical document, giving a window back into this epoch period during World War II.Now reappearing in print over fifty years after its original publication, We Survived remains as relevant and necessary as ever before - an honest testimony to the strength of the human spirit when it triumphs over adversity.

The Tactical Edge: Surviving High-Risk Patrol


Charles Remsberg - 1985
    Book by Remsberg, Charles

The Doctor and the Damned


Albert Haas - 1985
    They become heroes of the Free French until betrayal delivers them to the Gestapo and separate death camps.

Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan


Ronald H. Spector - 1985
    

The Eastern Front: Memoirs of a Waffen SS Volunteer, 1941-1945


Leon Degrelle - 1985
     In a laudatory review appearing in an official US Army Department magazine, US Army Brigadier General John C. Bahnsen wrote: "The pace of the writing is fast; the action is graphic, and a warrior can learn things from reading this book. I recommend its reading by students of the art of war. It is well worth the price." Here is the epic story of the Walloon Legion, a volunteer Belgian unit of the World War II pan-European SS force, as told by the legendary figure whose unmatched frontline combat experience and literary talent made him the premier spokesman for his fallen comrades. Captures the grit, the terror and the glory of Europe's crusade against Communism in absorbing prose. Includes fascinating first-person descriptions of Hitler, Himmler, and other Third Reich personalities. Degrelle vividly describes how he and his comrades endured danger, privation and torrents of shot and shell -- on the sun-baked steppes of Ukraine, at the foothills of the Caucasus, in the depths of bone-chilling winter, through the stinking mud and the flaming hell of Cherkassy, and across the rolling plains of Estonia and the Pomeranian lake country. You’ll learn what moved the 35-year-old Degrelle -- a brilliant intellectual and his country’s most colorful political leader -- to enlist as a private in the volun­teer legion he himself organized to join with Third Reich Germany and its allies in their titanic fight against the Bolshevik enemy.

Portrait of a Young Forger


Marian M. Pretzel - 1985
    

Down in My Heart


William Stafford - 1985
    Army. Down in My Heart is an account of the relationships among the men in the camps and their day-to-day activities - fighting forest fires, building trails and roads, restoring eroded lands - and their earnest pursuit of a social morality rooted in religious and secular pacifist ideals. In his new introduction to the book, Kim Stafford calls them a "generation of seekers" working full time "to envision a way to avoid the next war." First published in 1947, this "peace relic, " as William Stafford later called his first book, offers a rich glimpse into a little-known aspect of the war and a fascinating look at the formative years of a major American poet.

Run Between the Raindrops


Dale A. Dye - 1985
    That brutal experience prompted him to write a searing, critically acclaimed novel about the surreal experiences of the battle to wrest control of Vietnam’s ancient Imperial capital from regiments of fanatical North Vietnamese Army soldiers. Now he’s taken a long second look at that fight and revised his original work into an even more powerful narrative of one of the Vietnam War’s most brutal battles. The story is told through the eyes of a veteran Marine Corps Combat Correspondent with the observational skills and off-beat attitude to relate what he sees from the close-quarter, house-to-house meat-grinder of the southside to the epic assault on the enemy-infested walls of the city’s medieval Citadel in a voice that reflects the Code of the Grunt: Just do it—or die trying. There it is.

The Last Heroes


W.E.B. Griffin - 1985
    Answerable only to FDR, Wild Bill Donovan handpicks his young and daring members of the OSS, assembling them under a thin camouflage of diplomacy and then dispersing them throughout the world to conduct covert operations.And no operation is more critical than the one run by fighter ace Dick Canidy and his half-German wild-card friend, Eric Fulmar. Their mission: Secure the rare ore that will power a top-secret weapon coveted on both sides of the Atlantic, the atomic bomb...

Command in War


Martin van Creveld - 1985
    This is the first book to deal exclusively with the nature of command itself, and to trace its development over two thousand years from ancient Greece to Vietnam. It treats historically the whole variety of problems involved in commanding armies, including staff organization and administration, communications methods and technologies, weaponry, and logistics. And it analyzes the relationship between these problems and military strategy.In vivid descriptions of key battles and campaigns--among others, Napoleon at Jena, Moltke's K�niggr�tz campaign, the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, and the Americans in Vietnam--Martin van Creveld focuses on the means of command and shows how those means worked in practice. He finds that technological advances such as the railroad, breech-loading rifles, the telegraph and later the radio, tanks, and helicopters all brought commanders not only new tactical possibilities but also new limitations.Although vast changes have occurred in military thinking and technology, the one constant has been an endless search for certainty--certainty about the state and intentions of the enemy's forces; certainty about the manifold factors that together constitute the environment in which war is fought, from the weather and terrain to radioactivity and the presence of chemical warfare agents; and certainty about the state, intentions, and activities of one's own forces. The book concludes that progress in command has usually been achieved less by employing more advanced technologies than by finding ways to transcend the limitations of existing ones.

The Tunnels of Cu Chi


Tom Mangold - 1985
    This is the gripping account of brave men whose stories of heroism have never been told.

Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History


Gordon W. Prange - 1985
    The provocative sequel to At Dawn We Slept that continues Prange's masterful analysis of the attack on Pearl Harbor, delving further to examine the underlying causes and to ask whether the event that plunged America into World War II was really a surprise to President Roosevelt.

Inside the Vicious Heart: Americans and the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps


Robert H. Abzug - 1985
    What they saw transformed the definition of evil in the Western mind. Inside the Vicious Heart captures the shock of that discovery by telling the story of the camp liberations as experienced by American GIs and other eyewitnesses, including Eisenhower, Patton, Joseph Pulitzer, and Margaret Bourke-White. Through their diaries, letters, and photographs we see how those Americans finally made the world believe what until then had only been rumored.

The Snowblind Moon


John Byrne Cooke - 1985
    On a remote cattle ranch in a peaceful Wyoming valley, in the hushed villages of beleaguered Indian tribes, among the government troops advancing through the bitter winter landscape, the time of the Snowblind Moon heralds the beginning of an apocalyptic clash between the Indians and the whites.And caught up in the tragedy are the men and women of the West, passionately committed to peace, seemingly helpless to prevent tragedy: Chris Hardeman, former army scout haunted by his part in an Indian massacre; Lisa Putnam, young, independent owner of a ranch; Bat Putman, legendary mountain man; Johnny Smoker, a white boy, raised by the Cheyenne; Amanda Spencer, a circus performer who falls in love with Johnny; and Sun Horse, a Sioux chieftan struggling to reconcile peace with freedom and dignity.

Theologians Under Hitler


Robert P. Ericksen - 1985
    Ericksen examines the work and attitudes of three distinguished, scholarly, and influential theologians who greeted the rise of Hitler with enthusiasm and support. In so doing, he shows how National Socialism could appeal to well-meaning and intelligent people in Germany and why the German university and church were so silent about the excesses and evil that confronted them.   "This book is stimulating and thought-provoking....The issues it raises range well beyond the confines of the case-studies of the three theologians examined and have relevance outside the particular context of Hitler's Germany....That the book compels the reader to rethink some important questions about the susceptibility of intelligent human beings to as distasteful a phenomenon as fascism is an important achievement."—Ian Kershaw, History Today"Ericksen's study...throws light on the kinds of perversion to which Christian beliefs and attitudes are easily susceptible, and is therefore timely and useful."—Gordon D. Kaufman, Los Angeles Times  "An understanding and carefully documented study."—Ernst C. Helmreich, American Historical Review"This dark book poses a number of social, economic and cultural questions that one has to answer before condemning Kittel, Althaus and Hirsch."—William Griffin, Publishers Weekly"A highly competent, well written book."—Tim Bradshaw, Churchman

Drawn and Quartered


Paul Conrad - 1985
    176 pages, 245 b&w line drawings/cartoons by a master. Beautifully printed on nice stock. Here is another winner from one of the best political cartoonists we've ever had. Paul Conrad won numerous Pulitzer Prizes, and had the distinction of being named on Nixon's infamous enemies list in 1973 and 5 years later occupied the Richard M. Nixon Chair at Whittier College. This title is arranged in 8 sections, dealing with everything from gun control to Watergate to Reagan's miscues. Each cartoon is accompanied by Conrad's own one-line caption. There is also a very informed, in-depth interview with the man himself at the end of the volume.

Hiroshima Joe


Martin Booth - 1985
    Now a shell of a man, he lives in a cheap Hong Kong hotel, scrounging for food and the occasional bar girl. The locals call him "Hiroshima Joe" with a mixture of pity and contempt. But Joe—haunted by the sounds and voices of his past, debilitated by illness, and shattered by his wartime ordeal—is a man whose compassion and will to survive define a clear-eyed and unexpected heroism. One of the most powerful novels about the experience of war, first published in 1985.

Hannah Szenes: A Song of Light


Maxine Rose Schur - 1985
    A biography of the Jewish heroine whose mission to help rescue European Jews in World War II cost her her life.

Red Runs the Vistula


Ron Jeffery - 1985
    

With The Contras: A Reporter In The Wilds Of Nicaragua


Christopher Dickey - 1985
    Finally, the family that had ruled and owned the country was gone. It took its money, which was much of the money the country had. The dictator left. The generals left. The colonels. They fled by helicopter and airplane, by car and on foot. By the nineteenth they were, almost all of them, gone. But the soldiers remained. And in San Juan del Sur, on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, the rebel Commander Zero, Eden Pastora, was facing the best of the dictator's remaining soldiers: Bravo, Montenegro, "the Rattlesnakes," "the Wild Geese," "the Black and White." Eventually the guardias fled too - some of them, including a tough, murderous sergeant from "the Rattlesnakes" (called Suicida by his men), making their way to El Salvador, from where, as the Contras, they waged sporadic war against the Nicaraguan leftist forces.Christopher Dickey was the first American newspaperman to go into the mountains of Nicaragua with the Contras and come out alive, and his account of the "secret" war that is being waged against the Sandinista government reads like the best fiction. Yet it is as factual as tomorrow's headlines.

Baron Von Steuben's Revolutionary War Drill Manual: A Facsimile Reprint of the 1794 Edition


Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben - 1985
    Speaking virtually no English and at an unexpected ebb in his professional fortunes, Steuben nevertheless brought a depth of military training and grasp of command techniques sorely needed by the bedraggled, ragtag army. With his lofty military reputation, forceful bearing, and colorful personality, the Prussian commander had an immediate galvanizing effect on the disorganized insurgents. He soon became one of Washington's most valued officers — an essential figure in the success of the American War of Independence. Commissioned to mold the troops into an efficient fighting force, Steuben formed a model drill company of one hundred men, transformed it into a precision unit copied throughout the ranks, and captured the imagination of the entire army. His record of drill instructions, written in brief installments, grew into the Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States. Commonly known as the army's "blue book," this basic manual of military training and procedures remained the official U.S. military guide until 1812.  This inexpensive facsimile reproduces the extremely rare 1794 edition of Steuben's drill manual, published in Boston by I. Thomas and E. T. Andrews. It describes in detail the arms and accoutrements of officers and soldiers, formation and exercise of a company, instruction of recruits, formation and marching of columns, disposition and firing of fieldpieces, laying out of a camp, inspection, treatment of the sick, reviews of parade, and other essentials. The volume is further enhanced by reproductions of the eight copperplates from the 1794 edition and an Appendix (the United States Militia Act of 1792).

Sage


Jerry Sage - 1985
    (the forerunner of the C.I.A.) during World War II. Colonel Sage's first assignment was to organize behind-the-lines operations against Erwin Rommel in North Africa. After being captured and brutally interrogated, he was sent to the P.O.W. camp Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany. As an O.S.S. officer, Sage would have been executed had his identity been known. But at the time he was captured, Sage jettisoned his O.S.S. hardware and claimed he was a shot-down flier. His true identity was never discovered by his Nazi captors. While a prisoner of war, Sage conducted classes in silent killing with a hand-picked group of Americans. He also worked for fifteen months on the huge, three-tunnel project known in book and movie as "The Great Escape" and was in charge of hiding over 200,000 pounds of golden sand from the German "ferrets." Sage is a vivid, personal account of O.S.S. training under "Wild Bill" Donovan and of the subversive activities conducted in North Africa. It recalls the Nazi interrogations and treatment of Allied prisoners, the vicious reprisals reserved for those prisoners who tried to escape and the extraordinary resourcefulness of the men inside the camps. It is the testimony of a unique individual with the faith, courage, and indomitable will to serve his country and pursue the cause of freedom.

The Korean War: Pusan to Chosin: An Oral History


Donald Knox - 1985
    Drawing on his interviews with hundreds of veterans of Korea, Knox masterfully weaves personal stories with military records to create a vivid, day-by-day chronicle of the war s first savage months of fighting. Index; photographs and maps."

Fall from Grace


Larry Collins - 1985
    A beautiful French agent, Catherine Pradier, risks her life to deceive the Nazis as to where and when the Allies will invade the Continent of Europe and begin the end of World War II.

The Elite


Barbara Cole - 1985
    The book comes from the private collection of Military Historian and former MP Rupert Allason. He has also written many books on Military History and Espionage under the pen name Nigel West. There is also a name stamp on one of the front pages showing the name of Mr Allason, embossed on the page. There is also the name of another former owner written on one of the first few pages. The book has been very well looked after, pages and spine nice and tight and one of the best kept copies I have ever seen.

Patton


Martin Blumenson - 1985
    Patton. Blumenson is also the author of The Patton Papers.

The Right of the Line: The Royal Air Force 1939-45


John Terraine - 1985
    John Terraine shows how the RAF, which in 1939 was small and inadequate for the task it was called upon to perform, had, by the end of the war, taken up its position on the right of line, the vanguard position of honour.

Vietnam: The Valor and the Sorrow


Thomas D. Boettcher - 1985
    

Hiroshima Maidens: A remarkable survival story


Rodney Barker - 1985
    But out of the devastation of the first atomic bomb, some survivors emerged - twenty-five courageous Japanese women who became part of a remarkable humanitarian epic. Victims of the atomic blast that ushered in the Nuclear Age, these women were brought to the United States in 1955, where they underwent reconstructive surgery to repair the ravages of the bomb. Schoolgirls when the bomb destroyed their futures, they began to remake their lives and re-create themselves. This is the compassionate, often bittersweet chronicle of the Hiroshima Maidens. It follows their lives from the terrifying moments of the detonation of the bomb, through their years as outcasts in their own country, to their not always idyllic stay in America, and on to their lives since — some tragic, some heroic, some affectingly ordinary.

The Secret Generations


John Gardner - 1985
     The Railton family are intimately involved in the world of espionage, which will become so crucial to the conflict’s outcome. With the death of General Sir William Railton, the family patriarch and hero of Balaclava, the family is thrown into a world of violence and intrigue. Manipulated by the new head of the family, the ruthless arch-intriguer Giles Railton, each member of the dynasty comes to play their part in the ‘Great Game’ of Intelligence. Through the story of one family, whose lives become caught up in some of the greatest struggles of the twentieth century, John Gardner traces the birth, the successes and the failures of the organizations now known as MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. From the battlefields of the Western Front to Russia on the eve of revolution, this epic work of fiction tells the story of the dramatic history of Britain’s intelligence and security services. ‘The Secret Generations’ is a towering saga of adventure, romance and intrigue by an author of international stature writing at his very best

Ain't Gonna Study War No More: The Story of America's Peace Seekers (Landmark Books)


Milton Meltzer - 1985
    Here, Milton Meltzer explores Americans’ long tradition of pacifism. From the Quakers of colonial times to the conscientious objectors of Vietnam, Americans have risked much to stand against violence in any and every form. First published in 1985, Ain’t Gonna Study War No More is now fully updated and revised by the author.

Firing Line


Richard Holmes - 1985
    It reveals the humiliation of basic training, the attitude to fear, the drive for sex and loot, the elixir of comradeship.

Ten Days to Destiny: The Battle for Cre


G.C. Kiriakopoulos - 1985
    This is the documented story, vividly retold, of one of the most important yet least acknowledged battles of World War II - the invasion of Crete in May, 1941.

This Great Harbour Scapa Flow (Aspects of Orkney)


W.S. Hewison - 1985
    In two world wars it was the northern base which sheltered shops of the Royal Navy and Allied fleets from both storm and enemy attack, with sometimes well over a hundred vessels lying at anchor. Massive defense guns, searchlights, booms and minefields were built up between 1914 and 1918, and then demolished, only to be built up again twenty-five years later when the harbor's security was again threatened. This time there was the additional danger from the sky, and an antiaircraft 'umbrella' of over eighty guns was deployed to ward off the Luftwaffe bombers.In This Great Harbour Scapa Flow, W.S Hewison tells how this was achieved as the anchorage known by mariners since the time of the Vikings and perhaps even before them, with its key position athwart the northern sea routes came into the ken of the Admiralty's strategic thinking.The Grand Fleet sailed from Scapa in 1916 to do battle at Jutland. Five days later, Lord Kitchener, went to his death from here in the cruiser Hampshire, sunk by mines off Orkney's west coast. There was tragedy again in 1939 when the German submarine U47 slipped through the incomplete defense to sink the battleship Royal Oak at her moorings with the loss of 800 men. And between the wars the world's greatest feat of salvage the raising of the scuttled German fleet was carried out in its waters.