Best of
War

1998

Gates of Fire


Steven Pressfield - 1998
    Theirs was a suicide mission, to hold the pass against the invading millions of the mighty Persian army.Day after bloody day they withstood the terrible onslaught, buying time for the Greeks to rally their forces. Born into a cult of spiritual courage, physical endurance, and unmatched battle skill, the Spartans would be remembered for the greatest military stand in history—one that would not end until the rocks were awash with blood, leaving only one gravely injured Spartan squire to tell the tale. . . .“A novel that is intricate and arresting and, once begun, almost impossible to put down.”—Daily News “A timeless epic of man and war . . . Pressfield has created a new classic deserving a place beside the very best of the old.”—Stephen Coonts

Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942–1943


Antony Beevor - 1998
    Historians and reviewers worldwide have hailed Antony Beevor's magisterial Stalingrad as the definitive account of World War II's most harrowing battle. In August 1942, Hitler's huge Sixth Army reached the city that bore Stalin's name. In the five-month siege that followed, the Russians fought to hold Stalingrad at any cost; then, in an astonishing reversal, encircled and trapped their Nazi enemy. This battle for the ruins of a city cost more than a million lives. Stalingrad conveys the experience of soldiers on both sides, fighting in inhuman conditions, and of civilians trapped on an urban battlefield. Antony Beevor has interviewed survivors and discovered completely new material in a wide range of German and Soviet archives, including prisoner interrogations and reports of desertions and executions. As a story of cruelty, courage, and human suffering, Stalingrad is unprecedented and unforgettable.

Blood Red Snow: The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front


Günter K. Koschorrek - 1998
    So Gunter Koschorrek, a fresh young recruit, wrote his notes on whatever scraps of paper he could find and sewed the pages into the lining of his winter coat. Left with his mother on his rare trips home, this illicit diary eventually was lost—and did not come to light until some 40 years later when Koschorrek was reunited with his daughter in America. It is this remarkable document, a unique day-to-day account of the common German soldier’s experience, that makes up the memoir that is Blood Red Snow.

Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage


Sherry Sontag - 1998
    Now, after six years of research, those missions are told in Blind Man's Bluff, a magnificent achievement in investigative reporting. It reads like a spy thriller -- except everything in it is true. This is an epic of adventure, ingenuity, courage, and disaster beneath the sea, a story filled with unforgettable characters who engineered daring missions to tap the enemy's underwater communications cables and to shadow Soviet submarines. It is a story of heroes and spies, of bravery and tragedy.

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families


Philip Gourevitch - 1998
    Over the next three months, 800,000 Tutsis were murdered in the most unambiguous case of genocide since Hitler's war against the Jews. Philip Gourevitch's haunting work is an anatomy of the killings in Rwanda, a vivid history of the genocide's background, and an unforgettable account of what it means to survive in its aftermath.

Saving Private Ryan


Jacqueline Kehl - 1998
    While vast military forces converge for one of the most decisive battles of the war, a squad of U.S. Army soldiers undertake a mission to save one man: paratrooper James Ryan, the last survivor of a family of four brothers, the others having already been killed in action. Based on the screenplay by Robert Rodat and Frank Darabont.

Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945


Leo Marks - 1998
    He was twenty-two. Soon recognized as a cryptographer of genius, he became head of communications at the Special Operations Executive (SOE), where he revolutionized the codemaking techniques of the Allies and trained some of the most famous agents dropped into occupied Europe, including "the White Rabbit" and Violette Szabo. As a top codemaker, Marks had a unique perspective on one of the most fascinating and, until now, little-known aspects of the Second World War. Writing with the narrative flair and vivid characterization of his famous screenplays, Marks gives free rein to his keen sense of the absurd and his wry wit, resulting in a thrilling and poignant memoir that celebrates individual courage and endeavor, without losing sight of the human cost and horror of war.

First Into Action


Duncan Falconer - 1998
    The SBS draws its manpower solely from the Marine Commando Units, and the Royal Marines are the oldest and most battle-honoured regiment in the world. FIRST INTO ACTION is the first Special Boat Services memoir written from the inside. It tells how Duncan Falconer trained with the Royal Marines in Deal before being recruited into the SBS at Poole in Dorset. The regimen of ruthless training is graphically described and the book also includes revelatory accounts of SBS operations in Ulster, Bosnia and the Gulf War, and of the intense rivalry between the SAS's individualist mentality and the more team-based, marine ethos of the SBS. Duncan Falconer's grippingly detailed memoir is sure to command the attention of anyone interested in the Special Forces and how they operate.

Letters from a Lost Generation: First World War Letters of Vera Brittain and Four Friends


Mark Bostridge - 1998
    The correspondence presents a remarkable and profoundly moving portrait of five idealistic youths caught up in the cataclysm of war. Spanning the duration of the war, the letters vividly convey the uncertainty, confusion, and almost unbearable suspense of the tumultuous war years. They offer important historical insights by illuminating both male and female perspectives and allow the reader to witness and understand the Great War from a variety of viewpoints, including those of the soldier in the trenches, the volunteer nurse in military hospitals, and even the civilian population on the home front. As Brittain wrote to Roland Leighton in 1915, shortly after he arrived on the Western Front: "Nothing in the papers, not the most vivid and heartbreaking descriptions, have made me realize war like your letters." Yet this collection is, above all, a dramatic account of idealism, disillusionment, and personal tragedy as revealed by the voices of four talented schoolboys who went almost immediately from public school in Britain to the battlefields of France, Belgium, and Italy. Linking each of their compelling stories is the passionate and eloquent voice of Vera Brittain, who gave up her own studies to enlist in the armed services as a nurse. As World War I fades from living memory, these letters are a powerful and stirring testament to a generation forever shattered and haunted by grief, loss, and promise unfulfilled.

World War II: A Military and Social History


Thomas Childers - 1998
    

Leap into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe


Leo Bretholz - 1998
    He leaped from trains, outran police, and hid in attics, cellars, anywhere that offered a few more seconds of safety. First he swam the River Sauer at the German-Belgian border. Later he climbed the Alps on feet so battered they froze to his socks--only to be turned back at the Swiss border. He crawled out from under the barbed wire of a French holding camp, and hid in a village in the Pyrenees while gendarmes searched it. And in the dark hours of one November morning, he escaped from a train bound for Auschwitz. Leap into Darkness is the sweeping memoir of one Jewish boy's survival, and of the family and the world he left behind.

Roses from the Earth: The Biography of Anne Frank


Carol Ann Lee - 1998
    Carol Anne Lee has been allowed access to previously unpublished documents and gives a definitive account of Anne Frank's short life before, during and after the diary.

Autumn Journal


Louis MacNeice - 1998
    Originally published in 1996.

Saving Private Ryan


Max Allan Collins - 1998
    Military forces converge on the beaches of Normandy for one of the most decisive battles of World War II. America would call it a victory. History would call it D-Day. But for Captain John Miler and his squad of young soldiers, this fateful day would become something much more. Washington has sent them on a personal mission to save one life. One paratrooper missing in action. One soldier who has already lost three brothers in the war. Captain Miller and his men quickly realize this is not a simple rescue operation. It is a test of their honor and their duty. Their sole obsession - and their last hope for redemption. In a war of devastating proportions, saving one life could make all the difference in the world.

Birmingham Blitz


Annie Murray - 1998
    With her family in crisis, and with bombing raids devastating the streets of Birmingham, Genie struggles to achieve happiness.

Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War


Tony Horwitz - 1998
    But awakened one morning by the crackle of musket fire, Horwitz starts filing front-line dispatches again this time from a war close to home, and to his own heart.Propelled by his boyhood passion for the Civil War, Horwitz embarks on a search for places and people still held in thrall by America's greatest conflict. The result is an adventure into the soul of the unvanquished South, where the ghosts of the Lost Cause are resurrected through ritual and remembrance.In Virginia, Horwitz joins a band of 'hardcore' reenactors who crash-diet to achieve the hollow-eyed look of starved Confederates; in Kentucky, he witnesses Klan rallies and calls for race war sparked by the killing of a white man who brandishes a rebel flag; at Andersonville, he finds that the prison's commander, executed as a war criminal, is now exalted as a martyr and hero; and in the book's climax, Horwitz takes a marathon trek from Antietam to Gettysburg to Appomattox in the company of Robert Lee Hodge, an eccentric pilgrim who dubs their odyssey the 'Civil Wargasm.'Written with Horwitz's signature blend of humor, history, and hard-nosed journalism, Confederates in the Attic brings alive old battlefields and new ones 'classrooms, courts, country bars' where the past and the present collide, often in explosive ways. Poignant and picaresque, haunting and hilarious, it speaks to anyone who has ever felt drawn to the mythic South and to the dark romance of the Civil War.

Edith's Story


Edith Velmans - 1998
    She also happened to be Jewish. In the same month that Anne Frank's family went into hiding, Edith was sent to live with a courageous Protestant family, took a new name, and survived by posing as a gentile. Ultimately one-third of the hidden Dutch Jews were discovered and murdered; most of Edith's family perished. Velmans's memoir is based on her teenage diaries, wartime letters, and reflections as an adult survivor. In recounting wartime events and the details of her feelings as the war runs its course, Edith's Story ultimately affirms life, love, and extraordinary courage. "The most vivid evocation of the experience of Nazi Occupation that I have ever read." - The Independent (London)

The End of Imagination


Arundhati Roy - 1998
    The End of Imagination also includes her nonfiction works Power Politics, War Talk, Public Power in the Age of Empire, and An Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire, which include her widely circulated and inspiring writings on the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the need to confront corporate power, and the hollowing out of democratic institutions globally.

Flanders


Patricia Anthony - 1998
    Flanders is Anthony's first true mainstream novel, a powerful evocation of the First World War--and the passage between life and death that reveals itself to one young soldier...

Poems of the Great War 1914-1918


Richard AldingtonIsaac Rosenberg - 1998
    The sequence of poems is random - making it ideal for dipping into - and drawn from a number of sources, mixing both well-known and less familiar poetry.

When The East Wind Blows: A World War 2 Novel Based on a True Story


Barbara H. Martin - 1998
     It brings to life the dramatic experiences of a woman caught between a ruthless government and the will to survive with her children during the last six months of World War 2 in Nazi Germany as she flees the incoming Russian front in the East and right into the carpet bombing in the West. This book brings this war down to a human level in a way that will leave the reader with a stunning new perspective never told in America and represents the missing link in the historical annals of this time. A sequel called WEST WIND is being written at this time and deals with the chaotic aftermath of the collapse of the Third Reich and the survival of Elisabeth, her four children and Helga, the maid. It also describes her husband's experiences in an American prison camp in the south of France. Quote by Elisabeth Wendell, Professor of American Literature, University of Duesseldorf, Germany: “Barbara Martin is a very talented story teller and has captured a dark period of German history during the holocaust with sincere honesty and deep understanding for the people caught up in it. The book makes for great reading enjoyment!”

The Greatest Generation Speaks: Letters and Reflections


Tom Brokaw - 1998
    it was my way of saying thank you. I was not prepared for the avalanche of letters and responses touched off by that book."I had written a book about America, and now America was writing back."Tom Brokaw touched the heart of the nation with his towering #1 bestseller The Greatest Generation, a moving tribute to those who gave the world so much -- and who left an enduring legacy of heroism and grace. The Greatest Generation Speaks was born out of the vast outpouring of letters Brokaw received from people eager to share their personal memories and experiences of a momentous time in America's history.These letters and reflections cross time, distance, and generations as they give voice to lives forever changed by war: eighty-year-old Clarence M. Graham, who recounts his harrowing experience as a soldier captured by the Japanese -- and provides a gripping eyewitness account of the dropping of the atomic bomb; Patricia Matthews Dorph, a soldier's daughter who shares the love letters her parents exchanged during the war, a lasting legacy of passion, devotion, and enduring love; Rabbi Judah Nadich, the first Jewish chaplain to serve in the war; Lorraine Davis, a civilian who helped form the Club of '44, a group of wartime wives who still meet today.From the front lines of battle to the back porches of beloved hometowns, The Greatest Generation Speaks brings to life the hopes and dreams of a generation who fought our most hard-won victories, and whose struggles and sacrifices made our future possible.

Palace of Tears


Anna King - 1998
    If finding her mother Nellie in hospital after a savage beating from her husband wasn’t enough, Emily’s plight deepens when she yields to the advances of Tommy, a young soldier, and becomes pregnant with his child.Not for nothing is Victoria station nicknamed the ‘palace of tears’. As trainloads of men leave for the Western Front, and Emily says goodbye to Tommy, she is left contemplating the life of a single mother. Yet amidst the devastation, happiness still lies within her grasp… A classic saga of World War One, Palace of Tears is a perfect read for fans of Carol Rivers, Sally Warboyes, and Annie Murray.

The Tunnel Rats


Stephen Leather - 1998
    In Washington, a US senator receives photographs of the corpses. And realises that his past has come back to haunt him.Nick Wright is the detective trying to solve the mystery of the double killing. His hunt for a motive takes him to the Vietnam, where the American tunnel rats fought the dirtiest battle of the war against the Viet Cong. But his search places him in grave danger with a killer determined to protect the secrets of the tunnels. At whatever cost . . .************PRAISE FOR STEPHEN LEATHER'A master of the thriller genre'Irish Times'As tough as British thrillers get . . . gripping' Irish Independent 'The sheer impetus of his story-telling is damned hard to resist'Sunday Express

Birmingham Friends


Annie Murray - 1998
    But when Kate dies, she leaves Anna the story of the truth about her life. Anna soon discovers she never really knew her mother.

A Detail Of History


Arek Hersh - 1998
    

To the Last Man: Spring 1918


Lyn Macdonald - 1998
    From the trenches to the battle lines, in bold advances and fighting retreats and courageous stands, this oral chronicle of World War I by award-winning historian Lyn Macdonald brings to life the massive German offensive of Spring 1918 that became the Second Battle of Somme. As moving as it is monumental, the volume recounts the devastating assault in the words of the men who survived it -- from the commanders to the war-weary British Tommies, the eager German foot soldiers, and the as-yet-untested doughboys fresh from the U.S. Unforgettably, To the Last Man puts a human face on the armies in the field as it gives voice to the soldiers who together held their position against the foe-resisting, as the Allied command had ordered, "to the last round and the last man."

Love Thine Enemy


Nora Fountain - 1998
     Paris has always been one of her favourite places, but as she walks down the street on her first day and sees a tall stranger with cornflower blue eyes and hair the colour of wheat, she is hit by what the French call un coup de foudre, and her life is changed forever. Maximilian von Engelberg is a German, but despite being proud of Germany, he is against the Nazis, unlike his brother Herman, who is with the SS. He, too, hopes war can be averted, but knows it is a matter of time. He also knows he should stay away from Helen Latimer, but he can’t help himself. Christian Meursault is the Count of Clemenceau, and owns a chateau in Normandy. He has his friends for a weekend, including Helen and Max, and as they play in the pool and eat fabulous food, no one can imagine war. But soon, Hitler invades Poland, and war is inevitable. As Helen’s brother Charles calls her home, Max’s brother Herman insists he return to the Fatherland as well. But when Helen discovers she is pregnant, Max decides they will marry, and escape to Portugal, a country that is neutral. But fate has other plans for them, and Max ends up in Germany. Soon they are both married to other people, as war rages around them. But despite impossible odds, this is not the end of the story for Max, who ends up based in Normandy, and Helen, who starts to work for the French Resistance when her beloved brother Charles is shot down over the English Channel. With so much death, who knows who will survive, and at what cost? Rich in history and filled with the joy of life, Love Thine Enemy is a satisfying read brimming with romance and love during a very dark time. Praise for Nora Fountain ‘Love conquers all in this moving historical romance’ – Holly Kinsella Nora Fountain is a professional novelist and translator. Her short stories have been published in many magazines in the UK and abroad. She writes both contemporary and historical romance, and loves to paint. Nora has served on the committee of the Romantic Novelists Association and is a member of the Society of Authors and the Chartered Institute of Linguists. She lives in Dorset, where she finds Thomas Hardy country and the people who live there, an inspiration.

Reporting Vietnam- Part One: American Journalism 1959-1969


Milton J. Bates - 1998
    The result was a powerful body of graphic and critical news reports that helped shaped public opinion back in the U.S.

The Encyclopedia of Weapons of WWII: The Comprehensive Guide to over 1,500 Weapons Systems, Including Tanks, Small Arms, Warplanes, Artillery, Ships, and Submarines


Chris Bishop - 1998
    There are more than 500 separate items of equipment used between 1939 and 1945, from combat handguns to massive aircraft carriers. More than 600 full-color artworks accompany entries that feature a detailed history of each weapon's design and development, along with a full specifications table that includes performance, dimensions, armament, and crew details. A must-have for military buffs.

Archyology II (the Final Dig): The Long Lost Tales of Archy and Mehitabel


Don Marquis - 1998
    Previously unpublished in book form and literally recovered from a steamer trunk by editor Jeff Adams, these stories are the product of Don Marquis, a New York columnist and raconteur who was one of America's most popular humorists during the early twentieth century. archy supposedly worked at Marquis's newsroom typewriter at night, diving headfirst onto individual keys to tap out columns; unable to use the shift key, of course, archy settled for lower-case letters and dispensed with punctuation entirely.Ungrammatical as they may be, archy's wry insights are a true delight, for, as he puts it, "one advantage of being a cockroach is that i see things from the under side." From that unique perspective we follow the continuing saga of archy, the Cockroach Detective, a spoof on the gumshoe genre in which the six-legged private eye encounters a raja, his chorus-girl harem, Bolshevist twins, an Egyptologist, seven sister manicurists, and a set of bejeweled false teeth. In other episodes archy saves the US fleet from a German U-boat attack, muses with a spider about humanity's inhumanity to insects, stows away on a freighter to London, and climbs to the top of the Washington Monument.In the Capitol building itself, archy says, "there is no attention paid to me because there are so many other insects around it gives you a great idea of the american people when you see some of the things they elect." The Ku Klux Klan, he observes elsewhere, "is going strong and the national emblem will soon be the great american kleagle." Meanwhile, mehitabel, who claims to be a reincarnation of Cleopatra, offers to hire hit-cats to clean up City Hall, not of rats but of reporters. Accompanied by the inspired drawings of cartoonist Ed Frascino, these new archy tales are, Adams writes, "classic American humor, as vivid and amusing today as they were decades ago."

The Vietnam Reader: The Definitive Collection of Fiction and Nonfiction on the War


Stewart O'Nan - 1998
    Also included are incisive reader's questions--useful for educators and book clubs--in a volume that makes an essential contribution to a wider understanding of the Vietnam War.An indispensable and provocative read for anyone who wants to know more about the war that changed the face of late-twentieth-century America.

Reporting Vietnam- Part Two: American Journalism 1969-1975


Milton J. Bates - 1998
    military learned from Vietnam, it was: Never again. Never again let the media run around the theater of war, reporting whatever they wanted from wherever they wanted. It was a lesson the Pentagon acted on in the Gulf War, severely limiting media access. It was also a lesson hard learned.As was happening on college campuses, on concert stages, and at political rallies across the country, journalism underwent a revolution in the '60s and early '70s. Though led by patrician families that were firmly entrenched in the political and cultural elite of the nation, newspapers and magazines were being written by young reporters who came of age with Elvis, the Beatles, and the civil rights movement. All previous generations of journalists had accepted that an American war was a good war. The Vietnam press corps held no such belief.Reporting Vietnam collects the best writing and reportage from the war into two volumes of gripping, painful reading. Part one covers the war from 1959 to 1969 -- from the first American deaths to the bloody battle of Hamburger Hill. Along the way, reporters fan out to uncover the military blunders, the political minefields, and the cultural changes spreading from America to Vietnam: from the Tet Offensive to the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, from a violent Christmas in Saigon to Black Power in the U.S. armed forces.Part two, covering 1969 through 1975, begins with My Lai and ends with the fall of Saigon and the evacuation of the U.S. embassy. This was the war at its most chaotic, its mostlawless, its most tragic. Concluding this volume, and summarizing the complete experience of reporting on Vietnam, is Michael Herr's Dispatches, a stunning book-length memoir of his experience of the war.The two volumes compile the works of the best and boldest writers who covered the war: David Halberstam, Russell Baker, Stanley Karnow, Peter Arnett, Walter Cronkite, Wallace Terry, Sydney Schanberg, Neil Sheehan, Gloria Emerson, Philip Caputo, and Michael Herr, to name just some of the more than 80 writers whose work appears in the collection.Reporting Vietnam is a valuable collection of primary-source narratives from reporters in the field. It is also a comprehensive document of the pain America went through in Vietnam. — Greg Sewel, barnesandnoble.com

The Marines


Edwin H. Simmons - 1998
    This comprehensive chronology examines the Corps' history in synch with that of The United States. Includes over 600 moving, full-color photographs alongside insightful text from renowned service men. Also features: -A condensed historical timeline -A beautiful blue padded cover -A special section honoring thirty-one remarkable men who have led the Corps -A large format -And much more! Truly a magnificent work of art to be treasured and passed through the generations.

The Graves: Srebrenica And Vukovar


Eric Stover - 1998
    Over 40,000 Muslim refugees were living in and around Srebenica when it fell to the Serbs, under General Ratko Mladic in July 1995. Of the men who fled, or were rounded up by Serb troops, many were never seen again. Stover talks to the surviving families, women and children including the women of Srebrenica still clinging to the hope that their men are alive even as Haglund's investigations prove otherwise. Mladic has since been charged with crimes of genocide. But Stover identifies a lack of political will to arrest the criminals and bring them to trial. Until then, justice will not have been done.

Poetry of the First World War


Wilfred Owen - 1998
    Accompanying each poem is a contemporary photograph, taken in such areas as the forward trenches, behind the lines and in the base camps. The anthology is arranged chronologically, beginning with the patriotic, jingoistic fervour of 1914, and then gradually charting the move to a more realistic mood, culminating in the disillusion, resignation and anger felt so strongly by the men at the front. The poets included range from A.E.Housman and Thomas Hardy, whose writing influenced the soldier poets, to those who actually fought at the front, such as Brooke, Sassoon and Owen. There are some unexpected contributions from those who volunteered, but did not see active service, such as Laurence Binyon and W.W.Gibson, and Rudyard Kipling, who had written about soldiers long before the War, and whose only son was killed in action.

Not in Vain: an Extraordinary Life


Ada Aharoni - 1998
    It is about choosing one’s own road, about the power of human will and the love of mankind. Thea speaks from the heart; she is real and inspiring, strong and wise – an unforgettable role model who has been called “Sister Theresa of the Middle East." This is not only an exciting and revealing personal account, but also a kaleidoscope of astonishing historical episodes from World War II, giving the reader a sense of having lived through those important events. Its narrative registers a strong protest against war and also instills in us the hope that it can one day be banished from our lives forever. This fascinating biography shows Muslim-Jewish harmony that gives hope for the future. Whoever knew that Muslim Egyptians helped Egyptian Jews save Jewish refugees from the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust during World War II? In this book, we discover how Thea Woolf initiated and led this heroic mission. The close collaboration depicted between Alexandrian Jews and Egyptians, and their vital cooperation in saving Jews from the Nazi Holocaust, is an important example of what the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians could be today. The amity with which Muslims and Jews lived in the recent past proffers the hope that it is possible to aspire to such a reality in the future.The Woman in White: An Extraordinary Life, also describes the wonderful Jewish Hospital in Alexandria, that saved the lives of many soldiers of the Allied army under Montgomery, fighting Rommel at El Alamein. This is an extraordinary book that should be read by all!

Hearts Grown Brutal: Sagas of Sarajevo


Roger Cohen - 1998
    The disintegration of Yugoslavia and the civil war that followed during the post-Cold War era is seen through the lives of four families representing various factions in the struggle.

Saints and Villains


Denise Giardina - 1998
    Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and Nazi resister was the exception. This emblematic figure risked his life--and finally lost it--through his participation in a failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and topple his regime. Saints and Villains gives us this exemplary life in a sweeping narrative that is bold in conception and utterly convincing in its power of imaginative reconstruction.

From Both Sides Now: The Poetry of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath


Philip Mahony - 1998
    Chronologically arranged to mirror the progression of the war, From Both Sides Now brings together a wide variety of opposing views, with poetry by American and Vietnamese soldiers, orphans, widows, priests, monks, political figures, and antiwar protesters. In addition to including extraordinary works from well-known poets such as Bruce Weigl, Margaret Atwood, Yusef Komunyakaa, Sharon Olds, Robert Bly, Allen Ginsberg, Grace Paley, Philip Levine, and W. S. Merwin, editor Phillip Mahony has scoured the globe to find amazing and, in some cases, never-before-published poetry by North and South Vietnamese soldiers and poets and the first postwar generation of Vietnamese-Americans. Together the words of these poets cohere to a modern, many-voiced epic about the most important event in recent American history. Poignant and accessible, the poems collected here will leave an indelible impact on all readers -- not only poetry lovers but everyone who lived through, and those who want to learn about, the Vietnam War.

Cold War: For 45 Years The World Held Its Breath


Jeremy Isaacs - 1998
    

Honorable Warrior: General Harold K. Johnson and the Ethics of Command


Lewis Sorley - 1998
    Johnson was a soldier's officer, loved by his men and admired by his peers for his leadership, courage, and moral convictions. Lewis Sorley's biography provides a fitting testament to this remarkable man and his dramatic rise from obscurity to become LBJ's Army Chief of Staff during the Vietnam War.A native of North Dakota, Johnson survived more than three grueling years as a POW under the Japanese during World War II before serving brilliantly as a field commander in the Korean War, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism. The latter experiences led to a series of high-level positions that culminated in his appointment as Army chief in 1964 and a cover story in Time magazine.What followed should have been the most rewarding period of Johnson's military career. Instead, it proved to be a nightmare, as he quickly became mired in the politics and ordeal of a very misguided war.Johnson fundamentally disagreed with the three men--LBJ, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and General William Westmoreland--running our war in Vietnam. He was sharply critical of LBJ's piecemeal policy of gradual escalation and his failure to mobilize the national will or call up the reserves. He was equally despondent over Westmoreland's now infamous search-and-destroy tactics and reliance on body counts to measure success in Vietnam.By contrast, he advocated greater emphasis on cutting the North's supply lines, helping the South Vietnamese provide for their own internal defenses, and sustaining a truly legitimate government in the South. Unheeded, he nevertheless continued to work behind the scenes to correct the nation's flawed approach to the war.Sorley's study adds immeasurably to our understanding of the Vietnam War. It also provides an inspiring account of principled leadership at a time when the American military is seeking to recover the very kinds of moral values exemplified by Harold K. Johnson. As such, it presents a profound morality tale for our own era.

The Roses in My Carpets


Rukhsana Khan - 1998
    Here, where everything - walls, floor, courtyard - is mud, a boy's heart can still long for freedom, independence, and safety. And here, where life is terribly fragile, the strength to endure grows out of need. But the strength to dreams comes from within.

Saving Private Ryan: The Men, the Mission, the Movie : A Film by Steven Spielberg


Steven Spielberg - 1998
    Includes excerpts from Stephen Ambrose's books, screenplay extracts, and commentary by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Janusz Kaminski and others. 100 illustrations, 130 color plates.

The Deadly Brotherhood: The American Combat Soldier in World War II


John C. McManus - 1998
    L. A.] Marshall asserted that only 15 to 25 percent of American soldiers ever fired their weapons in combat in World War II. . . .Shooting at the enemy made a man part of the “team,” or “brotherhood.” There were, of course, many times when soldiers did not want to shoot, such as at night when they did not want to give away a position or on reconnaissance patrols. But, in the main, no combat soldier in his right mind would have deliberately sought to go through the entire ear without ever firing his weapon, because he would have been excluded from the brotherhood but also because it would have been detrimental to his own survival. One of [rifle company commander Harold] Leinbaugh’s NCOs summed it up best when discussing Marshall: “Did the SOB think we clubbed the Germans to death?”

Blood and Vengeance: One Family's Story of the War in Bosnia


Chuck Sudetic - 1998
    Perhaps the most notorious and disputed outrage of the war was the massacre of as many as 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica. Although previously designated a safe area by the United Nations Security Council, Srebrenica was overrun by General Ratko Mladic's Bosnian Serb forces while U.N. peacekeeping troops stood by impotently.With novelistic eloquence and journalistic acumen, Sudetic follows several generations of the Celiks, the Muslim family he is related to by marriage, which met their tragic destiny at Srebrenica. His indelible portrait of these inhabitants of a remote mountaintop village outside of Srebrenica not only illumines the historical context of the tragedy but, more important, reveals the human impact of the horror. Blood and Vengeance contains the sweep and power of a panoramic historical painting, yet possesses the heartbreaking intimacy of a family snapshot.

Flower of Scotland


Emma Blair - 1998
    Charlotte is ecstatically in love with Geoffrey; Peter prepares for the day when he will inherit the family distillery, while Andrew, gregarious and fun-loving, is already turning heads and hearts. Nell, the youngest, contents herself with daydreams of a handsome highlander. The Great War, however, has no respect for family life. As those carefree pre-war days fade, with death and devastation brought in their wake, the Drummonds are plunged into the horrors of the trenches in France. Yet those who survive discover that love can transcend class, creed, and country.

Men of Steel: The Ardennes and Eastern Front 1944-45


Michael Reynolds - 1998
    Aware of the need to create more divisions for his army and under constant pressure from Heinrich Himmler for more troops, Adolf Hitler chose this moment to order the formation of a new SS Panzer corps. This meticulously researched book documents the actions of the Corps throughout the last offensives of the war. Strongly recommended for those interested in the personality of Hitler's most trusted armored and armoured-infantry field commanders.

Alone on Guadalcanal: A Coastwatcher's Story


Martin Clemens - 1998
    A remarkable memoir by the near-mythic coastwatcher who helped shape the first great Allied counter-offensive in the Pacific war.

The Price of Exit: A True Story of Helicopter Pilots in Vietnam


Tom Marshall - 1998
    The NVA was the enemy, but the ultimate opponent was, quite simply, death. . . ."For assault helicopter crews flying in and around the NVA-infested DMZ, the U.S. pullout from Vietnam in 1970-71 was a desperate time of selfless courage. Now former army warrant officer Tom Marshall of the Phoenix, C Company, 158th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne, captures the deadly mountain terrain, the long hours flown under enormous stress, the grim determination of hardened pilots combat-assaulting through walls of antiaircraft fire, the pickups amid exploding mortar shells and hails of AK fire, the nerve-racking string extractions of SOG teams from North Vietnam. . . . And, through it all, the rising tension as helicopter pilots and crews are lost at an accelerating pace.It is no coincidence that the Phoenix was one of the most highly decorated assault helicopter units in I Corps. For as the American departure accelerated and the enemy added new, more powerful antiaircraft weapons, the helicopter pilots, crew chiefs, and gunners paid the heavy price of withdrawal in blood. For more than 30 Percent of Tom Marshall's 130 helicopter-school classmates, the price of exit was their lives. . . .From the Paperback edition.

Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-Rich, War-Torn, Post-Soviet Republic


Thomas Goltz - 1998
    Author Goltz was detoured in Baku in mid-1991 and decided to stay, this diary is the record of his experiences.

Omnibus


Kathleen Dayus - 1998
    In it she recalls her Edwardian childhood, growing up in the slums of Birmingham, her adolescence as a munitions worker during World War I, early widowhood and the Depression, which forced her to give up her children.

The Shooting Gallery


Gaz Hunter - 1998
    His missions have ranged from extracting hostages in Sierra Leone to counter-terrorist operations in Northern Ireland - and he has always led from the front. A former senior NCO of the SAS, Hunter is the highest-ranking member of the regiment to tell his story yet. It is a story about British foreign policy, and the secret war which has been waged against foreign threats to the British and their allies.

Pearl Harbor Child: A Child's View of Pearl Harbor--From Attack to Peace


Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson - 1998
    The story of a girl who lived in Pearl Harbor on the day the bombs fell and through the events that followed.

Shell Shock: The Psychological Impact of the War


Wendy Holden - 1998
    Killing, watching friends die, leading soldiers to their deaths - all have a profound effect on those involved in the front line of war. There is a limit to what a soldier can endure before he becomes the victim of shell shock, battle fatigue, PTSD, or whatever terminology is in vogue.In this book, linked to a Channel 4 television series, individual soldiers tell their own stories of horrors to which they have been exposed, and of events that pushed them to the brink of human endurance. The author also relates the history of military psychiatry and the scientists who have to balance the demands of the army to "cure" soldiers and return them to battle with the demands of the soldiers themselves, struggling to understand their condition.

Women in War and Resistance: Selected Biographies of Soviet Women Soldiers


Kazimiera J. Cottam - 1998
    In addition to analyzing Soviet women combatants' contributions to World War II effort, the books offer substantial detail and commentary on the state of the Red Army throughout its development, the essential social context within which it evolved, and the course of its military operations. The series provide new valuable insights on the Red Army and Soviet State in general, and on the human condition in the Soviet Union in particular. The books are intended for both academic and general readers interested in Russia's history and politics, and their impact on the modern world at large.

Badge of Courage: The Life of Stephen Crane


Linda Davis - 1998
    His most famous work, THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE, is a classic antiwar novel. Yet Crane longed for military honors of his own and pursued a career as a war correspondent that took him to battlefields in Greece and Cuba.

The Rock Of Anzio: From Sicily To Dachau, A History Of The U.S. 45th Infantry Division


Flint Whitlock - 1998
    It also turned out to be one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. military history. Based on extensive research into archives, photos, letters, diaries, previously classified official records, and scores of personal interviews with surviving veterans of the 45th, The Rock of Anzio is written with an immediacy that puts the reader right onto the battlefield and shows us war through the eyes of ordinary men called upon to perform extraordinary deeds.

Combat Surgeon: On Iwo Jima with the 27th Marines


James Vedder - 1998
    Dr. Vedder, who earned the Silver Star for his courageous actions while accompanying his litter-bearers to and from the front lines under fire, delivers a unique account from the vantage points of surgeon, leader, and semi-objective observer."--USNI Proceedings

Belorussia 1944: The Soviet General Staff Study


David M. Glantz - 1998
    Four powerful fronts (army groups) operated under close Stavka (high command) control. Over 1.8 million troops acomplished a feat unique in the history of the Red Army: the defeat and dismemberment of an entire German army group. This book is a translation of the Soviet General Staff Study No 18, a work originally classified as 'secret' and intended to educate Soviet commanders and staff officers. The operation is presented from the Soviet perspective, in the words of the individuals who planned and orchestrated the plans. A map supplement, including terrain maps, is provided to illustrate the flow of the operation in greater detail.

Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War


David M. Glantz - 1998
    The day before the attack, the Red Army still comprised the world's largest fighting force. But by the end of the year, four and a half million of its soldiers lay dead. This new study, based on formerly classified Soviet archival material and neglected German sources, reveals the truth behind this national catastrophe. Drawing on evidence never before seen in the West-including combat records of early engagements-David Glantz claims that in 1941 the Red Army was poorly trained, inadequately equipped, ineptly organized, and consequently incapable of engaging in large-scale military campaigns-and that both Hitler and Stalin knew it. He provides the most complete and convincing study of why the Soviets almost lost the war that summer, dispelling many of the myths about the Red Army that have persisted since the war and soundly refuting Viktor Suvorov's controversial thesis that Stalin was planning a preemptive strike against Germany. Stumbling Colossus describes the Red Army's command leadership, mobilization and war planning, intelligence activities, and active and reserve combat formations. It includes the first complete Order of Battle of Soviet forces on the eve of the German attack, documents the strength of Soviet armored forces during the war's initial period, and reproduces the first available texts of actual Soviet war plans. It also provides biographical sketches of Soviet officers and tells how Stalin's purges of the late 1930s left the Red Army leadership almost decimated. At a time when blame for the war in eastern Europe is being laid with a fallen regime, Glantz's book sets the record straight on the Soviet Union's readiness-and willingness-to fight. Boasting an extensive bibliography of Soviet and German sources, Stumbling Colossus is a convincing study that overshadows recent revisionist history and one that no student of World War II can ignore.

Once a Pilgrim: The True Story of One Man's Courage Under Rebel Fire


Will Scully - 1998
    In Freetown, Sierra Leone, they were caught in a military coup, their hotel under siege. This is his story.

Allah's Mountains: The Battle for Chechnya


Sebastian Smith - 1998
    It is also a story of the history, people and cultures of the Caucasus and of tiny ethnic groups struggling for both physical and cultural survival.

Linus Pauling on Peace: A Scientist Speaks Out on Humanism and World Survival


Linus Pauling - 1998
    In more than 50 essays, Nobel Prize-winning Linus Pauling's brilliance, conviction, and passion for saving humankind and the planet are eloquently expressed.

The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown


Theodore Taylor - 1998
    A star athlete and an outstanding student, Jesse turned a deaf ear to everyone who told him that he should attend a black college, or that he didn't stand a chance of becoming a Navy pilot. Undeterred, he made his way from the deep South to the campus of Ohio State University. Then, defying the wishes of his family and an unwritten rule of racial exclusion, he qualified for the Navy reserve and was accepted into the Naval Air Training School at Glenview, Illinois-the first black man to enter the program. On March 18, 1947, late morning, like a bird, like a kite, like an impossible dream, Jesse Leroy Brown was flying.While other applicants-many from upper-class backgrounds-were weeded out of the rigorous qualifying process, Jesse forged ahead, often directly in the face of shameful racism and hostile superior officers. When he arrived at the cradle of Naval aviation in Pensacola, Florida, in 1947, he knew the washout rate was high and the odds were stacked against a man openly referred to as "nigger." But Jesse Leroy Brown had lots of practice beating the odds, and now he was on his way to becoming the first black man to fly a Navy fighter and make a carrier landing. He was also on his way to becoming an American hero over the battlefields of Korea."The Flight of Jesse Leroy Brown" is both a stirring story ofa man breaking historic racial barriers and a thrilling tale ofNaval carrier aviation. Award-winning author TheodoreTaylor, a master of adventure on land and sea, has written abiography that will speak to boththosewho love the excite-ment of combat in the air ... and to anyone who has everdreamed the impossible dream.Jesse Leroy Brown was raised in the segregated South by a hard-working, loving family who instilled values of dignity, education, and perseverance. A star athlete and an outstanding student, he was determined to become a Navy pilot, although such a thing was unheard of for a black man in the 1940s. Undettered, he entered Ohio State University, rather than a black college, and was able to qualify for the Navy reserve and was accepted into the Naval Air Training School at Glenview, Illinois. Despite racism, and open hostility by many of his superior officers, he finally reached his goal, flying a Navy fighter plane and landing it on a carrier--the first African American ever to do so.

The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe


John Rabe - 1998
    The Good Man of Nanking is a crucial document for understanding one of World War II's most horrific incidents of genocide, one which the Japanese have steadfastly refused to acknowledge.  It is also the moving and awe-inspiring record of one man's conscience, courage, and generosity in the face of appalling human brutality.Until the recent emergence of John Rabe's diaries, few people knew abouth the unassuming hero who has been called the Oskar Schindler of China.  In November 1937, as Japanese troops overran the Chinese capital of Nanking and began a campaign of torture, rape, and murder against its citizens, one man-a German who had lived in China for thirty years and who was a loyal follower of Adolph Hitler-put himself at risk and in order to save the lives of 200,000 poor Chinese, 600 of whom he sheltered in his own home.

Eagles over the Alps: Suvorov in Italy and Switzerland, 1799


Christopher Duffy - 1998
    Although his entire lifetime (1729-1800) was spent under the czars, such was his fame that the Order of Suvorov was one of Soviet Russia's highest decorations. The dramatic campaign in Switzerland and italy of 1799-1800 was his last, and one of his finest, performances.Out of favor with the eccentric Czar Paul, the seventy-year-old Suvorov was recalled to active duty during the War of the Second Coalition (1799-1800). The most active theater of the War was northern Italy where Russian and Austrian forces faced the French. Both sides were hampered by unreliable allied contingents and political interference.Despite his age, Suvorov planned to defeat several separate French armies before they could combine, by a series of forced marches across some of the most difficult terrain in Europe. Plagued by less-than-able Austrian generals and constant interference from Vienna. Suvorov nevertheless won some brilliant victories. An Austrian defeat at Zurich, however, eventually made his situation untenable and he was forced to withdraw. A convenient scapegoat for the failure of the campaign, he was dismissed by Czar Paul and died in disgrace the following year.Upstart French Revolutionary generals lead a ragtag army across the Swiss and Italian Alps to do battle with the armies of the far-flung Austrian and Russian empires in this dramatic story. Special maps, complete orders of battle, and fulldetails of the military units involved back up the gripping main narrative.

The Great War. a Guide to the Service Records of All the World's Fighting Men and Volunteers. [World War I]


Christina K. Schaefer - 1998
    In order to reconstruct the lives and locate the records of those who served, fought, volunteered, or were conscripted, we must rely on a vast but relatively unknown body of resources. Counting all combatants, the number of men who served in the Great War runs into the millions; needless to say, finding records on them in the two dozen countries that participated in the war is a daunting and laborious task--now made infinitely simpler with the publication of this magnificent guide to WWI service records. The only book of its kind, this ambitious effort to catalogue service records and related sources is international in scope, covering the soldiers of all countries participating in the war, from Britain, Germany, and France, to Russia, Canada, and the U.S.; and from India, Australia, and Japan, to South Africa and Brazil! This is a key to a motherlode of genealogical data and should grow in value as our need for WWI-era information increases. Right now it represents a whole new path in genealogical research, with fresh possibilities and discoveries at every turn. The first part of the book is designed to provide background on the organization of the military in 1914, the order of battle, how to use the records, and a general time-line of events, focusing on 1914 to 1918. The second part concentrates on the combatants, describing each country's armed forces, conscription history, and its military and naval records, and, to the greatest extent possible, their location. (Records that have been microfilmed and are available worldwide through the Family History Library System of the LDS Church are identified by roll number.) The third part of the book describes casualty lists and POW records, and provides a table showing changes in place names, while the final section of the book, an appendix, contains a glossary of abbreviations, Internet addresses, and a select bibliography of books in English. The disposition of personnel files varies from country to country, depending on privacy laws and archival practices. In some cases documents are held by a military archive, in others by a national repository. In a few cases, such as Great Britain, service files are in the process of being transferred from one agency to another. Whatever their disposition--and it is an important aim of this book to identify their disposition--the records covered here fall under the following headings: draft records, personnel papers, unit records, embarkation lists, death records and casualty reports, military parish registers, regimental returns, medal lists, entitlement lists, hospital registers, pension records, and diaries. A particularly useful section of the book, "Research Tips," describes the general organization of military records, the organization of those records in specific countries, and the condition and comprehensiveness of the records. With help from dozens of individuals and institutions throughout the world, in particular from libraries such as the Army Pentagon Library, the Navy Department Library, the Library of Congress, the Family History Library, the Hoover Institute (Stanford University), the Public Record Office (England), and the national archives of at least a dozen countries, the author has managed to compile a guide to WWI service records that is not only unique but totally comprehensive. She has taken a mountain of material and cut it down to size, transforming an unwieldy body of sources into a streamlined archive. Her pioneering efforts will save researchers untold hours of toil, adding limbs to family trees and providing opportunities for further research.

Mountain River: Vietnamese Poetry from the Wars, 1948-1993


Kevin Bowen - 1998
    The poems testify to the centrality of war in Vietnamese history and experience over the past 50 years, beginning with Ho Chi Minh in the 1940s.

The New York Public Library Amazing Women in American History: A Book of Answers for Kids


New York Public Library - 1998
    Anthony's fight for voting rights. Follow Sandra DayO'Connor to the U.S. Supreme Court and Sally Ride into space. Findthe answers to your questions about the amazing women in Americanhistory...Who were the Daughters of Liberty? See page 19.Who was the first woman to run for president? See page 79.Who were early leaders of the women's movement? See page 38.Who was Sojourner Truth, and how did she get her name? See page32.What were flappers? See page 115.Who was Mother Jones? See page 107.How did the National Organization for Women (NOW) begin? See page138.What is The Feminine Mystique, and why is it so significant? Seepage 139.Also in this series . . . * The New York Public Library Incredible Earth * The New York Public Library Amazing Space * The New York Public Library Amazing African American History

Facing My Lai: Moving Beyond the Massacre (Modern War Studies)


David L. Anderson - 1998
    William Calley a year and a half later are among the bleakest episodes in American history and continue to provide a volatile focus for debates about the Vietnam War. Other books have exposed the facts surrounding the incident; Facing My Lai now examines its haunting legacy through a unique exchange of contemporary viewpoints.This powerful book emerges from a stellar gathering of historians, military professionals, writers, mental health experts, and Vietnamese and American war veterans convened to memorialize the tragedy. The cast of prominent speakers included journalists Seymour Hersh and David Halberstam, novelist Tim O'Brien, psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, military prosecutor William Eckhardt, and veterans Hugh Thompson and Ron Ridenhour--the two true heroes in the My Lai story. David Anderson's reflective recasting of their presentations creates an impassioned chorus of voices that demonstrates why this tragedy remains one of the key emblems of the American experience in Vietnam.These authors address many of the troubling questions that still persist about My Lai. Why had it been identified as a Viet Cong stronghold? What orders were the troops actually given? Why didn't someone stop the slaughter? But these questions are asked again in the hope that they might lead to a better understanding of what My Lai means for us now.As these authors show, our nation is still trying to come to grips with the bitter legacies of the Vietnam War. A grim window into the darker side of American history (like the massacre at Wounded Knee), My Lai reminds us of humanity's baffling capacity for atrocity within the crucible of war. Facing My Lai does not allow us to forget or hide from such horrors, but it also seeks to heal the deep wounds inflicted by the war. Its unflinching look at the past ultimately leads us away from darkness and towards a more enlightened understanding of a war that in many ways is not over yet.

National Deconstruction: Violence, Identity, and Justice in Bosnia


David Campbell - 1998
    National Deconstruction is a rethinking of the meaning of "ethnic/nationalist" violence and a critique of the impoverished discourse of identity politics that crippled the international response to the Bosnian crisis.Rather than assuming the preexistence of an entity called Bosnia, Campbell considers the complex array of historical, statistical, cartographic, and other practices through which the definitions of Bosnia have come to be. These practices traverse a continuum of political spaces, from the bodies of individuals and the corporate body of the former Yugoslavia to the international bodies of the world community.Among the book's many original disclosures, arrived at through a critical reading of international diplomacy, is the shared identity politics of the peacemakers and paramilitaries. Equally significant is Campbell's conclusion that the international response to the Bosnian war was hamstrung by the poverty of Western thought on the politics of heterogeneous communities. Indeed, he contends that Europe and the United States intervened in Bosnia not to save the ideal of multiculturalism abroad but rather to shore up the nationalist imaginary so as to contain the ideal of multiculturalism at home.By bringing to the fore the concern with ethics, politics, and responsibility contained in more traditional accounts of the Bosnianwar, this book is a major statement on the inherently ethical and political assumptions of deconstructive thought -- and the reworkings of the politics of community it enables.

Struggletown: Public and Private Life in Richmond 1900-1965


Janet McCalman - 1998
    A blend of oral reminiscence politics and social history, this is the biography of a working-class generation born during the depression of the 1890s, called into war in 1914, finding its feet in the 1920s only to be struck down by unemployment in the 1930s, and then rescued by the post-war boom.

The Luftwaffe Fighter Force: The View from the Cockpit


Adolf Galland - 1998
    Stories included give a rarely heard perspective on the war and Luftwaffe members are frank in revealing the difficulties they encountered and what they believe led to their downfall.The Luftwaffe pilot and crew members featured in this unusual collection divulge what was once highly-confidential information, including fighter tactics, aircraft technology and operations, how they received their commands, and what the chain in carrying out their orders was. Also included are thirty rarely seen photographs and five maps and diagrams. Images feature things such as uniformed Luftwaffe officers, close-up shots of fighter planes, and the boundaries the planes were authorized to carry out their missions in.This unique volume was compiled by acclaimed military historian David C. Isby and is extraordinarily comprehensive. To make it, Isby poured over accounts of the war given by members of the Luftwaffe shortly after the events they describe. Much of the information in the book has been shared for the first time within it, and after a limited print run nearly twenty years ago, is finally, seventy years after the Luftwaffe missions, finally back in print.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

1863 Turning Point of the Civil War: Chancellorsville/Gettysburg/Vicksburg/Chickamauga/Chattanooga


Time-Life Books - 1998
    Introduction by James McPherson.

The Nazis' Last Victims: The Holocaust in Hungary


Randolph L. Braham - 1998
    The result of the 1994 conference at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the fiftieth anniversary of the deportation of Hungarian Jewry, this anthology examines the effects on Hungary as the last country to be invaded by the Germans. The Nazis' Last Victims questions what Hungarians knew of their impending fate and examines the heightened sense of tension and haunting drama in Hungary, where the largest single killing process of the Holocaust period occurred in the shortest amount of time. Through the combination of two vital components of history writing-the analytical and the recollective-The Nazis' Last Victims probes the destruction of the last remnant of European Jewry in the Holocaust.

The Civil War Diary of Cyrus F. Boyd, Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, 1861--1863


Cyrus F. Boyd - 1998
    Boyd served a year and a half as an orderly sergeant with the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry before becoming first lieutenant in Company B of the Thirty-Fourth Iowa Infantry. His diary--expanded in 1896 from a pocket diary he carried on his campaigns from Indianola, Iowa, to Lake Providence, Louisiana--offers a full account of soldiering in the Union Army. Before his promotion, Boyd was an intermediary between privates and company officers, a position that offered him unique opportunities to observe the attitudes and activities of both the unit leaders and their men. The outspoken Boyd frankly expresses his opinions of his comrades and his commanders, candidly depicts camp life, and intricately details the gory events on the battlefield. Although not always pleasant reading, The Civil War Diary of Cyrus F. Boyd is a vibrant, honest chronicle of one man's experiences in the bloody conflict."There is much to learn from and enjoy about this short but rich account. Boyd fully revealed the sordid reality and the tender moments of his army service."--Earl J. Hess, from his Introduction

The Lost Voices of World War I: An International Anthology of Writers, Poets & Playwrights


Tim Cross - 1998
    This anthology looks at a broad, international cross-section of literary talent cut short by the 1914-18 War and is published to coincide with the Armistice Festival on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War I.

Fortune Favors the Bold


James W. Walker - 1998
    Army in VietnamAN UNCONVENTIONAL SOLDIERBorn in England to a British father and a Canadian mother, James Walker was raised almost exclusively at the British Sailors Orphan Home following his parents' divorce. After joining the British army as a teen, his mother--now living in the States--bought his way out of the military and brought him to America. There he volunteered for the LRRP detachment of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. And history was made.James Walker soon became "Limey," the only British citizen in the 101st LRRPs. He and the other LRRPs of the detachment were given every sort of assignment under the blistering sun: long-range recons, surprise raids on villages, trail watching, even herding stray cattle with helicopters. Back in camp, however, they did nothing to diminish their reputation as hell-raisers--especially Walker, whose outlandish behavior eventually cost him an extension of his tour in Nam.

Scholastic Encylopedia Of The United States At War


June English - 1998
    From the American Revolution to the Gulf War, this American Revolution to the Gulf encyclopedia provides a broad picture of the United States' role, including biographies of the notable figures and quiet heroes, discussions of the mood of the country, timelines, maps, descriptions of weapons, eyewitness accounts, and more.

P-47 Pilots: The Fighter-Bomber Boys


Tom Glenn - 1998
    Live with a squadron of these glory hungry air warriors who dive into battle at 500 mph with their bombs, and fight at treetop level with their machine guns. Glenn vividly conveys what it was like to fly the magnificent Thunderbolt into combat, and tells how a band of courageous and maniacal P-47 pilots lived life in the fast lane, on and off duty.

The Connoisseurs Book of Japanese Swords


Kokan Nagayama - 1998
    This comprehensive guide to the appreciation and appraisal of the blades of Japanese swords provides, at last, all the background that readers need to become true connoisseurs.The book is organized along historical lines for the sake of clarity and convenience, and its approach is always practical. Broad discussions of each tradition within the Gokaden focus on the features that distinguish specific schools and smiths-the various kinds of jihada, hamon, boshi, and hataraki favored in different periods and regions-making this an invaluable reference tool for all enthusiasts, especially those who wish to take part in kantei-kai, or sword appreciation meetings. Each section closes with an easy reference chart summarizing the distinctive features of the work of various schools and smiths.The chapter on terminology gives advice on what to look for when examining the different parts of a blade, again making reference to the unique features of particularly significant smiths. The chapter on care and appraisal of blades tells precisely how to handle blades and what to expect at a sword appraisal meeting, including an explanation of all the various responses that a judge may give in response to a bid.Richly illustrated throughout with more than 550 of the author's own painstaking oshigata illustrations-sword tracings onto which details are penciled in by hand-The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords is easily the most informative and comprehensive guide to the blades of Japanese swords ever to appear in English.Kokan Nagayama, who is widely recognized as one of the foremost living sword polishers, compiled the notes for this book over the course of many years spent teaching the arts of polishing and appraisal.Nagayama-sensei is widely recognized as one of the foremost living sword polishers and is a veteran teacher of both polishing and appraisal. Here in one accessible volume he distills the store of knowledge he has gained over a lifetime of intensive research.Nagayama-sensei and his senior pupils have for many years now taken an enlightened approach to study of Japanese swords outside of Japan. They have been of great assistance to collectors here in Great Britain and in other countries, traveling and living abroad, organizing exhibitions, teaching us and polishing our swords, always in an altruistic spirit. This translation is another example of this same approach. In the past we have often struggled on our own or in small groups to gain an understanding of this peculiarly Japanese cultural asset, and with many of the definitive books on the subject still untranslated, a wealth of information has in the past been inaccessible to the non-Japanese reader. The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords will be of great help in making educated judgments at kantei sessions, and will be an invaluable and constant reference work.-From the Foreword by Clive SinclaireChairman of the Token Society of Great Britain

The Close-Combat Files of Col. Rex Applegate


Rex Applegate - 1998
    Rex Applegate, William Fairbairn, Eric Sykes and Wild Bill Donovan trained and employed OSS and MID commandos during WWII. Includes the facts behind the development of point shooting, knife fighting, hand-to-hand combat and a staggering number of other fighting skills as taught by the top instructors of the era. Contains rare archival photos and the Colonel's graphic original lesson plans.

The Logistics of the Roman Army at War, 264 BC-235 AD (Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition)


Jonathan P. Roth - 1998
    Each chapter is devoted to a different aspect of logistics: supply needs and rations; packs, trains and military servants; foraging and requisition; supply lines; sources of supply; administration; and the impact of logistics on Roman warfare. As a whole the book traces the development of the Roman logistics into a highly sophisticated supply system - a vital element in the success of Roman arms. In addition, it makes a critical study of important technical questions of Roman logistics, such as the size of the soldier's grain ration, the function of military servants, and the changes in logistical management under the Republic and Empire.

A Pullet on the Midden


Rachel Knappett - 1998
    Her friends were incredulous, thinking that the area was all coal mines and factories. She was the only land girl and, in fact, the only female, attached to a group of highly experienced laborers who were unused to working side by side with women. Initially they were highly doubtful of her ability to do the job, but gradually she came not only to earn their respect but their friendship.

The Confederacy's Greatest Cavalryman: Nathan Bedford Forest


Brian Steel Wills - 1998
    A renowned cavalryman, Nathan Bedford Forrest perfected a ruthless hit-and-run guerrilla warfare that terrified Union soldiers and garnered the respect of warriors like William Sherman, who described his adversary as that Devil, Forrest . . . the most remarkable man our Civil War produced on either side.Historian Bruce Catton rated Forrest one of the authentic military geniuses of the whole war, but Brian Steel Wills covers much more than the cavalryman's incredible feats on the field of battle. He also provides the most thoughtful and complete analysis of Forrest's hardscrabble childhood in backwater Mississippi; his rise to wealth in the Memphis slave trade; his role in the infamous Fort Pillow massacre of black Union soldiers; his role as early leader and Grand Wizard of the first Ku Klux Klan; and his declining health and premature death in a reconstructing America.

Guns in Combat


Chris Bishop - 1998
    Along with a detailed and accurate text, over 500 photos illustrate every aspect of combat sidearms.

The World at War: 1939-1945


Reader's Digest Association - 1998
    Drawn from international archives, the photographs bring the events and people vividly to life.

Dead Ground: Infiltrating The Ira


Raymond Gilmour - 1998
    The account he provides of life with the Provisionals is of a dark and claustrophobic world, of an iron grip which they hold over their own communities - a grip as tight and vicious as any Mafia stranglehold - and of a ruthless and cynical disregard for human life. Gilmour tells of corruption and double-standards that see young volunteers knee-capped for petty theft, while the high-ups steal with impunity; and of the life of a man trapped in no-man's-land, in a dirty war in which both the IRA and the security forces exploit children trapped in dead-end estates.

Before the Palm Could Bloom: Poems of Africa


Patricia Jabbeh Wesley - 1998
    And in poems of village life and customs, the city life of Monrovia, the rites of childhood and adolescence, Wesley records for the reader a world that has been forever changed. Wesley’s poems incorporate many African voices, and range in tone from sorrow and longing, to humor and ironic wit. Wesley teaches African literature and other subjects at colleges in southwestern Michigan, where she now lives with her husband and four children.

Black, Blue & Gray: African Americans in the Civil War


James Haskins - 1998
    Excerpts from letters and government documents introduce the names and places that set the stage for the war's unfolding. Vintage photographs offer a vivid look at the brave soldiers who risked their lives in the fight for human equality.

Iroquois in the War of 1812


Carl Benn - 1998
    The Iroquois in the War of 1812 proves that, in fact, the Six Nations' involvement was 'too significant to ignore.'Benn explores this involvement by focusing on Iroquois diplomatic, military, and cultural history during the conflict. He looks at the Iroquois' attempts to stay out of the war, their entry into hostilities, their modes of warfare, the roles they played in different campaigns, their relationships with their allies, and the effects that the war had on their society. He also details the military and diplomatic strength of the Iroquois during the conflict, despite the serious tensions that plagued their communities.This account reveals how the British benefited more than the Americans from the contributions of their Iroquois allies, and underscores how important the Six Nations were to the successful defence of Canada. It will appeal to general readers in both Canada and the United States and will have relevance for students and scholars of military, colonial, and Native history.

E.M. Bounds


Darrel D. King - 1998
    A Men of Faith biography.

Armament And History: The Influence Of Armament On History From The Dawn Of Classical Warfare To The End Of The Second World War


J.F.C. Fuller - 1998
    Entranced by the power and precision of armaments, man has continuously invented faster, more accurate, and more devastating weapons, from the javelin, stone axe, sword, and the arrow to the cannon, musket, rifle, tank, super-fortress, and missile. In this study of the influence of armaments on history, J.F.C. Fuller shows how the inventive genius of man can potentially obliterate his sense of moral values and destroy civilization. Divided into armament epochs—Ages of Valour, Chivalry, Gunpowder, Steam, Oil, and Atomic Energy—Armament and History examines the most influential military innovations of each period as well as the key leaders (including Alexander, Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus, and Napoleon) who skillfully employed these weapons. Although the author acknowledges that war cannot be eliminated entirely, he urges man to impose restrictions on warfare before society descends into a second Dark Age. Completed immediately after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—chilling examples of mass destruction caused by armaments—this impassioned work remains relevant more than a half-century later.

Without Vodka: Adventures in Wartime Russia


Aleksander Topolski - 1998
    In eight days his native Poland would be invaded by the Germans. Shortly after that, the Russians rolled in under the Hitler-Stalin pact, and when Topolski tried to sneak across the border into Romania, he was captured by Soviet border guards. Thus began a more than two-year-long ordeal through the Soviet Union's outrageously absurd penal system. Writing with an unexpected sense of humor and irony and an almost superhuman capacity for recalling fascinating details, Topolski recounts the fight for survival in the gulag. Mendacious NKVD officers, whimsical pickpockets, ruthless youth gang members, wise political prisoners, Polish patriots, unfortunate Uzbechs and countless other unforgettable characters populate this often raucous odyssey. "But it's not for our brains to ponder these things," someone along Topolski's journey utters, mouthing an old Russian saying, "without vodka you can't figure it out." Ultimately Topolski escapes into Iran to join the Polish 2nd Corps which is being formed there to fight the Germans . . . but that's another story.

South Pacific Destroyer: The Battle for the Solomons from Savo Island to the Vella Gulf


Russell Sydnor Crenshaw Jr. - 1998
    This riveting account of the Solomons' night battles offers readers an inside account of the fighting from the perspective of the crew of the USS Maury.

Messerschmitt Me262


David Baker - 1998
    Here Baker tells the full story, from its tortuous development through to its operational days, including details of its specs, and insight into the men who designed and flew the Me262. An exhaustive study.

U-boat Operations of the Second World War: Volume 1: Career Histories, U1-U510


Kenneth G. Wynn - 1998
    A rapid reference source for every aspect of a boat's activities, from the laying of the keel to its ultimate fate.

Dear Anne Frank: Poems


Marjorie Agosín - 1998
    In these lyrical tributes to Anne Frank's courage and individualism, Chilean poet Marjorie Agosín captures the wrenching paradox of the young diarist's unshakable love of life, a love which endured unspeakable horrors. In this bilingual collection, first published in 1994, Agosín makes the girl's humanity palpable even as it damns the inhumanity of those who perpetrated the destruction around her.

History Safari


Burt Cutler - 1998
    -- An electronic voyage through time offering hours of fascinating thought-provoking reading for history lovers and students of all ages-- Flashing lights guide you through a quiz with electronic sounds signaling 'victory' or 'try again'-- Detailed timelines also provide a picture of the interrelationships of events at different places and times