It lasted only 12. But those 12 years contained some of the most catastrophic events Western civilization has ever known.No other powerful empire ever bequeathed such mountains of evidence about its birth and destruction as the Third Reich. When the bitter war was over, and before the Nazis could destroy their files, the Allied demand for unconditional surrender produced an almost hour-by-hour record of the nightmare empire built by Adolph Hitler. This record included the testimony of Nazi leaders and of concentration camp inmates, the diaries of officials, transcripts of secret conferences, army orders, private letters—all the vast paperwork behind Hitler's drive to conquer the world.The famed foreign correspondent and historian William L. Shirer, who had watched and reported on the Nazis since 1925, spent five and a half years sifting through this massive documentation. The result is a monumental study that has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of one of the most frightening chapters in the history of mankind.This worldwide bestseller has been acclaimed as the definitive book on Nazi Germany; it is a classic work.The accounts of how the United States got involved and how Hitler used Mussolini and Japan are astonishing, and the coverage of the war-from Germany's early successes to her eventual defeat-is must reading

    In Nazi Germany this training took place in a horrific "factory," where the men received both military and ideological indoctrination, preparing them to fight successfully for the fatherland. When a murder occurs in the school, however, underlying tensions begin to surface. Another unforgettable novel by the world-renowned author of" Night of the Generals (made into a film with an all-star cast) and an incomparable journey into the heart of wartime Germany.

    Following the 1943 sinking of the merchant ship S.S. Lulworth Hill in the south Atlantic by Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci., 14 men, including the author, gather on a small liferaft. The men attempt to reach the African coast, but intense sun, starvation, sharks, injuries and madness begin to take their toll. When British warship HMS Rapid reaches the raft nearly two months later, only two men, author Kenneth Cooke and crewmate Colin Armitage, remain alive. This heart-breaking story remains inspirational due to the author's faith, determination, and compassion for his fellow raftmates. Included are six pages of illustrations.

    In this intimate chronicle, the 7,000 vessels, 12,000 aircraft, and 750,000 men committed on D-Day are taken for granted. Instead, we see D-Day through the eyes of the men on the ground as Howarth weaves together the larger story of the beginning of the battle of Normandy with the stories of the beachhead itself. The scope of Howarth's vision—focusing on England and France, on sky, beach, and hedgerow, on divisions and squads—makes Dawn of D-Day a franker portrayal than any other of the turning-point of the war on the Western Front and the greatest amphibious operation in history.

    Written by veteran historian E. B. Potter during his time as resident historian at the United States Naval Academy this history is filled with action and analysis. As the conflict raged from the Pacific to the North Sea the author takes the action in each theater for the purposes of clarity but masterfully links the actions and events together to preserve the historical integrity of the work. A classic of Naval History.

    

    During the 1950s, researchers in Washington, D.C. and London pored over more than 1,500 tons of photographs and documents seized after World War II. In 1960 Gerhard Schoenberner gathered some 200 photographs from the newly uncovered material, most of them taken by Nazis to chronicle their war against the Jews. Schoenberner named the book after the yellow badge that the Nazis forced the persecuted Jews to wear.With its comprehensive, authoritative presentation of visual and textual evidence, much of which had not yet not been seen before, The Yellow Star shocked the German population and introduced the world to many haunting images. The book endures as one of the most important documentary accounts of the Holocaust, reprinted in many German editions and published in eight languages.The photographs are accompanied by extracts from Nazi and German documents-laws, decrees, and other Reich memoranda, field reports from SS officers and concentration camp directors, newspaper editorials, and other writings. Schoenberner also provides detailed captions to the photographs. Organized chronologically, the book follows the growing scope and terror of the Holocaust, from the first anti-Jewish laws and Kristallnacht to ghetto uprisings and the Final Solution, culminating in the liberation of the death death camps. Each chapter has a narrative introduction by the author.While remaining true to the author's original concept, this new edition is a completely fresh presentation of the photographs and documents, with several enhancements. Schoenberner has added new photographs, replaced others, updated the captions and commentary when necessary, and updated and expanded the bibliography.Even if anti-Semitism were not on the rise in today's world, The Yellow Star would still be an essential book. In photograph after photograph, page after page, the Shoah unfolds as inexorable horror-captured with resonance that remains unequaled.Praise for The Yellow Star: One of the Books of the Century.-Frankfurter Allegemeine ZeitungSince the defeat of Nazism we have seen many books on this subject, yet there are few that could be compared to this one . . . An exceptional work.-Le MondeA must for any library, and school, and household where concern and conscience are alive.-Die Welt

     Before the Great Patriotic War (World War II) it was used mainly as a barracks and a supply base. On the night of June 22, 1941 the fortress was manned by only a small garrison, all the main units were in training camps for the summer. Thanks to their numerical superiority and the advantage gained by a surprise attack, the Germans quickly overran Brest and advanced into the hinterland. But some weeks after the outbreak of war rumors began to penetrate the front-line that far back in the enemy rear the heroic garrison of Brest Fortress was still fighting. The rumors were brought by officers and men who had fought their way out of encirclement, and from the bomber crews making night raids into enemy-held territory, who in the region of Brest saw explosions and the glittering trails of tracer bullets in the darkness below them. German staff papers captured in later battles contained the following admission: "The Russians in Brest-Litovsk fought with exceptional stubbornness and determination, they displayed superb infantry training and a splendid will to resist." In this book Sergei Smirnov, who spent many years in a tireless search for information about the immortal garrison, tells the story of the heroes of Brest Fortress who, though completely cut off from their own forces, fought to their last cartridge, their last breath without surrender.