Book picks similar to
Offense, Defense, and War by Michael E. Brown


history-and-politics
military-science
military-theory
political-science

Diary of a Night Fighter Pilot 1939 - 1945


Douglas Haig Greaves - 2016
    Written in his own hand from the day he signed up in October 1939 as a trainee pilot to the day he was ‘demobbed’ in October 1945, this poignant and often riveting diary by Squadron Leader Douglas Greaves D.F.C and Bar, records, in typical understated RAF style, the minutiae of everyday life in the services, as well as the horror he and his comrades endured and the heroism they all displayed.

Strategy in the Contemporary World: An Introduction to Strategic Studies


John Baylis - 2007
    Taking a functional approach and looking at issues from both times of war and of peace, editors John Baylis, James J. Wirtz, and Colin S. Gray analyze the conflicts themselves--as well as what can be learned from them. This new edition covers topics such as intelligence and strategy, strategic studies and its critics, as well as strategy in practice, providing a comprehensive and insightful collection of contributions from a team of leading experts in the field. FEATURES * Provides a more comprehensive analysis of strategic studies than any other text in its market * Brings together contributions from international experts * Incorporates excellent learning features throughout, including readers' guides, key points, questions, suggestions for further reading, and boxes * Accompanied by a comprehensive Companion Website (www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199548873) with case studies, weblinks, PowerPoint lecture slides, and a (password-protected) Test Bank of multiple choice questions NEW TO THIS EDITION * Expanded coverage of key issues such as intelligence, critics of strategic studies, and strategy in practice * New chapters on intelligence and strategy, strategic studies and its critics, and the practice of strategy * New case studies for the online resource centre, including a case on the 2006 war in Lebanon and a case on the Gaza conflict

7 Deadly Scenarios: A Military Futurist Explores War in the 21st Century


Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr. - 2009
    border.Major U.S. cities are leveled by black-market nukes.China’s growing civil unrest ignites a global showdown.Pakistan’s collapse leads to a hunt for its nuclear weapons.What if the worst that could happen actually happens? How would we respond? Are we ready? These are the questions that Andrew Krepinevich asks—and answers—in this timely and often chilling new book, which describes the changing face of war in the twenty-first century and identifies seven deadly scenarios that threaten our security in the crucial years ahead. As president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and consultant to secretaries of defense, the CIA, the Homeland Security Council and the Joint Forces Command, Krepinevich’s job is to think the unthinkable—and prepare a response in the event our worst nightmares become reality. Basing his analysis on open intelligence sources, an assessment of the latest global and political trends, and his knowledge of contemporary military history, Krepinevich starts each of the seven scenarios in the context of current geopolitical realities and vividly tracks the path to crisis. From the implosion of Pakistan to a worldwide cyberattack, from the consequences of a timed withdrawal from Iraq to the likelihood of a China on the march, Krepinevich reveals the forces—both overt and covert—that are in play; the ambitions of world powers, terrorist groups, and rogue states; and the actions and counteractions both our enemies and our allies can be expected to take.As riveting as a thriller, 7 Deadly Scenarios takes you inside the corridors of power, peers into the world of defense planning, and explores U.S. military and political strategy in the past, present, and likely future. The result is a must-read book that will trigger discussion, thought, and—hopefully—action.

The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: An Enduring Debate


Scott D. Sagan - 2012
    The new edition, An Enduring Debate, continues the important discussion of nuclear proliferation and the dangers of a nuclear-armed world. With new chapters on the questions surrounding a nuclear North Korea, Iran, and Iraq and the potential for a world free of nuclear weapons, this Third Edition will continue to generate a lively classroom experience.

Earned: My Journey to becoming a Hunter of Man


Robert Terkla - 2020
    

The Blades Carry Me: Inside the Helicopter War in Vietnam


James V. Weatherill - 2014
    His memoir, THE BLADES CARRY ME: Inside the Helicopter War in Vietnam, takes the reader into the CH-47 Chinook helicopter cockpit and the daily life of a 22-year-old pilot. The young man must reconcile his ideals of patriotism, courage, and honor with the reality and politics of a war where victory is measured by body-count ratios instead of territory gained or lost. When it's time to go home, he realized he'll leave more than war behind. On the home front, the pilot's wife, Annie, provides a counterpoint as a pregnant college senior and military spouse during an unpopular war. With letters and tape recordings their sole means of communication, how will they grow up without growing apart.

Escape to Dunkirk (The Second World War Series Book 1)


Stuart Minor - 2019
     As the German Blitzkrieg rolls across France, the British Army is forced to retreat back to the coast. It seems, as the net tightens around the surrounded divisions, that only a miracle can save them from destruction. As the Royal Navy attempts to rescue the men from the beaches, the British rearguard is locked in a vicious struggle to prevent the Germans from breaking through. Jack and his section, after weeks of brutal action, are forced to struggle on against the relentless enemy, the men standing together as they fight their way back to the blood soaked beaches, where their only hope of salvation lies beneath the smoke filled skies of Dunkirk. This is the first novel in a new series by Stuart Minor.

Beginning Of The End: The Leadership Of SS Obersturmbannführer Jochen Peiper


Han Bouwmeester - 2004
    The name Peiper will always be linked to the Malmédy Massacre, the death of Belgian civilians and more than seventy American soldiers, but there is still a myth around Peiper. Why was a twenty-nine year old Waffen-SS officer chosen to lead the German spearhead unit during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944? Peiper was a special leader within the one of the most elite Waffen-SS divisions, the Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler. Peiper was charismatic and extreme loyal to his unit. His men trusted him as a leader, even under the most extreme conditions. In Germany he was a well-known war hero. It was a logical decision that Peiper became the commander of the spearhead unit, but there were other factors leading to this decision: tactical considerations, a we-know-what-to-expect-principle, and Peiper was lucky that he was still alive and serving in the Waffen-SS.

The Other Vietnam War: A Helicopter Pilot's Life in Vietnam


Marc Cullison - 2015
    The boy who might date your daughter or sister. The young man who might mow your yard. In Vietnam, we weren’t out to be heroes. We just did our jobs. For a helicopter pilot, each day was like all the others. You flew the mission and never stopped to think that it might be your last. You didn’t think about the bullet holes in the helicopter, the cracks in the tail boom, or about any of it until night, lying in bed when you couldn’t think of anything else. The Other Vietnam War is the story of the introduction to a new country, a backward culture, the perils of a combat zone, and the effects on a young lieutenant fresh out of flight school. It does not labor the reader with pages of white-knuckle adventures, as so many other fine books about the Vietnam War do. It instead focuses on the internal battle each soldier fought with himself to make sense of where he was, why he was there, and if he was good enough. The administrative duties of Commissioned officers, while tame compared to the exploits of valiant pilots who wrote about them, caused a deep introspection into life and its value in an enigmatic place like Vietnam. Aside from the fear, excitement, deliverance, and denial that each pilot faced, the inner battle he fought with himself took its toll. Some of us thought we’d find glory. But many of us discovered there is no glory in war.

The Frenchman's Daughters


Paul Sinkinson - 2013
    Following an emotional and traumatic escape from the advancing German forces they arrive in England. As a result of their experiences, and the manner that they combated the Nazi regime, the three sisters, all civilians, are seconded, along with the survivors of their group, into the intelligence section of General De Gaulle’s newly formed Free French Force. After extensive training in England they return to occupied France living in fear of betrayal and capture.

Sea Skimmer


Larry Jeram-Croft - 2011
    There has never been a satisfactory explanation. This book, although a novel, is based on the personal experiences of the author, a Lynx helicopter pilot and many other true stories that have never been fully told before. So, how do you counter your own weapon system when it’s turned against you? The Falklands War posed just this problem. January 1982 and the Exocet sea skimming missile is a killer. The British should know, they co-developed it with the French. However, the Argentinians have them as well. Marcel Bertrand a French missile expert, who has been made redundant, is recruited to help them. 2 April 1982, Argentina invades the Falklands. Soon after, Lieutenant Jon Hunt flies his Lynx helicopter from HMS Prometheus with a Special Forces team to covertly infiltrate the Argentinian Air base at Rio Grande. His mission is to persuade Marcel who has been kept in the dark about the invasion, to agree to work for them. Once Jon explains the truth about the invasion Marcel and his girlfriend Maria agree to help and manage to modify the missiles warheads with a software update so that they won’t explode. As the war hots up, Argentina desperately tries to make their missiles more effective and the British try just as desperately to develop countermeasures. While down south, Jon Hunt discovers what it’s really like to fly in combat. Eventually Marcel and Maria find themselves in the Islands just as the British are closing in. A rescue attempt to get them out is led by Jon which culminates in a desperate encounter in the mountains surrounding Port Stanley just as the final fight for the Islands takes place around them. This is the first in a series of modern naval adventures, following the career of Lieutenant Jonathon Hunt through the turbulent modern military times of the last three decades

The Sea Shall Not Have Them (WWII Naval Thrillers, #1)


Max Hennessy - 2019
    An essential flight from France crash lands in the North Sea, leaving the four remaining crew members of the RAF Hudson stranded on a dinghy.One man is critically injured, and another, a rocket expert, is carrying a briefcase stuffed with vital war secrets, that could prove devastating if allowed to fall into the wrong hands.As the days begin to stretch out, they can only pray that the rescue team can locate the dinghy in time, before exposure kills them, or worse, the enemy finds them… A novel which charts the daring and courage of four castaways, and the men who rescued them in a breathtaking mission with the most awesome of consequences, perfect for fans of Alexander Fullerton, David McDine and Alan Evans.

In The Blood


John Wingate - 2021
    Along the way Sinclair finds himself braving typhoons, treacherous seas and an insane shipmate.And when a fogbound collision threatens to pollute the shores of the British Isles, the race is on to prevent an ecological disaster – before they all go down with the ship.For Sinclair these three years are set to be the most thrilling of his life so far – a rollercoaster ride of blood, sweat and fire.IN THE BLOOD is a rip-roaring, page-turning adventure story following Peter Sinclair during the early years of his maritime career.

World War 1990: Anzacs


William Stroock - 2017
     The Third World War Rages After Vietnam attacks The Philippines and Hong Kong at the behest of Moscow, Australia and New Zealand join the Third World War. RAAF F-18s dogfight in the skies above Hanoi -A combined Australian-Zealand Task Force gathers at Singapore -Australian troops come ashore at Haiphong -New Zealanders fight for the lives at Cam Ranh Bay World War 1990: Anzacs

The Prodigal Para: An Afghan War Diary


Andy Tyson - 2018
    He was 47 years old. During his time on the ground he kept a diary. Humorous, authentic and sad, it is a warts and all account of infantry soldiering in a hot and dangerous place. This is his storty.