Through a life undercover spanning some of the most lethal conflicts of the past fifty years, from Bosnia to Syria, we discover what it’s like to be at the heart of the global jihad, and what it will take to stop it once and for all.

    He served with the Legion in Cambodia and Bosnia, then returned to civilian life, but military habits would not allow him to settle.His need for intense excitement and extreme danger drove him back to the lifestyle he knew and loved, and using his Legion training, he became a ?hidden soldierOCO by opting for security missions in Iraq and Haiti.In Iraq he was the sole survivor of an ambush in no manOCOs land between Abu Ghraib and Fallujah, the most dangerous place on earth.An intense, exciting and vivid account of extraordinary and sometimes horrific events, "Hidden Soldier" lifts the veil on the dark and shadowy world of security contractors and what the situation is really like in Iraq as well as other trouble spots.This bestseller also includes photographs taken by Padraig OOCOKeeffe while he was a Legionnaire and when he was in Iraq."

    Kim Barker is not your typical, impassive foreign correspondent—she is candid, self-deprecating, laugh-out-loud funny. At first an awkward newbie in Afghanistan, she grows into a wisecracking, seasoned reporter with grave concerns about our ability to win hearts and minds in the region. In The Taliban Shuffle, Barker offers an insider’s account of the “forgotten war” in Afghanistan and Pakistan, chronicling the years after America’s initial routing of the Taliban, when we failed to finish the job. When Barker arrives in Kabul, foreign aid is at a record low, electricity is a pipe dream, and of the few remaining foreign troops, some aren’t allowed out after dark. Meanwhile, in the vacuum left by the U.S. and NATO, the Taliban is regrouping as the Afghan and Pakistani governments floun­der. Barker watches Afghan police recruits make a travesty of practice drills and observes the disorienting turnover of diplomatic staff. She is pursued romantically by the former prime minister of Pakistan and sees adrenaline-fueled col­leagues disappear into the clutches of the Taliban. And as her love for these hapless countries grows, her hopes for their stability and security fade. Swift, funny, and wholly original, The Taliban Shuffle unforgettably captures the absurdities and tragedies of life in a war zone.

    Meade guided his forces to victory in the Civil War's most pivotal battle. Commentators often dismiss Meade when discussing the great leaders of the Civil War. But in this long-anticipated book, Kent Masterson Brown draws on an expansive archive to reappraise Meade's leadership during the Battle of Gettysburg. Using Meade's published and unpublished papers alongside diaries, letters, and memoirs of fellow officers and enlisted men, Brown highlights how Meade's rapid advance of the army to Gettysburg on July 1, his tactical control and coordination of the army in the desperate fighting on July 2, and his determination to hold his positions on July 3 insured victory.Brown argues that supply deficiencies, brought about by the army's unexpected need to advance to Gettysburg, were crippling. In spite of that, Meade pursued Lee's retreating army rapidly, and his decision not to blindly attack Lee's formidable defenses near Williamsport on July 13 was entirely correct in spite of subsequent harsh criticism. Combining compelling narrative with incisive analysis, this finely rendered work of military history deepens our understanding of the Army of the Potomac as well as the machinations of the Gettysburg Campaign, restoring Meade to his rightful place in the Gettysburg narrative.

    Completing it was, in the Shah's words, "a race against time." In it, he shows how the United States, once the most powerful country on earth, found itself hostage to the whims of Iran, a land few Americans knew much about. In telling his own story, the Shah shows clearly that Iran has become a battleground between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, which for over half a century has pursued goals with increasing success. In the "slide into chaos" precipitated by the Khomeini regime, the Shah saw the ultimate beneficiary being the U.S.S. R., which will reach the apogee of its strength no later than 1983, with the West facing "a decade of harrowing danger." Answer to History begins with what really happened during the Shah's period of exile in the Bahamas, Mexico, the U.S., Panama, and finally Egypt. It goes on to cover all of the momentous experiences of the Shah's reign, a book full of heroes and villains, with many surprises for the American reader as to who the villains really were and are. The Shah discloses backstage developments in today's politics of oil... The Shah show how the interplay between the Black and the Red - the 14th-century clergy and the Tudeh Party loyal to the Soviets - blocked for their own purposes his proudest achievements: the White Revolution in which the Shah introduced land reform, worked toward the liberation of women, and raised the standard of living of his people, providing disparate ethnic groups with pride in the 2,500 year-old culture of Persia. When the enemies of his reign took to the streets, the Shah felt the he reacted not too strongly, but not strongly enough.... In his Answer to History he reveals the forces that betrayed him, and left the U.S. without an economically and militarily strong ally in a critical part of the world. --- excerpts from book's dustjacket

    His writings have been many and varied, but all converge on the central theme of how man can rise with dignity to prevail in the face of adversity.

    Quickly falling in love with the rush of being a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne, he believed his service would honorably help the South Vietnamese protect their country from the ruthless communist North and their Southern allies. But once in the volatile jungles of Vietnam, the merciless hunting and killing of the enemy, constant threat of landmines and booby traps, ambushes that could easily backfire, and deaths of his comrades made Stillman question how any man—if he survived—could ever return to his life as he’d known it. Written with John’s daughter, Lori Stillman, Jumping from Helicopters is a vivid and moving memoir that unearths fifty years of repressed memories with stunning accuracy and raw details. Interwoven with the author’s own journal entries and including thirty-five photographs, it is a story that will open your eyes to what these brave young men witnessed and endured, and why they returned facing a lifetime of often unspoken unrest, persistent nightmares, and forced normalcy, haunting even the strongest of soldiers.

    Shirer was a correspondent for six years in Nazi Germany-and had a front-row seat for Hitler's rise to power. His most definitive work on the subject, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, is a riveting account defined by first-person experience interviewing Hitler, watching his impassioned speeches, and living in a country transformed by war and dictatorship.William Shirer was originally commissioned to write The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler for a young adult audience. This account loses none of the immediacy of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich-capturing Hitler's rise from obscurity, the horror of Nazi Germany's mass killings, and the paranoia and insanity that marked Hitler's downfall. This book is by no means simplified-and is sure to appeal to adults as well as young people with an interest in World War II history.

    Shivaji has been a legendary figure in the Indian history.Shivaji was one of the major influences on the revival of nationalism and Hindu culture during a period when centuries of rule by Muslim invaders had induced a condition of apathy and indifference in the people.Over the years, many legends have been added to Shivaji’s life, and it is hard to filter out these embellishments and just focus on the facts.The author has done his best to build this book just on facts. And the facts alone are interesting enough to highlight the achievements of this legendary king.Shivaji was a man who built a dynasty starting from nothing. His motivations were always immense pride in his culture and love for his motherland. However, he was not a bigot and treated all his subjects equally well, irrespective of their religion and other divisions. His battles were mostly with Muslim rulers, but he never showed any animosity towards the Muslim inhabitants of his kingdom.The author has presented Shivaji as he really was, with no embellishments. Shivaji was a dynamic leader, a warrior, and a nobleman. He was religious without being fanatic, he was a believer, but not superstitious, he was courageous but not foolish. He was a visionary who dreamt of building a Hindu kingdom in a region that was surrounded by Muslim dynasties. Yet, he was extremely practical.Shivaji was a courageous warrior and a great tactician. At the same time, he was also a very good administrator and the kingdom he was building up became stronger under his rule. He suffered many defeats too, but he never gave up his vision, and ultimately, he did succeed in making his dream a reality.The author, in this book, has captured all the different facets of Shivaji’s personality that contributed towards this legacy, and thus gives the reader a sense of involvement in the events taking place in the story.

    Muhammad Bin Qasim conquered Sindh introducing Islam to South Asia and giving Sindh the title of Bab-ul-Islam (The Gateway of Islam). He ended unjust treatment of the so-called 'untouchable caste' and incorporated the ruling class in his administration to establish law and order in the region.

    Their captors were Arab and German terrorists, aided by the Ugandan army; their liberators were members of Israel's elite commando unit, Sayeret Matkal, simply known as the Unit. Lt.-Col. Yoni (Jonathan) Netanyahu, the Unit's commander, earned world-wide fame in the wake of the operation's stunning success. He was the only Israeli soldier killed in the Entebbe raid. As a brother of the rescue force's commander, and himself a member of the Unit, Iddo Netanyahu had ready access to the participants in the raid. He was able to obtain detailed accounts from the men of the Unit who, for the first time, described the planning and preparations for the mission and its near-perfect execution. What emerged from their accounts is a powerful and stirring story of how the daring undertaking was accomplished after only 48 hours of frantic preparations. Yoni's Last Battle portrays the men who carried out an incredibly hazardous operation in far-away Africa. Above all, it depicts the heroic - and tragic - figure of their commander, Yoni.

    From renowned foreign policy expert Angela Stent comes a must-read dissection of present-day Russian motives on the global stage.How did Russia manage to emerge resurgent on the world stage and play a weak hand so effectively? Is it because Putin is a brilliant strategist? Or has Russia stepped into a vacuum created by the West’s distraction with its own domestic problems and US ambivalence about whether it still wants to act as a superpower? PUTIN’S WORLD examines the country’s turbulent past, how it has influenced Putin, the Russians’ understanding of their position on the global stage and their future ambitions — and their conviction that the West has tried to deny them a seat at the table of great powers since the USSR collapsed.This book looks at Russia’s key relationships — its downward spiral with the United States, Europe, and NATO; its ties to China, Japan, the Middle East; and with its neighbors, particularly the fraught relationship with Ukraine. PUTIN’S WORLD will help Americans understand how and why the post-Cold War era has given way to a new, more dangerous world, one in which Russia poses a challenge to the United States in every corner of the globe — and one in which Russia has become a toxic and divisive subject in US politics.

    It is said that this mythic name is so fascinating in its beauty and colours that one cannot see it constantly. It begins to grow black in its colour and its eyes become white as it grows. Then, it makes its path whitish where from it passes. When it grows young, it has the capability of hanging itself into the air. Any one who happens to watch it, is charmed. Sheesh Nag of a hundred years changes itself into a man. Then numberless stories are generated about it.

    One an underground resistance fighter, a bold young woman determined to vanquish the enemy occupiers; the other a prisoner of war, a man longing to escape the confines of the camp so he can battle again. A crumpled note passes between these two strangers, slipped through the wire of the compound, and sets them on a course that will change their lives forever.Woven through their tales of great bravery, daring escapes, betrayal, torture, and retaliation is their remarkable love story that survived against all odds. This is an extraordinary account of two ordinary people who found love during the unimaginable hardships of Hitler’s barbaric regime as told by their son-in-law Doug Gold, who decided to tell their story from the moment he heard about their remarkable tale of bravery, resilience, and resistance.