Military Politics

It is the world's most widely recognized weapon, the most profuse tool for killing ever made. More than fifty national armies carry the automatic Kalashnikov, as do an array of police, intelligence, and security agencies all over the world. In this tour de force, prizewinning New York Times reporter C. J. Chivers traces the invention of the assault rifle.

CIA officer Mara Duncan is on assignment in bomb-torn Hanoi. Her task: Get scientist Josh MacArthur and a seven-year-old witness to Chinese atrocities in Vietnam out of the country safely. They are pursued by a relentless Chinese monk turned commando who can call on the entire Chinese secret service in Vietnam for help. Their escape is further complicated when SEALs, who are helping Mara, gun down Vietnamese soldiers, making them wanted by both China and Vietnam.

In this thoroughly researched book the author argues convincingly that Forester's model was Adm. James Gordon, a flesh-and-blood hero of Nelson's navy. Gordon entered the Royal Navy as a semi-literate eleven-year-old and rose to become Admiral of the Fleet. He took part in major sea battles, frigate actions, single-ship duels, and operations far behind enemy lines. It was the fire of Gordon's ships against Fort McHenry that inspired the American national anthem.

Winston Churchill had a longer and closer relationship with the Royal Navy than any British statesman in modern times, but his record as a naval strategist and custodian of the nation's sea power has been mired in controversy since the ill-fated Dardanelles campaign in 1915. Today, Churchill is regarded by many as an inept strategist who interfered in naval operations and often overrode his professional advisers - with inevitably disastrous results.

A groundbreaking history of how the decades-long war on terror changed virtually every aspect of American life, from the erosion of citizenship down to the cars we bought and TV we watched—by an acclaimed n+1 writer “[An] ambitious . . . portrait of why 9/11 is still at the heart of American...

Ian Thomas is supposed to be dead. An international terrorist responsible for the bombing of the US Naval War College, he's been deceased for three years. But Don Riley, head of the CIA’s Emerging Threats Group, is staring at a social media post showing him to be very much alive and on the run in South America. The video of Thomas sparks a global hunt: The Americans want to bring him to justice. The Chinese want him to disappear. And the Russians want to kill him very, very slowly. But the world's most powerful nations aren't the only ones pursuing the most wanted man on the planet.

With enemies closing in, time is running out for Ryan Drake. Shaken by a personal tragedy that forces him to return to the UK, he is presented with a dangerous offer – to travel to Libya and kidnap a high-ranking officer in Gaddafi’s much-feared intelligence service. In exchange, Drake will be given everything he needs to destroy the CIA’s corrupt deputy director, Marcus Cain. Drake gathers a group of trusted allies and embarks on his most difficult mission yet. But with the desert heat blazing and a civil war looming, events soon spiral out of control.

Volume Five begins on an optimistic note. The French recognition of the United States on February 6, 1778, along with the promise of military assistance, renewed Washington’s confidence in eventual success. But before that day arrived in 1781, three years of hardship, privation, and suspense would intervene. Throughout this ordeal George Washington’s towering presence was the catalyst that kept everything together.

On a quiet Saturday morning in August 2000, two explosions - one so massive it was detected by seismologists around the world - shot through the shallow Arctic waters of the Barents Sea. Russia's prized submarine, the Kursk, began her fatal plunge to the ocean floor. Award-winning journalist Robert Moore presents a riveting, brilliantly researched account of the deadliest submarine disaster in history.

In this newly revised edition of Fighting Terrorism, Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Israel's Likud Party and a noted authority on international terrorism, offers a compelling approach to understanding terrorism. Netanyahu's points are "soberly and clearly made," says The New York Times, and The Washington Times calls the book "an excellent primer on the groups, motives and methods of the current terrorist threat."

When Japan attacked the United States in 1941, argues Eri Hotta, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering a conflict they were bound to lose. Availing herself of rarely consulted material, Hotta poses essential questions overlooked by historians in the seventy years since: Why did these men - military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor - put their country and its citizens in harm's way? Why did they make a decision that was doomed from the start?

Jack Ryan has only just moved back into the Oval Office when he is faced with a new international threat. An aborted coup in the People's Republic of China has left President Wei Zhen Lin with no choice but to agree with the expansionist policies of General Su Ke Quiang. They have declared the South China Sea a protectorate and are planning an invasion of Taiwan. The Ryan administration is determined to thwart China’s ambitions, but the stakes are dangerously high as a new breed of powerful Chinese anti-ship missiles endanger the US Navy's plans to protect the island.

Islamic State is here, all around us. There is no defence. Only attack. On the Syria/Iraq border, a British hostage is beheaded by IS terrorists. When the executioner breaks down, he is led into a nearby tent, where a masked figure is waiting for him. This mysterious person is treated with a mixture of respect and terror. They call him the Caliph.

For trauma survivors struggling with intense memories and emotions, it often feels like life won't ever be "normal" again. Effective treatments are out there, but the needs of family members are often overlooked. Will the person you love ever get better? What can you do to promote healing? Where can you turn when you just can't cope? From experienced trauma specialists Claudia Zayfert, PhD, and Jason C. DeViva, PhD, this compassionate guide is packed with information, support, vivid stories, and specific advice.

It was a mild May morning in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1862, the second year of the Civil War, when a 23-year-old slave named Robert Smalls did the unthinkable and boldly seized a Confederate steamer. With his wife and two young children hidden on board, Smalls and a small crew ran a gauntlet of heavily armed fortifications in Charleston Harbor and delivered the valuable vessel and the massive guns it carried to nearby Union forces.

En el septuagésimo aniversario del estallido del trágico conflicto español, Paul Preston, hispanista de prestigio internacional, actualizó y amplió su estudio de la Guerra Civil teniendo en cuenta tanto las últimas investigaciones y polémicas historiográficas como abundante material inédito, ofreciendo su versión definitiva de La guerra civil española.

In late 1936, as Franco’s armies stormed toward Madrid, Stalin famously termed the defence of Spain “the common cause of all advanced and progressive mankind.” As a German emigrant to Winnipeg, Hans Ibing recognized the importance of the Spanish Civil War to the struggle against worldwide fascism in a way that most people in Canada did not - joining the International Brigades in their fight to defend the Spanish Republic was his “chance to fight Hitler.”

Korean Sun-hee and her brother, Tae-yul, must study Japanese language and culture in school. The symbols of their beloved Korea - like its flag and the rose of Sharon tree - can never be displayed or mentioned in public. When the emperor of Japan decrees that all Koreans must take Japanese names, Sun-hee and Tae-yul become Keoko and Nobuo. But as World War II explodes all around them, Sun-hee and Tae-yul wage their own war to stay true to their family, their country, and themselves.

From a secretive jungle-covered island in the Pacific to the sands of the Middle East. From the smog-filled alleyways of China to the passageways of a US Navy destroyer. The War Planners series follows different members of the military and intelligence community as they uncover a Chinese plot to begin the next world war, and attack America.

Here is the behind-the-scenes story of how the United States forged its wartime alliance with Britain, told from the perspective of three key American players in London: Edward R. Murrow, Averell Harriman, and John Gilbert Winant. Drawing from a variety of primary sources, Olson skillfully depicts the dramatic personal journeys of these men who, determined to save Britain from Hitler, helped convince a cautious Franklin Roosevelt and a reluctant American public to support the British at a critical time.