Napalm was invented on Valentine’s Day 1942 at a secret Harvard war research laboratory. It created an inferno that killed over 87,500 people in Tokyo—more than died in the atomic explosions at Hiroshima or Nagasaki—and went on to incinerate 64 Japanese cities. The Bomb got the press, but napalm did the work. Robert Neer offers the first history.

The New York Times Bestseller2014 American Book Award WinnerWinner of the Ridenhour Prize for Reportorial Distinction“An indispensable, paradigm-shifting new history of the war...All these decades later, Americans still haven't drawn the right lesson from Vietnam.” —San Francisco ChronicleBased on classified documents and first-person interviews, a startling history o...

**A New York Times bestseller!An epic history of the decline of American military leadership—from the bestselling author of Fiasco and Churchill and Orwell.**While history has been kind to the American generals of World War II—Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley—it has been less kind to the generals of the wars that followed, such as Koster, Franks, Sanchez, and Petraeus. In The Generals, Thomas E. Ricks sets out to explain why that...

THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS--WHERE DANGER REIGNED SUPREME AND DEATH WAS A CONSTANT COMPANIONThe fighting was fierce in the Central Highlands where Green Beret George Dooley served with elite Special Forces A-teams, training the rugged Montagnards in guerrilla warfare and accompanying them on patrols. The Viet Cong and NVA were entrenched in the sparsely populated Highlands, where towering mountains gave them the ruthless upper hand.The missions Dooley led, often in enemy territor...

"A terrific book, lively and brisk . . . a must read for anyone who tries to understand the Vietnam War ." —Thomas E. RicksIs it possible that the riddle of America's military failure in Vietnam has a one-word, one-man answer?Until we understand Gen. William Westmoreland, we will never know what went wrong in the Vietnam War. An Eagle Scout at fifteen, First Captain of his West Point class, Westmoreland foug...

Airpower, more than any other factor, has shaped war in the twentieth century. In this fascinating narrative history, Martin van Creveld vividly portrays the rise of the plane as a tool of war and the evolution of both technology and strategy. He documents seminal battles and turning points, and relates stories of individual daring and collective mastery of the skies.However, the end of airpower's glorious age is drawing near. The conventional wisdom to the contrary, modern precisi...

The US-Soviet arms race, told through the story of a colorful and visionary American Air Force officer—melding biography, history, world affairs, and science to transportthe reader back and forth from individual drama to world stage."Compulsively readable and important.” —The New York Times Book ReviewIn this never-before-told story, Neil Sheehan—winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award -- details American Air Force...

While the Japanese war cabinet argued about whether to surrender, and on what terms, the U.S. Army Strategic Air Force on Guam and Tinian geared up for a thousand-plane raid upon the Empire. It would be the last air raid of the Second World War. This little book, which first appeared in Air & Space / Smithsonian magazine on the 50th anniversary of the war's end, tells the story of those momentous forty-eight hours. Revised and expanded for e-book publication, including: a portfoli...

Vietnam is remembered as the war that divided a nation and scarred a generation. While the vast majority of American personnel in Vietnam served honorably, a few highly publicized atrocities tarnished the reputation of the military. In At the Crossroads of Justice: My Lai and Son ThangAmerican Atrocities in Vietnam, author Paul J. Noto analyzes two of those incidentsMy Lai and Son Thangagainst the backdrop of a flawed military justice system and an arrogant and inept civilian and ...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Based on the celebrated PBS television series, the complete text of an engrossing history of America’s least-understood conflict, “a significant milestone [that] will no doubt do much to determine how the war is understood for years to come.” —The Washington PostMore than forty years have passed since the end of the Vietnam War, but its memory continues to loom large in the national psyche. In this intimate history, Geoffrey C. Ward a...

What if the Tet Offensive was launched in January of 1965 instead of 1968? I use this simple question to rewrite the history of one of the most pivotal events of American History. And in the process, rewrite the fates of millions of people, including Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Beating Plowshares into Swords is framed as an excerpt from an oral history of a 1960's that never was, and told through the voices of those who planned, fought, protested, and profited from an Alternate Vietn...

This is the personal account of an army infantry platoon leader and commanding officer in the central highlands of Vietnam during 1967 and 1968 when he was 21 years old. These were the two bloodiest years of the war, a time when the U.S. army employed search and destroy missions with high casualty rates. The author provides a historical overview and casualty report of the Vietnam War, 15information about his military and officer training, and his return to civilian life after Vietn...