In the summer of 1943, at the height of World War II, battles were exploding all throughout the Pacific theater. In mid-November of that year, the United States waged a bloody campaign on Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll, the most heavily fortified Japanese territory in the entire Pacific. They were fighting to wrest control of the island to stage the next big push toward Japan—and one journalist was there to chronicle the horror.Dive into war correspondent Robert Sherrod’s battlef...

Coming Home to Yourself is the memoir of a male nurse with over two decades in the cardiac catheterization lab - a high-stakes environment where stillness is rarely an option and sensitivity is seldom celebrated.Written from the witness stance of a daily contemplative practitioner, this book traces one man's journey from hypervigilance and survival mode to a life rooted in presence, breath, and service. Drawing on Buddhist and Taoist practice, neuroscience...

A firsthand account of a WWII special forces unit in Burma—a tale of “small triumphs, blunders, and . . . sudden and unpleasant death in the rainforest.” —Chicago TribuneIn early 1942, with World War II going badly, President Roosevelt turned to General William “Wild Bill” Donovan, now known as the “Father of Central Intelligence,” with orders to form a special unit whose primary mission was to prepare for the eventual reopening of the Burma Road linking B...

In 1941, Russian-born British journalist Alexander Werth observed the unfolding of the Soviet-German conflict with his own eyes. What followed was the widely acclaimed book, Russia at War, first printed in 1964. At once a history of facts, a collection of interviews, and a document of the human condition, Russia at War is a stunning, modern classic that chronicles the savagery and struggles on Russian soil during the most incredible military conflict in modern history.

A true story of the Sino-Japanese conflict: A "valuable account of a little-known event [and] a grim reminder of the darker side of war" ( Military History Monthly).The infamous Rape of Nanjing looms like a dark shadow over the history of Asia in the twentieth century, and is among the most widely recognized chapters of World War II in China. By contrast, the story of the month-long campaign before this notorious massacre has never been told in its entirety...

A riveting true story of tank warfare in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm under the command of Captain H. R. McMaster.As a new generation of main battle tanks came onto the line during the 1980s, neither the United States nor the USSR had the chance to pit them in combat. But once the Cold War between the superpowers waned, Iraq's Saddam Hussein provided the chance with his invasion of Kuwait. Finally the new US M1A1 tank would see how it fared against the vaunted...

When the Continental Congress decided to declare independence from the British empire in 1776, ten percent of the population of their fledgling country were from Ireland. By 1790, close to 500,000 Irish citizens had immigrated to America. They were was very active in the American Revolution, both on the battlefields and off, and yet their stories are not well known. The important contributions of the Irish on military, political, and economic levels have been long overlooked and ignored by...

A "brilliant" look at America's sixteenth president by the New York Times–bestselling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Lincoln ( American Historical Review).First published in 1956 and revised and updated for the twenty-first century, Lincoln Reconsidered is a masterpiece of Civil War scholarship. In a dozen eloquent, witty, and incisive essays, the author of the definitive biography of Abraham Lincoln offers a fresh perspective ...

The colorful eyewitness-to-history diary of a young man who loved motorcycles—and used these new machines to serve his country in the Great War.This is the skillfully abridged version of the diary of a First World War motorcycle despatch rider, Sergeant Albert Simpkin, who was attached to the HQ 37th Division. The diary entries, and some longer descriptions of the main actions of the Division, provide a fascinating record of the life of a despatch rider on the West...

Main Selection of the History Book ClubThe Battle of Gettysburg, the Civil War’s turning point, produced over 57,000 casualties, the largest number from the entire war that was itself America’s bloodiest conflict. On the third day of fierce fighting, Robert E. Lee’s attempt to invade the North came to a head in Pickett’s Charge. The infantry assault, consisting of nine brigades of soldiers in a line that stretched for over a mile, resulted in casualties of over 50 percent for the C...

The stirring, little-known story of the forerunners to today's Special Forces.The OSS-Office of Strategic Services-created under the command of William Donovan, has been celebrated for its cloak-and-dagger operations during World War II and as the precursor of the CIA. As the "Oh So Social," it has also been portrayed as a club for the well-connected before, during, and after the war. Donovan's Devils tells the story of a different OSS, that of ordinary so...

A vivid account of the early battles, first in the Pulitzer Prize–winning trilogy: "One of America's foremost Civil War authorities" ( Kirkus Reviews ).The first book in New York Times–bestselling author Bruce Catton's Pulitzer Prize–winning Army of the Potomac Trilogy, Mr. Lincoln's Army is a riveting history of the early years of the Civil War, when a fledgling Union Army took its stumbling first steps ...