World War II commando, Cold War spy, and CIA director under presidents Nixon and Ford, William Egan Colby played a critical role in some of the most pivotal events of the twentieth century. A quintessential member of the greatest...
War and military
- Author:Woods, Randall BennettSummary:
- Author:Kraack, Cynthia, Tachovsky, JosephSummary:
Behind enemy lines on the island of Saipan-where firing a gun could mean instant discovery and death-the 40 Thieves killed in silence during the grueling battle for Saipan, the D-Day of the Pacific. Now Joseph Tachovsky-whose father...
- Author:Brotherton, MarcusSummary:
Joe Johnson Jr. ran away from home at the age of 12, hopping a freight train at the height of the Great Depression. He managed to talk his way into the U.S. Army two years later. Seeking freedom and adventure, he was sent to the...
- Author:Tripp, CharlesSummary:
This text traces Iraq's history from the Ottoman Empire, to the creation of the state, its transformation from monarchy to republic, the rise of the Ba'th party and Saddam Hussein, and the American-led war of 2003. Tripp's thesis is...
- Author:Brose, Eric DornSummary:
Known as the "Great War," World War One was one of history's greatest tragedies. It eventually dragged most of Europe and the world into its bloody quagmire, inflicting more than four years of suffering, misery, maiming, and death on...
- Author:Beah, IshmaelSummary:
This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child...
- Author:Macintyre, BenSummary:
In 1942, in a quiet village in the leafy English Cotswolds, a thin, elegant woman lived in a small cottage with her three children and her husband, who worked as a machinist nearby. Ursula Burton was friendly but reserved, and spoke...
- Author:Hemming, HenrySummary:
As World War II raged into its second year, Britain sought a powerful ally to join its cause - but the American public was sharply divided on the subject. The Canadian-born MI6 officer William Stephenson, with his knowledge and...
- Author:Morgan, JenniferSummary:
In the early hours of October 14, 1942, under cover of darkness, the German submarine U-69 torpedoed and sank the passenger ferry SS Caribou off the southwest coast of Port aux Basques, Newfoundland.
Now, seventy years later,...
- Author:Bailey, BethSummary:
By the late 1960s, what had been widely heralded as the best qualified, best-trained army in United States history was descending into crisis as the Vietnam War raged without end. Morale was tanking. AWOL rates were rising. And in...
- Author:Gullachsen, Arthur W.Summary:
An army may march on its stomach, but it needs more than hot dinners to fight. As Canadians battled through Northwest Europe in the Second World War, how did they reinforce their front lines? An Army of Never-Ending Strengthprovides...
- Author:Fritzsche, PeterSummary:
World War II reached into the homes and lives of ordinary people in an unprecedented way. Civilians made up the vast majority of those killed by war. On Europe's home front, the war brought the German blitzkrieg, followed by long...
- Author:Emlen, Douglas J.Summary:
In Animal Weapons, Douglas J. Emlen takes us outside the lab and deep into the forests and jungles to explain the processes behind the most intriguing and curious examples of extreme animal weapons-fish with mouths larger than their...
- Author:O'Leary, Alison, Tougias, MikeSummary:
On May 19, 1942, the Downs family, passengers on the freighter Heredia were unaware that two German torpedoes were heading their way. This story follows the family's struggle against sharks, hypothermia, and drowning.
- Band of brothers : E company, 506th regiment, 101st airborne, from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's NestAuthor:Ambrose, Stephen E.Summary:
They came together, citizen soldiers, in the summer of 1942, drawn to Airborne by the $50 monthly bonus and a desire to be better than the other guy. And at its peak--in Holland and the Ardennes--Easy Company was as good a rifle company...
- Author:Nelson, Holly Faith, Alker, SharonSummary:
Siege literature has existed since antiquity but has not always been understood as a crucial element of culture. Focusing on its magnetic force, Besieged brings to light its popularity and potency between the British Civil War and the...
- Author:Doucette, FredSummary:
Fred Doucette always wanted to be a soldier. In the 1960s he joined the Canadian Armed Forces and served in Cyprus in the 1970s and ’80s and Bosnia in the 1990s. When he returned home to New Brunswick in 1999 after his last overseas...
- Author:Doucette, FredSummary:
Fred Doucette always wanted to be a soldier. In the 1960s he joined the Canadian Armed Forces and served in Cyprus in the 1970s and 80s and Bosnia in the 1990s. When he returned home to in 1999 after his last overseas tour, he was...
- Author:Alexander, LarrySummary:
This is the story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary hero. After he enlisted in the army's arduous new Airborne division, Dick Winters's natural combat leadership helped him rise through the ranks, but he was never...
- Author:Wilson, KevinSummary:
The US 8th Air Force came of age in 1944. With a fresh commander, it was ready to demonstrate its true power: from Operation Argument in February-targeting German aircraft production plants-to bringing the Luftwaffe to battle over...