A gripping history that plumbs the extraordinary stories of American relief and rescue workers during World War II.

Jeremi Suri--Nobel Fellow and leading light in the next generation of policy makers--looks to America's history to see both what it has to offer failed states around the world and what it should avoid. Far from being cold imperialists, Americans have earnestly attempted to export their invention of representative government. We have had successes (Reconstruction after the American Civil War, the Philippines, Western Europe) and failures (Vietnam), and we can learn a good deal from both. The framers of the Constitution initiated a policy of cautious nation-building, hoping not to conquer other countries, but to build a world of stable, self-governed societies that would support America's way of life--yet no other country has created more problems for itself and for others by intervening in distant lands and pursuing impractical changes. Suri has mined more than two hundred years of American policy in order to explain the five Ps of nation-building: Partners, Process, Problem-solving, Purpose, and People.--From publisher description.

Argues that American intervention in Vietnam was an act of political recklessness and idealism aimed at saving South Vietnam from Communist totalitarianism

Investigative reporter Edward Jay Epstein defines the seldom seen universe of intelligence and counterintelligence.Set in the era of the Cold War, it explores the ultimate art of nations: Winning without fighting, or, in a single word, deception. It concerns, as James Jesus Angleton described it to the author, " a state of mind -and the mind of the state." With a new Preface (2014)Praise For Edward Jay Epstein"Epstein delves deep into the wheels-within-wheels of superpower intelligence and counterintelligence, showing ways in which the CIA and the KGB have been "provoked, seduced, lured into false trails, blinded, and turned into unwitting agents." Readers will find new information here on a multitude of subjects: programs involving CIA-written books published under defectors' names; the story of Yuri Nosenko, a KGB officer who defected in 1963 and was "at the heart of everything that happened at the CIA for a decade"; and the theories of James Angleton, the former CIA chief of counterintelligence, on the hidden motives of KGB super-mole Kim Philby. The book concludes with an ominously plausible argument that Gorbachev's glasnost is merely the sixth phase in a grand strategy of Soviet deception conceived soon after the Bolshevik Revolution. Highly recommended."---Publishers Weekly"Epstein's account of the world of intelligence is fascinating, instructive, and, in parts, sensational."-Irving Kristol American Enterprise Institute"This is an important book that reflects an epoch in United States counterintelligence operations and philosophy."-William R. Harris The RAND Corporation"A brilliant investigator examines the fascinating history of glasnost and the unseen motives and machinery of the Soviet state."-Lou Dobbs, CNN

THE MANUAL OF ARMS was the first step in the training of each individual soldier who enlisted either in the Union or Confederate army during the American Civil War, & gives detailed instructions for the new recruit in the use of his rifle or rifle musket. Each major position such as Shoulder Arms is closely described as well as the means of loading the piece in nine times & firing on command. Most importantly, the transitions between each position is also detailed, enabling soldiers standing elbow to elbow to use their weapons efficiently in a fire fight. This new illustrated reprint presents an exhaustive, painstakingly researched combination of the original step-by-step text & detailed drawings. Every illustration is meticulously cross referenced with the manuscript to provide both historical accuracy & ease of use. This is an excellent resource for the military historian or Civil War buff.

Call it the Television War. For six weeks in 1991, images of the war in Iraq danced on America's TV sets, and we were led to believe that the GIs fought it by sitting at computer monitors and firing missiles at the Iraqis far, far away. It was a new kind of war, mudless and bloodless - a videogame war. Do not believe it. The real war in Iraq was as hellish as anything in The Red Badge of Courage or The Naked and the Dead - the GIs were wet and cold, uncertain and scared, and yet, through it all, courageous and compassionate, but TV wasn't there to report it. John Sack was with the GIs throughout the war. In America, he lived with the soldiers of Company C as they trained for D-Day in Iraq. He was with them in their homes, their churches, their drinking, dancing, and stripper clubs, and he was still with them as they invaded Iraq in sixty-ton tanks. He was with them at the biggest tank battle in American history - the only reporter who was.

The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution

"Mr. Draper believes that recent years have seen the suppression of political by military instrumentalities in the conduct of American foreign policy. After an opening chapter which briefly traces this process in two smaller instances - Cuba and the Dominican Republic - he devotes the rest of this book to a painstaking inquiry which seeks to dissolve the confusion that still envelops the story of our presence in Vietnam."

Mark W. Clark was a major figure in World War II. He was prominent as one of the top American commanders. Together with Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley, and George S. Patton, Jr., Clark was widely regarded as being responsible for victory on the European side of the conflict. One of the great World War II memoirs by a legendary American general in charge of operations in North Africa and Italy. General Mark W. Clark recounts his wartime exploits and tells the story of the battles in Tunisia and Italy with verve and attention to key detail. An unparalleled account by a great military leader.

One of the most colorful and controversial figures in American intelligence, Herbert O. Yardley (1889-1958) gave America its best form of information, but his fame rests more on his indiscretions than on his achievements. In this highly readable biography, a premier historian of military intelligence tells Yardley's story and evaluates his impact on the American intelligence community. Yardley established the nation's first codebreaking agency in 1917, and his solutions helped the United States win a major diplomatic victory at the 1921 disarmament conference. But when his unit was closed in 1929 because "gentlemen do not read each other's mail," Yardley wrote a best-selling memoir that introduced-and disclosed-codemaking and codebreaking to the public. David Kahn de-scribes the vicissitudes of Yardley's career, including his work in China and Canada, offers a capsule history of American intelligence up to World War I, and gives a short course in classical codes and ciphers. He debunks the accusations that the publication of Yardley's book caused Japan to change its codes and ciphers and that Yardley traitorously sold his solutions to Japan. And he asserts that Yardley's disclosures not only did not hurt but actually helped American codebreaking during World War II.

The search for the Life Diamonds--the subject of the compelling documentary produced by the History Channel. They were known as Life Diamonds--rough uncut diamonds of high quality bought by Jews in Eastern Europe to use as passports to safety. After 1939 and the Nazi blitzkrieg, after the extermination camps began belching black smoke into the skies and the railroad station at Auschwitz II-Birkenau became the busiest train station in the world, they became Death Diamonds. Blood from a Stone is the amazing story of forty of those diamonds, of their journey across continents and oceans, from the mines of South Africa to the diamond centers in Antwerp and Amsterdam, to the Jews of Eastern Europe, to the Death Camps . . . and to the two American soldiers who liberated them from the SS, finally, and buried them in a forest in Alsace on the border between France and Germany. It is the story of the curse believed to lie over the fabulous wealth of these stones, bringing death and disaster to all who touched them. It is the story of Yaron Svoray, who spent more than a decade in search of one small foxhole somewhere in a thousand square miles of forest . . . and of his unbelievable success. Blood from a Stone is a unique story, a story unlike any to come out of World War II. Blood from a Stone will more than over a dozen exclusive photos from the two-hour History Channel documentary.

When war broke out in Iraq, every major U.S. network pulled its correspondents from the scene. Despite the risk, Richard Engel stayed. As our tanks entered Baghdad in April 2003, he was there, bringing the Iraqi war into American homes as a stringer for ABC news. Determined to deliver the whole Middle East story, Engel moved to Cairo in 1996 after graduating from Stanford to learn 'street' Arabic. Then to dig even deeper into the complicated powder-keg of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he settled in Jerusalem. Now as Iraq enters its post-war phase and the Gulf region continues to dominate our nation's consciousness, more and more Americans will come to know and trust Richard Engel--especially in his current role as a correspondent for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. Both analytical and anecdotal, this book leads us through the war in Iraq, dissecting a myriad of Middle East issues, all from the vantage point of someone who is 'on the ground and in the streets' to get the real story.

This book distinguishes itself by the author's ability to dispel clichés and elucidate the factual underpinnings of the ongoing naval warfare. The author possesses a lucid and pragmatic understanding of contemporary sea power, recognizing it as a practical rather than a convoluted concept. Unlike many works, this book does not promise a quick route to victory and avoids the typical broad and disdainful criticisms of the British and American high commands. Instead, the author elucidates the intricate challenges these commands have encountered, articulating the complexities in non-specialized language. The text notably avoids excessive use of tactical jargon.

In this important book prominent international human rights lawyer Michael Ratner combines with political journalist Ellen Ray to reveal the truth about the government, the prisoners, and the legal and human issues involved. Features a forward by the Australian lawyer representing David Hicks who is imprisoned there.

Originally delivered as an address to the American Academy of Political and Social Science, this work addresses the impact of World War I on American democracy and society. Walter Lippmann argues that the war will fundamentally transform the role of the United States in world affairs and will require a new understanding of the responsibilities of citizenship. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 edition. Excerpt: ... chapter ii the uses of A king The reason why we trust one man, rather than many, is because one man can negotiate and many men can't. Two masses of people have no way of dealing directly with each other. They have to deal through representatives. It is a pure fiction to speak of negotiations between the United States and Germany. For when you look around to find the "United States" you discover a hundred million people spread over vast territory, with certain common habits, ideas, and loyalties, but nowhere do you find anything called the "United States " which can strike a bargain with "Germany." The American people cannot all seize the same pen and indite a note to sixty-five million people living within the German Empire. They cannot say: We ask for this, but if you will grant that, we'll do so-and-so, and then we'll both be satisfied. Each man may know what he thinks (a tremendous assumption), but what "we the American people" think is one of the most difficult matters in the world to find out. We all try to find it out. The papers print editorial comment from different parts of the country, they interview leaders of opinion, publish letters from correspondents, take straw ballots, and ask questions in the smoking-room of the club, on the street car, and at the quick-lunch counter. They may throw some light on the general reaction to a particular event. But more accurate than this it is hardly possible to be. The "will" and "mind" and "voice" of a great people are not the same thing as the will and mind and voice of a single man. When an individual thinks out a course of action, he goes through a delicate mental operation, a good part of which is unconscious. But a whole people can no more think in unison than it can make love in...

Based on a variety of classified military records, Lewy provides the first systematic analysis of the course of the Vietnam War, the reasons for the failure of American strategy and tactics, and the causes of the final collapse of South Vietnam.

"Kimberly Kagan ... [describes] the complete operational history of the surge from its inception to the end of 2007. Kagan's detailed analysis looks at the external players -- from al Qaeda in Iraq, and the Iranian-backed Special Groups, to the Jaysh al Mahdi -- and covers the day-to-day strategies, locations, tactics, organization, and responses to American actions" -- Jacket.

"The first journalist to be embedded with an Air Force combat unit in the War on Terrorism, Michael Hirsh flew from Moody Air Force Base with the 71st Rescue Squadron to their expeditionary headquarters at a secret location in Central Asia. His unparalleled access to the PJs, as well as to the courageous men and women who fly them where they have to go, often under enemy fire, allowed him to uncover incredible stories of courage in the War on Terrorism being fought in Afghanistan. Among them: the drama of a plane crash at ten thousand feet in the Hindu Kush mountains, where PJs climb with hundred-pound packs through chest-deep snow to rescue the crew ... the tension of an unprecedented nighttime combat parachute jump into the middle of an Afghan minefield ... and the heartbreak during Operation Anaconda, when seven American fighting men die, including the first PJ killed in combat since Vietnam. Absolutely committed to their calling, these are real American heroes. Their motto as pararescuemen is "These things we do that others may live." Indeed, there are none braver"--Page 4 of cover.