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Involved for over thirty years in the politics of Iraq, Ali A. Allawi was a long-time opposition leader against the Baathist regime. In the post-Saddam years he has held important government positions and participated in crucial national decisions and events. In this book, the former Minister of Defense and Finance draws on his unique personal experience, extensive relationships with members of the main political groups and parties in Iraq, and deep understanding of the history and society of his country to answer the baffling questions that persist about its current crises. What really led the United States to invade Iraq, and why have events failed to unfold as planned?

The Occupation of Iraq examines what the United States did and didn’t know at the time of the invasion, the reasons for the confused and contradictory policies that were enacted, and the emergence of the Iraqi political class during the difficult transition process. The book tracks the growth of the insurgency and illuminates the complex relationships among Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds. Bringing the discussion forward to the reconfiguration of political forces in 2006, Allawi provides in these pages the clearest view to date of the modern history of Iraq and the invasion that changed its course in unpredicted ways.

Since the Coalition’s invasion of Iraq, Ali A. Allawi has served as his country’s first postwar civilian Minister of Defense, was elected to the Transitional National Assembly as a member of the United Iraqi Alliance, and was appointed Minister of Finance under Dr. Ibrahim al-Jaffari. He divides his time between London and Baghdad.

At odds with fellow neoconservatives in his opposition to the war against Iraq, Francis Fukuyama here explains why the Bush administration failed in its stewardship of American foreign policy. Fukuyama traces the neoconservative legacy in America, maintains the validity of its principles, and proposes realistic new directions for American foreign policy.

In today’s world of conflict and threatened nuclear violence, few books, if any, could be more important than this one. Middle East expert Trita Parsi untangles the complex and often duplicitous relations among Israel, Iran, and the United States from 1948 to the present and spells out how American policies can avert catastrophe and lead the region toward peace...

In today’s world of conflict and threatened nuclear violence, few books, if any, could be more important than this one. Middle East expert Trita Parsi untangles the complex and often duplicitous relations among Israel, Iran, and the United States from 1948 to the present and spells out how American policies can avert catastrophe and lead the region toward peace...

In this meticulously researched book, Gordon Hahn analyzes why contemporary Russia is a dangerous seedbed for radicalized Islam and then proposes what we should be doing about it. Hahn draws an alarming picture of an increasingly sophisticated and effective Chechen jihadist network with grand ambitions and dangerous global connections.

This groundbreaking history shatters many assumptions about the Six-Day War of 1967. New research in Soviet archives and testimonies from participants in the Israeli/Egyptian conflict reveal the extent of the Kremlin’s involvement, plans for the use of nuclear weapons in the Mid-East, and willingness to precipitate a global crisis.

Is today's American "empire" like the British Empire of yore? What can be learned from comparing the two? In this groundbreaking book, Bernard Porter reveals the uncanny similarities between the imperial histories of Britain and the United States but contends that America's new "super-imperialism" in the post-2001 era is quite a different thing.

This thought-provoking and timely book analyzes America’s unprecedented power within the international arenas of politics, economics, demographics, education, science, and culture, arguing that the major threat to this unique empire is not a rising rival power center but ineffective U.S. leadership.

In this monumental survey, eminent historian Martin Malia examines how the European revolutionary tradition has evolved and escalated over the centuries. Uniquely wide-ranging, the book offers a fascinating interpretation of the phenomenon of revolution through its culminating expression in twentieth-century Russia.

On the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, this timely book, the most intimate and dispassionate biography of Fidel Castro to date, offers a fresh assessment of the revolutionary leader. Written by the British ambassador to Cuba in the early 1990s, it chronicles the events of Castro’s extraordinary life and explores the contradiction between the private character and the public reputat...

In this compelling book, Stanley G. Payne offers the first comprehensive narrative of Soviet and Communist intervention in the revolution and civil war in Spain. He offers a new perspective on Soviet strategies, Comintern activities, and the role of the Communist party in Spain, challenging our views of Communist intentions and of the conflict itself.

Spain’s transition from the Franco dictatorship to a democratic state has been widely regarded as exemplary. However, this powerfully written book reveals that as Spain’s first post-transition government attempted to destroy the Basque separatist group ETA, it adopted the very policies of indiscriminate terror that had characterized Franco’s authoritarian regime and ETA’s o...

In this book, a distinguished United States Army officer and scholar traces the rise and fall of the Soviet military, arguing that it had a far greater impact on Soviet politics and economic development than was perceived in the West. Drawing on interviews with key actors in the Soviet Union before, during, and after its collapse in 1991, General William E. Odom tells a riveting and important stor...

In this innovative analysis of the military and political history of the Philippines, Alfred W. McCoy compares two generations of graduates from the Philippine Military Academy—the classes of 1940 and 1971. Fundamental differences in the academic socialization and ascent to power of the two groups of officers provide important insights into war and peace in the Philippines and in other parts...

This is a close and revealing account of how Kosovo became the crucible of one of the twentieth century’s most poisonous ethnic conflicts. Written by a seasoned journalist who witnessed the Balkan conflagration and its aftermath, the book presents a gripping analysis of the origins of the Serb-Albanian conflict, the course of the battle, the involvement of the Western powers, the issues and ...

This gripping book describes a little-known episode of racial violence in U.S. history: the Plan de San Diego uprising, which began in 1915 with a series of raids by ethnic Mexicans and ended when Texas Rangers staged a bloody counterinsurgency that took thousands of lives. The author demonstrates that these largely-forgotten events played a vital role in creating the Mexican-American civil rights...

How did the protests and support of ordinary American citizens affect their country’s participation in the Vietnam War? This engrossing book focuses on four social groups—students, African Americans, women, and labor—and investigates the impact of each on American foreign policy during the war. 

This powerful book tells the story of how American public opinion about World War II was manipulated both by the wartime images that citizens were allowed to see in pictures, ads, and posters and by the images that were suppressed. His text is amplified by arresting visual essays that include many previously unpublished photographs from the army's censored files.

Blending the insights of gender studies with foreign-policy studies, this groundbreaking book offers a new understanding of American imperialism during the Spanish-American and Philippine-American wars. The author shows how gender concerns influenced political leaders, spurring them to manipulate ideas about men’s and women’s roles and embroil the nation in war.

Part biography and part diplomatic history, this book focuses on Henry Cabot Lodge's ambassadorship to South Vietnam from 1963 to 1964. Based on Lodge's collected papers (including an unpublished memoir), as well as on previously unavailable U.S. Saigon Embassy reports and on interviews with former U.S. officials, the book examines the constraints and possibilities inherent in the Vietnam situatio...

In this magisterial book, a prize-winning historian shows how war has defined modern America and argues that militarization during the sixty years since World War II has reshaped every facet of American life: its politics, economics, culture, social relations, and place in the world.

This book is the first in-depth history of American strategic bombing. With impressive sweep and vigor, Michael S. Sherry explores the growing appear of air power in America before World War II, the ideas, techniques, personalities, and organizations that guided air attacks during the war, and the devastating effects of American and British "conventional" bombing. He also traces the origins of the...

In the first terrifying hours of the London Blitz, the British people were galvanized and the nation’s future was changed, says historian Peter Stansky in this compelling account of the horrific German bombings of September 7, 1940. Stansky examines what this crucial day meant to Britons and how their responses to it transformed their sense of national identity...

In the first terrifying hours of the London Blitz, the British people were galvanized and the nation’s future was changed, says historian Peter Stansky in this compelling account of the horrific German bombings of September 7, 1940. Stansky examines what this crucial day meant to Britons and how their responses to it transformed their sense of national identity...

From the renowned bestselling author of Five Days in London, this masterful history describes the unparalleled drama of the fateful days leading to Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. John Lukacs offers penetrating insights into the strange relationship between Stalin and Hitler and the miscalculations that changed the course of the war and world history.

This groundbreaking book delves deeply into what art meant to Britain and its people during the Second World War. Brian Foss provides a rich account of mid-century art, artists, and the evolving notion of Britishness.

Was Franco sympathetic to Nazi Germany? Why didn't Spain enter World War II? In what ways did Spain collaborate with the Third Reich? How much did Spain assist Jewish refugees? This is the first book in any language to answer these intriguing questions. Stanley Payne, a leading historian of modern Spain, explores the full range of Franco’s relationship with Hit...

In this memoir of life aboard aircraft carriers during World War Two, Alvin Kernan combines vivid recollections of his experience as a young enlisted sailor with a rich historical account of the Pacific war. Kernan served in many battles and was aboard the Hornet when it was sunk by torpedoes in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

This book provides a complete history of the 1940 Soviet massacre of 14,500 Polish prisoners of war, long considered a Nazi crime. Presenting 122 documents from extensive Soviet archives, the book graphically depicts the evolution in unequivocal detail of this terrible—and still unpunished—crime, as well as the elaborate propaganda efforts that convincingly shifted blame for fifty year...

What really happened at the Battle of Midway, one of the greatest naval victories of the Second World War? This wrenching book, told by a survivor of the battle, provides the first accurate account and explanation of the devastating losses to America’s torpedo squadrons: only 7 of 51 planes returned, only 29 of 127 crewmen survived, and not a single torpedo hit its target.

This compelling book investigates the impact of the occupation on the people of France and dispels any lingering notion that somehow, under the collaborating government of Marshal Pétain, life was quite tolerable for most French citizens. Richard Vinen describes the inescapable fear and the moral quandaries that permeated life in German-controlled France. The Unfree French makes i...

In the midst of the most heated crises of the Second World War, Roosevelt and Stalin secretly exchanged three hundred letters. This book publishes the entire collection of their messages for the first time in any language. With a lively introduction and full annotations, the book illuminates how a unique relationship developed between two of the world’s most powerful men.

This powerful book presents a clear-eyed view of Winston Churchill, the workings of his historical imagination, and his successes and failures as a statesman. Written by the best-selling author of Five Days in London, May 1940, the book sets forth the essence of one of the towering figures of twentieth-century history. 

This is a day-by-day account of the eighty-day struggle in 1940 between Hitler—poised on the edge of absolute victory—and Churchill—threatened by imminent invasion and defeat.

The days from May 24 to May 28, 1940 altered the course of the history of this century, as the members of the British War Cabinet debated whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue the war. The decisive importance of these five days is the focus of John Lukacs’s magisterial new book.

This absorbing study of the first—and decisive—phase of World War II tells not only how events happened but why they happened as they did. Eminent historian John Lukacs presents an extraordinary narrative of these two years, followed by a detailed sequential analysis of the lives of the peoples and then of the political, military, and intellectual relations and events.

This definitive history of one of the fiercest battles of World War II describes the siege of Budapest in unprecedented detail. Both Stalin and Hitler demanded victory at all costs, and the cost was extreme: 80,000 Soviet troops, 38,000 German and Hungarian soldiers, and 38,000 Hungarian civilians perished. The book provides the first full account of this shocking battle.

This is a masterpiece of historical writing, a book that compels its readers to reflect anew on the shaping forces of history. Beginning with the siege of Berlin, 1945 provides rich insight into the conflicts, motives, and counter-motives that marked the end of WWII and that established the lasting patterns of deceit, uncertainty, and distrust that defined the Cold War.

The escape of ultra-orthodox Jewish leader Rebbe Schneersohn from Hitler’s Warsaw in 1939 has always been a subject of speculation. This book uncovers the true story of the rescue and the heroic role of the part-Jewish German soldier who led the operation. A harrowing story about identity and moral responsibility, it is also a riveting narrative of an extraordinary rescue mission.

This brilliant and innovatory book explores the previously unknown world of Nazi prisons and penal policy, its victims, and the officials who built and operated the institution. Harrowing stories of individual prison inmates bring to life the Third Reich’s system of brutal legal terror.

On Christmas Day 1941 the Japanese captured Hong Kong, and Britain lost control of its Chinese colony for almost four years, a turning point in the process by which the British were to be expelled from the colony and from East Asia. This book unravels for the first time the dramatic story of the Japanese occupation and reinterprets the subsequent evolution of Hong Kong.

Battleground Berlin is the definitive, insider's account of the espionage warfare in Berlin from 1945 to the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, In an unprecedented collaboration, CIA and KGB intelligence veterans reveal previously untold stories of the Berlin tunnel, critical movements of the Berlin crisis, clandestine initiatives, betrayals, and defections to provide the first compre...

This important book draws on vital new archival material to unravel the mystery of Hitler’s invasion of Russia in 1941 and Stalin’s enigmatic behavior on the eve of the attack. Challenging the currently popular view that Stalin was about to invade Germany when Hitler made a preemptive strike, Gorodetsky argues that Stalin was actually negotiating for peace in order to redress t...

Completing the most comprehensive and authoritative study ever written of the Soviet-German war, John Erickson in this volume tells the vivid and compelling story of the Red Army’s epic struggle to drive the Germans from Russian soil. Beginning with the destruction of the German Army at Stalingrad, he describes a campaign of almost unimaginable hardship and fighting that led to the Soviet in...

In this first volume of John Erickson’s monumental history of the grueling Soviet-German war of 1941--1945, the author takes us from the pre-invasion Soviet Union, with its inept command structures and strategic delusions, to the humiliating retreats of Soviet armies before the Barbarossa onslaught, to the climactic, grinding battle for Stalingrad that left the Red Army poised for its majest...

This breakthrough book provides a provocative reassessment of Stalin’s leadership during the most important years of his career. Geoffrey Roberts challenges standard perceptions of Stalin and shows that he was both a ruthless dictator and a remarkable politician who sought to avoid the Cold War and establish a long-term detente with the capitalist world.

Why did Stalin refuse to believe that Hitler would strike the Soviet Union when all the evidence—including intelligence from his own agencies—said otherwise? This extensively researched book illuminates many of the enigmas that have surrounded the Nazi invasion, offering keen insights into Stalin’s thinking and the reasons for his catastrophic blunder.

This powerful and suspenseful memoir by one of the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising tells the moving story of the preparations for defense of the Ghetto, the battle with the Germans, the rescue of the few Jews still alive in the Ghetto after it was destroyed, and the organization's support of the surviving Jews in Warsaw. This book will help demolish the image of Jews as submissive victims in...

Energetic, self-confident, and distinctly unconventional, Churchill preferred to act outside official civil service channels when the stakes were high. This book explores the mixed results of Churchill’s predilection for direct diplomatic action throughout his career. Focusing on the unsettled decade from 1945–1955, Klaus Larres breaks new ground in Churchill scholarship and in Cold Wa...

After World War II, many of the 30,000 American GIs occupying Germany quickly developed relationships with their former enemies. These informal interactions among Americans soldiers and German civilians played a significant role in transforming Germany from enemy to ally, says Petra Goedde in this provocative book. Americans developed a feminized image of Germany and adopted the notion of German v...

This gripping account of wartime Greece explores the impact of the Nazi Occupation upon the lives and values of ordinary people. It is the first fully account of the experience of occupation, from the perspective of those that endured it, and from those that imposed it. Mark Mazower offers a vividly human picture of the experiences of resistance fighters and black marketeers, teenage German conscr...

This profoundly moving book recounts the poignant, sometimes ribald histories of the rank-and-file British servicemen who were psychiatric casualties in World War I. Focusing on the experiences of these men during the war and at home—rather than those of their officers—it gives a new perspective on the impact of the Great War.

Despite superior air and artillery power, British soldiers died in catastrophic numbers at the Battle of Somme in 1916. What went wrong, and who was responsible? This book meticulously reconstructs the battle, assigns responsibility to military and political leaders, and changes forever the way we understand this encounter and the history of the Western Front.

The carnage on the Western Front at Passchendaele, where 275,000 Allied and 200,000 German soldiers fell, was neither inevitable nor inescapable, the authors of this gripping book insist. Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson here offer the most complete account of the campaign ever published, establishing what actually occurred, what options were available, and who was responsible for the devastation.

World War I set in motion profound changes that led not only to the dissolution of defeated empires but also to the collapse of the optimistic assumption of progress that had defined the nineteenth century. In this book leading experts on the Great War provide a wide-ranging view of this war’s causes, character, and legacy and show how it provides an essential framework for understanding the...

This masterful volume on remembrance and war in the twentieth century traces the origins of the current fascination with memory back to the Great War. Historian Jay Winter discusses how images, languages, and practices that developed in the wake of WWI shaped the way later conflicts and victims are remembered both publicly and privately.

As a young man, Amos Wilder, the distinguished New Testament scholar and poet, served as an ambulance driver and soldier during World War I. His journals and letters home (including correspondence with his brother, Thornton Wilder) form the basis of this book of reminiscences about his experiences, one of the few wartime memoirs that eloquently articulates and interprets the common soldier's point...

This fascinating book examines Western perceptions of war in and beyond the nineteenth century, surveying the writings of novelists, anthropologists, psychiatrists, poets, natural scientists, and journalists to trace the origins of modern philosophies about the nature of war and conflict.

In this book a renowned military historian studies the evolution of British infantry tactics during World War I and challenges traditional interpretations that portray British participation as a series of tragic tactical debacles. While Griffith concedes that the British army's plans and technologies failed persistently during the improvised first half of the war, he reveals that the army graduall...

For the ancient Romans, the manner of a person’s death provided telling information about his or her character, revealing perhaps the true patriot, the genuine philosopher, the great artist, or the faithful Christian. This engaging book investigates the significance of a wide variety of deaths recorded in Roman history and literature—from murders and executions to quiet deathbed moment...

The Second Crusade (1145-1149) was an extraordinarily bold, but largely unsuccessful, attempt to defeat “unbelievers” in the Holy Land, Iberia, and northeastern Europe. This definitive book casts new light on the origins, planning, and execution of the Second Crusade, uncovering its profound impact on both Europe and the Middle East.

This major new biography by a distinguished British historian offers a remarkably comprehensive portrait of a leader whose actions changed the course of Western history and resonate some two thousand years later.

What set the successful armies of Sparta, Macedon, and Rome apart from those they defeated? In this major new history of battle from the age of Homer through the decline of the Roman empire, J. E. Lendon surveys a millennium of warfare to discover how militaries change—and don’t change—and how an army’s greatness depends on its use of the past.

This biography is a splendid introduction to the life and legends of Charlemagne, king of the Franks from 768 to his death in 814 and Holy Roman emperor from the year 800. Matthias Becher offers a concise and insightful assessment of Charlemagne’s reign and achievements, his political and military maneuverings and posthumous fame.

From the end of the second century A.D., the Roman Empire was beset by internal unrest, revolts, usurpations, civil wars, and attacks along its far-flung frontiers. This stimulating book is the first comprehensive discussion of how the Roman army adapted itself to these growing threats and how effective it was in combating serious problems—sometimes several at once—during the late impe...

In this extensively illustrated book a leading Renaissance historian provides the first complete study of the martial arts in Europe from the late fifteenth to the late seventeenth century. From stabbings and wrestling in tavern brawls to the balletic homicide of the dueling fields, Sydney Anglo explains the significance of the martial arts in Renaissance life and the social implications of one-to...

This unique history of Japanese armed martial arts—the only comprehensive treatment of the subject in English—explores swordsmanship and archery from ancient times to the present. The book examines the transformation of fighting skills into sports, the influence of Western athletic tradition on armed martial arts, and the ways martial arts remain distinctly Japanese.

The first in-depth examination of the armor and weapons of Tibet, this exquisite volume includes the first glossary of Tibetan arms and armor terms and excerpts from rare Tibetan texts.

Jonathan Riley-Smith here provides a comprehensive history of the Crusades: an account of the theology of violence behind the Crusades, the major Crusades, the experience of crusading, and the crusaders themselves. With a wealth of fascinating detail, Riley-Smith brings to life these stirring expeditions and the politics and personalities behind them. His book will be the standard and authoritativ...

The horse was an integral part of Renaissance culture, and in warfare horses played a pivotal role. Not uncommonly, a horse’s armor was as elaborate and expensive as that of its rider. This book presents splendid examples of European horse armor from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and closely examines their style, construction, and decoration.

Challenging many common assumptions about the glamour of medieval warfare, this highly readable history recreates the real war experience of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century England. Filled with anecdotes and illustrations, it examines how English medieval armies fought, how men were recruited, how the troops were fed, supplied, and deployed, what new weapons were developed, and what structure w...

In this enthralling account of the entwined histories of Britain, Spain, and their empires in the Americas, distinguished historian J. H. Elliott offers us history on a grand scale. He interweaves the histories of the two great Atlantic civilizations, providing rich insights into both while revealing aspects of their dual history that influence the Americas to this day.

The British came to view the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 as victory over an alien and ambitious empire, yet they themselves had fueled the conflict. This book examines the process by which the Spaniard, a long-term ally and friend, became in English eyes the epitome of human depravity and how this helped shape an emerging sense of nationhood.

A man of many contradictions, the pirate Sir John Hawkins (cousin of Sir Francis Drake) made fortunes for himself, Queen Elizabeth, and other investors, and was knighted in 1588 for his role in defeating the Spanish Armada. He also established the British slave trade and at other points in his life committed treason, murder, and adultery. This riveting biography of Hawkins narrates the events of a...

A brave sea-commander who served Elizabeth I with distinction, the swashbuckling Martin Frobisher was also a privateer in ceaseless pursuit of his own interests. This highly entertaining biography provides the first complete account of Frobisher’s life and exploits—from his search for the fabled Northwest Passage to his courageous resistance against the Spanish Armada and his adventure...

Legendary for his exploits in war and love, the perennially fascinating Admiral Horatio Nelson is captured in all his vigor on the pages of this new biography. The book presents a gripping account of Nelson’s climb to fame in the British navy, details of his personal and emotional life, and fresh insights into the complexities of the man who endures as England’s favorite hero. 

This landmark book explores how Spain attempted to come to terms with the native peoples of the Americas in the late eighteenth century. Long after Spanish conquistadors had landed, Indians retained control of most of Spain’s American lands. Spaniards attempted a variety of solutions to their problems with “savages”—from gentle concessions to bloody wars.

Ranging from the period of imperial expansion to the twentieth century, this authoritative book examines the role of the sea in the history of the British Empire. Jeremy Black considers how the ocean has affected British exploration, defense, trade, commerce, and the navy, as well as the attitudes and perceptions of the British themselves.

This towering volume presents the definitive account of the life and influence of South American revolutionary Simón Bolívar. Eminent historian John Lynch tells Bolívar’s story, sets his life in the context of his society and times, discusses the unique dynamics of his leadership, and explores the remarkable and enduring legacy of “The Liberator.”

This engrossing biography offers an intriguing reassessment of the third duke of Alba, an infamous sixteenth-century Spanish general known to history as “the butcher of Flanders.” Henry Kamen tells the duke’s personal history, explores his beliefs, and considers his infamous actions within the context of his time and of the monarchs whom he served.

In this lively biography, Harry Kelsey shatters the legend of Sir Francis Drake. Drawing on much new evidence, he replaces the familiar image of a pious, brave, and just seaman with a more interesting picture of an amoral privateer at least as interested in lining his pockets with Spanish booty as in forwarding the political goals of his country.

This fascinating book is the first to analyze how Philip II of Spain ruled the first global empire in history, from 1556 to his death in 1598. Geoffrey Parker investigates the strengths and weaknesses of Philip’s strategic vision, the priorities that underlay his policies, the practices and prejudices that influenced his decision-making, and the external factors that affected the achievement...

This intriguing book argues that the sixteenth-century treaties King Philip III forged with Spain’s most powerful enemies were not intended to ensure a permanent peace. Instead, the author shows, Philip’s plan was to lull his foes, thereby enabling Spain to regain its strength after fifty years of incessant and expensive warfare. Ending the truce and resuming war with the Dutch, the En...

In this radical reinterpretation of the English Civil War, Mark Stoyle reveals an ethnic dimension to the struggle that contributed powerfully to the forging of English national identity. His book explores English xenophobia and fear of foreign invasion as the context for the creation of the New Model Army, opening up the Civil War to fresh historical and social insights.

 

The first new assessment of King George III in many years, this biography harnesses rich unpublished sources in Britain, Germany, and the United States, as well as the king’s prolific correspondence, to reveal much about the monarch himself and how he influenced the conflict with the thirteen colonies and other critical events in modern world history.

The Civil War has traditionally been portrayed as the first modern war. In this engrossing revisionist account, however, Paddy Griffith argues that, despite the use of new weapons and of trench warfare techniques, the Civil War was in reality the last Napoleonic-style war. Rich in description and analysis, his book will be of interest both to military historians and to Civil War buffs.

Though less storied than the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, the uprising of 1715 was in fact a more serious threat to the still-young British Union. This dazzling book is the first full account of the events of 1715. It examines the causes of the unrest, why some became rebels and others stayed home, and the significance of the widely supported but doomed uprising.

This book investigates for the first time the role of the assorted freebooters, local peasants, and bandits who joined the Spanish war against Napoleon. Popular legend notwithstanding, these guerrillas were neither armed civilians acting spontaneously nor individuals driven by high-minded motives, the author shows.

This engaging book reconstructs the role that Napoleon Bonaparte played in the British political, cultural, and religious imagination in the early nineteenth century. Stuart Semmel explores how the example of Napoleon—denounced by some and used by others—influenced the British to think about their own history, identity, and destiny.

"Mintz has pumped life into a well-known story and produced a volume that can be read for pleasure and edification by the general public and by serious students of history alike."--John Ferling, Journal of American History

In this masterly work, Lester D. Langley compares political and social histories of three revolutions in the Americas: the American Revolution in 1776, the 1791 slave revolt in the French colony that became Haiti, and the prolonged Spanish American struggle for independence. Langley explores the characteristics that distinguished each upheaval, and he shows how the legacies of the revolutionary ag...

Placing Britain's defeat of Napoleonic France in a wholly modern perspective, this book presents a new assessment of the last years of the long war and reveals that the British economy and political system were as essential to victory as military might and tactical brilliance. Rory Muir's comprehensive account of the era shows how politicians, the press, the crown, civilians, soldiers, and command...

Drawing on memoirs, diaries, and letters of the time, this lively book explores what it was like to be a soldier on a Napoleonic battlefield. It considers the role of the artillery, infantry, and cavalry; the plight of the wounded; the way victories were decided; the mechanics of musketry, artillery, and cavalry charges; and much more.

This compelling book focuses long overdue attention on a single day in Salamanca, Spain—July 22, 1812—that changed European history. Rory Muir examines in unprecedented detail the battle of Salamanca, a critical British victory over the French in the Peninsular War. Muir conveys the experience of ordinary soldiers, dissects each phase of the fighting, and explores the crucial decisions...

In this incisive study, Jeremy Black presents a wide-ranging analysis of European land and naval warfare from the time of the military revolution of the mid-seventeenth century to the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Focusing not only on warfare in Europe but also on the complex conflicts that involved European states outside Europe (such as the British victories over the French in North America and In...

As intriguing as any rapid-paced spy novel, this book breaks open the mysterious case of KGB officer Yuri Nosenko’s defection to the United States in 1963. Was Nosenko a bona fide defector with first-hand knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald, or was he a master of deceit, still loyal to the KGB? The CIA officer who handled the case at last uncovers the truth.

 

If America is to be secure, we must make crucial changes in our intelligence network, warns a leading authority. In this unmatched overview of the vast American intelligence bureaucracy, William Odom offers a detailed critique of its weaknesses and explains what can—and must—be done to ensure that information gathering is more accurate, timely, and efficient.

In this powerful book, the story of KGB surveillance and intimidation of Nobel prize laureate Andrei Sakharov from 1968 to his death in 1989 comes to light for the first time. Disturbing archival documents show how deeply the KGB feared this great figure of Soviet science, and how profoundly it misunderstood his role in the human rights movement.

This riveting book presents sensational new information on the notorious Cold War espionage case of the three British spies known as the Cambridge Ring. Clarifying fifty years of confusion and error in intelligence history, S. J. Hamrick offers groundbreaking evidence about when the British intelligence community identified the spies and seized their advantage to flummox all three.

Herbert O. Yardley established America’s first codebreaking agency in 1917, but when his unit was later closed he wrote a best-selling memoir that revealed codemaking and codebreaking to the public. In an engrossing biography of this controversial figure, David Kahn tells his story, evaluates his impact on the American intelligence community, and gives a short course in codes and ciphers.

This book tells the almost unbelievable story of American engineers Joel Barr and Alfred Sarant, accomplices in the Rosenberg spy ring, who escaped with stolen military secrets and helped to develop the first advanced weapons systems in the USSR. Rich with astonishing detail, the book describes the spies’ success, integration into Russian society, and Barr’s ultimate return to the US a...

This lively book traces the history of American secret intelligence from the founding of the nation through the present day. Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones argues that the intelligence community’s enormous and costly bureaucracy is the product of long-term hyperbolic claims and self-promotion. While it has had some successes, it has also ignored serious problems—such as the danger of terrorist ...

This third edition of Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones’s engrossing history of the Central Intelligence Agency includes a new prologue that discusses the history of the CIA since the end of the Cold War, focusing in particular on the intelligence dimensions of the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

This extraordinary book is the first to examine the thousands of documents of the super-secret Venona Project—an American intelligence project that uncovered not only an enormous range of Soviet espionage activities against the United States during World War II but also the Americans who abetted this effort. The stunning revelations of the Venona papers, only made public in 1995, illuminate ...

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan here presents a fascinating account of the development of secrecy as a mode of regulation in American government since World War I—how it was born, how world events shaped it, how it has adversely affected momentous political decisions and events, and how it has eluded efforts to curtail or end it.

Taking us inside the executive suite at Itek Corporation during the Cold War years, this book provides a fascinating case study of a collision between the world of venture capital and the world of espionage. Spy Capitalism tells the gripping story of Itek’s role as manufacturer of the world’s most sophisticated satellite spy cameras, its relationship with the CIA, and the vital ...

Michael Walzer is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading political theorists. His broad-ranging work has covered some of the most crucial political ideas of our time, from democracy to social justice, nationalism, multiculturalism, and terrorism. This collection brings together some of his most important work and includes a substantial introduction by Da...

Michael Walzer is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading political theorists. His broad-ranging work has covered some of the most crucial political ideas of our time, from democracy to social justice, nationalism, multiculturalism, and terrorism. This collection brings together some of his most important work and includes a substantial introduction by Da...

An eminent philosopher on the subject of war and ethics offers in this book his most provocative arguments about contemporary military conflicts and the ethical issues they raise. Michael Walzer examines particular recent wars, including that in Iraq, and argues persuasively for a moral perspective on the use of armed force.

In this important book, eminent historians—among them Sir Michael Howard, J. H. Elliott, Douglas Porch, and Paul Kennedy—look at how the United States, the Soviet Union, and various European powers have developed their "grand strategies"—how they have integrated their political, economic, and military goals in order to preserve their long-term interests in times of war and peace....

In this timely collection, several eminent international relations experts consider the twentieth century’s recurring failure to construct a stable and peaceful world order in the wake of war. Why has peace been so difficult to build? The authors reflect on post-war periods, drawing out historical parallels and offering essential insights on how to navigate toward peace across unstable strat...

This book explores not only the formal constraints on the conduct of war throughout Western history but also the unwritten conventions about what is permissible in the course of military operations. Ranging from classical antiquity to the present, eminent historians discuss the legal and cultural regulation of violence in such matters as belligerent rights, the treatment of prisoners and civilians...

In this important and highly readable new book, one of the most eminent military historians in the world discusses the processes of historical change that ignited the European wars of the twentieth century. Michael Howard ponders the continuing significance of nationalism, explores the conflicting ideologies that arose from industrialism, and argues that, despite the tendency of modern societies t...

How do political institutions help promote prosperity in some countries and poverty in others? What can be done to encourage leaders to govern not for patronage but for economic growth? In this book distinguished political economists examine countries in North and South America and Asia to answer these important questions.

Leading us through the long history of European warfare, preeminent military historian Michael Howard asks in this compelling book why war has become increasingly horrific and whether it can ever be abolished. He raises provocative questions about the barriers to peace and demonstrates that, given the political pressures specific to the modern world, our efforts to banish warfare are unlikely to s...

When is the use of military force by a nation morally justified? How can the tendency toward unrestrained warfare between parties with major cultural differences be controlled? In this timely book, James Turner Johnson refocuses the moral analysis of war on the real problems of contemporary armed conflicts and analyzes the specific problems posed by warfare today.

How do military organizations assess strategic policy in war? In this book Scott Gartner develops a theory to explain how military and government leaders evaluate wartime performance, how much they change strategies in response to this evaluation, and why they are frequently at odds when discussing the success or failure of strategic performance.

This lively book reveals a remarkable—and tremendously important—finding: fully democratic nations have never made war on other democracies. Furthermore, says the author, they probably never will. He analyzes for the first time every instance in history of a democracy confronting another with military force, from ancient Athens to modern America, and offers practical advice to ensure f...

This magisterial survey of the rise and decline of European overseas empires asks how and why these empires took shape, persisted, and finally fell. In a discussion that encompasses European and non-European actors as well as the economic, social, cultural, and political dimensions of empire, David B. Abernethy explains Europe’s long occupation of global center stage and throws new light on ...

For thirty years Ben Kiernan has been deeply involved in the study of genocide and crimes against humanity. He has played a key role in unearthing confidential documentation of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. His writings have transformed our understanding not only of twentieth-century Cambodia but also of the historical phenomenon of genocide. This new book—the first global history of genocide and extermination from ancient times—is among his most important achievements.

Kiernan examines outbreaks of mass violence from the classical era to the present, focusing on worldwide colonial exterminations and twentieth-century case studies including the Armenian genocide, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin’s mass murders, and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides. He identifies connections, patterns, and features that in nearly every case gave early warning of the catastrophe to come: racism or religious prejudice, territorial expansionism, and cults of antiquity and agrarianism. The ideologies that have motivated perpetrators of mass killings in the past persist in our new century, says Kiernan. He urges that we heed the rich historical evidence with its telltale signs for predicting and preventing future genocides.

Ben Kiernan is the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History, professor of international and area studies, and the founding director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University (www.yale.edu/gsp). His previous books include How Pol Pot Came to Power: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Communism in Cambodia, 1930–1975 and The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979, published by Yale University Press.

For thirty years Ben Kiernan has been deeply involved in the study of genocide and crimes against humanity. He has played a key role in unearthing confidential documentation of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. His writings have transformed our understanding not only of twentieth-century Cambodia but also of the historical phenomenon of genocide. This new book—the first global history of genocide and extermination from ancient times—is among his most important achievements.

Kiernan examines outbreaks of mass violence from the classical era to the present, focusing on worldwide colonial exterminations and twentieth-century case studies including the Armenian genocide, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin’s mass murders, and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides. He identifies connections, patterns, and features that in nearly every case gave early warning of the catastrophe to come: racism or religious prejudice, territorial expansionism, and cults of antiquity and agrarianism. The ideologies that have motivated perpetrators of mass killings in the past persist in our new century, says Kiernan. He urges that we heed the rich historical evidence with its telltale signs for predicting and preventing future genocides.

Ben Kiernan is the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History, professor of international and area studies, and the founding director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University (www.yale.edu/gsp). His previous books include How Pol Pot Came to Power: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Communism in Cambodia, 1930–1975 and The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979, published by Yale University Press.

Is posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) real or is it a modern myth? Is the counseling of its victims valuable or possibly harmful? Are the memories of childhood trauma valid or unwitting fabrications? In this book an expert on trauma offers a new theory to explain conflicting findings about the nature of PTSD and to guide treatment of its victims.

This extraordinary account of the development of aviation takes us from Charles Lindbergh’s dramatic New York-Paris flight to the horrifying bombing campaigns of World War II. Robert Wohl recaptures in words and illustrations an era when a wide-ranging cast of characters—among them millionaire Howard Hughes, Italian dictator Mussolini, and architect Le Corbusier—fell under aviati...

While globalization may seem a modern phenomenon, it is actually a process that began when humans first migrated from Africa, explains Nayan Chanda in this fascinating book. He traces how traders, preachers, warriors, and adventurers have reshaped the world and reconnected us throughout history, and he offers a provocative discussion of what globalization means for t...

This wide-ranging book is the first to survey the practice of arming slaves as soldiers throughout history. The book encompasses classical Greece, early Islamic cultures of the Near East, West, and East Africa, the British and French Caribbean, the United States, and Latin America, and shows why entrusting slaves with weapons, though surprising, often made sense.

An eminent political scientist and government official here offers witty and trenchant counsel on what leaders need to know in order to be effective. Carnes Lord offers practical advice on the challenges facing leaders dealing with war and crises, diplomacy, the use of secret intelligence, the role of political advisors, the media, and more.

Samuel Colt (1814–1862) first patented his “Colt” revolver in 1835 and thereby redefined the architecture of handguns. This stunning book is the first to present in detail the evolution of his most famous invention and to document the unsurpassed Colt firearms collections held by the Wadsworth Atheneum.

Colt designed his revolvers with an artistic sensibility––paying particular attention to form and beauty and juxtaposing colors and finishes to heighten the visual effects. He was also one of the first American manufacturers to secure celebrity endorsements and to commission paintings by renowned artists like George Catlin to promote his arms. Colt’s standards for excellence, industrial foresight, and quest for market domination are explored in light of primary documents that reveal his constant battles to protect his patents.

Essays discuss Colt’s personal collection of historic firearms as well as the memorial collection of Colt-manufactured firearms, the relationship between art and commerce as they pertain to the inventor’s career, and his international celebrity. Richly illustrated and beautifully produced, this volume presents the artistry of the firearms that Colt worked so diligently to perfect––as well as his promotional abilities that made a tremendous impact on American culture.

Herbert G. Houze is an expert on Samuel Colt and firearms and has published extensively on the topic, including Colt Presentations from the Factory Ledgers 1856–1869. Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser is Krieble Curator of American Painting and Sculpture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, and author of numerous books on American art. Carolyn C. Cooper, a historian of technology, is research affiliate in Yale University's Economics Department and author of Shaping America.