Autumn 1944. World War II is nearly over in Europe but is escalating in the Pacific, where American soldiers face an opponent who will go to any length to avoid defeat. The Japanese army follows the samurai code of Bushido, stipulating that surrender is a form of dishonor. Killing the Rising Sun takes readers to the bloody tropical-island battlefields of Peleliu and Iwo Jima and to the embattled Philippines, where General Douglas MacArthur has made...

In this book, the author, deadliest sniper in U.S. history tracks down and shoots the ten most important American firearms, from a flintlock rifle to a Colt revolver to the latest high-tech weapon he used as a Navy SEAL. He uses these guns as a window on United States history, making the sweeping argument that the American story has been tied to and shaped by the gun. He revisits turning points in American history, including the single sniper shot...

Reveals the details of the 1943 plan by British intelligence to deceive Germany into believing an Allied invasion would take place either in Greece or Sardinia rather than in Sicily.

Classic biography of Erwin Rommel, 1891-1944, the legendary leader of Germany's Afrika Korps.

"From the winged gods of mythology to the technology of the Stealth Bomber, Aviation: A Smithsonian Guide presents the thrilling panorama of world aviation. It combines fast-paced narrative by Flying Tiger pilot Don Lopez with stunning color visuals from the National Air and Space Museum."--BOOK JACKET. "Seven thematic sections detail landmark events, technological advances, and the drama of the men, women, and aircraft that soared ever higher, farther,...

"A veteran war correspondent journeys to remote mountain communities across the globe--from Albania and Chechnya to Nepal and Colombia--to investigate why so many conflicts occur at great heights. Mountainous regions are home to only ten percent of the world's population yet host a strikingly disproportionate share of the world's conflicts. Mountains provide a natural refuge for those who want to elude authority, and their remoteness has allowed archaic...

On the basis of 1,400 oral histories from the men who were there, Eisenhower biographer and World War II historian Stephen E. Ambrose reveals for the first time anywhere that the intricate plan for the invasion of France in June 1944, had to be abandoned before the first shot was fired. The true story of D-Day, as Ambrose relates it, is about the citizen soldiers - junior officers and enlisted men - taking the initiative to act on their own to break...

"The extraordinary story of the women who took on the Islamic State and won In 2014, northeastern Syria might have been the last place you would expect to find a revolu-tion centered on women's rights. And yet that year, an all-female militia faced off against ISIS in a little town few had ever heard of. The Islamic State by then had swept across vast swaths of the country, taking town after town and spreading terror as the civil war burned all around...

Biography of one of the most controversial American generals.

Professor Kagan reveals the common threads that connect the ancient confrontations between Athens and Sparta and between Rome and Carthage with the two calamitous world wars of our own century.