In patton, montgomery, one of britain's most accomplished military scholars presents an unprecedented study of the land war in the North African and European theaters, Rommel, as well as their chief commanders—three men who also happened to be the most compelling dramatis personae of World War II. Beyond spellbinding depictions of pivotal confrontations at el alamein, montgomery's, and rommel's Great War experiences helped to mold their style of command—and how, author-scholar Terry Brighton illuminates the personal motivations and historical events that propelled the three men's careers: how Patton's, exactly, and the Ardennes forest, Monte Cassino, they managed to apply their arguably megalomaniacal personalities and hitherto unrecognized political acumen and tact to advance their careers and strategic vision.

Opening new avenues of inquiry into the lives and careers of three men widely profiled by scholars and popular historians alike, montgomery, brighton definitively answers numerous lingering and controversial questions: was patton really as vainglorious in real life as he was portrayed to be on the silver screen?—and how did his tireless advocacy of "mechanized cavalry" forever change the face of war? Was Monty's dogged publicity-seeking driven by his own need for recognition or by his desire to claim for Britain a leadership role in postwar global order?—and how did this prickly "commoner" manage to earn affection and esteem from enlisted men and nobility alike? How might the war have ended if Rommel had had more tanks?—and what fundamental philosophical difference between him and Hitler made such an outcome virtually impossible? Abetted by new primary source material and animated by Terry Brighton's incomparable storytelling gifts, Patton, Rommel offers critical new interpretations of the Second World War as it was experienced by its three most flamboyant, controversial, and influential commanders—and augments our understanding of each of their perceptions of war and leadership.

From the Hardcover edition.

Saxons vs. Vikings: Alfred the Great and England in the Dark Ages A Very, Very Short History of England

Vikings also covers the period before alfred, King Arthur, the Roman occupation, explaining important historical episodes such as Boudicca, and the Dark Ages, including ancient Britain, and Beowulf. Perfect for newcomers to the subject, this is the second title in the new A Very, Very Short History of England series.

With the norsemen murdering one king with arrows and torturing another to death by ripping out his lungs, the prospects that faced the kingdom of Wessex were bleak. Yet within a decade alfred—the only english king known as the Great—had driven the Vikings out of half of England, and his children and grandchildren would unite the country a few years later.

Worse still, the saxons were now led by a young man barely out of his teens who was more interested in God than fighting. This period, popular with fans of television shows such as Vikings and The Last Kingdom, with Alfred laying down the first national law code, saw the creation of England as a nation-state, establishing an education system and building cities.

Saxons vs. A witty and concise look at the beginnings of English history, when the nation consolidated after clashes between the Saxons and invading Vikings. In 871, the ruthless, three of england's four kingdoms were overrun by Vikings, all-conquering Scandinavian raiders who terrorized early medieval Europe.

If you’re trying to understand England and its history in the most informative and entertaining way possible, this is the place to start.

The Fall of Europe

But it was corroding from within before the Allies stormed the walls. The fall of Europe tells us why. Fred majdalany's sweeping history condenses an enormous amount of material with precision and grace, unraveling the story of the Nazi collapse and offering fresh insights into the men who shaped the most massive of wars.

. He boasted his empire would last a thousand years; it collapsed within a decade. This was adolf hitler's europe - the formidable fortress that cast its last shadow across half the world and which, indeed, seemed nearly ready to sustain itself for a millennium.

Hitler: The Memoir of the Nazi Insider Who Turned Against the Fuhrer

Here is a portrait of Hitler as you’ve rarely seen him. As hitler’s fanatical theories and ideas hardened, however, he surrounded himself with rabid extremists such as Goering, Hess, and Goebbels, and Hanfstaengl became estranged from him. In 1937, relations between hanfstaengl and the Nazis had deteriorated to such a degree that he was forced to flee for his life, four years after Hitler came to power, escaping to Switzerland.

Of american and german parentage, ernst hanfstaengl graduated from Harvard and ran the family business in New York for a dozen years before returning to Germany in 1921. By chance he heard a then little-known adolf Hitler speaking in a Munich beer hall and, mesmerized by his extraordinary oratorical power, was convinced the man would some day come to power.

It is from this unique insider’s position that the author provides a vivid, repressions, intimate view of Hitler—with his neuroses, and growing megalomania—over the next several years. But with the nazi’s major unexpected political triumph in 1930, Hitler became a national figure, and he invited Hanfstaengl to be his foreign press secretary.

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Behind Japanese Lines: With the OSS in Burma

In early 1942, now known historically as the father of central intelligence, with world war ii going badly, President Roosevelt turned to General William Wild Bill” Donovan, ” with orders to form a special unit whose primary mission was to prepare for the eventual reopening of the Burma Road linking Burma and China by performing guerilla operations behind the Japanese lines.

Drawing upon the author’s own experiences as a member of Detachment 101, Dunlop’s tale unfolds with cinematic intensity, and classified documents, interviews with surviving 101 members, tension, detailing the danger, and drama of secret warfare. It was a war not only against a tough and unyielding enemy, but against the jungle itself, one of the most difficult and dangerous patches of terrain in the world.

While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. Thus was born oss detachment 101, the first clandestine special force formed by Donovan and one that would play a highly dangerous but vital role in the reconquest of Burma by the Allies.

Behind japanese lines, who, is the exciting story of the men of Detachment 101, originally published in 1979, with their loyal native alliesthe Kachin headhuntersfought a guerilla war for almost three years. Never before have the activities of the OSS been recorded in such authentic firsthand detail.

Skyhorse publishing, the third reich, hitler and his henchmen, ancient rome, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, gladiators, as well as our Arcade imprint, the old West, the JFK assassination, medieval times, conspiracies, Vikings, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, and much more.

Road of Bones: The Siege of Kohima 1944 – The Epic Story of the Last Great Stand of Empire

Maps are best viewed on a tablet. The epic story of one of the most savage battles of the Second World War. Kohima. Outnumbered ten to one, the defenders fought the Japanese hand to hand in a battle that was amongst the most savage in modern warfare. A garrison of no more than 1, desperately short of water and with the wounded compelled to lie in the open, 500 fighting men, faced a force of 15, 000 Japanese.

. They held the pass and prevented a Japanese victory that would have proved disastrous for the British. It is a story filled with vivid characters: the millionaire's son who refused a commission and was awarded a VC for his sacrifice in battle, the Roedean debutante who led a guerrilla band in the jungle, and the General who defied the orders of a hated superior in order to save the lives of his men.

In this remote indian village near the border with Burma, a tiny force of British and Indian troops faced the might of the Imperial Japanese Army. They called the journey back to burma the ‘Road of Bones’, as friends and comrades committed suicide or dropped dead from hunger along the jungle paths. Fergal keane has reported for the bbc from conflicts on every continent over the past 25 years, and he brings to this work of history not only rigorous scholarship but a raw understanding of the pitiless nature of war.

This ebook contains a limited number of illustrations. Another six weeks of bitter fighting followed as British and Indian reinforcements strove to drive the enemy out of India. Based on original research in japan, Britain and India, ‘Road of Bones’ is a story about extraordinary courage and the folly of imperial dreams.

Tin Can Titans: The Heroic Men and Ships of World War II's Most Decorated Navy Destroyer Squadron

Men like commander donald macdonald, skipper of the uss o'bannon, who became the most decorated naval officer of the pacific war; Lieutenant Hugh Barr Miller, who survived his ship's sinking and waged a one-man battle against the enemy while stranded on a Japanese-occupied island; and Doctor Dow "Doc" Ransom, the beloved physician of the USS La Vallette, who combined a mixture of humor and medical expertise to treat his patients at sea, epitomize the sacrifices made by all the men and women of World War II.

Through diaries, and letters written to and by the crews during the war, personal interviews with survivors, preeminent historian of the Pacific theater John Wukovits brings to life the human story of the squadron and its men who bested the Japanese in the Pacific and helped take the war to Tokyo. An epic narrative of world war ii naval action that brings to life the sailors and exploits of the war's most decorated destroyer squadronWhen Admiral William Halsey selected Destroyer Squadron 21 Desron 21 to lead his victorious ships into Tokyo Bay to accept the Japanese surrender, it was the most battle-hardened US naval squadron of the war.

But it was not the squadron of ships that had accumulated such an inspiring resume; it was the people serving aboard them. Sailors, not metallic superstructures and hulls, had won the battles and become the stuff of legend.

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire

Putting flesh on the bones of these distant, legendary figures, toga-clad caricatures and explores their real motivations and ambitions, Simon Baker looks beyond the dusty, intrigues and rivalries. The superb narrative, full of energy and imagination, is a brilliant distillation of the latest scholarship and a wonderfully evocative account of Ancient Rome.

Simon baker charts the rise and fall of the world's first superpower, focusing on six momentous turning points that shaped Roman history. Welcome to rome as you've never seen it before - awesome and splendid, gritty and squalid. From the conquest of the mediterranean beginning in the third century bc to the destruction of the Roman Empire at the hands of barbarian invaders some seven centuries later, the violent suppression of the strongest rebellion against Roman power, the birth of the age of the 'Caesars', we discover the most critical episodes in Roman history: the spectacular collapse of the 'free' republic, and the bloody civil war that launched Christianity as a world religion.

At the heart of this account are the dynamic, julius Caesar, complex but flawed characters of some of the most powerful rulers in history: men such as Pompey the Great, Augustus, Nero and Constantine. This is the story of the greatest empire the world has ever known.

Dunkirk: Retreat to Victory

Winston churchill feared that nearly all of the BEF would be killed or captured, but thankfully most were rescued and a defeat was turned into a victoryone that lives on in the annals of history. General julian thompson draws from previously unpublished and rare materials to recreate the action on the beaches of the small townfrom the misunderstandings between the British and French generals to the experiences of the ordinary soldier trying to fend for his life and return to his homeland.

Unlike other books on the subject, thompson’s account gives full weight to the fighting inland as the BEF found itself in mortal danger due to the Belgian army’s collapse on one flank and the French troop’s failure on the other flank. Thompson aims to correct popular myths about the evacuation and set the history straight once and for all about the events that unfolded in May 1940

In may 1940, the small bef was sent to help the Belgians and French against advancing German forces. A gripping account, dunkirk reveals the british expeditionary Force’s BEF brave stand against the German army and the dramatic rescue of 338, 000 British troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in the midst of World War II.

Ill-equipped and under-trained, the Allied troops conducted a fighting withdrawal in the face of the formidable Germans.

Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor

But it came at a horrific cost: an estimated 250, 000 Chinese died in retaliation by the Japanese. Army bombers under the command of daredevil pilot jimmy Doolittle lifted off from the deck of the USS Hornet on a one-way mission to pummel Japan’s factories, refineries, and dockyards in retaliation for their attack on Pearl Harbor.

The raid buoyed america’s morale, and prompted an ill-fated Japanese attempt to seize Midway that turned the tide of the war. Deeply researched and brilliantly written, Target Tokyo has been hailed as the definitive account of one of America’s most daring military operations. Finalist for the 2016 pulitzer prize in History"Like Lauren Hillebrand's Unbroken…Target Tokyo brings to life an indelible era.

Ben cosgrove, the daily beastOn April 18, 1942, sixteen U. S.

Sacrifice on the Steppe: The Italian Alpine Corps in the Stalingrad Campaign, 1942-1943

Raw courage and endurance blend with human suffering, desperation and altruism in the epic saga of this withdrawal from the Don lines, including the demise of thousands and survival of the few. Hope hamilton, has drawn on many interviews with survivors, fluent in Italian and having spent many years in Italy, as well as massive research, in order to provide this first full English-language account of one of World War II’s legendary stands against great odds.

In the all-sides battle across the snowy steppe, thousands were killed and wounded, and even more were captured. This tragic story is complex and unsettling, but most of all it is a human story. Only one of the three alpine divisions was able to emerge from the Russian encirclement with survivors. When germany’s sixth army advanced to stalingrad in 1942, Hungarians, its long-extended flanks were mainly held by its allied armies—the Romanians, and Italians.

Mussolini sent thousands of poorly equipped soldiers to a country far from their homeland, on a mission to wage war with an unclear mandate against a people who were not their enemies. By the summer of 1946, 10, 000 survivors returned to Italy from Russian POW camps. When the don front collapsed under soviet hammerblows, it was the Alpine Corps that continued to hold out until it was completely isolated, and which then tried to fight its way out through both Russian encirclement and “General Winter, ” to rejoin the rest of the Axis front.

But as history tells us, these flanks quickly caved in before the massive Soviet counter-offensive which commenced that November, dooming the Germans to their first catastrophe of the war.