history military

Softcover. Santa Monica CA, Rand Corporation, 1st, 1958, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 265 pages. Ivory paper wraps with toning. Light toning to pages throughout. Clean, unmarked copy. This is a first printing of this important study for the U.S. Air Force by the Rand Corporation, dated August 11, 1958, Rand Report R-326.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st thus, 1950, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover. The Chronicles of America Vol. 54. 364 pages, b&w illustrations. Red gilt-decorated cloth, top edge gilt, no dust jacket as issued. Details the campaigns of the U.S. Armed Forces in all theaters of World War II, including Tunisia, France, Italy, the Philippines, and Guadalcanal. A very nice, tight, clean copy in excellent condition.

Hardcover. London, J. Hatchard, 2nd Ed., 1805, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 252 pages with appendix added in this December printing. (The first edition consisted of 215 pages and was issued in October.) Half black leather binding and marbled boards. Both covers detached, the front missing. The interior and binding are in very nice condition, clean.

Softcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, reprint, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 292 pages. 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. Daniel Pick compares philosophical and historical models of conflict with fictions of invasion and biological speculation about the nature and value of conquest. He discusses the work of such familiar commentators on war as Clausewitz, Engels, and von Bernhardi, and examines little-known writings by Proudhon, De Quincey, Ruskin, Valery, and many others. He explores nineteenth-century English fears of French contamination through the Channel Tunnel and the widespread continuing dread of German domination. And he analyzes the history of the widely-shared European belief that war is beneficial or at least functionally necessary. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Syracuse, N.Y., Syracuse University Press, 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 239 pages, b&w photographs and maps. Minor edgewear to dust jacket. Else a very clean, tight copy.

Softcover. Annapolis MD, Naval Institute Press, reprint, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 509 pages, b&w illustrations. Based on twenty years of research in formerly secret archives, this book reveals for the first time the full significance of War Plan Orange -- the U.S. Navy's strategy to defeat Japan, formulated over the forty years prior to World War II. The author does a good job of describing how the plan changed over time regarding possible objectives (rescuing Philippines, capturing Truk, making Guam into the "Gibraltar of the Pacific) as well as the different groups who pushed for their vision on how to best execute the plan from the gung-ho thrusters to the cautionaries to name the major approaches. The book also details the interplay between the navy and the army as they worked together to create a global plan of war as the world became more dangerous in the 1930's (the Rainbow Plans). The work concludes with an analysis of just how successful all the effort that went into creating Plan Orange was to the waging of the Pacific War in 1941-45. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Mechanicsburg PA, Stackpole Books, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 227 pages, b&w photos. Light scratching to dust jacket front cover. Clean, tight copy. They shot some of the most iconic footage of World War II while risking their lives, yet the stories--and sheer guts--of the U.S. Marine Corps combat cameramen have been overshadowed by the heroism of the men with the rifles. War Shots brings these photographers into sharp focus through the career of Norm Hatch, a true American character whose skill with a camera and knack for being in the right place at the right time thrust him to the fore of the effort to record the Marines at war in the Pacific.

Hardcover. Mechanicsburg PA, Stackpole Books, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 227 pages, b&w photos. Light scratching to dust jacket front cover. Clean, tight copy. They shot some of the most iconic footage of World War II while risking their lives, yet the stories--and sheer guts--of the U.S. Marine Corps combat cameramen have been overshadowed by the heroism of the men with the rifles. War Shots brings these photographers into sharp focus through the career of Norm Hatch, a true American character whose skill with a camera and knack for being in the right place at the right time thrust him to the fore of the effort to record the Marines at war in the Pacific.

Hardcover. Sussex UK, Wargames Research Group, 1st, 1973, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 101 pages, b&w illustrations. This book, written in 1973, is for readers interested in the naval history of the ancient peoples of the Mediterranean. The period covered starts with Greek and Phoenician vessels of 800-700 BC and includes ships up to 800 AD. The aim of the book is to fill a gap by concentrating on the practical aspects of naval warfare in antiquity, and the battles selected for description are intended to show the development of tactics and strategy, rather than illustrate the general history of the period. It includes descriptions of the ships, crews, tactics and campaigns of Greek, Persian, Carthaginian, Hellenic, Roman, Celtic, Germanic, Scandinavian and Byzantine fleets. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, HarperCollins Publishers, First Edition, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 845 pages. Hardcover SIGNED BY AUTHOR to title page. Brown cloth covers with orange titles to spine. Black & white illustrations throughout. Bright dust jacket with only marginal wear. Clean & unmarked. A nice copy.

Hardcover. Lawrence KS, University Press of Kansas , 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 386 pages, b&w illustrations. Inept leadership, inefficient campaigning, and enormous losses would seem to spell military disaster. Yet despite these factors, the Soviet Union won its war against Nazi Germany thanks to what Roger Reese calls its military effectiveness: its ability to put troops in the field even after previous forces had been decimated. Reese probes the human dimension of the Red Army in World War II through a close analysis of soldiers' experiences and attitudes concerning mobilization, motivation, and morale. In doing so, he illuminates the Soviets' remarkable ability to recruit and retain soldiers, revealing why so many were willing to fight in the service of a repressive regime--and how that service was crucial to the army's military effectiveness. He examines the various forms of voluntarism and motivations to serve-including the influences of patriotism and Soviet ideology-and shows that many fought simply out of loyalty to the idea of historic Russia and hatred for the invading Germans. He also considers the role of political officers within the ranks, the importance of commanders who could inspire their troops, the bonds of allegiance forged within small units, and persistent fears of Stalin's secret police. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Dutton Caliber, 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 324 pages, b&w illustrations. When the P-51 Mustang began tearing across European skies in early 1944, the Allies had been losing the air war for years. Staggering numbers of bomber crews, both British and American, had been shot down and killed thanks to the Luftwaffe's superior fighter force. Not only did the air war appear grim, but any landing of troops in France was impossible while German fighters hunted overhead. But behind the scenes, a team of visionaries had begun to design a bold new type of airplane, one that could outrun and outmaneuver Germany's best. Wings of War is the incredible true story of the P-51 Mustang fighter and the unlikely crew of designers, engineers, test pilots, and army officers who brought it from the drafting table to the skies over World War II. This is hardly a straightforward tale of building an airplane--for years, the team was stymied by corruption within the defense industry and stonewalled by the Army Air Forces, who failed to understand the Mustang's potential. But when squadrons of Mustangs were finally unleashed over Hitler's empire, the Luftwaffe was decimated within months, clearing the skies for D-Day. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 249 pages. Hardcover. Brick cloth boards with gilt titles to spine. Illustrated with photos in b/w. Dust jacket with light wear. Clean, unmarked copy.

Hardcover. Annapolis, MD, Navel Institute Press, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 238 pages. Hardcover with faded spine dust jacket. Black and white photographs/illustrations throughout. Clean, tight copy with only light wear to dust jacket and light rubbing to cover boards.

Hardcover. University Press of Colorado, 1st, 1990, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 198 pages, b&w illustrations. Women of the New Mexico Frontier, 1846-1912 is a collection of essays that include biographical sketches and writings from women of all walks of life who helped bring about the Americanization of the New Mexico Territory, from the Mexican War until statehood in 1912. These women were wives of missionaries, soldiers and military officers, and government officials who came from the eastern part of the United States. INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR on title page. Clean copy.

Softcover. Stackpole Books, 1st, 2016, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 147 pages, color illustrations. Published during the war's centennial, this is the story of the First World War through forty propaganda posters. Essays explain each poster, unpacking the visual imagery and setting the poster within the military, political, social, and cultural history of the war. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. London, Cambridge University Press, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. This revisionist study of Allied diplomacy from 1941 to 1946 challenges Americocentric views of the period and highlights Europe's neglected role. Fraser J. Harbutt, drawing on international sources, shows that in planning for the future Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and others self-consciously operated into 1945, not on "East/West" lines but within a "Europe/America" political framework characterized by the plausible prospect of Anglo-Russian collaboration and persisting American detachment. Harbutt then explains the destabilizing transformation around the time of the pivotal Yalta conference of February 1945, when a sudden series of provocative initiatives, manipulations, and miscues interacted with events to produce the breakdown of European solidarity and the Anglo-Soviet nexus, an evolving Anglo-American alignment, and new tensions that led finally to the Cold War. This fresh perspective, stressing structural, geopolitical, and traditional impulses and constraints, raises important new questions about the enduringly controversial transition from World War II to a cold war that no statesman wanted. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Random House , 1st, 2021, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 532 pages. The first definitive account of the rise and fall of the Secret Service, from the Kennedy assassination to the alarming mismanagement of the Obama and Trump years, right up to the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6--by the Pulitzer Prize winner.