Military

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. Boston, Ticknor and Fields, 1st, 1860, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 283 pages. Hardcover. Stated Author's Edition. Brick colored end papers scarred & chipped. Small discard stamp on title-page - ex-library with few markings. Short tear to page 7 of preface. Original embossed brown cloth, gilt lettering on spine faded. Uncommon book detailing the hunting of Indian animals, including man-eaters, panthers, bears, buffalo and wild elephants.

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. NY, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1st US, 1902, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, red cloth illustrated boards with gilt lettering on cover and spine. 380 pages plus 26 pages of publisher's catalogs at end. 10 b/w illustrations by William Rainey and three one page maps. Spine a bit faded, light soil to rear cover,otherwise clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1st US, 1901, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, red cloth stamped in 3-colors plus gilt on front cover and spine, 393 pages plus publishers ads in rear. with twelve b&w illustrations by William Rainey, and a map.

Softcover. Havertown PA, Pen and Sword Military, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 302 pages illustrated in b&w. Craig Allen, a Paratrooper for 29 years, returned to 2 PARA as a reservist and unofficial photographer for the Battlegroup's dramatic 2008 Tour in Helmand. As both a respected soldier and photographer he had unrivaled access to the fighting and moved from area to area following the action. Every evening he wrote up his experiences and those of the men he was with, whose trust he had as 'a member of the club'. He had a ringside seat to a very costly summer tour, with the Taliban proving themselves worthy enemies to even the most elite British Army soldiers. His story tells in superb action photographs and no-nonsense prose of the hardships, courage, fears and cost suffered by front line soldiers over prolonged periods. He captures the color of life and death in Afghanistan for both combatants and the luckless civilian population caught up in this vicious spiral of war. An unforgettable book which has true visual appeal. 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. 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.