history Military

Hardcover. NY, Viking Press, 2nd pr., 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 430 pages. Immediately after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to restore the honor of the United States with a dramatic act of a retaliatory bombing raid on Tokyo. On April 18, 1942, eighty brave young men, led by the famous daredevil Jimmy Doolittle, took off from a navy carrier in the mid-Pacific on what everyone regarded as a suicide mission but instead became a resounding American victory and helped turn the tide of the war. The First Heroes is the story of that mission. Meticulously researched and based on interviews with twenty of the surviving Tokyo Raiders, this is a true account that almost defies belief, a tremendous human drama of great personal courage, and a powerful reminder that ordinary people, when faced with extraordinary circumstances, can rise to the challenge of history. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, E. P. Dutton, 1st, 1919, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth covers with gilt lettering, 402 pages. Translated form the Italian by Maria Sermolino. An account of WW1 by an officer in the Italian Army. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Viking, 1st, 2018, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 294 pages, b&w photos. Sam Kleiner's The Flying Tigers uncovers the hidden story of the group of young American men and women who crossed the Pacific before Pearl Harbor to risk their lives defending China. Led by legendary army pilot Claire Chennault, these men left behind an America still at peace in the summer of 1941 using false identities to travel across the Pacific to a run-down airbase in the jungles of Burma. In the wake of the disaster at Pearl Harbor this motley crew was the first group of Americans to take on the Japanese in combat, shooting down hundreds of Japanese aircraft in the skies over Burma, Thailand, and China. At a time when the Allies were being defeated across the globe, the Flying Tigers' exploits gave hope to Americans and Chinese alike. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Dublin, Brett Smith, 1st thus, 1788, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, leather bound. 553 pages plus Index of Proper Names. Uncommon translation from Ireland. Hawkey was a Reverend and Master of the Free-School in Dundalk. "The Commentaries of his Wars in Gaul" is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine years he spent fighting the Germanic peoples and Celtic peoples in Gaul that opposed Roman conquest. The Gallic Wars were a series of military campaigns waged by the Roman proconsul Julius Caesar against several Gallic tribes. Rome's war against the Gallic tribes lasted from 58 BC to 50 BC and culminated in the decisive Battle of Alesia in 52 BC, in which a complete Roman victory resulted in the expansion of the Roman Republic over the whole of Gaul (mainly present-day France and Belgium). "His Commentaries of the Civil War" is an account written by Julius Caesar of his war against Gnaeus Pompeius and the Senate. It covers the events of 49-48 BC, from shortly before Caesar's invasion of Italy to Pompey's defeat at the Battle of Pharsalus and flight to Egypt with Caesar in pursuit. It closes with Pompey assassinated, Caesar attempting to mediate rival claims to the Egyptian throne, and the beginning of the Alexandrian War. Prelim pages gone so the book opens on the title page. Interior pages bright with no foxing, firm binding. Light wear to covers, front cover with partial split along spine, Otherwise clean.

Hardcover. August Paul Wooster and Sons, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, dark green boards with gilt lettering and decoration. Unpaginated, but approx. 200 pages. Numerous b&w and color illustrations of uniforms, dress, weapons, insignias, etc, appear to be assembled from German pictorial sources. Clean, bright copy. Self-published.

Hardcover. NY, New York University Press, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, pages. The GI War Against Japan recounts the harrowing experiences of American soldiers in Asia and the Pacific. Based on countless diaries and letters, it sweeps across the battlefields, from the early desperate stand at Guadalcanal to the tragic sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis at war's very end. From the daunting spaces of the China-India theater to the fortress islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Schrijvers brings to life the GIs' struggle with suffocating wilderness, devastating diseases, and Japanese soldiers who preferred death over life. Amidst the frustration and despair of this war, American soldiers abandoned themselves to an escalating rage that presaged Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hardcover. Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1st, 1957, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Volume XI in The History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. 360 pages, illustrated with maps (one fold-out) and b&w photos. Gilt on spine with light fading, lacks dust jacket, dj flap copy pasted inside front cover, otherwise clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Oxford University Press, 1st, 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 364 pages. The Second World War's Pacific conflict was one of the most complex in history. It embrioled peoples from opposite sides of the globe; it was fought in China, across the expanses of the Pacific, and in the jungles of Southeast Asia; and it was devastating in its consequences for civilians and servicemen alike. It saw the first use of atomic weapons, hastened the end of the Western empires in Asia, and marked America's rise to the position of the most powerful nation in the world.Christopher Thorne, whose previous studies of the war in the Pacific have become landmarks in the field, here weaves together both the entire network of international relations surrounding the war and the impact the war had on all the societies involved--Indian as well as American; Australian and New Zealand as well as Japanese; Korean, Chinese, and Southeast Asian as well as British, French, and Dutch. The Issue of War draws on material gathered over many years in the Far East, Western Europe, and the U.S.--material including wartime films, broadcasts, and newspapers,as well as countless private and offical papers. Representing a synthesis of military, diplomatic, economic, intellectual, and social history, it not only places the war in the context of developments before 1941, but illuminates various patterns that cut across the familiar distinctions between Asia and the West or between Japan and the Allies. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, The Free Press, 1st, 1968, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, gray cloth binding with orange and gilt lettering on spine. 394 pages. Prof. Paige's reconstruction and analysis of the U.S. decision to resist Chinese aggression in Korea in 1950. Name on front fly leaf othewise clean. No dust jacket.

Hardcover. Hoboken NJ, Wiley Publishing, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. The Last Samurai traces Saigo's life from his early days as a tax clerk in far southwestern Japan, through his rise to national prominence as a fierce imperial loyalist. Saigo was twice exiled for his political activities - sent to Japan's remote southwestern islands where he fully expected to die. But exile only increased his reputation for loyalty, and in 1864 he was brought back to the capital to help his lord fight for the restoration of the emperor.

Hardcover. Philadelphia , Hogan and Thompson, reprint, 1836, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, leather bound, 285 pages with index. Front fly leaf gone, book opens to title page. Hinges cracked, rear cover barely holding on. No markings.

Softcover. Washington DC, The Infantry Journal, reprint, 1944, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Small softcover, 335 pages. "The primary purpose of this book is to provide a guide to the main forces, institutional and ideological, in the Nazi system." Published for the American servicemen. Name on front cover,mild wear to covers.

Hardcover. NY, The Century Co., 1st, 1917, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, green cloth stamped in gilt. 346 pages. Frontis. portrait, illustrated with b&w plates and folding facsimile documents. "Authoritative information as to how the soldiers of the Allies are transported, housed and trained, how a battle is prepared for in advance, etc. " Author observed British Postal Censorship and war, including trench-fighting, during WWI. Eric Fisher Wood, Sr. (1889 1962) was an American civil engineer, architect, author, and officer in the United States Army, retiring with the rank of Brigadier General. Book shows mild shelf wear, name and stamp to front endpapers, otherwise clean. Good plus.

Hardcover. NY, Norton, 1st US, 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 192 pages. The photos are breathtaking not necessarily for their quality - many are washed out and most of the subject matter is routine day to day military stuff - but for their rarity. While the Germans seem to have been at least as far advanced in the use of color photography as the Americans, there is still a paucity of color photography in the public record. That is being addressed by the various nations who took large amounts of color film in an official capacity, including the US, UK, Germany and Canada.The book's captions are adequate to the task, and there are good historical sections, as well as an introduction by Max Hastings as well as commentary by an actual German war correspondent. The strength of the book is in its ability to bring the participants of the subject campaign - the German invasion of Russia up to and including Stalingrad - to life. The use of a large format allows one to note small details of the photos, and relate to the subject matter on a personal level. Despite the lack of "action" shots, there is much to see in facial expressions, uniform details, and especially geography as the Russian steppe is shown in summer and winter, as well as the famous Russian mud (Rasputitsa) about which so much has been written.

Hardcover. Boston, Little, Brown and Company, reprint, 1950, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Volume III in The History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. 411 pages, illustrated with maps and b&w photos. Gilt on spine with light fading, lacks dust jacket, otherwise clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Free Press, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 368 pages, b&w illustrations. Neufeld, the curator of World War II history at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., provides a well-written, comprehensively researched analysis of Nazi Germany's missile program and its antecedents. The German army became interested in rocket technology during the 1930s at the urging of Karl Becker, an engineer who believed a radical new weapon could deliver a psychological blow to an enemy. The construction of Peenemunde in 1936-37 provided a focal point for research and development that made guided missiles a reality despite Germany's limited material and scientific resources. Neufeld shows that while the rocket program was not Nazi in origin, its leaders readily compromised themselves by accepting National Socialism, especially in agreeing to the widespread use of slave labor. A more ambiguous legacy of Peenemunde is its rocket technology, which decisively shaped the second half of the 20th century. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Yardley PA, Westholme Publishing, BC Ed., 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 337 pages. The opening years of the French and Indian War were disastrous for the British. In 1755 General Braddock's troops were routed at the Battle of Monongahela and by the middle of 1756 Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario had fallen. Hindered by quarrelsome provincial councils, incompetent generals, and the redcoats' inability to adapt to wilderness warfare, Britain was losing the war. In 1757 the 35th Regiment of Foot stepped into the breach. A poorly trained assortment of conscripts, old soldiers, and convicted criminals led by Lieutenant Colonel George Monro, the regiment was destined to take center stage in the most controversial event of the war. Fort William Henry on the southern shore of New York's Lake George was a key fortification supporting British interests along the frontier with French America. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Little, Brown and Company, reprint, 1950, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Volume V in The History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. 389 pages, illustrated with maps (one fold-out) and b&w photos. Gilt on spine with light fading, lacks dust jacket, otherwise clean, tight copy.

Softcover. NY, Public Affairs, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover in pictorial wraps, 422 pages, b&w illustrations. Combining razor-sharp analysis with dramatic narrative, vivid portraits of soldiers and commanders with illuminating discussions of battle tactics and covert actions, The Sword and the Olive traces the history of the IDF from its beginnings in Palestine to today. The book also goes beyond chronology to wrestle with the political and ethical struggles that have shaped the IDF and the country it serves--struggles that are manifesting themselves in the recent tragic escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Often revisionist in attitude, surprising in many of its conclusions, this book casts new light on the struggle for peace in the Middle East. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, E. P. Dutton, reprint, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. David Irving's The Trail of the Fox is the best work on Rommel ever written. The circumstances around Rommel's involvement with the attempt on Hitler's life, which is the most speculated aspect of Rommel's life, and how the Gestapo came to believe Rommel was involved, have not been made clear in most of the historiography on Rommel. Irving pieces together what really happened most effectively. There are so many strengths of this book, of which the greatest is probably the fact Irving had access to Rommel's dairy and many of his letters, which he got permission from the family to view. Other items he found in collections in the United States, England, and Germany. Since he worked on this in the 1970's he also was able to interview a number of German officers who were still alive that knew and served with Rommel. The whole work is the way historical research should be done; totally reliant on primary source material, and ignores secondary sources that often use conjecture or just repeat incorrect narratives from earlier books. Every source is from people who fought the war; Germans, Italians, British, French and American officers who were in these campaigns and had either first hand observation of Rommel or were major participants like Eisenhower, Churchill, Goebbels, etc. Clean copy.

Softcover. Dayton OH, Morningside Bookshop, reprint, 1983, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 338 pages, b&w illustrations. Reprint of 1957 Edition. "Mr. Pullen...has gone to the letters, diaries and memoirs of the participants with the thoroughness and care of a good historian...He can also describe battle action with much distinction, his account of the 20th's fight at Gettysburg is as good a piece of battle writing as you are likely to find anywhere." - Bruce Catton. Clean copy.

Softcover. St. Paul MN, Pogo Press, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 158 pages, b&w illustrations. During World War I, soldiers in the American Expeditionary Force rarely fought in the newly developed tank, and those who did manned British and French tanks since American models did not become available until after the war. Harris joined the Tank Corps because it was considered the elite unit of the ground forces and had a certain amount of romance connected with it. Initially assigned as a driving instructor, he later saw action at the St. Mihiel salient and on the Meuse-Argonne front. This book, which offers an extensive preface, summarizing Harris's life before, during, and after the war, along with some penetrating insights into his character, collects 46 letters he wrote home while in service. As they show, Harris saw war as a game not unlike the football games he played in his youth. Although he spent only 18 months in Europe, he looked upon it as a bold adventure, surviving the bad periods and enjoying the better moments. He returned from war apparently unscathed in both body and mind. The letters provide an entertaining if hardly probing portrayal of World War I from a tank officer's point of view. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1st, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. All about the motivation and planning for the Wars in Laos (1959-62), Vietnam (from 1954) and Cambodia. Peter Dale Scott examines the many ways in which war policy has been driven by "accidents" and other events in the field, in some cases despite moves toward peace that were directed by presidents. Name on front fly leaf, light rubbing to dj, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott , 1st, 1963, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pale green cloth, 210 pages. Great Battles Series. No dust jacket. Related clipping laid in. Mild fading to gilt lettering on spine. Clean copy.