Military

The finest fighting force in the world. Escape. Evade. Survive. Repeat. Seven gripping tales of overcoming the impossible. Arguably the finest special forces troops of the Second World War, the SAS was the jewel in the British military crown. But the near-impossible nature of their heroic missions sometimes left them trapped behind enemy lines, the enemy closing and forced to endure the unendurable. But the unendurable is all in a day’s work for these magnificent seven. Incredible odds. Outstanding bravery. Real adventure.

After its maiden flight on 5 January 1941, Lancaster Chief Test Pilot Sam Browne said, ‘Oh boy, oh boy. What an aircraft!’ With a maximum weight of over 30 tonnes, far heavier than the RAF’s previous generation of bomber, the standard version could lift, on average, 14,000 lbs of bombs. Britain was ready to take the aerial war to Nazi Germany in a deadly fashion. During the course of the Second World War, 7,377 Lancaster bombers were built, flying a total of 156,000 sorties and dropped 618,378 tonnes of bombs on German cities. 

In the summer of 2014 the world watched in horror as the black flag of ISIS swept all before it. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, fell, ISIS proclaimed the caliphate and the horror mounted: from the mass murder, rape and enslavement of the Yazidis to the public beheading of journalists by British jihadis. For Macer Gifford it wasn't enough to ask why more wasn't being done; he knew he had to act.

A true story about a private who becomes a subject of torture when it is revealed, through interrogation techniques, that the private once had contact with a UFO. The private is repeatedly victim to several different techniques of torture, over a short period of time. While his interrogators are extracting information, they disregard his health and well being in the process. Eventually, when the interrogations are concluded, the private is sent home with a lifetime of being totally disabled.

The extraordinary story of British junior officers in the First World War, who led their men out of the trenches and faced a life expectancy of six weeks. During the Great War, many boys went straight from the classroom to the most dangerous job in the world - that of junior officer on the Western Front. Although desperately aware of how many of their predecessors had fallen before them, nearly all stepped forward, unflinchingly, to do their duty. The average life expectancy of a subaltern in the trenches was a mere six weeks.

Charles Dew’s Apostles of Disunion has established itself as a modern classic and an indispensable account of the Southern states’ secession from the Union. Addressing topics still hotly debated among historians and the public at large more than a century and a half after the Civil War, the book offers a compelling and clearly substantiated argument that slavery and race were at the heart of our great national crisis.

On the Battlefield: A Memoir of an Ethiopian Airborne Soldier tells the incredible story of one of Ethiopia’s most celebrated combat generals. Brigadier General Tesfaye Habtemariam is one of Ethiopia’s greatest military leaders. General Tesfaye Habtemariam’s career spanned three decades and survived three different Ethiopian governments. From 1964 to 1991, he commanded troops in nearly every engagement in which the Ethiopian military saw action.

Combining the soulful honesty of Make Your Bed with the inspiring power of You Are a Badass, America’s first female combat jet pilot and Arizona Senator Martha McSally shows you how to clear the runway of your life: embrace fear, transform doubt, succeed when you are expected to fail, and soar to great heights in this motivational life guide.

Brilliantly told, Revolver brings the brazenly ambitious and profoundly innovative industrialist and leader Samuel Colt to vivid life. In the space of his 47 years, he seemingly lived five lives: He traveled, womanized, drank prodigiously, smuggled guns to Russia, bribed politicians, and supplied the Union Army with the guns they needed to win the Civil War. Colt lived during an age of promise and progress, but also of slavery, corruption, and unbridled greed, and he not only helped to create this America, he completely embodied it.

In the autumn of 1938, Europe believed in the promise of peace. But only a year later, the fateful decisions of just a few men had again led Europe to a massive world war. Drawing on contemporary diaries, memoirs, and newspapers, as well as recorded interviews, 1939 is a narrative account of what the coming of the Second World War felt like to those who lived through it.

Command of the oceans was crucial to winning World War II. By the start of 1942 Nazi Germany had conquered mainland Europe, and Imperial Japan had overrun Southeast Asia and much of the Pacific. How could Britain and distant America prevail in what had become a "war of continents"? In this definitive account, Evan Mawdsley traces events at sea from the first U-boat operations in 1939 to the surrender of Japan. He argues that the Allied counterattack involved not just decisive sea battles, but a long struggle to control shipping arteries and move armies across the sea. 

 Decision at Sea is a powerful and illuminating look at pivotal moments in the history of the Navy and of the United States. It is also a compelling study of the unchanging demands of leadership at sea, where commanders must make rapid decisions in the heat of battle with lives - and the fate of nations - hanging in the balance. 

Not everyone will have the chance to chase and seize Colombian cocaine cartel smuggling boats, assist in post-9/11 security in New York City, keep the peace between warring mountain tribes in Southeast Asia, or build and run successful American manufacturing companies. But everyone has the chance to become their very best self and build a bulletproof life of their own!

The wake of war leaves marks that don’t always look dramatic from the outside. Inside, a tempest of trauma rages. Consumed by darkness and depression in the aftermath of war, Ewa Reid-Hammer’s story is the journey of a terrified child’s transformation to adulthood. With reflections on the emotional wounds left not only on herself, but those close to her, Reid-Hammer’s account depicts the complexities of survival and self-recovery in the face of distress. From horror to healing, her story reveals the truth of what it is to be a child of war.

The world's most dangerous book. A timeless piece that would undoubtedly disrupt the plans of any authoritarian regime. The Art of Guerrilla Warfare is a must-listen for anyone interested in military strategy. Fighting a superior foe is a momentous task. There are many ways it can be done, there are many ways victories can be achieved. In war, there are no rules, there are no laws. There are only strategies and tactics. A divided people can be isolated and devoured. Survival depends upon the masses forming one mind. 

In 2012, on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan, an improvised explosive device left Dan Crenshaw's right eye destroyed and his left blinded. Only through the careful hand of his surgeons, and what doctors called a miracle, did Crenshaw's left eye recover partial vision....

On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away....

In Extreme Ownership, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin share hard-hitting Navy SEAL combat stories that translate into lessons for business and life....

Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow returns with a sweeping and dramatic portrait of one of our most compelling generals and presidents, Ulysses S. Grant....

Among the autobiographies of great military figures, Ulysses S. Grant’s is certainly one of the finest, and it is arguably the most notable literary achievement of any American president....

The Irish-American story, with all its twists and triumphs, is told through the improbable life of one man....

The best-selling authors of The First Conspiracy, which covers the secret plot against George Washington, now turn their attention to a little-known but true story about a failed assassination attempt on President Lincoln....

Combining history, psychology, and anthropology, Tribe explores what we can learn from tribal societies about loyalty, belonging, and the eternal human quest for meaning....

Call Sign Chaos is the account of Jim Mattis’ storied career, from wide-ranging leadership roles in three wars to ultimately commanding a quarter of a million troops across the Middle East....

Members of the military’s special operations branches share a closely guarded secret: They love their jobs. They relish the opportunity to fight. They are thankful for it, even, and hopeful that maybe, possibly, they’ll also get to kill a bunch of bad guys while they’re at it....

No Ordinary Dog is the powerful true story of a SEAL Team Operator and military dog handler, and the dog that saved his life....

From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies....

Since its publication in 1960, this monumental study of Hitler’s German empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of the 20th century’s blackest hours....

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood....

In the predawn hours of March 4, 2002, just below the 10,000-foot peak of a mountain in eastern Afghanistan, a fierce battle raged. Outnumbered by Al Qaeda fighters, Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman and a handful of SEALs struggled to take the summit....

Stirringly evocative, thought provoking, and often jaw dropping, The Operator ranges across SEAL Team Operator Robert O'Neill's awe-inspiring 400-mission career....

Adrenaline-charged and deeply personal, American Sniper is a thrilling eyewitness account of war that only one man could tell....

Dale Maharidge’s father, like many World War II veterans, never talked about “the good war”. But the behind closed doors of their working class, Midwestern life, even the most mundane moments could trigger his father’s violent episodes, exposing his untreated trauma from combat....

Four US Navy SEALS departed one clear night in early July 2005 for the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border for a reconnaissance mission....

Night is an unmistakably autobiographical account of the author's own gruesome experiences in Nazi Germany's death camps....

In this landmark biography of Winston Churchill based on extensive new material, the true genius of the man, statesman, and leader can finally be fully understood - by the best-selling, award-winning author of Napoleon and The Storm of War....

Easy Company, 506th Airborne Division, U.S. Army, was as good a rifle company as any in the world....

The celebrated 2010 HBO miniseries The Pacific, winner of eight Emmy Awards, was based on two classic books about the War in the Pacific, Helmet for My Pillow and With The Old Breed....

Admiral William H. McRaven is back with amazing stories of bravery and heroism from his career as a Navy SEAL and commander of America's Special Operations Forces....

At one time, Corrie ten Boom would have laughed at the idea that she had a story to tell.....

The first comprehensive oral history of September 11, 2001 - a panoramic narrative woven from the voices of Americans on the front lines of an unprecedented national trauma....

Erik Larson has been widely acclaimed as a master of narrative non-fiction, and in his new book, turns his hand to a remarkable story set during Hitler’s rise to power....

Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States and commander of the Union forces in the Civil War...

From the number-one New York Times best-selling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania....

The definitive biography of the great soldier-statesman by the New York Times best-selling author of The Storm of War....