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P. G. T. Beauregard: Napoleon In Gray (Southern Biography Ser.)
by T. Harry Williams"First published in 1955 to wide acclaim, T. Harry Williams' P. G. T. Beauregard is universally regarded as "the first authoritative portrait of the Confederacy's always dramatic, often perplexing" general (Chicago Tribune). Chivalric, arrogant, and of exotic Creole Louisiana origin, Beauregard participated in every phase of the Civil War from its beginning to its end. He rigidly adhered to principles of war derived from his studies of Jomini and Napoleon, and yet many of his battle plans were rejected by his superiors, who regarded him as excitable, unreliable, and contentious. After the war, Beauregard was almost the only prominent Confederate general who adapted successfully to the New South, running railroads and later supervising the notorious Louisiana Lottery. This paradox of a man who fought gallantly to defend the Old South and then helped industrialize it is the fascinating subject of Williams' superb biography."-Print ed.
P. O. W.
by Guy MorganThe fascinating account of a British Naval Officer who was captured during the Second World War and endured the prisoner of war camps of both the Fascist Italians and the Nazi Germans.“I was captured by the Germans in a partisan fishing boat off the Dalmatian Island of Lussin on November 13, 1943. As a result of a wound then sustained I was repatriated via Sweden on September 9, 1944….My aim throughout has been to present an accurate picture of things as they were. My motives were personal—so that I should not bore my wife with endless anecdote, so that I should be forearmed with an adequate answer to the inevitable question, “What was it like?” I knew that as soon as I returned and groped for the broken ends of the thread of my life, I should forget this strange catalepsis and, in a week or two, should find it difficult to believe these things really happened.And, if further excuse for writing were needed, it would be that I was fortunate enough to have as friend and companion in most of these experiences Lieutenant John Worsley, R.N.V.R., Official Naval War Artist, who illustrated the book.”
P.O.W.: A Definitive History of the American Prisoner-of-War Experience in Vietnam, 1964-1973
by John G. Hubbell"With the first page the book explodes ... a story of fortitude and patriotism to inspire generations of Americans to come." Philadelphia Evening Bulletin "It's to our experience as Blackstone is to the law." Col. George E. "Bud" Day, USAF (Ret.), attorney, former POW and Medal of Honor.
PACIFIC WAR STORIES: In The Words Of Those Who Survived
by Rex Alan Smith Gerald A. MeehlThe most extensive collection published to date of first-person oral histories on so many diverse aspects of the war in the Pacific-told in gripping, eyewitness accounts by more than seventy veterans from all branches of service.In this new book by the authors of Pacific Legacy: Image and Memory of World War II in the Pacific, the history of the War in the Pacific comes vividly to life in the words of those who witnessed it first hand. The editors create for the reader, as the veterans themselves recall it, what that war was like-how it looked, felt, smelled, and sounded. The stories collected here are a unique portrayal of the mundane, exotic, boring, terrifying, life-altering events that made up their wartime experiences in World War II in the Pacific, a war fought on countless far-flung islands over an area that constitutes about one-third of the globe. What the veterans saw and lived through has stayed with them their entire lives, and much of it comes to the surface again through their vivid memories.The narratives, grouped into fifteen thematic, chronologically arranged chapters, are stirring, first-hand accounts, from front-line combat at the epicenter of violence and death to restless, weary boredom on rear area islands thousands of miles from the fighting. While their experiences differed, all were changed by what happened to them in the Pacific. These are not the stories of sweeping strategies or bold moves by generals and admirals. Instead, we hear from men and women on the lower rungs, including ordinary seamen on vessels that encountered Japanese warships and planes and sometimes came out second best, rank-and-file Marines who were in amtracs churning toward bullet-swept tropical beaches and saw their buddies killed beside them, and astounded eyewitnesses to the war's sudden start on December 7, 1941. This is an important book for military buffs as well as for the survivors of World War II and their families.
PAPUAN CAMPAIGN - The Buna-Sanananda Operation - 16 November 1942 - 23 January 1943 [Illustrated Edition]
by AnonWith 7 maps, 5 charts & 23 illustrationsDuring the early months of 1942 the Japanese were on the offensive everywhere in the Southwest Pacific...On 10 Dec. 1941, Japanese forces landed in the Philippines; on 15 Feb. 1942, Singapore fell...Then the attack shifted farther to the southeast, and from Rabaul...the Japanese High Command planned a two-pronged drive. One prong was to strike for control of southeastern New Guinea; the other was to thrust through the Solomon Islands.Neither attack reached its objective. When a Japanese convoy pushed around the eastern tip of New Guinea, it met American naval forces. In the ensuing Battle of the Coral Sea (4-8 May 1942), the Japanese suffered a decisive defeat...Failure in their attempt by sea did not end the Japanese effort to capture Port Moresby, which would afford them an invasion base only 340 miles from Australia. In July they landed at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda on the northeast coast of Papua and pushed southward across the Papuan Peninsula. The Australians first stopped the enemy and then, joined by American forces, drove him back to his landing bases. This long and hard counteroffensive not only freed Australia from the imminent threat of invasion, but gave the United Nations their first toehold in the area of enemy defenses protecting Rabaul, center of Japanese power in the Southwest Pacific.The American part in the Buna-Sanananda campaign, in which Australian and American troops defeated "the invincible Imperial Army" of Japan, is the subject of this pamphlet...The story is set in a background of fever-ridden swamp and jungle, where American soldiers lay day after day in waterlogged fox holes or crawled through murderous fire toward enemy positions they could not see. Despite all the difficulties imposed by terrain, climate, and the formidable strength of Japanese fortifications, despite failure in many heroic attacks, the effort was carried through to a final and smashing success.
PLA Influence on China's National Security Policymaking
by Andrew Scobell Phillip C. SaundersIn recent years there have been reports of actions purportedly taken by People's Liberation Army (PLA) units without civilian authorization, and of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) civilian leaders seeking to curry favor with the military--suggesting that a nationalistic and increasingly influential PLA is driving more assertive Chinese policies on a range of military and sovereignty issues. To many experienced PLA watchers however, the PLA remains a "party-army" that is responsive to orders from the CCP. The PLA's Role in National Security Policy-Making seeks to assess the "real" relationship between the PLA and its civilian masters by moving beyond media and pundit speculation to mount an in-depth examination and explanation of the PLA's role in national security policy-making. After examining the structural factors that shape PLA interactions with the Party-State, the book uses case studies to explore the PLA's role in foreign policy crises. It then assesses the PLA's role in China's territorial disputes and in military interactions with civilian government and business, exploring the military's role in China's civil-military integration development strategy. The evidence reveals that today's PLA does appear to have more influence on purely military issues than in the past--but much less influence on political issues--and to be more actively engaged in policy debates on mixed civil-military issues where military equities are at stake.
POW on the Sumatra Railway
by Christine BridgesJohn Geoffrey Lee (always known as Geoff) joined the RAF on his 20th birthday in June 1941. He left Liverpool on a troop ship in December 1941, with no idea where he was going. He eventually arrived in Java, where he was captured by the Japanese, along with many others. During his time in captivity, he survived several camps in Java, Ambon and Singapore and three hell ship journeys. After being washed ashore in Sumatra, (as a ferry he was being transported on blew up), he was then recaptured and suffered sheer hell as a slave on the Sumatra Railway. Enduring bouts of malaria, beri beri, tropical ulcers and a starvation diet was bad enough, but this was exacerbated by the searing heat and extreme cruelty meted out to the prisoners by the Japanese and Korean guards. Geoff miraculously survived, weighing just 6 stone when he arrived back in Liverpool in December 1945. After his release he found he had difficulty in convincing people where he had been as no one had heard of the “Sumatra Railway”, only the other one, thousands of miles away in Burma. Letters to newspapers were returned as ‘Just another Burma Railway story’. The Ministry of Defence, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and The Imperial War Museum had no records of POW’s building a railway in Sumatra. So began Geoff’s journey, his aim… to prove to the establishment what he already knew to be true. This is Geoff's story of his captivity, release, and subsequent efforts in achieving his aim.
PS I Love You
by Lilian HarrySet in a Lyons Corner House in London, this is the third compelling novel in the series set against the backdrop of the Second World War.The war is progressing for the Nippies, the girls who work at the Lyons Corner House in Marble Arch. With the air raids, rationing and blackouts, life no longer has the carefree attitude it used to have. But new pain and pleasure await as everyone decides what effort they can make towards victory. Jo yearns for Nick, but the burns he sustained when he was shot down are life-changing and need the new procedure of plastic surgery. Will their marriage ever go ahead? And does Jo want it to? She loses herself in her new role as lumberjill, one of the women hewing timber for the war effort. Meanwhile, Phyl has been selected, along with some other trusted Nippies, for secret work. Far from family and friends, she works with munitions and tries to forget her desire to be a Wren. Her husband is far away but she never loses faith that one day they will be reunited...
PSI Spies: The True Story of America's Psychic Warfare Program
by Jim Marrs“In PSI Spies, Jim Marrs has provided the original report on the U.S. Army’s use of psychic remote viewing as an intelligence tool.” —Whitley StrieberLearn the Truth About Our Military’s Psychic SoldiersPSI Spies takes you behind the scenes of the US Army’s formerly top-secret remote viewing unit to see how the military has used this psychic ability as a tool and a weapon. Even though remote viewing was developed by various tax-supported government agencies, including the CIA, most Americans have never heard of this faculty.In the 1970s, with the support of Congress, the Army formed a small unit of remote viewers to spy for America. These soldiers/psychic spies gained penetrating knowledge about a wide variety of subjects. They were consulted to stop a Soviet plot to kill President Ronald Reagan. They mentally prowled the halls of the Kremlin. They probed Iraq’s hidden weapons sites in preparation for the 1991 Gulf War.From insights into our future to the continuing mysteries of UFOs and crop circles, no subject has been immune to the military remote viewers—America’s Psi Spies. And now, in this book, you can also find tips on how to remote view on your own.Praise for PSI Spies“PSI Spies is one of the best books ever written about the U.S. government’s top-secret psychic warfare unit. Marrs introduces us to all involved in this covert project and gives a detailed view of the benefits and limitations of applied remote viewing. I highly recommend it.” —Simeon Hein, PhD, author of Opening Minds“Marrs uses his impressive investigative skills and impeccable research to delve into the shadowy world of remote viewing and psychic spying as a form of intelligence gathering. Marrs presents compelling and thorough documentation of the classified quest of the U.S. government to understand the mysterious world of “psi” and turn it to their military advantage. Both provocative and highly entertaining, PSI Spies proves that our government takes paranormal phenomena far more seriously than we’ve ever been led to believe. Another must-read book by an author who is never afraid to dig deep for, and expose, the truth.” —Marie D. Jones, author of PSIence: How New Discoveries in Quantum Physics and New Science May Explain the Existence of Paranormal Phenomena
PT 105
by Richard Dick KereseyDrawing on his own experiences as the captain of PT 105 at Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and more, the author tells how the fastest little boat in combat contributed to the war effort.
PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy
by William DoyleNew York Times bestselling author William Doyle’s PT 109 is the World War II story of shipwreck and survival that paved John F. Kennedy’s path to power.In the early morning of August 2, 1943, during a nighttime skirmish amid the Solomon Islands, the Japanese destroyer Amagiri barreled through thick fog and struck the U.S. Navy’s motor torpedo boat PT 109, splitting the craft nearly in half and killing two American sailors instantly. The sea erupted in flames as the 109’s skipper, John F. Kennedy, and the ten surviving crewmen desperately clung to the sinking wreckage; 1,200 feet of ink-black, shark-infested water loomed beneath. Informed that all hands were lost, the American base attempted no rescue. What follows is one of the most remarkable tales of World War II, one whose astonishing afterlife would culminate two decades later in the White House.Drawing on original interviews with the last living links to the events, previously untapped Japanese wartime archives, and a wealth of archival documents from the Kennedy Library, including a lost first-hand account by JFK himself, William Doyle has crafted a thrilling and definitive account of the sinking of PT 109 and its shipwrecked crew’s heroics. Equally fascinating is the story’s second act, in which Doyle explores how this extraordinary episode shaped Kennedy’s character and fate, proving instrumental to achieving his presidential ambitions.Featuring castaways on a deserted island, a spy network of Solomon Island natives, an Australian coast watcher hidden on the side of a volcano, an S.O.S. note carved into a coconut, and a daring rescue attempt, PT 109 is an unforgettable American epic of war and destiny.
PT Boats: The US Navy’s Fast Attack Patrol Torpedo Boats in World War II (Legends of Warfare: Naval #6)
by David DoyleHistory of the design, development, and deployment of the US Navy's famed fleet of PT boatsChronicles the construction, launch, commissioning, and combat use of PT boats, including John F. Kennedy's ill-fated PT-109Profusely illustrated with scarce archival photographs from diverse collections, including previously unpublished images
PTSD: A Short History (Johns Hopkins Biographies of Disease)
by Allan V. HorwitzA comprehensive history of PTSD.Post-traumatic stress disorder—and its predecessor diagnoses, including soldier’s heart, railroad spine, and shell shock—was recognized as a psychiatric disorder in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The psychic impacts of train crashes, wars, and sexual shocks among children first drew psychiatric attention. Later, enormous numbers of soldiers suffering from battlefield traumas returned from the world wars. It was not until the 1980s that PTSD became a formal diagnosis, in part to recognize the intense psychic suffering of Vietnam War veterans and women with trauma-related personality disorders. PTSD now occupies a dominant place in not only the mental health professions but also major social institutions and mainstream culture, making it the signature mental disorder of the early twenty-first century. In PTSD, Allan V. Horwitz traces the fluctuations in definitions of and responses to traumatic psychic conditions. Arguing that PTSD, perhaps more than any other diagnostic category, is a lens for showing major historical changes in conceptions of mental illness, he surveys the conditions most likely to produce traumas, the results of those traumas, and how to evaluate the claims of trauma victims. Illuminating a number of central issues about psychic disturbances more generally—including the relative importance of external stressors and internal vulnerabilities in causing mental illness, the benefits and costs of mental illness labels, and the influence of gender on expressions of mental disturbance—PTSD is a compact yet comprehensive survey. The book will appeal to diverse audiences, including the educated public, students across the psychological and social sciences, and trauma victims who are interested in socio-historical approaches to their condition.Praise for Allan V. Horwitz’s Anxiety: A Short History"The definitive overview of the history of anxiety."—Bulletin of the History of Medicine"A lucid, erudite and brisk intellectual history driven by a clear and persuasive central argument."—Social History of Medicine"An enlightening tour of anxiety, set at a sensible pace, with an exceptional scholar and writer leading the way."—Library Journal
Pabellón 11: Un campo de concentración. Un prisionero por sacrificar. Un thriller apasionante
by Piero Degli Antoni,Una palabra puede transportar al pasado... Un original thriller psicológico, una macabra partida por la supervivencia en un campo de concentración. Mützen ab! Dos simples palabras pueden transportar al pasado. Eso es lo que sintió Moshe cuando volvió a escucharlas muchos años después. Sintió el frío de Auschwitz, el terror de la voz de los oficiales y el olor fétido de la muerte. Auschwitz, 1944. Debido a la fuga de unos prisioneros y como castigo ejemplar para el resto, diez personas son recluidas en una celda del pabellón 11 para ser asesinadas al día siguiente. Pero un repentino cambio de decisión por parte del Kommandant altera los planes: solo morirá uno, pero serán ellos mismos los que decidan quién. Comienza así una lucha encarnizada en la que valorar quién merece vivir y quién merece morir no resulta tan sencillo como en un principio parecía. En el otro lado del campo, el Kommandant ve cada vez más claro que la guerra está llegando a un final trágico, y se pasa la noche jugando con su hijo una partida de ajedrez que resulta ser un terrible espejo de la realidad. La lucha por la supervivencia y la parcialidad de la bondad y la maldad del hombre componen el engranaje de este thriller psicológico apasionante a la vez que profundamente humano. Reseñas:«Es un libro que me conmovió».Nedo Fiano, superviviente de Auschwitz-Birkenau «Uno de los mejores escritores de thriller de Italia».Il Mattino «Una lectura magnífica y poderosa, alejada del sensacionalismo».Sole 24 Ore «Una novela sobre el bien y el mal, el horror y la esperanza, el destino, la fuerza de voluntad y los lados inesperados de la naturaleza humana. [...] Degli Antoni es un auténtico maestro retratando personajes en todo su dramatismo, sin estereotipos ni clichés. Un feroz juego de eliminación, entre revelaciones y sorpresas,en los tristes barracones. Igual de absorbente que Diez negritos. Piero Degli Antoni enfatiza lo que describe a la perfección Primo Levi: pocos fueron verdaderamente inocentes en los campos de concentración, en donde la supervivencia se lograba a expensas de los más débiles».Il Giorno Milano «Para leerlo de una sentada, con el ritmo de un thriller pese a la triste realidad».Corriere della Sera «Con un final hermoso, una prosa que invita a leer, es una novela diferente porque muestra un equilibrio entre el drama y el thriller».Pasión Romántica
Pacific Air: How Fearless Flyboys, Peerless Aircraft, and Fast Flattops Conquered the Skies in the War with Japan
by David SearsIn a grand sweeping narrative, Pacific Air tells the inspiring story of how, despite initial disastrous defeats, a generation of young naval aviators challenged and ultimately vanquished a superior Japanese air force and fleet in the Pacific. The instruments of the United States aviators' triumphs were the elegantly designed F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, as well as the lethal TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. With superbly trained U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviators at their controls, these planes became the most successful aerial weapons in naval history.A majestic portrait of a proud era from dual perspectives--the inventive minds of young aeronautical engineers and the deadly artistry of even younger combat pilots--Pacific Air brings this important yet underappreciated chapter of World War II vividly to life.
Pacific Alamo: The Battle for Wake Island
by John WukovitsIt happened in the shadow of Pearl Harbor-mere hours after the first attack on the day that would "live in infamy. " But few know the full story of Wake Island. Now a prominent military historian, breaking new ground on the assault, relates the compelling events of that day and the heroic struggle that followed. Thanks to the brave Marines stationed there-and the civilian construction workers who selflessly put their lives on the line to defend the island-what was supposed to be an easy victory became a protracted and costly battle for Imperial Japan. This is the story of that battle, from survivors on both sides, and with a gallery of historic photos. .
Pacific Battle Line
by Foster Hailey“This book is an attempt to correlate the first two years of the Pacific war, to put events in their proper “Much of the material contained was gathered firsthand, as a correspondent for the New York Times, at sea and ashore with the navy, the marines, and the army, from Christmas Day, 1941, to the conclusion of the Aleutian campaign in August, 1943.“Where events portrayed were not actually participated in, the information has been gleaned from official records or from conversations with the men who took part in them.“No effort has been made to present this war as anything but what it is, the ultimate insanity of civilization. All of war is hard work, much of it is boring, a fact to which any man will attest who has taken part in one. But the exigencies of war also bring out in many men traits you would not know they had—patience under pressure, cheerfulness under great difficulty, stoicism under pain, raw courage in the face of terrible danger. An effort has been made to tell that too.“Here then is the record as one reporter saw it, a record written in blood and sweat, of the first two years of the wax in the Pacific.“There are many reasons, of course, for writing a book. The principal reason for writing this one is this: that the men with whom I shared some of the hardships and some of the dangers deserve to have their story told, and told as objectively and factually as I can tell it. If they believe that I have made an honest effort to do that and have achieved some success, that will be satisfaction enough for ‘the correspondent from the Times.’”
Pacific Counterblow - The 11th Bombardment Group And The 67th Fighter Squadron In The Battle For Guadalcanal: [Illustrated Edition] (Wings at War #3)
by Anon[Illustrated with 6 photos and 3 maps]Originally published shortly after key air campaigns, the Wings at War series captures the spirit and tone of America's World War II experience. Eyewitness accounts of Army Air Forces' aviators and details from the official histories enliven the story behind each of six important AAF operations.Pacific Counterblow tells the story of the Battle for Guadalcanal (1942), focusing on the operations of the 11th Bombardment Group and the 67th Fighter Squadron.Months after the devastation of Pearl Harbor, U.S. forces had crushed the Japanese fleet at Midway and then moved to seize the initiative. AAF commanders in the Pacific sought to prevent the enemy from severing Australia's supply lines. So the B-17s of the 11th Bomb Group and the P-39s and P-400s of the 67th Fighter Squadron, flying from makeshift bases at Espiritu Santo and Henderson Field, began grueling attacks on Japanese shipping between Rabaul, New Britain and the Solomon Islands. After several months of bitter fighting, American forces gained control of Guadalcanal, positioning them to swing forward beyond Rabaul to New Guinea.
Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 (The Pacific War Trilogy #1)
by Ian W. Toll"Both a serious work of history . . . and a marvelously readable dramatic narrative."--San Francisco Chronicle On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss, a blow that destroyed the offensive power of their fleet. Pacific Crucible tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history and seized the strategic initiative. This dramatic narrative, relying predominantly on eyewitness accounts and primary sources, is laced with riveting details of heroism and sacrifice on the stricken ships and planes of both navies. At the war's outset, Japan's pilots and planes enjoyed a clear-cut superiority to their American counterparts, but there was a price to be paid. Japanese pilots endured a lengthy and grueling training in which they were disciplined with baseball bats, often suffering broken bones; and the production line of the Zero-- Japan's superbly maneuverable fighter plane--ended not at a highway or railhead but at a rice paddy, through which the planes were then hauled on ox carts. Combat losses, of either pilots or planes, could not be replaced in time to match the fully mobilized American war machine. Pacific Crucible also spotlights recent scholarship that revises our understanding of the conflict, including the Japanese decision to provoke a war that few in their highest circles thought they could win. Those doubters included the flamboyantly brilliant Admiral Isokoru Yamamoto, architect of the raid on Pearl and the Midway offensive. Once again, Ian W. Toll proves himself to be a simply magnificent writer. The result here is a page-turning history that does justice to the breadth and depth of a tremendous subject.
Pacific Glory: A Novel
by P. T. DeutermannMarsh Vincent, Mick McCarty, and Tommy Lewis were inseparable friends during their naval academy years, each man in love with the beautiful, unattainable Glory Hawthorne. Only Tommy wins her heart and marries Glory after graduation. Different skills set the three men on separate paths in the Navy, but they are all forever changed by the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7,1941. Glory, now Tommy's widow, is a tough Navy nurse still grieving her loss while trying to save lives at the Pearl Harbor naval hospital. Marsh, a surface ship officer, finds himself in the thick of terrifying sea combat from Guadalcanal, through the turning point at Midway, to a climactic showdown with the Japanese fleet at Leyte Gulf. Mick, a hotshot fighter pilot with a drinking problem and a chip on his shoulder, seeks redemption after a series of failures leaves him grounded and ashamed. Filled with wide-screen action, romance, and heroism tinged with the brutal reality of war, Pacific Glory is an old-fashioned military adventure of the first order.
Pacific Interlude: A Novel
by Sloan WilsonDuring the last days of World War II, a young officer braves enemy fire and a maverick crew on the open waters and in the steamy ports of the South Pacific Twenty-five-year-old Coast Guard lieutenant Sylvester Grant, a veteran of the Greenland Patrol, has just been given command of a small gas tanker, running shuttle and convoy duties for the US Army. Sally, his wife of three years, is eager for him to get back to Massachusetts and live a conventional suburban life selling insurance--but Syl longs for adventure and is bound to find it as the captain of a beat-up, unseaworthy vessel carrying extremely flammable cargo across dangerous stretches of the Pacific Ocean. As the Allies prepare to retake the Philippines, the only thing the sailors aboard the Y-18 want is for the war to be over. First, however, they must survive their mission to bring two hundred thousand gallons of high-octane aviation fuel to shore. From below-deck personality clashes to the terrifying possibility of an enemy attack, from combating illness and boredom to the constant stress of preventing an explosion that could blow their ship sky high, the crew of the Y-18 must learn to work together and trust their captain--otherwise, they might never make it home. Based on Sloan Wilson's own experiences, Pacific Interlude is a thrilling and realistic story of World War II and a moving portrait of a man looking toward the future while trying to survive a precarious present.
Pacific Onslaught: 7th Dec. 1941/7th Feb. 1943 (The\pan/ballantine Illustrated History Of World War 2 Ser.)
by Paul KennedyA look at the early years of the Pacific conflict in World War II, by the New York Times–bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Japan had mighty ambitions: to control the Western Pacific. The attack on Pearl Harbor devastated their primary obstacle—the American Pacific fleet—and they swept across the region. What ensued was a bitter struggle in which many thousands of soldiers lost their lives on both sides. This is the first book in Paul Kennedy&’s chronicle of the Pacific conflict in World War II, concluded in Pacific Victory. Featuring a new introduction by the author, this book provides a close, step-by-step narrative of the Japanese expansion into the Western Pacific during some of the most brutal years of World War II. Offering contemporary analysis of war strategy, it includes a riveting look at Japan&’s tightening grip on Hong Kong, New Guinea, the Philippines, and other key strategic locations—and the Allies&’ inexorable struggle against it.
Pacific Payback: The Carrier Aviators Who Avenged Pearl Harbor at the Battle of Midway
by Stephen L. Moore&“Deeply researched and well written....By far the most detailed account of USS Enterprise&’s dive-bombers and their decisive role at the Battle of Midway.&”*Sunday, December 7, 1941, dawned clear and bright over the Pacific.... But for the Dauntless dive-bomber crews of the USS Enterprise returning to their home base on Oahu, it was a morning from hell. Flying directly into the Japanese ambush at Pearl Harbor, they lost a third of their squadron and witnessed the heart of America&’s Navy broken and smoldering on the oil-slicked waters below. The next six months, from Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Midway—a dark time during which the Japanese scored victory after victory—this small band of aviators saw almost constant deployment, intense carrier combat, and fearsome casualties. Many were killed by enemy Zero fighters, antiaircraft fire, or deadly crash landings in the Pacific, while others were captured and spent years in POW camps. Yet the Enterprise&’s Dauntless crews would be the first to strike an offensive blow against Japanese installations in the Marshall Islands, would be the first to sink a Japanese warship, and would shepherd the Doolittle Raiders&’ bombing of Tokyo. Not until Midway, though, would Dauntless crews get the chance to settle the score...and change the course of World War II. Drawing on dozens of new interviews and oral histories, author Stephen L. Moore brings to life inspiring stories of individual sacrifice and bravery—and the sweeping saga of one of America&’s greatest triumphs. INCLUDES PHOTOS
Pacific Power?: Australia's strategy in the Pacific Islands
by Joanne WallisAustralia is much larger and has significantly more military and economic power than its Pacific Island neighbours. As a result, it is frequently described as having a natural right to lead in the region. Yet, Australia has found it difficult to effectively influence Pacific Island states in pursuit of its strategic interests. It provides the definitive account of how, and how effectively, Australia has sought to influence Pacific Island states in pursuit of its strategic interests since 1975, the year that Papua New Guinea, Australia's former colonial territory, gained independence. Informed by interviews with key decision makers, Pacific Power? analyses why Australia has had difficulty exercising influence in the Pacific Islands and identifies how Australia can more effectively influence Pacific Island states in pursuit of its strategic interests, and how Australia can present itself more as a Pacific partner than power.
Pacific Siege (Seal Team Seven #8)
by Keith DouglassAction! Intrigue! Firepower! When a Japanese general goes ballistic and takes over a Russian island, the SEALs are sent in to restore justice. But between freeing Russian hostages and making sure not to step on the wrong toes, the SEALs find themselves stuck waist-deep in hell--and high water. Book Quality: Excellent