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Pure Poett: The Autobiography of General Sir Nigel Poett
by Nigel PoettThis is the story of a professional soldier and of his many adventures throughout the world. His father was a soldier, and it was no surprise when young Nigel Poett went to Sandhurst and then to Egypt, the North-West Frontier, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. His long career included appointment as Director of Military Operations in the Suez crisis and Commandant-General of Staff College, and ended with his command of the Far East Land Forces. Possibly the most eventful period, however, was when, as an Airborne Brigadier, he was given the task of commanding the airborne assault on the two vital bridges over the Orne which had to be captured to secure the left flank of the Normandy Invasion front.
Pure Strategy: Power and Principle in the Space and Information Age
by Everett DolmanA stimulating new inquiry into the fundamental truth of strategy - its purpose, place, utility, and value. This new study is animated by a startling realization: the concept of strategic victory must be summarily discarded. This is not to say that victory has no place in strategy or strategic planning. The outcome of battles and campaigns are variables within the strategist's plan, but victory is a concept that has no meaning there. To the tactical and operational planner, wars are indeed won and lost, and the difference is plain. Success is measurable; failure is obvious. In contrast, the pure strategist understands that war is but one aspect of social and political competition, an ongoing interaction that has no finality. Strategy therefore connects the conduct of war with the intent of politics. It shapes and guides military means in anticipation of a panoply of possible coming events. In the process, strategy changes the context within which events will happen. In this new book we see clearly that the goal of strategy is not to culminate events, to establish finality in the discourse between states, but to continue them; to influence state discourse in such a way that it will go forward on favorable terms. For continue it will. This book will provoke debate and stimulate new thinking across the field and strategic studies.
Pure Strategy: Power and Principle in the Space and Information Age (Strategy and History)
by Everett DolmanA stimulating new inquiry into the fundamental truth of strategy - its purpose, place, utility, and value. This new study is animated by a startling realization: the concept of strategic victory must be summarily discarded. This is not to say that victory has no place in strategy or strategic planning. The outcome of battles and campaigns are variables within the strategist's plan, but victory is a concept that has no meaning there. To the tactical and operational planner, wars are indeed won and lost, and the difference is plain. Success is measurable; failure is obvious. In contrast, the pure strategist understands that war is but one aspect of social and political competition, an ongoing interaction that has no finality. Strategy therefore connects the conduct of war with the intent of politics. It shapes and guides military means in anticipation of a panoply of possible coming events. In the process, strategy changes the context within which events will happen. In this new book we see clearly that the goal of strategy is not to culminate events, to establish finality in the discourse between states, but to continue them; to influence state discourse in such a way that it will go forward on favorable terms. For continue it will. This book will provoke debate and stimulate new thinking across the field and strategic studies.
Purgatory's Shore (Artillerymen #1)
by Taylor AndersonOn their way to fight in the Mexican-American War, a group of American soldiers are swept away to a strange and deadly alternate Earth in this thrilling new adventure set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Destroyermen series.The United States, 1847. A disparate group of young American soldiers are bound to join General Winfield Scott's campaign against Santa Anna at Veracruz during the Mexican-American War. They never arrive.Or rather . . . they arrive somewhere else.The untried, idealistic soldiers are mostly replacements, really; a handful of infantry, artillery, dragoons, and a few mounted riflemen with no unified command. And they've been shipwrecked on a terrible, different Earth full of monsters and unimaginable enemies. Major Lewis Cayce, late of the 3rd US "Flying" Artillery, must unite these men to face their fears and myriad threats, armed with little more than flintlock muskets, a few pieces of artillery, and a worldview that spiritually and culturally rebels against virtually everything they encounter. It will take extraordinary leadership and a cadre of equally extraordinary men and women to mold frightened troops into an effective force, make friends with other peoples the evil Holy Dominion would eradicate, and reshape their "manifest destiny" into a cause they can all believe in and fight for.For only together will they have any hope of survival.
The Purge of the Thirtieth Division
by Henry Russell Lawrence M. KaplanThe Purge of the Thirtieth Division by Major General Henry Dozier Russell is the only known written work by any of the eighteen National Guard division commanders mobilized in1940 and 1941. It chronicles from a National Guard perspective many of the challenges and growing pains experienced by the Army in the critical months leading up to its entry into World War II. Through Russell, the reader gains insight into the vast cultural differences between the Regular Army and the National Guard at the time.Russell's memoir offer an invaluable source of a commander's first-hand account of how his division trained and fared during the 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers, and 1941 Tennessee and Carolina Maneuvers, respectively, in its preparation for overseas deployment. The narrative also contains a compelling account of the relations and tensions between Regulars and National Guardsmen. It was a scathing indictment of the Regular Army high command for what he perceived to be unfair treatment of National Guard officers during World War II. He cited many examples to bolster his claims, and contended that the U.S. Army, under Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, was out to "get" the Thirtieth Division and other National Guard divisions. He further contended that the Army believed that a non-Regular officer should not advance beyond the grade of lieutenant colonel. His memoir, which he privately printed, pulled no punches. His first-hand account was very critical of how a number of senior Regular Army officers handled affairs with his division that led to his relief as the division commander. Russell completed his memoir in 1947 and subsequently printed 500 copies, which he distributed to senior National Guard officers. He did not sell any of the books, nor were they intended for or made available to the general public. Although there was a demand for additional copies, he did not print any more. The republication of The Purge of the Thirtieth Division is intended to expand the scholarship on the history of World War II and the history of the U.S. Army.
A Puritan in Babylon: The Story of Calvin Coolidge
by William Allen WhiteThis book, which was first published in 1938, began as a biography of Calvin Coolidge, but author William Allen White found early in his task that he was writing the story of the growth and rise of economic America from the seventies until the crash of the Coolidge bull market in the autumn of 1929.In this story of an era in American life, the figure of Calvin Coolidge, a curious reversion to an old type, stands out in contrast to the vivid color of a gorgeous epoch. The history of the Coolidge bull market in detail from 1921, when Coolidge came to Washington as Vice President, until 1929, when he left Washington and public life, had not been written before. As that market boomed, Calvin Coolidge as President, having all the virtues needed for another day, moved through the turmoil of the times earnestly, honestly, courageously trying to understand his country’s economic development and to act upon his understanding of a movement that baffled him and left him futile.Mr. White talked to hundreds of people who knew and were associated with President Coolidge in those days. Cabinet members, friends, White House associates, reporters, business men, big and little; and his story throws a new light upon the inside of the White House, and upon the President through the years.
A Puritan Outpost: A History of the Town and People of Northfield, Massachusetts
by Herbert C. ParsonsA Puritan Outpost by Herbert C. Parsons, which was originally published in 1937, is the history of Northfield, Massachusetts, “a distinctive New England town, the farthest venture of Puritan pioneering to the west and north in the seventeenth century, which had to be claimed by venturesome settlers three times before its foothold was even relatively secure. Through nearly a century it was exposed to the recurrent assaults and the constant peril of French and Indian invasion, with intermissions when the settlers were dislodged, during one of which it was the thronging seat of the command of the arch-enemy of white occupation, the dubiously crowned King Philip.“Toughened through generations of hardihood, its people developed the sturdy, self-reliant, pious, prudent and independent community, thoroughly characteristic of their unmixed British blood and Puritan heritage. Consistently with such background and distinctly out of such breeding, one of the sons it sent out to varied careers in the world’s affairs came to fame and widespread service as an evangelistic leader and by his hand the added feature was bestowed upon it of being a school and religious centre.“The town’s respect for its historic past has led to the writing of the story.”
Purple Daze
by Sherry ShahanPurple Daze is a young adult novel set in suburban Los Angeles in 1965. Six high school students share their experiences and feelings in interconnected free verse and traditional poems about war, feminism, riots, love, racism, rock 'n' roll, high school, and friendship. Although there have been verse novels published recently, none explore the changing and volatile 1960's in America-- a time when young people drove a cultural and political revolution. With themes like the costs and casualties of war, the consequences of sex, and the complex relationships between teens, their peers, and their parents, this story is still as relevant today as it was 45 years ago.
“Purple Heart Valley”: A Combat Chronicle Of The War In Italy
by Margaret Bourke-WhiteAn excellent, richly illustrated, account of the bloodiest phase of the Italian campaign.Here is a report--in pictures and in words--of exactly what happened to our men during the bitterest phases of the Italian campaign. This report is not based upon a hurried visit behind the lines; Margaret Bourke-White spent a full five months on the Italian front photographing, questioning, observing, and living in close association with our troops. She was not content to remain safely behind the combat area. She flew over the German lines and narrowly escaped being shot down. On the ground she came closer to the enemy lines than any woman has been before the most advanced American post around Cassino.
Purple Hearts: A Novel
by Tess WakefieldNOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL FILM! When a soldier with a troubled past and a struggling songwriter agree to a marriage of convenience for the military benefits, neither expects much after saying &“I do.&” Then tragedy strikes, and the line between what&’s real and what&’s pretend begins to blur in this smart and surprising romance perfect for fans of Nicholas Sparks and Jojo Moyes.Cassie Salazar and Luke Morrow couldn&’t be more different. Sharp-witted Cassie works nights at a bar in Austin, Texas to make ends meet while pursuing her dream of becoming a singer/songwriter. Luke is an Army trainee, about to ship out for duty, who finds comfort in the unswerving discipline of service. But a chance encounter at Cassie&’s bar changes the course of both their lives. Cassie is drowning in medical bills after being diagnosed with diabetes. When she runs into her old friend Frankie, now enlisted in the Army, she proposes a deal: she&’ll marry him in exchange for better medical insurance and they can split the increased paycheck that comes with having a &“family.&” When Frankie declines, his attractive but frustratingly intense friend Luke volunteers to marry Cassie instead. What she doesn&’t know is that he has desperate reasons of his own to get married. In this unforgettable love story, Cassie and Luke must set aside their differences to make it look like a real marriage...unless, somewhere along the way, it becomes one...
Purple Patch: History of the 3rd Field Company Engineers in World War One
by Darren PrickettThe 3rd Field Company Engineers holds a distinguished place in the history of the Australian Army, being the first unit of the AIF to deploy on active service and to come under enemy fire, in defence of the Suez Canal against a Turkish attack in February 1915, almost three months before the Gallipoli landing. This book, the result of many years of research, details the work of the Company from its raising in August 1914 until the end of the war in November 1918. Drawing on both official records and personal papers, it explores the varied activities of an engineering unit, ranging from the taxing work of building bridges and other vital infrastructure in and behind battle zones to the highly dangerous task of extending trenches and barbed wire obstructions on the front line. From senior command levels down to the rank-and-file Sappers, the book combines a careful account with personal experiences and observations to present a compelling portrait of the unsung heroes of the AIF. As an example of the role of engineers in the First World War, Purple Patch offers an authoritative examination of the achievements of this most notable unit.
Pursuing Strategy
by Håkan Edström Dennis GyllensporreFormulating a strategy involves complex interactions between politicians, strategic commanders and generals in the field. The authors explore the strategic decisions made during NATO missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Afghanistan, Somalia and Libya.
The Pursuit of Power
by William H. McneillIn this magnificent synthesis of military, technological, and social history, William H. McNeill explores a whole millennium of human upheaval and traces the path by which we have arrived at the frightening dilemmas that now confront us. McNeill moves with equal mastery from the crossbow--banned by the Church in 1139 as too lethal for Christians to use against one another--to the nuclear missile, from the sociological consequences of drill in the seventeenth century to the emergence of the military-industrial complex in the twentieth. His central argument is that a commercial transformation of world society in the eleventh century caused military activity to respond increasingly to market forces as well as to the commands of rulers. Only in our own time, suggests McNeill, are command economies replacing the market control of large-scale human effort. The Pursuit of Power does not solve the problems of the present, but its discoveries, hypotheses, and sheer breadth of learning do offer a perspective on our current fears and, as McNeill hopes, "a ground for wiser action." "No summary can do justice to McNeill's intricate, encyclopedic treatment. . . . McNeill's erudition is stunning, as he moves easily from European to Chinese and Islamic cultures and from military and technological to socio-economic and political developments. The result is a grand synthesis of sweeping proportions and interdisciplinary character that tells us almost as much about the history of butter as the history of guns. . . . McNeill's larger accomplishment is to remind us that all humankind has a shared past and, particularly with regard to its choice of weapons and warfare, a shared stake in the future."--Stuart Rochester, Washington Post Book World "Mr. McNeill's comprehensiveness and sensitivity do for the reader what Henry James said that Turgenev's conversation did for him: they suggest 'all sorts of valuable things.' This narrative of rationality applied to irrational purposes and of ingenuity cannibalizing itself is a work of clarity, which delineates mysteries. The greatest of them, to my mind, is why human beings have never learned to cherish their own species."--Naomi Bliven, The New Yorker
The Pursuit of William Abbey
by Claire NorthA hauntingly powerful novel about how the choices we make can stay with us forever, by the award-winning author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and 84K.South Africa in the 1880s. A young and naive English doctor by the name of William Abbey witnesses the lynching of a local boy by the white colonists. As the child dies, his mother curses William. William begins to understand what the curse means when the shadow of the dead boy starts following him across the world. It never stops, never rests. It can cross oceans and mountains. And if it catches him, the person he loves most in the world will die.Gripping, moving, and thought-provoking, The Pursuit of William Abbey proves once again that Claire North is one of the most innovative voices in modern fiction.Previous books by Claire North:The First Fifteen Lives of Harry AugustTouchThe Sudden Appearance of HopeThe End of the Day84KThe GameshousePrevious books written as Kate Griffin:Matthew Swift novels:A Madness of AngelsThe Midnight MayorThe Neon CourtThe Minority CouncilMagicals Anonymous novels:Stray SoulsThe Glass God
The Pushcart War
by Jean MerrillThe pushcarts have declared war! New York City's streets are clogged with huge, rude trucks that park where they want, hold up traffic, and bulldoze into anything that is in their way, and the pushcart peddlers are determined to get rid of them. But the trucks are just as determined to get rid of the pushcarts, and chaos results in the city. The pushcarts have come up with a brilliant strategy that will surely let the hot air out of their enemies. The secret weapon--a peashooter armed with a pin; the target--the vulnerable truck tires. Once the source of the flat tires is discovered, the children of the city joyfully join in with their own pin peashooters. The pushcarts have won one battle, but can they win the war against a corrupt mayor who taxes the pins and prohibits the sale of dried peas?
Pushing the Envelope
by Barrett Tillman Gen. Marion CarlFirst published in 1994, this stirring autobiography of a fighter and test pilot takes readers full throttle through Carl's imposing list of "firsts." Beginning with his World War II career, he gained such commendations as first Marine Corps ace, among the first Marines ever to fly a helicopter, and first Marine to land aboard an aircraft carrier. His combat duty included the momentous battles at Midway and Guadalcanal. Not one to rest on his laurels, however, he participated in photoreconnaissance operations over Red China in 1955 and flew missions in Vietnam. In peacetime he gamed fame for "pushing the envelope" as a test pilot, adding the world's altitude and peace records to his wartime feats and becoming the first U.S. military aviator to wear a full pressure suit. Such achievements also led to Carl's being the first living Marine admitted to the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor, as well as the first Marine to be named to the Navy Carrier Aviation Test Pilots Hall of Honor. This very readable memoir is as forthright and compelling as the man it chronicles.
Pushing the Limits (Space Cowboys #2)
by Katherine Garbera"Houston, we have a hot-astronaut problem..." Survival expert and control freak Jessie Odell has faced the most hazardous environments on earth. Training astronauts should be a cakewalk. Nope. Enter candidate Hemi "Thor" Barrett and his hot, ripped bod, and suddenly Jessie is breathless with raw excitement-something she hasn't felt for a long, long time-and it scares her to death. Hemi isn't just some sexy distraction. Jessie actually likes the guy-and that makes him more treacherous than an Everest ascent. It also means Hemi's that much harder to resist. With every hungry, heat-fueled encounter, Jessie skirts closer to that dangerous edge. Falling for this space cowboy is definitely high stakes...but could the payoff be worth the risk?
Pushing the Limits
by Carl P. LavoHis family says he was a great story teller. Yet Vice Admiral Allan Rockwell McCann left no reminisces that might reveal a deeper sense of his extraordinary service to the nation. In his four-decade military career spanning two world wars, he rarely discussed for the record the many historic circumstances that enveloped him. If you were to judge the admiral by his military awards and ribbons, they would not suggest the career he led. His signature achievement was development of a workable submarine rescue chamber. Yet Allan McCann, a man born to a Scottish tailor in a remarkable town in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, seemed to be always on the scene of historic events. Among his accomplishments, he was the Navy's liaison officer to modify the antiquated O-12 submarine into the privately-leased Nautilus that made the first attempt to sail beneath the Arctic ice shelf in 1931. He was submarine squadron commander deployed in the Pacific from Hawaii to search for survivors of the ill-fated Dole Air Race to Honolulu in 1927. He was aboard the sub tender Pelias and directed firepower to knock down Japanese aircraft attacking Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. He was commander of the battleship USS Iowa during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He was Chief of Staff of the mysterious Navy's 10th Fleet that stymied a last ditch effort by Nazi Germany to attack North America via U-boats in Operation Teardrop. He was commander of a Navy task force taking President Harry S. Truman to the Pottsdam talks in 1945 and relayed the message to him that an atomic bomb had been exploded over Hiroshima. As ComSubPac, he was aboard the first submarine in 1947 to navigate under the polar ice. He also was the Navy Inspector General who assumed a pivotal role in the so-called Revolt of the Admirals in 1949. Throughout his naval career, Admiral McCann was widely revered as a very efficient, competent officer who succeeded in many endeavors but did not boast of them nor seek self-promotion. Rather, he let the record speak for him. This book is an overdue appreciation of the admiral who has all but been ignored in naval history.
Put Out More Flags
by Evelyn Waugh"Put Out More Flags" is Waugh's superb send-up of "smart" England, the bohemian crowd, as World War II approaches.
Put Out the Fires: (Pearl Street 2)
by Maureen LeeThe second novel in bestseller Maureen Lee's outstanding Liverpool sequence about family life during the Second World WarSeptember 1940 - the cruellest year of war for Britain's civilians as the Luftwaffe mercilessly blitz their cities. In Pearl Street, near Liverpool's docks, families struggle to cope the best they can. A nasty surprise for ever-cheerful dressmaker Brenda Mahon, and flighty Sean's love for little Alice, show how life goes on even when it appears to be falling apart. Yet while Eileen Costello tries to hide her ruined hopes of happiness with Nick, and do her best by the husband she hoped had gone for ever, Ruth Singerman returns, having escaped from Austria. Even the joy of seeing her father again cannot make up for the bitter loss of her children.Look out for titles in the bestselling Pearl Street series:Book 1 - Lights Out LiverpoolBook 2 - Put Out the FiresBook 3 - Through the Storm
The Putin Interviews: Oliver Stone Interviews Vladimir Putin
by Robert Scheer Oliver StoneWITH SUBSTANTIAL MATERIAL NOT INCLUDED IN THE DOCUMENTARY Academy Award winner Oliver Stone was able to secure what journalists, news organizations, and even other world leaders have long coveted: extended, unprecedented access to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Putin Interviews are culled from more than a dozen interviews with Putin over a two-year span—never before has the Russian leader spoken in such depth or at such length with a Western interviewer. No topics are off limits in the interviews, which first occurred during Stone’s trips to meet with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow and most recently after the election of President Donald Trump. Prodded by Stone, Putin discusses relations between the United States and Russia, allegations of interference in the US election, and Russia’s involvement with conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, and elsewhere across the globe. Putin speaks about his rise to power and details his relationships with Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump. The exchanges are personal, provocative, and at times surreal. At one point, Stone asks, “Why did Russia hack the election?”; at another, Stone introduces him to Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 Cold War satire "Dr. Strangelove," which the two watch together. Stone has interviewed controversial world leaders before, including Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, and Benjamin Netanyahu. But The Putin Interviews, in its unmediated access to one of the most enigmatic and powerful men in the world, can only be compared to the series of conversations between David Frost and Richard Nixon we now refer to as “The Nixon Interviews” of 1977. The book will also contain references and sources that give readers a deeper understanding of the topics covered in the interviews and make for a more robust reading experience.
Putin's Prisoner: My Time as a Prisoner of War in Ukraine
by Aiden Aslin John SweeneyBrought to you by Penguin.Aiden Aslin joined the Ukrainian marines in 2018, compelled to defend his adopted homeland from the growing threat of Russian invasion. In February 2022, as Russia mounted a full-scale offensive, Aiden and his unit were stationed at the frontline at Mariupol.Pinned down at a Mariupol steelworks, after a month-long siege and running out of supplies, Aiden was part of the mass surrender of over a thousand Ukrainian troops, in April 2022. Then his real ordeal began.Singled out for his British passport, Aiden was interrogated, tortured, stabbed, turned into a propaganda zombie, tried by a kangaroo court and then sentenced to death. A victim of a catalogue of abuses of international law, Aiden struggled to cling on to any hope of survival. Certain that he was going to be executed, he was eventually freed in a prisoner exchange and permitted to return home.In Putin's Prisoner, Aiden will tell the full, harrowing story of his time fighting in Putin's war, of his six months in Russian captivity, and of his hardened resolve to defend the freedoms of the people of Ukraine.©2023 Aiden Aslin & John Sweeney (P)2023 Penguin Audio
“Putting Out The Fire In Afghanistan”: - The Fire Model of Counterinsurgency: Focusing Efforts to Make an Insurgency Unsustainable
by Major Patrick PascallThis monograph develops an alternative approach to counterinsurgency, and explains how the current narratives in the field of counterinsurgency are not completely accurate. Counterinsurgents only need to properly understand the environment and then concentrate their efforts in that critical area of the insurgency identified as the sustainer of that insurgency. The U.S. counterinsurgency (COIN) plan does not need to address all those lines of effort not directly related to the root cause of an insurgency, as those efforts may actually fuel the insurgency due to building unrealistic expectations among the populace.This monograph also develops the analogy that the four elements necessary for a fire (fuel, oxygen, heat, chain reaction) parallel the necessary elements of an insurgency (the fuel representing unresponsive government, oxygen representing existing structures/vulnerability, heat representing political/diplomatic factors, chain reaction representing the information environment, and the population). Like a fire, if one has a proper understanding of the environment, and can clearly identify the true sustainer of the insurgency (the root problem), then one only need to remove that one element from the equation, and that insurgency will be unsustainable.Having a simple approach will not only allow the counterinsurgents to better utilize their resources-in an Economy of Force-and allow them to Mass their power on one clear Objective, it will also remind counterinsurgents of the other Principle of War that has proven to be so critical in complex environments-simplicity.
Putting security governance to the test
by Hans-Georg Ehrhart, Hendrik Hegemann and Martin KahlRecent debates in security policy have highlighted trends towards fragmentation, informalisation and privatisation in the diverse field of security policy, with its increasingly transnational security risks. In this context, the concept of security governance has risen to prominence and has inspired much valuable research. Yet, there are not only very different conceptual understandings of security governance; there is also a lack of clarity regarding its empirical manifestations and normative connotations. After a decade of research, this book therefore puts security governance to the test and scrutinises its analytical and political pitfalls and potentials. It reviews the concept of security governance and identifies central conceptual, empirical and normative challenges that need to be addressed. Moreover, this book scrutinises critical examples of security governance from EU security policy as well as in a comparative regional perspective. Case studies include EU efforts to counter piracy off the coast of Somalia, combat terrorism inside European societies and protect critical infrastructures. This book was originally published as a special issue of European Security.