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Views of Violence: Representing the Second World War in German and European Museums and Memorials (Spektrum: Publications of the German Studies Association #19)
by Jörg Echternkamp Stephan JaegerTwenty-first-century views of historical violence have been immeasurably influenced by cultural representations of the Second World War. Within Europe, one of the key sites for such representation has been the vast array of museums and memorials that reflect contemporary ideas of war, the roles of soldiers and civilians, and the self-perception of those who remember. This volume takes a historical perspective on museums covering the Second World War and explores how these institutions came to define political contexts and cultures of public memory in Germany, across Europe, and throughout the world.
Vigilance (The Fractal Series #3)
by Allen StroudThe stirring finale of The Fractal series which began with the much lauded Fearless and Resilient hard-sf masterpieces.&“Stroud raises fascinating questions about the politics of space exploration.&”– Publisher&’s WeeklyIn the aftermath of Phobos Station&’s destruction, sinister forces fight to control humanity&’s fragile first steps in colonizing other worlds. There are competing agendas at work. Some seek to overthrow the Corporations and Governments, others just want to see everything burn. In the midst of it all, Captain Ellisa Shann and her crew are fighting to survive and to unlock the secrets of a mysterious and ancient alien ship.Vigilance is the conclusion to the epic science fiction story that began with Fearless and continued with Resilient. What new revelations await in the ongoing Fractal Series?FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.
Vigilance Is Not Enough: A History of United States Intelligence
by Mark M. LowenthalA broad and deep survey of American intelligence from before the Revolution to the present Every nation has an intelligence apparatus—some means by which its top officials acquire needed information on sensitive issues. But each nation does it differently, influenced by its history, its geographical conditions, and its political traditions. In this book, Mark M. Lowenthal examines the development of U.S. intelligence to explain how and why the United States went from having no intelligence service to speak of to being the world&’s predominant intelligence power almost overnight, and he discusses the difficult choices involved in maintaining that dominance in a liberal democracy. Lowenthal describes how the lack of a tradition of spycraft both hindered and helped American efforts to develop intelligence services during and after the Second World War. He points to the political pragmatism—leading to difficult choices—with which most intelligence directors operated; the constant tension between security and civil liberties in a constitutional democracy; the tension between the need for secrecy and the accountability required for democratic governance; and the way the growing importance of technology changed both the methods and the objectives of intelligence gathering. Far more than simply an episodic history, this book offers an analysis of why American intelligence developed as it did—and what it has meant for the nation&’s and the world&’s politics.
The Vigilant Spy (A Yuri Kirov Thriller #4)
by Jeffrey LaytonOnce a spy . . . Granted asylum by the United States, former Russian naval intelligence officer Yuri Kirov wants nothing more than to live peacefully with his adopted American family. But first the underwater technology expert must pay a price . . . Yuri is drafted by the CIA. His mission: assist U.S. spies with uncovering the secret behind the People&’s Republic of China&’s new weapon system, codename SERPENT. The radical antisubmarine technology erases America&’s advantage in underseas warfare. Amid the turmoil of escalating tension between China and Russia, Yuri&’s team is inserted by a spy sub onto Hainan Island in the South China Sea. The mission spirals out of control, leaving Yuri trapped with a CIA officer and a beautiful, high-ranking Chinese engineer. With PRC forces closing in and war between superpowers about to break out, there is only one avenue of escape left. That route will pit Yuri against China&’s full might and power . . . Praise for the The Good Spy &“An explosive, high-stakes thriller that keeps you guessing.&” —Leo J. Maloney &“The excitement never stops . . . high adventure at its very best.&”—Gayle Lynds &“A page-turner with as much heart as brains.&” —Dana Haynes &“A fast-paced adventure that will take readers on a thrilling journey.&” —Diana Chambers &“Breathless entertainment.&” —Tim Tigner
The Vigilant Spy (A Yuri Kirov Thriller #4)
by Jeffrey LaytonOnce a spy . . . Granted asylum by the United States, former Russian naval intelligence officer Yuri Kirov wants nothing more than to live peacefully with his adopted American family. But first the underwater technology expert must pay a price . . . Yuri is drafted by the CIA. His mission: assist U.S. spies with uncovering the secret behind the People&’s Republic of China&’s new weapon system, codename SERPENT. The radical antisubmarine technology erases America&’s advantage in underseas warfare. Amid the turmoil of escalating tension between China and Russia, Yuri&’s team is inserted by a spy sub onto Hainan Island in the South China Sea. The mission spirals out of control, leaving Yuri trapped with a CIA officer and a beautiful, high-ranking Chinese engineer. With PRC forces closing in and war between superpowers about to break out, there is only one avenue of escape left. That route will pit Yuri against China&’s full might and power . . . Praise for the The Good Spy &“An explosive, high-stakes thriller that keeps you guessing.&” —Leo J. Maloney &“The excitement never stops . . . high adventure at its very best.&”—Gayle Lynds &“A page-turner with as much heart as brains.&” —Dana Haynes &“A fast-paced adventure that will take readers on a thrilling journey.&” —Diana Chambers &“Breathless entertainment.&” —Tim Tigner
Vigilante (Major Ariane Kedros #2)
by Laura E. ReeveAmidst an uneasy peace between the Autonomists and the Terrans, Major Ariane Kedros and her partner, Matthew Journey, have discovered alien ruins on a remote planet?ruins that bear evidence to an ancient and highly advanced technology. But their discovery has drawn the interest of high stakes players from every corner of the universe?including that of the rogue leader of a fringe Terran sect. Ari must find a way to stop him, before they all become ancient history. . . .
The Vigilantes (Badge of Honor #10)
by William E. Butterworth W.E.B. GriffinMurders are on the rise in Philadelphia-but no one seems to mind because the victims are all fugitives with histories of heinous sex crimes against women and children. Worse for Homicide Sergeant Matt Payne, the main suspect is leaving evidence for police to find. But when copycat killings start popping up due to vigilante groups dealing out their own justice, Payne must find out who's behind the chaos before the violence overtakes the city.
The Viking Battalion: Norwegian American Ski Troopers in World War II
by Olaf Minge Kyle Ward"What is engaging about this book is that you get to hear the authentic voices of the soldiers through their memoirs, journal entries, and letters. Some are long, some are short, but all are worth reading for the insights you get into the minds of the ordinary soldier and what catches his eye." — The Norwegian American Hidden in the crevasses of World War II history is the story of the 99th Infantry Battalion (Separate). A small unit that rarely gets any attention, it is part of a fascinating story. Alongside battalions of Austrian, Greek, Filipino and Japanese Americans, the Army decided to create an all Norwegian American battalion, originally trained at Camp Hale, Colorado, along with the 10th Mountain Division, with the original mission of liberating Norway. Their exploits during training brought them enough notoriety that members of the 99th were recruited to start the First Special Service Force and a branch of the OSS. Although they were not initially sent to Norway, they would fight in Normandy, across France and Belgium, helped entrap the Germans at Aachen, protected the city of Malmedy during the Battle of the Bulge (where they stopped an attack by Skorzeny and a SS Panzer Division), helped liberate Buchenwald, guarded the Nazi treasures found in Merkers mine and finally served as the Honor Guard for King Haakon VII on his triumphant return to Norway. This book tells the story of the 99th Infantry Battalion through an anthology of rarely, if ever, previously seen memoirs, journals, letters and newspaper articles written by or about the Viking soldiers.
Viking Boys: Beaufighters, Bravery and Lost Airmen
by John QuaifeAn Australian attack aircraft flies into a ship with guns blazing. Both crewmen are killed, but does anyone notice? At the entrance to Orsta fjord, down an overgrown path, a granite stone stands on a rocky outcrop at the water&’s edge. Roughly inscribed in English, it records the loss of two young Australians. The stone was erected in 1947 by parents grieving the loss of their son. Each year villagers of Orsta pay homage to the sacrifice of these two young Australians who died to restore their freedom. Beaufighter pilot James Hakewill and his navigator Fred Sides died on 5 December 1944 when their aircraft slammed into a German gunboat in a fjord in Norway. Official records contain no mention of the aircraft hitting the ship. No one in the squadron knew what had happened. Neil Smith thought he had shot down his wingman. Kurt Heinowitcz from Breslau shovelled coal for the German Navy – he was on the gunboat. Fred&’s mum believed her son had survived the crash and was lost in Russia. James was nominated for the Victoria Cross. Viking Boys tells their stories and reveals the experience of young Australians who fought and flew against German shipping in the fjords of Norway – and called themselves the Viking Boys.
The Viking Saint: Olaf II of Norway
by John CarrThe Vikings and sainthood are not concepts normally found side by side. But Norway’s King Olaf II Haraldsson (c. 995-1030) embodied both to an extraordinary degree. As a battle-eager teenager he almost single-handedly pulled down London Bridge (as in the nursery rhyme) and took part in many other Viking raids . Olaf lacked none of the traditional Viking qualities of toughness and audacity, yet his routine baptism grew into a burning missionary faith that was all the more remarkable for being combined with his typically Viking determination and energy – and sometimes ruthlessness as well. His overriding mission was to Christianize Norway and extirpate heathenism. His unstinting efforts, often at great peril to his life, earned him the Norwegian throne in 1015, when he had barely reached his twenties. For the next fifteen years he laboured against immense odds to subdue the rebellious heathen nobles of Norway while fending off Swedish hostility. Both finally combined against Olaf in 1030, when he fell bravely in battle not far from Trondheim, still only in his mid-thirties. After his body was found to possess healing powers, and reports of them spread from Scandinavia to Spain and Byzantium, Olaf II was canonized a saint 134 years later. He remains Norway’s patron saint as well as a legendary warrior. Yet more remarkably, he remains a saint not only of the Protestant church but also of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches – perhaps the only European fighting saint to achieve such acceptance.
The Viking Warrior's Bride: A Passionate Viking Romance (Viking Warriors)
by Harper St. GeorgeA battle for power and passionA skilled archer with the heart of a warrior, Gwendolyn of Alvey has proved herself capable of defending her homeland. But the threat of invasion and her father’s deathbed wish force her to do the unthinkable: wed Vidar, leader of the enemy.Duty to form an alliance between two powerful clans binds Vidar to Gwendolyn, but desire tempts him to distraction. Her nature is to dominate, but he’s determined to seduce her into submission on the battlefield—and in the bedchamber…
The Viking Wars of Alfred the Great: Campaign Chronicles
by Paul HillIn the spring of 878 at the Battle of Edington the tide of English history turned. Alfred's decisive defeat of Guthrum the Dane freed much of the south and west of England from Danish control and brought to a halt Guthrum's assault on Alfred's Wessex. The battle was the culmination of a long period of preparation by Alfred in the wilderness - a victory snatched from the jaws of catastrophic defeat. As such, this momentous turning point around which an entire nation's future pivoted, has given rise to legends and misconceptions that persist to the present day. Paul Hill, in this stimulating and meticulously researched study, brings together the evidence of the medieval chronicles and the latest historical and archaeological research to follow the struggle as it swung across southern England in the ninth century. He dispels the myths that have grown up around this critical period in English history, and he looks at Alfred's war against the Vikings with modern eyes.
Vikings: Raiders from the Sea (Casemate Short History)
by Kim HjardarA concise history of the Vikings and their time by the Norwegian historian and author of Vikings at War.From the 9th to the 11th century, Viking ships landed on almost every shore in the Western world. Viking ravages united the Spanish kingdoms and stopped Charlemagne and the Franks’ advance in Europe. Employing sail technology and using unpredictable strategies, the Vikings could strike suddenly, attack with great force, then withdraw with stolen goods or captives. Wherever Viking ships roamed, enormous suffering followed in their wake, but the encounter between cultures changed both European and Nordic societies. This short history of the Vikings introduces readers to this highly influential medieval society. Here you will learn how Vikings raided across Europe and even America, with fascinating information about their ships, weapons and armor, and unique way of life.
Vikings at War
by Kim Hjardar Vegard VikeAn illustrated guide to Viking warfare from strategy and weapons to culture and tradition: &“a very excellent introduction to the Viking age as a whole&” (Justin Pollard, historical consultant for the Amazon television series Vikings). From the time when sailing was first introduced to Scandinavia, Vikings reached virtually every corner of Europe and even America with their raids and conquests. Wherever Viking ships roamed, enormous suffering followed in their wake, but the encounters between cultures also brought immense change to both European and Nordic societies. In Vikings at War, historian Kim Hjardar presents a comprehensive overview of Viking weapons technology, military traditions and tactics, offensive and defensive strategies, fortifications, ships, and command structure. The most crucial element of the Viking&’s success was their strategy of arriving by sea, attacking with great force, and withdrawing quickly. In their militarized society, honor was everything, and ruining one&’s posthumous reputation was considered worse than death itself. Vikings at War features more than 380 color illustrations, including beautiful reconstruction drawings, maps, cross-section drawings of ships, line-drawings of fortifications, battle plan reconstructions, and photos of surviving artifacts, including weapons and jewelry. Winner of Norway&’s Saga Prize, Vikings at War is now available in English with this new translation. &“A magnificent piece of work [that] I&’d recommend to anyone with an interest in the Viking period.&” —Justin Pollard, historical consultant for the Amazon television series Vikings
Vikings in Vietnam: Norwegian Patrol Boat Captains in CIA Clandestine Operations
by Alessandro GiorgiA new and exciting story about the war in Vietnam
Vikings to U-Boats: The German Experience in Newfoundland and Labrador (McGill-Queen's Studies in Ethnic History #110)
by Gerhard P. BasslerVikings to U-Boats explores the colony's hidden multicultural history, examining both sides of the German-Newfoundland/Labrador experience. From first recorded contacts to the end of World War II, Bassler traces the lives of German-speaking fishermen, musicians, doctors, engineers, and entrepreneurs. He reconstructs the historical reality behind U-Boat and spy stories and analyses the change in status of the colony's German-speaking people from neighbours to "enemy aliens." Vikings to U-Boats challenges the assumption that the history of Newfoundland and Labrador was shaped solely by English-speakers from the British Isles.
Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape, and a House in Marseille
by Rosemary Sullivan“Rosemary Sullivan goes beyond the confines of Air-Bel to tell a fuller story of France during the tense years from 1933 to 1941. . . . A moving tale of great sacrifice in tumultuous times.” — Publishers WeeklyParis 1940. Andre Breton, Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, Consuelo de Saint-Exupery, and scores of other cultural elite denounced as enemies of the conquering Third Reich, live in daily fear of arrest, deportation, and death. Their only salvation is the Villa Air-Bel, a chateau outside Marseille where a group of young people, financed by a private American relief organization, will go to extraordinary lengths to keep them alive. In Villa Air-Bel, Rosemary Sullivan sheds light on this suspenseful, dramatic, and intriguing story, introducing the brave men and women who use every means possible to stave off the Nazis and the Vichy officials, and goes inside the chateau’s walls to uncover the private worlds and the web of relationships its remarkable inhabitants developed.
The Villa Rouge
by Maggie RossMorgan Perincall's marriage is already disintegrating when her husband volunteers for service in France. Dazed by his desertion, she sends their children west to safety, and leaves London for the dubious sanctuary of her childhood home, the Villa Rouge. Situated on the East coast, it is vulnerable to German attack. Caught between the open hostility of her father's housekeeper and the suffocating affection of Charlie, who for all his enthusiasm is not fit for service, Morgan's days are brightened by the arrival of an R.A.F. squadron - a chance to relive the romances of her wilder youth. But the fall of Dunkirk brings a sobering taste of defeat, and the Battle of Britain soon sees the once-carefree pilots fighting for their lives, their country. With danger drawing ever closer, and the secrets of her past beginning to unravel, Morgan discovers that sometimes the best intentions can leave the darkest legacies.
The Villa Rouge
by Maggie RossMorgan Perincall's marriage is already disintegrating when her husband volunteers for service in France. Dazed by his desertion, she sends their children west to safety, and leaves London for the dubious sanctuary of her childhood home, the Villa Rouge. Situated on the East coast, it is vulnerable to German attack. Caught between the open hostility of her father's housekeeper and the suffocating affection of Charlie, who for all his enthusiasm is not fit for service, Morgan's days are brightened by the arrival of an R.A.F. squadron - a chance to relive the romances of her wilder youth. But the fall of Dunkirk brings a sobering taste of defeat, and the Battle of Britain soon sees the once-carefree pilots fighting for their lives, their country. With danger drawing ever closer, and the secrets of her past beginning to unravel, Morgan discovers that sometimes the best intentions can leave the darkest legacies.(P)2015 WF Howes Ltd
Villa Triste
by Lucretia GrindleFlorence, 1943. Two sisters, Isabella and Caterina Cammaccio, find themselves surrounded by terror and death; and with Italy trapped under the heel of a brutal Nazi occupation, bands of Partisans rise up. Soon Isabella and Caterina will test their wits and deepest beliefs as never before. As the winter grinds on, they will be forced to make the most important decisions of their lives. Their choices will reverberate for decades. In the present day, Alessandro Pallioti, a senior policeman agrees to oversee a murder investigation, after it emerges the victim was once a Partisan hero. When the case begins to unravel, Pallioti finds himself working to uncover a crime lost in the twilight of war, the consequences of which are as deadly today as they were over sixty years ago.
The Village
by Bing WestThe true story of seventeen months in the life of a Vietnamese village where a handful of American Marines and Vietnamese militia lived and died together attempting to defend it.In Black Hawk Down, the fight went on for a day. In We Were Soldiers Once & Young, the fighting lasted three days. In The Village, one Marine squad fought for 495 days—half of them died. Few American battles have been so extended, savage and personal. A handful of Americans volunteered to live among six thousand Vietnamese, training farmers to defend their village. Such &“Combined Action Platoons&” (CAPs) are now a lost footnote about how the war could have been fought; only the villagers remain to bear witness. This is the story of fifteen resolute young Americans matched against two hundred Viet Cong; how a CAP lived, fought and died. And why the villagers remember them to this day.
A Village in the Third Reich: How Ordinary Lives Were Transformed by the Rise of Fascism
by Julia Boyd Angelika PatelAn intimate portrait of German life during World War II, shining a light on ordinary people living in a picturesque Bavarian village under Nazi rule, from a past winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History.Hidden deep in the Bavarian mountains lies the picturesque village of Oberstdorf—a place where for hundreds of years people lived simple lives while history was made elsewhere. Yet even this remote idyll could not escape the brutal iron grip of the Nazi regime. From the author of the international bestseller Travelers in the Third Reich comes A Village in the Third Reich, shining a light on the lives of ordinary people. Drawing on personal archives, letters, interviews and memoirs, it lays bare their brutality and love; courage and weakness; action, apathy and grief; hope, pain, joy, and despair. Within its pages we encounter people from all walks of life – foresters, priests, farmers and nuns; innkeepers, Nazi officials, veterans and party members; village councillors, mountaineers, socialists, slave labourers, schoolchildren, tourists and aristocrats. We meet the Jews who survived – and those who didn&’t; the Nazi mayor who tried to shield those persecuted by the regime; and a blind boy whose life was judged "not worth living." This is a tale of conflicting loyalties and desires, of shattered dreams—but one in which, ultimately, human resilience triumphs. These are the stories of ordinary lives at the crossroads of history.
The Village of Ben Suc
by Jonathan SchellBen Suc was a relatively prosperous farming village thirty miles from Saigon, on the edge of the Iron Triangle, the formidable Vietcong stronghold. It had been "pacified" many times, but because of security leaks no Vietcong were ever captured, and it always reverted to them. Therefore on January 8, 1967, American forces launched a surprise assault kept secret even from their South Vietnamese allies. The plan was to envelop the village, to seal it off, to remove its inhabitants, to destroy its every physical trace, and to level the surrounding jungle. Jonathan Schell accompanied the operation from its beginning to its successful but dismal end, and reports it in depth as he saw it. This time no one slipped away. The story of the bewildering task of separating the V.C. from ordinary villagers is the dramatic core of the first part of this book. The 3,500 villagers were moved to a refugee camp in Phu Loi, a barren, treeless "safe" area, with only what possessions they could carry. The bulldozers went to work and flattened every building. For security reasons no advance preparations had been made, and the move became a human and administrative nightmare. The people of Ben Suc were farmers, and there was nothing for them to do at Phu Loi, Mr. Schell offers vivid portraits of one individual after another--women, children, old men--as they are pacified and sink into apathy and despair. Here is an overwhelmingly affective narrative of American skill and good intentions squandered in a cause made hopeless by misunderstanding, by resistant traditions, and by cultural gaps not only between ourselves and the villagers, but between them and the Saigon government. Mr. Schell's report is devastating.
The Village of Ben Suc
by Jonathan SchellWith a new introduction by Wallace Shawn, a classic work of war reportage that describes, with unblinking vision, the systematic leveling of a Vietnamese village by American troops.In January 1967, as President Lyndon Johnson sent more forces to the war in Vietnam, the US military began what was to be the largest ground operation of the entire conflict. Not far from Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, and close to the Cambodian border was an area known as the Iron Triangle, long under Viet Cong control. Operation Cedar Falls set out to eliminate that guerrilla threat by sealing off the region, emptying its villages, and leveling the surrounding jungle. The local population would be transferred to model "New Life Villages" under US surveillance.The village of Ben Suc was the Americans' first target, and Jonathan Schell, a reporter at the start of his career, accompanied them there. He witnessed the destruction of the village; the frantic efforts of young soldiers to figure out who was or wasn't a foe; the destruction of people's homes and possessions; and the chaotic transfer of women, children, old men, and livestock to a refugee camp where no preparations had been made for their arrival. He described it all in measured tones and unflinching detail. As a cautionary tale about the unintended and devastating consequences of military occupation, The Village of Ben Suc remains unequaled. "Schell's book might have been the crystal ball that could have led American policymakers to realize that quasi-imperial American interventions of this type could not succeed in the contemporary world, and if the policymakers had read Schell's book and studied it carefully, who knows, maybe a million or more Vietnamese lives could have been saved, along with the lives of fifty thousand American soldiers, along with countless lives in Afghanistan and Iraq." —From Wallace Shawn's Introduction.
Village of Scoundrels: A Novel Based on a True Story of Courage During WW II
by Margi PreusIn the 1940s, remote Les Lauzes, France, houses Jews, unregistered foreigners, forgers, and others who take great risks to shelter refugees and smuggle them to safety in Switzerland.