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Down Range: A Transitioning Veteran's Career Guide to Life's Next Phase
by James D. Murphy William M. Duke<p>Written by veterans who have successfully made the transition, <i>Down Range</i> offers career planning guidance to U.S. military veterans coming off active duty. This is NOT simply a guide to transitioning from the military to the civilian world. This is NOT a guide to getting a job. This book IS a guide to developing a post-military career, not just for the first few days, weeks, or months after active duty, but for the rest of your employed life. <p>This simple and effective planning process has been taught to more than 1 million business executives in companies all over the world. <p> <li>Explains how to build an adaptable long-range career plan called a Career High Definition Destination (HDD), across a spectrum of seven key areas <li>Shows how business differs from military service, how to identify the resources needed to achieve the Career HDD, and how to develop strategic and tactical courses of action that drive you to executing towards your Career HDD on a consistent basis <li>Author James Murphy is founder of Afterburner Inc. and is currently working with the U.S. Army at the highest levels to develop a transition program for the estimated 1.5 million veterans who will transition from active duty service to civilian careers by the year 2020 <p> <p>This book challenges veterans to change their mind-set and understand just how different the "wilderness" of civilian employment is from military experience. Down Range provides an appreciation for what's important to a business, helping you to become a valuable asset throughout your career.</p>
Down Range: Navy SEALs in the War on Terrorism
by Dick CouchIn America's battle against al-Qaeda and their allies, the goal of the Navy SEALs is to be the best guns in the fight--stealthy, effective, professional, and lethal. Here for the first time is a SEAL insider's battle history of these Special Operations warriors in the war on terrorism. "Down range" is what SEALs in Afghanistan and Iraq call their area of operations. In this new mode of warfare, "down range" can refer to anything from tracking roving bands of al-Qaeda on a remote mountain trail in Afghanistan to taking down an armed compound in Tikrit and rousting holdouts from Saddam Hussein's regime. It could mean interdicting insurgents smuggling car-bomb explosives over the Iraqi-Syrian border or silently boarding a freighter on the high seas at night to enforce an embargo. In other words, "down range" could be anywhere, anytime, under any conditions. In Down Range, author Dick Couch, himself a former Navy SEAL and CIA case officer, uses his unprecedented access to bring the reader firsthand accounts from the warriors in combat during key missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Couch creates a pulse-pounding, detailed narrative of the definitive engagements of this war, while painting an unusually intimate portrait of these warriors in the field. The performance of the SEALs in difficult, changing environments--in the heat of the Afghan desert, in the snow-packed Hindu Kush, on the high seas, and in the urban chaos of Baghdad--has been nothing short of extraordinary. The SEALs, coordinating with other American forces, the CIA, and foreign special operations units like the Polish GROM, have once more shown their genius for improvisation and capacity for courageous action in leading the fight against this new and vicious enemy. The first battle history of its kind, Down Range is a riveting close-up of some of America's finest warriors in action against a deadly foe. Also available as an eBook From the Hardcover edition.
Down Range: To Iraq and Back
by Bridget C. Cantrell Chuck Dean<p>As soldiers, we have spent countless years learning to survive the actual battle. Endless days on the firing range; countless hours in battle drills; months in combat learning the "ropes"; physical fitness training every day...all of these were dedicated to ensuring your survival and victory at the moment of truth. Now, it is time to dedicate some time to surviving when it is over. <p>PTSD is sometimes called "The gift that keeps on giving." If you die, that is not contagious--but if you live, and come out of the experience with a load of mental baggage, then your loved ones will most likely share in your struggles as well. <p>Reading this book ahead of time can be a form of inoculation, giving you insight that will help keep your combat reactions in perspective, and help you understand what is happening to your mind and body after wartime experiences. Just as we can equip ourselves to physically survive combat, we can also prepare to mentally survive the aftermath. This book is yet another tool in that equipping process.</p>
Down South: A Falklands War Diary
by Chris ParryDown South by Chris Parry - one man's astonishing diary of war in the Falklands'A gripping account of heroism - and chaos - in the South Atlantic' Mail on Sunday'Compelling, gripping. A vividly written, thought-provoking and engaging account' The TimesIn 1982 Lieutenant Chris Parry sailed aboard destroyer HMS Antrim to liberate the Argentine-occupied Falkland Islands. Parry and his crew, in their Wessex helicopter, were soon launched into action rescuing an SAS party stuck on a glacier in gales that had already downed two others. Soon after they single-handedly pursued and fatally wounded a submarine before taking part in terrifying but crucial drop landings under heavy fire. Down South is a hands on, day-by-day account of war fought in the most appalling conditions by men whose grit and fighting spirit overcame all obstacles.This important and extraordinary book of recent history will be enjoyed by readers of Antony Beevor and Max Hastings.'Gripping. A graphic description of just how they pulled off a real-life Mission Impossible' Daily Express 'Excellent. A fascinating war diary' Daily Telegraph'Vivid and insightful. Parry excels in revealing the day-to-day challenges of fighting a campaign in hostile surroundings' Financial Times'A truly gripping historical account' Niall Ferguson 'A priceless contribution to military history. Riveting' Literary ReviewChris Parry joined the Royal Navy after university and then became an Observer in the Fleet Air Arm in 1979. After the Falklands War he had a successful career in the navy, and on promotion to Rear Admiral in 2005 he became the Ministry of Defence's Director of Developments, Concepts and Doctrines. He was appointed a CBE in 2004. Now retired from the armed services, he heads a company which specializes in geo-strategic forecasting.
Down South: One Tour in Vietnam
by William H. Hardwick"I was always happy to see first light. By first light it was over ... for a while." -from Down South. There were a lot of ways to get killed in Vietnam. You could get "zapped," "dinged," "burned," "popped," "smoked," or "wasted." Marine 2nd Lt. William H. Hardwick was familiar with all of them because, unlike most USMC artillery officers--who waged their war from bunkers inside protected compounds--Hardwick as a forward observer fought alongside rifle companies and lived like a grunt for most of his thirteen-month tour. In Okinawa, Vietnam was referred to as "Down South," and in 1968, "Down South" was a bad place to be. Hardwick did it all--walking point, springing ambushes, capturing prisoners, and spending months in the bush surrounded by crack NVA troops. At times the attacking enemy was so close, Hardwick had to call in air strikes almost on top of the Marines themselves just so they could survive. William Hardwick volunteered to fight as one of the few, the proud, the Marines.
Down To Earth (Colonization #2)
by Harry TurtledoveIn 1942 Hitler led the world's most savage military machine. Stalin ruled Russia, while America was just beginning to show its strength in World War II. Then, in Harry Turtledove's brilliantly imagined Worldwar saga, an alien invasion changed everything: alliances, technology, commerce, and--most of all--the nature of life and death. Nuclear destruction engulfed some of Earth's great cities, and the invaders claimed half the planet before an uneasy peace could be achieved. Colonization takes us into the tumultuous 1960s, as the reptilian Race ponders its uneasy future on the planet it calls Tosev 3. The United States has prospered since the war, and has sent a manned spaceship deep into space. On the other side of the globe, the German Reich remains bloodied but unbowed, brandishing a frightening new weapon and always poised for war. China strains under alien occupation, and from Poland to Jerusalem, Jews must choose between aiding the Race or the Reich. Now, the invaders have been joined by their colonization fleet--millions of newcomers who seek to incorporate our world into their far-flung empire. A violent black market erupts around ginger--the one substance that deprives the alien colonists of their ability to reason--and a new war threatens, one even deadlier than the last. The clamoring, bellicose tribes of Earth form new alliances and play dangerous games of diplomacy, but the ultimate power broker will be the Race itself. For the colonists have one option no human can ignore. With a vast, ancient empire already in place, the Race has the power to annihilate every living being on Tosev 3... In Colonization: Down to Earth, Harry Turtledove continues the breathtaking tale that has established him as one of alternate history's leading practitioners. Populated by a cast that includes the famous, from Khomeni to Himmler, and the unknown--drug smugglers, soldiers, and lovers--this novel continues the excitement of Colonization: Second Contact, and weaves a spectacular tale of tyranny and freedom, destruction and hope.
Down and Dirty
by Len LevinsonDeath is what life is all about! It's hot in the jungle. And with the Rat Bastards, what's hot becomes sheer hell. Prison can slow them down. Women can make them happy. But it's killing that keeps them going. In the jungle, every shadow, every noise can mean friend-or foe. They shoot first and ask questions never. For them, the war is always just beginning...The Rat Bastards.
Down in My Heart, Second Edition
by William Stafford(From the back cover) "Down in My Heart has an autobiographical dimension, a shy but brave sense of quest, of inner evolution, of maturation and growth from eager idealism at the beginning to ironic wariness verging on disillusionment at the close, that was so telling a measure for all of us who shared the CO experience. But. Stafford registers a feeling of absolute integrity within a situation of social alienation that is extraordinary, the more so because it is unconscious, emerging as the subsumed virtue of the work. In the quiet immediacy of his prose the future poet is alive and breathing. All in all, a perceptive glimpse into a most painful interval of our national life." --William Everson From 1940 to 1944, William Stafford was interned in the camps for conscientious objectors in the United States. As a pacifist, he worked for the Civilian Public Service on forest and soil conservation projects in Arkansas, California, and Illinois. As a writer, he recorded the life he found there; the fellowship within the camps and the antagonism outside them. Down in My Heart is an account of the relationships among the people in the camps, their day-to-day activities: fighting forest fires, building roads, terracing eroded lands, and their earnest pursuit of a social morality rooted in religious and secular pacifist ideals. Since then, William Stafford has published several collections of poetry, and he has published his views on the writer's vocation. He has been the Poetry Consultant for the Library of Congress, and received the highest praise as a poet and an educator. His awards include the National Book Award, the Shelley Memorial Award, and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award in Literature.
Down in the Drink: Their Deadliest Enemy Was the Sea
by Ralph BarkerTo crash or be shot down into the sea is a terrifying experience. And to escape to tell the tale is a rare and remarkable achievement. But that is precisely what each of the World War Two heroes described here has done; they have come 'down in the drink' and miraculously survived. In doing so, they have all qualified for the 'Goldfish Club'. Ralph Barker tells the hair-raising and inspiring stories of eight such air crews. There is the tale of the Beaufort that ditches in the North Sea, the Wellington crew stranded in the Bay of Biscay and the Mosquito fighter-bomber trapped in the sea off Burma, keeping afloaton the wreckage of his fuselage,concussed, his bones broken, withonly a flask of whisky to keep him going. In DOWN IN THE DRINK, the accounts of heroism and endurance match any from that historic time. They are stories of men from all corners of the British Commonwealth fighting for survival against unimaginable odds. No one could read of their experiences without being stirred by the proof they give that there is no limit to human courage.
Down in the Drink: Their Deadliest Enemy Was the Sea
by Ralph BarkerTo crash or be shot down into the sea is a terrifying experience. And to escape to tell the tale is a rare and remarkable achievement. But that is precisely what each of the World War Two heroes described here has done; they have come 'down in the drink' and miraculously survived. In doing so, they have all qualified for the 'Goldfish Club'. Ralph Barker tells the hair-raising and inspiring stories of eight such air crews. There is the tale of the Beaufort that ditches in the North Sea, the Wellington crew stranded in the Bay of Biscay and the Mosquito fighter-bomber trapped in the sea off Burma, keeping afloaton the wreckage of his fuselage,concussed, his bones broken, withonly a flask of whisky to keep him going. In DOWN IN THE DRINK, the accounts of heroism and endurance match any from that historic time. They are stories of men from all corners of the British Commonwealth fighting for survival against unimaginable odds. No one could read of their experiences without being stirred by the proof they give that there is no limit to human courage.
Down to Earth Strafing Aces of the Eighth Air Force
by Chris Davey William Hess'Like The Long Reach, Down to Earth is a message from the battle at its height, told in their own words by the men who fight' - this is how Brig-Gen Francis Griswold, VIII Fighter Command, ends his introduction to this book. His official endorsement reveals just how important a document Down to Earth was to the teaching of tyro fighter pilots heading for action in the ETO. More leading aces were lost to flak whilst ground strafing than to German fighters. In this book William Hess has included biographies of all the pilots that originally contributed to this work back in 1943-44.
Down to the Sea: An Epic Story of Naval Disaster and Heroism in World War II
by Bruce HendersonThis epic story opens at the hour the Greatest Generation went to war on December 7, 1941, and follows four U.S. Navy ships and their crews in the Pacific until their day of reckoning three years later with a far different enemy: a deadly typhoon.
Down to the Sea: An Epic Story of Naval Disaster and Heroism in World War II
by Bruce Henderson“World War II produced so many compelling stories that even students of that momentous conflict are apt to discover we’ve missed whole vital episodes. Down to the Sea, about a devastating 1944 Pacific typhoon that sank three destroyers and cost 756 American sailors their lives, is just such an eye-opener.” — New York PostFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Sons and Soldiers, an epic story opening at the hour the Greatest Generation went to war on December 7, 1941, and following four U.S. Navy ships and their crews in the Pacific until their day of reckoning three years later with a far different enemy: a deadly typhoon. In December 1944, while supporting General MacArthur’s invasion of the Philippines, Admiral William “Bull” Halsey neglected the Law of Storms—the unofficial bible of all seamen since the days of sail—placing the mighty U.S. Third Fleet in harm’s way. One of the most powerful fighting fleets ever assembled under any flag, the Third Fleet sailed directly into the largest storm the U.S. Navy had ever encountered—a maelstrom of 90-foot seas and 160-mph winds. More men were lost and ships sunk and damaged than in most combat engagements in the Pacific. The final toll: 3 ships sunk, 28 ships damaged, 146 aircraft destroyed, and 756 men lost at sea.In all, 92 survivors from the three sunken ships (each carrying a crew of about 300) were rescued, some after spending up to 80 hours in the water. Scores more had made it off their sinking ships only to perish in the monstrous seas; some from injuries and exhaustion, others snatched away by circling sharks before their horrified shipmates. In the farflung rescue operations Bruce Henderson finds some of the story’s truest heroes, exhibiting selflessness, courage, and even defiance. One badly damaged ship, whose Naval Reserve skipper disobeyed an admiral’s orders to abandon the search, singlehandedly saved 55 lives.Drawing on extensive interviews with nearly every living survivor and rescuer, many families of lost sailors, transcripts and other records from two naval courts of inquiry, ships’ logs and action reports, personal letters, and diaries, Bruce Henderson offers the most thorough and riveting account to date of one of the greatest naval dramas of World War II.
Downfall (Ryan Drake)
by Will JordanA British Army veteran turned CIA agent races around the world to catch someone killing in his name in this action-packed thriller. Ryan Drake and his team are in hiding, having become sworn enemies of states and agencies around the world. But when a CIA operative and former adversary is killed in a car bomb attack, Drake is shocked to hear someone claiming responsibility using his name. Forced out of hiding by this mysterious new threat, Drake embarks alone on a dangerous and deadly search for answers; a journey that will take him from the slums of Rio to the deserts of Tunisia and the mountains of Afghanistan. But as the stranger&’s insidious influence grows stronger, he begins to realize the key to unravelling the present lies in his own shadowy past. Following his trail of destruction, the team must fight to save Drake not only from a list of ruthless enemies, but even more urgently, from himself. Perfect for fans of Lee Child, David Baldacci, and Vince Flynn.
Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire
by Richard B. FrankEnd of World War II in the East.
Downhill Chance: A Novel
by Donna Morrissey“[An] almost mythical story of fractured families, wars, and homecomings” from the international bestselling author of The Fortunate Brother (Quill & Quire).With Kit’s Law, Donna Morrissey established herself as a gifted storyteller. Her chronicle of life in a remote Newfoundland outport was acclaimed by critics and embraced by readers worldwide. Downhill Chance is a captivating successor to Morrissey’s first novel. Set in a pair of isolated fishing communities in Newfoundland during and after the Second World War, this is the story of two families joined by friendship but torn apart by fear and sorrows.Prude Osmond reads her tea leaves and predicts dark days ahead. Meanwhile, an hour’s boat ride away, Job Gale leaves his wife and two young daughters behind to fight in the war, a cause neither they nor their neighbors understand. The war and the dark secrets it holds cascade over the Gale family, afflicting the sensitive yet resourceful Clair, an unforgettable heroine. Forced to restart her life in another place, she must forsake the family she loves and her community.Morrissey blends drama, gritty realism, and a flair for the comic in this unique novel. At its core is the unravelling of secrets—and the redemption that truth ultimately brings.“Hardy and Dickens are the probable inspirations for this sprawling, old-fashioned tale of two maritime Newfoundland families . . . the narrative moves like a house afire, and its racy energy keeps our attention riveted.” —Kirkus Reviews“Achingly beautiful . . . A major novel by a remarkable writer.” —Booklist (starred review)
Downing Street Diary Volume Two: With James Callaghan in No. 10
by Bernard DonoughueThe first volume of Bernard Donoughue's Downing Street Diary was described by Charles Moore in the Daily Telegraph as 'the best account of Harold Wlson's last days'; 'the sheer scale and detail are fascinating' wrote Peter Riddell in the Times Literary Supplement. This second volume covers the three years, 1976-79, when Donoughue was Senior Policy Advisor to James Callaghan.At first Callaghan quickly established dominance over his cabinet and restored calm after the plots and scandals of the later Wilson years. His incomes policy reduced inflation and, in the teeth of opposition from the left wing, he negotiated the notorious IMF loan at the expense of eliminating some of Labour's most cherished dreams. By 1978, Callaghan, a politician of great patriotism and decency, seemed to have succeeded in steering Britain into calmer waters. But then the storm broke. Trade union militants brushed aside their mediocre leaders and launched a ferocious attack on Callaghan's pay policy, driving up inflation and demonstrating the government's impotence. In the diaries we see the prime minister and the government paralysed as the 'Winter of Discontent' began to bite and politics took to the streets.As Labour drifted to inevitable defeat in the 1979 election we see Callaghan fighting honourably. From the smoke of battle there emerges a striking new leader: Margaret Thatcher. The diaries describe vividly both the decline and final collapse of 'old' Labour and how Mrs Thatcher took the opportunity to launch her crusade to dismantle trade union power and much of the British public sector.Besides James Callaghan the chief figures in this volume of Lord Donoughue's diaries are Roy Jenkins, Denis Healey, Tony Crosland, Michael Foot, Shirley Williams, David Owen and Tony Benn.
Dr. B.: A Novel
by Daniel BirnbaumThe former director of the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm makes his literary debut with this dramatic and riveting novel of book publishing, émigrés, spies, and diplomats in World War II Sweden based on his grandfather’s life.In 1933, after Hitler and the Nazi Party consolidated power in Germany, Immanuel Birnbaum, a German Jewish journalist based in Warsaw, is forbidden from writing for newspapers in his homeland. Six years later, just months before the German invasion of Poland that ignites World War II, Immanuel escapes to Sweden with his wife and two young sons.Living as a refugee in Stockholm, Immanuel continues to write, contributing articles to a liberal Swiss newspaper in Basel under the name Dr. B. He also begins working as an editor for the legendary German publisher S. Fischer Verlag. Gottfried Bermann Fischer had established an office in Stockholm to evade German censorship, publishing celebrated German writers such as Thomas Mann and Stefan Zweig.Immanuel also becomes entangled with British intelligence agents who produce and distribute anti-Nazi propaganda in Stockholm. On orders from Winston Churchill, the Allied spies plan several acts of sabotage. But when the Swedish postal service picks up a letter written in invisible ink, the plotters are exposed. The letter, long a mystery in military history accounts, was in fact written by Dr. B. But why would a Jew living in exile and targeted for death by the Nazis have wanted to tip them off? Daniel Birnbaum’s novel will intrigue readers with its fascinating portrayal of the astonishing connections and often mysterious players illuminated by his grandfather’s remarkable wartime life.
Dr. Colton's High-Stakes Fiancée (The Coltons of Montana #4)
by Cindy DeesDr. Finn Colton thought he'd left his past behind. But once he sets foot in Honey Creek, Montana, after years away, he sees that some things never change. The Colton family unit is still fragile. The woman who'd destroyed his heart ages ago still gets past his defenses. And the deceit that tore them apart is still a mystery.Rachel Grant can't forget how loving Finn had led to destruction. Nor can she forget what his smile, his touch, stirs in her. With a devastating storm racing toward them and that long-ago treachery itching to resurface, everything Rachel cares about is at risk- including her future with Finn.
Dr. Knox: A novel
by Peter SpiegelmanFrom the author of Red Cat and Thick as Thieves: a gripping new thriller about a medical doctor with a powerful humanitarian impulse, an unhealthy appetite for risk, and a knack for finding himself between a rock and a hard place. Adam Knox comes from a long line of patrician Connecticut doctors--a line he broke to serve with an NGO in the war-torn Central African Republic. His attempt to protect his patients there from a brutal militia ended in disaster and disgrace, and now he runs a clinic near Los Angeles's Skid Row, making ends meet by making house calls--cash only, no questions asked--on those too famous or too criminal to seek other medical care. When a young boy is abandoned at his clinic, Knox is determined to find the boy's family and save him from the not-so-tender mercies of the child welfare bureaucracy. But Knox's search for the volatile woman who may or may not be the boy's mother leads him and his friend, a former Special Forces operator, into a labyrinth of human traffickers, Russian mobsters, and corporate security thugs; and squarely into the sights of a powerful, secretive, and utterly ruthless family that threatens to destroy Dr. Knox and everything--and everyone--he holds dear.From the Hardcover edition.
Dr. Mudd and the Lincoln Assassination: The Case Reopened
by John Paul Jones(book flaps) On June 30, 1865, Samuel A. Mudd was convicted of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth and others to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on an island off the coast of Florida. Dr. Mudd was pardoned in 1869 by President Andrew Johnson, based on his assistance in a yellow fever epidemic rather than on the merits of his case, leaving unresolved until the present day the question of his ultimate guilt or innocence. On February 12, 1993, the University of Richmond School of Law convened a distinguished group of jurists and Civil War historians to thoroughly present both sides of the case of Samuel Mudd and the broader Lincoln Conspiracy before a panel of judges in an actual courtroom. Dr. Mudd was represented by F. Lee Bailey, Attorney at Law and former Marine fighter pilot and legal officer; and Candida Ewing Staempfli Steel, Attorney at Law and greatgreat-granddaughter of General Thomas Ewing, Dr. Mudd's original counsel. The government was represented by John Jay Douglass, Dean of the National College of District Attorneys and former Commandant of the Judge Advocate General's School; and Admiral John S. Jenkins, Associate Dean and Lecturer at the George Washington University National Law Center, and former Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Navy. The attorneys presented their arguments with all the detail and color of a modern legal case. Dr. Mudd and the Lincoln Assassination is the complete record of the proceedings, with added commentary by distinguished historians. Some scholars argue that Mudd was completely innocent, while others cite eyewitness reports of seeing Mudd in the company of John Wilkes Booth in Washington prior to the assassination. In Dr. Mudd and the Lincoln Assassination the legality of the military tribunal that tried Mudd is both defended and attacked in fascinating detail. This volume combines the drama of the Civil War with the suspense of a modern trial and contains a wealth of detail on the Lincoln Conspiracy, much of it unknown to the general public. Dr. Mudd contains the complete text of recent decisions by the U.S. Court of Military Appeals and other bodies in the matter of Samuel Mudd, a case still pending in U.S. courts. The main text is backed up by extensive references for further reading, few of which normally appear in Civil War books.
Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel
by Richard H. Minear&“A fascinating collection&” of wartime cartoons from the beloved children&’s author and illustrator (The New York Times Book Review). For decades, readers throughout the world have enjoyed the marvelous stories and illustrations of Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. But few know the work Geisel did as a political cartoonist during World War II, for the New York daily newspaper PM. In these extraordinarily trenchant cartoons, Geisel presents &“a provocative history of wartime politics&” (Entertainment Weekly). Dr. Seuss Goes to War features handsome, large-format reproductions of more than two hundred of Geisel&’s cartoons, alongside &“insightful&” commentary by the historian Richard H. Minear that places them in the context of the national climate they reflect (Booklist). Pulitzer Prize–winner Art Spiegelman&’s introduction places Seuss firmly in the pantheon of the leading political cartoonists of our time. &“A shocker—this cat is not in the hat!&” —Studs Terkel
Drafting Italy: Conscription and the Military from 1814 to 1914 (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Italy)
by Marco RovinelloThis is the first comprehensive history of conscription and the military in Italy from the Restoration to the eve of WWI. The comparative and transnational approach enables this work to compare and contrast the Italian experience with that of many other countries in the world as well as understand transfers and the adaptive and imitative processes that emerge when conscription and the military are viewed from an Italian perspective. Peacetime and wartime recruitment, military life, culture, justice and civil-military relationships are analysed using a wide range of sources and an interdisciplinary approach that combines top-down and bottom-up perspectives. This enables the book not only to assess the contribution the military has made to the country in terms of state-building, nation building, modernization, pedagogical and disciplinary models, gender identity and roles, but also to reconsider the standard taxonomies as well as some established evolutionary models of the armies. Moreover, the Italian military is seen as an internally complex world that is incapable of defining its own one-dimensional identity or of imposing any such identity on its members. Consequently, it is an element in the history of a country that is substantially the same as any other such element and thus important in people’s collective and individual lives whether or not they are in uniform. Rather than being an object of study in and of itself, the military becomes a vantage point from which to observe the Italian history in the long 19th century. Therefore, this book can be profitably read by professional military historians and non-specialist readers interested in the military, as well as by all scholars working on Italian pre- and post-unification political, institutional, socio-economic, cultural and gender history.
Dragon Key
by Don PendletonDRAGON'S LAIRWhen an American operative is jailed, Mack Bolan must finish the agent's mission to smuggle a Chinese activist and his family out of the country. But getting the dissident away alive becomes a logistical nightmare for Bolan and the two inexperienced CIA agents assisting him. Not only are the Chinese authorities on their tail, but the activist insists on retrieving a stolen flash drive in Shanghai.The memory key contains sensitive information belonging to a renegade general. As determined to recover the data as the dissident is, the general has hired a legendary assassin famous for eliminating anyone who gets in his way. In a battle where only one champion can survive, Bolan may have met his match. But the Executioner is used to fighting against overwhelming odds and has something much more important on his side-justice.
Dragon Mountain
by Daniel ReidCaptain Jack Robertson faces an impossible choice: Can he learn to love his violent, drug-fueled jungle prison-or will he die trying to escape?While spying on the Burmese drug-traffic for the CIA, Jack Robertson, a senior pilot for Air America, is kidnapped by a disgraced comrade with an unhealthy addition to drugs, sex, money and power.Dragon Mountain is the thrilling story of Captain Jack Robertson's struggle to stay alive long enough to choose between forging a new life in his captor's jungle fortress, or taking bloody revenge. Will Jack make a doomed break for freedom? Or will the violent forces around him spiral out of control.This action-packed adventure features unforgettable characters-renegade mercenaries, bloodthirsty bandits and corrupt officials-in an exotic Asian setting. Murder, kidnapping, drug deals-and the dark secrets behind covert American operations in Asia-make this a non-stop thriller!