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The Sword of Attila: A Novel of the Last Years of Rome

For centuries, Rome had ruled from Africa to the wilds of Britain. Now, from across a broad plain of waving grass, a new enemy had poured out of the East - to be led by a man whose goal was not just victory in battle, but the end of an empire. . . In his novels of ancient warfare, Michael Curtis Ford captures the roar, clamor and horror of battle as well as the intimate moments of human choice upon which history turns. In his extraordinary new work, he brings to life the buckling Roman empire in 400 A. D. , a jagged, sprawling realm of foreign fighters, unstable rulers, and battle lines stretched too far. At this pivotal moment, General Flavius Aetius is forced into a battle he does not want but cannot afford to lose. Once Flavius livedamong the wild Huns, rode their stout warhorses and became like a son to their king. Now, he faces a man who once saved his life, a man he fears, loves and admires. . . a man named Attila - the most dangerous enemy Rome has ever known. . . .

Sword of Honour Trilogy

Takes three previously published books and presents them as one story. They are, in order, Men At Arms, Officers and Gentlemen, and The End of the Battle.

The Sword of Lincoln: The Army of the Potomac

The Sword of Lincoln is the first authoritative single-volume history of the Army of the Potomac in many years. From Bull Run to Gettysburg to Appomattox, the Army of the Potomac repeatedly fought -- and eventually defeated -- Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. Jeffry D. Wert, one of our finest Civil War historians, brings to life the battles, the generals, and the common soldiers who fought for the Union and ultimately prevailed. The obligation throughout the Civil War to defend the capital, Washington, D. C. , infused a defensive mentality in the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac. They began ignominiously with defeat at Bull Run. Suffering under a succession of flawed commanders -- McClellan, Burnside, and Hooker -- they endured a string of losses until at last they won a decisive battle at Gettysburg under a brand-new commander, General George Meade. Within a year, the Army of the Potomac would come under the overall leadership of the Union's new general-in-chief, Ulysses S. Grant. Under Grant, the army marched through the Virginia countryside, stalking Lee and finally trapping him and the remnants of his army at Appomattox. Wert takes us into the heart of the action with the ordinary soldiers of the Irish Brigade, the Iron Brigade, the Excelsior Brigade, and other units, contrasting their experiences with those of their Confederate adversaries. He draws on letters and diaries, some of them previously unpublished, to show us what army life was like. Throughout his history, Wert shows how Lincoln carefully oversaw the operations of the Army of the Potomac, learning as the war progressed, until he found in Grant the commander he'd long sought. With a swiftly moving narrative style and perceptive analysis, The Sword of Lincoln is destined to become the modern account of the army that was so central to the history of the Civil War.

Sword Song (The Saxon Chronicles, Book 4)

The year is 885, and England is at peace, divided between the Danish kingdom to the north and the Saxon kingdom of Wessex in the south. Uhtred, the dispossessed son of a Northumbrian lord-warrior by instinct, Viking by nature-has finally settled down. He has land, a wife, and two children, and a duty given to him by King Alfred to hold the frontier on the Thames. But then trouble stirs: a dead man has risen, and new Vikings have arrived to occupy the decayed Roman city of London. Their dream is to conquer Wessex, and to do it they need Uhtred's help. Alfred has other ideas. He wants Uhtred to expel the Viking raiders from London. Uhtred must weigh his oath to the king against the dangerous turning tide of shifting allegiances and deadly power struggles. And other storm clouds are gathering: ÆtheleflÆd-Alfred's daughter-is newly married, but by a cruel twist of fate, her very existence now threatens Alfred's kingdom. It is Uhtred-half Saxon, half Dane-whose uncertain loyalties must now decide England's future. A gripping story of love, deceit, and violence, Sword Song is set in an England of tremendous turmoil and strife-yet one galvanized by the hope that Alfred may prove an enduring force. Uhtred, his lord of war and greatest warrior, has become his sword-a man feared and respected the length and breadth of Britain.

Swords against the Senate

An interesting popular study of the origins of the civil wars that destroyed the Roman Republic.

Sympathy for the Devil

Censured by some critics for its brutality but heralded by others as a modern-day classic, Sympathy for the Devil is a terrifying, intoxicating journey through the violence, madness, and insane beauty of battle. It traces the story of a hardened Green Beret named Hanson, a college student who goes to war with a book of Yeats's poetry in his pocket and discovers the savagery within himself. In this extraordinary novel, we follow Hanson through two tours of duty and a bitter attempt to live as a civilian in between. At one with the lush and dangerous world around him in Vietnam, Hanson is doomed to survive the landscape of devastation he encounters. Sympathy for the Devil contains some of the most vivid, finely etched prose ever written about the actual process of war--from firing a weapon for the first time in battle to the moment a young man knows that he has entered a living hell and found a home....

System Corruption

Frank Carella is just doing his job when he makes a horrifying discovery--a major contractor has knowingly supplied substandard armor to the U.S. military. When Carella becomes a whistle-blower he unwittingly alerts the men behind a sinister and deadly cover-up.Mack Bolan is drawn into the hunt when Carella's life is suddenly under threat as the incriminating information he has gathered becomes the prize in a deadly chase. Bolan must navigate a network of sabotage and deception with a well-organized enemy closing ranks around him. As bodies start piling up, Bolan knows his only chance is to get to the finish line first. Fortunately, it's a game that the Executioner plays with deadly skill....

Systems and Technologies for the Treatment of Non-Stockpile Chemical Warfare Materiel

The main approach adopted by the U. S. Army for destruction of all declared chemical weapon materiel (CWM) is incineration. There has been considerable public opposition to this approach, however, and the Army is developing a mix of fixed site and mobile treatment technologies to dispose of non-stockpile CWM. To assist in this effort, the Army requested NRC to review and evaluate these technologies, and to assess its plans for obtaining regulatory approval for and to involve the public in decisions about the application of those technologies. This book presents an assessment of non-stockpile treatment options and the application of these systems to the non-stockpile inventory, of regulatory and permitting issues, and of the role of the public.

T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks, 1944-2004

The T-54 and T-55 tanks are the most widely manufactured tanks of all time. They have become ubiquitous to wars around the globe since the 1950s, starting with Hungary in 1956, and including the the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967, 1973 and 1982, the Vietnam war of 1967-75, the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88, the Afghanistan conflict, Operation Desert Storm, the Yugoslav Civil Wars, and the recent conflict in Iraq. This book will examine the roots of this prolific tank family, starting with the Soviet Army's first attempts to replace the legendary T-34 during World War II, and covering the T-43 and the T-44, the more successful T-54, and its ultimate evolution into the T-55.

T-62 Main Battle Tank 1965-2005

The Soviet Army hastily developed the T-62 in a struggle to compete against the rapid proliferation of NATO tanks in the 1960s. It was essentially a modification of the widely-manufactured T-55 tank with the addition of a new 115mm gun. Within the USSR itself, the T-62 was quickly superseded, but it was widely exported, becoming a critical component of the Egyptian and Syrian armies in the 1973 Yom Kippur conflict and heavily influenced later designs of the M1 Abrams and Challenger tanks. In the first English-language history of this tank, Steven Zaloga examines the development of the T-62 using detailed combat descriptions to bring to life the operational history of this tank from the deserts of the Sinai to the harsh terrain of Afghanistan. From the Trade Paperback edition.

T-80 Standard Tank: The Soviet Army's Last Armored Champion

The Soviet T-80 Standard Tank was the last tank fielded before the Soviet collapse, and the most controversial. Like the US M1 Abrams tank, the T-80 used a turbine power plant rather than a conventional diesel. Although the design was blessed with some of the most sophisticated armament, fire controls, and multi-layer armor ever fielded on a Soviet tank, its power plant remained a source of considerable trouble through its career. It saw very little service in the Chechen War, though T-80 tanks were used in some of the regional conflicts in the former Soviet Union in the 1990s. Although the collapse of the Soviet Union might seem the end of the story, the T-80 lived on in Ukraine where one of its tank plants was based. A diesel powered version of the T-80 was developed, the T-84, which was successfully exported, including a major sale to Pakistan to counterbalance the Indian Army's Russian T-90 tanks. Steven J Zaloga charts the little-known history of the T-80, covering the initial construction, through the development to the subsequent variants, the T-84 and Russia's enigmatic "Black Eagle Tank." Accompanying detailed cut-away artwork illustrates the unusual design features that made the T-80 so controversial. From the Trade Paperback edition.

A Tale of Two Subs: An Untold Story of World War II, Two Sister Ships, and Extraordinary Heroism

On November 19, 1943, the submarine USS Sculpin was attacked by a Japanese destroyer. Despite the crew's desperate attempts to survive-diving down below the waters to perilous depths and running quiet in order to hide themselves from the destroyer's sonar equipment-the destroyer prevailed. Ultimately, the Sculpin took on too much damage and was forced to surface, leaving her crew with no choice but to abandon ship. The American sailors were then picked up by the Japanese, who would subject them to days of torture. These seamen were ultimately transferred to a Japanese aircraft carrier and then sent to a dreaded Japanese POW camp. On board the Sculpin was Lt. Commander Cromwell, who, unbeknownst to the crew, carried an important secret: the United States had managed to crack the secret Japanese war code. Cromwell knew that this information was too important for him to risk interrogation; he now had a terrible decision to make. Weeks later, another sub, the USS Sailfish, came upon a Japanese aircraft carrier. It was a fortuitous discovery, as an enemy carrier was a prime target in World War II. But little did the crew of the Sailfish know that their countrymen-the survivors from the Sculpin-were on board that same carrier, locked in the brig and trying to escape. Ironically, the Sculpin and the Sailfish originally christened as the Squalus) were sister submarines. In fact, when the Squalus had first been launched in 1939, it had gone down in a test dive. The Sculpin had been instrumental in finding her in time to save the lives of half of her crew. The incredible interconnections between the Sculpin and the Sailfish have never been so dramatically portrayed. Thoroughly researched by the author, who gained access to the few living survivors, never-before-translated Japanese war documents, and exclusive photographs, A TALE OF TWO SUBS tells the story of some of the most amazing and moving events in World War II history.

Tales of Aztlan, The Romance of a Hero of Our Late Spanish-American War, Incidents of Interest from the Life of a Western Pioneer and Other Tales

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Tales of the Master Race

A novel set in an imaginary town in Germany during the Third Reich, with interlinked stories highlighting chance effects of prejudice, deportation, murder and war.

The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan

Offering an invaluable guide to "what went wrong" with the American reconstruction project in Afghanistan, this book accounts for the persistence of a powerful and enigmatic movement while simultaneously mapping Afghanistan's enduring political crisis.

Talk at the Brink: Deliberation and Decision During the Cuban Missile Crisis

In October 1962, the fate of the world hung on the American response to the discovery of Soviet nuclear missile sites in Cuba. That response was informed by hours of discussions between John F. Kennedy and his top advisers. What those advisers did not know was that President Kennedy was secretly taping their talks, providing future scholars with a rare inside look at high-level political deliberation in a moment of crisis. Talk at the Brink is the first book to examine these historic audio recordings from a sociological perspective. It reveals how conversational practices and dynamics shaped Kennedy's perception of the options available to him, thereby influencing his decisions and ultimately the outcome of the crisis. David Gibson looks not just at the positions taken by Kennedy and his advisers but how those positions were articulated, challenged, revised, and sometimes ignored. He argues that Kennedy's decisions arose from the intersection of distant events unfolding in Cuba, Moscow, and the high seas with the immediate conversational minutia of turn-taking, storytelling, argument, and justification. In particular, Gibson shows how Kennedy's group told and retold particular stories again and again, sometimes settling upon a course of action only after the most frightening consequences were omitted or actively suppressed. Talk at the Brink presents an image of Kennedy's response to the Cuban missile crisis that is sharply at odds with previous scholarship, and has important implications for our understanding of decision making, deliberation, social interaction, and historical contingency.

Talons of the Eagle: Dynamics of U.S.-Latin American Relations, Second Edition

Spanning almost two hundred years, Talons of the Eagle tells the turbulent story of U.S.-Latin American relations from the birth of the United States and the new Latin American nations through the Cold War to the present day.

Tank Spotter's Guide

Invented during World War I to break the grim deadlock of the Western Front trenches, tanks have gone on to revolutionise warfare. From the lightning Blitzkrieg assaults of World War II to the great battles in the Middle Eastern desert and the largest ever tank battles on the Eastern Front, tanks have become one of the key components of the 'combined arms' philosophy of warfare. This pocket guide gives the reader all of the essential information on 40 of history's premiere tanks, including the Tiger, Sherman, Panther and M1A1 Abrams. Each tank is presented with a detailed drawing to aid recognition.

The Tao of Deception: Unorthodox Warfare in Historic and Modern China

The history of China is a history of warfare. Wars have caused dynasties to collapse, fractured the thin façade of national unity, and brought decades of alien occupation. But throughout Chinese history, its warfare has been guided by principles different from those that governed Europe. Chinese strategists followed the concept, first articulated by Sun-tzu inThe Art of War, ofqi (ch'i), or unorthodox, warfare. The concept ofqiinvolves creating tactical imbalances in order to achieve victory against even vastly superior forces. Ralph D. Sawyer, translator ofThe Art of Warand one of America's preeminent experts on Chinese military tactics, here offers a comprehensive guide to the ancient practice of unorthodox warfare. He describes, among many other tactics, how Chinese generals have used false rumors to exploit opposing generals' distrust of their subordinates; dressed thousands of women as soldiers to create the illusion of an elite attack force; and sent word of a false surrender to lure enemy troops away from a vital escape route. The Tao of Deceptionis the book that military tacticians and military historians will turn to as the definitive guide to a new, yet ancient, way of thinking about strategy.

The Tao of War: The Martial Tao Te Ching

Wang Chen, a ninth-century military commander, was sickened by the carnage that had plagued the glorious T'ang dynasty for decades. "All within the seas were poisoned," he wrote, "and pain and disaster was rife throughout the land. " Wang Chen wondered, how can we end conflicts before they begin? How can we explain and understand the dynamics of conflict? For the answer he turned to a remarkable source-theTao Te Ching. Here is Wang Chen's own rendering of and commentary on the ancient text, insightfully expanded and amplified by translator Ralph D. Sawyer, a leading scholar of Chinese military history. Although theTaolong influenced Chinese military doctrine, Wang Chen's interpretations produced the first reading of it as a martial text-a "tao of war. " Like Sun-tzu'sArt of War, certainly the most famous study of strategy ever written, the Tao provides lessons for the struggles of contemporary life. In the way that the ancientArt of Warprovides inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive situations of all kinds, even in today's world, Wang Chen'sThe Tao of Waruncovers action plans for managing conflict and promoting peace. A book to put on the shelf next toArt of War, Wang Chen'sThe Tao of Waris a reference of equally compelling and practical advice.

Target Acquisition

Stony Man, the covert action arm of the Justice Department, is the highest level trump card at Presidential discretion. The handpicked team of commandos and brilliant cybernetic specialists engage in the kind of last-minute, high-difficulty and direct-intervention operations that sidestep red tape and rules. Stony Man's mandate: get the job done. With ground teams working separate missions across the globe-one against jihadists fueling terror in Pakistan and another rescuing a plane filled with American hostages in the Amazon-the cyber team at Stony Man connects the dots to an unfolding global nightmare. At its source, a megalomaniacal emir with the power and royal connections to cause international havoc. He's willing to sacrifice countless innocent lives for his own twisted vengeance. With ruthless efficiency, Stony Man engages in all-out war-to stop evil at its source.

Target Lock

A manufacturing and information-gathering satellite is stolen by a band of Indonesian pirates. It's up to Captain Amanda Garrett and the U.S. Navy Special Forces to get it back.

Targets of Opportunity (Brad Austin Series #2)

Hailed as "one of America's new thriller stars" by Tom Clancy, author Joe Weber captured national attention with his riveting debut, DEFCON One, a New York Times bestseller. A former Marine Corps pilot, Weber turned firsthand experience into explosive human drama, charged with gripping authenticity. Now, with Targets of Opportunity, Weber soars to new heights. The Vietnam War has reached a crucial turning point. Marine aviator Brad Austin (introduced in the bestselling Rules of Engagement) is assigned the most dangerous mission of his career. Recruited by the CIA, Austin must master the controls of a North Vietnamese MiG jet--then, stripped of his military identity and disguised as a Russian pilot, fly the MiG behind enemy lines. If he succeeds, the enemy will be easy prey. If he fails, the U.S. government will deny any involvement--and Brad Austin will no longer exist.... Tense, powerful, and frighteningly real, Targets of Opportunity is a masterwork of military fiction--Joe Weber at his electrifying best.

Tarnished Victory: Finishing Lincoln's War

A master Civil War historian re-creates the final year of our nation's greatest crisis. With Tarnished Victory William Marvel concludes his sweeping four-part series--this final volume beginning with the Virginia and Atlanta campaigns in May 1864 and closing with the final surrender of Confederate forces in June 1865. In the course of that year the war grows ever more deadly, the home front is stripped to fill the armies, and the economy is crippled by debt and inflation, while the stubborn survival of the Confederacy seriously undermines support for Lincoln's war. In the end, it seems that Lincoln's early critics, who played such a pivotal role at the start of the series, are proven correct. Victory did require massive bloodshed and complete conquest of the South. It also required decades of occupation to cement the achievements of 1865, and the failure of Lincoln's political heirs to carry through with that occupation squandered the most commendable of those achievements, ultimately making it a tarnished victory. Marvel, called the "Civil War's master historical detective" by Stephen Sears, has unearthed provocative details and rich stories long buried beneath a century of accumulated distortion and misinterpretation to create revisionist history at its best.

Task Force Blue (Rogue Warrior #4)

"Moving slowly, steadily across the tarmac through the driving Florida rain, the Rogue Warrior and his team of SEALs have been called into action. Mission: storm a hijacked 727 sitting on a Key West airstrip and rescue the Secretary of the Navy. In a flash of high-tech explosives and automatic gunfire, a hostage is killed - and Marcinko will be the one to pay. Facing a court martial and permanent removal from the Navy, the Rogue Warrior has one more call to answer, from an ultrasecret operative inside the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). " "America's worst nightmare has become a reality. The hijackers' roots run deep in U. S. soil: Americans willing to kill Americans to create a government in their own fanatical image. The Pentagon's security has been breached: the arsenal of democracy raided. The DIA needs someone to eradicate the terrorist infrastructure, circumventing the Navy and the FBI. They need Marcinko and his elite SEAL contingent, Task Force Blue. " "Inspired and funded by a politically motivated independent billionaire, the enemy has become a force of right-wing militias and extremists, radical drug gangs, and fundamentalist terrorists - but they have yet to face an adversary like the Rogue Warrior. Accused of murder and pursued by the FBI, operating underground to maneuver through a political, military, and bureaucratic minefield, the Rogue Warrior is right where he wants to be. And, faithful to his ultimate Commandment of SpecWar, there are no rules - Marcinko will win at all costs. "--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved