- Table View
- List View
Hijacked
by B. J. DanielsA reader favorite from New York Times bestselling author B.J. DanielsJack Donovan is in love with Angie Grant—and heartbroken when she unexpectedly marries his business partner. When Angie goes missing, declared dead, Jack is determined to prove her husband is the murderer. But then Jack begins catching glimpses of Angie…in a crowd, a taxi. Will Jack get a second chance with the woman he loves—or is there someone else orchestrating the ultimate revenge?Previously publishedLook for BJ Daniel’s latest title Reunion at Cardwell Ranch, part of her bestselling Cardwell Ranch series.
The Hijacked War: The Story of Chinese POWs in the Korean War
by David Cheng ChangThe Korean War lasted for three years, one month, and two days, but armistice talks occupied more than two of those years, as more than 14,000 Chinese prisoners of war refused to return to Communist China and demanded to go to Nationalist Taiwan, effectively hijacking the negotiations and thwarting the designs of world leaders at a pivotal moment in Cold War history. In The Hijacked War, David Cheng Chang vividly portrays the experiences of Chinese prisoners in the dark, cold, and damp tents of Koje and Cheju Islands in Korea and how their decisions derailed the high politics being conducted in the corridors of power in Washington, Moscow, and Beijing. Chang demonstrates how the Truman-Acheson administration's policies of voluntary repatriation and prisoner reindoctrination for psychological warfare purposes—the first overt and the second covert—had unintended consequences. The "success" of the reindoctrination program backfired when anti-Communist Chinese prisoners persuaded and coerced fellow POWs to renounce their homeland. Drawing on newly declassified archival materials from China, Taiwan, and the United States, and interviews with more than 80 surviving Chinese and North Korean prisoners of war, Chang depicts the struggle over prisoner repatriation that dominated the second half of the Korean War, from early 1952 to July 1953, in the prisoners' own words.
Hijo de tigre: Una novela sobre Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, el hijo de Morelos
by Mario HerediaEn Hijo de tigre descubrimos a un Juan Nepomuceno Almonte que, con mirada nostálgica, hace balance sobre su vida: sobre lo que cree de sí mismo, lo que creen los demás y los hechos verdaderos. El resultado es un vívido, humano y entrañable retrato en el que el personaje se despoja y trasciende las etiquetas de patriota o traidor. París, 1867. Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, hijo de José María Morelos y Pavón, llega a Francia para solicitar la ayuda de Napoleón III con el fin de sostener el imperio de Maximiliano, sin embargo, no tiene éxito. Unos meses después de la ejecución del emperador, un grupo clandestino de mexicanos y franceses que busca instaurar el Tercer Imperio Mexicano, lo contacta para que apoye sus ambiciones. El enlace entre ellos es un joven y afamado escritor, a quien Almonte narra los grandes acontecimientos de su pasado: el significado de ser hijo del Siervo de la Nación, su participación en algunas batallas por la Independencia cuando era apenas un niño, su posterior estancia en Nueva Orleans, los hitos de su carrera militar y política; así como su relación con Santa Anna, Juárez, Maximiliano, Carlota…
Los hijos de Nobodaddy
by Arno SchmidtUna de las más cáusticas y certeras representaciones de los penosos efectos secundarios de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en la vida cotidiana. Cargado de un sarcasmo feroz y una aguda observación de la realidad, este tríptico disecciona la vida en la Alemania durante la era nazi y los años de la posguerra, hasta llegar a un futuro apocalíptico. Momentos de la vida de un fauno detalla las cuitas de un oficinista que escapa de la banalidad que lo rodea investigando las hazañas de un desertor de las guerras napoleónicas. El brezal de Brand se centra en el caos de la posguerra y sigue las andanzas de un escritor que, tras salir de un campo de prisioneros, se integra en la pequeña aldea donde vivió el romántico Fouqué en pos de una nueva vida. Finalmente, Espejos negros nos sitúa en un futuro donde la civilización ha sido prácticamente destruida; el narrador, solo durante años en ciudades llenas decadáveres, teme ser el último hombre en la Tierra hasta que un descubrimiento despierta en él nuevos temores. Arno Schmidt (1914-1979) es, junto con Heinrich Böll y Günter Grass, uno de los más importantes escritores de la Alemania de posguerra, quizá el más transgresor e innovador. Ocupa un lugar eminente en la historia de la sátira y la «comedia cruel», en la tradición de Rabelais, Swift y Joyce. Traducción de Luis Alberto Bixio, Fernando Aramburu, Guillermo Piro y Florian von Hoyer Reseña:«Un verdadero poeta.»Hermann Hesse
Hijos del miedo
by Trevor ShaneRegla número 1: Prohibido matar a transeúntes inocentes. Regla número 2: Prohibido matar a nadie menor de dieciocho años. Regla número 3: Prohibido tener hijos hasta cumplir dieciocho años. Rompe las reglas y te convertirás en objetivo. En un mundo terriblemente parecido al nuestro, dos bandos se enfrentan en una guerra secreta. Joe participa en ella como un soldado perfecto cuya misión es ejecutar los objetivos que le indican sus superiores, sin cuestionarse unas reglas que no acaba de comprender. De niño le explicaron que el mundo estaba dividido en dos bandos bien diferenciados: el bueno y el malo, pero cuando conoce a Maria esa frontera comienza a desdibujarse. Sus firmes y sangrientas convicciones se desvanecen al tiempo que se impone una la únicay terrible y única verdad: solo hay una cosa más peligrosa que luchar en una guerra: abandonarla. Reseña: «El trabajo de Shane es impresionante. Sabe, sin lugar a dudas, cómo encadenar escenas de acción y crea una tensión casi insoportable. Si lo que buscas es una lectura apasionante y vertiginosa Hijos del miedo es tu mejor opción.»The Saturday Evening Post
The Hill
by Leonard B. ScottTy is the grunt. Point man for his platoon. Jason is the favored one: a football hero picked for officer training school who leads his men into a slaughter ground from which most of them will never return. Ty and Jason -- Oklahoma brothers different in character, yet close in soul -- are about to meet in the Battle of Dak To, upon the blood-drenched sides of Hill 875.
Hill 112: The Key to defeating Hitler in Normandy
by Tim Saunders‘He who holds Hill 112 holds Normandy’ seemed an unlikely maxim when the hill is viewed from a distance, but on reaching its plateau, the vistas unfold in every direction across a huge swath of Normandy. For the Germans it was their vital defensive ground, but for the British it was an essential steppingstone en route to the River Orne and access to the open country south to Falaise. The Hitlerjugend SS Panzer Division lost Hill 112 to 4th armored Brigade when the Scots captured the Tourmauville Bridge intact, but the essence of Hill 112’s tactical problem soon became clear. It was impossible for armor to survive on its broad plateau, while the infantry could only hold the skeletal orchards and woods at the cost of crushing casualties. With II SS Panzer Corps preparing to attack the British, the toe hold was given up and 11th armored Division was left holding a bridgehead across the River Odon. Ten days later, 43rd Wessex Division was ordered to resume the advance to the Orne with Hill 112 its first objective. As the west countrymen and tanks rose to advance, they met withering fire from the stronghold that Hill 112 had become. The scene was set for one of the grimmest battles of the campaign. For six weeks from the end of June into August, when the Allied advances finally gained momentum, Hill 112 was far too important to let the opposition hold and exploit it. Consequently, it was regularly shelled and mortared, and shrouded with smoke and dust, while soldiers of both sides clung to their respective rims of the plateau. By the end, Hill 112 had developed a reputation as evil as that of any spot on the First World War’s Western Front.
Hill 488
by Ray Hildreth Charles W. SasserFor some, Hill 488 was just another landmark in the jungles of Vietnam. For the eighteen men of Charlie Company, it was a last stand—this is the stirring combat memoir written by Ray Hildreth, one of the unit's survivors.On June 13, 1966, men of the 1st Recon Battalion, 1st Marine Division were stationed on Hill 488. Before the week was over, they would fight the battle that would make them the most highly decorated small unit in the entire history of the U.S. military, winning a Congressional Medal of Honor, four Navy Crosses, thirteen Silver Stars, and eighteen Purple Hearts—some of them posthumously. During the early evening of June 15, a battalion of hardened North Vietnamese regulars and Viet Cong—outnumbering the Americans 25-to-1—threw everything they had at the sixteen Marines and two Navy corpsmen for the rest of that terror-filled night. Every man who held the hill was either killed or wounded defending the ground with unbelievable courage and unflagging determination—even as reinforcements were on the way. All they had to do was make it until dawn...
Hill 60: Ypres (Battleground Europe Ser.)
by Nigel CaveThe shell-ravaged landscape of Hill 60, some three miles to the south east of Ypres, conceals beneath it a labyrinth of tunnels and underground workings. This small area saw horrendous fighting in the early years of the war as the British and Germans struggled to control its dominant view over Ypres.
The Hill Fights: The First Battle of Khe Sanh
by Edward F. MurphyWhile the seventy-seven-day siege of Khe Sanh in early 1968 remains one of the most highly publicized clashes of the Vietnam War, scant attention has been paid to the first battle of Khe Sanh, also known as "the Hill Fights." Although this harrowing combat in the spring of 1967 provided a grisly preview of the carnage to come at Khe Sanh, few are aware of the significance of the battles, or even their existence. For more than thirty years, virtually the only people who knew about the Hill Fights were the Marines who fought them. Now, for the first time, the full story has been pieced together by acclaimed Vietnam War historian Edward F. Murphy, whose definitive analysis admirably fills this significant gap in Vietnam War literature. Based on first-hand interviews and documentary research, Murphy's deeply informed narrative history is the only complete account of the battles, their origins, and their aftermath. The Marines at the isolated Khe Sanh Combat Base were tasked with monitoring the strategically vital Ho Chi Minh trail as it wound through the jungles in nearby Laos. Dominated by high hills on all sides, the combat base had to be screened on foot by the Marine infantrymen while crack, battle-hardened NVA units roamed at will through the high grass and set up elaborate defenses on steep, sun-baked overlooks. Murphy traces the bitter account of the U.S. Marines at Khe Sanh from the outset in 1966, revealing misguided decisions and strategies from above, and capturing the chain of hill battles in stark detail. But the Marines themselves supply the real grist of the story; it is their recollections that vividly re-create the atmosphere of desperation, bravery, and relentless horror that characterized their combat. Often outnumbered and outgunned by a hidden enemy--and with buddies lying dead or wounded beside them--these brave young Americans fought on. The story of the Marines at Khe Sanh in early 1967 is a microcosm of the Corps's entire Vietnam War and goes a long way toward explaining why their casualties in Vietnam exceeded, on a Marine-in-combat basis, even the tremendous losses the Leathernecks sustained during their ferocious Pacific island battles of World War II. The Hill Fights is a damning indictment of those responsible for the lives of these heroic Marines. Ultimately, the high command failed them, their tactics failed them, and their rifles failed them. Only the Marines themselves did not fail. Under fire, trapped in a hell of sudden death meted out by unseen enemies, they fought impossible odds with awesome courage and uncommon valor.
Hilldiggers
by Neal AsherDuring a war between two planets in the same solar system - each occupied by adapted humans - what is thought to be a cosmic superstring is discovered. After being cut, this object collapses into four cylindrical pieces, each about the size of a tube train. Each is densely packed with either alien technology or some kind of life. They are placed for safety in three ozark cylinders of a massively secure space station. There a female research scientist subsequently falls pregnant, and gives birth to quads. Then she commits suicide - but why? By the end of the war one of the contesting planets has been devastated by the hilldiggers - giant space dreadnoughts employing weapons capable of creating mountain ranges. The quads have meanwhile grown up and are assuming positions of power in the post-war society. One of them will eventually gain control of the awesome hilldiggers . . .
The Hills and the Valley (The Hillsbridge Sagas)
by Janet TannerShe grew up wanting for nothing—but war and a family secret could put an end to her dreams: &“This well-told story holds the reader&’s attention.&” —Publishers Weekly In the English coal mining town of Hillsbridge, Barbara Hall, pretty, mischievous, and seventeen, has grown up wanting for nothing. But a long-buried family secret is about to be uncovered and threaten her happiness. Will it deny her the one man she truly loves? Meanwhile, outside of the close-knit community, a world war once again looms on the horizon. For the youngest of the Hall clan, fate is about to propel Barbara into maturity . . .
Los hilos de la memoria
by Victoria HislopUna historia de amor imperecedero en un mundo gobernado por el odio, la guerra y la segregación. Tesalónica, 1917. Al tiempo que Dimitri Komninos llega al mundo, un descomunal incendio arrasa la ciudad en la que cristianos, judíos y musulmanes conviven desde hace siglos. Cinco años más tarde, el ejército turco destroza el hogar de Katerina Sarafoglou en Asia Menor. Katerina pierde a su madre en el caos reinante y llega a Grecia atravesando el mar Egeo. Pronto su vida se verá íntimamente ligada a la de Dimitri, mientras las guerras, las revoluciones y el odio desgarran a los habitantes de la ciudad. ¿De qué tesoros y secretos del pasado son guardianes?¿Podrán transmitir su herencia, sus recuerdos, antes de que sea demasiado tarde?Ambos deberán descubrir la forma de desenredar los complicados hilos de la memoria. La crítica ha dicho...«Una narración inmejorable, como untapiz, donde cada hebra se cose en su lugar y así emergen las capas y la historia de las relaciones entre las personas presentes y pasadas.»Sunday Express «Ambiciosa y arrolladora, llena de magníficos detalles.»Sunday Times
Himmler: The Evil Genius of the Third Reich
by Willi FrischauerOriginally published in 1953, this masterly study of Heinrich Himmler is a forceful, dispassionate analysis of a man who rose from obscure beginnings as an agricultural student to a position of almost absolute power, until, in the Nazi twilight, he challenged Hitler himself.Outwardly insignificant, diffident--possessing neither the flamboyance of Goering nor the incisiveness of Goebbels--Himmler, head of the dreaded Secret Police, yet made himself the man most feared in the Nazi hierarchy--and as much by his 'friends' as his enemies. Only when the incredible facts about Himmler's extraordinary hold over his colleagues became known were the full depths of the infamy to which Nazism had brought Germany revealed.Based on journalist Willi Frischauer's unique knowledge of the background and sequence of events which gave rise to the Hitler regime, he manages to unearth the evidence, building up, stone by stone, the mosaic of Himmler's true portrait.A fully documented and unforgettable narrative.
Himmler's Death Squad: Einsatzgruppen in Action, 1939–1944 (Images of War)
by Ian BaxterThis WWII pictorial history offers an unsettling up-close account of the Nazi death squads committing mass murder on the Eastern Front.The murderous activities of Himmler’s Einsatzgruppen – or death squads—rank high among the horrors of the Nazi regime during the Second World War. As the Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht advanced into Eastern Europe and Soviet Russia, these hand-picked groups followed in their wake, committing mass murder of civilians.Their killing in occupied territories will never be accurately quantified but is likely to have exceeded two million people, including some 1.3 million of the 6,000,00 Jews who perished in the Holocaust.The graphic and shocking photographs in this Images of War book show Einsatzgruppen operations, including the hunt for and rounding up of civilians, communists, Jews and Romani people. It also shows the active support given to the Einsatzgruppen by SS and Wehrmacht units. The latter strenuously denied any collusion, but the photographic evidence here refutes this.
Himmler's Nazi Concentration Camp Guards: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives (Images of War)
by Ian Baxter&“A chilling study of the . . . recruitment, indoctrination and performance of those responsible for the guarding of concentration camp inmates.&”—Inscale.org The conversion of human beings into murderers and individuals routinely carrying out appalling acts of cruelty are bound to be shocking. But it happened under the Third Reich on a massive scale. This book follows the development of concentration camps from the early beginnings in the 1930s (Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen etc.), through their establishment in the conquered territories of Poland and Czechoslovakia to the extermination camps (Dachau, Auschwitz). In parallel, it describes, using original source material, the behavior of the guards who became in numerous cases immune to the horrors around them. This is well borne out by the conduct of the guards during the Liberation process, which is also movingly described using numerous personal accounts of shocked Allied personnel. Of the 55,000 Nazi concentration camp guards, some 3,700 were women. The book studies their behavior with examples along with that of their male counterparts. &“These are everyday pictures of sadistic murderers. Ian Baxter should be commended on this book. The concentration camps of the Second World War should never be pushed to the back of our minds. It happened and we should remember it so that it can never be allowed to happen again.&”—WW2 Connection
Hindenburg: The Man and the Legend
by Margaret L. Goldsmith1930 biography of Prussian World War I General and Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, who went on to become President of the Weimar Republic, written by journalist husband-and-wife team Margaret Goldsmith and Frederick Voigt.Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934) was a German military officer, statesman, and politician who largely controlled German policy in the second half of World War I and served as the elected President of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934. He played the key role in the Nazi “Seizure of Power” in January 1933 by appointing Adolf Hitler chancellor of a “Government of National Concentration.”Hindenburg first came to national attention during World War I at the age of 66 as the victor of the decisive Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914. As Germany’s Chief of the General Staff from August 1916, Hindenburg’s reputation rose greatly in German public esteem. He and his deputy Erich Ludendorff then led Germany in a de facto military dictatorship throughout the remainder of the war, marginalizing German Emperor Wilhelm II as well as the German Reichstag.Hindenburg was elected the second President of Germany in 1925 and, considered the only candidate who could defeat Hitler, ran for re-election in 1932. He became a major player in the increasing political instability in the Weimar Republic that ended with Hitler’s rise to power, dissolved the Reichstag twice in 1932, and, finally, under pressure, agreed to appoint Hitler Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. In March he signed the Enabling Act of 1933, which gave Hitler’s regime arbitrary powers. Hindenburg died the following year, after which Hitler declared the office of President vacant and made himself head of state.
The Hindenburg Line (Battleground Europe)
by Peter OldhamThe Hindenburg Line, or Siegfriedstellung, achieved almost mythical status in the minds of the British public: the strongest defence system the world had then seen, scientifically designed by fortification experts with only one aim, to keep at bay the British Army. So pleased and delighted were the British that church bells were rung when the Line was pierced at Cambrai in November 1917. The new wonder-weapon, the Tank, had shown itself to be capable of great deeds and British Generals were seen to be capable of showing the Germans what Tommy could do when properly organised. The initial elation was followed by disappointment as the Germans fought back and the Hindenburg defences were retaken when the Germans used "defence-in-depth" and "elastic-defence", both new concepts to the British who were to learn from their mistakes. The British were to witness triumph and joy again, when, towards the end of the Great War, the Hindenburg Line was to be broken by men from the Midlands.This book examines the reasons for the German's decision to fall back to a strong defence line while their Navy starved Britain into submission, and the "burnt earth" policy of devastation in the area evacuated. The design and layout of the Hindenburg Line, and the Battles for its possession in 1917 and 1918, are given: with numerous maps covering different sectors and the struggles for each village and farm, together with the part played by many British Regiments. The maps contain information on how to find all remaining vestiges of both German and British defences in the region, most of which are rarely visited and many of which have not been seen by British eyes for many years.No book since the Great War has examined this area in such detail, nor has any single account contained so much for the battlefield visitor to see. The sites of individual acts of bravery, including the winning of many Victoria Crosses are featured, and existing locations of battle lines, headquarters, artillery observation and machine gun posts are also included, together with an absorbing narrative which also guides the armchair reader.
The Hindenburg Line Campaign 1918 (Australian Army Campaigns #26)
by Adam RankinIn the last devastating months of the First World War, the British Fourth Army pursued the Germans to their final defensive position — the Hindenburg Line, a formidable series of defensive positions studded with concrete dugouts and thickly set barbed wire. The Hindenburg Line 1918 describes the two fiercely fought set-piece battles which saw Fourth Army break through the German line, paving the way for the final pursuit which ended with the Armistice. The Australian Corps was a pivotal part of the offensive to breach the Hindenburg Line, culminating in the assault to capture Montbrehain, the last Australian battle of the war. By the time it reached the Hindenburg Line, the Australian Corps had been in the line for months, its units exhausted and depleted. Despite this, these final offensives saw the battle-hardened Australians demonstrate their skill in the use of infantry, artillery, machine-guns, tanks, aeroplanes and all the other implements of war that had altered so fundamentally since 1914. Australian commanders had likewise benefited from years of war and were highly skilled in planning complex operations that incorporated the latest tactics, techniques and procedures. But the scale of operations on the Western Front required close cooperation with British and Allied troops, and it was as part of this coalition that the Australian Corps would play its vital role in finally securing battlefield victory and bringing the war to an end.
Hindenburg, Ludendorff and Hitler: Germany's Generals and the Rise of the Nazis
by Alexander CliffordThey are two of twentieth-century history’s most significant figures, yet today they are largely forgotten – Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, Germany’s First World War leaders. Although defeat in 1918 brought an end to their ‘silent dictatorship’, both generals played a key role in the turbulent politics of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazis. Alexander Clifford, in this perceptive reassessment of their political careers, questions the popular image of these generals in the English-speaking world as honourable ‘Good Germans’. For they were intensely political men, whose ideas and actions shaped the new Germany and ultimately led to Hitler’s dictatorship. Their poisonous wartime legacy was the infamous stab-in-the-back myth. According to the generals, the true cause of the disastrous defeat in the First World War was the betrayal of the army by politicians, leftists and Jews on the home front. This toxic conspiracy theory polluted Weimar politics and has been labelled the beginning of ‘the twisted road to Auschwitz’. Hindenburg and Ludendorff’s political fortunes after the war were markedly different. Ludendorff inhabited the far-right fringes and engaged in plots, assassinations and conspiracies, playing a leading role in failed uprisings such as Hitler’s 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. Meanwhile Hindenburg was a vastly more successful politician, winning two presidential elections and serving as head of state for nine years. Arguably he bore even more responsibility for the destruction of democracy, for he and the nationalist right he led sought, through Hitler, to remould the Weimar system towards authoritarianism.
The Hinge Factor: How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History
by Erik DurschmiedFrom the wooden horse of Troy to the Gulf War, military history has been as much marked by chance and error, as by gallantry and heroism. Many conflicts have been decided by the caprice of weather, bad intelligence, heroism where it wasn't expected, or individual incompetence. In military terms, the incident that can swing a battle from victory to defeat in a moment is known as the Hinge Factor.THE HINGE FACTOR vividly describes battles which demonstrate this phenomenon - including the circumstances behind the loss of the Holy Cross, through to the attack of African war bees in 1914, to Star Wars weaponry described in the Gulf War. This enthralling book demystifies the general belief that battles are always won due to the brilliance of a general and will both inform and entertain a wide audience.
The Hinge Factor
by Erik DurschmiedFrom the wooden horse of Troy to the Gulf War, military history has been as much marked by chance and error, as by gallantry and heroism. Many conflicts have been decided by the caprice of weather, bad intelligence, heroism where it wasn't expected, or individual incompetence. In military terms, the incident that can swing a battle from victory to defeat in a moment is known as the Hinge Factor.THE HINGE FACTOR vividly describes battles which demonstrate this phenomenon - including the circumstances behind the loss of the Holy Cross, through to the attack of African war bees in 1914, to Star Wars weaponry described in the Gulf War. This enthralling book demystifies the general belief that battles are always won due to the brilliance of a general and will both inform and entertain a wide audience.
The Hinge of Fate (Winston S. Churchill The Second World Wa #4)
by Winston S. ChurchillThe British prime minister recounts battles from Midway to Stalingrad, and how the Allies turned the tide of WWII: &“Superlative.&” —The New York Times The Hinge of Fate is the dramatic account of the Allies&’ changing fortunes. In the first half of the book, Winston Churchill describes the fearful period in which the Germans threaten to overwhelm the Red Army, Rommel dominates the war in the desert, and Singapore falls to the Japanese. In the span of just a few months, the Allies begin to turn the tide, achieving decisive victories at Midway and Guadalcanal, and repulsing the Germans at Stalingrad. As confidence builds, the Allies begin to gain ground against the Axis powers. This is the fourth in the six-volume account of World War II told from the unique viewpoint of the man who led his nation in the fight against tyranny. The series is enriched with extensive primary sources, as we are presented with not only Churchill&’s retrospective analysis of the war, but also memos, letters, orders, speeches, and telegrams, day-by-day accounts of reactions as the drama intensifies. Throughout these volumes, we listen as strategies and counterstrategies unfold in response to Hitler&’s conquest of Europe, planned invasion of England, and assault on Russia, in a mesmerizing account of the crucial decisions made as the fate of the world hangs in the balance. &“No memoirs by generals or politicians . . . are in the same class.&” —The New York Times
The Hinge of Fate: 1950 (Winston S. Churchill The Second World Wa #4)
by Winston S. ChurchillThe British prime minister recounts battles from Midway to Stalingrad, and how the Allies turned the tide of WWII: &“Superlative.&” —The New York Times The Hinge of Fate is the dramatic account of the Allies&’ changing fortunes. In the first half of the book, Winston Churchill describes the fearful period in which the Germans threaten to overwhelm the Red Army, Rommel dominates the war in the desert, and Singapore falls to the Japanese. In the span of just a few months, the Allies begin to turn the tide, achieving decisive victories at Midway and Guadalcanal, and repulsing the Germans at Stalingrad. As confidence builds, the Allies begin to gain ground against the Axis powers. This is the fourth in the six-volume account of World War II told from the unique viewpoint of the man who led his nation in the fight against tyranny. The series is enriched with extensive primary sources, as we are presented with not only Churchill&’s retrospective analysis of the war, but also memos, letters, orders, speeches, and telegrams, day-by-day accounts of reactions as the drama intensifies. Throughout these volumes, we listen as strategies and counterstrategies unfold in response to Hitler&’s conquest of Europe, planned invasion of England, and assault on Russia, in a mesmerizing account of the crucial decisions made as the fate of the world hangs in the balance. &“No memoirs by generals or politicians . . . are in the same class.&” —The New York Times
The Hinges of Battle: How Chance and Incompetence Have Changed the Face of History
by Erik DurschmiedThere is no shortage of stories when it comes to battles. Some were decided by genius, but many more by a quirk of fate, when that thin balance which separates success from disaster lay in a minor decision or a trivial incident that tipped the scales. The thrust of a spear, the blink of an eye, a single phrase or a misinterpreted command is all it takes. A moment of courage or cowardice, energy or weariness, resolution or indecision.Battles have shaped the course of history and decided the fate of mankind. From a brutal Attila the Hun who went down to defeat on the Catalaunian Fields, to an overbearing French artillery colonel at Dien Bien Phu; from the stout walls of Constantinople to a skimpy mealie-bag wall at Rorke's Drift; from the sun of Austerlitz to the snows of Stalingrad, it was always an incident that decided the outcome of battle.