Military History Titles, May – December 2005
Compiled by Skip Skwarek -- Publishers Weekly, 5/9/2005
ANDREWS MCMEEL
In the spirit of political cartoonists throughout history, G. B. Trudeau sent his Doonesbury character B.D. to fight the war in Iraq. The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time (May, $9.95 paper) collects seven months of cutting-edge cartooning, depicting B.D.’s harrowing and darkly humorous experiences of the horrors of war.
ARCADIA
The publisher’s signature focus on historical American locales is evident in these additions to its Images of America series. Cleveland County in World War II (May, $19.99 paper) by Anita Price Davis and James M. Walker chronicles the efforts at home and on the battlefront of 6,500 volunteers from the rural North Carolina county. Other May titles ($19.99 each paper) include histories of Camp Pendleton by Thomas O’Hara, Fort George G. Meade by Robert Johnson, and Matthew D. Rector’s The United States Army at Fort Knox. Connecticut lays claim to the first U.S. submarine base and Naval Submarine Base New London (July, $19.99 paper) by David J. Bishop documents its development from 1868 to the present. Found on monuments throughout the South, the sentiment “Lest we forget!” is the theme of Remembering Georgia’s Confederates (Aug., $19.99 paper) by David N. Wiggins. Also in August is an addition to the publisher’s Postcard History Series, Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne Division ($19.99 paper) by Billyfrank Morrison, who served for 16 years at the fort and compiled this visual history of over 200 vintage postcards and photos.
October Images of America titles ($19.99 each paper) include the history of the San Luis Obispo facility, Camp Roberts by Mark Denger, and Rhode Island Air National Guard by former Marine pilot Sean Paul Milligan. San Francisco in World War II (Dec., $19.99 paper) by John Garvey explores the military installations in and around the city that was the critical West Coast hub of military and civilian war-related activity. Other December titles ($19.99 each paper) include Fort MacArthur by Lt. Col. David Appel and Stephen R. Nelson, and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar by retired Marine Corps Colonel Thomas O’Hara, who was a helicopter pilot for 25 years.
BALLANTINE/PRESIDIO PRESS
First In (June, $25.95) by CIA officer Gary Schroen is an inside account of the launch of the war on terror against al Qaida; and Tim Pritchard’s Ambush Alley (Sept., $25.95), an account of the bloody battle fought by U.S. Marines to rescue the ill-fated army supply convoy to which Jessica Lynch was assigned. Former CBS executive Michael Harris’s memoir, The Atomic Times (Nov., $24.95), captures the surreal experience of a year spent at the Pacific Proving Ground during the H-bomb tests in the 1950s.
BANTAM
John S. Burnett reveals the details of his two-year stint in Somalia working for the U.N.’s World Food Program in Where Soldiers Fear To Tread: A Relief Worker’s Tale of Survival (June, $24). Headlining the publisher’s fall list (and already optioned for a film starring Harrison Ford), No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Falujah (Oct., $25) by former Assistant Secretary of Defense Bing West is his eyewitness chronicle of the deadly battle, during which he was embedded with the forces that besieged the insurgent stronghold.
BROADWAY BOOKS
The war experience for American soldiers in Iraq is made heartbreakingly personal in The Gift of Valor: A War Story (May, $19.95) by Michael Phillips, an in-depth profile of the tragically brief life of Cpl. Jason Dunham, a small-town boy whose extraordinary bravery and sense of duty earned his nomination for the Congressional Medal of Honor. Our Father’s War: Growing Up in the Shadow of the Greatest Generation (May, $24.95) by Tim Matthews presents the author’s own and nine other father-son tales tracing the effect of physical and mental World War II wounds on the men who fought it, their sons and their grandsons. Also in May, in paperback: The acclaimed saga of the first all-black armored unit to see action in World War II, Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII’s Forgotten Heroes ($14.95 paper) by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anthony Walton.
BULFINCH
Voices of Courage: The Battle for Khe Sanh, Vietnam (Sept., $35 paper) by Vietnam vet Ronald J. Drez and Douglas Brinkley provides an illustrated history of the crucial battle and includes two 60-minute CDs containing firsthand accounts from veterans who survived it.
CALIBER
From NAL: The man who was immortalized in the book and TV miniseries Band of Brothers is profiled in Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Witners, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers (May, $24.95) by Larry Alexander. Blossoms in the Wind: Human Legacies of the Kamikaze (July, $24.95) by M. G. Sheftall focuses on the author’s interviews with those warriors who took the sacred oath to die, but survived. In the Course of Duty: The Heroic Mission of the USS Batfish (Oct. $24.95) by Don Keith chronicles the WWII submarine crew’s harrowing 72-hour battle, during which a “hot” torpedo remained lodged in its tube. Clash of the Carriers: The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II (Nov. $24.95) by Barrett Tillman details the aerial victories during the famous three-day battle.
From Berkley: Lt. Col. Ed Cobleigh, who logged over 1,000 hours of combat time, shares a fighter pilot’s perspective of Vietnam in War for the Hell of It (May, $13 paper). Chopper: A History of American Military Operations from WWII to the War on Terror (July, $24.95) by Robert F. Dorr is a collection of real-life stories from the pilots and passengers. Affording a rare glimpse into the legendary mercenary army, Legion of the Lost: The True Experience of an American in the French Foreign Legion (Aug., $23.95) by Jaime Salazar recounts his own experiences, including his ultimate disillusionment and dramatic desertion. The story of the repatriation of American remains after WWII, Safely Rest (Sept., $14.95 paper) by David Colley appears as a paperback reprint. Drawing on testimonies of those who survived, The Longest Night: The Bombing of London on May 10, 1941 (Oct., $24.95) by Gavin Mortimer recreates, hour by hour, the city’s worst blitz. Former Navy SEAL Greg Partland recounts his year in “jungle hell” in Combat Corpsman (Nov., $15 paper), an inside story of Navy SEALS in Vietnam.
CARROLL & GRAF
Focusing on anthropology, archeology and strategic theory, War: The Lethal Custom (June, $30) by Gwynne Dyer explores the history of armed conflict and raises the question: Can civilization leave it behind? Coming in October are two books by Derek Robinson: Invasion 1940 ($25), a revisionist history of the Battle of Britain; and the paperback reissue of his novel Goshawk Squadron ($14.95 paper), which has been compared with Catch 22 and was shortlisted for the 1971 Booker Prize.
CASEMATE
U-Boat War: Doenitz and the Evolution of the German Submarine Service 1935-1945 (May, $32.95) by David Westwood is an in-depth study, from the clandestine U-boat research of the 1920’s to the war’s final days. Also in May: a paperback reprint of Helmut Altner’s autobiographical Berlin Dance of Death ($22.95), reliving his experiences as a 17-year old conscript defending Berlin in its last days. Arthur Wiknik, Jr., the first man in his unit to reach the top of Hamburger Hill, recounts his Vietnam tour in Nam Sense: Surviving Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division (June, $32.95). You Can’t Get Much Closer Than This: Combat with Company H, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Division (June, $32.95) by A. Z. Adkins Jr. and Andrew Z. Adkins III is a father’s memoir (completed by his son) of two years of bloody battles in France, 1944–45. Also coming in June is The Swiss and the Nazis: How the Alpine Republic Survived in the Shadow of the Third Reich ($29.95) by Stephen Halbrook. The New Wars of the West: Anglo-American Voices of the War Against Terrorism (Aug., $32.95) edited by Paul Moorcraft, Gwyn Winfield and John Chisholm, is a collection of interviews with key political and military decision-makers and foreign correspondents, who comment on the state of the world post-9/11. October titles include Finding Your Father’s War: A Practical Guide to Researching and Understanding Service in the World War II Army ($22.95 paper) by Jonathan Gawne, and War Dog: Fighting Other People’s Wars—The Modern Mercenary in Combat ($34.95) by Al J. Venter, a 30-year Africa and Middle East correspondent.
From Cassell: From rescuing POWs at the end of World War II to capturing pariahs like Noriega, Leave No Man Behind: Liberation and Capture Missions (Oct., $l2.95 paper) by David Isby investigates the most famous missions of the Green Berets.
From Conway Maritime Press: The first title in the publisher’s new Compass Series, Navies and Naval Operations of the Civil War, 1861-1865 (June, $29.95) by Howard Fuller, who integrates his narrative with quotations from documents and eyewitnesses, providing the perspective of hindsight and the immediacy of being present as the events unfold.
From Grub Street: Victory Fighters: Winning the Battle for Supremacy in the Skies over Western Europe, 1941-1945 (July, $36.95) by Steven Darlow interweaves the eyewitness accounts of six pilots and one navigator to recreate the struggle to control the skies over occupied Europe.
From Heimdal: Dunkerque 1940 (May, $37.95) by François de Lannoy examines one of the most tragic episodes of the French campaign, with more than 350 photos and maps from British, French and German archives.
From Histoire & Collections: Encyclopaedia of AFVs of World War Two (May, $39.95) by Jean Restayn is a revised and completely updated version of Tanks of the World, first published in 1995.
From Ian Allen Publishing: A Waffen-SS division in World War II and an Airborne in Vietnam are respectively profiled in Hohenstaufen: The 9th SS Panzer Division (May, $24.95 paper) by Michael Sharpe and 101st Airborne in Vietnam: The Screaming Eagles (June, $24.95 paper) by Simon Dunstan.
From Pen and Sword: The premiere title in the publisher’s Over the Battlefield series, Goodwood (May, $39.99) by Ian Daglish, reports the events of the greatest armored battle undertaken by the British in World War II. A survivor of the Siege of Leningrad provides an eyewitness account from the Soviet perspective in On the Roads of War: A Soviet Cavalryman on the Eastern Front (May, $39.95) by Ivan Yakushin.
From Savas Beatie: The publisher offers a survival manual and an encyclopedic battle guide respectively: The Ultimate Basic Training Guidebook (June, $18.95 paper) by Michael Volkin, and A Guide to the Battles of the American Revolution (July, $29.95) by Theodore P. Savas and J. David Dameron.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Solder Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury and Honor Our Military Fallen (May, $29.95) by Michael Sledge is the first book to fully address the complicated physical, social, religious, economic and political issues that surround the remains of servicepersons who die in the line of duty.
CROWN/CROWN FORUM
The deadly work undertaken by the nation’s most secret warriors as they battle al Qaeda and their allies is brought to vivid life in Down Range: Special Operations Forces in the War on Terrorism (July, $25) by Dick Couch, a former Navy SEAL and CIA operations officer. From Crown Forum, How America Got It Right: The U.S. March to Military and Political Supremacy (July, $25.95) by military historian Bevin Alexander demonstrates why in this time of increasing challenges worldwide American dominance is more essential than ever.
DA CAPO PRESS
Coinciding with the 61st anniversary of the invasion is the publisher’s paperback reprint of Ten Days to D-Day (June, $17.95) by David Stafford, an account of 10 ordinary men and women as they lived through an extraordinary time. September hardcovers include Hitler’s Raid to Save Mussolini ($26) by Greg Annussek, considered the most famous German commando operation of the WWII; and Hell Is Upon Us ($27.50) by Victor Brooks, the story of the Marianas Campaign—the ‘other’ D-Day. The Longest Winter (Nov., $15.95 paper) by Alex Kershaw, which examines the Battle of the Bulge, debuts in paperback. Hitler’s Commander (Nov., $35) by Steven Newton is the first English-language biography of Field Marshall Walther Model—Hitler’s favorite general. December paperback reprints include Envy of the Gods ($16.95) by John Prevas, chronicling Alexander the Great’s ill-fated journey across Asia; and The Last Valley ($18) by Martin Windrow, a history of the battle of Dien Bien Phu.
DAVID & CHARLES dist. by F&W
The publisher adds two paperback originals (Aug., $24.99 each paper) to its recently inaugurated line of military history titles: Voices from the Battle of Trafalgar by Peter Warwick recreates the famous naval battle through first-hand accounts of Napoleon, Nelson and others; and A New Illustrated History of World War II: Rare and Unseen Photographs, 1939-1945 compiled by the editors of David & Charles. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of his death, Winston Churchill: Personal Accounts of the Great Leader at War (Sept., $24.95) by Michael Paterson draws on previously unpublished accounts by those who knew him.
DELACORTE
Veteran war correspondent Malcolm Macpherson chronicles the disastrous 17-hour battle against Taliban and al Qaeda forces in Robert’s Ridge: A Story of Courage and Sacrifice on Takur Ghar Mountain, Afghanistan (Sept., $25). Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit (Sept., $14 paper) by Eric Haney arrives as a Delta paperback reprint in time to coincide with the debut of The Unit, a CBS drama series based on the book that was written by a founding member of the unit.
FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX
Especially timely in light of the recent films on the subject, Jean Hatzfeld’s Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak (June, $24) contains interviews conducted with 10 Hutus convicted of taking part in the 1994 massacre of almost a million of their Tutsi fellow citizens. Company C: An American’s Life as a Citizen-Soldier in Israel (June, $25) by Haim Watzman recounts his immigration, compulsory conscription and reserve infantry duty that defined 20 years of his life. Prewar failures who came into their own when they heeded the call to save the Union, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the Civil War (Oct., $26) by Charles Bracelen Flood chronicles the relationship of two of the war’s most important figures. A Stranger To Myself—The Inhumanity of War: Russia, 1941–44 (Nov., $22), edited by Stefan Schmitz, is the recently discovered diary of Willy Peter Reese, a young German soldier on the Russian front.
From Hill and Wang: A history of America’s conflict with the piratical states of the Mediterranean, The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World (Aug., $23) by Frank Lambert examines America’s earliest conflict with the Arab world.
FORGE
Placing each of Tom Clancy’s novels within its historical context of the world situation at the time of publication, The Jack Ryan Agenda (May, $23.95) by William Terdoslavich analyzes what impact their political and ideological themes and biases may have had on policy decisions made in the Reagan and Clinton White House years. New to the publisher’s American Heroes series are Mary Edwards Walker (June, $19.95) by Dale L. Walker, profiling the medical school graduate whose service in Civil War battlefield hospitals earned her the only Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to a woman; and an insightful new study of George Washington (Nov., $19.95) by James A. Crutchfield.
May paperback reprints ($14.95 each) include The Americans at D-Day by John C. McManus, who thoroughly examines the American experience in weeks prior to the invasion; and The Forgotten Heroes by Brian Herbert, detailing the bravery and self-sacrifice of the United States Merchant Marine in every American military action. September paperback reprints include John C. McManus’s The Americans at Normandy ($15.95), the companion to The American’s at D-Day; and Today’s Best Military Writing ($14.95), a collection edited by Walter J. Boyne that illuminates today’s most pressing military issues.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Forgotten Armies: The Fall of British Asia, 1941-1945 (May, $29.95) by Christopher Bayley and Tim Harper recognizes the heroic contributions of the Burmese, Indian and Malaysian armies that were often overshadowed by coverage of British and American maneuvers. Moving beyond the usual focus on trench warfare, Fighting the Great War: A Global History (May, $27.95) by Michael S. Neiberg pays critical attention to the global nature of the conflict. A revised and updated edition of The Iraq War retitled The Iraq War: An Elusive Victory (Sept., $16.95 paper) by Williamson Murray and Maj. Gen. Robert Scales Jr. analyzes the ongoing conflict, identifying serious mistakes and lessons to be learned. From the Han dynasty to the present, Roger Spiller recreates interactions among historical figures whose military philosophies remain relevant for today’s strategists in An Instinct for War: Scenes from the Battlefields of History (Oct., $29.95).
HIPPOCRENE BOOKS
Ralph Hauenstein’s remembrances as Chief of the intelligence branch of the European Theater of U.S. Operations in Intelligence Was My Line: Inside Eisenhower’s Other Command (July, $18.95 paper), as told to Donald Markle, reveal the workings of an operation without which the war wouldn’t have been won.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
A former captain in the Marines’ Recon Battalion who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq reveals how the Corps trains it elite in One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer (May, $25) by Nathaniel Fick.
HYPERION
The saga of the unheralded American who overthrew the government of Tripoli and rescued 300 American sailors is brought to life in The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 (June, $25.95) by Richard Zacks.
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
The second title in the publisher’s recently launched Twentieth Century Battles series is The Battle of An Loc (May, $29.95) by James H. Willbanks, a firsthand account of the desperate struggle during Hanoi’s 1972 Easter Offensive. Another in the Twentieth Century Battle series, The Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Last Fleet Action (Aug., $35) by H. P. Wilmott takes a new look at the World War II action that led to the destruction of the Japanese fleet. Dew of Death: The Secret of Lewisite, America’s World War I Weapon of Mass Destruction (Oct., $24.95) by Joel A. Vilensky is a first-time account of America’s development of a deadly chemical weapon. McClellan’s War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union (June, $35) by Ethan S. Rafuse is an in-depth biography of the often maligned Union general.
KENSINGTON/CITADEL PRESS
New additions to the publishers Citadel Press imprint include two paperback reprints, each a definitive guide to the best books published on its subject: The Civil War Bookshelf (June, $14.95 paper) by Robert Wooster, and The World War II Bookshelf (Sept., $14.95 paper) by James F. Dunnigan. A third paperback reprint, African-Americans in the Revolutionary War (Dec., $14.95) by Lt. Michael Lee Lanning reveals the little-known exploits of African-Americans serving in integrated units.
ALFRED A. KNOPF
Third Reich expert Lynn H. Nicholas examines the experience of Hitler’s most innocent victims in Cruel World: The Children of Europe in the Nazi Web (May, $35). Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861-1865 (Oct. $40) by Steven E. Woodworth is the first full examination of the Union army that effectively won the Civil War. Reporting from the Middle East for three decades, Robert Fisk provides a comprehensive account of the last 25 years of conflict in The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (Nov., $35). Armed with new research and rarely seen period art, Eric Foner expands on the subject of his 1988 book Reconstruction in Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction (Nov., $27.50), making clear the larger political and cultural meaning for contemporary America.
LITTLE BROWN/BACK BAY BOOKS
Lifting the curtain on the hidden backstage of American’s war against terrorism, The Interrogators: Task Force 500 and America’s Secret War Against al Qaeda (May, $15.95) by Chris Mackey and Greg Miller appears as a Back Bay paper reprint.
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
The publisher presents a detailed account of the Confederate massacre of unionist and black Federal soldiers in Fort Pillow: A Civil War Massacre and Public Memory (Oct., $34.95) by John Cimprich. Other October titles include While in the Hands of the Enemy: Military Prisons of the Civil War ($44.95) by Charles W. Sanders Jr., arevisionist interpretation of the war’s military prison system; and Chickasaw, a Mississippi Scout for the Union: The Civil War Memoir of Levi H. Naron as Recounted by R. W. Surby ($19.95) edited by Thomas D. Cockrell and Michael B. Ballard. An antagonistic relationship that shaped the course of the war is scrutinized in A Crisis in Confederate Command: Edmund Kirby Smith, Richard Taylor, and the Army of the Trans-Mississippi (Nov., $39.95) by Jeffrey S. Prushankin.
LYONS PRESS
Former Speaker of the House Jim Wright describes his experiences on a B-24 in The Flying Circus: The Pacific War—1943—As Seen Through a Bombsight (July, $22.95). Terence Kirk, a retired Marine Corps master gunnery sergeant remembers his four-year stint as a Japanese POW in The Secret Camera (Aug., $16.95 paper), which includes a handful of photos taken with a pinhole camera he managed to build from scraps of cardboard—the only photos ever taken inside a Japanese POW camp. Also due in August is Greatest Submarine Stories Ever Told ($22.95), an anthology of tales—fiction and nonfiction—compiled by Lamar Underwood. The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of Virginia Hall, OSS Agent (Oct., $31.95) by Judith L. Pearson recounts the exploits of a young woman who, unhampered by an artificial leg, became known by the enemy as the most dangerous of all Allied spies. Letters written home by Morris B. Redmann Jr., who died in action during the Battle of the Bulge, form a moving portrait of a young soldier’s bravery in Unfinished Journey (Nov., $31.95) by Kerry Redmann.
MBI PUBLISHING/ZENITH PRESS
The publisher adds to its recently launched Zenith imprint. The military career of an Academy Award-winning actor, Princeton graduate and one of the few officers in American military history to rise from private to colonel in four years is detailed in Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot (May, $21.95) by Starr Smith, a combat intelligence officer with the English Eighth Air Force whose duties included protecting Stewart from the media. McCoy’s Marines: Darkside to Baghdad (May, $24.95) by John Koopman, a reporter embedded with the Marines’ Third Battalion, Fourth Regiment led by Lt. Col. McCoy—aka “Darkside,” includes eyewitness accounts of the invasion, the toppling ofSaddam’s statue and the beginning of the insurgent resistance. Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of VE Day, All American, All the Way: The Combat History of the 82nd Airborne in World War II (May, $35) by Phil Nordyke is the premier narrative of the first airborne division to go into combat and the only parachute division still active today. Written by two anonymous members of the “Beast 85” Special Forces team, Hunting al Qaeda: A Take-No-Prisoners Account of Terror, Adventure, and Disillusionment (July, $24.95) blows apart myths about Afghan operations as portrayed by the media and tells the truth about National Guard soldiers and their conflicts with regular Army units.
W.W. NORTON
Posing a series of “what if” questions, The Confederate States of America: What Might Have Been (May, $25.95) by Roger L. Ransom presents a distinguished historian’s vision of how the Civil War could have turned out differently and with what consequences. What Caused the Civil War? Reflections on the South and Southern History (June, $24.95) by Edward L. Ayers takes on the most central question in American history. Love My Rifle More than You: Young and Female in the U. S. Army (Sept., $24.95) by Kayla Williams with Michael E. Staub offers a no-holds-barred perspective before and during the author’s deployment in Iraq. The Pulitzer Prize–winning Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (July, $24.95) by Jared Diamond has been revised and updated to tie-in with the upcoming PBS special.
NYU PRESS
Breaking the Color Barrier: The U. S. Naval Academy’s First Black Midshipmen and the Struggle for Racial Equality (May, $34) by Robert J. Schneller documents the long struggle from just after the Civil War through 1949 when Wesley Brown became the academy’s first black graduate. The War of 1812 is examined through profiles of the two men who met there in The Generals: Andrew Jackson, Sir Edward Pakenham, and the Road to the Battle of New Orleans (May, $32.95) by Benton Rain Patterson. Carol R. Byerly’s Fever of War: The Influenza Epidemic in the U. S. Army during World War I (May, $64; $21 paper) exposes the failure of army medical officers to control the disease. Jack McCullum’s biography of Leonard Wood: Rough Rider, Surgeon, Architect of American Imperialism (Dec., $34.95) profiles the man whose experience as a colonial governor in Southeast Asia led him to correctly predict Japan’s rise to power and conquest of much of Asia.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Andrew Bacevitch’s The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War (May, $28) reveals how Democrats and Republicans came to believe in the unquestioned righteousness of our democratic institutions. Decisions At Sea (June, $30) by Craig Symmonds traces five crucial battles in five wars that marked turning points in the nation’s course. With well over a million copies sold, The Art of War by Sun Tzu is available in an embellished edition, Illustrated Art of War (Oct. $26), which contains 75 color and black-and-white images. Rules of War (Nov., $28) by Rachel Bronson is a detailed history of the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
PENGUIN PRESS
Germany’s radical reshaping under Nazi rule is documented in The Third Reich in Power, 1933–1939 (Oct. $34.95) by Richard J. Evans.
POCKET BOOKS
The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III (Aug., $14 paper) by Tim Carroll provides a detailed account of the famous attempt to break 200 men out of Goering’s “escape-proof” POW camp. Anthony Swofford’s Jarhead (Oct., $7.99 paper), the New York Times bestseller that recounts the author’s experiences on the front during the first Gulf War is a paperback reprint.
PUTNAM
My War: Killing Time in Iraq (Oct., $25.95) by Colby Buzzell is being hailed by the publisher as “this generation’s Catch-22—an edgy, you-are-there account of life on the front lines.”
RANDOM HOUSE
General George Washington (June, $29.95) by Edward G. Lengel is a new biography based on unprecedented access to Washington’s papers. Robert Kaplan explores how American imperialism is pursued and the global war on terrorism is fought by America’s elite forces in Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground (Sept., $27.95). A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War (Oct. $29.95) by Victor Davis Hanson brings to life the great classical war. How Churchill secured his reputation and shaped understanding of the conflict is examined in David Reynolds’s In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War (Nov., $35).
SCRIBNER
The publisher’s lead spring title, Behind the Lines: Powerful and Revealing American and Foreign War Letters—And One Man’s Search to Find Them (May, $30) by Andrew Carroll features approximately 200 previously unpublished letters collected by the author during a three-year trip throughout the U.S. and 35 other countries including Afghanistan and Iraq. A novelistic memoir of a Vietnam vet, Flying Through Midnight (Nov., $27.50) by John T. Halliday chronicles his experiences as a naïve rookie pilot who quickly becomes unaffected by the thousands of close calls that come with every mission.
SHOEMAKER & HOARD
The publisher’s first title in the genre, Summer Great & Terrible: Lord Dowding, Winston Churchill, and the Impossible Truth of the Battle of Britain (Nov., $26) by David Fisher is a revealing profile of Dowding, a man who was in thrall of the supernatural and spoke to the ghosts of his dead pilots, yet also effectively evaluated technical developments for the air ministry and ultimately was responsible for the discovery of radar.
SIMON & SCHUSTER
Described by the publisher as “a Band of Brothers for the Pacific,” Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944—The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War (May, $24) by Bill Sloan chronicles the largely forgotten battle that claimed the lives of more than 6,500 Marines.
STACKPOLE BOOKS
Offering a clear warning about what American forces would face in the jungles of Southeast Asia, Bernard B. Fall’s Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina (June, $19.95 paper), originally published in 1961, arrives in paperback. Another paperback reprint is Flying American Combat Aircraft (July, $19.95), edited by Robin Higham, offers seasoned pilots’ firsthand accounts of flying classic planes and includes dozens of in-the-cockpit photos. Expanded for its paper reprint debut with a new chapter on the final battles of the Normandy campaign, Joseph Balkoski’s Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy (July, $19.95 paper) recounts the division’s experiences during 45 days of combat from Omaha Beach to the liberation of St. Lõ. Colin D. Heaton’s Prince of Aces: The Story of the Tsar’s Nephew, World War II’s Youngest Fighter Ace (Aug., $19.95 paper) profiles the astonishing military record of Leonida Maximciuc, who initially joined Romanian and Free Russian forces to avenge the murders of his uncle and father. The publisher’s lead fall title and companion to the acclaimed Omaha Beach, Joseph Balkoski’s Utah Beach: The Amphibious Landing and Airborne Operations on D-Day, June 6, 1944 (Aug., $26.95) provides a comprehensive history of the momentous battle, including lists of medal winners, casualties and gear. The Combat History of German Heavy Anti-Tank Unit 653 in World War II (Sept., $29.95 paper) by Karlheinz Münch includes hundreds of photos of rarely seen tank destroyers and recountings from the men who rode in them. Drawing on period training manuals, interviews with veterans and his own experiences, Wolfgang Schneider gives an illustrated inside view of the blitzkrieg in Panzer Tactics: German Small-Unit Armor Tactics in World War II (Oct., $29.95 paper).
STERLING
Interviews with more than 50 survivors provide the harrowing details in Eyewitness D-Day: Firsthand Accounts from the Landing at Normandy to the Liberation of Paris (June, $19.95) by D. M. Giangreco with Kathryn Moore. War: The Complete History (Oct., $49.95) edited by Professor H. W. Koch is a comprehensive study of warfare from antiquity to the present, enhanced by 1,000 color and black-and-white images.
TEXAS A & M UNIVERSITY PRESS
Following three months of escalating violence, the genocide had already claimed 800,000 lives when Thomas P. Odom, a member of the U.S. Embassy team arrived in Rwanda. In Journey into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda (Sept., $60; $24.95 paper), Odom offers an insider’s look at the devastating events before, during, and after the genocide. Through one man’s career, Colt Terry, Green Beret (Sept., $35; $18.95 paper) by Charles D. Patton portrays the birth and development of America’s most elite fighting unit. The Greatest Generation Comes Home: The Veteran in American Society (Sept., $50; $26.95 paper) by Michael D. Gambone combines military and social history into a comprehensive narrative of the veteran’s experience after World War II.
THAMES & HUDSON
Lee Miller’s War (Sept., $34.95 paper), edited by Antony Penrose, includes 159 duotone reproductions of her outstanding World War II photos, accompanied by her brilliant dispatches. Twenty-five military historians describe conflicts that shaped history from the fifth century B.C. to the present in The Seventy Great Battles in History (Oct. $40) edited by Jeremy Black.
TRAFALGAR SQUARE
From Aurum Press: The publisher’s lavishly illustrated lead title marks the bicentenary of the famous battle fought in October 1805. The Trafalgar Companion: The Complete Guide to History’s Most Famous Sea Battle and the Life of Admiral Lord Nelson (Sept., $75) by Mark Adkin chronicles the campaign as well as the battle in unprecedented detail.
From HarperCollins UK: Professor Richard Holmes offers a surprisingly revisionist view in his biography of Wellington: The Iron Duke (Aug., $16 paper).
From Robson Books: The Mystery of Rommel’s Gold: The Search for the Legendary Nazi Treasure (Sept., $13.50 paper) by Peter Haining investigates the disappearance of the fabled treasure in the last days of the Third Reich.
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS
The French Navy and the Seven Years’ War (May, $35) by Jonathan R. Dull is a complete survey of the French and Indian War and the Seven Years’ War. From a former army officer and longtime sled dog aficionado, Soldiers and Sled Dogs: A History of Military Dog Mushing (May, $24.95) by Charles L. Dean is a detailed account of 100 years of canine military service. The military effectiveness of states is the focus of The State at War in South Asia (May, $65) by Pradeep P. Barua, who examines 3,000 years of South Asian military history and challenges the historiographic idea that the Western way of war is superior. Mauricio Solaún, President Carter’s ambassador to Nicaragua, outlines the role of Carter’s U. S. foreign policy in U. S. Intervention and Regime Change in Nicaragua (July, $59.95) and explains how the policy failed with respect to the Revolution of 1979. Mark A. Weitz’s study, More Damning than Slaughter: Desertion in the Confederate Army (Oct., $49.95), aims to fill in one of the last remaining gaps in Civil War historiography.
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
In this study of the last generation to grow up with the institution of slavery, The Last Generation: Young Virginians in Peace, War, and Reunion (May, $39.95) by Peter S. Carmichael argues for a reexamination of the nature of Southern manhood and the approach and aftermath of the Civil War. Confronting Captivity: Britain and the United States and Their POWs in Nazi Germany (June, $45) by Arieh J. Kochavi describes how it was possible for nearly 300,000 captured troops to survive and return home soon after the war’s end. Plain Folks’ Fight: The Civil War and Reconstruction in Piney Woods, Georgia (Sept., $39.95) by Mark V. Wetherington examines local effects in the region known as Wiregrass Country. Amy Murrell Taylor looks beyond the metaphor of “brother against brother” to the experiences of real families split by divided loyalties in The Divided Family in Civil War America (Oct., $39.95).
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS PRESS
Presenting viewpoints of eminent military historians alongside brief veteran accounts, Warriors and Scholars: A Modern War Reader (Aug., $24.95) edited by Peter B. Land and Ronald E. Marcello defines conflicts from World War II to Iraq.
UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KANSAS
May titles include Carol Reardon’s Launch the Intruders: A Naval Attack Squadron in the Vietnam War, 1972 ($34.95), a detailed ‘year-in-the-life-of’ account drawn from extensive interviews; and Edward B. Westermann’s Hitler’s Police Battalions: Enforcing Racial War in the East ($34.95), the first full examination of the origins, evolution and actions of the German Uniformed Police. Red Commanders: A Social History of the Soviet Army Officer Corps, 1918–1991 (Sept., $35) by Roger R. Reese reveals what kept Soviet officers from developing a true system of professionalism. The Cambodian Campaign: The 1970 Offensive and America’s Vietnam War (Oct., $34.95) by John M. Shaw chronicles the still controversial U. S. and South Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia’s eastern border. Recasting the war’s origins, Allan R. Millett’s War for Korea: A House Burning (Oct., $39.95) establishes the struggle as a post-colonial Asian war of national liberation. The German Way of War: From the Thirty Years War to the Third Reich (Nov., $34.95) by Robert M. Citino reveals Prussian and German strategies employed over the course of three centuries. Richard L. Dinardo’s Germany and the Axis Powers: From Coalition to Collapse (Nov., $34.95) focuses on Germany’s inability to work effectively with its allies and that failure’s impact on Hitler’s efforts during World War II to conduct a multi-front war.
WHITE MANE PUBLISHING
Ironclad of the Roanoke: Gilbert Elliot’s Albemarle (May, $24.95 paper) by Robert Elliot has been revised to include photos of artifacts discovered since its publication in 1994, and to coincide with the History Channel’s documentary on the Ironclad, airing in May. Bouquets from the Cannon’s Mouth: Soldiering with the Eighth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserves (May, $29.95) by Robert E. Eberly, Jr. focuses on five volunteers in tracing the Civil War regiment’s exploits from the Seven Days Battle to the siege of Petersburg.
