Touching history : the untold story of the drama that unfolded in the skies over America on 9/11 by Lynn Spencer

"Starred Review. While most Americans watched the 9/11 attacks on television, the guardians of the nation's air-control and air-defense systems had the unenviable task of trying to halt them. Working from interviews and tape archives, Spencer's minute-by-minute chronicle recreates their heroics in nerve-racking detail. " - Publishers Weekly

China's energy strategy : the impact on Beijing's maritime policies by Gabriel B Collins

"A variety of viewpoints is offered in this timely analysis of China's economy and the future shape of Beijing's energy consumption. The authors, all noted authorities in the fields of economics, diplomacy, energy, and defense, consider an unprecedented range of influences and factors to avoid the limitations of looking at the subject myopically or with political bias. They conclude that while energy insecurity could eventually lead to an arms race at sea or even a naval conflict that neither side wants, there is ample room for Sino-American energy dialogue and cooperation in the maritime domain. " - Editorial Reviews

Retribution : the battle for Japan, 1944-45 by Max Hastings

'With unprecedented insight, Hastings discusses Japan’s war against China, now all but forgotten in the West, MacArthur’s follies in the Philippines, the Marines at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and the Soviet blitzkrieg in Manchuria. He analyzes the decision-making process that led to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—which, he convincingly argues, ultimately saved lives. Finally, he delves into the Japanese wartime mind-set, which caused an otherwise civilized society to carry out atrocities that haunt the nation to this day." - Editorial Reviews

The limits of power : the end of American Exceptionalism by A J Bacevich

"In this caustic critique of the growing American penchant for empire and sense of entitlement, Bacevich (The New American Militarism) examines the citizenry's complicity in the current economic, political, and military crisis. A retired army colonel, the author efficiently pillories the recent performance of the armed forces, decrying it as an expression of domestic dysfunction, with leaders and misguided strategies ushering the nation into a global war of no exits and no deadlines. " - Editorial Reviews

Volunteers on the Veld : Britain's citizen-soldiers and the South African War, 1899-1902 by Stephen M Miller

"In Volunteers on the Veld, Stephen M. Miller focuses on the connection between Britain's auxiliary forces--volunteers, militia, and yeomanry--and its imperial mission during the late Victorian era, looking especially at why the British war effort came to depend on their performance. Miller examines motivations for enlistment, the use of citizen-soldiers in guerrilla warfare, and the effects of combat on the soldiers themselves, weaving together the sense of national emergency, the influence of popular culture, and images of manhood that propelled so many Britons into the ranks of volunteers. " - Editorial Reviews

World War I : the African front by Edward Paice

"Starred Review. Paice, a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, has written what is by a significant margin the best book to date on the Great War in East Africa. Paice integrates an impressive spectrum of archival and printed sources into a comprehensive analysis based on the premise that, for economic and emotional reasons, Africa mattered to the European powers. Paice accurately and evocatively describes a campaign in which modern technology was consistently frustrated by terrain, climate and disease. " - Publishers Weekly

The Holocaust by bullets : a priest's journey to uncover the truth behind the murder of 1.5 million Jews by Patrick Desbois

"In this heart-wrenching book, Father Patrick Desbois documents the daunting task of identifying and examining all the sites where Jews were exterminated by Nazi mobile units in the Ukraine in WWII. Using innovative methodology, interviews, and ballistic evidence, he has determined the location of many mass gravesites with the goal of providing proper burials for the victims of the forgotten Ukrainian Holocaust. Compiling new archival material and many eye-witness accounts, Desbois has put together the first definitive account of one of history's bloodiest chapters." - Editorial Reviews

Less safe, less free : the failure of preemption in the War on Terror by David Cole

"In this brilliantly conceived critique, two of the country's preeminent constitutional scholars argue that the great irony is that these sacrifices in the rule of law, adopted in the name of prevention, have in fact made us more susceptible to future terrorist attacks. They conclusively debunk the administration's claim that it is winning the war on terror and offer an alternative strategy in which the rule of law is an asset, not an obstacle, in the struggle to keep us both safe and free. " - Editorial Reviews

Toward the light of liberty : the struggles for freedom and rights that made the modern Western world by A C Grayling

“A probing, thoughtful meditation…The excellence of Among the Dead Cities, however, rests less on Grayling’s deductions than his provision of enough information and argument for readers with alternate premises to draw different conclusions. That richness makes wrestling with his views a demanding intellectual exercise.”—Philadelphia Inquirer

Medicine bags and dog tags : American Indian veterans from colonial times to the second Iraq War by Al Carroll

"Drawing on a rich array of archival records and oral traditions, Al Carroll offers the most complete account of Native veterans to date and is the first to take an international approach, drawing comparisons with Native veteran traditions in Canada and Mexico. He debunks the “natural warrior” stereotype as well as the popular assumption that Natives join the military as a refuge against extreme poverty and as a form of assimilation. The reasons for enlistment, he argues, though varied and complex, are invariably connected to the relative strengths of tribal warrior traditions within communities." - Editorial Reviews

Zachary Taylor by John S D Eisenhower

"Zachary Taylor was a soldier’s soldier, a man who lived up to his nickname, “Old Rough and Ready.” Having risen through the ranks of the U.S. Army, he achieved his greatest success in the Mexican War, propelling him to the nation’s highest office in the election of 1848. He was the first man to have been elected president without having held a lower political office." - Editorial Reviews

The Big Red One : America's legendary 1st Infantry Division from World War I to Desert Storm by James Scott Wheeler

"An exceptionally fine work of scholarship, written with a storyteller's verve. The Big Red One is not just a vivid account of the nation's most venerable division, but a compelling yarn for anyone interested in the history of the U.S. Army."- Rick Atkinson, author of An Army at Dawn and In the Company of Soldiers

Warrior king : the triumph and betrayal of an American commander in Iraq by by Nathan Sassaman

"Warrior King is the explosive memoir of one of the most deeply involved members of the U.S. military in Iraq. This is the first book to take readers from the overnight brutality of combat to the daunting daytime humanitarian tasks of rebuilding Iraq to the upper echelons of the Pentagon to show how and why the war has gone horribly wrong." - Editorial Reviews

The new Asian hemisphere : the irresistible shift of global power to the East by Kishore Mahbubani

"Parag Khanna argued that there will be three global leaders in the new century: the US, the EU, and China. Mahbubani would like to add India, for he sees India as a bridge between the East and the West. This is a valid point since many Indian intellectuals are at home in both the East and the West. He claims there is still a resistance among public intellectuals and journalists in the West to accept the East on equal terms, but I myself have not seen this resistance. I see a greater recognition of the East almost on a daily basis. With Asia's growing economic power, political power will follow no matter how much real or imagined resistance there is." - Izaak VanGaalen

A case of exploding mangoes by Mohammed Hanif

"Starred Review. Pakistan's ongoing political turmoil adds a piquant edge to this fact-based farce spun from the mysterious 1988 plane crash that killed General Zia, the dictator who toppled Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, father of recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto. Two parallel assassination plots converge in Hanif's darkly comic debut: Air Force Junior Under Officer Ali Shigri, sure that his renowned military father's alleged suicide was actually a murder, hopes to kill Zia, who he holds responsible. " - Publishers Weekly

The faces of World War II : the Second World War in words and pictures by Max Arthur

"Paying tribute to all who fought and died, this chronologically structured collection of photographs covers all the major events of the Second World War—from the blitzkrieg to the Battle of Britain, from the invasion of Poland to Pearl Harbor. Many of the images capture harrowing combat scenes of conflict, brutality, suffering, and slaughter, but these pictures also include poignant and uplifting scenes of civilians, nurses, and doctors fighting their own battles. " - Editorial Reviews

The Shamrock Battalion in the Great War by Martin J Hogan

"When Martin Hogan began training on a vacant lot to be a soldier, he had no idea that he was about to become part of one of the most famed fighting units of World War I, the 165th Infantry in World War I, a regiment in the famed Rainbow Division. Company K of the Third or Shamrock Battalion had a part in every fight, and those who survived had more wound stripes than soldiers of any other company in the American Expeditionary Forces. Few soldiers saw as much of the war in eighteen months as did Hogan, and in this stirring account he tells of his experiences with graphic power, humility, and humor." - Editorial Reviews

Croatia through history : the making of a European state by Branka Magaš

"This comprehensive volume recounts Croatia's development from the early Middle Ages to the present day. Unlike most Western histories of the region, which tend to neglect the concurrent evolution of Croatia's constituent parts, it shows instead that Croatia developed gradually and organically. Maga' pays particular attention to the historical turning points at which a state seemingly marked for extinction managed to bounce back." - SAQI

The arms trade and international law by Zeray Yihdego

"This book deals with the proliferation of SALW and their unregulated trade and transfer across borders. It addresses questions of definition, manufacturing, trade/transfer, and issues relating to state responsibility. The primary focus is on conventional small arms, in particular military-style weapons.The book tackles the core and most divisive legal problem of whether or not the laws relating to arms control and relevant norms of international law provide substantive restrictions upon the transfer of small arms by states. " - Editorial Reviews

Human rights and non-discrimination in the "War on terror" by Daniel Möckli

"This book explores how three major liberal democratic states - the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany - have approached this challenge by analyzing the human rights impacts of their anti-terrorism laws and practices. The analysis reveals that the most far-reaching restrictions of liberty have been imposed on minorities: foreign nationals and certain 'racial', ethnic and religious groups." - Editorial Reviews

Civilian immunity in war by Igor Primoratz

"Civilian Immunity in War, written in collaboration by eleven authors, provides the first comprehensive analysis of all main aspects of this highly topical subject. It considers the arguments for rejection of civilian immunity and the main theories of the grounds and proper scope of this immunity, both deontological (just war theory) and consequentialist. Separate chapters examine the historical development of the idea of civilian immunity, its standing in current international law, and the problem of "collateral damage": of harming civilians without intent, as a side-effect of attacks on military targets." - Editorial Reviews

Power and military effectiveness : the fallacy of democratic triumphalism by Michael C Desch

"Power and Military Effectiveness is an instructive reassessment of the increasingly popular belief that military success is one of democracy's many virtues. International relations scholars, policy makers, and military minds will be well served by its lessons." - Editorial Reviews

International justice in Rwanda and the Balkans : virtual trials and the struggle for state cooperation by Victor Peskin

"This book tells the compelling story of how the UN International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda prod states implicated in atrocities to hand over their own leaders for trial. Without state cooperation, the United Nations would fail in its mission to help bring perpetrators of war crimes to justice and to rebuild and reconcile war-torn societies. The tribunals' relative success in overcoming state resistance to international trials is the outcome of a political process that Victor Peskin uncovers and explains. This is the first in-depth, comparative study of state cooperation in the tribunals. " - Editorial Reviews

China's Tibet? : autonomy or assimilation by Warren W Smith

"This groundbreaking book explores China's efforts to assimilate Tibet, in the process rewriting Tibetan history to conform to its own goals. Warren W. Smith argues that Beijing fears that any genuine autonomy or dialogue with the Dalai Lama will fuel renewed nationalism in China's Tibet, as the leadership calls its possession. Highlighting China's past and current propaganda on Tibet, the book demonstrates China's sensitivity regarding the legitimacy of its rule. " - Editorial Reviews

My Guantánamo diary : the detainees and the stories they told me by by Mahvish Rukhsana Khan

"Mahvish Khan is an American lawyer, born to immigrant Afghan parents in Michigan. Outraged that her country was illegally imprisoning people at Guantanamo, she volunteered to translate for the prisoners. She spoke their language, understood their customs, and brought them Starbucks chai, the closest available drink to the kind of tea they would drink at home. And they quickly befriended her, offering fatherly advice as well as a uniquely personal insight into their plight, and that of their families thousands of miles away." - Editorial Reviews