John Keegan, whose many books, including classic histories ofthe two world wars, have confirmed him as the premier miltaryhistorian of our time, here presents a masterly look at the valueand limitations of intelligence in the conduct of war. Intelligence gathering is an immensely complicated and vulnerableendeavor. And it often fails. Until the invention of the telegraphand radio, information often traveled no faster than a horse couldride, yet intelligence helped defeat Napoleon. In the twentiethcentury, photo analysts didn’t recognize Germany’s V-2 rockets forwhat they were; on the other hand, intelligence helped lead tovictory over the Japanese at Midway. In Intelligence inWar , John Keegan illustrates that only when paired withforce has military intelligence been an effective tool, as it mayone day be in besting al-Qaeda.

Pulitzer Prize Finalist Anisfield-Wolf Award Winner Over a frigid few weeks in the winter of 1741, ten fires blazedacross Manhattan. With each new fire, panicked whites saw moreevidence of a slave uprising. In the end, thirteen black men wereburned at the stake, seventeen were hanged and more than onehundred black men and women were thrown into a dungeon beneath CityHall. In New York Burning , Bancroft Prize-winning historian JillLepore recounts these dramatic events, re-creating, withpath-breaking research, the nascent New York of the seventeenthcentury. Even then, the city was a rich mosaic of cultures,communities and colors, with slaves making up a full one-fifth ofthe population. Exploring the political and social climate of thetimes, Lepore dramatically shows how, in a city rife with stateintrigue and terror, the threat of black rebellion united the whitepolitical pluralities in a frenzy of racial fear andviolence.

This is a book aboutGermans and Jews, about power and money. It is a book focused onBismarck and Bleichroder, Junker and Jew, statesman and banker,collaborators for over thirty years. The setting is that of aGermany where two worlds clashed: the new world of capitalism andan earlier world with its ancient feudal ethos; gradually a new andbroadened elite emerged, and Bismarck's tie with Bleichroderepitomized that regrouping. It is the story of the founding of thenew German Empire, in whose midst a Jewish minority rose toembattled prominence.

With his characteristic enthusiasm and erudition, PeterAckroyd follows his acclaimed London: A Biography with aninspired look into the heart and the history of the Englishimagination. To tell the story of its evolution, Ackroyd rangesacross literature and painting, philosophy and science,architecture and music, from Anglo-Saxon times to thetwentieth-century. Considering what is most English about artistsas diverse as Chaucer, William Hogarth, Benjamin Britten andViriginia Woolf, Ackroyd identifies a host of sometimescontradictory elements: pragmatism and whimsy, blood and gore, apassion for the past, a delight in eccentricity, and much more. Abrilliant, engaging and often surprising narrative, Albion reveals the manifold nature of English genius.

Gather Together in My Name continues Maya Angelou’s personalstory, begun so unforgettably in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.The time is the end of World War II and there is a sense ofoptimism everywhere. Maya Angelou, still in her teens, has givenbirth to a son. But the next few years are difficult ones as shetries to find a place in the world for herself and her child. Shegoes from job to job–and from man to man. She tries to returnhome–back to Stamps, Arkansas–but discovers that she is no longerpart of that world. Then Maya’s life takes a dramatic turn, and shefaces new challenges and temptations. In this second volume of her poignant autobiographical series,Maya Angelou powerfully captures the struggles and triumphs of herpassionate life with dignity, wisdom, humor, and humanity.

A distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique who took part inthe Algerian Nationalist Movement, Frantz Fanon was one of the mostimportant theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, andracial difference in history. Fanon's masterwork is a classicalongside Edward Said's Orientalism or The Autobiography of MalcolmX, and it is now available in a new translation that updates itslanguage for a new generation of readers. The Wretched of the Earthis a brilliant analysis of the psychology of the colonized andtheir path to liberation. Bearing singular insight into the rageand frustration of colonized peoples, and the role of violence ineffecting historical change, the book incisively attacks the twinperils of post independence colonial politics: thedisenfranchisement of the masses by the elites on the one hand, andintertribal and interfaith animosities on the other. Fanon'sanalysis, a veritable handbook of social reorganization for leadersof emerging nations, has been reflected all too clearly in thecorru

At the end of 1618, a blazing green star soared across thenight sky over the northern hemisphere. From the Philippines to theArctic, the comet became a sensation and a symbol, a warning ofdoom or a promise of salvation. Two years later, as the Pilgrimsprepared to sail across the Atlantic on board the Mayflower, theatmosphere remained charged with fear and expectation. Men andwomen readied themselves for war, pestilence, or divineretribution. Against this background, and amid deep economicdepression, the Pilgrims conceived their enterprise of exile. Within a decade, despite crisis and catastrophe, they built athriving settlement at New Plymouth, based on beaver fur, corn, andcattle. In doing so, they laid the foundations for Massachusetts,New England, and a new nation. Using a wealth of new evidence fromlandscape, archaeology, and hundreds of overlooked or neglecteddocuments, Nick Bunker gives a vivid and strikingly originalaccount of the Mayflower project and the first decade of thePlymouth Colon

Here are two thousand years of London’s history and folklore,its chroniclers and criminals and plain citizens, its food anddrink and countless pleasures. Blackfriar’s and Charing Cross,Paddington and Bedlam. Westminster Abbey and St. Martin in theFields. Cockneys and vagrants. Immigrants, peasants, and punks. ThePlague, the Great Fire, the Blitz. London at all times of day andnight, and in all kinds of weather. In well-chosen anecdotes, keenobservations, and the words of hundreds of its citizens andvisitors, Ackroyd reveals the ingenuity and grit and vitality ofLondon. Through a unique thematic tour of the physical city and itsinimitable soul, the city comes alive.

In the Spring of 1917, America went to war with an innocentdetermination to re-make the world. When the smoke lifted inNovember 1918, the nation emerged with its sense of purposeshattered, its certainties shaken, and with a new and unwelcomeself-knowledge. Seventy-five thousand American soldiers were dead,and back home a Pandora's box of suspicions and surveillance hadbeen opened. The Last Days of Innocence reveals how the fight to preservefreedom abroad led to the erosion of freedom at home. Drawing onAmerican, British, and French archival material, the authors revealunplanned and uncoordinated field efforts, as well as the unsavoryactivities of anti-dissent groups, from the Committee for PublicInformation to the Anti-Yellow Dog League, including a posse ofchildren organized to listen for antiwar talk among families andfriends. Here is the story of the fifty-billion-dollar war thatgave birth to the Selective Service Act, threatened labor rights,stoked the fires of racial and religious intolerance, andconcen

Only now can the full scope of the war in the Pacific be fullyunderstood. Historian Ronald Spector, drawing on newly declassifiedintelligence files, an abundance of British and American archivalmaterial. Japanese scholarship and documents, and research andmemoirs of scholarly and military men, has written a stunning,complete and up-to-date history of the conflict.

Advance praise for The Memoirs of Catherine the Great “Superb. The translation of the Memoirs is fluid, accessible, andidiomatic, while remaining accurate and as delightful as theoriginal. Students will heartily enjoy this excursion into thehistorical and literary world of the great empress.” –Cynthia Hyla Whittaker, professor and chair, Department ofHistory, Baruch College/CUNY “Several translations of the memoirs of Catherine the Great havebeen published before, but none of them can compare with thislatest edition. Mark Cruse and Hilde Hoogenboom have produced amasterpiece. Their translation fairly sings, capturing withstunning virtuosity all the beguiling wit and charm that make thesememoirs one of the most fascinating works ever penned by a Europeanmonarch.” –Douglas Smith, editor and translator of Love and Conquest:Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince GrigoryPotemkin “Catherine the Great’s memoirs are a classic

What is fascism? Many authors have proposed definitions, butmost fail to move beyond the abstract. The esteemed historianRobert O. Paxton answers this question for the first time byfocusing on the concrete: what the fascists did, rather than whatthey said. From the first violent uniformed bands beating up“enemies of the state,” through Mussolini’s rise to power, toGermany’s fascist radicalization in World War II, Paxton showsclearly why fascists came to power in some countries and notothers, and explores whether fascism could exist outside theearly-twentieth-century European setting in which it emerged. The Anatomy of Fascism will have a lasting impact on ourunderstanding of modern European history, just as Paxton’s classicVichy France redefined our vision of World War II. Based on alifetime of research, this compelling and important book transformsour knowledge of fascism–“the major political innovation of thetwentieth century, and the source of much of its pain.”

In a remarkably vibrant narrative, Michael Stürmer blends highpolitics, social history, portraiture, and an unparalleled commandof military and economic developments to tell the story ofGermany’s breakneck rise from new nation to Continental superpower.It begins with the German military’s greatest triumph, theFranco-Prussian War, and then tracks the forces of unification,industrialization, colonization, and militarization as theycombined to propel Germany to become the force that fatallydestabilized Europe’s balance of power. Without The GermanEmpire ’s masterly rendering of this story, a full understandingof the roots of World War I and World War II is impossible.

In a journey across four continents, acclaimed science writerSteve Olson traces the origins of modern humans and the migrationsof our ancestors throughout the world over the past 150,000 years.Like Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel, Mapping Human Historyis a groundbreaking synthesis of science and history. Drawing on awide range of sources, including the latest genetic research,linguistic evidence, and archaeological findings, Olson reveals thesurprising unity among modern humans and "demonstrates just hownaive some of our ideas about our human ancestry have been"(Discover).Olson offers a genealogy of all humanity, explaining,for instance, why everyone can claim Julius Caesar and Confucius asforebears. Olson also provides startling new perspectives on theinvention of agriculture, the peopling of the Americas, the originsof language, the history of the Jews, and more. An engaging andlucid account, Mapping Human History will forever change how wethink about ourselves and our relations with others.

In 1863, after surviving the devastating Battle of Corinth,Newton Knight, a poor farmer from Mississippi, deserted theConfederate Army and began a guerrilla battle against theConfederacy. For two years he and other residents of Jones Countyengaged in an insurrection that would have repercussions far beyondthe scope of the Civil War. In this dramatic account of an almostforgotten chapter of American history, Sally Jenkins and JohnStauffer upend the traditional myth of the Confederacy as a heroicand unified Lost Cause, revealing the fractures within Civil-Warera Southern society. No man better exemplified these complexitiesthan Newton Knight, a pro-Union sympathizer in the deep South whorefused to fight a rich man’s war for slavery and cotton.

This stimulating book asks key questions about the twentiethcentury's leading American generals and, by analysing theircharacter and personality, outlines the qualities which went intomaking officers such as Patton, Eisenhower and Schwarzkopfdistinctive and successful in combat. Based on frank discussionsand interviews with American generals and their staffs, and adetailed analytical study of official records and personalrecollections, American Generalship pinpoints how well eachparticular general responded to the demands of war in World War II,Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War. Edgar Puryear examines how eachcommander stood up to the heavy responsibility of command, overcamethe rigours of campaign and performed on the field of battle. Heconcludes that, despite different techniques and conditions,outstanding American generals all had 'character' in common andshone because of their personal qualities and strength ofpersonality.

The Roman Empire did not meet its end when barbarians sackedthe City of Seven Hills, but rather a thousand years later with thefall of Constantinople, capital of the surviving Eastern Empire.The Ottoman Turks who conquered the city aslo known to us asByzantium would force a tense centruy of conflict in theMediterranean culminating in the famous Battle of Lepanto. Thefirst book in a triptych depicting this monumental confrontationbetween a Muslim empire and Christendom, The Fall of Constantinoplebrilliantly captures a defning moment in the two creeds' historytoo often eclipsed by the Crusades.

For the first time in decades, here, in a single volume, is afresh look at the fabled Tudor dynasty, comprising some of the mostenigmatic figures ever to rule a country. Acclaimed historian G. J.Meyer reveals the flesh-and-bone reality in all its wildexcess. In 1485, young Henry Tudor, whose claim to the throne was so weakas to be almost laughable, crossed the English Channel from Franceat the head of a ragtag little army and took the crown from thefamily that had ruled England for almost four hundred years. Half acentury later his son, Henry VIII, desperate to rid himself of hisfirst wife in order to marry a second, launched a reign of terroraimed at taking powers no previous monarch had even dreamed ofpossessing. In the process he plunged his kingdom into generationsof division and disorder, creating a legacy of blood and betrayalthat would blight the lives of his children and the destiny of hiscountry. The boy king Edward VI, a fervent believer in reforming theEnglish church, died before

rom one of the great political journalists of our time comes aboldly argued reinterpretation of the central event in ourcollective past--a book that portrays the American Revolution notas a clash of ideologies but as a Machiavellian struggle forpower.

The first authorized inside account of one of the mostdaring—and successful—military operations in recent history From the earliest days of his dictatorship, Saddam Hussein hadvowed to destroy Israel. So when France sold Iraq a top-of-the-linenuclear reactor in 1975, the Israelis were justifiablyconcerned—especially when they discovered that Iraqi scientists hadalready formulated a secret program to extract weapons-gradeplutonium from the reactor, a first critical step in creating anatomic bomb. The reactor formed the heart of a huge nuclear plantsituated twelve miles from Baghdad, 1,100 kilometers from Tel Aviv.By 1981, the reactor was on the verge of becoming “hot,” andIsraeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin knew he would have toconfront its deadly potential. He turned to Israeli Air Forcecommander General David Ivry to secretly plan a daring surgicalstrike on the reactor—a never-before-contemplated mission thatwould prove to be one of the most remarkable military operations ofall time. Written

A magisterial history of the titanic struggle between theRoman and Jewish worlds that led to the destruction ofJerusalem. Martin Goodman—equally renowned in Jewish and in Romanstudies—examines this conflict, its causes, and its consequenceswith unprecedented authority and thoroughness. He delineates theincompatibility between the cultural, political, and religiousbeliefs and practices of the two peoples and explains how Rome'sinterests were served by a policy of brutality against the Jews. Atthe same time, Christians began to distance themselves from theirorigins, becoming increasingly hostile toward Jews as Christianinfluence spread within the empire. This is the authoritative workof how these two great civilizations collided and how thereverberations are felt to this day.