At the end of World War II, long before an Allied victory wasassured and before the scope of the atrocities orchestrated byHitler would come into focus or even assume the name of theHolocaust, Allied forces had begun to prepare for its aftermath.Taking cues from the end of the First World War, planners had begunthe futile task of preparing themselves for a civilian healthcrisis that, due in large part to advances in medical science,would never come. The problem that emerged was not widespreaddisease among Europe’s population, as anticipated, but massivedisplacement among those who had been uprooted from home andcountry during the war. Displaced Persons, as the refugees would come to be known, were notcomprised entirely of Jews. Millions of Latvians, Poles,Ukrainians, and Yugoslavs, in addition to several hundred thousandGermans, were situated in a limbo long overlooked by historians.While many were speedily repatriated, millions of refugees refusedto return to countries that were forever changed by the wa

Following the enormous success of "Hitler: Hubris" this booktriumphantly completes one of the great modern biographies. Nofigure in twentieth century history more clearly demands a closebiographical understanding than Adolf Hitler; and no period is moreimportant than the Second World War. Beginning with Hitler'sstartling European successes in the aftermath of the Rhinelandoccupation and ending nine years later with the suicide in theBerlin bunker, Kershaw allows us as never before to understand themotivation and the impact of this bizarre misfit. He addresses thecrucial questions about the unique nature of Nazi radicalism, aboutthe Holocaust and about the poisoned European world that allowedHitler to operate so effectively.

Hailed on publication in 1957 as "probably the only book published this year that will outlive the century," this is a brilliant of the idea that there are fixed laws in history and that human beings are able to predict them.

With a flaming holographic cover, the new GWR 2011 edition explodes with new and updated records. There's 100% new photography and hot new categories and features including TV's 75th anniversary, eye popping 3-D cinema, the historic Space Shuttle and a 270 city record-breaking GPS World Tour.

The fifty most important speeches of all time: their context,history, and meaning for our world The speeches remembered by history are rarely remembered incontext; but it was almost always the context, not the speechitself, that made each address so significant. Terry Golway hasselected fifty speeches that changed the world through the sheerpower of their oratory. From Moses to Mandela and others fromacross time and around the world, Golway's selections are eachilluminated with an insightful essay setting the speech squarely inits historical contexts and detailing its impact and consequences.In doing so, Golway allows us to fully understand their importanceand effect. Including speeches from Jesus, Mohammed, Cicero, Pericles,Cromwell, Washington, Pope Urban II, John Winthrop, Kennedy,Emperor Hirohito, Barbara Jordan, Ho Chi Minh, Khrushchev,Robespierre, Patrick Henry, Queen Elizabeth I, Reagan, Mandela,FDR, Hitler, Churchill, Barack Obama and many more, this book is anhistoric achievement.

Since its publication twenty years ago, J. M. Roberts'smonumental History of the World has remained the "unrivaled WorldHistory of our day" (A. J. P. Taylor), selling more than a quarterof a million copies worldwide. Now in an equally masterfulperformance, Roberts displays his consummate skills of expositionin telling the tale of the European continent, from its Neolithicorigins and early civilizations of the Aegean to the advent of thetwenty-first century. A sweeping and entertaining history, ThePenguin History of Europe comprehensively traces the development ofEuropean identity over the course of thousands of years, rangingacross empires and religions, economics, science, and the arts.Roberts's astute and lucid analyses of the disparate spheres oflearning that have shaped European civilization and ourunderstanding of it make The Penguin History of Europe a remarkablejourney through the last two centuries.

This classic remains one of Karl Popper's most wide-ranging and popular works, notable not only for its acute insight into the way scientific knowledge grows, but also for applying those insights to politics and to history.

In An Army at Dawn - winner of the Pulitzer Prize - RickAtkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of theAllied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of the Battle, hefollows the strengthening American and British armies as theyinvade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fighttheir way north. The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain;in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill and their military advisors engagedin heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called softunderbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once underway, thecommitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despitethe agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, andMonte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as themonths passed, the Allied forces continued to push the Germans upthe Italian peninsula. And with the liberation of Rome in June1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable. Drawing onan astonishing array of primary source material, written with greatd

The distinguished historian of the Jewish people, Howard M.Sachar, gives us a comprehensive and enthralling chronicle of theachievements and traumas of the Jews over the last four hundredyears. Tracking their fate from Western Europe’s age of mercantilism inthe seventeenth century to the post-Soviet and post-imperialistIslamic upheavals of the twenty-first century, Sachar applies hisrenowned narrative skill to the central role of the Jews in many ofthe most impressive achievements of modern civilization: whether inthe rise of economic capitalism or of political socialism; in thediscoveries of theoretical physics or applied medicine; in “higher”literary criticism or mass communication and popularentertainment. As his account unfolds and moves from epoch to epoch, fromcontinent to continent, from Europe to the Americas and the MiddleEast, Sachar evaluates communities that, until lately, have beenunderestimated in the perspective of Jewish and world history—amongthem, Jews of Sephardic

Edward Gibbon's six-volume History of the Decline and Fall ofthe Roman Empire (1776-88) is among the most magnificent andambitious narratives in European literature. Its subject is thefate of one of the world's greatest civilizations over thirteencenturies - its rulers, wars and society, and the events that ledto its disastrous collapse. Here, in volumes one and two, Gibboncharts the vast extent and constitution of the Empire from thereign of Augustus to 395 ad. And in a controversial critique, heexamines the early Church, with fascinating accounts of the firstChristian and last pagan emperors, Constantine and Julian.

We were in the closet. We all had our weapons loaded. We sat there and waited for the doorbell to ring," said Salvatore Vitale, a slender New York mobster known as Good-Looking Sal. "We left the door open a smidge to look out." The ringing of the bell at the private social club’s entrance signaled the arrival of the first of the invited guests. Vito Rizzuto crouched low, peeking out from his vantage point. Through the swelling crowd and loud chatter from tough men all accustomed to having their say, Vito kept his eyes on one man, Gerlando Sciascia, a fellow Sicilian who was a long-time Rizzuto family friend. Breathing deeply beneath his mask, Vito watched for the secret signal that would draw him from the closet, a signal that came when Sciascia slowly ran the fingers of his lean, right hand through the silver hair on the side of his head. That simple act of preening brought mayhem to the social club and radically changed the balance of power. "Don’t anybody move. This is a holdup," V

The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the ThirdReich is a story of courage and enduring triumph, of calamity andmiscalculation. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy,Rick Atkinson shows why no modern reader can understand theultimate victory of the Allied powers without a grasp of the greatdrama that unfolded in North Africa in 1942 and 1943. Beginningwith the daring amphibious invasion in November 1942, An Army atDawn follows the British and American armies as they fight theFrench in Morocco and Algeria, and then take on the Germans andItalians in Tunisia. Battle by battle, an inexperienced andsometimes poorly led army gradually becomes a superb fightingforce. Central to the tale are the extraordinary but falliblecommanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower,Patton, Bradley, Montgomery and Rommel.

Leading a Learning Revolution tells the compelling story of a learning revolution that took place within the U.S. Department of Defense. Written by practitioners who actually walked the walk, this account of the creation of Defense Acquisition University (DAU) provides a clear blueprint that others can follow. It shares, in detail, the best practices they developed, so that the thousands of training organizations worldwide striving to create premier corporate universities can catapult forward. Offering an insider s look at the process, the authors clearly explain how they transformed an outdated training provider into a world-class university. Step-by-step the book outlines the enduring principles that were pivotal to Defense Acquisition University s success and describes the environment, early victories, current methods, and subsequent results. The authors discuss how to establish a mission and vision, develop a performance-based strategic planning process, and tackle change initiative. They also expl

The remarkable life of Alexander the Great, one of thegreatest military geniuses of all time, vividly told by one of theworld's leading exp erts in Greek history. With all theintensity, insight, and narrative drive that made The Spartans sucha hit with critics and readers, Paul Cartledge's Alexander theGreat: glowingly illuminates the brief but iconic life of Alexander(356-323 BC), king of Macedon, conqueror of the Persian Empire, andfounder of a new world order. Cartledge, the distinguished scholarand historian long acknowledged as the leading internationalauthority on ancient Sparta and Greece, brilliantly evokesAlexander's remarkable political and military accomplishments,leads us along the geographical path of his victorious armies, andcompellingly charting the tremendous field of this warrior hero'sinfluence. Alexander's legacy has had an astounding impact onmilitary tacticians, scholars, and statesmen—in his own lifetimeand in ours. In various countries and at various times he has beenseen as

A groundbreaking book, this unprecedented study is theauthoritative account of the best-known intelligence organisationin theworld. Essential reading for anyone interested in the historyof espionage, the two world wars, modern British government and theconductof international relations in the first half of thetwentieth century, MI6:The History of the Secret IntelligenceService 1909-1949is a uniquely important examination of the roleand significance of intelligence in the modern world.

At the end of the American Revolution, sixty thousandAmericans loyal to the British cause fled the United States andbecame refugees throughout the British Empire. This groundbreakingbook offers the first global history of the loyalist exodus toCanada, the Caribbean, Sierra Leone, India, and beyond. Followingextraordinary journeys like the one of Elizabeth Johnston, a youngmother from Georgia, who led her growing family to Britain,Jamaica, and Canada, questing for a home; black loyalists such asDavid George, who escaped from slavery in Virginia and went on tofound Baptist congregations in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone; andMohawk Indian leader Joseph Brant, who tried to find autonomy forhis people in Ontario, Liberty’s Exiles challengesconventional understandings about the founding of the United Statesand the shaping of the postrevolutionary world. Based on originalresearch on four continents, this book is at once an intimatenarrative history and a provocative new analysis—a story about thepast that

Going beyond even the expertise of archaeologists andhistorians, world-class engineer Craig B. Smith explores theplanning and engineering behind the incredible Great Pyramid ofGiza. How would the ancient Egyptians have developed their buildingplans, devised work schedules, managed laborers, solved specificdesign and engineering problems, or even improvised on the job? Theanswers are here, along with dazzling, one-of-a-kind colorphotographs and beautiful hand-drawn illustrations of tools,materials, and building techniques the ancient masters used. In hisforeword to the book, Egypt's Undersecretary of State for the GizaMonuments Zahi Hawass explains the importance of understanding theGreat Pyramid as a straightforward construction project.

Now revised — the easy-to-understand guide to the story ofAmerica Want to better understand U.S. History? This friendly book servesas your tour guide through the important events of America's pastand present, introducing you to the people who helped to shapehistory. From pre-Columbus to the American Revolution, fromWatergate to Iraq to Barack Obama, you'll discover fascinatingdetails that you won't find in dry history texts! They're coming to America — explore early civilizations, meetNative Americans, and see how the development of the Englishcolonies led to slavery and the American Revolution From Thomas Jefferson to Abraham Lincoln — examine thecontributions of great Americans as well as the discovery of gold,the birth of California, the Civil War, and Manifest Destiny America grows up — be there during the conquering of the West,industrial development, and the invention of the light bulb and thetelephone The impact of the World Wars — understand the sweeping

A visual journey through 3,000 years of naval warfare-now inpaperback! From the clash of galleys in Ancient Greece to deadlyencounters between nuclear-powered submarines in the 20th century,explore every aspect of the story of naval warfare on, under, andabove the sea.

Amazon.com Review From primordial nothingness to this very moment, A Short Historyof Nearly Everything reports what happened and how humans figuredit out. To accomplish this daunting literary task, Bill Bryson useshundreds of sources, from popular science books to interviews withluminaries in various fields. His aim is to help people like him,who rejected stale school textbooks and dry explanations, toappreciate how we have used science to understand the smallestparticles and the unimaginably vast expanses of space. With hisdistinctive prose style and wit, Bryson succeeds admirably. ThoughA Short History clocks in at a daunting 500-plus pages and coversthe same material as every science book before it, it readssomething like a particularly detailed novel (albeit without aplot). Each longish chapter is devoted to a topic like the age ofour planet or how cells work, and these chapters are grouped intolarger sections such as "The Size of the Earth" and "Life Itself."Bryson chats with experts like Ri

For the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, The Library ofAmerica re-issues the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant and WilliamTecumseh Sherman in a handsome, newly designed case. An ailingGrant wrote his Personal Memoirs to secure his family'sfuture. In doing so, the Civil War's greatest general won himself aunique place in American letters. John Keegan has called it"perhaps the most revelatory autobiography of high command to existin any language." The Library of America's edition of Grant's Memoirs includes 175 of his letters to Lincoln, Sherman, andhis wife, Julia, among others. Hailed as a prophet of modern warand condemned as a harbinger of modern barbarism, William T.Sherman is the most controversial general of the Civil War. "War iscruelty, and you cannot refine it," he wrote in fury to theConfederate mayor of Atlanta, and his memoir is filled with dozensof such wartime exchanges and a fascinating account of the famousmarch through Georgia and the Carolinas.