General George S. Patton famously said, "Compared to war all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. God, I do love it so!" Though Patton was a notoriously single-minded general, it is nonetheless a sad fact that war gives meaning to many lives, a fact with which we have become familiar now that America is once again engaged in a military conflict. War is an enticing elixir. It gives us purpose, resolve, a cause. It allows us to be...

"By the New York Times bestselling author of Viper Pilot, former USAF F-16 legend Dan Hampton tells the thrilling story of how fighter pilots have ruled the skies for 100 years, from the Red Baron to today's supersonic jets"-- "By the USAF F-16 legend behind the bestselling memoir Viper Pilot, this is the first comprehensive history of fighter pilots and air combat--a unique, riveting look at the aces of the sky, their machines, their most daring...

"In this sweeping, deeply researched book, Paul Thomas Chamberlin boldly argues that the Cold War, long viewed as a mostly peaceful, if tense, diplomatic standoff between democracy and communism, fostered a series of deadly conflicts that killed millions on battlegrounds across the postcolonial world. For half a century, as an uneasy accord hung over Europe, ferocious proxy wars raged in the Cold War's killing fields, resulting in more than fourteen...

The twentieth century is usually seen as "the century of total war." But as the historian David Bell argues in this landmark work, the phenomenon actually began much earlier, in the era of muskets, cannons, and sailing ships'in the age of Napoleon. In a sweeping, evocative narrative, Bell takes us from campaigns of "extermination" in the blood-soaked fields of western France to savage street fighting in ruined Spanish cities to central European battlefields...

"Nothing goes wrong quite so dramatically as a disastrous military expedition."-from the Introduction ARROGANT ARMIES Spanning more than two hundred years of martial adventurism, aggression, and outright blundering, Arrogant Armies chronicles the profoundly misguided and utterly calamitous military expeditions of the great empire builders and overconfident expeditionary forces. From colonial America to South Africa, from Mesopotamia to Khartoum,...

Discusses the roots of war, various alliances and summit meetings meant to forestall conflict, and the background and events connected with numerous specific conflicts in the second half of the twentieth century.

"Martha Gellhorn was a fearless war correspondent for nearly fifty years and a leading journalistic voice of her generation. From the Spanish Civil War in 1937 through the wars in Central America in the mid-eighties, her candid reporting reflected her deep empathy for people no matter their political ideology, and the openness and vulnerability of her conscience. "I wrote very fast, as I had to," she says, "afraid that I would forget the exact sound,...

Professor Mark R. Polelle examines great military leaders in history, beginning with George Washington and moving on to Napoleon, U.S. Grant, Pershing, MacArthur, and Schwarzkopf, among others. The course also addresses the politics of military history and leadership and illustrates the circumstances that enable the rise of great leaders. Perhaps most importantly, Professor Polelle raises and answers that essential question: What is it that makes...

"From the streets of an American city under siege to the far-flung jungles of Vietnam or the deadly desert towns of Iraq, modern warfare is all about cutting-edge strategy, the latest weaponry and soldiers laying their lives on the line to overcome the enemy. Combat zone takes you behind the lines of engagement of 13 hard-fought armed conflicts and tells the true stories of the tactics, the firepower and the heroes who risked everything. Historical...