Историческая литература
Различные книги в жанре Историческая литератураA Plain Sailorman in China
This biography recounts the extraordinary life of I. V. Gillis, both as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1894 to 1919 and as a collector of rare Chinese books. China specialist Bruce Swanson captures the colorful, multi-faceted life of the man known as an innovative thinker, tactical practitioner, spy, and successful diplomat. Gillis, a second-generation Naval Academy graduate and the son of an admiral, was hailed a hero while serving aboard his first warship in the Spanish-American War and in 1907 became the first U. S. Naval Attaché to China. He remained in China until his death, marrying a Chinese princess, and collecting books now housed at Princeton University.
Sunburst
This acclaimed sequel to the Peattie/Evans prizewinning work, Kaigun, illuminates the rise of Japanese naval aviation from its genesis in 1909 to its thunderbolt capability on the eve of the Pacific war. In the process of explaining the navy s essential strengths and weaknesses, the book provides the most detailed account available in English of Japan s naval air campaign over China from 1937 to 1941. A final chapter analyzes the utter destruction of Japanese naval air power by 1944.
Embassy to the Eastern Courts
In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, the U.S. found its merchants and traders locked out of their traditional markets in Europe and the Caribbean. Hoping for new and profitable American trade relationships, President Andrew Jackson dispatched an unemployed ship-owner and merchant with no diplomatic experience on a secret mission to negotiate with Eastern potentates in their courts. Edmund Roberts’ mission was to formalize American trade with these exotic places—Oman, Siam, Cochin China, and Japan—on a most favored nation basis, allowing for American consuls to openly advance and protect American interests and citizens in their host country. After sailing almost 70,000 miles in five years in the ill-fated USS Peacock, Roberts was successful in negotiating treaties with Oman and Siam, but he failed in Cochin China, and he died before setting sail to Japan. Peacock, first flagship of the Navy’s new East Indies Squadron, forerunner of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, outlived him by only a few years.
Double Edged Secrets
Assigned to the combat intelligence unit in Honolulu from June 1941 until the end of World War II, author W. J. Holmes was an important part of the naval organization that collected, analyzed, and disseminated intelligence information, and his compassionate understanding of the business of intelligence gathering is unique. Here, he not only captures the mood of the period but also gives rare insight into the problems and personalities involved. The reader comes to fully appreciate the painful moral dilemma faced daily by commanders in the Pacific once the Japanese naval codes were broken. Every time the Americans made use of the enemy messages they had decoded, they increased the probability that the Japanese would realize what had happened and change their codes, thereby causing the U.S. Pacific Fleet to lose a vital edge. Withholding the information, however, could – and sometimes did – result in the loss of American lives and ships. This illuminating study reveals not only the difficulties of collecting intelligence, but of deciding when to use it.
Nazi Steel
This study explores an exemplary instance of the close interaction between private and official interests in planning and executing the programs of the Nazi government, namely the acquisition in 1941 of the Rombach steel works by the German industrialist Friedrich Flick. The industrial concern headed by Flick was among the largest and most influential steel producers and manufacturers of war material in the German economy during World War II. Its activities in the occupied territories of western Europe centered on control of the Rombach works, a large operation established in Lorraine in the late nineteenth-century by German industrialists and expropriated by France, along with the entire region, in the aftermath of the First World War. After successful military operations against France in 1940, the Nazi regime actively sought the collusion of the German industrial community in mobilizing the productive capacity of occupied territories for the war effort, and numerous private German businessmen advanced claims on the lucrative assets in Lorraine and adjacent regions. In his bid to gain control of the Rombach works, Flick was successful for reasons specific to his position within the Nazi German economic system and the character of his interests. This account of his activities, then, serves as a fine example of Nazi economic and occupation policy and its response to party, business, and bureaucratic influences.
SEAL of Honor
Lt. Michael Patrick Murphy, commander of Navy SEAL Team 10, posthumously received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on 28 June 2005 during a fierce battle with Taliban fighters in the remote mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Michael was the first recipient of the nation’s highest military honor as a result of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. He was also the first naval officer to earn the medal since the Vietnam War, and the first SEAL to be honored posthumously. A young man of great character, he is the subject of Naval Special Warfare courses on leadership, and an Arleigh Burke–class guided missile destroyer, naval base, school, post office, ball park, and hospital emergency room have all been named in his honor. In his bestselling book, Marcus Luttrell, the only survivor of Operation Red Wings, called Michael “the best officer I ever knew, an iron-souled warrior of colossal, almost unbelievable courage in the face of the enemy.” SEAL of Honor tells the story of Michael’s life and how he came to be that man of selfless courage and honor. This biography argues that his heroic action during the deadly firefight with the Taliban revealed his true character and attempts to answer why Michael readily sacrificed his life for his comrades. SEAL of Honor is the story of a valiant young man who was recognized by his peers for his compassion and leadership, because he was guided by an extraordinary sense of duty and responsibility. Tracing Michael’s journey from a seemingly ordinary life on New York’s Long Island to that remote mountainside in Afghanistan, SEAL of Honor portrays how he came to the moment of extraordinary heroism that made him the most celebrated Medal of Honor recipient since WWII. Moreover, the book brings the Afghan war back to the home front, focusing on the tight-knit Murphy family and the devastating effect his death had on them as they watched the story of Operation Red Wings unfold in the news. The book attempts to answer why Michael’s service to his country and his comrades was a calling faithfully answered, a duty justly upheld, and a life, while all too short, well lived.
Dog Company Six
A Marine who wielded both pen and sword in a long, distinguished career captures the heroism and horror of the early days of the Korean War in this gripping novel. As a young man–with his own experiences in the war still vivid in his mind–Simmons wrote of the complex gamut of emotions and experiences that made this bloody encounter between East and West so unique. He kept the manuscript to himself until the war's fiftieth anniversary, when it was published to critical acclaim. Lauded for bringing a psychological intensity and realism to the war, the novel tells the story of a Marine reserve captain abruptly recalled to active duty to lead a company of Marines in a series of battles from the mud flats of Inchon to the frozen wasteland of the Chosin reservoir.
PT 105
Drawing on his own experiences as the captain of PT 105 at Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and more, the author tells how the fastest little boat in combat contributed to the war effort.
West Wind, Flood Tide
One of history's greatest naval engagements and the Civil War's bloodiest is examined for both its political ramifications and influence on naval tactics and ship design.
Vietnam Memoirs
A U.S. Army chaplain for the 25th Infantry Division recounts his experiences sharing the hardships and dangers that made up the daily routine of a combat soldier in Vietnam. Chaplain Falabella, decorated for his bravery under fire, offers eyewitness accounts of search-and-destroy missions, night ambushes, helicopter assaults, and a multi-hour fire fight during the first TET Offensive. The chaplain s memoir persuasively captures the emotions of his men the anxiety and loneliness and the effect of the climate and terrain on the mind, body, and spirit. His descriptions of waiting for approaching attacks and visits to the field hospitals are particularly memorable.