The incredible untold story of four women who spun the web of deception that helped win World War II.

Betty MacDonald was a 28-year-old reporter from Hawaii. Zuzka Lauwers grew up in a tiny Czechoslovakian village and knew five languages by the time she was 21. Jane Smith-Hutton was the wife of a naval attaché living in Tokyo. Marlene Dietrich, the German-American actress and singer, was of course one of the biggest stars of the 20th century. These four women, each fascinating in her own right, together contributed to one of the most covert and successful military campaigns in WWII.

As members of the OSS, their task was to create a secret brand of propaganda produced with the sole aim to break the morale of Axis soldiers. Working in the European theater, across enemy lines in occupied China, and in Washington, D.C., Betty, Zuzka, Jane, and Marlene forged letters and official military orders, wrote and produced entire newspapers, scripted radio broadcasts and songs, and even developed rumors for undercover spies and double agents to spread to the enemy. And outside of a small group of spies, no one knew they existed. Until now.

In Propaganda Girls, bestselling author Lisa Rogak brings to vivid life the incredible true story of four unsung heroes, whose spellbinding achievements would change the course of history.

The definitive oral history of the battle that turned the tide of the Civil War that combines vivid first-hand accounts with rich historical narrative.

In late June of 1863, one month after his victory over Union forces at Chancellorsville, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee, head of the Army of Northern Virginia, invaded the North. He would cross the Potomac River and head towards Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with the goal of seizing the trains which would then take his army into Philadelphia and perhaps even New York City. He hoped that these victories would force U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to surrender.

As he pushed north, Lee was operating without his cavalry leader, J.E.B. Stuart, whom he had allowed to go on a useless scouting mission. At the same time, the Union army, now led by little known commander George Meade was tracking Lee and his men.

Both sides clashed at Gettysburg, a tiny Pennsylvania farm village on July 1 in what would be a three-day battle that would change the course of the war.

The battle would reveal the mettle of the unheralded Meade and would also call into question General Lee's reputation as a legendary commander when he unleashed the ill planned and ill prepared Pickett's Charge. The battle proved costly to both sides. Some 50,000 men were killed across the battlefield and the defeated Lee's army would never again invade the North.

After so much bloodshed, President Lincoln's history-making and eloquent Gettysburg Address came to embody the essence of the war. The address, not even three minutes long, is considered the finest speech ever delivered buy an American President and has been memorized by generations ever since.

Using letters, diaries, journals, newspaper articles, and other written sources, Bruce Chadwick has crafted another masterful oral history. Skillfully combining traditional historic narrative with the in-the-moment ethos of an oral history, Gettysburg: The Tide Turns brings this iconic battle to fresh and vivid life.

Discover the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, in this Pulitzer Prize finalist from the author of the New York Times bestseller Area 51.
No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times bestselling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or the Pentagon's brain, from its Cold War inception in 1958 to the present.

This is the book on DARPA -- a compelling narrative about this clandestine intersection of science and the American military and the often frightening results.

This compellingly hard-hitting bestseller from a Pulitzer Prize finalist gives readers the complete untold story of the top-secret military base for the first time (New York Times).

It is the most famous military installation in the world. And it doesn't exist. Located a mere seventy-five miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada's desert, the base has never been acknowledged by the U.S. government -- but Area 51 has captivated imaginations for decades.

Myths and hypotheses about Area 51 have long abounded, thanks to the intense secrecy enveloping it. Some claim it is home to aliens, underground tunnel systems, and nuclear facilities. Others believe that the lunar landing itself was filmed there. The prevalence of these rumors stems from the fact that no credible insider has ever divulged the truth about his time inside the base. Until now.

Annie Jacobsen had exclusive access to nineteen men who served the base proudly and secretly for decades and are now aged 75-92, and unprecedented access to fifty-five additional military and intelligence personnel, scientists, pilots, and engineers linked to the secret base, thirty-two of whom lived and worked there for extended periods. In Area 51, Jacobsen shows us what has really gone on in the Nevada desert, from testing nuclear weapons to building super-secret, supersonic jets to pursuing the War on Terror.

This is the first book based on interviews with eye witnesses to Area 51 history, which makes it the seminal work on the subject. Filled with formerly classified information that has never been accurately decoded for the public, Area 51 weaves the mysterious activities of the top-secret base into a gripping narrative, showing that facts are often more fantastic than fiction, especially when the distinction is almost impossible to make.

Tells the tales left untold by Stephen Ambrose, whose Band of Brothers was the inspiration for the HBO miniseries...laced with Winters's soldierly exaltations of pride in his comrades' bravery.--Publishers Weekly

Look for the Band of Brothers miniseries, now available to stream on Netflix!

They were called Easy Company--but their mission was never easy. Immortalized as the Band of Brothers, they suffered 150% casualties while liberating Europe--an unparalleled record of bravery under fire. Winner of the Distinguished Service Cross, Dick Winters was their legendary commander. This is his story--told in his own words for the first time.

On D-Day, Winters assumed leadership of the Band of Brothers when its commander was killed and led them through the Battle of the Bulge and into Germany--by which time each member had been wounded. Based on Winters's wartime diary, Beyond Band of Brothers also includes his comrades' untold stories. Virtually none of this material appeared in Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers. Neither a protest against nor a glamorization of war, this is a moving memoir by the man who earned the love and respect of the men of Easy Company--and who is a hero to new generations worldwide.

Includes photos

From a celebrated military historian, a highly engaging and thought-provoking exploration of why the United States has failed again and again in irregular wars and military campaigns from Vietnam to Afghanistan.

Since the early 1960s, the United States has fought in four major wars and a cluster of complicated and bloody irregular warfare campaigns. The majority have ended in failure, or something close to it. Why has the US been so ineffective, despite the American armed forces being universally recognized as the best in the world?

Most scholars and analysts believe that the primary cause of our abysmal war record since Vietnam has been the US military's overwhelmingly conventional approach to conflict, which favors kinetic operations, highly mobile precision firepower, and sophisticated systems of command and control. Here, James Warren argues that a much more formidable obstacle to success has been pervasive strategic ineptitude at the highest levels of decision-making, including the presidency, the national security council, and the foreign policy community in DC.

Time and time again, American presidents have committed military forces to operations in foreign countries whose politics and cultures they did not fully understand. Presidents of both political parties, including Johnson, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Obama have overestimated the capacity of US forces to alter the social and political landscape of foreign nations, and underestimated the ability of insurgents and terrorists to develop effective protracted war strategies that, in time, sap Washington's will to carry on the fight.

In the War on Terror, Warren asserts that senior military officers have been complicit in extending bankrupt strategies by refusing to speak truthfully about them to their civilian bosses. So have the American people, who lost interest in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and refused to press their president and congress to bring an end to two futile conflicts. Warren advocates for a less hubristic foreign policy and a broader conception of warfare as a political and military enterprise.

For readers of political, military, and US history--as well as anyone interested in international relations and geopolitical strategy--this book offers unparalleled insights into America's prior--and potentially future--military conflicts.

How long does it take to burn to death?

This question raced through Sam Brown's mind as he burned alive alongside a dirt road in Afghanistan. At 24, he was pursuing his lifelong ambition of serving in the US military when his vehicle detonated one of the Taliban's bombs. Sam was desperate for death to end his pain. Instead, a fellow soldier extinguished the blaze.

Sam's life had been saved, but for what purpose?

Sustained by his newfound faith, Sam endured a long, painful recovery as he grappled with losing his physical identity, his military career, and his dreams of making an impact. Yet he also discovered the power of serving others and embarked on a seemingly impossible love story. In Alive Day, Sam shares his inspiring story of perseverance, hope, and faith, taking readers from the ashes of a life lost to the freedom of an identity that cannot be shaken.

From Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen, the untold USA Today bestselling story of the CIA's secret paramilitary units.
Surprise . . . your target. Kill . . . your enemy. Vanish . . . without a trace.
When diplomacy fails, and war is unwise, the president calls on the CIA's Special Activities Division, a highly-classified branch of the CIA and the most effective, black operations force in the world.
Originally known as the president's guerrilla warfare corps, SAD conducts risky and ruthless operations that have evolved over time to defend America from its enemies. Almost every American president since World War II has asked the CIA to conduct sabotage, subversion and, yes, assassination.
With unprecedented access to forty-two men and women who proudly and secretly worked on CIA covert operations from the dawn of the Cold War to the present day, along with declassified documents and deep historical research, Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen unveils -- like never before -- a complex world of individuals working in treacherous environments populated with killers, connivers, and saboteurs.
Despite Hollywood notions of off-book operations and external secret hires, covert action is actually one piece in a colossal foreign policy machine.
Written with the pacing of a thriller, Surprise, Kill, Vanish brings to vivid life the sheer pandemonium and chaos, as well as the unforgettable human will to survive and the intellectual challenge of not giving up hope that define paramilitary and intelligence work. Jacobsen's exclusive interviews -- with members of the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service (equivalent to the Pentagon's generals), its counterterrorism chiefs, targeting officers, and Special Activities Division's Ground Branch operators who conduct today's close-quarters killing operations around the world -- reveal, for the first time, the enormity of this shocking, controversial, and morally complex terrain. Is the CIA's paramilitary army America's weaponized strength, or a liability to its principled standing in the world? Every operation reported in this book, however unsettling, is legal.

Fans of Stephen E. Ambrose's Band of Brothers will be drawn to this complex portrait of the controversial Ronald Speirs, an iconic commander of Easy Company during World War II, whose ferocious courage in three foreign conflicts was matched by his devotion to duty and the bittersweet passions of wartime romance.

Fight Like You Mean to Win

His comrades called him Killer. Of the elite paratroopers who served in the venerated Band of Brothers during the Second World War, none were more enigmatic than Ronald Speirs. Rumored to have gunned down enemy prisoners and even one of his own disobedient sergeants, Speirs became a foxhole legend among his troops. But who was the real Lieutenant Speirs?

In Fierce Valor, historians Jared Frederick and Erik Dorr unveil the fuller story of Easy Company's longest-serving commander. Tested by trials of extreme training, military rivalry, and lost love, Speirs's international odyssey begins as an immigrant child in Prohibition-era Boston and continues through the bloody campaigns of France, Holland, and Germany. But 1945 did not mark an end to Speirs's military adventures. Uncovered by sharp scholarship, his lesser-known exploits in Korea, the Cold War, and embattled Laos also come to light for the first time.

Packed with groundbreaking research, Fierce Valor unveils a compelling portrait of an officer defined by boldness on the battlefield and the inherent costs of war. His story serves as a telling reminder that few soldiers escape the power of their own pasts.

Explore San Diego's Nautical Past: From Township Origins to Iconic Shipyards, Uncover Local Navy History, Impactful Events, and Intriguing Stories.

Dive into the vibrant maritime history of San Diego with The History of Shipyards in San Diego. This comprehensive guide takes you on an enlightening journey through the evolution of the city's original township, its pivotal relocation, and the subsequent growth that paved the way for the emergence of iconic shipyards.

This book unravels the intertwined history of the local Navy, the fishing industry and the Port of San Diego, shedding light on their significant roles in shaping the local shipbuilding industry, also exploring the fascinating history of Barrio Logan, a community with deep-rooted connections to this industry.

The economic upheavals of the Great Depression and the global conflicts of the World Wars had a profound impact on the shipbuilding industry. The narrative then seamlessly transitions into a detailed examination of 25 shipyards, revealing intriguing insights about their origins, founders, and unique stories.

The book also has graphical representations of the shipyards' operational timelines and their geographical locations on the San Diego Bay map, providing a visual and chronological perspective of their existence. Two captivating chapter brings to life lesser-known tales about the area, the industry, and the renowned local ships associated with the shipyards and the city.

The journey culminates with a chapter that encapsulates 125 years of historical shipyard events in a chronological listing, providing a holistic understanding of San Diego's shipyard history. From the early stages of the original township to the rise of shipyards as a powerhouse industry, this book enriches your knowledge of San Diego's nautical past and its enduring maritime legacy. It is a must-read for anyone seeking to appreciate the historical depth and cultural richness of this vibrant coastal city.

Here is a true story of international intrigue, romances, corruption, graft, and political assassinations, the like of which has never been written before. It is the story of how different groups or atheistic- materialistic men have played in an international chess tournament to decide which group would win ultimate control of the wealth, natural resources, and man- power of the entire world. It is explained how the game has reached the final stage. The International Communists, and the International Capitalists, (both of whom have totalitarian ambitions) have temporarily joined hands to defeat Christian-democracy. The solution is to end the game the International Conspirators have been playing right now before one or another totalitarian-minded group imposes their ideas on the rest of mankind. The story is sensational and shocking, but it is educational because it is the TRUTH. The author offers practical solutions to problems so many people consider insoluble.

Stories from U.S. Navy rescue swimmers providing a fresh perspective on what it takes to survive some of the most dangerous rescues imaginable, and how that shapes the rest of a person's life.

The definitive history of the military's decades-long investigation into mental powers and phenomena, from the author of Pulitzer Prize finalist The Pentagon's Brain and international bestseller Area 51.

This is a book about a team of scientists and psychics with top secret clearances.

For more than forty years, the U.S. government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the Navy, Air Force, and Army-and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Now, for the first time, New York Times bestselling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs, using never before seen declassified documents as well as exclusive interviews with, and unprecedented access to, more than fifty of the individuals involved. Speaking on the record, many for the first time, are former CIA and Defense Department scientists, analysts, and program managers, as well as the government psychics themselves.

Who did the U.S. government hire for these top secret programs, and how do they explain their military and intelligence work? How do scientists approach such enigmatic subject matter? What interested the government in these supposed powers and does the research continue? Phenomena is a riveting investigation into how far governments will go in the name of national security.

Rex Applegate's Kill or be Killed is a timeless classic of WW2 military combatives. Printed in 1943 for military and civil markets, it explores the core techniques and training needed to stay safe in the warzones and combat theatres of the second world war.

Kill or Get Killed, via a wide array of photographs and illustrated diagrams explore unarmed combat, use of blades, pistols and sub-machine guns. The manual also provides details on training programs and setting up ranges for skill development.

Rex Applegate was famous for his holistic approach in training soldiers and spies in WW2 using his own methods, and those inspired and taught by contemporaries such as W.E Fairbairn. The manual is designed to be an easy-to-follow guide for learning and teaching the tactics, strategies and approaches.

Rex Applegate's kill or be killed helped prepare America's marines, soldiers, sailors, spies and airmen for the realities of war. This highly shared and respected work provides all you need to know about unarmed combat and close quarter engagement with the enemy.

From the bestselling author of Washington's Immortals and The Unknowns, an important new chronicle of the American Revolution heralding the heroism of the men from Marblehead, Massachusetts

On the stormy night of August 29, 1776, the Continental Army faced capture or annihilation after losing the Battle of Brooklyn. The British had trapped George Washington's forces against the East River, and the fate of the Revolution rested upon the shoulders of the soldier-mariners from Marblehead, Massachusetts. Serving side by side in one of the country's first diverse units, they pulled off an American Dunkirk and saved the army by transporting it across the treacherous waters of the river to Manhattan.

In the annals of the American Revolution, no group played a more consequential role than the Marbleheaders. At the right time in the right place, they repeatedly altered the course of events, and their story shines new light on our understanding of the Revolution. As acclaimed historian Patrick K. O'Donnell dramatically recounts, beginning nearly a decade before the war started, and in the midst of a raging virus that divided the town politically, Marbleheaders such as Elbridge Gerry and Azor Orne spearheaded the break with Britain and shaped the nascent United States by playing a crucial role governing, building alliances, seizing British ships, forging critical supply lines, and establishing the origins of the US Navy.

The Marblehead Regiment, led by John Glover, became truly indispensable. Marbleheaders battled at Lexington and on Bunker Hill and formed the elite Guard that protected George Washington. Then, at the most crucial time in the war, the special operations-like regiment, against all odds, conveyed 2,400 of Washington's men across the ice-filled Delaware River on Christmas night 1776, delivering a momentum-shifting surprise attack on Trenton. Later, Marblehead doctor Nathaniel Bond inoculated the Continental Army against a deadly virus, which changed the course of history.

White, Black, Hispanic, and Native American, this uniquely diverse group of soldiers set an inclusive standard of unity the US Army would not reach again for more than 170 years. The Marbleheaders' chronicle, never fully told before now, makes The Indispensables a vital addition to the literature of the American Revolution.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers, a chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War.

Superb ... A masterpiece of thorough research, deft pacing and arresting detail...This war story--the fight to break out of a frozen hell near the Chosin Reservoir--has been told many times before. But Sides tells it exceedingly well, with fresh research, gritty scenes and cinematic sweep. --The Washington Post

On October 15, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of UN troops in Korea, convinced President Harry Truman that the Communist forces of Kim Il-sung would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he said with near certainty, would not intervene in the war.

As he was speaking, 300,000 Red Chinese soldiers began secretly crossing the Manchurian border. Led by some 20,000 men of the First Marine Division, the Americans moved deep into the snowy mountains of North Korea, toward the trap Mao had set for the vainglorious MacArthur along the frozen shores of the Chosin Reservoir. What followed was one of the most heroic--and harrowing--operations in American military history, and one of the classic battles of all time. Faced with probable annihilation, and temperatures plunging to 20 degrees below zero, the surrounded, and hugely outnumbered, Marines fought through the enemy forces with ferocity, ingenuity, and nearly unimaginable courage as they marched their way to the sea.

Hampton Sides' superb account of this epic clash relies on years of archival research, unpublished letters, declassified documents, and interviews with scores of Marines and Koreans who survived the siege. While expertly detailing the follies of the American leaders, On Desperate Ground is an immediate, grunt's-eye view of history, enthralling in its narrative pace and powerful in its portrayal of what ordinary men are capable of in the most extreme circumstances.

Hampton Sides has been hailed by critics as one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation. As the Miami Herald wrote, Sides has a novelist's eye for the propulsive elements that lend momentum and dramatic pace to the best nonfiction narratives.

Pandemics, Politics, & Public Health provides a comprehensive review of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in fulfilling its domestic and global mission. Several years were required to research a vast amount of documentation for this historical account. It revealed a fascinating story of personal and institutional resilience that allowed the Commissioned Corps to not only endure, but to advance through ongoing improvement and renewal. While the Corps is thematically central to the narrative, this history is presented within the context of public health more generally, as well it should. The narrative progresses chronologically, with each chapter beginning with the appointment of a Surgeon General. Surgeons General perform a key role as the operational head of the Corps and as the nation's doctor. PHS officers, however, are the people who give life and substance to the Commissioned Corps in their exceptional professional endeavors. In so doing, they have shown real officership by supporting one another as a team in fulfilling the PHS mission. While a historical account is unable to cover every person and event, the work of every PHS officer is contributory. We introduced a concept called In Their Words that are personal accounts of officers about their experiences while on active duty, thereby lending considerable interest to the narrative.

Books about combat are compelling. There's an inherent thirst for the stories about brave men, completing impossible tasks under the worst of conditions. Cry Havoc tells the story of how the Army Rangers emerged from the shadow of the Vietnam War, and morphed themselves into what World War II hero and former commander of US forces in Vietnam General Creighton W. Abrams called, the finest light infantry in the world. In October of 1983, those men would conduct the first mass combat parachute drop since Vietnam and do so under intense fire from Cuban and Grenadian forces.

Once the Rangers hit the ground, the action didn't stop. Over three days, they cleared the enemy from commanding positions overlooking the airfield, rescued over 400 US medical students, and conducted an air assault on an enemy training facility, an action that was considered a 'suicide mission'. And yet they accomplished all of their missions in the best tradition of their Ranger forefathers.

Cry Havoc is written on the back of extensive interviews with a very small, exclusive community of Rangers who undertook this perilous parachute jump in combat. The narrative is replete with intimate detail, raw emotion, and the chaos and immediacy of small unit action. Far reaching in its impact, the Rangers' performance during Urgent Fury has shaped the way the United States military undertakes special operations to this day. Until now, that story had never been told.

The thunderous roar of exploding depth charges was a familiar and comforting sound to the crew members of the USS Barb, who frequently found themselves somewhere between enemy fire and Davy Jones's locker.

Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely sink ships-she changed forever the way submarines stalk and kill their prey.

This is a gripping adventure chock-full of you-are-there moments. Fluckey has drawn on logs, reports, letters, interviews, and a recently discovered illegal diary kept by one of his torpedomen. And in a fascinating twist, he uses archival documents from the Japanese Navy to give its version of events.

The unique story of the Barb begins with its men, who had the confidence to become unbeatable. Each team helped develop innovative ideas, new tactics, and new strategies. All strove for personal excellence, and success became contagious. Instead of lying in wait under the waves, the USS Barb pursued enemy ships on the surface, attacking in the swift and precise style of torpedo boats. She was the first sub to use rocket missiles and to creep up on enemy convoys at night, joining the flank escort line from astern, darting in and out as she sank ships up the column.
Surface-cruising, diving only to escape, Luckey Fluckey relentlessly patrolled the Pacific, driving his boat and crew to their limits. There can be no greater contrast to modern warfare's long-distance, videogame style of battle than the exploits of the captain and crew of the USS Barb, where they sub, out of ammunition, actually rammed an enemy ship until it sank.

Thunder Below! is a first-rate, true-life, inspirational story of the courage and heroism of ordinary men under fire.

They Shall Not Be Forgotten presents a fascinating collection of inspirational wartime stories, from the perspective of veterans, from our Nation's Independence through Vietnam. It began like the genealogical search of so many families to find out more about the relatives who came before them. It led to the surprising discovery of the stories of family members spanning eight generations who each served in the conflict of their era from the War of Independence through Vietnam. Through this book's masterfully re-created veterans' stories, blending documented historical research with his gift for storytelling, author Armand Kinslow breathes life into his humble quest to know more about his ancestors and to now promise that They Shall Not Be Forgotten.

50% of author royalties from this book go to veteran support groups.

Armand Kinslow joined the USMC as an infantry officer and then later served as an intelligence officer during the Cold War, Gulf War, and Global War on Terror, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. Between combining his military and government service, Kinslow spent four decades working in intelligence gathering and analysis. He is an avid history buff particularly of America's military campaigns.