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Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island: The World War II Battle That Saved Marine Corps Aviation
by John R BruningThe pivotal true story of the first fifty-three days of the standoff between Imperial Japanese and a handful of Marine aviators defending the Americans dug in at Guadalcanal, from the New York Times bestselling author of Indestructible and Race of Aces. On August 20, 1942, twelve Marine dive-bombers and nineteen Marine fighters landed at Guadalcanal. Their mission: defeat the Japanese navy and prevent it from sending more men and supplies to "Starvation Island," as Guadalcanal was nicknamed. The Japanese were turning the remote, jungle-covered mountain in the south Solomon Islands into an air base from which they could attack the supply lines between the U.S. and Australia. The night after the Marines landed and captured the partially completed airfield, the Imperial Navy launched a surprise night attack on the Allied fleet offshore, resulting in the worst defeat the U.S. Navy suffered in the 20th century, which prompted the abandonment of the Marines on Guadalcanal. The Marines dug in, and waited for help, as those thirty-one pilots and twelve gunners flew against the Japanese, shooting down eighty-three planes in less than two months, while the dive bombers, carried out over thirty attacks on the Japanese fleet. Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island follows Major John L. Smith, a magnetic leader who became America&’s top fighter ace for the time; Captain Marion Carl, the Marine Corps&’ first ace, and one of the few survivors of his squadron at the Battle of Midway. He would be shot down and forced to make his way back to base through twenty-five miles of Japanese-held jungle. And Major Richard Mangrum, the lawyer-turned-dive-bomber commander whose inexperienced men wrought havoc on the Japanese Navy. New York Times bestselling author John R. Bruning depicts the desperate effort to stop the Japanese long enough for America to muster reinforcements and turn the tide at Guadalcanal. Not just the story of an incredible stand on a distant jungle island, Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island also explores the consequences of victory to the men who secured it at a time when America had been at war for less than a year and its public had yet to fully understand what that meant. The home front they returned to after their jungle ordeal was a surreal montage of football games, nightclubs, fine dining with America&’s elites, and inside looks at dysfunctional defense industries more interested in fleecing the government than properly equipping the military. Bruning tells the story of how one battle reshaped the Marine Corps and propelled its veterans into the highest positions of power just in time to lead the service into a new war in Southeast Asia.
The Fighting Retreat To Paris
by Roger IngpenIncludes The First World War On The Western Front 1914-1915 Illustrations Pack with 101 maps, plans, and photos.A fascinating view of the opening phases of the First World War.“Imperial Germany had long planned the conflict that was to become the First World War, but when the onslaught came there was little sign that the nations which would be embroiled were prepared for the storm. Germany advanced in the east and west where French and Belgian armies were forced to retire by overwhelming odds. The small British Army, the 'B. E. F', was rushed to the continent with most of its troops having less than a week between garrison life and the firing line. Under Sir John French, it was allocated the western end of the line, and at Mons it inflicted far more causalities on the enemy than its numbers would suggest. No army of its size, however, could stand against the German superiority in men (at least five to one) or artillery and machine guns. An envelopment was inevitable and so a stubbornly fought retreat was ordered. Near Le Cateau, the British turned at bay and Smith-Dorrien's determination to stand and fight undoubtedly saved the British Army from annihilation. Many people imagine the First World War as a stalemate of mud, wire and trenches, but in the first six months it was a great European war fought in much the same way that Napoleon, Wellington and Blucher had fought a century before.”-Print ed.
Fighting the Night: Iwo Jima, World War II, and a Flyer's Life
by Paul HendricksonFrom the acclaimed and best-selling author of Hemingway&’s Boat, the profoundly moving story of his father&’s wartime service as a night fighter pilot, and the prices he and his fellow soldiers paid for their acts of selfless, patriotic sacrificeIn the fall of 1944, Joe Paul Hendrickson, the author&’s father, kissed his twenty-one-year-old wife and two baby children goodbye. The twenty-five-year-old first lieutenant, pilot of a famed P-61 Black Widow, was leaving for the war. He and his night fighter squadron were sent to Iwo Jima, where, for the last five and a half months of World War II, he flew approximately seventy-five missions, largely in pitch-black conditions. His wife would wait out the war at the home of her small-town Ohio parents, one of the countless numbers of American family members shouldering the burden of being left behind.Joe Paul, the son of a Depression-poor Kentucky sharecropper, was fresh out of high school in 1937 when he enlisted in mechanic school in the peacetime Army Air Corps. Eventually, he was able to qualify for flight school. After marriage, and with the war on, the young officer and his bride crisscrossed the country, airfield to airfield, base to base: Santa Ana, Yuma, Kissimmee, Bakersfield, Orlando, La Junta, Fresno. He volunteered for night fighters and the newly arrived and almost mythic Black Widow. A world away, the carnage continued. As Paul Hendrickson tracks his parents&’ journey, together and separate, both stateside and overseas, he creates a vivid portrait of a hard-to-know father whose time in the war, he comes to understand, was something truly heroic, but never without its hidden and unhidden psychic costs.Bringing to life an iconic moment of American history, and the tragedy of all wars, Fighting the Night is an intense and powerful story of violence and love, forgiveness and loss. And it is a tribute to those who got plunged into service, in the best years of their lives, and the sacrifices they and their loved ones made, then and thereafter.
El fin de la guerra de los Estados Unidos en Afganistán: Los Agentes Rusos: Libro 3 (Los Agentes Rusos #3)
by Ted HalsteadLas tropas estadounidenses abandonaron Afganistán. Pero, al igual que en Irak, pronto se vieron obligadas a regresar. Tres agentes rusos intentan detener las armas nucleares robadas a Pakistán por los talibanes. Los talibanes quieren utilizar las armas robadas para obligar a Estados Unidos a abandonar Afganistán para siempre. ¿Les permitirán los ataques nucleares en múltiples lugares de Afganistán tener éxito? ¿O podrán los agentes rusos y las fuerzas especiales estadounidenses detener a los talibanes a tiempo? "El autor se ha esforzado mucho, más que la mayoría, en justificar las acciones de cada una de las naciones implicadas, especialmente Rusia. Al menos para mí, eso le da al libro mucho más realismo y lo convierte en una historia mucho más interesante. El desarrollo de los personajes también es estupendo. Uno se involucra en la historia. Por último, como veterano de la USAF, su uso del ejército y las descripciones de las personalidades implicadas son excepcionales".
El fin de la guerra rusa en Ucrania: Los Agentes Rusos: Libro 4 (Los Agentes Rusos #4)
by Ted HalsteadAgentes rusos buscan en Ucrania una ojiva nuclear desaparecida. Estados Unidos sospecha que la ojiva no ha sido robada y que su detonación es un pretexto para que Rusia se apodere de Ucrania. ¿Encontrarán los agentes la cabeza nuclear antes de que sea utilizada y dé comienzo la Tercera Guerra Mundial? Publishers Weekly: "El impresionante cuarto thriller de los Agentes Rusos de Halstead evita las convenciones trilladas del género... Los fans de las novelas de espionaje se deleitarán".
Flight from the City: Moving to the Country; Fresh Food, a Large Rural Home, and a Relaxed, Happier Life
by Ralph BorsodiRalph Borsodi was among the first Americans to experiment in leaving the bustling city for a more relaxed, rural life – this book chronicles his progress, and includes many practical pointers.Like many urban workers, Ralph Borsodi found the non-stop pace of work and the stressful, competitive atmosphere to be damaging to his health and well-being. A new life away from New York City, one where he and his family could enjoy a closeness to nature, better food, and develop practical skills and knowhow, became his goal. Yet Borsodi found the transition from downtown office worker to rural homesteader was not easy, and certainly not for everybody.Borsodi is honest about the sacrifice that moving out of the city entails: one’s options for a social life are fewer, there are no theatres or sports stadiums for example. Challenges such as learning how to maintain one’s home and secure it against the elements, while having sufficient finance in place to buy a plot of land and to manage on while adapting to rural life, are described in detail.Flight from the City was popular when it first appeared in 1933, and its guidance inspired many Americans to follow in the author’s footsteps. Even today, much of the wisdom and experience Ralph Borsodi espouses is relevant and valuable for anyone thinking of pursuing a life in the country.-Print ed.
For the Children: A heart-wrenching World War Two novel of bravery and resistance
by David LawsA young British war widow embarks on a dangerous journey that will change her life, and those of countless others, in this gripping, emotional novel by the author of The Fuhrer&’s Orphans. Helen Fairfax is a ferry pilot and the mother of Peter, aged six. From Monday to Friday she flies from factories to airfields, then returns to the family farmhouse where her parents look after the boy. She feels torn being away from her son so much, but after her husband died in the Battle of Britain she vowed to live up to his example of courage and strike back at the enemy. Now the Germans are about to launch the V-2 against London, and MI6 is desperate to get its hands on an undamaged prototype of the rocket to discover how it might be defeated. One has fallen in Poland—and Helen must pilot a secret flight into enemy territory to obtain it, accompanied by Leo Beck who, ashamed of his part in building the rocket, volunteers to assist her. But after a successful landing, they find themselves pulled into another mission. Parents beg her to fly their kids to safety, far from Nazi squads that have begun kidnapping children. It will mean defying military regulations—but that is far from the only risk she will take when she agrees to this unofficial rescue operation . . .</
The Forgotten Names
by Mario EscobarIn August 1942, French parents were faced with a horrible choice: watch their children die, or abandon them forever. Fifty years later, it becomes one woman&’s mission to match the abandoned names with the people they belong to.Five years after the highly publicized trial of Klaus Barbie, the &“Butcher of Lyon,&” law student Valérie Portheret began her doctoral research into the 108 children who disappeared from Vénissieux fifty years earlier, children who somehow managed to escape deportation and certain death in the German concentration camps. She soon discovers that their rescue was no unexplainable miracle. It was the result of a coordinated effort by clergy, civilians, the French Resistance, and members of other humanitarian organizations who risked their lives as part of a committee dedicated to saving those most vulnerable innocents.Theirs was a heroic act without precedent in Nazi-occupied Europe, made possible due to a loophole in the Nazi agenda to deport all Jewish immigrants from the country: a legally recognized exemption for unaccompanied minors. Therefore, to save their children, the Jewish mothers of Vénissieux were asked to make the ultimate sacrifice of abandoning them forever.Told in dual timelines, The Forgotten Names is a reimagined account of the true stories of the French men and women who have since been named Righteous Among the Nations, the children they rescued, the stifled cries of shattered mothers, and a law student, whose twenty-five-year journey allowed those children to reclaim their heritage and remember their forgotten names.World War II historical fiction inspired by true eventsIncludes discussion questions for book clubs, a historical timeline, and notes from the authorBook length: 70,000 wordsAlso by author: Auschwitz Lullaby, Children of the Stars, Remember Me, The Librarian of Saint-Malo, The Teacher of Warsaw, The Swiss Nurse
The Forgotten Political Elites of North Korea: Woe to the Vanquished (Routledge Research on Korea)
by Fyodor TertitskiyThis book comprises the biographies of the North Korean politicians whose actions played a pivotal role in shaping the formation of the country during the late 1940s, the Korean War of 1950-53 and the power struggles of the mid-1950s.Drawing from a rich array of archival material in both Korean, Russian and oral testimonies, this book gives insight into the life stories of key figures such as Pang Hak-se, the founder of North Korea's secret police; Lee Sang-jo, a rebellious and idealistic North Korean ambassador; and Mun Il, the secretary of North Korea’s first leader, Kim Il-sung. The biographies offer fresh perspectives into significant events in North Korean history such as the rise of Kim Il-sung and the reasons behind his selection as the nation's leader, The book also reveals how crucial events during the Korean War, such as the Inchon Landing Operation and China's entry into the war, shed new light on North Korean history.Unveiling the lives and impact of influential politicians in a notoriously secretive nation, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers including students and scholars of North Korea, the Korean War, the Cold War era, Asian history and those interested in the biographies of significant historical figures.
The Foundations of Modern Arms Control: An International History, 1815-1968 (Routledge Global Security Studies)
by Robert M. BlumThis book is an international history of the foundation of modern arms control, highlighting the fact that the instrument is varied, resilient, successful, and enduring.The narrative begins after the Napoleonic wars when newly arisen peace movements focused on arbitration as a path to “ending the war system.” It moves on to the international community’s embrace of “total and complete disarmament” and then to its acceptance of more limited measures by 1968, including the agreements that remain in force today. The book connects the past to the present of multiple negotiations, successful and failed, and underlines how the peace movement increasingly influenced the national policy of the major Western powers, especially the United States. It also highlights the increasing diversification of arms control players, including women and people of color as well as the countries they represented. Based on original research in multinational records and the latest scholarship, the book illustrates the reasons multilateral arms control remains a key instrument of international relations. The chapters are organized both chronologically and thematically, with the result that they cover different amounts of time in order to encompass a given issue and to capture the development of particular threads. The main narrative evolves into a decadeslong quest for a global treaty on “general and complete disarmament,” which otherwise paces the book and shapes its chapters.This book will be of much interest to students of arms control, global governance, peace studies, and International Relations.
The Founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony: A Careful Research Of The Earliest Records Of Many Of The Foremost Settlers Of The New England Colony
by Sarah Sprague Saunders SmithUncover the rich history and enduring legacy of the Massachusetts Bay Colony with Sarah Sprague Saunders Smith's insightful work, "The Founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony." This meticulously researched book offers a comprehensive account of the men and women who established one of the most significant early settlements in New England, shaping the future of the United States.Smith delves into the lives, motivations, and challenges faced by the Puritan founders who, driven by a quest for religious freedom, left their homeland to build a new society in the New World. Through engaging narrative and detailed historical analysis, she brings to life the stories of these pioneering individuals, from well-known leaders like John Winthrop and Thomas Dudley to the many lesser-known settlers who played crucial roles in the colony's development.The book provides a vivid portrayal of the early days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, from the perilous Atlantic crossing and the harsh realities of establishing a settlement in an unfamiliar land, to the creation of a thriving community grounded in strong religious and ethical principles. Smith explores the colony's governance, economic strategies, and social structures, highlighting the founders' vision and determination to create a "city upon a hill.""The Founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony" is an essential read for history enthusiasts, scholars of early American history, and anyone interested in the roots of the United States. This book stands as a testament to the courage, faith, and resilience of the men and women who laid the groundwork for what would become one of the most influential regions in early America. Smith’s work is a tribute to their enduring contributions and the lasting legacy of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Four Shots in the Night: A True Story of Stakeknife, Murder and Justice in Northern Ireland
by Henry Hemming'A truly page-turning, compulsive and also profoundly moving narrative. Superb.' JAMES HOLLAND'Gripping, urgent, superbly reported and brilliantly written' DAN JONES'A gripping and pacey book that reads like a thriller. I found it shocking in a world where I didn't think I could be shocked any more. Henry Hemming wears his extensive research very lightly and manages to shape a great narrative from a complex and dark episode from our recent history. An important and skilfully crafted book.' JOHN O'FARRELLHOW THE DEATH OF A SPY IN THE IRA LED TO ONE OF THE BIGGEST MURDER INVESTIGATIONS IN BRITISH HISTORY. On 26th May 1986, the body of an undercover British agent was found by the side of a muddy lane, with a rope tied around its wrists and tape over each eye. Years later, it was reported that this murder might have been carried out by another undercover British agent, known as 'Stakeknife'. In 2016, a detective began to investigate this case, and would soon find himself running the largest murder investigation in British history.In a compulsive blend of investigative journalism and true crime thriller, Henry Hemming exposes the parallel worlds of the IRA and British intelligence through the lives of those inextricably bound up in both. He reveals the bravery of those who were crucial in ending the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the bloodiest and longest-running conflict in recent British history, and the determination of one detective in his dogged search for justice and the truth.'a compelling story' - The Times'[a] gripping and consistently surprising true-life thriller' - Observer
Four Shots in the Night: A True Story of Stakeknife, Murder and Justice in Northern Ireland
by Henry Hemming'A truly page-turning, compulsive and also profoundly moving narrative. Superb.' JAMES HOLLAND'Gripping, urgent, superbly reported and brilliantly written' DAN JONES'A gripping and pacey book that reads like a thriller. I found it shocking in a world where I didn't think I could be shocked any more. Henry Hemming wears his extensive research very lightly and manages to shape a great narrative from a complex and dark episode from our recent history. An important and skilfully crafted book.' JOHN O'FARRELLHOW THE DEATH OF A SPY IN THE IRA LED TO ONE OF THE BIGGEST MURDER INVESTIGATIONS IN BRITISH HISTORY. On 26th May 1986, the body of an undercover British agent was found by the side of a muddy lane, with a rope tied around its wrists and tape over each eye. Years later, it was reported that this murder might have been carried out by another undercover British agent, known as 'Stakeknife'. In 2016, a detective began to investigate this case, and would soon find himself running the largest murder investigation in British history.In a compulsive blend of investigative journalism and true crime thriller, Henry Hemming exposes the parallel worlds of the IRA and British intelligence through the lives of those inextricably bound up in both. He reveals the bravery of those who were crucial in ending the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the bloodiest and longest-running conflict in recent British history, and the determination of one detective in his dogged search for justice and the truth.'a compelling story' - The Times'[a] gripping and consistently surprising true-life thriller' - Observer
France Since the Liberation: Between Exceptionalism and Convergence (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of France)
by Gino RaymondThis book focuses on the tension between the modernising thrust that places France on a trajectory of convergence with comparable liberal democracies and the defence of a national specificity that can act as a brake, complicating France’s relationship with its neighbours, its present and its past. This ambivalence in French political and social life stems from the conscious attempt to rebuild the nation after the trauma of Occupation during World War II and the new beginning provided by the Liberation. The government of the Fourth Republic embraced the pursuit of a modernisation that would enable it to regain its place among the world’s leading democratic states. However, this modernising ambition co-exists with the belief in a specific destiny and a unique sense of mission that are intrinsic to the emergence of a sense of nationhood after the revolution of 1789. Raymond defines a critical perspective that draws together historical, economic, social, and political issues into a coherent understanding of what makes France the way it is today. Written with both academic rigour and a highly accessible clarity of style, this volume is a valuable resource for students, educators, and researchers in French and European Studies.
The Franco-Prussian War: Turning-Points in European Experiences and Perceptions of Military Conflict (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of France)
by Karine VarleyThe Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 has traditionally been seen as a limited conflict between French and German forces. This edited volume challenges this view and shows that it was a war of ideas, values, and perceptions, which transformed the political, diplomatic, and military culture across Europe.Based on interdisciplinary research, the book suggests that the war raised new questions about power, the nation, violence, and notions of civilization, which brought about a decisive shift in how warfare was experienced and perceived. While the Franco-Prussian War may have begun as a traditional dynastic struggle, it became a modern war and an important precursor to the First World War in its use of new weaponry and industrialized warfare. At the same time, the development of humanitarian movements and international law on the conduct of war meant that the fighting was subjected to unprecedented scrutiny, while new technologies accelerated the pace at which narratives about the war were constructed and consumed.This volume will appeal to scholars in the fields of war studies, international relations and diplomacy, and intellectual and cultural history. It will also be a useful addition to undergraduate and postgraduate courses on nineteenth-century European history and cultural studies.
Freedom of the Seas and US Foreign Policy: An Intellectual History (Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies Series)
by Connor DonahueThis book critically analyzes US political-military strategy by arguing that freedom of the seas discourse is fundamentally unfit for an era of maritime great power competition.The work conducts a genealogical intellectual history of freedom of the seas discourse in US foreign policy to show how the concept has evolved over time to facilitate American control over the global ocean space. It concludes that the contemporary discourse works to establish the high seas as an arena free from claims of sovereignty so that the United States, as the presumed unrivaled naval power, can intervene globally on behalf of its national interests. However, since sea control strategies depend on a preponderance of material force, as the United States wanes in relative material capability it becomes less able to support political-military strategies predicated on the assumption of global naval dominance. The book provides a timely commentary on the current geopolitical competition between the United States and China, and critiques the US approach toward China in the maritime domain in order to highlight potential avenues of foreign policy action that may enable the two countries to mitigate the risk of conflict.This book will be of much interest to students of naval history, maritime security, US foreign policy, and international relations.
The Fries Rebellion 1798-99; An Armed Resistance to the House Tax Law, Passed by Congress, July 9, 1798,: in Bucks and Northampton Counties, Pennsylvania
by William Watts Hart DavisUncover the dramatic and turbulent history of early American resistance with William Watts Hart Davis's The Fries Rebellion 1798-99: An Armed Resistance to the House Tax Law, Passed by Congress, July 9, 1798, in Bucks and Northampton Counties, Pennsylvania. This meticulously researched work delves into one of the lesser-known but significant uprisings in American history, offering a comprehensive account of the events and the people involved in the Fries Rebellion.Davis, a respected historian, provides a detailed narrative of the rebellion that erupted in response to the federal house tax imposed by Congress in 1798. Through vivid storytelling and thorough analysis, he brings to life the passionate resistance led by John Fries and the farmers of Bucks and Northampton Counties, Pennsylvania, who stood against what they viewed as an unjust and oppressive tax.The Fries Rebellion 1798-99 explores the socio-political context of the late 18th century, highlighting the tensions between rural communities and the federal government. Davis examines the motivations, strategies, and consequences of the rebellion, providing a nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between taxation, representation, and civil disobedience in the young republic.Readers will gain insight into the legal proceedings, military actions, and eventual pardon that marked the resolution of the rebellion. Davis's work not only sheds light on this specific historical event but also contributes to a broader understanding of the challenges and conflicts that shaped the early United States.This book is an essential read for historians, students, and anyone interested in the revolutionary spirit of early America. Through careful documentation and engaging prose, Davis captures the essence of the Fries Rebellion, making The Fries Rebellion 1798-99 a valuable addition to the study of American history.
From Classroom to War of Resistance: Chinese Military Interpreter Training during World War II
by Jie LiuThis book focuses on a long- neglected yet important topic in China’s translation history: interpreter/ translator training and wartime translation studies. It examines the military interpreter training programmes after the outbreak of the Pacific War (1941–1945), further revealing the indispensable role of translation and interpreting in war. The author explores the relationship between linguistic education and war context in the China- Burma- India Theatre, where international cooperation was salient. Some 4,000 interpreting officers played a vital role in assisting in air defence, transportation, training of the Chinese army and coordinating expeditionary operations. The book seeks to bring these interpreters to life, telling the stories of why they joined the war, how they were trained and what they did in the war. Through the study of training programmes, historical archives, accounts and trainees’ memoirs, discussions revolve around key strands of education, including curriculums, textbooks and training methods. Utilising foreign language education practices as its main case study, the book analyses these through the framework of linguistic and translation theories. The book contributes to Chinese interpreting history by exploring its first-ever nationwide professional interpreting (and translation) training practices, and will inspire scholars of translation/ interpreting training, world modernhistory and foreign language education in general.
Frontier Science: Northern Canada, Military Research, and the Cold War, 1945–1970
by Matthew WisemanBetween 1945 and 1970, Canada’s Department of National Defence sponsored scientific research into the myriad challenges of military operations in cold regions. To understand and overcome the impediments of the country’s cold climate, scientists studied cold-weather acclimatization, hypothermia, frostbite, and psychological morale for soldiers assigned to active duty in northern Canada. Frontier Science investigates the history of military science in northern Canada during this period of the Cold War, highlighting the consequences of government-funded research for humans and nature alike. The book reveals how under the guise of “environmental protection” research, the Canadian military sprayed pesticides to clear bushed areas, used radioactive substances to investigate vector-borne diseases, pursued race-based theories of cold tolerance, and enabled wide-ranging tests of newly developed weapons and equipment. In arguing that military research in northern Canada was a product of the Cold War, Matthew S. Wiseman tackles questions of government power, scientific authority, and medical and environmental research ethics. Based on a long and deep pursuit of declassified records, archival sources, and oral testimony, Frontier Science is a fascinating new history of military approaches to the human-nature relationship.
The Future of War Crimes Justice
by Chris StephenFrom Russia to The Democratic Republic of Congo to Myanmar, Chris Stephen ponders the future of prosecuting war criminals who think themselves untouchable in this timely new book, part of Melville House FUTURES series.We are all too familiar with the horrors of war. Throughout history, rules have been laid down to govern the conduct of war, with varying success. Today, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands is the world's first permanent war crimes court, but since it opened in 2002, it has jailed just 4 people. So what has gone wrong?Journalist and ex war-correspondent Chris Stephen takes a look at the colorful history of how war law was devised, asking complicated and important questions such as: What constitutes a war crime? How and when can the law step into prosecute? Today, membership of the ICC is voluntary. Of the UN&’s 193 member states, 123 are in the ICC. But most of the world&’s war crimes are committed by the other 70. Simply put, governments that commit war crimes don&’t join the ICC – like Russia, for example.How then, do we go after war criminals? Follow the money, argues Stephen, and go after the banks and corporations that enable warlords. It worked for Al Capone, who, famously, was jailed not for his many killings, but for not paying his taxes. It was the same for Milosevic: years were spent gathering records, so judges could be shown he pulled the financial strings.Corporations and banks, span the world. Democracies and dictators both rely on them. The future of war crime courts demand they hit all the enablers, whether they wear battle fatigues or three-piece suits.
Garden of Ruins: Occupied Louisiana in the Civil War (Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War)
by J. Matthew WardJ. Matthew Ward’s Garden of Ruins serves as an insightful social and military history of Civil War–era Louisiana. Partially occupied by Union forces starting in the spring of 1862, the Confederate state experienced the initial attempts of the U.S. Army to create a comprehensive occupation structure through military actions, social regulations, the destabilization of slavery, and the formation of a complex bureaucracy. Skirmishes between Union soldiers and white civilians supportive of the Confederate cause multiplied throughout this period, eventually turning occupation into a war on local households and culture. In unoccupied regions of the state, Confederate forces and their noncombatant allies likewise sought to patrol allegiance, leading to widespread conflict with those they deemed disloyal. Ward suggests that social stability during wartime, and ultimately victory itself, emerged from the capacity of military officials to secure their territory, governing powers, and nonmilitary populations. Garden of Ruins reveals the Civil War, state-building efforts, and democracy itself as contingent processes through which Louisianans shaped the world around them. It also illustrates how military forces and civilians discovered unique ways to wield and hold power during and immediately after the conflict.
The Gas and Flame Men: Baseball and the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I
by Jim LeekeWhen the United States officially entered World War I in 1917, it was woefully underprepared for chemical warfare, in which the British, French, and Germans had been engaged since 1915. In response, the U.S. Army created an entirely new branch: the Chemical Warfare Service. The army turned to trained chemists and engineers to lead the charge—and called on an array of others, including baseball players, to fill out the ranks.The Gas and Flame Men is the first full account of Major League ballplayers who served in the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I. Four players, two club executives, and a manager served in the small and hastily formed branch, six of them as gas officers. Remarkably, five of the seven—Christy Mathewson, Branch Rickey, Ty Cobb, George Sisler, and Eppa &“Jeptha&” Rixey—are now enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York. The son of a sixth Hall of Famer, player and manager Ned Hanlon, was a young officer killed in action in France with the First Gas Regiment. Prominent chemical soldiers also included veteran Major League catcher and future manager George &“Gabby&” Street and Boston Braves president and former Harvard football coach Percy D. Haughton.The Gas and Flame Men explores how these famous baseball men, along with an eclectic mix of polo players, collegiate baseball and football stars, professors, architects, and prominent social figures all came together in the Chemical Warfare Service. Jim Leeke examines their service and its long-term effects on their physical and mental health—and on Major League Baseball and the world of sports. The Gas and Flame Men also addresses historical inaccuracies and misperceptions surrounding Christy Mathewson&’s early death from tuberculosis in 1925, long attributed to wartime gas exposure.
Gender Equality in UN Peacekeeping: Fact or Fiction? (ISSN)
by Sally Anne CorcoranThis book investigates to what extent UNSCR 1325/WPS agenda has functioned in practice, to advance women’s equality and empowerment in the peacekeeping context and beyond.The book examines whether widespread implementation of UNSCR 1325 and the broader WPS agenda via gender mainstreaming in UN operations has translated into increased gender equality in peacekeeping operations, the broader UN institutional context and, by extension, the host countries in which missions are situated, via norm dissemination. The book investigates this via a review of the implementation of UNSCR1325 in the operations chosen as research sites over three snapshot years. The book undertakes a comparative analysis that scrutinizes if, how and under what conditions gender mainstreaming has succeeded as a strategy to advance gender equality by analyzing the factors/conditions that have led to successful gender mainstreaming across the operational context, and those that have impeded this outcome. The book concludes that, despite rhetorical commitments to women’s equality in peacekeeping since the passage of UNSCR 1325, progress on the ground has remained minimal, and that the operational environment continues to be discriminatory against women. Both quantitatively and qualitatively, women do not participate as equal partners in peacekeeping and continue to have less access to resources and decision-making power, overall. The book interrogates that by exploring the spaces available within law, policy and practice of the UN to pursue the human rights agenda of gender equality and considers whether UNSCR 1325 has enlarged those spaces. It also points to the irony of internal UN structures failing to adequately adapt to their own gender mainstreaming mandates, while those same structures have delivered some gender equality mandates successes externally, at local levels.This book will be of interest to students of peacekeeping, gender studies, and International Relations.
Germany and Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century: Atomic Zeitenwende? (Routledge Global Security Studies)
by Ulrich KühnThis book is the first scholarly book to take a comprehensive look at Germany’s nuclear weapons policies in the 21st century.German foreign and security policy is facing a profound reorientation. Great power competition between the United States and both a revanchist Russia and a rising China, the return of war and nuclear threats to Europe, and the emergence of new technologies all force Germany to adapt. German policymakers and scholars increasingly speak of a pivotal Zeitenwende, an epochal turning point in history. How does Germany adapt its nuclear policies to these changing conditions?The volume brings together internationally renowned nuclear scholars and policy analysts from Germany and abroad. Focussing on German nuclear deterrence, arms control and disarmament as well as nonproliferation policies, the contributors assess how German leaders have navigated continuity and change, domestically and abroad. The volume concludes that Germany remains bound by dependence on the United States and its own conservatism. Within these parameters, German leaders have adapted slowly to change and continue to balance seemingly contradictory deterrence and disarmament goals.This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation, security studies, German politics and International Relations, as well as policymakers.
Ghenko: The Mongol Invasion of Japan, 1274-81
by Nakaba Yamada“A ferocious conflict between Mongol and Samurai.The Japanese word 'Ghenko' is the term employed for the Mongol invasion of Japan. The event was an immensely significant one for the Japanese and it remained so for centuries because, in part, the defeat of the invaders was attributed to divine intervention. There can be little doubt that Japan's salvation had much to do with the fact that they are an island race and in that they have much in common with other islanders, Great Britain among them, who on more than one occasion might claim the sea as their principal and most powerful ally. Indeed, the author of this book draws parallels with Britain and the Spanish Armada. The Mongols had rapidly risen to power during the 13th century and had created an unstoppable empire that spread over huge areas of land from the Yellow Sea of Asia to the Danube in Europe. Although massively stronger than the Japanese, the Mongols attacked the Japanese islands, attempting domination by invasion and yet were repulsed with finality. To modern students of military history the contents of this book has a compelling allure, since there can be no doubt that in the Mongol warrior and the Japanese Samurai there resided a martial spirit and expertise which, perhaps inevitably, could not both exist in the same sphere, but which in collision could not fail to instigate conflict of the most singular kind. This account of the clash between the ultimate warriors of their day analyses this time of warfare in superb detail. An essential addition to the library of anyone interested in the warfare of the East.”-Print ed.