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At His Side: The Story of the American Red Cross Overseas in World War II
by George Gershon KorsonAt His Side, first published in 1945, is the authoritative work on the many important overseas activities of the American Red Cross during the Second World War. From field hospitals, nursing, blood collection, entertainment, to simply providing coffee and fresh doughnuts to exhausted troops, the dedicated workers of the Red Cross were there to save lives and boost morale. The book includes personal accounts of many Red Cross workers involved in all aspects of the Red Cross' overseas wartime efforts, and from all regions of the globe—reports from India, China, North Africa, Guadalcanal, the Philippines, Europe, Australia, Iceland, and more, are presented in a highly readable fashion. Included are 17 maps of the various theaters where the Red Cross operated.
At Hitler's Side: The Memoirs of Hitler's Luftwaffe Adjutant 1937–1945 (Greenhill Military Paperbacks)
by Nicolaus von Below&“An intimate glimpse into the decision-making process of the Nazi military leadership&” from a Luftwaffe aide at Hitler&’s side until the last days in Berlin (Library Journal). Nicolaus von Below was a 29-year-old pilot when Goering selected him for the position of Hitler&’s Luftwaffe adjutant. He was with Hitler at every stage as the Second World War unfolded. His observations tell of Hitler&’s responses to momentous events as well as military decisions and policy-making at headquarters. Published for the first time in English, this is a superb historical source describing life in Hitler&’s inner circle, relied upon by Gitta Sereny in her biography of Albert Speer. The book provides fascinating insight into how Hitler planned the invasions of Poland and Russia; what he thought of Britain and America; why he placed his faith in the V-1 and V-2 projects; how others dealt with him; and much more. Von Below was present at the assassination attempt in July 1944, and records the effect on Hitler and his followers. He was also the last of Hitler&’s close military entourage to emerge from the bunker alive, eventually imprisoned as a material witness at Nuremberg. &“Sure to become an important memoir for those studying the Nazi war machine.&”—Publishers Weekly &“Indispensable.&”—Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler: A Biography
At Leningrad's Gates: The Combat Memoirs of a Soldier with Army Group North
by William Lubbeck<p>“A first-rate memoir” from a German soldier who rose from conscript private to captain of a heavy weapons company on the Eastern Front of World War II (City Book Review).<p> <p>William Lubbeck, age nineteen, was drafted into the Wehrmacht in August 1939. As a member of the 58th Infantry Division, he received his baptism of fire during the 1940 invasion of France. The following spring, his division served on the left flank of Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa. After grueling marches amid countless Russian bodies, burnt-out vehicles, and a great number of cheering Baltic civilians, Lubbeck’s unit entered the outskirts of Leningrad, making the deepest penetration of any German formation.<p> <p>In September 1943, Lubbeck earned the Iron Cross First Class and was assigned to officers’ training school in Dresden. By the time he returned to Russia, Army Group North was in full-scale retreat. In the last chaotic scramble from East Prussia, Lubbeck was able to evacuate on a newly minted German destroyer. He recounts how the ship arrived in the British zone off Denmark with all guns blazing against pursuing Russians. The following morning, May 8, 1945, he learned that the war was over.<p> <p>After his release from British captivity, Lubbeck married his sweetheart, Anneliese, and in 1949, immigrated to the United States where he raised a successful family. With the assistance of David B. Hurt, he has drawn on his wartime notes and letters, Soldatbuch, regimental history, and personal memories to recount his four years of frontline experience. Containing rare firsthand accounts of both triumph and disaster, At Leningrad’s Gates provides a fascinating glimpse into the reality of combat on the Eastern Front.<p>
At Night All Blood Is Black: A Novel
by David DiopSelected by students across France to win the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, David Diop’s English-language, historical fiction debut At Night All Blood is Black is a “powerful, hypnotic, and dark novel” (Livres Hebdo) of terror and transformation in the trenches of the First World War. <p><p> Alfa Ndiaye is a Senegalese man who, never before having left his village, finds himself fighting as a so-called “Chocolat” soldier with the French army during World War I. When his friend Mademba Diop, in the same regiment, is seriously injured in battle, Diop begs Alfa to kill him and spare him the pain of a long and agonizing death in No Man’s Land. <p><p> Unable to commit this mercy killing, madness creeps into Alfa’s mind as he comes to see this refusal as a cruel moment of cowardice. Anxious to avenge the death of his friend and find forgiveness for himself, he begins a macabre ritual: every night he sneaks across enemy lines to find and murder a blue-eyed German soldier, and every night he returns to base, unharmed, with the German’s severed hand. At first his comrades look at Alfa’s deeds with admiration, but soon rumors begin to circulate that this super soldier isn’t a hero, but a sorcerer, a soul-eater. Plans are hatched to get Alfa away from the front, and to separate him from his growing collection of hands, but how does one reason with a demon, and how far will Alfa go to make amends to his dead friend? <p><p> Peppered with bullets and black magic, this remarkable novel fills in a forgotten chapter in the history of World War I. Blending oral storytelling traditions with the gritty, day-to-day, journalistic horror of life in the trenches, David Diop's At Night All Blood is Black is a dazzling tale of a man’s descent into madness.
At Rommel's Side: The Lost Letters of Hans-Joachim Schraepler
by Hans-Joachim SchraeplerErwin Rommel, Hitler's so-called 'Desert Fox', is possibly the most famous German Field-Marshal of WWII. He is widely regarded as the one of the most skilled commanders of desert warfare and, in contrast to other leaders of Nazi Germany, is considered to have been a chivalrous and humane officer. The letters of his adjutant provide a unique picture of Rommel during his time in Libya. Hans-Joachim Schraepler was by Rommel's side in North Africa for ten crucial months in 1940-41. During that time, he wrote to his wife almost every day. In most cases, the correspondence went via the usual channels but occasionally he used other methods to avoid the censor's gaze.Through his letters, Schraepler supplies a vivid image of the first phase of the North Africa campaign. He covers the siege of Tobruk, the capture of Benghazi, and the difficulties experienced by those fighting in Cyrenica and the wider North African theatre. He also complains that the Italian were poor Allies, lacking training and leadership, and that Berlin regarded North Africa as a theatre of only secondary importance.Schraepler also provides insights into Rommel's character—his dynamism and tactical skill, along with the growing 'cult of personality' which seemed to surround him. One of his unofficial tasks, for example, was to respond in Rommel's name to much of the fan mail that arrived at the Afrikakorps HQ.Hans-Albrecht Schraepler was only seven years old when his father died. The cache of letters was held by his mother and remained untouched for sixty years. His father's last letter, found the day of his death, remains unfinished.
At The Sign Of Triumph (Safehold Series #9)
by David WeberThe Church of God Awaiting's triumph over Charis was inevitable. Despite its prosperity, the Charis was a single, small island realm. It boasted less than two percent of the total population of Safehold. How could it possibly resist total destruction? The Church had every reason to be confident of a swift, crushing victory, an object lesson to other rebels. But Charis had something far more powerful than simple numbers. It had a king, a crown prince, and a navy prepared to die where they stood in its defense. It had the Brethren of Saint Zherneau, who knew the truth about Safehold's founding. Who knew that the Church of God Awaiting was a monstrous lie. And it had Merlin Athrawes, last survivor of long-vanished Earth. Merlin, the cybernetic avatar of a woman dead over a thousand years, who was determined to break the Church's grip upon the human mind and soul. So after eight years of war, it is not Charis but the Church that stands upon the brink of defeat. But the Church still commands immense resources, and — faced with the unthinkable — it’s decided that it, too, must embrace the forbidden technology which has carried Charis so far. In the end, it is simple, for only one can survive. The lines are drawn, the navies and armies have been raised, and all of Safehold is poised for the final battle between those who believe in freedom and those who would crush it forever.
At Some Disputed Barricade: 1917 (World War One #4)
by Anne PerryAnne Perry's gift for illuminating the heart's deepest secrets shines through in her bestselling series of World War I novels. With compelling immediacy, she depicts the struggles of men and women torn by their convictions and challenged by the perils of war. July 1917. Joseph Reavley, a chaplain, and his sister, Judith, an ambulance driver, are bone-weary as they approach the fourth year of the conflict; the peace of the English countryside seems a world away. On the Western Front, the Battle of Passchendaele has begun, and among the many fatalities from Joseph's regiment is the trusted commanding officer, who is replaced by a young major whose pompous incompetence virtually guarantees that many good soldiers will die needlessly. But soon he, too, is dead-killed by his own men. Although Joseph would like to turn a blind eye, he knows that he must not. Judith, however, anguished at the prospect of courts-martial and executions for the twelve men arrested for the crime, has no such inhibitions and, risking of her own life, helps all but one of the prisoners to escape. Back in England, Joseph and Judith's brother, Matthew, continues his desperate pursuit to unmask the sinister figure known as the Peacemaker-an obsessed genius who has committed murder and treason in an attempt to stop Britain from winning the war. As Matthew trails the Peacemaker, Joseph tracks his comrades through Switzerland and into enemy territory. His search will lead to a reckoning pitting courage and honor against the blind machinery of military justice. At Some Disputed Barricadeis an Anne Perry masterpiece-brilliant, surprising, and unforgettable. From the Hardcover edition.
At Summer's End
by Courtney Ellis"A sparkling debut from a new author we&’re all going to want more from.&”—Susan Meissner, bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things When an ambitious female artist accepts an unexpected commission at a powerful earl's country estate in 1920s England, she finds his war-torn family crumbling under the weight of long-kept secrets. From debut author Courtney Ellis comes a captivating novel about finding the courage to heal after the ravages of war. Alberta Preston accepts the commission of a lifetime when she receives an invitation from the Earl of Wakeford to spend a summer painting at His Lordship's country home, Castle Braemore. Bertie imagines her residence at the prodigious estate will finally enable her to embark on a professional career and prove her worth as an artist, regardless of her gender. Upon her arrival, however, Bertie finds the opulent Braemore and its inhabitants diminished by the Great War. The earl has been living in isolation since returning from the trenches, locked away in his rooms and hiding battle scars behind a prosthetic mask. While his younger siblings eagerly welcome Bertie into their world, she soon sees chips in that world's gilded facade. As she and the earl develop an unexpected bond, Bertie becomes deeply entangled in the pain and secrets she discovers hidden within Castle Braemore and the hearts of its residents. Threaded with hope, love, and loss, At Summer's End delivers a portrait of a noble family--and a world--changed forever by the war to end all wars.
At Suvla Bay: Being The Notes And Sketches Of Scenes, Characters And Adventures Of The Dardanelles Campaign - Primary Source Edition (The World At War)
by John HargraveJohn Gordon Hargrave (6 June 1894 - 21 November 1982), (woodcraft name 'White Fox'), was described in his obituary as an 'author, cartoonist, inventor, lexicographer, artist and psychic healer'. As Head Man of the Kibbo Kift, he was a prominent youth leader in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s. He was a Utopian thinker, a believer in both science and magic, and a figure-head for the Social Credit movement in British politics. "At Suvla Bay"; Being the notes and sketches of scenes, characters and adventures of the Dardanelles campaign. (Excerpt from Wikipedia)
At the Abyss
by Thomas C. Reed“The Cold War . . . was a fight to the death,” notes Thomas C. Reed, “fought with bayonets, napalm, and high-tech weaponry of every sort—save one. It was not fought with nuclear weapons.” With global powers now engaged in cataclysmic encounters, there is no more important time for this essential, epic account of the past half century, the tense years when the world trembled At the Abyss. Written by an author who rose from military officer to administration insider, this is a vivid, unvarnished view of America’s fight against Communism, from the end of WWII to the closing of the Strategic Air Command, a work as full of human interest as history, rich characters as bloody conflict. Among the unforgettable figures who devised weaponry, dictated policy, or deviously spied and subverted: Whittaker Chambers—the translator whose book, Witness, started the hunt for bigger game: Communists in our government; Lavrenti Beria—the head of the Soviet nuclear weapons program who apparently killed Joseph Stalin; Col. Ed Hall—the leader of America’s advanced missile system, whose own brother was a Soviet spy; Adm. James Stockwell—the prisoner of war and eventual vice presidential candidate who kept his terrible secret from the Vietnamese for eight long years; Nancy Reagan—the “Queen of Hearts,” who was both loving wife and instigator of palace intrigue in her husband’s White House. From Eisenhower’s decision to beat the Russians at their own game, to the “Missile Gap” of the Kennedy Era, to Reagan’s vow to “lean on the Soviets until they go broke”—all the pivotal events of the period are portrayed in new and stunning detail with information only someone on the front lines and in backrooms could know. Yet At the Abyss is more than a riveting and comprehensive recounting. It is a cautionary tale for our time, a revelation of how, “those years . . . came to be known as the Cold War, not World War III.”
At the City Limits of Fate
by Michael BishopThese 15 works from the Nebula Award winner and Hugo and World Fantasy Awards nominee, Michael Bishop, previously appeared in Omni, Asimov's The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and other magazines and anthologies between 1981 and 1996.
At the Crossroads Between Peace and War
by Christopher Bell John H. MaurerA great power arms race in naval weaponry and platforms, rising challengers seeking to overturn the existing international order in Asia, an economic slump that put immense pressure on politicians in democracies to trim defense budgets, and diplomatic efforts by statesmen to find ways to promote mutual security and avoid rivalries that could lead to war-all these features mark the current-day strategic environment. These features also marked in the era between the two world wars. To prevent the naval rivalries that augured international conflict, statesmen and naval leaders sought to negotiate arms control agreement. Their efforts to avert a great power naval arms race were crowned with achievement at the London Conference of 1930.What was accomplished at London, of course, did not prove lasting; nor did it lead to additional meaningful arms control and prevent future wars. Instead, London proved a dead end in the evolution of interwar international relations. The London Treaty marked the high point of interwar arms control. When measured against the magnitude of the international catastrophe that would unfold over the next decade, this achievement in arms control now appears practically meaningless at best and dangerous at worst. Critics of interwar arms control argue that, by weakening of American and British naval power, as well as stirring up extremist nationalism in Japanese internal politics, the London agreement represents a case study in political folly that contributed to the awful events leading to the war. The London Conference of 1930 thus represents a watershed, a turning point in the history of the interwar period.In this volume, leading naval historians tackle the question of how to assess the role played by naval arms control in the history of the interwar period. In addressing this important question, the authors uncover new evidence about the role of intelligence and behind-the-scenes political deal making that adds much to our knowledge of the international and naval history of this important era. This volume's authors provide the first complete account of the strategic calculations and negotiations that shaped the outcome at the London Conference. No one interested in twentieth-century naval history, international relations and the rivalries of rising and declining great powers, and the origins of the Second World War can afford to miss this important new history.
At the Decisive Point in the Sinai: Generalship in the Yom Kippur War (Foreign Military Studies)
by General Jacob Even Colonel Simcha B. MaozThe Yom Kippur War pitted Israel against Syria in the north and Egypt in the south in October 1973. Caught by surprise and surrounded by enemies, Israel relied on the flexibility and creative thinking of its senior field commanders. After Israeli forces h
At the Dragon's Gate
by Charles FennIn the early days of World War II, a young Marine named Charles Fenn was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) for undercover operations in the China-Burma-India theatre. Fenn knew exactly what it took to get the job done. His wartime exploits are the stuff of legend, but not even his OSS compatriots knew the full extent of his espionage activities. Fenn's skill as a spy is matched by his talent as a storyteller, and this witty, elegantly written account of his OSS days not only adds to the historical record, it makes for a compelling read.
At the Edge of Space: The X-15 Flight Program
by Neil A. Armstrong Milton O. ThompsonIn At the Edge of Space, Milton O. Thompson tells the dramatic story of one of the most successful research aircraft ever flown. The first full-length account of the X-15 program, the book profiles the twelve test pilots (Neil Armstrong, Joe Engle, Scott Crossfield, and the author among them) chosen for the program. Thompson has translated a highly technical subject into readable accounts of each pilot's participation, including many heroic and humorous anecdotes and highlighting the pilots' careers after the program ended in 1968.
At the Eleventh Hour: Reflections, Hopes and Anxieties at the Closing of the Great War, 1918
by Hugh Cecil Peter H. LiddleFollowing on from the highly acclaimed Facing Armageddon and Passchendaele in Perspective, At the Eleventh Hour recognises that a world was ending in November 1918, and by international collaboration on the 80th Anniversary we learn through this book, what it was like to experience the transition from war to peace. Distinguished historians brilliantly convey a sense of immediacy as the Armistice is recreated and analysed.The reader will not just acquire new areas of information, he will have some of the existing knowledge which he thought was soundly held, strikingly challenged in the pages of this superbly illustrated book.
At the End of the Santa Fe Trail
by Sister Blandina SegaleAt the End of the Santa Fe Trail, first published in 1932 (and reprinted in 1948), is Sister Blandina Segale's account of her life in the southwestern U.S. from 1872 to 1892. Sister Blandina (1850-1941), born in Italy and emigrating with her family to Cincinnati when she was a child, worked with the poor, the sick, immigrants, prisoners, and Native Americans while in Trinidad, Colorado, and in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico (and later in Ohio). The book is based in large part on her journal and on the letters she exchanged with her sister Justina, who was also a religious sister in Ohio. At a time when lawlessness and brutality were the norm, Sister Blandina displayed courage, tough-mindedness, and a deep religious faith in service to the less-fortunate. Recent efforts have been made by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to have Sister Blandina made a saint.
At the Fifth Attempt: An Escape Story
by John ElwynThis tells the story of a soldier caught before the evacuation at Dunkirk, and his daring escape and life along the way.
At the Firefly Gate
by Linda NewberyHenry has always felt like an outsider and things are about to get worse when his family moves to the countryside and the prospect of a new school looms. He retreats more and more into his shell, until he meets Dottie, a frail old lady, who has tremendous spirit. He feels as though he knows her, as though they have been friends for many years. And as she tells him about her wartime romance with a Royal Air Force navigator also named Henry, our Henry is drawn into that world. In a series of mysterious, sometimes frightening events he re-enacts Henry's life . . . and learns that despite being dreadfully afraid, Henry acted heroically at the cost of his own life. Only our Henry knows the true story and it shows him a way through his own self-doubts and misgivings. From the Hardcover edition.
At the Heart of the Reich: The Secret Diary of Hitler’s Army Adjutant
by Gerhard EngelA revealing account of Hitler's thoughts and actions throughout World War II from one of his closest aides.Major Gerhard Engel was Hitler's army adjutant from 1938 to 1943. During his years with Hitler, Engel kept a diary. After the war, he added material to shed further light on certain events, military and political decisions, and Hitler's attitude to particular problems. His diary covers the decision-making process behind crucial military actions, including the annexation of Austria, the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the war against Russia. He also addresses intrigue within Hitler's inner circle and his casual conversations with other key Nazi figures.At the Heart of the Reich sheds important light on the Fuhrer's core beliefs. It includes the statement made by Hitler in 1941, "I am now as before a Catholic." It also details his views on German Jews and dwells on the extent to which they served in the Wehrmacht. Engel also addresses the deportation of Jews from Salonika and Hitler's order to Himmler to select a destination, the details of which Hitler was apparently unconcerned with. The final part of the diary is mostly devoted to the war against Russia. Engel's reports confirm that the master plan was to take Leningrad and Rostov, then close pincers behind Moscow. The plan was frustrated by senior army commanders'' lack of enthusiasm and Hitler's failure to exert firm leadership. Engel depicts Hitler as a vacillating, contrary man. It is not unlikely that this encouraged his generals to impose themselves and argue their plan to rush Moscow, which ultimately contributed to the defeat of the Third Reich.Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
At the Heart of the Reich: The Secret Diary of Hitler's Army Adjutant
by Major Gerhard EngelVivid, personal and fascinating. Simon Sebag MontefioreGerhard Engel was Hitlers Army Adjutant from March 1938 to March 1943. During this time he kept a diary, and after the war he added material to shed further light on key events and decisions.He discloses the decision-making process behind many of the key operations and addresses the intrigues within Hitlers inner circle, recounting the Fhrers conversations with Halder, Guderian and Brauchitsch. Engel also details Hitlers views on German Jews, and in the final part of the diary he covers the war against Russia. Increasingly, towards the end, he depicts Hitler as a vacillating and contrary man.At the Heart of the Reich offers a unique and intimate view of Hitler and his closest aides. It reveals the mechanisms and personalities of the centre of the Third Reich, and provides a fresh perspective of the Nazi leadership.
At the Helm: My Journey with Family, Faith, and Friends to Calm the Storms of Life
by John H. DaltonFrom modest beginnings to Secretary of the Navy, John Dalton&’s life is an inspirational story filled with successes and failures in both the public and private sectors and how he navigated through them. INSIDE LOOK FROM SOMEONE WHO WAS THERE: Secretary of Navy during major crises including Tailhook, the Naval Academy cheating scandal, &“Don&’t Ask, Don&’t Tell,&” and women serving in the military. WELL-CONNECTED AND RESPECTED PUBLIC SERVANT: Author recounts interactions with such public figures as President Carter, President Clinton, Billy Graham, Roger Staubach, Bill Proxmire, Rahm Emanuel, George Steinbrenner, Lloyd Bentsen, Dianne Feinstein, and Hillary Clinton. Blurbs from some of these notable names included in marketing materials and the interior of the book. PLANNED SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS: Author to speak at the Sonoma Valley Authors Festival, Army and Navy Club, Metropolitan Club, and Cosmos Club (all in Washington, DC) and at book parties around the country.
At the Mountain's Base
by Traci SorellA family, separated by duty and distance, waits for a loved one to return home in this lyrical picture book celebrating the bonds of a Cherokee family and the bravery of history-making women pilots.At the mountain's base sits a cabin under an old hickory tree. And in that cabin lives a family -- loving, weaving, cooking, and singing. The strength in their song sustains them through trials on the ground and in the sky, as they wait for their loved one, a pilot, to return from war. With an author's note that pays homage to the true history of Native American U.S. service members like WWII pilot Ola Mildred "Millie" Rexroat, this is a story that reveals the roots that ground us, the dreams that help us soar, and the people and traditions that hold us up.
At the Mountain's Base (Cherokee edition)
by Traci SorellA family, separated by duty and distance, waits for a loved one to return home in this lyrical picture book celebrating the bonds of a Cherokee family and the bravery of history-making women pilots. Now available in Cherokee. At the mountain's base sits a cabin under an old hickory tree. And in that cabin lives a family -- loving, weaving, cooking, and singing. The strength in their song sustains them through trials on the ground and in the sky, as they wait for their loved one, a pilot, to return from war.With an author's note that pays homage to the true history of Native American U.S. service members like WWII pilot Ola Mildred "Millie" Rexroat, this is a story that reveals the roots that ground us, the dreams that help us soar, and the people and traditions that hold us up.
At the Point of a Gun: Democratic Dreams and Armed Intervention
by David RieffWriting from the front lines of the hot wars of the post-Cold War world -- the Balkans, Africa, the Middle East, and most recently Afghanistan and Iraq for The New York Times Magazine -- David Rieff witnessed firsthand most of the armed interventions waged by the West or the United Nations in the name of human rights and democratization. His report is anything but reassuring. In this timely collection of his most illuminating articles, Rieff, one of our leading experts on the subject, reassesses some of his own judgments about the use of military might to solve the world's most pressing humanitarian problems and curb the world's cruelest human rights abusers, presenting what, taken as a whole, is a thoughtful and impassioned argument against armed intervention in all but the most extreme cases. At the Point of a Gun raises critical questions we cannot ignore in this era of gunboat democracy. When, if ever, is it appropriate to intervene militarily in the domestic affairs of other nations? Are human rights and humanitarian concerns legitimate reasons for intervening, or is the assault on sovereignty -- sovereignty that is as much an article of faith at the UN as it is in Washington -- a flag of convenience for the recolonization of part of the world? What role should the United Nations play in alleviating humanitarian crises? And, above all, can democracy be imposed through the barrel of an M16?Collected here for the first time, Rieff's essays draw a searing portrait of what happens when the grandiose schemes of policymakers and the grandiose ethical ambitions of human rights activists go horribly wrong in the field. Again and again, they ask the question: Do these moral ambitions of ours to protect people from massacre and want match either our means or our wisdom? Rieff's articles appear as they were written. Some, however, are accompanied by brief reconsiderations in which the author describes how and why his thinking has changed both as he has reflected on what it means, as in Iraq, to impose democracy by force, and as he has witnessed, firsthand, what that redemptive project actually looks like in practice. This is not an optimistic report. To the contrary, it is the chastened conclusion of a writer who was once one of the leading advocates of such interventions. But the questions Rieff raises are of the essence as the United States grapples with the harsh consequences of what it has wrought on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq.