The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008

By Thomas E. Ricks


Draws on extensive interviews with top officers in Iraq to document the war as it has unfolded in recent years, placing a focus on the unorthodox strategies of General David Petraeus, from his work with foreign advisors to the ways in which his officers disagreed with key decisions.

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As You Were: To War and Back With the Black Hawk Battalion of the Virginia National Guard

By Christian Davenport


A Washington Post reporter chronicles the military duties of five National Guard soldiers throughout their tours of duty in Iraq, documenting their sudden call-ups, combat experiences, and efforts to reacclimate to civilian life upon their returns.

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Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler

By Anne Nelson


In this inspiring account, noted journalist and playwright Nelson documents the wartime journey of Greta Kuckhoff, a young German, and her valiant colleagues who formed a potent resistance to the Hitler regime in its glory days. When Kuckhoff returned home from America in 1929 after university study, she joined with a band of young Communists, leftist Jews and other German antifascists to thwart the rise of Hitler at the risk of torture and death. Nelson explains in telling detail about the Nazis' tight grip on power after the 1933 Reichstag fire, eliminating all political foes, including Jews and other "non-Aryan" types, yet the Kuckhoffs, Mildred and Avrid Harnack, and other members of the Red Orchestra (Rote Kapelle) fought fascist censorship, slid their people into Nazi ministries, helped Jews to flee and provided the Allies with vital information to aid the war effort. Nelson's riveting book speaks proudly of Greta, Mildred and all of the nearly three million Germans who resisted Hitler's iron will, and gives the reader a somber view of hell from the inside.

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The Venus Fixers: the Remarkable Story of the Allied Soldiers Who Saved Italy's Art During World War II

By Ilaria Dagnini Brey

Documents the contributions of a motley team of art historians, curators, and passionate amateurs who were appointed by Allied forces to save master works of European art from destruction during World War II, describing the volatile conditions under which they safeguarded thousands of years worth of masterpieces at the risk of their own lives.

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The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg

By Helen Rappaport

A moment-by-moment account of the last thirteen days of the Russian Imperial family's lives draws on previously untapped resources to cover such topics as their imprisonment, the political maneuverings of those out to save or destroy them, and their brutal assassinations.

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How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower

By Adrian Goldsworthy

Examines the decline of the Roman Empire, from the second to the sixth century, and how internal conflicts and the personal ambitions of its rulers brought about its eventual downfall.

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Selling Your Father's Bones: America's 140-Year War against the Nez Perce Tribe

By Brian Schofield

Traces how the Nez Perce fled the U.S. military in 1877 through more than 1,700 miles of inhospitable wilderness and evaluates the long-term consequences of Manifest Destiny on the nation's environmental and cultural welfare.

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The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride

By Daniel James Brown

A chronicle of the mid-nineteenth-century wagon train tragedy draws on the perspectives of one of its survivors, Sarah Graves, recounting how her new husband and she joined the Donner party on their California-bound journey and encountered violent perils, in an account that also offers insight into the scientific reasons that some died while others survived.

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Weller's War: A Legendary Foreign Correspondent's Saga of World War II on Five Continents

By George Weller; Edited by Anthony Weller

Presents the dispatches of World War II reporter George Weller, providing firsthand accounts of the Nazi invasion of Eastern Europe.

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What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?': Jimmy Carter, America's "Malaise," and the Speech That Should Have Changed the Country

By Kevin Mattson

An assessment of the events that led up to Jimmy Carter's infamous 1979 "malaise" speech places it against a backdrop of such events as the gas crisis and the Iran-hostage situation while explaining that the speech had far greater relevance than its reception reflected, in an account that also claims the speech inadvertently set a course for the conservative movement.

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With Wings Like Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain

By Michael Korda

An in-depth history of the Battle of Britain draws on the firsthand perspectives of pilots, ground crews, and commanders on both sides, and places the campaign against a backdrop of the political forces that shaped it.

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The Brenner Assignment: The Untold Story of the Most Daring Spy Mission of World War II

By Patrick K. O'Donnell


Enhanced with photos and maps, this account tells the true story of a small team of American spies who parachuted into Italy with plans to destroy a segment of the Brenner Pass in order to halt supplies coming in from Germany during World War II.

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The Spartacus War

By Barry Strauss

A portrait of the iconic gladiator by an esteemed historian and popular History Channel guest traces his rise from slavery in Thrace and the gladiatorial school rebellion in 73 BC to his leadership at the head of a rapidly growing army and its frequent clashes with the Roman military.

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