War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier

By John F. Ross

Ross, executive editor of American Heritage magazine, has written this biography of American colonial frontiersman Robert Rogers to reveal how his observations of Native American warriors led to combat strategies that are still effective today. Written for general audiences, this book explains how Rogers trained and led an army of farmers, scouts and woodsmen on a series of military missions that are still considered impossible today. The author also explains how Rogers' 28 Rules of Engagement laid the groundwork for the Revolutionary War, and how his explorations of the frontier inspired the Lewis and Clark expedition.

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Why Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned

By Rufus Phillips

As part of the US Central Intelligence Agency, Phillips engaged in military, pacification, and counter-insurgency operations in Vietnam from 1954 to 1968. He recalls his experience, pointing out the mistakes that were made and how they affected not only the later stages of the war, but also US foreign affairs to the present. His fundamental message is that the Americans never noticed what the natives were actually doing, just kept going on with the war they wanted to fight.

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Apache Dawn: Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned

By Damien Lewis

Presents the experiences of Flight Ugly, a British two Apache attack helicopter team that supported allied and American forces in Afghanistan in 2007, describing the heroism of the pilots, rescues of wounded soldiers, and its combat successes.

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The Kennedy assassination--24 hours after : Lyndon B. Johnson's pivotal first day as president

by Steven M. Gillon. In this fresh take on John F. Kennedy's assassination, history professor Gillon probes the chaos that surrounded Vice President Johnson's ascension to power as he coped with both the trauma of Kennedy's murder and the enmity of Kennedy's inner circle. At Parkland Hospital in Dallas, a battle of wills between Johnson and JFK's inner circle-including appointments secretary Kenneth O'Donnell and military aide Brigadier General Godfrey McHugh-contributed to the confusion then (and now) over the timeline of Kennedy's death and Johnson's assuming the presidency. Leading the anti-Johnson contingent was the president's brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who tussled with LBJ over the swearing-in details (both disagreed bitterly about the episode afterwards). Johnson faltered as he moved into the spotlight, trying in vain to adopt Camelot as his own by trying (unsuccessfully) to console Jackie and persuading (with varying degrees of success) Kennedy staffers to stay on. Gillon captures the two faces of Johnson-the insecure second-guesser and the brilliant politician-as well as the earliest signs of the Johnson presidency's eventual failure. (Check catalog)

1938 : Hitler's gamble

by Giles Macdonogh. Might-have-beens haunt this insightful narrative of a watershed in the history of Nazi Germany. MacDonogh (After the Reich) chronicles milestones in the development of a radicalized, expansionist Third Reich in the year 1938: the forcible annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland, the Kristallnacht pogrom and the purging of opposition figures in the government, army and church. He portrays these events not as an unfolding master plan but as a series of gambles by a sometimes chaotic Nazi regime plagued by infighting among Hitler's satraps, Wehrmacht coup plots, a collapsing economy (the Anschluss was motivated partly by a need to plunder Austria's treasury and raw materials), and jitters about foreign reaction. The Fuhrer perseveres with theatrical bullying and nervy improvisations that are matched by the Western powers' appeasement; a tragic theme of MacDonogh's story is how easily a determined resistance, from within Germany or without, might have derailed Hitler's initiatives. Another is the callousness of the international community; much of the book follows the travails of Jews who faced closed doors when the Reich was eager to expel them. This well-researched, fine-grained study sketches the moral rot that made possible Hitler's rise. --Publisher's Weekly. (Check catalog)