THE ART OF DUELLING By "A Traveller." AN OBSCURE PRESS CLASSIC REPRINT. This rare little book was first published in 1836. Only a handful of the original editions remain, and are now extremely costly. OBSCURE PRESS has republished this classic work in a high quality, modern edition, using the original text and artwork. The author remains unknown, but from his manner of writing and expert knowledge of his subject was obviously a man of means well known to the nobility of the day. His book, which "contains much information useful to young continental tourists," deals with every aspect of the duel. Settling a dispute by single combat was then countenanced by law in the northern nations of Europe, among whom it was customary to decide many controversies by arms. The book consists of eighty pages and contains chapters on: History of the Origins of Duelling. - The Pistol. - Charging the Pistol. - Position of Firing. - Method of Practice. - The Chances. - The Challenge. - Selection of a Second, and his Duties. - Precautions to be Observed. - Some Accounts of Duels with Sword and Pistol. This is a fascinating read for any historian of the subject or for enthusiasts of pistol shooting and its varieties.

"South Africa's Weapons of Mass Destruction" offers an in-depth view of the secret development and voluntary disarmament of South Africa's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons program, Project Coast. Helen E. Purkitt and Stephen F. Burgess explore how systems used for nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons in South Africa were acquired and established beyond the gaze of international and domestic political actors. On the basis of archival evidence from Project Coast and their own extensive interviews with military and political officials, Purkitt and Burgess consider what motivates countries to acquire and build such powerful weaponry and examine when and how decisions are made to dismantle a military arsenal voluntarily. Questions such as how to destroy weapons safely and keep them from reappearing on international markets are considered along with comparative strategies for successful disarmament in other nation-states.Helen E. Purkitt is Professor of Political Science at the U.S. Naval Academy. Stephen F. Burgess is Assistant Professor in the Department of Strategy and International Security at the U.S. Air War College and an Associate of the U.S.; Air Force Counterprolif

The US Army's development of the 37mm anti-tank gun began in response to needs identified during the Spanish Civil War. By the time it entered service in Tunisia in 1943, the gun was already obsolete, and the US began the licensed manufacture of the British 6-pdr in the hope of finding a quick solution to their artillery requirements. This in tum proved unequal to the demands of warfare in France, 1944, and further anti-tank measures were developed - rocket propelled grenades for infantry use, and weapons designed specifically for use by the Tank Destroyer Force. The development of America's anti-tank weapons is detailed here, and the organisation and operation of Tank Destroyer Battalions is discussed.

The first conflict to use iron-clad gunboats, metallic cartridges, and submarines, the Civil War also introduced such inventions as the telegraph and military balloons, utilized by the Signal Corps. This comprehensive reference describes these and many other forms of arms and military equipment employed during the war, including pontoon bridges, percussion grenades, "freak guns," siege artillery, mines, and torpedoes. Profusely illustrated with the author's own drawings, the text provides a fresh perspective on how military resources decided the outcome of not only battle - but the war as well.

Today's arsenal of war contains some of the most sophisticated weapons ever seen on the battlefield. The technological revolution has drastically altered how war is fought and brought about the invention of some highly unusual (and effective) weapons. In the recent war with Iraq, we caught a glimpse of the new high-tech weapons in America's arsenal and the wide-ranging array of modern equipment and transportation used by our armed forces. America's modern military hardware is the envy -and fear-of the world.In U.S. Armed Forces Arsenal, noted military historian Samuel A. Southworth takes the reader on an informal and informative guided tour of this new arsenal of weaponry. He explains in clear and concise prose the new generation of military hardware, from rifles to mortars, jeeps to tanks, robotic drones to night vision sensors, and all manner of bombs, missiles and rockets-the arms and armaments that have reshaped the way the U.S. goes to war, on land and sea and in the air.

"This book provides the first and only comprehensive survey of armor, shields, and fortifications [of American Indians]. . . . It has left me with a new appreciation for the sheer diversity of warfare, armor, and fortifications used by Native Americans, and it shatters stereotypes about the nature of aboriginal warfare." -- Wayne Van Horne, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Kennesaw State University

From the Chickasaw fighting the Choctaw in the Southeast to the Sioux battling the Cheyenne on the Great Plains, warfare was endemic among the North American Indians when Europeans first arrived on this continent. An impressive array of offensive weaponry and battle tactics gave rise to an equally impressive range of defensive technology. Native Americans constructed very effective armor and shields using wood, bone, and leather. Their fortifications ranged from simple refuges to walled and moated stockades to multiple stockades linked in strategic defensive networks.

In this book, David E. Jones offers the first systematic comparative study of the defensive armor and fortifications of aboriginal Native Americans. Drawing data from ethnohistorical accounts and archaeological evidence, he surveys the use of armor, shields, and fortifications both before European contact and during the historic period by American Indians from the Southeast to the Northwest Coast, from the Northeast Woodlands to the desert Southwest, and from the Sub-Arctic to the Great Plains. Jones also demonstrates the sociocultural factors that affected warfare and shaped the development of different types of armor and fortifications. Extensive eyewitness descriptions of warfare, armor, and fortifications, aswell as photos and sketches of Indian armor from museum collections, add a visual dimension to the text.

In this fascinating account of the battle tanks that saw combat in the European Theater of World War II, Mary R. Habeck traces the strategies developed between the wars for the use of armored vehicles in battle. Only in Germany and the Soviet Union were truly original armor doctrines (generally known as "blitzkreig" and "deep battle") fully implemented. Storm of Steel relates how the German and Soviet armies formulated and chose to put into practice doctrines that were innovative for the time, yet in many respects identical to one another.

As part of her extensive archival research in Russia, Germany, and Britain, Habeck had access to a large number of formerly secret and top-secret documents from several post-Soviet archives. This research informs her comparative approach as she looks at the roles of technology, shared influences, and assumptions about war in the formation of doctrine. She also explores relations between the Germans and the Soviets to determine whether collaboration influenced the convergence of their armor doctrines.

Castles in the Air is a re-issue of one of the classic titles of military literature. It recounts the story of the B-17 Flying Fortress crews of the US 8th Air Force—the men and the planes that provided the main punch in the daylight strategic bombing offensive against Nazi Germany from 1942–45. This revealing book recreates, in the words of surviving aircrew members, the tension and terror of their sorties deep into enemy air space. There is a wealth of personal narrative and first-hand information. This new edition has been re-written and updated by the author, Martin W. Bowman. Many new and previously unpublished photographs accompany the text. Martin W. Bowman has written fifty-six books on the US and UK military aviation. He lives in Norwich, England, and has traveled around the world compiling the painstaking research for which his books are noted.

The Krupp industrial empire was one of Germany's wealthiest and most powerful corporations, and it contributed to the armaments used in several of its country's wars. British journalist Peter Batty tells the story of the Krupp family and the company they started during the industrial revolution, and how subsequent Krupps produced cannons used in the Franco-Prussian War, U-boats and shells for World War I, and the countless weapons and vehicles, including the biggest cannon ever made, for Hitler's army. The House of Krupp recounts the trial at Nuremberg of magnate Alfried Krupp, and the rebirth and astounding success of his company in the years after the war years that saw Alfried become one of the richest men in the world."

This is the first complete detailed study of the military aspects of the first half of this important conflict (1618-1635). Each chapter deals with a particular battle, but Guthrie also examines wider questions of strategy, leadership, armaments, organization, logistics, and war finances. The main emphasis is on the unique character and aspects of the Thirty Years War, with attention to the evolution of warfare and weapons, the impact of this evolution on actual operations, and the replacement of the previously dominant "tercio" style of warfare by the nascent linear system. The Thirty Years War is considered within its own context, rather than merely as a poor relation to the linear or Napoleonic periods. The campaigns covered in this volume include the defeat of the Bohemian and German Protestants (1618-1623), the Danish War (1625-1629), the victories of the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus (1630-1632), and the final defeat of the Swedes at Nordlingen in 1634. Guthrie also pays particular notice to the important battle of Breitenfeld. With the inclusion of many secondary theaters and minor actions, the whole of this work constitutes a complete military history of the German War.

The USA and UK have both expanded their amphibious and air assault capabilities by building new helicopter assault ships such as the US Navy Wasp Class LHD (Large Helicopter Dock) and the LPH (Landing Platform Helicopter). This work takes a look at today's helicopter aviation units.

Although the United States efforts to prevent the spread of strategic weapons have varied significantly since 1945, they all presumed to be avoiding one or another type of strategic war. To the extent their military scenarios were sound, so too were the nonproliferation remedies these initiatives promoted. But, as Sokolski demonstrates, the obverse was also true--when these intiatives' military hopes and fears were mistaken, their nonproliferation recommendations also missed their mark.

What is the best hope for breaking out of this box and securing a higher rate of nonproliferation success? The United States must base nonproliferation policies less on insights concerning strategic military trends and more on the progressive economic and political trends that have increased the number of relatively peaceful, prosperous, liberal democracies. For the proliferating nations that are exceptions to this trend, the U.S. and its allies need to devise ways of competing that will encourage these governments to expend more energies shoring up their weaknesses and eventually giving way to less militant regimes. A major resource for students and military professionals interested in arms control and international relations.

National Book Award winner and renowned psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton reveals a world at risk from millennial cults intent on ending it all.
Since the earliest moments of recorded history, prophets and gurus have foretold the world's end, but only in the nuclear age has it been possible for a megalomaniac guru with a world-ending vision to bring his prophecy to pass. Now Robert Jay Lifton offers a vivid and disturbing case in point in this chilling exploration of Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese cult that released sarin nerve gas in the Tokyo subways.
With unprecedented access to former Aum members, Lifton has produced a pathbreaking study of the inner life of a modern millennial cult. He shows how Aum's guru Shoko Asahara (charismatic spiritual leader, con man, madman) created a religion from a global stew of New Age thinking, ancient rituals, and apocalyptic science fiction, then recruited scientists as disciples and set them to producing weapons of mass destruction. Taking stock as well of Charles Manson, Heaven's Gate, and the Oklahoma City bombers, Lifton confronts the frightening possibility of a twenty-first century in which cults and terrorists may be able to bring about their own holocausts.
Bold and compelling, Destroying the World to Save It charts the emergence of a new global threat of urgent concern to us all.

This work offers an assessment of environmental damage caused by military activity. It demonstrates how the space programme, Star Wars research and electromagnetic weapons have destabilized the natural balance of the Earth's ecosystem, causing widespread devastation.

This study focuses on the sheaths and scabbards of the Anglo-Saxon period, rather than the blades once held within them. Esther Cameron presents a largely technical approach to the study of material from the period of the first Anglo-Saxons in England in the 5th century, through to the 11th century. Alongside a large corpus of examples, she looks at the nature of the material evidence, of skin, leather and wood, and the composition of the materials used, their decomposition and preservation in the archeological reord. The wider significance of her findings for Anglo-Saxon archaeology and for the study of organic materials form archaeological contexts in general, are revealed in the final chapter.

"Gives the statistics a painfully human face."
--The Washington Post Book World
Philip Winslow offers the most complete and compelling book on land mines--the issue brought to world attention with the awarding of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize to the Campaign to Ban Land Mines. He draws on his years as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, the Balkans, and Africa, and journeys into rural Angola, where he introduces us to the victims, the deminers, and the way land mines destroy economies and infrastructures. He also writes about the Campaign to Ban Land Mines and the ways we might finally pull the "dragon's teeth" from the earth, to restore it to those who live there.
"Winslow's fine book puts names and faces to the victims and begs us to beware. Only such harrowing testimony and eloquent pleading will rid us of this scourge."

--William F. Schulz, executive director, Amnesty International
"Winslow's moving and powerful book shows why some weapons are so insidious that they do not belong in the arsenals of civilized nations. A land mine is such a weapon. It should be banished from the earth."

--U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy
"Makes a strong case that such a ban--championed by the late Princess Diana--is a necessity."

--Boston Herald
"A thoughtful, sometimes harrowing portrait."

--Utne Reader

This authoritative and concise work surveys the range of warfare in the high Middle Ages while reflecting on the society that produced these military struggles. The book brings together for the first time a wealth of information on such topics as knighthood, military organization, weaponry and fortifications, and warfare in the East. In 1095 with the launching of the First Crusade, Europeans established a great military endeavour to save the Holy Land, an undertaking that remained a central preoccupation until the end of the thirteenth century. While the expeditions that went forth to fight the Muslims involved armies of exceptional size, much of the warfare within western Europe itself was conducted by small armies on behalf of landowners who were often neighbours and kin. In his approach to his subject, John France considers political, social, and economic development in the age of the crusades. He emphasizes the significance of four factors in shaping medieval warfare: the dominance of land as a form of wealth, the limited competence of government, the state of technology that favoured defence over attack, and the geography and climate of western Europe. His coverage of the castle and the knight in armour depicts the role of landowners in producing these characteristic medieval instruments of war. In addition, France provides an extensive analysis of battles in which he reconstructs a series of encounters in superb detail.

As the United States struggled to respond to the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik in 1957, President Eisenhower received a top secret report prepared by a committee of leading scientific, business, and military experts. The panel, called the Gaither Committee in recognition of its first chair, H. Rowan Gaither Jr., emphasized the inadequacy of U.S. defense measures designed to protect the civilian population and the vulnerability of the country's strategic nuclear forces in the event of a Soviet attack. The committee concluded that in the event of a surprise Soviet attack, the United States would not be able to defend itself.

The years following Sputnik and the Gaither Committee's report were a watershed period in America's cold war history. During the remaining years of the Eisenhower administration, the intensification of the cold war caused the acceleration of an arms race that dramatically raised the stakes of any potential conflict. The Gaither Committee was at the center of debates about U.S. national security and U.S.-Soviet relations. The committee's recommendations led to increases in defense spending and the development of our nuclear arsenal.

For nearly 600 years, from the battles of the early fourteenth century to the dropping of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, firearms derived from gunpowder and other chemicals defined the frightful extent of war. The apparatus and materials used in World War I would have been familiar to our remote ancestors. In this classic work, first published in 1960, James Riddick Partington provides a worldwide survey of the evolution of incendiary devices, Greek fire, and gunpowder.

Greek fire, a composition Partington believes was made of a distilled petroleum fraction and other ingredients (but not saltpetre), was most famously used in the sieges of Constantinople and the Crusades. Partington moves from its antecedents--other incendiaries used in ancient warfare--to European gunpowder recipe books ( "The Latin Book of Fire, Bellifortis, " and "Feuerwerkbuch") and the history of infernal machines, mines, canon, small arms, and artillery. His book includes chapters on gunpowder and weapons in Muslim lands, India, and China--including fire books, the use of gunpowder as a propellant, the artillery of the Mughal Emperors, and the use of saltpetre in explosives. He traces the development of gunpowder to eleventh-century China and cites the first known mention and picture of a firearm in 1326.

"The history of gunpowder and firearms has attracted many authors with varying interests. The general historian must take account of major inventions effecting revolutions in the life of nations. The historian of science is concerned mostly with the invention of gunpowder. The historian of technology examines the development in the manufacture of explosives and weapons, and the way in which gunpowder has found applications in the peaceful arts. The military historian deals mainly with the use of gunpowder as an explosive and a propellant... and the development of firearms and their use in warfare. No recent book in English (or for that matter in any language) has attempted a concise survey of the subject."--from the Preface

The idea of late medieval arms and armour often conjures up images of lumbering warriors, clad in heavy plate armour, hacking away at with each other with enormous weapons - depictions perpetuated in both bad literature and bad movies. In this introductory guide, replete with fabulous photography and marvellous anecdotes, internationally-renowned edged weapons expert Robert Woosnam-Savage describes the brutal reality of personal protection and attack in the so-called 'age of chivalry'. From Bannockburn to Bosworth, Poitiers to Pavia, this book is an indispensable introduction to an iconic era.