The adoption of firearms by American Indians between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries marked a turning point in the history of North America's indigenous peoples-a cultural earthquake so profound, says David Silverman, that its impact has yet to be adequately measured. Thundersticks reframes our understanding of Indians' historical relationship with guns, arguing against the notion that they prized these weapons more for the pyrotechnic terror guns inspired than for their efficiency as tools of war. Native peoples fully recognized the potential of firearms to assist them in their struggles against colonial forces, and mostly against one another. The smoothbore, flintlock musket was Indians' stock firearm, and its destructive potential transformed their lives. For the deer hunters east of the Mississippi, the gun evolved into an essential hunting tool. Most importantly, well-armed tribes were able to capture and enslave their neighbors, plunder wealth, and conquer territory. Arms races erupted across North America, intensifying intertribal rivalries and solidifying the importance of firearms in Indian politics and culture. Though American tribes grew dependent on guns manufactured in Europe and the United States, their dependence never prevented them from rising up against Euro-American power. The Seminoles, Blackfeet, Lakotas, and others remained formidably armed right up to the time of their subjugation. Far from being a Trojan horse for colonialism, firearms empowered American Indians to pursue their interests and defend their political and economic autonomy over two centuries.

Americas famous and influential WWII submachine guns (SMGs) are all featured in this fully illustrated book. Beginning with the legendary Thompson submachine, its design, construction, and testing in the early 1920s, as well as its use by the US Marine Corps, the Irish Republican Army, and Prohibition-era gangsters, are presented in detail. Its famed use during WWII in all war theaters is shown in superb period photography and clear, up-close color images. Also featured are chapters on other US WWII era submachine guns: the M3 Grease Gun, Reising SMG, and the United Defense M42 (UD M42). Accessories such as magazines, ammunition, webbing, and cleaning kits are featured throughout the book, as well as rarely seen WWII-related uniform and equipment items.

Morris R. Driels has published three editions of his textbook Weaponeering, which primarily serve civilians working in an R&D capacity for Departments of Defense or military services who require a relatively deep understanding of the mathematics and physics driving the underlying methods. This new book targets a second audience of "warfighters." They are usually military personnel who are involved with the execution of military operations, including the planning of offensive strikes against enemy forces. Although tools such as the Joint Weaponeering System (JWS) are available to plan such attacks, and training is provided for using the tools correctly, there is little explanation giving the warfighter an understanding of what lies behind programs such as JWS. Experience has shown warfighters desire to understand more than just the "buttonology" of using weaponeering tools since this does not provide background information on the assumptions, limitations, and reliability of the results they produce. There are many examples of trying to improve the probability of damage to the second decimal place when, if the assumptions behind the result were understood, the futility of doing this would become obvious. This book therefore uses much of the knowledge and material utilized in the author's previous texts, but with an emphasis on breadth rather than depth. In addition, the mathematical validation of many of the methods is deemphasized and replaced with more real-world topics and examples to put the underlying methods in the context of how they are applied, rather than how they are developed. The need remains to explain some concepts using an approach that still involves some mathematics, physics and statistics, however this has been simplified as much as possible to the extent it may be ignored by the casual reader, as long as they are willing to accept the results that are produced. After presenting chapters on those topics needed to estimate the damage to a target using conventional weapons, an unclassified computer program is described that implements most of the methods outlined in the book. This is supplemented by a database approved by the Joint Technical Coordinating Group for Munitions Effectiveness (JTCG/ME) for educational purposes so that several case studies of realistic attacks can be evaluated. Although weaponeers in the U.S. and selected coalition partners with the appropriate security clearances can obtain copies of the JWS program and therefore have access to the classified weapon and target vulnerability data, that option will not be available to others. To remedy this to the extent possible, examples are presented indicating how this data may be estimated using open-source material.

Hitler first considered an invasion of Great Britain in autumn 1940, then scheduled Operation Barbarossa, the conquest of the European part of the Soviet Union, for May 1941. Anxious to emulate Hitler's successes, the Italian dictator Mussolini embarked upon unnecessary military adventures in North Africa and the Balkans, which forced Hitler's intervention, diverting and depleting precious German resources, and a six-week postponement of Barbarossa. In this second of four volumes [Men-at-Arms 311, 316, 326 & 330] on the German Army of the Second World War, Nigel Thomas examines the uniforms and insignia of the forces involved in North Africa and the Balkans.