Ground-breaking, thrilling and revealing, The Reaper is the astonishing memoir of Special Operations Direct Action Sniper Nicholas Irving, the 3rd Ranger Battalion's deadliest sniper with 33 confirmed kills, though his remarkable career total, including probable, is unknown. In the bestselling tradition of American Sniper and Shooter, Irving shares the true story of his extraordinary career, including his deployment to Afghanistan in the summer of 2009, when he set another record, this time for enemy kills on a single deployment. His teammates and chain of command labelled him "The Reaper," and his actions on the battlefield became the stuff of legend, culminating in an extraordinary face-off against an enemy sniper known simply as The Chechnian. Irving's astonishing first-person account of his development into an expert assassin offers a fascinating and extremely rare View of special operations combat missions through the eyes of a Ranger sniper during the Global War on Terrorism. From the brotherhood and sacrifice of teammates in battle to the cold reality of taking a life to protect another, no other book dives so deep inside the life of a sniper on point.

This is the first in-depth and comparative study of the experience of colonial encounters for troops from the British Empire during the First World War. Drawing on a rich variety of textual and visual material, Anna Maguire explores new contact zones that materialised beyond the battlefield, on troopships, in ports, in military camps and hospitals, in cafes and city streets. She reveals how the colonial mobilisation of troops during the conflict prompted the emergence of spaces for interactions, fleeting moments or ongoing relationships. Through their personal experiences, she uncovers how men from New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies viewed themselves and their identities during a time of global conflict, simultaneously asserting the strength of the existing colonial order and challenging its enactment, through contact, conflict and collaboration. In spaces away from the frontlines, Maguire uses these cultural encounters of colonial troops to offer a more intricate understanding of imperial power relations.

More than seventy years following the D-Day Landings of 6 June 1944, Normandy's war heritage continues to intrigue visitors and researchers. Receiving well over two million visitors a year, the Normandy landscape of war is among the most visited cultural sites in France. This book explores the significant role that heritage and tourism play in the present day with regard to educating the public as well as commemorating those who fought. The book examines the perspectives, experiences and insights of those who work in the field of war heritage in the region of Normandy where the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy occurred. In this volume practitioner authors represent a range of interrelated roles and responsibilities. These perspectives include national and regional governments and coordinating agencies involved in policy, planning and implementation; war cemetery commissions; managers who oversee particular museums and sites; and individual battlefield tour guides whose vocation is to research and interpret sites of memory. Often interviewed as key informants for scholarly articles, the day-to-day observations, experiences and management decisions of these guardians of remembrance provide valuable insight into a range of issues and approaches that inform the meaning of tourism, remembrance and war heritage as well as implications for the management of war sites elsewhere. Complementing the Normandy practitioner offerings, more scholarly investigations provide an opportunity to compare and debate what is happening in the management and interpretation at other World War II related sites of war memory, such as at Pearl Harbor, Okinawa and Portsmouth, UK. This innovative volume will be of interest to those interested in remembrance tourism, war heritage, dark tourism, battlefield tourism, commemoration, D-Day and World War II.

The most shocking year in history. Week by week, hour by hour.In his brilliant reconstruction, Richard Collier vividly brings one of the most momentous years in world history to life once again. This was a time of blitzkrieg and the Blitz; of the Battle of Britain and Dunkirk. From the fighting in Finland to the destruction of Coventry, from the sinking of the French fleet in Oran to the invasion of Norway, this is history at its most extraordinary and engaging. By recounting major episodes from the viewpoint of those actually involved, Collier provides enlightening glimpses of just what war represented to both the great and to the unknown, and reveals that while 1940 was a year of incredible folly, it was also a time of inestimable bravery. Perfect for readers of Anthony Beevor and Max Hastings, this is an unforgettable book about an unforgettable year, a year that shaped the world we know today. 'Masterly... you could be reading a spine-tingling thriller' Sunday Express 'I would like to see this book made compulsory reading' Evening Standard

Accounting is frequently portrayed as a value free mechanism for allocating resources and ensuring they are employed in the most efficient manner. Contrary to this popular opinion, the research presented in Accounting at War demonstrates that accounting for military forces is primarily a political practice. Throughout history, military force has been so pervasive that no community of any degree of complexity has succeeded in. Through to the present day, for all nation states, accounting for the military and its operations has primarily served broader political purposes. From the Crimean War to the War on Terror, accounting has been used to assert civilian control over the military, instill rational business practices on war, and create the visibilities and invisibilities necessary to legitimize the use of force. Accounting at War emphasizes the significant power that financial and accounting controls gave to political elites and the impact of these controls on military performance. Accounting at War examines the effects of these controls in wars such as the Crimean, South African and Vietnam wars. Accounting at War also emphasizes how accounting has provided the means to rationalize and normalize violence, which has often contributed to the acceleration and expansion of war. Aimed at researchers and academics in the fields of accounting, accounting history, political management and sociology, Accounting at War represents a unique and critical perspective to this cutting-edge research field.

Based upon interviews with a wide-range of former German Army and SS soldiers, these unique personal episodes vividly depict the extraordinary circumstances of the Third Reich's final days as armies closed in from all sides. Le Tissier's interviews link the brutality of combat with the humanity of the desperate battles.

This book examines war veterans' history after 1945 from a global perspective. In the Cold War era, in most countries of the world there was a sizeable portion of population with direct war experience. This edited volume gathers contributions which show the veterans' involvement in all the major historical processes shaping the world after World War II. Cold War politics, racial conflict, decolonization, state-building, and the reshaping of war memory were phenomena in which former soldiers and ex-combatants were directly involved. By examining how different veterans' groups, movements and organizations challenged or sustained the Cold War, strived to prevent or to foster decolonization, and transcended or supported official memories of war, the volume characterizes veterans as largely independent and autonomous actors which interacted with societies and states in the making of our times. Spanning historical cases from the United States to Hong-Kong, from Europe to Southern Africa, from Algeria to Iran, the volume situates veterans within the turbulent international context since World War II.

This is a unique account of the ways in which British veterans of the Second World War remembered, understood, and recounted their experiences of battle throughout the post-war period. Focusing on themes of landscape, weaponry, the enemy, and comradeship, Frances Houghton examines the imagery and language used by war memoirists to reconstruct and review both their experiences of battle and their sense of wartime self. Houghton also identifies how veterans' memoirs became significant sites of contest as former servicemen sought to challenge what they saw as unsatisfactory official, scholarly, and cultural representations of the Second World War in Britain. Her findings show that these memoirs are equally important both for the new light they shed on the memory and meanings of wartime military experience among British veterans, and for what they tell us about the cultural identity of military life-writing in post-war British society.

There are 37,780 First World War memorials in Britain, listing names from all walks of life - estates, villages, places of work. They stand as landmarks to a defining period in British history - and yet one which is in danger of slipping away from popular memory. NOT FORGOTTEN is a revealing look at the untold stories that lie behind these lists of names - stories of the impact of World War One on British society, the echoes of which can still be felt today. More than a conflict overseas, it was the catalyst for an extraordinary period of rapid and radical change to the social, cultural and political fabric of the nation. Social restrictions on women were revolutionised, from jobs and the vote to new freedoms in dress, behaviour and sexuality. The class system was thrown into disarray, both at home and on the front lines; roles were reversed in family life for a large part of the population, through bereavement, evacuation and children put to work in munitions factories. And as the state took drastic measures to cope with this turmoil, so the foundations were laid for the society in which we live today.

On Courage is a collection of twenty-eight moving and inspirational stories of valour displayed by recipients of the Victoria Cross and George Cross. *£2.70 of the publisher's RRP of all copies of this book sold in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland will be donated to Combat Stress.* WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM: Alexander Armstrong, Baroness Hale, Bear Grylls, Bill Beaumont, Bobby Charlton, Katherine Grainger, Kelly Holmes, Derek Jacobi, Eddie Redmayne, Frank Bruno, Geoffrey Palmer, Jeremy Irons, Joanna Kavenna, Joanna Lumley, John Simpson, Joseph Calleja, Julian Fellowes, Kate Adie, Ken Dodd, Margaret MacMillan, Mark Pougatch, Mary Berry, Michael Whitehall and Jack Whitehall, Miranda Hart, Richard Chartres, Tom Ward, Will Greenwood, and Willie Carson. From RAF flight engineer Norman Jackson, who climbed out onto the wing of a Lancaster bomber in flight to put out a fire, using a twisted parachute as a rope, on the night his first child was born; children's writer turned Assistant Section Officer Noor Inayat-Khan, who was the first female operator to infiltrate occupied France and refused to abandon what had become the most dangerous post in the country; to Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer Tom Crean, who struck out alone for a supply depot during Captain Scott's expedition to the South Pole to save the life of his ailing companion, these courageous men and women are an inspiration to us all. Written by leading historians and authors Tom Bromley, Saul David, Paul Garlington, James Holland and Dr Spencer Jones, these incredible accounts tell of the recipients' determination and selfless actions in times of war. Each story is introduced by a public figure, including Mary Berry, Bear Grylls, Sir Bobby Charlton, Joanna Lumley, Eddie Redmayne and the late Sir Ken Dodd.

A hard-hitting history of the U.S. airborne unit who made a name for themselves in the unforgiving jungles of South Vietnam. "It was easier killing than living." Third Battalion 506th Airborne veteran Drawing on interviews with veterans, many of whom have never gone on the record before, Ian Gardner follows up his epic trilogy about the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II with the story of the unit's reactivation at the height of the Vietnam War. This is the dramatic history of a band of brothers who served together in Vietnam and who against the odds lived up to the reputation of their World War II forefathers. Brigadier General Salve Matheson's idea was to create an 800-strong battalion of airborne volunteers in the same legendary "Currahee" spirit that had defined the volunteers of 1942. The man he chose to lead them was John Geraci, who would mold this young brotherhood into a highly cohesive and motivated force. In December 1967, the battalion was sent into the Central Highlands of Lam Dong Province. Geraci and his men began their Search and Destroy patrols, which coincided with the North Vietnamese build-up to the Tet Offensive and was a brutal introduction to the reality of a dirty, bloody war. Gardner reveals how it was here that the tenacious volunteers made their mark, just like their predecessors had done in Normandy, and the battalion was ultimately awarded a Valorous Unit Citation. This book shows how and why this unit was deserving of that award, recounting their daily sanguinary struggle in the face of a hostile environment and a determined enemy. Through countless interviews and rare personal photographs, Sign Here for Sacrifice shows the action, leadership, humor and bravery displayed by these airborne warriors.

As accomplished as she is unknown, Marie Marvingt set the world's first women's aviation records, won the only gold medal ever given for being outstanding in all sports, invented the ambulance airplane, was the first female bomber pilot in history, fought in World War I disguised as a man, has been recognized as a hero of the Resistance in World War II, was the first to survive a crossing of the English Channel in a balloon, worked all her life as a journalist, spent years in North Africa, exploring, nursing, accompanying troops, and inventing metal skis. Today she remains the most decorated woman in the world. Unbelievable? Some people think so. Her life was so unusually rich in exploits, daring, and accomplishments that people dismissed it as a hoax. This biography introduces you to the gifted woman said to be ""the most incredible woman since Joan of Arc,"" provides proof that she did indeed do everything ascribed to her, and investigates some of the other reasons she has been forgotten. Known as the ""fiancee of danger,"" she was the model for the silent film series, The Perils of Pauline. This first English-language biography of Marie Marvingt is the story of the real ""Pauline.

The English Civil War of 1642-6 was one of the most formative periods of British history. This book, originally published in 1974, was one of the first to explore in depth the situation of the common soldier - how he was trained, clothed, equipped , fed and paid; how he amused himself, was disciplined and cared for medically. As well as discussing aspects such as uniforms, pensions and the drill & establishment for artillery, cavalry, pike and musketeers, a typical Civil War battle is dissected into 7 phases, exploring the part played by both officers and men.

As provider networks on military bases are overwhelmed with new cases, civilian clinicians are increasingly likely to treat military families. However, these clinicians do not receive the same military mental-healthcare training as providers on military installations, adding strain to clinicians' workloads and creating gaps in levels of treatment. Families Under Fire fills these gaps with real-world examples, clear, concise prose, and nuts-and-bolts approaches for working with military families utilizing a systems-based practice that is effective regardless of branch of service or the practitioner's therapeutic preference. Any civilian mental-health practitioner who wants to understand the diverse needs of military personnel, their spouses, and their families will rely on this indispensable guidebook for years to come.

More than a century has passed past since German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered the treasures of Bronze Age Mycenae. The richly decorated artifacts of the entombed warriors, whose bodies still lay in their graves, confirmed that Homer's epic "The Iliad" was based upon true events, and that the Achaeans described in his poems probably did exist.
Through a combined study of the mythical tradition, archeological findings, and written sources, this fascinating addition to the Warrior series explores the evolution of warfare in the Bronze Age Greek world. Covering weaponry, clothing, helmets, and body armor, it provides a richly illustrated guide to the warriors who have shone from the pages of Homer's poem for almost three millennia.

A detailed history of the commemorations of US activist involvement in the Spanish Civil War, based on a combination of archival and ethnographic evidence. Nostalgia can serve as a vital tool in the emotional reconstitution and preservation of suppressed histories, rather than sentimentally privileging the past at the expense of present concerns and limiting a culture's progressive potential. Between 1936 and 1938, responding to a military coup in Spain led by Francisco Franco with the support of both Hitler and Mussolini, over 2700 US anti-fascists joined 30,000 volunteers from around the world to form the International Brigade. They came together to defend the democratically elected Spanish government against this early manifestation of the fascist Axis. After three bloody years, Franco's rebellion succeeded, and his dictatorship lasted until his death in 1975. From the moment the first American volunteers returned home, and to this day, they have been holding commemorative events recalling the struggle. For nearly seventy years, the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade have cited and re-cited their activist past in theatrically eclectic, highly emotional commemorative performances, a site for both nostalgia and progressive politics. Literary recitations, scripted dramatic pieces, songs, films, photographs, and celebrity appearances have been juxtaposed with speeches, fundraising, and a rigorous attention to pressing political and social concerns of the day. The history and content of these events isdetailed and analyzed here based on a combination of archival and ethnographic evidence. The exemplary role of songs from the war, as both nostalgic triggers and historical artifacts, is also examined. Commemorations of theSpanish Civil War have provided necessary anchors for a period in U.S. history when views now thought extreme were an accepted part of mass political discourse. Through this rich, inter-generational performance practice, a marginalized, vernacular political minority has deployed radical nostalgia as a necessary corrective to an official culture disinterested in America's leftist past, and threatened by its implications. Peter Glazer is Associate Professor in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

"Lands of Lost Borders carried me up into a state of openness and excitement I haven't felt for years. It's a modern classic."-Pico Iyer A brilliant, fierce writer, and winner of the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize, makes her debut with this enthralling travelogue and memoir of her journey by bicycle along the Silk Road-an illuminating and thought-provoking fusion of The Places in Between, Lab Girl, and Wild that dares us to challenge the limits we place on ourselves and the natural world. As a teenager, Kate Harris realized that the career she craved-to be an explorer, equal parts swashbuckler and metaphysician-had gone extinct. From what she could tell of the world from small-town Ontario, the likes of Marco Polo and Magellan had mapped the whole earth; there was nothing left to be discovered. Looking beyond this planet, she decided to become a scientist and go to Mars. In between studying at Oxford and MIT, Harris set off by bicycle down the fabled Silk Road with her childhood friend Mel. Pedaling mile upon mile in some of the remotest places on earth, she realized that an explorer, in any day and age, is the kind of person who refuses to live between the lines. Forget charting maps, naming peaks: what she yearned for was the feeling of soaring completely out of bounds. The farther she traveled, the closer she came to a world as wild as she felt within. Lands of Lost Borders, winner of the 2018 Banff Adventure Travel Award and a 2018 Nautilus Award, is the chronicle of Harris's odyssey and an exploration of the importance of breaking the boundaries we set ourselves; an examination of the stories borders tell, and the restrictions they place on nature and humanity; and a meditation on the existential need to explore-the essential longing to discover what in the universe we are doing here. Like Rebecca Solnit and Pico Iyer, Kate Harris offers a travel account at once exuberant and reflective, wry and rapturous. Lands of Lost Borders explores the nature of limits and the wildness of the self that can never fully be mapped. Weaving adventure and philosophy with the history of science and exploration, Lands of Lost Borders celebrates our connection as humans to the natural world, and ultimately to each other-a belonging that transcends any fences or stories that may divide us.

This book explores the international law framework governing the use of armed force in occupied territory through a rigorous analysis of the interplay between jus ad bellum, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law. Through an examination of state practice and opinio juris, treaty provisions and relevant international and domestic case law, this book offers the first comprehensive study on this topic. This book will be relevant to scholars, practitioners, legal advisors, and students across a range of sub-disciplines of international law, as well as in peace and conflict studies, international relations, and political science. This study will influence the way in which States use armed force in occupied territory, offering guidance and support in litigations before domestic and international courts and tribunals.

Americans grow up expecting that in a time of need, their country can depend on its people for volunteer service to the military. Indeed, this has been a social and at times legal expectation for the citizenship of this country since 1776. Yet, since the end of World War II United States forces have been caught up in many long term military engagements, and the military aspect of citizenship has become an increasingly marginalized one in a world where only a minority of citizens even vote. Citizen and Soldier: A Sourcebook on Military Service and National Defense from Colonial America to the Present provides a useful framework and supporting documentary evidence for an informed discussion of the development of the American ideal of the "Citizen Soldier". Presented with insightful introductions and useful discussion questions, this concise collection of 27 primary documents takes a close look at the United States military and shows how it became entwined with the rise of American national identity.

They were called Easy Company--but their mission was never easy. Immortalized as the Band of Brothers, they suffered 150% casualties while liberating Europe--an unparalleled record of bravery under fire. Dick Winters was their commander--"the best combat leader in World War II" to his men. This is his story--told in his own words for the first time.
On D-Day, Dick Winters parachuted into France and assumed leadership of the Band of Brothers when their commander was killed. He led them through the Battle of the Bulge and into Germany, by which time each member had been wounded. They liberated an S.S. death camp from the horrors of the Holocaust and captured Berchtesgaden, Hitler's alpine retreat. After briefly serving during the Korean War, Winters was a highly successful businessman. Made famous by Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers--and the subsequent award-winning HBO miniseries--he is the object of worldwide adulation.
Beyond Band of Brothers is Winters's memoir--based on his wartime diary--but it also includes his comrades' untold stories. Virtually all this material is being released for the first time. Only Winters was present from the activation of Easy Company until the war's end. Winner of the Distinguished Service Cross, only he could pen this moving tribute to the human spirit.

This book describes the wartime experiences of Reverend David Railton, MC, who was a chaplain on the Western Front during WWI. As a chaplain, Railton supported soldiers in their worst moments, he buried the fallen, comforted the wounded, wrote to the families of the missing and killed, and helped the survivors to remember and mark the loss of their comrades so that they were able to move on and do their job. He was present at many battles, and received the Military Cross for rescuing an officer and two men under heavy fire on the Somme. It was Railton's idea to bring home the body of a fallen comrade, whose identity was unknown, from the battlefields of Belgium and France to be buried in Westminster Abbey. Although suffering from what was obviously Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, after the war he carried out his duties as the vicar of Margate and took on many philanthropic works on behalf of the poor, especially supporting ex-servicemen who came home and had to deal with the aftermath of a terrible war and crippling unemployment. The story of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior has been told several times, including the part played by the Reverend David Railton, M.C. However, this book - based on hundreds of Railton's original letters, notes, and writings - is the first book to tell the story of the man himself and his flag, which he used as an altar cloth and shroud throughout the war, was consecrated a year after the burial of the Unknown Warrior, and now hangs in Westminster Abbey.