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Books > Humanities > History > Asian / Middle Eastern history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 > General
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Korea
(Paperback)
Carlos R Smith
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R393
R324
Discovery Miles 3 240
Save R69 (18%)
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This book examines the decisions by Tony Blair and John Howard to
take their nations into the 2003 Iraq War, and the questions these
decisions raise about democratic governance. It also explores the
significance of the US alliance in UK and Australian
decision-making, and the process for taking a nation to war.
Relying on primary government documents and interviews, and
bringing together various strands of literature that have so far
been discussed in isolation (including historical accounts, party
politics, prime ministerial leadership and intelligence studies),
the authors provide a comprehensive and original view on the
various post-war inquiries conducted in the UK, Australia.
Based on audiotapes he recorded during the war and sent home to his
family, Randy Zahn’s Snake Pilot recounts his experiences flying
AH-1 Cobra helicopters during the Vietnam War. First deployed in
Vietnam in 1967 and loaded with a formidable arsenal of weaponry,
the Cobra was the first helicopter designed from inception as an
attack aircraft. It dramatically changed the nature of the war in
Vietnam by offering the Army, for the first time, its own powerful
and highly accurate weapons platform for close-air-support
missions. Randy Zahn arrived in Vietnam shortly before the 1970
U.S. invasion of Cambodia, one of the most impressive
demonstrations by the Cobra in the war. He describes his stunning
transformation from a naive, middle-class teenager from southern
California to a hardened killer during his tour in Vietnam. Unlike
the pilots who flew the fast-moving strike jets, Zahn experienced
the war“up close and personal,” witnessing the grisly effects
of the Cobra’s firepower on enemy soldiers. The author does not
glorify killing but rather explains in sharp relief the
kaleidoscope of emotions associated with combat: fear, revenge,
hate, remorse, pity, and even ecstasy. He captures many of the
ironies and nuances inherent in Vietnam, especially during the
final years of the conflict. Zahn displays a sensitivity rarely
found in memoirs written by battle-hardened warriors. This human
element, combined with the vast amount of archival research and
interviews with members of his former unit, ensures that Snake
Pilot will become the definitive account of the role helicopters
played in Vietnam.
"The first book-length account of a story too long
overlooked"
Claro Solis wanted to win a gold star for his mother. He
succeeded--as did seven other sons of "Little Mexico."
Second Street in Silvis, Illinois, was a poor neighborhood
during the Great Depression that had become home to Mexicans
fleeing revolution in their homeland. In 1971 it was officially
renamed "Hero Street" to commemorate its claim to the highest
per-capita casualty rate from any neighborhood during World War II.
Marc Wilson now tells the story of this community and the young men
it sent to fight for their adopted country.
"Hero Street, U.S.A." is the first book to recount a saga too
long overlooked in histories and television documentaries.
Interweaving family memories, soldiers' letters, historical
photographs, interviews with relatives, and firsthand combat
accounts, Wilson tells the compelling stories of nearly eighty men
from three dozen Second Street homes who volunteered to fight for
their country in World War II and Korea--and of the eight,
including Claro Solis, who never came back.
As debate swirls around the place of Mexican immigrants in
contemporary American society, this book shows the price of
citizenship willingly paid by the sons of earlier refugees. With
"Hero Street, U.S.A.," Marc Wilson not only makes an important
contribution to military and social history but also acknowledges
the efforts of the heroes of Second Street to realize the American
dream.
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