Adolf Hitler trusted few men, but his faith in pilot Hans Baur never wavered. Baur, a decorated World War I flier and one of Germany's leading commercial aviators of the 1920s, joined the fledgling Nazi Party in 1926. His skill and daring and his early party membership, catapulted him to the top of the list when Adolf Hitler went in search of a pilot for his political campaign of 1932. Later, Hitler became the first head of state to use air travel extensively, and, from 1932 to 1945, Hitler refused to fly with anyone but Baur at the controls. Baur ate meals with Hitler frequently and was one of the fuhrer's few true confidants. As the tide of war turned against Germany and relations between Hitler and the Luftwaffe leadership deteriorated, Hitler increasingly relied on Baur for advice about air war policy and technical developments. In the end, Baur paid for his blind loyalty to Hitler. Trapped by the Soviet Red Army in the war-torn city of Berlin, Baur was captured after Hitler's suicide and imprisoned in the Soviet Union. Aviation historian C. G. Sweeting provides the reader with fresh insight into the inner workings of the Third Reich and the madness of Adolf Hitler. The book details many surprising episodes, such as the time Baur allowed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini to take the controls of the fuhrer's plane, and an account of Hitler's and Baur's narrow escape from a German air base as Soviet tanks arrived at the perimeter. Aviation buffs will also enjoy the author's in-depth examination of the aircraft used in Hitler's personal transport squadron. "Hitler's Personal Pilot" is a unique book that will fascinate both experts and novices on Nazi Germany with its detail andperspective on Hitler's infamous inner circle.

A former German soldier eloquently reflects on the insidious effects of Nazi propaganda, especially on young people, citing his own experience as the son of an anti-Semitic father whom he loved deeply. Bruno Manz also recounts his wartime experiences fighting the Soviets in Finland and presents a unique perspective on the United States, to which he came in the 1950s during Operation Paperclip along with Werner von Braun and other German rocket scientists. In the epilogue he draws conclusions about Germany??'s guilt and his own, baring his soul to the reader. This heartfelt memoir is for anyone who seeks to understand how a civilized people could plunge into mass insanity.

THE GREATEST WAR
Volume II: D-Day and the Assault on Europe

From the invasion of Normandy to the advance of Allied forces across Europe, this book puts you in the ferocious battle for Omaha beach, the daring aerial strikes that shook Berlin, and the swift, momentous liberation of Paris.

THEIR WAR
THEIR WORDS

American fighting men engaged the enemy on land, at sea, and in the air. Now one of the nation's most acclaimed military historians presents an authoritative and dramatic three-volume oral history of World War II that is both richly sweeping and startlingly intimate. A gripping account of how American warriors, from buck privates to five-star generals, fought, bled, thought, and felt, THE GREATEST WAR is the ultimate tribute to the "greatest generation"—a saga of unparalleled courage, honor, and glory.

Look for Volumes I and III of
THE GREATEST WAR

THE GREATEST WAR
Volume I: From Pearl Harbor to the Kasserine Pass

THE GREATEST WAR
Volume III: The Battle of the Bulge to Hiroshima

This fast-moving memoir of T. Moffatt Burriss shows his extraordinary role as a platoon leader and company commander with the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Europe and North Africa during World War II. He saw a great deal of combat on Sicily, at Salerno, on Anzio Beach, in Holland during Operation Market Garden, and during the drive into Germany. This book portrays World War II as seen vividly through the eyes of the young American citizen-soldier.

The story of the siege by the acclaimed author of Hitler's War

In 199 Days, acclaimed historian Edwin P. Hoyt depicts the epic battle for Stalingrad in all its electrifying excitement and savage horror. More than the bloodiest skirmish in history-a momentous conflict costing three million lives-the siege was a hinge upon which the course of history rested. Had the Red Army fallen, the Nazi juggernaut would have rolled over Russia. Had the German's not held out during those last few months, Stalin would have painted Europe red. Now, over 50 years after the most extraordinary battle of the second millenium, the truth about this decisive moment is finally revealed.

In the course of human history there has probably been no more terrible place than Eastern Europe in 1941-45.

Estimates of total Soviet military and civilian deaths in the period now stand at more than 25 million. In Russia's War, Richard Overy recreates the Soviet Union's apocalyptic struggle against Germany both from the point of view of the troops and of the ordinary people.

For the legions of submarine enthusiasts, here is an unforgettable account of submarine warfare. The USS Bowfin, one of the most commended fighting submarines of the Pacific theatre, miraculously survived while sinking 44 Japanese ships. Edwin P. Hoyt drew upon official records and crew interviews to craft this vivid account of the submariner's life.

Today the Bowfin is a popular museum-ship berthed in Honolulu.

This is the story of a "no military risk" campaign that slowly turned into a nightmare. The book provides new answers to a number of difficult questions beginning with a discussion of why Canadian troops were sent to Hong Kong at the request of the British War Office. Were the British duplicitous in making this request? Was Canadian Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant-General Harry Crerar, guilty of putting his own interests above those of his men in telling the minister of National Defence that there was "no military risk" in sending the "C" Force? The book recounts the formation of the "C" Force and its departure to Hong Kong where it arrived just three weeks before the Japanese attack. It outlines the course of the battle from December 8, 1941, until the inevitable surrender of the garrison on Christmas Day. It places appropriate emphasis on the Canadian contribution, refuting 1947 allegations by the British General-Officer-Commanding - allegations which were only made public in 1993 - that the Canadians did not fight well. Greenhous attacks these charges with solid evidence from participants and eye-witnesses. Finally, the book tells the story of life and death in the prison camps of Hong Kong and Japan.

A widely praised Pacific War historian--and author of The Liberation of Guam--draws on his extensive knowledge and new scholarship to shape this detailed treatment of the war against Japan, carefully examining the close interaction between naval, air, and land forces in every military operation. Photos.

Dirty Little Secrets of World War II exposes the dark, irreverent, misunderstood, and often tragicomic aspects of military operations during World War II, many of them virtually unknown even to military buffs. Like its successful predecessor, Dirty Little Secrets, Dunnigan and Nofi's new book vividly brings to life all theaters and participants of the war. Revelations include:

- The real death count for the war, and why it has never been previously released.

- The "new age" general who refused to smoke or drink, who lived on a vitamin-enriched diet, who opposed animal experimentation, and who regularly consulted his astrologer.

- How equipment developed for the war led to such modern high-tech innovations as "smart bombs," electronic warfare, and nuclear missles.

- The lackadaisical relationship between Germany and Japan throughout the war.

- Tricky bits of information about the lingering effects of the war -- like the thousands of live shells and mines that are still buried in Europe and off the East Coast of America.

Why do nations cooperate even as they try to destroy each other? Jeffrey Legro explores this question in the context of World War II, the "total" war that in fact wasn't. During the war, combatant states attempted to sustain agreements limiting the use of three forms of combat considered barbarous submarine attacks against civilian ships, strategic bombing of civilian targets, and chemical warfare. Looking at how these restraints worked or failed to work between such fierce enemies as Hitler's Third Reich and Churchill's Britain, Legro offers a new understanding of the dynamics of World War II and the sources of international cooperation.

While traditional explanations of cooperation focus on the relations between actors, Cooperation under Fire examines what warring nations seek and why they seek it the "preference formation" that undergirds international interaction. Scholars and statesmen debate whether it is the balance of power or the influence of international norms that most directly shapes foreign policy goals. Critically assessing both explanations, Legro argues that it was, rather, the organizational cultures of military bureaucracies their beliefs and customs in waging war that decided national priorities for limiting the use of force in World War II.

Drawing on documents from Germany, Britain, the United States, and the former Soviet Union, Legro provides a compelling account of how military cultures molded state preferences and affected the success of cooperation. In its clear and cogent analysis, this book has significant implications for the theory and practice of international relations."

So firmly based upon a close reading of the secondary literature and printed documents, as well as upon archival soundings and interviews, and told with such a sense for the essential drama of the story, that it is easily the most comprehensive and the most interesting history of the Nazi-Soviet pact that we possess. Gordon A. Craig, New York Review of Books"

Badly wounded at the battle of Arnhem, and then spirited from his hospital bed by the Dutch Resistance, Brigadier John Hackett spent thewinter of 1944 in Nazi-occupied Holland, hidden by a Dutch family, at great risk to their own lives, in a house a stone's throw from a German military police billet. After four months in hiding, Hackett was at last well enough to strap a battered suitcase to an ancient bicycle and set out on a high adventure which would, he hoped, lead him to freedom.

The relations between memory and history have recently become a subject of contention, and the implications of that debate are particularly troubling for aesthetic, ethical and political issues. Dominick LaCapra focuses on the interactions among history, memory and ethicopolitical concerns as they emerge in the aftermath of the Shoah. Particularly notable are his analyses of Albert Camus's novella The Fall, Claude Lanzmann's film Shoah and Art Spiegelman's comic book Maus. LaCapra also considers the Historian's Debate in the aftermath of German reunification and the role of psychoanalysis in historical understanding and critical theory.

Despite all that has already been written on Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Persico has uncovered a hitherto overlooked dimension of FDR's wartime leadership: his involvement in intelligence and espionage operations.

Roosevelt's Secret War is crowded with remarkable revelations:
-FDR wanted to bomb Tokyo before Pearl Harbor
-A defector from Hitler's inner circle reported directly to the Oval Office
-Roosevelt knew before any other world leader of Hitler's plan to invade Russia
-Roosevelt and Churchill concealed a disaster costing hundreds of British soldiers' lives in order to protect Ultra, the British codebreaking secret
-An unwitting Japanese diplomat provided the President with a direct pipeline into Hitler's councils


Roosevelt's Secret War also describes how much FDR had been told--before the Holocaust--about the coming fate of Europe's Jews. And Persico also provides a definitive answer to the perennial question Did FDR know in advance about the attack on Pearl Harbor?

By temperament and character, no American president was better suited for secret warfare than FDR. He manipulated, compartmentalized, dissembled, and misled, demonstrating a spymaster's talent for intrigue. He once remarked, "I never let my right hand know what my left hand does." Not only did Roosevelt create America's first central intelligence agency, the OSS, under "Wild Bill" Donovan, but he ran spy rings directly from the Oval Office, enlisting well-placed socialite friends.

FDR was also spied against. Roosevelt's Secret War presents evidence that the Soviet Union had a source inside the Roosevelt White House; that British agents fed FDR total fabrications to draw the United States into war; and that Roosevelt, by yielding to Churchill's demand that British scientists be allowed to work on the Manhattan Project, enabled the secrets of the bomb to be stolen. And these are only a few of the scores of revelations in this constantly surprising story of Roosevelt's hidden role in World War II.


From the Hardcover edition.