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Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Second World War
At 17, Curtis "Kojo" Morrow enlisted in the United States Army and
joined the 24th Infantry Regiment Combat Team, originally known as
the Buffalo Soldiers. Seven months later he found himself fighting
a bloody war in a place he had never heard of: Korea. During nine
months of fierce combat, Morrow developed not only a soldier's
mentality but a political consciousness as well. Hearing older men
discussing racial discrimination in both civilian and military
life, he began to question the role of his all-black unit in the
Korean action. Supposedly they were protecting freedom, justice,
and the American way of life, but what was that way of life for
blacks in the United States? Where was the freedom? Why were the
Buffalo Soldiers laying their lives on the line for a country in
which African-American citizens were sometimes denied even the
right to vote? Morrow's story of his service in the United States
Army is a revealing portrait of life in the army's last all-black
unit, a factual summary of that unit's actions in a bloody "police
action", and a personal memoir of a boy becoming a man in a time of
war.
This is the first comprehensive study in English of Soviet women
who fought against the genocidal, misogynist, Nazi enemy on the
Eastern Front during the Second World War. Drawing on a vast array
of original archival, memoir, and published sources, this book
captures the everyday experiences of Soviet women fighting, living
and dying on the front.
Illustrated with detailed artworks of Japanese aircraft and their
markings, Japanese Aircraft of World War II is a detailed guide to
all the aircraft deployed by the Japanese military from the Second
Sino-Japanese War to the surrender in the Pacific in August 1945.
Organised alphabetically by manufacturer, this book includes every
type of aircraft, from fighters to seaplanes, bombers,
reconnaissance aircraft, torpedo bombers and carrier aircraft. All
the best-known types are featured, such as the Mitsubishi G4M
'Betty', Nakajima B6N2 Tenzan, Aichi B7A2 Ryusei torpedo bomber and
the world- famous Mitsubishi A6M 'Zero' fighter. The entries are
accompanied by exhaustive captions and specifications. The guide is
illustrated with profile artworks, three-views, and special cutaway
artworks of the more famous aircraft in service, such as the Aichi
D3A1 'Val', Mitsubishi A6M2 Reisen, and Nakajima Ki.27 'Nate'.
Illustrated with more than 120 artworks, Japanese Aircraft of World
War II is an essential reference guide for modellers and
enthusiasts with an interest in military aircraft of World War II.
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Attlee
(Paperback)
Robert Pearce
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R1,068
Discovery Miles 10 680
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Attlee is undoubtedly one of the key figures in modern British
history. An important figure in Churchill's War Cabinet, and
premier of the first majority Labour Government, he created the
Welfare State, nationalised a substantial part of industry and
secured the independence of India. Yet his political stature
remains unresolved. Was he Churchill's "modest man with much to be
modest about" who squandered the fruits of victory, or, as many now
claim, one of the truly great prime ministers? Robert Pearce's
lucid and drily amusing study goes behind the stern exterior to
find ambition and indecision, and a uniquely moral vision.
This is the second volume in Philip Bell's study of
Franco-British relations in the twentieth century It covers the
period from the Fall of France in 1940 to the opening of the
Channel Tunnel. Philip Bell views the half-century as a long
separation - with France committed early on to a new concept of
Europe, in partnership with Germany, whilst Britain stood apart.
The tensions and resentments it has generated have kept
French/British relations at the very heart of the burning question
of Britain's place in Europe. Yet the story has another side, to
which Philip Bell also does justice. Much has been achieved by the
two countries together and alongside their European partners. For
all their divergencies and antagonisms, the French and British know
and understand each other better today than at any other time in
their modern histories and all these developments are fully
explored in Philip Bell's engrossing and often amusing,
account.
Despite the Second World War and the Holocaust, post-war Britain
was not immune to fascism. By 1948, a large and confident fascist
movement had been established, with a strong network of local
organizers and public speakers, and an audience of thousands.
However, within two years the fascists had collapsed under the
pressure of a successful anti-fascist campaign. This book explains
how it was that fascism could grow so fast, and how it then went
into decline.
Casting new light on a controversial aspect of wartime British
foreign policy, this book traces the process by which the British
authorities came to offer their backing to Colonel Draza
Mihailovic, leader of the non-Communist resistance movement which
emerged after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. It
also examines why British confidence in Mihailovic was subsequently
eroded, to the point where serious consideration was given to
transferring support to his avowed enemies, the Communist-led
Partisans.
This is the ideal companion text to "A Political History of
Western Europe Since 1945." It is an introductory survey which
explains how western Europe built up its postwar prosperity and is
moving towards continental integration. Themes treated include: the
origins of the EC; consumerism; youth culture and protest;
immigration; the oil crisis and its aftermath; and the contrasting
experience and expectations of the Nordic world and the
Mediterranean south. The book ends with the consequences of Soviet
collapse. Designed for general history students, it assumes no
formal knowledge of economics, and is notably accessible and
user-friendly in its approach.
This is the first serious analysis of the combat capability of the British army in the Second World War. It sweeps away the myth that the army suffered from poor morale, and that it only won its battles through the use of 'brute force' and by reverting to the techniques of the First World War. Few soldiers were actively eager to close with the enemy, but the morale of the army never collapsed and its combat capability steadily improved from 1942 onwards.
This is the only book available that tells the full story of how
the U.S. government, between 1942 and 1945, detained nearly half a
million Nazi prisoners of war in 511 camps across the country. With
a new introduction and illustrated with more than 70 rare photos,
Krammer describes how, with no precedents upon which to form
policy, America's handling of these foreign prisoners led to the
hasty conversation of CCC camps, high school gyms, local
fairgrounds, and race tracks to serve as holding areas. The Seattle
Times calls Nazi Prisoners of War in America "the definitive
history of one of the least known segments of America's involvement
in World War II. Fascinating. A notable addition to the history of
that war."
Reviews of Allan Andrade's book, S.S. Leopoldville December 24,
1944 published in 1997 Thanks to the publication of this book and
the publicity that it has received on regional and national
television programs, Americans can now understand what had been a
hidden tragedy. The book, in conjunction with the monument and
memorials at Ft. Benning, helps ensure that the gallantry and
sacrifices of the men of the 66th Infantry Division will no longer
be unrecognized as they had been in the past. Dr. Steve Grove, USMA
Historian, West Point, New York Allan Andrade's book is an
excellent story of human courage in the face of a horrible tragedy.
His book gives the reader an idea of what it must have been like to
be aboard a sinking ship in the English Channel on Christmas Eve
1944. His extensive interviews with survivors tell how human error
played a role in the death of so many U.S. soldiers and how lucky
some survivors were to be in the right place at the right time. It
was heartbreaking to read how the government lied to so many
families who only wanted to know the truth about the fate of their
loved one. It truly was a hard book to put down. Joseph P. Napsha,
Reporter, Tribune - Review, Greensburg, Pennsylvania Through
careful piecing together of survivors' accounts, of photos and
wartime letters of both survivors and victims, Andrade weaves a
heartbreaking narrative from the beginning of the calamity to its
bitter conclusion. In this book, strangers otherwise lost to
history are redeemed from the shadows. Ghosts speak in tender love
letters of dreams and hopes, of their undying affection for dear
ones. They stare gallantly from faded photos, their soldiers' hats
jauntily cocked, their eyesanxious. They pose stiffly in family
portraits, young kids clinging to their knees. Lovely wives with
soft, 1940s hairdos, hug their babies. In the book, we learn
firsthand of heroic rescues, desperate acts, brutal deaths,
incomprehensible suffering and grief. The History Channel video of
the event focuses on the military cover up.. Yet, it does not come
close to conveying the gripping horror, pathos and heroism found in
Andrade's book. Lynn Ascrizzi, Reporter, Kennebec Journal, Augusta,
Maine
The Civil War and the World War II stand as the two great
cataclysms of American history. They were our two costliest wars,
with well over a million casualties suffered in each. And they were
transforming moments in our history as well, times when the life of
the nation and the great experiment in democracy--government of the
people, by the people, for the people--seemed to hang in the
balance. Now, in War Comes Again, eleven eminent
historians--including three Pulitzer Prize winners, all veterans of
the Second World War--offer an illuminating comparison of these two
epic events in our national life.
The range of essays here is remarkable, the level of insight
consistently high, and the quality of the writing is superb. For
instance, Stephen Ambrose, the bestselling author of D-Day, June
6th, 1944, offers an intriguing comparison of the two great
military leaders of each war--Grant and Eisenhower. Pulitzer
Prize-winning historian Robert V. Bruce takes a revealing look at
the events that foreshadowed the two wars. Gerald Linderman, author
of Embattled Courage, examines the two wars from the point of view
of the combat soldier. And Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., describes how
both Lincoln and FDR went around strict observance of the
Constitution in order to preserve the Constitution. There is, in
addition, a fascinating discussion of the crucial role played by
spying during the two wars, by Peter Maslowski; a look at the
diplomacy of Lincoln and Roosevelt, by Howard Jones; and essays on
the impact of the wars on women and on African Americans, by D'Ann
Campbell, Richard Jensen, and Ira Berlin. In perhaps the most
gripping piece in the book, Michael C.C. Adams offers an
unflinching look at war's destructiveness, as he argues that the
evils we associate with "bad wars" (such as Vietnam) are equally
true of "good wars." And finally, in perhaps the most provocative
essay in the book, Russell Weigley, one of America's most eminent
military historians, maps the evolution of American attitudes
toward war to our present belief that the only acceptable war is
one that is short, inexpensive, and certain of victory. Would any
great commander, Weigley asks, would a Lee or a Grant or a
Marshall, refuse to fight unless he knew he couldn't lose? "Is not
a willingness to run risks for the sake of cherished values and
interests close to the heart of what defines greatness in a human
being or in a nation?"
Another Pulitzer winner and World War II veteran, Don E.
Fehrenbacher, concludes War Comes Again with a very personal look
at two common soldiers who have no monuments, who have not been
mentioned in previous histories, but who point at the essence of
these two wars and are "embedded in the very structure of the
enduring nation and the world we live in."
This is the first detailed study of Britain's open source
intelligence (OSINT) operations during the Second World War,
showing how accurate and influential OSINT could be and ultimately
how those who analysed this intelligence would shape British
post-war policy towards the Soviet Union. Following the Nazi
invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the enemy and neutral
press covering the German occupation of the Baltic states offered
the British government a vital stream of OSINT covering the entire
German East. OSINT was the only form of intelligence available to
the British from the Nazi-occupied Soviet Union, due to the Foreign
Office suspension of all covert intelligence gathering inside the
Soviet Union. The risk of jeopardising the fragile Anglo-Soviet
alliance was considered too great to continue covert intelligence
operations. In this book, Wheatley primarily examines OSINT
acquired by the Stockholm Press Reading Bureau (SPRB) in Sweden and
analysed and despatched to the British government by the Foreign
Research and Press Service (FRPS) Baltic States Section and its
successor, the Foreign Office Research Department (FORD). Shedding
light on a neglected area of Second World War intelligence and
employing useful case studies of the FRPS/FORD Baltic States
Section's Intelligence, British Intelligence and Hitler's Empire in
the Soviet Union, 1941-1945 makes a new and important argument
which will be of great value to students and scholars of British
intelligence history and the Second World War.
The early twentieth-century advent of aerial bombing made
successful evacuations essential to any war effort, but ordinary
people resented them deeply. Based on extensive archival research
in Germany and France, this is the first broad, comparative study
of civilian evacuations in Germany and France during World War II.
The evidence uncovered exposes the complexities of an assumed
monolithic and all-powerful Nazi state by showing that citizens'
objections to evacuations, which were rooted in family concerns,
forced changes in policy. Drawing attention to the interaction
between the Germans and French throughout World War II, this book
shows how policies in each country were shaped by events in the
other. A truly cross-national comparison in a field dominated by
accounts of one country or the other, this book provides a unique
historical context for addressing current concerns about the impact
of air raids and military occupations on civilians.
The Second World War was a dominant experience in Australian
history. For the first time the country faced the threat of
invasion. The economy and society were mobilised to an
unprecedented degree, with 550 000 men and women, or one in twelve
of a population of over 7 million, serving in the armed forces
overseas. Social patterns and family life were disrupted.
Politically, the war gave a new legitimacy to the Australian Labor
Party which had been confined to the wilderness of the Opposition
at the Federal level for most of the inter-war years. The powers of
the Federal government increased and a new momentum for social
reform was generated at the popular and governmental level. In the
international sphere, the war fundamentally shook Australian
confidence in the power on which it had relied for generations,
Great Britain. It generated a sense of independence in Australian
foreign policy and initiated a new, if halting and problematic,
realignment towards the United States. In this accessible book Joan
Beaumont, Kate Darian-Smith, David Lee, David Lowe, Marnie
Haig-Muir, Roy Hay and David Walker consider the range of
Australia's experience of this conflict. In a single volume they
draw together the many aspects of the war and distil the current
state of historical scholarship. Australia's War 1939-45 will be
invaluable to tertiary students and of enormous interest to the
reader concerned with the social, political and military history of
Australia. A companion volume on the First World War is also
available.
Is there really such a thing as Jewish music? And how does it
survive as a practice of worship and cultural expression even in
the face of the many brutal aesthetic and political challenges of
modernity? In Jewish Music and Modernity, Philip V. Bohlman imparts
these questions with a new light that transforms the very
historiography of Jewish culture in modernity.
Based on decades of fieldwork and archival study throughout the
world, Bohlman intensively examines the many ways in which music
has historically borne witness to the confrontation between modern
Jews and the world around them. Weaving a historical narrative that
spans from the end of the Middle Ages to the Holocaust, he moves
through the vast confluence of musical styles and repertories. From
the sacred and to the secular, from folk to popular music, and in
the many languages in which it was written and performed, he
accounts for areas of Jewish music that have rarely been considered
before. Jewish music, argues Bohlman, both survived in isolation
and transformed the nations in which it lived. When Jews and Jewish
musicians entered modernity, authenticity became an ideal to be
supplanted by the reality of complex traditions. Klezmer music
emerged in rural communities cohabited by Jews and Roma; Jewish
cabaret resulted from the collaborations of migrant Jews and
non-Jews to the nineteenth-century metropoles of Berlin and
Budapest, Prague and Vienna; cantors and composers experimented
with new sounds. The modernist impulse from Felix Mendelssohn to
Gustav Pick to Arnold Schoenberg and beyond became possible because
of the ways music juxtaposed aesthetic and cultural differences.
Jewish Music and Modernity demonstrateshow borders between
repertories are crossed and the sound of modernity is enriched by
the movement of music and musicians from the peripheries to the
center of modern culture. Bohlman ultimately challenges readers to
experience the modern confrontation of self and other anew.
From one of the most prominent nationalist voices in late
twentieth-century Europe comes this controversial volume on the
persistence of violence from past eras into present-day. Franjo
Tudjman was once the face of Croatian democracy and sovereignty-a
position complicated by his roles as general, president, and
historian, and his role in the Bosnian War. Here he examines the
Yugoslav Communist creation of a Croatian "black legend" and
assesses the nature and scope of the crimes committed by the
Ustasha puppet government, particularly at the Jasenovac death
camp. He chronicles the systematic use by the Yugoslav regime of
Jasenovac and the Ustasha terror as a tool in its attempt to
eliminate Croatian aspirations towards independence. Readers of
this book will have a candid insight into the mind of a notable and
notorious player in contemporary European history. With this
book-at once a memoir, a political document, and a broad historic
philosophical survey-Tudjman proposes a foundation upon which to
build a new creative framework of peace-oriented relationships for
the twenty-first century. Horrors of War provides an unparalleled
view on the history of national violence from the perspective of a
man who played a key role in both the Croatian War of Independence
and the later Bosnian War; a sometimes hero, sometimes villain.
In this first interdisciplinary study of this contentious subject,
leading experts in politics, history, and philosophy examine the
complex aspects of the terror bombing of German cities during World
War II. The contributors address the decision to embark on the
bombing campaign, the moral issues raised by the bombing, and the
main stages of the campaign and its effects on German civilians as
well as on Germany's war effort. The book places the bombing
campaign within the context of the history of air warfare,
presenting the bombing as the first stage of the particular type of
state terrorism that led to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and brought
about the Cold War era "balance of terror." In doing so, it makes
an important contribution to current debates about terrorism. It
also analyzes the public debate in Germany about the historical,
moral, and political significance of the deliberate killing of up
to 600,000 German civilians by the British and American air forces.
This pioneering collaboration provides a platform for a wide range
of views-some of which are controversial-on a highly topical,
painful, and morally challenging subject.
A remarkable and compelling story about a Jewish boys coming of age
during World War II, his survival, and ultimately, the
transformation of his life as an American. Joseph Garays life story
is an object lesson about perseverance in the face of seemingly
insurmountable obstacles -- from the loss of his entire family in
the concentration camps, to his survival in the Jewish Underground
in Bratislava and elsewhere; from his joining the partisan
underground and his enlistment in the Czechoslovakian division of
the Romanian Red Army to fight the Nazis, to his meeting and
marrying his wife. It is also a lesson about the remarkable acts of
a single individual, Joseph Paserin, who protected Garay during
those tumultuous war years despite grave risk to his own and his
familys safety. The actions of Paserin ultimately enabled Garay to
start anew in New York City -- to build a new family and to enjoy
the safety and security of American freedom.
During WWII the mission of the Navy was, first and foremost, 'holding the line' against the German surface fleet, preventing it from disrupting the vital transatlantic sea-lanes or escorting an invasion force to Britain. The importance of holding the line cannot be over-emphasised but it is often overlooked as there was no decisive battle on the seas surrounding Britain in WWII. This work is a strategic and operational history of the Home Fleet. It examines the role of the home fleet in allied strategy and how well the home fleet carried out the missions assigned to it within the framework of that strategy.
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