This book examines representations of war throughout American literary history, providing a firm grounding in established criticism and opening up new lines of inquiry. Readers will find accessible yet sophisticated essays that lay out key questions and scholarship in the field. War and American Literature provides a comprehensive synthesis of the literature and scholarship of US war writing, illuminates how themes, texts, and authors resonate across time and wars, and provides multiple contexts in which texts and a war's literature can be framed. By focusing on American war writing, from the wars with the Native Americans and the Revolutionary War to the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, this volume illuminates the unique role representations of war have in the US imagination.

As the war approaches its end, Prince once more has to risk everything.Berlin, 1939: A German intelligence officer learns a top agent is quickly moving up the British Army ranks. He bides his time. Arnhem, 1944: British paratroopers have been slaughtered in one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War. A shell shocked officer is convinced: the Germans knew they were coming. But who betrayed them? Back in London, Richard Prince, detective and spy, is approached by MI5 about a counterintelligence operation. Information is leaking and British troops are dying. Prince has to stop it, and crack the suspected spy ring at all costs. But in the world of espionage nothing is as it seems... The latest WWII espionage thriller from Alex Gerlis is perfect for readers of Robert Harris, John le Carre and Alan Furst. Praise for Ring of Spies 'A spy character to rival those of John le Carre, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst' David Young, author of Stasi Child

Charismatic hero Jack Steel returns, in a new and perilous adventure.

1708. War rages across the lowlands of Flanders. British soldiers fight ferociously to protect their last remaining fortress in Oudenarde. Their mission is to stop their enemies France and Spain forming a powerful union that could relegate Britain to the sidelines in Europe.

Newly married and promoted to the rank of captain, life for Jack Steel has never been better. But now he must go back to where he is needed - on the battlefield. Having already fought some daring campaigns under the Duke of Marlborough, Steel has every reason to be confident. But after a long day of fighting, one of France's finest cavalry regiments ambushes his battered and exhausted Grenadier troops. Taken by surprise, Steel will need a miracle to save them all from annihilation.

Brothers in Arms is the third book in the superb Jack Steel series.

Someone has stolen the world's most famous painting and replaced it with a fake. When the mission looks impossible, the world calls upon UNACO. After lengthy negotiations the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam agrees to send its priceless Rembrandt, 'Night Watch', on a tour of the world's art galleries. Security is intensive. Even so, when the painting arrives in New York it is discovered to be a fake. UNACO is immediately called into action. Agents Mike Graham, C.W. Whitlock and Sabrina Carver must find out who is responsible for the brilliant forgery and, most important, who now has the original in his private collection. Speed and secrecy are vital. The hunt leads them to Rio de Janeiro at Carnival time, where their quarry is secure in his mountain fortress, high above the sea...

The historical fiction debut from former soldier, BBC defence correspondent and MP, Patrick Mercer, is a thrilling military action set during the Crimean War. 1854. War is imminent as the Western powers quarrel with Russia over fragments of the crumbling Ottoman empire. Wanting to prove himself to a father who will not let him forget about his own self-proclaimed military glories, Officer Tony Morgan is keen to set sail. Meanwhile, the Morgan's chambermaid, Mary, whom Tony loves but cannot marry, has wedded another officer in his company and will be accompanying the regiment to the front as a nurse. Arriving at Sebastapol in the Crimea, the company's first engagement with the Russians fill the company with a short-lived confidence. Morgan is eager to show himself a worthy leader, but in the face of several bloody engagements which decimate the company, he finds himself shaken to the core by the brutality of war. He also has to quell potential mutiny against the cowardly subaltern Carmichael, whose first instincts are always to save his own skin. His romantic longings for Mary are revived after her husband is severely injured and she nevertheless proves herself a noble and brave addition to the company. Facing dire conflict on the battlefield and off, within his company and within himself, Morgan is going to be tested to the limits... In his fiction debut, Mercer's twenty years of military service is all there on the page. His mastery of both the broad sweep and the finer details of military engagement is superb and bound to make an impact with military action fans. His characterisation of the regiment is wholly persuasive and he nails soldier psychology, slang and the interactions up and down the chain of command with deceptive ease. This is probably the closest any of us will get to being in a battle.

Warrior and combat medic, Titus Cervianus, must lead a legion and quell the uprisings in Egypt in a new Roman adventure from Simon Turney. Titus Cervianus is no ordinary soldier. And the Twenty Second is no ordinary legion... Egypt. 25 BC. A former surgeon from the city of Ancyra, Titus Cervianus is now a capsarius - a combat medic. He is a pragmatist, a scientist - and deeply unpopular with his legion, the Twenty Second Deiotariana. The Twenty Second have been sent to deal with uprisings in Egypt. Founded as the private army of one of Rome's most devoted allies, their ways are not the same as the other legions', which sets them apart and causes friction with their fellow soldiers. Marching into the unknown, Cervianus will find unexpected allies: a local cavalryman and a troublesome lunatic. Both will be of critical importance as the young medic marches through the searing sands of the south, finding forbidden temples, hidden assassins, and worst of all, the warrior queen of Kush... Reviewers on The Capsarius: 'Brings a whole new dimension to the genre... Recommended' Historical Novel Society 'A blistering epic brimming with tension, mystery and adventure!' Gordon Doherty Reviews for Simon Turney: 'A page turner from beginning to end... A damn fine read' Ben Kane 'First-rate Roman fiction' Matthew Harffy

Based on a true story The Invisible Mile tells the poignant story of five Australian and New Zealand cyclists who in 1928 formed the first English-speaking team to ride in the Tour de France. They were gallant, under-resourced and badly outnumbered but taken deep to the heart by the French nation. The novel describes in a wonderful poetic and visceral voice what it was like to ride in this race (the chaos, danger and rivalries), the extraordinary lengths to which the riders pushed themselves, suffering horrific injuries, riding through the night in pitch dark, and the ways they staved off the pain, through camaraderie, through sexual conquest, through drink, and through drugs (cocaine for energy, opium for pain). Added to the team is the fictional narrator who is cycling towards his demons in a northern France still scarred by the First World War. His brother was a fighter pilot damaged by his experiences in France, his sister has died, and this self-imposed test of endurance is slowly and painfully bringing him to his final, invisible mile where memory eventually comes to collide with the past

The doctors and nurses who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were well trained, dedicated, and pushed to the brink. And they were young - too young to be doing what they had to do. As Richard Hooker writes in the Foreword, 'A few flipped their lids, but most of them just raised hell, in a variety of ways and degrees.' Meet the true-life heroes and lunatics who fought in the Korean War, and experience the martini-laced mornings, marathon hi-jinks, sexual escapades, and that perfectly corrupt football game that every fan of the movie will remember. It's also a story of hard work and skill in the face of enormous pressure and odds. Here is where it all began - the novel that made MASH a legend.

'A carefully crafted, totally engaging epic family drama' Yorkshire Post 'Delightful' Daily Mail Da said the Pearson family came out of the sand. He said they were born out of the red clarty sand that stuck to the soles of boots and the hems of frocks. You couldn't just brush the sand away, you had to beat your clothes with the palm of your hand like you were smacking them for being naughty. You had to bang your boots against the doorstep and find a knife to gouge away the sand that clung to the heels and round the stitching. Ellen has a unique view of the world but living in a tiny town in the north-east of England, in a world on the cusp of war, no one has time for an orphaned girl who seems a little odd. When she is taken in to look after a rich, elderly widow things seem to be get better, despite musty curtains and an aging employer completely out of touch with the world. But pregnancy out of wedlock spoils all this, and Ellen is unable to cope. How will Jack, her son, survive - alone in the world as his mother was? Can they eventually find their way back to each other? The Colours is a sweeping novel of how we can lose ourselves, and our loved ones, for fans of Kate Atkinson and Virginia Baily.

War is coming, but can she weather the storm?It is the summer of 1939, and Kathie and Dennis Hawthorne are utterly content. They run a thriving market garden called Westways, and their lives are just as they always imagined. But when war arrives, Dennis, a member of the TA, is called up immediately, leaving Kathie to engage helpers and run the garden. As Kathie's narrow existence widens, her confidence grows, but with Dennis far away and his safety under threat, her world begins to fall apart. She is stirred by previously unknown emotions that bring her to despair. She must lean on her new friendships and the community that has blossomed around the garden to find the strength to overcome her own struggles, and to ensure Westways blooms. A charming and uplifting wartime saga for fans of Rosie Clarke and Kate Thompson.

“Papa explains the war like this: ‘When the elephants dance, the chickens must be careful.’ The great beasts, as they circle one another, shaking the trees and trumpeting loudly, are the Amerikanos and the Japanese as they fight. And our Philippine Islands? We are the small chickens.”

Once in a great while comes a storyteller who can illuminate worlds large and small, magical and true to life. When the Elephants Dance   introduces us to the incandescent voice of Tess Uriza Holthe, who sets her remarkable first novel in the waning days of World War II, as the Japanese and the Americans engage in a fierce battle for possession of the Philippine Islands. The Karangalan family and their neighbors huddle for survival in the cellar of a house a few miles from Manila. Outside the safety of their little refuge the war rages on—fiery bombs torch the beautiful Filipino countryside, Japanese soldiers round up and interrogate innocent people, and from the hills guerillas wage a desperate campaign against the enemy. Inside the cellar, these men, women, and children put their hopes and dreams on hold as they wait out the war, only emerging to look for food, water, and medicine.

Through the eyes of three narrators, thirteen-year-old Alejandro Karangalan, his spirited older sister Isabelle, and Domingo, a passionate guerilla commander, we see how ordinary people must learn to live in the midst of extraordinary uncertainty, how they must find hope for survival where none seems to exist. They find this hope in the dramatic history of the Philippine Islands and the passion and bravery of its people. Crowded together in the cellar, the Karangalans and their friends and neighbors tell magical stories to one another based on Filipino myth and legend to fuel their courage, pass the time, and teach important lessons. The group is held spellbound by these stories, which feature a dazzling array of ghosts, witches, supernatural creatures, and courageous Filipinos who changed the course of history with their actions. These profoundly moving stories transport the listeners from the chaos of the war around them and give them new resolve to fight on.

With When the Elephants Dance Holthe has not only written a gripping narrative of how Alejandro, Isabelle, Domingo and their community fight for survival, but a loving tribute to the magical realism that infuses Filipino culture. The stories shared by her characters are based on the same tales handed down to Holthe from her Filipino father and lola, her grandmother. This stunning debut novel is the first to celebrate in such richness and depth the spirit of the Filipino people and their fascinating story and marks the introduction of a talented new author who will join the ranks of writers such as Arundhati Roy, Manil Suri, and Amy Tan.

When everything you hold dear is torn apart by war, can love put you back together again? It's 1943, and the Second World War is raging. Ruby Mottram works for her local newspaper, the Bartonford Herald, typing up adverts and obituaries, whilst dreaming of a more exciting life. Between her shifts as an ARP warden and caring for her ailing father, the chance for escape doesn't come often to Devon. Meanwhile, in America's deep south, Sam Archer is hatching a plan to raise enough money to get his mother and sister away from his abusive stepfather. Using falsified documents to hide his age, he enlists with the U.S. Army. Two chance encounters bring Ruby and Sam together from opposite sides of the Atlantic, giving them the chance of love, hope and freedom from their troubled lives. But fate, in the shape of D-Day and Omaha Beach, has other ideas. When their very lives are at risk, will their promise to wait for one another be what keeps them alive? For fans of Suzanne Kelman, Ellie Midwood and Catherine Hokin. Readers love Before the Dawn: 'An absolutely stunning book... I adored everything about this. I would definitely watch this if it were a movie! I already can't wait to re-read this' NetGalley Reviewer, 'OH MY GODDESS this book has become a new favourite... Ruby and Sam's love is addicting and heart-warming, leaving me feel the same emotions alongside them through every bump in the road. Their love was so enchanting and strong' @haleyyneal, 'What a gorgeous book!!... It would make an exquisite movie. The chemistry between the two main characters was off the charts. This book kept me up late into the night turning page by page like it was on fire to see what happened next' NetGalley Reviewer, 'I need this to be a movie!... A beautiful story of love and the dual perspective was perfect! I am adding this to my historical fiction favourites' NetGalley Reviewer, 'I couldn't put this down! Beautiful writing kept me turning the pages!' NetGalley Reviewer, 'Lovely, raw WWII romance... Quite heart-breaking... Definitely a rocky and emotional one... A really great WWII historical romance' Wayfaring_reader, 'Wonderful book... If you are a fan of World War novels of history and romance, then you need to read this... A stunning book I couldn't put down. At the end I was overwhelmed with the story and replayed it in my mind for several days. A read not to be missed' Goodreads Reviewer, 'I read this over a rainy stormy weekend... Just what I needed to curl up with... This was an immersive, historically well researched story of WW2... All that one might want from this genre: romance, historical fact and some sense of suspense... 5 stars from me!' NetGalley Reviewer,

In the aftermath of World War II, two women with unusual gifts must protect a mysterious baby in a poignant tale of family, sacrifice and magic. Barrie Anne Blythe and her aunt Charlotte have always known that the other residents of their small coastal community find them peculiar -- two women living alone on the outskirts of town. It is the price of concealing their strange and dangerous family secret. But two events threaten to upend their lives forever. The first is the arrival of a mysterious abandoned baby with a hint of power like their own. The second is the sudden reappearance of Barrie Anne's long-lost husband -- who is not quite the man she thought she married. Together, Barrie Anne and Charlotte must decide how far they are willing to go to protect themselves -- and the child they think of as their own -- from suspicious neighbors, the government, and even their own family. . . Praise for The Witch's Kind: "The strength of Morgan's powerful story is her depiction of this time and place and the everyday struggles of determined women. A great choice for readers who enjoy novels by Alice Hoffman and Barbara Kingsolver." --Booklist "Family, love, and ultimately personal strength. Fans of Morgan's The Secret History of Witches will appreciate this latest installment, and newcomers will be equally enchanted." --Historical Novel Society For more from Louisa Morgan, check out: A Secret History of Witches The Age of Witches

Private William Mandella is a reluctant hero in an interstellar war against an unknowable and unconquerable alien enemy. But his greatest test will be when he returns home. Relativity means that for every few months' tour of duty centuries have passed on Earth, isolating the combatants ever more from the world for whose future they are fighting. The Earth he knew is dead. The one he returns to . . . unrecognisable. Winner of the Nebula, Locus and Hugo awards, The Forever War was the first title selected for the SF Masterworks series when it launched in 1999. Inspired by Haldeman's experience in the Vietnam War, it has been seen as a critical work of anti-war SF. 'This is an enraged and enraging classic that deserves a place alongside Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter as an expression of the pain caused by Vietnam'- Guardian 'The book is near perfect'- infinity plus 'This book is not only one of the best military science fiction books ever written, but is one of the finest works of modern American literature' - Tordotcom Welcome to The Best Of The Masterworks: a selection of the finest in science fiction

Brothers. Emperors. Deadly enemies... An unputdownable novel of intrigue and combat in Rome.Emperor Severus is on his deathbed. His sons Geta and Caracalla, feuding in Britannia, are readying for a devastating power struggle. Silus, now a centurion in the Arcani, the secretive network of spies and killers, is thrown into the maelstrom. Back in Rome, plots breed in the stinking alleys. Everyone might be an enemy. Everyone a traitor. As an Imperial Assassin, Silus' loyalty will be tested to breaking point. And with the Empire starting to buckle under the strain, Silus must ask what matters: Rome or his own damned soul? From thundering races at the Circus Maximus to death in the Imperial palaces, this is a powerful and unputdownable novel that will transport to you Ancient Rome, perfect for fans of Ben Kane, Simon Scarrow and Conn Iggulden.

Action packed adventure from The New York Times bestseller Dale Brown Charged with rebuilding America's long-range attack force devastated in Edge of Battle, Special Adviser to the President Lt. Gen. Patrick McLanahan shocks everyone by proposing to build a force of spaceplanes, able to attack any target on the globe within minutes. The project is led by test pilot Captain Hunter Noble. Just then, Iran's theocratic regime falls victim to a swift military coup that reveals its immense military power to the world. The new self-appointed Iranian president, General Buzhazi wants to normalize relations between Israel and the United States. Buzhazi appeals to the world for help in hunting down terrorists, he argues that only he has the resources to stop radical fundamentalist Islam, and the world responds favourably. Hunter Noble secretly launches several reconnaissance satellites over Iran to monitor Buzhazi's powerful forces. Soon the satellites reveal Buzhazi's real plan, planting thousands of Iranian Pasdaran special-ops troops throughout the oil-rich Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The U.S. tries to re-establish a strong military presence in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, but Iran has the upper hand now, and the U.S. government realizes it is in danger of losing control of the entire Middle East. But Hunter Noble is already working up a plan to strike back, showing the real power of the spaceplane force.

From America's master storyteller and writer of historical fiction comes the epic story of two families -- the Hazards and the Mains. Separated by vastly different ways of life, joined by the unbreakable bonds of true friendship, and torn asunder by a country at the threshold of a bloody conflict that would change their lives forever....

A masterpiece of literary craft and concision; sparse, beautiful and hugely affecting - Daily Mail Since the liberation of the Netherlands, Emma Verweij has been living in Rotterdam, in a street which became a stronghold of friendships for its inhabitants during the Second World War. She marries Bruno, they have two sons, and she determines to block out the years she spent in Nazi Berlin during the war, with her first husband Carl. But now, ninety-six years old and on the eve of her death, long- forgotten memories crowd again into her consciousness, flashbacks of happier years, and the tragedy of the war, of Carl, of her father, and of the friends she has lost. In The Longest Night, his impressive, reflective new novel after News from Berlin, Otto de Kat deftly distils momentous events of 20th-century history into the lives of his characters. In Emma, the past and the present coincide in limpid fragments of rare, melancholy beauty. Translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson

The New York Times bestselling author of The Last Train to London revisits the dark early days of the German occupation in France in this haunting novel--a love story and a tale of high-stakes danger and incomparable courage--about a young American heiress who helps artists hunted by the Nazis escape from war-torn Europe. Wealthy, beautiful Nanee was born with a spirit of adventure that transcends her Midwestern roots. For her, learning to fly is freedom. When German tanks roll across the border and into Paris, this woman with an adorable dog and a generous heart joins the resistance. Known as the Postmistress because she delivers information to those in hiding, Nanee uses her charms and skill to house the hunted and deliver them to safety. Inspired by the real life Chicago heiress Mary Jayne Gold, who worked with American journalist Varian Fry to smuggle artists and intellectuals out of France, Meg Waite Clayton has fashioned a sweeping tale of romance and danger, set in a world aflame with personal and political passion. The Postmistress of Paris is the haunting story of an indomitable woman whose strength, bravery, and love is a beacon of hope in a time of terror.