War of the Wolf chronicles the war patrols of the famous submarine Seawolf of World War II. Texas' Seawolf Park was named in honor of SS-197, lost in October 1944. Before her loss, Seawolf racked up some of the most impressive patrols of the war and finished in the Top 10 in sinkings. Had the Silent Service not been plagued with faulty torpedoes during the first two years of World War II, she would have added many more ships to her battle flag. Under such famous skippers as "Fearless Freddie" Warder and Roy Gross, the Wolf's crew also boldly entered shallow enemy harbors, rescued downed aviators, landed commandos in the Philippines, and pioneered periscope photography. Her war started the day Pearl Harbor was attacked and ended under tragic circumstances. Relive Seawolf's exciting war patrols through the words of many of those who served aboard her, including the diary of a crewman lost with the Wolf.

One glance at the Spadefish (SS-411) battle flag shows that she was one of the most successful World War II submarines Spadefish was the only U.S. submarine launched in 1944 to become one of the war's top ten scoring boats. She downed six ships on her maiden double-barreled patrol and never looked back.

Uncommon Valor is a look into the formation and operation of an advanced Special Forces recon company during the Vietnam War. Code-named the Studies and Observations Group, SOG was the most covert U.S. military unit in its time and contained only volunteers from such elite units as the Army's Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and Air Force Air Commandos. SOG warriors operated in small teams, going behind enemy lines in Laos and Cambodia and along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, tasked with performing special reconnaissance, sabotaging North Vietnamese Army ammunition, attempting to rescue downed U.S. pilots, and other black ops missions. During that time, Forward Operating Base-2's (FOB-2's) recon company became the most highly decorated unit of the Vietnam War, with five of its men earning the Medal of Honor and eight earning the Distinguished Service Cross-America's second highest military award for valor. Purple Hearts were earned by SOG veterans at a pace unparalleled in American wars of the twentieth century, with casualties at times exceeding 100 percent. One, Bob Howard, was wounded on fourteen different occasions, received eight Purple Hearts, was written up after three different missions for the Medal of Honor, and emerged from Vietnam as the most highly decorated soldier since World War II's Audie Murphy.

The last Pacific campaign of World War II was the most violent on record. Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's Task Force 58 carriers had conducted air strikes on mainland Japan and supported the Iwo Jima landings, but his aviators were sorely tested once the Okinawa campaign commenced on 1 April 1945. Rain of Steel follows Navy and Marine carrier aviators in the desperate air battles to control the kamikazes directed by Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki. The latter would unleash ten different Kikusui aerial suicide operations, one including a naval force built around the world's most powerful battleship, the 71,000-ton Yamato. These battles are related largely through the words and experiences of some of the last living U.S. fighter aces of World War II. More than 1,900 kamikaze sorties--and thousands more traditional attack aircraft--would be launched against the U.S. Navy's warships, radar picket ships, and amphibious vessels during the Okinawa campaign. In this time, Navy, Marine, and Army Air Force pilots would claim some 2,326 aerial victories. The most successful four-man fighter division in U.S. Navy history would be crowned during the fight against Ugaki's kamikazes. The Japanese named the campaign tetsu no ame (""rain of steel""), often referred to in English as "typhoon of steel.

This fourth and final volume of the "Savage Frontier" series completes the history of the Texas Rangers and frontier warfare in the Republic of Texas era. During this period of time, fabled Captain John Coffee Hays and his small band of Rangers were often the only government-authorized frontier fighters employed to keep the peace.

Author Stephen L. Moore covers the assembly of Texan forces to repel two Mexican incursions during 1842, the Vasquez and Woll invasions. This volume covers the resulting battle at Salado Creek, the defeat of Dawson's men, and a skirmish at Hondo Creek near San Antonio. Texas Rangers also played a role in the ill-fated Somervell and Mier expeditions.

By 1844, Captain Hays' Rangers had forever changed the nature of frontier warfare with the use of the Colt five-shooter repeating pistol. This new weapon allowed his men to remain on horseback and keep up a continuous and deadly fire in the face of overwhelming odds, especially at Walker's Creek. Through extensive use of primary military documents and first-person accounts, Moore sets the record straight on some of Jack Hays' lesser-known Comanche encounters.

For the exacting historian or genealogist of early Texas, the "Savage Frontier" series is an indispensable resource on early nineteenth-century Texas frontier warfare.

PRAISE FOR "SAVAGE FRONTIER VOL IV"

"Moore's fourth and final volume of the "Savage Frontier" series contains many compelling battle narratives, but there is a wealth of social as well as military history lurking in these chapters. No one who is interested in the people and the problems of the Texas Republic can afford to leave these pages unread."--James E. Crisp, author of "How Did Davy Die? And Why Do We Care So Much?"

"The early 1840s was one of the most turbulent chapters in the history of the lower Rio Grande valley. Readers familiar with earlier volumes in the Savage Frontier series will find much to admire in Steven Moore's eminently readable account."--Sam W. Haynes, author of "Soldiers of Misfortune: The Somervell and Mier Expeditions"

PRAISE FOR THE "SAVAGE FRONTIER" SERIES

"An exhaustively researched study of the pervasive violence that confronted the newborn Texas Rangers even in colonial days."--Kent Biffle, "Dallas"" Morning News"

"The volumes of "Savage Frontier" provide exciting action and accurate history. In addition, important genealogical material is given for anyone seeking the role of his or her ancestors in early Texas history."--Chuck Parsons, "Texas Ranger Dispatch"

"Moore has done an extraordinary job of exhaustively researching his subject. I am not aware of any other book that investigates this period of Ranger history with such thoroughness as "Savage Frontier.""--Donaly Brice, author of "The Great Comanche Raid"