Search:

Results 41 to 50 of 64 | « previous |

The fire and the darkness : the bombing of Dresden, 1945 / by McKay, Sinclair,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A gripping work of narrative nonfiction recounting the history of the Dresden Bombing, one of the most devastating attacks of World War II. On February 13th, 1945 at 10:03 PM, British bombers began one of the most devastating attacks of WWII: the bombing of Dresden. The first contingent killed people and destroyed buildings, roads, and other structures. The second rained down fire, turning the streets into a blast furnace, the shelters into ovens, and whipping up a molten hurricane in which the citizens of Dresden were burned, baked, or suffocated to death. Early the next day, American bombers finished off what was left. Sinclair McKay's The Fire and the Darkness is a pulse-pounding work of history that looks at the life of the city in the days before the attack, tracks each moment of the bombing, and considers the long period of reconstruction and recovery. The Fire and the Darkness is powered by McKay's reconstruction of this unthinkable terror from the points of view of the ordinary civilians: Margot Hille, an apprentice brewery worker; Gisela Reichelt, a ten-year-old schoolgirl; boys conscripted into the Hitler Youth; choristers of the Kreuzkirche choir; artists, shop assistants, and classical musicians, as well as the Nazi officials stationed there. What happened that night in Dresden was calculated annihilation in a war that was almost over. Sinclair McKay's brilliant work takes a complex, human, view of this terrible night and its aftermath in a gripping book that will be remembered long after the last page is turned."--
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Manual for survival : a Chernobyl guide to the future / by Brown, Kate(Kathryn L.),author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A chilling exposé of the international effort to minimize the health and environmental consequences of nuclear radiation in the wake of Chernobyl. Governments and journalists tell us that though Chernobyl was "the worst nuclear disaster in history," a reassuringly small number of people died (44), and nature recovered. Yet, drawing on a decade of fine-grained archival research and interviews in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, Kate Brown uncovers a much more disturbing story--one in which radioactive isotypes caused hundreds of thousands of casualties. Scores of Soviet scientists, bureaucrats, and civilians documented stunning increases in cases of birth defects, child mortality, cancers, and a multitude of prosaic diseases, which they linked to Chernobyl. Worried that this evidence would blow the lid on the effects of massive radiation release from weapons testing during the Cold War, international scientists and diplomats tried to bury or discredit it. A haunting revelation of how political exigencies shape responses to disaster, Manual for Survival makes clear the irreversible impact on every living thing not just from Chernobyl, but from eight decades of radiation from nuclear energy and weaponry."--
Subjects: Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, Chornobylʹ, Ukraine, 1986; Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, Chornobylʹ, Ukraine, 1986; Ionizing radiation; Radioactive pollution;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Tom Clancy's Op-Center. by Rovin, Jeff,author.; Clancy, Tom,1947-2013,creator.; Pieczenik, Steve R.,creator.;
"In this action-packed thriller in the New York Times bestselling Tom Clancy's Op-Center series, America's elite task force must take down a group of ruthless domestic terrorists determined to paralyze the country through extreme acts of violence. They are known as the Black Order. Self-proclaimed patriots and survivalists, they refuse to surrender their values and beliefs to the left-leaning cultural and progressive forces threatening their nation. Military veterans and high-tech specialists, they've begun a savage war from public assassinations of politicians and celebrities to high-profile bombings, striking without warning or mercy. The Black Order wants nothing less than complete capitulation from the US government, giving them free rein to make their ideologies the law of the land. Only Op-Center's Black Wasp, a skilled team of military operatives answerable to the President, can defeat these militant revolutionaries. But even as Admiral Chase Williams and his agents force them on the run, the Black Order possesses a weapon of mass destruction that they will not hesitate to unleash against millions of innocent civilians"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Special forces (Military science); Terrorism; Domestic terrorism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
unAPI

Operation Medusa : the furious battle that saved Afghanistan from the Taliban / by Fraser, David(Major-General),author.; Hanington, Brian,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."David Fraser, the Canadian in charge of the joint military command in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan, tells the real on-the-ground story of one of NATO's bloodiest, most decisive and misunderstood operations: The battle of Panjwayi, the defining moment of "Operation Medusa." In 2006, David Fraser was the Canadian general in charge of the joint military command in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Like the troops under his command, he was in no way ready for what happened on Friday, September 1st of that year. He had been woken the night before by his intelligence officers who informed him that the Taliban were amassing on all fronts for an all-out battle. The NATO Alliance was about to engage the enemy in the greatest and bloodiest battle of their 70-year history. And they were grossly outnumbered. The facts of Operation Medusa have themselves been the casualties of war. At first deliberately withheld as classified, then muddied by imprecise and isolated personal accounts, exaggerated by rumour, misstated by ambition, or just rejected outright as irrelevant, the details of these events are still unknown by citizens of Canada and her allies. And yet the truth about those 15 agonizing days between September 2 and 17 is astounding. The secret agreements made in those two weeks, the expected death toll of Canadian soldiers, the wholesale changes to tactics made after the first engagement, the strafing of Charles Company by an American A-10, the contribution of the Afghan police, the genius of the Dutch artillery, the discovery of drugs, the extent of unreported civilian casualties, and even Canadian and Allied reliance on the insights of village elders were classified and kept from public knowledge. And yet in international military circles, the Battle of Panjwayi was quickly hailed as the defining moment of Operation Medusa. Canadians were credited with nothing less than saving Afghanistan from falling under Taliban rule. Our military's strategy and tactics were soon studied in warfare colleges in the U.S., and practiced by NATO troops in exercises around the world. Canada's reputation as a contributor to allied defence was once again revered. There is no one architect of Operation Medusa, a theme deeply embedded in David Fraser's first-hand account, but if anyone really had to point to the one person who could tell this incredible story, it is the Canadian General in charge of the joint military command"--
Subjects: International Security Assistance Force (Afghanistan); North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Operation Medusa, 2006.; Afghan War, 2001-;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Tom Clancy's Op-Center. [sound recording] / by Rovin, Jeff,author.; Gurner, Jeff,narrator.; Clancy, Tom,1947-2013,creator.; Pieczenik, Steve R.,creator.; Macmillan Audio (Firm),publisher.;
Read by Jeff Gurner."In this action-packed thriller in the New York Times bestselling Tom Clancy's Op-Center series, America's elite task force must take down a group of ruthless domestic terrorists determined to paralyze the country through extreme acts of violence. They are known as the Black Order. Self-proclaimed patriots and survivalists, they refuse to surrender their values and beliefs to the left-leaning cultural and progressive forces threatening their nation. Military veterans and high-tech specialists, they've begun a savage war from public assassinations of politicians and celebrities to high-profile bombings, striking without warning or mercy. The Black Order wants nothing less than complete capitulation from the US government, giving them free rein to make their ideologies the law of the land. Only Op-Center's Black Wasp, a skilled team of military operatives answerable to the President, can defeat these militant revolutionaries. But even as Admiral Chase Williams and his agents force them on the run, the Black Order possesses a weapon of mass destruction that they will not hesitate to unleash against millions of innocent civilians"--
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Thrillers (Fiction); Domestic terrorism; Special forces (Military science); Terrorism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The great leader and the fighter pilot : the true story of the tyrant who created North Korea and the young lieutenant who stole his way to freedom / by Harden, Blaine.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Introduction: Players and Game -- Part I: Guerrilla and Rich Boy -- Beginnings -- Poodle and Pretender -- Sweet-Talking Stalin -- Part II: War -- The Great Liberation Struggle -- Kicked in the Teeth -- MiGs -- Return to North Korea -- An International Sporting Event -- Attack Maps and Defection Bribes -- Uncle Yoo -- Part III: Flight -- Flying Clear -- Squeezing the Moolah -- Right Stuff and Fake Stuff -- Learning and Purging -- Epilogue."From the bestselling author of Escape from Camp 14, the murderous rise of North Korea's founding dictator and the fighter pilot who faked him out. In The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot, New York Times bestselling author Blaine Harden tells the riveting story of how Kim Il Sung grabbed power and plunged his country into war against the United States while the youngest fighter pilot in his air force was playing a high-risk game of deception--and escape. As Kim ascended from Soviet puppet to godlike ruler, No Kum Sok noisily pretended to love his Great Leader. That is, until he swiped a Soviet MiG-15 and delivered it to the Americans, not knowing they were offering a $100,000 bounty for the warplane (the equivalent of nearly one million dollars today). The theft--just weeks after the Korean War ended in July 1953--electrified the world and incited Kim's bloody vengeance. During the Korean War the United States brutally carpet bombed the North, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and giving the Kim dynasty, as Harden reveals, the fact-based narrative it would use to this day to sell paranoia and hatred of Americans. Drawing on documents from Chinese and Russian archives about the role of Mao and Stalin in Kim's shadowy rise, as well as from never-before-released U.S. intelligence and interrogation files, Harden gives us a heart-pounding escape adventure and an entirely new way to understand the world's longest-lasting totalitarian state"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Kim, Il-sŏng, 1912-1994.; No, Kum-Sok.; Defectors; Dictators; Escapes; Fighter pilots; Korean War, 1950-1953; Theft;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The savage storm : the battle for Italy 1943 / by Holland, James,1970-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Acclaimed WWII historian James Holland both narrates and reframes the controversial first months of the Italian Campaign and sets a new standard in the chronicling of war. Following victory in Sicily, while the central command planned the spring 1944 invasion of France, Allied troops crossed into southern Italy in September 1943, expecting to drive Axis forces north and liberate Rome by Christmas. Italy quickly surrendered but German divisions fiercely resisted, and the hoped-for quick victory descended into one of the most challenging and protracted battles of the entire war. Chronicling the dramatic opening months of the Italian Campaign in unflinching and insightful detail, The Savage Storm is unlike any campaign history yet written. Holland has always narrated war at ground level, but here goes further by chronicling events almost entirely through the contemporary eyes of those who were there on all sides and at all levels-Allied, Axis, and civilians alike. Weaving together a wealth of letters, diaries, and other documents-from the likes of American General Mark Clark, German battalion commander Georg Zellner, New Zealand lance-corporal Roger Smith, and legendary war reporter Ernie Pyle-Holland traces the battles as they were experienced across plains, over mountains, through shattered villages and cities, in intense heat and, towards the end of December 1943, frigid cold and relentless rain. Such close-up views persuade Holland to recast important aspects of the campaign, reappraising the reputation of Mark Clark himself and other senior commanders of the U.S. Fifth and British Eighth armies. Given the shortage of Allied shipping and materiel allocated to Italy because of the build-up for D-Day, more was expected of Allied troops in Italy than anywhere else, and, as accounts at the time attest, a huge price was paid by everyone for each bloodily contested mile. Putting readers vividly in the moment as events unfolded, with characters made unforgettable by their own words, The Savage Storm is a defining account of the pivotal months leading to Monte Cassino, and a landmark in the writing about war"--
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Deception Cove / by Laukkanen, Owen,author.;
Former US Marine Jess Winslow reenters civilian life a new widow, with little more to her name than a falling-down house, a medical discharge for PTSD, and a loyal dog named Lucy. The only thing she actually cares about is that dog, a black-and-white pit bull mix who helps her cope with the devastating memories of her time in Afghanistan. After fifteen years -- nearly half his life -- in state prison, Mason Burke owns one set of clothes, a wallet, and a photo of Lucy, the service dog he trained while behind bars. Seeking a fresh start, he sets out for Deception Cove, Washington, where the dog now lives. As soon as Mason knocks on Jess's door, he finds himself in the middle of a standoff between the widow and the deputy county sheriff. When Jess's late husband piloted his final "fishing" expedition, he stole and stashed a valuable package from his drug dealer associates. Now the package is gone, and the sheriff's department has seized Jess's dearest possession-her dog. Unless Jess turns over the missing goods, Lucy will be destroyed. The last thing Mason wants is to be dragged back into the criminal world. The last thing Jess wants is to trust a stranger. But neither of them can leave a friend, the only good thing in either of their lives, in danger. To rescue Lucy, they'll have to forge an uneasy alliance. And to avoid becoming collateral damage in someone else's private war, they have to fight back -- and find a way to conquer their doubts and fears.
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Widows; Veterans; Ex-convicts; Service dogs;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

10/7 : 100 human stories / by Yaron, Lee,author.; Cohen, Joshua,writer of afterword.;
"The definitive account of the 10/7 attacks through the stories of its victims and the communities they called home. On October 7, 2023 -- the Sabbath and the final day of the holiday of Sukkot-the Gaza -- based terror group Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on the people of Israel. Crashing through the border, attacking from the sea and air, militants indiscriminately massacred civilians in what became one of the worst terror attacks in modern history, and the most lethal day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. A radically passionate work of investigative journalism and political critique by acclaimed Haaretz reporter Lee Yaron, 10/7 chronicles the massacre that ignited a war through the stories of more than 100 civilians. These stories are the products of extensive interviews with survivors, the bereaved, and first responders in Israel and beyond. The victims run the gamut from left-wing kibbutzniks and Burning Man-esque partiers to radical right-wingers, from Bedouins and Israeli Arabs to Thai and Nepalese guest workers, peace activists, elderly Holocaust survivors, refugees from Ukraine and Russia, pregnant women, and babies. At a time when people are seeking a deeper understanding of the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how internal political turmoil in Israel has affected it, they predominantly encounter perspectives from the powerful-from politicians and military officers. 10/7 takes a fresh approach, offering answers through the stories of everyday people, those who lived tenuously on the border with Gaza. Yaron profiles victims from a wide range of communities-depicting the fullness of their lives, not just their final moments-to honor their memories and reveal the way the attack ripped open Israeli society and put the entire Middle East on the precipice of disaster. Each chapter begins with a portrait of a community, interweaving history with broader political analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to provide context for the narratives that follow. Ultimately, 10/7 shows that the tragedy is much greater than the violence of the attacks, and in fact extends back through the entire Netanyahu era, which propagated a false image of Israel as a technologically advanced, militarily formidable powerhouse so essential to the region that it could continue to ignore and undermine Palestinian statehood indefinitely"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-Islāmīyah.; Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-Islāmīyah.; Arab-Israeli conflict; Israelis; Jews; October 7 Hamas Attack, Israel, 2023.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Sicily '43 : the first assault on fortress Europe / by Holland, James,1970-author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 555-571) and index."On July 10, 1943, the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted took place, larger even than the Normandy invasion eleven months later: 160,000 American, British, and Canadian troops came ashore or were parachuted onto Sicily, signaling the start of the campaign to defeat Nazi Germany on European soil. Operation HUSKY, as it was known, was enormously complex, involving dramatic battles on land, in the air, and at sea. Yet, despite its drama and its paramount importance to ultimate Allied victory, very little has been written about the 38-day battle for Sicily. Based on much new research, Sicily '43 offers vital new perspective on a major turning point in World War II. The characters involved-General George Patton and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery among many-were as colorful as the battles across the scorching plains and above the peaks of Sicily were brutal. Among Holland's great skills is incorporating the experience of on-the-ground participants on all sides--from American colonel Jim Gavin, British major Hedley Verity, and Canadian lieutenant Farley Mowat to brigade commander Wilhelm Schmalz, Luftwaffe fighter pilot Johannes "Macky" Steinhoff, and Italian combatants, civilians, and mafiosi alike--giving readers an intimate sense of what occurred in July and August 1943. Emphasizing the significance of Allied air superiority, Holland overturns conventional narratives that have criticized the Sicily campaign for the slowness of the Allied advance and that so many German and Italian soldiers escaped to the mainland; rather, he shows that clearing the island in 38 days against geographical challenges and fierce resistance was an impressive achievement. A powerful and dramatic account by a master military historian, Sicily '43 fills a major gap in the narrative history of World War II"--
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945; Operation Husky, 1943.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

Results 41 to 50 of 64 | « previous |