Books

This book combines Aircraft of the Aces 13: 'Japanese Army Air Force Aces 1937-45' and Aircraft of the Aces 22: 'Imperial Japanese Navy Aces 1937-45'. Very little has been published in English on the air arms of the Japanese Army and Navy, and the pilots who flew for them. Yet between 1937 and 1945, 150 JAAF and 21 Imperial Japanese Navy pilots achieved 'ace' status in eight years of near-constant warfare. This book relates the experiences of both air forces, revealing how the JAAF aces achieved their scores flying over terrain ranging from the Mongolian plains to the jungles of New Guinea, and how the IJN pilots drew on their experience of fighting over Manchuria, China and Mongolia to take on Allied forces in the Pacific

The spellbinding autobiography of one of the only Nazi spies to reach American soil-Erich Gimpel-who was assigned by the Führer himself to sabotage America's atomic program.

Alan Turing died in 1954, but the themes of his life epitomize the turn of the millennium. A pure mathematician from a tradition that prided itself on its impracticality, Turing laid the foundations for modern computer science, writes Andrew Hodges: <blockquote>Alan had proved that there was no "miraculous machine" that could solve all mathematical problems, but in the process he had discovered something almost equally miraculous, the idea of a universal machine that could take over the work of "any" machine.</blockquote> During World War II, Turing was the intellectual star of Bletchley Park, the secret British cryptography unit. His work cracking the German's Enigma machine code was, in many ways, the first triumph of computer science. And Turing died because his identity as a homosexual was incompatible with cold-war ideas of security, implemented with machines and remorseless logic: "It was his own invention, and it killed the goose that laid the golden eggs." Andrew Hodges's remarkable insight weaves Turing's mathematical and computer work with his personal life to produce one of the best biographies of our time, and the basis of the Derek Jacobi movie "Breaking the Code". Hodges has the mathematical knowledge to explain the intellectual significance of Turing's work, while never losing sight of the human and social picture: <blockquote>In this sense his life belied his work, for it could not be contained by the discrete state machine. At every stage his life raised questions about the connection (or lack of it) between the mind and the body, thought and action, intelligence and operations, science and society, the individual and history.</blockquote> And Hodges admits what all biographers know, but few admit, about their subjects: "his inner code remains unbroken." Alan Turing is still an enigma. "--Mary Ellen Curtin"

The first use of aircraft for military purposes was in a reconnaissance role. As early as 1789 hydrogen balloons were employed in artillery spotting during the Franco-Prussian War. In the 20th century the airplane became the primary platform for aerial reconnaissance, and the experiments of earlier years developed into sophisticated strategic operations. This book details several of the most important operations from the perspective of photo-reconnaissance, including Monte Cassino, the Normandy landings, and the hunt for and destruction of Germany's V-weapons. Illustrated with 200 b/w original air reconnaissance photographs and maps.

Scrupulously edited and researched, this book provides fascinating newly declassified documentary evidence on a largely neglected aspect of World War II. It is impossible to fully understand the Third Reich and the Roosevelt Administration at war without carefully studying this monumental contribution to twentieth-century history.

Incorporating recent scholarship and broad treatment of every region affected by the war, the focus is on the interaction of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, with attention to such areas as the Middle East, Latin America, and Indochina. -- (Softcover)

Brilliant tactician, daring commander, and strong-willed leader, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's battlefield maneuvers remain unsurpassed. A noted historian probes the legendary fighter's military life, forces, armaments, and strategies. With a wealth of archival photographs. "...describe(s) each and every posting and its units...and...Rommel's actions and reasons. Everywhere you turn...there are detailed tables and descriptions of organizations and equipment....diverse and voluminous knowledge of the German "Wehrmacht"...Recommended reading and also excellent as a reference source..."--"Axis Europa".

I have always advocated keeping a wide array of unusual and telling reference works on hand. This is one of the most chilling: it is a translation of original German records, mixed with eyewitness accounts, compiled by the former research head of the Auschwitz Museum. The memoranda and ledger entries dryly tell the horrors of industrialized, government-sanctioned, popularly supported mass murder. In a sense, this is one of the most truthful works about the 20th century. Running over 800 pages, you can slam someone who "doubts" the Holocaust happened over the head with it.