Military Politics

Brought to you by Penguin. Throughout history, the concept of command -- as both a way to achieve objectives and as an assertion of authority -- has been essential to military action and leadership. But, as Sir Lawrence Freedman shows, it is also deeply political. Military command has been...

A remarkable analysis linking the assassination of JFK and 9/11, and how both events were used to influence war policy. Peter Dale Scott examines the many ways in which war policy has been driven by “accidents” and other events in the field, in some cases despite moves toward peace that were directed by presidents. This book explores the “deep politics” that exerts a profound but too-little-understood effect on national policy outside the control of traditional democratic processes.

The gunshots sounded like fireworks, but the bodies in the Louisiana river mud were all too real. When a festive bonfire on the St.James Parish levee turns into a massacre, the world sees a tragedy. Jonathan Hunt sees a signature. Hunted by his own agency and accompanied by Grace Hadley, a brilliant but disgraced analyst who knows too much, Hunt must navigate a kaleidoscope of betrayal. From the swampy depths of the Atchafalaya Basin to the sterile kill-rooms of DC, they are the only things standing between a shadow government and its endgame.

Daniel Petrovich, formerly part of the Department of Defense's infamous Black Flag program, protects a secret buried in the deepest vaults of the Pentagon. Blackmailed into executing one final mission for his previous commanding officer, Daniel's carefully constructed "life" rapidly disintegrates into a relentless federal manhunt - and a "24-style" race against the clock to suppress the shocking truth about his past. To survive, he'll release the darkest side of his concealed identity. A dark side with few boundaries - and even fewer loyalties.

Was World War II really the 'Good War'? In the years since the declaration of peace in 1945, many myths have sprung up around the conflict in the victorious nations. In this audiobook, Peter Hitchens deconstructs the many fables which have become associated with the narrative of the 'Good War'. Whilst not criticising or doubting the need for war against Nazi Germany at some stage, Hitchens does query whether September 1939 was the right moment or the independence of Poland the right issue.

Guerrilla Warfare by the revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, written in 1960, has become a how-to manual for thousands of guerrilla fighters in various countries around the world. Guevara intended it to be a guidebook on guerrilla warfare, as inspiration for the revolutionary movement. Fascinating to admirers and adversaries alike, he captured the minds of millions with his leadership and his belief in guerrilla warfare as the only effective agent to achieve political change.

In this classic work, Huntington challenges old assumptions and ideas on the role of the military in society. Stressing the value of the military outlook for American national policy, Huntington has performed the distinctive task of developing a general theory of civil-military relations and subjecting it to rigorous historical analysis.

Bloomsbury presents Rivals in the Storm by Damian Collins, read by Dyfrig Morris. A vivid biography in cinematic snapshots of David Lloyd George, one of the world’s greatest statesmen. Brought up in rural North Wales, David Lloyd George attended neither a grand school nor ancient university...

On the outskirts of London a humble migrant finally receives the order he’s been waiting for. His mission is a simple one...kill as many as you can. In central London, a desperate police officer finds himself cut off and alone as deadly terror attacks ripple across the city and airliners fall from the sky, killing thousands and spreading chaos and fear. Trapped inside his besieged embassy, the US Ambassador is forced to make the toughest decision of his life as heavily armed terrorists storm the building in an orgy of death and violence.

The men and women who served as agents of the World War II Special Operations Executive were courageous. But courage was not enough. They also needed to learn the caution and suspicion that might just keep them alive, undercover in enemy territory. Guardians of Churchill's Secret Army tells the stories of the extraordinary men who taught them those skills and thought processes. Their job was to stand alongside trainee agents and teach them how to seem innocuous while preparing resistance, subversion, and sabotage.

A war-weary Navy pilot confronts the deadly skies of the South Pacific, training Marine pilots and battling Soviets MiGs in the wake of the Vietnam WarFighter pilot Jake Grafton is adrift following combat in Vietnam. With no place in the States to call home, Grafton sticks to what he knows best: taking on the world’s most treacherous skies from the cockpit of a Grumman A-6 Intruder.

Distilling the ideas of the greatest military theoreticians of history, including Sun Tzu, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Carl von Clausewitz, this clear and engaging Very Short Introduction presents a fascinating account of the "art of the general." Antulio J. Echevarria II highlights the dynamic relationship between the main elements of strategy: purpose, method, and means. Drawing on historical examples, he discusses the major types of military strategy and how emerging technologies are affecting them. This second edition has been updated throughout.

Former Secret Service Agents turned private investigators, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, return in their most surprising, personal and dangerous case to date. King and Maxwell is the explosive finale to David Baldacci's phenomenal series. King and Maxwell encounter teenager Tyler Wingo when he...

In February 2002 Max Hastings retired from his position as a 'Fleet Street' Editor. His is an enormously illustrious career which started in 1985, when he was offered the Editorship of a national institution–the Daily Telegraph–in a surprise move by its owners. This candid memoir tells the...

Memoirs from one of the greatest war reporters of our time.Max Hastings grew up with romantic dreams of a life amongst warriors. But after his failure as a parachute soldier in Cyprus in 1963, he became a journalist instead. Before he was 30 he had reported conflicts in Northern Ireland, Biafra...

In this compelling study Max Hastings addresses the big human and military questions. Why did the Allies not win the war in 1944, when they were vastly stronger than the Germans? Why did the Russians produce the best generals? What was it like to fight the British, American, German and Soviet...

'Important, compelling, and detailed . . . a superb analysis of the West’s policy missteps and the tragic consequences of them.' - General David Petraeus In Assad: The Triumph of Tyranny, Con Coughlin, veteran commentator on war in the Middle East and author of Saddam: The Secret Life...

‘Explosive . . . a ground-breaking and revealing new book’ – Daily Mail ‘In explaining the rise to power of Kim Yo Jong, Lee displays his deep knowledge and understanding of North Korea’s extreme, ruthless and self-obsessed dynastic autocracy, the creators and rulers of a de-facto...

Red teaming. It is a practice as old as the Devil's Advocate, the 11th-century Vatican official charged with discrediting candidates for sainthood. Today, red teams - comprised primarily of fearless skeptics and those assuming the role of saboteurs who seek to better understand the interests, intentions, and capabilities of institutions or potential competitors - are used widely in both the public and private sector.

Militaries with state-of-the-art information technology sometimes bog down in confusing conflicts. To understand why, it is important to understand the micro-foundations of military power in the information age - and this is exactly what Jon R. Lindsay's Information Technology and Military Power gives us. As Lindsay shows, digital systems now mediate almost every effort to gather, store, display, analyze, and communicate information in military organizations. He highlights how personnel now struggle with their own information systems, as much as with the enemy.