• Rising Sun Victorious: An Alternate History of the Pacific War

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 1 minute

    “Everyone with an interest in the Pacific War will find something stimulating in this thought-provoking study of what might have been.”
    –British Army Review

    In war, victory can be held hostage to seemingly insignificant incidents–chance events, opportunities seized or cast aside–that can derail the most brilliant military strategies and change the course of history. What if the Japanese had conquered India and driven out the British? What if the strategic link between the United States and Australia had been severed? What if Vice Admiral Nagumo had launched a third attack on Pearl Harbor? What if the U.S. Navy’s gamble at Midway had backfired?

    Ten leading military historians ask these and other questions in this fascinating book. The war with Japan was rife with difficult choices and battles that could have gone either way. These fact-based alternate scenarios offer intriguing insights into what might have happened in the Pacific during World War II, and what the consequences would have been for America.

    “A compelling read . . . bound to generate a good deal of debate.”
    –The Defense Information Bulletin

    “Rising Sun Victorious is must reading.”
    –Almanac of Seapower

  • The Winter War: Russia’s Invasion of Finland, 1939-1940

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 1 minute

    “Edwards recounts events, both shameful and heroic, with insight, conviction and considerable wit.”—Publishers Weekly

    On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union’s Red Army invaded the young nation-state of Finland, in the full expectation of routing the small, ill-equipped Finnish army and annexing the former Russian territory by the end of the year. But Finland held out for 105 bitterly cold, fiercely combative days, until March 15, 1940, when a peace agreement ended the short, savage Winter War.

    At the stirring center of the story lie the resourcefulness and resolve of the Finnish people, who against all military odds—in want of ammunition, food, sleep, and troops—fought a blundering, ineptly commanded Red Army to a standstill. On March 15, they ceded to the Soviet 11 percent of their territory and 30 percent of their economic assets, but none of their national pride.

    The Russians meanwhile had markedly damaged their international standing and effectively ruined their military reputation-to such an extent, as this probing chapter in World War II history demonstrates, that Germany, with proud-blooded Finland as an ally, dared to launch its 1940 invasion of Russia. At the same time, though, the fiasco of the Winter War forced Stalin to acknowledge the shortcomings of the Red Army and to reform it: Germany would fall at Stalingrad in 1941.

    With authority, this skillfully narrated military history unfolds its story of the four-month Soviet-Finnish war and explores its consequences from London to Moscow, from Helsinki to Paris, to Washington, DC. 20 black-and-white illustrations

  • The Winter War: Russia’s Invasion of Finland, 1939-1940

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 1 minute

    “Edwards recounts events, both shameful and heroic, with insight, conviction and considerable wit.”—Publishers Weekly

    On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union’s Red Army invaded the young nation-state of Finland, in the full expectation of routing the small, ill-equipped Finnish army and annexing the former Russian territory by the end of the year. But Finland held out for 105 bitterly cold, fiercely combative days, until March 15, 1940, when a peace agreement ended the short, savage Winter War.

    At the stirring center of the story lie the resourcefulness and resolve of the Finnish people, who against all military odds—in want of ammunition, food, sleep, and troops—fought a blundering, ineptly commanded Red Army to a standstill. On March 15, they ceded to the Soviet 11 percent of their territory and 30 percent of their economic assets, but none of their national pride.

    The Russians meanwhile had markedly damaged their international standing and effectively ruined their military reputation-to such an extent, as this probing chapter in World War II history demonstrates, that Germany, with proud-blooded Finland as an ally, dared to launch its 1940 invasion of Russia. At the same time, though, the fiasco of the Winter War forced Stalin to acknowledge the shortcomings of the Red Army and to reform it: Germany would fall at Stalingrad in 1941.

    With authority, this skillfully narrated military history unfolds its story of the four-month Soviet-Finnish war and explores its consequences from London to Moscow, from Helsinki to Paris, to Washington, DC. 20 black-and-white illustrations

  • Tojo

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 1 minute

    General, minister of war, prime minister, and unrepentant ultranationalist, Hideki Tojo (1884–1948) was the most powerful leader in the Japanese government during World War II. From October 1941 to July 1944 he held unquestioned control, advocating and setting in motion the attack on Pearl Harbor as well as pushing forward the Japanese offensives in China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. The author examines Tojo’s life against the backdrop of increasing Japanese militarism—Civil war, political assassinations, and coup d’états—and uses exclusive interviews with Tojo’s wife to illuminate the spartan, single-minded, incorruptible personality of the man who chose war rather than succumb to U.S.–induced economic strangulation. From the initial victories, through the later severe defeats and Tojo’s resignation, to his thwarted suicide attempt, trial as a war criminal, and execution, no other book offers such a clear and compelling portrait.

  • Mussolini

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 1 minute

    Mussolini was one of the tyrant-killers of the Axis powers who scarred Europe during World War II, but we can’t properly understand him or his regime by any facile equation with Hitler or Stalin. Like them, his life began modestly in the provinces; unlike them, he maintained a traditional male family life, including both a wife and mistresses, and sought in his way to be an intellectual. He was cruel (though not the cruelest); his racism existed, but never with the consistency and vigor that would have made him a good recruit for the SS. He sought an empire, but, for the most part, his was of the old-fashioned, costly, nineteenth-century variety, not of a racial or ideological imperialism. And Italy was not Germany or Russia: the particular patterns of that society greatly shaped his dictatorship.

    R. J. B. Bosworth’s Mussolini allows us to come closer than ever before to an appreciation of the life and actions of the man and of the political world and society within which he operated. With extraordinary skill and vividness, drawing on a huge range of sources, this biography paints a picture of brutality and failure, yet one tempered with an understanding of Mussolini as a human being shaped by and living within the context of this time.

  • MARKET GARDEN, OPERATION (SEPTEMBER 1944)

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 5 minutes

    When September 17–25, 1944 Where The Netherlands, near the town of Arnhem, on the Lower Rhine River, and Germany. Operation Market Garden is identified by blue arrow. Who Allied paratroops and glider-borne infantry: The First Allied Airborne Army under the tactical command of Lt. Gen. Frederick Browning (1896–1965), made up of the British 1st Airborne…

  • Design for Victory: World War II Poster on the American Home Front

    ByDorothy Haskett Reading Time: 1 minute

    Inciting Americans at home to do their part in producing for the war effort, the poster-inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present-was an ideal agent for making war aims the personal mission of every citizen. From 1941 to 1945, government agencies, businesses, and private organizations issued an array of poster images linking the military front with the home front, calling upon all Americans to boost production at work and at home. The U.S. Office of War Information created the “Poster Pledge,” urging volunteers to “avoid poster waste,” “treat posters as real war ammunition,” and “never let a poster lie idle.”
    This colorful collection of over 150 World War II-era posters focuses on the theme of wartime production on the home front. The range of designs and images will inspire graphic designers, while the descriptive captions and informative text will interest history and military buffs. Some of the famous slogans these posters introduced include “When you ride alone you ride with Hitler,” “She won’t talk-will you? The enemy has ears,” “This is America…Keep it Free,” and “Remember Pearl Harbor-purl harder!”

  • World War II Poster Buy Bonds! Coin, Mint or Pill Box: Made in USA!

    ByDorothy Haskett Reading Time: 1 minute

    This gorgeous solid stainless steel pill box measures 1 3/4″ x 2 3/4″ x 1/2″. It has a strong latch and hinge. The pill-holding insert can be removed easily. All work is done in California. After the image is inserted, the top is filled with a crystal-clear, waterproof, UV-resistant glossy polymer. This makes the image amazingly vivid and virtually indestructible. The case is perfect for medication, vitamins, coins, condoms, or other small items that seem to always disappear. The polished steel inside lid makes a great mirror. The case comes wrapped in plastic, boxed, and gift-wrapped with a blank gift card.