Military Disasters

The key to understanding the calamitous Afghan war is the complex, ultimately failed relationship between the powerful, duplicitous Karzai family and the United States, brilliantly portrayed here by the former Kabul bureau chief for The Washington Post.

There is a popular saying that declares "timing is everything", and in no other field of study is that truer than in history. For instance, under normal conditions, a ship that sank with more than 2,000 passengers aboard - most of whom died - would be big news, yet today the sinking of the SS Sultana is often overlooked if not entirely forgotten.

Tall tales, all true, about guns, bombs, car chases, spiders, exotic locales, men in uniform, and dancing girls - with deadpan delivery and a social conscience. "I remember the advertisement to join the Army. It asked for guys who were fit, committed, tough, volunteer parachutists, comfortable in the ocean, and mature. As a surfer, that sounded like me - except for the mature bit."

The gripping story of a chemical weapons catastrophe, the cover-up, and how one American Army doctor’s discovery led to the development of the first drug to combat cancer, known today as chemotherapy.

Mi stia a sentire. Ci sono più di 600.000 persone strette intorno a quel vulcano… Un boato, una fumarola che esce dal Vesuvio e sarà il panico: tenteranno di scappare, si schiacceranno, si spareranno pur di allontanarsi qualche metro in più… Faranno qualsiasi pazzia per procurarsi un mezzo veloce… Non ho fatto ancora la stima dei probabili morti, ma si tratta certamente di cifre con almeno quattro numeri… E se non schiodiamo subito questa protezione civile dal Department of Homeland Security, in questa emergenza Vesuvio i morti li provocherà non il vulcano, ma il governo.

In December 1944, while supporting General MacArthur's invasion of the Philippines, Admiral William "Bull" Halsey neglected the Law of Storms, placing the mighty US Third Fleet in harm's way. Drawing on extensive interviews with nearly every living survivor and rescuer, as well as many families of lost sailors, transcripts and other records from naval courts of inquiry, ships' logs, personal letters, and diaries, Bruce Henderson finds some of the story's truest heroes exhibiting selflessness, courage, and even defiance.