War Theory

Militarized police officers with tanks and drones. Pervasive government surveillance and profiling. Social media that distract and track us. All of these, contends Bernard E. Harcourt, are facets of a new and radical governing paradigm in the United States - one rooted in the modes of warfare originally developed to suppress anticolonial revolutions and, more recently, to prosecute the war on terror. The Counterrevolution is a penetrating and disturbing account of the rise of counterinsurgency, first as a military strategy but increasingly as a way of ruling ordinary Americans.

This is the true story of an unknown American politician who played a critical role in ending centuries of conflict in Northern Ireland. Without the president's permission, and breaking every conventional rule about how to deal with terrorists, former congressman Bruce Morrison helped end a conflict that most observers thought would continue indefinitely.

There are few adjectives, which have not been applied to the combined amphibious and airborne assault operation that took place on June the 6th 1944. Two and a half years in the planning, Operation Overlord, the invasion of German occupied France would require every tool in the allied arsenal. In this concise history authors, William R. Bradle and Robert Child examine the invasion from multiple angles from what planning was required to what tough decisions had to be made.

Shortly after World War II, Congress' House Committee on Un-American Activities began investigating Americans across the country for suspected ties to communism. Among the people called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, none are as controversial as Alger Hiss.

After the Lincoln-Douglas debates made Abraham Lincoln a nationally recognized politician, Illinois papers began to mention Lincoln as a Republican candidate for president in 1859. Lincoln was humbled, though a bit dumbfounded. Lacking any administrative experience, Lincoln wasn't sure he would enjoy being president, but even being considered was a great honor, and he quietly thought the idea over. In fact, Lincoln was still not considered a real option for the nomination until he delivered a speech at New York City's Cooper Union in February, 1860.

The most famous debates in American history were held over 150 years ago, and despite their fame, no official transcripts were ever taken. Throughout the fall of 1858, US Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas participated in seven three-hour debates throughout Illinois. This unprecedented method of campaigning drew national attention, one that is still often idealized, even today, among those who feel politics is too bitterly partisan.

In Enemy of the People, Marvin Kalb, an award-winning American journalist with more than six decades of experience both as a journalist and media observer, writes with passion about why we should fear for the future of American democracy because of the unrelenting attacks by the Trump administration on the press.

As a general, Ulysses S. Grant is routinely described in glowing terms: the man who turned the tide of the Civil War, who accepted Lee's surrender at Appomattox; the man who had the stomach to see the war through to final victory. But his presidency is another matter. The most common word used to characterize it is "scandal."

It seems that every time a presidential election rolls around in America, voters are told that the nation is at a critical fork in its history, and that the decisions reached and the candidates elected will change the course of history. While this is always true to some extent, there are times when it is true to a critical extent. Such was the case in 1876, when the country, weary of four years of Civil War and more than a decade of Reconstruction, was once again on the brink of splitting.

President Woodrow Wilson won the 1916 re-election largely because he had thus far kept the US out of World War I. Yet when Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare against US vessels in 1917, Wilson approached Congress with a change of heart. “The world must be made safe for democracy,” he said as he asked them to vote for a declaration of war. Four days later, both the House and Senate passed their formal agreement with Wilson in overwhelming numbers.

When conflicts become entrenched over generations, the language of war infiltrates everyday life, concealing destruction and hardening positions. Nowhere is this truer than in the Middle East. Award-winning author Raja Shehadeh explores the politics of language and the language of politics in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, reflecting on the walls that they create - legal and cultural - that confine today's Palestinians just like the borders, checkpoints and so-called "Separation Barrier".

The Great Northern War was a war waged by Russia, Denmark-Norway, and Saxony-Poland-Lithuania against the Swedish Empire from 1700 to 1721. It also engaged several of the other great powers of Europe at the time, engulfing much of the continent and its colonies in more than two decades of war. It was part of a long and almost constant series of wars fought home and around the world by European nations over control of more land, resources, and wealth. By its end, Russia had firmly established its ascendency, while Sweden would no longer pose a threat as a major empire.

Discover the remarkable history of the Falklands War...The Falklands War, which erupted in 1982, was a conflict between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Argentina over sovereignty of the Falklands, a group of largely uninhabited islands in the South Atlantic. The islands had under two thousand inhabitants and little particular strategic or commercial importance when they became the object of the war. Still, disputes over whether these islands belonged to Great Britain or Argentina had been underway for many years.

Sun Tzu's iconic treatise, The Art of War, has been studied by military historians and strategists for centuries. The concepts he recommends remain as effective and his advice as perceptive today as it has ever been. However, The Art of War is certainly not only of use to individuals in the military. The principles he lays out are remarkably applicable to a wide variety of professions and situations, from business to politics to everyday interpersonal relationships.

The European continent was devastated in the wake of World War II, and the conflict left the Soviet Union and the United States as uncontested superpowers. This ushered in over 45 years of the Cold War, and a political alignment of Western democracies against the Communist Soviet bloc that produced conflicts pitting allies on each sides fighting, even as the American and Soviet militaries never engaged each other.

A Delicate Balance of Reason is an observational critique of the contemporary 'culture wars' through the eyes of someone who has experienced the full weight of their effects firsthand. Flashpoint topics such as the trans debate, academic free speech, cancel culture and 'presentism' in art and literature are all covered; elsewhere there are more gonzo-esque, snapshot takes - caught, tidied up, and delivered with algorithmic immediacy.

In today’s modern world, every political regime - even the most authoritarian or repressive - describes itself as democracy or a democratic people’s republic. The concept of rule by the people and on behalf of the people has come to be accepted as the norm. Very few would overtly espouse the cause of dictatorship, absolute monarchy, or oligarchy as the most desirable political system upon which to base the government of any country.

You might know Ulysses S. Grant as a Civil War hero and as the 18th president of the United States, but we will introduce you to the heart and soul of the man who brought freedom and equality to a troubled America. Within this book, you'll discover how Grant motivated and inspired a nation to rise above the dark days of slavery and financial ruin and search their hearts for justice for all. You'll battle with Grant and his men at Vicksburg, and be there when General Lee surrenders at Appomattox.

Honor's Voice provides a revealing look at how Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States and one of the greatest men of his time. Douglas Wilson traces the development of this great leader from an insecure country boy full of ambition to schoolboy, storekeeper, riverboat man, and, finally, politician. The author returns to original sources, including friends and acquaintances in the Illinois of the 1830s and '40s and exposes truths about Lincoln never before revealed.

On May 13, 1940, Winston Churchill stood before the House of Commons to deliver his first speech as Prime Minister. Europe was in crisis: three days earlier, Germany had invaded France and the Low Countries. Facing only feeble resistance, Hitler's armies were rapidly sweeping westward. Churchill had little support within the British government when he rose to address it that day.