Book cover of Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II by Lena Andrews
Biography & Autobiography

Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II 

A groundbreaking new history of the role of American servicewomen in WWII, illuminating their forgotten yet essential contributions to the Allies’ victory.

Valiant Women is the story of the 350,000 American women who served in uniform during World War II. These incredible women served in every service branch, in every combat theater, and in nearly two-thirds of the available military occupations at the time. […Learn More]

Book cover of France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain by Julian Jackson
Biography & Autobiography

France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain

For three weeks in July 1945 all eyes were fixed on a humid Paris, where France’s disgraced former head of state was on trial, accused of masterminding a plot to overthrow democracy. Would Philippe Pétain, hero of Verdun, be condemned as the traitor of Vichy? […Learn More]

Book cover of Time's Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance by Jeremy Eichler
Biography & Autobiography

Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance 

In 1785, when the great German poet Friedrich Schiller penned his immortal “Ode to Joy,” he crystallized the deepest hopes and dreams of the European Enlightenment for a new era of peace and freedom, a time when millions would be embraced as equals. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony then gave wing to Schiller’s words, but barely a century later these same words were claimed by Nazi propagandists and twisted by a barbarism so complete that it ruptured, as one philosopher put it, “the deep layer of solidarity among all who wear a human face.” […Learn More]

Book cover of On a Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War by Holger Afflerbach
History

On a Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War

Was the outcome of the First World War on a knife edge? In this major new account of German wartime politics and strategy Holger Afflerbach argues that the outcome of the war was actually in the balance until relatively late in the war. Using new evidence from diaries, letters and memoirs, he fundamentally revises our understanding of German strategy from the decision to go to war and the failure of the western offensive to the radicalisation of Germany’s war effort under Hindenburg and Ludendorff and the ultimate collapse of the Central Powers. […Learn More]

Book cover of A Continent Erupts: Decolonization, Civil War, and Massacre in Postwar Asia, 1945-1955 by Ronald Spector
Asia

A Continent Erupts: Decolonization, Civil War, and Massacre in Postwar Asia, 1945-1955

The end of World War II led to the United States’ emergence as a global superpower. For war-ravaged Western Europe it marked the beginning of decades of unprecedented cooperation and prosperity that one historian has labeled “the long peace.” Yet half a world away, in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, and Malaya—the fighting never really stopped, as these regions sought to completely sever the yoke of imperialism and colonialism with all-too-violent consequences. […Learn More]

Book cover of Escape!: The Story of the Confederacy's Infamous Libby Prison and the Civil War's Largest Jail Break by Robert Watson
Civil War

Escape!: The Story of the Confederacy’s Infamous Libby Prison and the Civil War’s Largest Jail Break

Robert P. Watson provides the definitive account of the Confederacy’s infamous Libby Prison, site of the Civil War’s largest prison break. Libby Prison housed Union officers, high-profile foes of the Confederacy, and political prisoners. Watson captures the wretched conditions, cruel guards, and the story of the daring prison break, called “the most remarkable in American history.” […Learn More]