For anyone seeking to learn about Operation AL FAJR and how it came about, how it transitioned to reconstruction, and what it meant for the emerging IIG's identity at the time, Fighting for Fallujah is a good place to start....[t]he book performs a monumental feat. It helps Marines understand why...Read More

The November 2004 battle for the city of Fallujah forces the U.S. military to work on a large scale in an urban environment against prepared insurgent forces. Ballard examines in detail the entire operation, from the attack on the Blackwater contractors in March to the elections held the following January....Read More

Much deeper than just a story about the most intense urban combat Marines have participated in since Hue, Ballard's insider narrative educates readers on how Coalition forces learned from early mistakes and were then able to gain the support of the Sunni population despite destroying their city.....Written in a style...Read More

[A]n intense and vivid chronicle of a turning point in the counterinsurgency fight....Employing a framework of reportorial realism based upon eyewitness accounts, interviews with military leaders and recently declassified records and documents, the somewhat scholarly narrative and its 22 pages of informative footnotes in no way interfere with placing the...Read More

This compilation of first-person accounts, interviews, and official documents tells of the hard-fought battle for the insurgent-controlled city of Fallujah in November 2004....Having commanded the Marine Corps' 4th Civil Affairs Group during Operations Iraqi Freedom and Al Fajr, John Ballard's credentials are solid. His extensive research and well-written work will...Read More

If one wishes to examine the influence of the automobile in modern American society, one might start by researching how a car operates as well as a history of the changes in design. A plethora of books exist that do this while avoiding advocacy for or against the automobile. In...Read More

For the general reader, this history of rockets and missiles also explains how they work and how they are used. Chun presents case studies of their use in World War II (like the V-2), the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Iraq's conflicts with Iran, the 1991 Persian Gulf War,...Read More

Clayton K.S. Chun's THUNDER OVER THE HORIZON: FROM V-2 ROCKETS TO BALLISTIC MISSILES joins others in the 'War, Technology and History' series to focus on how the development of ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads has affected national relations for decades. Chapters survey the evolution of the technology which fostered new...Read More

A careful yet prolific scholar, Copper provides detailed background covering the last several decades in relation to an increasingly possible showdown between the United States and China over Taiwan. He analyzes the damage to U.S.-China relations from Tiananmen Square, the missile defense issue, and the Taiwan elections in which the...Read More

Copper has published widely and testified before congressional committees. As indicated by the book's title, the author is strongly of the view that war is likely between the US and China over the independence proclivities of Taiwan. The author deals more fully with the years since the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown...Read More

The issue of Taiwan's independence could well prove to be a flashpoint that leads to war between the United States and China. Copper provides a chronological account of the triangular relationship revolving around the status of Taiwan from the damage done to US-China relations by the 1989 Tiananmen massacre to...Read More

Playing with Fire compiles a history of recent decades to support the contentions of the author/expert, who has studied the region over thirty years and who here uses an interdisciplinary research appoint to assess the issues.