Washoe County Library System

"After World War II, a secular, progressive consensus defined the international order. That changed in 1979, when a series of counterrevolutions swept the globe, blazing a path for a new era. China launched reforms that would make it the economic powerhouse it is today. Pope John Paul II traveled to Poland, challenging communism in Eastern Europe by reigniting its people's suppressed Catholic faith. An Islamic revolution transformed Iran into a theocracy...

Displaying a rare courage that transcends battlefield heroics, eleven soldiers and marines share the truth about their wars. Journalist Kevin Sites gets answers to what it is like to kill; to be under fire; what can never be forgotten; and more. Sites compiles the accounts of the soldiers, their families, and their friends, and also shares the unsettling narrative of his own failures during war.

A reissue, with a new introduction by Flaneuse author Lauren Elkin, of Martha Gellhorn's enduring collection of war reportage, The Face of War. Martha Gellhorn was a fearless war correspondent for nearly fifty years and a leading journalistic voice of her generation. From the Spanish Civil War in 1937 through the wars in Central America in the mid-eighties, her candid reporting reflected her deep empathy for people no matter their political ideology,...

In Margin of Victory Douglas Macgregor tells the riveting stories of five military battles of the twentieth century, each one a turning point in history. Beginning with the British Expeditionary Force holding the line at the Battle of Mons in 1914 and concluding with the Battle of 73 Easting in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm, [this book] establishes a connection among these clashes and teaches its readers an important lesson about how future battles...

Depicts 30 great empires of the world from 2600 B.C. to the 20th century in images and maps that show the territories held by each ruler, major trade routes, paths of military campaigns and other important landmarks.

"From the author of 1491--the best-selling study of the pre-Columbian Americas--a deeply engaging new history that explores the most momentous biological event since the death of the dinosaurs. More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed totally different suites of plants and animals. Columbus's voyages brought them back together--and marked the beginning...