Washoe County Library System

In this “gripping account of catastrophic defeat” (Barry Strauss), a New York Times–bestselling historian charts how and why some societies chose to utterly destroy their foes, and warns that similar wars of obliteration are possible in our time
“In The End of Everything, Hanson tells compelling and harrowing stories of how civilizations perished. He helps us consider contemporary affairs in light...

From bestselling historian Saul David, a riveting new history of the British airborne experience across the Second World War. The legendary 'Red Devils' were among the finest combat troops of the Second World War. Created at Churchill's instigation in June 1940, they began as a single parachute battalion of 500 men and grew into three 10,000-strong airborne divisions: the 1st, 6th and 44th Indian, each composed of parachutists and glider-borne troops....

The Ghost Army was officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. From June 1944 to March 1945 it staged 20 battlefield deceptions, beginning in Normandy and ending at the Rhine River. These deceptions included an array of inflatables (tanks, trucks, jeeps, and airplanes), sound trucks, phony radio transmissions and even playacting to fool the enemy.

"This is the definitive account of the Biden administration's most disgraceful hour -- and the chaos it unleashed in the world. The United States' hasty retreat from Afghanistan in 2021 was nothing short of a horror show. Women and children were trampledto death outside the gates of the Kabul airfield. Desperate Afghans clung to the landing gear of departing planes. American civilians and Afghan interpreters were abandoned to the mercy of the Taliban....

"In April 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army steamrolled through Burma, capturing the only ground route from India to China. Supplies to this critical zone would now have to come from India by air—meaning across the Himalayas, on the most hazardous air route in the world. SKIES OF THUNDER is a story of an epic human endeavor, in which Allied troops faced the monumental challenge of operating from airfields hacked from the jungle, and took on "the...