A rogue band of SAS commandos rob a bank in war-torn Beirut—and return decades later to find the gold—in this military thriller based on a true story. Beirut, 1976. As war ravages the country, an unknown band of armed men blast their way into the Imperial Bank of Beirut. Over the next forty-eight hours, they load three trucks with gold bullion and then disappear without a trace. Two weeks earlier, a new SAS Major had tasked his men with planning such a Beirut bank robbery—strictly as an exercise. But when veteran Luke Kilbride has his heist plan rejected as “useless,” he decides to prove the Major wrong by pulling the job off for real. The heist goes perfectly . . . until it doesn’t. Kilbride and his men are forced to hide the loot and make their getaway. Thirty years later, Kilbride and his team are planning their return. The only problem is that a powerful enemy is hell-bent on finding the gold before they do. Kilbride dreams up an audacious mission, and the race is on to reach the gold before the ruthless Black Assassins can catch up with them.

During a picnic overlooking the Nile, 14-year-old scribe Nebi spots the riders first. Led by the treacherous Count Nimlot, the raiding party slaughters Nebi’s master, the region’s head of police. Although wounded, Nebi escapes, the only living witness that the pharaoh’s northern territory is no longer secure. Nebi is quickly catapulted into events that will change history. Set in 728 B.C., RISE OF THE GOLDEN COBRA surrounds the actual reign of Pharaoh Piankhy, the brilliant and compassionate leader whose astonishing campaign united Ancient Egypt. Nebi’s adventures take him to the court of Piankhy himself, to friendship with feisty Prince Shebitku, and to war. Fierce battles culminate in the siege of Memphis, where Nebi finally confronts Nimlot and his own desire for revenge. Well-served by the pharaoh’s honorable example, Nebi finds release in letting Nimlot live. Meanwhile, Piankhy’s victory unites North and South Egypt, making him the one true pharaoh entitled to wear the golden cobra crown. Bursting with action, political intrigue, and military strategy in enticing historical detail, and peppered with dramatic illustrations, RISE OF THE GOLDEN COBRA is an epic adventure for the ages.

In The End of Grand Strategy, Simon Reich and Peter Dombrowski challenge the common view of grand strategy as unitary. They eschew prescription of any one specific approach, chosen from a spectrum that stretches from global primacy to restraint and isolationism, in favor of describing what America’s military actually does, day to day. They argue that a series of fundamental recent changes in the global system, the inevitable jostling of bureaucratic politics, and the practical limitations of field operations combine to ensure that each presidential administration inevitably resorts to a variety of strategies. Proponents of different American grand strategies have historically focused on the pivotal role of the Navy. In response, Reich and Dombrowski examine six major maritime operations, each of which reflects one major strategy. One size does not fit all, say the authors—the attempt to impose a single overarching blueprint is no longer feasible. Reich and Dombrowski declare that grand strategy, as we know it, is dead. The End of Grand Strategy is essential reading for policymakers, military strategists, and analysts and critics at advocacy groups and think tanks.