Friendly Fire and a Side Order of French is the humorous story of a whimsical, free-spirited intern recalling her first venture in the world of corporate work. Self-proclaimed loner, Dylan Francis begins an internship where she undeniably doesn't fit in. Her eclectic fashion sense, love of body piercings and outrageous hair color is forced to take a back seat to the inevitably plain and boring that is the corporate office "look". But nothing can force Dylan's unconventional, rebel personality from taking a back seat. She goes through the internship with a wry attitude and sharp tongue, holding nothing back as she recounts the weeks of rule breaking flip-flops in the corridors, smoking on the third floor and of course the other obnoxious interns who more than likely had this coming.

The true story of Michael Mullen, a soldier killed in Vietnam, and his parents’ quest for the truth from the US government: “Brilliantly done” (The Boston Globe). Drafted into the US Army, Michael Mullen left his family’s Iowa farm in September 1969 to fight for his country in Vietnam. Six months later, he returned home in a casket. Michael wasn’t killed by the North Vietnamese, but by artillery fire from friendly forces. With the government failing to provide the precise circumstances of his death, Mullen’s devastated parents, Peg and Gene, demanded to know the truth. A year later, Peg Mullen was under FBI surveillance. In a riveting narrative that moves from the American heartland to the jungles of Vietnam to the Vietnam Veterans Against the War march in Washington, DC, to an interview with Mullen’s battalion commander, Lt. Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, author C. D. B. Bryan brings to life with brilliant clarity a military mission gone horrifically wrong, a patriotic family’s explosive confrontation with their government, and the tragedy of a nation at war with itself. Originally intended to be an interview for the New Yorker, the story Bryan uncovered proved to be bigger than he expected, and it was serialized in three consecutive issues during February and March 1976, and was eventually published as a book that May. In 1979, Friendly Fire was made into an Emmy Award–winning TV movie, starring Carol Burnett, Ned Beatty, and Sam Waterston. This ebook features an illustrated biography of C. D. B. Bryan, including rare images from the author’s estate.

— Draws on newly discovered eyewitness accounts from Prussian sources to present new insights into the battle and new areas of combat — Studies the battle from the unexplored perspective of General Drouet d’Erlon, one of Napoleon’s key subordinates — Focuses on the lesser-known engagements between the French and Prussians, for which new archaeological evidence has been discovered — Examines death certificates issued for French officers and men on the day of the battle to suggest it was not the ‘bloodbath’ it is often thought to have been — The result of twenty years of research in archives in France and German Historians have sought reasons why Napoleon lost the great battle at Waterloo, seen by many as the most famous conflict of the nineteenth century. Waterloo Casualties presents the litany of failures by one of Napoleon’s key subordinates, General Drouet d’Erlon, which ultimately led to defeat, and explores for the first time what really happened at Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte, and on the French right wing as the Prussians closed in. The actions between Papelotte and Frichermont were critical in the story of the battle, but have, so far, been seldom studied as no red-coated soldiers fought there. They come under scrutiny in Dawson’s meticulous analysis.

Includes detailed and edited transcripts of interviews with General Hamdani as well as a summary of insights as interpreted by the interviewers.

Lt. Gen. Hunter Liggett’s forty-year career spanned the period from the Indian Wars in the territories of Montana and Dakota to the trenches of World War I. For someone who experienced many individual triumphs and battlefield victories—including the final push of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive—he often is overshadowed by figures such as John J. Pershing or George C. Marshall. His quiet demeanor sometimes did not serve him well, but it also masked steely determination. Liggett’s tenacity won Pershing’s attention and admiration, and he went on to direct and win what was at the time the largest single battle in American history. In Hunter Liggett, author Michael E. Shay shows that while Pershing may have assembled the pieces of the American Expeditionary Forces, it was Liggett who made it work. This first biography of Liggett follows the full life of a doggedly hard-working soldier whose leadership style contrasted and sometimes conflicted with the military culture of his time. Where Pershing employed a “fear and censure” approach to command, Liggett allowed his subordinates to grow into their jobs, all the while coaching them on the best course of action. Where Pershing was feared, Liggett enjoyed the respect—if not affection—of his men. Liggett was a modest man and a devoted student of military history at a time when many officers of his generation relied upon a combination of connections, political influence, and seniority to advance their careers. Hunter Liggett not only offers readers a much-needed biography of an almost forgotten general but also adds a new and nuanced perspective on the importance of military leadership in the era of the First World War.

The result of years of research in British, French and German archives, this is a new critical history of how close Germany came to winning the First World War in 1914. For a century, accounts of the German invasion of France and the opening year of the First World War have been dominated by histories of British troops and their experience in battle, despite the fact that the British Expeditionary Force comprised just four divisions, while the French and Germans fielded 60 each. Published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War, Invasion 1914 examines how the German invasion of France and Belgium came agonizingly close to defeating the French armies, capturing Paris and ending the First World War before the end of the year. Ian Senior reveals how the initial German strategy revolved around, and in part depended on, rapid victory over the French, and how the failure to achieve this resulted in the surprisingly fluid battles of the early days of the war deteriorating into the trench-based warfare which was to see the war drag on for another four years of unprecedented slaughter. Weaving together strategic analysis, diary entries, eyewitness accounts and interview transcripts from soldiers on the ground with consummate skill, this narrative is a timely investigation into the dramatic early months of the war, as the fate of Europe hung in the balance.