Vice Adm. William H. McRaven helped to devise the strategy for how to bring down Osama bin Laden, and commanded the courageous U.S. military unit that carried it out on May 1, 2011, ending one of the greatest manhunts in history. In Spec Ops, a well-organized and deeply researched study, McRaven analyzes eight classic special operations. Six are from WWII: the German commando raid on the Belgian fort Eben Emael (1940); the Italian torpedo attack on the Alexandria harbor (1941); the British commando raid on Nazaire, France (1942); the German glider rescue of Benito Mussolini (1943); the British midget-submarine attack on the Tirpitz (1943); and the U.S. Ranger rescue mission at the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines (1945). The two post-WWII examples are the U.S. Army raid on the Son Tay POW camp in North Vietnam (1970) and the Israeli rescue of the skyjacked hostages in Entebbe, Uganda (1976). McRaven—who commands a U.S. Navy SEAL team—pinpoints six essential principles of “spec ops” success: simplicity, security, repetition, surprise, speed and purpose. For each of the case studies, he provides political and military context, a meticulous reconstruction of the mission itself and an analysis of the operation in relation to his six principles. McRaven deems the Son Tay raid “the best modern example of a successful spec op [which] should be considered textbook material for future missions.” His own book is an instructive textbook that will be closely studied by students of the military arts. Maps, photos.

In this volume, the dual background of Job, both in Oriental Wisdom and in biblical thought, is set forth. The comples questions concerning the authenticity and integrity of each section of Jobm the Prose Tale, the three Cycles of the Dialogue, the Elihu chapters, and "the Speeches of the Lord" are discussed in detail, with special reference to their content and their contribution to the meaningof the book as a whole. The great variety of views on these issues obtaining among scholars, thinkers, and general readers is presented and analyzed. The study then turns to the place of Job in the history of biblical religion and traces its abiding contribution to relion on the basic question of evil in the world. Important elements in the style of Job, nt previously recognized, provide valuable keys to the interpretation of the text and its structure. Such technical questions as the date of composition, the original language, and the canonicity of the book are then treated. The volume then offers a new and original translation of the book of Job into modern English.