The long and sombre chronicle of the Franco-Prussian war is an episode that deserves further attention. English-speaking readers have very little sense of what the war was like for its participants. Based on his own experiences, Patry vividly describes the bloodshed and appalling atrocities committed during the army advance to retake the Paris commune. He is also deeply critical of the shortcomings and follies of the high command. An elegant translation of a compelling text, written by a man of obvious charm and honesty, and equally obvious faults, this book is a joy to read. It ranks as one of the best examples of war memoirs written in any language.

An extraordinary true account of the enormous tragedy of the Syrian civil conflict. Since the revolution-turned-civil war in Syria began in 2011, over 500,000 civilians have been killed and more than 12 million Syrians have been displaced. Rania Abouzeid, one of the foremost journalists on the topic, follows two pairs of sisters from opposite sides of the conflict to give readers a firsthand glimpse of the turmoil and devastation this strife has wrought. Sunni Muslim Ruha and her younger sister Alaa withstand constant attacks by the Syrian government in rebel-held territory. Alawite sisters Hanin and Jawa try to carry on as normal in the police state of regime-held Syria. The girls grow up in a world where nightly bombings are routine and shrapnel counts as toys. They bear witness to arrests, killings, demolished homes, and further atrocities most adults could not imagine. Still, war does not dampen their sense of hope.Through the stories of Ruha and Alaa and Hanin and Jawa, Abouzeid presents a clear-eyed and page-turning account of the complex conditions in Syria leading to the onset of the harrowing conflict. With Abouzeid's careful attention and remarkable reporting, she crafts an incredibly empathetic and nuanced narrative of the Syrian civil war, and the promise of progress these young people still embody.

Originally setting out to write the very book that he would have wanted to own as a young infantryman, the author penned On Tactics as a remedy for navigating the chaotic and inchoate realm of tactical theory. Challenging centuries-old conventional wisdom regarding the principles of war, tactics, and the roles of strategy, doctrine, experiential learning, and military history, Friedman's work offers a striking synthesis of thinking on tactics as well as strategy. Part One of the book establishes a tactical system meant to replace the Principles of War checklist. First, the contextual role of tactics with regards to strategy and war will be established. This will necessarily lean on major strategic theories in order to illuminate the role of tactics. This section will be formed around the Physical, Mental, and Moral planes of battlefield interaction used by theorists such as J.F.C Fuller and John Boyd. Each plane will then be examined in turn, and many of the classic Principles of War will be discussed along with some new ones. It will present some standard methods that tacticians can use to gain an advantage on the battlefield using historical examples that illustrate each concept. These "tactical tenets" include maneuver, mass, firepower, tempo, surprise, deception, confusion, shock, and the role of the moral aspects of combat. Finally, Part One will circle back around by discussing the role of tactical victory- once achieved- in contributed to a strategy. Part One is short by design. It is intended to be both compelling and easily mastered for junior non-commissioned officers and company grade officers, while still rich enough to be interesting to both specialist and non-specialist academics. It is a book meant not just for bookshelves but also for ruck sacks and cargo pockets. Part Two builds on Part One by exploring concepts with which the tactician must be familiar with such as the culminating point of victory, mission tactics and decentralized command and control, offensive and defensive operations, and the initiative. Part Three will conclude the book examining implications of the presented tactical systems to a variety of other issues in strategic studies.

FEAR & REALITY. . . A Vietnam War Diary The first person account of a U.S. Army Combat Military Policeman's experiences in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam from 1966 until 1967. The account of a struggle to implement the combined U. S. Military/ South Vietnamese Pacification Program while enforcing the Military Code of Conduct. Serving with units of the 101st Airborne and the 1st Cavalry Division of the US Army, the author found himself, at times, deep in the enemy territory. It is a story about the daily exertion required to survive the hostile jungle environment, punctuated by short bursts of intense fear, exhilaration, and death. The author experiences first hand the up-close and personal combat of guerrilla war. It is also a story of a real test of faith and the search for understanding. The author displays vivid raw emotions as they occurred and which will never be forgotten. A walk in reality to be enjoyed by everyone who wants to know what kind of war it was, and a chance to relate for my fellow veterans. From the Author I dedicate this recounting to all my brothers who served in Vietnam and did a job that seemed as thankless as any in our history as a Nation. It is offered as a rebuttal to all the popular novels depicting the American solider as a dishonorable lot. The truth is almost 3,000,000 men and women served in the Vietnam War and the vast overwhelming majority served their country honorably. Latrell Bellard

Learn how the perception of truth has been weaponized in modern politics with this "insightful" account of propaganda in Russia and beyond during the age of disinformation (New York Times). When information is a weapon, every opinion is an act of war. We live in a world of influence operations run amok, where dark ads, psyops, hacks, bots, soft facts, ISIS, Putin, trolls, and Trump seek to shape our very reality. In this surreal atmosphere created to disorient us and undermine our sense of truth, we've lost not only our grip on peace and democracy -- but our very notion of what those words even mean. Peter Pomerantsev takes us to the front lines of the disinformation age, where he meets Twitter revolutionaries and pop-up populists, "behavioral change" salesmen, Jihadi fanboys, Identitarians, truth cops, and many others. Forty years after his dissident parents were pursued by the KGB, Pomerantsev finds the Kremlin re-emerging as a great propaganda power. His research takes him back to Russia -- but the answers he finds there are not what he expected. Blending reportage, family history, and intellectual adventure, This Is Not Propaganda explores how we can reimagine our politics and ourselves when reality seems to be coming apart.