Warfare and defence Books

Regime change in Libya (2011) and Iraq (2003) catapulted a host of sub-state actors to the fore, including tribes, which have emerged as influential political, security and social actors.But despite this increased role and visibility, tribes remain...

The 2010s were a decade of transformation and conflict in the Middle East, bookended by the Arab Uprisings and the coronavirus pandemic. Throughout this time, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar - the three Arab states with the most ambitious regional...

Established in the wake of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-8 by the Australian army officer Major-General Walter Cawthorne, then Deputy Chief of Staff in the Pakistan Army, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for years remained an...

Become a Better Martial Artist by Applying Lessons from the World's Greatest Military Strategists from Sun Tzu to Von ClausewitzLessons in the Art of War investigates the theories and philosophies of the most prominent military thinkers in Asia and...

Robert Salas, a retired United States Air Force officer, witnessed firsthand a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon) while visiting and disabling nuclear missiles. He shares his experience as well as the many incidents of similar visits during the last...

An original study of empire creation and its consequences, from ancient through early modern times.The world's first great empires established by the ancient Persians, Chinese, and Romans are well known, but not the empires that emerged on their margins...

Surprisingly, the remarkable story of the Scottish role in the discovery of the Northwest Passage a long desired trade route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific has not received a great deal of attention. This book charts the extensive contribution to...

The assassination in Istanbul in 2007 of the author Hrant Dink, the high-profile advocate of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, reignited the debate in Turkey on the annihilation of the Ottoman Armenians. Many Turks subsequently reawakened to their...

"We're better off for having these men among us."-Wall Street JournalBefore 9/11, the rugby team at West Point learned to bond on a sports field. This is what happened when those 15 young men became leaders in war. Filled with drama, tragedy, and...

This book tells the stories of the Muslims, Christians, Jews and others who made a courageous stand against the mass slaughter of Ottoman Armenians in 1915, the first modern genocide. Foreigners and Ottomans alike ran considerable risks to bear witness...

When the Holocaust broke out in Europe, Hansi and Joel Brand were joined by Israel (Rezs) Kasztner to launch an organized effort to save thousands of human lives. Their efforts, which involved playing a dangerous bluffing game against the Nazi regime,...

The inside story of the most expensive and controversial military program in history, as told by those who lived it.The F-35 has changed allied combat warfare. But by the time it's completed, it will cost more than the Manhattan Project and the B-2...

The ultimate guide to the Japanese martial arts by the world's foremost expert! Author Alexander Bennett is the ultimate insider, having lived in Japan for decades. He holds multiple black belts in Kendo and Naginata, as well as PhDs in Japanese...

A captivating and wonderfully illustrated chronicle of one of the most influential and legendary names in gunsmithing history.John M. Browning was born in Ogden, Utah, in 1855, into a world of gunsmithing. His father was a gunsmith who was already well...

Ninja Fighting Techniques explains how to defend yourself against real-world threats using techniques perfected centuries ago by the great Ninja masters.Author Stephen K. Hayes is the world's leading expert on Ninjutsu techniques. In this book, he...

This seminal work by historian Alexander Bennett presents a broad overview of the Japanese "Way of the Warrior" as it is expressed in scores of classical Japanese texts written by famous Samurai themselves. Bennett's analysis of these writings shows that...

Modern Ninja Warfare takes a contemporary look at the stealthy methods of the Ninja (Shinobi) and how they can be employed to counter modern security threats. This book provides an ideal overview of Ninjutsu techniques for security personnel, military,...

Japanese swords, particularly those wielded by famous Samurai warriors, hold a continuing fascination for collectors of fine arts and historical military weapons. This book is designed to enhance one's appreciation for the wide variety of Japanese swords...

Ninjutsu is the most renowned and misunderstood of all martial arts. The long history of ninjutstu is often murky; surrounded by mystery and legend. Here, for the first time, is an in-depth, factual look at the entire art of ninjutsu, including emergence...

Samurai Tales is about the legendary men from the samurai class who fought for the helm of power in 19th century Japan. These are stories of courage, honor, fidelity, disgrace, fate, and destiny set in the bloody time of political change and social...

The Japanese sword is much more than just a weapon-it is a social and religious icon traditionally worn by the samurai warrior as an instrument of justice and courage, the sword was an embodiment of the soul of the person who...

Master the Japanese art of shuriken throwing with this illustrated martial arts guide.Japanese Throwing Weapons: Mastering Shuriken Throwing Techniques is a detailed instruction manual for learning authentic shuriken throwing techniques as practiced in...

A primer serving to facilitate dialogue between those who have experienced the crushing arms of war and those who have not, at its foundation Black Snowflakes Smothering a Torch presupposes that many issues veterans face when reintegrating come not from...

An eye-opening look at the source of the current wave of Saudi Arabian-sponsored terrorism, how it spread, and why the West did nothing. Here is the truth about ISIS, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and more. Lifting the mask of international terrorism, Terence...

A rough-and-tumble Iraq War veteran is young and in love, and the last thing on his mind is food and the ethics of eating meat. But when his girlfriend becomes a vegetarian and animal rights activist, suddenly food is all he thinks about. A true story of...

Feminicide and Global Accumulation brings us to the frontlines of an international movement of Black, Indigenous, popular, and mestiza women's organizations fighting against violence-interpersonal, state sanctioned, and economic-that is both endemic to...

The raw, alluring beauty of the pearl and the stories of those who collected it form a fascinating part of Australia's national heritage. The Aboriginal trade and cultural significance of the magnificent Pinctada pearl shell had been well established...

Australia's extensive coastline has a rich and diverse maritime history. In Search of Fish and Fortune celebrates the history of fishing and pearling as some of the first commercial trades established following European settlement on the western...

A shocking graphic novel tells the poverty and discrimination suffered by the Chagos Islanders when their eviction by the British enforced US military control of their Indian Ocean home.During the cold war, the US government sought to establish an...

According to the United Nations, Myanmar's Rohingyas are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Only now has the media turned its attention to their plight at the hands of a country led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Yet the...

Japan's post-war armed forces are a paradox, both embarrassing remnants of the past and valuable repositories of experience. This book charts the development of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) from 1954 as both unorthodox military institutions and...

New York Times Book of the Year The Blood Telegram is an unprecedented chronicle of a pivotal but little-known chapter of the Cold War. Gary J. Bass shows how Nixon and Kissinger supported Pakistan's military dictatorship as it brutally quashed the...

Suspended between sea and sky, battered by the waves and the wind, lighthouses mark the battlelines between the elements. They guard the boundaries between the solid human world and the primordial chaos of the waters; between stability and instability;...

Cyber-security is often a top national security priority. Many states have declared cyber-space a new domain of warfare, seeking to develop a military cyber-strategy. Governments' national risk assessments now frequently put the threat of hostile...

Cyber-warfare is often discussed, but rarely truly seen. When does an intrusion turn into an attack, and what does that entail? How do nations fold offensive cyber operations into their strategies? Operations against networks mostly occur to collect...

In early summer 1982--winter in the South Atlantic--Argentina's military junta invades the Falklands. Within days, a Royal Navy Task Force is assembled and dispatched. This is the story of D Squadron, 22 SAS, commanded by Cedric Delves. The relentless...

This book presents a critical reflection on the major armed conflicts that occurred during the 1990s and the first decade of the twenty-first century. Conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria all involved the use of terrorism by...

Bushido: The Samurai Code of Japan is one of the most influential books ever written on "the way of the warrior." A classic study of Japanese culture, the book outlines the moral code of the Samurai way of living and the virtues every Samurai warrior...

Toxic is the first comprehensive history of nerve agents, tracing the spread of these terrible weapons from their Nazi origins to Russia's 2018 deployment of Novichok in Britain. The deadliest means of chemical warfare yet developed, the first...

Intelligence agencies are reflections of the societies they serve. No surprise, then, that modern spies and the agencies they work for are fixated on the internet and electronic communications. These same officials also struggle with notions of privacy,...

The culmination of 25 years of research, Alex Bennett's groundbreaking English translation of Miyamoto Musashi's The Book of Five Rings reveals the true meaning of the original workThis piece of writing by famed samurai Musashi...

People are drawn to the harbours and boats of Scotland whether they have a seafaring background or not. Why do boats take on different shapes as you follow the complex shorelines of islands and mainland? And why do the sails they carry appear to be so...

Scotland has had a uniquely important military history over the last five centuries. Conflict with England in the 16th century, Jacobite rebellions in the 18th century, 20th-century defences and the two world wars, as well as the Cold War, all resulted...

Vast Expanses is a cultural, environmental and geopolitical history that examines the relationship between humans and oceans, reaching back across geological and evolutionary time and exploring different cultures around the globe.Our ancient connections...

'This book explores settler colonial genocides in a global perspective and over the long dure. It does so systematically and compellingly, as it investigates how settler colonial expansion at times created conditions for genocidal violence, and...

'This brief, provocative, and accessible book offers snapshots of seven pernicious myths in military history that have been perpetrated on unsuspecting students, readers, moviegoers, game players, and politicians. It promotes awareness of how...

On Shedding an Obsolete Pastprovides a much-needed and comprehensive critique of recent US national security policies in both the Trump and Biden administrations. These policy decisions have produced a series of costly disappointments and outright...

Once home to the United States's largest plutonium production site, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state is laced with 56 million gallons of radioactive waste. The threat of an explosive accident at Hanford is all too real-an event that...