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Four Battlegrounds: Power In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence
Par Paul Scharre. 2023
An NPR 2023 "Books We Love" Pick One of the Next Big Idea Club's Must-Read Books "An invaluable primer to…
arguably the most important driver of change for our future." —P. W. Singer, author of Burn-In An award-winning defense expert tells the story of today’s great power rivalry—the struggle to control artificial intelligence. A new industrial revolution has begun. Like mechanization or electricity before it, artificial intelligence will touch every aspect of our lives—and cause profound disruptions in the balance of global power, especially among the AI superpowers: China, the United States, and Europe. Autonomous weapons expert Paul Scharre takes readers inside the fierce competition to develop and implement this game-changing technology and dominate the future. Four Battlegrounds argues that four key elements define this struggle: data, computing power, talent, and institutions. Data is a vital resource like coal or oil, but it must be collected and refined. Advanced computer chips are the essence of computing power—control over chip supply chains grants leverage over rivals. Talent is about people: which country attracts the best researchers and most advanced technology companies? The fourth “battlefield” is maybe the most critical: the ultimate global leader in AI will have institutions that effectively incorporate AI into their economy, society, and especially their military. Scharre’s account surges with futuristic technology. He explores the ways AI systems are already discovering new strategies via millions of war-game simulations, developing combat tactics better than any human, tracking billions of people using biometrics, and subtly controlling information with secret algorithms. He visits China’s “National Team” of leading AI companies to show the chilling synergy between China’s government, private sector, and surveillance state. He interviews Pentagon leadership and tours U.S. Defense Department offices in Silicon Valley, revealing deep tensions between the military and tech giants who control data, chips, and talent. Yet he concludes that those tensions, inherent to our democratic system, create resilience and resistance to autocracy in the face of overwhelmingly powerful technology. Engaging and direct, Four Battlegrounds offers a vivid picture of how AI is transforming warfare, global security, and the future of human freedom—and what it will take for democracies to remain at the forefront of the world order.Flying Warrior: My Life as a Naval Aviator During the Vietnam War
Par Jules Harper. 2017
A Vietnam veteran takes you into the cockpit and shares true stories of his flying career in this compelling memoir.…
In this action-packed memoir, Jules Harper recounts the unique process of becoming a naval aviator, revealing his experiences as a brand new pilot in a combat squadron and, finally, a flying warrior. He survived two combat cruises aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk from 1966–1968, compiled 332 career carrier takeoffs and landings, and was shot at daily by enemy fire while completing 200 combat missions over Vietnam, and shares the views of the aviators who flew along with him on these missions while fighting this unpopular war. A recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, twenty-one Air Medals, and many other accolades, he offers readers a new understanding and appreciation of the warriors who protect not only their comrades in arms, but the defense of the nation as well.Unsinkable: Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett
Par James Sullivan. 2020
In the bestselling tradition of Indianapolis and In Harm&’s Way comes a &“captivating…gripping&” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) account of the…
USS Plunkett—a US Navy destroyer that sustained the most harrowing attack on any Navy ship by the Germans during World War II, later made famous by John Ford and Herman Wouk.&“A reflection on the nature of storytelling itself&” (The Wall Street Journal), Unsinkable traces the individual journeys of five men on one ship from Casablanca in North Africa, to Sicily and Salerno in Italy and then on to Plunkett&’s defining moment at Anzio, where a dozen-odd German bombers bore down on the ship in an assault so savage, so prolonged, and so deadly that one Navy commander was hard-pressed to think of another destroyer that had endured what Plunkett had. After a three-month overhaul and with a reputation rising as the &“fightin&’est ship&” in the Navy, Plunkett (DD-431) plunged back into the war at Omaha Beach on D-Day, and again into battle during the invasion of Southern France—perhaps the only Navy ship to participate in every Allied invasion in the European theatre.Featuring five incredibly brave men—the indomitable skipper, who will receive the Navy Cross; the gunnery officer, who bucks the captain every step of the way to Anzio; a first lieutenant, who&’s desperate to get off the ship and into the Pacific; a seventeen-year-old water tender, who&’s trying to hold onto his hometown girl against all odds, and another water tender, who mans a 20mm gun when under aerial assault—the dramatic story of each plays out on the decks of the Plunkett as the ship&’s story escalates on the stage of the Mediterranean. Based on Navy logs, war diaries, action reports, letters, journals, memoirs, and dozens of interviews with the men who were on the ship and their families, Unsinkable is a timeless evocation of young men stepping up to the defining experience of their lives. &“If you were moved by Norman Maclean&’s A River Runs Through It, by William Kent Krueger&’s This Tender Land…by the values we hold dear, decency, sacrifice, steadfastness, then Unsinkable will take you to a place long dead in your soul, and flood it with light&” (Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Horse Soldiers).Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA
Par John Rizzo. 2014
The “revealing” (The New Yorker) insider history of the CIA from a lawyer with a “front-row seat on the hidden…
world of intelligence” (The Washington Post). Former CIA director George J. Tenet called Company Man a “must read.”Over the course of a thirty-four-year (1976-2009) career, John Rizzo served under eleven CIA directors and seven presidents, ultimately becoming a controversial public figure and a symbol and victim of the toxic winds swirling in post-9/11 Washington. In Company Man, Rizzo charts the CIA’s evolution from shadowy entity to an organization exposed to new laws, rules, and a seemingly never-ending string of public controversies. As the agency’s top lawyer in the years after the 9/11 attacks, Rizzo oversaw actions that remain the subject of intense debate, including the rules governing waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques.”Rizzo writes about virtually every significant CIA activity and controversy over a tumultuous, thirty-year period. His experiences illuminate our nation’s spy bureaucracy, offering a unique primer on how to survive, and flourish, in a high-powered job amid decades of shifting political winds. He also provides the most comprehensive account of critical events, like the “torture tape” fiasco surrounding the interrogation of Al Qaeda suspect Abu Zubayadah, and the birth, growth, and death of the enhanced interrogation program. Company Man is the most authoritative insider account of the CIA ever written—a groundbreaking, timely, and remarkably candid history of American intelligence. This is “emphatically a book for anyone who cares about the security of this country” (The Wall Street Journal).Soldier Dead: How We Recover, Identify, Bury, & Honor Our Military Fallen
Par Michael Sledge. 2004
The first book to address the complicated issues surrounding what happens to members of the United States Armed Forces after…
they die. Why does recovering the remains of servicepeople matter? Soldier Dead examines this question and provides a thorough analysis of the processes of recovery, identification, return, burial, and remembrance of the dead. Sledge traces the ways in which the handling of our Soldier Dead has evolved over time and how these changes have reflected not only advances in technology and capabilities but also the shifting attitudes of the public, government, and military. He also considers the emotional stress experienced by those who handle the dead; the continuing efforts to retrieve bodies from Korea and elsewhere; and how unresolved issues regarding the treatment of enemy dead continue to affect U.S. foreign relations. Skillfully incorporating excerpts from interviews, personal correspondence and diaries, military records, and journalistic accounts—as well as never-before-published photographs and his own reflections—Michael Sledge presents a clear, concise, and compassionate story about what the dead mean to the living. Throughout Soldier Dead, the voices of the fallen are heard, as are those of family members and military personnel responsible for the dead before final disposition. At times disturbing and at other times encouraging, they are always powerful as they speak of danger, duty, courage, commitment, and care. &“A timely and detailed investigation into the moral conscience of American society which will be of interest to anyone concerned with the human costs of war. An important and passionate book which deserves a wide readership.&”—Chris Shilling, University of Portsmouth, UKHill 488
Par Ray Hildreth, Charles W. Sasser. 2003
For some, Hill 488 was just another landmark in the jungles of Vietnam. For the eighteen men of Charlie Company,…
it was a last stand—this is the stirring combat memoir written by Ray Hildreth, one of the unit's survivors.On June 13, 1966, men of the 1st Recon Battalion, 1st Marine Division were stationed on Hill 488. Before the week was over, they would fight the battle that would make them the most highly decorated small unit in the entire history of the U.S. military, winning a Congressional Medal of Honor, four Navy Crosses, thirteen Silver Stars, and eighteen Purple Hearts—some of them posthumously. During the early evening of June 15, a battalion of hardened North Vietnamese regulars and Viet Cong—outnumbering the Americans 25-to-1—threw everything they had at the sixteen Marines and two Navy corpsmen for the rest of that terror-filled night. Every man who held the hill was either killed or wounded defending the ground with unbelievable courage and unflagging determination—even as reinforcements were on the way. All they had to do was make it until dawn...The Crusader Armies: 1099-1187
Par Steve Tibble. 2018
A major history of the Crusades that illuminates the strength and sophistication of the Western and Muslim armies.During the Crusades,…
the Western and Muslim armies developed various highly sophisticated strategies of both attack and defense, which evolved during the course of the battles. In this ambitious new work, Steve Tibble draws on a wide range of Muslim texts and archaeological evidence as well as more commonly cited Western sources to analyze the respective armies’ strategy, adaptation, evolution, and cultural diversity and show just how sophisticated the Crusader armies were even by today’s standards.In the first comprehensive account of the subject in sixty years, Tibble takes a fresh approach to Templars, Hospitallers, and other key Orders and makes the controversial proposition that the Crusades were driven as much by sedentary versus nomadic tribal concerns as by religious conflict. This fluently written, broad-ranging narrative provides a crucial missing piece in the study of the West’s attempts to colonize the Middle East during the Middle Ages.“Now Tibble takes a new approach, one that adds to prior research and may well influence subsequent research. This book is a must read for medievalists.” —R. J. Powell, Choice“A book that welcomes everyone, regardless of the reader’s background in the subject. . . . Crusade historians like to complain that the general public knows nothing about their scholarship. It is books like this that will change that.” —Thomas F. Madden, Reading Religion“The Crusader Armies offers more than the obligatory corrections to the historical ignorance of our age. It is a full-scale reassessment of the warfare, armies, and enemies of the Western Crusades in the Middle East . . . readable, expertly sourced, and well organized.” —Timothy D. Lusch, Chronicles“The Crusader Armies: 1099–1187 is a worthy and sound contribution to the literature on its subject. . . . Steve Tibble paints a compelling picture of continual systemic warfare.” —Laurence W. Marvin, Michigan War Studies ReviewSelected for Choice's 2019 Outstanding Academic Titles ListThe Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001–2014
Par Carlotta Gall. 2014
A journalist with deep knowledge of the region provides &“an enthralling and largely firsthand account of the war in Afghanistan&”…
(Financial Times). Few reporters know as much about Afghanistan as Carlotta Gall. She was there in the 1990s after the Russians were driven out. She witnessed the early flourishing of radical Islam, imported from abroad, which caused so much local suffering. She was there right after 9/11, when US special forces helped the Northern Alliance drive the Taliban out of the north and then the south, fighting pitched battles and causing their enemies to flee underground and into Pakistan. Gall knows just how much this war has cost the Afghan people—and just how much damage can be traced to Pakistan and its duplicitous government and intelligence forces. Combining searing personal accounts of battles and betrayals with moving portraits of the ordinary Afghans who were caught up in the conflict for more than a decade, The Wrong Enemy is a sweeping account of a war brought by American leaders against an enemy they barely understood and could not truly engage.Chancellorsville
Par Stephen W. Sears. 2014
A new look at the Civil War battle that led to Stonewall Jackson&’s death: A Publishers Weekly Best Book of…
the Year and &“tour de force in military history&” (Library Journal). From the award-winning, national bestselling author of Gettysburg, this is the definitive account of the Chancellorsville campaign, from the moment &“Fighting Joe&” Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac to the Union&’s stinging, albeit temporary, defeat. Along with a vivid description of the experiences of the troops, Stephen Sears provides &“a stunning analysis of how terrain, personality, chance, and other factors affect fighting and distort strategic design&” (Library Journal). &“Most notable is his use of Union military intelligence reports to show how Gen. Joseph Hooker was fed a stream of accurate information about Robert E. Lee&’s troops; conversely, Sears points out the battlefield communications failures that hampered the Union army at critical times . . . A model campaign study, Sears&’s account of Chancellorsville is likely to remain the standard for years to come.&” —Publishers Weekly &“The finest and most provocative Civil War historian writing today.&” —Chicago Tribune Includes mapsWar on the Border: Villa, Pershing, the Texas Rangers, and an American Invasion
Par Jeff Guinn. 2021
The dramatic story of how over a century ago, the United States and Mexico went to war over their border,…
a conflict that still resonates today.In 1916, Mexican rebel Pancho Villa staged a bloody raid on a US border town, the latest incident in simmering tensions between the two countries. In response the United States launched the year-long Punitive Expedition—a military invasion of Mexican territory. Commanded by General John J. Pershing, who would go on to lead American troops in Europe a year later during World War I, the expedition included US Army troops, the National Guard, the Texas Rangers, and the legendary African-American Buffalo Soldiers. It was the first time the Army used automobiles and trucks, and Curtiss Jenny airplanes did reconnaissance, another first; even a young George Patton was involved. But despite several bloody encounters, the Punitive Expedition ultimately proved unsuccessful, and its contentious history continues to resonate in US-Mexico border relations today.Survival: Russia and the World
Par The International Institute for Strategic Studies. 2022
Survival, the IISS’s bimonthly journal, challenges conventional wisdom and brings fresh, often controversial, perspectives on strategic issues of the moment.In…
this issue: Robert Dalsjö, Michael Jonsson and Johan Norberg reconsider Russia’s military capability given its recent battlefield performance in Ukraine William Alberque and Benjamin Schreer argue that Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership would, if managed judiciously, bolster deterrence and European security Chuck Freilich contends that encouraging diplomacy is the best of Israel’s limited options for postponing Iran’s nuclear-weapons programme Nicolas Lippolis and Harry Verhoeven assess that if a wave of African defaults materialises in the near future, it will be catalysed more by private-sector manoeuvring and intransigence than by Chinese scheming Dana H. Allin and Erik Jones argue that Russia’s isolation is not a viable endgame for the West, but it may be unavoidable for a generation And seven more thought-provoking pieces, as well as our regular Book Reviews and Noteworthy column.Editor: Dr Dana AllinManaging Editor: Jonathan StevensonAssociate Editor: Carolyn WestAssistant Editor: Jessica WatsonEditorial Assistant: Charlie ZawadzkiJihadists and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Par Gary Ackerman, Jeremy Tamsett. 2009
Explores the Nexus Formed When Malevolent Actors Access Malignant MeansWritten for professionals, academics, and policymakers working at the forefront of…
counterterrorism efforts, Jihadists and Weapons of Mass Destruction is an authoritative and comprehensive work addressing the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the hands of jihadists,Cross-Training for First Responders
Par Gregory Bennett. 2010
The tragedy that occurred in the United States on September 11, 2001 brought enhanced emergency preparedness among first responders to…
the forefront of public awareness. Since those events � and despite significant progress made in many of the areas previously deemed deficient � some response areas are still woefully inadequate. Cross-Training forA Bridge Too Far: The Classic History of the Greatest Battle of World War II
Par Cornelius Ryan. 1974
The classic account of one of the most dramatic battles of World War II.A Bridge Too Far is Cornelius Ryan's…
masterly chronicle of the Battle of Arnhem, which marshalled the greatest armada of troop-carrying aircraft ever assembled and cost the Allies nearly twice as many casualties as D-Day.In this compelling work of history, Ryan narrates the Allied effort to end the war in Europe in 1944 by dropping the combined airborne forces of the American and British armies behind German lines to capture the crucial bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem. Focusing on a vast cast of characters—from Dutch civilians to British and American strategists to common soldiers and commanders—Ryan brings to life one of the most daring and ill-fated operations of the war. A Bridge Too Far superbly recreates the terror and suspense, the heroism and tragedy of this epic operation, which ended in bitter defeat for the Allies.Clash at Kennesaw: June and July 1864
Par Russell W. Blount. 2012
From early June to mid-July of 1864, North Georgia's Kennesaw Mountain loomed as the focal point around which the Union…
and Confederate armies fought and suffered. This dramatic tale covers one of the Civil War's most gruesome battles, offering insight into the strategic turning point in Sherman's battle for Atlanta.From the Georgia rail towns of Acworth to Big Shanty (now Kennesaw) and Marietta, this book covers the Atlanta Campaign's deadly, month-long struggle over possession of Kennesaw Mountain. From the fight through squalid trenches and adverse weather to the swarms of insects and the stench of lifeless soldiers, no misery endured by the troops is left out. Along with details of the grisly battle-which took the lives of nearly 200,000 men-author Russell W. Blount, Jr. provides insight into the character of the major players on both sides of the conflict. The battle's common privates and their outlooks are chronicled as well, along with civilian accounts of the tragic occurrence.ABOUT THE AUTHOR Russell W. Blount, Jr. is a Civil War enthusiast who taught American history at the high-school level. He received a BS in history from the University of South Alabama, and his affinity for history is apparent in his involvement with such organizations as the Civil War Preservation Trust, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Historic Mobile Preservation Society. Blount is also the author of Pelican's The Battles of New Hope Church. When not researching the Civil War, Blount enjoys reading, writing, and playing racquetball. He resides in Mobile, Alabama, with his wife.This unusual and moving chronicle covers some of the most important battles of the Civil War—Sharpsburg (Antietam), Gettysburg, and Chancellorsville—through…
the stories of the two brigades who confronted each other on the bloody fields of battle.Drawing on original source material, Jeffry Wert reconstructs the drama and terrors of war through the eyes of the ordinary men who became members of two of the most respected fighting units of their respective armies, the Stonewall Brigade of the Confederacy and the Iron Brigade of the Union. There are tales of grueling marches and almost unbearable deprivations; eyewitness accounts of ferocious fighting and devastating losses on both sides; and portraits of acts of courage and valor performed by soldiers and officers who, despite the difficulties they faced, remained dedicated to the cause for which they were fighting.The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made
Par Walter Isaacson, Evan Thomas. 1986
With a new introduction by the authors, this is the classic account of the American statesmen who rebuilt the world…
after the catastrophe of World War II.A captivating blend of personal biography and public drama, The Wise Men introduces six close friends who shaped the role their country would play in the dangerous years following World War II.They were the original best and brightest, whose towering intellects, outsize personalities, and dramatic actions would bring order to the postwar chaos and leave a legacy that dominates American policy to this day.The Wise Men shares the stories of Averell Harriman, the freewheeling diplomat and Roosevelt&’s special envoy to Churchill and Stalin; Dean Acheson, the secretary of state who was more responsible for the Truman Doctrine than Truman and for the Marshall Plan than General Marshall; George Kennan, self-cast outsider and intellectual darling of the Washington elite; Robert Lovett, assistant secretary of war, undersecretary of state, and secretary of defense throughout the formative years of the Cold War; John McCloy, one of the nation&’s most influential private citizens; and Charles Bohlen, adroit diplomat and ambassador to the Soviet Union.The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War
Par Fred Kaplan. 2013
A finalist for the Pulitzer PrizeThe inside story of the small group of soldier-scholars who—against fierce resistance from within their…
own ranks—changed the way the Pentagon does business and the American military fights wars.The Insurgents is the inside story of the small group of soldier-scholars, led by General David Petraeus, who plotted to revolutionize one of the largest, oldest, and most hidebound institutions—the United States military. Their aim was to build a new Army that could fight the new kind of war in the post–Cold War age: not massive wars on vast battlefields, but “small wars” in cities and villages, against insurgents and terrorists. These would be wars not only of fighting but of “nation building,” often not of necessity but of choice.Based on secret documents, private emails, and interviews with more than one hundred key characters, including Petraeus, the tale unfolds against the backdrop of the wars against insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the main insurgency is the one mounted at home by ambitious, self-consciously intellectual officers—Petraeus, John Nagl, H. R. McMaster, and others—many of them classmates or colleagues in West Point’s Social Science Department who rose through the ranks, seized with an idea of how to fight these wars better. Amid the crisis, they forged a community (some of them called it a cabal or mafia) and adapted their enemies’ techniques to overhaul the culture and institutions of their own Army.Fred Kaplan describes how these men and women maneuvered the idea through the bureaucracy and made it official policy. This is a story of power, politics, ideas, and personalities—and how they converged to reshape the twenty-first-century American military. But it is also a cautionary tale about how creative doctrine can harden into dogma, how smart strategists—today’s “best and brightest”—can win the battles at home but not the wars abroad. Petraeus and his fellow insurgents made the US military more adaptive to the conflicts of the modern era, but they also created the tools—and made it more tempting—for political leaders to wade into wars that they would be wise to avoid.War on the Border: Villa, Pershing, the Texas Rangers, and an American Invasion
Par Jeff Guinn. 2021
The dramatic story of how over a century ago, the United States and Mexico went to war over their border,…
a conflict that still resonates today.In 1916, Mexican rebel Pancho Villa staged a bloody raid on a US border town, the latest incident in simmering tensions between the two countries. In response the United States launched the year-long Punitive Expedition—a military invasion of Mexican territory. Commanded by General John J. Pershing, who would go on to lead American troops in Europe a year later during World War I, the expedition included US Army troops, the National Guard, the Texas Rangers, and the legendary African-American Buffalo Soldiers. It was the first time the Army used automobiles and trucks, and Curtiss Jenny airplanes did reconnaissance, another first; even a young George Patton was involved. But despite several bloody encounters, the Punitive Expedition ultimately proved unsuccessful, and its contentious history continues to resonate in US-Mexico border relations today.Testament: A Soldier's Story of the Civil War
Par Benson Bobrick. 2004
The story of the author's great-grandfather's Civil War experience, based on a remarkable set of newly discoverd letters—a powerful, moving…
addition to the firsthand soldiers' accounts of the Civil War.Dear Mother, I was very glad to hear from home this morning. It is the first time since I left Otterville. We marched from Sedalia 120 miles....I almost feel anxious to be in a battle & yet I am almost afraid. I feel very brave sometimes & think if I should be in an engagement, I never would leave the field alive unless the stars & stripes floated triumphant. I do not know how it may be. If there is a battle & I should fall, tell with pride & not with grief that I fell in defense of liberty. Pray that I may be a true soldier.Not since Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage have the trials and tribulations of a private soldier of the Civil War been told with such beguiling force. The Red Badge of Courage, however, was fiction. This story is true.In Testament, Benson Bobrick draws upon an extraordinarily rich but hitherto untapped archive of material to create a continuous narrative of how that war was fought and lived. Here is virtually the whole theater of conflict in the West, from its beginnings in Missouri, through Kentucky and Tennessee, to the siege of Atlanta under Sherman, as experienced by Bobrick's great-grandfather, Benjamin W. ("Webb") Baker, an articulate young Illinois recruit. Born and raised not far from the Lincoln homestead in Coles County, Webb had stood in the audience of one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, become a staunch Unionist, and answered one of Abraham Lincoln's first calls for volunteers. The ninety-odd letters on which his story is based are fully equal to the best letters the war produced, especially by a common soldier; but their wry intelligence, fortitude, and patriotic fervor also set them apart with a singular and still-undying voice.In the end, that voice blends with the author's own, as the book becomes a poignant tribute to his great-grandfather's life -- and to all the common soldiers of the nation's bloodiest war.