Military

A SAS soldier's journey from trainee to elite warrior fighting Islamic militants in Afghanistan, only to be betrayed by his own senior leaders at home. 'I've had more than my share of close calls. Truth is, it's fucking thrilling. But the fear can hit just as hard, especially when you see mates...

Own five of history's most influential books on strategy, power, war, and leadership in one complete audiobook. Together, these timeless classics have shaped the thinking of military commanders, political leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, and strategists for centuries.

The extraordinary story of the heroic doctor whose courage and leadership were a lifeline for thousands of Australian prisoners-of-war on the infamous Thai-Burma Railway of World War II - brilliantly told by Australia's favourite storyteller, Peter FitzSimons In September 1939, young Australian...

33 Strategies of War is a comprehensive guide to the subtle social game of everyday life, informed by the most ingenious and effective military principles in war. It's the I-Ching of conflict, the contemporary companion to Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and is abundantly illustrated with examples...

The story begins in 1629, when the pride of the Dutch East India Company, the Batavia, is on its maiden voyage en route from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies, laden down with the greatest treasure to leave Holland....

Forged in Fire takes us inside the secretive world of the Australian commandos. Garry made a report on the radio: 'I see around 200 women and children heading north up the valley.' Less than 400 metres below us, a steady stream of women and kids were hurrying away in single file. 'Where are all...

For Australians, Kokoda is the iconic battle of World War II, yet few people know just what happened and just what our troops achieved....

'The bloodstained drama of the last decades of the Roman republic... is told afresh with tremendous wit, narrative verve and insight' 'I owe a debt of gratitude to Tom Holland not just for reminding me of the great figures who bestrode the Roman world - Pompey and Crassus, Cato, Cicero and...

Bloomsbury presents Bagration 1944: The Great Soviet Offensive by Prit Buttar, read by Leighton Pugh. A fascinating history of the great summer offensive launched by the Red Army in 1944 which turned the tide of the war. Throughout the war on the Eastern Front, there were two consistent trends...

Forty years after the publication of Eugene Sledge's memoir With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa comes The Old Breed... The Complete Story Revealed by Eugene's son, Henry, adding new material and immeasurable depth to his father's story. The Old Breed... The Complete Story Revealed brings...

Throughout the twentieth century, the pilots of the Royal Australian Navy carved their name with pride to build a service that would take shape as the Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Australian naval aviators stood tall in the gallant ranks of the fighter Aces of World War 1.They fought, and some of them...

‘Stop screaming, I’m scared too!’ is not what you’d expect to see on the back of a loadmaster’s helmet in a Chinook helicopter flying over southern Afghanistan, but for Rod Henderson it sums up his 22 years of service as a soldier in the Australian Army. During the busiest period in...

Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer’s monumental study of Hitler’s German empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of the twentieth century’s blackest hours. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich offers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how...

NO.1 BESTSELLER ANT MIDDLETON SHARES HIS SECRETS ABOUT HIS POSITIVE MINDSET AND TEACHES YOU TO LIVE A LIFE WITH ZERO NEGATIVITY There are times when life feels like it has you cornered: financial difficulties, relationship issues, work problems, all of the above. Every one of us, at one time or...

The Battle of Le Hamel on 4 July 1918 was an Allied triumph, and strategically very important in the closing stages of WWI. A largely Australian force, commanded by the brilliant Sir John Monash, fought what has been described as the first modern battle - where infantry, tanks, artillery and...

Entrepreneur Jesse Itzler chronicles his month of living and extreme fitness training with a Navy SEAL in this New York Times bestseller—now with two bonus chapters. Jesse Itzler will try almost anything. His life is about being bold and risky. So when Jesse felt himself drifting on autopilot...

Unidentified Submerged Objects have long existed on the margins of UAP/UFO research, mentioned in passing and rarely examined in depth.

The shocking story of the case against Australia's most highly decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG, and the defamation trial of the century. With a Victoria Cross and Medal for Gallantry, Ben Roberts-Smith was the most highly decorated Australian soldier, the best of the best. When he...

The definitive account of the warrior-monks who stood as Christendom’s shield against centuries of relentless Islamic aggression and a superlative example of Muscular Christianity for an era marred by effete and effeminized forms of the faith. In this magisterial history, Raymond Ibrahim...

Stephen E. Ambrose’s D-Day is the definitive history of World War II’s most pivotal battle, a day that changed the course of history. D-Day is the epic story of men at the most demanding moment of their lives, when the horrors, complexities, and triumphs of life are laid bare. Distinguished...

Our heroes can come from the most ordinary of places. As a shy lad growing up in country Victoria, no one in the district had any idea the man Albert Jacka would become. Albert 'Bert' Jacka was 21 when Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914. Bert soon enlisted in the Australian Imperial...

The Napoleonic Wars saw fighting on an unprecedented scale in Europe and the Americas. It took the wealth of the British Empire, combined with the might of the continental armies, almost two decades to bring down one of the world's greatest military leaders and the empire that he had created...

From Stephen E. Ambrose, bestselling author of Band of Brothers and D-Day, the inspiring story of the ordinary men of the U.S. army in northwest Europe from the day after D-Day until the end of the bitterest days of World War II. In this riveting account, historian Stephen E. Ambrose continues...

Bill was massive. He had power, intelligence and unmatched courage. In performance and character he stood above all the other 200,000 Australian horses sent to the Middle East in the Great War....

Uncover the true story of the man who unified medieval Japan. For 700 years, Japan was ruled by military commanders who waged war against one another incessantly. Shogun tells the fascinating story of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the man who finally unified and brought lasting peace to the nation. He...

A SAS soldier's journey from trainee to elite warrior fighting Islamic militants in Afghanistan, only to be betrayed by his own senior leaders at home. 'I've had more than my share of close calls. Truth is, it's fucking thrilling. But the fear can hit just as hard, especially when you see mates...

211 BC: Hannibal's struggle against the Romans in Italy continues, but the Carthaginians have been utterly defeated on Sicily. Fleeing the island to Spain, Hanno and Aurelia are shipwrecked, and taken prisoner by local tribesmen. Unless they escape, a life of slavery and brutal treatment awaits...

New York Times Editors' Choice One of People's 15 Most Anticipated Books of Summer The Next Big Idea Club's July 2026 Must-Read Books One of the New York Times Nonfiction Everyone Will Be Reading This Summer Sunset Magazine's 15 New Books You Don't Want to Miss From Annie Jacobsen, the author of...

Throughout the twentieth century, the pilots of the Royal Australian Navy carved their name with pride to build a service that would take shape as the Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Australian naval aviators stood tall in the gallant ranks of the fighter Aces of World War 1.They fought, and some of them...

Richard V. Lowney Jr. spent his career building software that millions of people used without knowing his name. The other thing he was building, without realizing it, is what kept him alive. He grew up in one of Boston's toughest neighborhoods, the son of a factory worker and the grandson of an Irish immigrant who died on the Charlestown docks. He enlisted in the Army during Vietnam, worked with early computing systems in Cold War Germany, and came home to a country that had changed while he was gone.

Coup d'État astonished readers when it first appeared in 1968 because it showed, step by step, how governments could be overthrown. Translated into sixteen languages, it has inspired anti-coup precautions by regimes around the world. In addition to these detailed instructions, Edward Luttwak's...

“A fascinating, provocative, and highly eccentric volume” (The New York Times) exploring the true story of Elisabeth Nietzsche’s maniacal attempt to found a utopian colony in the jungles of Paraguay in the late nineteenth century—from the bestselling author of Prisoners of the Castle. In...

The Art of War—is a timeless manual on strategy and leadership, first translated into English by Lionel Giles in 1910. Written by Sun Tzu in ancient China, it teaches that victory depends on preparation, discipline, and wisdom rather than brute force. The text emphasizes knowing yourself and your enemy, adapting to changing circumstances, conserving resources, and winning without unnecessary conflict. Though originally a military treatise, its lessons apply to business, politics, sports, and personal decision making.

In January 1980, a secret review quietly rewired Britain’s war in Northern Ireland. Commissioned by the Chief Constable of the RUC and led by future MI5 Director General Sir Patrick Walker, it placed intelligence above the law - and changed everything. What followed was a vast, covert...

In early June 1967, Marine Corps recruits from Minneapolis-St. Paul and outlying Minnesota received a letter stating all those scheduled for active duty in June would go as one platoon on June 28, 1967. One hundred fifty Marine applicants would be shipped to San Diego, California, to the recruit training depot. The Minnesota Twins baseball team was sponsoring the unit. They were sworn in on television at a pregame ceremony and were guests of the Twins at the game.

Bloomsbury Presents The Battle of Gettysburg 1863: The Third Day by Timothy J. Orr, read by Tom Alexander An authoritative and superbly illustrated exploration of the events of July 3, 1863, incorporating new interpretations that have arisen in the past two decades. The third day of the Battle...

With the outbreak of Gulf War hostilities a unit from 22 SAS slipped quietly over the border and into the enemy's backyard. It would be six weeks before any of the patrol again reached safety. Sabre Squadron recounts in graphic detail their scud-busting operations deep inside Iraq. They were...

Bloomsbury Presents The Battle of Gettysburg 1863: The First Day, by Timothy J. Orr, read by Tom Alexander An authoritative and superbly illustrated exploration of the events of July 3, 1863, incorporating new interpretations that have arisen in the past two decades. The third day of the Battle...

Bloomsbury presents Dien Bien Phu 1954: The French Defeat that Lured America into Vietnam by Martin Windrow, read by Thomas Judd A study of the battle at Dien Bien Phu, the 56-day siege that eventually led to the surrender of the remaining French-led forces, this iconic battle provided the...

Bloomsbury Presents The Battle of Gettysburg 1863: The Second Day by Timothy J. Orr, read by Tom Alexander An authoritative and superbly illustrated exploration of the events of July 3, 1863, incorporating new interpretations that have arisen in the past two decades. The third day of the Battle...

Bloomsbury presents Iran and the Bomb, written and read by Sina Azodi Iran’s nuclear program remains one of the most contentious issues of modern international politics. This book is the first to trace the evolution of Iran’s nuclear strategy (program) in the broader context of its...

What role did German big business play in the persecution of European Jews during the Holocaust? What were its motivations? And how did it respond to changing social and economic circumstances after the war? Profits and Persecution examines how the leaders of Germany's largest industrial and...

A riveting retelling of one of the great adventure stories of antiquity—when Greek philosopher-warrior Xenophon led a stranded band of the “Ten Thousand” mercenary soldiers on a treacherous escape from the Persians. 400 BC. The Persian prince Cyrus the Younger hires an army of Greek...

The World’s First Superpower Has Been Misunderstood for 2,000 Years. Almost everything you think you know about the Persian Empire was written by its enemies. For centuries, Greek historians portrayed Persia as a decadent empire ruled by weak kings and endless luxury. But behind that story stood one of history’s most sophisticated political systems—a superpower whose ideas still shape civilization today. Long before Rome rose to dominance, the Persians built a vast empire spanning three continents.

The story of Black Hawk Down is a familiar one. On 3 October 1993 two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, and in the ensuing Battle of Mogadishu eighteen Americans and hundreds of Somalis were killed. But very few appreciate that this was one day in a two-and-a-half-year operation; the most...

Bloomsbury presents Generalship on the Eastern Front, 1941–45: A Study in Command by Robert Forczyk, read by Elliot Chapman A comprehensive evaluation of generalship on the most important front in World War II. The war on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945 was the largest sustained air-ground...

Why would the Empire of Japan imprison five Dutch radio engineers, hold their families hostage, and move them from Indonesia to Japan? And why would one of them die? Through heartfelt letters written across decades, oceans, and generations, and during her travels across the world, Laura begins...

Spring of 1592. Near the small town of Hamhae, Soodol knows that his life will end as a lowly baekjong, the untouchable caste of Joseon Korea. As he feels sorry for himself with a bottle of cheap alcohol, Japanese horsemen sweep through Hamhae, his birthplace and where his noble father still...

In this stirring and contrarian modern classic, bestselling author H. W. Crocker III unfolds four hundred years of American military history, revealing how Americans were born Indian fighters whose military prowess carved out first a continental and then a global empire—a Pax Americana that made the modern world. From the seventeenth century on, he argues, Americans have shown a jealous regard for their freedom—and have backed it up with an unheralded skill in small-unit combat operations, a tradition that includes Rogers’s Rangers, Merrill’s Marauders, and today’s Special Forces.

Look, are you a people watcher? Are you someone who is more interested in how a person reacts to their circumstances? There is always somebody who has an interesting approach and a fascinating personality. They will leave you unblinking and open-mouthed while you endeavour to suck in all their intricacies. Life is full of them and if given the opportunity when circumstances are right, they will provide you with a unique story.