Military & War

In Forging the Will to Fight, retired Special Forces Major Heston Russell delivers a raw and deeply personal memoir that cuts through the mythology of war to reveal the real human cost — and courage — of leadership in combat and beyond.

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...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 WALKLEY BOOK AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 ABIA GENERAL NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER OF THE 2024 DANGER AWARD FOR TRUE CRIME 'There is no doubt the truth would have been concealed and our concerns...

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...

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...

Walter Dexter, DSO, MC, DCM, remains the most distinguished and highly decorated Australian military chaplain of all time. Walter Dexter’s early life reads like an adventure story. It begins with the improbability of a merchant mariner winning decorations for bravery as a horseman in the army...

‘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...

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...

On 22 June 2013, Corporal Cameron Baird was a 2nd Commando Regiment Special Forces soldier when he led his platoon into a known Taliban stronghold to back-up another Australian unit under heavy fire. In the pronged firefight, Cameron was mortally wounded. In 2014, Cameron's bravery and courage...

Warrant Officer Terry Crump was a Cobra gunship pilot who earned a near-unprecedented seven Distinguished Flying Crosses in his one-year tour in Vietnam.

'A powerful, honest story of courage, redemption and finding purpose' - Bear Grylls Forging resilience Finding purpose Mastering transformation How do you rebuild your life when you've hit rock bottom? Mark Wales thought his life would end in a cornfield in Afghanistan. Mark and his SAS troops...

The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Make Your Bed—a short, inspirational book of advice and leadership lessons that Admiral McRaven collected over his four decades as a Navy SEAL. The title “Bullfrog” is given to the Navy SEAL who has served...

Get into the Navy SEAL mindset with this raw, brutally honest, in-your-face self-help guide that will teach you how to thrive on adversity. During the brutal crucible of Navy SEAL training, instructors often tell students to "embrace the suck." This phrase conveys the one lesson that is vital...

The #1 New York Times bestselling first-person account of the planning and execution of the Bin Laden raid from a Navy SEAL who confronted the terrorist mastermind and witnessed his final moments. From the streets of Iraq to the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean, and from...

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...

A respected Special Forces combat veteran of the top-secret MACV-SOG, Dale Hanson draws upon his first-hand knowledge to write with an intensity only possible by a warrior who equally knows how to wield a pen. Well written and thoroughly engaging, it’s an excellent read

Although T. E. Lawrence, commonly known as "Lawrence of Arabia", died in 1935, the story of his life has captured the imagination of succeeding generations....

Stirringly evocative, thought provoking, and often jaw dropping, The Operator ranges across SEAL Team Operator Robert O'Neill's awe-inspiring 400-mission career that included his involvement in attempts to rescue "Lone Survivor" Marcus Luttrell and abducted-by-Somali-pirates Captain Richard...

The New York Times bestselling official companion book to the Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries. Look for The Pacific miniseries, now available to stream on Netflix! Between America's retreat from China in late November 1941 and the moment General MacArthur's airplane touched down on the...

‘Paddy’ Mayne was one of the most outstanding special forces leaders of the Second World War. Hamish Ross’s authoritative study follows Mayne from solicitor and a rugby international to troop commander in the Commandos and then the SAS, whose leader he later became and whose annals he...

Starting in 1969, Mark Urban reveals the extraordinary history of the special forces' operations in Northern Ireland and the unenviable dilemmas faced by intelligence chiefs engaged in a daily struggle against one of the world's most sophisticated terrorist organisations.

LT Dick Thompson, codename Dynamite, describes in detail that takes your breath away, brutal firefights and hand-to-hand combat against overwhelming odds. Follow Dynamite as he transitions from a Airborne Ranger Special Forces warrior into one of the most elite, tier-one special operators.

Spike Milligan's legendary war memoirs are a hilarious and subversive first-hand account of the Second World War, as well as a fascinating portrait of the formative years of this towering comic genius, most famous as writer and star of The Goon Show. They have sold over 4.5 million copies...

For eight years, far beyond the battlefields of Vietnam and the glare of media distortions, American Green Berets fought a deadly secret war in Laos and Cambodia under the aegis of the top secret Military Assistance Command Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group, or SOG....

From the best-selling author of The Commando and Born to Fight comes a fascinating investigation of modern warfare that combines methodical research and the fast-paced action of battle with the personal stories of the combatants on both sides of the line. Taking us from the suburbs of western...

The heroic accounts of Australian Army Nursing Sisters Margaret Anderson and Vera Torney who survived the perilous evacuation of Singapore in 1942. The nursing profession is one historically filled with everyday heroes whose work often makes the difference between life and death. Yet Nursing...

In 1909, a thin, pale young man stood on a street corner in Vienna selling painted postcards to tourists. He couldn't hold down a job. He couldn't maintain a friendship. He was sleeping in a homeless shelter and arguing with drifters about politics nobody cared about. Thirty years later, he controlled most of Europe. Sixty million people would die because of his decisions. How does that happen? This isn't another book about the war. It's not about the battles or the tanks or the maps with arrows on them. You can get that anywhere. This is an audiobook about the mind of a madman.

Durante la Primera Guerra Mundial, mientras Europa se desangraba en los campos de batalla, Alfonso XIII se erigía como un faro de esperanza. Soberano de un país neutral, utilizó su influencia para aliviar el sufrimiento de miles de familias afectadas por el conflicto. A través de historias conmovedoras y detalladas investigaciones, el autor nos muestra las gestiones del monarca y del equipo de hombres y mujeres que trabajaron en el Palacio Real de Madrid junto a decenas de diplomáticos y militares españoles desplegados por los frentes de la contienda.

Themistocles (524–459 BC) came of age just as a newly democratic and empowered Athens was emerging. He would become an instrumental political and military figure, fighting in the Battle of Marathon; persuading Athenians to expand their fleet; and engineering the Athenians' defeat of the...

From the author of Make Your Bed, The Hero Code and The Wisdom of the Bullfrog, comes an uplifting selection of speeches, letters, toasts and poems that capture the essence of who we are as Americans. Admiral McRaven's name has become synonymous with indelible advice for changing your life...

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The “compelling,” untold story of the man who captured and brought to trial Rudolf Höss—one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious war criminals and subject of the Oscar-nominated film The Zone of Interest—“fascinates and shocks” (The Washington Post). May 1945...

In an Afghan village, a boy learns his letters under a mullah’s stick and dreams of a life free of the Taliban; in Virginia, a cadet learns to read a map and lead a platoon into combat. Years later, on a wind-scoured ridgeline overlooking Zabul Province, helicopters roaring overhead, Afghan interpreter Abdulhaq Sodais and US Army Lieutenant Spencer Sullivan must learn to trust each other if they hope to survive. In 2021, when the US withdraws from Afghanistan, the Taliban reassert their rule, disappearing, torturing, and killing US collaborators, including Abdulhaq’s fellow interpreters.

Captain Paul Eugene Betowski MD is a nonfiction WWI story told in the first person about the author's paternal great uncle. The content of the story is entirely culled from contrasting letters that Paul wrote to his brother, Leon S Betowski MD, and to his mother, Mary M Betowski. Letters to Paul's brother, the author's grandfather were more graphic, and letters to his mother inferred that he was on a lovely tour of France. The "Elmira Telegram" and the "Waverly Free Press" support details of Paul's letters.

Few disasters have touched Australia as profoundly as the sinking of the hospital ship Centaur – one of the deadliest wartime attacks ever on Australia – killing 268 souls on a mission of mercy. Ellen Savage, a fearless nurse from country New South Wales, was the only woman to survive. For more than 34 hours, she and other heroes fought off sharks and helped the injured until rescuers arrived. She was awarded the George Medal for her bravery.

War. People love the clean version of war. Simple motivations, clear victories, and neat endings, but that version is a mirage. Born and raised in Iowa, Jeff Harstad enlisted in the U.S. Army on September 12, 2001, one day after the attacks that changed everything. Fort Benning’s demanding Infantry School taught him the basics. Then the real world taught him the rest.

The author, from Smith County, Mississippi, writes of his experiences fighting in WWII.

Visual Friendlies, Tally Target: Surges continues the story of the role of forward air controllers (JTACs) and Close Air Support (CAS), picking up in 2006 and continuing through 2013. This volume covers the evolution of Joint Fires through the colloquial "second phase" of the War on Terror—the...

In January of 1943, fourteen-year-old Basha Anush and her family were dragged from their home in Pruzhany, Poland by Nazi troops and shipped off to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp. Within days, five members of her family would be dead and she would be subjected to two-and-a-half years of abuse, a death march into Germany, and months of roaming with other homeless girls when the Third Reich collapsed.

In einer Zeit, in der politische Lagerbildung die Regel ist, zeigt Volker Wissing in diesem Hörbuch, wie eine erfolgreiche demokratische Debattenkultur aussehen müsste – und wie weit wir derzeit davon entfernt sind. Wissing berichtet aus den Schaltzentralen in Berlin und zeichnet ein Bild tiefer Zerwürfnisse und politischer Grabenkämpfe, aber auch von demokratischer Haltung, wenn es wirklich zählt. Denn Verantwortung zu übernehmen heißt konstruktive Politik für Menschen zu machen statt sich in Lagerkämpfen zu verlieren.

Quando Joe Dunthorne si sposa, la madre gli regala un anello: un eliotropio nero screziato di rosso che, a detta della donna, era «scampato ai nazisti» nel 1935 - o forse no? A poco a poco, Dunthorne comincia a sospettare che le cose non siano andate esattamente come ha sempre pensato, e che la storia della sua famiglia ebreo-tedesca in realtà sia una narrazione creata ad arte per nascondere qualche segreto particolarmente scomodo.

From Brooklyn To Tokyo Bay: A Sailor’s Story is the story of how Albert R. Pincus and the young men of his generation fought for the United States during World War II. This poignant, yet humorous, tale of young men caught up in one of history’s bloodiest wars follows Albert all the way from his childhood home in Brooklyn to the front lines of military combat and back.

As an 18 year-old, Bart Hagerman volunteered for military service in April, 1943. Hagerman was wounded in action and hospitalized, then returned to the States and eventually to civilian life. After graduation from college, he accepted a direct commission and was recalled briefly during the Korean conflict. He retired from the Army in 1978 as a lieutenant colonel and a master parachutist.

What happens when life knocks you down again… and again… and again? From a troubled youth and challenges in the Marine Corps to devastating heartbreaks and hard-earned redemption, Dean Brown’s life has been anything but ordinary.

In May 1877, Ulysses S. Grant, after two terms in the White House, embarked on an extraordinary three-year journey that defined a pivotal moment in the Gilded Age. Driven by a lifelong passion for travel and unburdened by a fixed itinerary, Grant set out to explore the world, his wanderlust sustained by modest means. Louis L. Picone’s Ulysses’s Odyssey: Ulysses S. Grant’s World Tour at the Dawn of American Empire masterfully chronicles this unprecedented adventure, illuminating its historical significance and Grant’s enduring legacy.

When Kevin, a young Navy Seabee, deploys to Afghanistan in 2010, he believes he’s ready for the challenge. But nothing can prepare him for the quiet weight of war—not the kind fought with bullets and bombs, but the kind that seeps into your soul through sleepless nights, endless convoys, and the constant hum of uncertainty.

Kriegsreporter und YouTuber Konstantin Flemig beleuchtet die Auswirkungen militärischer Konflikte auf das tägliche Leben in den betroffenen Regionen. Erzählerisch gibt er Einblicke in die Realitäten junger Menschen, die er auf seinen Reisen hinter die Frontlinien und in Krisengebiete trifft.

As a UH-1C gunship platoon leader and pilot in Vietnam, I can highly recommend Roger’s book. Primarily because while dozens of books have been written by pilots who flew in Vietnam, few have been written by crew chiefs who were as critical to mission success as the pilots and whose duties were not only varied but arguably more interesting.

Major John Spargur stepped off a C-130 in Kabul, Afghanistan — already broken. His marriage destroyed, his foster daughter ripped from his home by the system, his young son battling seizures, and a grief he could barely name pressing down on him. What followed would either finish him — or forge him. Assigned as NATO Chief of Strategic Basing at ISAF Headquarters, Spargur found himself at the operational nerve center of America's longest war, working under a four-star general and liaising with CIA operatives tracking high-value targets across the country.

The last U.S. draftee reported for duty in 1973. Part I of Draftee includes a description of the personal journey of a draftee who survived combat in Vietnam. Part II includes a draftee’s perspective as to why and how the U.S. got into and eventually out of the War and how both the U.S. draft and the South Vietnamese draft influenced the outcome. Part III includes a review of military drafts and a proposal to replace the seriously flawed legacy Selective Service System with a policy that enables choice, celebration of citizenship, and promotes unity rather than divisiveness.

Parallel Lives: Commanders — How Wars Speak to Each OtherParallel Lives: Commanders is not a timeline. It's a conversation across centuries. Each chapter pairs two commanders who never met, yet seem to answer one another through the language of war: Achilles and Alexander, Hannibal and Scipio, Saladin and Richard, Napoleon and Wellington, Nelson and Tōgō, Grant and Lee, Atatürk and Hector, and many more, spanning continents from the ancient Mediterranean to the age of empires and total war.