In early 1965 the United States unleashed the largest sustained aerial bombing campaign since World War II, against North Vietnam. Through an ever escalating onslaught of destruction, Operation Rolling Thunder intended to signal Americas unwavering commitment to its South Vietnamese ally in the face of continued North Vietnamese aggression, break Hanois political will to prosecute the war, and bring about a negotiated settlement to the conflict. It was not to be. Against the backdrop of th...

A history of the military campaign that set the stage for the end of the Vietnam War.By the end of 1971, in what Hanoi called the American War and at the height of the Cold War, the fighting had dragged on for eight years with neither side gaining a decisive advantage on the battlefield and talks in Paris to the end the war were going nowhere. While the United States was steadily drawing down its ground forces in South Vietnam, Washington was also engaging in a gra...

An account of the last American bombardments that took place over North Vietnam while peace talks struggled in Paris. Includes maps and photos.On March 30, 1972, some thirty thousand North Vietnamese troops, along with tanks and heavy artillery, surged across the demilitarized zone into South Vietnam in the opening round of Hanoi's Easter Offensive. By early May, South Vietnamese forces were on the ropes and faltering. Without the support of U.S. combat troops—who ...

How superpower interests and Cold War politics exacerbated a war in Africa that left millions dead or displaced.As the Cold War raged on in the 1970s and 1980s, much of southern Africa, from Angola to Mozambique, became caught up in the superpower competition as local and regional proxies for both Moscow and Washington fought it out on the battlefield. Thus, the struggle to determine the future of a newly independent Mozambique was shaped by multiple factors beyond...

A history of the "secret war" in Southeast Asia in which nearly three million tons of bombs decimated a newly independent nation.By 1959 the newly independent Kingdom of Laos was transforming into a Cold War battleground for global superpower competition, having been born out of the chaos following the French military defeat and withdrawal from Indochina in 1954. The country was soon engulfed in a rapidly evolving civil war as rival forces jockeyed for power and sw...

When I wrote this book, over a period of about 5 years, I wanted to communicate something of my experience to the reader. Most importantly, I wanted to convey a view of English that the reader may not be familiar with, that it can be an object of play. In writing the book, I forced myself, stretched myself, to play with English, to expand its potential. I took something of an inspiration from Shakespeare, that one can smith words into English to allow it to breathe more freely, and more jo...

This book explores and analyses the evolving African security paradigm in light of the multitude of diverse threats and challenges facing the continent and the international community. It challenges current thinking and traditional security constructs as woefully inadequate to meet the real security needs of African governments and their 1 billion plus citizens in an increasingly globalised and interdependent world. Through the lens of human security the authors’ examine the continent’s mo...

One of The New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of 2015One of Jezebel's Favorite Books of 2016A Manual for Cleaning Women compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin.With the grit of Raymond Carver, the humor of Grace Paley, and a blend of wit and melancholy all her own, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday, uncovering moments of grace in the L...

This second posthumous story collection by the New York Times– bestselling author of A Manual for Cleaning Women "shines with compassion and dark wit" ( Guardian , UK).In 2015, eleven years after her death, Lucia Berlin became a literary sensation with her widely acclaimed short story collection, A Manual for Cleaning Women. Re...

An Amazon BestsellerJo’s mother, Babe, liked to drink, dance, and stay up very late. When the husband she adored went on sales calls, she waited for him in the parking lot, embroidering pillowcases. Jo grew up thinking that the last thing she wanted was to be like her mother. Then it dawned on her that her own happiness was derived in large part from lessons Babe had taught her. Her mother might have had tomato aspic and stewed rhubarb in her fridge, while Jo had organic kale and al...

"These stories have a sharp eye for the complexities of modern life, but Neel Patel writes with the wisdom and compassion of an old soul." —Celeste Ng, #1 New York Times– bestselling authorA New York Times Book Review Editor's ChoiceAn NPR Best Book of the YearA Best Book of the Summer— Vanity Fair

**Gold Award in the Regional Fiction (Europe) category of the 2020 IPPY AwardsGold Medal in the Fiction–Literary category of the 2020 Readers’ Favorite Book AwardsSilver Award in the Audiobook: Fiction category of the 2020 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards“Teitelman paints an intensely beautiful world in which different cultures merge in surprising ways. . . . A rich and moving story about an unlikely pair.” —Kirkus Reviews**In 1923, seventeen-year-old Es...