A firearms expert "traces the history of the 'one hand gun' from its 14th century origins . . . surveying changing technology, techniques, and design" ( Midwest Book Review).Ideally suited for both attack and self-defense, handguns have gotten smaller and deadlier. But the earliest pistols had a tendency to misfire. This was cured by the cap-lock, which proved a massive success in the American Civil War, with hundreds of thousands of cap-lock revolvers use...

While the PP and PPK were intended for police work, the Walther P 38 was produced for the Germany military; all three pistols have garnered a formidable international reputation since the 1930s.The innovative Walther PP (Polizeipistole), a double-action semi-automatic pistol intended for the law-enforcement market, became available in 1929 and went on to arm the police of several European countries in the 1930s. Its smaller cousin the PPK, more readily concealed fo...

The Sniper Encyclopaedia is an indispensable alphabetical, topic-by-topic guide to a fascinating subject.It is intended as a companion volume to John Walter's Snipers at War (Greenhill Books, 2017) and is another addition to the Greenhill Sniper Library which includes a series of first-person memoirs.This is a comprehensive work that covers virtually every aspect of sniping. The work contains personal details of hundreds of snipers, including world-renowned gurus such as Vasiliy Zaytsev an...

Fully illustrated, this absorbing study explores the evolving sniping technology and tactics employed by both sides in Asia and the Pacific during 1941–45.During World War II, both the Japanese and their Allied opponents made widespread use of snipers armed with a variety of rifles, scopes and accessories and prepared by widely differing levels of training and tactical doctrine. The challenges of fighting in a variety of harsh environments, from the Pacific islands...

Based on an incredible breadth of first-hand testimony, this is a unique collection of eyewitness accounts from World War I and II.John Walter draws on meticulous research and the reminiscences of more than fifty snipers, tracing their journeys from recruitment and selection through training, combat and its aftermath to reveal a surprising commonality of experience, even across nationalities.Laying bare the triumphs and brutalities of sniping, the personalities and psycholo...

After traveling to India to take advantage of cutting-edge psychiatric technology, a jaded ailing old man embarks on a guided journey through his memories to locate and correct errant decisions that shaped his life.

In post-apocalyptic Sicily a megalomaniac has taken over one of the last outposts of an interstellar colonization program, and organized crime has assumed political control of the island. A man caught in the middle of these conflicts struggles to save his wife and with her join a team making one last effort to reach the stars.

In a world whose inhabitants routinely visit famous historical events, two jaded road-weary tourists take a holiday in an isolated retrograde enclave where time travel is forbidden.

Greece has always been regarded as the birthplace of western civilization and a Mediterranean paradise. In The Iliad and The Odyssey Homer uses the magical epithet rosy-fingered dawn to describe the sunrise over a land of myth, fascination, and mystery. But when preconceptions and illusions are swept aside, what is Greece really like?John Walters has lived in Greece for over fifteen years. He has hitchhiked over many of its roads; traveled by camper; journeyed by plane, boat, bus, ...

In the near future when their benefits are cut off, veterans resort to professional combat to make ends meet. Makeshift arenas open in numerous locales, and websites offering crowdsourced funding proliferate. An ex-soldier rising in popularity on the entertainment circuit attempts to reconcile his empathy for his opponents with his need for finances.

From the author's introduction:Picture a book as a gateway to a new land and a book review as a tantalizing glimpse of it, a brief travel memoir of someone who has been there and come back. A large part of what makes life so thrilling is our appreciation of the interpretations of experiences that we find in books. So sit back in your favorite chair or couch or lie down on your bed or chaise lounge and dive in. Allow these reviews to assist you in your own literary explorations by g...

Aliens finally arrive, landing at many locations, wandering about as if tourists, ignoring humans. In the aftermath of their departure cults spring up of devotees awaiting their return. Years later an apostate re-enters one such commune to which his wife has returned, to persuade her to come away with him again. What he encounters is a bizarre, deteriorating culture of unrequited longing.