Books in FDR at War series

In the next installment of the "splendid memoir Roosevelt didn't get to write" (New York Times), Nigel Hamilton tells the astonishing story of FDR's year-long, defining battle with Churchill, as the war raged in Africa and Italy. Nigel Hamilton's Mantle of Command, long-listed for the National Book Award, drew on years of archival research and interviews to portray FDR in a tight close up, as he determined Allied strategy in the crucial initial phases of World War II. Commander in Chief reveals the astonishing sequel — suppressed by Winston Churchill in his memoirs — of Roosevelt's battles with Churchill to maintain that strategy. Roosevelt knew that the Allies should take Sicily but avoid a wider battle in southern Europe, building experience but saving strength to invade France in early 1944. Churchill seemed to agree at Casablanca — only to undermine his own generals and the Allied command, testing Roosevelt’s patience to the limit. Churchill was afraid of the invasion planned for Normandy, and pushed instead for disastrous fighting in Italy, thereby almost losing the war for the Allies. In a dramatic showdown, FDR finally set the ultimate course for victory by making the ultimate threat. Commander in Chief shows FDR in top form at a crucial time in the modern history of the West.

“Superb . . . Hamilton brilliantly sets out Roosevelt’s foresight, determination and skill in establishing a new world order.” —Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post “Provocative . . . stimulating to follow.” —Thomas E. Ricks, New York Times Book Review 1943 was the year of Allied military counteroffensives, beating back the forces of the Axis powers in North Africa and the Pacific—the “Hinge of Fate,” as Winston Churchill called it. In Commander in Chief Nigel Hamilton reveals FDR’s true role in this saga: overruling his own Joint Chiefs of Staff, ordering American airmen on an ambush of the Japanese navy’s Admiral Yamamoto, facing down Churchill when he attempted to abandon Allied D-day strategy (twice). This FDR is profoundly different from the one Churchill later painted. President Roosevelt’s patience was tested to the limit quelling the Prime Minister’s “revolt,” as Churchill pressured Congress and senior American leaders to focus Allied energy on disastrous fighting in Italy and the Aegean instead of landings in Normandy. Finally, in a dramatic showdown at Hyde Park, FDR had to stop Churchill from losing the war by making the ultimate threat, setting the Allies on their course to final victory. In Commander in Chief, Hamilton masterfully chronicles the clash of nations—and of two titanic personalities—at a crucial moment in modern history.“The rebuttal to the Churchill multivolume history . . . The war retains its power to shock and surprise.” — Boston Globe

If ever there were an armored fighting vehicle that today's soldier could love, it would be the Bradley: of 2,200 that muscled through Operation Desert Storm, only three were disabled. In a full-scale, fully detailed look at the M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle System, Michael Green, veteran writer on military machines and tour guide at a tank museum, and co-author James D. Brown conduct readers through the nuts and bolts, production history, and wartime work of the stalwart Bradley. Made to carry infantry squads safely to critical points on the battlefield and to perform cavalry scout missions, the Bradley is uniquely able to close in on and destroy enemy forces in support of mounted and dismounted infantry and cavalry combat operations. It also, as recent experience demonstrates, provides a high degree of battlefield survivability. Unlike the M113 family it replaced, however, the Bradley is no mere "battle taxi." With the 25mm automatic cannon as its main armament and a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun, the Bradley is capable of defeating the majority of armored vehicles it is likely to encounter on the battlefield. With pictures, diagrams, details of weaponry, and accounts of action, this book about the M2/M3 Bradley gives readers a real sense of how much this hardworking vehicle has contributed to American fighting power in recent years.