Departments Books

You can download FM27-10 for free from the Univ of Maryland at http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~nstanton/FM27-10.htm

This is a high level review of Special Operations; exactly what I was looking for to help understand my customer better.

"Above the Law..," by Burnham, ought to wake up America. It lays out the institutionalized obstruction of justice in America. It exposes the corrupt elements within what ought to be the very bulwark of American justice; the Justice Dept. Buy this book and become an informed citizen.

I was very impressed with this great book. It is a wealth of information and data. Thank you, Kathy

Like most students (or tutors, in my case) preparing for the ACT, I have read nearly every book on the subject. A lot of the time, I am disappointed. This book is one of the few exceptions.
The practice tests are some of the most realistic I have found, and the explanations are helpful. For the truly dedicated, there are tear-out flashcards in the back that allow you to practice vocabulary words.
The students I tutor prefer this book above the others, in part because it makes the ACT preparation process straight-forward and attainable. For those studying on their own without a tutor, it provides week-by-week study suggestions to get you ready for the big test, whether you have a lot of time, or just a few weeks.
I would definitely recommend this book to someone who is serious about improving their ACT score. Buy it new, buy it used, or find it at your local library...you will find it helpful.

Now, there's no empirical way to prove the above statement, but given the dominance of social-science conventions in writing on African history, "Magomero" is an obvious front-runner. Landeg White is a gifted literary stylist, and this book often reads like a novel (when someone says that, make sure they're not thinking of "Finnegan's Wake"). It is a study of a village in southern Malawi (colonial Nyasaland) over 100+ years, but it is much more than that too.

White's sense of drama is aided by some highly dramatic personages who figure prominently in his story. The most famous is missionary-explorer David Livingstone, a perennially fascinating, complex and influential shaper of the continent's destiny. He visited Magomero, site of the ill-fated Universities' Mission to Central Africa, frequently on two expeditions in the 1850s and 1860s. White perceptively examines the ambiguities of Livingstone's antislavery crusade, not least the paradox of purchasing slaves in order to free them---thus inadvertently stimulating the market. But John Chilembwe is just as interesting: a Malawian Protestant minister and protonationalist who studied in the USA, founded an independent mission, and eventually died leading a doomed rebellion against British rule in 1915. The later chapters are not as event-oriented, but the lucid accounts of cash cropping and womens' work are probably more representative of daily life in the colonial era, and a major contribution to social and economic history.

"Magomero" does not have detailed source notes (they tend to scare off the mass audience White aims for here), but references to scholars' names without the titles of their works ensure that only specialists can swiftly identify White's sources. The other problem is that the author's own account of villagers' accepting his presence and explanation of his research is awkwardly unconvincing; it would be more credible in the words of Malawians themselves, without assuming that they care about associations with long-dead muzungus (Europeans). These minor faults aside, this is the most enjoyable scholarly book I've come across in nearly 20 years in African Studies. For more on the area's history, see E. Mandala, "Work and Control in a Peasant Economy" and M. Vaughan, "The Story of an African Famine." G. Shepperson & T. Price, "Independent African," a classic on Africa, tells the Chilembwe story with great depth and sensitivity. For an authentic Nyasaland account based on oral data from participants in the Rising, see G.S. Mwase, "Strike a Blow and Die."

This is a thought-provoking book that takes us inside the U.S. State Department in the months and year after September 11. Secretary of State Colin Powell was fighting against the war machine at the Defense Department and within the White House to help improve America's image in the Muslim world. With great detail, the authors show us the plan and how it was dismantled by turf-hogging bureaucrats and simple-minded diplomats. This book promotes the idea of taking advantage of the great wealth of creativity America has and putting it to work to promote this country to the uneducated and downtrodden in foreign countries whose leaders inculcate them with anti-American rhetoric. This is a must-read for anyone interested in America's place in the world.

Brilliant work! Amols delivers a riveting account of the chronological progression of agricultural financial statistics over two-plus decades. These numbers come alive as Amols demonstrates clear mastery of the calculation of averages and year-to-year percent changes. I've never seen better use of addition, subtraction, multiplication and even division!

I can't wait to find out what happens in 1984!

As being the daugher of an Alexandria Policeman, George Stinnett, Page 80 in the book, I was very pleased in the way that it was written. It covered alot of the old days and knowing quite a few of the officers I was touched. My aunts, sisters, brother and children were very happy seing the book and it was a nice addition in having "Dad" home for Christmas! Thank you.

It has been said that among the most difficult military missions to execute is a resisted landing on an enemy shore. There are few of us who have not seen a documentary or movie depicitng such an assault; most recently, it was the opening minutes of 'Saving Private Ryan,' that showed a quite realistic and gory recreation of the Omaha Beach landings of 6 june, 1944, concentrating on the individuals and what they experienced after debarking from their landing craft

Allied Landing Craft of World War Two: ONI 226: Allied Landing Craft and Ships by A.D. Baker III takes a step back from the personalized to present a virtually all encompassing compendum and description of landing craft.

Beginning with the earliest and smallest attempts to move men and equipment to the enemy shore, Baker takes contemporary intelligence documents and presents the creation and evolution of Allied landing craft in World War Two. We see how design became influenced by necessity, most notably providing elemental protection from small arms fire and rapid egress. Once the concept of a slightly armored vessel with a ramp was embraced, the next round of developmental thrusts were aimed at the objevtive of delivering vehicles to the shore in the same manner. The landing of personnel and vehicles perhaps reached its aopeax with the tracked landing vehicle that had as its final destination not the shoreline, but a point inland.

The book also presents the later-starting but similar development of support craft, ranging from artillery and rocket carriers through command and control vessels to anti-aircraft and fighter control ships.

Each type of craft is shown with both lioe drawings and photographs, as well as the needed statistical information relating to dimensions, load capacities, armament, motive power and crewing.

It should be noted that this is not a narrative. It is a highly detailed, immensely important source of information on a 'weapons systems' without which Normandy - or any other sea/river attack - could not have occurred.