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In “The Battle of Manila,” Nicholas Sarantakes offers the first in-depth account of this crucial campaign from the American, Japanese, and Filipino perspectives. Fighting was building by building, with both sides forced to adapt to the new combat environment. None of the U.S. units that entered Manila had any previous training in urban warfare—yet, as Sarantakes shows, they learned on the fly how to use tanks, flamethrowers, and air and artillery assets in support of infantry assaults. Their effective use of these weapons was an important factor in limiting U.S. casualties, even as it may also have contributed to a catastrophic loss of civilian lives.
Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the strategy and policy department at the U.S. Naval War College. He is the author of four books, including “Dropping the Torch: Jimmy Carter, the Olympic Boycott, and the Cold War.”
Register for “The Battle of Manila” Book Talk
The “Ten Crucial Days” winter campaign of 1776–77 is one of the most storied in the annals of military history. David Price examines this pivotal moment in the American War of Independence through an interpretive framework that focuses on five key factors: leadership, geography, weather, artillery, and contingency. His narrative differs from earlier works on the subject that are largely a chronological account of this period.
David Price is the author of “The Road to Assunpink Creek,” “Rescuing the Revolution,” and “The Battle of Harlem Heights, 1776.” He holds degrees in political science from Drew University and Rutgers University.
Register for the “Winning the Ten Crucial Days” Book Talk
On the 75th anniversary of the legendary Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Steve Vogel tells the little-known story of the Army Soldiers who gave all during the Korean War’s most consequential battles and then were denigrated for their sacrifice. “A Task Force Called Faith” delivers a fresh perspective on Chosin, where 150,000 Chinese soldiers trapped 20,000 U.S. Marines and Soldiers in the frozen mountains of North Korea in November and December of 1950.
Steve Vogel is a historian and former military correspondent for the Washington Post. His coverage of the U.S. war in Afghanistan was part of a package of Washington Post stories selected as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2002. He reported on the U.S. war with Iraq in 2003 as an embedded journalist with an Army airborne brigade. Based in Germany from 1989 through 1994 and reporting for the Washington Post and Army Times, he covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf War, as well
as military operations in Somalia, Rwanda, and the Balkans. He is the author of two other acclaimed histories, “Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War’s Most Audacious Espionage Operation” and “Through the Perilous Fight: Six Weeks That Saved the Nation.”
Register for the “A Task Force Called Faith” book talk