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 May 21 Book Talk here
The Battle of Malvern Hill in 1862 marked the climax of the Seven Days’ Battles around Richmond, Virginia. For the first time since the Civil War began, the full might of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s Union Army of the Potomac and Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia met. McClellan’s army emerged victorious, yet McClellan retreated from victory to establish a safe base. Learn about this remarkable battle from Frank O’Reilly, whose new study is the first book-length treatment of this critical and pivotal battle.
Francis A. “Frank” O’Reilly, the author of the award-winning “The Fredericksburg Campaign: Winter War on the Rappahannock” (2003), which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He has been a professional battlefield guide for 40 years and is a graduate of Washington and Lee University.
Register for the June 18 Book Talk here
Join retired U.S. Army Col. Richard W. Stewart, Ph.D. for a look at the history of Army special operations and their missions from Desert Storm (1991) to the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan (2002), and a first-person account of experiencing conflict through the lens of a combat historian.
Richard W. Stewart retired as Chief Historian of the US Army in October 2015, after 40 years of combined service both as a civilian, in the Army Reserve, and on active duty. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1986. His historical works include “War in the Persian Gulf: Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, August 1990–March 1991;” “The United States Army in Somalia, 1992–1994;” and “The U.S. Army in Afghanistan: Operation Enduring Freedom, October 2001 to March 2002.”
Register for the July 16 Book Talk here