Warfare and defence Books

The Union Navy played a vital role in winning the Civil War by blockading Confederate ports, cooperating with the Union Army in amphibious assaults, and operating on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. To wage this multifaceted war, Secretary of...

From the author of the acclaimed biography of Harry Hopkins comes this first full-scale portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt's top military advisor, Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy. The president's personal chief of staff and chairman of the newly...

Airpower over the Rhine is a critical new perspective on the air battle between the French Air Force (FAF) and the Luftwaffe in the skies over France during May and June 1940. Why were the French overpowered in the air? What factors led to their defeat?...

2023 Naval Institute Press Author of the YearFinalist - National Security Book Award This nation's Cold War and Global War on Terror defense structures need an update. U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century provides such a framework for the changed world...

War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict provides insights for those involved in the design of military strategy, and the forces that must execute that strategy. Emphasizing the impacts of technology, new...

On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines traces the history of the development of military staffs and ideas on the operational level of war and operational art from the Napoleonic Wars to today, viewing them through the lens of...

When Robert Haddick wrote Fire on the Water, first published in 2014, most policy experts and the public underestimated the threat China's military modernization posed to the U.S. strategic position in the Indo-Pacific region. Today, the rapid Chinese...

Written by the undisputed dean of U.S. denial and deception experts, Practise to Deceive is the most in-depth look at deception as a military strategy. Barton Whaley knew the history of denial and deception across time, disciplines, and culture. He was...

Honorable Mention forthe John Lyman Book Award in the category of "U.S. Naval History."Mastering the Art of Command is a detailed examination of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz's leadership during World War II. It describes how he used his talents to guide the...

Winner of the 2022Rear AdmiralSamuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval LiteratureThis is the first-ever biography of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr., who served a key role during World War II in the Pacific. Recognizing the achievements and legacy of one of...

At the turn of the twentieth century, Alfred Thayer Mahan and Julian Stafford Corbett emerged as foundational thinkers on naval strategy and maritime power. Important in their lifetimes, their writings remain relevant in the contemporary environment. The...

Originally published in Japan in 2005, each album in the Japanese Naval Warship photo album series contains official photographs taken by the Kure Maritime Museum, as well as those taken by private individuals. These pictorial records document the main...

In Destroyers at War Adm. James L. Holloway III, the twentieth Chief of Naval Operations, recalls his early life and service on destroyers during the final campaigns of the Pacific War in World War II. As the assistant gunnery officer in USS Ringgold (DD...

In this sharp, challenging memoir, Col Seth Folsom lays bare the complexities of modern military combat advisor missions at the twilight of America's longest war. Nothing Here Worth Dying For tells the story of his command of Task Force Lion-a...

Fully revised, this third edition of Newly Commissioned Naval Officer's Guide continues to be an essential resource for those making the pivotal transition from midshipmen and officer candidates to newly commissioned naval officers from all service...

Featuring biographical chapters on the leaders who served in space roles in the U.S. Air Force, Army, or Marine Corps, including officers who experienced the celestial skies firsthand as astronauts, Space Force Pioneers aims to enhance the reader's...

One of the most difficult security challenges of the postCold War era has been stabilizing failing states in an era of irregular warfare. A consistent component of the strategy to address this problem has been security force assistance where outside...

All naval professionals-without exception-encounter, directly participate, or play a supporting role in naval cooperation. It is a key element in the U.S. defense strategy because military and naval operations today are usually conducted by international...

The new Naval Institute Wheel Books provide important information, pragmatic advice, and cogent analysis on topics important to all naval professionals. Drawn from the U.S. Naval Institute's vast archives, the series combines articles from the...

How have navies contemplated possible enemies? How did they learn, or fail to learn, once operations began? How does this analysis inform today's planning for future conflict? These questions guide the noted historians and naval strategists who...

It is unclear if U.S. policy makers and military leaders fully realize that we have already been thrust into an artificial intelligence (AI) race with authoritarian powers. Today, the United States' peer adversaries-China and Russia-have made clear their...

Immortalized by David Farragut's apothegm, Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, the Battle of Mobile Bay remains one of history's great naval engagements, a contest between two admirals trained in the same naval tradition who once fought under the same...

Airpower Over Gallipoli, 1915-1916, focuses on the men and machines in the skies over the Gallipoli Peninsula, their contributions to the campaign, and the ultimate outcomes of the role of airpower in the early stages of World War I. Based on extensive...

In the mid-1950s a small group of overworked, underpaid scientists and engineers on a remote base in the Mojave Desert developed a weapon no one had asked for but everyone in the weapons industry desired. This is the story of how that unorthodox team,...

On 4 June 1942, three squadrons of U.S. Navy Dauntless dive bombers destroyed Japan's carrier force sent to neutralize Midway, changing the course of the war in the Pacific. As Thomas Wildenberg convincingly demonstrates in this book, the key ingredient...

Much like Admiral Winnefeld's last book, Career Compass, this work gives naval officers the information they need to build a successful career. It covers the entire career spectrum, complementing and supplementing his previous work, as it addresses such...

Twenty-two U-boat veterans tell their chilling stories in this collection of their combat experiences in World War II, recorded by the author during several years of travel throughout Germany. It is one of very few books to examine the lives of the...

Death from the Heavens is a survey of strategic bombardment from its beginnings to date. It covers the theory, hardware, and operations of this specialized type of warfare. It is based on both primary and secondary sources and is aimed at the general...

Written by veteran aerospace journalist Bob Ward, who spent years investigating his subject, this biography presents a revealing but even-handed portrait of the father of modern rocketry. As he chronicles Werner von Braun's life, Ward explodes many myths...

This book focuses on the role of Glenn H. Curtiss in the origins of aviation in the United States Navy. A self-taught mechanic and inventor, Curtiss was a key figure in the development of the airplane during the early part of the century. His...

Rev. ed. of: NS 310 / Mark Mill and Alex Mamikonian, editors.

On January 2, 1963, the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) and its American advisors were soundly defeated by Viet Cong guerrilla forces at Ap Bac. The loss should have caused U.S. policy makers to question the value of their efforts to train and equip the...

Published to coincide with the centennial celebration of U.S. Navy Aviation, this book chronicles Navy aviation from its earliest days, before the Navy's first aircraft carrier joined the fleet, through the modern jet era marked by the introduction of...

Mahan on Naval Strategy, available in paperback for the first time, provides a selection of key writings from one of the greatest naval theorists of all time. An original contributor to the study of strategic thinking, Alfred Thayer Mahan presented...

Gibraltar has been one of Great Britain's most legendary fortresses since its capture from Spain in 1704 and its strategic location as the gatekeeper of the Mediterranean Sea has given it a commanding position in the history of Modern Britain and in the...

For more than fifty years, the combined armed forces of the United States and the Republic of Korea have faced down the North Korean People's Army (NKPA) along the world's most militarized stretch of land known as the demilitarized zone. Despite the...

This classic work-part of the Marine Corps reading list-makes full use of declassified U.S. documents to offer the first comprehensive study of fighter combat over North Vietnam. Marshall Michel's balanced, exhaustive coverage describes and analyzes both...

Three generations of a distinguished naval family are profiled in this biography whose publication coincides with the commissioning of the USS Mustin (DDG-89), the U.S. Navy's newest Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyer. The family's story intertwines...

Known to seafarers as the Devil's Jaw, Point Honda has lured ships to its dangerous rocks on California's coast for centuries, but its worst disaster occurred on 8 September 1923. That night nine U.S. Navy destroyers ran into Honda's fog-wrapped reefs...

More a book about Coast Guard heritage than an academic history, this book focuses on a variety of relatively unknown Guardsmen who personify the service's core values. The author highlights contributions of a variety of individuals, from seamen to...

Much can be learned today about the nature of irregular warfare, the author argues, from the experiences of the United States and the other protagonists in Central America during the final decade of the Cold War. This strategy and policy analysis...

To read a comprehensive history of the technical, military and political aspects of the Cold War, based on documents from the two super-powers, written by a scholar who is free of bias, is something I never thought I would be able to do. But in The...

The U.S. Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System aircraft currently in development will transform naval aviation, extending its reach while dramatically reducing its cost, according to naval weapons expert Norman Friedman. In this his latest weapons book, he...

In the early days of World War II, a young Marine named Charles Fenn was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) for undercover operations in the China-Burma-India theatre. Fenn knew exactly what it took to get the job done. His wartime...

Professor William R. Braisted tells the story of the twelve important years during which the U.S. Navy won an undisputed place as a major force in the Pacific. Believing that the study of U.S. naval history has too often been written without adequate...

To provide readers with insights into how naval officers think about how to conduct naval warfare, retired naval officer and Naval War College professor Emeritus Roger Barnett opens the oceangoing service for inspection. He attributes the unstructured,...

Flotilla 13 is the elite naval commando unit of the Israeli Defense Forces that specializes in maritime hostage rescue and counter-terrorist missions. To maintain secrecy, few of its missions have, until now, been made public. With this book, the unit's...