Military

[close] Read how World War II started in Asia - not at Pearl Harbor, but four years earlier in the city of Shanghai. The battle poised a vast Chinese army against a technologically superior force of Japanese invaders, with the city's large expat community as involuntary observers. One of the most important events of the 20th century, it was long forgotten. This is the first book in any western language about the struggle that changed the face of Asia and the world. [close]

[close] The First Barbary War (1801-1805), or “America’s First War on Terror,” as some refer to it, was a pivotal moment in US history. While both the Navy and Marines participated in the Quasi-War with France, it was the war with the Barbary pirates that cemented both the Marine Corps and the Navy as the proud organizations that they are today. This was the war that produced heroes such as O’Bannon, Decatur, Preble, Porter, Hull, and Somers.

"To the Shores of Tripoli" follows three fictional Marine privates as they participate in the watershed moments in the war. Private Seth Crocker is an uneducated, underage Marine who fights from the tops of the USS Enterprise and in battles such as the Gunboat Battle off the coast of Tripoli. Private Ichabod Cone, a veteran of the Revolution, is part of the crew of the USS Philadelphia when it is captured and spends most of the war as a slave of the pasha. Private Jacob Brissey is one of the seven Marines, under Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon, who march 600 miles across the desert against tremendous odds to attack and capture the city of Derne, where, for the first time in history, the US flag is raised over foreign soil.

This book is historical fiction, but the events it describes are historical fact. Most of the characters actually existed and fought in the war. Where possible, their actual words are reproduced here. In all other cases, dialogue and characterizations were born in the author’s imagination. The First Barbary War is considered the birth of the US Navy. It is equally valid to say that the war created the foundation for the Marine Corps as we know it today. [close]

[close] A war is coming.
Three human superpowers watch each other warily from behind vast fleets while plotting to take control of key colonies and trade routes.
The great Rasenni Empire, once the unchallenged master of known space, is in decline, ensnared in debauchery and beset by old and new enemies.
Pirates, raiders, and slavers run rampant on the fringes of civilized space. Everybody is looking for the proverbial spark that ignites the powder keg -- and everybody is looking in the wrong direction!

When Tarek Winters and the motley human and alien crew of the freighter IRON MAIDEN take on a job a thousand lightyears away from Earth, they expect it to be an easy and profitable run.
When Pvt. Samantha Lee embarks on a routine patrol mission along the border, she's certain she'll be back home with her wife and son on Mars for Christmas.
But Corr'tane of the Ashani Dominion has set out to guarantee his people's survival - even if the cost is a war that will drown known space in blood... [close]