This memoir of a CIA operations officer captures the spirit of the early years of the Agency, a period sometimes described as its 'finest hours.' Using the alias 'St. Martin,' Stuart Methven served in the CIA from the 1950s through the 1970s. The book opens by describing the author's training in the clandestine arts and subsequent assignment to Asia in a country he calls 'Bushido.' There he is involved in numer ...
For better or worse, Navy captain William S. «Deak» Parsons made the atomic bomb happen. As ordnance chief and associate director at Los Alamos, Parsons turned the scientists' nuclear creation into a practical weapon. As weaponeer, he completed the assembly of «Little Boy» during the flight to Hiroshima. As bomb commander, he approved the release of the bomb that forever changed the world. Yet over the past fifty years only fragments of his ...
One of the key concerns of naval strategists and planners today is the nature of the Chinese geostrategic challenge. Conceding that no one can know for certain China s intentions in terms of future conflict, the editors of this hot-topic book argue that the trajectory of Chinese nuclear propulsion for submarines may be one of the best single indicators of China s ambitions of global military power. Nuclear submarines, with their unparalleled sur ...
Most Americans know little about their Navy and learning about it can be daunting. But this informative yet highly accessible guide explains the sometimes strange ways of the U.S. Navy in terms civilians can understand. It addresses such things as the many titles military people have, the alphanumeric designations used to identify military personnel, the organization of the Navy and its many missions, the origin and practice of such things as sa ...
This collection of biographical essays delves into the careers of thirteen colorful naval leaders who guided the U.S. Navy through four turbulent decades of transition. ...
During World War I, the United States Navy conducted at the Portsmouth, NH Naval Prison what many penal scholars consider the most ambitious experiment in the history of progressive prison reform. Cell doors remained opened, prisoners governed themselves and thousands of rehabilitated prisoners were returned to the fleet. This humanitarian experiment at Portsmouth prison stood in stark contrast to the inhumane flogging of prisoners that had domi ...
Technological changes are inevitable, often of great benefit, and they must be understood by all maritime leaders. Since the Navy’s beginnings, it has created, adapted, rejected, and sometimes grudgingly accepted new technologies. Technological changes in the maritime arena have ranged from the highly disruptive transition from sail to steam propulsion to the adoption of nuclear power for submarines and surface ships. This entry into t ...
Originally published in 1972, Christopher McKee's biography of Edward Preble remains the most authoritative source on this influential early shaper of the U.S. naval tradition. McKee (Grinnell College) documents Preble's rise from obscurity to become Thomas Jefferson's chief administrator, his relationship with Jefferson and the president' policies and strategies during the war, and also the Tripolitan activities and attitude ...
