House to House by David Bellavia

Check our book holdings of House to House: an epic memoir of war by SSG David Bellavia

This work also available as an audio book.

Description: "On the night of November 10, 2004, a U.S. Army infantry squad under Staff Sergeant David Bellavia entered the heart of the city of Fallujah and plunged into one of the most sustained and savage urban battles in the history of American men at arms.

With Third Platoon, Alpha Company, part of the Army's Task Force 2/2, Bellavia and his men confronted an enemy who had had weeks to prepare, booby-trapping houses, arranging ambushes, rigging entire city blocks as explosives-laden kill zones, and even stocking up on atropine, a steroid that pumps up fighters in the equivalent of a long-lasting crack high. Entering one house, alone, Bellavia faced the fight of his life against six insurgents, using every weapon at his disposal, including a knife. It is the stuff of legend and the chief reason he is one of the great heroes of the Iraq War.

Bringing to searing life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, House to House is far more than just another war story. Populated by an indelibly drawn cast of characters, from a fearless corporal who happens to be a Bush-hating liberal to an inspirational sergeant-major who became the author's own lost father figure, it develops the intensely close relationships that form between soldiers under fire. Their friendships, tested in brutal combat, would never be quite the same. Not all of them would make it out of the city alive. What happened to them in their bloody embrace with America's most implacable enemy is a harrowing, unforgettable story of triumph, tragedy, and the resiliency of the human spirit."

Book Excerpt: Last Mission before Fallujah

Watch this BookTV webcast of the author SSG David Bellavia describing his book House to House.

Related article: Into the Hot Zone by Michael Ware

Post-traumatic stress disorder

The CARL has added a number of new items relating to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD including the The Veteran's PTSD Handbook just published this year.

To browse some of our other materials relating to PTSD just click on this link.

Learn more - PTSD in the news

New at CARL: The day of battle by Rick Atkinson

The day of battle : the war in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 by Rick Atkinson

"In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy. In An Army at Dawn—winner of the Pulitzer Prize—Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.

The Italian campaign’s outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the war’s most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.

Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The Day of Battle, Atkinson has once again given us the definitive account of one of history’s most compelling military campaigns."

Related Podcast - Rick Atkinson discusses his new book in this Pritzker Military Library program. Listen. (~1 hour 20 minutes)

Also by Rick Atkinson: An Army at Dawn (1st volume of his Liberation trilogy) , In the company of soldiers : a chronicle of combat , The Long Gray Line

The nine : inside the secret world of the Supreme Court

Check our holdings at CARL - The nine : inside the secret world of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin

"Based on exclusive interviews with the justices themselves, The Nine tells the story of the Court through personalities - from Anthony Kennedy's overwhelming sense of self-importance to Clarence Thomas's well-tended grievances against his critics to David Souter's odd nineteenth-century lifestyle. There is also, for the first time, the full behind-the-scenes story of Bush v. Gore - and Sandra Day O'Connor's fateful breach with George W. Bush, the president she helped place in office."

Book TV C-Span broadcast - Jeffrey Toobin discusses his new book "The Nine"

The age of turbulence : adventures in a new world

Check our holdings - The age of turbulence : adventures in a new world by Alan Greenspan

A memoir by the longtime chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Alan Greenspan, in his own words by Mark Trumbull, Christian Sceince Monitor

New at the CARL: Library of Congress World War II companion

Library of Congress World War II companion

About this title: "Going far beyond accounts of the major battles, The Library of Congress World War II Companion examines, in a unique and engaging manner, this devastating conflict, its causes, conduct, and aftermath. It considers the politics that shaped the involvement of the major combatants; military leadership and the characteristics of major Allied and Axis armed services; the weaponry that resulted in the war's unprecedented destruction, as well as debates over the use of these weapons; the roles of resistance groups and underground fighters; war crimes; daily life during wartime; the uses of propaganda; and much more.

Drawn from the unparalleled collections of the institution that has been called "America's Memory," The Library of Congress World War II Companion includes excerpts from contemporary letters, journals, pamphlets, and other documents, as well as first-person accounts recorded by the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. The text is complemented by more than 150 illustrations. Organized into topical chapters (such as "The Media War," "War Crimes and the Holocaust," and two chapters on "Military Operations" that cover the important battles), the book also include readers to navigate through the rich store of information in these pages. Filled with facts and figures, information about unusual aspects of the war, and moving personal accounts, this remarkable volume will be indispensable to anyone who wishes to understand the World War II era and its continuing reverberations."

2007 National Book Award Finalists - Fiction

Here are the recently announced finalists in fiction for the National Book Award

• Mischa Berlinski, Fieldwork (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Find this book near you
• Lydia Davis, Varieties of Disturbance (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Find this book near you
• Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End (Little, Brown & Company) Find this book near you
• Denis Johnson, Tree of Smoke (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Find this book near you
• Jim Shepard, Like You’d Understand, Anyway (Alfred A. Knopf) Find this book near you

New at CARL: Carlisle vs. Army

Check our holdings at CARL- Carlisle vs. Army : Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, and the forgotten story of football's greatest battle.

Book summary: "An epic story of how the Carlisle Indians battled the West Point Cadets, this riveting tale of football brings together three of the most legendary figures ever to play the game: Carlisle head coach Pop Warner, Jim Thorpe, and DwightEisenhower."

Gridiron Guts: The Story of Football's Carlisle Indians - NPR article and audio

At a U.S. Army Base, officers split over war

The following article by Elizabeth Bumiller appeared in the Oct 13th, 2006 issue of the International Herald Tribune:

At a U.S. Army Base, officers split over warFORT LEAVENWORTH, Kansas: Here in this Western outpost that serves as the intellectual center of the U.S. Army, two elite officers were deep in debate at lunch on a recent day over who bore more responsibility for mistakes in Iraq - the former defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, or the generals who acquiesced to him. Read rest of this article

See also this related article by LTC Paul Yingling: "A Failure in Generalship," written last May for Armed Forces Journal.

counterinsurgency CGSC

The coldest winter : America and the Korean War

Check our holdings at CARL - The coldest winter : America and the Korean War by David Halberstam

"Up until now, the Korean War has been the black hole of modern American history. The Coldest Winter changes that. Halberstam give us a narrative of the political decisions and miscalculations on both sides. He charts the disastrous path that led to the massive entry of Chinese forces near the Yalu River, and that caught Douglas MacArthur and his soldiers by surprise. He provides portraits of all the major figures, including Truman and Eisenhower; Kim Il Sung and Mao Zedong; and General MacArthur."

Coming next week - BookTV Panel discussion on The Coldest Winter

New York Book Review: The forgotten war that set a pattern for years to come

2007 National Book Award Finalists - Nonfiction

Here are the newly announced 2007 finalists for the National Book Award - Nonfiction

• Edwidge Danticat, Brother, I’m Dying (Alfred A. Knopf) Find this book near you
• Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Twelve/Hachette Book Group USA) Find this book at CARL
• Woody Holton, Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution
• (Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Find this book near you
• Arnold Rampersad, Ralph Ellison: A Biography (Alfred A. Knopf) Find this book near you
• Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (Doubleday) Find this book at CARL

Almost A Miracle: The American Victory in the War

Check the CARL holdings of this title: Almost A Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence

About the book: "In this gripping chronicle of America's struggle for independence, award-winning historian John Ferling transports readers to the grim realities of that war, capturing an eight-year conflict filled with heroism, suffering, cowardice, betrayal, and fierce dedication. As Ferling demonstrates, it was a war that America came much closer to losing than is now usually remembered. General George Washington put it best when he said that the American victory was "little short of a standing miracle." Almost a Miracle offers an illuminating portrait of America's triumph, offering vivid descriptions of all the major engagements, from the first shots fired on Lexington Green to the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown, revealing how these battles often hinged on intangibles such as leadership under fire, heroism, good fortune, blunders, tenacity, and surprise. "

Pritzker Military Library: Interview of John Ferling

New at the CARL- Black Swan: the impact of the highly improbable

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Taleb

Summary: "A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives." - From the book jacket

Related Podcast: CSpan AfterWords - Nassim Nicholas Taleb author of "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" interviewed by David Brooks.

World War IV : the long struggle against Islamofascism

Coming soon to CARL: World War IV : the long struggle against Islamofascism by Norman Podhoretz

A leading conservative thinker discusses the war against the global terrorist network, arguing that this is a legitimate and essential battle while defending the Bush administration's policies, and examines the threat of Islamic extremists to world peace.

Related podcast: C-Span interview of the author from About the interview "

Norman Podhoretz argues that the "war against Islamofascism" currently being waged by the Bush administration is as important for our country to engage in as World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. He defends the Bush administration's dual policies of preemption and democratization and says that past presidents of both parties have failed to recognize the importance of going on the offensive in the battle against Islamic extremism. "

New at CARL: Shadow of the Silk Road

Check our holdings at CARL: Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron

Summary: "Shadow of the Silk Road records a journey along the greatest land route on earth. Out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran and into Kurdish Turkey, Colin Thubron covers some seven thousand miles in eight months. Making his way by local bus, truck, car, donkey cart and camel, he travels from the tomb of the Yellow Emperor, the mythic progenitor of the Chinese people, to the ancient port of Antioch - in perhaps the most difficult and ambitious journey he has undertaken in forty years of travel." - From the book jacket

Guardian Unlimited Interview of the author

New at CARL: Ike an American Hero

Check our holdings at CARL- Ike: an American Hero by Michael Korda

Summary:"In this first major single-volume biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower to appear in many years, Michael Korda, the author of Ulysses S. Grant, paints a full-length portrait of not the smiling, amiable Ike of legend but the real man: a daring, gifted, courageous, superlatively trained, and tough-minded soldier, a perfectionist with a hair-trigger temper (mostly held under precarious control) who was perhaps the most successful leader of a multinational coalition in all history." From the book jacket

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