Fighting The First Wave

Why did the world's nations fight the Covid-19 pandemic in such different ways and with such varying results?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of Against All Odds, returns with an utterly immersive, adrenaline-driven account of D-Day combat. “Meet the assaulters: pathfinders plunging from the black, coxswains plowing the whitecaps, bareknuckle Rangers scaling sheer rock . . . Fast-paced and up close, this is history’s greatest story reinvigorated as only Alex Kershaw can.”—Adam Makos, New York Times bestselling author of Spearhead and A Higher Call Beginning in the predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows the remarkable men who carried out D-Day’s most perilous missions. The charismatic, unforgettable cast includes the first American paratrooper to touch down on Normandy soil; the glider pilot who braved antiaircraft fire to crash-land mere yards from the vital Pegasus Bridge; the brothers who led their troops onto Juno Beach under withering fire; as well as a French commando, returning to his native land, who fought to destroy German strongholds on Sword Beach and beyond. Readers will experience the sheer grit of the Rangers who scaled Pointe du Hoc and the astonishing courage of the airborne soldiers who captured the Merville Gun Battery in the face of devastating enemy counterattacks. The first to fight when the stakes were highest and the odds longest, these men would determine the fate of the invasion of Hitler’s fortress Europe—and the very history of the twentieth century. The result is an epic of close combat and extraordinary heroism. It is the capstone Alex Kershaw’s remarkable career, built on his close friendships with D-Day survivors and his intimate understanding of the Normandy battlefield. For the seventy-fifth anniversary, here is a fresh take on World War II's longest day. Praise for The First Wave: “Masterful... readers will feel the sting of the cold surf, smell the acrid cordite that hung in the air, and duck the zing of machine-gun bullets whizzing overhead. The First Wave is an absolute triumph.”—James M. Scott, bestselling author of Target Tokyo “These pages ooze with the unforgettable human drama of history's most consequential invasion.”—John C. McManus, author of The Dead and Those About to Die

The Fighting First tells the untold story of the 1st Infantry Division's part in the D-Day invasion of France at Normandy. Using a variety of primary sources, official records, interviews, and unpublished memoirs by the veterans themselves, author Flint Whitlock has crafted a riveting, gut-wrenching, personal story of courage under fire. Operation Overlord - the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944 - was arguably the most important battle of World War II, and Omaha Beach was the hottest spot in the entire operation. Leading the amphibious assault on the "Easy Red" and "Fox Green" sectors of Omaha Beach was the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division - "The Big Red One" - a tough, swaggering outfit with a fine battle record. The saga of the Big Red One, however, did not end with the storming of the beachhead. The author concludes with an account of the 1st in their fight across France, Belgium, and into Germany itself, playing pivotal roles in the bloody battles for Aachen, the Huertgen Forest, and the Battle of the Bulge. The Fighting First is an inspiring, graphic, and often heartbreaking story of young American soldiers performing their D-Day missions with spirit, humor, and determination.

In this “highly entertaining snapshot of a wild-frontier moment in pop culture” (Rolling Stone), discover the wild and explosive true story of the early years of MTV directly from the original VJs. Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, and Martha Quinn (along with the late J. J. Jackson) had front-row seats to a cultural revolution—and the hijinks of pop music icons like Adam Ant, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, and Duran Duran—as the first VJs on the fledgling network MTV. From partying with David Lee Roth to flying on Bob Dylan’s private jet, they were on a breakneck journey through a music revolution. Boing beyond the compelling behind the scenes tales of this unforgettable era, VJ is also a coming-of-age story about the 1980s, its excesses, controversies, and everything in between. “At last—the real inside story of the MTV explosion that rocked the world, in all its giddy excess, from the video pioneers who saw all the hair, drugs and guitars up close. VJ is the wild, hilarious, addictive tale of how one crazy moment changed pop culture forever” (Rob Sheffield, New York Times bestselling author).

World War II's naval battles between the United States and Japan have been the subject of many books, popular movies, and documentaries, but the very important story of the fighting between United States and Japanese aircraft carriers is often lost in broader discussions of the Pacific naval war. This work concentrates exclusively on the fighting between the American and Japanese aircraft carriers, examining how strategies were planned and carried out on both sides. Presented are the stories of the USS Hornet, which launched the B-25s of James Doolittle's daring raid of Tokyo in 1942; the USS Yorktown, which suffered fierce attacks during the Battle of Midway; the USS Lexington, which refueled and rearmed Hellcats during the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot; the USS Enterprise, the leader of a motley assortment of cruisers and destroyers left to hold a very precarious line in the campaign for Guadalcanal; and the Japanese battleship Yamato, sacrificed for a suicide mission against 900 aircraft bombers.

Seapower was a crucial element in the outcome of the Second World War. The U-Boat campaign almost brought Britain to her knees; the Arctic convoys were crucial to keeping Russia in the War; Pearl Harbor brought America into the conflict with massive repercussions; allied naval supremacy made the D-Day landings possible.This book examines in detail the key naval commanders of both sides including five British (Pound, Cunningham, Ramsay, Horton, Somerville) and five US admirals (King, Nimitz, Spruance, Halsey, Fletcher), three German (Raeder, Doenitz, Lutjens) three Japanese (Yamamato, Nagumo, Koga) and two French (Darlan, de la Borde), the latterjustified by the problems faced by Vichy France, including the courageous decision to scuttle the fleet rather than let it fall into German hands in late 1942. In selecting the list, the author has made their decisive role in the war the only criterion.

Global experts develop explanations of how governments responded to COVID-19