John Willard Toland Livres

From freezing infantrymen huddled in bloodied trenches on the front lines to intricate political maneuvering & tense strategy sessions in European capitals, historian Toland tells of the final year of WWI. As 1918 opened, the Allies & Central Powers remained locked in a desperate, bloody stalemate, despite the deaths of millions of soldiers over the previous three & a half years. The arrival of the Americans by the middle of the year turned the tide of war, resulting in an Allied victory in November. In these pages participants on both sides, from enlisted men to generals & prime ministers to monarchs, vividly recount the battles, sensational events & behind-the-scenes strategies that shaped the climactic, terrifying year. It's all here: the horrific futility of going over the top into a hail of bullets in no man's land; the enigmatic death of the legendary German ace, the Red Baron; Operation Michael, a punishing German attack in the spring; the Americans' long-awaited arrival in June; the murder of Russian Czar Nicholas II & his family, the growing fear of a communist menace in the east; & the armistice on 11/11. The different points of view of Germans, Americans, British, French & Russians add depth, complexity & understanding to the tragedies & triumphs of the War to End All Wars.

"The perspective of 15 years, painstaking research, thousands of interviews, extensive analysis and evaluation, and the creative talent of John Toland [paint] the epic struggle on an immense canvas. . . . Toland writes with the authority of a man who was there. . . . He tastes the bitterness of defeat of those who surrendered and writes as if he had the benefit of the eyes and ears of soldiers and generals on the other side of the line. . . . If you could read only one book to understand generals and GIs and what their different wars were like this is the book."-Chicago Sunday Tribune John Toland has written numerous books on World War II, including Infamy: Pearl Harbor and Its Aftermath. Carlo D'Este is the author of Patton: A Genius for War and other works.

A history of the Korean War with soldier’s-eye views from both sides, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Rising Sun and Infamy .  Pulitzer Prize–winning author John Toland reports on the Korean War in a revolutionary way in this thoroughly researched and riveting book. Toland pored over military archives and was the first person to gain access to previously undisclosed Chinese records, which allowed him to investigate Chairman Mao’s direct involvement in the conflict. Toland supplements his captivating history with in-depth interviews with more than two hundred American soldiers, as well as North Korean, South Korean, and Chinese combatants, plus dozens of poignant photographs, bringing those who fought to vivid life and honoring the memory of those lost.   In Mortal Combat is comprehensive in it discussion of events deemed controversial, such as American brutality against Korean civilians and allegations of American use of biological warfare. Toland tells the dramatic account of the Korean War from start to finish, from the appalling experience of its POWs to Mao’s prediction of MacArthur’s Inchon invasion.   Toland’s account of the “forgotten war” is a must-read for any history aficionado.