Stephen E. Ambrose

Robert Cowley

Essays by respected military historians, including Stephen Ambrose, David McCullough, James McPherson, and John Keegan, consider the consequences if history had turned out differently, such as if the weather on D-Day had been worse or if Washington had not escaped from Long Island. Reprint.

The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine what Might Have Been : Essays

What If?

Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been

What If? 2

More What If?

An in-depth account of the First Battle of Ypres, a turning point in World War I--and in the history of warfare The First Battle of Ypres changed how wars are fought. Ypres was the staging ground for the realization that bullets rather than bayonets would be the weapon of the future. It gave birth to "no-man's-land," that spectral space of shattered trees and pockmarked earth, a battleground where thousands of men fought to gain thirty feet of territory, only to lose it again the next day. Ypres was where the commanding officers of both sides--many of whom knew about war only through studying it in a classroom--realized that the combination of grand cavalry maneuvers and gallant charges with twentieth-century weapons was a losing, fatal one. From Sir John French, the compulsive womanizer who led Britain's forces, to Albert of Belgium, who may have been history's last warrior king, down to the young staff officers and military journalists, Robert Cowley brings Ypres to life, using the accounts of commanders and soldiers alike. Weaving together a wide array of source material based on thirty years of research, Cowley explores the extent to which the Germans' rigid training cost them thousands of men, debunks the myth of the "singing attacks," and reveals a crucial, overlooked "What if?" of history: the afternoon of October 31, 1914, when the Germans hesitated to attack the depleted British forces and lost their best chance of winning the Western Front.

The Autumn of 1914, Ypres, and the Afternoon That Cost Germany a War

The Killing Season

Antony Beevor

A collection of essays on pivotal moments in American history includes Caleb Carr on America had there been no Revolution, and Robert Dallek on what might have happened if JFK had not been assassinated.

Eminent Historians Imagine what Might Have Been

What Ifs? of American History

What Ifs? Of American History

Essays by twenty-five distinguished historians shed new light on the military aspects of the Cold War, with contributions by Dino Bugioni on plans to invade Cuba during the missile crisis, Jeffrey Norman's description of how POWs in North Vietnam survived their ordeal, and other works by Stephen Ambrose, David McCullough, Caleb Carr, Thomas Fleming, and others. Reprint. 12,500 first printing.

A Military History

The Cold War

A collection of writing on World War Two from some of the best-known historians in the world, including John Keegan, Antony Beevor and David Fraser

New Second World War Writing

No End Save Victory

The First World War was the true turning point of the 20th century. It brought down dynasties and empires, including the Ottoman. It changed the United States from a bumptious provincial nation into a world power. It made World War II inevitable, and the Cold War as well. Above all, the Great War was history's first total war, an armed conflict on a world stage between industrialized powers. Robert Cowley has brought together the 30 articles in this book to examine the war in all its diverse aspects. A number of the subjects covered are not just unfamiliar, but totally fresh. Who originated the term 'no-man's-land' and the word 'tank'? What forgotten battles nearly destroyed the French Army in 1915? How did the discovery of a German naval codebook bring the United States into the war? What was the weapon that, for the first time, put a man-made object into the stratosphere? The Great War takes a hard look at the legend of the 'Massacre of the Innocents' at Ypres in 1914 - an event that became a cornerstone of Nazi mythology. It describes the Gallipoli campaign as it has never been described before - from the Turkish side. Here too are the horrors of naval warfare, as both British and German sailors experienced them at the Battle of Jutland; the near breakdown of the American commander, John H. Pershing; and the rarely told story of the British disaster on the Tigris River in what is now Iraq. Michael Howard chronicles the summer of 1914 and the descent into a war that leaders were actually more afraid to avoid than to join. John Keegan writes about the muddy tragedy of Passchendaele in 1917. Jan Morris details the rise and fall of Sir John Fisher, whom she characterizes as the greatest British admiral since Nelson.

Perspectives on the First World War

The Great War

What if Lincoln didn't abolish slavery? What if an assassin succeeded in killing FDR in 1933? This volume presents 25 intriguing "what if..." scenarios by some of today's greatest historical minds-including James Bradley, Caleb Carr, James Chace, Theodore F. Cook, Jr., Carlos M.N. Eire, George Feifer, Thomas Fleming, Richard B. Frank, Victor Davis Hanson, Cecelia Holland, Alistair Horne, David Kahn, Robert Katz, John Lukacs, William H. McNeill, Lance Morrow, Williamson Murray, Josiah Ober, Robert L. O'Connell, Geoffrey Parker, Theodore K. Rabb, Andrew Roberts, Roger Spiller, Geoffrey C. Ward, and Tom Wicker.

What If? II

Did Eisenhower avoid a showdown with Stalin by not taking Berlin before the Soviets? What might have happened if JFK hadn't been assassinated? This new volume in the widely praised series presents fascinating "what if..." scenarios by such prominent historians as: Robert Dallek, Caleb Carr, Antony Beevor, John Lukacs, Jay Winick, Thomas Fleming, Tom Wicker, Theodore Rabb, Victor David Hansen, Cecelia Holland, Andrew Roberts, Ted Morgan, George Feifer, Robert L. O'Connell, Lawrence Malkin, and John F. Stacks. Included are two essential bonus essays reprinted from the original New York Times bestseller What If?-David McCullough imagines Washington's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Long Island, and James McPherson envisions Lee's successful invasion of the North in 1862.

A collection of essays by leading historians reflects on key events and personalities of World War II, including the Battle of Britain, the Blitzkrieg campaign across Poland, and the siege of Berlin.

Perspectives on World War II

Northants Crime and Detection

Guilty M'Lud

'Marvellously entertaining as well as thought-provoking - the finest intellectual parlour-game around.' Noel Malcolm, Sunday TelegraphMore What If?, the sequel to the acclaimed What If? examines history's most fascinating what-might have-beens. More of the world's leading historians, including Geoffrey Parker, Theodore K Rabb, Cecilia Holland and Caleb Carr postulate on what might so easily have been. Concentrating on the crucial and the seemingly insignificant, What If? 2 is an entertaining and brilliantly provocative look at the way our world could easily have been.What if William hadn't conquered? What if the enigma code remained uncracked? And would this even matter if Lord Halifax had become Prime Minister rather than Churchill? This selection of alternative history is both provocative and stimulating and gives us a valuable insight into the way things could so easily have been.Praise for the What If? series

In 35 essays, this volume examines the American Civil War from the perspectives critical to its outcome: the larger-than-life personalities of the important players from Lincoln to Lee, and the national strategies and key battle tactics that shaped the four-year-long crisis.

Robert Cowley

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