Title:  The Deadly Deep

Author:  Iain Ballantyne

At the heart of this thrilling narrative lurks danger and power, as acclaimed naval writer Iain Ballantyne reveals some of warfare’s murkiest secrets.  The cast of colorful characters includes an American who devised plunging boats to attack the British, who then switched sides and tried to help the Royal Navy defeat Napoleon: a former monk who created submersible boats to assist the cause of Irish liberation: and a spy who, during the American Civil War, hid Confederate submarine secrets in her bonnet.

The reader is plunged into the epic convoy battles of the twentieth century’s two world wars, when hopes of victory were placed on the shoulder’s of daring young submarine captains, many of whom perished along with the men they commanded.  We learn of efforts by the British to seize Enigma material from U-boats, how Germany’s so-called Grey Wolves were not always brave or invincible, and the role of American submarines in bringing Japan to its knees.

With skill and verve, Iain Ballantyne expertly narrated attacks by Royal Navy X-craft on Tirpitz: Nazi plans to bombard New York with primitive cruise missiles; and episodes when the Cold War era turned hot–not least the sinking of the Belgrano.  This definitive history concludes with a look at the resurgence of submarines as political and military tools and the threat of nuclear annihilation they pose.

Title:  Rampage

Author:  James Scott

Before World War II, Manila was a slice of America in Asia, populated with elegant neoclassical buildings, spacious parks, and home to thousands of U.S. Servicemen and business executives who enjoyed the relaxed pace of the tropics.   The outbreak of the war, however, brought an end to the good life.  General Douglas MacArthur, hoping to protect the Pearl of the Orient, declared the Philippine capital an open city and evacuated his forces.  The Japanese seized Manila on January 2, 1942, rounding up and interning thousands of Americans.

MacArthur, who escaped soon after to Australia, famously vowed to return.  For nearly three years, he clawed his way north, obsessed with redeeming his promise and turning his earlier defeat into victory.  By early 1945, he prepared to liberate Manila, a city whose residents by then faced widespread starvation.  Convinced the Japanese, under the command of General Tomoyuki Yamashita, would abandon Manila as he did, MacArthur planned a victory parade down Dewey Boulevard.  But the enemy had other plans.  Determined to fight to the dearth, Japanese marines barricaded intersections, converted buildings into fortresses, and booby-trapped stores, graveyards, and even dead bodies.

The twenty-nine-day battle to liberate Manila resulted in the catastrophic destruction of the city and a rampage by Japanese forces that brutalized the civilian population.  Landmarks were demolished, houses wee torched, suspected resistance fighters were tortured and killed, countless women wee raped, and their husbands and children wee murdered.  American troops had no choice but to battle the enemy, floor by floor and room by room, through schools, hospitals, and even sports stadiums.  In the end, an estimated 100,000 civilians lost their lives in a massacre as heinous as the Rape of Nanking.

Based on extensive research in the United States and the Philippines, including war-crimes testimony, after-action reports, and survivor interviews, Rampage recounts one of the most heartbreaking chapters of Pacific War history.

Title:  Black Flags, Blue Waters

Author:  Eric Jay Dolin

Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags, Blue Waters reveals the epic history of American piracy’s “Golden Age”–1700s–when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and beyond.

Redefining pirate history with an economic and class analysis that takes it beyond the usual narrative of high-seas exploits, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin describes how American colonists  flouted British rule and supported outrageous pirates who brought much needed cash flow and helped emerging businesses obtain the goods and money they so desperately needed.  Dolin also explores common motivations for “turning pirate” and finds that many of these men were displaced seamen and veterans of Britain’s imperial wars who were seeking ways to survive in an uncertain economy.  Over the years, however, as the colonies strengthened their position in the New World, these early Americans–who had once relied on pirates to do their dirty work–turned on them, and by the 1720’s, pirates were virtually (and almost always violently) eliminated from the American Atlantic.

Augmenting his narrative with thrilling episodes of roguish glamour and extreme brutality, Dolin depicts the star pirates of this period–among them the towering Blackbeard, who blockaded the entire city of Charleston in 1718, the ill-fated Captain Kidd and sadistic Edward Low, who delighted in torturing his prey.  Re-creating rousing conflicts and naval battles, Dolin details the pirates’ manifold enemies, including Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop and Puritan minister Cotton Mather, who pressured captured pirates to repent before their inevitable demise on the public gallows.

In a work that upends popular misconceptions and cartoonish stereotypes, Dolin provides a wholly original account of the seafaring outlaws whose stories augment our understanding of the precarious nature of American colonial life.