Pearl Harbor . . . Midway . . . Guadalcanal . . . The Marianas . . . Leyte Gulf . . . Iwo Jima . . . Okinawa. These are just seven of the twenty battles that the USS Enterprise took part in during World War II. No other American ship came close to matching her record. Enterprise is the epic, heroic story of this legendary aircraft carrier-nicknamed "the fightingest ship" in the U.S. Navy-and of the men who fought and died on her.

America's most decorated warship, Enterprise was constantly engaged against the Japanese Empire from December 1941 until May 1945. Her career was eventful, vital, and short. She was commissioned in 1938, and her bombers sank a submarine just three days after the Pearl Harbor attack, claiming the first seagoing Japanese vessel lost in the war. It was the auspicious beginning of an odyssey that Tillman captures brilliantly, from escorting sister carrier Hornet as it launched the Doolittle Raiders against Tokyo in 1942, to playing leading roles in the pivotal battles of Midway and Guadalcanal, to undergoing the shattering nightmare of kamikaze strikes just three months before the end of the war.

Barrett Tillman has been called "the man who owns naval aviation history." He's mined official records and oral histories as well as his own interviews with the last surviving veterans who served on Enterprise to give us not only a stunning portrait of the ship's unique contribution to winning the Pacific war, but also unforgettable portraits of the men who flew from her deck and worked behind the scenes to make success possible. Enterprise is credited with sinking or wrecking 71 Japanese ships and destroying 911 enemy aircraft. She sank two of the four Japanese carriers lost at Midway and contributed to sinking the third. Additionally, 41 men who served in Enterprise had ships named after them.

As with Whirlwind, Tillman's book on the air war against Japan, Enterprise focuses on the lower ranks-the men who did the actual fighting. He puts us in the shoes of the teenage sailors and their captains and executive officers who ran the ship day-to-day. He puts us in the cockpits of dive bombers and other planes as they careen off Enterprise's flight deck to attack enemy ships and defend her against Japanese attackers. We witness their numerous triumphs and many tragedies along the way. However, Tillman does not neglect the top brass-he takes us into the ward rooms and headquarters where larger-than-life flag officers such as Chester Nimitz and William Halsey set the broad strategy for each campaign.

But the main character in the book is the ship itself. "The Big E" was at once a warship and a human institution, vitally unique to her time and place. In this last-minute grab at a quickly fading history, Barrett Tillman preserves the Enterprise story even as her fliers and sailors are departing the scene.

Contemporary Debates on Terrorismis an innovative new textbook, addressing a number of key issues in contemporary terrorism studies from both ''traditional'' and ''critical'' perspectives.

In recent years the terrorism studies field has grown significantly, with an increasing number of scholars beginning to debate the complex dynamics underlying this category of violence. Within the broader field, there are many identifiable controversies and issues which divide scholarly opinion, a number of which are discussed in this text:

• Theoretical issues, such as the definition of terrorism and state terrorism;
• Substantive issues, including the threat posed by al Qaeda and the utility of different responses to terrorism;
• Ethical issues, encompassing the torture of terrorist suspects and targeted assassination

The format of the volume involves a leading scholar taking a particular position on the controversy, followed by an opposing or alternative viewpoint written by another contributor. In addition to the pedagogic value of allowing students to read opposing arguments in one place, the volume will also be important for providing an overview of the state of the field and its key lines of debate.

Contemporary Debates on Terrorismwill be essential reading for all students of terrorism and political violence, critical terrorism studies, critical security studies, security studies and IR in general.

At the center of this investigation is the great modernization effort of a West German state, Bavaria, in the 1970s and 1980s, by means of a reform of the smaller units of local government. The reforms were meant to abolish all autonomous local governments serving populations of fewer than 3000, thereby reducing the number of local governments in Bavaria from more than 7,000 to less than 2,000. Based on interviews, surveys, and statistical research, this study chronicles fifteen communities and their challenges, developments, and social changes from post-1945 up to the present.While this book explores the decline of the iconic village community, it also reveals the survival of medieval towns in a contemporary world, and despite the modern desire for comprehensive and well-integrated services, there remains a seemingly perennial appeal of small town and village life.

Published in 1856-7, this fascinating collection of Latin and Greek source material on the politics and economy of the Republic of Venice includes charters, treaties and official letters, focusing particularly on relations between Venice and Constantinople. The editors were Gottlieb Tafel (1787-1860), a pioneering Byzantinist who retired from his chair at Tübingen in 1846, and Georg Thomas (1817-87), Professor of Classical Philology at Munich. The preface announces their plan to cover the ninth to the fifteenth centuries. However, only three volumes, containing material to 1299, appeared at that time. Thomas returned to the project in later life and two further volumes covering 1300-1454 appeared with a different publisher as Diplomatarium Veneto-Levantinum (also reissued in this series). Volume 1, covering the years from 814 to 1205, documents the rise of Venice as an economic power and the political background to the infamous Fourth Crusade.

Post-Saddam Iraq comprehensively describes and analyzes the major developments in Iraq, from the US-led invasion up to 2010. The internal political scene - developing along ethnic-sectarian and religious lines (Shi'is and Sunnis, Kurds and Arabs) - is discussed in the context of a reemerging Iraqi national identity. Findings and analyses are based on a systematic study of the Iraqi and Middle Eastern local media, which provides the perspective as to what is taking place in the internal political and social dialogue. Other major developments are also addressed, including women's rights and economic trends. Post-Saddam Iraq offers an important, international dimension to Iraq's post-war development through discussion of: a) the central role played by the Iranian regime and its deep and multi-faceted involvement in the Iraqi internal scene; b) the ambivalent relations with Turkey, which concurrently serves as the main terrestrial channel of trade and economic ties with the world (oil, fin

An ambitious new one-volume history, to accompany a 6-part BBC series presented by Huw Edwards.
 
Covering from earliest settlements to the present day, The Story of Wales explores a country constantly on the move and connected with the wider world, and a people who have reacted with energy and invention to changing times and opportunities. Revisiting the major turning points in Welsh history -- from the fledgling Welsh state under Llywelyn the Last and the ravages of the Black Death, through to its transformation into an economic power with the Industrial Revolution and its participation in the creation of a modern British Welfare State and the economic boom of the 1940s and 50s -- Jon Gower re-examines many of the myths and misconceptions about Wales and the Welsh, uncovering rich evidence of its outward-looking dynamism and its important role on the world stage. Accompanying a landmark BBC series, and with an introduction by series presenter Huw Edwards, The Story of Wales is an epic account of Welsh history for a new generation.

Equipping students with the skills they need to tackle IB History, this book develops and reinforces skills for every aspect of the exam, and provides the extra practice that is so critical to exam success. Core skills are thoroughly strengthened, with support for effective reading, note-taking, referencing and source work presented in an exam context. Thorough preparation is also included for the extended essay and each section of the IA, along with examiner hints, comments, student samples and guidance on IB marking criteria.

Scottish explorer and author James Baillie Fraser (1783-1856) was already known for his narratives of travel in the East (his 1820 journal of a journey through the Himalayas being also reissued in this series) when in 1826 he published this account of his journey into the lesser known provinces of Persia. Though it includes an appendix containing information on geology and commerce, it dwells less on statistical and historical details than it does on the author''s personal experiences and impressions. In his preface, Fraser summarily rejects factual material as ''insignificant'', preferring to describe the manners of a people seldom encountered by Europeans. The work captures both the sights and sounds of bazaars and cities, and the characters of the people, from princes to peasant boys; and Fraser provides facts on topics ranging from rice cultivation to the architecture of ancient tombs and methods of cooling water.

Moncure Daniel Conway (1832-1907), the son of a Virginian plantation-owner, became a Unitarian minister, but his anti-slavery views made him controversial. He later became a freethinker, and following the outbreak of the Civil War, which deeply divided his own family, he left the United States for England in 1863. This two-volume biography of Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was published in 1892, and was followed by a four-volume edition of his works, which did much to inspire a reassessment of Paine''s importance in the ''age of revolutions''. Conway clearly identified with Paine''s radicalism as well as his activities on both sides of the Atlantic. Paine''s political pamphlets underlay the American Declaration of Independence, and he was also a member of the French Convention, voting against the execution of Louis XVI. Outlawed in England and imprisoned in France, his religious views became unpopular in America, and he died in poverty.