Koncocoo

Best Asian History

Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan (Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series)
Told in the same page-turning style of Killing Lincoln , Killing Kennedy , Killing Jesus , Killing Patton , and Killing Reagan , this epic saga details the final moments of World War II like never before. “An enthralling, gripping account of the bloody battles, huge decisions, and historic personalities that culminated in the decision to drop the atomic bomb and brought the war in the Pacific to its climactic end. A masterful, meticulously researched work that captures the barbarity of the war waged by those who swore allegiance to the Japanese Emperor – and by those who crushed the military might of the Rising Sun.”. He holds a history degree from Marist College, a masters degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University, and another masters degree from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Reviews
"The mentioning of Operation Downfall, the brilliant information on the atomic bombs and how the whole mission that was carried out for using them, and the fact about MacArthur finding out about the use of them just a week before, while the President and Marshall knew about it way before, as well as Eisenhower knowing after Trinity, were interesting. I learned how this was done via cable to the neutral countries of Sweden and Switzerland because there was no Japanese embassy in Washington D.C., since after Pearl Harbor."
"All of Mr. Reilly's words in describing the development leadership that gave our Country the ability to separate out large quantities of the U-235 fissionable isotope are accurate to what my beloved, late Professor told me personally."
"The entire Killing series should be required reading and taught in schools throughout the U.S.. For far too long the liberal left has ruined our school system by not teaching critical parts of our history and heritage."
"I think the book could have better portrayed his anguished decision. My future dad was on one of the troop ships headed for Japan when the bomb hit."
"I have read two other books by O'Reilly, "Killing Patton" and "Killing Reagan", each of these were a joy to read and filled with an incredible amount of detail."
"Everyone should consider reading this book."
"Most books seem to focus on the Europe side, but this was such a fascinating story of the other side of WWII."
"This book was an excellent review of WWII."
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The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World
The dramatic, pulse-pounding story of Harry Truman’s first four months in office, when this unlikely president had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and the atomic bomb, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
Reviews
"His previous books on Willow Run and the La Mans battle between Ferrari and Ford were just tremendous. Taking what Baime claims is four of perhaps the four most consequential months of any presidency, a point of which is probably correct, this book starts off with FDR's surprising death in Warm Springs, Georgia as World War II reaches its penultimate moments with the collapse of Germany and the beginning of the end of the Empire of Japan."
"We have all read good books and great books from a historical perspective. This book is one, if you please, that is an absolute must read."
"I highly recommend this book to students of history, Truman, WWII, and/or the Presidency."
"Baime has produced a meticulously researched account of the period from April to August 1945, telling the dramatic story of how an underestimated man took the weight of the world on his shoulders. He took the oath, summoned the Cabinet, and began a series of meetings, in one of which he was informed for the first time of the Manhattan Project to build an atomic weapon. Over the next days and weeks he dealt with the complexities of guiding the US through the final days of the war in Europe, began to make plans for the post-war economy, made contact with other world leaders (some for the first time), discussed plans for the ongoing war with Japan, and above all had the first of a series of exchanges with Stalin, Molotov, and other Soviet officials which revealed sharp ideological differences. He oversaw the establishment of the United Nations, led negotiations at Potsdam with Churchill, Attlee, and Stalin, and approved the use of the atom bomb on Japan. Among the unanswered questions of twentieth century history are those which ask whether the Cold War was inevitable, or if Roosevelt could have done a better job than his successor in easing tensions with the Soviets, thus avoiding the creation of the Iron Curtain."
"Excellant Book !!!"
"My only regret is that my dad is no longer alive to talk with me; he was a gunner on a B-29 in the Pacific just as the new Truman administration was trying to figure out how to defeat the Japanese, leading to the A-bomb decision."
"If you have not read anything about Truman, this is a wonderful account of the man who accidentally assumed the presidency but through his humanity, his courage and his principles, intentionally inspired ordinary Americans to be great."
"Good book."
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Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity
In this brilliant, breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport. With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects people to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on years of uncompromising reporting, carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds—and into the hearts of families impossible to forget. Winner of the National Book Award | The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award | The Los Angeles Times Book Prize | The American Academy of Arts and Letters Award | The New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award. NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • The Washington Post • O: The Oprah Magazine • USA Today • New York • The Miami Herald • San Francisco Chronicle • Newsday NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker • People • Entertainment Weekly • The Wall Street Journal • The Boston Globe • The Economist • Financial Times • Newsweek /The Daily Beast • Foreign Policy • The Seattle Times • The Nation • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Denver Post • Minneapolis Star Tribune • Salon • The Plain Dealer • The Week • Kansas City Star • Slate • Time Out New York • Publishers Weekly NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A book of extraordinary intelligence [and] humanity . beyond groundbreaking.” —Junot Díaz, The New York Times Book Review “Reported like Watergate, written like Great Expectations, and handily the best international nonfiction in years.” — New York “This book is both a tour de force of social justice reportage and a literary masterpiece.” —Judges’ Citation for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award “[A] landmark book.” — The Wall Street Journal “A triumph of a book.” —Amartya Sen “There are books that change the way you feel and see; this is one of them.” —Adrian Nicole LeBlanc “[A] stunning piece of narrative nonfiction . Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2012 : Katherine Boo spent three years among the residents of the Annawadi slum, a sprawling, cockeyed settlement of more than 300 tin-roof huts and shacks in the shadow of Mumbai's International Airport. This first book by a New Yorker staff writer (and Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for the Washington Post) jolts the reader’s consciousness with the opposing realities of poverty and wealth in a searing visit to the Annawaldi settlement, a flimflam slum that has recently sprung up in the western suburbs of the gigantic city of Mumbai, perched tentatively along the modern highway leading to the airport and almost within a stone’s throw of new, luxurious hotels.
Reviews
"From there, she radiates out into the entire slum of Annawadi, into the minds of few dozen other characters from the 3000 families huddled around a sewage lake next to the gleaming Mumbai Airport and its luxury hotels. As a result, you come to understand the interconnectedness of all the lives of these complex, talented, vibrant people: their ethnic, religious and caste strife; their dealings with systemic corruption wherever they go; and the wages of crushing poverty, how they adapt to it, how they hope to escape to a better life. You cannot read this book without having it soften your heart, expand your circle of compassion, understand the global consequences of everything we do, and have greater gratitude for all the privileges many of us take for granted."
"It is considered non-fiction, but it's written like a novel focusing on several families living in a Bombay (aka Mumbai) slum."
""Behind the Beautiful Forevers" is a very jarring book about life in Annawadi, a slum located near the Mumbai airport, just steps away from luxury Indian hotels. The reason I gave the book four stars instead of five is because I try to rate books on their enjoyability as well as their overall cohesiveness."
"The author provides unflinching descriptions of life in a Mumbai slum, from casual extreme violence (beatings, murders, self-immolation, suicides) to commonplace corruption at all levels of government (local and national politicians, the police and judicial systems, the social and educational networks) to everyday gruesome health and sanitation issues (the drinking water, toilets, air quality, hospital treatment) that should bring the Annawadi residents to their knees."
"That is the journey you will embark upon by reading this book: getting to know not only the abysmal, inhuman living conditions of a community of slum dwellers who have squatted on land next to the Mumbai airport, but also their names and faces, likes and dislikes, personalities and odd quirks of real people."
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Best Central Asian History

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
Comprehensively and for the first time, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll recounts the history of the covert wars in Afghanistan that fueled Islamic militancy and sowed the seeds of the September 11 attacks. Steve Coll is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars and the dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, and from 2007 to 2013 was president of the New America Foundation, a public policy institute in Washington, D.C.
Reviews
"This is the best book for understanding the roll of the CIA in Afghanistan and the war on terror."
"Great memories of times gone past when I was a soldier over the past 33 years I served faithfully in a lot of these ops."
"There were no apparent gaps in the connected dots and most connections made solid sense."
"If you have interest in covert operations and the intelligence agencies of the united States, this is an amazing book."
"Great product, would definitely recommend to others."
""Ghost Wars" is a fresh, detailed, and fascinating assessment of the United States' experience with Afghanistan from 1979 to the eve of 9/11/2001. Coll's recounting of this twenty year saga goes far to explain the roots and development of the United States's inability to deter the danger that became so graphically evident the day after this book's narrative ends. Yes, the book is detailed, but it would be a disservice to back away from the intricacies of the story -- just as it has proven to be a mistake for the United States to have backed away from the complexities of Afghanistan once the Soviets withdrew. While one might wish to disengage from such interwoven complexities, the risk of ignoring a failing state such as Afghanistan is to allow the creation of a untamed country in which an extreme regime such as the Taliban and a group as dangerous as that sponsored by Osama bin Laden can take root and thrive. I do wish that Coll had carried through with an epilogue to shed light on the events in Afghanistan of the past two to three years and the relationship of the U.S. to that sad country today. I know Coll has more to say about how the United States' response to 9/11 in Afghanistan has affected our relations with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia."
"If you want to know what really happened, you need to read this book."
"There are no 'Ghosts' to be found but a lot of hauntings as Coll brings into focus a series of turns and events in a troubled part of the world where tribal histories and passions have produced and fueled some very determined fighters."
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Best Chinese History

The Art of War
The world’s most influential treatise on strategy. --Brian Bruya This new translation of the ancient Chinese military treatise includes chapters of historical analysis touching on its relevance to today's corporate environment.
Reviews
"Not just the best translation but the type of translation."
"As part of a class assignment I asked each cadet what book would they no-kidding read, military or not, related to their academic major or not."
"I ordered this book for a Psychology class I was taking, so it was a required read."
"The reference data mixed in makes the book difficult to read."
"I love having this book as a digital book because I can find passages easily ."
"Rather than a collection of lessons learned through the telling of historical events, it is rather more like a list of proverbs by which a general should carry out the act of war."
"But all of this aside, how successful is Mr. Gagliardi at his most basic task: competently translating Sun Tzu’s original text, The Art of War? The original Chinese characters for this line are: CHANG SHAN ZHI SHE. If you looked up each character individually via the internet you could definitely make a case that the line could read: ordinary mountain (of) snake. The problem is that professional translation doesn’t work this way (a one-for-one translation of characters), and you have to understand all of the nuances applicable to how these thoughts are put together, especially when you are talking about a millennia old text written in a language vastly different than its modern equivalent. Chang”. So while Gagliardi is perfectly content in his own ignorance that Sun Tzu is talking about an ordinary snake, what the text is really saying is that he needs his soldiers to be like an EXTRAordinary snake which possesses the magical ability to continue providing support to its endangered other half even after being cleaved into two separate parts. Heng, where this extraordinary snake supposedly lived (by the way, Sun Tzu gave the snake a name, the Shuairan, a fact that was completely missed by Gagliardi). Of course the name change does nothing to impact your understanding of the Art of War, but does illustrate the difference between buying a copy of the The Art of War from a professional Sinologist who understands both the translation issues and can provide relevant historical and philosophical background, and the rank amateur who does this for a hobby and wants to pass off an inferior product hoping you won't know the difference. There are too many professionally done Sun Tzu translations available by qualified individuals (Ames, Griffith, Sawyer, Ivanhoe, Mair, Minford) to justify paying the same amount of money for Mr. Gagliardi’s lackluster effort."
"This is a sad mass produced mess of a book."
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Best Indian History

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity
In this brilliant, breathtaking book by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human through the dramatic story of families striving toward a better life in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport. With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects people to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on years of uncompromising reporting, carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century’s hidden worlds—and into the hearts of families impossible to forget. Winner of the National Book Award | The PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award | The Los Angeles Times Book Prize | The American Academy of Arts and Letters Award | The New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award. NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • The Washington Post • O: The Oprah Magazine • USA Today • New York • The Miami Herald • San Francisco Chronicle • Newsday NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker • People • Entertainment Weekly • The Wall Street Journal • The Boston Globe • The Economist • Financial Times • Newsweek /The Daily Beast • Foreign Policy • The Seattle Times • The Nation • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Denver Post • Minneapolis Star Tribune • Salon • The Plain Dealer • The Week • Kansas City Star • Slate • Time Out New York • Publishers Weekly NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A book of extraordinary intelligence [and] humanity . beyond groundbreaking.” —Junot Díaz, The New York Times Book Review “Reported like Watergate, written like Great Expectations, and handily the best international nonfiction in years.” — New York “This book is both a tour de force of social justice reportage and a literary masterpiece.” —Judges’ Citation for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award “[A] landmark book.” — The Wall Street Journal “A triumph of a book.” —Amartya Sen “There are books that change the way you feel and see; this is one of them.” —Adrian Nicole LeBlanc “[A] stunning piece of narrative nonfiction . Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2012 : Katherine Boo spent three years among the residents of the Annawadi slum, a sprawling, cockeyed settlement of more than 300 tin-roof huts and shacks in the shadow of Mumbai's International Airport. This first book by a New Yorker staff writer (and Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for the Washington Post) jolts the reader’s consciousness with the opposing realities of poverty and wealth in a searing visit to the Annawaldi settlement, a flimflam slum that has recently sprung up in the western suburbs of the gigantic city of Mumbai, perched tentatively along the modern highway leading to the airport and almost within a stone’s throw of new, luxurious hotels.
Reviews
"I teach about these realities of the developing countries and the lives of the urban poor, but Katherine Boo's story brings it all to life in a way that lets you feel the anguish and the frustration and the harsh, grinding lack of options. It is all here: social conflict, caste, corruption, abusive authority, manipulative politics, systemic inhumanity, but also hope, and ambition, and caring, and human bonds, and desperate longing for something better."
"The detail, the vivid writing, the fully formed and rounded people who live an unwinding tangle of drama, unfairness, humor, sadness, love, windmill-tilting, chance and tragedy - all of it is a wonder. It made me realize that I have no idea what it's like to live in a society that is as capricious as this one - even as it echoes our extremes of poverty and wealth here in the U.S. We talk of freedom of opportunity here, which at its best is a reality we can grip and at its worst is a falsely given hope."
"They suffer at the hands of the police, of their family members, their neighbors whose envy can rise to murderous proportions, and their religions that are yet another means of keeping them down and separate."
"Because of my confusion with the different characters I used the Kindle x-ray feature (which is AMAZING) to develop my own character list that I shared with my book group and have posted on the following google doc - [...] (please feel free to print this off and use when reading the book!)."
"The depiction of slum is relevant to audiences in and outside India- the middle class in India often uses the labor of the lower classes, but pretends when it is opportune that it is a cumbersome, and embarrassing community."
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Best Japanese History

Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan (Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series)
Told in the same page-turning style of Killing Lincoln , Killing Kennedy , Killing Jesus , Killing Patton , and Killing Reagan , this epic saga details the final moments of World War II like never before. “An enthralling, gripping account of the bloody battles, huge decisions, and historic personalities that culminated in the decision to drop the atomic bomb and brought the war in the Pacific to its climactic end. A masterful, meticulously researched work that captures the barbarity of the war waged by those who swore allegiance to the Japanese Emperor – and by those who crushed the military might of the Rising Sun.”. He holds a history degree from Marist College, a masters degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University, and another masters degree from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Reviews
"It is an insightful look at WW2's end with Japan and the decision by our President on using America's newest weapon, the Atom Bomb."
"I read a lot of history, and this book certainly appears to be in alignment with prior history I have read."
"I hope and pray that others will take the time to read this and understand the need to Make America Great Again."
"The "Killing" books are a great way to bone up on history."
"I am not a history reader but this book is written so that the roles played by all main characters are interwoven in a manner that you can just about place yourself in the middle of each scene."
"If all history teachers made history this interesting, many more kids would learn eagerly."
"My dad, after 3 years fighting in Europe, would have been part of the invasion of Japan."
"In the mid-70s, I commanded the US Army's intelligence unit in Japan, and had first hand knowledge of many of the scenes including Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
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Best Korean History eBooks

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
An eye-opening account of life inside North Korea—a closed world of increasing global importance—hailed as a “tour de force of meticulous reporting” ( The New York Review of Books ). NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST In this landmark addition to the literature of totalitarianism, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il (the father of Kim Jong-un), and a devastating famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive regime today—an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, where displays of affection are punished, informants are rewarded, and an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. She takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors, and through meticulous and sensitive reporting we see her subjects fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we witness their profound, life-altering disillusionment with the government and their realization that, rather than providing them with lives of abundance, their country has betrayed them. Her subjects are instantly relatable—they fall in love, raise families—but as their country grows increasingly isolated, totalitarian, and repressive, and is ravaged by unemployment and famine, they risk everything to leave. Her chilling impressions of a dreary, muffled, and depleted land are juxtaposed with a uniquely to-the-point history of how North Korea became an industrialized Communist nation supported by the Soviet Union and China and ruled by Kim Il Sung, then collapsed catastrophically into poverty, darkness, and starvation under the dictator’s son, Kim Jong Il. Mi-ran explains that even though her “tainted blood” (her father was a South Korean POW) kept her apart from the man she loved, she managed to become a teacher, only to watch her starving students waste away.
Reviews
"We learn about a young man left an orphan whose father had been Party member, a pediatrician whose greatest dream was to be allowed to join the Party, a housewife with 2 young children and an abusive husband, a young woman and her "forbidden" boyfriend, a factory worker who had absolute loyalty to the regime, and several more. This book also covers the operation of the government and its regimentation over people's lives from a historical viewpoint, how this all changed (slightly for the better) during the starvation years of the 90's, and the newer changes (for the worse) under Kim Jong-un."
"Astonishing reveal of the harsh reality of life during the 1980's in North Korea under that strict propagandist regime."
"It follows a number of individuals lives while living in North Korea."
"I was completely rivited by this book!"
"While I am an author myself, I don't know the author and no one asked me to review this."
"The constant propaganda, brainwashing, fear of being turned in by a neighbor, wife or son, the limits and downright bans on their freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, freedom of economy, freedom to choose their own paths, and the absolute desert of information about the outside world is a staunch warning to everyone, including we Americans, who see the seedlings of many of these bans and controls and limits and increased surveillance and the drying up of information."
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Best Southeast Asian History

Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam
The first battle book from Mark Bowden since his #1 New York Times bestseller Black Hawk Down , Hue 1968 is the story of the centerpiece of the Tet Offensive and a turning point in the American War in Vietnam. The lynchpin of Tet was the capture of Hue, Vietnam?s intellectual and cultural capital, by 10,000 National Liberation Front troops who descended from hidden camps and surged across the city of 140,000. With unprecedented access to war archives in the U.S. and Vietnam and interviews with participants from both sides, Bowden narrates each stage of this crucial battle through multiple viewpoints. A Christian Science Monitor , Kirkus Reviews , Military Times , Hudson Booksellers, and Chicago Public Library best book of the year. Hue 1968 is also an exploration of what is common to all wars: humankind's capacity for violence, cruelty, self-sacrifice, bravery, cowardice and love. Mr. Bowden undertakes this task with the talent and sensibility of a master journalist who is also a humanist and an honest man . Bowden’s interviews, almost half a century on, with those who fought, on both sides, have produced unexampled descriptions of small-unit combat.” ―George F. Will, Washington Post. applies his signature blend of deep reportage and character-driven storytelling to bring readers a fresh look at the 1968 battle in the Vietnamese city of Hue . Bowden tells this story with a power and a wealth of detail that no previous history of this offensive has approached." Based on hundreds of interviews, news accounts, histories and military archives, the book combines intensive research with Bowden's propulsive narrative style and insightful analysis . What sets Bowden's account of the battle apart is his skill at moving from the macro―the history of the war, the politics surrounding it, the tactics of the battle―to the micro: the individuals, American and Vietnamese, who fought it and tried to survive it." "Bowden is one of the great journalists of our generation, and with this book he provides a captivating account of the pivotal battle that did so much to alter the trajectories of not just the Vietnam War, but also American politics and our nation's global posture. With its capacious research that includes the perspectives of combatants and civilians, Vietnamese and Americans, presidents and privates, it epitomizes what a definitive account should be." “An engrossing, fair-minded, up-close account of one of the great battles in the long struggle for Vietnam.” ― Washington Post , “50 notable works of nonfiction in 2017”. The heart and soul of Hue 1968 lies with its vivid and often wrenching descriptions of the 'storm of war' as soldiers and South Vietnamese citizens experienced it." “In a 539-page narrative, Bowden delivers a work of grand ambition: impassioned, powerful and revelatory at its best, and the most comprehensive yet on the Tet Offensive’s bloodiest confrontation.” ―Gregg Jones, Dallas Morning News. "For readers who enjoy learning about battle tactics and bloody encounters, Bowden delivers, as he did in Black Hawk Down . Most impressive of all, Bowden deftly blends clear descriptions of complex troop movements with careful attention to the human impact of the fighting . Bowden deserves enormous credit for calling new attention to an often-overlooked battle and especially for recovering the experiences of those who fought amid otherworldly horrors." Bowden revisits the historic battle with the same character-driven, grunt-level reporting style that made Black Hawk Down a bestseller. He lends a sympathetic ear to surviving soldiers on both sides, as well as guerrillas and civilians, and gives a vivid account of courage and cowardice, heroism and slaughter.” ―Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times. “ Hue 1968 pulls off a rare feat: it takes a conflict of terrible scale and consequence, and allows us to see it unfold at the street level, through the eyes of Vietnamese and American soldiers engaged in the struggle, journalists and activists observing the chaos, and the civilians caught in the crossfire . Not only are the personal stories Bowden uncovers at turns deeply moving and horrifying, but they also pose uncomfortable parallels with current events in the Middle East and Afghanistan.” ―Sebastien Roblin, National Interest. This is as much a book about what happens to peoples’ hearts, minds, and bodies in the swirling chaos of urban combat as it is a history of a specific battle and an assessment of its strategic significance. With a novelist’s eye for evoking the grim atmospherics of a hellish locale and the characters within it, Bowden reconstructs dozens of scenes of heart-pounding combat . “I am still recovering from the astonishment and appreciation of the reporting and writing in Mark Bowden’s latest book: Hue 1968 , a story of a single battle that encompassed so much of what occurred in that epic year of our history.” ―Mike Barnicle, Politico. This is the definitive account of a turning point in America's Vietnam strategy and in public opinion about the war.” ― Wall Street Journal , “top 10 nonfiction books of 2017”. “[A] skillful, gripping account of the turning point of the Vietnam War.” ― Christian Science Monitor , “30 best books of 2017”. “Bowden confronts head-on the horrific senselessness of battle and the toll it takes on people, and he grants Hue the regard it deserves as a defining moment in a war that continues to influence how America views its role in the world.” ― Publishers Weekly (starred review). "In this meticulous retelling of one critical battle, Mark Bowden captures the nuanced and often invisible threads of America's political, military and cultural blindness in Vietnam. “Bowden interviewed people on both sides, to great effect, and weaves a dense but compelling narrative about a battle that was a microcosm of the entire conflict.” ―Alex Prud’homme, Omnivoracious , favorite reads of 2017. Building on portraits of combatants on all sides, Bowden delivers an anecdotally rich, careful account of the complex campaign to take the city. One of the best books on a single action in Vietnam, written by a tough, seasoned journalist who brings the events of a half-century past into sharp relief." "An epic masterpiece of heroism and sacrifice, and a testament to the tragic futility of the American experience in Vietnam." gives voice to dozens, including Nguyen Quang Ha, whose five-man team emerged from underground caves to strike the first blow for North Vietnamese forces, Bob Thompson, a career marine officer charged with taking back the US stronghold at the Citadel, President Lyndon Johnson and General William Westmoreland in Washington, DC and reporters David Halberstam, Michael Herr, Gene Roberts, Walter Cronkite and others who changed the way Americans perceived the war." " Hue 1968 unravels one of the great mysteries of our time―how a puny force of North Vietnam regulars and local sympathizers could without warning occupy South Vietnam's second largest city, hold it for a month, then disappear into the mountains, beyond reach and largely unbloodied. While giving due respect to the abilities, actions and fighting spirit of the U.S. and ARVN Marines and soldiers who participated, Mark Bowden brought clarity to the larger intelligence, political and strategic shortcomings that made the prosecution of this battle so much more challenging and costly than it needed to be." "The longest and fiercest fighting of the Tet Offensive took place in and around Hue in early 1968 where Communist North Vietnam suffered a terrible military defeat. Yet the fight for Hue became a political victory for the leaders of North Vietnam and a turning point for US involvement and support for the war. Relying on archival documents now available after 50 years, he also examines the considerations and decisions of political and military leaders at the highest levels. This book is a tragic tale of misunderstanding but also one of great heroism and sacrifice by those who fought in the streets of Hue and in the nearby rice paddies and villages." "Mark Bowden uniquely describes the battle from both sides of the front lines and vividly captures the remarkable courage and valor of those that participated in the crucible of war that was Hue City in January to March 1968. "I am a US Marine Vietnam veteran who participated as a tank crewmen in the Tet 1968 battle for Hue City. “Powerfully told, and a vivid depiction of individual courage and national hubris.” ―William J. Burns, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. More than anything, Hue 1968 is the story of the entire Vietnam War in microcosm.” ―Michael M. Rosen, Claremont Review of Books. Mark Bowden is the author of thirteen books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Black Hawk Down . He reported at the Philadelphia Inquirer for twenty years and now writes for the Atlantic , Vanity Fair , and other magazines.
Reviews
"My criticism is only that the author glosses over the fact that journalists did have a staggering effect on the fighting, and often their stories did fuel the anti-war movement back home. It occurs to me that if journalists had written about the Battle of the Bulge in the same tone that Walter Cronkite and others portrayed Hue, we would have sued for peace with Germany."
"5 Stars. If you only ever read one book about Vietnam, you could do a lot worse than Bowden’s “Hue 1968.” Other good choices would be Karnow’s “Vietnam: A History” and Sheehan’s “A Bright and Shining Lie.” However, Hue 1968 delivers not only the facts of the American tragedy in Vietnam , or even a particular point of view of the facts, but it also accurately depicts the feelings of the Americans serving in Vietnam, as well as those of Americans at home, and the Vietnamese who could not escape the war."
"While the author paints a very sympathetic portrait of most of the marines and soldiers caught in the fighting, he generally has a veryr unflattering view of US higher commanders, who simply wouldn't believe that the North Vietnamese could take and hold a major city, because it did not conform to their preconceptions of what the enemy was capable of, or what strategy they would adopt. As a result, for several days after the city had fallen, US commanders sent laughably small contingents--individual companies of a couple of hundred men--to retake the city, occupied by up to 10,000 enemy troops."
"Bowden gives us the best explanation of why the battle of Hue was the key turning point of the war, how U.S. government and military leaders deliberately lied to the American public about progress, and how carefully the Peoples Army of (North) Viet Nam and the National Liberation Front troops deceived the Americans into believing the big attack would come along the borders rather than the cities like Hue."
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Best Tamil eBooks

Ponniyin Selvan Anaithu Pagangal (Tamil Edition)
Kalki was the pen name of R. Krishnamurthy (September 9, 1899 to December 5, 1954), a noted Tamil writer, film & music critic, Indian independence activist and journalist from Tamil Nadu, India.
Reviews
"Though it was daunting to imagine reading a book of this scale, I finally decided to give Ponniyin Selvan a try."
"This is an amazing novel."
"I am not writing about the story-I am sure anyone who knows tamil has either read the book or at least heard of this classic."
"This is the absolute marvel of tamil history novels."
"Fantastic book."
"However I bought this specifically to read from my Kindle device bought from Amazon UK."
"This was a very disappointment, for people who read and speak Tamil this is an epic."
"i will give five stars for ponniyin selvan , but the amazon edition is worst."
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