"The lively, immersive story of the race to seize Berlin in the aftermath of World War II that fired the starting gun for the Cold War"-- After the 1945 Yalta Conference, Berlin-- along with the rest of Germany-- was to be carved up among the victorious powers. On paper, it seemed a pragmatic solution. In reality, once the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union were no longer united by the common purpose of defeating Germany, they wasted...

Five times in the last two centuries. some great power has tried to invade, occupy, or otherwise take control of Afghanistan. And as Tamim Ansary shows in this illuminating history, every intervention has come to grief for much the same reason: the intervening power has failed to understand that Afghanistan has a story of its own, a story that continues to unfold between--and despite--the interventions. Drawing on his Afghan background, Muslim roots,...

By mixing anecdotes with information gleaned from clandestine sources, ex-CIA operative Robert Baer superbly demonstrates that Iran, far from being a wild-eyed rogue state, is a rational actor--one skilled in the game of nations and so effective at thwarting perceived Western colonialism that even rival Sunnis relish fighting under its banner. For U.S. policy makers, the choices have narrowed: either cede the world's most important energy corridors...

The confrontation in the Persian Gulf which resulted from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait pitted the largest and most hardened Arab Army against a coalition of forces led by the United States.

The confrontation in the Persian Gulf which resulted from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait pitted the largest and most hardened Arab Army against a coalition of forces led by the United States.

The confrontation in the Persian Gulf which resulted from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait pitted the largest and most hardened Arab Army against a coalition of forces led by the United States.