Bøker av William Nester

No previous book has explored deeper or broader into Napoleon's seething labyrinth of a mind and revealed more of its complex, fascinating, provocative, and paradoxical dimensions. This is Napoleon as has never been seen before.

For General George S. Patton, "Leadership is the thing that wins battles. I have it-but I'll be damned if I can define it. Probably it consists in knowing what you want to do and then doing it and getting mad if anyone steps in the way. Self-confidence and leadership are twin brothers."Indeed, Patton excelled at virtually every dimension of leadership, most vitally as a war commander. His record as a general is clear. The larger, more armored, and better supplied his armies, and the freer he was to decide what to do with them, the more rapid and further they advanced to inflict more defeats on the enemy. In that no other American army commander matched him during World War II. That ranks Patton among the Valhalla of America's greatest generals, with him most resembling Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and Nathan Bedford Forrest as a fast-moving, hard-hitting commander who repeatedly outflanked and devastated enemy forces. Patton led from the front and tried to inspire his troops by being a model officer who exemplified bravery, problem-solving, tactical brilliance, and decisiveness. He was in near constant motion from his headquarters to rear echelon and front line troops, everywhere exhorting them to greater efforts and overcoming challenges, at times enduring shell fire, strafing, mines, snipers, and other dangers. His greatest attribute was his drive to be the best at whatever he chose or was ordered to do. He recognized that developing a successful military career depended not just on will and chance but on incessant training and study. Yet he believed that instincts were just as vital as skills in being a successful leader: "I have a sixth sense in war and...can put myself in the enemies head and I am also willing to take chances."Patton harbored plenty of flaws. He was a narcissist who constantly strove to be center-stage and outshine his rivals. He contrived an idealized version of himself as the epitome of the brilliant general and fearless soldier, immaculately dressed, and spent his life playing that role. He was a braggart who regaled listeners with at times exaggerated tales of his past deeds and those yet to come. His boasting did have one positive element. He sought to surpass his past glories with greater future victories. Patton seesawed between elation and despair, rage and compassion. He could chew out a subordinate for some mistake in the morning and comfort him for a similar mistake in the afternoon. His quick-temper and provocative views often overpowered his self-control. Twice that cost him an army command. During Germany's occupation in August 1945, he casually quipped to several reporters that being a Nazi in Germany was no different from being a Republican or Democrat in the United States. For that Eisenhower relieved him from Third Army's command. Most notoriously, during the Sicily campaign he slapped two soldiers suffering combat fatigue that he accused of malingering. General George S. Patton and the Art of Leadership is his most psychologically penetrating biography that captures the paradoxical character behind his brilliant military feats and often dismaying failures. Throughout Patton explains his values and deeds through hundreds of quotes along with scores of insights from those who knew him-comrades and critics alike.

World of War explores the violent conflicts of the United States--on land, at sea, and in the air --with meticulous scholarship, thought-provoking analysis, and vivid prose.

Britain alone could not hope to defeat the might of Napoleonic France which, through enforced conscription, had become a nation in arms. But British leaders had a long history of forging alliances to counter their rivals.

This book is unique among thousands of books on the subject. None before has explored the Civil War's related and enduring conflicts of ideas and principles through four centuries of a nation's history.

Delves deeply into Churchill's early years and his determination to become one of Britain's greatest heroes.

Explores all of Britain's key land and sea campaigns and the dynamic relation among them during the Age of Revolution and Napoleon. Reveals how two military geniuses were the reason why Britain and its allies vanquished France when and how they did.

Insurgencies are like the hydra, the many-headed beast of Greek mythology. Once one begins, the measures a government takes to eliminate militants¿to cut off the insurgency¿s head¿can provoke countless others to join the enemy ranks. Tactical victories often breed strategic defeats. Traditional ¿search, destroy, and withdraw¿ missions that rely on firepower to wipe out rebels frequently destroy the livelihoods and loved ones of innocent people caught in the cross fire. U.S. troops have seen the pattern repeated as their initially successful offensives toppled enemy regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq but soon transformed into grueling guerrilla wars.Hearts, Minds, and Hydras outlines the reasons for these worsening situations. The most crucial were self-defeating decisions made by the George W. Bush administration, whose neoconservatism and hubris rather than careful analysis of genuine threats, national interests, and reasonable options shaped its policies. Although the Americans were eventually able to contain and diminish the insurgency in Iraq, the one in Afghanistan not only steadily intensified but also spread into neighboring Pakistan. The near abandonment of the war in Afghanistan and the neoconservative campaign in Iraq were godsends for al Qaeda and all other enemies of the United States. Then, as Americäs position deteriorated in both wars, the neoconservatives became even more determined to stay the course. William Nester analyzes some of the more prominent dilemmas haunting American policymakers now struggling to win in Afghanistan, fight terrorism in the United States, and reshape their relationship with Pakistan. In doing so, he reveals the nature of that all-too-real monster of insurgency, what feeds it, and how to starve it.

For Britain, the last French and Indian War of 1754-1760 dwarfed all earlier conflicts. From a wider historical perspective, this text studies the struggle for North America in the previous two centuries, such as the French-British conflict and the role of the Amerindians and other European powers.

From 1789 to 1800, the Federalist and Republican parties held opposing visions for America's future.

"Haunted Victory: The American Crusade to Destroy Saddam and Impose Democracy on Iraq" explores the dynamic trajectory of beliefs, actions, and their consequences in what will forever be debated as among the most controversial and costly operation in U.S. history in terms of American security, power, wealth, and honor. While many others have written about the Iraq War, William Nester unveils the moral dilemmas that entangled the George W. Bush administration and the American public through each stage of planning, selling, fighting, and attempting to end the Iraq War. He includes vivid revelations of the administration's private tugs-of-war over whether to invade Iraq and then how to fight that war. Nester pulls no punches and discloses who deserves credit for what went right and who deserves condemnation for what went wrong. In his engaging style, Nester has written a page-turner. General readers, students, and experts alike will eagerly welcome Haunted Victory for its concise and comprehensive analysis of the key facets of the Iraq War.

During 1763 and 1764, a loose coalition of Native American tribes ranging from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River and from the Ohio Valley to the Great Lakes revolted against the oppression and neglect of their newly installed British masters.

The Revolutionary Years, 1775-1789, reveals how the nation's leaders asserted power during the fourteen crucial years from the Revolution's first shots at Lexington in April 1775 to the adoption of the Constitution in 1789.

As William Nester asserts in The Age of Jackson, it takes quite a leader to personify an age. A political titan for thirty-three years (1815-1848), Andrew Jackson possessed character, beliefs, and acts that dominated American politics.

By 1756 the wilderness war for control of North America that erupted two years earlier between France and England had expanded into a global struggle among all of Europe's Great Powers.