By Kevin Seabrooke

Full Reviews

Ortiz’s War: The Allies’ Secret Weapon Against the Nazis in France (Nicholas Reynolds and Katie Sanders, Harper Horizon, Nashville, TN, 304 pp., Aug. 25, 2026 $29.99 HC)

Patton’s War: An American General’s Combat Leadership Volume 3: January 1-December 21, 1945 (Kevin M. Hymel, University of Missouri Press, Columbia, MO, 600 pp., 50 images, 12 maps, July 1, 2026 $44.95 HC)

The Forsaken Founder: The Life and Times of Gouverneur Morris, the Unsung Patriot Who Wrote the Constitution, Stood Up to Slavery and Survived the Reign of Terror (Scott Greenberger, 37 Ink-Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 352 pp., Sept. 1, 2026 $30 HC)

The Six Minute War: Reagan, Russia and the Race to Automate Armageddon (Michael Dobbs, Simon & Schuster, 352 pp., Oct. 20, 2026 $30 HC)

The Havana Syndrome: Secret Weapons, a Government Cover-Up, and the Greatest Spy Mystery of Our Time (Michael Rey and Oriana Zill De Granados, Crown Pub. Group, New York, NY, 336 pp., Oct. 13, 2026 $33 HC)

Tidal Wave: The Pilots, the Princess, and the Enemy Ace—A True Story of Courage and Survival in WWII (Adam Makos, Ballantine Books, New York, NY, 448 pp., Nov. 3, 2026 $32 HC)

Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalries, Big Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare (Steve Feldstein, St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY, 400 pp., Sept. 8, 2026 $30 HC)

They Shall Not See the Dawn: The Manhunt for the Third Reich’s Most Wanted (Charles Lachman, Diversion Books/Dist. by Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 304 pp., Aug. 25, 2026 $32.99 HC)

Eight Days in August: The Countdown to the Collapse of Japan and the End of World War II (Peter Zablocki, Stackpole Books/dist. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 256 pp., Aug. 4, 2026 $34.95 HC)

Bird Men: The Rise of American Airpower and the Machine That Ended World War II – A WWII History of American Airpower and the Superfortress That Changed the Course of the War (A. J. Baime, Mariner Books/ HarperCollins, New York, NY, 432 pp., Oct. 20, 2026 $32.99 HC)

Short Bursts

Searching for Harold: One Family’s World War II Story in Letters (Stephen Watts, Charles Watts Press, 445 pp., 2026 $19.99 HC) Through a poignant collection of wartime letters, the son of a WWII veteran traces the interconnected journeys of his father, Wayland Jr., and his uncles Harold, Ray, and Wilbur as they served across Europe and the Pacific.

Second Wave: Inside Al Qaeda’s Post-9/11 Attack Plan and America’s Secret Effort to Stop It (Michael Lebowitz, Diversion Books/Dist. by Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 304 pp., August 2026 $32 HC) Written by a former war-crimes prosecutor with access to classified files, this book delves into America’s rush to prevent attacks by sleeper cells and other threats.

Grant: The Making of a Legendary Military Leader (James Lee McDonough, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY, Nov. 17, 2026 $39.99 HC) Auburn University professor emeritus and author of William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country: A Life, focuses his prodigious gaze on the other great pillar of the Union Army: Ulysses S. Grant.

Biological War: A Scenario (Annie Jacobsen, Dutton, New York, NY, 432 pp., July 28, 2026 $32 HC) Drawing on interviews with dozens of experts, the author of the bestselling Nuclear War: A Scenario examines in horrifying detail the military weaponization and accidental spread of bio-toxins that could trigger the collapse of civilization.

After America’s First Battles: 1861-2008 (Gregory S. Hospodor and Sanders Marble, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 336 pp., 11 maps, 12 b/w photos, Oct. 20, 2026 $75 HC) Using case studies from the Civil War to the Global War on Terror, this volume examines how different branches of the U.S. armed forces have adapted their tactics, strategy, and organizational culture in response to a conflict’s initial engagement.

Band on the Run: Xenophon and the First Great Mercenary Army’s Epic Escape from Persia (Robert L. O’Connell, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 256 pp., July 28, 2026, $29 HC) O’Connell offers a gripping narrative of the legendary march of the “Ten Thousand”—a stranded Greek mercenary army led by the philosopher-warrior Xenophon through thousands of miles of hostile Persian territory and rugged terrain to safety on the Black Sea.

All Roads Lead to Rome: The Inside Story of the Liberation of the Eternal City in World War II (Mark A. Olinger, Stackpole Books/Dist. by Simon & Schuster, Nov. 17, 2026 $34.95 HC) Chronicles the Anglo-American battle for the heart of Italy and control of the Mediterranean, tracing how Allied forces battered through the Gustav and Caesar lines to liberate the first Axis capital just two days before D-Day.

Victory Through Airpower: General Chuck Horner and Operation Desert Storm (John Andreas Olsen, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 416 pp., 28 b/w photos, August 18, 2026 $44.95 HC) A historical account of how former Vietnam “Wild Weasel” pilot Chuck Horner became America’s first Joint Force Air Component Commander, integrating stealth technology, coalition assets, and unified strategic command alongside Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf to mastermind the 1991 Gulf War air campaign that redefined modern warfare.

The Phantom: The Untold Story of the American Marines (Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY, Oct. 6, 2026 $30 HC) This biography details how the Paris-educated Foreign Legion veteran Marine Maj. Pierre “Pete” Ortiz was recruited by OSS chief “Wild” Bill Donovan to organize Maquis resistance fighters in France, earning two Navy Crosses as one of the few Marines to wage covert war in Nazi-occupied Europe.

The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World’s First Super-Terrorist (Joby Warrick, Scribner, New York, NY, 352 pp., August 18, 2026 $30 HC) Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joby Warrick’s narrative traces the life of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez—revealing how a Venezuelan playboy morphed into the world’s first celebrity super-terrorist, leveraging media-driven violence and mercenary-for-hire tactics from the infamous 1975 OPEC raid to state-sponsored terrorism.

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