By Kevin Seabrooke

Full Reviews

Faith of the Fathers: The Comprehensive History of Catholic Chaplains in the Civil War (Rev. Robert J. Miller, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN, 2025, 480 pp., 26 b&w illustrations and 2 tables, notes, bibliography, index, $45 HC)

Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster (Gerri Willis, Harper/ HarperCollins, New York NY, 2025, 288 pp., $28.99, HC)

Women of War: The Italian Assassins, Spies, and Couriers Who Fought the Nazis (Suzanne Cope, Dutton, New York, NY, 2025, 480 pp., maps, photographs, notes, index, $32 HC)

A War of Their Own: FULRO: The Other National Liberation Front, Vietnam 1955–75 (William H. Chickering, Casemate Books, Havertown, PA, 2025, 256 pp., 26 photos & 3 maps, $34.95 HC)

Taking Midway: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes, and the Battle that Turned the Tide of World War II (Martin Dugard, Dutton, New York, NY, 2025, 368 pp., $32 HC)

The Raider: The Untold Story of a Renegade Marine and the Birth of U.S. Special Forces in World War II (Stephen R. Platt, Knopf, New York, NY, 2025, 544 pp., $35 HC)

The Sailing of the Intrepid: The Incredible Wartime Voyage of the Navy’s Iconic Aircraft Carrier (Montel Williams (with David Fisher), Hanover Square Press/ HarperCollins, New York, NY, 2025, 304 pp., maps, diagrams, $30 HC)

Exterminating ISIS: Behind the Curtain of a Technological War (Brennan S. Deveraux, Casemate Books, Havertown, PA, 2025, 208 pp., $34.95 HC)

The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 (Rick Atkinson, Crown Publishing, New York, NY, 2025, 880 pp., extensive maps & illustrations, notes, index, bibliography $42 HC)

Short Bursts

The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood (Nina Willner, Dutton, New York, NY, 2025, 384 pp., $25 HC). The incredible story of two boys—one the author’s father—who escaped Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

Spectre of Invasion: The Royal Navy and the Defence of Britain’s Coast, 1900–1918 (Steve Dunn, Seaforth Publishing/Casemate, Havertown, PA, 2025, 352 pp., $44.95 HC) Comprehensive exploration of Britain’s lack of a standing army and fears of a German invasion during the Great War era.

The Forecast for D-Day: And the Weatherman behind Ike’s Greatest Gamble (John E. Ross, Lyons Press, Essex, CT, 2025, 272 pp., $22.95 SC) RAF meteorologist Captain James Martin Stagg persuaded Ike to delay history’s largest maritime operation by a day.

A Light in the Northern Sea (Tim Brady, Kensington, New York, NY, 2025, 272 pp., 8-page photo insert, $29 HC) The true story of how the Danes rescued nearly all of their Jewish citizens during WWII by ferrying them in small groups to neutral Sweden.

Guderian’s Panzers: From Triumph to Defeat on the Eastern Front, 1941 (Craig W.H. Luther, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, September 2025, 430 pp., maps, photos, index, $39.95 HC) Detailed reconstruction of Op Barbarossa from the point of view of Gen. Heinz Guderian and his 2nd Panzer Group.

Mercenaries, Gunslingers, and Outlaws: Two Years as a Security Contractor in Iraq (Robert M. Kurtz, Casemate Books, Havertown, PA, 2025, 216 pp., $34.95 HC) A look at what it was really like in Iraq in the early years after the U.S. invasion, by a security contractor who spent 2.5 years there.

Sons of the Arghandab: Top Guns in the Devil’s Playground (Joseph J Fontenot, Casemate Books, Havertown, PA, 2025, 272 pp., $34.95 HC) The story of the 1-320th Field Artillery “Top Guns” Battalion who survived a year in Afghanistan’s Arghandab River Valley (2010-2011) told by a veteran who was there.

Matisse at War: Art and Resistance in Nazi Occupied France (Christopher C. Gorham, Citadel Press, New York, NY, September 2025, 452 pp., $29 HC) Through intimate letters and many other sources, this book reveals Matisse’s journey of reinvention in the face of war and fascism to create some of his greatest art.

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