Thomas E Ricks

Both George Orwell and Winston Churchill came close to death in the mid-1930's -- Orwell shot in the neck in a trench line in the Spanish Civil War, and Churchill struck by a car in New York City. If they'd died then, history would scarcely remember them. At the time, Churchill was a politician on the outs, his loyalty to his class and party suspect. Orwell was a mildly successful novelist, to put it generously. No one would have predicted that, by...

"The Gamble," the story of Gen. David Petraeus and the American military, reveals that many high-level officials were opposed to the 2003 invasion.

After his wife and children are killed in a car crash, a grieving FBI agent starts fresh on the Maine coast where he investigates a fisherman's murder with ties to illegal trades and local secrets.

The bestselling, compelling insider's account of the Marine Corps from the lives of the men of Platoon 3086, their training at Parris Island, their fierce camaraderie, and the unique code of honor that defines them. The United States Marine Corps, with its proud tradition of excellence in combat, its hallowed rituals, and its unbending code of honor, is part of the fabric of American myth. “Making the Corps” visits the front lines of boot camp...

"God Is Not Here is a powerful and intimate look into torture and its effect on both the tortured and the torturer. In May of 2005, the U.S. government finally acknowledged that the invasion of Iraq had spawned an insurgency. With that admission, training the Iraqi Forces suddenly became a strategic priority. Lt. Col. Bill Edmonds, then a Special Forces captain, was in the first group of "official" military advisors. He arrived in Mosul in the wake...