The Chessboard of War

The Chessboard of War
Author: Anne J. Bailey
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2000-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780803212732

No aspect of Civil War history is more fascinating than the two major campaigns that took place in the western theater in late 1864. The opposing generals, William T. Sherman and John Bell Hood, took armies that had been fighting for months and headed them away from each other: Hood marched north into Tennessee, and Sherman marched south into Georgia. As Sherman himself noted, ?It surely was a strange event; two hostile armies marching in opposite directions, each in the full belief that it was achieving a final and conclusive result in a great war.? Hood went on to catastrophic defeat at Franklin and Nashville, while Sherman successfully moved through Georgia to the coast. Many books deal with either Sherman?s march or Hood?s Tennessee campaign, but although they unfolded simultaneously and concluded the main fighting in the western theater, no recent volume analyzes the two together. In her groundbreaking study, Anne J. Bailey assesses how military events in Georgia and Tennessee intertwined and affected the political, social, and economic conditions in those areas and throughout the nation.

White King and Red Queen

White King and Red Queen
Author: Daniel Johnson
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2008
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 9780547133379

Daniel Johnson--journalist, scholar, and chess enthusiast--is the perfect guide to one of history's most remarkable periods, when chess matches were front-page news and captured the world's imagination.

Chess and the Art of War

Chess and the Art of War
Author: Al Lawrence
Publisher: Chartwell Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016-02-15
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 9780785832812

Inside Chess and the Art of War, you'll find an ancient military history drawn from and adapted into a helpful guide on how to become a chess master at any skill level. 2,500 years ago Sun Tzu wrote a military treatise called The Art of War. Since then, the book has been used not just by military tacticians but by business leaders, planners, traders, politicians, and even sports coaches. Here, Sun Tzu's lessons are applied to how to play a winning game of chess. Chess is not an easy game to learn, nor an easy game to master, even if you've been playing chess for years. In Chess and the Art of War author and chess teacher Al Lawrence and International Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi have studied Tzu and drawn on his philosophies to deliver 40 fascinating lessons organized into the opening, the middlegame, and the end game. Illustrated with extracts from classic chess games, the authors prove that playing by Sun Tzu's philosophies will make you a skilled opponent and a winning player. Whether you're a beginner or a tournament veteran, Sun Tzu's ancient lessons in Chess and the Art of War will teach you something new and useful on and off the chessboard.

The Grand Chessboard

The Grand Chessboard
Author: Zbigniew Brzezinski
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2016-12-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0465093086

Bestselling author and eminent foreign policy scholar Zbigniew Brzezinski's classic book on American's strategic mission in the modern world. In The Grand Chessboard, renowned geostrategist Zbigniew Brzezinski delivers a brutally honest and provocative vision for American preeminence in the twenty-first century. The task facing the United States, he argues, is to become the sole political arbiter in Eurasian lands and to prevent the emergence of any rival power threatening our material and diplomatic interests. The Eurasian landmass, home to the greatest part of the globe's population, natural resources, and economic activity, is the "grand chessboard" on which America's supremacy will be ratified and challenged in the years to come. In this landmark work of public policy and political science, Brzezinski outlines a groundbreaking and powerful blueprint for America's vital interests in the modern world. In this revised edition, Brzezinski addresses recent global developments including the war in Ukraine, the re-emergence of Russia, and the rise of China.

The Chessboard and the Web

The Chessboard and the Web
Author: Anne-Marie Slaughter
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2017-03-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0300228163

From a renowned foreign-policy expert, a new paradigm for strategy in the twenty-first century In 1961, Thomas Schelling’s The Strategy of Conflict used game theory to radically reenvision the U.S.-Soviet relationship and establish the basis of international relations for the rest of the Cold War. Now, Anne-Marie Slaughter—one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers from 2009 to 2012, and the first woman to serve as director of the State Department Office of Policy Planning—applies network theory to develop a new set of strategies for the post-Cold War world. While chessboard-style competitive relationships still exist—U.S.-Iranian relations, for example—many other situations demand that we look not at individual entities but at their links to one another. We must learn to understand, shape, and build on those connections. Concise and accessible, based on real-world situations, on a lucid understanding of network science, and on a clear taxonomy of strategies, this will be a go-to resource for anyone looking for a new way to think about strategy in politics or business.

Resisting Sherman

Resisting Sherman
Author: Thomas Heard Robertson, Jr.
Publisher: Savas Beatie
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2015-05-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1611212618

Despite its fascinating cast of characters, host of combats large and small, and its impact on the course of the Civil War, surprisingly little ink has been spilled on the conflictÕs final months in the Carolinas. Resisting Sherman: A Confederate SurgeonÕs Journal and the Civil War in the Carolinas, 1865, by Francis Marion Robertson (edited by Thomas H. Robertson, Jr.) fills in many of the gaps and adds tremendously to our knowledge of this region and those troubled final days of the Confederacy. Surgeon Francis Robertson fled Charleston with the Confederate garrison in 1865 in an effort to stay ahead of General ShermanÕs Federal army as it marched north from Savannah. The Southern high command was attempting to reinforce General Joseph E. JohnstonÕs force in North Carolina for a last-ditch effort to defeat Sherman and perhaps join with General Lee in Virginia, or at least gain better terms for surrender. Dr. Robertson, a West Pointer, physician, professor, politician, patrician, and Presbyterian with five sons in the Confederate army, kept a daily journal for the final three months of the Civil War while traveling more than 900 miles through four states. His account looks critically at the decisions of generals from a middle ranking officerÕs viewpoint, describes army movements from a ground level perspective, and places the military campaign within the everyday events of average citizens suffering under the boot of war. Editor and descendant Thomas Robertson followed in his ancestorÕs footsteps, conducting exhaustive research to identify the people, route, and places mentioned in the journal. Sidebars on a wide variety of related issues include coverage of politics and the Battle of Averasboro, where one of the surgeonÕs sons was shot. An extensive introduction covers the military situation in and around Charleston that led to the evacuation described so vividly by Surgeon Robertson, and an epilogue summarizes what happened to the diary characters after the war.

Civil War Arkansas, 1863

Civil War Arkansas, 1863
Author: Mark K. Christ
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 488
Release: 2011-12-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0806184442

The Arkansas River Valley is one of the most fertile regions in the South. During the Civil War, the river also served as a vital artery for moving troops and supplies. In 1863 the battle to wrest control of the valley was, in effect, a battle for the state itself. In spite of its importance, however, this campaign is often overshadowed by the siege of Vicksburg. Now Mark K. Christ offers the first detailed military assessment of parallel events in Arkansas, describing their consequences for both Union and Confederate powers. Christ analyzes the campaign from military and political perspectives to show how events in 1863 affected the war on a larger scale. His lively narrative incorporates eyewitness accounts to tell how new Union strategy in the Trans-Mississippi theater enabled the capture of Little Rock, taking the state out of Confederate control for the rest of the war. He draws on rarely used primary sources to describe key engagements at the tactical level—particularly the battles at Arkansas Post, Helena, and Pine Bluff, which cumulatively marked a major turning point in the Trans-Mississippi. In addition to soldiers’ letters and diaries, Christ weaves civilian voices into the story—especially those of women who had to deal with their altered fortunes—and so fleshes out the human dimensions of the struggle. Extensively researched and compellingly told, Christ’s account demonstrates the war’s impact on Arkansas and fills a void in Civil War studies.

Bobby Fischer Goes to War

Bobby Fischer Goes to War
Author: David Edmonds
Publisher:
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2004
Genre: Chess
ISBN: 9780571214129

'The most famous chess match of all time reconstructed in a style as compelling as that of a thriller.'Irish Times For decades, the USSR had dominated world chess. Evidence, according to Moscow, of the superiority of the Soviet system. But in 1972 along came the American, Bobby Fischer: insolent, arrogant, abusive, vain, greedy, vulgar, bigoted, paranoid and obsessive - and apparently unstoppable. Against him was Boris Spassky: complex, sensitive, the most un-Soviet of champions. As the authors reveal, when Spassky began to lose, the KGB decided to step in . . . 'The authors build to a crescendo with fascinating details, taking the reader inside the two camps in Reykjavik . . . General readers will savor a marvelous portrait of East against West, with perceived societal superiority as the real prize.' Kirkus Reviews 'Pure drama . . . The most cool, ruthless and rational player the world has ever seen.' Independent 'Fischer seemed to thrive on complaints, tantrums and ultimatums, treating the exercise as a game, not of chess but of Chicken . . . It is precisely these factors that make for such a gripping read.' Sunday Times

Profits of War

Profits of War
Author: Ari Ben-Menashe
Publisher: Trine Day
Total Pages: 453
Release: 2015-10-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1634240502

In this seminal work originally published in 1992, an insider account from the man who paid off the Iranians for the American hostages Ari Ben-Menashe spent more than a decade in the innermost circles of Israeli intelligence. He was privy to the secret negotiations with the Iranians to delay the release of the American hostages until after the election of Ronald Reagan, he enlisted Robert Gates in the transfer of the $52 million payoff to Iran, and was Robert Maxwell's handler. Ben-Menashe brokered secret Israeli arms sales on four continents and briefed George Bush on the vast arms network. He saw Israel's own nuclear arsenal develop, and watched his masters sponsor monstrous terrorist acts in the name of a higher good. Then, as he questioned the immorality around him, he was cut off and set up. This is the full story of the man who oversaw the accumulation of hundreds of millions of dollars in CIA and Israeli intelligence slush funds.

The Essential Art of War

The Essential Art of War
Author: Sunzi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2005-10-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780465072040

This reference brings Sun-tzu's classic study of war strategy to an audience that may have no prior knowledge of the subject. An introduction on the relevance of Sun-tzu's teachings, historical background, and a bibliographical essay are included.