BILL YENNE

Become a global beer expert with this tantalizing tour through every beer region in the world Join author Bill Yenne on a whirlwind tour of the crafty world of beer After a quick stop to learn about the anatomy of beer including ingredients styles and even museums Beer The Ultimate World Tour guides you through all the regions of the world and their famous brews This comprehensive guide includes In depth discussions of the world s beer regions Maps charts illustrations and photographs showcasing favorite brews of the areas An overview of beer styles An overview of beer glassware Preface by Fergal Murray head brewer at Dublin City Brewing Co and former master brewer at Guinness Brewery The featured beer regions Ireland the United Kingdom Scandinavia the Baltic Russia Poland Eastern Europe the Czech Republic Germany Austria Switzerland the Netherlands Belgium Luxembourg France Southern Europe the Middle East and North Africa Africa Asia Japan Australia and New Zealand Latin America and the Caribbean Canada and the United States Grab a pint and delve into this sweeping tour of one of the world s favorite beverages

In the middle of World War II, Nazi military intelligence discovered a seemingly easy way to win the war for Adolf Hitler. The three heads of the Allied forcesFranklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalinwere planning to meet in Tehran in October, 1943. Under Hitlers personal direction, the Nazis launched Operation Long Jump, an intricate plan to track the Allied leaders in Tehran and assassinate all three men at the same time. I suppose it would make a pretty good haul if they could get all three of us, Roosevelt later said. Historian Bill Yenne retells the incredible, globe-spanning story of the most ambitious assassination plot ever thwarted in Operation Long Jump.

Not one, not two, but three Custer brothers died at the Little Bighornand so did their only sisters husband. Most do not realize that not one, not two, but three Custer brothers died with the 7th Cavalry at the hands of the Sioux and Cheyenne at Little Bighorn in 1876. So too did their nephew and the husband of their only sister. Less than half the immediate Custer family would survive the massacre. This is their story. This book is a must for all those interested in the enduring Custer legend. Where other Custer literature focuses solely on George Armstrong, The Other Custers is the only volume to explore the lives of the Custer siblings in depth. War hero Tom Custer earned two Medals of Honor during the Civil War before riding into the West with his brother. There was the bashful and enigmatic Nevin Custer, and the young Boston Custer, whose one desire in life was to share the adventures of his idolized older brothers. Margaret Custer married into the 7th Cavalry and was widowed at twenty-four when her husband, James Calhoun, was among the dead at the Little Bighorn. The Other Custers traces the upbringing of the family and follows Nevin and Margaret as they carried the Custer name beyond Little Bighorn. The book also uncovers much more detail about the ancestors and descendants of the Custer siblings than is to be found in other Custer biographies.

General Henry Harley Hap Arnold is widely considered the father of the United States Air Force. But his long list of accomplishments doesnt begin or end there. He was also the first and only five-star general of the US Air Force; one of the first US military aviators; the first American to carry air mail; and the architect of the war-winning air strategy of World War II.

The aftershocks of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor were felt keenly all over Americathe war in Europe had hit home. But nowhere was American life more immediately disrupted than on the West Coast, where people lived in certain fear of more Japanese attacks. From that day until the end of the war, a dizzying mix of battle preparedness and rampant paranoia swept the states. Japanese immigrants were herded into internment camps. Factories were camouflaged to look like small towns. The Rose Bowl was moved to North Carolina. Airport runways were so well hidden even American pilots couldnt find them. There was panic on the Pacific coast: the Japanese were coming.

THE BEGINNINGS OF VICTORYShortly after the D-Day invasion, the Allied forces in Europe had stalled. A limited operation was set in motion to punch a small hole in the enemy defenses, starting on July 25, 1944. It was called Operation Cobra, and it would become one of the greatest offensives in all of military history.In the sixty days following the launch of the operation, the Allies -- commanded by Dwight Eisenhower and led by men such as the irascible General George Patton and General Omar Bradley -- attacked the enemy relentlessly. And what began as a desperate attempt to break a stalemate turned into an unstoppable armored juggernaut that swept the Germans out of virtually all of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Here is a penetrating account of that incredible feat of military skill, bravery, and daring that changed the course of the war, and signaled the end of Germanys domination of Europe.

In just six days, the United States Strategic Air Forces changed the course of military offense in World War II. During those six days, they launched the largest bombing campaign of the war, dropping roughly ten thousand tons of bombs in a rain of destruction that would take the skies back from the Nazis . . . The Allies knew that if they were to invade Hitlers Fortress Europe, they would have to wrest air superiority from the mighty Luftwaffe.The plan of the Unites States Strategic Air Forces was extremely risky. During the week of February 20, 1944and joined by the RAF Bomber Commandthe USAAF Eighth and Fifteenth Air Force bombers took on this vital mission. They ran the gauntlet of the most heavily defended air space in the world to deal a death blow to Germanys aircraft industry and made them pay with the planes already in the air. In the coming months, this Big Week would prove a deciding factor in the war.Both sides were dealt losses, but whereas the Allies could recover, damage to the Luftwaffe was irreparable. Thus, Big Week became one of the most important episodes of World War II and, coincidentally, one of the most overlookeduntil now.

From the acclaimed author of Hit the Target and Big Week, an in-depth account of the legendary World War II combat group, the Flying Tigers.In 1940, Pearl Harbor had not yet happened, and America was not yet at war with Japan. But China had been trying to stave off Japanese aggression for three yearsand was desperate for aircraft and trained combat pilots.General Chiang Kai-shek sent military aviation advisor Claire Chennault to Washington, where President Roosevelt was sympathetic, but knew he could not intervene overtly. Instead, he quietly helped Chennault put together a group of American volunteer pilots.This was how the 1st American Volunteer Groupmore commonly known as the Flying Tigerswas born.With the trademark smiling shark jaws on their P-40 fighters, these Army, Navy and Marine pilots became a sensation as they fought for the Chinese. Those who initially doubted them were eventually in awe as they persevered over Rangoon despite being outnumbered 14-1 by Japanese aircraft; as they were described by Madame Chiang Kai-shek as her little angels and by a Chinese foreign minister as the soundest investment China ever made; and as they ultimately destroyed hundreds of Japanese planes while losing only a dozen of their own in combat. Two of their veterans would later earn the Medal of Honorand as a group, the Flying Tigers managed to rack up a better record than any other air wing in the Pacific theater. When Tigers Ruled the Sky is a thrilling and triumphant account of their courage and their legacy.

Capturing the hearts of a beleaguered nation, the fighter pilots of World War II engaged in a kind of battle that became the stuff of legend. They cut through the sky in their P-38s to go one-on-one against the enemyand those who survived the deadly showdowns with enough courage and skill earned the right to be called aces. But two men in particular rose to become something more. They became icons of aerial combat, in a heroic rivalry that inspired a weary nation to fight on. Richard Dick Bong was the bashful, pink-faced farm boy from the Midwest. Thomas Tommy McGuire was the wise-cracking, fast-talking kid from New Jersey. What they shared was an unparalleled gallantry under fire which won them both the Medal of Honorand remains the subject of hushed and reverent conversation wherever aerial warfare is admired. What they had between them was a closely watched rivalry to see who would emerge as the top-scoring American ace of the war. What they left behind is a legacy of pride we will never forget, and a record of aerial victories that has yet to be surpassed anywhere in the world.

Selected for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force Reading ListFrom Bill Yenne, author of the military histories Big Week and Aces High, comes the stirring true story of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. Less than a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army formed its first air force designated to operate overseas, the Eighth. Within four months, they had set up base in England. Three months later, they were bombing German targets in occupied Europe. The Eighth was the first bomber command on either side to commit to strategic daylight bombing. It was a major change in tacticsand the men of the Eighth paid the price in both lives and blood. But it was that very sacrifice that led the Allies to victory.Hit the Target introduces readers to those who made the Eighth Air Force the formidable juggernaut it soon became. Men of all ranks, from General Tooey Spaatz, the hard-driving founding commander, to Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, the hero who led the first air raid on Japan, to Maynard Snuffy Smith, the irascible first airman in Europe to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and Robert Rosie Rosenthal, who survived his time with the Bloody Hundredth, which lost airmen at a horrifying rate, and who went on to serve as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials. The story of the Mighty Eighth is told through these men, whose careers paralleled the early history of aviation and who helped to revolutionize airborne warfare and win World War II.INCLUDES PHOTOS