Most Popular Books by Rick Atkinson

Worried you won''t have enough money in retirement? Concerned about losing your ''work identity''? Thinking where will you live? Wondering how your relationship will change with family, friends and spouse or partner? Asking whether you''ll be happy in retirement? Strategies for Retiring Right! helps readers build a personal retirement plan to enhance their life after work. By offering profound insights, true-to-life stories and self-completing exercises, the book provides a pathway for readers to make a successful transition from work to retirement.

Why Me? And No Gold Watch! offers proven strategies for retirement success.

This essay is based on the author''s presentation at the Wachman Center''s July 26-27, 2008 History Institute for Teachers, co-sponsored and hosted by the Cantigny First Division Foundation of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. In an effort to better comprehend what he designates "the greatest calamity in human history," the author presents ten points every American student ought to know about the U.S. Army in the Second World War: (1) The U.S. Army was a puny weakling when the war began; (2) The war encumbered all of America; (3) The U.S. Army did not win World War II by itself; (4) The U.S. Army''s role in the liberation of Europe did not start at Normandy; (5) The U.S. Army for some considerable time after we entered the war was not very good; (6) The U.S. Army in WWII comprised much more than just riflemen; (7 ) The Army remained under civilian control throughout the war; (8) The U.S. Army in WWII was among the greatest agents, perhaps the greatest agent, of social change in the country during the 20th century; (9) The history of the U.S. Army in WWII is among the greatest stories of the 20th century; and (10) They died for you.

Collected here for the first time are key works by this century''s leading military historians, all recipients of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. The Pritzker Literature Award honors writers whose work adds to the public''s understanding of military history and the role played by the military in civil society. In the tradition of historians dating back to ancient times, these authors and scholars demonstrate the numerous ways to write about military history. The surreal fiction of Tim O''Brien''s Vietnam is just pages from an in-depth look at General George S. Patton by today''s leading biographer, Carlo D''Este. Max Hastings and Rick Atkinson use their backgrounds to add a journalistic touch to modern studies of World War I and World War II, respectively. Gerhard Weinberg examines global leaders during World War II as Allan Millett discusses the developing technology that allowed them to further their causes. And James McPherson, the preeminent living Civil War scholar examines crisis in America with accessible and articulate literary skill.

The story of World War II in North Africa.

"Staff writer Rick Atkinson describes the effort by the U.S. military to combat the improvised explosive devices used by insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq from 2002 until Summer 2007. The series in drawn from more than 140 interviews over the past six months with military and congressional officials, contractors, scientists and defense analysts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Washington and elsewhere. ... Ten senior officers or retired officers, each of them intimately involved in the effort to combat IEDs, were asked to review the findings for accuracy and security consideration."--Page 2.