Most Popular Books by Thomas E. Ricks

"Drawing on the exclusive cooperation of an extraordinary number of American military personnel, including more than one hundred senior officers, and access to more than thirty thousand pages of official documents, many of them never before made public, Thomas E. Ricks has written the definitive account of the American military''s tragic experience in Iraq."--BOOK JACKET.

"Sixty-three men came to Parris Island to become Marines. Not all of them made it. This is the story of boot camp Platoon 3086, the Marine Corps, and America."--Cover.

A New York Times bestseller! An epic history of the decline of American military leadership—from the bestselling author of Fiasco and Churchill and Orwell. While history has been kind to the American generals of World War II—Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley—it has been less kind to the generals of the wars that followed, such as Koster, Franks, Sanchez, and Petraeus. In The Generals, Thomas E. Ricks sets out to explain why that is. In chronicling the widening gulf between performance and accountability among the top brass of the U.S. military, Ricks tells the stories of great leaders and suspect ones, generals who rose to the occasion and generals who failed themselves and their soldiers. In Ricks’s hands, this story resounds with larger meaning: about the transmission of values, about strategic thinking, and about the difference between an organization that learns and one that fails.

New York Times Bestseller Editors'' Choice —New York Times Book Review "Ricks knocks it out of the park with this jewel of a book. On every page I learned something new. Read it every night if you want to restore your faith in our country." —James Mattis, General, U.S. Marines (ret.) & 26th Secretary of Defense The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author offers a revelatory new book about the founding fathers, examining their educations and, in particular, their devotion to the ancient Greek and Roman classics—and how that influence would shape their ideals and the new American nation. On the morning after the 2016 presidential election, Thomas Ricks awoke with a few questions on his mind: What kind of nation did we now have? Is it what was designed or intended by the nation’s founders? Trying to get as close to the source as he could, Ricks decided to go back and read the philosophy and literature that shaped the founders’ thinking, and the letters they wrote to each other debating these crucial works—among them the Iliad, Plutarch’s Lives, and the works of Xenophon, Epicurus, Aristotle, Cato, and Cicero. For though much attention has been paid the influence of English political philosophers, like John Locke, closer to their own era, the founders were far more immersed in the literature of the ancient world. The first four American presidents came to their classical knowledge differently. Washington absorbed it mainly from the elite culture of his day; Adams from the laws and rhetoric of Rome; Jefferson immersed himself in classical philosophy, especially Epicureanism; and Madison, both a groundbreaking researcher and a deft politician, spent years studying the ancient world like a political scientist. Each of their experiences, and distinctive learning, played an essential role in the formation of the United States. In examining how and what they studied, looking at them in the unusual light of the classical world, Ricks is able to draw arresting and fresh portraits of men we thought we knew. First Principles follows these four members of the Revolutionary generation from their youths to their adult lives, as they grappled with questions of independence, and forming and keeping a new nation. In doing so, Ricks interprets not only the effect of the ancient world on each man, and how that shaped our constitution and government, but offers startling new insights into these legendary leaders.

Thomas E. Rick''s news-breaking follow up to the #1 New York Times bestseller Fiasco Now updated to fully document the inside story of the Iraq war since late 2005, The Gamble is the definitive account of the insurgency within the U.S. military that led to a radical shift in America''s strategy. Based on unprecedented real-time access to the military''s entire chain of command, Ricks examines the events that took place as the military was forced to reckon with itself, the surge was launched, and a very different war began. His stunning conclusion, stated in the last line of the book, is that "the events for which the Iraq war will be remembered probably have not yet happened."

#1 New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas E. Ricks offers a new take on the Civil Rights Movement, stressing its unexpected use of military strategy and its lessons for nonviolent resistance around the world. “Ricks does a tremendous job of putting the reader inside the hearts and souls of the young men and women who risked so much to change America . . . Riveting.” —Charles Kaiser, The Guardian In Waging a Good War, the bestselling author Thomas E. Ricks offers a fresh perspective on America’s greatest moral revolution—the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s—and its legacy today. While the Movement has become synonymous with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ethos of nonviolence, Ricks, a Pulitzer Prize–winning war reporter, draws on his deep knowledge of tactics and strategy to advance a surprising but revelatory idea: the greatest victories for Black Americans of the past century were won not by idealism alone, but by paying attention to recruiting, training, discipline, and organization—the hallmarks of any successful military campaign. An engaging storyteller, Ricks deftly narrates the Movement’s triumphs and defeats. He follows King and other key figures from Montgomery to Memphis, demonstrating that Gandhian nonviolence was a philosophy of active, not passive, resistance—involving the bold and sustained confrontation of the Movement’s adversaries, both on the ground and in the court of public opinion. While bringing legends such as Fannie Lou Hamer and John Lewis into new focus, Ricks also highlights lesser-known figures who played critical roles in fashioning nonviolence into an effective tool—the activists James Lawson, James Bevel, Diane Nash, and Septima Clark foremost among them. He also offers a new understanding of the Movement’s later difficulties as internal disputes and white backlash intensified. Rich with fresh interpretations of familiar events and overlooked aspects of America’s civil rights struggle, Waging a Good War is an indispensable addition to the literature of racial justice and social change—and one that offers vital lessons for our own time.

After his wife and two children are killed in a car crash, Ryan Tapia starts a new life in Maine. But his first case there is a puzzling oddball -- the corpse of a fisherman washes up on federal land, while the man''s boat drifts into waters that are part of an Indian reservation. Ryan quickly learns the nuances of Maine life as he delves into two illicit coastal trades: hard drugs and rare fish. Many of the locals are happy to see that particular fisherman dead. What''s more, the...

A New York Times bestseller! A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017 A dual biography of Winston Churchill and George Orwell, who preserved democracy from the threats of authoritarianism, from the left and right alike. 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 end of the 20th century they would be considered two of the most important people in British history for having the vision and courage to campaign tirelessly, in words and in deeds, against the totalitarian threat from both the left and the right. In a crucial moment, they responded first by seeking the facts of the matter, seeing through the lies and obfuscations, and then they acted on their beliefs. Together, to an extent not sufficiently appreciated, they kept the West''s compass set toward freedom as its due north. It''s not easy to recall now how lonely a position both men once occupied. By the late 1930''s, democracy was discredited in many circles, and authoritarian rulers were everywhere in the ascent. There were some who decried the scourge of communism, but saw in Hitler and Mussolini "men we could do business with," if not in fact saviors. And there were others who saw the Nazi and fascist threat as malign, but tended to view communism as the path to salvation. Churchill and Orwell, on the other hand, had the foresight to see clearly that the issue was human freedom—that whatever its coloration, a government that denied its people basic freedoms was a totalitarian menace and had to be resisted. In the end, Churchill and Orwell proved their age''s necessary men. The glorious climax of Churchill and Orwell is the work they both did in the decade of the 1940''s to triumph over freedom''s enemies. And though Churchill played the larger role in the defeat of Hitler and the Axis, Orwell''s reckoning with the menace of authoritarian rule in Animal Farm and 1984 would define the stakes of the Cold War for its 50-year course, and continues to give inspiration to fighters for freedom to this day. Taken together, in Thomas E. Ricks''s masterful hands, their lives are a beautiful testament to the power of moral conviction, and to the courage it can take to stay true to it, through thick and thin. Churchill and Orwell is a perfect gift for the holidays!

In this timely supplement to his 2009 New York Times bestseller The Gamble, Thomas E. Ricks reveals how the Iraq war has changed and how the national conversation has shifted since the time of writing. This Penguin eSpecial offers new insights into the difficulties likely to confront the United States in Iraq in the coming year, from our most trusted expert on the conflict there.

From one of America’s most esteemed military correspondents and the author of Making the Corps comes a “briskly paced, engrossing tale” (Los Angeles Times) about a brutal brushfire war in Afghanistan that sets off a titanic struggle for the soul of the twenty-first-century American military.

Thomas E. Ricks, author of five New York Times bestsellers, combines his deep knowledge of Maine with his years of experience covering U.S. military operations to craft a powerful tale of politics and mayhem in this riveting crime novel. When a group of young Native Americans launches a series of protests against climate change and its effects on the waters and woods of Maine, veteran FBI agent Ryan Tapia, is assigned to monitor the movement. The protestors, who become determined to split away from American society, are led by “Peeled Paul” Soco, an Malpense hermit who played a key role in one of Tapia''s previous investigations. When the marchers begin making camps on the lawns of luxurious summer mansions along the Maine coast, they win national media attention—and the wrath of a reactionary president. Tapia soon finds himself torn. He wants to do right by Soco and the protestors, but his bosses at the Bureau are eager to please a president itching to crack down on them. Growing increasingly sympathetic to the protestors and their cause, he tells them about a possible refuge—a secret CIA base hidden away in the depths of the Maine woods on the Canadian border. Enraged by the protestor''s actions, the White House sends a U.S. Army unit to track down the protestors on their stealth march through the evergreen forests. Meanwhile, Tapia’s bosses, vexed and embarrassed, fire him and threaten arrest. Undaunted, Tapia snowmobiles through the wilderness on a wintry night to warn the Indian protestors of the impending attack. Building to a dizzying, wind-whipped climax, We Can''t Save You establishes Ryan Tapia as one of the most compelling and nuanced investigators in crime fiction.

Traducere de Doina Lică „Cartea cucerește prin bogăția de informații și corelații, punând într-o nouă lumină două personaje de altfel bine cunoscute – iar, prin intermediul lor, chiar vremurile în care trăim.“ — New Statesman „O excelentă ilustrare a perseverenței cu care Churchill și Orwell s-au opus, moral și politic, autoritarismului... Un îndemn la curaj pentru contemporanii noștri.“ — Publishers Weekly Acum, când adevărul și libertatea sunt din ce în ce mai amenințate, integritatea de care au dat dovadă Churchill și Orwell devine cu atât mai demnă de urmat. Exponenți ai spiritului britanic, vizionari și entuziaști, ei au luptat pentru libertatea individului și pentru democrație, punându-și amprenta pentru totdeauna asupra culturii noastre și a felului în care este înțeleasă viața cetății. Thomas E. Ricks, laureat al Premiului Pulitzer, ne demonstrează că valoarea de simbol a celor doi oameni extraordinari rămâne la fel de importantă astăzi ca și odinioară. Churchill și Orwell au avut opinii politice divergente, dar ambii au ridicat libertatea la rangul suprem. Și totuși, la sfârșitul anilor ’30, nu mulți le împărtășeau convingerile: democrația avea prea puțini susținători, iar pretutindeni în lume fascismul și comunismul cucereau tot mai mult teren. Churchill și Orwell au fost vocile necesare ale epocii lor, înfruntându-i cu îndrăzneală pe dușmanii libertății și împotrivindu-se tuturor formelor de guvernământ care neagă drepturile fundamentale ale omului. Lui Churchill i se datorează în mare măsură prăbușirea lui Hitler, iar modul în care Orwell a criticat autoritarismul în 1984 și Ferma animalelor a stabilit mizele Războiului Rece și are ecou până în zilele noastre.

Winston Churchill e George Orwell foram homens muito diferentes, mas foram tambem, nas express?es do historiador Simon Schama, e . Churchill, filho de aristocratas e membro do gabinete do governo no reinado da rainha Vitoria, estava politicamente alinhado com uma direita conservadora, imperialista e profundamente defensora do colonialismo britanico. Orwell, por outro lado, era um militante de esquerda, oriundo da baixa classe media e grande anti-imperialista. As preocupac?es de ambos est?o na origem daquilo que foi o seu trabalho e a sua produc?o escrita, s?o inquietac?es prementes e revelam tantos pontos de contacto e afinidades intelectuais que Thomas Ricks, escritor e jornalista, n?o conseguiu ler a obra de Orwell sem pensar constantemente em Winston, n?o a personagem do romance distopico 1984, mas sim outro Winton, Winston Churchill. Ambos reconheceram, como Thomas Ricks demonstra neste ensaio, que a grande quest?o do seculo XX n?o era quem controlava os meios de produc?o, como Marx julgara. Nem como funcionava a psique humana, como Freud defendera, mas sim como preservar a liberdade do individuo num tempo em que o Estado interferia cada vez mais na esfera da vida privada. Em ultima instancia, e como grandes combatentes dos totalitarismos, de que modo podemos pensar a liberdade e de que vocabulario precisamos para discutir com os governos que n?o ouvem os cidad?os?

A fascinante história de dois homens com posições políticas diferentes, aliados pelo mesmo princípio: a defesa da liberdade individual Figuras essenciais na luta contra as ameaças do autoritarismo de esquerda e de direita em um momento crítico do século XX, Churchill e Orwell surgem aqui como fonte de inspiração e exemplo para os dias de hoje. Filho de aristocratas, Winston Churchill (1874-1965) era um liberal conservador alinhado ao governo colonialista britânico. George Orwell (1903-1950), que vinha da classe média baixa, era militante socialista e anti-imperialista. Escrita pelo vencedor do Prêmio Pulitzer Thomas E. Ricks, essa atualíssima biografia dupla se concentra no período crucial da vida de Churchill e de Orwell: os anos 1930 e 1940, da ascensão dos nazistas até o rescaldo da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Hoje, impressiona testemunhar quão solitária era a posição de Churchill e de Orwell num momento em que a Europa parecia destinada à ditadura, fosse nazifascista ou comunista. Apresentados como um par complementar, o político marginalizado em busca de redenção e o grande escritor ainda em formação trabalharam pelo mesmo objetivo, embora nunca tenham se encontrado. "Leitura agradável e compulsiva, Churchill & Orwell impressiona pelo compromisso feroz que ambos tinham com o pensamento crítico." The New York Times Book Review "Os dois nunca se encontraram, mas suas vidas e suas visões sobre como deveria funcionar a sociedade, noções de liberdade individual e limitações da política convergiam — pensamentos extraordinariamente harmoniosos em lugares diferentes. Realmente muito impressionante." John Le Carré

An epic history of the decline of American military leadership from World War II to Iraq.