Most Popular Books by William R. Forstchen

Book 1 in the "John Matherson" trilogy.

From the New York Times bestselling author of the smash hit One Second After series comes 48 Hours, a nail-biting and prescient thriller about a solar storm with the power to destroy the world''s electrical infrastructure In 48 hours, the Earth will be hit by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the Sun, a "Carrington Event" that has the power to shut down and possibly destroy the world''s electrical infrastructure. To try and prevent permanent damage, everything goes dark prior to the hit: global communications are shut down; hospital emergency generators are disconnected; the entire internet, media broadcasting, and cell phone systems are turned off. Will the world''s population successfully defend itself in the wake of the CME, or will mass panic lead to the breakdown of society as we know it? William R. Forstchen is at his best in 48 Hours, a tale of the resilience of American citizens when faced with a crisis.

In the bestselling tradition of "Flags of Our Fathers, " this is a memoir of World War II from a West Point graduate who saw it all.

From the bestselling author of The Lost Regiment series comes a factually based narrative of the black military experience in the Civil War. We Look Like Men of War "I was born a slave, as was my father before me, but I shall die a free man...." Thus begins the poignant story of Samuel Washburn, born a slave in 1850. A young master''s cruelty leads to an unforeseen confrontation, which forces Sam and his cousin to flee the plantation. They run north to freedom, only to return south to fight for the greater cause. Though still a boy, Sam becomes a regimental drummer with a "colored regiment" and sees action in the Wilderness campaign at Fredericksburg and Petersburg, as well as at the bloody Battle of the Crater in July of 1864. Sam''s voice offers a unique and insightful perspective on the carnage of the War Between the States and the toll it took on both young and old, black and white. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Enjoy a sneak preview to One Year After, William R. Forstchen''s highly anticipated follow-up to the smash hit, One Second After. Nuclear weapons were detonated above the United States and brought America to its knees. After months of suffering starvation, war, and countless deaths, the survivors of Black Mountain, North Carolina, are beginning to recover technology and supplies they had once taken for granted, like electricity, radio communications, and medications. When a "federal administrator" arrives in a nearby city, they dare to hope that a new national government is finally emerging. But "the New Regime" is already tyrannizing one community. Will Black Mountain be next? At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

As the fighter-mages of the four great Houses prepare for their annual battle, a powerful stranger arrives and he is interested in the fifth House, destroyed a generation ago--but why is the Grand Master afraid of him? Original.

"A towering epic to rank with Douglas Preston''s Blasphemy and Michael Crichton''s Prey... Pandemic drought, skyrocketing oil prices, dwindling energy supplies and wars of water scarcity threaten the planet. Only four people can prevent global chaos. Gary Morgan--a brilliant, renegade scientist is pilloried by the scientific community for his belief in a space elevator: a pillar to the sky, which he believes will make space flight fast, simple and affordable. Eva Morgan--a brilliant and beautiful scientist of Ukrainian descent, she has had a lifelong obsession to build a pillar to the sky, a vertiginous tower which would mine the power of the sun and supply humanity with cheap, limitless energy forever. Gunther Rothenberg--the ancient but revered rocket-scientist who labored at Peenemunda with von Braun to create the first rockets and continued on to build those of today. A legend, he has mentored Gary and Natalia for two decades, nurturing and encouraging their transcendent vision. Franklin Smith--the eccentric Silicon Valley billionaire who will champion their cause, wage war with Congress and government bureaucracy and most important, finance their herculean undertaking. This journey to the stars will not be easy--a tumultuous struggle filled with violence and heroism, love and death, spellbinding beauty and heartbreaking betrayal. The stakes could not be higher. Humanity''s salvation will hang in the balance"--

THEY PLANNED ON A NICE WAR There had been a century of peace, and the politicians of Earth and its colonies were running on platforms of cutting “wasteful” military spending—all while Earth’s military tried to keep aging and obsolete ships flying and battle-ready. And while the swords rusted, war clouds gathered on the horizon… Contact had been made with the Kilrathi—a warrior race feline in appearance and deadly in combat. Yet, even though they had annihilated or enslaved scores of other races throughout the galaxy, and had attacked human colonies on the border worlds, the government was not taking them seriously, thinking that the Fleet could handle them with ease. Commander Winston Turner knew that the government was moving toward a declaration of war against the Kilrathi in response to demands from the border worlds. He also knew that the Fleet would be forced to operate under Plan Orange Five: limited action and punitive responses only. He only hoped that mankind would recognize its mistake before it was too late.

From William R. Forstchen, the New York Times bestselling author of the One Second After series, comes Five Years After, a near-future thriller where John Matherson must contend with new threats to the fragile civilization that he helped rebuild. Five years after The Final Day, the Republic of New America has all but collapsed into regional powers and the world at large is struggling to remain stable as regional conflicts ravage the post EMP landscape. After several years attempting to lead a quiet life, John Matherson receives the news that the President is dying from a possible assassination attempt, and is asked to step in to negotiate with what appears to be a new military power hidden in the wreckage of the world. Pulled back into the fray, John struggles to hold the tottering Republic together. Facing threats on multiple fronts, he races against time to stop another EMP attack on the former United States and China, putting years of progress at risk. With so much of his work under threat, John must find the strength within to start over, so that he can save the country and the people that he holds dear from even greater calamity. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A major release in the New York Times bestselling series, One Second After, set in an alternate America rebuilding after an electromagnetic pulse.

Download a FREE sneak peek of 48 Hours! From the New York Times bestselling author of the smash hit One Second After series comes 48 Hours, a nail-biting and prescient thriller about a solar storm with the power to destroy the world''s electrical infrastructure In 48 hours, the Earth will be hit by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the Sun, a "Carrington Event" that has the power to shut down and possibly destroy the world''s electrical infrastructure. To try and prevent permanent damage, everything goes dark prior to the hit: global communications are shut down; hospital emergency generators are disconnected; the entire internet, media broadcasting, and cell phone systems are turned off. Will the world''s population successfully defend itself in the wake of the CME, or will mass panic lead to the breakdown of society as we know it? William R. Forstchen is at his best in 48 Hours, a tale of the resilience of American citizens when faced with a crisis. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT. NAPOLEON. THE 47 RONIN. LONG DEAD, BUT THE FUTURE STILL RIDES ON THEIR SUCCESSES AT WAR! First there was war, then there were wargames, growing more and more realistic until the games themselves surpassed war as mankind''s most popular sport. But with no blood, guts, or glory, boredom began to set in and strategy lost its edge. Something was needed to bring fresh excitement to an old, old game. And so the past was mined for the greatest warriors and generals history had to offer: Napoleon, Alexander, the forty-seven Ronin, assassins from ancient Persia--all brilliant at either combat or at tactics and strategy. It was just a game--until mock war turned real on an unimaginable scale, and only those legendary warriors could turn the tide... THE GAMESTER WARS: The Alexandrian Ring The Assassin Gambit The Napoleon Wager by William R. Forstchen, coauthor with Newt Gingrich of 1945

This biographical novel exploring America''s Revolutionary Era is "surely to become another popular book" for the New York Times–bestselling authors. The story follows three men with three very different roles to play in history: General George Washington, Thomas Paine, and Jonathan Van Dorn, a private in Washington''s army. The action focuses on one of the most iconic events in American history: Washington crossing the Delaware. Unlike the bold, courageous General in Emanuel Leutze''s painting, Washington is full of doubt on the night of December 25, 1776. After five months of defeat, morale is dangerously low. Each morning muster shows that hundreds have deserted in the night. While Washington prepares his weary troops for the attack on Trenton, Thomas Paine is in Philadelphia, overseeing the printing of his newest pamphlet, The Crisis. And Jonathan Van Dorn is about to bring the war to his own doorstep. In the heat of battle, he must decide between staying loyal to the cause and sparing his brother who has joined up with the British. Through the thoughts and private fears of these three men, Gingrich and Forstchen illuminate the darkest days of the Revolution. With detailed research and an incredible depth of military insight, To Try Men''s Souls is a novel that provides a rare and personal perspective of the men who fought for, and founded the United States of America.

The Civil War is the American Iliad. Lincoln, Stonewall Jackson, Grant, and Lee still stand as heroic ideals, as stirring to our national memory as were the legendary Achilles and Hector to the world of the ancient Greeks. Within the story of our Iliad one battle stands forth above all others: Gettysburg. Millions visit Gettysburg each year to walk the fields and hills where Joshua Chamberlain made his legendary stand and Pickett went down to a defeat which doomed a nation, but in defeat forever became a symbol of the heroic Lost Cause. As the years passed, and the scars healed, the debate, rather than drifting away has intensified. It is the battle which has become the great "what if," of American history and the center of a dreamscape where Confederate banners finally do crown the heights above the town. The year is 1863, and General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia are poised to attack the North and claim the victory that would end the brutal conflict. But Lee''s Gettysburg campaign ended in failure, ultimately deciding the outcome of the war. Launching his men into a vast sweeping operation, of which the town of Gettysburg is but one small part of the plan, General Lee, acting as he did at Chancellorsville, Second Manassas, and Antietam, displays the audacity of old. He knows he has but one more good chance to gain ultimate victory, for after two years of war the relentless power of an industrialized north is wearing the South down. Lee''s lieutenants and the men in the ranks, embued with this renewed spirit of the offensive embark on the Gettysburg Campaign that many dream "should have been." The soldiers in the line, Yank and Reb, knew as well that this would be the great challenge, the decisive moment that would decided whether a nation would die, or be created, and both sides were ready, willing to lay down their lives for their Cause. An action-packed and painstakingly researched masterwork by Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen, Gettysburg stands as the first book in a series to tell the story of how history could have unfolded, how a victory for Lee would have changed the destiny of the nation forever. In the great tradition of The Killer Angels and Jeff Shaara''s bestselling Civil War trilogy, this is a novel of true heroism and glory in America''s most trying hour.

General Washington ends a three-year stalemate and embarks on a secret three-hundred-mile forced march of his entire army to meet the French navy''s Chesapeake Bay blockade and capture Cornwallis''s entire force.

A Union regiment marches aboard a transport ship only to be buffeted through space and time and shipwrecked in an alien land, where these Civil War soldiers introduce unheard-of ideas of freedom, equality, and democracy.

Dr. Ian Lacklin, a history professor, is selected to lead a translight expedition to find the distant colonies that abandoned the Earth during the Final War