{"title":"Thomas Ricks","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"fiasco-book-thomas-ricks-9780713999532","title":"Fiasco","description":"Cutting through the headlines and spin, this is the first book to give us a true picture of the reality on the ground, through the words of the people there - from commanders to intelligence officers, army doctors to ordinary soldiers. Providing eye-witness accounts that contradict the official stories and figures, they give a chilling picture of the deceit, stupidity, wishful thinking, lack of forward planning and total intellectual failure of those behind the invasion. The result is an extraordinary new insight into the plight of ordinary soldiers doing nightmarish jobs, and the real nature of the fighting in Iraq.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49553288462609,"sku":"GOR001749143","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49603784966417,"sku":"GOR001937109","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50359428415761,"sku":"CIN0713999535G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52863760269585,"sku":"GOR010649572","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0713999535.jpg?v=1750817229"},{"product_id":"gamble-book-thomas-e-ricks-9781594201974","title":"The Gamble","description":"\u003cb\u003e Thomas E. Rick's news-breaking follow up to the #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eFiasco\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Now updated to fully document the inside story of the Iraq war since late 2005, \u003ci\u003eThe Gamble\u003c\/i\u003e 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.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50130350440721,"sku":"CIN1594201978G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50499555000593,"sku":"GOR007480324","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51417377210641,"sku":"CIN1594201978VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":52329705013521,"sku":"CIN1594201978LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53365326151953,"sku":"GOR007316024","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":53548120736017,"sku":"CIN1594201978A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1594201978.jpg?v=1751425521"},{"product_id":"churchill-and-orwell-book-thomas-e-ricks-9780143110880","title":"Churchill and Orwell","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller!\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e A \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Book of 2017\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e A dual biography of Winston Churchill and George Orwell, who preserved democracy from the threats of authoritarianism, from the left and right alike.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In the end, Churchill and Orwell proved their age's necessary men. The glorious climax of \u003ci\u003eChurchill and Orwell\u003c\/i\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eAnimal Farm\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003e1984\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Churchill and Orwell is a perfect gift for the holidays!","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50148489429265,"sku":"CIN0143110888G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50344921006353,"sku":"CIN0143110888A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345617686801,"sku":"CIN0143110888VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50999451615505,"sku":"NIN9780143110880","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51495641088273,"sku":"GOR009230992","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53700640080145,"sku":"GOR015008083","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0143110888.jpg?v=1750973340"},{"product_id":"fiasco-the-american-military-adventure-in-iraq-cd-9780143059066","title":"Fiasco","description":"Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize\u003cbr\u003eOne of the \u003ci\u003eWashington Post Book World\u003c\/i\u003e's 10 Best Books of the Year\u003cbr\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e's 10 Best Books of the Year\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e's Nonfiction Book of the Year\u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Book \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe definitive account of the American military's tragic experience in Iraq\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eFiasco \u003c\/i\u003eis a masterful reckoning with the planning and execution of the American military invasion and occupation of Iraq through mid-2006, now with a postscript on recent developments. Ricks draws on the exclusive cooperation of an extraordinary number of American personnel, including more than one hundred senior officers, and access to more than 30,000 pages of official documents, many of them never before made public. Tragically, it is an undeniable account--explosive, shocking, and authoritative--of unsurpassed tactical success combined with unsurpassed strategic failure that indicts some of America's most powerful and honored civilian and military leaders.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50239131091217,"sku":"CIN0143059068G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0143059068.jpg?v=1750908481"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-au\/collections\/author-books-by-thomas-ricks.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}