Born on 26 December 1776 in East Flanders, then an Austrian province, Charles Hamilton Smith was a descendent of a Flemish Protestant family named Smet. In England he attended school in Richmond, Surrey, but having returned to Flanders he went on to study at the Austrian Academy for Artillery and Engineers at Malines and Louvain. He was a talented artist and as such provided one of the most valuable references to military costume ever produced. In Costume of the Army of the British Empire, Hamilton Smith placed on record a detailed account of the several uniforms worn around the time of the Peninsular War. Originally issued in sets of four, the prints were produced from work drawn and etched by Hamilton Smith, then aquatinted by IC Stadler. Publication took place between March 1812 and June 1815 by the London firm of Colnaghi & Co who could be found in Cockspur Street. The printing was done by W Bulmer & Co of Cleveland Row. In this Guide, Ray Westlake has drawn together a full set of Hamilton Smith's scarce and extremely difficult-to-find colour plates. As well as the British Army, a number of lesser-painted formations have been featured, such as the West India Regiment, King's German Legion, Duke of Brunswick Oels's Corps, the York Light Infantry Volunteers, Royal Military Asylum and native troops of the East India Company. For some 30 of them, he has included copies of Hamilton Smith's original drawings used for the work. Also useful are the six colour charts showing facing and lace colours. With a total of 60 informative plates, this Guide will prove to be a welcome addition to the library of all those interested in military uniform.

Following the success of his volumes featuring the works of Thomas Rowlandson and Charles Hamilton Smith (both in his 'Guide to Military Art' series and published by the Naval & Military Press), Ray Westlake has this time turned his attention to military music. Delving into the many thousands of prints and original artworks available from his own and other collections, he has selected for this volume some 150 images featuring military musicians, bands and sheet music covers, each one the colourful and informative work of a talented artist. The book is divided into two sections. The first shows images of military bands and those who played in them-drummers, trumpeters, buglers, pipers and players of brass instruments of all shapes and sizes, marching or standing still. Section Two then moves on to what we believe to be the first ever published account of sheet music covers featuring military subjects. As in Section One, these images will prove to be of equal interest and value to the uniform historian as any specialist painting or published print. A delight to look at, military sheet music covers will surely become a major collecting theme of the future. There is much to be learnt from looking at pictures. 'Of all of our inventions for mass communication', noted American animation pioneer Walt Disney, 'pictures still speak the most universally understood language.' And, of course, we must not forget the wider use of, 'A picture is worth a thousand words.' A Guide to Military Art - Bands, Bandsmen and Sheet Music Covers keeps these words in mind and, in doing so, offers a colourful and informative record of this important aspect of military history.

American Military History provides the United States Army-in particular, its young officers, NCOs, and cadets-with a comprehensive but brief account of its past. The Center of Military History first published this work in 1956 as a textbook for senior ROTC courses. Since then it has gone through a number of updates and revisions, but the primary intent has remained the same. Support for military history education has always been a principal mission of the Center, and this new edition of an invaluable history furthers that purpose. The history of an active organization tends to expand rapidly as the organization grows larger and more complex. The period since the Vietnam War, at which point the most recent edition ended, has been a significant one for the Army, a busy period of expanding roles and missions and of fundamental organizational changes. In particular, the explosion of missions and deployments since 11 September 2001 has necessitated the creation of additional, open-ended chapters in the story of the U.S. Army in action. This first volume covers the Army's history from its birth in 1775 to the eve of World War I. By 1917, the United States was already a world power. The Army had sent large expeditionary forces beyond the American hemisphere, and at the beginning of the new century Secretary of War Elihu Root had proposed changes and reforms that within a generation would shape the Army of the future. But world war-global war-was still to come. The second volume of this new edition will take up that story and extend it into the twenty-first century and the early years of the war on terrorism and includes an analysis of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq up to January 2009.