A mini-history of a nation's life told in the stories of three protagonists

"A respectful, but vibrant account of Lynott's rambunctious life and sad end whets the appetite." Uncut ****

The “fast-paced, fascinating, often shocking” account of hired guns and their heroic adventures in hotspots around the world—includes photos (Milwaukee Journal). Merc is a classic; first published in 1979, its characters and stories are as vivid and worthy of retelling today. American soldiers of fortune have seen action on nearly every battlefield in history—from the Revolutionary War to modern times, men like John Early, a member of the famed Selous Scouts who hunted terrorists in Rhodesia. They fight because they enjoy combat, for causes in which they passionately believe, for money, or simply for adventure. The mercs profiled in this book range from West Point graduates and Harvard poets to former CIA agents and ex-cons. They are men like William Morgan, a guerrilla leader in the Cuban uprising against Fulgencio Batista, later imprisoned and executed by Fidel Castro; David Marcus, raised in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, who went on to a brilliant career in law and reform politics and died in 1947 fighting for the survival of a tiny new nation called Israel; William Brooks, Vietnam Special Forces veteran who, down and out in a cheap Paris hotel, joined the French Foreign Legion and ended up in a remote African outpost where he lived on Coke, salt tablets, and paregoric while fighting Somali insurgents; and George Bacon, an ex-CIA operative in Laos with mysterious connections, who died fighting Cubans in Angola. Because their private histories parallel the larger history of unconventional warfare and political upheaval, Merc provides insight into global conflicts—but most of all it is a fast-paced, eye-opening account of a little-known but fascinating way of life.

Soldier of Fortune traces the bold and adventurous career of Emil Holmdahl, one of that swashbuckling breed of mercenaries growing out of the United States' imperialistic years during the early twentieth century. Following Holmdahl from the Philippine Insurrection, through the "banana wars" in Central America, onto the bloody stage of the Mexican Revolution and World War I, Douglas Meed captures the drama and adventure not only of Holmdahl, but of the United States' quest to become a major world power. Holmdahl's adventures in Mexico shed new light on revolutionary activities and the struggle for power, including the death of revolutionary leader Francisco "Pancho" Villa. Meed suggests that Holmdahl may have been the man who opened Villa's grave, cut off his head, and sold it to a Mexican general. The author captures the excitement and spirit of adventure in those bloody years, while Holmdahl's life mirrors the end of one era and the beginning of another -- from the twilight of the era of horse-driven armies to the age of industrial warfare. Soldier of Fortune is a fascinating account of a bygone age, and forms a distinctive addition to the annals of the American Southwest. Book jacket.

In 1978, faced with the pressure to modernize and a declining budget, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) reluctantly agreed to join China's economic reform drive, expanding its internal economy to market-oriented civilian production. This work examines PLA's role in the economy up to 1998.

The founder of Soldier of Fortune magazine tells his own story, from Green Beret to trailblazing combat zone journalist. In 1975, former Green Beret Robert K. Brown found his true calling as the publisher of an upstart magazine called Soldier of Fortune. Brown pushed the bounds of journalism with his untamed brand of reporting—a camera in one hand, a gun in the other. He quickly established a worldwide community as his notorious magazine drew the avid attention of action-seekers across the globe. Brown and his combat journalists embedded themselves with anti-Communist guerillas and freedom fighters, often training and fighting alongside the groups they reported on. Brown himself accompanied teams to work and fight with the Rhodesians; the Afghans during the Afghan-Russo war; Christian Phalange in Lebanon; ethnic minority Karens in Burma; the ethnic tribes fighting the Communist government of Laos; the army of El Salvador; and the armed forces of struggling Croatia. Brown also sent medical teams to Burma, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Afghanistan, Bosnia, El Salvador. and Nicaragua, as well as Peru after a devastating earthquake. In I Am Soldier of Fortune, the exploits of Brown and his veteran teams are revealed for the first time in all their gonzo glory, even as the US military, public, and polite diplomatic society sometimes shunned their endeavors.