From the late 1960s until the end of the Cold War, the United States Air Force acquired and flew Russian-made MiG jets, culminating in a secret squadron dedicated to exposing American fighter pilots to enemy technology and tactics. Red Eagles tells the story of this squadron from the first tests of MiGs following the Vietnam War when the USAF had been woefully under-prepared in aerial combat. These initial flights would develop into the "black" or classified program known internally as Constant Peg. At a secret air base in Nevada, ace American fighter pilots were presented with a range of differnet MiG jets with a simple remit: to expose "the threat" to as many of their brethern as possible. Maintaining and flying these "assets" without without spare parts or manuals was an almost impossible task, putting those flying the MiGs in mortal danger on every flight. Despite these challenges, in all more than 5,900 American aircrews would train against America's secret MiGs, giving them the eskills they needed to face the enemy in real combat situations. For the first time, this book tells the story of Constant Peg and the 4477th Red Eagles Squadron in the words of the men who made it possible.

World War II is nearly over. For the Russians, the enemy is no longer Nazi Germany, but the American behemoth that threatens to topple the Communist revolution. Deep within the walls of the Kremlin, Stalin’s top man hatches a brilliant plan that will alter the course of postwar history—and it’s all based on a deception as simple as the shell game. Five years later, an atomic bomb detonates deep within the borders of the Soviet Union, stunning the experts who had predicted that Russian science could not produce such a devastating weapon for at least another generation. The Red Eagles traces the adventures of two spies, Jack Kuznetsky and Amy Brandon, as they track down the most deadly force in the world while hiding their true allegiances and intentions from their compatriots. They are the “red” eagles, sent to America by one of its enemies to steal the greatest secret of all: the key to producing the atomic bomb. Critically acclaimed spy thriller writer David Downing draws fascinating portrayals of Stalin and Hitler as they determine the fate of the world, drawing us at breakneck speed from the Kremlin to Manhattan and Washington to Cuba and New Zealand.

World War II is nearly over. For the Russians, the enemy is no longer Nazi Germany, but the American behemoth that threatens to topple the Communist revolution. Deep within the walls of the Kremlin, Stalin’s top man hatches a brilliant plan that will alter the course of postwar history—and it’s all based on a deception as simple as the shell game. Five years later, an atomic bomb detonates deep within the borders of the Soviet Union, stunning the experts who had predicted that Russian science could not produce such a devastating weapon for at least another generation. The Red Eagles traces the adventures of two spies, Jack Kuznetsky and Amy Brandon, as they track down the most deadly force in the world while hiding their true allegiances and intentions from their compatriots. They are the “red” eagles, sent to America by one of its enemies to steal the greatest secret of all: the key to producing the atomic bomb. Critically acclaimed spy thriller writer David Downing draws fascinating portrayals of Stalin and Hitler as they determine the fate of the world, drawing us at breakneck speed from the Kremlin to Manhattan and Washington to Cuba and New Zealand.

Surprisingly little known, the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-20 was to change the course of twentieth-century history. In White Eagle, Red Star, Norman Davies gives a full account of the War, with its dramatic climax in August 1920 when the Red Army - sure of victory and pledged to carry the Revolution across Europe to 'water our horses on the Rhine' - was crushed by a devastating Polish attack. Since known as the 'miracle on the Vistula', it remains one of the most decisive battles of the Western world. Drawing on both Polish and Russian sources, Norman Davies illustrates the narrative with documentary material which hitherto has not been readily available and shows how the War was far more an 'episode' in East European affairs, but largely determined the course of European history for the next twenty years or more.

The personal account of the original “Red Eagle” of the establishment, equipment, and training practices of the highly classified MiG squadron of the USAF. America's Secret MiG Squadrons is the story of a group of incredibly brave military pioneers who put their lives on the line to establish a training program that would prepare the US Air Force for a potential Cold War battle with Soviet aircraft. As a F-4 Phantom II pilot in Vietnam, Col. Peck had been shocked by the technological abilities of Soviet-built aircraft, and at the poor level of training available to US pilots to aid them in their battles with Soviet MiGs in the skies over Vietnam. Working with the support of Gen Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Jr., and under conditions of extreme secrecy, the CONSTANT PEG program was launched with Peck as the original Red Eagle. This is the fascinating history of the men who trained to fly and maintain covertly obtained MiGs, for the first time providing an insider's perspective, personal anecdotes, and photographs, revealing how Peck battled bureaucracy and scepticism to ultimately establish the premier fighter pilot training center – the real Top Gun.

Red Eagle’s Children presents the legal proceedings in an inheritance dispute that serves as an unexpected window on the intersection of two cultural and legal systems: Creek Indian and Euro-American. Case 1299: Weatherford vs. Weatherford et al. appeared in the Chancery Court of Mobile in 1846 when William “Red Eagle” Weatherford’s son by the Indian woman Supalamy sued his half siblings fathered by Weatherford with two other Creek women, Polly Moniac and Mary Stiggins, for a greater share of Weatherford’s estate. While the court recognized William Jr. as the son of William Sr., he nevertheless lost his petition for inheritance due to the lack of legal evidence concerning the marriage of his biological mother to William Sr. The case, which went to the Alabama Supreme Court in 1851, provides a record of an attempt to interrelate and, perhaps, manipulate differences in cultures as they played out within the ritualized, arcane world of antebellum Alabama jurisprudence. Although the case has value in the classic mold of salvage ethnography of Creek Indian culture, Red Eagle’s Children, edited by J. Anthony Paredes and Judith Knight, shows that its more enduring value lies in being a source for historical ethnography—that is, for anthropological analyses of cultural dynamics of the past events that complement the narratives of professional historians. Contributors David I. Durham / Robbie Ethridge / Judith Knight / J. Anthony Paredes / Paul M. Pruitt Jr. / Nina Gail Thrower / Robert Thrower / Gregory A. Waselkov

Portrays William Weatherford, who rejected his Scots and French ancestry and embraced his Creek heritage, describes his fight against white encroachment in Georgia, and reflects on his spiritual influence.

"We are brave and ready to fight for our lands . I will go now and I will fight you. As long as I live, I will fight you for the last hunting grounds of my people," said Red Cloud, war chief of the Oglala Lakota, to Colonel Carrington. The year was 1866, the Civil War had just ended, and the Bozeman Trail was the shortest route for prospectors to reach the gold rush territory of Montana except that it passed straight through the lands of the powerful Oglala Lakota When the US government demanded the construction of forts along the trail, the situation quickly dissolved into war. Captain William Fetterman had proudly boasted that he could destroy the entire Lakota nation with just 80 men. Red Cloud, with the support of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, had other ideas. In this commemorative edition, marking the 150th anniversary of Red Cloud s War, Goble recounts the tale of events through the eyes of Brave Eagle, a fictional young Lakota warrior. This new edition features an original never-before-published layout, updated and edited text, digitally enhanced artwork, and a new foreword by Robert Lewis, a Cherokee, Navaho, and Apache storyteller."

“Laslie chronicles how the Air Force worked its way from the catastrophe of Vietnam through the triumph of the Gulf War, and beyond.” —Robert M. Farley, author of Grounded The U.S. Air Force’s poor performance in Operation Linebacker II and other missions during Vietnam was partly due to the fact that they had trained their pilots according to methods devised during World War II and the Korean War, when strategic bombers attacking targets were expected to take heavy losses. Warfare had changed by the 1960s, but the USAF had not adapted. Between 1972 and 1991, however, the Air Force dramatically changed its doctrines and began to overhaul the way it trained pilots through the introduction of a groundbreaking new training program called “Red Flag.” In The Air Force Way of War, Brian D. Laslie examines the revolution in pilot instruction that Red Flag brought about after Vietnam. The program’s new instruction methods were dubbed “realistic” because they prepared pilots for real-life situations better than the simple cockpit simulations of the past, and students gained proficiency on primary and secondary missions instead of superficially training for numerous possible scenarios. In addition to discussing the program’s methods, Laslie analyzes the way its graduates actually functioned in combat during the 1980s and ’90s in places such as Grenada, Panama, Libya, and Iraq. Military historians have traditionally emphasized the primacy of technological developments during this period and have overlooked the vital importance of advances in training, but Laslie’s unprecedented study of Red Flag addresses this oversight through its examination of the seminal program. “A refreshing look at the people and operational practices whose import far exceeds technological advances.” —The Strategy Bridgei

"Vintage Follett . . . This is his most ambitious novel and it succeeds admirably." —USA Today Ellis, the American. Jean-Pierre, the Frenchman. They were two men on opposite sides of the Cold War, with a woman torn between them. Together, they formed a triangle of passion and deception, racing from terrorist bombs in Paris to the violence and intrigue of Afghanistan—to the moment of truth and deadly decision for all of them. . . .