This work tells the story of Germany's last great offensive, the desperate struggle which broke the German armies and contributed decisively to the end of the war. Described are details of the unexpected gamble and the technologies with which the Nazis hoped to win the war.

Dramatic photographs of Nazi Germany’s shocking Ardennes Offensive that nearly turned the tide of World War II—from the author of In Pursuit of Hitler. Hitler’s desperate last throw during the depths of winter 1944/45 came perilously close to being a major disaster for the Allies. Their offensive through the Ardennes fell on the Americans and caught them totally by surprise. Unaccustomed to setbacks, the situation was for a time extremely serious and in some areas panic set in and events went out of control. It was only after the most bitter fighting and massive reinforcement that the rot was stopped. In this book the drama of those worrying weeks is captured in superb photographs.

Richard Russo has celebrated Monica Wood's fiction as "thoroughly captivating warm and wise and beautifully written," and Andre Dubus III praised it as "luminous and graceful—entertaining yet transcendent." Any Bitter Thing, Wood's brilliant new novel, is her breakout book, a timely, gripping, and compassionate tale of family, faith, and deeply hidden truths. One of its greatest strengths is its continuous ability to defy expectations. It's not what you think. It is worse. Lizzy Mitchell was raised from the age of two by her uncle, a Catholic priest. When she was nine, he was falsely accused of improprieties with her and dismissed from his church, and she was sent away to boarding school. Now thirty years old and in a failing marriage, she is nearly killed in a traffic accident. What she discovers when she sets out to find the truths surrounding the accidentand about the accusations that led to her uncle's deathdoes more than change her life. With deft insight into the snares of the human heart, Monica Wood has written an intimate and emotionally expansive novel full of understanding and hope.

Based on a series of fascinating 'What ifs' posed by leading military historians, this compelling new alternate history recontructs the moments during the Battle of the Bulge which could conceivably have altered the entire course of the Second World War and led to a German victory. Based on real battles, actions and characters, each scenario has been carefully constructed to reveal how at points of decision a different choice or minor incident could have set in motion an entirely new train of events altering history for ever. What if the Germans successfully prevented Patton from riding to the rescue at Bastogne? Or if the Allies had suffered a major setback at the Battle of the Bulge which allowed the Red Army to overrun Berlin and drive on to the Rhine? What if Hitler had not launched his massive gambit and, instead, the Allies had progressed with the operations plan they had prior to the Bulge? These are some of the intriguing scenarios played out by leading authors.

The prizewinning historian and bestselling author of D-Day, Stalingrad, and The Battle of Arnhem reconstructs the Battle of the Bulge in this riveting new account On December 16, 1944, Hitler launched his ‘last gamble’ in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes in Belgium, believing he could split the Allies by driving all the way to Antwerp and forcing the Canadians and the British out of the war. Although his generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east. Many were exultant at the prospect of striking back. The allies, taken by surprise, found themselves fighting two panzer armies. Belgian civilians abandoned their homes, justifiably afraid of German revenge. Panic spread even to Paris. While some American soldiers, overwhelmed by the German onslaught, fled or surrendered, others held on heroically, creating breakwaters which slowed the German advance. The harsh winter conditions and the savagery of the battle became comparable to the Eastern Front. In fact the Ardennes became the Western Front’s counterpart to Stalingrad. There was terrible ferocity on both sides, driven by desperation and revenge, in which the normal rules of combat were breached. The Ardennes—involving more than a million men—would prove to be the battle which finally broke the back of the Wehrmacht. In this deeply researched work, with striking insights into the major players on both sides, Antony Beevor gives us the definitive account of the Ardennes offensive which was to become the greatest battle of World War II.

It was the greatest single battle the U.S. Army ever fought. More than a million GIs were involved and nearly 80,000 became casualties. The Allied generals had to rally beaten, dispirited troops in the face of an attack they had never dreamed possible.A study in command, from generals to squad leaders, The Bitter Woods follows von Runstedt, Dietrich, and of course Hitler, as closely as the Americans. As son of the supreme commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, a West Point graduate, a retired Army brigadier general, and a military historian, John Eisenhower is uniquely qualified to tell how the Allied generals (nearly all of whom he knew personally) met Hitler's challenge; how the two armies fought fiercely in the Ardennes from December 1944 to January 1945; and how the Allied victory broke the back of Nazi aggression.

God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a gruelling hike along the world's longest continuous footpath—The Appalachian Trail. The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine. It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in North America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas. With his offbeat sensibility, his eye for the absurd, and his laugh-out-loud sense of humour, Bryson recounts his confrontations with nature at its most uncompromising over his five-month journey. An instant classic, riotously funny, A Walk in the Woods will add a whole new audience to the legions of Bill Bryson fans.

"For the first time in the growing literature of World War II, the inspiring story of the stubborn, lonely, dogged battle of the Americans locked in this tragic salient is told...gripping...You cannot put it down once you start it". -- San Francisco Chronicle. John Toland has written numerous books on World War II, including Infamy: Pearl Harbor and Its Aftermath. Carlo D'Este is the author of Patton: A Genius for War and other works.

The history of the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion in World War II, and in particular about its involvement in the Battle of the Bulge. The 291st was a small unit but it played a pivotal role in stemming the German counter-offensive in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. This history is no mere accounting of events, causes, and results, but rather it conveys the real experiences of ordinary men who, when placed in extraordinary circumstances, displayed the courage and fortitude to get the job done. And, as Janice Holt Giles wrote, the 291st Engineers not only got the job done, but they "gave a damned good account of themselves."

Hilarious. Smart. Bitter. Sweet. Self-deprecating. Stacey Grenrock Woods. Experience with her the stirring joys of receiving a Peter Frampton poster for Hanukkah, sitting for a head-shot photo session as a child actress, waitressing Pan-Asian fusion cuisine, having musicians for boyfriends, humiliating people on The Daily Show, and waiting for prescription drugs. Oh, the waiting. From the idyllic sprout-and-yogurt San Fernando seventies; to the idyllic painter's-cap-and-bandanna eighties; to the idyllic, heroin-clouded Viper Room nineties; to the idyllic Botox-infused present, Stacey Grenrock Woods has experienced a prototypically Southern California life on the margins of fame, which is roughly the equivalent of a prototypical American life, isn't it?