In a move that would forever alter the map of the Middle East, Israel captured the West Bank, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula in 1967's brief but pivotal Six Day War. Cursed Victory is the first complete history of the war's troubled aftermath—a military occupation of the Palestinian territories that is now well into its fifth decade.Drawing on unprecedented access to high-level sources, top-secret memos and never-before-published letters, the book provides a gripping chronicle of how what Israel promised would be an 'enlightened occupation' quickly turned sour, and the anguished diplomatic attempts to bring it to an end. Bregman sheds fresh light on critical moments in the peace process, taking readers behind the scenes as decisions were made and as crucial opportunities to resolve the conflict were missed. Moving from Jerusalem to New York, Oslo to Beirut, and from the late 1960s to the present day, Cursed Victory provides vivid portraits of the key players, including Moshe Dayan, King Hussein of Jordan, Bill Clinton, and Yasser Arafat. As Bregman concludes, the occupation has become a dark stain on Israel's history. Cursed Victory is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the origins of the ongoing conflict in the region.

Occupied Iran in World War II became the most important supply route to Russia and source of fuel to the Allies. Having pledged to meet Iran’s “minimum needs”, the Allies commandeered the means of transport, seized food and fuel, severely restricted imports, forced Iran to print money, brought Polish refugees from Russia, and initially did little to contain the chaos and insecurity. The resulting famine and typhus epidemic of 1942-43 had claimed 4 million lives amounting to a quarter of the population. This was in addition to the 8-10 million lost in the Great Famine of 1917-19. Iran’s 1944 population was the same as 1900, a perfect case of a Malthusian Catastrophe. Having previously described the World War I famine, and using US diplomatic, military, and intelligence records, as well as primary British sources, Majd completes the task by also telling the story of the World War II Iranian famine.

Waged for a just cause, World War II was America’s good war. Yet for millions of GIs, the war did not end with the enemy’s surrender. From letters, diaries, and memoirs, Susan Carruthers chronicles the intimate thoughts and feelings of ordinary servicemen and women whose difficult mission was to rebuild nations they had recently worked to destroy.

From the mountains of Italy to the beaches of Normandy, and from the deserts of North Africa to the ruined cities of Germany, experience the history of the Second World War in Western Europe from 1939-1945 in an entirely different way.Using unpublished letters and diaries, follow the journeys of some fifty Allied soldiers (American, British, French, Canadian...) as they liberate the continent from Nazi rule, sometimes at the cost of their own lives. Arranged in chronological order and placed in historical context, their stories and letters are illustrated with many personal photographs, war memorabilia and original uniforms.Having miraculously escaped wartime censorship, these new first-hand testimonies are transcribed as is, whether they come from an elite soldier, a combat medic or a USO dancer. These poignant writings, completed in the mud of the European battlefields, reveal the hopes, doubts and fears of these young people sent to hell, making Till Victory first and foremost a book about peace.