One of the world’s most inspiring women, Dr. Jane Goodall is a renowned humanitarian, conservationist, animal activist, environmentalist, and United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 1977 she founded the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), a global nonprofit organization that empowers people to make a difference for all living things.

With anecdotes taken directly from Jane Goodall’s autobiography, McDonnell makes this very true story accessible for the very young–and young at heart.

Douglas Bader was a legend in his lifetime. After losing both legs in an air crash in 1931 and being dismissed as a cripple by the Royal Air Force, he fought his way back into the cockpit of a Spitfire to become one of the great heroes of the Battle of Britain. This inspiring biography of the famous World War II fighter pilot, first published in 1954, has a following of faithful readers who come back to the book time and again to re-read, share with their children and pass along to friends. Not many books have made such an impact on people’s lives.

Bader’s story is so extraordinary that no one would dare invent it, and Brickhill succeeds in matching the excitement of Bader’s war deeds with the triumph of his greater battle over a severe handicap. Told he would never walk without a cane, Bader learned to dance, swim, golf, and play tennis. Told he would never fly again, he became not only one of the RAF’s top combat pilots but a squadron leader and innovator of fighter tactics that helped win the Battle of Britain. Among the thrilling incidents chronicled in the book are Bader’s first successful encounter with an enemy plane, his own shoot down, and his succession of escapes from German prisons.

Long out of print, theses wartime diaries of a key admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy, provide a revealing inside look into the Japanese view of the Pacific War. Matome Ugaki was chief of staff of the Combined Fleet under Admiral Isoroki Yamamoto until both were shot down over Bougainville in April 1943, resulting in Yamamoto’s death. He later served as commander of battleship and air fleets, finally directing the kamikaze attacks off Okinawa. Invaluable for its details of the Japanese navy at war, the diaries offer a running appraisal of the fighting and are augmented by editorial commentary that proves especially useful to American readers eager to see the war from the other side. When first published in 1991, this dairy was hailed as a major contribution to World War II literature as the only firsthand account of strategic planning for the entire war by a Japanese commander.

Teddy Suhren, the commander of U-564, was one of the most successful U-boat skippers of World War II. He is said to have fired more successful torpedo shots than any other submariner during the war and was the first junior officer to be awarded the Knight’s Cross for his achievements. By war’s end he had earned a Knight’s Cross with Oak Sword and is credited with sinking eighteen ships plus a British corvette and damaging four other ships. One of the lucky few to survive the war, Suhren wrote his memoirs in German with the help of a journalist friend under the title Nasses Eichenlaub. This English translation of the popular work is the first to be available.

Suhren remains a legend within the U-boat world mostly for his good humor and irreverent and rebellious nature, which frequently got him into trouble with higher authorities. Despite his refusal to conform, however, he had access to the highest circles of power in Nazi Germany. Suhren’s reminiscences of those times make for some fascinating reading and include descriptions of social events few were privileged to attend.

The legendary U-boat ace Otto Kretschmer was branded “the Wolf of the Atlantic,” for his exploits as one of the Kriegsmarine’s finest U-boat commanders. In his dramatic wartime career he sank ship after ship, sowing terror among Allied convoys and dismay in those charged with their protection. Kretschmer was a daring officer who favored bringing his U-boat into the heart of the convoy and destroying it from within.

Robertson draws upon first-hand accounts of the deadly game at sea to paint a masterly portrait of life in the U-boats and weaves in the fascinating story of Kretschmer’s exploits. Kretschmer was eventually captured and became a prisoner of war in March 1941, spending the rest of the war in a POW camp in Canada, before his release in 1947.

Few American presidents have exercised their constitutional authority as commander in chief with more determination than Franklin D. Roosevelt. He intervened in military operations more often and to better effect than his contemporaries Churchill and Stalin, and maneuvered events so that the Grand Alliance was directed from Washington. In this expansive history, Eric Larrabee examines the extent and importance of FDR’s wartime leadership through his key military leaders?Marshall, King, Arnold, MacArthur, Vandergrift, Nimitz, Eisenhower, Stilwell, and LeMay.

Devoting a chapter to each man, the author studies Roosevelt’s impact on their personalities, their battles (sometimes with each other), and the consequences of their decisions. He also addresses such critical subjects as Roosevelt’s responsibility for the war and how well it achieved his goals. First published in 1987, this comprehensive portrait of the titans of the American military effort in World War II is available in a new paperback edition for the first time in sixteen years.

Written by a well-know naval historian, this work examines in detail all theaters and major campaigns, focusing on the most important naval commanders of both sides. Included are five British admirals (Pound, Cunningham, Ramsay, Horton, Somerville); five American admirals (King, Nimitz, Spruance, Halsey, Fletcher); three German admirals (Raeder, Doenitz, Lutjens); three Japanese admirals (Yamamato, Nagumo, Koga); and two French admirals (Darlan, de la Borde). The French are included because of the naval problems faced by France, in particular the courageous decision to scuttle their fleet rather than let it fall into German hands in late 1942.

Arleigh Burke is considered the father of the modern U.S. Navy to many. Sea warrior, strategist, and unparalleled service leader, Burke had an impact on the course of naval warfare that is still felt today. This biography by noted historian E.B. Potter follows Burke’s distinguished career from his early days at the Naval Academy through the dramatic destroyer operations in the Solomons, where he earned his nickname “31-Knot Burke,” to his participation in the crucial carrier operations of World War II. The author also fully examines Burke’s postwar service as a United Nations delegate to the Korean truce talks and his unprecedented six-year tenure as chief of naval operations from 1955 to 1961, where he was a strong advocate of carrier aviation, nuclear propulsion, and a major force in developing the Navy’s Polaris missile program. Awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 1977, he became the first living U.S. naval officer to have a class of ship named after him?the Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyers. Now available in paperback for the first time, this definitive 1990 biography is a worthy tribute to a great naval hero.

Although Jimmy Flatley had much to do with the U.S. victory over Japan, few outside the close-knit naval aviation community have heard his colorful story. A naval hero in every sense of the word according to former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral James L. Holloway III, Flatley was a formidable fighter pilot in combat, an inspiring leader, and a gifted operational planner. Flatley’s combination of talents are fully examined in this biography and reveal why he was so vital to the war effort. Known to his squadron mates at Guadalcanal as “Reaper Leader” Flatley?with Jimmy Thach and Butch O’Hare?was instrumental in communicating tactical advice throughout naval aviation and changing the perception that the supposedly inferior F4F Wildcat fighter was actually superior to the Japanese Zero when properly utilized. His biographer, Steve Ewing, also explains how Flatley’s combat experience established the credibility necessary for a middle grade officer to initiate sweeping changes in naval aviation both at the front and with the entrenched naval establishment.

The author credits Flatley’s persistence and credibility for successes at Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. In post-war years these same qualities helped him make naval aviation what it is today by again challenging the status quo and effecting sweeping and significant changes in naval aviation safety. This biography is the second in a planned naval aviation trilogy that when complete will include the three notable carrier fighter tacticians in the Pacific war?Thach, O’Hare, and Flatley.

     Grant and Ranft were unique influences on storytelling at two major studios during important periods in the history of animation. Joe Grant, in fact, straddled two eras. A gifted newspaper caricaturist, he contributed ideas for Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony shorts as well as classic masterworks like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Pinocchio; Fantasia; and Dumbo. As Walt Disney’s confidant, Grant played a leading role in defining Disney’s pioneering animation legacy. He returned to the studio at eighty-one after a fortyyear hiatus, his creative spirit and abilities undiminished, and made significant contributions to Beauty and the Beast; Aladdin; Mulan; and The Lion King, among others.

     Joe Ranft built on the traditions of the past forged by Grant and others to become the top animation storyboard artist of his generation, working on Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas; The Brave Little Toaster; Who Framed Roger Rabbit; James and the Giant Peach; The Little Mermaid; and Beauty and the Beast, among other films. As one of Pixar’s creative founders and a close friend of John Lasseter’s, Ranft had a major influence on the studio’s signature originality, warmth, and irreverent humor, through his contributions to Toy Story; Toy Story 2; A Bug’s Life; Monsters, Inc.; and Cars.

     Grant and Ranft were inventive and imaginative, with keen insight into characters, and they inspired colleagues and entertained audiences around the world. Although their combined careers spanned the Golden Age of traditional animation that began in the 1930s at The Walt Disney Company and became the present digital age at Pixar Animation Studios, their extraordinary contributions remain largely unknown to the public.

Originally published by Pepys in June 1690, this is a defense of his administration of the Royal Navy and a criticism of his opponents. While Pepys provides a fascinating insider’s view of the working of the Admiralty, the wealth of fact and figures is far from impartial. The new introduction by J. D. Davies explains the political controversy that formed the background to the book’s publication and shows how Pepys manipulated his mastery of arcane information to his political ends. This edition is illustrated with contemporary drawings of period ships.

Insights into significant events of the twentieth century are provided in this memoir by Paul Ignatius, a former secretary of the Navy and past president of The Washington Post who participated in many of the events described. The Great Depression of the 1930s, World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War, and Vietnam are recalled from the author’s perspectives, first as a teenager in the 1930s, then as a naval officer in the 1940s, a defense department consultant in the 1950s, and a Pentagon official for eight years in the 1960s. There are new details on Robert McNamara’s managerial innovations, the growth of the Army under President Kennedy, and the enormous effort to provide construction, supplies, and ammunition for the Vietnam War. The book includes vivid personal recollections of McNamara, Clark Clifford, Cyrus Vance, General Creighton Abrams, Admiral Thomas Moorer, and many others. There are high moments when Medals of Honor are awarded, low moments when the USS Pueblo is captured by the North Koreans, and perplexing moments over whether to praise or damn Admiral Hyman Rickover.

The Pentagon Papers case, the illegal strike of the air traffic controllers and efforts to deregulate the airlines, the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s, and president Carter’s attempt to lessen U.S. dependence on middle-eastern oil are among the many other critical events covered in the book. Ignatius also offers intimate glimpses of his family life, including the period when his college-aged children were totally opposed to the Vietnam War, and his Armenian heritage, complete with memories of his grandfather’s poems of freedom that forced him to leave his ancestral home. In a final chapter, the author looks back upon a full life and identifies the civil rights movement and efforts to gain equality for women as among those things of lasting importance.

Adm. James Holloway describes this book as a contemporary perspective of the events, decisions, and outcomes in the history of the Cold War?Korea, Vietnam, and the Soviet confrontation?that shaped today’s U.S. Navy and its principal ships-of-the-line, the large-deck, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Without question, the admiral is exceptionally well qualified to write such an expansive history. As a carrier pilot in Korea, commander of the Seventh Fleet in Vietnam, Chief of Naval Operations in the mid-1970s, and then as a civilian presidential appointee to various investigative groups, Holloway was a prominent player in Cold War events.

Here, he casts an experienced eye at the battles, tactics, and strategies that defined the period abroad and at home. Holloway’s first-person narrative of combat action conveys the tense atmosphere of hostile fire and the urgency of command decisions. His descriptions of conversations with presidents in the White House and of meetings with the Joint Chiefs in the war room offer a revealing look at the decision-making process. Whether explaining the tactical formations of road-recce attacks or the demands of taking the Navy’s first nuclear carrier into combat, Holloway provides telling details that add valuable dimensions to the big picture of the Cold War as a coherent conflict. Few readers will forget his comments about the sobering effect of planning for nuclear warfare and training and leading a squadron of pilots whose mission was to drop a nuclear bomb.

Both wise and entertaining, this book helps readers understand the full significance of the aircraft carrier’s contributions. At the same time, it stands as a testament to those who fought in the long war and to the leadership that guided the United States through a perilous period of history while avoiding the Armageddon of a nuclear war.

As Hill remarks in her introduction, birdwatching is “an experience of the ears and intellect as much as it is of the eye,” all of which comes across clearly in the instructive, revealing, and beautifully written excerpts she has culled for this book. Over seventy-five writers, famous and unknown–from John Muir, John James Audubon, and William Wordsworth to the largely forgotten ornithologists Florence Merriam and Olive Thorne Miller and the English country poet John Clare–share their infectious observations about bird song, migration, nests, raptors, sea birds, hummingbirds, and much more. The entries are by turns practical, lyrical, humorous, literary, scientific–on occasion even mystical–as they illuminate the magical and occasionally unexpected ways in which birding connects us both to the history of the natural world and to that of human experience. This charming compendium is certain to delight birdwatchers and natural history lovers alike.

Drawing on newly available archival materials, Mueller investigates the double life of this legendary and enigmatic figure in the first major biography of Canaris to be published in German.

A well-known observer of Taiwan and Asian history and culture provides an insightful biography of Lee Teng Hui, the pro-democracy statesman and former president of the Republic of China. As head of the Taiwanese government from 1988 to 2000, Lee managed, without violence or major civil unrest, to reform the authoritarian state into a constitutional democracy with a multi-party political system. This examination of Lee’s success puts to rest the idea that Asian values support only authoritarian regimes and reject human rights and political democracy in favor of economic success and military power.

Richard C. Kagan describes in rich detail Lee’s struggle to reinvent Taiwan’s culture and political system by advocating an independent sovereign nation with universal values of human rights, democracy, freedom, and economic justice. His book offers new insights into the role Lee played in the still volatile Taiwan Strait crisis and how Lee’s diplomatic skills used the crisis to break free of the “One China” straitjacket of the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972 while avoiding open warfare with the People’s Republic of China. The author argues that Taiwan is a vital part of America’s national security interests in Asia and that the loss of Taiwan to Mainland China would seriously damage American economic and military power in Asia. He calls Lee’s life a beacon for people looking for new ways to promote democracy and sovereignty and intends this biography of Lee’s life to highlight the statesman’s significant contributions, until now little known or misunderstood in the United States and Europe.

To win glory and power, to be renowned throughout posterity?such was the ambition that fueled Dahlgren’s controversial rise to eminence during the Civil War era. This rich, balanced portrait examines in detail the admiral’s quixotic, frustrating quest.

One of America’s best known naval heroes whose life straddled two centuries and several stages of naval development, tells his own story.