Japan's mistakes at Midway: On June 4, 1942, the fanatical and efficient Japanese war machine wanted to finish off the U.S. Pacific Fleet, but their blind arrogance and underestimation of American willpower led them to disaster instead. The failure of the Kamikaze: Steeped in the ancient code of the Samurai, Kamikaze forces on land, sea, and air sacrificed themselves in battle in a desperate bid for victory that spelled ultimate doom for the Japanese...

In November 1942 the Allies are poised to liberate Algeria from the Vichy French regime, a client state of Nazi Germany. This is is hoped, will squeeze Rommel's Afirka Korps between two forces and sweep him from North Africa. But no one knows whether the French will greet the Americans as friends or foes. Based on family connections rather than experience, Billy Boyle, a young Irish-American cop from Boston, has become General Dwight D. Eisenhower's...