World War II--America at War, 1941-1945; More than 2,400 Encyclopedic Entries on Battles, Weapons, People, Places, and Events

New York, N.Y.: Random House Inc., New York, 1991. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Format is approximately 7.5 inches by 10.5 inches. xix, [1], 940 pages. Minor wear and soiling noted. Contents include: Abbreviations; about This Book, Acknowledgments, Prologue to War 1919-1941; War Chronology, 1941-1945, War Guide A-Z, and Epilogue to War 1946-1990. Appendix A covers Military Rank Comparison; Appendix B covers U.S. Army and Army Air Forces Battle Streamers; Appendix C covers U.S. Navy Battle Stars. The book also includes Recommended Reading, Personality Index, and Code and Project Names Index. This book contains more than 70 photographs and line drawings, plus 15 maps. Presents more than 2400 encyclopedic entries on the people, places, weapons, and battles of World War II are accompanied by a day-by-day chronology of the events of the war. Norman Polmar is a prominent author specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence areas. He has led major projects for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Navy, and foreign governments. His professional expertise has served three Secretaries of the U.S. Navy and two Chiefs of Naval Operations. He is credited with 50 published books, including eight previous editions of Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet and four editions of Guide to the Soviet Navy. Polmar writes a column for Proceedings and was editor of the United States and several other sections of the annual publications of Jane's Fighting Ships. In 2019, the Naval Historical Foundation awarded Polmar the Commodore Dudley W. Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement Award. Thomas Benton Allen (1929-December 11, 2018) was an American author and historian. Allen was a contributing editor to National Geographic. Allen had co-authored numerous books with Norman Polmar. He had also written numerous mystery novels. His most famous book was Possessed. It is a retelling of the true story of a teenage boy from Mt. Rainier, Maryland, who went through the rite of exorcism in 1949. Allen tracked down the sole survivor of the team that performed the exorcism, Father Walter Halloran, as well as a copy of the diary kept by the team leader, Father William S. Bowdern. The primary source of the documentation is the diary authored by Father Raymond J. Bishop, S.J. Father Raymond J. Bishop, S.J enlisted the assistance of the other Jesuits. It was upon this case William Peter Blatty based the events of his novel, The Exorcist.