Missions Impossible ― Extraordinary Stories of Daring and Courage

110 incredible true stories torn from the pages of history.

From Ancient Greece to the hunt and killing of Bin Laden, here are incredible acts of bravery, courage and derring-do that have in one fell swoop changed the world.

Missions Impossible: Extraordinary Stories of Daring and Courage is a fascinating encyclopedia of 110 such stories from around the world. More than 300 photographs and illustrations highlight the brief text, which describes the events chronologically. A summary list notes the Date, Location, Objective, and Forces or People involved. A timeline and maps together show the events step by step.

These are the stories burned in our memory, but do we know what really happened? And the incredible courage they took? The stories include:

Age of Heroism

• Hannibal crossing the Alps
• Battle of Agincourt
• Siege of Tenochtitlan
• Defeat of the Spanish Armada

Age of Subterfuge

• Gunpowder Plot
• Escape of Charles II
• Captain Morgan's raid on Panama
• Burning of the White House

Age of Derring- Do

• The Alamo
• Charge of the Light Brigade
• Battle of Maiwand, Afghanistan
• Seige of Khartoum

Age of Dirty Tricks

• Pancho Villa's raid on USA
• Raid on Glenwitz radio station
• Assassination of Trotsky
• Human Torpedo attack: Alexandria

Special Operations

• Attempted assassination of Rommel
• Rescue of Mussolini
• "The Wooden Horse": POW camp
• Clandestine navigation for D- Day

Cold Wars

• Enola Gay
• The Berlin Airlift
• U-2 Incident: Gary Powers
• Battle of Dien Bien Phu

The Age of Terror

• Attempted rescue: US hostages, Iran
• Black Hawk Down: Mogadishu
• 9/11 attacks
• Russian submarine: Kamchatkha
• Tracking down Bin Laden.

This is an exciting book for readers of war, history, and espionage.

Hazel Flynn is a writer and editor who has authored or co-authored four books. She is also a highly experienced journalist, whose roles have included contributing editor for Reader's Digest magazine international editions, senior editor for Who Weekly magazine, and a former radio producer and broadcaster. Hazel is based in Australia.