Specific wars and military campaigns Books

Book SynopsisIn this landmark book, Daniel Crofts examines a little-known episode in the most celebrated aspect of Abraham Lincoln's life: his role as the Great Emancipator. Crofts argues that Lincoln no intention of being the Great Emancipator when he took office. Only amid the crucible of combat did the war to save the Union become a war for freedom.Trade ReviewA well-written and exhaustively researched study" - Civil War Monitor"A highly readable account of a seldom-remembered feature of early Civil War history. Highly recommended." - Choice"A well researched and thought-provoking book about Abraham Lincoln and his position on slavery." - North Carolina Historical Review"An essential study of Republican ideology and the political efforts to prevent secession in the months following Lincoln's election." - The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society"With impressive research in politicians' speeches and correspondence, Crofts reconstructs the tangled legislative history of the amendment during the secession winter of 1860-1861, as moderates North and South struggled to find a compromise that would forestall disunion and war." - Journal of American History"A worthwhile addition to our literature on the Civil War and the slavery issue in general." - American Historical Review"With astute inferential skill and admittedly sparse archival attestations to build from, he pieces together the processes and hints of backroom deals that carried the amendment through both chambers by the narrowest of margins and through deft parliamentary maneuvering and overnight vote reversals." - Reviews in History"Meticulously detailed. . . . A thorough look at the dissension that tore the country apart." - Kirkus Reviews"[An] intelligent and absorbing book. . . . Challenges the dominant emancipationist narrative and forces a new look at the dynamics and directions of politics and public interest during the secession crisis." - Library Journal

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Book SynopsisCollected letters of a Confederate officer and his family detail daily life and loss on the battlefield.Hope, sacrifice, and restoration: throughout the American Civil War and its aftermath, the Foster family endured all of these in no small measure. Drawing from dozens of public and privately owned letters, A. Gibert Kennedy recounts the story of his great-great-grandfather and his family in A South Carolina Upcountry Saga: The Civil War Letters of Barham Bobo Foster and His Family, 1860–1863.Barham Bobo Foster was a gentleman planter from the Piedmont who signed the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession and served as a lieutenant colonel in the Third South Carolina Volunteers alongside his two sons. Kennedy’s primary sources are letters written by Foster and his sons, but he also references correspondence involving Foster’s daughters and his wife, Mary Ann.The letters describe experiences on the battlefields of Virginia and South Carolina, vividly detailing camp life, movements, and battles along with stories of bravery, loss, and sacrifice. The Civil War cost Foster his health, all that he owned, and his two sons, though he was able to rebuild with the help of his wife and three daughters. Supplementing the correspondence with maps, illustrations, and genealogical information, Kennedy shows the full arc of the Foster family’s struggle and endurance in the Civil War era.

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Book SynopsisMost general histories of the Civil War pay scant attention to the many important military events that took place in the Lower Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexico border. It was here, for example, that many of the South's cotton exports, all-important to its funding for the war effort, were shuttled across the Rio Grande into Mexico for shipment to markets across the Atlantic. It was here that the Union blockade was felt perhaps most keenly. And it was here where longstanding cross-border rivalries and shifting political fortunes on both sides of the river made for a constant undercurrent of intrigue. And yet, most accounts of this long and bloody conflict give short shrift to the complexities of the ethnic tensions, political maneuvering, and international diplomacy that vividly colored the Civil War in this region.Now, Christopher L. Miller, Russell K. Skowronek, and Roseann Bacha-Garza have woven together the history and archaeology of the Lower Rio Grande Valley into a densely illustrated travel guide featuring important historical and military sites of the Civil War period. Blue and Gray on the Border integrates the sites, colorful personalities, cross-border conflicts, and intriguing historical vignettes that outline the story of the Civil War along the Texas-Mexico border. This resource-packed book will aid heritage travelers, students, and history buffs in their discovery of the rich history of the Civil War in the Rio Grande Valley.

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Book SynopsisCompiled by an acknowledged expert in the field. Never originally intended for publication, many of the accounts in this book provide an honest view of campaign life.

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Book Synopsis'A riveting, unvarnished and wholly unforgettable portrait of America’s most storied commandos at war.' - Joby Warrick, author of Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction   A stirringly evocative, thought-provoking, and often jaw-dropping account of SEAL Team Operator Robert O’Neill’s awe-inspiring 400-mission career. O’Neill describes his idyllic childhood in Butte, Montana; his impulsive decision to join the SEALs; the arduous evaluation and training process; and the even tougher gauntlet he had to run to join the SEALs’ most elite unit.The Operatordescribes the nonstop action of O’Neill’s deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, evoking the black humor of years-long combat, and reveals firsthand details of the most discussed anti-terrorist operation in military history.

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Book SynopsisThe Horse Soldiers is the true, dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who entered Afghanistan immediately following September 11, 2001 and, riding to war on horses, defeated the Taliban. Heavily outnumbered, they nonetheless succeed in capturing the strategic Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, where they are welcomed as liberators as they ride on horseback into the city, the streets thronged with Afghans overjoyed that the Taliban have been kicked out. The soldiers rest easy, as they feel they have accomplished their mission. Then the action takes a wholly unexpected turn. During a surrender of Taliban troops, the Horse Soldiers are ambushed by the would-be P.O.W.s and, still dangerously outnumbered, they must fight for their lives in the city's ancient fortress known as Qala-I Janghi, or the House of War…

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Book SynopsisThe American Civil War has intrigued millions of readers for 150 years. But how much do we know about the real lives of Americans on the battlefields and in trenches and winter quarters when the sodiers has a respite from combat? Civil War Trivia looks inside the conflict to examine the many fascinating and heartrending stories about this great war.

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Book SynopsisThe Reaper is the astonishing memoir of Special Operations Direct Action Sniper Nicholas Irving, the 3rd Ranger Battalion's deadliest sniper. In the bestselling tradition of American Sniper and Shooter, Irving shares the true story of his extraordinary career, including his deployment to Afghanistan in the summer of 2009.

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Book SynopsisDenis Judd is Professor Emeritus of Imperial and Commonwealth History, London Metropolitan University, and Professor at New York University in London. His books include Empire; George VI (both published by I.B.Tauris); The Lion and the Tiger: The Rise and Fall of the British Raj; Balfour and the British Empire; Radical Joe - A Life of Joseph Chamberlain; The Victorian Empire; Palmerston; The Crimean War and Jawaharlal Nehru. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Keith Surridge is an independent scholar. He is the author of Managing the South African War 1899-1902.Table of ContentsIllustrations Acknowledgements Maps Preface Introduction: An Irrepressible Conflict? PART I: THE BACKGROUND TO THE WAR British Rule, Confrontation and Compromise 1815-1886 The Descent to War 1886-1899 PART II: THE COMBATANTS 3. The British Army 4. Rallying the Empire 5. The Boers PART III: THE CAMPAIGNS 1899-1902 6. The Opening Battles, October 1899 7. The Disasters of Black Week, December 1899: The Battles of Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso, and their less disastrous prelude 8. Humiliation, January and February 1900: The Battles of Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz 9. ‘I thank God we have kept the flag flying’: The Besieged Towns of Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking 10. The Turn of the Tide, February 1900: The Relief of Kimberley, the Battle of Paardeberg, the Relief of Ladysmith 11. Marching to Pretoria (and Johannesburg): The British Advance through the Boer Republics, the Relief of Mafeking, the Start of the Guerrilla War 12. Methods of Barbarism? December 1900 to October 1901: The Guerrilla War, Farm Burning, the Concentration Camps 13. Seeking Peace, March 1900-June 1901 14. The Final Battles, May 1901-May 1902 PART IV: THE AMBIVALENCES OF WAR 15. Big Business, Capitalism and War 16. The Last of the Gentlemen’s Wars? 17. The Pro-Boers 18. Foreigners and the War 19. The Press and the War 20. The Literature of the War PART V: THE PEACE 21. The Talks Begin 22. Taking Stock Peace at Last

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Book SynopsisAt Le Cateau on 26 August 1914, the commanders of the Second Corps of the British Expeditionary Force elected to fight the German First Army and, although outnumbered three to one, delivered such a smashing blow to the German invaders that the whole of the BEF was able to continue the Retreat to Compiegne without being seriously threatened. Although the British suffered 1,200 of their men and officers killed, and were forced to leave their dead and many of their wounded on the battlefield, as well as thirty-six of their field guns, they inflicted losses on von Kluck's army of nearly 9,000. Yet the architect of this feat of arms, Second Corps commander Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, was sacked soon afterward, while First Corps commander Sir Douglas Haig, who had performed far less impressively, took command of the whole BEF.

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Book SynopsisEach year, the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps selects one book that he believes is both relevant and timeless for reading by all Marines. The Commandant's choice for 1993 was We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young. In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War. How these men persevered--sacrificed themselves for their comrades and never gave up--makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating. General Moore and Joseph Galloway, the only journalist on the ground throughout the fighting, have interviewed hundreds of

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a concise, lively, up-to-date portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte''s character and career, including his most important battles, while situating him firmly in historical context.David Bell emphasizes the astonishing sense of human possibility - for both good and ill - that Napoleon represented. By his late twenties, Napoleon was already one of the greatest generals in European history. At thirty, he had become absolute master of Europe''s most powerful country. In his early forties, he ruled a European empire more powerful than any since Rome, fighting wars that changed the shape of the continent and brought death to millions. Then everything collapsed, leading him to spend his last years in miserable exile in the South Atlantic. Bell underlines the importance of the French Revolution of 1789 in understanding Napoleon''s career. It was the Revolution that made possible the unprecedented concentration of political authority that Napoleon developed, as well as his unprecedented success in mobilizing human and material resources. The Revolution gave birth to the radically new, intense form of warfare that Napoleon later practiced. Without the political changes brought about by the Revolution, Napoleon could not have fought his wars. Without the wars, he could not have seized and held onto power. He did betray much of the Revolution''s heritage of liberty and equality, and ruled as a virtual dictator. But his life and career were, nonetheless, revolutionary.Trade ReviewThere are plenty of big lives of Napoleon, and the last few years have seen the appearance of a whole new crop. Their general standard has been very high, but the detail is often daunting, not to mention the weight in the hand. Pocket-sized biographies by reputable scholars have been surprisingly less common. The best English one in recent times, by Felix Markham, was published as long ago as 1963. Napoleonic studies have moved on considerably since then, and David Bell has been one of the leaders in advancing the field with his survey in 2007 of what he called the First Total War. Now he offers a crisp and up-to-date introduction to the amazing career of the man at the centre of it all. - * William Doyle, History *A very concise, but very illuminating history of one of the world's greatest generals. * Steve Craggs, Northern Echo *It is entertaining to read and discusses the important events and developments surrounding Napoleons reign. * Michael J. Hughes, European History Quarterly *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Corsican, 1769-1796 2. The General, 1796-1799 3. The First Consul, 1799-1804 4. The Emperor, 1804-1812 5. Downfall, 1812-1815 Epilogue: 1815-2015

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Book SynopsisSoon after Alexander Gardner's "Photographic Sketch Book" was published, in 1866, it became the Civil War's best-known visual record and helped define how viewers would come to know the war. This study of a pivotal American historical document, approaching it from the perspective of visual studies as well as American literature and history.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction The Image of War Anthony W. Lee Verbal Battlefields Elizabeth Young Acknowledgments Notes Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisAnand Gopal traces the lives of three Afghans caught in America's war on terror. He follows a Taliban commander, who rises from scrawny teenager to leading insurgent; a US-backed warlord, who uses the American military to gain personal wealth and power; and a village housewife trapped between the two sides.

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Book SynopsisA sweeping survey of the impact of the Civil War on American painting and photography in the 19th centuryTrade Review“The Civil War and American Art is a scholarly and a narrative achievement both harrowing and sublime. Eleanor Jones Harvey has written a keenly critical and often lyrical assessment of the war she calls all but “unpaintable.” In genre painting that captured universal meanings out of local episodes in the ugly ironies of war, and especially in the new moods, metaphors, and forms that landscape painters drew from the war, Harvey demonstrates a profound, seismic influence of history on art. But she also brilliantly demonstrates that artists, even the photographers, could not so much re-make the actual history of our Armageddon as they could represent what we might indirectly see or learn from such a withering and mythic experience as modern war.”--David W. Blight, Yale University, author of Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory -- David W. Blight“Eleanor Jones Harvey’s The Civil War and American Art is the rare book that connects the dots between art and history so well that the reader assumes that the subject is well-worn. It is not. The book…deserves to win awards in two disciplines: Art history and American history.…"—Tyler Green, Modern Art Notes -- Tyler Green * Modern Art Notes *“A great art history tour and coffee-table topper.”—Garden & Gun * Garden & Gun *“Provocative and insightful.”—Stephen May, Antiques and the Arts Weekly -- Stephen May * Antiques and the Arts Weekly *"The latest from Harvey. . . provides a nuanced, sensitive, and deeply informed accounting of a major period in the history of American art. . . . The comprehensive study manages to remain engaging across its redolent academic and historical interests, creating a sincere excitement appropriate to Harvey's always insightful and vital reckoning with America's scarred past.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review * Publishers Weekly *Winner in the Photography/Art category at the 2013 Great Southeast Book Festival. -- Great Southeast Festival * JM Northern Media LLC *"The Civil War and American Art is a glorious companion piece to a moving, beautifully curated, perspective-altering show. . . . Harvey’s book is perfect for lovers of American art and history.” —PopMatters * PopMatters *“Harvey skillfully integrates literature and journalism into a thoughtful and rich narrative of this pivotal period. An important cohesive assessment for scholars that is also broadly accessible and well-illustrated…”—Library Journal, starred review * Library Journal *“a beautiful companion volume…”—The Nation * The Nation *“Harvey’s catalogue text stands as a monumental, often thrilling feat of detailed scholarship”—Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker -- Peter Schjeldahl * The New Yorker *“One of the great publishing triumphs of the Civil War Sesquicentennial.”—North Carolina Historical Review * North Carolina Historical Review *Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2013 in the Art & Architecture Category. -- Outstanding Academic Title * Choice *

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Book SynopsisIn Vietnam''s jungle war, only one group of men was feared more than death itself—the Marine Scout Snipers. . . .The U.S. Marine Scout Snipers were among the most highly trained soldiers in Vietnam. With their unparalleled skill, freedom of movement, and deadly accurate long-range Remington 700 bolt rifles, the Scout Snipers were sought after by every Marine unit—and so feared by the enemy that the VC bounty on the Scout Snipers was higher than on any other elite American unit.Joseph Ward''s letters home reveal a side of war seldom seen. Whether under nightly mortar attack in An Hoa, with a Marine company in the bullet-scarred jungle, on secret missions to Laos, or on dangerous two-man hunter-kills, Ward lived the war in a way few men did. And he fought the enemy as few men did—up close and personal.

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Book Synopsis''If it had not been for you English, I should have been Emperor of the East; but wherever there is water to float a ship, we are sure to find you in our way.'' Emperor NapoleonBut just thirty-five years earlier, Britain lacked any major continental allies, and was wracked by crises and corruption. Many thought that she would follow France into revolution. The British elite had no such troubling illusions: defeat was not a possibility. Since not all shared that certainty, the resumption of the conflict and its pursuit through years of Napoleonic dominance is a remarkable story of aristocratic confidence and assertion of national superiority. Winning these wars meant ruthless imperialist expansion, spiteful political combat, working under a mad king and forging the most united national effort since the days of the Armada. And it meant setting the foundations for the greatest empire the world has ever known.Trade ReviewA vivid picture of how the British Empire not only had to defeat Napoleon but also some of its own people * Herald *

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Book SynopsisExamines how the Vietnam War has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of American imperialist adventure and for the (re)production of American and Vietnamese American identities.Trade Review"An important addition to the transnational history of the Vietnam War, Cold War global history, and the history of Asian migration to the United States... An Innovative work." -- Heonik Kwon American Journal of Sociology (AJS)Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. Critical Refuge(e) Studies 2. Militarized Refuge(es) 3. Refugee Camps and the Politics of Living 4. The "Good Warriors" and the "Good Refugee" 5. Refugee Remembering--and Remembrance 6. Refugee Postmemories: The "Generation After" 7. "The Endings That Are Not Over" Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisThe Missouri History Museum archives are bursting with collections that provide firsthand accounts of both historic and everyday moments, but when archivist M. E. Kodner came across the James Love letters, she knew she had discovered something extraordinary. My Dear Molly consists of the 166 letters that St. Louisan James Love wrote to his fiancee, Eliza Mary "Molly" Wilson, during his Civil War service. The letters discuss the war, including activities in Missouri, battles, Love's life as a soldier, and his time in a Confederate prison, in addition to detailing the love story of James and Molly. Spanning the entire Civil War period, the letters give a full account of both the ongoing conflict and the many different aspects of Love's life, making My Dear Molly a unique contribution to our literature of the time period. The book opens with a prologue describing Love's life before the war, including his immigration to the United States from Ireland, his early career, and a trip to Australia he took in the 1850s. The body of the text consists of his letters and is divided into three sections: Love's early service with the Fifth US Reserve Corps, most of which was spent in Missouri; his service with the Eighth Kansas Infantry, which includes descriptions of military life and battle, ending with him being wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga and taken prisoner; and his years in various Confederate prisons and his attempts to escape. Each portion of the book begins with an introduction to place the letters in their historical context and to briefly explain the events and people that Love mentions in his letters. It concludes with an epilogue describing his final, successful escape, his life with Molly after the war, how the letters came to the Missouri History Museum, and Kodner's discovery of her connections through family friends to James and Molly's descendants. My Dear Molly is a remarkable, riveting volume that will add much to our knowledge of the Civil War period-its battles and conflicts as well as the experiences of ordinary Americans like James and Molly.

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Book SynopsisIn October 1996, a motley crew of ageing Marxists and unemployed youth coalesced to revolt against Mobutu Seso Seko, president of Zaire/Congo since 1965. The rebels of the AFDL marched over 1500km in seven months to crush the dictatorship, heralding liberation as a second independence for Central Africa as a whole. US President Bill Clinton toasted AFDL leader Laurent-Desire Kabila and his regional allies - having developed a unique camaraderie and personal trust on the region's battlefronts -- as a 'new generation of African leaders' ushering in an 'African Renaissance.' Within months, however, the Pan-Africanist alliance fell apart. The AFDL's collapse triggered a cataclysmic fratricide between the heroes of liberationthat became the deadliest conflict since the Second World War, drawing in eight African countries. This book draws on hundreds of interviews with protagonists from Africa and the international community to offer a novel theoretical and empirical account of Africa's Great War. Bridging the gap between comparative politics and international relations, it argues that the renewed outbreak of calamitous violence in August 1998 was a function of the kind of regime the AFDL was and how its leaders saw Congo, theregion and themselves. As a Pan-Africanist liberation movement, the collapse of the AFDL government internally and the unravelling of regional order externally were inextricably linked.Trade Review'[Roessler and Verhoeven’s] purpose is to answer the question: “Why did comrades go to war?” and to view the conflict through the prism of “liberation politics”. The merit of their book is that it includes interviews with many of the protagonists, clarifying critical details about their involvement … The depth of the authors’ research is impressive.' * Times Literary Supplement *'A novel lens through which to understand the First Congo War . . . sure to provoke renewed discussion.''Vivid and compelling . . . a precious contribution to our understanding of the most complex and deadliest African conflict of the late 20th century.'One of the most intelligent books on conflict in Africa that I have read in a long time. Based on an astoundingly comprehensive array of interviews with the key actors in this war.' * Professor William Reno, Northwestern University *'This is a rare combination: a book that combines exceptional academic rigor with deep, personal knowledge of a place and its main actors. As important for political scientists as it is for historians and congophiles.' * Jason Stearns, Director, Congo Research Group, New York University and author of Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa *'An exceptionally well researched and argued book. Based on a wealth of hitherto unknown information, including many interviews with crucial stakeholders, it offers new and refreshing insights into very complex and dramatic events that continue to impact Central Africa up to the present day.' * Filip Reyntjens, Professor of Law and Politics at the University of Antwerp, and author of Political Governance in Post-Genocide Rwanda and The Great African War: Congo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996-2006 *'Why Comrades Go To War is a detailed and compelling account of the bitter grapes of post-colonialism in Africa. The authors range widely over Central Africa but provide a detailed account of the often sordid and always tragic events that ruined the lives of millions of people. I find an almost Greek tragedy -- an inevitability -- in the events they relate, but the authors wisely temper this impression by showing how the leaders' choices, fears, ambitions, greed, and mistakes made the tragedy modern. An important book.' * William Polk, author of Violent Politics and Neighbors and Strangers, among many other books *'Why Comrades Go to War is a welcome addition to the literature on the Congo Wars, first to overthrow Mobutu and then to overthrow his successor, Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Roessler and Verhoeven demonstrate that a focus on elite actors (above all, Kabila and his Rwandan Tutsi backers, Generals Kagame and Kabarebe) is essential to understanding why the first war led inexorably to the second.' * Tom Turner, author of The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth and Reality *'Africa's most deadly war was rooted not only in geopolitics, but in an ideological state conspiracy as well. This puzzling story is told in Why Comrades Go to War, a cross between a political people's magazine and a late twentieth-century overview of eastern and central Africa. A must for those wanting to track the labyrinths underpinning visible African events.' * Gérard Prunier, author of The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide and From Genocide to Continental War *

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Book Synopsis"Readers of this book who thought they knew a lot about the U.S. Civil War will discover that much of what they 'knew' is wrong. For readers whose previous knowledge is sketchy but whose desire to learn is strong, the separation of myth from reality is an important step toward mastering the subject. The essays will generate lively discussion and new insights." —James M. McPherson, Professor Emeritus, Princeton UniversityTrade Review"I never imagined that my Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, first published in 2003, would prove to be so enduring a format for helping students of all kinds to rethink key moments in human history. It is therefore a great honor to see that the book has now inspired Hackett Publishing Company's "Myths of History" series, expertly and effectively edited by Alfred J. Andrea and Andrew Holt.” —Matthew Restall, Pennsylvania State University"Wesley Moody's clear, engaging book tackles enduring Civil War myths with grace, candor, and persuasive evidence. By exploring a wide range of subjects including the war's causes, soldiers, leaders, prisons, and battlefields, this volume's group of talented historians accomplishes more than myth busting. Each scholar reveals deeper, more satisfying stories hidden beneath Civil War fallacies and falsehoods. As a result, Civil War students and enthusiasts will find more than facts in this compelling book; they’ll encounter the complexities of real war, the long shadows of memory, and the hard work that historians conduct to illuminate the past." —Jason Phillips, Eberly Professor of Civil War History, West Virginia University"Seven Myths of the Civil War is well-written, engaging, accessible, and of very sound scholarship. In this volume some of the premier scholars in the field of Civil War history weigh in and root out the causes, courses, and continuing consequences of these persistent mythologies in ways that are at once both easily accessible and necessarily nuanced. I plan to use this collection of essays as a centerpiece of my next Civil War-themed course. I’ll use it to introduce the prevailing myths regarding the Civil War Era, then point up the ways in which the historical record can be seen to utterly debunk those myths." —James Hill Welborn III, Georgia College & State UniversityTable of ContentsContents: Series Editors' Foreword Editor's Preface Introduction Confederate States' Rights: A Contradiction in Terms Was Abraham Lincoln a Racist? African Americans in Confederate Military Service: Myth and Reality The Myth of the "Great" Conventional Battlefield War Civil War Prisons: The Legacy of Responsibility The Lost Causers' Favorite Target: Grant the Butcher Marching through Georgia: The Myth of Sherman's Total War Epilogue Suggested Readings

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Book SynopsisExplaining and illustrating the immediate background to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine, this book investigates the Ukrainian and Russian regular and irregular forces which have been fighting in the Donbas region since 2014. In February 2014, street protests in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities led to the ousting of the Russian-backed President Yanukovych. Simultaneously, Russia carried out an almost-bloodless seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. Ukraine's Euromaidan Revolution' would see many changes to the country's constitution, and a turn towards the West for civic assistance and military training. Meanwhile, a violent reaction in the mainly Russian-speaking south-eastern industrial Donbas region led to a local armed counter-revolution, backed by Russia from April 2014. This conflict became an essential example of Russia's policy of so-called hybrid warfare', which pursues its strategic aims by a blend of propaganda and misinformation with the clandestine deployment ofTable of ContentsIntroduction: brief overview of the complex relationship between Russia and Ukraine, and the ejection of President Yanukovych in the 'Maidan Revolution' of February 2014. Taking Crimea: summary of Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine, the forces involved, and the military lessons learned. 'Hybrid War' in the Donbas: overview of the war's progress up to 2018, and such incidents as the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17. Russian Proxy Forces: local militias, volunteers, Cossacks and mercenaries; career of 'Igor Strelkov', 'defence minister' of the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic; the Vostock Battalion, Chechen veterans organized by the GRU; Russia's difficulty in controlling its proxies. Russian Regular Forces: the battalion tactical groups – order of battle; the battle of Debaltseve – a month-long conflict which obliged Russian regulars to intervene; the battle of Zelenopillya – destruction of Ukrainian mechanized units by Russian artillery. Ukrainian Auxiliary Forces: volunteer militias bankrolled by oligarchs – orders of battle of volunteer battalions. The battle for Donetsk Airport – the vicious four-month 'battle of the Cyborgs'. Ukrainian Regular Forces: structure, equipment, tactics, and developing capabilities; Ukrainian Army order of battle; Ukrainian Navy and Naval Infantry. The Future? Identifiable trends, e.g. drone-controlled artillery; blending of militias; intelligence; deniable regular forces; and Russia's use of mercenaries as part of 'hybrid warfare', in Ukraine and later Syria.

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Book SynopsisThroughout the history of the Crusades, liturgical prayer, masses, and alms were all marshaled in the fight against Muslim armies. In Invisible Weapons, M. Cecilia Gaposchkin focuses on the ways in which Latin Christians communicated their ideas and aspirations for crusade to God through liturgy, how public worship was deployed, and how prayers and masses absorbed the ideals and priorities of crusading. Placing religious texts and practices within the larger narrative of crusading, Gaposchkin offers a new understanding of a crucial facet in the culture of holy war.Open Access edition funded by the National Endowment for the HumanitiesTrade ReviewGaposchkin delivers her argument not only with historical exactitude and ingenuity, but also with the care of a seasoned educator.... Gaposchkin’s work stands at the top of crusade studies. Her work will strengthen the syllabi of seminars dedicated to liturgical history, especially of the medieval and crusading periods, and associated reading lists for doctoral students. * Homiletic *The intricate web linking thought, expression, and action at the heart of this marvelous book [will surely make it] indispensable for anyone interested in the Crusades as a manifestation of medieval religious culture. * American Historical Review *A model demonstration of how the liturgy promoted ecclesiastical goals, and how the technical, seemingly intractable, medieval liturgy can be made accessible to historians.... Comprehensive, convincing, and successful. * H-France Review *This illuminating and detailed book reveals an aspect of crusading that is too easily forgotten—the practice of prayer and its dynamic relationship with the practice of arms—and urges us to remember that medieval Latin Christians were as serious about their faith as they were about their warfare. * Reading Religion *This is a hardworking and exciting piece of work... that makes an original and impressive contribution to scholarship on the crusades. * The Medieval Review *In this exceptionally learned, well-written, and important monograph, Gaposchkin makes a singular contribution to not one but two fields: liturgical studies and crusades history.... This is a monumental work deserving the attention of every medievalist. * Church History *Invisible Weapons is one of the most important books on the crusades to be published in recent decades. Like the very best scholarship in the field, it deepens our understanding of the crusades and the ideology that fuelled them, but situates the whole phenomenon within the wider cultural context of the medieval West, revealing ultimately how 'the liturgy imbibed the ideals of crusade such that crusade ideals and aspirations became part of Christian identity' * Parergon: Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies *Table of ContentsIntroductionPreliminariesChapter 1. Liturgy and the Origins of Crusade IdeologyChapter 2. From Pilgrimage to CrusadeChapter 3. On the MarchChapter 4. Celebrating the Capture of Jerusalem in the Holy CityChapter 5. Echoes of Victory in the WestChapter 6. Clamoring to God: Liturgy as a Weapon of WarChapter 7. Praying against the TurksConclusion

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisFeaturing hundreds of first-hand writings from the American Civil War, this final installment of the highly acclaimed four-volume series traces events from March 1864 to June 1865 After 150 years the Civil War still holds a central place in American history and self-understanding. It is our greatest national drama, at once heroic, tragic, and epic—our Iliad, but also our Bible, a story of sin and judgment, suffering and despair, death and resurrection in a “new birth of freedom.” The Civil War: The Final Year brings together letters, diary entries, speeches, articles, messages, and poems to provide an incomparable literary portrait of a nation at war with itself, while illuminating the military and political events that brought the Union to final victory and slavery and secession to their ultimate destruction. The final volume of this highly acclaimed four-volume series begins with the controversial Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid on Richmond in March 1864 and ends with the proclamation of emancipation in Texas in June 1865. It collects 160 pieces by more than one hundred participants and observers, among them Abraham Lincoln, William T. Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Walt Whitman, Henry Adams, and Herman Melville, as well as Union officers Charles Harvey Brewster, James A. Connolly, and Stephen Minot Weld; Confederate diarists Catherine Edmondston, Kate Stone, and Judith W. McGuire; freed slaves Spottswood Rice, Garrison Frazier, and Frances Johnson; and Confederate soldiers J.F.J. Caldwell, Samuel T. Foster, and William Pegram. The selections include vivid and haunting firsthand accounts of battles and campaigns—the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Atlanta, the Crater, Franklin, and Sherman’s march through Georgia and the Carolinas—as well as of the Fort Pillow massacre; the struggle to survive inside Andersonville prison; the burning of Columbia and Richmond; the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment; the surrender at Appomattox; and Lincoln’s assassination. The Civil War: The Final Year includes an introduction, headnotes, a chronology of events, biographical and explanatory endnotes, full-color endpaper maps, and an index.

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Book SynopsisWritten by an expert on modern special forces units and the operations they undertake, this book explains the evolution of the Rangers'' missions in Panama, the first Gulf War, Somalia, and the post-9/11 invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. It reveals the training and organizational changes that the unit has undergone and investigates, in particular, how their doctrine and mantra have changed during the fourteen-year war in Afghanistan. At the beginning of the war, the Rangers were an elite light infantry unit of men tasked with short-duration recon raids and securing ground behind enemy lines in support of Special Forces--eventually becoming a special-mission unit themselves--on the cusp of being assigned to the Joint Special Operations Command.Table of ContentsIntroduction – the ‘ranger’ in history, as a behind-the-lines guerrilla soldier – the US Army Rangers, from World War II to Vietnam and after/ Changes in structure and operational remit since the 1980s – Ranger Indocrination Program, Ranger Assessment & Selection Program, Ranger School, and the Ranger Regiment/ Operation Just Cause: Panama, 1989 – the Rangers’ last ‘conventional war’/ Op Desert Storm: Iraq, 1991 – from combat search-and-rescue to long-range heliborne assault/ Op Gothic Serpent: Somalia, 1993 – the lessons of ‘Black Hawk Down!’/ Op Enduring Freedom: Afghanistan, 2001-present – the wide range of missions accomplished, and coordination with other special units/ Op Iraqi Freedom, 2003-1010 – from hunting Scuds, to hunting down al-Qaeda as part of the JSOC Task Force – comparisons with Afghanistan/ The evolution of the modern Ranger – the Ranger Reconaissance Company & Regimental Special Troops Battalion/ The future/ Weapons, equipment and vehicles/ Bibliography

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Book SynopsisWhen the 160 men of Charlie Company (4th Battalion/47th Infantry/9th ID) were drafted by the US Army in May 1966, they were part of the wave of conscription that would swell the American military to 80,000 combat troops in theater by the height of the war in 1968. In the spring of 1966, the war was still popular and the draftees of Charlie Company saw their service as a rite of passage. But by December 1967, when the company rotated home, only 30 men were not casualties-and they were among the first vets of the war to be spit on and harassed by war protestors as they arrived back the U.S.In his new book, The Boys of ''67, Andy Wiest, the award-winning author of Vietnam''s Forgotten Army and The Vietnam War 1956-1975, examines the experiences of a company from the only division in the Vietnam era to train and deploy together in similar fashion to WWII''s famous 101st Airborne Division.Wiest interviewed more than 50 officers and enlisted men who served with Charlie ComTrade Review"Thoughtful and richly detailed, this outstanding account ... takes us into the forbidding Mekong River Delta with the men of Charlie Company, to witness their harrowing firefights and their fleeting victories." Hugh Ambrose, author of The Pacific "compelling... a fine blend of military and social history, sympathetic, well-written but analytically rigorous." Professor Gary Sheffield, BBC History Magazine Best Books of the Year 2012 "The Boys of '67 is an exceptionally well researched and well told story of a US Army infantry company in Vietnam. Charlie Company trained together, fought together, and bled together. Andrew Weist sheds light and understanding on the human and psychological dimension of war and the aftermath ... It is a story of courage, comradeship, tribulation, suffering, and perseverance." Brigadier General H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty "The Boys of '67 ... is a story of men who routinely put their lives into each others' hands. It is a story of fear and heroism, of waste, confusion, boredom and their impact on those who return home. Wiest's empathy and perception make the book as emotionally compelling as it is intellectually penetrating, impossible to read with a detached mind or dry eyes." Dennis Showalter, author of Hitler's Panzers: The Lightning Attacks that Revolutionized Warfare "A powerful account of conflict, Andrew Wiest's The Boys of '67 provides what is all-too-rare, a 'face of battle' account that is at once scholarly and well-written, perceptive and engaging." Jeremy Black, author of War since 1945 "This is a story of men at war in the tradition of Band of Brothers. It is a remarkable book written by a master storyteller and meticulous historian. Professor Wiest effectively demonstrates in extremely personal terms the impact of the war, both good and bad, on the soldiers who did the fighting, while also very eloquently addressing the cost of the war on those left behind at home. I cannot recommend it strongly enough, particularly for fellow Vietnam veterans and their families, military historians, and anyone interested in what American soldiers went through in the Vietnam War." James H. Willbanks, PhD, Vietnam veteran and author of Abandoning Vietnam and The Battle of An Loc "In the final analysis, this book is a superb story of a US Army company in combat... The Boys of '67 is simply a story about war, the things men do in war and the things war does to them. The saga of the American soldier remains an important story that deserves to be told. Readers are in Wiest's debt for making Charlie Company's story accessible to the American public." Col Cole C. Kingseed, USA Ret. Despite that melancholy feel this is a book that I can thoroughly recommend. It gives a valuable insight into the life of the ordinary soldier early in the American involvement in Vietnam, and includes a fascinating series of post-war biographies, tracing the often difficult struggles of many of the survivors to adapt to their post-war lives. - History of WarTable of ContentsPreface: Meeting Charlie Introduction: The Need for Charlie Prelude: Losing the Best We Had Chapter 1: Who Was Charlie? Chapter 2: Training Chapter 3: To Vietnam and into the Rung Sat Chapter 4: Into Battle Chapter 5: The Day Everything Changed Chapter 6: The Steady Drumbeat of War Chapter 7: Charlie Transformed, Battlefield Coda, and the Freedom Bird Chapter 8: Home From War Glossary The Men of Charlie Company Bibliography Acknowledgements Dedication Index

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Book SynopsisThe Western-led efforts to establish a new post-Taliban order in Afghanistan are in serious trouble, and in this book Suhrke sets out to explain why. She begins with the dynamic of the intervention and its related peace-building mission. What were the forces shaping this grand international project? What explains the apparent systemic bias towards a deeper and broader international involvement? Many reasons have been cited for its limited achievements and ever-growing difficulties, the most common explanation being that the national, regional, and international contexts were unfavourable. But many policies were misguided while the multinational operation itself was extraordinarily and unnecessarily complex. Astri Suhrke's main thesis is that the international project itself contains serious tensions and contradictions that significantly contributed to the lack of progress. As a result, the deepening involvement proved dysfunctional: massive international support has created an extreme version of a rentier state that is predictably weak, corrupt and unaccountable; US-led military operations undercut the peacebuilding agenda, and more international aid and monitoring to correct the problems generate Afghan resentment and evasion. Continuing these policies will only reinforce the dynamic. The alternative is a less intrusive international presence, a longer time-frame for reconstruction and change, and negotiations with the militants that can end the war and permit a more Afghan-directed order to emerge.Trade Review'Astri Suhrke has produced a brilliant expose of the failure of international efforts to construct a stable post-Taliban order in Afghanistan. Her analysis is to the point and very balanced, and her conclusions very instructive. She tells us very convincingly why and where the international involvement has gone wrong, and what would be an appropriate strategy for the international community to adopt. Her book deserves to be read as widely as possible.' * Amin Saikal, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, Australian National University *'When More is Less is a timely, lively, and dispassionate investigation into the causes and consequences of the disappointing modern history of peacebuilding in Afghanistan. As someone who has been involved with Afghanistan for over two decades, and has studied various UN interventions in places like Kosovo and Rwanda, Astri Suhrke is well positioned to use her tremendous knowledge to sort through these critical issues - and suggest not only how things might have been different in Afghanistan, but also how things can be different the next time the international community undertakes a peacebuilding project.' * Michael Barnett, University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science, George Washington University *'The failure of the international coalition in Afghanistan is a major event that we still have to cope with. Astri Suhrke's book is a first solid step towards understanding the internal contradiction between the liberal project of the "international community" and the rational of the U.S. military on the ground.' * Gilles Dorronsoro, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace *'In this exhaustively researched book, Astri Suhrke provides a trenchant and persuasive account of the evolution of Western peace-building and state-building in Afghanistan since 2001, and of the dynamic of deepening engagement in the face of disappointing results. It is essential reading for scholars, foreign and defence policy practitioners, and the informed public.' * S. N. MacFarlane, Lester B. Pearson Professor of International Relations Oxford University *'Astri Suhrke's book contains the pithiest description I know of where Afghanistan will be in 2014 - - if the self-deceiving spin of progress underway continues - - "a large number of men with arms, but weak institutions". She dissects, with an unblinking eye, how we got there, thanks to the stifling "military embrace" of Operation Afghanistan.' * Thomas Ruttig, Co-Director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent Kabul-based think-tank *

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Book SynopsisThe Taliban are synonymous with the war in Afghanistan. Doughty, uncompromising fighters, they plant IEDs, deploy suicide bombers and wage guerrilla warfare. While much has been written about their military tactics, media strategy and harsh treatment of women, the cultural and sometimes less overtly political representation of their identity, the Taliban's other face, is often overlooked. Most Taliban fighters are Pashtuns, a people who cherish their vibrant poetic tradition, closely associated with that of song. The poems in this collection are meant to be recited and sung; and this is the manner in which they are enjoyed by the wider Pashtun public today. From audiotapes traded in secret in the bazaars of Kandahar, to mp3s exchanged via bluetooth in Kabul, to video files downloaded in Dubai and London, Taliban poetry has an appeal that transcends the insurgency. For the Taliban today, these poems, or ghazals, have a resonance back to the 1980s war against the Soviets, when similar rhetorical styles, poetic formulae and tricks with metre inspired mujahideen combatants and non-combatants alike. The poetry presented here includes 'classics' of the genre from the 1980s and 1990s as well as a selection from the odes and ghazals of today's conflict . Veering from nationalist paeans to dirges replete with religious symbolism, the poems are organised under four headings - - War, Pastoral, Religious and Love - - and cover many themes and styles. The political is intertwined with the aesthetic, the celebratory cry is never far from the funeral dirge and praise of martyrs lost. Two prefatory essays introduce the cultural and historical context of the poetry. The editors discuss its importance to the Pashtuns and highlight how poetic themes correspond to the past thirty years of war in Afghanistan. Faisal Devji comments on what the poetry reveals of the Taliban's emotional and ethical hinterland.Trade Review'A book that shouldn't be missed!' - Washington Post 'Much of the poetry here appeals to the heart rather than the head, engendering sympathy for the speakers' plight. That these poems put us in this uncomfortable place is the most impressive achievement of the anthology.' * The Guardian *'The verse assembled in Poetry of the Taliban is by turns bombastic and introspective, dark and mirthful, ugly and lyrical - and perhaps above all, surprising in its unabashedly emotional tone.' * Los Angeles Times *

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Book SynopsisNot Made by Slaves describes the efforts of early-nineteenth-century businesses to end plantation slavery by promoting commerce in legitimate goods. Exploring the work of activists and businesses, Bronwen Everill adds an important dimension to the history of capitalism and its development under slavery.Trade ReviewImpressive scholarship…[Readers] will be rewarded with greater understanding of historical developments that changed the relationship between consumers and producers in a global economy in ways that reverberate to this day. -- Marc M. Arkin * Wall Street Journal *Everill repositions West Africa as central to the broader Atlantic story of 18th and 19th century economic morality, its relationship with commercial ethics, and the expansion of capitalism. -- Kofi Adjepong-Boateng * Financial Times *An exceptional interpretation of how the Atlantic world envisioned social responsibility and how some people faced questions about ethical capitalism that still vex us today. -- Alessandra McLoughlin * Origins *Offers a penetrating new perspective on abolition in the British Empire by spotlighting a particular cast of characters: the commercial abolitionists in West Africa who fashioned a consumer-focused, business-friendly antislavery ethics. These figures sought to prove the moral and economic superiority of non-slave labor while profiting from the transition away from slavery…Impressive. -- Dale Kretz * Jacobin *[A] brisk jaunt through decades of history…This is a book that intervenes masterfully in various fields…[and] can be read profitably alongside the burgeoning scholarship that seeks to understand the rise and evolution of capitalism itself. -- Gerald Horne * Society for U.S. Intellectual History *[An] incisive history of political economy. -- Michael Taylor * London Review of Books *Intriguing…Armed with fresh insights from the new history of slavery and capitalism, Everill argues that scholars must launch a renewed investigation into the origins of abolitionism in the Atlantic World. If—as the new history contends—slavery was itself capitalist, then we can no longer assume that the triumph of capitalism made abolitionism inevitable…Not Made by Slaves successfully knits together U.S. and West African history in novel ways that will make it especially useful and exciting for early Americanists looking to expand their transnational reach. -- Samantha Payne * Business History Review *A fascinating, well-written book about abolitionists’ efforts to construct an antislavery economic island in a global capitalism system shaped by slavery-generated profit. -- Edward E. Baptist, author of The Half Has Never Been ToldIn this deeply researched and elegantly written book, Everill follows the merchants and activists in West Africa, Europe, and the Americas who hoped to purify capitalism. Not Made by Slaves is a surprising, searching, and thoughtful examination of an overlooked but essential problem in the history of slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic world. -- Padraic X. Scanlan, author of Freedom’s DebtorsWhere did fair trade come from? As we learn in this innovative book, it emerged in multiple parts of the nineteenth-century Atlantic world as activists, merchants, and producers grappled with the complications of ending and replacing slavery. This is an important, truly transnational history of the fraught development of capitalism and the politics of ethical consumption that are still with us today. -- Lisa A. Lindsay, author of Atlantic BondsA rich, exciting, and thought-provoking examination of how a global system was constructed from the bottom up. Everill demonstrates how abolitionists turned consumers into the moral compass of capitalism, a shift that obscured the other ethical dilemmas capitalism posed, from poorly paid labor to the sale of ethically dubious goods—a framework of justification whose legacies continue to this day. -- Joanna Cohen, author of Luxurious CitizensIn an insightful and important book, Everill offers a fresh perspective on abolition by examining how abolitionists used free trade to undermine slavery and the slave trade. A real strength of the work is her focus on the central role that West African trade and radical experiments in Sierra Leone and Liberia played in shaping both Atlantic abolition and commercial reform. -- Randy J. Sparks, author of Where the Negroes Are MastersIn this groundbreaking exploration of ethical capitalism in the age of Atlantic empire and slavery, Everill digs down into the efforts aimed at making an immoral trade just. Giving equal attention to North America, Europe, and West Africa, she carefully documents the struggle to buy, sell, and consume according to ideas of free and fair trade. With the morality of global capitalism under the microscope today, this is a book for our times. -- Emma Hart, author of Trading Spaces

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Book SynopsisOne of the most decisive battles in military history, Waterloo saw the culmination of a generation of war to bring a definitive end to French hegemony and imperial ambitions in Europe. Both sides fought bitterly and Wellington later remarked that ‘it was the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life’.In this bloody engagement, more than 20,000 men were lost on the battlefield that day by each side, but it was the Anglo-Allies who emerged victorious. Their forces entered France and restored Louis XVIII to the throne, while Napoleon was exiled to the island of Saint Helena, where he later died.Waterloo was a resounding victory for the British Army and Allied forces, and it changed the course of European history. In this concise yet detailed account, historian Gregory Fremont-Barnes tells you everything you need to know about this critical battle.

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Book SynopsisLeaps straight onto the roster of essential reading for anyone even vaguely interested in Grant and the Civil War.Ron Chernow, author of GrantProvides leadership lessons that can be obtained nowhere else Ulysses Grant in his Memoirs gives us a unique glimpse of someone who found that the habit of reflection could serve as a force multiplier for leadership.Thomas E. Ricks, Foreign PolicyUlysses S. Grant's memoirs, sold door-to-door by former Union soldiers, were once as ubiquitous in American households as the Bible. Mark Twain and Henry James hailed them as great literature, and countless presidents credit Grant with influencing their own writing. This is the first comprehensively annotated edition of Grant's memoirs, clarifying the great military leader's thoughts on his life and times through the end of the Civil War and offering his invaluable perspective on battlefield decision making. With annotations compiled by the editors of the Ulysses S. Grant Association's Presidential Library, this definitive edition enriches our understanding of the pre-war years, the war with Mexico, and the Civil War. Grant provides essential insight into how rigorously these events tested America's democratic institutions and the cohesion of its social order. What gives this peculiarly reticent book its power? Above all, authenticity Grant's style is strikingly modern in its economy.T. J. Stiles, New York TimesIt's been said that if you're going to pick up one memoir of the Civil War, Grant's is the one to read. Similarly, if you're going to purchase one of the several annotated editions of his memoirs, this is the collection to own, read, and reread.Library JournalTrade ReviewAs the first fully annotated edition of Ulysses S. Grant’s Personal Memoirs, this fine volume leaps straight onto the roster of essential reading for anyone even vaguely interested in Grant and the Civil War. The book is deeply researched, but it introduces its scholarship with a light touch that never interferes with the reader’s enjoyment of Grant’s fluent narrative. John F. Marszalek and the folks at the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library are building a formidable array of books illuminating many aspects of the general’s life. -- Ron Chernow, author of GrantA richly annotated new edition… What gives this peculiarly reticent book its power? Above all, authenticity. If Grant’s voice is never confessional, it almost never rings false… Grant’s style is strikingly modern in its economy. -- T. J. Stiles * New York Times *[This] new edition, the most thoroughly annotated ever produced, provides the general reader and scholar alike with detailed access to the general’s early life and military career. -- David W. Blight * New York Review of Books *If Mark Twain called Grant’s Memoirs ‘a great, unique and unapproachable literary masterpiece,’ The Complete Annotated Edition is its ‘unique’ companion. Renowned Civil War historian John Marszalek and his team of editors are owed our gratitude. Their annotated edition will increase appreciation among both longtime admirers and a new generation discovering why Grant is winning his deserved place among American leaders. -- Ronald C. White, author of American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. GrantGrant’s style is direct and plain, but it has a kind of quiet music to it, the indescribable quality of an authentic voice. There is a level of intimacy that no amount of confessional writing could guarantee. Grant’s assessment of the Civil War and the decisions that went into its waging is mostly brisk and engaging, but what really compelled me through the book were the psychological insights on nearly every page—both of the prominent men whom Grant encountered and of the masses of people whose desires and fears he recognized, sympathized with, and often exploited. Grant’s ability to be empathetic and ruthless in the span of a few sentences—coolly calculating the costs of losing lives against the benefits of pushing on; testing what Southerners could bear and what would make them break—is consistently on display. Whatever Grant hides in his memoir is less than what he reveals. He was a man who could cringe at the cruelty of a bullfight but was willing to send men into certain slaughter to gain a riverbank, a man who understood both dignity and disgrace. -- Louisa Thomas * New Yorker *Of the many editions of the memoirs, I recommend the annotated edition published by Harvard University Press overseen by John F. Marszalek, director of the U. S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State, for its invaluable notes identifying almost every personage mentioned by Grant, expanding on incidents and events Grant glosses over and even correcting his occasional misstatements. -- Michael Hiltzik * Los Angeles Times *[R]espect for Grant can only be reinforced by reading…The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. This is the best presidential memoir written, once earning praise from no less than Mark Twain… Grant wrote in a clear and logical style, much as he issued orders, which brings the day-to-day challenges and tremors of war to his readership with never a suggestion of embellishment. -- Stephen Loosley * The Australian *A brilliant new annotated version. -- Steve Donoghue * Open Letters Monthly *The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant provides leadership lessons that can be obtained nowhere else…Ulysses Grant in his Memoirs gives us a unique glimpse of someone who found that the habit of reflection could serve as a force multiplier for leadership. -- Thomas E. Ricks * Foreign Policy *Ron Chernow’s Grant has been a national bestseller, deservedly so, but we think that the new edition of The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, edited and annotated [by] John F. Marszalek[,] should share that spotlight. Possibly the best presidential memoir written, annotations by Marszalek with David Nolen and Louis Gallo illuminate and contextualize the memoir for the modern reader. -- Lyn Roberts * Literary Hub *[Grant’s] memoirs, presented at last in an impressive scholarly edition by John F. Marszalek, were the fruit of a last triumphant battle…Grant’s own words restore him to the pantheon of great soldier-presidents. He stands alongside Washington, Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower, a select company to which he has always rightfully belonged. -- Nigel Jones * History Today *A worthy capstone to compliment the now completed thirty-two volume The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant…Marszalek, et. al., have done a thorough job in annotating Grant’s text…Readers of this well-constructed and highly recommended edition of Grant’s Memoirs will not fail to appreciate the man’s modesty, but they should also keep in mind that under that modesty lay a cold-blooded willingness to keep right on. -- Larry A. Grant * Civil War Book Review *The most copious annotated edition of Grant’s indispensable memoirs to date… It’s been said that if you’re going to pick up one memoir of the Civil War, Grant’s is the one to read. Similarly, if you’re going to purchase one of the several annotated editions of his memoirs, this is the collection to own, read, and reread. * Library Journal *

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Book SynopsisAcross the nine thematic chapters of Experiencing Medieval Art, renowned art historian Herbert L. Kessler considers functional objects as well as paintings and sculptures; the circumstances, processes, and materials of production; the conflictual relationship between art objects and notions of an ineffable deity; the context surrounding medieval art; and questions of apprehension, aesthetics, and modern presentation. He also introduces the exciting discoveries and revelations that have revolutionized contemporary understanding of medieval art and identifies the vexing challenges that still remain. With 16 color plates and 81 images in allincluding the stained glass of Chartres Cathedral, the mosaics of San Marco, and the Utrecht Psalter, as well as newly discovered works such as the frescoes in Rome’s aula gotica and a twelfth-century aquamanile in HildesheimExperiencing Medieval Art makes the complex history of medieval art accessible for students Trade Review"Incorporating abundant multilingual publications, this engaging study will serve as an indispensable reference book and catalyst for further inquiry. The figures and plates were well chosen and elaborated on throughout the work. It is laudatory that Kessler made such an encompassing study flow so seamlessly and invitingly." -- Elizabeth Marie Sandoval, Williams College Museum of Art * Journal of British Studies *"Experiencing Medieval Art taught me a great deal about medieval art. Its comprehensive index provides a useful starting point for doing research into individual topics like The Last Supper or a medium like stained glass and many more. Individual chapters might easily be assigned in an undergraduate classroom, or the work as a whole would serve any medievalist’s library well. It is an excellent resource for faculty wanting to speak more effectively about medieval material in their own classrooms." -- Christina Francis, Bloomsburg University * Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface 1. Object 2. Matter 3. Making 4. Spirit 5. Book 6. Church 7. Life (and Death) 8. Performance 9. Subject Epilogue Notes Photo Credits Index

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Book SynopsisOn November 29, 1864, over 150 Native Americans, mostly women, children, and elderly, were slaughtered in one of the most infamous cases of state-sponsored violence in U.S. history. Kelman examines how generations of Americans have struggled with the question of whether the nation’s crimes, as well as its achievements, should be memorialized.Trade ReviewA Misplaced Massacre…recounts and analyses the ways in which generations of Americans, both white and Native American, have struggled—and as the book’s subtitle intimates, still struggle—to come to terms with the meaning of the attack. It is an important book, and its most brilliant chapter, which follows the order of events at the opening ceremonies, in April 2007, of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, shows that positions taken by the various speakers on that day still echoed the differing views expressed a hundred years earlier by Chivington, Soule and Bent… Kelman provides a nuanced and virtually complete account of each of the chronological phases and of the eddying currents of opinion in the movement towards the opening of the Historic Site… The book functions as an instructive lesson in public history, and Kelman shows how the massacre positively intersects with its legacy. -- Mick Gidley * Times Literary Supplement *This innovative book offers a balanced assessment of the 1864 confrontation as well as a richly nuanced detective story about the use and misuse of historical events to satisfy present-day agendas. -- M. L. Tate * Choice *Vividly captures the controversy and pain that accompanied this reopening of a dark chapter in American history. * Kirkus Reviews *Joining a historian’s gift for thorough research and interpretive nuance with a journalist’s flair for vivid reportage and telling interviews, Kelman tracks the ghosts of Sand Creek through the borderlands of history and memory. Anyone who cares about Colorado, the North American West, the legacies of the Civil War, and Native American peoples must read A Misplaced Massacre and meditate upon the unsettling lessons of the story it tells. -- Thomas G. Andrews, author of Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor WarA Misplaced Massacre places indigenous peoples at the center of an expansive vision of the American West. More nuanced and less assured, western history remains alive and well in Kelman’s sobering account of the unresolved legacies of Sand Creek. -- Ned Blackhawk, author of Violence over the Land: Indians and Empires in the Early American WestWith wit, insight, and always with sympathy, A Misplaced Massacre chronicles the torturous drive to memorialize the horrors perpetrated at Sand Creek in 1864. This is a detective story, a page-turner, and a poignant, multidimensional exploration of history’s enduring power over the present. A smart and humane book. -- Brian DeLay, author of War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.–Mexican WarA profound and sympathetic book. Kelman artfully weaves together multiple storylines across time, including the Sand Creek Massacre, the efforts of the National Park Service to memorialize the event, and the Indian struggle to make oral history stick as a legitimate form of knowledge. I could not put it down because of the power of the storytelling—including a fantastic plot twist—as well as the clarity of the writing and the compelling nature of the lessons it offers about history, memory, and the meaning of the past. -- Philip J. Deloria, author of Indians in Unexpected PlacesBrilliant and beautifully written—a powerful meditation on the long shadows that the past continues to cast into the present. I know of no other book quite like it. -- Karl Jacoby, author of Shadows at Dawn: An Apache Massacre and the Violence of HistoryKelman has the rare ability to blend the rigor of a scholar with the storytelling talent of the best novelist. With exquisite detail, he brings alive the fascinating cast of characters—historical and contemporary—that shaped the story of Sand Creek. A Misplaced Massacre is a very important book that does justice to one of the searing stories of our history and one of the most potent sites on our historic landscape. -- Edward T. Linenthal, author of Sacred Ground: Americans and Their Battlefields

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Book SynopsisSean Naylor is a senior writer for the Army Times. He has covered the Afghan mujahideen's war against the Soviets, and American military operations in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Named one of the 22 "unsung" influential print reporters in Washington by American Journalism Review in May 2002, he earned the White House Correspondents' Association's prestigious Edgar A. Poe Award for his coverage of Operation Anaconda.

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Book SynopsisIn the aftermath of the Civil War, thousands of former slaves made their way from the South to the Kansas plains. Called ‘Exodusters’, they were searching for their own promised land. Bryan Jack now tells the story of this American exodus as it played out in St. Louis, a key stop in the journey west.Trade ReviewJack does an excellent job of outlining one of the most important events in American history."" - The North Carolina Historical Review

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Book SynopsisEagle pilot Rick “Kluso” Tollini’s life has embodied childhood dreams and the reality of what the American experience could produce. In his memoir, Call Sign Kluso, Rick puts the fraught minutes above the Iraqi desert that made him an ace into the context of a full life; exploring how he came to be flying a F-15C in Desert Storm, and how that day became a pivotal moment in his life.Rick’s first experience of flying was in a Piper PA-18 over 1960s’ California as a small boy, and his love of flying through his teenage years was fostered by his pilot father, eventually blossoming into a decision to join the Air Force as a pilot in his late twenties. Having trained to fly jets he was assigned to fly the F-15 Eagle with the “Dirty Dozen,” the 12th Tactical Fighter Squadron, at Kadena AB, Japan before returning Stateside to the 58th Tactical Fighter Squadron “The Gorillas.” Throughout training Reagan’s fighter pilots expected to face was the Soviet Union, but Rick’s first combat deployment was Desert Storm. He recounts the planning, the preparation, and the missions, the life of a fighter pilot in a combat zone and the reality of combat. Rick’s aerial victory was one of 16 accumulated by the Gorillas, the most by any squadron during Desert Storm.Returning from the combat skies of Iraq, Rick continued a successful fulfilling Air Force career until, struggling to make sense of his life, he turned to Buddhism. His practice led him to leave the Air Force, to find a new vocation, and to finally come to terms with shooting down that MiG-25 Foxbat in the desert all those years before. Most importantly, he came to a deeper understanding of the importance of our shared humanity.Trade ReviewI highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what flying the F-15 Eagle was like, what life on a fighter squadron is like, and anyone with an interest in Cold War aviation or Desert Storm air combat. This is a book you will not be able to put down once you are strapped in the cockpit with KLUSO! * Aviation Enthusiast Book Club *…without doubt one of the more honest and approachable modern fighter pilot accounts you are likely to find. * Flight Line Book Review 08/11/2021 *Table of ContentsForeword Chapter 1 The Wonder Years Chapter 2 Middlefield Avenue Chapter 3 SJSU Chapter 4 OTS and Chandler, AZ Chapter 5 The Dirty Dozen Chapter 6 The Gorillas Chapter 7 Tabuk Chapter 8 DESERT STORM Chapter 9 Return to the Dozen Chapter 10 The Long and Winding Road Chapter 11 The Buddha and The Fighter Pilot Prologue Final thoughts on what it means to be a “fighter pilot”

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Book SynopsisLord Chelmsford is not a bad man. He is industrious and conscientious so far as his lights guide him. But nature has refused to him the qualities of a great captain. He has suffered much and is entitled to certain commiseration. - Thomas Gibson Bowles, Vanity Fair General Lord Chelmsford's military career took him around the world; he served in the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny and the Abyssinian Expedition, before commanding the British invasion of the Zulu Kingdom in South Africa. In January 1879, disaster struck when Chelmsford divided his forces at Isandlwana in the face of the enemy and the Zulu overwhelmed his camp, killing more than 1,300 of its defenders. Such a defeat was almost unprecedented in a Victorian colonial campaign. Despite Chelmsford's later victories at Gingindlovu and Ulundi, he was humiliatingly relieved of his command. His responsibility for Isandlwana dogged him for the rest of his days, and he would forever be associated with this historic defeat. In this comprehensive new biography, Anglo-Zulu War specialist John Laband, explores the personal character and military career of Lord Chelmsford, providing a well-rounded, well-balanced and well-informed picture of this complex military figure.

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Book SynopsisThis innovative study of one of the most important writers of Russian Golden Age literature argues that Gogol adopted a deliberate hybrid identity to mimic and mock the pretensions of the dominant culture.Trade Review"This innovative, multidisciplinary study of the life and work of Nikolai Gogol (1809–52) explores his complex identity as a nineteenth-century writer of Ukrainian origin who contradictorily achieved world renown as an icon of Russian literature." -- K. Rosneck, University of Wisconsin-Madison * CHOICE *"Her approach is necessarily and wonderfully multidisciplinary, and one fully expects that Nikolai Gogol will appeal to scholars of Russian and Ukrainian literature, ethnicity and nationalism, and critical theory and the digital humanities in Slavic studies for years to come." -- Nicholas Kupensky, US Air Force Academy * H-Net Reviews *"Ilchuk’s exploration of Gogol’s hybrid identity and language raises fascinating questions and provides profound insights, and her book is a valuable contribution to Gogolian scholarship. The issues and questions she raises provide fertile ground for additional scholarship, and that is a mark of a genuinely significant book." -- Michael R. Kelly, Brigham Young University * Slavic Review *“It is hard to think what more this book could do. Devoted to the topic of identity in its dizzying complexity, it is theoretically sophisticated, clearly and engagingly written, methodologically bold, and rich in detail. Ultimately Ilchuk’s aim, in the best spirit of the theorists whose ideas she mobilizes, is not only to provide an objective analysis of an oeuvre, idiom, and life, but also to show its positive generative potential. She succeeds.” -- Timothy Langen, University of Missouri * Modern Language Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Note on Transliteration List of Illustrations Introduction 1. The Negotiation of Ukrainian Identities in the Russian Empire 2. Gogol’s Self-Fashioning and Performance of Identity in the 1830s 3. Hybrid Language and Narrative Performance in Evenings on a Farm Near Dikan′ka 4. Heteroglossia, Speech Masks, and the Synthesis of Languages 5. Gogol’s Texts as Palimpsest: Taras Bulba and Dead Souls 6. The Posthumous Publications and Translations of Gogol’s Texts Afterword Notes Appendix Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDavid L. Ransel is Robert F. Byrnes Professor of History and Director of the Russian and East European Institute at Indiana University.Bozena Shallcross is Associate Professor of Polish Literature at the University of Chicago.

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Book SynopsisIn 1798, with the fear of a French invasion, the Percy Tenantry Volunteers were one of many volunteer corps preparing to defend our shores. Raised by the 2nd Duke of Northumberland, his force consisted of cavalry, riflemen and artillery. Shows how such a corps was organised and how they were fashioned into an elite and innovative fighting force.Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1 Thorighwegeri - The Warrior Duke What's in a name An unlikely soldier Europe beckons Settling down The Boston dinner party The smell of powder Lexington The cartographer The leaving of Boston New York and Rhode Island Home and Portugal Chapter Two: Countdown to War The world turned upside down 'Britain to arms' Invasion! The response Alnwick. A storm brews Chapter Three: Organisation Structure Second Embodiment 1803 Recruitment Regulations and discipline Transport Cost Supplies and maintenance Ammunition Chapter Four: Incidents and Accidents and cause for celebration The casualties of war The False Alarm Impressment Mass resignation The Battle of Brizlee Tower, 1805 The Kings Jubilee Fire Presentation of new standards Chapter Five: The Percy Infantry Light Infantry and irregulars The Percy Infantry 1798 Marksmanship 1803 Riflemen Aiming for the bullseye Musters and ale Permanent duty Chapter Six: The Cavalry and Artillery Horses First steps, 1798 Exercise Mastering The artillery: the beginning The crew Training and inspections Experiments Wall gun detachments Chapter Seven: Bugles and Song The bugle horn Training Parades and pay Duties of a bugle Verse and song Uniform Chapter Eight: Uniforms and Equipment Cavalry uniform Weapons Infantry and riflemen Weaponry 1798 Riflemen uniform 1803 Ill-fitting uniforms Accoutrements Cartridge boxes Powder horns and flasks Brush and prickers Screw and worm Bullet bags Frogs Ancillary items Rifles The artillery Wall guns (amusettes) Ancillary equipment Tubes Linstock Flint strikers Balls and sabots Chapter Nine: Burning Embers (peacetime Volunteers) Disbandment A third embodiment The household artillery The Tenantry column Chapter Ten: The Men Sir David William Smith 1764 -1837 The railway men: Blackett, Hedley and Hackworth Christopher Blackett 1751-1829 William Hedley 1779 -1843 Timothy Hackworth 1789 -1850 Major John Watson Major Latham Blacker John Craven, Sergeant Major Reverend James Birkett, Sergeant Forster Rattray, Sergeant Captain John Toppin Appendix Northumberland military forces 198-1814 The militia Army of reserve Fencibles Sea fencibles Provisional cavalry Yeomanry cavalry Pioneer companies Instructions for the Armed Association of Percy Tenantry Infantry 1798 Select Bibliography Index Acknowledgements Author Biography

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