Specific wars and military campaigns Books

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 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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Book SynopsisThis work offers a contemporaneous portrait of Old Virginia, her unwavering stance on State sovereignty, and her fight to the death to defend the fundamental principle upon which the Republic was founded.

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Book SynopsisA revisionary account, by a leading scholar, of the turbulent decade of the 1790s, during which radical ideas spread to Britain from revolutionary France and were circulated and popularised in new ways. The study offers a general account together with case studies of key individuals of the period. This title is also available as Open Access.Trade Review'A fascinating and insightful look at a very dangerous time in British history, Mee's excellent book also speaks directly to us in the early 21st century as radicals once more try to disrupt civilisation.' Sun News Austin (www.sunnewsaustin.com)'… [this is] a book of very high quality, a cultural history both nourished by … deep research in archives and problematized by theoretical contributions through very fine micro-readings.' Rémy Duthille, translated from Revue de la Société d'études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe sièclesTable of ContentsIntroduction: the open theatre of the world?; Part I. Publicity, Print, and Association: 1. Popular radical print culture: 'the more public the better'; 2. The radical associations and 'the general will'; Part II. Radical Personalities: 3. 'Once a squire and now a man': Robert Merry and the pains of politics; 4. 'The ablest head, with the blackest heart:' Charles Pigott and the scandal of radicalism; 5. Citizen Lee at 'The tree of liberty'; 6. John Thelwall and the 'whole will of the nation'.

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Book SynopsisThis volume narrates the major battles and campaigns of the conflict, conveying the full military experience during the Civil War. The military encounters between Union and Confederate soldiers and between both armies and irregular combatants and true non-combatants structured the four years of war. These encounters were not solely defined by violence, but military encounters gave the war its central architecture. Chapters explore well-known battles, such as Antietam and Gettysburg, as well as military conflict in more abstract places, defined by political qualities (like the border or the West) or physical ones (such as rivers or seas). Chapters also explore the nature of civil-military relations as Union armies occupied parts of the South and garrison troops took up residence in southern cities and towns, showing that the Civil War was not solely a series of battles but a sustained process that drew people together in more ambiguous settings and outcomes.Table of Contents1. Introduction. The Cambridge History of the American Civil War Aaron Sheehan-Dean; Part I. Major Battles and Campaigns: 2. The battles of Virginia, 1861 Hunter Lesser; 3. The battles of Tennessee, 1862 Timothy B. Smith; 4. The battles of the Trans-Mississippi, 1861–1863 William L. Shea; 5. The Peninsula Campaign Glenn D. Brasher; 6. The Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1862 and 1864 Kathryn J. Shively; 7. The Second Bull Run Campaign John Hennessy; 8. The Antietam Campaign D. Scott Hartwig; 9. The Western Theater, 1862-1863 Kenneth W. Noe; 10. The Battle of Fredericksburg Elizabeth Parnicza; 11. The Chancellorsville Campaign Christian B. Keller; 12. The Gettysburg Campaign Carol Reardon; 13. The Vicksburg Campaign Terrence J. Winschel; 14. The Battles of Tennessee, 1863 Daryl Black; 15. The Overland Campaign Gordon C. Rhea; 16. The Georgia Campaign Robert L. Glaze; 17. The Carolinas Campaign Lisa Tendrich Frank; 18. The Tennessee Campaign, 1864 William Lee White; 19. The Petersburg and Appomattox Campaigns William Marvel; Part II. Places: 20. War on the rivers Gary D. Joiner; 21. War on the waters Kurt Hackemer; 22. The blockade Robert Browning, Jr; 23. The border war Aaron Astor; 24. War in the Deep South Andrew F. Lang; 25. War in Appalachia Brian D. McKnight; 26. War in Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana Donald S. Frazier; 27. War in the West Kevin Adams; 28. War in Indian country Kevin Waite.

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Book SynopsisThis volume explores the political and social dimensions of the Civil War in both the North and South. Millions of Americans lived outside the major campaign zones so they experienced secondary exposure to military events through newspaper reporting and letters home from soldiers. Governors and Congressmen assumed a major role in steering the personnel decisions, strategic planning, and methods of fighting, but regular people also played roles in direct military action, as guerrilla fighters, as nurses and doctors, and as military contractors. Chapters investigate a variety of aspects of military leadership and management, including coverage of technology, discipline, finance, the environment, and health and medicine. Chapters also consider the political administration of the war, examining how antebellum disputes over issues such as emancipation and the draft resulted in a shift of partisan dynamics and the ways that people of all stripes took advantage of the flux of war to advance tTable of ContentsPart I. Causes: 1. The Antebellum war over slavery Stanley Harrold; 2. The election of 1860 Michael Green; 3. Secession and disunion Michael E. Woods; Part II. Managing the War: 4. Strategy, operations, and tactics Donald Stoker and Mark Elam; 5. Union military leadership Ethan S. Rafuse; 6. Confederate military leadership Steven Woodworth; 7. Technology and war Andrew S. Bledsoe; 8. Armies and discipline Lesley J. Gordon; 9. Financing the war David K. Thomson; 10. Guerrilla wars Barton A. Myers; 11. Occupation Joan E. Cashin; 12. Atrocities, retribution, and laws D. H. Dilbeck; 13. Environmental war Lisa M. Brady; 14. Civil war health and medicine Shauna Devine; 15. Prisoners of war Lorien Foote; Part III. The Global War: 16. The Civil War in the Americas Andre M. Fleche; 17. The Civil War in Europe Brian Schoen; Part IV. Politics: 18. Radicals and Republicans J. Matthew Gallman; 19. Northern Democrats Adam I. P. Smith; 20. Confederate politics Paul D. Escott; 21. Lincoln and the war Jonathan W. White; 22. Peace and dissent in the North Jennifer L. Weber; 23. African American political activism Stephen Kantrowitz; 24. Davis and the War John M. Sacher; 25. Peace and dissent in the South David Brown.

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Book SynopsisThis volume analyzes the cultural and intellectual impact of the war, considering how it reshaped Americans'' spiritual, cultural, and intellectual habits. The Civil War engendered an existential crisis more profound even than the changes of the previous decades. Its duration, scale, and intensity drove Americans to question how they understood themselves as people. The chapters in the third volume distinguish the varied impacts of the conflict in different places on people''s sense of themselves. Focusing on particular groups within the war, including soldiers, families, refugees, enslaved people, and black soldiers, the chapters cover a broad range of ways that participants made sense of the conflict as well as how the war changed their attitudes about gender, religion, ethnicity, and race. The volume concludes with a series of essays evaluating the ways Americans have memorialized and remembered the Civil War in art, literature, film, and public life.Table of ContentsPart I. Values: 1. Wartime masculinities James J. Broomall; 2. Northern women and the Civil War Nina Silber; 3. Southern women and the Civil War Sarah E. Gardner; 4. Religion in the Civil War era Timothy L. Wesley; 5. Economic and social values in the Civil War Brian P. Luskey; Part II. Social Experience: 6. Families in the Civil War James Marten; 7. Refugees and movement in the Civil War David Silkenat; 8. Citizen soldiers Susannah J. Ural; 9. Immigrant America and the Civil War David T. Gleeson; 10. Emancipation and war Yael A. Sternhell; 11. The black military experience Joseph P. Reidy; 12. Motives and morale Paul A. Cimbala; 13. Urban and rural America in the Civil War Frank Towers; Part III. Outcomes: 14. Making peace Elizabeth R. Varon; 15. Reconstruction during the Civil War Mark Wahlgren Summers; 16. Veterans and the postwar world Barbara A. Gannon; 17. The Civil War and the American state Gregory P. Downs; 18. The Civil War and American law Christian G. Samito; 19. The Civil War in visual art David C. Ward; 20. The Civil War in American thought Peter S. Carmichael; 21. The Civil War in literary memory John Casey; 22. The Civil War in film Craig A. Warren; 23. The Civil War in public memory Caroline E. Janney.

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Book SynopsisDuring South Vietnam''s brief life as a nation, it exhibited glimmers of democracy through citizen activism and a dynamic press. South Vietnamese activists, intellectuals, students, and professionals had multiple visions for Vietnam''s future as an independent nation. Some were anticommunists, while others supported the National Liberation Front and Hanoi. In the midst of war, South Vietnam represented the hope and chaos of decolonization and nation building during the Cold War. U.S. Embassy officers, State Department observers, and military advisers sought to cultivate a base of support for the Saigon government among local intellectuals and youth, but government arrests and imprisonment of political dissidents, along with continued war, made it difficult for some South Vietnamese activists to trust the Saigon regime. Meanwhile, South Vietnamese diplomats, including anticommunist students and young people who defected from North Vietnam, travelled throughout the world in efforts to drum up international support for South Vietnam. Drawing largely on Vietnamese language sources, Heather Stur demonstrates that the conflict in Vietnam was really three wars: the political war in Saigon, the military war, and the war for international public opinion.Trade Review'Stur has given us a fascinating and wonderfully readable account of South Vietnam's diverse political milieu during the American war. Using Vietnamese and American sources, she illuminates the failures of nation-building in light of the complex allegiances and activities of South Vietnam's own citizens. This is an immensely valuable contribution covering an understudied period in South Vietnam's domestic political history.' Jessica Chapman, Associate Professor of History, Williams College'In Saigon at War, Heather Stur depicts the vibrant and riotous political culture of South Vietnam's wartime capital. While Saigon had its share of corruption and dysfunction during the Vietnam War, it was also a city of students, soldiers, diplomats, religious leaders, peace activists, and communist agitprop agents In Stur's vivid account, Saigon was the place where South Vietnam's democratic aspirations rose and fell - a city in which violence and venality often collided with dreams of self-determination, liberation and peace.' Edward Miller, Associate Professor of History, Dartmouth College'Saigon at War is an insightful study of the complexities of the South Vietnamese capital during wartime. Impressively researched, including a deep dive into Vietnamese language archival sources, Stur's book introduces Vietnamese voices into the narrative of the political war in Saigon and the war for international public opinion, voices that all too often have been left out of the story of the war. This book very effectively rights that wrong and is a worthy and needed addition to the historiography of the war.' James H. Willbanks, Professor Emeritus of Military History, US Army Command and General Staff College and author of Abandoning Vietnam and A Raid Too Far'… Heather Stur makes an important contribution to the literature on the Vietnam War. Saigon at War is packed with interesting facts and sheds a light on a complex society, showing once again, that Vietnam is a country and not just a war.' Phi-vân Nguyen, War in History Book ReviewsTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. The Heart of South Vietnam: Saigon in the Sixties; 2. A Tradition of Activism 3. South Vietnam's Sixties Youth; 4. South Vietnam and the World; 5. Building Connections Between the People and the Government; 6. Saigon After Tet; 7. The Catholic Opposition and Political Repression; 8. Saigon in the Seventies; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisLincoln and the Democrats describes the vexatious behavior of a two-party system in war and points to the sound parts of the American system which proved to be the country''s salvation: local civic pride, and quiet nonpartisanship in mobilization and funding for the war, for example. While revealing that the role of a noxious ''white supremacy'' in American politics of the period has been exaggerated - as has the power of the Copperheads - Neely revives the claim that the Civil War put the country on the road to ''human rights'', and also uncovers a previously unnoticed tendency toward deceptive and impractical grandstanding on the Constitution during war in the United States.Trade Review'In this book, Mark Neely, Jr outlines what he considers to be the five big questions of the Civil War. And he gets them spot-on. We can pursue many other aspects and interests of the Civil War era, but these are the nuclear-core questions. And not only does he pose the right questions, he goes one better. He gives the right answers. This is the Civil War book we have been waiting for, and for a long time.' Allen C. Guelzo, Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania'Neely offers a presentation of Lincoln that is clear, coherent, and concise. He is authoritative and convincing, yet also refreshingly new.' Daniel Walker Howe, University of California, Los Angeles'… a probing and often revelatory look at the loyal opposition during the Civil War. … Anyone curious about the Democratic Party's conflicted past - as well as Lincoln's growth as a constitutional thinker - will find this book well worth reading.' Barry Alfonso, Civil War Book Review'Written in a thoughtful and convincing style, this book sets a new standard for political histories of the Civil War. Highly recommended.' S. J. Ramold, Choice'Tantalizingly poses new questions, presents an array of fresh research, and feistily questions assumed facts and fellow historians. Probing, daring, and ever-crusty, he has confirmed his reputation as a Lincoln luminary by producing another book that, for all its brevity and quirkiness, cannot be ignored.' Harold Holzer, The Wall Street JournalTable of Contents1. Beyond politics: how the North won the Civil War; 2. The elections of 1862, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the invention of the Democratic Party myth; 3. The problem of a loyal opposition; 4. The elusive constitutionalism of the Democratic Party; 5. Lincoln, the Constitution, and the birth of human rights.

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Book SynopsisIn this path-breaking work on the American Civil War, Joan E. Cashin explores the struggle between armies and civilians over the human and material resources necessary to wage war. This war ''stuff'' included the skills of white Southern civilians, as well as such material resources as food, timber, and housing. At first, civilians were willing to help Confederate or Union forces, but the war took such a toll that all civilians, regardless of politics, began focusing on their own survival. Both armies took whatever they needed from human beings and the material world, which eventually destroyed the region''s ability to wage war. In this fierce contest between civilians and armies, the civilian population lost. Cashin draws on a wide range of documents, as well as the perspectives of environmental history and material culture studies. This book provides an entirely new perspective on the war era.Trade Review'Expertly researched and beautifully written, War Stuff is a must-read for anyone interested in the Civil War and for all who wish to understand the fascinating, complex ways that war (any war) can fundamentally alter the manner in which humans interact with each other and with the natural world. Integrating material culture, environmental history, and war and society studies, Cashin's book is a tour de force that will shape Civil War studies for years to come.' Lisa M. Brady, author of War Upon the Land: Military Strategy and the Transformation of Southern Landscapes during the American Civil War'With eloquent prose and rich detail, this book - the first full environmental history of the Civil War - demonstrates the staggering ecological costs of the conflict and the utter failure of courts and politicians to safeguard civilians in the face of inadequate supply lines and a breakdown in military discipline. In this brilliant examination of the intimate connections between military and environmental history, one of the preeminent historians of the Civil War era offers strikingly original insights into how the struggle for resources and logistical challenges shaped military tactics, civilian morale, class and race relations, and the future of the South's economy.' Steven Mintz, University of Texas, Austin'This important book makes us aware, as never before, of enormous civilian suffering during the Civil War. It invigorates Civil War studies by treating military history, material culture, the environment, gender, cultural history, and military-civilian relations from a fresh perspective and in a deeply researched manner. Cashin shows that in both sections, but especially in the South, soldiers ruthlessly competed with civilians for resources. The consequences included widespread hunger, starvation, deforestation, the invasion and destruction of many homes, and the breakdown of long-established patterns of communalism in the South. This is an outstanding work by an energetic, insightful, and accomplished scholar.' Paul D. Escott, Wake Forest University, North Carolina'… immensely rewarding.' War History Online (www.warhistoryonline.com)'Cashin's work makes a valuable contribution to the study of the impact of the war on the Home Front, and how morality rapidly deteriorates in wartime.' The NYMAS Review'Makes a valuable contribution to the study of the impact of the war on the Confederate Home Front, and how morality rapidly deteriorates in wartime.' A. A. Nofi, Strategy Page (www.strategypage.com)'In War Stuff Joan E. Cashin explores the consequences of foraging, requisitioning, and sometimes just plain stealing by Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War … Lost Cause mythology obscured the role of slavery and white supremacy, and it erased the memory of what white Southerners did to one another during the war. They 'lost the ability to tell the truth about what happened to them,' Cashin concludes, 'namely that the rebel army exploited the civilian population and its material resources to the full, just as the Yankee army did' … War Stuff returns that story to the forefront in desperate, compelling detail.' Brian Allen Drake, The Journal of American History'This is a valuable book that reopens a worthwhile discussion of the excesses of the Civil War.' Evan Kutzler, H-Environment'… at once a textured and nuanced read, and an elegantly and convincingly argued book … This wide-ranging book brings together diverse sources from a broad range of contexts - letters, diaries, legal records, newspaper accounts, government claims, and material sources - to detail the great environmental and human impact of the Civil War. It continues to broaden the lens of focus away from battles and conflict to consider the lived experience of the Civil War and its aftermath, especially the shared experiences of depravation of secessionist and Union sympathizers living in the South.' Sarah Anne Carter, The American Historical ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Old South; 2. People; 3. Sustenance; 4. Timber; 5. Habitat; 6. Breakdown; 7. 1865 and after.

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Book SynopsisWhy did Britain and Argentina go to war over a wintry archipelago that was home to an unprofitable colony? Could the Falklands War, in fact, have been a last-ditch revival of Britain''s imperial past? Despite widespread conjecture about the imperial dimensions of the Falklands War, this is the first history of the conflict from the transnational perspective of the British world. Taking Britain''s painful process of decolonisation as his starting point, Ezequiel Mercau shows how the Falklands lobby helped revive the idea of a ''British world'', transforming a minor squabble into a full-blown war. Boasting original perspectives on the Falklanders, the Four Nations and the Anglo-Argentines, and based on a wealth of unseen material, he sheds new light on the British world, Thatcher''s Britain, devolution, immigration and political culture. His findings show that neither the dispute, the war, nor its aftermath can be divorced from the ongoing legacies of empire.Trade Review'This thoughtful and timely book will be read with interest by those wanting to understand the Falklands War and the legacies of Empire in Britain. Mercau shows the importance of an idea of a Greater Britain and how the 1982 Falklands War signalled its unravelling, opening questions about Britain's national identity that still persist.' Helen Parr, Keele University'In this accomplished and engaging book, Mercau provides a penetrating analysis of the association between the Falkland Islands and empire. It is a skilful illumination of the continued purchase and contradictions of the idea of Greater Britain in the later twentieth century.' Sarah Stockwell, King's College London'This is a deeply researched and highly original work which casts valuable new light on Britain's post-imperial condition in general and the Falklands War in particular. Essential reading.' Richard Toye, University of Exeter'Mercau gives readers a valuable study of the power of obsolete ideas to drive current policies.' R. A. Callahan, Choice'I found The Falklands War to be a comprehensive, well-researched contribution to military literature. This is a book that is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of that conflict.' Mike Kennedy, eVeritas'… a groundbreaking study of the Falklands War through the lens of British political culture. Mercau's book is a must-read for scholars and advanced students interested in the Falklands dispute and the complex history of British decolonization.' Paula O'Donnell, H-Net Reviews'… the text is a groundbreaking study of the Falklands War through the lens of British political culture. Mercau's book is a must-read for scholars and advanced students interested in the Falklands dispute and the complex history of British decolonization.' Paula O'Donnell, H-WarTable of ContentsFigures; Maps; Acknowledgements; Note on terminology; Abbreviations; Introduction: the Falklands and the legacies of empire; 1. Adrift in the South Atlantic: the Falklands amid the turmoil of decolonisation; 2. 'Dream island': the long prelude to war; 3. 'Goodbye and the best of British': echoes of Greater Britain at the onset of war; 4. 'The ghost of imperial Britain': militarism and the memory of empire; 5. War of the British worlds: the Anglo-Argentines and the Falklands; 6. 'Beyond the quieting of the guns': the Falklands factor and the after-effects of war; Conclusion: the legacies of Greater Britain; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisInternational Law and New Wars examines how international law fails to address the contemporary experience of what are known as ''new wars'' - instances of armed conflict and violence in places such as Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. International law, largely constructed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, rests to a great extent on the outmoded concept of war drawn from European experience - inter-state clashes involving battles between regular and identifiable armed forces. The book shows how different approaches are associated with different interpretations of international law, and, in some cases, this has dangerously weakened the legal restraints on war established after 1945. It puts forward a practical case for what it defines as second generation human security and the implications this carries for international law.Trade Review'Chinkin and Kaldor understand deeply and explain clearly the legal issues and distortions involved in justifications for international interventions into 'new wars' and their aftermath. Their human security lens provides new creative focus to a burgeoning literature.' Antonia Chayes, Tufts University, Massachusetts'An inspired collaboration between two leading world experts on the linkages between international law and war. International Law and New Wars is an outstanding contribution to scholarship, being the most comprehensive and authoritative treatment of this most important of all current global challenges. It seems to be the most significant book on international law published in the last decade.' Richard Falk, University of California, Santa Barbara'International Law and New Wars is a magisterial achievement of breathtaking power and originality. Chinkin and Kaldor lay out a realistic and achievable blueprint for peace and security in the twnety-first century.' Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO, New America'Christine Chinkin and Mary Kaldor's International Law and New Wars should be on the reading list of every service as well as that of the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and it should be taught in every war college. … [T]his is a book that should be read again and again. It is an energizing vehicle for facilitating vigorous discussion.' Cornelia Weiss, ParametersTable of ContentsPart I. Conceptual Framework: 1. Introduction; 2. Sovereignty and the authority to use force; 3. The relevance of international law; Part II. Jus ad Bellum: 4. Self-defence as a justification for war: the geopolitical and war on terror models; 5. The humanitarian model for recourse to use force; Part III. Jus in Bello: 6. How force is used; 7. Weapons; Part IV. Jus Post-Bellum: 8. 'Post-conflict' and governance; 9. The liberal peace: peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding; 10. Justice and accountability; Part V. The Way Forward: 11. Second generation human security; 12. What does human security require of international law?

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Book SynopsisThe correspondence between the old Congress and the American agents, commissioners, and ministers in foreign countries was secret and confidential throughout the Revolution. The letters, as they arrived, were read in Congress and referred to the standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, accompanied with requisite instructions, when necessary, as to the nature and substance of the replies. The papers embracing this correspondence, which swelled to a considerable mass before the end of the Revolution, were removed to the Department of State after the formation of the new government. These papers are now presented to you in this twelve-volume set.

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Book SynopsisThe correspondence between the old Congress and the American agents, commissioners, and ministers in foreign countries was secret and confidential throughout the Revolution. The letters, as they arrived, were read in Congress and referred to the standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, accompanied with requisite instructions, when necessary, as to the nature and substance of the replies. The papers embracing this correspondence, which swelled to a considerable mass before the end of the Revolution, were removed to the Department of State after the formation of the new government. These papers are now presented to you in this twelve-volume set.

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Book SynopsisThe correspondence between the old Congress and the American agents, commissioners, and ministers in foreign countries was secret and confidential throughout the Revolution. The letters, as they arrived, were read in Congress and referred to the standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, accompanied with requisite instructions, when necessary, as to the nature and substance of the replies. The papers embracing this correspondence, which swelled to a considerable mass before the end of the Revolution, were removed to the Department of State after the formation of the new government. These papers are now presented to you in this twelve-volume set.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe correspondence between the old Congress and the American agents, commissioners, and ministers in foreign countries was secret and confidential throughout the Revolution. The letters, as they arrived, were read in Congress and referred to the standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, accompanied with requisite instructions, when necessary, as to the nature and substance of the replies. The papers embracing this correspondence, which swelled to a considerable mass before the end of the Revolution, were removed to the Department of State after the formation of the new government. These papers are now presented to you in this twelve-volume set.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe correspondence between the old Congress and the American agents, commissioners, and ministers in foreign countries was secret and confidential throughout the Revolution. The letters, as they arrived, were read in Congress and referred to the standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, accompanied with requisite instructions, when necessary, as to the nature and substance of the replies. The papers embracing this correspondence, which swelled to a considerable mass before the end of the Revolution, were removed to the Department of State after the formation of the new government. These papers are now presented to you in this twelve-volume set.

Read more less