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Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War In the Name of Islam
by J. M. BergerThey are Americans, and they are mujahideen. Hundreds of men from every imaginable background have walked away from the traditional American dream to volunteer for battle in the name of Islam. Some have taken part in foreign wars that aligned with U.S. interests while others have carried out violence against Western interests abroad, fought against the U.S. military, and even plotted terrorist attacks on American soil. <p><p> This story plays out over decades and continents: from the Americans who took part in the siege of Mecca in 1979 through conflicts in Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Bosnia, and continuing today in Afghanistan and Somalia. <p><p> Investigative journalist J. M. Berger profiles numerous fighters, including some who joined al Qaeda and others who chose a different path. In these pages he portrays, among others, Abdullah Rashid, who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan; Mohammed Loay Bayazid, who was present at the founding of al Qaeda; Ismail Royer, who fought in Bosnia and Kashmir, then returned to run training camps in the United States; Adam Gadahn, a California Jew who is now al QaedaÆs chief spokesman; and Anwar Awlaki, the Yemeni-American imam with links to 9/11 who is now considered one of the biggest threats to AmericaÆs security.
Jihadist Insurgent Movements
by Paul B. Rich and Richard BurchillThis path-breaking collection of papers examines the phenomenon of jihadist insurgent movements in the Middle East and North, East and West Africa. It argues that military and strategic analysts have paid insufficient attention to the phenomenon of jihadism in insurgent movements, partly due to a failure to take the role of religion sufficiently seriously in the ideological mobilisation of recruits by guerrilla movements stretching back to the era of "national liberation" after World War Two. Several essays in the collection examine Al Qaeda and ISIL as military as well as political movements while others assess Boko Haram in West Africa, Al Shabaab in Somalia and jihadist movements in Libya. Additionally, some authors discuss the recruitment of foreign fighters and the longer-term terrorist threat posed by the existence of jihadist movements to security and ethnic relations in Europe Overall, this volume fills an important niche between studies that look at Islamic fundamentalism and "global jihad" at the international level and micro studies that look at movements locally. It poses the question whether jihadist insurgencies are serious revolutionary threats to global political stability or whether, like Soviet Russia after its initial revolutionary phase of the 1920s, they can be ultimately contained by the global political order. The volume sees these movements as continuing to evolve dynamically over the next few years suggesting that, even if ISIL is defeated, the movement that brought it into being will still exist and very probably morph into new movements. Jihadist Insurgent Movements was originally published as a special issue of Small Wars & Insurgencies.
Jihadists and Weapons of Mass Destruction
by Gary Ackerman Jeremy TamsettExplores the Nexus Formed When Malevolent Actors Access Malignant MeansWritten for professionals, academics, and policymakers working at the forefront of counterterrorism efforts, Jihadists and Weapons of Mass Destruction is an authoritative and comprehensive work addressing the threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the hands of jihadists,
Jim Farley’s Story: The Roosevelt Years
by James A. FarleyFrank, outspoken and revealing, here is the truth about two of the most controversial political figures in modern America: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jim Farley. These are the unvarnished facts concerning the man who put Roosevelt into the White House and built up one of the most brilliantly efficient party organizations that America has ever known.Mr. Farley writes of Roosevelt the politician—a human being with human failings—and not a demigod. The full story revealed here for the first time gives a new and surprising picture of the late President, his elaborate political maneuverings, the reasons for the final break with Jim Farley.JIM FARLEY’S STORY is the hard-punching inside account of one man’s meteoric rise to the political genius of the Democratic Party...“Politically, I owe more to Jim Farley than to any other person alive, not excluding my wife!”—Franklin D. Roosevelt
Jimmy Carter in Africa: Race and the Cold War (Cold War International History Project)
by Nancy MitchellIn the mid-1970s, the Cold War had frozen into a nuclear stalemate in Europe and retreated from the headlines in Asia. As Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter fought for the presidency in late 1976, the superpower struggle overseas seemed to take a backseat to more contentious domestic issues of race relations and rising unemployment. There was one continent, however, where the Cold War was on the point of flaring hot: Africa. Jimmy Carter in Africa opens just after Henry Kissinger's failed 1975 plot in Angola, as Carter launches his presidential campaign. The Civil Rights Act was only a decade old, and issues of racial justice remained contentious. Racism at home undermined Americans' efforts to "win hearts and minds" abroad and provided potent propaganda to the Kremlin. As President Carter confronted Africa, the essence of American foreign policy--stopping Soviet expansion--slammed up against the most explosive and raw aspect of American domestic politics--racism. Drawing on candid interviews with Carter, as well as key U.S. and foreign diplomats, and on a dazzling array of international archival sources, Nancy Mitchell offers a timely reevaluation of the Carter administration and of the man himself. In the face of two major tests, in Rhodesia and the Horn of Africa, Carter grappled with questions of Cold War competition, domestic politics, personal loyalty, and decision-making style. Mitchell reveals an administration not beset by weakness and indecision, as is too commonly assumed, but rather constrained by Cold War dynamics and by the president's own temperament as he wrestled with a divided public and his own human failings. Jimmy Carter in Africa presents a stark portrait of how deeply Cold War politics and racial justice were intertwined.
Jimmy's Stars
by Mary Ann RodmanIt's September 1943, and eleven-year-old Ellie McKelvey's older brother, Jimmy, has just been drafted. Jimmy has a joyful heart and a kind word for everyone, and he's the only person who thinks Ellie is smart and funny and as beautiful as Lana Turner, the movie star. Ellie can hardly stand to see him go. With Jimmy gone, Aunt Toots moves into his bedroom, Ellie's mother takes a war job at a factory, and everything in Ellie's life seems upside down. But she figures that the war will be over and Jimmy home by Christmas, so as much as she misses him, she keeps her spirits up. Even as families in the neighborhood begin to receive telegrams informing them that their boys are wounded or worse, Ellie never stops believing in Jimmy. In her second work of historical fiction, Mary Ann Rodman captures all the authentic details of life on the homefront during World War II, as well as the fierce love a sister has for her beloved big brother.Jimmy's Stars is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Jingo: A Discworld Novel (City Watch #4)
by Terry Pratchett“Pratchett’s writing is a constant delight. No one mixes the fantastical and the mundane to better comic effect or offers sharper insights into the absurdities of human endeavor.” —Daily MailCommander Sam Vines, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, and their compatriots must fight for their country (or something like that) when Discworld goes to war in this wickedly funny Discworld novel from New York Times bestselling author Terry Pratchett.No one would dream of starting a war without a perfectly good reason . . . such as a “strategic” piece of old rock in the middle of nowhere known as Leshp. It isn’t much of an island that rises up one moonless night from the depths of the Circle Sea—just a few square miles of silt and some old ruins. Unfortunately, this historically disputed lump of earth is once again floating directly between two proud lands, Ankh-Morpork and the city of Al-Khali on the coast of Klatch. And that’s enough to ignite the inglorious international pastime known as “war.”It is, after all, every citizen’s right to bear arms to defend their own. Even if it isn’t technically their own. And even if they don’t have much in the way of actual weaponry. Pressed into patriotic service, Commander Sam Vimes thinks he should be leading his loyal watchmen, female watchdwarf, and lady werewolf into battle against local malefactors rather than against Klatchians. But war is, after all, simply the greatest of all crimes—and it’s Sir Samuel’s sworn duty to seek out criminal masterminds wherever they may be hiding . . . and lock them away.As two armies march, Vimes faces unpleasant foes who are out to get him . . . and that’s just the people on his side. The enemy might be even worse.The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Jingo is the 4th book in the City Watch collection and the 21st Discworld book.The City Watch series in order:Guards! Guards!Men at ArmsFeet of ClayJingoThe Fifth ElephantNight WatchThud!Snuff
Jinn: A Novel
by Matthew B. DelaneyIt is May 1943. On the remote island of Bougainville, in the South Pacific, a squad of United States Marines beats their way through the thick jungle. They've landed to do battle with the Japanese soldiers on the island, but in short order, they begin to realize that the forbidding battleground holds an ancient secret a hundred times more terrifying than any enemy army---especially when they start finding the bodies.Flash-forward to July 2008. In the slums---and the skyscrapers---of Boston, a new kind of depraved serial killer is stalking human prey and terrifying the city. The bodies have been found posed and mutilated in bizarre ways that the two police officers in charge of the case have never seen before---and never want to see again. Are the two scenarios connected?Detectives Jefferson and Brogan have no idea that to solve the biggest case of their careers, their investigation must take them around the world and through time and history---from a mysterious salvaged submarine with a shocking secret, to an inhumane prison where the inmates are even more scared than usual of "the Pit," and finally back to the beginning: the sinister island in the South Seas where something inhuman has been biding its time.Matthew B.J. Delaney's Jinn won the 2003 International Horror Guild Award for Best First Novel.
Joachim Murat - Marshal of France and King of Naples
by Pickle Partners Publishing Andrew Hilliard AtteridgeThis ebook is purpose built and is proof-read and re-type set from the original to provide an outstanding experience of reflowing text for an ebook reader. A first-rate biography of the famed Marshal Murat, the most famous cavalry leader of the Napoleonic Wars. Joachim Murat was born in Gascony, the department of Lot, and although his father was relatively affluent, no-one realized the spectacular rise that would lead him to a the crown of Naples and an indelible imprint on the history of his native France and all of Europe. Atteridge wrote a number of books on the men who worked as satellites to Napoleon, Emperor of the French, his commanders on the battlefield and the brothers he placed, or tried to place in power as a buffer to a vengeful Europe. Marshal Murat has often been caricatured as a dashing cavalry commander with little more brains than the horse he rode, however the portrait here painted is much more complex than the simplistic view carted out by some other historians. More than a superlative leader of cavalry, in the short campaigns of the emergent French army, he grew distant from Napoleon due to constant goadings and rebukes, he was a varied man, vain and pompous, a dedicated family man, yet possibly also cuckold. He was to find a ignominious grave, for firing squad, at Pizzo having attempted to emulate his former master's march on Paris in his adopted Naples. Highly recommended. Atteridge's book forms a companion to his other single volume biography of Marshal Ney and his work on the varied personalities on Napoleon's Brothers. Text taken, whole and complete, from the 1911 first edition, published in London by Metheun and Co. Ltd. Original - 338 pages. Author- Andrew Hilliard Atteridge (1844-1912) Linked TOC and 7 Illustrations and 3 maps.
Joachim Peiper and the Nazi Atrocities of 1944
by Stephen WynnJoachim Peiper held the rank of Obersturmbannführer in Nazi Germany’s fanatical Schutzstaffel, more commonly referred to as the SS. He spent the first two years of the war as an adjutant to the Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel, and leading member of the Nazi Party, Heinrich Himmler, where he would have witnessed at first hand the construction and implementation of numerous SS policies, many of which would have been in relation to ethnic cleansing and the Holocaust. In October 1941, having yearned for a chance at combat, he changed roles and became a commander in the Waffen-SS, although he still remained in regular contact with Himmler. As a member of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte, he saw service in the Soviet Union, Italy and Belgium. On 19 September 1943, he and his men were responsible for the murder of twenty-four Italian civilians at the village of Boves. On 17 December 1944, men under his command were responsible for what became known as the Malmedy massacre, involving the murder of eighty-four unarmed American prisoners of war. Following this, between 17 and 20 December, Peiper and his men were involved in the murder of a number of other American soldiers, as well as Belgian civilians. Peiper was never charged with the atrocities at Boves, but in 1946 he faced an American military tribunal for the Malmedy masssacre. Although found guilty and sentenced to death, his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment but he was eventually released in 1956. In 1972, Peiper moved to the French village of Troves in north east France. On 14 July 1976, his home was attacked and set on fire. Overcome by smoke, he died in the flames.
Jocks in the Jungle: The History of the Black Watch in India
by Gordon Thorburn"In 1943, there was no thought of good times for two battalions of Scottish soldiers. For them, India meant a new and unimaginably arduous kind of training. Some of the Black Watch boys had seen action in Somaliland, Crete and Tobruk. Some of the Cameronians had fought the Japs in the Burma retreat. Even for these, such training was trial by ordeal. Many more of the Jocks were new, just shipped out from Scotland, but all of them were ordinary men, men from the towns and villages whod taken the Kings shilling in their countrys peril. These were first-class British infantry, but not the super-selected special forces types that we know today. Nevertheless, it was a special-forces job they were supposed to do and that is what they were called, Special Force. The challenge in Madhya Pradesh was to turn themselves into jungle fighters as good as the Japanese. They had a few short months to become Chindits. The two brigades they joined numbered 7,677 officers and men going into the jungle, of whom 531 were killed, captured or missing, and around 1,600 were wounded. By the end, some 3,800 were too sick to fight. Only 1,754 could be classified as 'effective' when they came out and, in truth, half of those were fit for no more than a hospital bed. It was a miracle anybody survived at all. And that was just two of the five brigades that went in. Was this the greatest medical disaster of World War Two? Who caused it? This new book has the answers."
Joe Devlin E il Nuovo Star Fighter
by James R. Thomas Noemi BardellaDal lato destro dello Star Fighter di Nelson arrivò una cannonata. Una nave della Guerra dei Touriani lo aveva nel mirino. Una dozzina di proiettili colpì i serbatoi di carburante sull'ala sinistra di Nelson e il fumo cominciò ad uscire dal motore. Joe Devlin ha iniziato il suo primo anno alla Space Academy e nulla è andato come doveva andare. Le imprese eroiche di suo padre nella Guerra dei Tre Soli sono leggendarie e Joe ha in programma di seguire le orme del padre per diventare uno Star Fighter. Mentre suo padre è schierato in guerra, Joe può centrare il suo l'obiettivo? Con la città in fumo, Joe dovrà scoprire se può sistemare tutto prima che suo padre scopra il suo segreto. Età di lettura 8+
Joe Devlin y el nuevo Guerrero Estelar
by James R. Thomas Rommel AndrewsDel lado derecho de la Estrella de Combate de Nelson, hubo una erupción de cañonazos. Un vehículo de guerra touriano lo tenía en la mirilla. Una docena de tiros golpearon los tanques de combustible del ala izquierda de Nelson, y el motor comenzó a humear. El Cadete Joe Devlin ha iniciado su primer año en la Academia Espacial y nada le ha salido bien. Las proezas de su padre en la Guerra Tri-Solar son legendarias y Joe planea seguir sus pasos para convertirse en un Guerrero Estelar. Mientras su padre se encuentra desplegado en la guerra, ¿tiene Joe lo necesario para afrontar el deber en cuestión? Con la ciudad en llamas, Joe debe encontrar la manera de arreglar lo que arruinó antes de que su padre descubra su secreto. Recomendado para edades de 8 años en adelante.
Joe Ledger: Special Ops
by Jonathan MaberryCaptain Joe Ledger. Former cop. Former Army Ranger. Currently the top-kick of Echo Team, an elite squad of first-class shooters who roll out to face down the world's most dangerous terrorists. Not fanatics with explosive vests or political hostage takers. <p><p> Joe and his team square off against terrorists who have the most advanced and exotic weapons of mass destruction. Designer bioweapons. Cutting edge transgenics. Real mad scientist stuff.If they have to call Joe Ledger - it's already hit the fan. <p><p> JOE LEDGER: SPECIAL OPS collects several of the Ledger short stories and presents two brand new tales exclusive to this volume. Bonus features include character profiles and a never-before-published glimpse behind the scenes of the Department of Military Sciences. Join the Hunt!
Joe Rochefort's War
by Elliot Ward CarlsonThis is the first biography of Capt. Joe Rochefort, the Officer in Charge of Station Hypo the U.S. Navy's decrypt unit at Pearl Harbor and his key role in breaking the Imperial Japanese Navy's main code before the Battle of Midway. It brings together the disparate threads of Rochefort's life and career, beginning with his enlistment in the Naval Reserve in 1918 at age 17 (dropping out of high school and adding a year to his age). It chronicles his earliest days as a mustang (an officer who has risen from the ranks), his fortuitous posting to Washington, where he headed the Navy's codebreaking desk at age 25, then, in another unexpected twist, found himself assigned to Tokyo to learn Japanese.This biography records Rochefort's surprising love-hate relationship with cryptanalysis, his joyful exit from the field, his love of sea duty, his adventure-filled years in the '30s as the right-hand man to the Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, and his reluctant return to codebreaking in mid-1941 when he was ordered to head the Navy's decrypt unit at Pearl (Station Hypo).The book focuses on Rochefort's inspiring leadership of Hypo, recording first his frustrating months in late 1941 searching for Yamamoto's fleet, then capturing a guilt-ridden Rochefort in early 1942 mounting a redemptive effort to track that fleet after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor . It details his critical role in May 1942 when he and his team, against the bitter opposition of some top Navy brass, concluded Midway was Yamamoto's invasion target, making possible a victory regarded by many as the turning point in the Pacific War.The account also tells the story of Rochefort's ouster from Pearl, the result of the machinations of key officers in Washington, first to deny him the Distinguished Service Medal recommended by Admiral Nimitz, then to effect his removal as OIC of Hypo. The book reports his productive final years in the Navy when he supervises the building of a floating drydock on the West Coast, then, back in Washington, finds himself directing a planning body charged with doing spade work leading to the invasion of Japan.The Epilogue narrates the postwar effort waged by Rochefort's Hypo colleagues to obtain for him the DSM denied in 1942-a drive that pays off in 1986 when President Reagan awards him the medal posthumously at a White House ceremony attended by his daughter and son. It also explores Rochefort's legacy, primarily his pioneering role at Pearl in which, contrary to Washington's wishes, he reported directly to Commander in Chief, US Fleet, providing actionable intelligence without any delays and enabling codebreaking to play the key role it did in the Battle of Midway.Ultimately, this book is aimed at bringing Joe Rochefort to life as the irreverent, fiercely independent and consequential officer that he was. It assumes his career can't be understood without looking at his entire life. It seeks to capture the interplay of policy and personality, and the role played by politics and personal rifts at the highest levels of Navy power during a time of national crisis. This bio emerges as a history of the Navy's intelligence culture.
John Bell Hood: A Bid For Fame
by LTC Daniel C. WarrenJohn Bell Hood was appointed to the United States Military Academy from Kentucky and graduated 44th in a class of 52 in July 1853. The next eight years were spent in infantry duties in California and cavalry service in Texas. With the outbreak of the Civil War Hood resigned his commission and entered the Confederate Army as a resident of Texas.During the Peninsular Campaign, Hood actively sought opportunities for combat and established a reputation as an offensively-minded, daring combat leader. He received favorable mentions in official reports, especially at Gaines' Mill, though taking heavy casualties. At Second Manassas, it became necessary for the Corps commander, Longstreet, to caution him against over-rapid advancement. He received a wound in the left arm at Gettysburg after protesting the orders which he received to advance on .Little Round Top, Upon recovery he went west with Longstreet, but lost his right leg from a wound at Chickamauga.Despite his incapacitating wounds, which necessitated his being strapped to a horse in order to ride, Hood was promoted to lieutenant general and sent as a Corps commander to the Army of Tennessee. During his service under Johnston, Hood systematically undermined the latter's already tenuous relationship with Richmond, He was named a full general and replaced Johnston as commander of the Army of Tennessee July 18, 1864. In late 1864 he invaded Tennessee, an operation which culminated in the total destruction of his army at Nashville in December 1864. He was subsequently relieved of command at his own request.Hood's career is characterized by ambition, bravery, and the use of influential friends to gain positions of high responsibility. While his tactical conceptions were sound, they failed at higher levels of command because of his inability to work with subordinates. On various occasions he circumvented or ignored his own superiors.
John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General
by Stephen M. HoodWINNER of the 2014 ALBERT CASTEL BOOK AWARD and the 2014 WALT WHITMAN AWARDJohn Bell Hood was one of the Confederacys most successfuland enigmaticgenerals. He died at 48 after a brief illness in August of 1879, leaving behind the first draft of his memoirs Advance and Retreat: Personal Experiences in the United States and Confederate States Armies. Published posthumously the following year, the memoirs immediately became as controversial as their author. A careful and balanced examination of these controversies, however, coupled with the recent discovery of Hoods personal papers (which were long considered lost) finally sets the record straight in John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General.Outlived by most of his critics, Hoods published version of many of the major events and controversies of his Confederate military career were met with scorn and skepticism. Some described his memoirs as nothing more than a polemic against his arch-rival Joseph E. Johnston. These unflattering opinions persisted throughout the decades and reached their nadir in 1992, when an influential author described Hoods memoirs as merely a bitter, misleading, and highly distorted treatise replete with distortions, misrepresentations, and outright falsifications. Without any personal papers to contradict them, many historians and writers portrayed Hood as an inept and dishonest opium addict and a conniving, vindictive cripple of a man. One writer went so far as to brand him a fool with a license to kill his own men. What most readers dont know is that nearly all of these authors misused sources, ignored contrary evidence, and/or suppressed facts sympathetic to Hood.Stephen M. Sam Hood, a distant relative of the general, embarked on a meticulous forensic study of the common perceptions and controversies of his famous kinsman. His careful examination of the original sources utilized to create the broadly accepted facts about John Bell Hood uncovered startlingly poor scholarship by some of the most well-known and influential historians of the 20th and 21st centuries. These discoveries, coupled with his access to a large cache of recently discovered Hood papersmany penned by generals and other officers who served with Hoodconfirm Hoods account that originally appeared in his memoir and resolve, for the first time, some of the most controversial aspects of Hoods long career.Blindly accepting historical truths without vigorous challenge, cautions one historian, is a perilous path to understanding real history. The shocking revelations in John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General will forever change our perceptions of Hood as both a man and a general, and those who set out to shape his legacy.
John Bell Hood’s Division In The Battle Of Chickamauga: A Historical Analysis [Illustated Edition]
by Major Kyle J. FoleyIllustrated with 23 maps and plans of the campaign and engagements at Chickamauga.This thesis is a historical analysis and assessment of Major General John Bell Hood's Division during the Battle of Chickamauga. In early July 1863, the Confederate Army suffered two major defeats, Vicksburg and Gettysburg, where the division suffered many casualties, including Hood. Hood's Division earned a reputation as the best division in the Army of Northern Virginia. This division was selected to reinforce General Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee, and his campaign to defeat the Federal Army of the Cumberland, under the command of Major General William Rosecrans. Their reputation preceded them with high expectations. Chickamauga was the division's first major battle in the western theater.The thesis begins with brief pre-Chickamauga biographies of Hood and his brigade commanders; Brigadier General Evander McIver Law, Brigadier General Henry L. Benning, and Brigadier General Jerome B. Robertson. Next, the circumstances that brought the division to the Battle of Chickamauga and their journey to northern Georgia will be discussed. Thereafter, a close examination of the engagements conducted from 18-20 September 1863 will be discussed. Finally, an analysis will be presented to how the leaders of Hood's Division performed during the Battle of Chickamauga, and draws conclusions as to the proximate causes of their performances. These causes focus on the divisional leaders and their decisions.
John Brown 1800-1859: A Biography Fifty Years After
by Oswald Garrison Villard“The present volume is inspired by a belief that fifty years after the Harper's Ferry tragedy, the time is ripe for a study of John Brown, free from bias, from the errors in taste and fact of the mere panegyrist, and from the blind prejudice of those who can see in John Brown nothing but a criminal. The pages that follow were written to detract from or champion no man or set of men, but to put forth the essential truths of history as far as ascertainable, and to judge Brown, his followers and associates in the light thereof.”-Preface.John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was a prominent leader in the American abolitionist movement in the decades preceding the Civil War. First reaching national prominence in the 1850s for his radical abolitionism and fighting in Bleeding Kansas, Brown was captured, tried, and executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia for a raid and incitement of a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry in 1859.In October 1859, Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (which became West Virginia), intending to start a slave liberation movement that would spread south; he had prepared a Provisional Constitution for the revised, slavery-free United States that he hoped to bring about. He seized the armory, but seven people were killed and ten or more were injured. Brown intended to arm slaves with weapons from the armory, but only a few slaves joined his revolt. Those of Brown's men who had not fled were killed or captured by local militia and U.S. Marines, the latter led by Robert E. Lee. Brown was tried for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, the murder of five men, and inciting a slave insurrection. He was found guilty of all charges and was hanged on December 2, 1859, the first person executed for treason in the history of the United States.
John Coit Spooner: Defender of Presidents
by Dorothy Ganfield FowlerAUTHENTIC STORY IN THE LORE OF THE AMERICAN SENATE—THE SAGA OF “THE FOUR,” WHO DOMINATED THAT BODY AROUND THE TURN OF THE CENTURY.Spooner was a brilliant orator who rose from a career as a railroad road solicitor to a political role here defined in the sub title, as “Defender of Presidents.” He had represented powerful interests before the Wisconsin legislature and in Washington and early story includes documented records of the rise of great railroad and lumber combines. The shift of public favor from the fabulous tycoons in the era of the muckrakers posed little threat to the short, powerful, prudent man who knew both politics and law.After a term in the Senate (1885-1888), he returned to law and party politics, and concentrated for a time on mending his personal finances. Then, with the incoming Republican tide, he was returned to the Senate after 1893 and was involved in every important political, legal and economic scramble of the growing nation. His wife detested living in Washington, and reluctantly he declined McKinley’s appointment as Attorney General. Hated by LaFollette, was close to Theodore Roosevelt, although some of his political associates viewed the doubtable President with suspicion.Before his death in 1919, Spooner returned to private life and amassed a small fortune in real estate and stock speculation. Throughout his years of public service, he was regarded as a vigorous and efficient statesman, but the reform drives that followed have nearly obliterated his memory, even in his home state.This book fills a gap in American political history, and students of the subject will find the present volume invaluable.
John Dooley, Confederate Soldier His War Journal
by Douglas Southall Freeman John Dooley Joseph T. Durkin"One of the best primary accounts of the Civil War by a Confederate.John Dooley was the youngest son of Irish immigrants to Richmond, Virginia, where his father prospered, and the family took a leading position among Richmond's sizeable Irish community. Early in 1862, John left his studies at Georgetown University to serve in the First Virginia Infantry Regiment, in which his father John and brother James also served. John's service took him to Second Manassas, South Mountain, Sharpsburg (Antietam), Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg; before that last battle, Dooley was elected a lieutenant. On the third day at Gettysburg, Dooley swept up the hill in Pickett's charge, where he was shot through both legs and lay all night on the field, to be made a POW the next day. Held until February 27, 1865, Dooley made his way back south to arrive home very near the Confederacy's final collapse.Dooley's account is valuable for the content of his service and because most of the material came from his diary, with some interpolations (which are indicated as such) that he made shortly after the war's end when his memory was still fresh. Dooley's health seems to have been permanently compromised by his wounds; he entered a Roman Catholic seminary after the war and died in 1873 several months before his ordination was to take place."-Print Ed.
John F. Kennedy and PT-109: Guadalcanal Diary, Invasion Diary, And John F. Kennedy And Pt-109
by Richard TregaskisFrom the bestselling author of Guadalcanal Diary: The thrilling true story of the future president&’s astonishing act of heroism during World War II. In the early morning hours of August 2, 1943, US Navy motor torpedo boat PT-109 patrolled the still, black waters of Blackett Strait in the Solomon Islands. Suddenly, the Japanese destroyer Amagiri loomed out of the darkness, bearing directly down on the smaller ship. There was no time to get out of the way—the destroyer crashed into PT-109, slicing the mosquito boat in two and setting the shark-infested waters aflame with burning gasoline. Ten surviving crewmembers and their young skipper clung to the wreckage, their odds of survival growing slimmer by the instant. Lt. John F. Kennedy&’s first command was an unqualified disaster. Yet over the next three days, the privileged son of a Boston multimillionaire displayed extraordinary courage, stamina, and leadership as he risked his life to shepherd his crew to safety and coordinate a daring rescue mission deep in enemy territory. Lieutenant Kennedy earned a Navy and Marine Corps Medal and a Purple Heart, and the story of PT-109 captured the public&’s imagination and helped propel the battle-tested veteran all the way to the White House. Acclaimed war correspondent Richard Tregaskis—who once beat out the future president for a spot on the Harvard University swim team—brings this remarkable chapter in American history to vivid life in John F. Kennedy and PT-109. From the crucial role torpedo boats played in the fight for the Solomon Islands to Kennedy&’s eager return to the front lines at the helm of PT-59, Tregaskis tells the full story of this legendary incident with the same riveting style and meticulous attention to detail he brought to Guadalcanal Diary and Invasion Diary. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Richard Tregaskis including rare images from the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming.
John Forsyth: Political Tactician
by Dr Alvin Laroy DuckettFirst published in 1962, this is a biography of John Forsyth (1780-1841), who was Governor of Georgia and Secretary of State under both Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. Alvin Laroy Duckett chronicles Forsyth’s achievements portraying him as one of Georgia’s most versatile and accomplished politicians.Forsyth was elected Attorney General of Georgia at the age of 28, the first public office he held. He went on to serve as U.S. Representative, Senator, and as a Minister to Spain. He was a leader among a group of southern republicans that helped to win the presidency for Andrew Jackson. Forsyth fought nullification, oversaw the government’s response to the Amistad case, and led the pro-removal reply to the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Though he worked primarily at the federal level, Forsyth also contributed greatly to the development of Georgia during his career.
John H. Glenn, Astronaut
by Lt.-Col. Philip N. PierceAT 9:47 on the morning of February 20, 1962, American life came to a breathless halt as millions paused to listen and watch while a mighty rocket hurled a man-carrying capsule into orbit around the earth.The successful flight and safe return of Marine Astronaut Lt.-Col. John Herschel Glenn, Jr., have given his name a luster that few other American names have ever achieved.But John Glenn is more than a name. He is a dedicated maker of history who modestly believes that his God-given talents, and his ability and opportunity to use them, are his destiny—indeed his duty to his country and the world.Here, written by men who know him, is the biography of that remarkable man and his historic flight.
John Hunt Morgan and His Raiders
by Edison H. ThomasThis lively Civil War biography presents an unbiased chronicle of the controversial Confederate General who led the 2nd cavalry in Morgan&’s Raid. Whether one thinks of him as a dashing cavalier or shameless horse thief, it is impossible not to regard John Hunt Morgan as a fascinating Civil War figure. Morgan led his men into the most dangerous adventures by convincing them that the honor of the South was at stake; yet he did not always heed his own sense of honor when temptations of easy theft drew the Raiders from military objectives to wanton pillage. In John Hunt Morgan and his Raiders, Edison H. Thomas gives us a balanced view of these controversial men and their raids, including rare insight into their disruption of rail communications. In a fast-paced narrative he follows the cavalry unit from the evening they set out to join the Confederate forces to the morning of Morgan's death in Greeneville, Tennessee. Basil Duke, St. Leger Grenfell, Lightning Ellsworth, and the beautiful Martha Ready all receive their due, as does the truly remarkable story of the Raiders' newspaper.