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The Civil War Letters of Joseph Taylor
by Kevin C. MurphyLetters of a civil war Massachusetts soldier to his father
The Civil War Letters of Sergeant Onley Andrus
by Onley AndrusSergeant Andrus served in Co. D, 95th Illinois Infantry. Here are reprinted 61 letters written home during the war, beginning in September 1862 and continues through the end of the War. The regiment fought in the Vicksburg Campaign, the Red River Campaign, the pursuit of Sterling Price, Nashville, New Orleans, and Mobile.
The Civil War Lover's Guide to New York City
by Bill MorganThis fascinating illustrated guide is “a must for any Civil War buff visiting or living in New York City” (New York Journal of Books). Few Americans associate New York City with the Civil War, but the most populated metropolitan area in the nation, then and now, is filled with scores of monuments, historical sites, and resources directly related to those four turbulent years. Veteran author Bill Morgan’s The Civil War Lover’s Guide to New York City examines more than 150 of these largely overlooked and often forgotten historical gems. Morgan’s book takes readers on a journey of historical discovery. Walk inside the church where Stonewall Jackson was baptized, visit the building where Lincoln delivered his famous Cooper Union Speech, and marvel that the church built by the great abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher is still used for worship. A dozen Civil War–era forts still stand (the star-shaped bastion upon which the Statue of Liberty rests was a giant supply depot), and one of them sent relief supplies to besieged Fort Sumter in Charleston. Visit the theater where “Dixie” was first performed and the house where Stephen Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage. After the war, New York honored the brave men who fought by erecting some of the nation’s most beautiful memorials in honor of William T. Sherman, Admiral David Farragut, and Abraham Lincoln. These and many others still grace parks and plazas around the city. Ulysses S. Grant adopted New York as his home and is buried here in the largest mausoleum in America (which was also the most-visited monument in the country). See the homes where many generals, including Winfield Scott, George B. McClellan, and even Robert E. Lee, once lived. Complete with full-color photos and maps, Morgan’s lavishly illustrated and designed volume is a must-have book for every student of the Civil War and for every visitor to New York City.
The Civil War Memoirs of Captain William J. Seymour: Reminiscences of a Louisiana Tiger
by Terry L. JonesA Confederate captain from the 1st Louisiana Brigade uses his skill as a newspaper editor to recount his experiences during the U.S. Civil War.Like many other soldiers who fought in the Civil War, New Orleans newspaper editor William J. Seymour left behind an account of his wartime experiences. It is the only memoir by any field or staff officer of the famous 1st Louisiana Brigade (Hays’ Brigade) in the Army of Northern Virginia. Long out of print, The Civil War Memoirs of Captain William J. Seymour: Reminiscences of a Louisiana Tiger is available once more in this updated and completely revised edition by award-winning author Terry L. Jones.Seymour’s invaluable narrative begins with his service as a volunteer aide to Confederate Gen. Johnson K. Duncan during the 1862 New Orleans campaign. Utilizing his journalistic background and eye for detail, Seymour recalls the siege of Fort Jackson (the only Southern soldier’s account except for official reports), the bickering and confusion among Confederate officers, and the subsequent mutiny and surrender of the fort’s defenders. Jailed after the fall of New Orleans for violating Maj. Gen. Ben Butler’s censorship order, Seymour was eventually released and joined General Hays’ staff in Virginia.Seymour’s memoirs cover his experiences in the army of Northern Virginia, including the campaigns of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wilderness, and Shenandoah Valley, ending with the Battle of Cedar Creek in 1864. His pen recounts the activities of the Louisiana Brigade while offering a critical analysis of the tactics and strategies employed by the army.A perceptive and articulate officer, Seymour left behind an invaluable account of the Civil War’s drudgery and horror, pomp and glory. Terry L. Jones’ spare and judicious editing enhances Seymour’s memoirs to create an indispensable resource for Civil War historians and enthusiasts.
The Civil War Memories of Elizabeth Bacon Custer: Reconstructed From Her Diaries and Notes by Arlene Reynolds
by Elizabeth Bacon CusterThis collection of private writings by General Custer&’s wife offers an intimate look at their lives before and during the Civil War. In her first year of marriage (1864–1865) to General George Armstrong Custer, Libbie Custer witnessed the Civil War firsthand. Her experiences of danger, hardship, and excitement made ideal material for a book, one that she worked on later in life yet never published. In this volume, Arlene Reynolds presents a readable narrative of Libbie Custer's life during the war years by painstakingly reconstructing Libbie&’s original, unpublished notes and diaries found in the archives of the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument. In these reminiscences, Libbie Custer vividly describes her life both in camp and in Washington. She tells of incidents such as fording a swollen river sidesaddle on horseback, dancing at the Inaugural Ball near President Lincoln, and watching the massive review of the Army of the Potomac after the surrender. The resulting narrative tells the fascinating story of a sheltered girl's maturation into a courageous woman in the crucible of war. It also offers an intimate glimpse into the youth, West Point years, and early military service of General Custer.
The Civil War Soldier: A Historical Reader (American Ways Ser.)
by Michael Barton Larry M LogueAn anthology of landmark scholarship on the histories of the common soldier in the U.S. Civil WarIn 1943, Bell Wiley's groundbreaking book Johnny Reb launched a new area of study: the history of the common soldier in the U.S. Civil War. This anthology brings together landmark scholarship on the subject, from a 19th century account of life as a soldier to contemporary work on women who, disguised as men, joined the army. One of the only available compilations on the subject, The Civil War Soldier answers a wide range of provocative questions: What were the differences between Union and Confederate soldiers? What were soldiers' motivations for joining the army—their "will to combat"? How can we evaluate the psychological impact of military service on individual morale? Is there a basis for comparison between the experiences of Civil War soldiers and those who fought in World War II or Vietnam? How did the experiences of black soldiers in the Union army differ from those of their white comrades? And why were southern soldiers especially drawn to evangelical preaching? Offering a host of diverse perspectives on these issues, The Civil War Soldier is the perfect introduction to the topic, for the student and the Civil War enthusiast alike. Contributors: Michael Barton, Eric T. Dean, David Donald, Drew Gilpin Faust, Joseph Allen Frank, James W. Geary, Joseph T. Glaatthaar, Paddy Griffith, Earl J. Hess, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Perry D. Jamieson, Elizabeth D. Leonard, Gerald F. Linderman, Larry Logue, Pete Maslowski, Carlton McCarthy, James M. McPherson, Grady McWhiney, Reid Mitchell, George A. Reaves, Jr., James I. Robertson, Fred A. Shannon, Maris A. Vinovskis, and Bell Irvin Wiley.
The Civil War and Reconstruction [Second Edition]
by Prof. J. G. Randall Prof. David DonaldThis is a revised edition by David Herbert Donald of his former professor J. G. Randall's book The Civil War and Reconstruction, which was originally published in 1937 and had long been regarded as "the standard work in its field", serving as a useful basic Civil War reference tool for general readers and textbook for college classes. This Second Edition retains many of the original chapters, "such as those treating border-state problems, non-military developments during the war, intellectual tendencies, anti-war efforts, religious and educational movements, and propaganda methods [...] bearing evidence of Mr. Randall's thoroughgoing exploration of the manuscripts and archives," whilst it expands considerably on other original chapters, such as those relating to the Confederacy. Still other portions have been entirely recast or rewritten, such as the pre-war period chapters and Reconstruction chapters, reflecting factual updates since Randall's original publication. A must-read for all Civil War students and scholars.
The Civil War and Reconstruction: A Documentary Collection
by William E. GienappAn ample, wide-ranging collection of primary sources, The Civil War and Reconstruction: A Documentary Collection, opens a window onto the political, social, cultural, economic, and military history from 1830 to 1877. Particular attention is paid to social history; coverage of the experience of African Americans, women, and non-elites provides a well-rounded picture of the period. Substantial selections, careful editing, and helpful annotations make this collection an ideal supplement for your course on the Civil War and Reconstruction.
The Civil War as Global Conflict: Transnational Meanings of the American Civil War (Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World)
by David T. Gleeson and Simon LewisA collection of scholarly essays exploring the American Civil War from international perspectives.In an attempt to counter the insular narratives of much of the sesquicentennial commemorations of the Civil War in the United States, editors David T. Gleeson and Simon Lewis present this collection of essays that examine the war as more than a North American conflict, one with transnational concerns. The book, while addressing the origins of the Civil War, places the struggle over slavery and sovereignty in the United States in the context of other conflicts in the Western hemisphere. Additionally, Gleeson and Lewis offer an analysis of the impact of the war and its results overseas.Although the Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in US history and arguably its single most defining event, this work underscores the reality that the war was by no means the only conflict that ensnared the global imperial powers in the mid-nineteenth century. In some ways the Civil War was just another part of contemporary conflicts over the definitions of liberty, democracy, and nationhood.The editors have successfully linked numerous provocative themes and convergences of time and space to make the work both coherent and cogent. Subjects include such disparate topics as Florence Nightingale, Gone with the Wind, war crimes and racial violence, and choices of allegiance made by immigrants to the United States. While we now take for granted the nation’s values of freedom and democracy, we cannot understand the impact of the Civil War and the victorious “new birth of freedom” without thinking globally.The contributors to The Civil War as Global Conflict reveal that Civil War-era attitudes toward citizenship and democracy were far from fixed or stable. Race, ethnicity, nationhood, and slavery were subjects of fierce controversy. Examining the Civil War in a global context requires us to see the conflict as a seminal event in the continuous struggles of people to achieve liberty and fulfill the potential of human freedom. The book concludes with a coda that reconnects the global with the local and provides ways for Americans to discuss the war and its legacy more productively.Contributors: O. Vernon Burton; Edmund L. Drago; Hugh Dubrulle; Niels Eichhorn; W. Eric Emerson; Amanda Foreman; David T. Gleeson; Matthew Karp; Simon Lewis; Aaron W. Marrs; Lesley Marx; Joseph McGill; James M. McPherson; Alexander Noonan; Theodore N. Rosengarten; Edward B. Rugemer; Jane E. Schultz; Aaron Sheehan-Dean; Christopher Wilkins“The writers of this collection effectively balance local and global contexts to produce a significant text that is invaluable to any scholar interested in research desiring to move away from ‘pantomime-like North-South, black-white, blue-gray binaries.’” —Jesse Tyler Lobbs, Kansas State University
The Civil War at Perryville: Battling for the Bluegrass (Civil War Sesquicentennial Series)
by Christopher L KolakowskiA comprehensive history of the bloody Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, featuring over sixty historic images and maps.Desperate to seize control of Union-held Kentucky, a border state, the Confederate army launched an invasion into the commonwealth in the fall of 1862. The incursion viciously culminated at an otherwise quiet Bluegrass crossroads and forever altered the landscape of the war. The Battle of Perryville lasted just one day yet produced nearly eight thousand combined casualties and losses, and some say nary a victor. The Rebel army was forced to retreat, and the United States kept its imperative grasp on Kentucky throughout the war. Famous Confederate diarist Sam Watkins, whose Company Aytch journals were featured as a major narrative thread in Ken Burns&’ award-winning Civil War documentary series, declared Perryville the hardest fighting that he experienced. Indeed, history would record that Perryville the second bloodiest battle of the Western Theater after Shiloh. Few know this hallowed ground like Christopher L. Kolakowski, former director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, who draws on letters, reports, memoirs and other primary sources to offer the most accessible and engaging account of the Kentucky Campaign yet, featuring over sixty historic images and maps.
The Civil War in Mississippi: Major Campaigns and Battles (Heritage of Mississippi Series)
by Michael B. BallardFrom the first Union attack on Vicksburg in the spring of 1862 through Benjamin Grierson's last raid through Mississippi in late 1864 and early 1865, this book traces the campaigns, fighting, and causes and effects of armed conflict in central and North Mississippi, where major campaigns were waged and fighting occurred. The Civil War in Mississippi: Major Campaigns and Battles will be a must-read for any Mississippian or Civil War buff who wants the complete story of the Civil War in Mississippi. It discusses the key military engagements in chronological order. It begins with a prologue covering mobilization and other events leading up to the first military action within the state's borders. The book then covers all of the major military operations, including the campaign for and siege of Vicksburg, and battles at Iuka and Corinth, Meridian, Brice's Crossroads, and Tupelo. The colorful cast of characters includes such household names as Sherman, Grant, Pemberton, and Forrest, as well as a host of other commanders and soldiers. Author Michael B. Ballard discusses at length minority troops and others glossed over or lost in studies of the Mississippi military during the war.
The Civil War in the Northwest: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Dakotas
by Robert Huhn JonesTHERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST 34,000 volumes written on the Civil War, and the approaching centennial of that awesome event will insure the outpouring of many more. In this most explored facet of American history, it is curious that there still remain areas to examine, and people and events to reconsider, re-evaluate, and reinterpret. One of the neglected areas is the northwestern frontier. The problem is unusual, for there two turbulent streams of history, the frontier and the rebellion, converge and flow together until the newer ends in a muddy backwash as the older flows on. It is far too arbitrary to paddle one stream without the other, yet most often this has been done. The Civil War has been forgotten as historians probed the Indian massacre, or vice versa.
The Civil War in the West
by Earl J. HessThe Western theater of the Civil War, rich in agricultural resources and manpower and home to a large number of slaves, stretched 600 miles north to south and 450 miles east to west from the Appalachians to the Mississippi. If the South lost the West, there would be little hope of preserving the Confederacy. Earl J. Hess's comprehensive study of how Federal forces conquered and held the West examines the geographical difficulties of conducting campaigns in a vast land, as well as the toll irregular warfare took on soldiers and civilians alike. Hess balances a thorough knowledge of the battle lines with a deep understanding of what was happening within the occupied territories.In addition to a mastery of logistics, Union victory hinged on making use of black manpower and developing policies for controlling constant unrest while winning campaigns. Effective use of technology, superior resource management, and an aggressive confidence went hand in hand with Federal success on the battlefield. In the end, Confederates did not have the manpower, supplies, transportation potential, or leadership to counter Union initiatives in this critical arena.
The Civil War of 1812
by Alan TaylorIn this deeply researched and clearly written book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Alan Taylor tells the riveting story of a war that redefined North America. During the early nineteenth century, Britons and Americans renewed their struggle over the legacy of the American Revolution. Soldiers, immigrants, settlers, and Indians fought in a northern borderland to determine the fate of a continent. Would revolutionary republicanism sweep the British from Canada? Or would the British empire contain, divide, and ruin the shaky American republic?In a world of double identities, slippery allegiances, and porous boundaries, the leaders of the republic and of the empire struggled to control their own diverse peoples. The border divided Americans--former Loyalists and Patriots--who fought on both sides in the new war, as did native peoples defending their homelands. Serving in both armies, Irish immigrants battled one another, reaping charges of rebellion and treason. And dissident Americans flirted with secession while aiding the British as smugglers and spies.During the war, both sides struggled to sustain armies in a northern land of immense forests, vast lakes, and stark seasonal swings in the weather. In that environment, many soldiers panicked as they fought their own vivid imaginations, which cast Indians as bloodthirsty savages. After fighting each other to a standstill, the Americans and the British concluded that they could safely share the continent along a border that favored the United States at the expense of Canadians and Indians. Both sides then celebrated victory by forgetting their losses and by betraying the native peoples.A vivid narrative of an often brutal (and sometimes comic) war that reveals much about the tangled origins of the United States and Canada.From the Hardcover edition.
The Civil War on Hatteras: The Chicamacomico Affair and the Capture of the U.S. Gunboat Fanny (Civil War Ser.)
by Lee Thomas OxfordA noted Civil War historian chronicles the fascinating role played by North Carolina&’s Hatteras Island in the War Between the States. Hatteras Island was home to many Civil War firsts—among them the first Confederate capture of an armed Union vessel and the first combined amphibious assault of the Confederate army and navy. With illuminating research and vivid prose, historian Lee Oxford demonstrates why these episodes make Hatteras Island vital to the story of the Civil War. The Confederates' desire to regain control of this Outer Banks island saw the capture of the U.S. gunboat "Fanny." This in turn led to the famous Chicamacomico Affair at Live Oak encampment. The skirmish featured harrowing acts of valor by the Twentieth Indiana Regiment, as well as a path toward victory for the Confederate forces.
The Civil War on the Mississippi: Union Sailors, Gunboat Captains, and the Campaign to Control the River
by Barbara Brooks TomblinThe naval historian presents a &“well-written, fast-paced&” study of Civil War riverine combat based on the personal accounts of officers and sailors (Civil War News). As one of the most important transportation systems in the country, the Mississippi River became a strategically vital asset to both sides of the Civil War. The Confederacy relied on the river for cotton exportation as well as food and military supplies. The Union sought control of the river not only to disrupt Southern transport, but also to bisect the South as part of the Anaconda Plan. Drawing heavily on the diaries and letters of officers and common sailors, Barbara Brooks Tomblin explores the Union navy&’s fight to win control of the Mississippi. Her approach provides fresh insight into major battles such as Memphis and Vicksburg as well as the fascinating perspectives of ordinary sailors who engaged in brown-water warfare. These men speak of going ashore in foraging parties, assisting the surgeon in the amputation of a fellow crewman's arm, and liberating supplies of whiskey from captured enemy vessels. They also offer candid assessments of their commanding officers, observations of the local people living along the river, and their views on the war. The Civil War on the Mississippi provides a comprehensive account of the action on the western rivers as well as a synthesis of vivid first-person accounts from the front lines.
The Civil War on the Water: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War (Emerging Civil War Series)
by Dwight Sturtevant Hughes And Chris MackowskiThe Civil War was primarily a land conflict, but it was not only that. “Nor must Uncle Sam’s web-feet be forgotten,” wrote Abraham Lincoln. “At all the watery margins they have been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have been and made their tracks.” From the Arctic Circle to the Caribbean, swift Rebel raiders decimated Union commerce pursued by the U. S. Navy. Offshore, storm-tossed blockaders in hundreds of vessels patrolled from Hatteras to Galveston while occasionally lobbing a few shots at a speeding Rebel runner. Around the continental periphery, it was ships vs. powerful fortifications as titanic clashes erupted: Port Royal, New Orleans, Charleston, Mobile. Massive army-navy amphibious operations presaged twentieth-century conflicts: The Peninsula, North Carolina Sounds, Fort Fisher. In the heartland, the two services invented riverine warfare: Forts Henry and Donelson, Island No. 10, Memphis, Vicksburg. And through it all, emerging technology of the machine age played a critical role: iron armor, torpedoes, steam propulsion, heavy naval artillery. However, nothing in the history and traditions of the United States Navy had prepared it for civil war. The sea service would expand tenfold from a third-rate force to (temporarily) one of the most powerful and advanced navies. Meanwhile, former shipmates in the Confederacy struggled to construct a fleet from nothing, applying innovative technologies and underdog strategies to achieve more than anyone thought possible. Both sides faced unprecedented strategic, tactical, and technological challenges that made their navies indispensable—even as the navies themselves faced those same sorts of challenges. The Civil War on the Water: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War compiles favorite navy tales and obscure narratives by distinguished public historians of the Emerging Civil War in celebration of the organization’s tenth anniversary. This eclectic collection presents new stories and familiar battles from a unique perspective—from the water—sea, surf, and stream.
The Civil War: 1860 - 1865
by James Lincoln Collier Christopher CollierHistory is dramatic -- and the renowned, award-winning authors Christopher Collier and James Lincoln Collier demonstrate this in a compelling series aimed at young readers. Covering American history from the founding of Jamestown through present day, these volumes explore far beyond the dates and events of a historical chronicle to present a moving illumination of the ideas, opinions, attitudes and tribulations that led to the birth of this great nation. The Civil War examines the people and events involved in the bloody war that pitted the Northern states against those that seceded to form the Confederacy. This book recounts events leading up to the war as well as to the battles themselves. The authors examine the lives & personalities of key figures, including Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, and Robert E. Lee. The text is enhanced with images of art & artifacts, maps, and photographs from the era.
The Civil War: Great Speeches and Documents (Dover Thrift Editions: American History Ser.)
by Bob BlaisdellMemorable speeches, moving letters, and key reports are among the vital documents in this collection of historic records from the American Civil War. Even the most dedicated history buffs may find something new in this compendium, which ranges from familiar items such as the Gettysburg Address to private reflections that include Stonewall Jackson's message to his wife after the Battle of First Manassas and excerpts from the diary of a Confederate soldier at the siege of Vicksburg.Other highlights include "The War and How to End It," a lecture by Frederick Douglass; Robert E. Lee's farewell to the Army of Northern Virginia; and an eyewitness account of the clash between the Monitor and Merrimack. Selections by commanding officers from both sides of the Mason-Dixon line include Ulysses S. Grant on the battle at Shiloh, Joseph Hooker's account of Antietam, and James Longstreet's Wilderness Campaign report. These and other documents offer students of American history and Civil War devotees a wealth of essential reading in a compact, modestly priced anthology.
The Civil War: The First Year Told by Those Who Lived It
by Stephen W. Sears Brooks D. Simpson Sheehan-Dean AaronAfter 150 years the Civil War is still 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." Drawn from letters, diaries, speeches, articles, poems, songs, military reports, legal opinions, and memoirs, The Civil War: The First Year gathers over 120 pieces by more than sixty participants to create a unique firsthand narrative of this great historical crisis. Beginning on the eve of Lincoln's election in November 1860 and ending in January 1862 with the appointment of Edwin M. Stanton as secretary of war, this volume presents writing by figures well-known-Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Mary Chesnut, Frederick Douglass, and Lincoln himself among them-and less familiar, like proslavery advocate J.D.B. DeBow, Lieutenants Charles B. Haydon of the 2nd Michigan Infantry and Henry Livermore Abbott of the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and plantation mistresses Catherine Edmondston of North Carolina and Kate Stone of Mississippi. Together, the selections provide a powerful sense of the immediacy, uncertainty, and urgency of events as the nation was torn asunder. Includes headnotes, a chronology of events, biographical and explanatory endnotes, full-color hand-drawn endpaper maps, and an index. Companion volumes will gather writings from the second, third, and final years of the conflict.
The Civil War: The Second Year Told By Those Who Lived It
by Stephen W. SearsThe Library of America's ambitious four-volume series continues with this volume that traces events from January 1862 to January 1863, an unforgettable portrait of the crucial year that turned a secessionist rebellion into a war of emancipation. Including eleven never-before- published pieces, here are more than 140 messages, proclamations, newspaper stories, letters, diary entries, memoir excerpts, and poems by more than eighty participants and observers, among them Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, George B. McClellan, Robert E. Lee, Frederick Douglass, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Clara Barton, Harriet Jacobs, and George Templeton Strong, as well as soldiers Charles B. Haydon and Henry Livermore Abbott; diarists Kate Stone and Judith McGuire; and war correspondents George E. Stephens and George Smalley. The selections include vivid and haunting narratives of battles-Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, the gunboat war on the Western rivers, Shiloh, the Seven Days, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Iuka, Corinth, Perryville, Fredericksburg, Stones River-as well as firsthand accounts of life and death in the military hospitals in Richmond and Georgetown; of the impact of war on Massachusetts towns and Louisiana plantations; of the struggles of runaway slaves and the mounting fears of slaveholders; and of the deliberations of the cabinet in Washington, as Lincoln moved toward what he would call "the central act of my administration and the great event of the nineteenth century": the revolutionary proclamation of emancipation.
The Civil Wars
by Introduction By Foreword By John Carter Translator AppianTaken from Appian's Roman History, the five books collected here form the sole surviving continuous historical narrative of the era between 133 and 35 BC - a time of anarchy and instability for the Roman Empire. A masterly account of a turbulent epoch, they describe the Catiline conspiracy; the rise and fall of the First Triumvirate; the murder of Julius Caesar; the formation of the Second Triumvirate by Antonius, Octavian and Lepidus; and brutal civil war. A compelling depiction of the decline of the Roman state into brutality and violence, The Civil Warsportrays political discontent, selfishness and the struggle for power - a struggle that was to culminate in a titanic battle for mastery over the Roman Empire, and the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra by Octavian in 31 BC. John Carter's modern translation conveys the compelling style of the original. His extensive introduction provides an in-depth assessment of Appian as historian and places the work in context.
The Civilian Bomb Disposing Earl: Jack Howard and Bomb Disposal in WW2
by Kerin FreemanCharles 'Jack' Henry George Howard, GC, 20th Earl of Suffolk & Berkshire, born into the noble formidable House of Howard, possessed extraordinary courage. Jack became an earl at the age of eleven after his father died in WWI in Mesopotamia. At age thirty-four, Jack's courageous spirit led him to execute a daring mission for the British government in 1940 in Paris. Under the noses of the advancing Germans he snatched top French scientists, millions of pounds worth of diamonds, armaments, heavy water (the only kind in the world), and secret documents. His trip back to England from Bordeaux was fraught with danger in mine and submarine infested waters. His mission remained Top Secret throughout the war years and beyond, even to his closest family. His adventure in Paris earned him the nickname of 'Mad Jack'. His next chosen mission was again of prime importance and extremely dangerous, a secret more closely guarded than radar. He began working in bomb disposal in close proximity with his secretary Beryl, and Fred his chauffeur, and the three became widely known as The Holy Trinity. Whenever an unexploded bomb was reported, it was quickly brought to the Earl's attention, especially if it was tricky. Thirty four bombs were successfully defuzed by The Holy Trinity and their loyal team of Royal Engineers. The thirty-fifth bomb blew them up.The Holy Trinity were the only World War II civilian casualties working in Bomb Disposal. King George VI in 1941 awarded the 20th Earl the George Cross for his work for his country, the highest gallantry award for civilians, as well as for members of the armed forces, in actions for which purely military honours would not normally be granted.
The Civilian Population and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944
by Joanna K. M. HansonThe Warsaw Uprising of 1944, always a topic of passionate discussion, has already been the subject of many books and other publications. These works, however, have dealt primarily with the political and military aspects of the insurrection, and hence there has been a tendency to forget that nearly one million people, mainly civilians, were caught in insurgent Warsaw and virtually entombed there. Nearly a quarter of them did not survive the ordeal. The battle continued for over two months under incessant German bombardment and fire, whilst diplomatic manoeuvres and intrigues taking place between the Big Three failed to be of any effective help to the fighting city. For sixty-three days the inhabitants of Warsaw lived in difficult, dangerous and desperate conditions. This book is a description of their plight, of their lives, of how they organised themselves and of their survival. It is an analysis of their reaction to the battle itself and to its political and diplomatic implications. It is a study, where possible, of public opinion. The first chapter of the book is a detailed description of life in occupied Warsaw from 1939 to 1944, as this forms an indispensable background to the work. There is also a section on Poland's political and international position during the war.
The Civilian's Guide to the U.S. Military: A Comprehensive Reference to the Customs, Language, & Structure of the Armed Forces
by Barbara Schading Richard Schading Virginia SlaytonAttention! Learn more about your military now! Does a corporal have to salute a lieutenant or is it the other way around? What are forward-deployed units? Is an "armored cow" a type of tank or something soldiers eat? Are Polaris missiles dropped from the air or launched from a submarine? If someone calls you a "Cat 4" should you be honored or offended? Do you feel lost when it comes to all things military? Sure, you hear things on the news and maybe you know someone who is in the military, but you probably have a hard time fully grasping the acronyms, equipment, and protocol they discuss. That's whereA Civilian's Guide to the U. S. Militarycan help. Author Barbara Schading decodes all things military for you. She discusses each branch#151;Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and the Coast Guard#151;in simple terms you can understand. You'll get the background information, an easy-to-read chart showing rank and insignia, and an explanation of the organization of each branch. In addition, the book has extensive glossaries that cover terms, acronyms, slang, and equipment. You'll find an entire chapter that covers special operations forces like the Green Berets, Force Recons, Army Rangers, and more. You'll learn about their specific training, missions, and history. The book also covers other important aspects of the military like: flag and saluting etiquette military funerals the Tombs of the Unknown the American Legion, USO, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and other groups military law military academies medals and decorations official military music an explanation of the Geneva Convention and a list of resources to help you find more information So the next time you read the paper or talk with a new recruit, you don't have to feel lost. Become a knowledgeable civilian with the help ofA Civilian's Guide to the U. S. Military.