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The Eastern Gate: War and Peace in Nagaland, Manipur and India's Far East
by Sudeep ChakravartiTraders, Pushers, Soldiers, Spies.A pivot for India&’s Act-East policy. The gateway to a future of immense possibilities from hydrocarbons to regional trade over land and water that could create a new Silk Route. A bulwark against China. A cradle of climate change dynamics and migration. &‘Northeast&’ India, the appellation with which India&’s far-east is known, is all this and more.Alongside hope and aspiration, it is also home to immense ethnic and communal tension, and a decades-old Naga conflict and the high-profile peace process that involves four gateway states—Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam—and several million people. It&’s among the most militarized zones in the world. It&’s a playground of corruption and engineered violence. Only real peace, and calm in both Myanmar and Bangladesh, will unlock this Eastern gate.A keen observer and frequent chronicler of the region, Sudeep Chakravarti has for several years offered exclusive insights into the Machiavellian—Chanakyan—world of the Naga and other conflicts and various attempts to resolve these. He now melds the skills of a journalist, analyst, historian and ethnographer to offer inside stories and a ringside view to the tortuous, no-holds-barred attempts at resolving conflict.Employing a &‘dispatches&’ style of storytelling, and interviews with rebel leaders, politicians, bureaucrats, policymakers, security specialists and operatives, gunrunners, &‘narcos&’, peace negotiators and community leaders, Chakravarti&’s narrative provides a definitive guide to the transition from war to peace, even as he keeps a firm gaze on the future. The Eastern Gate is a tour de force that captures this story of our times.
The Easy Day Was Yesterday: The Extreme Life of an SAS Soldier (Big Sky Publishing Ser.)
by Paul JordanFrom his cage in a putrid, overcrowded Indian gaol, Paul Jordan reflects on a life lived on the edge and curses the miscalculation that robbed him of his freedom. His childhood, marred by the loss of his father and brother, produce a young man hell bent on being the best of the best - an ambition he achieves by being selected to join the elite SAS. He survives the gut-wrenching training regime, deployment to the jungles of Asia and the horrors of genocide in Rwanda before leaving the army to embark on a career as a security adviser. His new life sees him pursuing criminals and gun-toting bandits in Papua New Guinea and the Solomons, protecting CNN newsmen as the US 7th Cavalry storms into Baghdad with the outbreak of the Iraq War, and facing death on a massive scale as he accompanies reporters into the devastated Indonesian town of Banda Aceh, flattened by the Boxing Day tsunami. During his 24 days in an Indian gaol, Paul Jordan discovers that friendship and human dignity somehow survive the filth and deprivation. This is a personal account of a tough, hardened fighter who suddenly finds himself totally dependent on others for his every need. The Easy Day was Yesterday is fast paced, brutally honest and raw, but laced with dark humour. The core of Paul Jordan's eventful life, however, is the strength of his bonds with family and friends and the ability of the human spirit to survive even the direst adversity.
The Eaves of Heaven
by Andrew X. PhamOne of the Ten Best Books of the Year, Washington Post Book World One of the Los Angeles Times’ Favorite Books of the Year One of the Top Ten National Books of 2008, Portland Oregonian A 2009 Honor Book of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association “Few books have combined the historical scope and the literary skill to give the foreign reader a sense of events from a Vietnamese perspective. . . . Now we can add Andrew Pham’s Eaves of Heaven to this list of indispensable books. ” —New York Times Book Review “Searing . . . vivid–and harrowing . . . Here is war and life through the eyes of a Vietnamese everyman. ” —Seattle Times Once wealthy landowners, Thong Van Pham’s family was shattered by the tumultuous events of the twentieth century: the French occupation of Indochina, the Japanese invasion during World War II, and the Vietnam War. Told in dazzling chapters that alternate between events in the past and those closer to the present,The Eaves of Heavenbrilliantly re-creates the trials of everyday life in Vietnam as endured by one man, from the fall of Hanoi and the collapse of French colonialism to the frenzied evacuation of Saigon. Pham offers a rare portal into a lost world as he chronicles Thong Van Pham’s heartbreaks, triumphs, and bizarre reversals of fortune, whether as a South Vietnamese soldier pinned down by enemy fire, a prisoner of the North Vietnamese under brutal interrogation, or a refugee desperately trying to escape Vietnam after the last American helicopter has abandoned Saigon. This is the story of a man caught in the maelstrom of twentieth-century politics, a gripping memoir told with the urgency of a wartime dispatch by a writer of surpassing talent.
The Echo of Battle: The Army's Way of War
by Brian Mcallister LinnIn the face of radically new ways of waging war, Brian Linn surveys the past assumptions--and errors--that underlie the army's many visions of warfare up to the present day. He explores the army's forgotten heritage of deterrence, its long experience with counter-guerrilla operations, and its successive efforts to transform itself. Distinguishing three martial traditions--each with its own concept of warfare, its own strategic views, and its own excuses for failure--he locates the visionaries who prepared the army for its battlefield triumphs and the reactionaries whose mistakes contributed to its defeats.
The Echo of Twilight
by Judith Kinghorn"An enchanting, atmospheric work of historical fiction that is a rich blend of Downton Abbey and Jane Eyre. The Echo ofTwilight is a wonderful novel to curl up with this winter."--BooklistFrom the acclaimed author of The Last Summer, a captivating and moving story of the unlikely relationship between a lady and her maid on the eve of World War I. As I watched him—his long legs striding the narrow path through the heather, his golden hair catching the sun—I had a hideous feeling in the pit of my stomach. For it seemed as though he was already marching away from me. In 1914, despite the clouds of war threatening Europe, Pearl Gibson’s future is bright. She has secured a position as a lady’s maid to a wealthy Northumberland aristocrat, a job that will win her not only respect but an opportunity to travel and live in luxury. Her new life at Lady Ottoline Campbell’s Scottish summer estate is a whirlwind of intrigue and glamour, scandals and confidences—and surprisingly, a strange but intimate friendship with her employer. But when violence erupts in Europe, Pearl and Ottoline’s world is irrevocably changed. As the men in their lives are called to the front lines, leaving them behind to anxiously brace for bad news, Pearl realizes she must share one final secret with her mistress—a secret that will bind them together forever...
The Eclipse Trilogy: Eclipse, Eclipse: Penumbra, and Eclipse: Corona (The Eclipse Trilogy)
by John ShirleyThe complete trilogy in one volume: Tech-savvy resistance fighters battle a twenty-first-century fascist takeover that threatens the entire planet—and beyond . . . In the near future, Russia invades Western Europe, crisis envelops the United States—and a mercenary army overseen by power-hungry theocrats and authoritarians takes advantage of the chaos. But a band of resistance fighters, technologically skilled and as dedicated to freedom as they are to sex, drugs, and rock and roll, intend to do what needs to be done to save humanity from mass-scale genocide—including those humans living in the world&’s first orbiting space colony . . . This volume includes Eclipse, Eclipse: Penumbra, and Eclipse: Corona Praise for The Eclipse Trilogy &“[An] apocalyptic, pop-inflected, rock-driven vision.&” —William Gibson, New York Times–bestselling author of Neuromancer &“Hard to put down.&” —The Washington Post &“John Shirley&’s prophet-in-the-cyberwilderness voice deserves high billing among the best.&” —Roger Zelazny, Nebula Award-winning author of Nine Princes in Amber &“A Goya-esque vision of war-torn western Europe, bombed out and unstable . . . from a resurgence of Russian militarism and the collapse of NATO.&” —Publishers Weekly &“A kaleidoscopic mix of politics, pop, and paranoia.&” —Bruce Sterling, author of Heavy Weather &“Chillingly plausible.&” —Kirkus Reviews
The Economic Consequences of U.S. Mobilization for the Second World War
by Alexander J. FieldA reminder that war is not always, or even generally, good for long-term growth Many believe that despite its destructive character, war ultimately boosts long‑term economic growth. For the United States this view is often supported by appeal to the experience of the Second World War, understood as a triumph of both production and productivity. Alexander Field shows that between 1941 and 1945 manufacturing productivity actually declined, depressed by changes in the output mix and resource shocks from enemy action, including curtailed access to natural rubber and, on the Eastern Seaboard, petroleum. The war forced a shift away from producing goods in which the country had a great deal of experience toward those in which it had little. Learning by doing was only a partial counterbalance to the intermittent idleness and input hoarding that characterized a shortage economy and dragged down productivity. The conflict distorted human and physical capital accumulation and once it ended, America stopped producing most of the new goods. The war temporarily shut down basic scientific research and the ongoing development of civilian goods. U.S. world economic dominance in 1948, Field shows, was due less to the experience of making war goods and more to the country&’s productive potential in 1941.
The Economic Effort of War (Routledge Revivals)
by R. W. ClarkeThe course of economic events from the start of the Second World War satisfied no-one. The housewife was exasperated by the rise in food prices, thousands of workers faced unemployment, and businessmen were bewildered by the flood of regulations and decrees. In this book, first published in 1940, R. W. B. Clarke explores the economic challenges that the UK faced in coping with the war, and possible ways in which these challenges could be resolved or improved. The book is vital reading for students of modern history and economics.
The Economic Problems of Europe: Pre-War and After (Routledge Revivals)
by M. Philips PriceFirst Published in 1928 The Economic Problems of Europe presents a comprehensive overview of the economic and political transformation of Europe since the First World War. European and world problems often tend to be looked upon from the political, diplomatic, naval, or military aspect. Morgan Philips Price attempted to add the economic background and to show the connection between the political rearrangements since the First World War and the material needs of society, markets of the industrialist, the wages of the workman, and the loans of the bankers. He argued that with the growing internationalization of the world economy, the old map of the world is obsolete and the new one, if it is based on frontiers of finance and industry, will be something very different. This book is an essential read for scholars and researchers of economic history, war history, political economy, British economic history and European history.
The Economic Revolution in British West Africa
by Allan McPheeOriginally published in 1926, McPhee's work was the first to establish a framework for understanding the economic development between 1820-1920 in British West Africa.
The Economics of World War I
by Stephen Broadberry Mark HarrisonThis unique volume offers a definitive new history of European economies at war from 1914 to 1918. It studies how European economies mobilised for war, how existing economic institutions stood up under the strain, how economic development influenced outcomes and how wartime experience influenced post-war economic growth. Leading international experts provide the first systematic comparison of economies at war between 1914 and 1918 based on the best available data for Britain, Germany, France, Russia, the USA, Italy, Turkey, Austria-Hungary and the Netherlands. The editors' overview draws some stark lessons about the role of economic development, the importance of markets and the damage done by nationalism and protectionism. A companion volume to the acclaimed The Economics of World War II, this is a major contribution to our understanding of total war.
The Economics of World War II
by Mark HarrisonThis book provides a new quantitative view of the wartime economic experiences of six great powers; the UK, the USA, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USSR. What contribution did economics made to war preparedness and to winning or losing the war? What was the effect of wartime experiences on postwar fortunes, and did those who won the war lose the peace? A chapter is devoted to each country, reviewing its economic war potential, military-economic policies and performance, war expenditures and development, while the introductory chapter presents a comparative overview. The result of an international collaborative project, the volume aims to provide a text of statistical reference for students and researchers interested in international and comparative economic history, the history of World War II, the history of economic policy, and comparative economic systems. It embodies the latest in economic analysis and historical research.
The Economics of the Wartime Shortage: A History of British Food Supplies in the Napoleonic War and in World Wars I and II
by Mancur Olson JrMancur Olson Jr.’s The Economics of the Wartime Shortage provides a detailed and insightful analysis of how Britain managed its food supplies during three pivotal conflicts: the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II. Combining economic theory with historical case studies, Olson examines the challenges of maintaining food security in times of crisis and the policies and strategies employed to overcome them.The book delves into the economic mechanisms that drive wartime shortages, from disruptions in international trade and blockades to domestic production constraints. Olson explores how these pressures shaped Britain’s agricultural policies, rationing systems, and government interventions to ensure the population’s survival and morale during periods of prolonged conflict.Through comparative analysis, Olson highlights the similarities and differences in how Britain addressed these crises across three wars. He provides a nuanced view of how technological advancements, shifts in economic thinking, and political leadership influenced the nation’s ability to adapt to extreme circumstances.Rich in historical detail and supported by rigorous economic analysis, The Economics of the Wartime Shortage offers valuable insights into the relationship between economics and policy in times of national emergency. This book is an essential read for historians, economists, and anyone interested in the intersection of war, resource management, and human resilience.
The Edge Chronicles 10: The Immortals
by Chris Riddell Paul StewartThis is the final tale in the Edge Chronicles sequence. Set years in the future, this book is ideal for new readers to discover the series before going back to read the history of Twig, Rook, and Quint.
The Edge of Armageddon
by William Ury Bruce J. Allyn"The Edge of Armageddon shares for the first time the behind-the-scenes stories of how Bruce Allyn worked to bring together former enemies to talk about the past in order to create a more peaceful future. The lessons that my father Nikita Khrushchev learned, and that John F. Kennedy and other veterans of the Cuban Missile Crisis learned, are as relevant today as in 1962." --SERGEI KHRUSHCHEV, Son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, Editor of his father's secret memoirs "Truly captivating, it reads like a page turner, using insiders' history of the Cold War to illuminate how we pulled back from the brink then and how we can deal effectively and peacefully with our differences now." --WILLIAM URY, Co-Author of Getting to Yes, Author of The Third Side and Co-Founder of the Harvard Program on Negotiation Historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. called the Cuban Missile crisis, "the most dangerous moment in human history." Bruce Allyn was five years old when it happened but in 1989 would organize and participate in a Moscow meeting with the key living members of the 1962 crisis: Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, the former U.S. Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, and Sergei Khrushchev, who had edited the secret memoirs of his father, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The United States was represented at the meeting by former U.S. Defense Secretary Bob McNamara, former National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy and former Kennedy Special Counsel Ted Sorensen. Fidel Castro sent his top Politburo member and a key Army General to the Moscow meeting and he then personally hosted the fascinating final dialogue in Havana. Allyn brings to life through the participants' own words the critical lessons they learned when they stood on the brink of nuclear Armageddon in 1962. The Edge of Armageddon is "you are there" history with the players who made history. Along the way, we learn how the KGB made a serious effort to try to recruit Allyn to spy for the Soviet Union. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bruce Allyn has for three decades served as a mediator and advisor on political and economic reform in global hotspots in the former Soviet Union, Middle East and Africa. Fluent in Russian from his study of Russian literature in college, Allyn was fortunate to be chosen in 1983 as the bilingual "rapporteur" for a new Harvard-Soviet Joint Study on Crisis Prevention. He would begin dozens of trips to Moscow where he developed close relationships with key Soviet reformers, who later became Mikhail Gorbachev's top advisors and ministers. For the six years Gorbachev was in office, Allyn worked with the Soviet President's inner circle on reform and to convene the historic meetings of the key participants in the 1962 missile crisis. Appointed Director of the Harvard-Soviet Joint Study, Allyn would publish with his colleagues the shocking revelations about how close the world came to nuclear war in the acclaimed Cuba on the Brink: Castro, the Missile Crisis and the Soviet Collapse (Pantheon 1993), which commentators hailed as enlightening and authentic "history by those who made it." Allyn received a Ph.D. in Political Economy and an M.A. in Soviet Studies from Harvard and an M.A. in Philosophy and Politics from Oxford University. His other publications include Windows of Opportunity: From Cold War to Peaceful Competition in U.S.-Soviet Relations (Harper and Row, 1989) and Back to the Brink: Proceedings of the Moscow Conference on the Cuban Missile Crisis (Harvard University, 1992). He is a contributor to the classic college text The Use of Force: Military Power and International Relations (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009).
The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation
by Stephen FlynnAmericans are in denial when it comes to facing up to how vulnerable our nation is to disaster, be it terrorist attack or act of God. We have learned little from the cataclysms of September 11 and Hurricane Katrina. When it comes to catastrophe, America is living on borrowed time-and squandering it. In this new book, leading security expert Stephen Flynn issues a call to action, demanding that we wake up and prepare immediately for a safer future.
The Edge of Honor
by P. T. DeutermannAt the height of the war, Lt. Brian Holcomb is assigned to the USS John Bell Hood, a ship patroling off the coast of Vietnam. Brian is in charge of the ship's computer-driven attack and defense systems. He uncovers a secret drug ring that is ruining the ship and leaving it open to attack. Meanwhile at home, his wife Maddy is fighting her own battles, as a handsome stranger enters her life while her husband is away in Vietnam. A fascinating look at the Navy during Vietnam, Edge of Honor has been one of Deutermann's most popular novels.
The Edge of Tomorrow
by Thomas A. DooleyDr. Dooley and a tiny staff set up two jungle hospitals in Laos, five miles from the edge of the bamboo curtain where they continue to fight disease and communism with antibiotics and understanding. Dooley was a celebrated person during his campaign for health in Indo-china, pre-Vietnam. A very charismatic and political man, he actually was influential bringing this area of the world to the attention of Americans.
The Edge of Valor
by John J. GobbellCommander Todd Ingram, commanding officer of the destroyer, USS Maxwell (DD-525) met Soviet Navy officer Eduard Dezhnev in 1942 when the starshiy leytenant (senior lieutenant) was Naval Attaché to the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco. They became close friends, or so Ingram thought, until he discovered Dezhnev was a spy and had directly contributed to his capture by the Japanese in the Philippines while attempting to rescue his wife to-be, Helen. Later that year, Ingram escaped the Philippines with Helen, and returned to San Francisco, and had Dezhnev expelled from the United States, persona non grata.Ingram had put all that out of his mind, when on the last day of the war, the Maxwell suffers a hit from a Kamikaze attack off Okinawa. She puts into Karama Rhetto, a small archipelago off Okinawa, for repairs. News of the war's end comes the next day and Ingram expects to go home with the others on operation Magic Carpet. Instead, an Army buddy from his days on Corregidor comes after him. He is Brigadier General Otis Dewitt, now intelligence aid on General Douglas MacArthur's staff. In concert with the State Department, DeWitt has temporary orders drawn for Ingram to accompany him to Manila on the same plane as sixteen Japanese senior military and civilian diplomats. Over a swift two days, they negotiate with General MacArthur's staff, the terms for the instrument of surrender, soon to be signed in Tokyo Bay. DeWitt Promises Ingram that he will attend that ceremony.But DeWitt and the State Department have an ulterior motive. After Manila, they send Ingram on to Sakhalin Island to learn what can be done to defuse a Soviet attack on Hokkaido. Why me, asks Ingram? He groans when DeWitt tells him Edward Dezhnev is now a Captain Third Rank in the Soviet Navy. Moreover, Dezhnev is a brigade commander on Sakhalin and is responsible for laying siege to a Japanese holdout in Toro, a natural jumping off place for an attack on Hokkaido.Ingram and Dezhnev were once friends. Maybe it can happen again, Dewitt explains. At the very least, Ingram might be able to gather intelligence on the Soviet's plans to attack Hokkaido. There is something else, DeWitt explains. Walter Boring, a Red Cross representative on the run from Harbin, China, has two crates of overwhelming photographic evidence of Japan's experiments on live human beings; experiments far worse than anything in Nazi Germany. Ingram is expected to return with those crates. But how can he when Boring is being protected by the Japanese garrison in Toro where Dezhnev and his brigade stand ready to overpower them at any moment? Thus Ingram's "friendship" with Dezhnev may be a key factor in securing Boring's release along with his crates. As his shipmates relax and prepare for their return to loved ones, Ingram must go the other way. Three weeks ago he was fighting the Japanese and the Soviets were supposed to be his friends. Now, he doesn't know who to trust.
The Edge of War
by James David Atkinson Adm. Arleigh A. BurkeOriginally published in 1960, in The Edge of War Georgetown University associate professor and author James David Atkinson provides an examination of both the Western and Communist approaches to war. He also covers the evolution of unconventional war, and includes case histories of Guatemala and the stand-up of the Shah of Iran.“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to state my agreement with Dr. Atkinson’s general thesis and especially his observation that ‘warfare of the latter part of the 20th Century is, above all, a battle of the spirit, of ideas, and of the human will.’ This battle will be fought in the hearts, in the minds, and in the souls of men everywhere. It is hoped that this book will serve to awaken many to this fact.”—Adm. Arleigh A. Burke
The Edge of the Blade (The Crusader Knights Cycle)
by Graham ShelbyLove and revenge will drive him across the sea in this epic historical adventure of The Crusader KnightsThe Falkan castle of Tremellion is visited by the mysterious Lord Vaulmier, Treasurer of the Crusade, and his beautiful daughter Christiane de Magnat-Vaulmier. Seeking finance for the Third Crusade against Saladin, they negotiate with Sir Geoffrey Falkan and inveigle all the Falkan fortune, to the fury of Sir Geoffrey’s older son, Ranulf, who will be driven to the most terrible of crimes…Baynard Falkan, younger son and valiant knight errant, sets out on a quest to find Christiane, who has stolen his heart, and to avenge the bloody killing of his father. But to find justice, he must survive bandits and pirates, and travel to the bloody siege of Jerusalem. The Edge of the Blade, the sixth epic historical adventure in The Crusader Knights Cycle, is perfect for fans of David Gilman and Bernard Cornwell. ‘The story is exciting as well as psychologically convincing and thought-provoking’ Financial Times ‘History with a dramatist’s eye for a fine setting and a novelist’s insight into human minds and motives’ Times Literary Supplement
The Edge of the Sword: Errand of Vengeance Book One (Star Trek: The Original Series)
by Kevin RyanA thrilling Star Trek adventure novel featuring Captain Kirk and members of the original crew as they face an unknown phenomenon headed to destroy a planet and its possible origins of a past coming back to haunt them.Lt. Jon Anderson is the newest security officer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. He joins the crew at a time of mounting tension between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Previous battles have been inconclusive, but Starfleet Command fears that the Klingons are gearing up for a major offensive. The Enterprise would be on the front lines of an all-out interstellar war. But Lieutenant Anderson has a secret: he is actually a Klingon infiltrator assigned to sabotage Starfleet from within. His first mission: kill Capt. James T. Kirk.
The Edge of the Sword: Israel’s War of Independence, 1947-1949
by Gen. S. L. A. Marshall Lt.-Col. Netanel LorchFirst published in 1961, this detailed Israeli military history book covering the years 1947-49 book begins with the tensions of the British Mandate period in Palestine, including the international debates over proposed boundaries for the new Jewish state, and examines the chaos that followed the British evacuation, the invasion of five Arab armies supported by guerrilla fighters inside Israel, the defeat of the Arab armies, and the signing of armistice agreements at Rhodes. It surveys the strength, weaknesses, equipment and manpower of Jewish and Arab forces and describes the strategies and tactics used in operations launched by all sides, together with the results of the battles that led to Israel’s pre-1967 borders.“In splendidly crisp, frugal but always fluent narrative, Col. Netanel Lorch relates how Israel won her life with ‘The Edge of the Sword.’ It is an apt title for this masterly deployment of bare facts, devoid of speculative afterthoughts, almost devoid of comment...I rate this book a splendid job of work, absorbing to a student of war, a fit memorial to heroic events passing comprehension.”—The New York Times“...minute in its detail, meticulous in its completeness, matter of fact in its style...but, professional objectivity notwithstanding, he offers a penetrating insight into the passions and purposes that underlay this struggle.”—Herbert Kupferberg, The New York Herald Tribune“Lorch...was fortunate in holding a position in which he was able to obtain and sift much data not normally available to the public. This he has done admirably...It is a timely, comprehensive book...clearly a must for the bookshelf of everyone who takes an interest in military matters or in the Middle East.”—Edgar O’Ballance, The Spectator, LondonRichly illustrated with numerous photos.
The Edge of the Sword: The Classic Account of Warfare & Captivity in Korea
by Anthony Farrar-HockleyAn account of the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, at the Battle of Imjin River during the Korean War and the survivors&’ captivity in a POW camp. In April 1951, at the height of the Korean War, Chinese troops advanced south of the 38th parallel towards a strategic crossing-point of the Imjin River on the invasion route to the South Korean capital of Seoul. The stand of the 1st Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment, against the overwhelming numbers of invading troops has since passed into British military history. In The Edge of the Sword General, Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley, then Adjutant of the Glosters, has painted a vivid and accurate picture of the battle as seen by the officers and soldiers caught up in the middle of it. The book does not, however, end there. Like the majority of those who survived, the author became a prisoner-of-war, and the book continues with a remarkable account of his experiences in and out of Chinese prison camps. This book is not an attempt at a personal hero-story, and it is certainly not a piece of political propaganda. It is, above all, an amazing story of human fortitude and high adventure.
The Education of Corporal John Musgrave: Vietnam and Its Aftermath
by John MusgraveA Marine's searing and intimate story—"A passionate, fascinating, and deeply humane memoir of both war and of the hard work of citizenship and healing in war&’s aftermath. A superb addition to our understanding of the Vietnam War, and of its lessons&” (Phil Klay, author of Redeployment).John Musgrave had a small-town midwestern childhood that embodied the idealized postwar America. Service, patriotism, faith, and civic pride were the values that guided his family and community, and like nearly all the boys he knew, Musgrave grew up looking forward to the day when he could enlist to serve his country as his father had done. There was no question in Musgrave&’s mind: He was going to join the legendary Marine Corps as soon as he was eligible. In February of 1966, at age seventeen, during his senior year in high school, and with the Vietnam War already raging, he walked down to the local recruiting station, signed up, and set off for three years that would permanently reshape his life.In this electrifying memoir, he renders his wartime experience with a powerful intimacy and immediacy: from the rude awakening of boot camp, to daily life in the Vietnam jungle, to a chest injury that very nearly killed him. Musgrave also vividly describes the difficulty of returning home to a society rife with antiwar sentiment, his own survivor's guilt, and the slow realization that he and his fellow veterans had been betrayed by the government they served. And he recounts how, ultimately, he found peace among his fellow veterans working to end the war. Musgrave writes honestly about his struggle to balance his deep love for the Marine Corps against his responsibility as a citizen to protect the very troops asked to protect America at all costs. Fiercely perceptive and candid, The Education of Corporal John Musgrave is one of the most powerful memoirs to emerge from the war.