In mid-1943 James Megellas, known as “Maggie” to his fellowparatroopers, joined the 82d Airborne Division, his new “home” forthe duration. His first taste of combat was in the rugged mountainsoutside Naples. In October 1943, when most of the 82d departed Italy to prepare forthe D-Day invasion of France, Lt. Gen. Mark Clark, the Fifth Armycommander, requested that the division’s 504th Parachute InfantryRegiment, Maggie’s outfit, stay behind for a daring new operationthat would outflank the Nazis’ stubborn defensive lines and openthe road to Rome. On 22 January 1944, Megellas and the rest of the504th landed across the beach at Anzio. Following initial success,Fifth Army’s amphibious assault, Operation Shingle, bogged down inthe face of heavy German counterattacks that threatened to drivethe Allies into the Tyrrhenian Sea. Anzio turned into a fiasco, oneof the bloodiest Allied operations of the war. Not until April werethe remnants of the regiment withdrawn and shipped to England torecover, reo
Around 330 b.c., a remarkable adventurer named Pytheas set outfrom the Greek colony of Massalia (now Marseille) on theMediterranean Sea to explore the fabled, terrifying lands ofnorthern Europe. Renowned archaeologist Barry Cunliffe herere-creates Pytheas's unprecedented journey, which occurred almost300 years before Julius Caesar landed in Britain. Beginning with aninvaluable pocket history of early Mediterranean civilization,Cunliffe illuminates what Pytheas would have seen andexperienced-the route he likely took to reach Brittany, thenBritain, Iceland, and Denmark; and evidence of the ancient cultureshe would have encountered on shore. The discoveries Pytheas madewould reverberate throughout the civilized world for years to come,and in recounting his extraordinary voyage, Cunliffe chronicles anessential chapter in the history of civilization.
On April 10, 1970, Hill 927 was occupied by troopers of theScreaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division. By July, theactivities of the artillery and infantry of Ripcord had caught theattention of the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) and a long and deadlysiege ensued. Ripcord was the Screaming Eagles’ last chance to dosignificant damage to the NVA in the A Shau Valley before thedivision was withdrawn from Vietnam and returned to the UnitedStates. At Ripcord, the enemy counterattacked with ferocity, using mortarand antiaircraft fire to inflict heavy causalities on the unitsoperating there. The battle lasted four and a half months andexemplified the ultimate frustration of the Vietnam War: theinability of the American military to bring to bear its enormousresources to win on the battlefield. In the end, the 101stevacuated Ripcord, leaving the NVA in control of the battlefield.Contrary to the mantra “We won every battle but lost the war,” theUnited States was defeated at Ripcord. Now, at last, th
For 130 years historians and military strategists have beenobsessed by the battle of Chancellorsville. It began with anaudaciously planned stroke by Union general Joe Hooker as he senthis army across the Rappahannock River and around Robert E. Lee'slines. It ended with that same army fleeing back in near totaldisarray -- and Hooker's reputation in ruins.
With the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, once againAmerica's men and women who have seen war close-up are suddenlyexpected to return seamlessly to civilian life. In Flashback, PennyColeman tells the cautionary and timely story of posttraumaticstress disorder in the hope that we can sensitively assist thoseveterans who return from combat in need of help, and the familiesstruggling to support them.
A battle is like just. The frenzy passes. Consequence remains." Such are the observations made and ill-gotten lessons learned in this fic tional autobiographical narrative of breathtaking range and power.Ross Leckie not only presents a vivid re-creation of the great strug gle o.f the Punic wars and the profoundly bloody battle for Rome,but succeeds in bringing the almost mythical figure of Hannibal to life. Introspective, educated on the Greeks, but steeped in animus for Rome, Hannibal has never been presented quite like this.
On the day the firstshots of the Civil War were fired, a mob in Richmond clambered ontop of the Capitol to raise the Confederate flag. Four years later,another flag was raised in its place while the city burned below. Athirteen-year-old girl compared the stars and stripes to "so manybloody gashes." This richly detailed, absorbing book brings to lifethe years in which Richmond was the symbol of Southern independenceand the theater for a drama as splendid, sordid, and tragic as thewar itself. Drawing on an array of archival sources,Ashes ofGloryportrays Richmond's passion through the voices of soldiers andstatesmen, preachers and prostitutes, slaves and slavers.Masterfully orchestrated and finely rendered, the result is apassionate and compelling work of social history. "Furguson is alively writer with an eye for the apt quotation and the tellingincident...He brings to life a diverse cast ofcharacters."--Newsday "Succeeds to a remarkable extent...Furgusonbrings war-torn Richmond to life."--Baltimore Sun
