The Victors is like a compilation of Stephen E. Ambrose's greatest hits, drawing heavily from his biography of General Dwight D. Eisenhower and several military histories that recount the events of the Allied push across the European continent in 1944 and 1945 from the frontline trooper's perspective. The narrative is vintage Ambrose, full of engaging yet workmanlike prose that conveys the epic scope of its subject while paying careful attention to the details of the often inglorious lives of the GIs. Eisenhower looms large over this book, but it's the ordinary soldiers and their experiences who give the story real life. Readers who have already dipped into the Ambrose library may find sections of The Victors redundant, but for those who want an adept overview of what Ike and his men accomplished, this is a great place to start. --John J. Miller --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Ambrose has established himself as both a major biographer of Dwight Eisenhower and the definitive chronicler of America's combat soldiers in the D-Day campaign of 1944-45. But after Citizen Soldiers, he'd sworn off war and given away his WWII books. Then his editor convinced him to do "a book on Ike and the GIs, drawing on my previous writings"Asuch as Citizen Soldiers, D-Day and The Supreme Commander. "Alice Mayhew made me do it," Ambrose writes here. Readers familiar with Ambrose's work will find familiar set pieces, familiar anecdotes, even familiar phrases, but this is more than a clip job. It stands on its own as the story of the GIs who fought their way from Normandy's beaches and hedgerows across Europe. Few were prepared for combat against a Wehrmacht that was dangerous even in decline, and both enlisted men and officers learned through hard-earned experience. While admiring Eisenhower's character and generally affirming his performance as supreme Allied commander, Ambrose is sharply critical of such costly slugging matches as the one in the Huertgen Forest, which continued during the fall and winter of 1944 on orders from senior officers unaware of conditions in the front lines and unable to develop an alternative to frontal assault. But by the final thrust into Germany in the spring of 1945, the U.S. Army's fighting power was second to none. Once more, Ambrose does what few others do as wellAvividly portray the sacrifices and achievements of democracy's army.

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Stephen Ambrose - Band of Brothers, E Company, 506 th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitle r's Eagle's Nest (2002).jpeg

USA Books1 - Stephen Ambrose - Band of Brothers, E Company, 506th R...t Airborne from Normandy to Hitlers Eagles Nest 2002.jpeg

The men of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, volunteered for this elite fighting force because they wanted to be the best in the army--and avoid fighting alongside unmotivated, out-of-shape draftees. The price they paid for that desire was long, arduous, and sometimes sadistic training, followed by some of the most horrific battles of World War II. Actor Cotter Smith--a veteran of numerous TV movies and Broadway plays--spins Stephen Ambrose's tale with almost laconic ease. Anecdote by anecdote, he lets the power of the story build. By the time the company has gotten through D-day and seized Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Bavaria, we feel we know as much about the men and their missions as we do about our own brothers. (Running time: 5 hours, 4 cassettes) --Lou Schuler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Ambrose ( Pegasus Bridge ) narrates in vivid detail the adventures, misadventures, triumphs and tragedies of a single U.S. Army infantry company over its span of organizational life. Formed in July 1944 and deactivated in November 1945, E Company was one of the most successful light infantry units in the European theater. Its troops saw their first action on D-Day behind the Normandy beachhead, took part in Operation Market Garden in Holland, held the perimeter around Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, and were the first to reach Hitler's Bavarian outpost at Berchtesgaden. The book is enlivened with pertinent comments by veterans of "Easy Company," who recall not only the combat action but their relations with their officers (one company commander was a petty tyrant of the worst type, but his oppressive ways had much to do with the unit's impressive esprit de corps ) and their impressions of the countries through which they campaigned (hated the French, loved the Germans). This is a terrific read for WW II actions buffs. Photos. Military Book Club main selection; Literary Guild alternate.

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Joel Makower - Woodstock, The Oral History (2009).jpg

Understand the Woodstock experience better by putting it in its full historical context of what was happening in America from 1964 to 1970. Try Die at the Right Time! A Subjective Cultural History of the American Sixties.

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Joel Makower - Woodstock, The Oral History (2009).pdf

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Andrew Gelman - Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State, Why Americans Vote the Way They Do (2 008).jpg

On the night of the 2000 presidential election, Americans sat riveted in front of their televisions as polling results divided the nation's map into red and blue states. Since then the color divide has become a symbol of a culture war that thrives on stereotypes--pickup-driving red-state Republicans who vote based on God, guns, and gays; and elitist, latte-sipping blue-state Democrats who are woefully out of touch with heartland values. Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State debunks these and other political myths. With wit and prodigious number crunching, Andrew Gelman gets to the bottom of why Democrats win elections in wealthy states while Republicans get the votes of richer voters, how the two parties have become ideologically polarized, and other issues. Gelman uses eye-opening, easy-to-read graphics to unravel the mystifying patterns of recent voting, and in doing so paints a vivid portrait of the regional differences that drive American politics. He demonstrates in the plainest possible terms how the real culture war is being waged among affluent Democrats and Republicans, not between the haves and have-nots; how religion matters for higher-income voters; how the rich-poor divide is greater in red not blue states--and much more.

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Andrew Gelman - Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State, Why Americans Vote the Way They Do (2 008).pdf

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Tony Smith, Richard C. Leone - America's Mission, The United States and the Worldwide Struggle for D emocracy in the Twentieth Century (1995).jpg

USA Books1 - Tony Smith, Richard C. Leone - Americas Mission, The ... Struggle for Democracy in the Twentieth Century 1995.jpg

The strength and prestige of democracy worldwide at the end of the twentieth century are due in good measure to the impact of America on international affairs, argues Tony Smith. Here for the first time is a book that documents the extraordinary history of American foreign policy with respect to the promotion of democracy worldwide, an effort whose greatest triumph came in the occupations of Japan and Germany but whose setbacks include interventions in Latin America and Vietnam.

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Tony Smith, Richard C. Leone - America's Mission, The United States and the Worldwide Struggle for D emocracy in the Twentieth Century (1995).pdf

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Eric M. Patashnik - Reforms at Risk, What Happens After Major Policy Changes Are Enacted (2008).jpg

Reforms at Risk is the first book to closely examine what happens to sweeping and seemingly successful policy reforms after they are passed. Most books focus on the politics of reform adoption, yet as Eric Patashnik shows here, the political struggle does not end when major reforms become enacted. Why do certain highly praised policy reforms endure while others are quietly reversed or eroded away? Patashnik peers into some of the most critical arenas of domestic-policy reform--including taxes, agricultural subsidies, airline deregulation, emissions trading, welfare state reform, and reform of government procurement--to identify the factors that enable reform measures to survive. He argues that the reforms that stick destroy an existing policy subsystem and reconfigure the political dynamic. Patashnik demonstrates that sustainable reforms create positive policy feedbacks, transform institutions, and often unleash the ''creative destructiveness'' of market forces. Reforms at Risk debunks the argument that reforms inevitably fail because Congress is prey to special interests, and the book provides a more realistic portrait of the possibilities and limits of positive change in American government. It is essential reading for scholars and practitioners of U.S. politics and public policy, offering practical lessons for anyone who wants to ensure that hard-fought reform victories survive.

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Peter Cozzens - Shenandoah 1862, Stonewall Jackson 's Valley Campaign (2008).jpg

Cozzens (The Darkest Days of the War) is an independent scholar and a master of Civil War military history at tactical and operational levels. He deploys a large body of unfamiliar primary material in this detailed analysis of a campaign less one-sided than the accepted view that it represented Union blundering and the triumph of Confederate planning and execution signaling the emergence of one of history's great generals, Stonewall Jackson. Without debunking Jackson, Cozzens describes a commander still learning his craft. Jackson's obsession with keeping his strategic intention to himself too often left his subordinates confused. As a tactician he tended to commit his forces piecemeal. The Union generals opposing him performed reasonably well in the context of divided command, inadequate logistics and constant micromanaging by Abraham Lincoln. In particular the president's concern for Washington's safety led him to withhold troops from McClellan's Peninsular Campaign—a decision Cozzens reasonably says enhanced McClellan's natural caution. Jackson's victories revitalized a Confederacy whose morale was at its lowest after a string of Union victories. The South now had a new hero, whose personal idiosyncrasies and overt religiosity only enhanced his appeal. 13 illus., 13 maps.

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Peter Cozzens - Shenandoah 1862, Stonewall Jackson 's Valley Campaign (2008).pdf

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Sophia Raday - Love in Condition Yellow, A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage (2009).jpg

Go on a date with a soldier turned police officer? Me? And discuss Gandhi’s experiments with truth with a gun-toting Republican?
The last thing Berkeley-dwelling peace activist Sophia Raday expected was to fall in love with a straightlaced Oakland police officer. As someone who had run away from cops dressed in riot gear at protests, Sophia was ambivalent, to say the least, at the prospect of dating Barrett, who was not only a cop but also a West Point graduate, an Airborne Ranger, and a major in the Army Reserve.
During their courtship the two argued about many of the matters that divide the United States, things like drug policy and race relations. Startled by the freedom she found in a relationship of differences, by the challenge of sparring with Barrett, and by his steadfast acceptance of her, Sophia unwittingly fell in love. Then, just when Sophia believed her family was starting a new chapter with the birth of their son, came September 11. Barrett’s belief that he must always stay in Condition Yellow—the terminology coined by his favorite Guns & Ammo writer for a state of alert in which you realize your life is in danger and you may need to shoot someone—was suddenly in the forefront of their lives. Sophia and Barrett began to confront, on a very personal level, their differing viewpoints on polarizing values like fear, duty, family, and patriotism.
When Barrett’s military duties escalated along with the country’s, Sophia found herself in the surprising position of military wife, living on an army base during the 2004 elections, and struggling to find peace with herself and her husband in this new world. It was a struggle that would continue up to the point of Barrett’s deployment to Iraq.
Love in Condition Yellow not only provides a vivid, poignant portrait of this unusual union, but also tells the larger story of how love doesn’t necessarily come from sameness, and peace doesn’t necessarily come from agreement.

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Sophia Raday - Love in Condition Yellow, A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage (2009).pdf

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Battles That Changed the World - Richard Worth - T et Offensive (2002).jpg

Details the pivotal battle of the Vietnam War.

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Battles That Changed the World - Richard Worth - T et Offensive (2002).pdf

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Battles That Changed the World - Richard Worth - S aratoga (2002).jpg

Grade 7-10-The battles that centered around the Hudson River and Saratoga during the Revolutionary War were crucial for control of the Canadian border and upper New York State. Each chapter focuses on the events leading up to British General Burgoyne's surrender. The various styles of paintings and sketches used to depict specific events throughout this time period enhance the somewhat stifling text that tends to be confusing, dry, and choppy. The chronology does aid in the understanding of the book as a whole. Additional information boxes explain certain ideas and people in deeper detail, but don't help the overall presentation. Most of the books listed for further reading are out of print; almost all of them are adult titles. There is no bibliography, and quotes are not documented. Marginal, at best.

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Battles That Changed the World - Richard Worth - S aratoga (2002).pdf

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James Brady - Hero of the Pacific, The Life of Mar ine Legend John Basilone (2010).jpg

The first serious biography of Medal of Honor winner “Manila John” Basilone is also, sadly, Brady’s last book. He died immediately after completing it, having done his work well. Basilone came from a blue-collar Italian family in New Jersey and had served in the army in the Philippines before the war. For World War II, he joined the marines and won the Medal of Honor as a machine-gunner on Guadalcanal. Sent home as a celebrity for a bond tour, he found his new status a burden and repeatedly tried to get back into combat. Before he did, he married a fellow marine, but what promised to be a highly successful marriage was cut tragically short when Basilone was killed in action on the first day on Iwo Jima. Brady has ferreted out and interviewed practically all the survivors of those who knew Basilone, critiqued most of the previous accounts (sometimes scathingly) on the basis of his own experience as a marine, and generally left us one good marine’s tribute to another.

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Stanley I. Kutler - Watergate, A Brief History wit h Documents (2009).jpg

The second edition of Watergate: A Brief History with Documents presents a collection of relevant historic documents from Nixon's acceptance speech at the 1968 Republican National Convention to his 1974 pardon.
Includes transcripts of recently-released Watergate tapes that reveal Nixon’s thoughts and reactions to events as they unfolded, and that deal with the identity of the anonymous source known as ‘Deep Throat’.
Uses the crisis to explain how American politics and law work and provides an indication of the way the country may handle future crises
Provides brief summaries of what happened to various Watergate participants
Covers the entire span of time from Nixon's 1968 acceptance speech at the RNC until his pardon in 1974

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Stanley I. Kutler - Watergate, A Brief History wit h Documents (2009).pdf

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Joan Waugh - U. S. Grant, American Hero, American Myth (2009).jpg

How does national memory determine national heroes? Waugh, a UCLA history professor, probes the subject in an engaging study of the making of Ulysses S. Grant's reputation. At the time of his death in 1885, he was perceived as on a level with George Washington by former Unionists and Confederates alike. His memoirs were a bestseller. His image combined the honorable soldier and the generous victor: a heroic war leader who believed in the ideal of national reconciliation in both regional and racial contexts. Even Grant's flaws were part of his greatness, linking him to his countrymen in a distinctively American fashion. That image began to change as lost cause romanticism nurtured reinterpreting the Civil War as not merely tragic but arguably unnecessary. The eclipse of this approach has restored Grant's reputation as a general. Now his presidency is the target of criticism: corrupt, ineffective and above all incomplete in terms of the racial issue. Waugh convincingly interprets Grant as symboliz[ing] both the hopes and the lost dreams of the Civil War. But while that war remains our defining—and dividing—event, Grant's image, Waugh says, will remain ambiguous. 69 illus., 3 maps.

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Joan Waugh - U. S. Grant, American Hero, American Myth (2009).pdf

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David Farber - What They Think of Us, Internationa l Perceptions of the United States since 9-11 (200 7).jpg

It has never been more important for Americans to understand why the world both hates and loves the United States. In What They Think of Us, a remarkable group of writers from the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Latin America describes the world's profoundly ambivalent attitudes toward the United States--before and since 9/11. While many people around the world continue to see the United States as a model despite the Iraq war and the war on terror, the U.S. response to 9/11 has undoubtedly intensified global anti-Americanism. What They Think of Us reveals that substantial goodwill toward America still exists, but that this sympathy is in peril--and that there is an immense gap between how Americans view their country and how it is viewed abroad. Drawing on broad research and personal experience while avoiding anecdotalism and polemics, the writers gathered here combine political, cultural, and historical analysis to explain how people in different parts of the world see the United States. They show that not all anti-Americanism can be blamed on U.S. foreign policy. America is disliked not just for what it does but also for what it is, and perceptions of both are profoundly shaped--and sometimes warped--by the domestic realities of the countries where anti-Americanism thrives. In addition to analyzing America's battered global reputation, these writers propose ways the United States and other countries can build better relations through greater understanding and respect.

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David Farber - What They Think of Us, Internationa l Perceptions of the United States since 9-11 (200 7).pdf

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Jim Willis - The Media Effect, How the News Influe nces Politics and Government (2007).jpg

In a postmodern age where the media's depictions of reality serve as stand-ins for the real thing for so many Americans, how much government policy is being made on the basis of those mediated realities and on the public reaction to them? When those mediated depictions deviate from the truth of the actual situation, how serious a situation is that? Time and again, both anecdotal evidence and scientific research seem to confirm that the news media often influence government action. At the least, they speed up policy making that would otherwise take a slower, more reasoned course. Sometimes the media serve as the communication link among world leaders who may be ideological enemies. Because of the enduring popularity of television news, government leaders monitor the networks' story selections and track public opinion trends generated by interviews done in these stories. These then become the substance of proposed legislation and/or executive action, as politicians strive to prove themselves able listeners to the heartland of America and also prove themselves worthy of re-election. This book examines many specific events that show how major news operations either painted a truthful or distorted picture of national and international events, and how governmental leaders responded following those representations.

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Jim Willis - The Media Effect, How the News Influe nces Politics and Government (2007).pdf

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Melissa Nobles - The Politics of Official Apologie s (2008).jpg

This book examines the political uses of official apologies in the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Nobles explores why minority groups demand such apologies and why governments do or do not offer them. She argues that apologies can help to alter the terms and meanings of national membership. Minorities demand apologies in order to focus attention on historical injustices, the rectification of which, they argue, should guide changes in present-day government policies. When employed by political actors, apologies play an important, if under appreciated, role in bringing certain views about history and moral obligation to bear in public life.

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Melissa Nobles - The Politics of Official Apologie s (2008).pdf

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Bruce P. Montgomery - The Bush-Cheney Administrati on's Assault on Open Government (2008).jpg

The Bush-Cheney administration took office in 2001 determined to assert the preeminent authority of the executive branch and its immunity from congressional oversight and public transparency. Within months, Congress's "Use of Force" resolution on the heels of the 9/11 terrorist attacks gave the White House the platform for launching an aggressive and successful campaign to gut the nation's open government laws, neuter congressional prerogatives, and shroud the presidency in privilege and secrecy. With military precision, the wartime executive targeted and struck down or flouted all the landmark sunshine laws enacted by Congress over the preceding decades: DT Freedom of Information Act (1966) DT Presidential Records Act (1978) DT Budget and Accounting Act establishing the General Accountability Office (1921) DT Federal Advisory Committee Act (1972) DT Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (1978) Montgomery, who founded the world's largest academic repository of contemporary human rights documents, concludes with a summary of the aggregate impact of Bush-Cheney's attacks on open and balanced government and their implications for the future of constitutional and human rights in the United States.

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