America's First Battles, 1776–1965

America's First Battles, 1776–1965
Author: Charles E. Heller
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Total Pages: 432
Release: 1986-12-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0700602771

This volume, a collection of eleven original essays by many of the foremost U.S. military historians, focuses on the transition of the Army from parade ground to battleground in each of nine wars the United States has fought. Through careful analysis of organization, training, and tactical doctrine, each essay seeks to explain the strengths and weaknesses evidenced by the outcome of the first significant engagement or campaign of the war. The concluding essay sets out to synthesize the findings and to discover whether or not American first battles manifest a characteristic "rhythm." America's First Battles provides a novel and intellectually challenging view of how America has prepared for war and how operations and tactics have changed over time. The thrust of the book--the emphasis on operational history--is at the forefront of scholarly activity in military history.

One Hundred Victories

One Hundred Victories
Author: Linda Robinson
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2013-10-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1610391500

One Hundred Victories is a portrait of how -- after a decade of intensive combat operations -- special operations forces have become the go-to force for US military endeavors worldwide. Linda Robinson follows the evolution of special ops in Afghanistan, their longest deployment since Vietnam. She has lived in mud-walled compounds in the mountains and deserts of insurgent-dominated regions, and uses those experiences to show the gritty reality of the challenges the SOF face and the constant danger in which they operate. She witnessed special operators befriending villagers to help them secure their homes, and fighting off insurgents in the most dangerous safe havens even as they navigated a constant series of conflicts, crises, and other "meteors" from conventional forces, the CIA, and the Pakistanis -- not to mention weak links within their own ranks. They showed what a tiny band of warriors could do, and could not do, out on the wild frontiers of the next-generation wars. One Hundred Victories also includes the inside story of the dramatic November 2011 cross-border firefight with Pakistan, which sent the US commander into a fury and provoked an international crisis. It describes the murky world of armed factions operating along the world's longest disputed border, and the chaos and casualties that result when commanders with competing agendas cannot resolve their differences.

Battles That Changed American History

Battles That Changed American History
Author: Spencer C. Tucker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 486
Release: 2014-01-22
Genre: History
ISBN:

A fascinating and informative analysis by a distinguished military historian of the 100 most influential battles in American history, presented in an accessible, ready-reference format. The Battle of Okinawa (April–June 1945) resulted in more U.S. Navy casualties than all of the navy's previous wars combined; these heavy casualties influenced the decision to employ the atomic bomb against Japan that August. This is just one of many instances in American military history when the outcome of a battle helped to establish the course of history—the focus of this latest encyclopedia from esteemed historian Spencer C. Tucker. The 100 battles spotlighted in this work—which include defeats as well as victories—are deemed to have had the greatest impact on American history. Spanning more than 500 years of military events, the book begins its coverage with the Battle of Mabila in 1540 during the Age of Discovery and ends with the Second Battle of Falluja during the Iraq War/Insurgency in 2004. Expertly written, informative, and thoughtful, this analysis will be insightful and interesting for all high school, undergraduate, and general readers.

A Better War

A Better War
Author: Lewis Sorley
Publisher: HMH
Total Pages: 547
Release: 1999-06-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0547417454

“A comprehensive and long-overdue examination of the immediate post–Tet offensive years [from a] first-rate historian.” —The New York Times Book Review Neglected by scholars and journalists alike, the years of conflict in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975 offer surprises not only about how the war was fought, but about what was achieved. Drawing from thousands of hours of previously unavailable (and still classified) tape-recorded meetings between the highest levels of the American military command in Vietnam, A Better War is an insightful, factual, and superbly documented history of these final years. Through his exclusive access to authoritative materials, award-winning historian Lewis Sorley highlights the dramatic differences in conception, conduct, and—at least for a time—results between the early and later years of the war. Among his most important findings is that while the war was being lost at the peace table and in the U.S. Congress, the soldiers were winning on the ground. Meticulously researched and movingly told, A Better War sheds new light on the Vietnam War.

America's Victories

America's Victories
Author: Larry Schweikart
Publisher: Winged Hussar Publishing
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2015-09-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 0996365788

In America's Victories, Professor Larry Schweikart restores the truth about our amazing military heritage. Just as he did in his acclaimed previous book, A Patriot's History of the United States, Professor Schweikart cuts through the distortions passed along by academia and the media

Lost Victory

Lost Victory
Author: William Egan Colby
Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary
Total Pages: 470
Release: 1989
Genre: History
ISBN:

"For sixteen years, from the time he was assigned Chief of Station for the CIA in Saigon to his appointment as CIA Director, William Colby was deeply involved in America's role in Vietnam. During five presidential administrations -- Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford -- Colby moved from meetings in the Oval Office to the sweltering jungles of Vietnam as the war escalated from Vietcong guerilla terrorism to a massive U.S. military engagement. Lost Victory is his personal account of those years, an insider's view of America's first major military defeat told from a vantage point matched by few other officials."--Book cover, p. [4].

Fruits of Victory

Fruits of Victory
Author: Elaine F. Weiss
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2008-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1597972738

The women who kept the farms going while the soldiers were Over There

Lost in the Victory

Lost in the Victory
Author: Susan Johnson Hadler
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 1998
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781574410334

In 1990, Ann Mix began a search to find out about her father, who had been killed in World War II. She eventually met others whose fathers had been killed and discovered that, like her, they had little information about their fathers. As a result, Ann founded the American WWII Orphans Network to locate war orphans and become a despository for sources of information about WWII servicemen who were fathers.

Almost a Miracle

Almost a Miracle
Author: John E. Ferling
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 694
Release: 2009
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0195382927

Describes the military history of the American Revolution and the grim realities of the eight-year conflict while offering descriptions of the major engagements on land and sea and the decisions that influenced the course of the war.

Elusive Victories

Elusive Victories
Author: Andrew J. Polsky
Publisher: OUP USA
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2012-05-30
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0199860939

A penetrating analysis of the multiple dimensions of presidential leadership in wartime