Pershing's Crusaders

Pershing's Crusaders
Author: Richard S. Faulkner
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Total Pages: 778
Release: 2017-03-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0700623736

The Great War caught a generation of American soldiers at a turning point in the nation's history. At the moment of the Republic's emergence as a key player on the world stage, these were the first Americans to endure mass machine warfare, and the first to come into close contact with foreign peoples and cultures in large numbers. What was it like, Richard S. Faulkner asks, to be one of these foot soldiers at the dawn of the American century? How did the doughboy experience the rigors of training and military life, interact with different cultures, and endure the shock and chaos of combat? The answer can be found in Pershing's Crusaders, the most comprehensive, and intimate, account ever given of the day-to-day lives and attitudes of the nearly 4.2 million American soldiers mobilized for service in World War I. Pershing’s Crusaders offers a clear, close-up picture of the doughboys in all of their vibrant diversity, shared purpose, and unmistakably American character. It encompasses an array of subjects from the food they ate, the clothes they wore, their view of the Allied and German soldiers and civilians they encountered, their sexual and spiritual lives, their reasons for serving, and how they lived and fought, to what they thought about their service along every step of the way. Faulkner's vast yet finely detailed portrait draws upon a wealth of sources—thousands of soldiers' letters and diaries, surveys and memoirs, and a host of period documents and reports generated by various staff agencies of the American Expeditionary Forces. Animated by the voices of soldiers and civilians in the midst of unprecedented events, these primary sources afford an immediacy rarely found in historical records. Pershing's Crusaders is, finally, a work that uniquely and vividly captures the reality of the American soldier in WWI for all time.

Crusader Nation

Crusader Nation
Author: David Traxel
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2007-12-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 030742541X

In this absorbing history of progressive-era America, acclaimed historian David Traxel paints a vivid picture of a tumultuous time of change that was the foundation for the twentieth century.. With WWI on the horizon, the struggles to end child labor, improve public health, advance education, win votes for women, and rid cities of corrupt political machines brought forth passionate responses from millions of Americans. There was a demand for reform and a desire for a more efficient and compassionate society. From wide-eyed dreamers to hard-line politicians, seasoned reporters to diary keeping soldiers, these crusaders–Jack Reed, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Margaret Sanger, and “Mother” Jones to name a few–come alive in these pages.

The School of Hard Knocks

The School of Hard Knocks
Author: Richard S. Faulkner
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2012-04-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1603446982

This important new history of the development of a leadership corps of officers during World War I opens with a gripping narrative of the battlefield heroism of Cpl. Alvin York, juxtaposed with the death of Pvt. Charles Clement less than two kilometers away. Clement had been a captain and an example of what a good officer should be in the years just before the beginning of the war. His subsequent failure as an officer and his redemption through death in combat embody the question that lies at the heart of this comprehensive and exhaustively researched book: What were the faults of US military policy regarding the training of officers during the Great War? In The School of Hard Knocks, Richard S. Faulkner carefully considers the selection and training process for officers during the years prior to and throughout the First World War. He then moves into the replacement of those officers due to attrition, ultimately discussing the relationship between the leadership corps and the men they commanded. Replete with primary documentary evidence including reports by the War Department during and subsequent to the war, letters from the officers detailing their concerns with the training methods, and communiqués from the leaders of the training facilities to the civilian leadership, The School of Hard Knocks makes a compelling case while presenting a clear, highly readable, no-nonsense account of the shortfalls in officer training that contributed to the high death toll suffered by the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I.

How We Fight

How We Fight
Author: Dominic Tierney
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2010-11-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0316122319

Americans love war. We've never run from a fight. Our triumphs from the American Revolution to World War II define who we are as a nation and a people. Americans hate war. Our leaders rush us into conflicts without knowing the facts or understanding the consequences. Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq and Afghanistan define who we are as a nation and a people. How We Fight explores the extraordinary doublemindedness with which Americans approach war, and reveals the opposing mindsets that have governed our responses throughout history: the "crusade" tradition-our grand quests to defend democratic values and overthrow tyrants; and the "quagmire" tradition-our resistance to the work of nation-building and its inevitable cost in dollars and American lives. How can one nation be so split? Studying conflicts from the Civil War to the present, Dominic Tierney has created a secret history of American foreign policy and a frank and insightful look at how Americans respond to the ultimate challenge. And he shows how success is possible. His innovative model for tackling the challenges of modern war can mean longstanding victory in Iraq and Afghanistan, by rediscovering a lost American warrior tradition.

China Views Nine-Eleven

China Views Nine-Eleven
Author: Mei Renyi
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 535
Release: 2020-05-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1527551199

The events of September 11, 2001, had reverberations which were felt across the world, not just in the United States. In their aftermath the United States refocused its foreign policies, a process that had a major impact upon the Asia Pacific region, especially China. In this cross-disciplinary collection of essays, almost two dozen scholars, the majority of them from China, range across a wide spectrum of issues to address just how Nine-Eleven affected the United States globally and at home. Different authors discuss non-Americans’ images of the United States, the nation’s international position and policies, the mindset and influence of neo-conservatives, American internal politics, debates over immigration, the cultural repercussions of Nine-Eleven for television, literature, drama, art, and music, and the implications of efforts to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001. Uniting all these essays is the effort to view the events of September 11, 2001, not in isolation but in a much broader context, a framework encompassing the entire sweep of US involvement in the world since the seventeenth century, and the country’s political, intellectual, cultural, and literary history and traditions. The dialogue among them produces a complicated and fruitful dialectical network of cross-fertilization across different areas, a stimulating and intricate cat’s cradle from which the enterprising reader may draw new and profitable intellectual discoveries.

U. S. Army and the Media in the 20th Century

U. S. Army and the Media in the 20th Century
Author: Robert T. Davis
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 127
Release: 2011-01
Genre:
ISBN: 1437923062

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Surveys the U.S. Army¿s approach to media relations from the Spanish-American War to the first Gulf War. The relationship between the Army and the media is considered in the broader context of the U.S. Government¿s approach to info. mgmt. (IM) Here is an overview of how the U.S. Army has approached its relations with the media over the previous century. Since World War I a number of bureaucratic manifestations of IM have been tried in wartime. With the exception of the U.S. Info. Agency, whose tenure spanned the period from 1953 to 1999, all the other manifestations of bureaucratic IM rose and fell during the wars in which they were created. The need for units in the field to participate in IM is a major challenge for future operations. Illus.

Why America Fights

Why America Fights
Author: Susan A. Brewer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2011-03-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199753962

Why America Fights explores how the U.S. government has sold war aims designed to rally public support throughout the 20th century.

The US Army and the Media in the 20th Century

The US Army and the Media in the 20th Century
Author: Robert T. Davis
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780982328347

Surveys the US Army's approach to media relations from the Spanish-American War to the first Gulf War. The relationship between the Army and the media is considered in the broader context of the US Government's approach to information management. Given the growing importance of information operations in 21st century warfare, this study provides a succinct overview of how the US Army has approached its relations with the media over the previous century. The study highlights the recurrent tension that exists in both the Army and the US Government's information management writ large. This tension arises from the need for operational security and effective deception and psychological operations and the need to provide transparency to secure public acceptance and support for military operations. The long-running debate over how the Government's information management should be organized and operated reflects this tension. Thus, since World War I a number of bureaucratic manifestations of information management have been tried in wartime, including the Committee on Public Information, the Office of War Information, the Psychological Strategy Board, the United States Information Agency, and, most recently, the Office of Global Communications. With the exception of the United States Information Agency, whose tenure spanned the period from 1953 to 1999, all the other manifestations of bureaucratic information management rose and fell during the wars in which they were created. The growing pains of these organizations sometimes colored the Army's relationship with the media. The need for units in the field to participate in information management is a major challenge for future operations. This study reminds us that those commanders who have gone out of their way to engage the media have, in many cases, had the greatest success with information management.