Carol Reardon – författare

Each pilot and bombardier/navigator sat side by side in an all-weather jet built for low-level bombing runs, precision targeting, and night strikes. Their success—and their very lives—depended on teamwork in flying their versatile A-6 Intruders. And when the North Vietnamese mounted a major offensive in 1972, they answered the call.Carol Reardon chronicles the operations of Attack Squadron 75, the "Sunday Punchers," and their high-risk bombing runs launched off the U.S.S. Saratoga during the famous LINEBACKER campaigns. Based on unparalleled access to crew members and their families, her book blends military and social history to offer a unique look at the air war in Southeast Asia, as well as a moving testament to the close-knit world of naval aviators.Theirs was one of the toughest jobs in the military: launching off the carrier in rough seas as well as calm, flying solo and in formation, dodging dense flak and surface-to-air missiles, delivering ordnance on target, and recovering aboard safely. Celebrating the men who climbed into the cockpits as well as those who kept them flying, Reardon takes readers inside the squadron's ready room and onto the flight decks to await the call, "Launch the Intruders!" Readers share the adrenaline-pumping excitement of each mission—as well as those heart-stopping moments when a downed aircraft brought home to all, in flight and on board, that every aspect of their lives was constantly shadowed by danger and potential death.More than a mere combat narrative, Launch the Intruders interweaves human drama with familial concerns, domestic politics, and international diplomacy. Fliers share personal feelings about killing strangers from a distance while navy wives tell what it's like to feel like a stranger at home. And as the war rages on, headlines like Jane Fonda's visit to Hanoi and the Paris Peace Accords are all viewed through the lens of this heavily tasked, hard-hitting attack squadron.A rousing tale of men and machines, of stoic determination in the face of daunting odds, Reardon's tale shines a much-deserved light on group of men whose daring exploits richly deserve to be much better known.

Assessing the myths and facts surrounding Pickett's charge, Carol Reardon explores why this event endures so strongly in the American imagination. She demonstrates that the story told today of the charge is really an amalgam of history and memory and that the evolution of that mix has much to tell about how the past of the USA can be understood.

The Battle of Antietam took place on September 17, 1862, and still standsas the bloodiest single day in American military history. Additionally, inits aftermath, President Abraham Lincoln issued his famous EmancipationProclamation. In this engaging, easy-to-use guide, Carol Reardon and TomVossler allow visitors to understand this crucial Civil War battle in finedetail. Abundantly illustrated with maps and historical and modern photographs,A Field Guide to Antietam explores twenty-one sites on and near thebattlefield where significant action occurred. Combining crisp narrative andrich historical context, each stop in the book is structured around the followingquestions:What happened here?Who fought here?Who commanded here?Who fell here?Who lived here?How did participants remember the events?With accessible presentation and fresh interpretations of primary andsecondary evidence, this is an absolutely essential guide to Antietam and itslasting legacy.

This second, updated edition of the acclaimed A Field Guide to Gettysburg will lead visitors to every important site across the battlefield and also give them ways to envision the action and empathize with the soldiers involved and the local people into whose lives and lands the battle intruded. Both Carol Reardon and Tom Vossler are themselves experienced guides who understand what visitors to Gettysburg are interested in, but they also bring the unique perspectives of a scholar and a former army officer. Divided into three day-long tours, this newly improved and expanded edition offers important historical background and context for the reader while providing answers to six key questions: What happened here? Who fought here? Who commanded here? Who fell here? Who lived here? And what did the participants have to say about it later?With new stops, maps, and illustrations, the second edition of A Field Guide to Gettysburg remains the most comprehensive guide to the events and history of this pivotal battle of the Civil War.