Charles Kupfer – författare

"Orioles Magic" is a phrase fans still associate with the 1979-1983 seasons, Baltimore's last championship era, when they played excellent, exciting ball with a penchant for late-inning heroics. This book analyzes the Orioles not just as a great team but as the team to be marked by the fabled "Oriole Way," an organizational commitment to fundamentally sound baseball that guided them for nearly 30 years.The Magic years are discussed in the context of Baltimore sports, fan culture and baseball history, recalling the thrills of a splendid squad that delighted fans and reminding us why Peter Gammons called the 1979-1983 Orioles one of the major league's "last fun teams."

This is a unique look at how America during World War II gained strengths from early defeats such as Bataan or Corregidor. "Indomitable Will" resurrects the legacy of the first half-year of American combat during World War II - a legacy of pain, but not of woe. Historian Charles Kupfer recounts the story of the war's early defeats: Bataan, Corregidor, Wake Island, and Java Sea. Some of these battles remain evocative today; others are obscure; all were catastrophes for American arms. But, Kupfer asserts, later victories were made inevitable by the steeling effect of those initial disasters. Weaving together military, journalistic, political, and cultural histories, Kupfer argues that, by setting their collective will on victory, Americans in and out of uniform gained strength from their setbacks. "Indomitable Will" spells out how the nation turned early defeat into ultimate victory.

In the years following the American Civil War, many participants—generals, politicians, journalists, and soldiers—authored first-hand accounts of their unique experiences. As Alfred E. Smith of the Library of Congress wrote in 1998, “No chapter of American history has been so voluminously recorded.” While the quality and reliability of the memoirs vary, a large number provide important perspectives that, taken together, offer vivid descriptions of major battles, political developments, and other momentous events from Fort Sumter to Appomattox. In Remembering the Civil War, historians Michael Barton and Charles Kupfer carefully select excerpts from the memoirs of key participants and weave them together to tell the story of the war in a single volume. Contributors include Union generals Ulysses Grant, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, W.T. Sherman, Abner Doubleday, and Philip Sheridan. Confederate authors include Robert E. Lee, Gen. James Longstreet, Cpl. Sam Watkins, Lt. John W. Worsham, Col. Edward Porter Alexander, Capt. John Wilkinson, and Jefferson Davies. Personal documents provide soldiers’ perspectives of what fighting was like on the ground, as well as hospital and prison life. A comprehensive introduction and headnote for each excerpt provide background information and context.

The 1914 Longhorns sprinted to an undefeated 8–0 game differential, yielding only three touchdowns all season and outscoring opponents by a cumulative 358–21 in a record that stood for 91 years. Vanquished foes included schools that would become traditional rivals—Baylor, Rice, and Oklahoma—as well as less-familiar opponents like Southwestern, Wabash, Haskell, and Trinity. But Varsity: The Undefeated 1914 Texas Longhorns does more than just recapitulate the glories of leather-helmet football. It offers cultural resonance and historical meaning by revivifying the players and personalities who suffused the team with their spirits and skills. The team included several key players, in both the university and the state, such as Gus Dittmar, Ray Keck, Louis Jordan, Clyde Littlefield, and alumnus/manager Lutcher Stark, among others.Unknowingly, they lived on the precipice of World War I. Varsity will flash forward to their impressive life stories, not only outlining their careers but also examining pivotal moments in subsequent years which reflect the character they honed and displayed on the playing field. Charles Kupfer and John H. Keck present a meticulously researched and skillfully told story of a group of young men, caught at a precious yet passing time. For several, war lay in store. Some were fated in tragedy; others lived long and happy lives. As the foreword by renowned businessman and Longhorns fan Red McCombs indicates, each of these Texas varsity football players lived a consequential life, and this work fleshes out those lives, humanizing them.Varsity is a compelling historical narrative with significant primary source materials. It will reach multiple audiences spanning sports journalism, academic scholarship, regional history, and devoted Longhorn fans.