Regnery History – serie

It's unimaginable today, even for a generation that saw the Twin Towers fall and the Pentagon attacked. It's unimaginable because in 1814 enemies didn't fly overhead, they marched through the streets; and for 26 hours in August, the British enemy marched through Washington, D.C. and set fire to government buildings, including the U.S. Capitol and the White House.Relying on first-hand accounts, historian Jane Hampton Cook weaves together several different narratives to create a vivid, multidimensional account of the burning of Washington, including the escalation that led to it and the immediate aftermath. From James and Dolley Madison to the British admiral who ordered the White House set aflame, historical figures are brought to life through their experience of this unprecedented attack. The Burning of the White House is the story of a city invaded, a presidential family displaced, a nation humbled, and an American spirit that somehow remained unbroken.

It was the endgame for Hitler's Reich.In the winter of 1944–45, Germany staked everything on its surprise campaign in the Ardennes, the “Battle of the Bulge.” But when American and Allied forces recovered from their initial shock, the German forces were left fighting for their very survival—especially on the Eastern Front, where the Soviet army was intent on matching, or even surpassing, Nazi atrocities.At the mercy of the Fuehrer, who refused to acknowledge reality and forbade German retreats, the Wehrmacht was slowly annihilated in horrific battles that have rarely been adequately covered in histories of the Second World War—especially the brutal Soviet siege of Budapest, which became known as the “Stalingrad of the Waffen-SS.”Capping a career that has produced more than forty books, Dr. Samuel W. Mitcham now tells the extraordinary tale of how Hitler’s once-dreaded war machine came to a cataclysmic end, from the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 to the German surrender in May 1945.Making use of German wartime papers and memoirs—some rarely seen in English-language sources—Mitcham’s sweeping narrative deserves a place on the shelf of every student of World War II.

It all started because of a rifle. The Rifle is an inspirational story and hero’s journey of a 28-year-old U.S. Marine, Andrew Biggio, who returned home from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, full of questions about the price of war. He found answers from those who survived the costliest war of all -- WWII veterans.It began when Biggio bought a 1945 M1 Garand Rifle, the most common rifle used in WWII, to honor his great uncle, a U.S. Army soldier who died on the hills of the Italian countryside. When Biggio showed the gun to his neighbor, WWII veteran Corporal Joseph Drago, it unlocked memories Drago had kept unspoken for 50 years. On the spur of the moment, Biggio asked Drago to sign the rifle. Thus began this Marine’s mission to find as many WWII veterans as he could, get their signatures on the rifle, and document their stories.For two years, Biggio traveled across the country to interview America’s last-living WWII veterans. Each time he put the M1 Garand Rifle in their hands, their eyes lit up with memories triggered by holding the weapon that had been with them every step of the war. With each visit and every story told to Biggio, the veterans signed their names to the rifle. 96 signatures now cover that rifle, each a reminder of the price of war and the courage of our soldiers.

Tales of American combat and comradery in World War II all connected to the iconic rifle of the era, the M1 Garand. An award-winning author puts one such rifle into the hands of a series of vets, records their stories, and gathers their signatures on the rifle, in a pilgrimage and homage to heroism.It all started because of a rifle. The Rifle is an inspirational story and hero’s journey of a 28-year-old U.S. Marine, Andrew Biggio, who returned home from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, full of questions about the price of war. He found answers from those who survived the costliest war of all -- WWII veterans.It began when Biggio bought a 1945 M1 Garand Rifle, the most common rifle used in WWII, to honor his great uncle, a U.S. Army soldier who died on the hills of the Italian countryside. When Biggio showed the gun to his neighbor, WWII veteran Corporal Joseph Drago, it unlocked memories Drago had kept unspoken for 50 years. On the spur of the moment, Biggio asked Drago to sign the rifle. Thus began this Marine’s mission to find as many WWII veterans as he could, get their signatures on the rifle, and document their stories.For two years, Biggio traveled across the country to interview America’s last-living WWII veterans. Each time he put the M1 Garand Rifle in their hands, their eyes lit up with memories triggered by holding the weapon that had been with them every step of the war. With each visit and every story told to Biggio, the veterans signed their names to the rifle. 96 signatures now cover that rifle, each a reminder of the price of war and the courage of our soldiers.

Summer, 1941. Japan and the United States are locked in a battle of wills. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's economic sanctions are crippling Japan.  Rice is being rationed. Consumer goods are limited.  And oil shortages threaten the capabilities of Japan’s vast military machine. America's noose is tightening around Japan's neck—but the country's leaders refuse to yield to American demands.In this cauldron of boiling tensions – months before the Pearl Harbor attack – Joseph Grew, America's ambassador to Japan, offered many recommendations to break the deadlock.  Having resided and worked  in the elegant U.S. embassy in the heart of Tokyo for almost ten years, Grew understood what Roosevelt and his administration back home did not: that the Japanese would rather face annihilation than endure the humiliation of surrendering to American pressure. But the President and his administration saw little need to accept their ambassador’s recommendations.  The administration’s policies, they believed, were sure to succeed.  And so, with increasing urgency, Grew tried to explain to the President and his administration that Japan’s mindset could not be gauged by Western standards of logic and that the administration’s policies could lead Japan to embark on a suicidal war with the United States “with dangerous and dramatic suddenness.”Relying on Grew’s diaries, letters and memos, interviews with members of the families of Grew and his staff, and an abundance of other primary source materials, Lew Paper presents a gripping story of Ambassador Joseph Grew’s effort to halt the downward spiral of Japan’s relations with the United States. Caught in the middle of a life-or-death clash between East and West powers, Grew had to wrestle with an American government that would not listen to him – and simultaneously confront an increasingly hostile environment in Japan, where pervasive surveillance, arbitrary arrest, and even unspeakable torture by Japan's secret police were constant threats. In the Cauldron is a story filled with hope, fear, anger, and frustration. More than that, it is a story that has never been told. It is sure to cast a new light on Pearl Harbor  and raise questions whether the Japanese attack  could have been avoided.

This is the strange and fascinating life of Erwin Rommel, from his days as a youth in Imperial Germany—when he had a child out of wedlock with an early girlfriend—through his lauded military exploits during World War I to his death by suicide during World War II, after he attempted a failed coup against Hitler.  Rommel was a man of contradictions, a soldier who wrote a bestselling book about World War I, a commander who went from commanding Hitler's bodyguard to trying to kill him, a serious military mind who was known for participating in practical jokes. In Desert Fox, author Samuel Mitcham (Bust Hell Wide Open) confronts the truth about Rommel and takes a close look at his military actions and reflections.

The year is 1859 and Congressman Daniel Sickles and his beautiful wife Teresa are the toast of Washington, D.C. society.

Only 14 of the approximately 1,000 Tuskegee Airmen-the famed black aviators who fought in World War II-are still living today. This is the remarkable first-person account of one of those 14 men, Lt. Colonel Harry T. Stewart, Jr, who flew 43 combat missions in Italy—including one legendary mission in which he shot down three German planes in one day. Stewart and his fellow pilots faced segregation, prejudice, and disrespect--and still, day after day, they took to the skies to battle America's enemies.

Madness and Power.Can the insane rule? Can insanity be a leadership quality? Scott Rank says yes (well, sometimes) in this fascinating look at nine of history’s most notorious rulers, from the Roman emperor Caligula to the North Korean Communist dictator Kim Jong-il.Rank paints intimate portraits of these deeply flawed but powerful men, examining the role that madness played in their lives, the repercussions of their madness on history, and what their madness can tell us about the times in which they lived.In History’s 9 Most Insane Rulers, you will meet:• King Charles VI of France, who thought he was made of glass• Sultan Ibrahim I, who was driven mad by the sadistic succession battles of the Ottoman Empire• Caligula, who built temples to himself and whose reign highlighted the lethal tensions between the power of the new Imperial Rome and the prerogatives of the old Roman Republic• The Russian tsar who became known as Ivan “the Terrible”• King George III of Britain, who not only lost his American colonies, but lost his mind as well• Bavaria’s “Mad” King Ludwig II, who left the world richer for his fabulous fairy tale castles and his patronage of the composer Richard WagnerInsane rulers did not die off with the last of the mad monarchs who inherited their power. Rank also examines the rise to power of crazed modern rulers, such as Idi Amin, who began as a lowly army cook and rose to the presidency of Uganda, and Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled Turkmenistan and promoted a bizarre cult of personality around himself.Both entertaining and illuminating, History’s 9 Most Insane Rulers is a must-read for anyone interested in the role insanity has played in history.