American Military History

In 1940 Pearl Harbor had not yet happened, and America was not yet at war with Japan. But China had been trying to stave off Japanese aggression for three years - and was desperate for aircraft and trained combat pilots. General Chiang Kai-shek sent military aviation advisor Claire Chennault to Washington, where President Roosevelt was sympathetic but knew he could not intervene overtly. Instead he quietly helped Chennault put together a group of American volunteer pilots.

A modern take on a classical icon: this “luminous book” (Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Library Book) tells the story of when, where, and how Chopin composed his most famous work, uncovering many surprises along the way and showing how his innovative music still...

Prize-winning and bestselling historian Jean Edward Smith tells the “rousing” (Jay Winik, author of 1944) story of the liberation of Paris during World War II—a triumph achieved only through the remarkable efforts of Americans, French, and Germans, racing to save the city from destruction...

With three straight #1 bestsellers and more than 4 million copies of his books in print, the most powerful traditional force in the American media now takes off his gloves in the ongoing struggle for America’s heart and soul. Bill O’Reilly is the very embodiment of the idea of a Culture...

So many thousands of books deifying Abraham Lincoln have been published that it is nearly impossible for the average citizen to learn much of anything that is truthful about Lincoln’s presidency. You’ll learn that the real reason why Lincoln launched an invasion of his own country (he never admitted that secession was legal or legitimate) was to destroy the voluntary union of the founders and replace it with a coerced union held together by violence and threats of violence, much more like the old Soviet Union than the original American union.

Military operations in Fredericksburg, Virginia, were a significant part of the Chancellorsville Campaign, but they have been overshadowed by what occurred in the wilderness of Spotsylvania County, where Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson’s forces overwhelmed a hapless Union army. That struggle in the woods in the spring of 1863 has been the subject of numerous studies, and its geographical setting is a prominent component of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

The memory of the Battle of Antietam was so haunting that when, nine months later, Major Rufus Dawes learned another Antietam battle might be on the horizon, he wrote, "I hope not, I dread the thought of the place." In this definitive account, historian D. Scott Hartwig chronicles the single bloodiest day in American history, which resulted in 23,000 casualties.

In Old Warhorse vs. Redemption Seeker, the clash between James Longstreet and Ambrose Burnside unfolds in the Western Theater, shaping the fate of East Tennessee and Chattanooga during the Civil War. For James Longstreet, the transfer to the Western Theater in 1863 offered opportunity. For his opponent Ambrose Burnside, the hope of redemption. Longstreet, who Robert E. Lee called his "Old Warhorse," had long labored in the shadow of both his army commander and the late Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.

Americans today like to believe that the end of World War II brought a decrease in hate and a new era of tolerance in the United States. Nothing could be further from the truth. Antisemitism and racism went up—not down—after the war’s end. Violence broke out in cities across the country, and the number of organized hate groups more than doubled from 1940 to 1946. In this shocking account of a resurgence of white supremacy in America, celebrated historian Steven J. Ross reveals how four key leaders worked together to “finish the job Hitler had begun”...

It is newly estimated that 750,000 soldiers died in the American Civil War. But less well-known than the war’s death toll are the roughly 400,000 Union and Confederate troops who were captured and imprisoned. Many POWs died from starvation, dysentery, and exposure, and at the worst of the prison pens, more than 30,000 soldiers were caged in the equivalent of ten city blocks. Against the backdrop of a brutal internecine conflict, the Civil War’s prison camps were a harrowing milestone in the history of mass dehumanization.

The feud between the Hatfields and McCoys is the stuff of American legend and has become synonymous with vendettas. In fact it has become its own term for any large-scale disagreement and has made its way into everything from music to television and movies. Though the fighting took place over a century ago, Americans remain so fascinated by it that The History Channel's 2012 miniseries about the feuding families set records for cable television ratings.

In the fading light of August 28, 1862, an untested Union brigade of Wisconsin and Indiana men fought an unexpected 90-minute stand-up clash with the Confederate veterans of Stonewall Jackson on the Virginia farm fields of John Brawner. The Rebels recalled a Wisconsin man that day “yelling like demons [in] a roaring hell of fire.” Despite its fascinating origins and far-reaching consequences, surprisingly little has been penned about this remarkable engagement.

The Battle of Antietam, (also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg), was fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek. The battle was the culmination of Robert E. Lee's Maryland campaign in which Lee attempted to take the war to the North. The first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Union soil, it was and remains, the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, claiming a staggering 23,000 casualties. The savage battle was not a clear victory for either side, though turning back the Confederate invasion gave Abraham Lincoln the "victory" he wanted.

On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, political fires that had been burning across America during the 1960s exploded. Antiwar protesters wearing bell-bottom jeans hurled taunts and rocks at another group of young Americans—National Guardsmen sporting gas masks and rifles. At half past noon, violence unfolded with chaotic speed, as guardsmen—many of whom had joined the Guard to escape the draft—opened fire on the students. Kent State meticulously re-creates the divided cultural landscape of America during the Vietnam War and popular anxieties around the country.

"A story of epic proportions [and] an awesome feat of biographical reconstruction."—The Boston Globe **This program includes an original foreword, read by Rick Atkinson, and exclusive to the audiobook, as well as a bonus conversation between the author and Ty Seidule** For more on Rick...

This complete history explores the origins and evolution of the US Intelligence Community and how it works to maintain the safety and liberty of the American people.

This audiobook challenges several longstanding notions about the American way of war. It examines US military practice (strategic and operational) from the War of Independence to the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan to determine what patterns, if any, existed in the way Americans have used military force. Echevarria surveys all major US wars and most every small conflict in the country's military history.

The book is a history of the Western frontier at the end of the US Civil War. It covers the Sioux war that broke out in the Great Lakes region in detail, exploring the roots and results of the conflict.

1951. The Cold War is heating up. With Soviet troops amassing across Eastern Europe, and the arrests of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for spilling nuclear secrets, President Harry Truman assigned General Curtis LeMay the task of installing nuclear forces in Britain. On March 22, a massive C-124 Globemaster cargo plane—possibly carrying a "Fat Man" bomb—was dispatched to Britain with passengers and crew including elite specialists in atomic warfare. Then tragedy struck....

The Civil War: 1860 - 1865 examines the people and events involved in the bloody war that pitted the Northern states against those that seceded to form the Confederacy.