Best of
American-History

1963

The Civil War: A Narrative


Shelby Foote - 1963
    Collected together in a handsome boxed set, this is the perfect gift for any Civil War buff.Fort Sumter to Perryville"Here, for a certainty, is one of the great historical narratives of our century, a unique and brilliant achievement, one that must be firmly placed in the ranks of the masters." -Van Allen Bradley, Chicago Daily News"Anyone who wants to relive the Civil War, as thousands of Americans apparently do, will go through this volume with pleasure.... Years from now, Foote's monumental narrative most likely will continue to be read and remembered as a classic of its kind." -New York Herald Tribune Book ReviewFredericksburg to Meridian"This, then, is narrative history-a kind of history that goes back to an older literary tradition.... The writing is superb...one of the historical and literary achievements of our time." -The Washington Post Book World"Gettysburg...is described with such meticulous attention to action, terrain, time, and the characters of the various commanders that I understand, at last, what happened in that battle.... Mr. Foote has an acute sense of the relative importance of events and a novelist's skill in directing the reader's attention to the men and the episodes that will influence the course of the whole war, without omitting items which are of momentary interest. His organization of facts could hardly be bettered." -AtlanticRed River to Appomattox"An unparalleled achievement, an American Iliad, a unique work uniting the scholarship of the historian and the high readability of the first-class novelist." -Walker Percy"I have never read a better, more vivid, more understandable account of the savage battling between Grant's and Lee's armies

I Have a Dream / Letter from Birmingham Jail


Martin Luther King Jr. - 1963
    explains why blacks can no longer be victims of inequality. Also features King's "I Have a Dream" speech, which was delivered to 250,000 civil rights marchers

The Two-Ocean War


Samuel Eliot Morison - 1963
    naval operations in World War II. Morison was a distinguished historian, a former Trumbull Professor of American History at Harvard University. But he also wrote as a participant in many of the events described in this volume: he served on eleven different ships during the war, emerging as a captain with seven battle stars on his service ribbons, having gone to sea specifically to be able to write in contact with the events covered. Fully illustrated with 35 photographs and 54 charts and maps of key engagements, this is a blazing record of the action from Pearl Harbor to the long war of attrition between submarines and convoys in the Atlantic, through Midway and Guadalcanal, to the invasion of continental Europe, to Okinawa, Leyte, and the final grudging surrender of the Japanese. Morison's narrative is rich enough to reveal all levels of each wartime encounter, dramatizing the strategic arguments that went on between Churchill and King, between MacArthur and Nimitz, as well as highlighting the glory of individual feats of arms. The Two-Ocean War is a truly outstanding contribution to military history.

Patton: Ordeal and Triumph


Ladislas Farago - 1963
    He represents toughness, focus, determination, and the ideal of achievement in the face of overwhelming odds. He was the most feared and respected adversary to his enemies and an object of envy, admiration, and sometimes, scorn to his professional peers. An early proponent of tank warfare, George S. Patton moved from being a foresighted lieutenant in the First World War to commanding the Third Army in the next, leading armored divisions in the Allied offensive that broke the back of Nazi Germany. Patton was an enigmatic figure. His image among his troops and much of the press achieved legendary status through his bold and colorful comments and combat leadership, yet these same qualities nearly jeopardized his career and forced him out of the battle on several occasions. Victory was impossible without Patton, and returning to the field, his army was responsible for one of the most crushing advances in the history of warfare.In Ladislas Farago's masterpiece, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph, the complete story of this fascinating personality is revealed. Born into an aristocratic California family, Patton rose in military rank quickly and was tapped to lead the Allied landings in North Africa in 1942. Under Patton's direction, American troops cut their teeth against Rommel's Afrikakorps, advanced further and more quickly than British General Montgomery's army in the conquest of Sicily, and ultimately continued their exploits by punching into Germany and checking the Russian westward advance at the end of World War II. A sweeping, absorbing biography and critically hailed, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph provides unique insights into Patton's life and leadership style and is military history at its finest.

America's Great Depression


Murray N. Rothbard - 1963
    Murray N. Rothbard's America's Great Depression is a staple of modern economic literature and crucial for understanding a pivotal event in American and world history.The Mises Institute edition features a new introduction by historian Paul Johnson.Since it first appeared in 1963, it has been the definitive treatment of the causes of the depression. The book remains canonical today because the debate is still very alive.Rothbard opens with a theoretical treatment of business cycle theory, showing how an expansive monetary policy generates imbalances between investment and consumption. He proceeds to examine the Fed's policies of the 1920s, demonstrating that it was quite inflationary even if the effects did not show up in the price of goods and services. He showed that the stock market correction was merely one symptom of the investment boom that led inevitably to a bust.The Great Depression was not a crisis for capitalism but merely an example of the downturn part of the business cycle, which in turn was generated by government intervention in the economy. Had the book appeared in the 1940s, it might have spared the world much grief. Even so, its appearance in 1963 meant that free-market advocates had their first full-scale treatment of this crucial subject. The damage to the intellectual world inflicted by Keynesian- and socialist-style treatments would be limited from that day forward.

Anti-Intellectualism in American Life


Richard Hofstadter - 1963
    It is a book which throws light on many features of the American character. Its concern is not merely to portray the scorners of intellect in American life, but to say something about what the intellectual is, and can be, as a force in a democratic society.Hofstadter set out to trace the social movements that altered the role of intellect in American society from a virtue to a vice. In so doing, he explored questions regarding the purpose of education and whether the democratization of education altered that purpose and reshaped its form.In considering the historic tension between access to education and excellence in education, Hofstadter argued that both anti-intellectualism and utilitarianism were consequences, in part, of the democratization of knowledge.Moreover, he saw these themes as historically embedded in America's national fabric, an outcome of her colonial European and evangelical Protestant heritage. Anti-intellectualism and utilitarianism were functions of American cultural heritage, not necessarily of democracy.

"I Will Fight No More Forever": Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War


Merrill D. Beal - 1963
    In this superb summation of the ethnohistory of the Nez Perce tribe containing also careful analyses of the military campaigns and political events and a wholly balanced review of facts, opinions, and previous evaluations of the situation and circumstances within have colored the evidence, we have what seems to be the last word...

Gettysburg: The Final Fury


Bruce Catton - 1963
    A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and respected authority on the Civil War clarifies the causes of the battle of Gettysburg and brings alive the most famous battle ever fought on American soil .B & W illustrations

This Kind of War: A Study in Unpreparedness


T.R. Fehrenbach - 1963
    Partly drawn from official records, operations journals, and histories, it is based largely on the compelling personal narratives of the small-unit commanders and their troops. Unlike any other work on the Korean War, it provides both a clear panoramic overview and a sharply drawn "you were there" account of American troops in fierce combat against the North Korean and Chinese communist invaders. As Americans and North Koreans continue to face each other across the 38th Parallel, This Kind of War commemorates the past and offers vital lessons for the future.

Beat the Last Drum: The Siege of Yorktown (The Thomas Fleming Library)


Thomas Fleming - 1963
     Along with French General Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau, George Washington made an astonishing march through New Jersey and trapped British General Charles Cornwallis and his forces in Yorktown, Virginia, where they unleashed a tremendous artillery assault, with the support of the French navy. But victory was never certain - both sides made a series of dramatic attacks and counterattacks. Using the diaries and letters of participants in the siege, Fleming creates a moving and exciting depiction of the days in October 1781 that ended the American Revolution and changed the world.

Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area


Harry M. Caudill - 1963
    Today it details Appalachia's difficult past, and at the same time, presents an accurate historical backdrop for a contemporary understanding of the Appalachian region.

Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill


Richard M. Ketchum - 1963
    Besieged for two months by a rabble in arms, the British decided to break out of town. American spies discovered their plans, and on the night of June 16, 1775, a thousand rebels marched out onto Charlestown peninsula and began digging a redoubt (not on Bunker Hill, which they had been ordered to fortify, but on Breeds Hill, well within cannon shot of the British batteries and ships). At daybreak, HMS Lively began firing. It was the opening round of a battle that saw unbelievable heroism and tragic blunders on both sides (a battle that marked a point of no return for England and her colonies), the beginning of all-out war.

They Fought Alone


John C. Keats - 1963
    What happened to him during nearly three years behind enemy lines is the amazing story that John Keats tells in They Fought Alone. With the aid of a handful of Americans who also refused to surrender, Fertig led thousands of Filipinos in a seemingly hopeless war against the Japanese. They made bullets from curtain rods; telegraph wire from iron fence. They fought off sickness, despair and rebellion within their own forces. Their homemade communications were MacArthur s eyes and ears in the Philippines. When the Americans finally returned to Mindanao, they found Fertig virtually in control of one of the world s largest islands, commanding an army of 35,000 men, and bringing a measure of hope to a beleaguered people. John Keats, who also served in the Philippines, captures all the pain, brutality, and courage of this incredible drama. "They Fought Alone" is a testament to the ingenuity and sheer guts of an authentic American hero."

Spotted Boy and the Comanches


Mabel Earp Cason - 1963
    Book Specs Paper BackPublisher: PPPAPrinted: 1963Pages: 155 Table of Contents

Dawn Like Thunder (Annotated): The Barbary Wars and the Birth of the U.S. Navy


Glenn Tucker - 1963
    These sea raiders, or ‘corsairs’ as they were known, sought captives to enslave in the Ottoman Empire’s galleys, mines and harems. When reports circulated of white Christians being shackled to oars, smashing rocks in mines and being sold into sexual slavery, the American public became incensed. The leaders of the young republic were forced to act and with remarkable dexterity built a fleet of ships that grew into a fighting force powerful enough to withstand its first major test: The Barbary Wars.*Includes annotations and images.

The Torch is Passed: The Death of President John F. Kennedy


Associated Press - 1963
    Kennedy’s assassination and his enduring legacy. Written by a select team of special correspondents for the AP, this chronicle captured a nation's disbelief and sorrow shortly after the president's assassination. It remains one of the most powerful accounts of the death of President Kennedy and its aftermath, exploring America’s mourning and looking to the country’s future. Featuring photos from the AP’s archive, The Torch Is Passed is a poignant tribute to President John F. Kennedy, as touching and relevant today as it was when first published.

George C. Marshall: Education of a General: 1880-1939


Forrest C. Pogue - 1963
    Marshall has until now remained voiceless and unportrayed. And yet, in the absence of his full life story, the books by other leaders of the free world give an incomplete picture: a key figure is missing.In entrusting to the George C. Marshall Foundation the abundant record of his career to be made into a biography, George Marshall filled a vital gap in the history of our age. The unprecedented collection of source material, either bequeathed by General Marshall to the Foundation or collected later by it, consists of: all General Marshall's personal papers, including his letters; taped interviews with the General made in 1956 and 1957 containing some 125,000 words about his early life; taped interviews with several score of his relatives, classmates, fellow officers, friends, and associates; incomparable newspaper files of the period; and microfilm copies of more than half a million items from official government files, many of them classified until now, but released for this purpose by the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations.Much of the material about the conduct of both World Wars and about the crucial problems of international diplomacy -- and almost all the rich personal material -- will be new even to students of the period.Education of a General, 1880-1939, the first of the three-volume definitive biography, follows Marshall's unswerving progress from his childhood in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, to 1939 when Hitler marched into Poland and Marshall took the oath as Chief of Staff of the United States Army. The scenes of his strenuous career include the Philippine Islands during the Spanish-American War, France in World War I, China in the time of the War Lords, and the length and breadth of his native land.In triumphing over formidable odds to become, first, an army officer with responsibilities far beyond his rank, then a member of Pershing's staff, and finally Chief of Staff amidst the complex tensions of service rivalries, Marshall never lost sight of the ideals of integrity and fair play. We come to understand not only the soldier but the man -- his family devotion, his humanity, his unfailing consideration toward his fellow officers and those who served under him, and his increasing insight into men and nations.Education of a General is also a picture of America's end of innocence, her altered course toward world power, away from isolation, and the part played by a great American in shaping his country for her new role in world affairs.

The Ring Lardner Reader


Ring Lardner - 1963
    

Abraham Lincoln the Prairie Years and the War Years Volume 1


Carl Sandberg - 1963
    

The Hunting Of Force Z


Richard Hough - 1963
    A famous account of one of the most dramatic and tragic episodes of the Second World War * Published to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the outbreak of World War II * Also famous as a major television documentary under the same title

Forever Free:The Story of the Emancipation Proclamation


Dorothy Sterling - 1963
    

The ABC Book of Early Americana: A Sketchbook of Antiquities and American Firsts


Eric Sloane - 1963
    This engaging sketchbook of antiques shows the fascination that period had in the lore and beauty of the English alphabet, the pride in beautiful hand-lettering and initialing.

A History Of American Foreign Policy


Alexander DeConde - 1963
    Single-volume edition.