Book picks similar to
Long Time Passing, New Edition: Vietnam and the Haunted Generation by Myra MacPherson
history
vietnam
american-history
nonfiction
Means of Escape: A War Correspondent's Memoir of Life and Death in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Vietnam
Philip Caputo - 1991
Caputo intersperses imaginative retellings of events he witnessed with true accounts of how he became a writer, and what happened when he was sent to some of the most dangerous places in the world. He begins with his childhood and budding career in Chicago. Soon after, he was deep in the Sinai Peninsula searching for the last authentic Bedouin, and reporting from the front lines of the Yom Kippur War. In an eerie parallel to journalist Daniel Pearl's tragic murder, Caputo was held hostage for a week by Islamic extremists while reporting in Beirut. Later, he was singled out by a sniper, and received a bullet in his ankle and a chunk of wall in his head. In Afghanistan in the 1980s, he joined the Mujahideen for a clandestine mission and was nearly captured by Soviet forces. His observations on that war-torn country and its ethos are starkly relevant today.
Learning from Lincoln: Leadership Practices for School Success
Harvey B. Alvy - 2010
The authors identify 10 qualities, attributes, and skills that help to explain Lincoln's effectiveness, despite seemingly insurmountable odds:1. Implementing and sustaining a mission and vision with focused and profound clarity2. Communicating ideas effectively with precise and straightforward language3. Building a diverse and competent team to successfully address the mission4. Engendering trust, loyalty, and respect through humility, humor, and personal example5. Leading and serving with emotional intelligence and empathy6. Exercising situational competence and responding appropriately to implement effective change7. Rising beyond personal and professional trials through tenacity, persistence, resilience, and courage8. Exercising purposeful visibility9. Demonstrating personal growth and enhanced competence as a lifetime learner, willing to reflect on and expand ideas10. Believing that hope can become a realityChapters devoted to each element explore the historical record of Lincoln's life and actions, then discuss the implications for modern educators. End-of-chapter exercises provide a structure for reflection, analysis of current behaviors, and guidance for future work, so that readers can create their own path to success--inspired by the example of one of the greatest leaders of all time.
Fighter Group: The 352nd Blue-Nosed Bastards in World War II
Jay A. Stout - 2012
Jay Stout breaks new ground in World War II aviation history with this gripping account of one of the war's most highly decorated American fighter groups Vivid descriptions of aerial combat in P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs, along with veteran interviews and after-action reports The 352nd was part of the famed Eighth Air Force and fought in the European theater Nickname comes from the noses of the unit's planes, which were painted blue
THE GARUD STRIKES
Mukul Deva - 2014
The men of the 4th bn Brigade of the Guards (1 Rajput). They were simple, ordinary men, like you and me. But when push came to shove, they rose to the occasion and left an indelible mark on the pages of history.THE GARUD STRIKES is the compelling story of 4 Guards (1 Rajput) and the critical role they played in the 1971 Indo-Pak War; in freeing seventy-five million people from the torturous and bloody clutches of the Pakistani Army.In merely sixteen days, under the inspiring leadership of Lt. Col. Himmeth Singh, 4 Guards (1 Rajput), played a pivotal role in leading for India one of the fastest successful military campaigns of modern times; one which not only led to the creation of Bangladesh, but also resulted in the capture of 95,000 Pakistani soldiers.Narrated by Mukul Deva, India’s literary storm trooper, in his inimitable, compelling style, THE GARUD STRIKES is the breath taking story of the lightning campaign, seen through the eyes of the officers, JCOs and men of 4 Guards (1 Rajput).As you trudge through the mud and slush of Bangladesh, you will smell the gun smoke, the impact of bullets on flesh, the blood, the fears and tears, as 4 Guards (1 Rajput) smashed its way through the pride of the Pakistani Army, in their dash for Dacca.
On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle
Hampton Sides - 2018
troops in Korea, convinced President Harry Truman that the communist forces would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he said with near certainty, would not intervene in the war. As he was speaking, 300,000 Chinese soldiers began crossing the border. Led by the 13,000 men of the 1st Marine Division, the Americans moved far north into the trap Mao had set for the arrogant MacArthur at the Chosin Reservoir. What followed was one of the most heroic - and harrowing - operations in American military history. Faced with annihilation, and temperatures plunging to 20 degrees below zero, the surrounded Marines fought through the enemy forces with ferocity, ingenuity and nearly unimaginable courage. Hampton Sides's superb account of the battle relies on years of archival research and interviews with scores of Marines and Koreans who survived the siege. While expertly chronicling the follies of the American leaders, this is an immediate, grunt's-eye view of history, enthralling in its narrative pace and powerful in its portrayal of what ordinary men are capable of in the most extreme circumstances.
INTEL: Inside Indonesia's Intelligence Service
Kenneth J. Conboy - 2003
Whether targeting communist diplomats, foreign terrorists, or domestic dissidents, BIN and its precursor organizations have been the covert spearhead of the nation's security policy. Here, for the first time, this secretive agency is exposed in INTEL: Inside Indonesia's Intelligence Service by noted author Ken Conboy. Drawing from exclusive access to BIN's personnel and operational archives, Conboy examines the agents and their operations since BIN's founding fifty years ago, and sheds new light on Indonesia's role in the Cold War with case studies of North Korean, Soviet, and Vietnamese operations across the archipelago and BIN's current position at the forefront on the war against terrorism. From the activities and subsequent captures of both Faruq and Hambali to the Indonesian operations of al-Qaeda, this book provides far more detail and insight than previously available. Understanding BIN is an integral part of understanding the politics and security of Indonesia, and INTEL is essential reading for anyone interested in intelligence operations, contemporary Indonesian history, and international terrorism. KEN CONBOY is country manager for Risk Management Advisory, a private security consultancy in Jakarta. Prior to that, he served as deputy director at the Asian Studies Center, an influential Washington-based think tank, where his duties including writing policy papers for the U.S. Congress and Executive on economic and strategic relations with the nations of South and Southeast Asia. The author of a dozen books about Asian military history and intelligence operations, Conboy's most recent title, Spies in the Himalayas, has earned praise as an intriguing account of high-altitude mountaineering and covert missions. A graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and of Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies, Conboy was also a visiting fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and has lived in Indonesia since 1992.
The History of Puerto Rico From the Spanish Discovery to the American Occupation
Rudolph Adams Van Middeldyk - 1975
Life in Nelson's Navy
Dudley Pope - 1981
Pope covers every aspect of naval life including the ships, officers, press gang, medicine, crime and punishment, and arms and battle.
The Pentagon Papers
Neil Sheehan - 1971
'The Washington Post' called them "the most significant material in American history" and they remain relevant today as a reminder of the importance of a free press and First Amendment rights. 'THE PENTAGON PAPERS' demonstrated that the government had systemically lied to both the public and to Congress.THIS INCOMPARABLE VOLUME INCLUDES:• The Truman and Eisenhower Years: 1945-1960 by Fox Butterfield• Origins of the insurgency in South Vietnam by Fox Butterfield• The Kennedy Years: 1961-1963 by Hedrick Smith• The Overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem: May-November, 1963 by Hedrick Smith• The Covert War and Tonkin Gulf: February-August, 1964 by Neil Sheehan• The Consensus to Bomb North Vietnam: August, 1964-February, 1965 by Neil Sheehan• The Launching of the Ground War: March-July, 1965 by Neil Sheehan• The Buildup: July, 1965-September, 1966 by Fox Butterfield• Disenchantment: October, 1966-May, 1967 by Hedrick Smith• The Tet Offensive and the Turnaround by E.W. Kenworthy• Analysis and Comment• Court Records• Biographies of Key FiguresWith a brand-new foreword by James L. Greenfield, this edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning story is sure to provoke discussion about free press and government deception, and shed some light on issues in the past and the present so that we can better understand and improve the futureRUNNING TIME ⇒ 37hrs.©2018 Neil Sheehan, E.W. Kenworthy, Fox Butterfield, Hendrick Smith (P)2018 Brilliance Audio, Inc., all rights reserved.
Six Armies in Tennessee: The Chickamauga and Chattanooga Campaigns
Steven E. Woodworth - 1998
The Federal success along the river opened the way for advances into central and eastern Tennessee, which culminated in the bloody battle of Chickamauga and then a struggle for Chattanooga. Chickamauga is usually counted as a Confederate victory, albeit a costly one. That battle—indeed the entire campaign—is marked by muddle and blunders occasionally relieved by strokes of brilliant generalship and high courage. The campaign ended significant Confederate presence in Tennessee and left the Union poised to advance upon Atlanta and the Confederacy on the brink of defeat in the western theater.Purchase the audio edition.
Seven Years in Hanoi
Larry Chesley - 1973
But less than an hour later he had been shot down over North Vietnam with three broken vertebra, stripped of his clothing and equipment, and was sitting handcuffed and blindfolded in a hole in the ground.Twenty-one days later he was in another hole - the "hell hole" of Hoa Lo, the prison the POWs nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton. He would be in and out of that prison and eight others for nearly seven years.In Seven Years In Hanoi, Larry Chesley unveils the story of POW life in North Vietnam. His absorbing first-hand account relates his personal experiences as he tells of conditions in the prison camps; the treatment the POWs received, including the tortures; the means by which they frustrated their captors' design of breaking their spirit; and the educational, patriotic and religious activities by which they helped to sustain faith and courage and keep morale high.Finally he describes the moving experience of the POWs' release from captivity and their warm and wonderful welcome in America.Reading this book will do more than interest and inform the reader. It will measurably recapture the surge of emotion America felt at the POWs' homecoming. It will stir again the patriotic pride in that band of men who like many others caught up in the Vietnam War, asked "not what their country could do for them but what they could do for their country.