Book picks similar to
Civil War Battlefields: Walking the Trails of History by David T Gilbert
civil-war
non-fiction
great-read
civil-rights
Dame Traveler: Live the Spirit of Adventure
Nastasia Yakoub - 2020
From backpackers in Peru to artists in Berlin to storytellers in Morocco, Dame Traveler celebrates the diversity and bravery of women from around the world who are not afraid to think (and live) outside the box.The revolutionary Dame Traveler Instagram account was founded by Nastasia Yakoub, who was born into a strict Chaldean-Middle Eastern community where women are expected to marry young and put aside other personal ambitions. But at the age of twenty, Nastasia embarked on a solo trip to South Africa to volunteer at an orphanage in Cape Town, which sparked a love of world travel. Recognizing a void in the travel industry, she founded Dame Traveler, the first female travel community on Instagram, now more than half a million strong. Nastasia herself has traveled to sixty-three countries on solo adventures, sharing colorful photos of her tantalizing travels along the way.Dame Traveler celebrates these women with a photographic collection of 200 stunning images paired with inspiring captions, 80% of which have never been seen on the Instagram account. Organized into sections on architecture, culture, nature, and water, each entry features travel information, plus tips, advice, unique solo-travel experiences, and wisdom from contributing globe-trotters to embolden the next generation of Dame Travelers.
Happier Than A Billionaire: An Acre in Paradise
Nadine Hays Pisani - 2017
A celebration of one couple's decision to dig deeper roots in one of the happiest places on earth. In her best work to date, Nadine Hays Pisani shares what it's like to follow her dream of starting a new business on a strict budget in Costa Rica. Along the way, she shares the ups and downs of renting, buying, and building her new home in this country known for red tape, taking its time, and the Pura Vida lifestyle. She struggles to live alongside construction crews, invading critters, and a delusional husband who insists everything will work out fine. Nadine introduces a variety of zany characters, makes new friends, and wrestles with unending challenges all while celebrating this beautiful country. This is a stand-alone story, so if you are new to the Happier Than A Billionaire series, it's fine to start right here. But be warned, your friends will wonder why you are wearing a silly grin for the weeks that follow.
Beyond No Mean Soldier: The Explosive Recollections of a Former Special Forces Operator
Peter McAleese - 2014
His classic book "No Mean Soldier" was an immediate bestseller and set the bar for the modern military memoir. Few have since met its match. This completely revised and expanded edition sees a philosophical McAleese revisiting his time with Britain's Parachute Regiment, the SAS, Rhodesia's SAS and the South African Defense Force's 44 Para Brigade. Oh, and a few other adventures in and between - Colombia, private military companies and near fatal skydiving accidents; mercenary, soldier of fortune or flawed ideologist? Now's your time to consider this and more - as has McAleese himself. It's a compelling read - and with the addition of previously unpublished photos from McAleese's private collection, there's no other way to describe it. "Beyond No Mean Soldier" does exactly that, going deep and further beyond the experience of "No Mean Soldier". Over many months and into the early hours, McAleese reflected on his wide and expansive experiences - the men he's served with and the operations he'd conducted. Here in startling detail are the Aden insurgency, covert operations with the Rhodesian SAS and one of the first ever operational HALO inserts in British military history. Heart pumping assaults on SWAPO positions with 44 Para's Pathfinder Company and the sheer terror of flawed mercenary operations in Angola with the likes of 'Colonel Callan'; near death in Colombia when an assassination attempt went terribly wrong. McAleese recounts all of this with amazing clarity and even more humility. 'I'm just an ordinary person who happened to find himself doing extraordinary things' he says. Yes, perhaps that's true to a point, but what rides through all of McAleese's narrative is his total commitment to the profession of arms - soldiering. His attention to detail, his consummate knowledge of military skills from field craft to skill at arms; airborne operations to the tactics of small unit SAS operations.... All of this echoed by the commentary of the numerous individuals that served with McAleese. From around the world, dozens have contributed perspective, commentary and reflection. "Pete does not take fools gladly and this is based upon his comprehensive combat experience where idiots will cause casualties" Alistair Mackenzie - Former 22 SAS Officer. "I managed to get myself into some very nasty but also exciting scraps while latching on to the Pathfinders to see how they were shaping up as the so-called 'Philistines'. They did excellently while under fire, proof that Peter's selection and training regime paid high dividends" Colonel Jan Breytenbach - Former Commander 44 Para Brigade Pathfinder Company, Founder 32 Battalion. These are just two of the contributions featured in "Beyond No Mean Soldier". In an age where we debate courage and leadership, it's all here. Go Beyond No Mean Soldier, it will certainly change the way you see soldiering.
EndEx
Clive Ward - 2017
Your clearance chit is all signed off. You’ve received your last train warrant, they’ve taken your ID card off you at the guard room, and you walk out through the gate for the last time, it’s Endex. It doesn’t matter how many years you served in the military, it will always have a lasting effect on the way you live the rest of your life. Marine, soldier, sailor or airman, whichever you may be, there are some qualities and experiences that most, if not all veterans, share. There are 3 types of people, Civilian, Military and Veteran. Once you join the military, you can never go back to being a civilian again. When you’ve left the military, you might think you are doing a great job trying to blend in to your civilian surroundings, but the signs are there, that you once served your country, sometimes without you even realising it. What you will realise is you’ll never be normal again.
Cookham To Cannes: The South of France - Lobsters & Lunatics
Brent Tyler
Deciding that taking a leap into the unknown was better than making no decision at all, they borrowed a little money from some good friends, packed up their belongings and headed to a mobile home site just outside Cannes. Whilst there, they would look for work with the hope of settling in the region. What no one bothered to tell France’s newest arrivals was that the people they were about to be interviewed by and eventually work for were all blisteringly, yet deliciously mad. Whilst minding his own business in the garden belonging to one of these certifiable lunatics, Brent gets adopted by a dog with his own obsession, maintaining the author's theory that sanity is an extremely rare commodity in the south of France.
Doc: Platoon Medic
Daniel Evans Jr. - 2002
TO SURVIVEDan Evans arrived in Vietnam on October 7, 1968, a 21- year-old Army medic who couldn't stand the sight of blood. Thrust into the cauldron of combat, he soon became a seasoned veteran of emergency medicine and the brutal realties of war. Before his time was up, he would master the skills of a surgeon, acquire the patience of a saint, and demonstrate the courage of a lion... Here, in his own words, is the gripping true story of Dan Evans, the highly decorated soldier whom the men of First Platoon, Bravo Company, called the "fighting medic." Experience the rage, the sorrow and the remarkable spirit of Dan Evans - the PLATOON MEDIC who became a true American hero.
One Man's War
Joe Nethercott - 2013
Within months he was driving big lorries and cranes in the Battle of Britain, recovering crashed planes. He went on to the North African Western Desert, Egypt, Libya, Tunis and El Alamein. From there to Italy: Naples, Monte Cassino, invasion of Sicily. Then Corsica followed by France, landing near St Tropez in the D-Day of the South. Finally after four years abroad, back to the UK, a wedding and release from the RAF. Along the way he was blown up, bombed, burnt, and ill.He was not one of the commanders, or the shooting and bombing action heroes. He was responsible for the transport that contributed to everything else being possible. He tells of the problems in organising vehicles, keeping them on the road, repairing, bodging, cannibalising, improvising and inventing. This is the not often heard voice of an ordinary young bloke going through a terrible time, and doing what he could. That surely makes him a hero too.
Sauntering Thru: Lessons in Ambition, Minimalism, and Love on the Appalachian Trail
Cody James Howell PhD - 2020
Shiloh
Shelby Foote - 1952
This fictional re-creation of the battle of Shiloh in April 1862 fulfills the standard set by his monumental history, conveying both the bloody choreography of two armies and the movements of the combatants' hearts and minds.
Key West: History of an Island of Dreams
Maureen Ogle - 2006
The city’s real story—told by Maureen Ogle in this lively and engaging illustrated account—is as fabulous as fiction. In the two centuries since the city’s pioneer founders battled Indians, pirates, and deadly disease, Key West has stood at the crossroads of American history. In 1861, Union troops seized control of strategically located Key West. In the early 1890s, Key West Cubans helped José Martí launch the Cuban revolution, and a few years later the battleship Maine steamed out of Key West harbor on its last, tragic voyage. At the turn of the century, a technological marvel—the overseas railroad—was built to connect mainland Florida to Key West, and in the 1920s and 1930s, painters, rumrunners, and writers (including Ernest Hemingway and Robert Frost) discovered Key West. During World War II, the federal government and the military war machine permanently altered the island’s landscape, and in the second half of the 20th century, bohemians, hippies, gays, and jet-setters began writing a new chapter in Key West’s social history.
Stonewall Jackson: The Man, the Soldier, the Legend
James I. Robertson Jr. - 1997
As Robertson notes in his preface to Stonewall Jackson, this study "is not a biography of a great general; it is the life of an extraordinary man who became a great general...The intent here is to see life as Jackson saw it, to hear his words, to read his thoughts, to walk beside him and know more than he knew at a given time and place".
Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife
Bill Potter - 2002
Ironically, while the great military exploits of General Stonewall Jackson are studied in military schools the world over and his iron will and stern self-discipline have become legendary, little is said about his remarkable marriage. The real Thomas J. Jackson was a humble Christian and loving husband and father. The tender and instructive letters he wrote to his wife Anna are a model of godly leadership and covenantal faithfulness. From their courtship to their final days together, trace the true story of this remarkable couple through the letters of General Jackson to his bride."
Soul of the Lion: A Biography of General Joshua L. Chamberlain
Willard Mosher Wallace - 1988
Nelson, c1960.
Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence
Heros Von Borcke - 1985
Stuart’s cavalry. General Stuart was greatly impressed by von Borke, reporting: “Capt. Heros von Borcke, a Prussian cavalry officer, who lately ran the blockade, assigned me by the honorable Secretary of War, joined in the charge of the First Squadron in gallant style, and subsequently, by his energy, skill, and activity, won the praise and admiration of all”. Major von Borcke’s friendship with Stuart plays a significant role in this book. His unique standing in the General’s life allows the reader to gain an insight into one of the most fascinating figures in Civil War history. Also serving under General Stonewall Jackson and General Robert E. Lee, von Borcke’s dealings with leading Confederate figures sets his autobiography apart from the average Civil War memoir. In addition to the detailed battleground accounts, von Borcke recalls the comradery of the Confederate army and revelry that often took place in their downtime. Written in 1866, Heros von Borcke’s Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence is one of the most important and enlightening memoirs of this tumultuous time in American history. “One of the most exhilarating of war memoirs”—Confederate Shop Heros von Borcke (1836–1895) served in the Confederate army and participated in numerous battles before being wounded at the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign. Prevented by injury from continuing in active service, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and sent by the Confederate Congress on a diplomatic mission to England. When the war ended in 1865 he remained abroad and returned to his native Prussia, where he later served with distinction in the Franco-Prussian War. He wrote his memoirs in 1866 and died in 1895.
Stonewall of the West: Patrick Cleburne and the Civil War
Craig L. Symonds - 1997
Lee, he was a meteor shining from a clouded sky; and to Braxton Bragg, he was an officer ever alive to a success. He was Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, one of the greatest of all Confederate field commanders.An Irishman by birth, Cleburne emigrated to the United States in 1849 at the age of 21. He achieved only modest success in the peacetime South, but rose rapidly in the wartime army to become the Confederacy's finest division commander. He was admired by peers and subordinates alike for his leadership, loyalty, honesty, and fearlessness in the face of enemy fire. The valor of his command was so inspirational that his unit alone was allowed to carry its own distinctive battle flag.In Stonewall of the West, Craig Symonds offers the first full-scale critical biography of this compelling figure. He explores all the sources of Cleburne's commitment to the Southern cause, his growth as a combat leader from Shiloh to Chickamauga, and his emergence as one of the Confederacy's most effective field commanders at Missionary Ridge, Ringgold Gap, and Pickett's Mill. In addition, Symonds unravels the mystery of Spring Hill and recounts Cleburne's dramatic and untimely death (at the age of 36) at Franklin, Tennessee, where he charged the enemy line on foot after having two horses shot from under him.Symonds also explores Cleburne's role in the complicated personal politics of the Army of Tennessee, as well as his astonishing proposal that the decimated Confederate ranks be filled by ending slavery and arming blacks against the Union.Symonds' definitive and immensely readable narrative casts new light on Cleburne, on the Army of Tennessee, and on the Civil War in the West. It finally and firmly establishes Cleburne's rightful place in the pantheon of Southern military heroes.