One Man's War

Download One Man's War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Chicago Review Press
ISBN 13 : 1613733577
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (137 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis One Man's War by : P. M. Kippert

Download or read book One Man's War written by P. M. Kippert and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2011-04-28 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One Man’s War is a gripping novel that follows the journey of one man, Bob Kafak, through his experiences as a rifleman in a frontline company during World War II. It makes visceral the fear, the filth, and the cold that were his constant companions. Kafak is a reluctant hero who intentionally pisses off the brass to avoid promotion because he has seen too many of his commanding officers get blown to pieces and he doesn’t want to be next. He fights from the beaches of Anzio in Italy and battles up through the South of France toward Germany, facing one terrible heart-pounding encounter after another. Seen through Kafak’s thick-lensed army-issued glasses, the wider implications of the war remain blurry while he focuses on the simple, urgent needs of survival: keep your head down, keep your feet dry, gain the next six feet of ground, and concentrate on what tomorrow will bring.

One Man's War

Download One Man's War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Taylor Trade Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1461664683
Total Pages : 333 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (616 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis One Man's War by : Tommy LaMore

Download or read book One Man's War written by Tommy LaMore and published by Taylor Trade Publishing. This book was released on 2002-02-18 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Escaping certain death—not once but several times—lies at the core of the riveting, real-life story of an American soldier during World War II. In One Man's War: The WWII Saga of Tommy LaMore, a B-17 pilot vividly details his experiences in war-ravaged Germany, from the horrific to the romantic and beyond. LaMore's saga began when his plane collided with another B-17 above France and went down. He then entered the French Resistance, where he employed his knowledge of explosives to bomb German operations. After an informant turned him in, he faced a death sentence and was sent to a Polish death camp. LaMore endured the camp's gruesome conditions and eventually escaped, just days before the Germans machine-gunned every man in the camp. LaMore's love story unfolds as he describes liberating a women's slave labor camp and instantly falling in love with one of the detainees. LaMore chopped off her hair, dressed her like a man, and freed her from the camp. After just three days together, the couple agreed to marry once Rosa checked on her family's well being in Poland. They jumped separate trains and never saw each other again. Years later, LaMore learned that Rosa had become a freedom fighter against the Communists and had been executed. Intrigue, passion, and loss imbue LaMore's fascinating tale and make One Man's War a compelling read not only for history aficionados and WWII scholars but also for those who are fascinated by the bittersweet nature of love in times of war.

Jack Hinson's One-Man War

Download Jack Hinson's One-Man War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Pelican Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781455606467
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (64 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jack Hinson's One-Man War by : Tom McKenney

Download or read book Jack Hinson's One-Man War written by Tom McKenney and published by Pelican Publishing. This book was released on 2010-09-23 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of one man's reluctant but relentless war against the invaders of his country.A quiet, wealthy plantation owner, Jack Hinson watched the start of the Civil War with disinterest. Opposed to secession and a friend to Union and Confederate commanders alike, he did not want a war. After Union soldiers seized and murdered his sons, placing their decapitated heads on the gateposts of his estate, Hinson could remain indifferent no longer. He commissioned a special rifle for long-range accuracy, he took to the woods, and he set out for revenge. This remarkable biography presents the story of Jack Hinson, a lone Confederate sniper who, at the age of 57, waged a personal war on Grant's army and navy. The result of 15 years of scholarship, this meticulously researched and beautifully written work is the only account of Hinson's life ever recorded and involves an unbelievable cast of characters, including the Earp brothers, Jesse James, and Nathan Bedford Forrest.

One Man's War Story

Download One Man's War Story PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780988935174
Total Pages : 382 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (351 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis One Man's War Story by : Charles Neighbor

Download or read book One Man's War Story written by Charles Neighbor and published by . This book was released on 2013-09 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the fascinating true story of a small town boy from Kansas who is drafted into the United States Army at the age of eighteen. Taken far away from everything he knows, this young soldier becomes part of the famous 29th Infantry Division. Before long he finds himself storming a beach in Normandy, carrying a spare tank of flamethrower fuel on his back and enduring withering fire from German soldiers perched upon the cliffs above. After knocking out an enemy stronghold, he and his section of infantrymen spend many days climbing over hedgerows in the French countryside, always pushing the German forces back despite their own dwindling numbers. Eventually he sustains life-threatening wounds and is sent away from the front lines to recover in a hospital in England. There, as he mends slowly over time, he tastes the other side of life in a foreign land. One Man's War Story details both sides of a World War II soldier's existence: the harrowing combat and the day-to-day experiences that make life interesting and bearable.

Another Man's War

Download Another Man's War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN 13 : 1418573493
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (185 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Another Man's War by : Sam Childers

Download or read book Another Man's War written by Sam Childers and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2011-10-03 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gun-toting preacher, a rebel army led by a madman, and entire villages slaughtered just because they were in the way. In Another Man's War, follow Sam Childer's remarkable transformation from violent thug to a man of faith, and his ongoing battle to save children in one of the world's most lawless areas. “Another Man’s War is about true terrorism . . . against more than 200,000 children in northern Uganda and Southern Sudan. Sam Childers—a fighter and a preacher (some call him a mercenary)—tirelessly leads a small militia into the jungle, daring to fight against a vicious army outnumbering him one thousand to one. One man can make a huge difference. Sam Childers certainly does.” ?Peter Fonda, actor/filmmaker, best known as star of Easy Rider “The Reverend Sam Childers has been a very close friend to the government of South Sudan for many years and is a trusted friend.” ?President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan “The Reverend Sam Childers is a long time devoted friend to our government and his courageous work is supported by us.” ?President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda “Sam Childers is one of those rare men [who is] willing to do literally whatever it takes to promote the message of Jesus Christ and save children from the tyranny of evil men.” ?John Rich, lead singer and songwriter, Big & Rich

One Man's War

Download One Man's War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Best Publishing Company
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 116 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (318 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis One Man's War by : Robert C. Sheats

Download or read book One Man's War written by Robert C. Sheats and published by Best Publishing Company. This book was released on 1998 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Another Man's War

Download Another Man's War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1780745230
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (87 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Another Man's War by : Barnaby Phillips

Download or read book Another Man's War written by Barnaby Phillips and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-09-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In December 1941 the Japanese invaded Burma. For the British, the longest land campaign of the Second World War had begun. 100,000 African soldiers were taken from Britain’s colonies to fight the Japanese in the Burmese jungles. They performed heroically in one of the most brutal theatres of war, yet their contribution has been largely ignored. Isaac Fadoyebo was one of those ‘Burma Boys’. At the age of sixteen he ran away from his Nigerian village to join the British Army. Sent to Burma, he was attacked and left for dead in the jungle by the Japanese. Sheltered by courageous local rice farmers, Isaac spent nine months in hiding before his eventual rescue. He returned to Nigeria a hero, but his story was soon forgotten. Barnaby Phillips travelled to Nigeria and Burma in search of Isaac, the family who saved his life, and the legacy of an Empire. Another Man’s War is Isaac’s story.

Rich Man's War

Download Rich Man's War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Georgia Press
ISBN 13 : 0820340790
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (23 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Rich Man's War by : David Williams

Download or read book Rich Man's War written by David Williams and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Rich Man's War historian David Williams focuses on the Civil War experience of people in the Chattahoochee River Valley of Georgia and Alabama to illustrate how the exploitation of enslaved blacks and poor whites by a planter oligarchy generated overwhelming class conflict across the South, eventually leading to Confederate defeat. This conflict was so clearly highlighted by the perception that the Civil War was "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight" that growing numbers of oppressed whites and blacks openly rebelled against Confederate authority, undermining the fight for independence. After the war, however, the upper classes encouraged enmity between freedpeople and poor whites to prevent a class revolution. Trapped by racism and poverty, the poor remained in virtual economic slavery, still dominated by an almost unchanged planter elite. The publication of this book was supported by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission.

Zoe's Tale

Download Zoe's Tale PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Tor Books
ISBN 13 : 1429931078
Total Pages : 420 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Zoe's Tale by : John Scalzi

Download or read book Zoe's Tale written by John Scalzi and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2012-12-21 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do you tell your part in the biggest tale in history? I ask because it's what I have to do. I'm Zoe Boutin Perry: A colonist stranded on a deadly pioneer world. Holy icon to a race of aliens. A player (and a pawn) in a interstellar chess match to save humanity, or to see it fall. Witness to history. Friend. Daughter. Human. Seventeen years old. Everyone on Earth knows the tale I am part of. But you don't know my tale: How I did what I did — how I did what I had to do — not just to stay alive but to keep you alive, too. All of you. I'm going to tell it to you now, the only way I know how: not straight but true, the whole thing, to try make you feel what I felt: the joy and terror and uncertainty, panic and wonder, despair and hope. Everything that happened, bringing us to Earth, and Earth out of its captivity. All through my eyes. It's a story you know. But you don't know it all. Old Man's War Series #1 Old Man’s War #2 The Ghost Brigades #3 The Last Colony #4 Zoe’s Tale #5 The Human Division #6 The End of All Things Short fiction: “After the Coup” Other Tor Books The Android’s Dream Agent to the Stars Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded Fuzzy Nation Redshirts Lock In The Collapsing Empire (forthcoming) At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

This Man's Army

Download This Man's Army PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101216646
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (12 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis This Man's Army by : Andrew Exum

Download or read book This Man's Army written by Andrew Exum and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-06-03 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first combat memoir of the War on Terrorism: the gripping story of a young man’s transformation into a twenty-first-century warrior. Born into a family with a long history of military service dating back to the Revolutionary War, Andrew Exum enrolled in Army ROTC to pay for his Ivy League education. Shortly after graduation in 2000, he joined the infantry, then endured the grueling rigors of Ranger School before becoming a platoon leader with the storied 10th Mountain Division. He thought that perhaps, if he was lucky, he and his men would see action on a peacekeeping mission. Then came the fateful events of September 11, 2001. Called to action as a twenty-three-year-old, he led his troops into Afghanistan to root out the hard-core remnants of Osama bin Laden’s forces. Thrown into the maelstrom of modern war, Exum contended with Afghani warlords, cable news correspondents, and the military bureaucracy while hunting a desperate enemy in a treacherous land—and on a mountain ridge in the Shah-e-Kot Valley he would confront and kill an al-Qaeda fighter. After returning home, Exum struggled to come to terms with the media coverage and public perception of the war while seeking to make peace with the man he had become. By turns harrowing and reflective, this powerful memoir gives voice to a generation of soldiers that has risen to confront the threats of a dangerous new world.

Fire Force

Download Fire Force PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Lime Tree Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 341 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (55 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Fire Force by : Chris Cocks

Download or read book Fire Force written by Chris Cocks and published by Lime Tree Press. This book was released on 2020-06-01 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fire Force is the account of Chris Cocks’s service in 3 Commando, The Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), during Zimbabwe’s civil war of the 1970s—a war that came to be known, almost innocuously, as ‘the bush war’. Fire Force, a tactic of total airborne/airmobile envelopment, was developed by the RLI, and became the principal strike weapon of the beleaguered Rhodesian forces in their struggle against the tide of the communist-trained and -equipped ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas. “Like Reitz’s work, Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War, Fire Force, by first-time author Chris Cocks, is a personal account of close-quarter warfare. It is a unique, compelling, sometimes brutal account of a young conscript’s three years of service in the elite Rhodesian Light Infantry … Cocks’s work is one of the very few books which adequately describes the horrors of war in Africa … Fire Force is the best book on the Rhodesian War that I have read.” – Southern African Review of Books “Fire Force will be to the Rhodesian War what Remarque’s All Quiet on The Western Front was to World War I. A high claim indeed, but perhaps valid, for this moving book is a classic in any sense.” – The Star “The narrative is raw … it gives the book a veracity so complete that it will transport anyone involved in the ordeal back across the years with the force of a body blow … Rhodesia does at last have its own version of Michael Herr’s Vietnam experiences, Dispatches. A sense of regret is what really lingers, that the whole nightmare had to happen at all. The list of names of boys killed, or scarred physically and mentally, is moving beyond mere words.” – The Financial Mail

The Android's Dream

Download The Android's Dream PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Tor Books
ISBN 13 : 142991470X
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Android's Dream by : John Scalzi

Download or read book The Android's Dream written by John Scalzi and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestseller and Hugo Award-winner John Scalzi, a wild-and-woolly caper novel of interstellar diplomacy A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most . . . unusual . . . way. To avoid war, Earth's government must find an equally unusual object: a type of sheep ("The Android's Dream"), used in the alien race's coronation ceremony. To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero and hacker extraordinare, who, with the help of a childhood friend turned artificial intelligence, scours the earth looking for the rare creature. But there are others with plans for the sheep as well. Mercenaries employed by the military. Adherents of a secret religion based on the writings of a 21st century SF author. And alien races, eager to start a revolution on their home world and a war on Earth. To keep our planet from being enslaved, Harry will have to pull off a grand diplomatic coup, a gambit that will take him from the halls of power to the lava-strewn battlefields of alien worlds. There's only one chance to get it right, to save the life of the sheep—and to protect the future of humanity. Other Tor Books The Android’s Dream Agent to the Stars Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded Fuzzy Nation Redshirts 1. Lock In 2. Head On The Interdepency Sequence 1. The Collapsing Empire 2. The Consuming Fire Old Man's War Series 1. Old Man’s War 2. The Ghost Brigades 3. The Last Colony 4. Zoe’s Tale 5. The Human Division 6. The End of All Things At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Human Division

Download The Human Division PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Tor Books
ISBN 13 : 1466802316
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Human Division by : John Scalzi

Download or read book The Human Division written by John Scalzi and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the events of The Last Colony, John Scalzi tells the story of the fight to maintain the unity of the human race. The people of Earth now know that the human Colonial Union has kept them ignorant of the dangerous universe around them. For generations the CU had defended humanity against hostile aliens, deliberately keeping Earth an ignorant backwater and a source of military recruits. Now the CU's secrets are known to all. Other alien races have come on the scene and formed a new alliance—an alliance against the Colonial Union. And they've invited the people of Earth to join them. For a shaken and betrayed Earth, the choice isn't obvious or easy. Against such possibilities, managing the survival of the Colonial Union won't be easy, either. It will take diplomatic finesse, political cunning...and a brilliant "B Team," centered on the resourceful Lieutenant Harry Wilson, that can be deployed to deal with the unpredictable and unexpected things the universe throws at you when you're struggling to preserve the unity of the human race. Being published online from January to April 2013 as a three-month digital serial, The Human Division will appear as a full-length novel of the Old Man's War universe, plus—for the first time in print—the first tale of Lieutenant Harry Wilson, and a coda that wasn't part of the digital serialization. Old Man's War Series #1 Old Man’s War #2 The Ghost Brigades #3 The Last Colony #4 Zoe’s Tale #5 The Human Division #6 The End of All Things Short fiction: “After the Coup” Other Tor Books The Android’s Dream Agent to the Stars Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded Fuzzy Nation Redshirts Lock In The Collapsing Empire (forthcoming) At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Castaway's War

Download The Castaway's War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Da Capo Press
ISBN 13 : 0306823411
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (68 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Castaway's War by : Stephen Harding

Download or read book The Castaway's War written by Stephen Harding and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shipwrecked on a South Pacific island, a young US Navy lieutenant waged a one-man war against the Japanese In the early hours of July 5, 1943, the destroyer USS Strong was hit by a Japanese torpedo. The powerful weapon broke the destroyer's back, killed dozens of sailors, and sparked raging fires. While accompanying ships were able to take off most of Strong's surviving crewmembers, scores went into the ocean as the once-proud warship sank beneath the waves--and a young officer's harrowing story of survival began. Lieutenant Hugh Barr Miller, a pre-war football star at the University of Alabama, went into the water as the vessel sank. Severely injured, Miller and several others survived three days at sea and eventually landed on a Japanese-occupied island. The survivors found fresh water and a few coconuts, but Miller, suffering from internal injuries and believing he was on the verge of death, ordered the others to go on without him. They reluctantly did do, believing, as Miller did, that he would be dead within hours. But Miller didn't die, and his health improved enough for him to begin searching for food. He also found the enemy--Japanese forces patrolling the island. Miller was determined to survive, and so launched a one-man war against the island's occupiers. Based on official American and Japanese histories, personal memoirs, and the author's exclusive interviews with many of the story's key participants, The Castaway's War is a rousing story of naval combat, bravery, and determination.

Rich Man's War, Poor Man's Fight

Download Rich Man's War, Poor Man's Fight PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 9780807875896
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (758 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Rich Man's War, Poor Man's Fight by : Jeanette Keith

Download or read book Rich Man's War, Poor Man's Fight written by Jeanette Keith and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2005-10-12 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War I, thousands of rural southern men, black and white, refused to serve in the military. Some failed to register for the draft, while others deserted after being inducted. In the countryside, armed bands of deserters defied local authorities; capturing them required the dispatch of federal troops into three southern states. Jeanette Keith traces southern draft resistance to several sources, including whites' long-term political opposition to militarism, southern blacks' reluctance to serve a nation that refused to respect their rights, the peace witness of southern churches, and, above all, anger at class bias in federal conscription policies. Keith shows how draft dodgers' success in avoiding service resulted from the failure of southern states to create effective mechanisms for identifying and classifying individuals. Lacking local-level data on draft evaders, the federal government used agencies of surveillance both to find reluctant conscripts and to squelch antiwar dissent in rural areas. Drawing upon rarely used local draft board reports, Selective Service archives, Bureau of Investigation reports, and southern political leaders' constituent files, Keith offers new insights into rural southern politics and society as well as the growing power of the nation-state in early twentieth-century America.

The End of All Things

Download The End of All Things PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Tor Books
ISBN 13 : 1466849428
Total Pages : 323 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The End of All Things by : John Scalzi

Download or read book The End of All Things written by John Scalzi and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2015-08-11 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hugo-award winning author, John Scalzi returns to his best-selling Old Man's War universe with The End of All Things, the direct sequel to 2013's The Human Division Humans expanded into space...only to find a universe populated with multiple alien species bent on their destruction. Thus was the Colonial Union formed, to help protect us from a hostile universe. The Colonial Union used the Earth and its excess population for colonists and soldiers. It was a good arrangement...for the Colonial Union. Then the Earth said: no more. Now the Colonial Union is living on borrowed time-a couple of decades at most, before the ranks of the Colonial Defense Forces are depleted and the struggling human colonies are vulnerable to the alien species who have been waiting for the first sign of weakness, to drive humanity to ruin. And there's another problem: A group, lurking in the darkness of space, playing human and alien against each other-and against their own kind -for their own unknown reasons. In this collapsing universe, CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson and the Colonial Union diplomats he works with race against the clock to discover who is behind attacks on the Union and on alien races, to seek peace with a suspicious, angry Earth, and keep humanity's union intact...or else risk oblivion, and extinction-and the end of all things. Old Man's War Series #1 Old Man’s War #2 The Ghost Brigades #3 The Last Colony #4 Zoe’s Tale #5 The Human Division #6 The End of All Things Short fiction: “After the Coup” Other Tor Books The Android’s Dream Agent to the Stars Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded Fuzzy Nation Redshirts Lock In The Collapsing Empire At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

For Cause and Comrades

Download For Cause and Comrades PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780199741052
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (41 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis For Cause and Comrades by : James M. McPherson

Download or read book For Cause and Comrades written by James M. McPherson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1997-04-03 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: General John A. Wickham, commander of the famous 101st Airborne Division in the 1970s and subsequently Army Chief of Staff, once visited Antietam battlefield. Gazing at Bloody Lane where, in 1862, several Union assaults were brutally repulsed before they finally broke through, he marveled, "You couldn't get American soldiers today to make an attack like that." Why did those men risk certain death, over and over again, through countless bloody battles and four long, awful years ? Why did the conventional wisdom -- that soldiers become increasingly cynical and disillusioned as war progresses -- not hold true in the Civil War? It is to this question--why did they fight--that James McPherson, America's preeminent Civil War historian, now turns his attention. He shows that, contrary to what many scholars believe, the soldiers of the Civil War remained powerfully convinced of the ideals for which they fought throughout the conflict. Motivated by duty and honor, and often by religious faith, these men wrote frequently of their firm belief in the cause for which they fought: the principles of liberty, freedom, justice, and patriotism. Soldiers on both sides harkened back to the Founding Fathers, and the ideals of the American Revolution. They fought to defend their country, either the Union--"the best Government ever made"--or the Confederate states, where their very homes and families were under siege. And they fought to defend their honor and manhood. "I should not lik to go home with the name of a couhard," one Massachusetts private wrote, and another private from Ohio said, "My wife would sooner hear of my death than my disgrace." Even after three years of bloody battles, more than half of the Union soldiers reenlisted voluntarily. "While duty calls me here and my country demands my services I should be willing to make the sacrifice," one man wrote to his protesting parents. And another soldier said simply, "I still love my country." McPherson draws on more than 25,000 letters and nearly 250 private diaries from men on both sides. Civil War soldiers were among the most literate soldiers in history, and most of them wrote home frequently, as it was the only way for them to keep in touch with homes that many of them had left for the first time in their lives. Significantly, their letters were also uncensored by military authorities, and are uniquely frank in their criticism and detailed in their reports of marches and battles, relations between officers and men, political debates, and morale. For Cause and Comrades lets these soldiers tell their own stories in their own words to create an account that is both deeply moving and far truer than most books on war. Battle Cry of Freedom, McPherson's Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the Civil War, was a national bestseller that Hugh Brogan, in The New York Times, called "history writing of the highest order." For Cause and Comrades deserves similar accolades, as McPherson's masterful prose and the soldiers' own words combine to create both an important book on an often-overlooked aspect of our bloody Civil War, and a powerfully moving account of the men who fought it.