Author: Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400840449
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250
Book Description
Political campaigns today are won or lost in the so-called ground war--the strategic deployment of teams of staffers, volunteers, and paid part-timers who work the phones and canvass block by block, house by house, voter by voter. Ground Wars provides an in-depth ethnographic portrait of two such campaigns, New Jersey Democrat Linda Stender's and that of Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut, who both ran for Congress in 2008. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen examines how American political operatives use "personalized political communication" to engage with the electorate, and weighs the implications of ground war tactics for how we understand political campaigns and what it means to participate in them. He shows how ground wars are waged using resources well beyond those of a given candidate and their staff. These include allied interest groups and civic associations, party-provided technical infrastructures that utilize large databases with detailed individual-level information for targeting voters, and armies of dedicated volunteers and paid part-timers. Nielsen challenges the notion that political communication in America must be tightly scripted, controlled, and conducted by a select coterie of professionals. Yet he also quashes the romantic idea that canvassing is a purer form of grassroots politics. In today's political ground wars, Nielsen demonstrates, even the most ordinary-seeming volunteer knocking at your door is backed up by high-tech targeting technologies and party expertise. Ground Wars reveals how personalized political communication is profoundly influencing electoral outcomes and transforming American democracy.
Ground Wars
Author: Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400840449
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250
Book Description
Political campaigns today are won or lost in the so-called ground war--the strategic deployment of teams of staffers, volunteers, and paid part-timers who work the phones and canvass block by block, house by house, voter by voter. Ground Wars provides an in-depth ethnographic portrait of two such campaigns, New Jersey Democrat Linda Stender's and that of Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut, who both ran for Congress in 2008. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen examines how American political operatives use "personalized political communication" to engage with the electorate, and weighs the implications of ground war tactics for how we understand political campaigns and what it means to participate in them. He shows how ground wars are waged using resources well beyond those of a given candidate and their staff. These include allied interest groups and civic associations, party-provided technical infrastructures that utilize large databases with detailed individual-level information for targeting voters, and armies of dedicated volunteers and paid part-timers. Nielsen challenges the notion that political communication in America must be tightly scripted, controlled, and conducted by a select coterie of professionals. Yet he also quashes the romantic idea that canvassing is a purer form of grassroots politics. In today's political ground wars, Nielsen demonstrates, even the most ordinary-seeming volunteer knocking at your door is backed up by high-tech targeting technologies and party expertise. Ground Wars reveals how personalized political communication is profoundly influencing electoral outcomes and transforming American democracy.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400840449
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250
Book Description
Political campaigns today are won or lost in the so-called ground war--the strategic deployment of teams of staffers, volunteers, and paid part-timers who work the phones and canvass block by block, house by house, voter by voter. Ground Wars provides an in-depth ethnographic portrait of two such campaigns, New Jersey Democrat Linda Stender's and that of Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut, who both ran for Congress in 2008. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen examines how American political operatives use "personalized political communication" to engage with the electorate, and weighs the implications of ground war tactics for how we understand political campaigns and what it means to participate in them. He shows how ground wars are waged using resources well beyond those of a given candidate and their staff. These include allied interest groups and civic associations, party-provided technical infrastructures that utilize large databases with detailed individual-level information for targeting voters, and armies of dedicated volunteers and paid part-timers. Nielsen challenges the notion that political communication in America must be tightly scripted, controlled, and conducted by a select coterie of professionals. Yet he also quashes the romantic idea that canvassing is a purer form of grassroots politics. In today's political ground wars, Nielsen demonstrates, even the most ordinary-seeming volunteer knocking at your door is backed up by high-tech targeting technologies and party expertise. Ground Wars reveals how personalized political communication is profoundly influencing electoral outcomes and transforming American democracy.
Ground War
Author: Assistant Professor of Political Science Nicholas Goedert
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197626629
Category : Apportionment (Election law)
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
"Partisan gerrymandering, the drawing of legislative district lines to deliberately favor one political party, has been present and controversial in American politics since before the ratification of our Constitution. Yet in the past couple of decades, parties in power at the state level have developed greater expertise than ever before at redistricting to their own advantage. In Ground War, Nicholas Goedert tackles the controversies, litigation, and effects surrounding partisan gerrymandering of the US Congress. Using multiple empirical approaches and a novel metric to measure the partisan fairness of maps, Goedert argues that nonpartisan redistricting commisions, rather than the US courts, represent the best alternative to legislative redistricting." -- back cover.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197626629
Category : Apportionment (Election law)
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
"Partisan gerrymandering, the drawing of legislative district lines to deliberately favor one political party, has been present and controversial in American politics since before the ratification of our Constitution. Yet in the past couple of decades, parties in power at the state level have developed greater expertise than ever before at redistricting to their own advantage. In Ground War, Nicholas Goedert tackles the controversies, litigation, and effects surrounding partisan gerrymandering of the US Congress. Using multiple empirical approaches and a novel metric to measure the partisan fairness of maps, Goedert argues that nonpartisan redistricting commisions, rather than the US courts, represent the best alternative to legislative redistricting." -- back cover.
Air Power And The Ground War In Vietnam, Ideas And Actions
Author: Dr Donald J. Mrozek
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1786250136
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399
Book Description
Ultimately, this study is about a smaller Vietnam War than that which is commonly recalled. It focuses on expectations concerning the impact of air power on the ground war and on some of its actual effects, but it avoids major treatment of some of the most dramatic air actions of the war, such as the bombing of Hanoi. To many who fought the war and believe it ought to have been conducted on a still larger scale or with fewer restraints, this study may seem almost perverse, emphasizing as it does the utility of air power in conducting the conflict as a ground war and without total exploitation of our most awe-inspiring technology. Although the chapters in this study are intended to form a coherent and unified argument, each also offers discrete messages. The chapters are not meant to be definitive. They do not exhaust available documentary material, and they often rely heavily on published accounts. Nor do they provide a complete chronological picture of the uses of air power, even with respect to the ground war. Nor is coverage of areas in which air power was employed—South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam—evenly distributed nor necessarily proportionate to the effort expended in each place during the war. Lastly, some may find one or another form of air power either slightly or insufficiently treated. Such criticisms are beside the point, for the objectives of this study are to explore a comparatively neglected theme—the impact of air power on the ground—and to encourage further utilization of lessons drawn from the Vietnam experience.
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1786250136
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399
Book Description
Ultimately, this study is about a smaller Vietnam War than that which is commonly recalled. It focuses on expectations concerning the impact of air power on the ground war and on some of its actual effects, but it avoids major treatment of some of the most dramatic air actions of the war, such as the bombing of Hanoi. To many who fought the war and believe it ought to have been conducted on a still larger scale or with fewer restraints, this study may seem almost perverse, emphasizing as it does the utility of air power in conducting the conflict as a ground war and without total exploitation of our most awe-inspiring technology. Although the chapters in this study are intended to form a coherent and unified argument, each also offers discrete messages. The chapters are not meant to be definitive. They do not exhaust available documentary material, and they often rely heavily on published accounts. Nor do they provide a complete chronological picture of the uses of air power, even with respect to the ground war. Nor is coverage of areas in which air power was employed—South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam—evenly distributed nor necessarily proportionate to the effort expended in each place during the war. Lastly, some may find one or another form of air power either slightly or insufficiently treated. Such criticisms are beside the point, for the objectives of this study are to explore a comparatively neglected theme—the impact of air power on the ground—and to encourage further utilization of lessons drawn from the Vietnam experience.
War from the Ground Up
Author: Emile Simpson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199327882
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299
Book Description
This is a philosophical treatise on war written by an Oxford grad who served in Afghanistan.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199327882
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299
Book Description
This is a philosophical treatise on war written by an Oxford grad who served in Afghanistan.
Grace's Ground War
Author: Hallee Bridgeman
Publisher: Olivia Kimbrell Press
ISBN: 1939603498
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 125
Book Description
RUTH AUBERTIN’s father, a highly decorated veteran of the Great War, moves his family from British Palestine to the wild of Great Britain after the Hebron masacre in 1929. He has always known the Germans would return to France, and trained his children from the time they could walk, turning them into finely tuned weapons with multiple skills ranging in weapons training to hand-to-hand combat. When the Germans roll into France, Ruth and her brothers volunteer with the British Special Services and Ruth joins the Virtues team under the code name of GRACE. Never knowing the bond of sisterhood before, Ruth grows close to the six other women on the team and learns to rely on them and their varied skills as she goes undercover in Occupied France. Working directly for the notorious Praetorian, she and her team plan the largest prisoner escape in the war to date. The arrest of TEMPERANCE raises the stakes. Now they have to move their time table up, increasing the overall risk of the mission. Can Ruth and her team pull off the mission, or will too many variables crash together at the wrong time? GRACE’S GROUND WAR is part five of eight serialized novellas entitled the Virtues and Valor series. Seven valorous women — different nationalities, ethnicities, and social backgrounds — come together as a team called the Virtues. In 1941 Great Britain a special war department assembles an experimental and exclusively female cohort of combat operatives. Four willing spies, a wireless radio operator, an ingenious code breaker, and a fearless pilot are each hand-picked, recruited, and trained to initiate a daring mission in Occupied France. As plans are laid to engineer the largest prison break of Allied POWs in history, the Nazis capture the Virtues’ radio operator. It will take the cohesive teamwork of the rest of the women to save her life before Berlin breaks her and brings the force of the Third Reich to bear. Some find love, some find vengeance, and some discover the kind of strength that lives in the human heart when all they can do is rely on each other and their shared belief. Courage, faith, and valor intersect but, in the end, one pays the ultimate price. Continuing the Virtues and Valor series by Hallee Bridgeman. Eight serialized novellas, each inspired by real people and actual events, reveal the incredible story of amazing heroines facing the ultimate test of bravery. *************** the virtues in valor series, virtues in valor, world war ii, bridgeman, christian, christian fiction, christian romance, contemporary, contemporary christian fiction, contemporary christian romance, contemporary inspirational fiction, contemporary inspirational romance, edgy christian fiction, edgy christian romance, edgy inspirational fiction, edgy inspirational romance, fiction, hailey bridgeman, haley bridgeman, halle bridgeman, hallee bridgeman, inspirational, inspirational christian fiction, inspirational fiction, inspirational romance, olivia kimbrell press, Historical Fiction Time Periods, Military & War, Romance, Romantic Heroes, Romantic Themes, Inspirational, Military, Politicans, Spies, International, General, navy, army, soldier, politician, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Characters, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Moods, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Settings, Female Protagonists, Mystery, Small Towns, Suspense, Thrillers, Literary Fiction Themes, Women's Fiction Themes, 20th Century, Friendship, Love Stories, Religion, love, religious, spiritual, career, Religion & Spirituality, Christian Books & Bibles, Spirituality, Christian Fiction, Christian Living, Women, Music, woman, Family, Women's Inspirational, inspire, inspires, inspiration, christian, Hymns, christians, christianity, man, men, Romantic, Thriller, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, sprititual, invasion, traditional romance, europe, axis, allies, nazi, fascist, fascism, hitler, occupied france, france, germany, england, london, paris, berlin, agents, secret agents, valor, virtues, bravery, oss, wwii, world war ii, world war 2, heroines, courage, intelligence, spy, espionage, holocaust, war in europe, agent provocateur, temperance, hope, charity, prudence, grace, mercy, faith, lust, chastity, purity, gluttony, self-restraint, greed, giving, sloth, diligence, wrath, forgiveness, composure, envy, kindness, pride, humility, humbleness, war, warfare, secret war, blitzkrieg, combat, soldiers, prison, interrogation, torture, disguise, subterfuge, deception, Louis Zamperini, Corrie ten Boom, Anne Frank, Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene, Tricia Goyer, Don Brown, Sarah Sundin, Stephen Ambrose, Unbroken, The Imitation Game, The Hiding Place, Diary of Anne Frank, Alan Turing,
Publisher: Olivia Kimbrell Press
ISBN: 1939603498
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 125
Book Description
RUTH AUBERTIN’s father, a highly decorated veteran of the Great War, moves his family from British Palestine to the wild of Great Britain after the Hebron masacre in 1929. He has always known the Germans would return to France, and trained his children from the time they could walk, turning them into finely tuned weapons with multiple skills ranging in weapons training to hand-to-hand combat. When the Germans roll into France, Ruth and her brothers volunteer with the British Special Services and Ruth joins the Virtues team under the code name of GRACE. Never knowing the bond of sisterhood before, Ruth grows close to the six other women on the team and learns to rely on them and their varied skills as she goes undercover in Occupied France. Working directly for the notorious Praetorian, she and her team plan the largest prisoner escape in the war to date. The arrest of TEMPERANCE raises the stakes. Now they have to move their time table up, increasing the overall risk of the mission. Can Ruth and her team pull off the mission, or will too many variables crash together at the wrong time? GRACE’S GROUND WAR is part five of eight serialized novellas entitled the Virtues and Valor series. Seven valorous women — different nationalities, ethnicities, and social backgrounds — come together as a team called the Virtues. In 1941 Great Britain a special war department assembles an experimental and exclusively female cohort of combat operatives. Four willing spies, a wireless radio operator, an ingenious code breaker, and a fearless pilot are each hand-picked, recruited, and trained to initiate a daring mission in Occupied France. As plans are laid to engineer the largest prison break of Allied POWs in history, the Nazis capture the Virtues’ radio operator. It will take the cohesive teamwork of the rest of the women to save her life before Berlin breaks her and brings the force of the Third Reich to bear. Some find love, some find vengeance, and some discover the kind of strength that lives in the human heart when all they can do is rely on each other and their shared belief. Courage, faith, and valor intersect but, in the end, one pays the ultimate price. Continuing the Virtues and Valor series by Hallee Bridgeman. Eight serialized novellas, each inspired by real people and actual events, reveal the incredible story of amazing heroines facing the ultimate test of bravery. *************** the virtues in valor series, virtues in valor, world war ii, bridgeman, christian, christian fiction, christian romance, contemporary, contemporary christian fiction, contemporary christian romance, contemporary inspirational fiction, contemporary inspirational romance, edgy christian fiction, edgy christian romance, edgy inspirational fiction, edgy inspirational romance, fiction, hailey bridgeman, haley bridgeman, halle bridgeman, hallee bridgeman, inspirational, inspirational christian fiction, inspirational fiction, inspirational romance, olivia kimbrell press, Historical Fiction Time Periods, Military & War, Romance, Romantic Heroes, Romantic Themes, Inspirational, Military, Politicans, Spies, International, General, navy, army, soldier, politician, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Characters, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Moods, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Settings, Female Protagonists, Mystery, Small Towns, Suspense, Thrillers, Literary Fiction Themes, Women's Fiction Themes, 20th Century, Friendship, Love Stories, Religion, love, religious, spiritual, career, Religion & Spirituality, Christian Books & Bibles, Spirituality, Christian Fiction, Christian Living, Women, Music, woman, Family, Women's Inspirational, inspire, inspires, inspiration, christian, Hymns, christians, christianity, man, men, Romantic, Thriller, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, sprititual, invasion, traditional romance, europe, axis, allies, nazi, fascist, fascism, hitler, occupied france, france, germany, england, london, paris, berlin, agents, secret agents, valor, virtues, bravery, oss, wwii, world war ii, world war 2, heroines, courage, intelligence, spy, espionage, holocaust, war in europe, agent provocateur, temperance, hope, charity, prudence, grace, mercy, faith, lust, chastity, purity, gluttony, self-restraint, greed, giving, sloth, diligence, wrath, forgiveness, composure, envy, kindness, pride, humility, humbleness, war, warfare, secret war, blitzkrieg, combat, soldiers, prison, interrogation, torture, disguise, subterfuge, deception, Louis Zamperini, Corrie ten Boom, Anne Frank, Bodie Thoene, Brock Thoene, Tricia Goyer, Don Brown, Sarah Sundin, Stephen Ambrose, Unbroken, The Imitation Game, The Hiding Place, Diary of Anne Frank, Alan Turing,
Boots on the Ground
Author: Elizabeth Partridge
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0670785067
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
★ "Partridge proves once again that nonfiction can be every bit as dramatic as the best fiction."* America's war in Vietnam. In over a decade of bitter fighting, it claimed the lives of more than 58,000 American soldiers and beleaguered four US presidents. More than forty years after America left Vietnam in defeat in 1975, the war remains controversial and divisive both in the United States and abroad. The history of this era is complex; the cultural impact extraordinary. But it's the personal stories of eight people—six American soldiers, one American military nurse, and one Vietnamese refugee—that create the heartbeat of Boots on the Ground. From dense jungles and terrifying firefights to chaotic helicopter rescues and harrowing escapes, each individual experience reveals a different facet of the war and moves us forward in time. Alternating with these chapters are profiles of key American leaders and events, reminding us of all that was happening at home during the war, including peace protests, presidential scandals, and veterans' struggles to acclimate to life after Vietnam. With more than one hundred photographs, award-winning author Elizabeth Partridge's unflinching book captures the intensity, frustration, and lasting impacts of one of the most tumultuous periods of American history. *Kirkus Reviews, starred review of Marching for Freedom
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0670785067
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
★ "Partridge proves once again that nonfiction can be every bit as dramatic as the best fiction."* America's war in Vietnam. In over a decade of bitter fighting, it claimed the lives of more than 58,000 American soldiers and beleaguered four US presidents. More than forty years after America left Vietnam in defeat in 1975, the war remains controversial and divisive both in the United States and abroad. The history of this era is complex; the cultural impact extraordinary. But it's the personal stories of eight people—six American soldiers, one American military nurse, and one Vietnamese refugee—that create the heartbeat of Boots on the Ground. From dense jungles and terrifying firefights to chaotic helicopter rescues and harrowing escapes, each individual experience reveals a different facet of the war and moves us forward in time. Alternating with these chapters are profiles of key American leaders and events, reminding us of all that was happening at home during the war, including peace protests, presidential scandals, and veterans' struggles to acclimate to life after Vietnam. With more than one hundred photographs, award-winning author Elizabeth Partridge's unflinching book captures the intensity, frustration, and lasting impacts of one of the most tumultuous periods of American history. *Kirkus Reviews, starred review of Marching for Freedom
Dark and Bloody Ground
Author: Thomas Ayres
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
This book chronicles not only the remarkable military victory at Mansfield but the subsequent engagements that forced Union forces into an ignominious withdrawal.
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
This book chronicles not only the remarkable military victory at Mansfield but the subsequent engagements that forced Union forces into an ignominious withdrawal.
American Soldiers
Author: Peter S. Kindsvatter
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700614168
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 456
Book Description
Some warriors are drawn to the thrill of combat and find it the defining moment of their lives. Others fall victim to fear, exhaustion, impaired reasoning, and despair. This was certainly true for twentieth-century American ground troops. Whether embracing or being demoralized by war, these men risked their lives for causes larger than themselves with no promise of safe return. This book is the first to synthesize the wartime experiences of American combat soldiers, from the doughboys of World War I to the grunts of Vietnam. Focusing on both soldiers and marines, it draws on histories and memoirs, oral histories, psychological and sociological studies, and even fiction to show that their experiences remain fundamentally the same regardless of the enemy, terrain, training, or weaponry. Peter Kindsvatter gets inside the minds of American soldiers to reveal what motivated them to serve and how they were turned into soldiers. He recreates the physical and emotional aspects of war to tell how fighting men dealt with danger and hardship, and he explores the roles of comradeship, leadership, and the sustaining beliefs in cause and country. He also illuminates soldiers’ attitudes toward the enemy, toward the rear echelon, and toward the home front. And he tells why some broke down under fire while others excelled. Here are the first tastes of battle, as when a green recruit reported that “for the first time I realized that the people over the ridge wanted to kill me,” while another was befuddled by the unfamiliar sound of bullets whizzing overhead. Here are soldiers struggling to cope with war’s stress by seeking solace from local women or simply smoking cigarettes. And here are tales of combat avoidance and fraggings not unique to Vietnam, of soldiers in Korea disgruntled over home-front indifference, and of the unique experiences of African American soldiers in the Jim Crow army. By capturing the core “band of brothers” experience across several generations of warfare, Kindsvatter celebrates the American soldier while helping us to better understand war’s lethal reality--and why soldiers persevere in the face of its horrors.
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700614168
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 456
Book Description
Some warriors are drawn to the thrill of combat and find it the defining moment of their lives. Others fall victim to fear, exhaustion, impaired reasoning, and despair. This was certainly true for twentieth-century American ground troops. Whether embracing or being demoralized by war, these men risked their lives for causes larger than themselves with no promise of safe return. This book is the first to synthesize the wartime experiences of American combat soldiers, from the doughboys of World War I to the grunts of Vietnam. Focusing on both soldiers and marines, it draws on histories and memoirs, oral histories, psychological and sociological studies, and even fiction to show that their experiences remain fundamentally the same regardless of the enemy, terrain, training, or weaponry. Peter Kindsvatter gets inside the minds of American soldiers to reveal what motivated them to serve and how they were turned into soldiers. He recreates the physical and emotional aspects of war to tell how fighting men dealt with danger and hardship, and he explores the roles of comradeship, leadership, and the sustaining beliefs in cause and country. He also illuminates soldiers’ attitudes toward the enemy, toward the rear echelon, and toward the home front. And he tells why some broke down under fire while others excelled. Here are the first tastes of battle, as when a green recruit reported that “for the first time I realized that the people over the ridge wanted to kill me,” while another was befuddled by the unfamiliar sound of bullets whizzing overhead. Here are soldiers struggling to cope with war’s stress by seeking solace from local women or simply smoking cigarettes. And here are tales of combat avoidance and fraggings not unique to Vietnam, of soldiers in Korea disgruntled over home-front indifference, and of the unique experiences of African American soldiers in the Jim Crow army. By capturing the core “band of brothers” experience across several generations of warfare, Kindsvatter celebrates the American soldier while helping us to better understand war’s lethal reality--and why soldiers persevere in the face of its horrors.
American Ground Zero
Author: Carole Gallagher
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262071460
Category : Nuclear weapons
Languages : en
Pages : 475
Book Description
One photojournalist's decade-long commitment, a gripping collection of portraits and interviews of those whose lives were crossed by radioactive fallout.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262071460
Category : Nuclear weapons
Languages : en
Pages : 475
Book Description
One photojournalist's decade-long commitment, a gripping collection of portraits and interviews of those whose lives were crossed by radioactive fallout.
On Desperate Ground
Author: Hampton Sides
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385541163
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 458
Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers, a chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War. "Superb ... A masterpiece of thorough research, deft pacing and arresting detail...This war story—the fight to break out of a frozen hell near the Chosin Reservoir—has been told many times before. But Sides tells it exceedingly well, with fresh research, gritty scenes and cinematic sweep." —The Washington Post On October 15, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of UN troops in Korea, convinced President Harry Truman that the Communist forces of Kim Il-sung 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 Red Chinese soldiers began secretly crossing the Manchurian border. Led by some 20,000 men of the First Marine Division, the Americans moved deep into the snowy mountains of North Korea, toward the trap Mao had set for the vainglorious MacArthur along the frozen shores of the Chosin Reservoir. What followed was one of the most heroic--and harrowing--operations in American military history, and one of the classic battles of all time. Faced with probable annihilation, and temperatures plunging to 20 degrees below zero, the surrounded, and hugely outnumbered, Marines fought through the enemy forces with ferocity, ingenuity, and nearly unimaginable courage as they marched their way to the sea. Hampton Sides' superb account of this epic clash relies on years of archival research, unpublished letters, declassified documents, and interviews with scores of Marines and Koreans who survived the siege. While expertly detailing the follies of the American leaders, On Desperate Ground 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. Hampton Sides has been hailed by critics as one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation. As the Miami Herald wrote, "Sides has a novelist's eye for the propulsive elements that lend momentum and dramatic pace to the best nonfiction narratives."
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385541163
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 458
Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers, a chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War. "Superb ... A masterpiece of thorough research, deft pacing and arresting detail...This war story—the fight to break out of a frozen hell near the Chosin Reservoir—has been told many times before. But Sides tells it exceedingly well, with fresh research, gritty scenes and cinematic sweep." —The Washington Post On October 15, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of UN troops in Korea, convinced President Harry Truman that the Communist forces of Kim Il-sung 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 Red Chinese soldiers began secretly crossing the Manchurian border. Led by some 20,000 men of the First Marine Division, the Americans moved deep into the snowy mountains of North Korea, toward the trap Mao had set for the vainglorious MacArthur along the frozen shores of the Chosin Reservoir. What followed was one of the most heroic--and harrowing--operations in American military history, and one of the classic battles of all time. Faced with probable annihilation, and temperatures plunging to 20 degrees below zero, the surrounded, and hugely outnumbered, Marines fought through the enemy forces with ferocity, ingenuity, and nearly unimaginable courage as they marched their way to the sea. Hampton Sides' superb account of this epic clash relies on years of archival research, unpublished letters, declassified documents, and interviews with scores of Marines and Koreans who survived the siege. While expertly detailing the follies of the American leaders, On Desperate Ground 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. Hampton Sides has been hailed by critics as one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation. As the Miami Herald wrote, "Sides has a novelist's eye for the propulsive elements that lend momentum and dramatic pace to the best nonfiction narratives."