Author: Worth Books
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504044959
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 48
Book Description
So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Rogue Heroes tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Ben Macintyre’s book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of Rogue Heroes includes: Historical context Chapter-by-chapter overviews Profiles of the main characters Detailed timeline of events Important quotes and analysis Fascinating trivia Glossary of terms Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About Rogue Heroes:The History of the SAS, Britain’s Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre: Ben Macintyre’s Rogue Heroes is a gripping account of the inception of the British SAS, or Special Air Service, during World War II, which became the forerunner to modern military special forces. In mid-1941, the Axis attack on Europe and North Africa knocked Great Britain onto the ropes. Facing the brilliant German general Erwin Rommel, the “Desert Fox,” British forces in North Africa were fighting a losing campaign. An iconoclastic young officer named David Stirling conceived an entirely new form of warfare, based on daring attacks by small groups of highly trained soldiers on large strategic targets, striking deep from behind enemy lines. This revolutionary unit became the SAS and changed the nature of warfare itself. The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
Summary and Analysis of Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War
Author: Worth Books
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504044959
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 48
Book Description
So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Rogue Heroes tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Ben Macintyre’s book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of Rogue Heroes includes: Historical context Chapter-by-chapter overviews Profiles of the main characters Detailed timeline of events Important quotes and analysis Fascinating trivia Glossary of terms Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About Rogue Heroes:The History of the SAS, Britain’s Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre: Ben Macintyre’s Rogue Heroes is a gripping account of the inception of the British SAS, or Special Air Service, during World War II, which became the forerunner to modern military special forces. In mid-1941, the Axis attack on Europe and North Africa knocked Great Britain onto the ropes. Facing the brilliant German general Erwin Rommel, the “Desert Fox,” British forces in North Africa were fighting a losing campaign. An iconoclastic young officer named David Stirling conceived an entirely new form of warfare, based on daring attacks by small groups of highly trained soldiers on large strategic targets, striking deep from behind enemy lines. This revolutionary unit became the SAS and changed the nature of warfare itself. The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504044959
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 48
Book Description
So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Rogue Heroes tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Ben Macintyre’s book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of Rogue Heroes includes: Historical context Chapter-by-chapter overviews Profiles of the main characters Detailed timeline of events Important quotes and analysis Fascinating trivia Glossary of terms Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About Rogue Heroes:The History of the SAS, Britain’s Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre: Ben Macintyre’s Rogue Heroes is a gripping account of the inception of the British SAS, or Special Air Service, during World War II, which became the forerunner to modern military special forces. In mid-1941, the Axis attack on Europe and North Africa knocked Great Britain onto the ropes. Facing the brilliant German general Erwin Rommel, the “Desert Fox,” British forces in North Africa were fighting a losing campaign. An iconoclastic young officer named David Stirling conceived an entirely new form of warfare, based on daring attacks by small groups of highly trained soldiers on large strategic targets, striking deep from behind enemy lines. This revolutionary unit became the SAS and changed the nature of warfare itself. The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
Rogue Heroes
Author: Ben Macintyre
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1101904178
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incredible untold story of World War II’s greatest secret fighting force, as told by the modern master of wartime intrigue—now a limited series on Epix! “Reads like a mashup of The Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape, with a sprinkling of Ocean’s 11 thrown in for good measure.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • “Rogue Heroes is a ripping good read.”—Washington Post (10 Best Books of the Year) Britain’s Special Air Service—or SAS—was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young aristocrat whose aimlessness belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a World War II battlefield map and saw a protracted struggle, Stirling saw an opportunity: given a small number of elite men, he could parachute behind Nazi lines and sabotage their airplanes and supplies. Defying his superiors’ conventional wisdom, Stirling assembled a revolutionary fighting force that would upend not just the balance of the war, but the nature of combat itself. Bringing his keen eye for detail to a riveting wartime narrative, Ben Macintyre uses his unprecedented access to the SAS archives to shine a light on a legendary unit long shrouded in secrecy.
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1101904178
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incredible untold story of World War II’s greatest secret fighting force, as told by the modern master of wartime intrigue—now a limited series on Epix! “Reads like a mashup of The Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape, with a sprinkling of Ocean’s 11 thrown in for good measure.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • “Rogue Heroes is a ripping good read.”—Washington Post (10 Best Books of the Year) Britain’s Special Air Service—or SAS—was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young aristocrat whose aimlessness belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a World War II battlefield map and saw a protracted struggle, Stirling saw an opportunity: given a small number of elite men, he could parachute behind Nazi lines and sabotage their airplanes and supplies. Defying his superiors’ conventional wisdom, Stirling assembled a revolutionary fighting force that would upend not just the balance of the war, but the nature of combat itself. Bringing his keen eye for detail to a riveting wartime narrative, Ben Macintyre uses his unprecedented access to the SAS archives to shine a light on a legendary unit long shrouded in secrecy.
Eastern Approaches
Author: Fitzroy MaClean
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241973252
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 386
Book Description
Fitztroy Maclean was one of the real-life inspirations for super-spy James Bond. After adventures in Soviet Russia before the war, Maclean fought with the SAS in North Africa in 1942. There he specialised in hair-raising commando raids behind enemy lines, including the daring and outrageous kidnapping of the German Consul in Axis-controlled Iraq. Maclean's extraordinary adventures in the Western Desert and later fighting alongside Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia are blistering reading and show what it took to be a British hero who broke the mould . . .
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241973252
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 386
Book Description
Fitztroy Maclean was one of the real-life inspirations for super-spy James Bond. After adventures in Soviet Russia before the war, Maclean fought with the SAS in North Africa in 1942. There he specialised in hair-raising commando raids behind enemy lines, including the daring and outrageous kidnapping of the German Consul in Axis-controlled Iraq. Maclean's extraordinary adventures in the Western Desert and later fighting alongside Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia are blistering reading and show what it took to be a British hero who broke the mould . . .
Terror Flyers
Author: Kevin T Hall
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253052629
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314
Book Description
Terror Flyers examines the "lynch justice" (Lynchjustiz) committed against American airmen in Nazi Germany during World War II. Using engaging first-person accounts of downed pilots, as well as previously unused primary sources, Terror Flyers challenges the notion that such lynchings were exclusively the domain of Nazi party officials and soldiers. New evidence reveals ordinary German people executed Lynchjustiz as well. Initially occurring as a spontaneous reaction to the devastation of the Allied air campaign against the cities of the Third Reich, Lynchjustiz offered the Nazi regime a unique propaganda opportunity to harness the outrage of the German population. Fueled by inspiration from America's own history of the lynching of African Americans, Nazi propaganda exploited the very same imagery found in US publications to escalate the anger of the German people. Drawing heavily on the accounts of the downed airmen themselves, testimonies from the "flyer trials" held in Dachau during 1945–48, and rarely seen Nazi propaganda, Terror Flyers offers a new narrative of this previously overlooked aspect of the Allied campaign in Europe and suggests that at least 3,000 cases of lynch justice likely occurred between 1943 and 1945.
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253052629
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314
Book Description
Terror Flyers examines the "lynch justice" (Lynchjustiz) committed against American airmen in Nazi Germany during World War II. Using engaging first-person accounts of downed pilots, as well as previously unused primary sources, Terror Flyers challenges the notion that such lynchings were exclusively the domain of Nazi party officials and soldiers. New evidence reveals ordinary German people executed Lynchjustiz as well. Initially occurring as a spontaneous reaction to the devastation of the Allied air campaign against the cities of the Third Reich, Lynchjustiz offered the Nazi regime a unique propaganda opportunity to harness the outrage of the German population. Fueled by inspiration from America's own history of the lynching of African Americans, Nazi propaganda exploited the very same imagery found in US publications to escalate the anger of the German people. Drawing heavily on the accounts of the downed airmen themselves, testimonies from the "flyer trials" held in Dachau during 1945–48, and rarely seen Nazi propaganda, Terror Flyers offers a new narrative of this previously overlooked aspect of the Allied campaign in Europe and suggests that at least 3,000 cases of lynch justice likely occurred between 1943 and 1945.
Soldier ‘I’
Author: Michael Paul Kennedy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 184908615X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408
Book Description
The true story of a legendary SAS soldier who participated in the battle of Mirbat and assaulted the Iranian Embassy to free the hostages held within. No publicity, no media. We move in silently, do our job, and melt away into the background. If you have the stamina, the willpower and the guts, we'll welcome you with open arms and make you one of us. And if you haven't, then it's been very nice knowing you. Eighteen years in the SAS saw Pete Winner, codenamed Soldier 'I', survive the savage battle of Mirbat, parachute into the icy depths of the South Atlantic at the height of the Falklands War, and storm the Iranian Embassy during the most famous hostage crisis in the modern world. For the first time Pete also details his close-protection work around the world, from the lawless streets of Moscow to escorting aid convoys into war-torn Bosnia. He also unveils the problems of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder faced by many Special Forces veterans, and how he battled his own demons to continue his roller-coaster career. This is his story, written with a breathtaking take-no-prisoners attitude that brings each death-defying episode vividly to life.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 184908615X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 408
Book Description
The true story of a legendary SAS soldier who participated in the battle of Mirbat and assaulted the Iranian Embassy to free the hostages held within. No publicity, no media. We move in silently, do our job, and melt away into the background. If you have the stamina, the willpower and the guts, we'll welcome you with open arms and make you one of us. And if you haven't, then it's been very nice knowing you. Eighteen years in the SAS saw Pete Winner, codenamed Soldier 'I', survive the savage battle of Mirbat, parachute into the icy depths of the South Atlantic at the height of the Falklands War, and storm the Iranian Embassy during the most famous hostage crisis in the modern world. For the first time Pete also details his close-protection work around the world, from the lawless streets of Moscow to escorting aid convoys into war-torn Bosnia. He also unveils the problems of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder faced by many Special Forces veterans, and how he battled his own demons to continue his roller-coaster career. This is his story, written with a breathtaking take-no-prisoners attitude that brings each death-defying episode vividly to life.
Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Author: Giles Milton
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1250119049
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
Six gentlemen, one goal: the destruction of Hitler's war machine In the spring of 1939, a top-secret organization was founded in London: its purpose was to plot the destruction of Hitler's war machine through spectacular acts of sabotage. The guerrilla campaign that followed was every bit as extraordinary as the six men who directed it. One of them, Cecil Clarke, was a maverick engineer who had spent the 1930s inventing futuristic caravans. Now, his talents were put to more devious use: he built the dirty bomb used to assassinate Hitler's favorite, Reinhard Heydrich. Another, William Fairbairn, was a portly pensioner with an unusual passion: he was the world's leading expert in silent killing, hired to train the guerrillas being parachuted behind enemy lines. Led by dapper Scotsman Colin Gubbins, these men—along with three others—formed a secret inner circle that, aided by a group of formidable ladies, single-handedly changed the course Second World War: a cohort hand-picked by Winston Churchill, whom he called his Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Giles Milton's Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a gripping and vivid narrative of adventure and derring-do that is also, perhaps, the last great untold story of the Second World War.
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1250119049
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
Six gentlemen, one goal: the destruction of Hitler's war machine In the spring of 1939, a top-secret organization was founded in London: its purpose was to plot the destruction of Hitler's war machine through spectacular acts of sabotage. The guerrilla campaign that followed was every bit as extraordinary as the six men who directed it. One of them, Cecil Clarke, was a maverick engineer who had spent the 1930s inventing futuristic caravans. Now, his talents were put to more devious use: he built the dirty bomb used to assassinate Hitler's favorite, Reinhard Heydrich. Another, William Fairbairn, was a portly pensioner with an unusual passion: he was the world's leading expert in silent killing, hired to train the guerrillas being parachuted behind enemy lines. Led by dapper Scotsman Colin Gubbins, these men—along with three others—formed a secret inner circle that, aided by a group of formidable ladies, single-handedly changed the course Second World War: a cohort hand-picked by Winston Churchill, whom he called his Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Giles Milton's Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a gripping and vivid narrative of adventure and derring-do that is also, perhaps, the last great untold story of the Second World War.
Jock Lewes: Co-founder of the SAS
Author: John Lewes
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1526788357
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244
Book Description
Jock Lewes was a dashing young Welsh Guards officer who created a new approach to modern warfare in the SAS with less than two year's experience as a soldier. By the age of twenty-seven Jock co-founded the SAS with David Stirling. Jock was in reality the trainer and 'brains' behind this now legendary fighting force and this stunning biography describes the extent of his contribution. Jock was brought up in Australia during the Depression and later educated at Oxford. Life was rarely dull and he packed it with action and achievement. His Presidency of the Oxford University Boat Club saw Oxford breaking Cambridge University's succession of thirteen wins. Preparing for a job at the Foreign Office, Jock spent several seasons in Berlin. The record of his passion for two women, one a Nazi, the other a young linguist at Somerville College, Oxford, are part of a teeming richness of writing which he left in letters, journals and poems. His death was no less dramatic than his life: after successful raids on enemy aerodromes with his invention of Lewes Bombs, he was hunted down by a Messerschmitt 110 fighter. A highly important addition to ever popular SAS literature. Jock Lewes was the brain behind the formation of the Special Air Service.
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1526788357
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244
Book Description
Jock Lewes was a dashing young Welsh Guards officer who created a new approach to modern warfare in the SAS with less than two year's experience as a soldier. By the age of twenty-seven Jock co-founded the SAS with David Stirling. Jock was in reality the trainer and 'brains' behind this now legendary fighting force and this stunning biography describes the extent of his contribution. Jock was brought up in Australia during the Depression and later educated at Oxford. Life was rarely dull and he packed it with action and achievement. His Presidency of the Oxford University Boat Club saw Oxford breaking Cambridge University's succession of thirteen wins. Preparing for a job at the Foreign Office, Jock spent several seasons in Berlin. The record of his passion for two women, one a Nazi, the other a young linguist at Somerville College, Oxford, are part of a teeming richness of writing which he left in letters, journals and poems. His death was no less dramatic than his life: after successful raids on enemy aerodromes with his invention of Lewes Bombs, he was hunted down by a Messerschmitt 110 fighter. A highly important addition to ever popular SAS literature. Jock Lewes was the brain behind the formation of the Special Air Service.
Operation Mincemeat
Author: Ben Macintyre
Publisher: Signal
ISBN: 077100091X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 513
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE “Pure catnip to fans of World War II thrillers and a lot of fun for everyone else.” —Joseph Kanon, The Washington Post Book World The “brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining” (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker) true story of the most successful—and certainly the strangest—deception ever carried out in World War II, from the acclaimed author of The Spy and the Traitor. Near the end of World War II, two British naval officers came up with a brilliant and slightly mad scheme to mislead the Nazi armies about where the Allies would attack southern Europe. To carry out the plan, they would have to rely on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Ben Macintyre’s dazzling, critically acclaimed bestseller chronicles the extraordinary story of what happened after British officials planted this dead body—outfitted in a British military uniform with a briefcase containing false intelligence documents—in Nazi territory, and how this secret mission fooled Hitler into changing military positioning, paving the way for the Allies’ drive to victory.
Publisher: Signal
ISBN: 077100091X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 513
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE “Pure catnip to fans of World War II thrillers and a lot of fun for everyone else.” —Joseph Kanon, The Washington Post Book World The “brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining” (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker) true story of the most successful—and certainly the strangest—deception ever carried out in World War II, from the acclaimed author of The Spy and the Traitor. Near the end of World War II, two British naval officers came up with a brilliant and slightly mad scheme to mislead the Nazi armies about where the Allies would attack southern Europe. To carry out the plan, they would have to rely on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Ben Macintyre’s dazzling, critically acclaimed bestseller chronicles the extraordinary story of what happened after British officials planted this dead body—outfitted in a British military uniform with a briefcase containing false intelligence documents—in Nazi territory, and how this secret mission fooled Hitler into changing military positioning, paving the way for the Allies’ drive to victory.
Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die
Author: Giles Milton
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 1250134927
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 512
Book Description
A ground-breaking account of the first 24 hours of the D-Day invasion told by a symphony of incredible accounts of unknown and unheralded members of the Allied – and Axis – forces. An epic battle that involved 156,000 men, 7,000 ships and 20,000 armoured vehicles, D-Day was, above all, a tale of individual heroics – of men who were driven to keep fighting until the German defences were smashed and the precarious beachheads secured. This authentic human story – Allied, German, French – has never fully been told. Giles Milton’s bold new history narrates the events of June 6th, 1944 through the tales of survivors from all sides: the teenage Allied conscript, the crack German defender, the French resistance fighter. From the military architects at Supreme Headquarters to the young schoolboy in the Wehrmacht’s bunkers, Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die lays bare the absolute terror of those trapped in the front line of Operation Overlord. It also gives voice to those who have hitherto remained unheard – the French butcher’s daughter, the Panzer Commander’s wife, the chauffeur to the General Staff. This vast canvas of human bravado reveals “the longest day” as never before – less as a masterpiece of strategic planning than a day on which thousands of scared young men found themselves staring death in the face. It is drawn in its entirety from the raw, unvarnished experiences of those who were there.
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 1250134927
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 512
Book Description
A ground-breaking account of the first 24 hours of the D-Day invasion told by a symphony of incredible accounts of unknown and unheralded members of the Allied – and Axis – forces. An epic battle that involved 156,000 men, 7,000 ships and 20,000 armoured vehicles, D-Day was, above all, a tale of individual heroics – of men who were driven to keep fighting until the German defences were smashed and the precarious beachheads secured. This authentic human story – Allied, German, French – has never fully been told. Giles Milton’s bold new history narrates the events of June 6th, 1944 through the tales of survivors from all sides: the teenage Allied conscript, the crack German defender, the French resistance fighter. From the military architects at Supreme Headquarters to the young schoolboy in the Wehrmacht’s bunkers, Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die lays bare the absolute terror of those trapped in the front line of Operation Overlord. It also gives voice to those who have hitherto remained unheard – the French butcher’s daughter, the Panzer Commander’s wife, the chauffeur to the General Staff. This vast canvas of human bravado reveals “the longest day” as never before – less as a masterpiece of strategic planning than a day on which thousands of scared young men found themselves staring death in the face. It is drawn in its entirety from the raw, unvarnished experiences of those who were there.
A Colossal Hoax
Author: Scott Tribble
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 074256472X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
In October 1869, as America stood on the brink of becoming a thoroughly modern nation, workers unearthed what appeared to be a petrified ten-foot giant on a remote farm in upstate New York. The discovery caused a sensation. Over the next several months, newspapers devoted daily headlines to the story and tens of thousands of Americans—including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the great showman P. T. Barnum—flocked to see the giant on exhibition. In the colossus, many saw evidence that their continent, and the tiny hamlet of Cardiff, had ties to Biblical history. American science also weighed in on the discovery, and in doing so revealed its own growing pains, including the shortcomings of traditional education, the weaknesses of archaeological methodology, as well as the vexing presence of amateurs and charlatans within its ranks. A national debate ensued over the giant's origins, and was played out in the daily press. Ultimately, the discovery proved to be an elaborate hoax. Still, the story of the Cardiff Giant reveals many things about America in the post-Civil War years. After four years of destruction on an unimagined scale, Americans had increasingly turned their attention to the renewal of progress. But the story of the Cardiff Giant seemed to shed light on a complicated, mysterious past, and for a time scientists, clergymen, newspaper editors, and ordinary Americans struggled to make sense of it. Hucksters, of course, did their best to take advantage of it. The Cardiff Giant was one of the leading questions of the day, and how citizens answered it said much about Americans in 1869 as well as about America more generally.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 074256472X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
In October 1869, as America stood on the brink of becoming a thoroughly modern nation, workers unearthed what appeared to be a petrified ten-foot giant on a remote farm in upstate New York. The discovery caused a sensation. Over the next several months, newspapers devoted daily headlines to the story and tens of thousands of Americans—including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the great showman P. T. Barnum—flocked to see the giant on exhibition. In the colossus, many saw evidence that their continent, and the tiny hamlet of Cardiff, had ties to Biblical history. American science also weighed in on the discovery, and in doing so revealed its own growing pains, including the shortcomings of traditional education, the weaknesses of archaeological methodology, as well as the vexing presence of amateurs and charlatans within its ranks. A national debate ensued over the giant's origins, and was played out in the daily press. Ultimately, the discovery proved to be an elaborate hoax. Still, the story of the Cardiff Giant reveals many things about America in the post-Civil War years. After four years of destruction on an unimagined scale, Americans had increasingly turned their attention to the renewal of progress. But the story of the Cardiff Giant seemed to shed light on a complicated, mysterious past, and for a time scientists, clergymen, newspaper editors, and ordinary Americans struggled to make sense of it. Hucksters, of course, did their best to take advantage of it. The Cardiff Giant was one of the leading questions of the day, and how citizens answered it said much about Americans in 1869 as well as about America more generally.