Write to me

Sample

John L. Stewart

"A nineteen-year-old navigator with the illustrious 8th Air Force during World War II ... kept a private journal of each of his 31 missions, along with maps he routinely gathered in briefings."--Jacket.

Sample

John Christgau

"They were called aliens and enemies. But the World War II internees John Christgau writes about are shown to be ordinary people victimized by the politics of a global war. The Enemy Alien Internment Program in America was born with the United States' declaration of war on Japan, Germany, and Italy, and lasted until 1946. In all, 31,275 enemy aliens were imprisoned in camps like the one described in this book--Ft. Lincoln, just south of Bismarck, North Dakota. In animated and suspenseful prose, Christgau tells the stories of several individuals who were representative of the internee experience at Ft. Lincoln. The subjects' lives before and after capture--presented in case studies-- tell of encroaching bitterness and sorrow"--Book jacket.

Sample

Justin Gifford

"The first and definitive biography of one of America's bestselling, notorious, and influential writers of the twentieth century: Iceberg Slim, né Robert Beck, author of the multimillion-copy memoir Pimp and such equally popular novels as Trick Baby and Mama Black Widow. From a career as a, yes, ruthless pimp in the '40s and '50s, Iceberg Slim refashioned himself as the first and still the greatest of "street lit" masters, whose vivid books have made him an icon to such rappers as Ice-T, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg and a presiding spirit of "blaxploitation" culture. You can't understand contemporary black (and even American) culture without reckoning with Iceberg Slim and his many acolytes and imitators. Literature professor Justin Gifford has been researching the life and work of Robert Beck for a decade, culminating in Street Poison, a colorful and compassionate biography of one of the most complicated figures in twentieth-century literature. Drawing on a wealth of archival material--including FBI files, prison records, and interviews with Beck, his wife, and his daughters--Gifford explores the sexual trauma and racial violence Beck endured that led to his reinvention as Iceberg Slim, one of America's most infamous pimps of the 1940s and '50s. From pimping to penning his profoundly influential confessional autobiography, Pimp, to his involvement in radical politics, Gifford's biography illuminates the life and works of one of American literature's most unique renegades" -- provided by publisher.

Sample

Steven L. Ossad and Don R. Marsh

Major General Maurice Rose (1899-1945), commander of the First Army's legendary 3rd Armored "Spearhead" Division, was the highest-ranking American Jewish officer ever killed in battle, and the only officer in World War II whose death sparked a war crimes investigation. This, the first and only biography of Rose, recounts the dramatic story of his life --^ from his childhood as the son of a rabbi, through his experiences in World War I and the US Cavalry, to his meteoric rise as America's answer to Rommel. In 1943, Rose negotiated and accepted the surrender of the German Army in Tunisia, the first large-scale surrender to an American force during World War II. At the Battle of Carentan in June 1944, he saved the 506th Parachute Infantry (of Band of Brothers fame), and might very well have saved the entire Normandy beachhead from a catastropic German counterattack. His brilliant, daring, and aggressive defensive tactics during the Battle of the Bulge prevented an enemy breakthrough to the Meuse River and beyond, thereby frustrating the German advance. Rose commanded the longest single-day armored drive in history --^ more than 100 miles, a record that still stands. He also led the greatest encirclement battle in American history, capturing 350,000 enemy troops in the "Ruhr Pocket." Renamed the "Rose Pocket," this battle remains the only major World War II battle to be named for an American officer. Based on original archival research and exclusive interviews, this biography shatters old myths and factual distortions, and offers a refreshingly inquisitive and critical perspective. Steven L. Ossad and Don R. Marsh reveal new insights into Rose's controversial death -- was he killed because he was Jewish or even because he went for his weapon? -- and about the even more controversial investigations that followed. The authors' own inquiries and shocking conclusions are certain to spark futher debate. As compelling and extraordinary as the life that it describes, this biography pays long-overdue tribute to one of America's greatest heroes. - Jacket flap.