Bøger om Exploration and Expansion

Largely forgotten today, the Second Mexican Empire was a transformative nineteenth-century moment. Raymond Jonas explores the conspiracy of European rulers and Mexican conservatives to erect an Old World empire on New World soil. Though quixotic, it was a scheme with a purpose: to contain both Mexican democracy and the rising United States.

In 1861, passage of the secession ordnance at Richmond, the hatred and scorn of secessionists and the prospect of bitter civil war in their section compelled pro-Union people of the Northwestern Counties of Virginia to take up questions of sovereignty and national identity. Union people of the Northwestern Counties responded to Virginia's secession from the Union by seceding from Virginia. It was an audacious move, signaling that they took seriously the idea that Americans were entitled to freedom from tyranny and oppression; that they belonged to themselves and were not merely creatures of the government. With this volume begins the story of the Thirteenth Regiment West Virginia Infantry Volunteers, a set of men drawn from all walks of life who found common purpose and had tremendous grit and resilience-"the gamest set of fellows." They looked to themselves and time and again stood their ground with unflinching courage. These men sacrificed for their love of freedom and their country. Theirs is a story of the purest patriots, men whose intentions from first to last were tried in no ordinary crucible and by no ordinary fire. May their experience and example remind us of our higher natures, the value of steadfastness, the necessity of courage and the great gift that is love of liberty. Indeed, may these virtues Abe engraved upon the hearts of the American people in letters of fire."

In 1861, passage of the secession ordnance at Richmond, the hatred and scorn of secessionists and the prospect of bitter civil war in their section compelled pro-Union people of the Northwestern Counties of Virginia to take up questions of sovereignty and national identity. Union people of the Northwestern Counties responded to Virginia's secession from the Union by seceding from Virginia. It was an audacious move, signaling that they took seriously the idea that Americans were entitled to freedom from tyranny and oppression; that they belonged to themselves and were not merely creatures of the government. With this volume begins the story of the Thirteenth Regiment West Virginia Infantry Volunteers, a set of men drawn from all walks of life who found common purpose and had tremendous grit and resilience-"the gamest set of fellows." They looked to themselves and time and again stood their ground with unflinching courage. These men sacrificed for their love of freedom and their country. Theirs is a story of the purest patriots, men whose intentions from first to last were tried in no ordinary crucible and by no ordinary fire. May their experience and example remind us of our higher natures, the value of steadfastness, the necessity of courage and the great gift that is love of liberty. Indeed, may these virtues Abe engraved upon the hearts of the American people in letters of fire."

Эта книга русскоязычного журналиста Алексея Орлова представляет собой сборник очерков о Гражданской войне (1861-1865). Взгляды автора на некоторые аспекты войны - самой кровопролитной в истории Америки - в какой-то степени противоречивы. Это касается и причин, вызвавших войну, и действий генералов Шермана и Форреста, и последовавшего за войной периода Реконструкции, и многого другого. Но, как сказал американский писатель с корейскими корнями Вьет Тхань Нгуен, Все войны ведутся дважды. Первый раз на полях сражения, второй раз в памяти. Следует дополнить и в книгах по истории войн.

"When Democracy Fell" is a comprehensive exploration of Maryland's constitutional crisis during the U.S. Civil War. This groundbreaking work challenges long-held views and fills crucial gaps in historical narratives, uncovering previously overlooked events and information.

If you could choose between being Black and being white, what would you do?As a child, Brianna Wheeler, the mixed-race descendant of Dangerfield Newby-first of John Brown's raiders to die at Harpers Ferry in their bid to end slavery-unconsciously chose whiteness, unaware that she had the choice at all. As an adult, following the deaths of her mother and grandmother, Brianna struggled with her own identity, convinced that her lasting legacy would be the rejection of her own Blackness.Then, in 2020, a racial reckoning rekindled her connection to both her heritage and her grandmother's lifelong work of preserving the stories of Dangerfield and the rest of her ancestors, leading Brianna to confront both long-held family dynamics and her own place in history-from a new perspective.A unique blend of memoir, creative nonfiction and illustration, Altogether Different untangles the complex connection between the stories we tell ourselves and the histories preserved for us.

Perfect for tour planning and on-the-ground use, this guide will prove indispensable on any expedition to explore Civil War history in America. Packed with color photographs, more than 600 historic battlefield and additional Civil War related sites, walking tours, 50 detailed maps, and the collective expertise of Civil War historians and dozens of park service experts, this handy, practical guide offers comprehensive information on the more than 384 sites recognized by the National Park Service as official battlefield locations, including the main Battlefield Sites, from Manassas to Appomattox Court House. In addition, this guide steers travelers to scores of additional little-seen and off-the-beaten path sites near the main battlefields. This guide helps travelers experience the Civil War chronologically, by location, or by campaign, experiencing the battles and skirmishes as the soldiers themselves would have encountered them: Follow Lee's march to Gettysburg or drive the Secession Trail through South Carolina. Walking tours provide visitors with detailed instructions, short histories, and a map so they can get out of the car and explore on foot. A history of individual parks is included, as well as books for further reading about specific figures or battles. A list of all of the Civil War battles in chronological order and a timeline of major events of the war puts the entire war in historical perspective. A complete list of all of the major campaigns as well as short biographies of key leaders and influential figures sheds light on the strategic maneuvers of the war. This travel guide is the perfect companion for any Civil War history exploration.

In the spring of 1862, many Americans still believed that the Civil War, "would be over by Christmas." The previous summer in Virginia, Bull Run, with nearly 5,000 casualties, had been shocking, but suddenly came word from a far away place in the wildernesses of Southwest Tennessee of an appalling battle costing 23,000 casualties, most of them during a single day. It was more than had resulted from the entire American Revolution. As author Winston Groom reveals in this dramatic, heart-rending account, the Battle of Shiloh would singlehandedly change the psyche of the military, politicians, and American people--North and South--about what they had unleashed by creating a Civil War.In this gripping telling of the first "great and terrible" battle of the Civil War, Groom describes the dramatic events of April 6 and 7, 1862, when a bold surprise attack on Ulysses S. Grant's encamped troops and the bloody battle that ensued would alter the timbre of the war.The Southerners struck at dawn on April 6th, and Groom vividly recounts the battle that raged for two days over the densely wooded and poorly mapped terrain. Driven back on the first day, Grant regrouped and mounted a fierce attack the second, and aided by the timely arrival of reinforcements managed to salvage an encouraging victory for the Federals.Groom's deft prose reveals how the bitter fighting would test the mettle of the motley soldiers assembled on both sides, and offer a rehabilitation of sorts for Union General William Sherman, who would go on from the victory at Shiloh to become one of the great generals of the war. But perhaps the most alarming outcome, Groom poignantly reveals, was the realization that for all its horror, the Battle of Shiloh had solved nothing, gained nothing, proved nothing, and the thousands of maimed and slain were merely wretched symbols of things to come.With a novelist's eye for telling and a historian's passion for detail, context, and meaning, Groom brings the key characters and moments of battle to life. Shiloh is an epic tale, deftly told by a masterful storyteller.

It's a poignant irony in American history that on Independence Day, 1863, not one but two pivotal Civil War battles ended in Union victory, marked the high tide of Confederate military fortune, and ultimately doomed the South's effort at secession. But on July 4, 1863, after six months of siege, Ulysses Grant's Union army finally took Vicksburg and the Confederate west.On the very same day, Robert E. Lee was in Pennsylvania, parrying the threat to Vicksburg with a daring push north to Gettysburg. For two days the battle had raged; on the next, July 4, 1863, Pickett's Charge was thrown back, a magnificently brave but fruitless assault, and the fate of the Confederacy was sealed, though nearly two more years of bitter fighting remained until the war came to an end.In Receding Tide, Edwin Cole Bearss draws from his popular Civil War battlefield tours to chronicle these two widely separated but simultaneous clashes and their dramatic conclusion. As the recognized expert on both Vicksburg and Gettysburg, Bearss tells the fascinating story of this single momentous day in our country's history, offering his readers narratives, maps, illustrations, characteristic wit, dramatic new insights and unerringly intimate knowledge of terrain, tactics, and the colorful personalities of America's citizen soldiers, Northern and Southern alike.

Few historians have ever captured the drama, excitement, and tragedy of the War Between the States quite like Edwin Bearss. The acclaimed "Homer of the Civil War," has won a huge, devoted following with his extraordinary battlefield tours and eloquent soliloquies about the heroes, scoundrels, and little-known moments of a conflict that still fascinates America. Antietam, Shiloh, Chickamauga, Gettysburg: these hallowed battles and more than a dozen more come alive as never before, rich with human interest and colorful detail culled from a lifetime of study.Illustrated with detailed maps and archival images, this 464-page volume commemorates the 140th anniversary of the war's end with a unique narrative of its most critical battles, translating Bearss' inimitable delivery into print. As he guides readers from the first shots at Fort Sumter to Gettysburg's bloody fields to the dignified surrender at Appomattox, his engagingly plainspoken but expert account demonstrates why he stands beside Shelby Foote, James McPherson, and Ken Burns in the front rank of modern chroniclers of the Civil War, as the Pulitzer Prize-winning McPherson himself points out in his admiring introduction.A must for every one of America's countless Civil War and history buffs alike, this major work will stand as an important reference and enduring legacy of a great historian for generations to come.