Historiske og politiske biografier

British troops had chased George Washington's Continental Army out of New York in 1776 and sent them fleeing from Philadelphia the following year. The remnants of Washington's rebel troops fled to a barren mountain top in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where the troops-out of ammunition by then--faced freezing temperatures, starvation, and certain defeat. As desertions threatened to end the American Revolution, a fat man suddenly appeared in Washington's tent and, as if by magic-or "magick," as Washington spelled it-produced the money to pay the troops and buy them enough food, clothing, and arms to defeat the British and secure United States independence His name was Robert Morris; Washington called him his "magick money man."

The United States Secret Service, first published in 1960, is a fascinating look at the activities of this branch of the Treasury Department. From the establishment of the Service through the 1950s, the book examines the Service's history: from assassination attempts and protecting the President, to crime-fighting responsibilities such as finding counterfeit currency, investigating fraud and government corruption. Several chapters describe efforts by the Nazis and the Soviet Union to produce high-quality counterfeit currency in an effort to destabilize the U.S. economy. Included are an index and 12 pages of illustrations. Authors Walter Bowen and Harry Neal were long-time members of the Service.

Lincoln and the Tools of War, first published in 1956, is the masterful account by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Robert V. Bruce (1923-2008) of Abraham Lincoln's efforts to equip the Union Army during the Civil War. Fascinated by mechanical gadgetry and technology, Lincoln introduced breechloaders and machine guns into warfare and promoted the use of incendiary weapons, ironclad warships, breech-loading cannons, and aerial reconnaissance. Author Bruce chronicles the President's struggle against a bureaucracy reluctant and slow to change, and his dealings with a stream of inventors, ordinance experts, government officials, military officers, and lobbyists to start a new era of weapons and warfare. Illustrated with prints from the period.

This extraordinary autobiography is a window to the life of the great leader and social worker, M. K. Gandhi. It projects his journey from early childhood through to 1921. This first-hand account of his life offers insight into the workings of Gandhi's cognizance, his views and ideas-an insight into the complexities of his times that drove this seemingly ordinary man to the heights of being the father of a nation, India - to be known around the worlds as the flag-bearer of peace and harmony.

"But on the whole, though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and happier man than I otherwise should have been had I not attempted it; as those who aim at perfect writing by imitating the engraved copies, their hand is mended by the endevour, and is tolerable while it continues fair and legible" ¿ Benjamin Franklin This book is a first-hand account of the great American leader, Benjamin Franklin. The book offers an enthralling journey of a persona that took over the world through his ideologies. Franklin's life has by no means been ordinary. This astonishing self-written account will inspire you to spread your wings and utilise your maximum potential to cultivate a better world, a better you.

Alexis Ortiz es un escritor, periodista, político y consultor electoral. Con experiencia en Venezuela como diputado, alcalde, articulista de los principales diarios, director de revista, diario y emisora, dirigente estudiantil, vecinal y ambientalista, escritor sobre temas culturales y deportivos. Corresponsal de revistas en España, Francia e Inglaterra. Ha escrito 21 libros y mile de artículos de prensa, crónicas, reportajes, folletos y cuentos. Recibió por su labor, la Medalla del Congreso de Estados Unidos. En este libro escribe 99 reflexiones sobre figuras y hechos históricos importantes como Ángela Merkel, José Martí, Simón Bolívar, Miguel de Cervantes, Moshe Dayan, Winston Churchill, Teresa de Ávila (Santa Teresa de Jesús), Carlos Gardel, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Cristiano Ronaldo, Derek Jeter, Teresa de Calcuta, Mario Moreno Cantinflas, Edith Piaf, Joan Manuel Serrat, Rómulo Betancourt, Carlos Andrés Pérez, Jorge Luis Borges, Lincoln, Einstein, Kissinger, Andrés Bello, Juárez, Luther King, Whitman, Adenauer, Miñoso y otros...********** Alexis Ortiz is a writer, journalist, politician and electoral consultant. With experience in Venezuela as a deputy, mayor, columnist for the main newspapers, magazine, newspaper and station director, student, neighborhood and environmental leader, writer on cultural and sports issues. Magazine correspondent in Spain, France and England. He has written 21 books and thousands of press articles, chronicles, reports, brochures and stories. He received the United States Congressional Medal for his work. In this book he writes 99 reflections on important historical figures and events such as Winston Churchill, José Martí, Carlos Gardel, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Cristiano Ronaldo, Derek Jeter, Angela Merkel, Teresa of Calcutta, Mario Moreno Cantinflas, Edith Piaf, Moshe Dayan, Joan Manuel Serrat, Teresa of Ávila (Saint Teresa of Jesus), Romulo Betancourt, Carlos Andrés Pérez, Jorge Luis Borges, Lincoln, Einstein, Kissinger, Andrés Bello, Juárez, Luther King, Whitman, Adenauer, Miñoso and others...

The book is a collection of fifty-four individual war stories composed by each veteran of the Veterans For Lunch Bunch who contributed their military experiences in the book, describing memories they recalled of their time in service to our great country, and were a combination of heroic acts of unselfish patriotism by some, as well as an array of semi-humorous anecdotes and unusual experience(s) each had while serving in Vietnam, OR . . . in places they will never admit to having been in. They were never there. They do NOT exist and never have.The Veterans for Lunch Bunch is a group of great men who served in wars and conflicts ranging from WWII to Korea and Vietnam and connects vets over food and fellowship in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. These wonderful stories were also proofread, edited, and enhanced with graphics and photo images by our Veteran For Lunch Bunch Coordinator - T.D. Jorgensen. The Veterans For Lunch Bunch group hopes all who read these military experiences by our veterans will appreciate them and thank a veteran for ensuring we're all STILL speaking English, not German or Russian, today.

After an interlude as Indian Agent in Malaya, as Bengal's Secretary for Agriculture he held a most important posting during the Second World War.

Widely considered one of the 20th century's most significant - if controversial - figures, Winston Churchill held roles and made decisions that have attracted both praise and criticism. Ahead of his 150th birthday, this volume looks back on the fascinating story of one of the most influential people in British history.

Fu Ying unveils Chinese government press dynamics, shedding light behind closed-door goings-on in the senior ranks of the government. Explore Chinese officials‿ media engagement and follow her time in the UK, breaking cultural barriers and embracing press culture to challenge stereotypical narratives.

A unique and haunting first-person Holocaust account by Zalmen Gradowski, a Sonderkommando prisoner killed in Auschwitz. On October 7, 1944, a group of Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz obtained explosives and rebelled against their Nazi murderers. It was a desperate uprising that was defeated by the end of the day. More than four hundred prisoners were killed. Filling a gap in history, The Last Consolation Vanished is the first complete English translation and critical edition of one prisoner's powerful account of life and death in Auschwitz, written in Yiddish and buried in the ashes near Crematorium III. Zalmen Gradowski was in the Sonderkommando (special squad) at Auschwitz, a Jewish prisoner given the unthinkable task of ushering Jewish deportees into the gas chambers, removing their bodies, salvaging any valuables, transporting their corpses to the crematoria, and destroying all evidence of their murders. Sonderkommandos were forcibly recruited by SS soldiers; when they discovered the horror of their assignment, some of them committed suicide or tried to induce the SS to kill them. Despite their impossible situation, many Sonderkommandos chose to resist in two interlaced ways: planning an uprising and testifying. Gradowski did both, by helping to lead a rebellion and by documenting his experiences. Within 120 scrawled notebook pages, his accounts describe the process of the Holocaust, the relentless brutality of the Nazi regime, the assassination of Czech Jews, the relationships among the community of men forced to assist in this nightmare, and the unbearable separation and death of entire families, including his own. Amid daily unimaginable atrocities, he somehow wrote pages that were literary, sometimes even lyrical--hidden where and when one would least expect to find them. The October 7th rebellion was completely crushed and Gradowski was killed in the process, but his testimony lives on. His extraordinary and moving account, accompanied by a foreword and afterword by Philippe Mesnard and Arnold I. Davidson, is a voice speaking to us from the past on behalf of millions who were silenced. Their story must be shared.

From the private papers of Winston Churchill to the tender notes of an unknown Tommy in the trenches, Love Letters of the Great War brings together some of the most romantic correspondence ever written. Many of the letters collected here are eloquent declarations of love and longing; others contain wrenching accounts of fear, jealousy and betrayal; and a number share sweet dreams of home. But in all the correspondence - whether from British, American, French, German, Russian, Australian and Canadian troops in the height of battle, or from the heartbroken wives and sweethearts left behind - there lies a truly human portrait of love and war. A century on from the First World War, these letters offer an intimate glimpse into the hearts of men and women separated by conflict, and show how love can transcend even the bleakest and most devastating of realities.Edited and introduced by Mandy Kirkby, with a foreword from Orange Prize-winner Helen Dunmore.

100 confirmed enemy kills, Sandhurst Sword of Honour, SAS selection pass, and a winning entry in the Royal Signals junior officer essay writing competition. Captain Nesbitt achieved none of these things! Instead follow Nesbitt through the rituals of Officer training, on to life in one of the Army's last major military outposts in Germany, and finally to war in Afghanistan. Will he mange to come through the perversions and horrors of these experiences with his sanity intact? Find out in this hilarious and moving memoir!

From autobiographical writings, this book reconstructs the extraordinary life of Thomas Platter and the lives of his sons. It expands the historical contexts of these accounts and, in the process, brings to life the customs, perceptions and character of an age on the threshold of modernity.

Admiral Halsey's Story, first published in 1947, is the gripping autobiographical account by William F. Halsey (1882-1959), legendary commander of the U.S. Third Fleet during World War II. The book covers Halsey's life and career, with detailed descriptions of his command - and the men and ships in his command - during the war years in the Pacific. This edition includes all 16 maps and 25 pages of photographs found in the original edition, and a complete index.

Engaging Life: Memoirs of a Charming, Willful Southern Woman of the 20th Century chronicles the true story of the life of Marcellite, a mischievous, sophisticated, and thoroughly Southern woman with great depth of character. Highly social and fun-loving, Marcellite-cousin, once removed, of author Dr. Henry Dolive and granddaughter of A Touch of Glory! protagonist, William Louis Dolive- immersed herself with people and their activities everywhere she went. Like its prequel, which takes place two generations prior during Reconstruction, Engaging Life is packed with three-dimensional characters full of vim and vigor and humorous action. Engaging Life highlights various stages of Marcellite's life, from her childhood until her death at 102, including three marriages, although she only counted two. Her life was shaped by the fascinating history of her time: World War I, living in southern cities, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and, in her second, 34-year military marriage, World War II, post-war Germany, the Korean Conflict, Huntsville and the space race, caring for her mother on the historic family grove, another marriage and extensive travel-both domestic and overseas. Although she had no biological children of her own, Marcellite was a cherished "mother" and "grandmother" to her descendants by marriage.

5,000 Miles Towards Tokyo, first published in 1945, is the story of four U.S. Navy escort-carriers forming Air Group 60, especially the Suwannee (a converted oiler and home to the author) in the South Pacific during 1943 and 1944. The Group played a vital role in every important Pacific invasion from the Gilbert Islands to the Philippines, with its pilots flying thousands of bombing missions and patrols. The book looks at daily operations aboard the ships, plus paints a bigger picture of the action taking place in the South Pacific such as the strategies and decision-making of high-ranking officers, such as Generals MacArthur and Halsey. Author Green Peyton (pseudonym for Green Peyton Wertenbaker) was a noted science-fiction writer prior to the War; during the conflict he served as an air combat intelligence officer aboard the USS Suwannee, the focus of much of this book. The author worked daily with the Hellcat pilots of his squadron. Included are 18 pages of maps and illustrations and a complete index. Green Peyton died on July 26, 1968.

Can Love and Talents Survive Opposite Political and Economic Environments?This author believes that it is important to narrate how he has been affected by living under opposing political and economic systems.This book shows how the command economy differs from the market economy through the example of a highly qualified Cuban economist and scholar who has lived for decades in developing and developed market economy and command economy countries.Another very important and interesting aspect of this book is that it establishes the talents of this man's two big loves' -- his mother and his second wife -- as important and influential contributors in developing his behavior in the politico-socio-economic environment in which his life has so far taken place. This book is divided into four sections: CHAPTER I contains an analytic summary of chaotic situations in Cuba and the United States, in which he had personally participated. CHAPTER II is a comparison of the political, social, and economic advantages and disadvantages existing between the market and the command economies, and the social democracy according to his international scholarly and personal experience, in developing and developed countries, especially during the last half of the twentieth and the first two decades of the twenty-first centuries. CHAPTER III explains in depth what is meant by each one of this author's seven talents: reading and writing, pedagogy, tenacity, learning foreign languages, traveling around the world, singing, and being empathetic. CHAPTER IV explains how these talents are related to those of the two women who had considerably influenced the performance of his life.

Dive into the world of Neal Middleton, an intrepid Military Policeman who served during the tail end of the Vietnam War. MP: Of The Troops and For The Troops chronicles his riveting journey-from his enlistment's backstory to his gripping experiences stationed abroad. Travel with Neal as he navigates PTSD, confronts fatal traffic accidents, encounters deadly drug overdoses, and witnesses the tension of race riots. Germany and Ft Sill, Oklahoma, become backdrops to his life's most transformative moments. While some of his tales evoke heavy emotions, others are tinged with humor, revealing the multifaceted nature of life as an MP. The memoir is a testimony to a soldier's resilience, shedding light on both the profound challenges faced and the camaraderie that kept spirits high. Whether you're curious about military life or the personal sacrifices made by those who wear the uniform, this memoir offers a deep, introspective view into a soldier's soul, told with unflinching honesty.

Ace of Aces: The Story of Fighter Pilot Dick Bong was first published in 1960, and recounts the exploits of Major Richard "Dick" Bong at the helm of his P-38 Lightning. Bong received the Medal of Honor for his achievement of downing 40 enemy Japanese planes in the southwestern Pacific theater, and he became a household name in America. His tally made him the highest-scoring American ace of all time, a record unlikely to ever be broken. Sadly, Bong died at the young age of 24 on August 6, 1945, in a flight accident during testing of the P-80 Shooting Star fighter. In Ace of Aces, his former commanding officer General George C. Kenney, recounts Bong's life: from his early days in Wisconsin, his sweetheart Marge, his aerial exploits and Kenney's own personal anecdotes. Illustrated with black and white photographs.

First published in 1956, Never a Shot in Anger is Colonel Barney Oldfield's thesis that World War II was the high-water mark of what he believes is a rapidly vanishing profession-that of the war correspondent. As a public relations officer who knew most of the correspondents to cover World War II, he treats them from a new point of view and sees most of them in less heroic, but more humorous, proportion than they have seen themselves. A complete roster of the more than 1,800 U.S. accredited war correspondents is included in his book.Never a Shot in Anger is full of unusual incidents, none more comforting to the author than the one which discloses how he made good on a wild prophecy. Barney reported in 1942 to Lieutenant Colonel James M. Gavin, regimental commander of the 505th Parachute Infantry. Gavin saw no use for Barney's crazy-quilt background of press and publicity, saying, "The 505th is going to fight and doesn't need a press agent." Barney jested that Gavin might be the one to "lead the boys home in victory someday, and you'll need one then." Gavin waved him off, but on January 12, 1946, Major General James M. Gavin did march ahead of the 82nd Airborne Division up Fifth Avenue in New York "representing all the troops of all services who fought in World War II." And making many of the press, radio, photographic, and newsreel arrangements ahead of that march was Lieutenant Colonel Barney Oldfield-just as he had predicted.From early maneuvers in Tennessee and Louisiana all the way through to the Victory March on Fifth Avenue, Barney Oldfield was in the thick of the melee, the man in the middle, the military public relations officer who tried to satisfy the insatiable appetite of the press while staying within the bounds of military security. Both sides gave him a rough ride most of the way-from Grosvenor Square to the rubble of Berlin.Famous names are included in these pages-by-liners of the great newspapers and magazines, radio commentators, columnists, photographers, and the top generals of the European Theater: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, Parks, Simpson, Gavin. Their personalities, foibles, orders, clashes with the press, achievements provide much of the material for the book.If Barney Oldfield's problems were many, they were also funny at times. He talked a bunch of news-hawks into becoming paratroopers. He played St. Nicholas to a group of Dutch orphans when the Battle of the Bulge was breaking a short distance away. He lugged a typewriter 75 miles into German held territory to get the story of a lieutenant with a 24-man platoon who had "surrounded" a German army of 20,000 men. He kept his Ninth Army press camp so close behind the advancing troops that it was first over the Rhine...but these are just a few of the intimate and entertaining tales Barney describes in Never a Shot in Anger.