Bøker av William M. Fowler

Silas Talbot¿s life illuminates his time¿not with greater brightness than the lives of his more famous contemporaries, but with perhaps broader range and greater insight into the experiences and circumstances of a plain citizen of the new republic¿a citizen whose bravery and energy helped to create it.Silas Talbot was a farmer¿s son who went to sea, learned the building trades, saved and invested his money wisely, married well several times, fought as a Rhode Island soldier in the Revolutionary War, became a lieutenant colonel, served with courage and competence, became a privateer and a prisoner-of-war in the conflict at sea, speculated in western lands, was elected to the New York State Legislature and the U.S. Congress, represented the interests of American sailors forced to serve in Britain¿s navy, and finally achieved the rank of U.S. Navy captain and became the second commanding officer of the frigate USS Constitution.In a full and energetic life of sixty-two years he met and served the famous¿Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Lafayette¿and also raised a family; advanced in the social, political, and business circles of New York and Rhode Island; and was, as the author notes, ¿among the first of the new citizens of the new republic to seize its gifts.¿

Vividly written and well researched by a noted historian of the period, this succinct history credits the Union Navy as an essential element in the northern victory. Neither ponderous nor hagiographic, the work presents characters and events that have been previously neglected and offers candid assessments of officers, men, and material. Originally published in 1990, when it was a Military History Book Club selection, the work is considered a must for Civil War buffs. It is an authoritative and gripping story of the battles waged.The author provides a rare look at the war fought by primitive northern gunboats drifting through Louisiana's muddy bayous, Yankee merchantmen captured by rebel privateers at sea, and Union ironclads subduing hotly defended Southern forts. Nor does William Fowler neglect the subtler sparrings behind the scenes: War Secretary Stanton and Navy Secretary Welles competing for Lincoln's favor and Welles's fierce duel of strategies with his Confederate counterpart, Stephen Mallory. Finally, the author describes the astonishing transformation of the Navy itself from a ragtag fleet of aging steamers and paddleboats to one of the most powerful waterborne forces in the world.

This edited collection explores how different dictators and authoritarian parties and factions have frequently succeeded in rising to power in modern Latin America, often retaining political and/or military control for long periods of time.

The chapters in this volume provide a varied yet consistent analysis of the ways in which ideologies have been used, misused, or abandoned in Latin America in the twentieth century.