INTRODUCTION As the summer of 1918 entered its final days, the Great War accelerated toward a violent climax in the fall. Even while the Marines of the 4th Brigade fought at Saint-Mihiel, Allied commanders were completing plans that would launch the Marines once more into a major attack. The 2d Division's hard-won reputation would guarantee it another hard-fought battle. Before the 4th Brigade left the battlefield of Blanc Mont, its Marines would achieve their most spectacular success of the war but endure their most severe day of losses. THE OPERATIONAL CONTEXT OF THE BATTLE U.S. Army general John J. Pershing had established the American First Army in the Saint-Mihiel sector with the intent of continuing operations there in the Lorraine region well into 1919. However, on 30 August 1918--less than two weeks before the First Army commenced its Saint-Mihiel offensive--French marshal Ferdinand Foch visited General Pershing at his headquarters to announce a new strategy. Following the Allies' counterattack in July against the Aisne-Marne salient, which the Marines helped spearhead at Soissons, the British Expeditionary Force achieved a series of stunning victories during August on the Somme. Marshal Foch believed that the momentum on the western front had dramatically shifted. He sensed an opportunity to win the war in 1918. During their meeting, Foch gestured to a map of the western front, where the Germans now occupied an enormous salient. From Verdun on the Meuse (just west of Saint-Mihiel), the German front line ran due west for 100 kilometers (km) to Reims. From Reims, the lines gently curved northwest to the British sector on the Somme, then due north to the English Channel.

The intellectual history of race, one of the most pernicious and enduring ideas in American history, has remained segregated into studies of black or white traditions. Bruce Dain breaks this separatist pattern with an integrated account of the emergence of modern racial consciousness in the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War. A Hideous Monster of the Mind reveals that ideas on race crossed racial boundaries in a process that produced not only well-known theories of biological racism but also countertheories that were early expressions of cultural relativism, cultural pluralism, and latter-day Afrocentrism. From 1800 to 1830 in particular, race took on a new reality as Americans, black and white, reacted to postrevolutionary disillusionment, the events of the Haitian Revolution, the rise of cotton culture, and the entrenchment of slavery. Dain examines not only major white figures like Thomas Jefferson and Samuel Stanhope Smith, but also the first self-consciously "black" African-American writers. These various thinkers transformed late-eighteenth-century European environmentalist "natural history" into race theories that combined culture and biology and set the terms for later controversies over slavery and abolition. In those debates, the ethnology of Samuel George Morton and Josiah Nott intertwined conceptually with important writing by black authors who have been largely forgotten, like Hosea Easton and James McCune Smith. Scientific racism and the idea of races as cultural constructions were thus interrelated aspects of the same effort to explain human differences. In retrieving neglected African-American thinkers, reestablishing the European intellectual background to American racial theory, and demonstrating the deep confusion "race" caused for thinkers black and white, A Hideous Monster of the Mind offers an engaging and enlightening new perspective on modern American racial thought.

In this thought-provoking and playful short story collection, David Foster Wallace nudges at the boundaries of fiction with inimitable wit and seductive intelligence. Wallace's stories present a world where the bizarre and the banal are interwoven and where hideous men appear in many guises. Among the stories are 'The Depressed Person,' a dazzling and blackly humorous portrayal of a woman's mental state; 'Adult World,' which reveals a woman's agonized consideration of her confusing sexual relationship with her husband; and 'Brief Interviews with Hideous Men,' a dark, hilarious series of imagined interviews with men on the subject of their relations with women. Wallace delights in leftfield observation, mining the absurd, the surprising, and the illuminating from every situation. This collection will enthrall DFW fans, and provides a perfect introduction for new readers.

An authoritative account of the Duke lacrosse team rape case illuminates the ever-widening gap between America's rich and poor, and demonstrates how far the powerful will go to protect themselves.

The last of the three stories in Lewis's science fiction trilogy. The story which began on Mars and was continued on Venus comes to its conclusion on Earth

A highly illustrated account of the battle for Blanc Mont Ridge in 1918, where the US attackers broke the German line and sent them into headlong retreat in one of the major US victories of World War I.

"Arthur Frommer is still dispensing practical advice to travelers." -USA Today "Written in Frommer's trademark light and conversational tone, [Ask Arthur Frommer] covers more than 800 topics, from packing quandaries to the best airport-food options, all arranged alphabetically for easy reference. Each entry is brief, informative, and entertaining." -American Way magazine "Packed with practical advice for budget travel...Frommer's strong opinions and conversational writing style make the book a fun, easy read." --About.com "Reading [Ask Arthur Frommer] is like having dinner -- and a glass of wine and then coffee and dessert -- with the world's best travel advisor." -Jeanne Leblanc, Courant.com "Arthur has a unique perspective on the changes that have take place over the past 50 years. This book is packed with everything from airfares and lodging to vacations for nudist and vegans." -Tripso.com Organized by travel topic More than 500 entries Each entry is a short, digestible take--no longer than a page. 250 b&w photos Arthur's style is personable and engaged--his personality shines through.

Horror fiction stormed the bestseller lists with classics like Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, setting the stage for Stephen King's worldwide popularity, but the genre has literary roots going back centuries. This collection provides insight into the way classic horror texts were received, interpreted and discussed by the first generations to experience them, ideas that continue to define the way modern society views horror. Each reprinted article, review or critical essay is prefaced with an introduction and explanatory notes to put the work in context. The book also includes an overview of horror criticism, a publication timeline, and period photographs and illustrations.