Contested Valor is a challenging examination of the use and status of black Marines in United States military service during the Cold War era. These pioneering men experienced contested military integration, as well as multiple forms of institutional and social opposition, which called their humanity, manhood, and rights to full citizenship into question. Efforts to undermine their service compromised their right to be counted among the elite and sidelined their story to the fringes of Marine Corps and U.S. history. Cameron McCoy describes the factors and pressures leading to the racial turbulence that surfaced in the Marine Corps from the end of World War II through Vietnam, and the measures taken by civilian and Marine officials to maintain and restore organizational integrity based on a foundation of white supremacy. He examines the psychological effects of institutionalized racism on African American Marines during the Vietnam era and the emergence of a new generation of black men unwilling to submit to the traditions of a Jim Crow Marine Corps. By exploring the realities American society constructed about black Marines, this work calls attention to the diverse ways in which these men coped within a strict, prejudiced organization and found greater purpose as U.S. Marines despite an embattled image. Contested Valor weaves the experiences of black Americans in the armed forces into the larger tapestry of the American racialist past and aptly captures the dilemmas, triumphs, and pitfalls that the first African American Marines encountered during the contentious eras of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. McCoy explores the creation of organizational policies designed to minimize their footprint as U.S. Marines until the social experiment of military integration faded and illustrates the discriminatory practices that further delegitimized their wartime reputation. McCoy demonstrates that black Marines’ absence from the historical record has been compounded by the negligence and oversight of past historians as the Marine Corps reckons with its racist past and its first black Marines.

“Terrific read. Stories of stolen valor you won’t believe, and those who hunt them down and participated in writing legislation to restore dignity to all those who have truly served in combat.” —Peter C. Lemon, recipient, Congressional Medal of Honor Stolen valor occurs when a person lies about receiving military decorations that he or she has in fact never earned. It has become a major societal problem that has been discussed numerous times in the news; according to the New York Times, the Department of Veterans Affairs paid disability benefits to more than six hundred people falsely claiming to have been POWs in the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars. The number of stolen valor cases reported to the FBI has tripled in the last decade. In fact, more imposters lie about earning high military declarations for battlefield bravery than the actual number of real-life hero recipients. These imposters trade on tales and the trappings of military valor to secure privileges such as career advancements and even unearned veterans’ benefits. In Restoring Valor, Doug Sterner provides riveting case studies of the stolen valor imposters he’s investigated and exposed and the serious crimes—including murder—they’ve committed. He chronicles the evolution of stolen valor from the inception of the republic to today. Sterner shows why the federal law he and his wife, Pam, helped to enact—the Stolen Valor Act—is necessary. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

From the author of Da Nang Diary: A military history of the Battle of Hamburger Hill and other fights between the NVA and the US and its Vietnamese allies. Throughout the Vietnam War, one focal point persisted where the Viet Cong guerrillas and Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) were not a major factor, but where the trained professionals of the North Vietnamese and US armies repeatedly fought head-to-head. A Shau Valor is a thorough study of nine years of American combat operations encompassing the crucial frontier valley and a fifteen-mile radius around it―the most deadly killing ground of the entire war. Beginning in 1963, Special Forces A-teams established camps along the valley floor, followed by a number of top-secret Project Delta reconnaissance missions through 1967. Then, US Army and Marine Corps maneuver battalions engaged in a series of sometimes-controversial thrusts into the A Shau, designed to disrupt NVA infiltrations and to kill enemy soldiers, part of what came to be known as Westmoreland’s “war of attrition.” The various campaigns included Operation Pirous (1967); Operations Delaware and Somerset Plain (1968); and Operations Dewey Canyon, Massachusetts Striker, and Apache Snow (1969)―which included the infamous battle for Hamburger Hill―culminating with Operation Texas Star and the vicious fight for and humiliating evacuation of Fire Support Base Ripcord in the summer of 1970, the last major US battle of the war. By 1971, the fighting had once again shifted to the realm of small Special Forces reconnaissance teams assigned to the ultra-secret Studies and Observations Group (SOG). Other works have focused on individual battles or units, but A Shau Valor is the first to study the campaign―for all its courage and sacrifice―chronologically and within the context of other historical, political, and cultural events.

Ed Tingstrom is passionate for history which has led to considerable study of U.S. history with emphases on military history. However he has detected inconsistencies in the recording of historical events which led mim to ask questions. He would research and ferret out the answers by utilizing the National Archives, Library of Congress and other institutions to provide the answers he sought. History has always been and will always be my passion. My quest is to share this passion with the younger generations in hopes of igniting a similar spark in them. History lives in all of us; all we have to do is seek the truth and remember. Mr. Tingstrom is a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). He enjoys giving lectures in history and military service at local high schools and colleges, as well as serving as a docent at the VFW museum, which houses a collection of vintage poster art and war memorabilia dating back to the turn of the twenth century. This is his first book This book is dedicated to my wife Deirdre Whose constant encouragement and love provided me with the strength and conviction to continue. To Professor Ransford Hopkins, Professor of History, Moorpark College, California, who lit the spark, which turned into a roaring fire to write this book, and to seek out history were ever it is found and share it with others.

Navarro's narratives, written between 1853 and 1857, constitute the first Tejano publication of Texas history.

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The story you are about to read captured the imagination of the author in 1961 and has consumed many hours of his time since then. It was April 25, 1951 The last man standing between the Republic of South Korea and the remnants of an Army of 500,000 Chinese Communists that day was a youthful, blond haired, blue eyed Seventeen Year Old Charles L. Gilliland, Private, called "Gunsmoke," later Corporal US Army, 2nd Platoon, I Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division, near Tongmang Ni Village, Korea. Ironic it is that Gilliland should have been on a plane headed back to his home after six months of uninterrupted combat that started at the Chosin Reservoir then to Pusan Perimeter to Seoul Korea to the Imjim River. Below are some of the accolades that his mother, the United States Congress, the President of the United States, Military Superiors and others have said about him: distinguished; conspicuous: gallant; outstanding; courageous; beyond duty; refused medical attention; ordered back; Cpl. Gilliland covered withdrawal and held the enemy at bay; heroic actions; indomitable; devoted to duty; incredible valor; supreme sacrifice; lasting glory. If the above heroics was all there is to this youthful legend, that would be enough. But there is much more significant about Charles L Gilliland than fearless heroics. His relationships with his fox hole buddies, his mother and father and aunts and uncles, his brothers and sisters his classmates and life long friends, his education, and his personal religion all paint a heart warming story of how he became a legendary Medal of Honor Hero. Every reader will be astonished and inspired by the totality of the early years of Charles L Gilliland. The author, John Allen Johnson was born in Arkansas and his early education was in a one-room school at Westline where he and many cousins and siblings learned to read and write. He attended school in DeQueen, Arkansas and Prineville, Oregon. John is proud of the military heritage of his family. His father, Murray California volunteered for duty in World War I and his only brother enlisted in the Marine Corps during World War II. Many, cousins, nephews, a grandson and other relatives have served and continue to serve in the military. After the Korean War John attended Texarkana College in Texarkana, Texas. In 1957 he earned a B A Degree in History from Ouachita University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas. In 1959 he earned his MA Degree from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas. In 1997 he earned his Doctor of Philosophy Degree from Pacific Western University, Los Angeles, California. He completed a Level II Clear Special Education Credential at California State University, Sacramento, California. He taught in a Bay Area High Schools until he retired in 2006. John now resides in Alameda, California, an island city in San Francisco Bay. He is completing his magnum opus which began with his first publication of a story in the Mac Dill Air Force Base News in 1951. Get the book autographed at no extra costs by sending it to the author at 1155 Santa Clara Ave Apt A, Alameda, CA 94501. John is the father of two daughters. He has five grandchildren. He and his companion Joan still enjoy travel on the back roads of America and they have now played more scrabble games than anyone in history. You can contact him online at [email protected]. The reader may want to read a new book by this author. It is six versions of the Battle of the Imjin River April 22, 1951. All versions were written by participants in the battle including the Chlinese Communist Commanding General, General then Lieutenant Harles Mooney, Charles' Platoon Sgt. Bunn, I Company Clerk Sgt. John B. Meyers, and I Co Commander Capt. Wm. Wichard who initiated the award of Charles' MOH.

This illuminating biography of Margaret Sanger—the woman who fought for birth control in America—describes her childhood, her private life, her relationships with Emma Goldman and John Reed, her public role, and more. Margaret Sanger went to jail in 1917 for distributing contraceptives to immigrant women in a makeshift clinic in Brooklyn. She died a half-century later, just after the Supreme Court guaranteed constitutional protection for the use of contraceptives. Now, Ellen Chesler provides an authoritative and widely acclaimed biography of this great emancipator, whose lifelong struggle helped women gain control over their own bodies. An idealist who mastered practical politics, Sanger seized on contraception as the key to redistributing power to women in the bedroom, the home, and the community. For fifty years, she battled formidable opponents ranging from the US Government to the Catholic Church. Her crusade was both passionate and paradoxical. She was an advocate of female solidarity who often preferred the company of men; an adoring mother who abandoned her children; a socialist who became a registered Republican; a sexual adventurer who remained an incurable romantic. Her comrades-in-arms included Emma Goldman and John Reed; her lovers, Havelock Ellis and H.G. Wells. Drawing on new information from archives and interviews, Chesler illuminates Sanger’s turbulent personal story as well as the history of the birth control movement. An intimate biography of a visionary rebel, Woman of Valor is also an epic story that extends from the radical movements of pre-World War I to the family planning initiatives of the Great Society. At a time when women’s reproductive and sexual autonomy is once again under attack, this landmark biography is indispensable reading for the generations in debt to Sanger for the freedoms they take for granted.