The seventeenth-century Ottoman-Habsburg frontier was the scene of chronic conflict. The defences of both empires were based on a line of fortresses, spanning the border. Mark Stein gives us a fascinating insight into everyday life on the frontier in this turbulent time in Ottoman history, by investigating the social, economic, and military aspects of Ottoman forts and garrisons in a new comparative approach. Drawing on a wide range of Ottoman and Western archival and narrative sources, "Guarding the Frontier" assesses the state of early-modern Ottoman military architecture and siegecraft; and, carefully dissects the Ottomans' ability to besiege, defend, build, and repair fortifications in the seventeenth century, as well as the relationship between the central and provisional administrations. This thorough overview includes an assessment of the empire's ability to marshal the manpower and supply requirements for lengthy sieges; a survey of Ottoman artillery; and the procedures involved in building and maintaining frontier forts. Studying an extensive database compiled from seventeenth-century garrison payroll records, Stein paints a fascinating description of the various types of troops who served on the Ottoman-Habsburg frontier: slave and levied soldiers, cavalry and infantry, Muslims and Christians, charged with defending the Ottoman Empire at this fascinating point in History.

The kings of Castile maintained a personal cavalry guard through much of the fifteenth century, consisting of practicing Muslims and converts to Christianity. This privileged Muslim elite provides an interesting case-study to propose new theories about voluntary conversion from Christianity to Islam in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as the ways of assimilation of such a group into the local and courtly environments where they lived thereafter. Other subjects involved are the transformation of royal armies from feudal companies to regimented, professional forces including a well-trained cavalry, which in Castile was formed partly by these knights. Their descendants had to endure the changing policies conveyed by Isabel and Fernando, which increased discriminatory habits towards converts in Castilian society.

Texans faced two foes as the Civil War began in 1861: the Union armed forces and the Plains Indians. In this breakthrough volume, David Paul Smith demonstrates that through the efforts of the Home Guard and the Texas Rangers, the Texas frontier held its own during the eventful war years, in spite of a number of factors that could easily have overwhelmed it.

Alaska represents twenty percent of the land area, twenty percent of the oil production, forty percent of the fresh water of the United States, but after Wyoming, it's the least populated state. Despite that contradiction, the state has an abundance of natural resources, history, and adventure especially for the members of the Coast Guard that oversee its massive coastline. Captain Jeffrey Hartman served four tours of duty in Alaska with the Coast Guard. He outlines the history of Alaska and its culture and describes his experiences overseeing a number of rescue missions there. Hartman illustrates with personal experience the challenges and dangers the Service faces in carrying out its missions protecting the Alaska people, environment and maritime infrastructure. He flew helicopters from Coast Guard icebreakers, on rescue and law enforcement missions and managed the search and rescue program on Alaska's waters. Guarding Alaska explains the many important functions that the Coast Guard serves and also examines how it's changed in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. You'll feel like you're in the middle of the action as you gain a deeper appreciation for the state and the people who protect it.

The Civil War experiences of Albert C. Ellithorpe, a Caucasian Union Army officer commanding the tri-racial First Indian Home Guards, illuminate remarkable and understudied facets of campaigning west of the Mississippi River. Major Ellithorpe’s unit—comprised primarily of refugee Muscogee Creek and Seminole Indians and African Americans who served as interpreters—fought principally in Arkansas and Indian Territory, isolated from the larger currents of the Civil War. Using Ellithorpe’s journal and his series of Chicago Evening Journal articles as her main sources, M. Jane Johansson unravels this exceptional account, providing one of the fullest examinations available on a mixed-race Union regiment serving in the border region of the West. Ellithorpe's insightful observations on Indians and civilians as well as the war in the trans-Mississippi theater provide a rare glimpse into a largely forgotten aspect of the conflict. He wrote extensively about the role of Indian troops, who served primarily as scouts and skirmishers, and on the nature of guerrilla warfare in the West. Ellithorpe also exposed internal problems in his regiment; some of his most dramatic entries concern his own charges against Caucasian officers, one of whom allegedly stole money from the unit's African American interpreters. Compiled here for the first time, Ellithorpe’s commentary on the war adds a new chapter to our understanding of America’s most complicated and tragic conflict.

Here is New York as it has never been seen before, tantalizingly balanced on the very edge of familiarity. It is a city unpeopled, bathed in extraordinary light, sometimes at sunset, sometimes dusted with snow. This is New York as a frontier of the unknown, a world of great beauty and private calm.

Guarding the Frontier was first published in 1935. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. "For almost a century the defense of the frontier was the chief consideration in the military policy of the United States," Dr. Wesley observes. His book is the first detailed historical study of the military policy of the United States in the years immediately following the War of 1812, the period during which its policy was becoming clearly defined. The political, military, and economic factors lying behind the establishment of that policy are all given thorough treatment by the author, who discusses the various methods of defense evolved against the British to the north, the Spaniards in the south and west, and the Indians everywhere. The author demonstrates the importance of Indian affairs, of the factory system, and of the fur trade as elements in the westward expansion of the United States.

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE A new and eye-opening interpretation of the meaning of the frontier, from early westward expansion to Trump’s border wall. Ever since this nation’s inception, the idea of an open and ever-expanding frontier has been central to American identity. Symbolizing a future of endless promise, it was the foundation of the United States’ belief in itself as an exceptional nation – democratic, individualistic, forward-looking. Today, though, America hasa new symbol: the border wall. In The End of the Myth, acclaimed historian Greg Grandin explores the meaning of the frontier throughout the full sweep of U.S. history – from the American Revolution to the War of 1898, the New Deal to the election of 2016. For centuries, he shows, America’s constant expansion – fighting wars and opening markets – served as a “gate of escape,” helping to deflect domestic political and economic conflicts outward. But this deflection meant that the country’s problems, from racism to inequality, were never confronted directly. And now, the combined catastrophe of the 2008 financial meltdown and our unwinnable wars in the Middle East have slammed this gate shut, bringing political passions that had long been directed elsewhere back home. It is this new reality, Grandin says, that explains the rise of reactionary populism and racist nationalism, the extreme anger and polarization that catapulted Trump to the presidency. The border wall may or may not be built, but it will survive as a rallying point, an allegorical tombstone marking the end of American exceptionalism.