An engrossing portrait of war-torn Europe written by one of South Carolina's most distinguished military officers of the last century. Major General Johnson Hagood (1873-1948) was one of South Carolina's most distinguished army officers of the twentieth century. An artillerist and a scholar of military science, Hagood became a noted expert in logistics and served as the chief of staff of the Services of Supply in World War I Europe. Taken from Hagood's wartime journal, Caissons Go Rolling Along describes his artillery brigade's march into Germany in 1918, the wartime devastation, his impressions of the defeated enemy and occupied territories, and his tour of the recent battlefields in the company of the commanders who fought there. Written in a conversational style, the narrative focuses principally on Hagood's time in command of the Sixty-sixth Field Artillery Brigade following the armistice. The Sixty-sixth FAB was attached to the American Third Army, which later became the American occupation force in the Rhineland. Hagood recorded his impressions of the conditions in which he found his men at the end of the war and the events of a tour of the French, British, and American battlefields. More important, he set down a record of the devastation of the French countryside, the contrasting lack of suffering he found in Germany, the character of the Germans, and some predictions for the future. "I have left the text as it was when we held these people at the point of the bayonet," he wrote in his preface years later. "The opinions we formed at that time are important because they were the basis of our action.... The scourge of the Great War took a heavy toll... and we Americans might as well keep in mind what we were fighting for." Hagood captures defining aspects of the American character at the close of World War I. He described a boisterous, optimistic people, sure of their new place in the world. Rome provided Hagood with an analogy for the new American empire, which he took for granted in his postwar memoir. Completed during Hagood's lifetime but unpublished until now, Caissons Go Rolling Along is an engrossing portrait of war-torn Europe, a stark reminder of grim realities of the Great War, and a richly detailed look at the daunting task of occupying and rebuilding a defeated nation.

Center ideas, patterns, crafts, recipes, games, rewards and much more.

Coauthored and compiled by fluency expert Timothy Rasinski, this selection of engaging texts for Grades 4-8 will make reading enjoyable for students so that they will want to read, reread, and perform! Research has shown that readers who engage in regular repeated readings improve their word recognition, reading rate, comprehension, and overall reading proficiency. As students regularly read and perform these age-appropriate texts, they improve their decoding, interpretation, and ultimately comprehension of the materials. A variety of genres are included: poetry and rhymes, song lyrics, readers theater scripts, and famous speeches and quotations. 112pp.

Nearly forgotten by history, this is the story of the Wereth Eleven, African-American soldiers who fought courageously for freedom in WWII—only to be ruthlessly executed by Nazi troops during the Battle of the Bulge. Their story was almost forgotten by history. Now known as the Wereth Eleven, these brave African-American soldiers left their homes to join the Allied effort on the front lines of WWII. As members of the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, they provided crucial fire support at the Siege of Bastogne. Among the few who managed to escape the Nazi’s devastating Ardennes Offensive, they found refuge in the small village of Wereth, Belgium. A farmer and supporter of the Allies took the exhausted and half-starved men into his home. When Nazi authorities learned of their whereabouts, they did not take the soldiers prisoner, but subjected them to torture and execution in a nearby field. Despite their bravery and sacrifice, these eleven soldiers were omitted from the final Congressional War Crimes report of 1949. For seventy years, their files—marked secret—gathered dust in the National Archive. But in 1994, at the site of their execution, a memorial was dedicated to the Wereth Eleven and all African-American soldiers who fought in Europe. Drawing on firsthand interviews with family members and fellow soldiers, The Lost Eleven tells the complete story of these nearly forgotten soldiers, their valor in battle and their tragic end. INCLUDES PHOTOS

When Christopher Madsen made the snap decision-perhaps a rash decision-to buy and renovate the famous 1916 racing yacht for which this story is named, he could scarcely have imagined the consequences that were to follow. During the renovation Madsen's investigation of the original owner, New York senator Holland Sackett Duell, uncovered a remarkable true life 1920s adventure and love story; one which fully brings to life the era and flair of Gatsby and Hemmingway yet, by contrast, Rowdy is completely true, historically significant and meticulously documented in support of the authenticity. The reader first walks in Duell's footsteps as he departs New York in 1918 to participate in the Great War (the most detailed accounting ever written on New York's 306th Field Artillery, 77th Division). Highly decorated upon return, the adventure continues as Duell is immersed in politics at the highest level, the birth of Hollywood, sailing competitions with some of the richest men in America, fortunes and mansions and love affairs as well as scandalous affairs. A newly unearthed gem in American history, Rowdy will enjoyably transport the reader back in time to the Golden Age of Yachting-AND EVER SO MUCH MORE!A multi-award winning story and a beautiful coffee table book; 8 A1/2 X 11 hardcover with the look of worn, vintage leather, gold leaf stamping, rounded spine woven burgundy book mark. Full reviews, sample pages, awards etc., at http://www.rowdystory.com