Although a number of memoirs from Civil War surgeons have been published in the last decade, "I Hope to Do My Country Serviceis the first of its kind from a Michigan regimental surgeon to appear in more than a century.

This inspiring anthology it the first to convey the noteworthy experiences and contributions of women in the American military in their own words-from the Revolutionary War to the present wars in the Middle East. Serving with the Union Army during the Civil War as a nurse, scout, spy, and soldier, Harriet Tubman tells what it was like to be the first American woman to lead a raid against an enemy, freeing some 750 slaves. Busting gender stereotypes, Inga Fredriksen Ferris's describes how it felt to be a woman marine during World War II. Heidi Squier Kraft recounts her experiences as a lieutenant commander in the navy, deployed to Iraq as a psychologist to provide mental health care in a combat zone. In excerpts from their diaries, letters, oral histories, military depositions and testimonies, as well as from published and unpublished memoirs-generations of women reveal why and how they chose to serve their country, often breaking with social norms and at great personal peril.

Now a Major Motion Picture Directed by American Sniper Writer Jason Hall and Starring Miles Teller No journalist has reckoned with the psychology of war as intimately as David Finkel. In The Good Soldiers, his bestselling account from the front lines of Baghdad, Finkel embedded with the men of the 2-16 Infantry Battalion as they carried out the infamous “surge”. Now, in Thank You for Your Service, Finkel tells the true story of those men as they return home from the front-lines of Baghdad and struggle to reintegrate--both into their family lives and into American society at large. Finkel is with these veterans in their most intimate, painful, and hopeful moments as they try to recover, and in doing so, he creates an indelible, essential portrait of what life after war is like--not just for these soldiers, but for their wives, widows, children, and friends, and for the professionals who are truly trying, and to a great degree failing, to undo the damage that has been done. Thank You for Your Service is an act of understanding, and it offers a more complete picture than we have ever had of two essential questions: When we ask young men and women to go to war, what are we asking of them? And when they return, what are we thanking them for? “Finkel sketches a panoramic view of postwar life....A book that every American should read.” —Jake Tapper, Los Angeles Times Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. One of Ten Favorite Books of 2013 by Michiko Kakutani (The New York Times), a Washington Post Top Ten Book of the Year, and a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year

As the first Muslim elected to Congress, Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison explores what it's like to be an American in the twenty-first century. As a Black, Latino, and former Catholic who converted to Islam, Keith Ellison, is the first Muslim elected to Congress—from a district with fewer than 1 percent Muslims and 11 percent Blacks. With his unique perspective on uniting a disparate community and speaking to a common goal, Ellison takes a provocative look at America and what needs to change to accommodate different races and beliefs. Filled with anecdotes, statistics, and social commentary, Ellison touches on everything from the Tea Party to Obama, from race to the immigration debate and more. He also draws some very clear distinctions between parties and shows why the deep polarization is unhealthy for America. Deeply patriotic, with My Country ’Tis of Thee, Ellison strives to help define what it means to be an American today.

This story, and a perusal of the accompanying chronology, reveals how a fierce and united people have achieved their freedom against superior forces. The author retired from the federal government, as a senior intelligence analyst, after thirty-six years of service. He served three years in the Army during the Korean War but was assigned to the Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA) in the District of Columbia area in late 1952. Shortly after his assignment, the agency was renamed the National Security Agency (NSA). After his enlistment was up, he converted to civilian service with the NSA. He was sent to Germany as an adviser to a military intelligence battalion (Army Security Agency), that was deployed along the East-West German border and then returned to the headquarters NSA. The writer has traveled extensively in Vietnam. He has visited places on the coast from just south of Hue to Vung Tau, the mountains around Kontum and Pleiku, the Saigon area including Ben Hoa Cholon, and in the Vietnamese delta, My Toe and all the way to the town of Ha Tien on the Vietnam/Cambodian border on the Gulf of Thailand. He met and conversed with many native Vietnamese, vacationed with a Vietnamese family (a girlfriend, her mother and a young son) in the old French beach vacation town of Vung Tau, and for a brief time taught English to some young Vietnamese monks who gave him a tour of their residence and introduced him to their ways of life. After returning to NSA he used his off duty time to volunteer in the attempt to get Vietnamese refugee families together. He assisted at one of the refugee camps and for a time sponsored one, three-generation, family providing them with a residence and trying to familiarize them with the American ways of life. He has obtained official correspondences from the Truman library concerning Vietnam, including a message from Ho Chi Minh.