"In the past century, few have done more to establish the Air Force and its logistics enterprise as we know it today than Maj Gen Hugh J. Knerr; fewer still are as unique. An early aviator, Knerr established the first airlift mission and led the procurement effort for the B-17 with Gen Frank Andrews before WWII. After which he led a campaign for the autonomous air force that put him at odds with the War Dept and the White House. During WWII, Knerr led logistics planning efforts to mobilize the Eighth Air Force in European Theatre of Operations (ETO) and later amassed theatre-wide authority of logistics, aligning the entire logistics effort of the Army Air Forces (AAF) in the ETO. Amongst many career accomplishments, Knerr ended his career as the USAF's first Inspector General establishing the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) and is accredited with designing the USAF's dress blue uniform. Little known fact, Knerr began aviation interests as a child at the mouth of the wellspring, building kites and scrubbing toilets for the Wright Brothers at their bicycle shop. His memoirs penned in the months preceding his death in 1971, now published, give a personal insight into this formative period of the Air Force and offer the perspective only one of its architects could tell. Further, his pursuit of innovation, disruption of barriers, and challenges to the status quo are exceptionally relevant to present day Air Force as it seeks to accelerate change"--

A supplemental textbook for middle and high school students, Hoosiers and the American Story provides intimate views of individuals and places in Indiana set within themes from American history. During the frontier days when Americans battled with and exiled native peoples from the East, Indiana was on the leading edge of America’s westward expansion. As waves of immigrants swept across the Appalachians and eastern waterways, Indiana became established as both a crossroads and as a vital part of Middle America. Indiana’s stories illuminate the history of American agriculture, wars, industrialization, ethnic conflicts, technological improvements, political battles, transportation networks, economic shifts, social welfare initiatives, and more. In so doing, they elucidate large national issues so that students can relate personally to the ideas and events that comprise American history. At the same time, the stories shed light on what it means to be a Hoosier, today and in the past.

Amerikanske Revolution; Amerikanske Borgerkrig; Første verdenskrig; Anden Verdenskrig; Koreakrigen; Vietnamkrigen; Krigen mod Mexico; Spansk-amerikanske krig;

Winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction Anti-Intellectualism in American Life is a book which throws light on many features of the American character. Its concern is not merely to portray the scorners of intellect in American life, but to say something about what the intellectual is, and can be, as a force in a democratic society. "As Mr. Hofstadter unfolds the fascinating story, it is no crude battle of eggheads and fatheads. It is a rich, complex, shifting picture of the life of the mind in a society dominated by the ideal of practical success." —Robert Peel in the Christian Science Monitor

The author masterfully blends intellectual, economic, and military history into a fascinating discussion of a great moral question for generations of Americans: Can some individuals rightly profit during wartime while other sacrifice their lives to protect the nation?

Global Mission is General “Hap” Arnold’s personal story of his life and military career and a history of American military aviation with particular emphasis on World War II. “For twenty years prior to World War II General Arnold was a tireless and effective evangelist for American air power. No other foresaw more clearly than he the revolutionary impact of the airplane upon the methods and conduct of war. Hap Arnold performed still another public duty in recording for us the results and the conclusions of his lifetime experiences. Whatever he has to say about air power deserves the close attention of all his fellow citizens.” — General Dwight D. Eisenhower, US Army “The compellingly interesting autobiography of a great soldier-statesman and one of the finest presentations I have ever seen of the history of American military aviation.” — Lieutenant General James H. Doolittle, US Air Force “[T]his book is more than the chronicle of a flier’s life; it is in a sense a saga of United States air power, and particularly a top-level picture of the United States Army Air Force in World War II... Global Mission will take an important place in the growing library of war books... a delightful book; it brings out so strongly the lovable personality of “Hap” Arnold. It is an important book... these reminiscences are a monument to him.” — Hanson W. Baldwin, The New York Times “[An] interesting and important book” — Robert Gale Woolbert, Foreign Affairs “There are many groups of people who will profit by a careful reading of Global Mission. As General Bradley well said in a recent letter to me, ‘It is “must” reading for the young military men of today who will have to be the Marshalls and Arnolds and Kings in any future emergency.’ The thinking people of the United States will make wiser decisions in the selection of their leaders, both military and civil, if they have read Global Mission. They will understand more clearly the frightful errors which have been made in the past and their cost in blood and treasure... Any who are tempted to be pacifists or isolationists in the future had better read Global Mission to learn the implications which can flow from false doctrines. The historian who has the difficult job of painting the true picture of the Second World War needs to read Global Mission for background. Here alone will he find some of the missing pieces in his puzzle... by any yardstick, [Global Mission] is worthy reading for any American.” — Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker, USAF (Ret.), Air University Quarterly Review “[General Arnold’s] book is a very important contribution to the history of the Second World War; one reads it with passionate interest from start to finish. It is written in a lively way and also with that frankness, that outspokenness, which always surprises French people from the pen of such a high authority. It is also extremely revealing about the American character.” — René Jouan, Revue d’histoire de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale “[This] book will be of enduring value.” — Ordnance

Visiting Martin Luther King Jr. at the peak of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, journalist William Worthy almost sat on a loaded pistol. "Just for self defense," King assured him. It was not the only weapon King kept for such a purpose; one of his advisors remembered the reverend's Montgomery, Alabama home as "an arsenal." Like King, many ostensibly "nonviolent" civil rights activists embraced their constitutional right to selfprotection -- yet this crucial dimension of the Afro-American freedom struggle has been long ignored by history. In This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed, civil rights scholar Charles E. Cobb Jr. describes the vital role that armed self-defense played in the survival and liberation of black communities in America during the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1960s. In the Deep South, blacks often safeguarded themselves and their loved ones from white supremacist violence by bearing -- and, when necessary, using -- firearms. In much the same way, Cobb shows, nonviolent civil rights workers received critical support from black gun owners in the regions where they worked. Whether patrolling their neighborhoods, garrisoning their homes, or firing back at attackers, these courageous men and women and the weapons they carried were crucial to the movement's success. Giving voice to the World War II veterans, rural activists, volunteer security guards, and self-defense groups who took up arms to defend their lives and liberties, This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed lays bare the paradoxical relationship between the nonviolent civil rights struggle and the Second Amendment. Drawing on his firsthand experiences in the civil rights movement and interviews with fellow participants, Cobb provides a controversial examination of the crucial place of firearms in the fight for American freedom.

“A readable and up-to-date introduction to a most fascinating culture” from a world-renowned Sumerian scholar (American Journal of Archaeology). The Sumerians, the pragmatic and gifted people who preceded the Semites in the land first known as Sumer and later as Babylonia, created what was probably the first high civilization in the history of man, spanning the fifth to the second millenniums B.C. This book is an unparalleled compendium of what is known about them. Professor Kramer communicates his enthusiasm for his subject as he outlines the history of the Sumerian civilization and describes their cities, religion, literature, education, scientific achievements, social structure, and psychology. Finally, he considers the legacy of Sumer to the ancient and modern world. “An uncontested authority on the civilization of Sumer, Professor Kramer writes with grace and urbanity.” —Library Journal