New Releases by Douglas Brinkley

"These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. Theseare the men who took the cliffs. These are thechampions who helped free a continent. Theseare the heroes who helped end a war."—Ronald Reagan, June 6, 1984,Normandy, France Acclaimed historian and author of the "New York Times" bestselling Tour of Duty Douglas Brinkley tells the riveting account of the brave U.S. Army Rangers who stormed the coast of Normandy on D-Day and the President, forty years later, who paid them homage. The importance of Pointe du Hoc to Allied planners like General Dwight Eisenhower cannot be overstated. The heavy U.S. and British warships poised in the English Channel had eighteen targets on their bombardment list for D-Day morning. The 100-foot promontory known as Pointe du Hoc -- where six big German guns were ensconced -- was number one. General Omar Bradley, in fact, called knocking out the Nazi defenses at the Pointe the toughest of any task assigned on June 6, 1944. Under the bulldoggish command of Colonel James E. Rudder of Texas, who is profiled here, these elite forces "Rudder''s Rangers" -- took control of the fortified cliff. The liberation of Europe was under way. Based upon recently released documents from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the Eisenhower Center, Texas A & M University, and the U.S. Army Military History Institute, The Boys of Pointe du Hoc is the first in-depth, anecdotal remembrance of these fearless Army Rangers. With brilliant deftness, Brinkley moves between two events four decades apart to tell the dual story of the making of Reagan''s two uplifting 1984 speeches, considered by many to be among the best orations the Great Communicator ever gave, and the actual heroic event, which was indelibly captured as well in the opening scenes of Steven Spielberg''s "Saving Private Ryan".Just as compellingly, Brinkley tells the story of how Lisa Zanatta Henn, the daughter of a D-Day veteran, forged a special friendship with President Reagan that changed public perceptions of World War II veterans forever. Two White House speechwriters -- Peggy Noonan and Tony Dolan -- emerge in the narrative as the master scribes whose ethereal prose helped Reagan become the spokesperson for the entire World War II generation.

Offers a vivid narrative of the seventy-seven-day struggle to control the remote Khe Sanh base in Vietnam, during which a severely outnumbered and isolated group of Marines held off an enemy onslaught, in a multimedia history that features firsthand remin

Provides information such as military commander profiles, the war''s armaments and battlefronts, timelines, oral histories, and the political, social, and economic factors that influenced the conflict.

World War II comes alive through the public records and private accounts of the day. Eminent historian Brinkley has carefully chosen the critical documents that bring to life the days of the war from the first Allied counteroffensive to V-J Day.

Covering more than four decades, Tour of Duty is the definitive account of John Kerry''s journey from war to peace. Written by acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley, this is the first full-scale, intimate account of Kerry''s naval career. In writing this riveting narrative, Brinkley has drawn on extensive interviews with virtually everyone who knew Kerry well in Vietnam, including all the men still living who served under him. Kerry also entrusted to Brinkley his letters home from Vietnam and his voluminous "War Notes" -- journals, notebooks, and personal reminiscences written during and shortly after the war. This material was provided without restriction, to be used at Brinkley''s discretion, and has never before been published. John Kerry enlisted in the Navy in February 1966, months before he graduated from Yale. In December 1967 Ensign Kerry was assigned to the frigate U.S.S. Gridley; after five months of service in the Pacific, with a brief stop in Vietnam, he returned to the United States and underwent training to command a Swift boat, a small craft deployed in Vietnam''s rivers. In June 1968 Kerry was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade), and by the end of that year he was back in Vietnam, where he commanded, over time, two Swift boats. Throughout Tour of Duty Brinkley deftly deals with such explosive issues as U.S. atrocities in Vietnam and the bombing of Cambodia. In a series of unforgettable combat-action sequences, he recounts how Kerry won the Purple Heart three times for wounds suffered in action and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Navy’s Silver Star for gallantry in action. When Kerry returned from Southeast Asia, he joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), becoming a prominent antiwar spokesperson. He challenged the Nixon administration on Capitol Hill with the antiwar movementcheering him on. As Kerry''s public popularity soared in April-May 1971, the FBI considered him a subversive. Brinkley -- using new information acquired from the recently released Nixon tapes -- reveals how White House aides Charles Colson and H. R. Haldeman tried to discredit Kerry. Refusing to be intimidated, Kerry started running for public office, eventually becoming a U.S. senator from Massachusetts. But he never forgot his fallen comrades. Working with his friend Senator John McCain, he returned to Vietnam numerous times looking for MIAs and POWs. By the time Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, Kerry was the leading proponent of "normalization" of relations with Vietnam. When President Clinton officially recognized Vietnam in 1995, Kerry''s three-decade-long tour of duty had at long last ended.

Published for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, this illustrated volume with audio CDs presents firsthand accounts of the Normandy invasion with a central narrative by one of America''s preeminent historians. A compelling compilation of firsthand accounts of the Normandy invasion presents forty oral histories that recount the events and experiences of D-Day from the perspectives of the veterans themselves, accompanied by a selection of interviews on CD.

As he talked about that historic day 35 years ago when he became the first human to set foot on the moon, the notoriously reticent Neil Armstrong dropped his guard, and the inner boy from Ohio shone through.

A deadly mission up the Bay Hap River would be John Kerry''s last in Vietnam. Everything ventured, nothing gained but a chestul of medals and the horrific memories that came with them.

Some American presidents have been larger than life but none of them have been larger than death. C-SPAN''s Brian Lamb has visited the gravesites of every president, living & dead, in order to create this guide. With hundreds of photos & lively evaluations of each president from historian Richard Norton Smith & an afterword from Douglas Brinkley, the book is about the presidents'' lives as much as it is about their final resting places. Its collection of the president''s last words offers a poignant & sometimes humorous look at the last moments of the great men. From their lives to their death scenes, from their funerals to their burial spots, this unique guidebook provides travelers with all the info. needed to visit the graves & libraries of the presidents. Illus.

Introducing a new series where history comes alive in riveting documents and images of great events as they occurred. This first volume recounts the moves and decisions of the axis group from 1939-1942 during World War II. 75 illustrations.

An exploration of the Mississippi River, tracing its length from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, and discussing its important role in the history of the United States. Includes photographs, period illustrations, artwork, documents, and maps.

On 1 December 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, a quiet and dignified 42-year-old black seamstress refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. Her arrest led to a 381-day boycott of the city''s bus system, led by Martin Luther King, which is now considered the beginning of the American civil rights movement. Rosa Parks'' personality and character were an important part of the bus boycott''s success. Graceful, reserved and a devout churchgoer, she was also a civil rights activist alongside her daytime job as a seamstress, and she believed in the use of righteous force when necessary. The boycott was an epic event. 50,000 blacks (three-quarters of the city''s population) somehow found some other way to get to and from work, week after week. In 1957 she and her husband moved north to Detroit, where she continued to work for civil rights, taking part in most of the great marches of the 1960s, although she found the male chauvinism of these events increasingly unacceptable. She was a great admirer of Martin Luther King, and he of her, and his assassination in 1968 was a bitter blow. After King''s death, the movement began to lose its way and Rosa Parks believed that anger and violence were replacing non-violent social protest. In later years she seemed almost a forgotten figure, but in the 1990s this appeared to be changing. In 1999 Time magazine hailed here as one of the hundred most significant individuals of the century, and there were plaudits from the Pope, Nelson Mandela and others. This book about the life and times of a remarkable and inspiring woman is also a brilliant re-creation of mid-century American life.

In this newly updated edition, Douglas Brinkley, one of our most distinguished historians, brings together a stunning collection of eyewitness accounts that chronicles the American experience from the perspectives of those who participated in its making. Witness to America includes nearly 150 works drawn from America''s history, from the first shots of the Revolutionary War to the twenty-first century. From Patrick Henry''s rousing "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!" speech to John Brown''s stand at Harpers Ferry; from Franklin D. Roosevelt''s promise of a New Deal to Neil Armstrong''s account of walking on the moon; from 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina to Barack Obama''s landmark speech on race: this sweeping volume brings the milestones in American history vividly to life. Here are unique and revealing selections from such historical figures as John Adams, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy, as well as influential individuals, among them Booker T. Washington, Charles Lindbergh, Ernie Pyle, Rosa Parks, and Betty Friedan. While many of the selections come from notable citizens, most are from ordinary Americans—schoolteachers, students, homemakers, pioneers, and soldiers—who describe the everyday events that have epitomized American life over the course of its history, indelibly demonstrating both the variety and vitality of the American character. Witness to America sweeps across the vast territory that is our nation, illuminating the movements, ideas, inventions, and events that have shaped and defined us—from the Pony Express to the personal computer; from the frontier to the rise of suburbia; from farming to modernization and the information age. Within these pages discover the art of whaling, learn about survival on the Gold Rush trail, experience the glory and trauma of war, and glean new insight on the great leaders. Here are debates and speeches, diary entries, letters, memoirs, court records, and more—including many first-person accounts that make history come alive as never before, such as a powerful description of the atomic explosion from a correspondent on the Enola Gay and a young student''s evaluation of the changing roles of women at her high school. Witness to America is a fascinating, highly readable, and entertaining collection that shows us what America is and where it may go.

Although his biography is unauthorized, Brinkley has had unique and intimate access to the former president and has fully captured the ubiquitous Carter''s prickly personality and remarkable political life since 1980. of photos.

In this comprehensive account, two prize-winning historians explain how the idea of the United Nations was conceived, debated, and revised, first within the U.S. government and then by negotiation with its major allies in World War II. 28 illustrations.

Incorporating the most recent scholarship, this eighth revised edition of "Rise to Globalism" now in paperback offers a concise and informative overview of the evolution of American foreign policy from 1938 to the present. Ambrose also wrote bestsellers "Undaunted Courage" and "D-Day".

Excerpts from student journals and photographs mark a Hofstra University professor''s account of his "travelling classroom," in which seventeen students took a six-week bus tour across America, reading, meeting cultural heroes, and experiencing the country. 25,000 first printing.

Acheson was President Harry Truman''s secretary of state, the American father of NATO and active in US foreign policy after World War II. He was also a Democratic Party activist in Eisenhower''s presidency and an advisor in the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon eras. This charts his post-secretarial career.