Best Selling Books by Walter Lord

An authoritative recounting of the battle at the Alamo including an attempt to dispel the popular myths

The Wordsworth Military Library covers the breadth of military history, including studies of individual leaders and accounts of major campaigns and great conflicts.

Sheads, a National Park Service ranger and specialist on the event, introduces the book, which will remain a popular favorite for years to come.

Sample Text

They had no right to win. Yet they did, and in doing so they changed the course of the war. More than that, they added a new name -- Midway -- to that small list that inspires men by example -- Marathon, the Marne, the Somme and Rorke''s Drift.

DIVLord’s history of the 1962 Ole Miss riots, sparked by one man’s heroic stance against segregation in the American South/divDIV /divDIV/divDIVOn September 30, 1962, James H. Meredith matriculated at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. An air force veteran with sixty hours of transfer credits, Meredith would have been welcomed were it not for the color of his skin. As the first African-American student to register at a previously segregated school, however, he risked his life. The Supreme Court had determined that Oxford’s university must desegregate, and several hundred federal marshals came to support Meredith. It would not be enough. As President Kennedy called for peace, a riot exploded in Oxford. By eleven o’clock that night, the marshals were out of tear gas. By midnight, the highway patrol had pulled out, gunfire was spreading, and Kennedy was forced to send in the army./divDIV /divDIVIn this definitive history, Walter Lord argues that the riot was not an isolated incident, but a manifestation of racial hatred that was wrapped up in the state’s identity, stretching all the way back to the Civil War./div

This New York Times bestseller by the author of A Night to Remember explores America in the years between the Gilded Age and the beginning of the Great War. Though remarkable in their own right, the first fifteen years of the 1900s had the misfortune of being sandwiched between—and overshadowed by—the Gilded Age and the First World War. In The Good Years, Walter Lord remedies this neglect, bringing to vivid life the events of 1900 to 1914, when industrialization made staggering advances, and the Wright brothers captured the world’s imagination. Lord writes of Newport and Fifth Avenue, where the rich lived gaily and without much worry beyond the occasional economic panic. He also delves into the sweatshops of the second industrial revolution, where impoverished laborers and children suffered under unimaginable conditions. From the assassination of President McKinley to the hot and lazy “last summer” before the outbreak of war, Lord writes with insight and humor about the uniquely American energy and enthusiasm of those years before the Great War would forever change the world. From the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Incredible Victory and Day of Infamy, this is an “informative and entertaining” journey through an often-overlooked period of history at the beginning of the twentieth century (The New York Times).

The complete and definitive New York Times–bestselling chronicle of the Titanic including survivors’ stories and extensive research separating fact from myth. In just two hours and forty minutes, 1,500 souls were lost at sea when the RMS Titanic succumbed to the icy waters of the North Atlantic. Based on interviews with sixty-three survivors, A Night to Remember tells the story of that fateful night, offering a meticulous and engrossing look at one of the twentieth century’s most infamous disasters. In The Night Lives On, Lord revisits the unsinkable ship, diving into the multitude of theories—both factual and fanciful—about the Titanic’s last hours. Was the ship really christened before setting sail on its maiden voyage? How did its wireless operators fail so badly, and why did the nearby Californian, just ten miles away when the Titanic struck the iceberg, not come to the rescue? Together for the first time, Lord’s classic bestseller A Night to Remember and his subsequent study The Night Lives On offer remarkable insight into the maritime catastrophe that continues to fascinate and horrify a full century later.

Explorer Robert E. Peary’s quest for the North Pole—a true Arctic adventure from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of A Night to Remember. On March 1, 1909, only 413 miles of formidable ice separated Robert E. Peary from realizing his lifelong dream of becoming the first man to set foot on the North Pole. On that dark morning on Canada’s Ellesmere Island, it was cold enough to freeze a bottle of brandy. The ice looked solid enough, but it sat atop seawater—and shifted violently according to the whims of the ocean below. Peary was used to the conditions—he’d barely survived them just three years before when he first tried, and failed, to reach the earth’s northernmost point. But this time around, no amount of peril could dissuade Peary and his party from their expedition. With a cry of “Forward, march!” the journey of a lifetime began. Written with thrilling detail and heart-pounding suspense by the author of Day of Infamy and other bestselling histories, Peary to the Pole is the definitive account of one man’s trek through some of the world’s most treacherous terrain, in search of adventure, discovery, and immortality, a classic for readers of books like In the Kingdom of Ice or The Last Place on Earth.

Full-length accounts of three decisive WWII events—Pearl Harbor, Midway, and the evacuation of Dunkirk—from a #1 New York Times–bestselling author. In May 1940, the remnants of the French and British armies, broken by Hitler’s blitzkrieg, retreated to the beach at Dunkirk. Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered an evacuation on May 26, expecting to save no more than a handful of his men. But Britain would not let its soldiers down. Hundreds of fishing boats, pleasure yachts, and commercial vessels streamed into the Channel to back up the Royal Navy. The Miracle of Dunkirk is a striking history of a week when the fate of Britain—and the World—hung in the balance. On the morning of June 4, 1942, doom sailed on Midway. Hoping to put itself within striking distance of Hawaii and California, the Japanese navy planned an ambush that would obliterate the remnants of the American Pacific fleet. On paper, the Americans had no chance of winning. But because their code breakers knew what was coming, the American navy was able to prepare an ambush of its own. In Incredible Victory, Walter Lord recounts two days of savage battle, during which a small American fleet defied the odds and turned the tide of World War II. December 7, 1941, began as a quiet morning on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. But as Japan’s deadly torpedoes suddenly rained down on the Pacific fleet, soldiers, generals, and civilians alike felt shock, then fear, and then rage. From the chaos, a thousand personal stories of courage emerged. Drawn from hundreds of interviews, letters, and diaries, Walter Lord’s Day of Infamy recounts the many tales of heroism and tragedy of those who experienced the attack firsthand. These three acclaimed war chronicles showcase Walter Lord at the top of his game as a narrative nonfiction master.

Family history

14 avril 1912, 23 h 40. Sur le plus luxueux paquebot du monde, la soirée s''achève, les passagers du Titanic regagnent leurs cabines. Dans la fastueuse salle à manger des "première classe", jamais l''atmosphère n''a été plus gaie, les femmes plus belles, les hommes plus élégants. Peu à peu, les lumières s''éteignent. Seuls quelques bridgeurs s''attardent au fumoir. Sur la passerelle, le premier officier Murdoch prend son quart. La mer est calme, le ciel limpide... Quelques secondes plus tard, le Titanic heurte un iceberg. Avant l''aube, mille cinq cents personnes auront péri dans les flots glacés de l''Atlantique Nord. Pour reconstituer cette nuit d''épouvante heure par heure, minute par minute, Walter Lord a retrouvé et interrogé les survivants du drame, les familles des victimes, tous ceux qui furent mêlés au naufrage. Au terme de cette minutieuse enquête, il est parvenu à remonter le temps : nous sommes sur le Titanic...