Robert Leckie

A look at the times and people of a new democratic government challenged with survival by pirates, wars with England and Mexico, and governing new lands.

In this third volume of brilliant narratives of important events in American history, Robert Leckie brings alive the dramatic story of the American Revolution - just as he caught the drama and excitement of World War II in Delivered from Evil and the Civil War in None Died in Vain. With tremendous narrative pace, remarkable skill at portraying important and fascinating people, a sharp eye for colorful details, and an all-encompassing grasp of historical developments and military action, Leckie traces the course of events from the causes of the break between the American colonies and the British government to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to George Washington at Yorktown. His descriptions of the many battles - the slaughter and confusion at Concord and Lexington, the Redcoats charging the Continental lines at Bunker Hill, the painful American setbacks at Brandywine and Germantown, and hard-won victories at Saratoga and by John Paul Jones over HMS Serapis at sea - are vivid and exciting. Leckie makes the disputes that caused the conflict - unfair taxes and tariffs, the lack of colonial representation in Parliament - come alive with his descriptions of the Boston Tea Party, the writings of Samuel Adams, and the oratory of Patrick Henry. And his in-depth profiles of the dozens of leading figures on both sides are sprightly and insightful: Washington struggling to keep his army intact despite meager support from the Continental Congress and betrayals by traitors Charles Lee and Benedict Arnold; the ponderous George III in London and his generals in America - Howe, Clinton, Cornwallis, Tarleton, "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne, and more; and American commanders like Hamilton, Gates, Greene, Ethan Allen, Morgan, and "Mad Anthony" Wayne. George Washington's War is solid history that reads like superior fiction.

A Herculean undertaking: a complete history of WW II, from Versailles to Tokyo Bay; and Leckie, author of Warfare (1970) and 27 other books, pulls it off with intelligence and style. He offers little that's dramatically new in this monumental (900 pp. +) effort, but Leckie succeeds as few before him in bringing to vivid life the military, economic, social, and political woof and web of the war. For example, he opens: ""At eleven o'clock in the morning of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 1918 the guns of the Great War began to fall silent. At dusk, a sickle moon rose. . ."" And thus he continues, limning with a novelist's close focus both the historical sweep and human-interest particulars of WW II: (""Wagner turned to Hitler and said, 'Mein Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, are you willing to take Eva Braun as your wife?' 'I do,' Hitler replied in a sonorous voice."") A noteworthy achievement.

Discusses the causes, events, and aftermath of one of the strangest wars in the history of the United States.

A review of America's major wars, from the French and Indian War to the War in Korea, with emphasis on eleven important battles: Quebec, Trenton, New Orleans, Mexico City, Chancellorsville, Appomattox, Santiago, Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal, Normandy, and Pusan-Inchon.

From the air, the Pacific island of Iwo Jima looks like a large, gray pork chop. Its strategic location, midway between the U.S. B-29 airfields on the Marianas Islands and the Japanese home islands meant that it had to beseized no matter what the cost. On February 19, 1945, the invasion of Iwo Jima was launched. It became the greatest battle fought by the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II. From it came the most famous image of the war, the raising of the flag on MountSuribachi. When it ended a month later, the Marines had suffered 20,000 casualties and 26 Marines were awarded America¹s highest decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor.Robert Leckie, the bestselling author of Helmet for My Pillow, has written a thrilling account of the battle for Iwo Jima and of the Americans who fought for every bloody inch of the island. He also presents the story of the Japanese commander and the men in his command and their desperate "last stand" defense of the island.

"From Robert Leckie, the World War II veteran and New York Times bestselling author of Helmet for My Pillow,whose experiences were featured in the HBO mini-seriesThe Pacific, comes this vivid narrative of the astonishing six-month campaign for Guadalcanal. From the Japanese soldiers' carefully calculated-and ultimately foiled-attempt to build a series of impregnable island forts on the ground to the tireless efforts of the Americans who struggled against a tenacious adversary and the temperature and terrain of the island itself, Robert Leckie captures the loneliness, the agony, and the heat of twenty-four-hour-a-day fighting on Guadalcanal. Combatants from both sides are brought to life: General Archer Vandegrift, who first assembled an amphibious strike force; Isoroku Yamamoto, the naval general whose innovative strategy was tested; the island-born Allied scout Jacob Vouza, who survived hideous torture to uncover the enemy's plans; and Saburo Sakai, the ace flier who shot down American planes with astonishing ease. Propelling the Allies to eventual victory, Guadalcanal was truly the turning point of the war. Challenge for the Pacific is an unparalleled, authoritative account of this great fight that forever changed our world.