JUVENILE · CAMPAIGNS
Wayne Vansant
Wayne Vansant (Atlanta, Georgia, 13 July 1949) is an American illustrator and cartoonist. He has written and/or illustrated many books and comics on historical/military subjects.
The Gettysburg Campaign began on June 3, 1863, as units of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia began to leave their positions near Fredericksburg, Virginia, and march toward the Shenandoah Valley.
— from Gettysburg, 2003
Most acclaimed
The Vietnam War
When Senator Edward Kennedy declared, “Iraq is George Bush’s Vietnam,” everyone understood. The Vietnam War has become the touchstone for U.S. military misadventures—a war lost on the home front although never truly lost on the battlefront. During the pivotal decade of 1962 to 1972, U.S. involvement rose from a few hundred advisers to a fighting force of more than one million. This same period saw the greatest schism in American society since the Civil War, a generational divide pitting mothers and fathers against sons and daughters who protested the country’s ever-growing military involvement in Vietnam. Meanwhile, well-intentioned decisions in Washington became operational orders with tragic outcomes in the rice paddies, jungles, and villages of Southeast Asia. Through beautifully rendered artwork, The Vietnam War: A Graphic History depicts the course of the war from its initial expansion in the early 1960s through the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, and what transpired at home, from the antiwar movement and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to the Watergate break-in and the resignation of a president. Praise for The Vietnam War "The Vietnam War: A Graphic History is an innovative way to present a complex period in American history. Using actual dialogue with illustrations of the personalities involved, it brings the people and the events to life." --Philip Caputo, author of A Rumor of War "Dwight Jon Zimmerman and Wayne Vansant have created a truly graphic history of America's tragic misadventure in Vietnam. They show the mistaken assumptions, failed policies, and hubris that doomed American efforts to prevent a Communist takeover of South Vietnam. At the same time, they maintain a balanced presentation that leans to neither the prowar nor the antiwar side in this country's most divisive conflict." --James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom "An emotionally moving combination of graphics and text clearly describing the events that led up to a war and years of bloodshed, which threatened the unity of the American people." --Joe Kubert, author of Fax from Sarajevo and Yossel
Gettysburg
2003
"On July 2, 1863, the second day of fighting at Gettysburg, Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, in an ill-conceived interpretation of his orders, advanced his men beyond the established Union line and exposed his flanks to a potentially devastating Confederate attack. Shortly after being reprimanded by his commander, Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, for endangering the entire Union Army. Sickles was hit by a cannonball. He returned to Washington with his leg amputated and his pride badly wounded." "A politician and lawyer prior to the war, Sickles was already notorious for being the first person in U.S. history acquitted of murder by pleading temporary insanity. During his recuperation in the nation's capital, Sickles defended his actions at Gettysburg to anyone who would listen, including President Lincoln, and criticized Meade before Congress's Committee on the Conduct of the War. He continued defending himself for years after the war, while Meade remained mostly silent on the subject." "Now, historian Richard A. Sauers destroys many commonly accepted myths about the controversy by examining the evidence in detail. In this fascinating analysis, he highlights the personality conflicts among military leaders that complicate combat. He also demonstrates that distortions, such as Sickles's version of Gettysburg, are frequently accepted as fact by historians and repeated for generations to come. Sauers shows that Sickles's unjust manipulations harmed Meade's reputation for years after the war."--Jacket.
The Battle of the Bulge
2004
In the middle of December 1944, at a time when most people thought Germany was finished, the German army launched a surprise attack against the American army in Belgium. Thousands of crack troops and large numbers of tanks breached the thin American lines and drove deep into Belgium. The Battle of the Bulge would be a brutal, bloody struggle in a dismal winter landscape against an enemy imbued with Adolf Hitler's fanatic conviction that victory could be snatched from defeat. Before it ended, the Battle of the Bulge would involve over a million men and thousands of guns, tanks and other fighting vehicles. In that dark December, fighting both bitter winter storms and a grim and determined enemy, the American soldier faced his greatest challenge in the European war.