Amid the aristocratic ranks of the Confederate cavalry, Nathan Bedford Forrest was untutored, all but unlettered, and regarded as no more than a guerrilla. His tactic was the headlong charge, mounted with such swiftness and ferocity that General Sherman called him a "devil" who should "be hunted down and killed if it costs 10,000 lives and bankrupts the treasury." And in a war in which officers prided themselves on their decorum, Forrest habitually issued surrender-or-die ultimatums to the...

Hurst shows how Grant and Forrest brought to the battlefield the fabled virtues of the American working-class: hard work, ingenuity, and intense determination. Each man's background contributed to his triumphs on the battlefield, but the open-mindedness of his fellow commanders proved just as important. When the North embraced Grant, it won a stalwart defender. When the South rejected Forrest, by contrast, it sealed its fate.

Deep in the winter of 1862, on the border between Kentucky and Tennessee, two extraordinary military leaders faced each other in an epic clash that would transform them both and change the course of American history forever. Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant had no significant military successes to his credit. He was barely clinging to his position within the Union Army-he had been officially charged with chronic drunkenness only days earlier, and his own troops despised him. His opponent...

He was a fierce and controversial Civil War officer, an unschooled but brilliant cavalryman, an epic figure in America’s most celebrated war. A superb tactician and ferocious fighter, Nathan Bedford Forrest revolutionized the way armies fought in the course of rising from private to lieutenant general in the Confederate Army.In this detailed and fascinating account of the legend of the “Wizard of the Saddle,” we see a man whose strengths and flaws were both of towering proportions,...

In 1862, Ulysses S. Grant achieved what President Lincoln had sought since the start of the war: the first decisive Union victory. Fought on the western edge of the theater, the Forts Henry and Donelson campaign was a gruesome omen of what was to come.Grant, until then an obscure brigadier general with a reputation for drink, became the fighting man of the hour, earning the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant for his relentless pounding of the Confederates. But he had a match ...

Born to Battle examines the Civil War’s complex and decisive western theater through the exploits of its greatest figures: Ulysses S. Grant and Nathan Bedford Forrest. These two opposing giants squared off in some of the most epic campaigns of the war, starting at Shiloh and continuing through Perryville, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga—battles in which the Union would slowly but surely divide the western Confederacy, setting the stage for the final showdowns of this blood...

“Jack The Enforcer” dives into the compelling life and legacy of Jack Whalen, a man often misunderstood as a contract killer but whose true identity lies in his heroic deeds during World War II. This book is a journey through Jack’s life, starting with his birth into the esteemed Whalen and Wunderlich Clan, highlighting the influences of his upbringing that shaped his character. As an adult, Jack emerges as a formidable figure, known not for violence but for his unwavering sense of justice...

“Jack The Enforcer” dives into the compelling life and legacy of Jack Whalen, a man often misunderstood as a contract killer but whose true identity lies in his heroic deeds during World War II. This book is a journey through Jack’s life, starting with his birth into the esteemed Whalen and Wunderlich Clan, highlighting the influences of his upbringing that shaped his character. As an adult, Jack emerges as a formidable figure, known not for violence but for his unwavering sense of justice...

Clearing the Path for First-Generation College Students comprises a wide range of studies that explore the multidimensional social processes and meanings germane to the experiences of first-generation college students before and during their matriculation into institutions of higher education. The chapters offer timely, empirical examinations of the ways that these students negotiate experiences shaped by structural inequities in higher education institutions and the pathways that lead to ...

The Universal Declaration for Human Rights was approved in 1948 and yet more than fifty years later some human rights-especially the rights of groups such as women, minorities, and indigenous peoples-continue to be at risk. This book examines recent humanitarian catastrophes involving such groups and suggests how the society of states may develop a collective capacity for human rights enforcement. Above all, it emphasizes the long term efforts to stabilize weak or failing societies and to ...