Generals

His name is carved in granite, his likeness cast in bronze, his legend as large as the role he played as America's first president. But before he was a commander-in-chief, George Washington was a general in a revolution that would decide the future of the people and land he called his own. If victorious, he would gain immortality. If defeated, he would find his neck in a hangman's noose. Washington knew the sting of defeat-at Brandywine, at Germantown-yet this unwavering leadership and his vision for a new and independent nation emboldened an army prepared to fight barefoot if necessary to win that independence. Wrote an officer after the Battle of Princeton: "I saw him brave all the dangers of the field and his important life hanging as it were by a single hair with a thousand deaths flying around him." Among America's pantheon of Founding Fathers, one man to this day stands out.

He was a harsh taskmaster who comforted dying soldiers and quietly commended their valor. A crusty, often foulmouthed commander who wrote tender letters home to the love of his life. Gen. George S. Patton Jr. comes to life in these pages as one of the most colorful, enigmatic, and unfairly maligned leaders in U.S. military history. Often caricatured - as in the big-screen biopic, Patton - the general was a complex blend of battle-tested strengths and nearly fatal personal flaws. Without varnishing over his shortcomings, Patton: The Pursuit of Destiny shatters myths and builds a compelling case for a deeper appreciation of the man who inspired unsurpassed loyalty and admiration from the soldiers who served under him. Destined for an outsized life, Patton parlayed his family's deep military roots, his World War I experiences, his Olympic exploits, and his passion for freedom to become one of the linchpins of Allied victory in World War II.

Orphan. Frontiersman. President. The rise of Andrew Jackson to the highest office in America has become a legend of leadership, perseverance, and ambition. Central to Jackson's historic climb?long before the White House-was his military service. Scarred permanently as a child by the sword of a British soldier, Jackson grew into an unwavering leader, a general whose charisma and sheer force of personality called to mind those of George Washington a generation earlier. As commander of the Tennessee militia in the War of 1812, Jackson became "Old Hickory," the indomitable spearhead in a series of bloody conflicts with Creek Indians on the southwest frontier. Slight of frame with silver hair that seemed to stand on command, Jackson once stood down a mutinous brigade as an army of one. Then came New Orleans. Author Paul Vickery chronicles Jackson's defining battle and the decisions a single, impassioned commander made to ensure a growing nation could, once and for all, be free of British might. The hero of New Orleans infused America, for the first time, with a sense of nationalism. Jackson was decisive and unforgiving, a commander firmly in his element. In his own words, "One man with courage makes a majority." The lessons of one extraordinary general endure.

He was named after an enemy of the United States. He was proslavery despite his loyalty to the Union. He burned and pillaged an already beaten foe on a march history will never forget. If, as he famously said, "war is hell," William Tecumsah Sherman can be classified as a flamethrower of ruthless ferocity. Defined by his contradictions, Sherman achieved immortality in his role as Ulysses Grant's hammer in the Civil War. A failed banker and lawyer, Sherman found his calling with the outbreak of war in 1861. With indecision a common ailment among Union generals early the conflict, Sherman's temperament and unwavering focus on the mission at hand-preserving the Union-helped shift the fortunes of North and South. Authors Agostino Von Hassell and Ed Breslin present Sherman as once man and phenomenon. From Bull Run to Shiloh, from Vicksburg to Chattanooga, and from Atlanta to Savannah, Sherman carved the Confederacy with a feral singularity of purpose. At times disheveled and informal to a fault, "Uncle Billy" became a hero whose legend only grew with allegations of villainy.

Traitor. Divider. Defender of slavery. This damning portrayal of Robert E. Lee has persisted through 150 years of history books. And yet it has no basis in fact. In the spirit of bold restoration, Lee: A Life of Virtue reveals the true Lee - passionate patriot, caring son, devoted husband, doting father, don't-tread-on-me Virginian, Godfearing Christian. Weaving forgotten facts and revelations (Lee considered slavery a moral outrage) with striking personal details (for years he carried his weakened mother to and from her carriage), biographer John Perry crafts a compelling treatment of the virtuous warrior who endured withering opposition and sacrificed all to stand for Constitutional freedoms.