World at War (Otbebookpublishing)

The diary of a World War One U-Boat commander. As well as being a fascinating glimpse of life on the German U-boats during the intense submarine blockade, this also reminds us there were humans involved - on both sides of the action - as we read too of the intimate thoughts and intense love of a man longing for his sweetheart.

Excerpt: "Within the last decade of the history of Great Britain, some very important books have been added to her literature, and especially to that particular division which treats of her wars and splendid victories, during the same period. "The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World," by Sir E. S. Creasy, Chief Justice of Ceylon; "The Twelve Great Battles of England," inscribed to the British Volunteers of 1860; "England's Battles by Sea and Land," "Russell's Crimea and India," "Emerson's Sebastopol," &c., are valuable in themselves, as describing those victories which have raised "Dear Old England" to the very first rank among the nations. But the object of the present publication embraces a larger and more extended field of research. It embraces the whole of the principal battles, by land and sea, that have EVER taken place, from the earliest recorded action of which we have in history any distinct and reliable information, to the very last event of military importance which has transpired previous to going to press."

Excerpt: "There was a young man in my squadron whom I shall call Frank Gillham. He was the son of a Wisconsin farmer, and had enlisted in the ranks as a patriotic duty. Frank was young and handsome, a fine horseman, and rode one of the handsomest horses in the squadron. He was just the person whom one would suppose sure to rise from the ranks and perform many a gallant feat during the war. A few weeks ago the horse was reported sick. It had but a cold, and we thought that a few days would find it well again. But the cold grew worse and changed to pneumonia, a disease of the lungs fearfully prevalent here among both men and horses."

Excerpt: "If the intelligent foreigner, who is supposed to make so many interesting and novel observations on the aspect of the countries he visits, and on the manners of the people among whom he travels, were to visit the United States at this juncture, he would fail to detect any marked indication of the extraordinary crisis which agitates the members of the Great Republic, either at the principal emporium of its commerce, or at the city which claims to be the sole seat of its Government. Accustomed to the manifestation of violent animosity and great excitement among the nations of Europe during political convulsions, he would be struck with astonishment, if not moved to doubt, when, casting his eyes on the columns of the multitudinous journals which swarm from every printing-press in the land, he read that the United States were in such throes of mortal agony, that those who knew the constitution of the patient best, were scarce able to prophesy any result except final dissolution."

Excerpt: "The Russians advanced down the hill at a slow canter, which they changed to a trot, and at last nearly halted. Their first line was at least double the length of ours - it was three times as deep. Behind them was a similar line, equally strong and compact. They evidently despised their insignificant looking enemy; but their time was come. The trumpets rang out again through the valley, and the Greys and Enniskilleners went right at the centre of the Russian cavalry."

Excerpt: "One of the minor peculiarities of this unprecedented war is the Tour of the Front. After some months of suppressed information-in which even the war correspondent was discouraged to the point of elimination-it was discovered on both sides that this was a struggle in which Opinion was playing a larger and more important part than it had ever done before. This wild spreading weed was perhaps of decisive importance; the Germans at any rate were attempting to make it a cultivated flower. There was Opinion flowering away at home, feeding rankly on rumour; Opinion in neutral countries; Opinion getting into great tangles of misunderstanding and incorrect valuation between the Allies. The confidence and courage of the enemy; the amiability and assistance of the neutral; the zeal, sacrifice, and serenity of the home population; all were affected. The German cultivation of opinion began long before the war; it is still the most systematic and, because of the psychological ineptitude of the Germans, it is probably the clumsiest. The French Maison de la Presse is certainly the best organisation in existence for making things clear, counteracting hostile suggestion, the British official organisations are comparatively ineffective; but what is lacking officially is very largely made up for by the good will and generous efforts of the English and American press. An interesting monograph might be written upon these various attempts of the belligerents to get themselves and their proceedings explained."

Excerpt: "I was born in the year after King James VI. acquired the dominion of England, at my father's tower of Craigrollo, which overlooks the great bay of Cromartie. The youngest of four sons, I was (God knows why) a child of ill-omen from my birth; for, before that event came to pass, my mother had various remarkable dreams, which were darkly and mysteriously construed by certain Highland crones of the district; and the whole family made up their minds to expect that I should never be the source of aught else but discomfort and disgrace to them."

Excerpt: "I am now truly a member of the army of the great unwashed and unwashable-no, I take that back. They are washable. I saw a grizzly old 2Sergeant herding four of them out to the washroom this evening. Each of them carried a formidable square of yellow soap and a most unhappy expression. But the Sergeant looked pleased with his detail."

White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War is the fifth book by American writer Herman Melville, first published in London in 1850. The book is based on the author's fourteen months' service in the United States Navy, aboard the frigate USS Neversink (actually USS United States). The novel takes its title from the outer garment that the eponymous main character fashions for himself on board ship, with materials at hand, being in need of a coat sufficient for the rounding of Cape Horn. Due to a ship-wide rationing of tar, however, White-Jacket is forever denied his wish to tar the exterior of his coat and thus waterproof it. This causes him to have two near-death experiences, once when he is reclining among the canvases in the main-top and, his jacket blending in with the surrounding material, he is nearly unfurled along with the main sail; and once when, having been pitched overboard while reeving the halyards, he has to cut himself free from the coat in order not to drown.

The Point Of Honor is a historical fiction work by Joseph Conrad. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, this story features two French Hussar officers, D'Hubert and Feraud. Their quarrel over an initially minor incident turns into a bitter, long-drawn out struggle over the following fifteen years, interwoven with the larger conflict that provides its backdrop. At the beginning, Feraud is the one who jealously guards his honor and repeatedly demands satisfaction anew when a duelling encounter ends inconclusively; he aggressively pursues every opportunity to locate and duel his foe. As the story progresses, D'Hubert also finds himself caught up in the contest, unable to back down or walk away.

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Essentially a book about The Power of Friendship and The Power of Love, The Wounded Name details the development of the two heroes' deep affection for one another, as well as the heroic Undying Loyalty, which comes to define Laurent's character. Originally published in 1922 by British novelist D.K. Broster, The Wounded Name tells the story of Laurent de Courtomer, whose noble family left France for England as a result of the French Revolution. After Napoleon abdicates the French throne in 1813, Laurent prepares to return to France with his family, but not before meeting a legendary hero of the French forces - Aymar de la Rocheterie, also known as L'Oiseleur. Aymar's exploits in the army, both real and mythological, have spread far and wide among the Royalist populace. He and Laurent become fast friends, and Laurent in particular finds himself infatuated and lost in hero-worship.

Excerpt: Le jour viendra, it is the motto of our family-given to us by Henry VI. 'The day will come,'" said old Lord Lamorna, proudly, as he lay back in his easy chair, with his elbows resting on the arms thereof, and the tips of his upraised fingers placed together, as if he was about to pray; "and most applicable is that motto to you, nephew Richard, for I am sure that when you are my age you will regret not having taken my advice." Richard Trevelyan smiled, but looked somewhat uneasily at his younger brother Downie. "You are too rich to throw yourself away, and too well-born even for the most highly, accomplished daughter of a cotton-lord, or knighted mill-owner," resumed his stately old uncle, sententiously; "a fellow knighted too probably for dirty ministerial work; but assume a virtue if you have it not, and let us see you" "Excuse me, my lord, excuse me, my dear uncle. I have no desire to-to marry; why you, yourself." "Don't cite me, Richard. You are only forty-three, if so much" (and here, for the information of our young lady readers, we may mention that Richard is not the hero of these pages). "I am past seventy, yet I may marry yet, and do you all out of the title," added Lamorna, with a laugh like a cackle."

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Excerpt: "There was an air of great refinement in both husband and wife, an air that contrasted strongly and strangely, with their plain attire and circumscribed dwelling. Greville Hampton's face was dark in complexion, aquiline in feature, a very handsome face, one quite warranted to claim the unmistakable admiration his wife had for it, and yet it was not a pleasing one. His brow was, indicative of intellect and courage; his lip, shaded by a black moustache, was indicative of a resolute will and firm purpose; and his dark hazel eyes, if stern and even gloomy in their normal expression, could soften with a depth of affection, when they dwelt on the face of Mary, on the child that was playing at their feet, or at the approach of a friend, and showed that he had a warm heart under the crust, in which he was wont to hide it. Early disappointment, great monetary losses, and a wrong more real than fancied, the loss of a title and patrimony, had much to do with the latter, and hence came the bitter expression that at times stole over his well-formed mouth, and the shadow that clouded a really handsome face."

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A veteran officer of the Civil War and the Indian Wars, General Henry B. Carrington was a prolific writer and student of military affairs. In this detailed account of George Washington as a military leader, Carrington evaluates issues such as strategy, logistics, engineering, tactics, and more. Drawn from letters and orders, he paints a portrait of a commander, who was the man of his time. It is a fascinating and vibrant tale. (Goodreads)

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Excerpt: "In the latter part of June 18- the little city of Oxford, Miss., was teeming with visitors, not only from various portions of the State, but from the adjoining States of Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana. This concourse of people was no unusual spectacle to the citizens of Oxford; for it was but the gathering that occurred regularly once a year. The center of attraction to this fashionable, well-dressed assemblage was the University of Mississippi, which has sent forth hundreds of young men intellectually equipped for the stern struggle for existence-a struggle, the contemplation and investigation of which gave birth to Mr. Darwin's doctrine of "The survival of the fittest." What was the meaning of this concourse? It was Commencement day. The University would again dismiss another class of her children to assume the grave responsibilities of citizenship, and to enter into the new and strange relations for which they had been preparing by years of diligent study. At last, they were to lay aside the toga virilis trita, and don the toga pexa of manhood. It was the last day, and the exercises of the graduating class were to close the week's program."

1889 Civil War Story of Battle and Prison, of Peril and Escape - The incidents of the book are real ones, drawn in part from the writer's personal experiences and observations as a soldier of the Union, during that war. He is also indebted to many comrades for reminiscences of battle and prison life. The perilous escape of Jed and Dick, from Andersonville down the Flint and Apalachicola Rivers, to the Gulf of Mexico, is in substance the narrative of a comrade whom the writer knew at Andersonville, and afterwards met, when the war had closed. The descriptions of the prison are especially truthful, for in them the author briefly tells what he himself saw.

The book introduces us to the titular character, a 30-ish office clerk in London's Distribution Office, a government worker of no particular smarts or ambitions. An easygoing everyman, Savage, when we first encounter him, seems to have nothing more on his mind than collecting art prints and courting his boss' daughter, Phillida Rathbone, a stylish young woman who soon consents to be his fiancée. Not even the vague rumors of war looming on the horizon are sufficient to disturb the placidity of Theodore's existence. But, sadly enough, those rumors do indeed prove to be borne out, and England and all of Europe are soon plunged into yet another conflict. The happy couple is separated when Theodore is sent up north to York, and it is in that ancient city that Theodore first sees the war come to his native land. As the bombings commence upon British soil, whole populations are displaced, food supplies grow short, communications are broken, and the people are quickly stripped of their civilized veneer. Theodore is detailed to an army unit guarding a precious food supply, a unit that is quickly overrun by the starving desperate hordes, leaving Savage beaten, battered and alone, but still somehow alive. And so, his years as a wanderer begin, as the world as we know it quickly devolves to an almost prehistoric level of barbarism.

For fifteen years, John G. Bourke served under General George Crook as they fought side by side on the frontiers of the United States from Mexico to the Canadian border. Crook and his troops clashed against some of the most formidable opponents of the nineteenth century during the Great Sioux War and the Apache Wars, including Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Geronimo. This fascinating account of these times, brings to life the frontier of the Old West, with vivid descriptions, humorous anecdotes and deadly encounters. On the Border with Crook is essential reading for anyone interested in not only Crook's military campaigns of the American Indian wars but also anyone wishing to find out how settlers and communities survived and prospered through adversity.

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Synopsis currently unavailable.

Excerpt: -Quite right for once, Moke. Young brothers are unmitigated nuisances," declared Hugh Holcombe. "If I hadn't been such a silly owl to let my young brother try his luck with my motor-bike, I wouldn't be sitting here in this muggy carriage. Any sign of Slogger yet?" The youth addressed as Moke thrust his bulky head and shoulders out of the open window and made a deliberate survey of the road that ran steadily down the hillside until it merged into the station yard of the little town of Lynbury. It was a case of somewhat regrettable inadvertence when fifteen years previously Sylvester's parents had had him christened in the name of Anthony Alexander; for when, in due course, the lad entered Claverdon College the fellows, the moment they saw his initials painted boldly upon his trunk and tuck-box, dubbed him "Moke," and the name stuck like tar."

The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer is an 1871 novella by George Tomkyns Chesney, starting the genre of invasion literature and an important precursor of science fiction. Written just after the Prussian victory in the Franco-Prussian War, it describes an invasion of Britain by a German-speaking country referred to in oblique terms as The Other Power or The Enemy.

Excerpt: "It was the autumn of a bleak day in the September of 1566. Enveloped in murky clouds, through which, at times, its red rays shot along the crested waves, the Norwegian sun was verging to the westward. From the frozen Baltic a cold wind swept down the Skager Rack, and, urged by the whole force of the Atlantic ocean, the sullen waves poured their foam upon the rocky bluffs and fissured crags that overhang the fiord of Christiana. In those days, a vessel in the fiord proved an object of the greatest interest to the inhabitants of the hamlet; and it was with growing fears that the anxious housewives and weatherwise fishermen of Bergen, a little wooden town situated on the bay of Christiana, watched the exertions made by the crew of a small crayer or brigantine, of some eighty tons or so, that under bare poles, or having at least only her great square spritsail and jib set, endeavoured to weather the rocky headland to the east, and gain their little harbour, within which the water lay smooth as a millpond, forming by its placidity a strong contrast to the boiling and heaving ocean without."

Excerpt: "On the 19th of May, 1537, the bells of Edinburgh rang joyously. It was a day of loyalty and merriment such as never more may gladden Scotland's ancient capital. After a nine months' absence, James V.-"the good king James, the commons' king, the father of the poor," the patron of the infant arts and sciences, the mirror of chivalry and romance, as he was affectionately named by a people who idolized him-had arrived in the Firth of Forth with his young queen Magdalene of Valois, whom for her dazzling beauty he had chosen from among three princesses, all possessed of unusual charms, and whom he had espoused in the great cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, in presence of her father, the magnificent and magnanimous Francis I., seven cardinals, and all the noblesse and beauty of France. After spending the honeymoon at the Htel de Cluny, a beautiful old gothic house belonging to the family of Lorraine, they had sailed for Scotland."

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Tales of War is a melancholy, atypical, and occasionally surprising book by the author of The Gods of Pegana and The King of Elfland's Daughter. It was written for a political rather than artistic purpose, but because it was painfully inspired from life (and death) and because it is written by a great writer, it is far more than just a curio. It also crosses more than once into the fantastic realm, which is partly why it is of interest to readers of Dunsany's classic fantasy works.

Galusha Anderson was a pro-Union Baptist minister in St. Louis from 1858-1866. Anderson's book covers the entire course of the war in Missouri, focusing heavily on St. Louis itself. Among the many topics covered are the Minute Men and the Home Guard, the churches of St. Louis, Martial Law and property confiscation, refugees, the Sanitary Commission, the OAK scare of 1864, and the Loyalty Oath of 1865. Anderson's opinion of his own importance in events is exaggerated, and at times the reader would be forgiven for thinking that Blair, Lyon, Fremont, Schofield, Rosecrans, et al could have just stayed in bed -- it was really Galusha who held the fate of the Union cause in Missouri in his strong hands.--Missouri Civil War Reader. (Google)

As a young soldier in the battlefields of Gallipoli, Sydney Loch witnessed the horror of war first-hand. On his return to Australia, he detailed what he saw in his book, the Straits Impregnable. Hoping to avoid military censorship, his publishers dubbed Sydney's book a novel. But, as the war ground on and the numbers of casualties grew, the publisher inserted a note saying the story was factual. The book, which had enjoyed huge literary acclaim, was immediately withdrawn from sale by the censors.

This is a 1914 novel written by H. G. Wells. Within it, wells writes passionately and with elegance about his conviction that World War I will be the war to end all wars. Although he was obviously and unfortunately wrong in his suppositions, his book makes a good case for his belief and is highly recommended for those with an interest in WWI.

Excerpt: "There is a general admission that the means to such an end are wanting, and that the desire cannot be gratified. But the admiration for monarchical institutions on the English model, for privileged classes, and for a landed aristocracy and gentry, is undisguised and apparently genuine. With the pride of having achieved their independence is mingled in the South Carolinians' hearts a strange regret at the result and consequences, and many are they who "would go back to-morrow if we could." An intense affection for the British connection, a love of British habits and customs, a respect for British sentiment, law, authority, order, civilization, and literature, pre-eminently distinguish the inhabitants of this state, who, glorying in their descent from ancient families on the three islands, whose fortunes they still follow, and with whose members they maintain not unfrequently familiar relations, regard with an aversion of which it is impossible to give an idea to one who has not seen its manifestations, the people of New England and the populations of the Northern States, whom they regard as tainted beyond cure by the venom of "Puritanism." "

Meine Erinnerungen aus Ostafrika ist die autobiografische Darstellung von General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, einem deutschen Offizier, der während des Ersten Weltkriegs in Ostafrika diente. Das Buch wurde erstmals 1919 veröffentlicht und bietet Einblicke in seine Erfahrungen und Operationen in dieser wenig erforschten Front des Krieges. Die Erinnerungen von General von Lettow-Vorbeck sind besonders bemerkenswert, da er als deutscher Kommandeur in Ostafrika gegen die alliierten Streitkräfte kämpfte, nachdem das Deutsche Reich im Ersten Weltkrieg bereits erhebliche Verluste erlitten hatte. Trotz der beispiellosen Herausforderungen und Überlegenheit der Alliierten leitete von Lettow-Vorbeck eine lang anhaltende Guerillakampagne und führte seine Truppen in zahlreiche Schlachten und Scharmützel. Das Buch "Meine Erinnerungen aus Ostafrika" bietet einen einzigartigen Einblick in die Kriegsführung und die Bedingungen in Ostafrika, in die Beziehungen zu den einheimischen Bevölkerungen und in die Anstrengungen und Opfer, die von Lettow-Vorbeck und seine Truppen erbrachten. Es ist ein wertvolles historisches Dokument, das die Perspektive eines deutschen Offiziers auf den Ersten Weltkrieg in Afrika bietet und die bemerkenswerte Leistung von Lettow-Vorbeck und seinen Männern würdigt.

Excerpt: "The average colonist landing on the wild shores of North America in the early 1600's set great store by his arms and armor. The Pilgrims were no exception. They were strangers in a vast and largely unknown land, inhabited by wild beasts and peopled by savages who were frequently hostile. Greatly outnumbered by known enemies and possibly facing dangers, of which they were not yet aware, these Englishmen placed their main hope for survival on the possession of superior weapons and protective armor. On the more peaceful side, their firearms were also valuable, for they provided fresh meat for the table and furs for sale back home. Because the colonist was so dependent on his arms, he soon learned to select the most efficient kinds that he could obtain. In so doing, he pushed the evolution of military materiel far ahead of contemporary Europe and developed a high degree of skill, particularly in the use of firearms. The military supplies, which the Pilgrims brought with them may be divided into three major categories: defensive armor, edged weapons, and projectile weapons. A completely armed man, especially in the first years, was usually equipped with one or more articles from each of the three groups, usually a helmet and corselet, a sword, and a musket."

"Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Volume I" by Various Authors presents a compelling account of one of the 20th century's most pivotal legal proceedings. In "Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Volume I," readers are immersed in the "Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10, Volume II," which meticulously documents the period from October 1946 to April 1949. The anthology captures the courtroom dynamics as prosecutors and defense attorneys navigate the complexities of prosecuting Nazi war criminals. Key figures such as Dr. Karl Brandt and Dr. Hoven are brought to life, providing chilling insights into the justifications for wartime atrocities. The volume delves into the controversial arguments presented during trials, particularly around medical experiments conducted on concentration camp inmates. By presenting these testimonies and defenses, the anthology challenges readers to consider the broader implications on international law and the ethical boundaries of scientific research. This collection is essential for anyone interested in the Nuremberg Trials, offering a detailed perspective on the trials' impact on contemporary justice and accountability. Themes of moral responsibility and the limits of authority resonate throughout, making this anthology a critical resource for those studying war crime trials and their lasting significance. Whether you're drawn to historical legal battles or the ethical questions they raise, "Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Volume I" provides an insightful narrative that remains relevant in today's discussions on justice.

Excerpt: "In April 1949, judgment was rendered in the last of the series of 12 Nuernberg war crimes trials which had begun in October 1946 and were held pursuant to Allied Control Council Law No. 10. Far from being of concern solely to lawyers, these trials are of especial interest to soldiers, historians, students of international affairs, and others. The defendants in these proceedings, charged with war crimes and other offenses against international penal law, were prominent figures in Hitler's Germany and included such outstanding diplomats and politicians as the State Secretary of the Foreign Office, von Weizsaecker, and cabinet ministers von Krosigk and Lammers; military leaders such as Field Marshals von Leeb, List, and von Kuechler; SS leaders such as Ohlendorf, Pohl, and Hildebrandt; industrialists such as Flick, Alfried Krupp, and the directors of I. G. Farben; and leading professional men such as the famous physician Gerhard Rose, and the jurist and Acting Minister of Justice, Schlegelberger. In view of the weight of the accusations and the far-flung activities of the defendants, and the extraordinary amount of official contemporaneous German documents introduced in evidence, the records of these trials constitute a major source of historical material covering many events of the fateful years 1933 (and even earlier) to 1945, in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The Nuernberg trials under Law No. 10 were carried out under the direct authority of the Allied Control Council, as manifested in that law, which authorized the establishment of the Tribunals. The judicial machinery for the trials, including the Military Tribunals and the Office, Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, was prescribed by Military Government Ordinance No. 7 and was part of the occupation administration for the American zone, the Office of Military Government (OMGUS). Law No. 10, Ordinance No. 7, and other basic jurisdictional or administrative documents are printed in full hereinafter. The proceedings in these trials were conducted throughout in the German and English languages, and were recorded in full by stenographic notes, and by electrical sound recording of all oral proceedings. The 12 cases required over 1,200 days of court proceedings and the transcript of these proceedings exceeds 330,000 pages, exclusive of hundreds of document books, briefs, etc. Publication of all of this material, accordingly, was quite unfeasible. This series, however, contains the indictments, judgments, and other important portions of the record of the 12 cases, and it is believed that these materials give a fair picture of the trials, and as full and illuminating a picture as is possible within the space available. Copies of the entire record of the trials are available in the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and elsewhere. In some cases, due to time limitations, errors of one sort or another have crept into the translations which were available to the Tribunal. In other cases the same document appears in different trials, or even at different parts of the same trial, with variations in translation. For the most part these inconsistencies have been allowed to remain and only such errors as might cause misunderstanding have been corrected."

Excerpt: "In April 1949, judgment was rendered in the last of the series of 12 Nuernberg war crimes trials which had begun in October 1946 and were held pursuant to Allied Control Council Law No. 10. Far from being of concern solely to lawyers, these trials are of especial interest to soldiers, historians, students of international affairs, and others. The defendants in these proceedings, charged with war crimes and other offenses against international penal law, were prominent figures in Hitler's Germany and included such outstanding diplomats and politicians as the State Secretary of the Foreign Office, von Weizsaecker, and cabinet ministers von Krosigk and Lammers; military leaders such as Field Marshals von Leeb, List, and von Kuechler; SS leaders such as Ohlendorf, Pohl, and Hildebrandt; industrialists such as Flick, Alfried Krupp, and the directors of I. G. Farben; and leading professional men such as the famous physician Gerhard Rose, and the jurist and Acting Minister of Justice, Schlegelberger. In view of the weight of the accusations and the far-flung activities of the defendants, and the extraordinary amount of official contemporaneous German documents introduced in evidence, the records of these trials constitute a major source of historical material covering many events of the fateful years 1933 (and even earlier) to 1945, in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The Nuernberg trials under Law No. 10 were carried out under the direct authority of the Allied Control Council, as manifested in that law, which authorized the establishment of the Tribunals. The judicial machinery for the trials, including the Military Tribunals and the Office, Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, was prescribed by Military Government Ordinance No. 7 and was part of the occupation administration for the American zone, the Office of Military Government (OMGUS). Law No. 10, Ordinance No. 7, and other basic jurisdictional or administrative documents are printed in full hereinafter. The proceedings in these trials were conducted throughout in the German and English languages, and were recorded in full by stenographic notes, and by electrical sound recording of all oral proceedings. The 12 cases required over 1,200 days of court proceedings and the transcript of these proceedings exceeds 330,000 pages, exclusive of hundreds of document books, briefs, etc. Publication of all of this material, accordingly, was quite unfeasible. This series, however, contains the indictments, judgments, and other important portions of the record of the 12 cases, and it is believed that these materials give a fair picture of the trials, and as full and illuminating a picture as is possible within the space available. Copies of the entire record of the trials are available in the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and elsewhere. In some cases, due to time limitations, errors of one sort or another have crept into the translations which were available to the Tribunal. In other cases the same document appears in different trials, or even at different parts of the same trial, with variations in translation. For the most part these inconsistencies have been allowed to remain and only such errors as might cause misunderstanding have been corrected."

Andersonville Diary, Escape, and List of the Dead is a primary source documents which lists soldiers held in the horrific Confederate POW camp.(amazon)

Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile is the eighth book by American writer Herman Melville. When Israel Potter leaves his plow to fight in the American Revolution, he's immediately thrown into the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he receives multiple wounds. However, this does not deter him, and after hearing a rousing speech by General George Washington, he volunteers for further duty, this time at sea, where more ill fortune awaits him. Israel is captured by the British Navy and taken to England. Israel Potter (1744–1826) was a real person born in Cranston, Rhode Island. According to his own account, a memoir titled The Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter (published 1824), he had been a veteran of the Battle of Bunker Hill, a sailor in the Revolutionary navy, a prisoner of the British, an escapee in England, a secret agent and courier in France, and a 45-year exile from his native land as a laborer, pauper, and peddler in London. Melville's plot combines a number of Potter's actual encounters-King George III, Horne Tooke, and Benjamin Franklin-with some he never had-Ethan Allen and John Paul Jones.

Excerpt: "It was the evening of the sixteenth of March. Exactly six months had elapsed since I left my father's snug villa at Peckham, with its walls shrouded by roses and honeysuckle; and now I found myself two thousand three hundred miles distant from it, in his agent's counting-room, in the dreary little town of St. John, in Newfoundland, writing in a huge ledger, and blowing my fingers from time to time, for snow more than ten feet deep covered all the desolate country, and the shipping in the harbour was imbedded in ice at least three feet in thickness; while the thermometer, at which I glanced pretty often, informed me that the mercury had sunk twelve degrees below the freezing point. While busily engrossing quintals of salted fish, by the thousand, barrels of Hamburg meal and Irish pork, chests of bohea, bales of shingles, kegs of gunpowder, caplin nets, anchors and cables, and Indian corn from the United States, with all the heterogeneous mass of everything which usually fill the stores of a wealthy merchant in that terra nova, I thought of the noisy world of London, from which I had been banished, or, as tutors and guardians phrased it, "sent to learn something of my father's business-i.e., practically to begin life as he had begun it;" and so I sighed impatiently over my monotonous task, while melting the congealed ink, from time to time, on the Birchwood fire, and reverting to what March is in England, where we may watch the bursting of the new buds and early flowers; where the birds are heard in every sprouting hedge and tree, and as we inhale the fresh breeze of the morning, a new and unknown delight makes our pulses quicken and a glow of tenderness fill the heart-for then we see and feel, as some one says, "what we have seen and felt only in childhood and spring.”

John James Geer, a Union soldier captured at the Battle of Shiloh, recounts his experiences as a prisoner in the Confederacy in Beyond the Lines: A Yankee Prisoner Loose in Dixie.

Excerpt: "The American people of today, weighed in the balances of the greatest armed conflict of all time and found not wanting, can afford to survey, in a spirit of candid scrutiny and without reviving an ancient grudge, that turbulent episode in the welding of their nation which is called the War of 1812. In spite of defeats and disappointments this war was, in the large, enduring sense, a victory. It was in this renewed defiance of England that the dream of the founders of the Republic and the ideals of the embattled farmers of Bunker Hill and Saratoga achieved their goal. Henceforth the world was to respect these States, not as so many colonies bitterly wrangling among themselves, but as a sovereign and independent nation. The War of 1812, like the American Revolution, was a valiant contest for survival on the part of the spirit of freedom. It was essentially akin to the world-wide struggle of a century later, when sons of the old foemen of 1812-sons of the painted Indians and of the Kentucky pioneers in fringed buckskins, sons of the New Hampshire ploughboys clad in homespun, sons of the Canadian militia and the red-coated regulars of the British line, sons of the tarry seamen of the Constitution and the Guerrière-stood side by side as brothers in arms to save from brutal obliteration the same spirit of freedom. And so it is that in Flanders fields today the poppies blow above the graves of the sons of the men who fought each other a century ago in the Michigan wilderness and at Lundy's Lane."

H.G. Wells wrote this in 1921 as basically a series of lectures he planned to give in America on how the future of education should go. In his present, Wells found the educational system deplorable. The substance of the book is an excruciatingly detailed and rather pedantic treatise on how to fix, not only education, but civilization itself, although his greatest concentration was on education. It's a secret to only a few perhaps, that Wells favored Socialism over Capitalism.

Written in 1865 by the war correspondent of the Times (London), William H. Russell, this book tells the story of the 1865 attempt to lay the Atlantic Cable from the Great Eastern, Brunel's mammoth ship converted to cable laying for the purpose. After relating the details of the failed attempts to lay the cable in 1857/58, the book describes and illustrates the expedition of 1865. While it, too, ended in failure, it showed that the ship was capable of completing the task, and the cable was successfully laid the following year.

Excerpt: "The story of American ships and sailors is an epic of blue water which seems singularly remote, almost unreal, to the later generations. A people with a native genius for seafaring won and held a brilliant supremacy through two centuries and then forsook this heritage of theirs. The period of achievement was no more extraordinary than was its swift declension. A maritime race whose topsails flecked every ocean, whose captains courageous from father to son had fought with pike and cannonade to defend the freedom of the seas, turned inland to seek a different destiny and took no more thought for the tall ships and rich cargoes which had earned so much renown for its flag. Vanished fleets and brave memories-a chronicle of America which had written its closing chapters before the Civil War! There will be other Yankee merchantmen in times to come, but never days like those when skippers sailed on seas uncharted in quest of ports mysterious and unknown. The Pilgrim Fathers, driven to the northward of their intended destination in Virginia, landed on the shore of Cape Cod not so much to clear the forest and till the soil as to establish a fishing settlement. Like the other Englishmen who long before 1620 had steered across to harvest the cod on the Grand Bank, they expected to wrest a livelihood mostly from salt water. The convincing argument in favour of Plymouth was that it offered a good harbor for boats and was "a place of profitable fishing." Both pious and amphibious were these pioneers whom the wilderness and the red Indian confined to the water's edge, where they were soon building ships to trade corn for beaver skins with the Kennebec colony."