Books about Brigade from Amazon.com

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For the woman more accustomed to singing Missoni's praises than singing lullabies comes Amy Allen's irresistible This Little Piggy Went to Prada: Nursery Rhymes for the Blahnik Brigade. Filled from cover to cover with sumptuous full color illustrations by Eun-Kyung Kung, This Little Piggy Went to Prada presents classic nursery rhymes with a thoroughly modern and charmingly ironic spin that will make the most sleepless fashionista mom smile, even when she's knee-deep in diapers.

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Price: $5.75 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Iron Brigade--an all-Western outfit famously branded as The Iron Brigade of the West--served out their enlistments entirely in the Eastern Theater. Hardy men were these soldiers from Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan, who waged war beneath their unique black Hardee Hats on many fields, from Brawner's Farm during the Second Bull Run Campaign all the way to Appomattox. In between were memorable combats at South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Mine Run, the Overland Campaign, and the grueling fighting around Petersburg. None of these battles compared with the "four long hours" of July 1, 1863, at Gettysburg, where the Iron Brigade was all but wrecked.

Lance Herdegen's Those Damned Black Hats! The Iron Brigade in the Gettysburg Campaign is the first book-length account of their remarkable experiences in Pennsylvania during that fateful summer of 1863. Drawing upon a wealth of sources, including dozens of previously unpublished or unused accounts, Herdegen details for the first time the exploits of the 2nd, 6th, 7th Wisconsin, 19th Indiana, and 24th Michigan regiments during the entire campaign. On July 1, the Western troops stood line-to-line and often face-to-face with their Confederate adversaries, who later referred to them as "those damned Black Hats." With the help of other stalwart comrades, the Hoosiers, Badgers, and Wolverines shed copious amounts of blood to save the Army of the Potomac's defensive position west of town. Their heroics above Willoughby Run, along the Chambersburg Pike, and at the Railroad Cut helped define the opposing lines for the rest of the battle and, perhaps, won the battle that helped preserve the Union.

Herdegen's account is much more than a battle study. The story of the fighting at the "Bloody Railroad Cut" is well known, but the attack and defense of McPherson's Ridge, the final stand at Seminary Ridge, the occupation of Culp's Hill, and the final pursuit of the Confederate Army has never been explored in sufficient depth or with such story telling ability. Herdegen completes the journey of the Black Hats with an account of the reconciliation at the 50th Anniversary Reunion and the Iron Brigade's place in Civil War history.

"Where has the firmness of the Iron Brigade at Gettysburg been surpassed in history?" asked Rufus Dawes of the 6th Wisconsin. Indeed, it was a fair question. The brigade marched to Gettysburg with 1,883 men in ranks and by nightfall on July 1, only 671 men were still to be counted. It would fight on to the end of the Civil War, and do so without its all-Western makeup, but never again was it a major force in battle.

Some 150 years after the last member of the Iron Brigade laid down his life for his country, the complete story of what the Black Hats did at Gettysburg and how they remembered it is finally available..
Price: $21.39 [Notify me when price goes down.]

What Do You Know about America's Vice Presidents?

(The official quiz that you, the reader, should take right now to determine if you need this book)

1. How many vice presidents went on to become president
2. How many sitting presidents died or were forced from office?
3. How many vice presidents shot men while in office?
4. Who was the better shot?
5. Who was the first vice president to assume power when a president died?
6. Why did he return official letters without reading them?
7. What vice president was almost torn limb form limb in Venezuela?
8. Which former VP was tried for treason for trying to start his own empire in the Southwest?
9. How many vice presidents were assassinated?
10. In the next presidential election, should you worry about the candidates for vice president?

(Bonus challenge: For extra points, name the men that the vice presidents shot!)

See answers below. No cheating!

The vice presidency isn't worth "a bucket of warm spit"

That's the prudish version of what John Nance Garner had to say about the office--several years after serving as VP under FDR. Was he right?

The vice presidency is one of America's most historically complicated, intriguing, and underappreciated public offices. And Jeremy Lott's sweeping, hilarious, and insightful history introduces readers to the unusual and sometimes shadowy cast of characters that have occupied it:

• Aaron Burr, the only VP tried for treason
• John Tyler, president without a party
• Andrew Johnson, defiant drunkard
• Thomas Marshall, who should have been president
• Richard Nixon, underdog and daredevil
• Gerald Ford, icon of the 1970s
• Al Gore, the most frustrated man in America
• And, of course, the real Dick Cheney

With crisp prose, Lott focuses on their bitter rivalries and rank ambitions, their glorious victories and tragic setbacks. At the end of hundreds of historical vignettes, interviews, and pilgrimages to obscure places, Lott concludes that the vice presidency is an invaluable political institution that tends to frustrate the ambitions of America's most ambitious politicans--an ungainly launch pad for future political success and a drunk tank for those who would imbibe too deeply of power.

Answers to Quiz!

1. Fourteen of the forty-three presidents were vice president
2. It's happened eight times so far
3. Aaron Burr and Dick Cheney
4. Aaron Burr
5. John Tyler
6. Because he insisted on being called "president," not "vice president" or "acting president"
7. Richard Nixon
8. Aaron Burr (him again!)
9. None, though an assassin was hired to kill Andrew Johnson
10. See answers one and two and then ask yourself, "Does America feel lucky?"

Answers to bonus challenge: Alexander Hamilton and Harry Whittington

Score:

0-4 You are a novice who should probably buy this book

5-8 You are a history buff who should love this book

9-12 You are a smart cookie who should appear on Jeopardy--and buy this book for show prep

 

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Price: $11.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

November 1944. The British government finally agrees to send a brigade of 5,000 Jewish volunteers from Palestine to Europe to fight the German army. But when the war ends and the soldiers witness firsthand the horrors their people have suffered in the concentration camps, the men launch a brutal and calculating campaign of vengeance, forming secret squads to identify, locate, and kill Nazi officers in hiding. Their own ferocity threatens to overwhelm them until a fortuitous encounter with an orphaned girl sets the men on a course of action—rescuing Jewish war orphans and transporting them to Palestine—that will not only change their lives but also help create a nation and forever alter the course of world history.

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Kill Me If You Can, You SOB is a judicious, penetrating record of the Vietnam War as experienced by an ordinary soldier. Through diary entries written over three decades ago, we get a rare and illuminating glimpse into one of America's greatest tragedies. Bob Miller's unflinching observations not only expose the harsh realities of war, but also provide a long-overdue tribute to the men who fought it..
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