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Books > Biography > Historical, political & military
In spring 1876 a physician named James Madison DeWolf accepted the
assignment of contract surgeon for the Seventh Cavalry, becoming
one of three surgeons who accompanied Custer's battalion at the
Battle of the Little Big Horn. Killed in the early stages of the
battle, he might easily have become a mere footnote in the many
chronicles of this epic campaign - but he left behind an eyewitness
account in his diary and correspondence. A Surgeon with Custer at
the Little Big Horn is the first annotated edition of these rare
accounts since 1958, and the most complete treatment to date. While
researchers have known of DeWolf's diary for many years, few
details have surfaced about the man himself. In A Surgeon with
Custer at the Little Big Horn, Todd E. Harburn bridges this gap,
providing a detailed biography of DeWolf as well as extensive
editorial insight into his writings. As one of the most highly
educated men who traveled with Custer, the surgeon was well
equipped to compose articulate descriptions of the 1876 campaign
against the Indians, a fateful journey that began for him at Fort
Lincoln, Dakota Territory, and ended on the battlefield in eastern
Montana Territory. In letters to his beloved wife, Fannie, and in
diary entries - reproduced in this volume exactly as he wrote them
- DeWolf describes the terrain, weather conditions, and medical
needs that he and his companions encountered along the way. After
DeWolf's death, his colleague Dr. Henry Porter, who survived the
conflict, retrieved his diary and sent it to DeWolf's widow. Later,
the DeWolf family donated it to the Little Bighorn Battlefield
National Monument. Now available in this accessible and fully
annotated format, the diary, along with the DeWolf's personal
correspondence, serves as a unique primary resource for information
about the Little Big Horn campaign and medical practices on the
western frontier.
Within Argentina, Juan Domingo Peron continues to be the subject of
exaggerated and diametrically opposed views. A dictator, a great
leader, the hero of the working classes and Argentina's "first
worker"; a weak and spineless man dependent on his strongerwilled
wife; a Latin American visionary; a traitor, responsible for
dragging Argentina into a modern, socially just 20th century
society or, conversely, destroying for all time a prosperous nation
and fomenting class war and unreasonable aspirations among his
client base. Outside Argentina, Peron remains overshadowed by his
second wife, Evita. The life of this fascinating and unusual man,
whose charisma, political influence and controversial nature
continue to generate interest, remains somewhat of a mystery to the
rest of the world. Peron remains a key figure in Argentine
politics, still able to occupy so much of the political spectrum as
to constrain the development of viable alternatives. Jill Hedges
explores the life and personality of Peron and asks why he remains
a political icon despite the 'negatives' associated with his
extreme personalism.
The first woman in America to own and operate a circus, Agnes
Lake spent thirty years under the Big Top before becoming the wife
of Wild Bill Hickok--a mere five months before he was killed.
Although books abound on the famous lawman, Agnes's life has
remained obscured by circus myth and legend.
Linda A. Fisher and Carrie Bowers have written the first
biography of this colorful but little-known circus performer. Agnes
originally found fame as a slack-wire walker and horseback rider,
and later as an animal trainer. Her circus career spanned more than
four decades. Following the murder of her first husband, Bill Lake,
she was the sole manager of the "Hippo-Olympiad and Mammoth
Circus." While taking her show to Abilene, she met town marshal
Hickok and five years later she married him. After Hickok's death,
Agnes traveled with P. T. Barnum and Buffalo Bill Cody, and managed
her daughter Emma Lake's successful equestrian career.
This account of a remarkable life cuts through fictions about
Agnes's life, including her own embellishments, to uncover her true
story. Numerous illustrations, including rare photographs and
circus memorabilia, bring Agnes's world to life.
Drawing from recently declassified top-secret material, as well as revelatory eyewitness accounts, Secret Service records, and Jacqueline Kennedy's personal letters, bestselling biographer Barbara Leaming answers the question: what was it like to be Mrs. John F. Kennedy during the dramatic thousand days of the Kennedy presidency? Brilliantly researched, Leaming's poignant and powerful chronicle illuminates the tumultuous day-to-day life of a woman who entered the White House at age thirty-one, seven years into a complex and troubled marriage, and left at thirty-four after her husband's assassination. Revealing the full story of the interplay of sex and politics in Washington, Mrs. Kennedy will indelibly challenge our vision of this fascinating woman, and bring a new perspective to her crucial role in the Kennedy presidency.
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