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Semper Fi. The few, the proud. From the halls of Montezuma to the
shores of Tripoli. Once a Marine, always a Marine. The United
States Marine Corps, with its fiercely proud tradition of
excellence in combat, its hallowed rituals, and its unbending code
of honor, is part of the fabric of American myth. No other group in
America leaves so deep and permanent a mark on its members. Today,
though, the Marine Corps feels increasingly besieged, at war with a
new kind of enemy the vast social and political forces that it
feels threaten to destroy its values. "Making the Corps" visits the
front lines of that war: boot camp, Parris Island, South Carolina,
"where the difference begins." Here, old values are stripped away
and new, Marine Corps values, forged. Acclaimed military journalist
Thomas E. Ricks follows sixty-three raw recruits, the men of
recruit platoon 3086, from their hometowns to Parris Island,
through boot camp, and into their first year as Marines. As three
fierce drill instructors fight a battle for the hearts and minds of
this unforgettable group of young men, a larger picture emerges,
brilliantly painted, of the growing gulf that divides the military
from the rest of America.
Today, as liberty and truth are increasingly challenged, the
figures of Churchill and Orwell loom large. Exemplars of
Britishness, they preserved individual freedom and democracy for
the world through their far-sighted vision and inspired action, and
cast a long shadow across our culture and politics. In Churchill
& Orwell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas E. Ricks
masterfully argues that these extraordinary men are as important
today as they ever were. Churchill and Orwell stood in political
opposition to each other, but were both committed to the
preservation of freedom. However, in the late 1930s they occupied a
lonely position: democracy was much discredited, and authoritarian
rulers, fascist and communist, were everywhere in the ascent.
Unlike others, they had the wisdom to see that the most salient
issue was human liberty - and that any government that denies its
people basic rights is a totalitarian menace to be resisted.
Churchill and Orwell proved their age's necessary men, and this
book reveals how they rose from a precarious position to triumph
over the enemies of freedom. Churchill may have played the larger
role in Hitler's defeat, but Orwell's reckoning with the threat of
authoritarian rule in 1984 and Animal Farm defined the stakes of
the Cold War and continues to inspire to this day. Their lives are
an eloquent testament to the power of moral conviction, and to the
courage it takes to stay true to it.
A New York Times bestseller! A New York Times Book Review Notable
Book of 2017 A dual biography of Winston Churchill and George
Orwell, who preserved democracy from the threats of
authoritarianism, from the left and right alike. Both George Orwell
and Winston Churchill came close to death in the mid-1930's-Orwell
shot in the neck in a trench line in the Spanish Civil War, and
Churchill struck by a car in New York City. If they'd died then,
history would scarcely remember them. At the time, Churchill was a
politician on the outs, his loyalty to his class and party suspect.
Orwell was a mildly successful novelist, to put it generously. No
one would have predicted that by the end of the 20th century they
would be considered two of the most important people in British
history for having the vision and courage to campaign tirelessly,
in words and in deeds, against the totalitarian threat from both
the left and the right. In a crucial moment, they responded first
by seeking the facts of the matter, seeing through the lies and
obfuscations, and then they acted on their beliefs. Together, to an
extent not sufficiently appreciated, they kept the West's compass
set toward freedom as its due north. It's not easy to recall now
how lonely a position both men once occupied. By the late 1930's,
democracy was discredited in many circles, and authoritarian rulers
were everywhere in the ascent. There were some who decried the
scourge of communism, but saw in Hitler and Mussolini "men we could
do business with," if not in fact saviors. And there were others
who saw the Nazi and fascist threat as malign, but tended to view
communism as the path to salvation. Churchill and Orwell, on the
other hand, had the foresight to see clearly that the issue was
human freedom-that whatever its coloration, a government that
denied its people basic freedoms was a totalitarian menace and had
to be resisted. In the end, Churchill and Orwell proved their age's
necessary men. The glorious climax of Churchill and Orwell is the
work they both did in the decade of the 1940's to triumph over
freedom's enemies. And though Churchill played the larger role in
the defeat of Hitler and the Axis, Orwell's reckoning with the
menace of authoritarian rule in Animal Farm and 1984 would define
the stakes of the Cold War for its 50-year course, and continues to
give inspiration to fighters for freedom to this day. Taken
together, in Thomas E. Ricks's masterful hands, their lives are a
beautiful testament to the power of moral conviction, and to the
courage it can take to stay true to it, through thick and thin.
Churchill and Orwell is a perfect gift for the holidays!
Coming from The Penguin Press in February 2009, Thomas E. Ricks's
"The Gamble"
Thomas E. Ricks 's #1 "New York Times" bestseller, "Fiasco,"
transformed the political dialogue on the war in Iraq. Now Ricks
has picked up where "Fiasco" left off-Iraq, late 2005. With more
newsbreaking information, including hundreds of hours of interviews
with top U.S. officials who were on the ground during the surge and
beyond, "The Gamble" is the natural companion piece to "Fiasco,"
and the two are sure to become the definitive examinations of what
ultimately went wrong in Iraq.
Today, as liberty and truth are increasingly challenged, the
figures of Churchill and Orwell loom large. Exemplars of
Britishness, they preserved individual freedom and democracy for
the world through their far-sighted vision and inspired action, and
cast a long shadow across our culture and politics. In Churchill
& Orwell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas E. Ricks
masterfully argues that these extraordinary men are as important
today as they ever were. Churchill and Orwell stood in political
opposition to each other, but were both committed to the
preservation of freedom. However, in the late 1930s they occupied a
lonely position: democracy was much discredited, and authoritarian
rulers, fascist and communist, were everywhere in the ascent.
Unlike others, they had the wisdom to see that the most salient
issue was human liberty - and that any government that denies its
people basic rights is a totalitarian menace to be resisted.
Churchill and Orwell proved their age's necessary men, and this
book reveals how they rose from a precarious position to triumph
over the enemies of freedom. Churchill may have played the larger
role in Hitler's defeat, but Orwell's reckoning with the threat of
authoritarian rule in 1984 and Animal Farm defined the stakes of
the Cold War and continues to inspire to this day. Their lives are
an eloquent testament to the power of moral conviction, and to the
courage it takes to stay true to it.
Cutting through the headlines and spin, this is the first book to
give us a true picture of the reality on the ground, through the
words of the people there - from commanders to intelligence
officers, army doctors to ordinary soldiers. Providing eye-witness
accounts that contradict the official stories and figures, they
give a chilling picture of the deceit, stupidity, wishful thinking,
lack of forward planning and total intellectual failure of those
behind the invasion. The result is an extraordinary new insight
into the plight of ordinary soldiers doing nightmarish jobs, and
the real nature of the fighting in Iraq.
Thomas E. Rick's news-breaking follow up to the #1 "New York
Times" bestseller "Fiasco"
Now updated to fully document the inside story of the Iraq war
since late 2005, "The Gamble" is the definitive account of the
insurgency within the U.S. military that led to a radical shift in
America's strategy. Based on unprecedented real-time access to the
military's entire chain of command, Ricks examines the events that
took place as the military was forced to reckon with itself, the
surge was launched, and a very different war began. His stunning
conclusion, stated in the last line of the book, is that "the
events for which the Iraq war will be remembered probably have not
yet happened."
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