When George Kimball (1840-1916) joined the Twelfth Massachusetts in 1861, he'd been in the newspaper trade for five years. When he mustered out three years later, having been wounded at Fredericksburg and again at Gettysburg (mortally, it was mistakenly assumed at the time), he returned to newspaper life. There he remained, working for the "Boston Journal" for the next four decades. A natural storyteller, Kimball wrote often about his military service, always with a newspaperman's eye for detail and respect for the facts, relating only what he'd witnessed firsthand and recalled with remarkable clarity. Collected in "A Corporal's Story," Kimball's writings form a unique narrative of one man's experience in the Civil War, viewed through a perspective enhanced by time and reflection.
With the Twelfth Massachusetts, Kimball saw action at many of the most critical and ferocious battles in the eastern theater of the war, such as Second Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Petersburg--engagements he vividly renders from the infantry soldier's point of view. Aware that his readers might not be familiar with what he and comrades had gone through, he also describes many aspects of army life, from the most mundane to the most dramatic. In his accounts of the desperate action and immediate horrors of war, Kimball clearly conveys to readers the cost of preserving the Union. Never vindictive toward Confederates, he embodies instead the late nineteenth-century's spirit of reconciliation.
Editors Alan D. Gaff and Donald H. Gaff have added an introduction and explanatory notes, as well as maps and illustrations, to provide further context and clarity, making George Kimball's memoir one of the most complete and interesting accounts of what it was to fight in the Civil War--and what that experience looked like through the lens of time.

The lost memoir from Lou Gehrig--"a compelling rumination by a baseball icon and a tragic hero" (Sports Illustrated) and "a fitting tribute to an inspiring baseball legend" (Publishers Weekly). At the tender age of twenty-four, Lou Gehrig decided to tell the remarkable story of his life and career. He was one of the most famous athletes in the country, in the midst of a record-breaking season with the legendary 1927 World Series-winning Yankees. In an effort to grow Lou's star, pioneering sports agent Christy Walsh arranged for Lou's tale of baseball greatness to syndicate in newspapers across the country. Those columns were largely forgotten and lost to history--until now. Lou comes alive in this "must-read" (Tyler Kepner, The New York Times) memoir. It is an inspiring, heartfelt rags-to-riches tale about a poor kid from New York who became one of the most revered baseball players of all time. Fourteen years after his account, Lou would tragically die from ALS, a neuromuscular disorder now known as Lou Gherig's Disease. His poignant autobiography is followed by an insightful biographical essay by historian Alan D. Gaff. Here is Lou--Hall of Famer, All Star, MVP, an "athlete who epitomized the American dream" (Christian Science Monitor)--back at bat.

Despite Damon Runyons iconic status as a fiction writer and reporter, one particular chapter of his extraordinary career has been completely overlooked. During World War I he was an accredited war correspondentwriting a series of dispatches from Europe, he followed the American Doughboys through France, into Germany, and back home. This period marked a monumental transition not only in Americas view of itself and its role in the world, but of Runyons own style and how we could come to portray America. Along with his collected dispatches, this volume also includes his wartime poetry. Biographical and literary introductions and exhaustive notes provide additional information about the people, places, and events that made up his writing. A vital bridge from his earlier regional writing to his later Broadway works, these stories of civilians thrust into military uniforms provide a rare behind-the-scenes look at World War I and the formation of Runyonesque style itself.

In Bayonets in the Wilderness, Alan D. Gaff explores a long-neglected period in American history to tell the complete story of how the U.S. Army conquered the first American frontier, the Northwest Territory. Wayne's successful campaign led to the creation of a standing army for the country and set the standard for future conflicts and treaties with American Indians. Countering the popular impression of Wayne as ""mad,"" Gaff depicts him as a thoughtful, resolute, and diplomatic officer whose masterfully organized campaign brought an end in 1794 to forty years of border fighting. Gaff's account brings to light alliances between Indian forces and the British military, demonstrating that British troops still conducted operations on American soil long after the supposed end of the American Revolution.

In this unique history of the "Lost Battalion" of World War I, Alan D. Gaff tells for the first time the story of the 77th Division from the perspective of the soldiers in the ranks.

On October 2, 1918, Maj. Charles W. Whittlesey led the 77th Division in a successful attack on German defenses in the Argonne Forest of northeastern France. His unit, comprised of men of a wide mix of ethnic backgrounds from New York City and the western states, was not a battalion nor was it ever "lost," but once a newspaper editor applied the term "lost battalion" to the episode, it stuck.

Gaff draws from new, unimpeachable sources--such as sworn testimony by soldiers who survived the ordeal--to correct the myths and legends and to reveal what really happened in the Argonne Forest during early October 1918.