The rough-hewn general who rose to the nation's highest office, and whose presidency witnessed the first political skirmishes that would lead to the Civil War

Zachary Taylor was a soldier's soldier, a man who lived up to his nickname, "Old Rough and Ready." Having risen through the ranks of the U.S. Army, he achieved his greatest success in the Mexican War, propelling him to the nation's highest office in the election of 1848. He was the first man to have been elected president without having held a lower political office.

John S. D. Eisenhower, the son of another soldier-president, shows how Taylor rose to the presidency, where he confronted the most contentious political issue of his age: slavery. The political storm reached a crescendo in 1849, when California, newly populated after the Gold Rush, applied for statehood with an anti- slavery constitution, an event that upset the delicate balance of slave and free states and pushed both sides to the brink. As the acrimonious debate intensified, Taylor stood his ground in favor of California's admission--despite being a slaveholder himself--but in July 1850 he unexpectedly took ill, and within a week he was dead. His truncated presidency had exposed the fateful rift that would soon tear the country apart.

The Mexican-American War of the 1840s, precipitated by border disputes and the U.S. annexation of Texas, ended with the military occupation of Mexico City by General Winfield Scott. In the subsequent treaty, the United States gained territory that would become California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. In this highly readable account, John S.D. Eisenhower provides a comprehensive survey of this frequently overlooked war.

This is a comprehensive five-volume reference on the defining conflict of the second half of the 20th century, covering all aspects of the Cold War as it influenced events around the world. The confrontation of Western capitalism and Soviet and Chinese Communism shaped world affairs for almost the entire second half of the 20th century - a period defined by pervasive political tension, nuclear-fueled nightmares, intense diplomacy, and the transformation of regional/national disputes into test-case ideological battlefields where the superpowers squared off. Now, the conflict that dominated world events for nearly five decades is captured in a multi-volume work of unprecedented magnitude - from a publisher widely acclaimed for its authoritative military and historical references. Under the direction of internationally known military historian Spencer Tucker, ABC-CLIO's The Encyclopedia of the Cold War: A Political, Social, and Military History offers the most current and comprehensive treatment ever published of the ideological conflict that not so long ago enveloped the globe. From the Second World War to the collapse of the Soviet Union, The Encyclopedia of the Cold War provides authoritative information on all military conflicts, battlefield and surveillance technologies, diplomatic initiatives, important individuals and organizations, national histories, economic developments, societal and cultural events, and more. The nearly 1,300 entries, plus topical essays and an extraordinarily rich documents volume, draw heavily on recently opened Russian, eastern European, and Chinese archives. The work is a definitive cornerstone reference on one of the most important historical topics of our time.

The hero of the War of 1812, the conqueror of Mexico City in the Mexican-American War, and Abraham Lincoln's top soldier during the first six months of the Civil War, General Winfield Scott was a seminal force in the early expansion and consolidation of the American republic. John S. D. Eisenhower explores how Scott, who served under fourteen presidents, played a leading role in the development of the United States Army from a tiny, loosely organized, politics-dominated establishment to a disciplined professional force capable of effective and sustained campaigning.

June 6, 1944: the Allies launch the largest combined aerial and amphibious assault in modern history. Taking the Germans by surprise, they storm the heavily fortified defenses at the beachheads along the Normandy coast. The cost in allied lives is enormous (nearly 10,000 lost at Omaha alone), but the long-awaited Second Front is finally opened, marking the beginning of the end for Hitler's Third Reich.

Fifty years later, we are still trying to come to grips with the impact of what General Dwight Eisenhower called "this great and noble undertaking." In D-Day 1944 twenty noted authors reassess the meanings and lessons of this monumental event and show why it retains such a prominent place in our national memory.

Drawing upon a vast array of newly available archival sources, these authors extend and revise our understanding of coalition warmaking, the controversy over opening the Second Front, the logistics of operations BOLERO and OVERLORD, air and naval operations, small unit training and combat, the unique contributions of "special forces" and of ULTRA and FORTITUDE intelligence, the war zone experience for French civilians, Eisenhower's military and diplomatic leadership, and the comparative performances of the American, British, and Canadian forces in combat.

Combining crisp analysis with provocative insights, D-Day 1944 also features a foreword by prominent historian John Eisenhower, as well as valuable eyewitness commentaries by General Omar Bradley, Vice-Admiral Friedrich Ruge (German Navy), Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Don Whitehead, and George Marshall's biographer Forrest Pogue. Together these essays remind us why a half century later D-Day remains one of the true defining moments of this epochal conflict.

Although it has been largely neglected, the Korean War served as the backdrop for many ""firsts"" in military history: the first extensive use of the helicopter, the first battles between jet aircraft, and the first time two world powers - the United States and China - met on a battlefield since World War II. A 1953 armistice halted the fighting, yet the war technically continues today, as North and South Korea remain divided. This comprehensive reference work draws from previously secret information found in Russian and Chinese archives as well as numerous primary source documents. It includes more than 600 A-to-Z entries written by over 100 military and civilian experts. The entries are carefully written to convey information about the war from the perspectives of both the United States and Korea, giving readers a balanced and comprehensive overview of this war.

The combined British Expeditionary Force and American II Corps successfully pierced the Hindenburg Line during the Hundred Days Campaign of World War I, an offensive that hastened the war's end. Yet despite the importance of this effort, the training and operation of II Corps has received scant attention from historians. Mitchell A. Yockelson delivers a comprehensive study of the first time American and British soldiers fought together as a coalition force - more than twenty years before D-Day. He follows the two divisions that constituted II Corps, the 27th and 30th, from the training camps of South Carolina to the bloody battlefields of Europe. Despite cultural differences, General Pershing's misgivings, and the contrast between American eagerness and British exhaustion, the untested Yanks benefited from the experience of battle-toughened Tommies. Their combined forces contributed much to the Allied victory. Yockelson plumbs new archival sources, including letters and diaries of American, Australian, and British soldiers to examine how two forces of differing organization and attitude merged command relationships and operations. Emphasizing tactical cooperation and training, he details II Corps' performance in Flanders during the Ypres-Lys offensive, the assault on the Hindenburg Line, and the decisive battle of the Selle. Featuring thirty-nine evocative photographs and nine maps, this account shows how the British and American military relationship evolved both strategically and politically. A case study of coalition warfare, Borrowed Soldiers adds significantly to our understanding of the Great War.

Italy, from the toe to the Alps, was the scene of the longest, bloodiest, most frustrating, and least understood series of battles fought by the Western Allies during World War II. Now, John S. D. Eisenhower offers a new look at the Italian campaign, emphasizing the Anzio offensive - an operation pushed by Winston Churchill that fell largely to American troops to carry out. It was visualized as an amphibious landing of two Allied divisions behind German lines that would force the Wehrmacht to evacuate all of Italy. But the Germans held on and, with the arrival of reinforcements, nearly wiped out the Allied troops pinned down at Anzio Beach. By portraying that struggle from the perspectives of both commanders and foot soldiers, this prominent military historian focuses on the experiences of the individuals who fought in the Italian campaign to reveal what the battle at Anzio was all about. But more than the account of one operation, ""They Fought at Anzio"" covers the entire Italian campaign, from the landings at Salerno to the capture of Rome. Eisenhower brings a trained eye to reconstructing the difficult terrain of battle, approaching the Anzio campaign as a contest between opposing commands striving to anticipate and counter the opponent's moves - not as a field exercise but as a deadly struggle for survival. He analyzes the command decisions that brought about the Anzio stalemate, interspersing his account with personal experiences of the men in the trenches, the nurses of the 56th Evacuation Hospital, and the young officers witnessing the horrors of war for the first time. As a study in command, Eisenhower's narrative gives new credit to generals Lucian Truscott and Fred Walker and assesses both the strengths and weaknesses of General Mark Clark, allowing us to grasp the situation as it appeared to those in command. He also offers compelling portraits of German commanders Field Marshal Albert Kesselring and General Frido von Senger und Etterlin. It has been said that Anzio was a soldier's battle, remembered more for blood shed than for military objectives achieved. By focusing on the experiences of the soldiers who fought there and the decisions of commanders in perilous circumstances, ""They Fought at Anzio"" offers a new appreciation of the contributions of both and a new understanding of this unheralded theater of the war.

In the perfect match of subject and author, John S. D. Eisenhower, a noted military historian, presents the definitive account of the birth of the modern Amer- ican army and its decisive role in World War I. With the help of his wife Joanne, Eisenhower captures the viewpoints of the actual participants, blending a narrative told from the perspective of top officers with the stories of average soldiers. Drawing on diaries and memoirs, he brings each engagement to life, from the initial planning to the actual battlefield experiences of soldiers whose exploits at Belleau Woods and along the Meuse-Argonne would become the stuff of legend.

Along the way, he shows how General Pershing and other leaders -- including George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, Billy Mitchell, and Peyton March -- transformed the American Expeditionary Force from a small, underequipped force into a strong, efficient, and effective army. Fast-paced, lively, and engaging, Yanks illuminates the central role of the American army in turning the tide in the biggest war the world had ever known.

Dwight D. Eisenhower once remarked that "the history of alliances is a history of failure." This provocative, absorbing work, based on a study by the General and written by his son, is a history of one of the great exceptions, the most successful military alliance the world has ever seen,the Anglo-American military alliance of World War II. At once a study of the prodigious undertaking that brought millions of men and women together to defeat the Axis and a portrait of the great personalities who built and sustained the alliance, Allies offers vivid glimpses of war at the working level: on a convoy crossing the Atlantic, with a secret landing party on the coast of northern Africa, and with armored units in Tunisia. Eisenhower has crafted a powerful narrative and a most valuable contribution to the literature of World War II.

The United States and the Mexican Revolution, 1913�

Powerful and compelling. . . . Eisenhower is not only an accomplished military historian, he's also a storyteller in the tradition of Bruce Caton and Shelby Foote." —Steve Neal, Chicago Sun-Times

In May 1916, six American soldiers led by Lieutenant George S. Patton, Jr., surrounded a building near Rubio, Chihuahua. When the occupants burst out of the door, guns blazing, Patton and his men cut them down. A month later seventy American troopers charged into a strong Mexican position at Carrizal; ten were killed and twenty-three taken prisoner. In 1914, a powerful American naval force seized Mexico's principal seaport, Veracruz, and occupied the city for six months. Yet, all the while, Mexico and the United States were technically at peace.

The United States began its involvement in the Mexican Revolution in 1913 with President Woodrow Wilson's decision to remove Victoriana Huerta, leader of a military junta that overthrew and murdered Mexico's president, Francisco Madero. Diplomatic actions failing, Wilson occupied Veracruz, cutting off Huerta's supplies of arms from abroad. When in 1916 the legendary bandit Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, Wilson sent General John J. Pershing into Chihuahua to capture him.

This story leads readers to increased respect for the people of Mexico and its revolutionary leaders—Zapata, Obregon, Carranza, and Pancho Villa. It shows that, while American troops performed well, U.S. intervention had no effect on the outcome of the Mexican Revolution. The American army had a taste of battle and Pershing went on to become the greatest American hero of the First World War.