The last great battle of World War II began on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, when more than 184,000 began landing on the only Japanese home soil invaded during the Pacific war. The island of Okinawa was just 350 miles from mainland Japan, and the Allies planned to use it as its forward base for its invasion. On the island, nearly 140,000 Japanese and auxiliary soldiers resisted the US-led assault with suicidal tenacity from a Gibraltar of hollowed-out, fortified hills and ridges. Under constant fire and in the rain and mud, U.S. troops fought ferociously, battered the Japanese with artillery, aerial bombing, naval gunfire, and every infantry tool. The battle also marked the apotheosis of kamikaze air attacks, which sank 36 warships, damaged 368 others and killed almost 5,000 seamen. When the brutal slugfest ended, more than 125,00 enemy had been killed--and 7,500 American ground troops had died. And tragically, at least hundred thousand Okinawa civilians died violently while trapped between the battling armies. The Japanese had succeeded in preventing invasion, but the bloody campaign had convinced US leaders that only an atomic bomb could end the war. Utilizing vivid accounts written by US combatants, along with previously unused Japanese sources, Joseph Wheelan brings a strong human dimension to this rich story of the war's last great battle waged against an determined enemy and extreme conditions.

The first U.S. offensive of World War II began with no fanfare early August 7, 1942. But, before it ended six months later with the first U.S. land victory, Guadalcanal was a household name. There, marines faced bloody banzai attacks in the stifling malarial jungles while the U.S. sailors and pilots battled Japanese air and sea armadas day and night. The all-in battles consumed thousands of men, hundreds of planes, and dozens of warships and- stopped the Japanese Juggernaut. Guadalcanal was the Pacific War's turning point. Published on the 75th anniversary of the battle, Midnight in the Pacific is both a sweeping narrative and a compelling drama of individual Marines, soldiers, and sailors caught in the cross-hairs of history.

The hard-hitting history of the Pacific War's 'forgotten battle' of Peleliu - a story of intelligence failings and impossible bravery. In late 1944, as a precursor to the invasion of the Philippines, U.S. military analysts decided to seize the small island of Peleliu to ensure that the Japanese airfield there could not threaten the invasion forces. This important new book explores the dramatic story of this 'forgotten' battle and the campaign's strategic failings. Bitter Peleliu reveals how U.S. intelligence officers failed to detect the complex network of caves, tunnels, and pillboxes hidden inside the island's coral ridges. More importantly, they did not discern - nor could they before it happened - that the defense of Peleliu would represent a tectonic shift in Japanese strategy. No more contested enemy landings at the water's edge, no more wild banzai attacks. Now, invaders would be raked on the beaches by mortar and artillery fire. Then, as the enemy penetrated deeper into the Japanese defensive systems, he would find himself on ground carefully prepared for the purpose of killing as many Americans as possible. For the battle-hardened 1st Marine Division Peleliu was a hornets' nest like no other. Yet thanks to pre-invasion over-confidence on the part of commanders, 30 of the 36 news correspondents accredited for the campaign had left prior to D-Day. Bitter Peleliu reveals the full horror of this 74-day battle, a battle that thanks to the reduced media presence has never garnered the type of attention it deserves. Pacific War historian Joseph Wheelan dissects the American intelligence and strategic failings, analyses the shift in Japanese tactics, and recreates the Marines' horrific experiences on the worst of the Pacific battlegrounds. This book is a brilliant, compelling read on a forgotten battle.

During the winter of 1863-1864, 1,200 Union officers lived in squalor and semi-starvation in Richmond's Libby Prison, known as "The Bastille of the South." On February 9, 109 of those officers wriggled through a fifty-five-foot tunnel to freedom. After an all-out Rebel manhunt, survivors reached Washington, and their testimony spurred far-reaching investigations into the treatment of Union prisoners.

"Libby Prison Breakout" tells the largely unknown story of the most important escape of the Civil War from a Confederate prison, one that ultimately increased the North's and South's willingness to use prisoners in waging "total war."

Following his single term as President of the United States (1825-1829), John Quincy Adams, embittered by his loss to Andrew Jackson, boycotted his successor's inauguration, just as his father John Adams had done (the only two presidents ever to do so). Rather than retire, the sixty-two-year-old former president, U.S. senator, secretary of state, and Harvard professor was elected by his Massachusetts friends and neighbors to the House of Representatives to throw off the "incubus of Jacksonianism." It was the opening chapter in what was arguably the most remarkable post-presidency in American history.

In this engaging biography, historian Joseph Wheelan describes Adams's battles against the House Gag Rule that banished abolition petitions; the removal of Eastern Indian tribes; and the annexation of slave-holding Texas, while recounting his efforts to establish the Smithsonian Institution. As a "man of the whole country," Adams was not bound by political party, yet was reelected to the House eight times before collapsing at his "post of duty" on February 21, 1848, and then dying in the House Speaker's office. His funeral evoked the greatest public outpouring since Benjamin Franklin's death.

"Mr. Adams's Last Crusade" will enlighten and delight anyone interested in American history.

Author Joseph Wheelan has marvellously captured the story of America's war against the Barbary pirates, our first war against terror and the nations that support it. The Barbary pirates, a Muslim enemy from Tripoli, attacked European and American merchant shipping with impunity. Jefferson ordered the U.S. Navy to Tripoli in 1801 to repel "force with force." The Barbary War was also a proving ground for such young officers as William Bainbridge, Stephen Decatur, Isaac Hull, and David Porter -key players in the impending War of 1812 against Great Britain.

In this fast-paced narrative, historian Joseph Wheelan relates the dramatic events of early 1865, from the battles ending the Petersburg siege and forcing Lee's surrender at Appomattox to the destruction of South Carolina's capital, the assassination of Lincoln, and the intensive manhunt for his killer. Meticulously researched, Their Last Full Measure braids the rapidly unfolding events into a compelling account that includes powerful armies leaders civil and military, flawed and splendid and ordinary people, black and white, struggling to survive in the war's wreckage.

In the spring of 1864, Robert E. Lee faced a new adversary: Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Named commander of all Union armies in March, Grant quickly went on the offensive against Lee in Virginia. On May 4, Grant's army struck hard across the Rapidan River into north-central Virginia, with Lee's army contesting every mile. They fought for forty days until, finally, the Union army crossed the James River and began the siege of Petersburg.The campaign cost more than 100,000 men,the largest loss the war had seen. While Grant lost nearly twice as many men as Lee did, he could replace them. Lee could not, and he would never again mount a major offensive. Lee's surrender at Appomattox less than a year later was the denouement of the drama begun in those crucial forty days.

In this compelling and crisply written biography, historian Joseph Wheelan examines the life and wars of the indomitable General Phil Sheridan, whose leadership and aggressive tactics helped win the Civil War, crush the marauding Plains Indians--and save Yellowstone.

A unique and compelling examination of the Civil War s turning point forty crucial days in the spring of 1864 that turned the tide for the Union

In the spring of 1864, Robert E. Lee faced a new adversary: Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Named commander of all Union armies in March, Grant quickly went on the offensive against Lee in Virginia. On May 4 Grant s army struck hard across the Rapidan River into north central Virginia, with Lee s army contesting every mile. They fought for forty days until, finally, the Union army crossed the James River and began the siege of Petersburg.

The campaign cost ninety thousand men the largest loss the war had seen. While Grant lost nearly twice as many men as Lee did, he could replace them. Lee could not and would never again mount another major offensive. Lee s surrender at Appomattox less than a year later was the denouement of the drama begun in those crucial forty days.