As a five-feet-three-inch hunchback who weighed about 100 pounds, Homer Lea (1876--1912), was an unlikely candidate for life on the battlefield, yet he became a world-renowned military hero. Homer Lea: American Soldier of Fortune paints a revealing portrait of a diminutive yet determined man who never earned his valor on the field of battle, but left an indelible mark on his times. Lawrence M. Kaplan draws from extensive research to illuminate the life of a "man of mystery," while also yielding a clearer understanding of the early twentieth-century Chinese underground reform and revolutionary movements. Lea's career began in the inner circles of a powerful Chinese movement in San Francisco that led him to a generalship during the Boxer Rebellion. Fixated with commanding his own Chinese army, Lea's inflated aspirations were almost always dashed by reality. Although he never achieved the leadership role for which he strived, he became a trusted advisor to revolutionary leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen during the 1911 revolution that overthrew the Manchu Dynasty. As an author, Lea garnered fame for two books on geopolitics: The Valor of Ignorance, which examined weaknesses in the American defenses and included dire warnings of an impending Japanese-American war, and The Day of the Saxon, which predicted the decline of the British Empire. More than a character study, Homer Lea provides insight into the establishment and execution of underground reform and revolutionary movements within U.S. immigrant communities and in southern China, as well as early twentieth-century geopolitical thought.

The World War I Memoirs of Major General William J. Snow, the U. S. Army's first Chief of Field Artillery. This book has been out of of print since 1941 and includes material that was not published in the original edition. This book focuses on the problems and challenges General Snow faced in mobilizing the Field Artillery for overseas service in France. World War I was widely known as an artillery war. This book is an insiders account of how the U.S. Army's Field Artillery came close to the breaking point and how General Snow tackled these challenges. "'Signposts of Experience' is a brilliant recounting of how the U.S. Field Artillery became the King of Battle for the U.S. Army on the doorstep of the First World War. Major General William Snow's Memoirs as first Chief of Field Artillery, provide artillery and fire support leaders of today a framework of initiative, organization, disciplined training, and exacting standards that has been the backbone of Red Leg pride for over a century. As we reset the Army today and prepare for the future we must ensure that we get 'fires' right. Major General Snow's experiences are a must read for those who wear the crossed cannons of the artillery as well as those that are supported by its fires." -- Lt. Gen. David P. Valcourt, US Army (Ret.), Chief of Field Artillery (2003-2005)