Additional information
by Alan Axelrod (Author)
The typical military history presents a chronicle of battles and wars and the commanders and troops who fought them. This book takes a different approach. It presents battles and wars and people aplenty, but they are not its ultimate subjects. This book is about the turning points that not only make military history dynamic but crucial to the story of humanity and civilization. This book is about the decisions, acts, innovations, errors, ideas, successes, and failures that shaped the evolution of military art and science--strategy, tactics, and technology--and, in doing so, shaped the course of world history.
Here are the 100 points--from the birth of warfare in the Battle of Megiddo, 1457 BC, to the ongoing evolution of military history on its newest battlefield, cyberspace--at which the path of the warrior decisively turned on its long journey to where we find ourselves today.
Front Jacket
ALAN AXELROD, PhD, is the author of many books on history, leadership, and military history, including How America Won World War I: The U.S. Military Victory in the Great War--the Causes, the Course, and the Consequences (2018), Miracle at Belleau Wood: The Birth of the Modern U.S. Marine Corps (Revised Edition, 2018), The Gilded Age (2018), Lost Destiny: Joe Kennedy Jr. and the Doomed WWII Mission to Save London (2015), and Generals South, Generals North: The Commanders of the Civil War Reconsidered (2011). He has taught at University of Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa), Lake Forest College (Lake Forest, Illinois), and Furman University (Greenville, South Carolina). He was most recently a creative consultant for "The Great War" in the PBS American Experience television series.
Back Jacket
Praise for Alan Axelrod's books About Miracle at Belleau Wood (Lyons Press): "Axelrod brings us back vividly to the shocking casualties of 'the war to end all wars, ' opening up fresh insights into the nature of the fighting and the decisions that shaped a generation." --Bing West, award-winning author of ten best-selling books about the Marines in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan "Axelrod is one of America's great military historians. He's done it this time with riveting non-stop action that reads like the best of Hemingway's frontline reports plus the Marine Corps novels of W. E. B. Griffin. Axelrod pushes you right into the action, onto the battlefield, and never lets up. You become a firsthand witness to one of the world's great battles, proud and heart-pounding as the elite force, the Devil Dogs, are born in a small forest outside Paris. This is one book I wish I'd written!" --Paul B. Farrell, JD. PhD, syndicated columnist for DowJones's MarketWatch and former staff sergeant, USMC "Alan Axelrod has perfectly captured the embodiment of U.S. Marines and their unparalleled esprit de corps ... As a former Marine, I find Axelrod's descriptions of the combat in that bloody battle for which the Corps became legendary--and which is the foundation of its mythic lore--compelling and gut-wrenching. Miracle at Belleau Wood puts the reader in the front row, witness to the heroism and ups and downs endured by the Marines as they defeated the Germans at overwhelming odds. A must read!" --Lt. Col. Jay Kopelman, USMCR (Ret.), best-selling author of From Baghdad with Love In ''Miracle at Belleau Wood: The Birth of the Modern U.S. Marine Corps," Alan Axelrod has demonstrated his mastery at portraying battle at its most brutal and bloodiest. The fight for Belleau Wood is like a bayonet in the belly every step of the way. The distant mirror that Alan Axelrod shows us reflects the fearful face of life and death in World War I. --Paul Weishaupt, Marines: The Corps' Official Magazine, October-December 2007 About Patton's Drive: The Making of America's Greatest General (Lyons Press): "Like Patton at his best: [Alan Axelrod's writing is] polished, precise, and persuasive."--Kirkus Reviews
Author Biography
Alan Axelrod is the author of many books on leadership, history, and military history, including 100 Turning Points in American History (Lyons Press, 2019), Miracle at Belleau Wood (Lyons Press, 2018), The Battle of the Somme (Lyons Press, 2016), The Battle of Verdun (Lyons Press, 2016), and Selling the Great War: The Making of American Propaganda (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). He has taught at University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA), Lake Forest College (Lake Forest, IL), and Furman University (Greenville, SC) and was most recently a creative consultant and on-screen commentator for The Great War, on the PBS American Experience television series. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
