How to Obtain a Review Copy

Please submit review copy requests along with a preferred mailing address to Joshua Cline at josh.cline@armyhistory.org

All reviewers are limited to one book per request. Book reviews for On Point must be submitted within the three-month review period. All reviews must be submitted in Microsoft Word and must not exceed 750 words. Please download the submission template and sample files provided and follow the format accordingly. If you are quoting from the text, please provide the page number as well.

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Books Currently Available

An Army Afire: How the US Army Confronted its Racial Crisis in the Vietnam Era. By Beth Bailey, University of North Carolina Press, 2023. Examines how Army leaders navigated racial issues during and after the Vietnam War.

Brotherhood: When West Point Rugby Went To War. By Martin Pengelly, Godine, 2023. Follows the fifteen men on West Point’s Rugby team of the Class of 2002, the first graduates during wartime since the Vietnam War ended.

Brothers in Liberty: The Forgotten Story of the Free Black Haitians Who Fought for American Independence. By Phillip Tucker. Stackpole Books, 2023. Recounting the largely ignored history of the free Blacks and mixed-race men of Saint-Domingue, this book aims to envision their contribution to American Independence against the British in the October 1779 battle for Savannah.

The Cassville Affairs: Johnston, Hood, and the Failed Confederate Strategy in the Atlanta Campaigns, 19 May 1864. By Robert D. Jenkins, Sr., Mercer University Press, 2024. A new look into the Civil War Cassville controversies during the fighting in Northern Georgia, which ended in a Union strategic victory, examining the leadership failures of Confederate command.

The Cavalry Trilogy: John Ford, John Wayne, and the Making of Three Classic Westerns. By Michael F. Blake. Twodot Books, 2024. Chronicles the creation and filming of John Ford’s cavalry trilogy, considered some of his finest work.

Clearing the Way: U.S. Army Engineers in World War II. By Chris Mcnab. Casemate Publishers, 2023. Utilizing primary sources, including manuals and reports, this text aims to provide insight to the work of U.S. Army Engineers during World War II.

Colorado In The Civil War. By John Steinle, Arcadia Publishing, 2023. Part of the Images of America series, this book is a pictorial history of Colorado’s participation in the Civil War.

Damn The Valley: 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 2/508 PIR, 82nd Airborne in the Arghandab River Valley, Afghanistan. By William Yeske, Casemate Publishers, 2023. A heavy memoir of an enlisted paratrooper in the War in Afghanistan, 2009-2010. Yeske’s company suffered a fifty-two percent casualty rate. 

Duty To Serve, Duty To Conscience: The Story of Two Conscientious Objector Combat Medics during the Vietnam War. By James C. Kearney and William H. Clamurro. University of North Texas Press, 2023. Part of the North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series, a joint memoir of two 1-A-0 conscientious objectors that provides perception on ethical questions as well as witness to the Vietnam War. 

Flawed Commanders And Strategy: In the Battles for Italy, 1943-45. By Andrew Sangster & Pier Paolo Battistelli. Casemate Publishers, 2023. Examines the personalities of five military leaders in the Italian Campaigns of the Second World War; General Bernard Montgomery, George Patton, Mark Clark, Harold Alexander, and Field Marshal Alfred Kesselring. 

The Gas and Flame Men: Baseball and the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I. By Jim Leeke, University of Nebraska Press, 2024. This book is about seven Major League participants – four players, two club executives, and a manager – who were in the Chemical Warfare Service during the First World War. Five of seven are now in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 

The Greatest Military Mission Stories Ever Told. Edited by Tom McCarthy, Lyons Press, 2023. A collection of essays that capture the essence of military bravery, courage and discipline in the face of overwhelming danger.

The Gunner and The Grunt: Two Boston Boys in Vietnam with the First Cavalry Division Airmobile. By Michael L. Kelley and Peter Burbank. Casemate Publishers, 2023. A detailed look at two soldiers who participated in the same battles in Vietnam, from their first combat missions to the Search and Destroy operations in Cambodia.

Immigrant Warrior: A Challenging Life in War and Peace. By Henrik O. Lunde. Casemate Publishers, 2023. A detailed memoir providing a unique look into a highly decorated soldier who served three tours in Vietnam and beyond. 

In Strange Company: An American Soldier with Multinational Forces in the Middle East and Iraq. By Colonel Roland J. Tiso Jr. Casemate Publishers, 2023. A detailed look into the planning and execution of Coalition warfare during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM.

July 22: The Civil War Battle of Atlanta. By Earl J. Hess, University Press of Kansas, 2023. Professionally examines the “greatest day of fighting by the Union Army of the Tennessee” in the Civil War, 22 July, 1864.

The Korean War Remembered: Contested Memories of an Unended Conflict. By Michael J. Devine, University of Nebraska Press, 2023. A chronological overview which focuses on American memory of the Korean War in an international context, examining the events via subjects ranging from popular culture to monuments and museums, comparing and contrasting with how it’s remembered in China and both Koreas.

The Long Reckoning: A Story of War, Peace, and Redemption in Vietnam. By George Black. Alfred A. Knopf, 2023. Published on the fiftieth anniversary of the last American soldier departing Vietnam, The Long Reckoning depicts the years since the Vietnam War ended, particularly the ongoing struggle with Agent Orange and explosive remnants of war.

Memory Wars: Settlers and Natives Remember Washington’s Sullivan Expedition of 1779. By A. Lynn Smith, University of Nebraska Press, 2023. A historical and ethnographic exploration of how interpretive sites – museums, memorials, monuments, etc – shape the historical understanding of General John Sullivan’s expedition against the Iroquois Confederacy during the Revolutionary War.

Military History for the Modern Strategist: America’s Major Wars Since 1861. By Michael E. O’Hanlon, Brookings Institution Press, 2024. New edition that adds a preface about the American Revolution and other minor conflicts; a defense analyst’s historical primer on strategic military decisions.

Miserable Little Conglomeration: A Social History of the Port Hudson Campaign. By Christopher Thrasher, University of Tennessee Press, 2023. Drawing from archival sources, this book depicts the longest-running siege of the Civil War through the eyes of the common soldier and civilian.

My Dearest Lilla: Letters Home from Civil War General Jacob D. Cox. Edited by Gene Schmiel, University of Tennessee Press, 2023. Part of the Voices of the Civil War Series, these letters depict the love of an officer and the wife who supported him, both the Eastern and Western Theaters, and General Cox’s exploits. 

On Warriors’ Wings: Army Vietnam War Helicopters and the Native Americans they were Named to Honor. By David Napoliello, Global Collective Publishers, 2023. Focuses on the Vietnam-era helicopters named for Native American tribes through development, mission, real-world use, and the history of the tribe for which the helicopter is named.

Pacific Fortress: A History of the Seacoast Defenses of Hawaii. By Glen M. Williford. Redoubt Press, 2023. A revealing account of the U.S. Army’s coastal defenses of Oahu, Hawaii, spanning the Interwar Period, World War II and expanding throughout the Cold War.

Patton’s Tactician: The War Diary of Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes. Edited by James W. Holsinger, Jr., University Press of Kentucky, 2024. Part of AUSA’s American Warriors series. Based largely on General Keyes’ diary, which he kept through the Second World War, as well as the occupation of Germany and Austria. One of General George S. Patton’s closest friends, Keyes was rated “the only officer that I have ever rated ‘Superior’ in all categories” by Patton.

A Quaker Colonel, His Fiancée, and Their Connections: Selected Civil War Correspondence. Edited by Richard Upsher Smith, Jr., Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2023. Published letters from the Civil War exchanged between Pennsylvanian Charles Burleigh Lamborn of the 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry and his fiancée, Emma Taylor. The papers show their subjects’ deep Quaker beliefs.

Real Soldiering: The US Army in the Aftermath of War, 1815-1980. By Brian McAllister Linn, University Press of Kansas, 2023. A comprehensive study of a ‘remarkably consistent’ cycle of painful recovery the Army has undergone after each conflict, replacing the army that had entered it with one that had learned each war’s lessons, during the transitions to peace.

Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence. By Shirley L. Green, Westholme, 2023. From joining the Second Rhode Island Regiment in 1777, this follows the personal journey of the Frank brothers as they fight in the Revolutionary War due to George Washington’s authorization to allow former slaves to serve in the military.

The Sergeant: The Incredible Life of Nicholas Said: Son of an African General, Slave of the Ottomans, Free Man Under the Tsars, Hero of the Union Army. By Dean Calbreath, Pegasus Books, 2023. Written by a Pulitzer and Polk Award winning journalist; a biography of Sergeant Nicholas Said, who served in the 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.

Sharpen Your Bayonets!: A Biography of Lieutenant General John Wilson “Iron Mike” O’Daniel, Commander, 3rd Infantry Division in World War II. By Lt. Col. (Ret.) Timothy R. Stoy, Casemate Publishers, 2022. The first full-length biography of ‘Iron Mike’ O’Daniel, who served in World War I, World War II, Korea, and the early days of Vietnam; he commanded the 3d Infantry Division from Anzio to V-E Day.

Sign Here for Sacrifice: The Untold Story of the Third Battalion, 506th Airborne, Vietnam 1968. By Ian Gardner, Osprey Publishing, 2023. The third book by Ian Gardner chronicling the history of 3/506, focusing on the unit’s reactivation and deployment to the Vietnam War.

Task Force Hogan: The World War II Tank Battalion that Spearheaded the Liberation of Europe. By William R. Hogan. William Morrow, 2023. This book depicts 3d Battalion, 33d Armored Regiment, 3d Armored Division leading the charge across Europe in the Second World War, especially their daring escape from a trap during the Battle of the Bulge. Written by the son of Task Force Hogan’s commanding officer, it is a tribute to his father and the men he led.

Tenth Army Commander: The World War II Diary of Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.. Edited by Christopher L. Kolakowski. Casemate Publishers, 2023. A never-before-seen diary of General Buckner, a key figure in the Pacific War.

True to My God and Country: How Jewish Americans Fought in World War II. By Françoise S. Ouzan, Indiana University Press, 2024. Faced with anti-Jewish hostility both foreign and domestic, this book speaks of the half a million Jewish Americans who served in every military branch and fought in every theater of the Second World War, with special attention to Jewish servicewomen.

Twelve Days: How The Union Nearly Lost Washington in the First Days of the Civil War. By Tony Silber, Potomac Books, 2023. Beginning with President Abraham Lincoln calling for 75,000 militia troops on 14 April 1861, Twelve Days depicts the dire situation Washington D.C. was in when the Civil War erupted from the perspective of Lincoln, rebellious Maryland, the Union Army, and the Confederate Army.

Union General: Samuel Ryan Curtis and Victory in the West. By William L. Shea, Potomac Books, 2023. The first biography of Samuel Ryan Curtis, an abolitionist general in the Union Army during the Civil War, who fought slavery before the Emancipation Proclamation. He was one of the most important generals of the war west of the Mississippi.

The Savage Storm: The Battle for Italy 1943. By James Holland. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2024. Holland traces the opening months of the Italian Campaign of World War II through the eyes of soldiers and civilians, Allied and Axis alike, from the generals down to the enlisted infantry.

The Soldier’s Truth: Ernie Pyle and the Story of World War II. By David Chrisinger. Penguin Press, 2023. A new examination of a “supremely private man,” what General Eisenhower called one of the G.I.’s “best and most understanding friends.” The Soldier’s Truth follows in both Ernie Pyle’s and the author’s footsteps from Kasserine Pass to Ie Shima.

Uncertain Warriors: The United States Army Between the Cold War and the War on Terror. By David Fitzgerald, Cambridge University Press, 2024. Part of the Military, War, and Society in Modern American History series; a historical study of the Army’s institutional self-image development in the 1990s, and the return of the ‘warrior ethos.’ 

Under the Double Eagle: Citizen Employees of the U.S. Army on the Texas Frontier, 1846-1899. By Thomas T. Smith. Texas State Historical Association, 2023. Provides a look into over 1,721 civilian employees of the U.S. Army in Texas during the 19th century.

Unraveling the Myth of Sgt. Alvin York: The Other Sixteen. By James P. Gregory, Jr., Texas A&M University Press, 2023. Tells the story of the men who were with Sergeant Alvin York, contesting the popular narrative that York single-handedly accomplished his deeds to create a more balanced look into a legendary Army event.

The Viking Battalion: Norwegian American Ski Troopers in World War II. Edited by Olaf Minge, Kyle Ward, and Erik Brun, Casemate Publishers. A collection of histories, stories, and essays written by members of the 99th Infantry Battalion (Separate), a unit made up of Norwegians and Norwegian-Americans that fought 101 days of combat in the Second World War. It is edited by the unit’s descendants.

War & Coffee: Confessions of an American Blackhawk Pilot in Afghanistan. By Joshua Havill, Schiffer Publishing, 2023. The memoir of a pilot’s year in Afghanistan, 2008-2009. The book is chronological, each chapter beginning with how much time had passed since being deployed. Havill had nine years as a submariner in the Navy and seven years as an Army aviator prior to deployment to Afghanistan.

Wars Civil and Great: The American Experience in the Civil War and World War I. Edited by David J. Silbey and Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai, University Press of Kansas, 2023. A series of essays comparing the Civil War to the First World War, contemplating what legacy the Civil War left; how its lessons were interpreted; how the Great War changed those lessons; and how the wars contributed to the modernization of the United States.

A Wilderness of Destruction: Confederate Guerrillas in East and South Florida, 1861-1865. By Zack C. Waters, Mercer University Press, 2023. Focused on the Confederate guerrillas in the Civil War who defended Florida against Union incursions, after the Confederate government abandoned Florida’s coastal regions.

With My Shield: An Army Ranger in Somalia. By James Lechner, Osprey Publishing, 2023. A memoir by an officer of the 3d Ranger Battalion during Operation GOTHIC SERPENT, depicting his personal experience and much of the surrounding events as well, thirty years later.

Without Concealment, Without Compromise: The Courageous Lives of Black Civil War Surgeons. By Jill L. Newmark, Southern Illinois University Press, 2023. The first book about black military surgeons during the Civil War, it depicts the lives of fourteen men who wore the Union blue and made American medical history.