Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War

Jordan, Brian Matthew (Get this book)
This Civil War history begins where most end, showing what happened to the men who fought to preserve the Union. Jordan's book is about the postwar tribulations of Billy Yank. While the civilian population had had enough of war, those who fought for the North were unwilling to forgive and forget, and they marched in Washington a few weeks after Robert E. Lee surrendered and Abraham Lincoln was murdered. Assiduously researched—half the volume is occupied by a bibliography and copious notes—his book is entirely founded on the words of those who fought, extracted from letters, recollections and reflections. The boys in blue who rallied around the flag are gone, but in Jordan's history, their words survive. A useful history of how "the terror of this unprecedented war long outlived the stacking of arms a t Appomattox."--Kirkus

Vivid Faces: The Revolutionary Generation in Ireland, 1890-1923

R.F. Foster (Get this book)
A bracing study of the rebels who secured Ireland's freedom from Britain nearly a century ago.When it comes to people who once lived and breathed, Foster, perhaps the pre-eminent student of Irish history working today, is no hagiographer. Moreover, he does not subscribe to the great man theory of history. As he writes here, by way of prelude, one of his interests is to show "how a revolutionary generation comes to be made, rather than born." Although Irish politics has been definitively sectarian, especially in its nationalist (or unionist) dimensions, the author observes that many of the first-generation rebels against British rule were Protestant; one, Alice Milligan, described herself as an "internal prisoner" of her family. Readable and provocative. Students of contemporary Irish history have few better guides than the sometimes-dyspeptic but refreshingly agenda-less Foster.--Kirkus

Chasing Gold: The Incredible Story of How the Nazis Stole Europe's Bullion

George M. Taber (Get this book)
The story of the Nazis' international bank robberies.After World War I, Germany was subject to huge reparations to the Allied victors. High unemployment, inflation and fierce anger over the nation's defeat generated political and social strife that fueled Hitler's rise to power. As former Time editor and reporter Taber shows in this crisp, well-documented history, lust for gold was integral to Hitler's military ambitions. Taber emphasizes that "the German war machine would have ground to a halt long before May 1945" without cooperation from Romania, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and Sweden for materiel, and especially from Swiss bankers, who eagerly sold the Nazis Swiss francs with which to pay for vital war products. A chilling tale vividly told.--Kirkus