Walter Lord

Describes the events of December 7, 1941, before, during, and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as the reactions of the men who lived through the attack.

This book brings to life the events of the War of 1812--including the burning of Washington and the attack on Baltimore's Fort McHenry that inspired Francis Scott Key to write what would become our national anthem. The author gives readers a dramatic account of how a new sense of national identity emerged from the smoky haze of what Francis Scott Key so lyrically called "the dawn's early light."

Includes more than 25 illustrations WALTER LORD NEVER STARTS FROM SCRATCH. For months before a word of this book was written, he could be found roaming the country, ferreting out the fascinating people who helped shape these years. One week it might be Elijah Baum, who piloted Wilbur Wright to his first lodgings at Kitty Hawk…the next, and old fireman who fought the flames at San Francisco…the next, some militant suffragette. Even in his raids...

Besieged by General Santa Anna's five thousand troops, a handful of Texans fought for liberty in the face of overwhelming odds Looking out over the walls of the whitewashed Alamo, sweltering in the intense sun of a February heat wave, Colonel William Travis knew his small garrison had little chance of holding back the Mexican army. Even after a call for reinforcements brought dozens of Texans determined to fight for their fledgling republic, the cause...

Lord's history of the 1962 Ole Miss riots, sparked by one man's heroic stance against segregation in the American South   On September 30, 1962, James H. Meredith matriculated at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. An air force veteran with sixty hours of transfer credits, Meredith would have been welcomed were it not for the color of his skin. As the first African-American student to register at a previously segregated school, however, he risked...

For most of his life, an explorer fought to conquer the North Pole On March 1, 1909, only 413 miles of treacherous ice separated Robert E. Peary from realizing his lifelong dream of becoming the first man to set foot on the North Pole. On that dark morning on Canada's Ellesmere Island, it was cold enough to freeze a bottle of brandy. Though appearing solid, the ice sat atop seawater, and shifted violently according to the whims of the ocean below....

The bestselling accounts of three decisive events of WWII: the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway, and the miraculous evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. In May 1940, the remnants of the French and British armies, broken by Hitler's blitzkrieg, retreated to the beach at Dunkirk. Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered an evacuation on May 26, expecting to save no more than a handful of his men. But Britain would not let its soldiers down. Hundreds...

In May 1940, the remnants of the French and British armies, broken by Hitler's blitzkrieg, retreated to Dunkirk. Hemmed in by overwhelming Nazi strength, the 338,000 men gathered on the beach were all that stood between Hitler and Western Europe. Crush them, and the path to Paris and London was clear. Unable to retreat any farther, the Allied soldiers set up defense positions and prayed for deliverance. Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered an...