Sparta, Macedonia, and Rome--how did these nations come to dominate the ancient world? Lendon shows readers that the most successful armies were those that made the most effective use of cultural tradition.

“A riveting tale told through personal accounts and sketches along the way—ultimately, a story of success against great odds. I enjoyed it enormously.” —Tom Brokaw The first book to tell the full story of how a traveling road show of artists wielding imagination, paint, and bravado saved thousands of American lives—now updated with new material. In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—artists, designers, architects, and sound engineers, including such future luminaries as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to conduct a secret mission. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. Every move they made was top secret, and their story was hushed up for decades after the war's end. Hundreds of color and black-and-white photographs, along with maps, official memos, and letters, accompany Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles’s meticulous research and interviews with many of the soldiers, weaving a compelling narrative of how an unlikely team carried out amazing battlefield deceptions that saved thousands of American lives and helped open the way for the final drive to Germany. The stunning art created between missions also offers a glimpse of life behind the lines during World War II. This updated edition includes: A new afterword by co-author Rick Beyer Never-before-seen additional images The successful campaign to have the unit awarded a Congressional Gold Medal History and WWII enthusiasts will find The Ghost Army of World War II an essential addition to their library.

The ghost of a young soldier from the Civil War haunts a troubled teen. "I sat up. The jagged trenches were only soft grassy depressions in the sunny battlefield park. I felt tears burn my eyes, the relief was so strong, and then the misery of losing the ghost hit me." Alexander has the ability to see ghosts. But it's been several years since his last encounter. When he reluctantly joins his father on a long trip away from home, a surprise awaits him. In the unfamiliar territory of North Carolina, Alexander is confronted by the ghost of a young soldier who lost his life in the Civil War. As an unusual friendship develops between the two, Alexander is drawn into a new reality where he comes face to face with the haunting past of his soldier friend. But can Alexander help this troubled ghost, and can he, finally, come to terms with his own disturbing past? With deftness and insight, Elaine Marie Alphin tells a gripping story that weaves the supernatural with the historical. Ghost story fans and Civil War buffs alike are in for a real treat. Ghost Soldier is a nominee for the 2002 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.

Many people claim to have heard drums or seen ghostly battles being fought on the major battlefields of the Civil War. The Civil War was charged with emotion, with neighbors fighting neighbors, and the nation divided over what was right. It is not surprising the huge human losses in this war have inspired ghost stories. This illustrated title brings some of the best-known of these stories to light, inviting readers on a journey into our nation’s history like none other.

Ghosts of War is where history and mystery meet. Phantom U.S. Civil War regiments still march through Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, before vanishing into the evening sunset. The beaches of Normandy, France still echo with the cries of the men who gave their lives storming the beaches on D-Day. The disembodied clip-clop of horse's hooves and the clank of swords from the British Civil War battle of January 25, 1644, are still heard in Nantwich, Cheshire. Wherever battles were fought and people perished, ghost legends have followed. Ghosts can be found wherever tragedy left its mark. Where men'?s and women'?s lives ended so quickly that their spirits may not even realize that they're dead. Where soldiers, focused on duty, still patrol the front lines of long-finished wars. The world's battlefields are imprinted with the passions, fears, and horrors of the soldiers who took their enemies? lives and often sacrificed their own. Battlefields are still rife with spirit activity, centuries after the last cannon was fired and the last casualty lost. Ghosts of War is a history book told through the eyes of witnesses who have experienced the ghosts who still haunt these locations. Featuring nearly two dozen battlefields from around the world and throughout the centuries, each chapter includes first-hand accounts of the battle (where available), important facts and dates, historic and ghostly photos of the site, and first-hand ghost sightings and supernatural experiences that still occur.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Alan Gratz delivers an all-new, original Captain America graphic novel! In this thrilling historical adventure, 18 year-old Steve Rogers (AKA Captain America) and his young sidekick, Bucky Barnes are fighting in WWII when they encounter a threat like none they've ever seen -- a Ghost Army. The dead of this war and wars past are coming back to life, impervious to bullets, flames, or anything else the Allies can throw at them. The armies rise from the ground in the night and seem to disappear without a trace. How can Cap and Buck fight something that's already dead? And just what does the mysterious Baron Mordo, sitting in his castle atop nearby Wundagore Mountain have to do with this? Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Alan Gratz (Refugee, Ground Zero) merges the worlds of historical fiction and super hero comics in this one-of-a-kind graphic novel that is sure to be met with major enthusiasm from fans of all ages.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “The greatest World War II story never told” (Esquire)—an enthralling account of the heroic mission to rescue the last survivors of the Bataan Death March—from the author of Blood and Thunder. On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March thirty rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them the last survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March. A recent prison massacre by Japanese soldiers elsewhere in the Philippines made the stakes impossibly high and left little time to plan the complex operation. In Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides vividly re-creates this daring raid, offering a minute-by-minute narration that unfolds alongside intimate portraits of the prisoners and their lives in the camp. Sides shows how the POWs banded together to survive, defying the Japanese authorities even as they endured starvation, tropical diseases, and torture. Harrowing, poignant, and inspiring, Ghost Soldiers is the mesmerizing story of a remarkable mission. It is also a testament to the human spirit, an account of enormous bravery and self-sacrifice amid the most trying conditions.