In Command: Theodore Roosevelt and the American Military (Potomac Books), by Matthew Oros
Theodore Roosevelt is remembered for many things, including his exploits in the Spanish-American War. But Roosevelt’s influence on the U.S. military was wider ranging than his charge up San Juan Hill. In Command investigates Roosevelt’s determination to modernize the military during his tenure as president and his reason for doing so. He wanted the U.S. to become a global power to be sure, but he also sought to impress the martial virtues he admired on American society lest the nation go soft and its moral fiber unravel. Writing with a clarity his subject would admire, Radford history professor Matthew Ordos maps out Roosevelt’s fascination with naval armaments, military aviation and bureaucratic efficiency. Perhaps no president immersed himself in the details of his commander-in-chief role as Roosevelt.
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Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America’s Forgotten Border (W.W. Norton), by Porter Fox
Donald Trump would be alarmed at some of Porter Fox’s statistics: “The only known terrorists to cross overland into the US came from the north,” he writes, adding, $56 billion in illegal drugs and 10,000 illegal aliens cross the US-Canada border each year. Fox, however, is not with Fox News and he raises those points only to illustrate how little thought is given to our lengthy border with Canada. In Northland, the travel writer journeys 4,000 miles along that jagged and sometimes uncertain line, giving history and description of places seldom visited along with warnings over the changing climate and the depletion of natural resources.
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Raising the Flag: America’s First Envoys in Faraway Lands (Potomac), by Peter D. Eicher
A professional Foreign Service wasn’t established in the early years of the republic and America was represented abroad by a gaggle of interesting characters—many of them adventurers. In an age before steamships and the telegraph, even routine diplomacy was an adventure. Often unable to receive a response from Washington for many months, U.S. ministers and consuls were forced to improvise. Retired Foreign Service officer Peter D. Eicher examines a handful of dangerous diplomatic posts in the pre-Civil War era and finds U.S. agents initiating regime change in the Middle East and cutting foreign aid deals (they were more honest back then, calling it bribery). They struggled to assert U.S. business interests over foreign competitors and left behind a trove of great stories collected by the author.
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Reporter: A Memoir (Alfred A. Knopf), by Seymour M. Hersh
The depressing thing about the memoir of Seymour Hersh is the contrast between then and now. In the 1960s when his career began, a large number of newspapers and magazines could afford to send journalists such as Hersh around the country—or the world—on assignments lasting for months. Not that everything was easy. Hersh had a hard time convincing major media to take seriously his reports of the My Lai massacre, in which U.S. troops slaughtered the inhabitants of a Vietnamese village. But on the whole, the media had the will to pursue stories of importance. Recent years have found Hersh investigating the corrupt doings of Mobil Oil in the former Soviet Union and the War on Terror that followed 911. Hersh comes across as a man of conscience who balances his political beliefs with fair play and respect for his sources.
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