On the 75th anniversary of the legendary Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Steve Vogel tells the little-known story of the Army Soldiers who gave all during the Korean War’s most consequential battles and then were denigrated for their sacrifice. “A Task Force Called Faith” delivers a fresh perspective on Chosin, where 150,000 Chinese soldiers trapped 20,000 U.S. Marines and Soldiers in the frozen mountains of North Korea in November and December of 1950.
Steve Vogel is a historian and former military correspondent for the Washington Post. His coverage of the U.S. war in Afghanistan was part of a package of Washington Post stories selected as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2002. He reported on the U.S. war with Iraq in 2003 as an embedded journalist with an Army airborne brigade. Based in Germany from 1989 through 1994 and reporting for the Washington Post and Army Times, he covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf War, as well
as military operations in Somalia, Rwanda, and the Balkans. He is the author of two other acclaimed histories, “Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War’s Most Audacious Espionage Operation” and “Through the Perilous Fight: Six Weeks That Saved the Nation.”
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How did Gettysburg become the most famous battle of the American Civil War and one of the most consequential in world history? Why is it the most visited American battlefield, the place where veterans came in the greatest numbers, where Presidents pay homage, and millions of families have vacationed? What was it about this three-day struggle in July 1863 that made it seem like the “turning point of the war,” or the “high-water mark” of the Confederate rebellion? Join Dr. Adam I.P. Smith for a look at the famous battle and its importance.
Adam I. P. Smith read History at the University of Oxford before going on to do postgraduate work at Sheffield, Cambridge, and Harvard Universities. He taught at University College London before being appointed Edward Orsborn Professor of U.S. Politics and Political History at Oxford. His previous books have included “The Stormy Present: Conservatism and the Problem of Slavery in Northern Politics” (2017).
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Was it April 9, at Appomattox, where Lee surrendered to Grant in Wilmer McLean’s parlor? Or was it ten weeks afterward, in Galveston, where a federal commander proclaimed Juneteenth the end of slavery? Or perhaps in August of 1866, when President Andrew Johnson simply declared “the insurrection is at an end”? Hear from acclaimed historian Michael Vorenberg about the struggle for peace and emancipation in the wake of the Civil War.
Michael Vorenberg received his PhD at Harvard University and now teaches at Brown University. He is the author of “Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment,” which was a finalist for the Lincoln Prize and was used as the basis for the screenplay of Stephen Spielberg’s 2012 film, “Lincoln.”
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For the doomed stand American forces made in the Philippines at the start of World War II, two generals received their country’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor. One was the controversial Douglas MacArthur, whose orders forced him to leave his Soldiers on the islands to starvation and surrender. The other was the gritty Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, who became a hero to the troops whose fate he insisted on sharing, even when it meant becoming the highest-ranking American prisoner of the Japanese. Join Jonathan Horn to learn the incredible story of these two generals and their Soldiers in the Philippines.
Jonathan Horn is an author and former White House presidential speechwriter whose books include “Washington’s End” and “The Man Who Would Not Be Washington.” He has written for outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times Disunion series, and has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and PBS NewsHour.
Register for the March 19 Book Talk here