The Soldier, the Builder & the Diplomat
()
About this ebook
Contemporary readers, who wonder at the British and American knack for misguided adventure, will enjoy these three essays on Custer, the Titanic, and the onset of World War I.
The current American adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan are, we hope, winding down after incurring enormous costs. One wonders if we have forgotten the lessons of history, and in particular of World War I? It is far easier to enter into armed conflict than it is to withdraw the troops and heal the wounds.
Soldier, Builder consists of rapier-like literary thrusts into the lives of General George Armstrong Custer, Thomas Andrews (the builder of the Titanic), and Edward Grey (British Foreign Secretary before World War I.
However spectacular their failures, it's generally agreed that these men (or, in the case of Edward Grey, the men around him) could have avoided disaster except for arrogance - a flaw that has long characterized the imperial ambition of leaders from both countries.
One shudders to think where such a mentality will take us in a nuclear age.
Schlesser's readable study is more than entertainment or scholarship, it is a plea for balance, probity, and reason in an era when a single fit of arrogance by a world leader can devastate hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings and imperil the very project of civilized human existence on this planet.
It's difficult to overstate the importance of the Soldier, the Builder, and the Diplomat.
Steven Schlesser
Steven Schlesser is an independent scholar and freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. A graduate of Claremont McKenna College and Vermont Law School, Schlesser served his apprenticeship as a journalist for the Valley Herald of Milton-Freewater and the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. He currently writes a monthly newsletter called The Schlesser Review and is a contributing editor to the magazine BrainstormNW. Schlesser has a long-standing love of British culture and history, particularly the Edwardian and Victorian eras. His primary current interest, however, is in Pacific Northwest history. His work-in-progress explores the interaction between Lewis & Clark and the Clatsop Indians in 1805-1806. For more, please visit: www.stevenschlesser.com.
Related to The Soldier, the Builder & the Diplomat
Related ebooks
Custer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Virginia Yankee in the Civil War: The Diaries of David Hunter Strother Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Aftermath of the Battle of Little Bighorn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComanche: The Sole Survivor of All the Forces in Custer’s Last Stand, the Battle of the Little Big Horn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGeorge Armstrong Custer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance — The Bathurst War, 1822–1824 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHallowed Ground: How Forgotten Battles Shaped America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn the Trail of Grant and Lee Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConquest of the Southern Plains: Uncensored Narrative of the Battle of the Washita and Custer's Southern Campaign Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWeird War: Curious Military Trivia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Best Little Stories from the American Revolution: More Than 100 True Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Negro in the American Rebellion: His Heroism and His Fidelity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Account of the Battle of Chateauguay Being a Lecture Delivered at Ormstown, March 8th, 1889 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUncle Sam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlamo of the Revolution: Benedict Arnold and the Massacre at Fort Griswold Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAs Good as Any Man: Scotland's Black Tommy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFighting Red Cloud’s Warriors: True Tales Of Indian Days When The West Was Young Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Peace and War: Britain in 1914 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Troopers with Custer: Historic Incidents of the Battle of the Little Big Horn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMuggins: The Life and Afterlife of a Canadian Canine War Hero Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRaider of The Scottish Coast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLandscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Blue and the Gray; Or, The Civil War as Seen by a Boy: A Story of Patriotism and Adventure in Our War for the Union Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Storm in Flanders: The Ypres Salient, 1914–1918: Tragedy and Triumph on the Western Front Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Custer's Indian Battles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRaising the White Flag: How Surrender Defined the American Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Citadel: Petersburg, June 1864–April 1865 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsColonel Strutt's Daring Royal Mission: The Secret British Rescue of the Habsburg Family, 1919 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGuadalcanal Diary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5George Washington's War: In Caricature and Print Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies) History For You
America is the True Old World, Volume II: The Promised Land Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Napoleon's Hemorrhoids: And Other Small Events That Changed History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Roland S. Martin's White Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5"America is the True Old World" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism within US Slave Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5101 Secrets of the Freemasons: The Truth Behind the World's Most Mysterious Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don Juan and the Art of Sexual Energy: The Rainbow Serpent of the Toltecs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEuropean Royal Bloodlines of the American Presidents: Presidents of the United States, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Southern Cunning: Folkloric Witchcraft In The American South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not Stolen: The Truth About European Colonialism in the New World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Short History of Reconstruction [Updated Edition] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of the American People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win | Summary & Key Takeaways Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of the Trapp Family Singers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Values: Lessons I Learned from My Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Constitution of the United States of America: 1787 (Annotated) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan & Superstitions in the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wager Disaster: Mayem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Profiles in Courage: Deluxe Modern Classic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Soldier, the Builder & the Diplomat
0 ratings0 reviews