Brandon H. Beck Livres

Midway between Memphis and New Orleans along the Mississippi River, Vicksburg was essential to both Confederate and Union campaigns. With both sides bent on claiming the city, Vicksburg, and the fate of the nation, lay in the balance. General Ulysses S. Grant began his campaign on the city in November 1862, but he was forced to abandon the operation in December when the fiery General Earl Van Dorn made a daring raid on Grant's main supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi. With the help of the CSS Arkansas, Van Dorn's single day raid on Grant's supply base saved Vicksburg from Grant's forces for an entire year. Historian Brandon H. Beck recounts the tactics, leaders, and legends involved in this exciting, if overlooked, chapter of Civil War history.

Set against the backdrop of the Civil War in 1863, the narrative follows Union Colonel Abel D. Streight's daring attempt to disrupt the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, determined to stop him, employs cunning tactics and the assistance of young Emma Sansom to mislead Streight about his forces' strength. This gripping account chronicles the intense cat-and-mouse struggle across the landscapes of Mississippi and Georgia, highlighting the strategic maneuvers and unexpected alliances that shaped this historical moment.

For the better part of four centuries the Ottoman Empire was a menacing colossus, rising on Europe's eastern horizon. Fascinated by danger, European writers attempted to describe the Ottomans, and make sense out of Ottoman expansion westward. In the late sixteenth century, with the first contacts between England and the Ottoman Empire, English writers turned East, toward the rising sun, to create enduring images of the Ottomans and their world. By analyzing those images, and comparing them with Ottoman realities, this work adds to our understanding of European, English, and Ottoman history.