EP-870-1-69. By Aldo H. Bagnulo. Edited by Michael J. Brodhead. Provides a history of the 1321st regiment, an African American regiment which served in Europe during World War Ii. Includes many black and white photographs. Item 0338-B.

While the role of the African American in American history has been written about extensively, it is often difficult to locate the wealth of material that has been published. African-Americans in Defense of the Nation builds on a long list of early bibliographies concerning the subject, bringing together a broad spectrum of titles related to the African-American participation in America's wars. It covers both military exploits—as African Americans have been involved in every American conflict since the Revolution—and their participation in the homefront support.

It is the twentieth century's unrivaled epic: at a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how they fought through North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now he tells the most dramatic story of all--the titanic battle for Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the European war's final campaign, and Atkinson's riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Operation Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich--all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters. With The Guns at Last Light, the stirring #1 New York Times bestseller and final volume of this monumental trilogy, Atkinson has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West.

A unique perspective on the last months of WWII and the allied occupation of Europe, this personal, yet universal, story highlights the "overwhelming sense of the continuity of history." Jim McKay heads for combat as his troop ship leaves New York in November, 1944. The young battalion surgeon leaves his bride, Liz, behind for an ordeal that will shape his life. Jim's letters portray an ambitious young doctor struggling to treat the 500 men of his battalion, lead his medics, and keep himself sane while longing for the woman he left behind. Within a week of landing, Jim's battalion is thrown into the Battle of the Bulge. Through the next five months of combat and 15 months of occupation, Jim describes his anger and frustration, his challenges and rewards, and his love for Liz. He emerges a top-notch doctor with a world view that will carry him through his long life. Well-educated and sophisticated, fluent in German and French, Jim's view of Europe is quickly shattered. After a week of combat his pre-war respect for German culture turns to revulsion. After the war, he is assigned to establish a hospital in Germany. He comes to terms with the defeated Germans around him, including prewar German friends struggling to survive. The author is Jim's son Tim, who weaves excerpts from Jim's letters with the memories they provoke and research into his father's battalion, both at the National Archives and in Europe. Letters to a War Bride is both an intimate portrait of a driven, honorable, and loving man, and a fascinating glimpse into the formative years of the Greatest Generation.