One hundred years ago, in September 1918, three things came to Boston: war, plague, and the World Series. This is the unimaginable story of that late summer month, in which a division of Massachusetts militia volunteers led the first unified American fighting force into battle in France, turning the tide of World War I. Meanwhile the world’s deadliest pandemic—the Spanish Flu—erupted in Boston and its suburbs, bringing death on a terrifying scale first to military facilities and then to the civilian population. At precisely the same time, in a baseball season cut short on the homefront and amidst the surrounding ravages of death, a young pitcher named Babe Ruth rallied the sport’s most dominant team, the Boston Red Sox, to a World Series victory—the last World Series victory the Sox would see for 86 years. In September 1918: War, Plague and the World Series, the riveting, intertwined stories of this remarkable month introduce readers to a richly diverse cast of characters: David Putnam, a Boston teenager and America’s World War I Flying Ace; a transcendent Babe Ruth and his teammates, battling greedy owners and a hostile public; entire families from all social strata, devastated by sudden and horrifying influenza death; unknown political functionary Calvin Coolidge, thrust into managing the country’s first great public health crisis by an absentee governor; and New England’s soldiers, enduring trench warfare and poisonous gas to drive back German forces. At the same time, other stories were also unfolding: Cambridge high school football star Charlie Crowley, a college freshman teamed up with stars Curly Lambeau and George Gipp under a first-time coach named Knute Rockne; Boston suffrage leader Maud Wood Park was fighting for women’s right to vote, even as they flexed their developing political muscle; poet E.E. Cummings, an Army private found himself stationed at the center of a biological storm; and Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge maneuvered as the constant rival of a sitting wartime president. In the tradition of Erick Larsen's bestselling Devil in the White City, September 1918 is a haunting three-dimensional recreation of a moment in history almost too cinematic to be real.

The authors of Bloody April 1917 present a new volume of facts, photos, and analysis covering aerial combat in the last days of the Great War. Fifteen months after the events of April 1917, more battles had been fought, won and lost on both sides, but now the American strength was feeding in to France with both men and material. With the mighty push on the French/American Front at St. Mihiel on September 12 and then along the Meuse-Argonne Front from the 26th, once more masses of men and aircraft were put into the air. They were opposed by no less a formidable German fighter force than had the squadrons in April 1917, although the numbers were not in their favor. Nevertheless, the German fighter pilots were able to inflict an even larger toll of British, French, and American aircraft shot down, making this the worst month for the Allied flyers during the whole of World War I—and this just a mere six weeks from the war’s bloody finale. This book analyzes the daily events throughout September with the use of lists of casualties and claims from both sides. It also contains seven detailed appendices examining the victory claims of all the air forces that fought during September 1918. Although it is difficult to pinpoint exactly who was fighting who high above the trenches, by poring over maps and carefully studying almost all the surviving records, the picture slowly begins to emerge with deadly accuracy. Black September 1918 is a profusely illustrated and essential reference piece to understanding one of the crucial months of war in the skies.

The First World War was a conflict in which personality and character mattered. Its course and outcome were decided by determined individuals who had to make momentous decisions in very trying circumstances. As battles raged on land, sea and air across Europe, Africa and Asia, the Generals and politicians tried to steer a course to victory. It was never easy and they often disagreed on the best strategy. Yet, men's lives depended on the outcome. This collection of authorative essay examines these disagreements, portraying the decision-making process on both sides in the Great War. The personalities involved are now household names: Haig, Foch, Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson and the German Kaiser, William II.