Focusing on the South’s four major military colleges—the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), the South Carolina Military Academy (later The Citadel), the Georgia Military Institute, and the University of Alabama—The Young Lions is the story of young Confederate military cadets at war. From the opening of VMI in 1839 through the struggles of all the schools to remain open during the war, the death of Stonewall Jackson (a VMI professor), and the Pyrrhic victory of the Battle of New Market to the burning of the University of Alabama in 1865, this book reveals the everyday dramatic actions of cadets on battlefield and beyond.

Examines the image of Israel in American culture before 1960.

Finalist, 2015 National Jewish Book Awards in the American Jewish Studies category Winner, 2017 AJS Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in the category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Africa, Americas, Asia, and Oceania Young Lions: How Jewish Authors Reinvented the American War Novel shows how Jews, traditionally castigated as weak and cowardly, for the first time became the popular literary representatives of what it meant to be a soldier and what it meant to be an American. Revisiting best-selling works ranging from Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead to Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, and uncovering a range of unknown archival material, Leah Garrett shows how Jewish writers used the theme of World War II to reshape the American public’s ideas about war, the Holocaust, and the role of Jews in postwar life. In contrast to most previous war fiction these new “Jewish” war novels were often ironic, funny, and irreverent and sought to teach the reading public broader lessons about liberalism, masculinity, and pluralism.

When Judd Reid attempted the 100-man kumite in 2011, fighting 100 karate black belts in a row, it was something only a handful of martial artists in the world had achieved before him. To complete this 100-man fight, Reid would have to draw on the ironclad toughness and perseverance he'd forged from a lifetime of training. At only 19-years old, Judd got the opportunity to chase his dream when he was invited to Japan by the legendary Sosai Mas Oyama in the elite Young Lions program. For 1,000 days, Reid endured with the most vigorous training in the world among the most Spartan conditions, but found the discipline and dedication to become the first foreigner ever to graduate as a Young Lion. Along the way, Sosai Oyama became a father figure to Reid, teaching him everything he knew about martial arts but also how to live a pure and honorable life. Reid's story reveals the secret world of the most elite martial artists - and the very human emotions, pain, and sacrifices they make to achieve their dreams.

KIN has been a long time coming for this author. It combines history with a terrific and tragic story of two brothers separated when they were young. One lives the life of a terrorist for the Irish Republican Army, the other works as an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and has to hunt his brother down. The brothers also have a sister who is dying from cancer, and her letters to her brother keep him walking a tightrope between the love for his family and his job of pursuing them at the same time. KIN contains, at times, heart-wrenching drama along with plenty of action and excitement. The one thing it does most of all is try to tell a story that covers both sides of the troubles Ireland has been plagued with for centuries. There are no happy endings when it comes to an Irish story, only realism and honesty. This is what the book accomplishes.