Synopses & Reviews
• Did America win its independence because British generals were too busy canoodling with their mistresses?
• Should America have annexed Mexico—all of it—and Cuba too?
• Did 1776 justify Southern secession in the nineteenth century?
• Should Patton have been promoted over Eisenhower?
• Did the U.S. military win—and Congress lose—the Vietnam War?
• Was it right to depose Saddam Hussein—and is it wrong to worry about a possible Iraqi civil war?
The answer to these questions is a resounding yes, says author H. W. Crocker III in this stirring and contrarian new book.
In Don’t Tread on Me, Crocker unfolds four hundred years of American military history, revealing how Americans were born Indian fighters whose military prowess carved out first a continental and then a global empire—a Pax Americana that has been a benefit to the world.
From the seventeenth century on, he argues, Americans have shown a jealous regard for their freedom—and have backed it up with an unheralded skill in small-unit combat operations, a tradition that includes Rogers’ Rangers, Merrill’s Marauders, and today’s Special Forces.
He shows that Americans were born to the foam too, with a mastery of naval gunnery and tactics that allowed America’s Navy, even in its infancy, to defeat French and British warships and expand American commerce on the seas.
Most of all, Crocker highlights the courage of the dogface infantry, the fighting leathernecks, and the daring sailors and airmen who have turned the tide of battle again and again.
In Don’t Tread on Me, still forests are suddenly pierced by the Rebel Yell and a surge of grey. Teddy Roosevelt’s spectacles flash in the sunlight as he leads his Rough Riders charging up San Juan Hill. American doughboys rip into close-quarters combat against the Germans. Marines drive the Japanese out of their island fortresses using flamethrowers, grenades, and guts. GIs slug their way into Hitler’s Germany. The long twilight struggle against communism is fought in the snows of Korea and the steaming jungles of Vietnam. And today, U.S. Navy SEALs and U.S. Army Rangers battle Islamist terrorists in the bleak mountains of Afghanistan, just as their forebears fought Barbary pirates two hundred years ago.
Fast-paced and riveting, Don’t Tread on Me is a bold look at the history of America at war.
Also available as an eBook
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
H. W. Crocker III is the author of Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church and Robert E. Lee on Leadership: Executive Lessons in Character, Courage, and Vision, as well as the prizewinning comic novel The Old Limey. He has worked as a journalist, a speechwriter for the governor of California, and a book editor. He lives near the battlefields of northern Virginia.
Synopsis
Did America win its independence because British generals were too busy canoodling with their mistresses?
Should America have annexed Mexico all of it and Cuba too?
Did 1776 justify Southern secession in the nineteenth century?
Should Patton have been promoted over Eisenhower?
Did the U.S. military win and Congress lose the Vietnam War?
Was it right to depose Saddam Hussein and is it wrong to worry about a possible Iraqi civil war?
The answer to these questions is a resounding yes, says
Synopsis
Talk about politically incorrect Don't Tread on Me is the best, most entertaining account of the American warrior I’ve ever read. Crocker gets it So will you. -Lt. Col. Robert Buzz” Patterson, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), former military aide to the president, bestselling author of Dereliction of Duty and War Crimes
Robust and provocative, Don't Tread on Me is a unique addition to any library of American history-and it might try to annex your neighboring volumes. -Tony Blankley, McLaughlin Group panelist, bestselling author of The West's Last Chance
In Don’t Tread on Me, Crocker writes manfully of our nation's proud martial spirit that is assailed on so many sides today. I was ready to head to the nearest armed forces recruiting office after reading it. -Steven F. Hayward, author of Churchill on Leadership and The Age of Reagan, 1964-1980
The central thrust of Harry Crocker's sparkling book is that a nation’s very essence is reflected in the character of its military, that its history is written in the blood and courage of its fighting men. In prose as unblinking as it is fast-moving, he tells the story of the creation of the ‘American Empire.' This book is a true one-of-a-kind; its power flows from Crocker’s focus on the dauntless warriors who forged and safeguarded the United States of America. -Lt. Gen. Dave R. Palmer, U.S. Army (Ret.), former superintendent of West Point, author of George Washington and Benedict Arnold: A Tale of Two Patriots
Don't Tread on Me is that rare but admirable thing-a book written from a Tory, Imperialist, Southern Gentleman’s perspective. Winston Churchill and Andrew Jackson would both be proud. A rousing read through the rattling good tales of American history. -John O'Sullivan, editor-at-large for National Review
A book as dashing, formidable, and triumphant as the American fighting man it describes. -Bernard Cornwell, author of Sharpe's Fury and the bestselling Richard Sharpe series
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
Don’t Tread on Me is a sweeping, colorful—and controversial—history of America’s wars and foreign and military policy over the past four hundred years. Full of gripping battle scenes and contrarian arguments, this stirring book challenges Americans to rethink what they thought they knew about our nation at war.
Synopsis
A compelling re-evaluation of America's military history analyzes the wars, military campaigns, and foreign and military policy of the United States from its earliest origins to the present day, arguing that the current problems confronting the U.S. in the war on terror are the result of political failures rather than military ones. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.
Table of Contents
Prologue: The summons of the trumpet -- Chapter 1: The gentle art of scalping -- Chapter 2: Wolfe's Triumph and Pontiac's rebellion -- Chapter 3: "Disperse, ye Rebels!" -- Chapter 4: Forged in Battle: from 1776 to valley forge -- Chapter 5: The world turned upside down -- Chapter 6: The founders foreign entanglements -- Chapter 7: Madison's Wars -- Chapter 8: The guns of old hickory -- Chapter 9: The emerging colossus -- Chapter 10: Military holiday in Mexico -- Chapter 11: Wrecking the furniture -- Chapter 12: "War is cruelty, you cannot refine it" -- Chapter 13: "War means fighting and fighting means killing -- Chapter 14: "For every southern boy...it's still not yet two o'clock on that July afternoon in 1863" -- Chapter 15: "The satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed" -- Chapter 16: "But westward, look! the land is bright" -- Chapter 17: " Half devil and half child" -- Chapter 18: "Come on, you sons of bitches! do you want to live forever?" -- Chapter 19: A world made safe for war -- Chapter 20: Infamy -- Chapter 21: "The great crusade" -- Chapter 22: " Another marine reporting for duty, Sir. I've spent my time in hell" -- Chapter 23: "Retreat, hell - we're just attacking in another direction" -- Chapter 24: The long twilight struggle -- Chapter 25: America resurgent -- Epilogue: "Go tell the spartans"