Jim Lacey

This persuasive biography sheds light on the nation's first modern combat commander who set the standard for today's four-star officers. Though the U.S. entered WWI with inadquate forces, in just over a year Pershing had built and hurled a one million man army against forty battle-hardened German divisions, defending the hellish Meuse-Argonne and turning the tide of the war. With focus and clarity, Lacey traces the development of Pershing from Indian fighter, to warrior against the Philippines insurgency,to victorious commanderin WWI.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Castleknock and Blanchardstown, the main settlements in the Barony of Castleknock were small villages whose trade was focused mainly on agriculture. There was a thriving bloodstock industry thanks to the limestone-rich soil that provided excellent grassland ideal for horses and the cultivation of strawberries along the scenic south-facing banks of the River Liffey was so extensive that to this day the area is still known as Strawberry Beds. However, by the turn of the next century, the area had been transformed by new housing developments and had become a bustling and vibrant suburb of Dublin. Through modern and archive photographs this book traces these changes, recalling forgotten scenes and a lost way of life. From the Guinness, Churchill and Luttrell families, to Presidents, Viceroys and High Kings of Ireland, this book speaks of war and of peace, of love, hate, triumph and disaster, but mostly it celebrates the lives of those that went before us to create the idyllic woodlands, pastures, parks and villages that we enjoy today.

At the dawn of the fifth century BCE, Persia stood triumphant. For more than five decades her warriors had crushed all who opposed them. No city had ever withstood a Persian siege, and all the armies of the known world's most powerful civilizations had met their ruin trying to halt Persia's inexorable march of conquest. The dreaded Persian army finally arrived in Greece, and the Athenian hoplites wondered how they would be able to resist an army of professional warriors three times their size. However, the Athenians proved victorious at the Battle of Marathon, changing the course of history and defining the tenuous relationship between East and West for centuries to come.