It is said that in order to completely understand a man you should probe the world as it existed when he was 19 or 20 years old--at the moment he became mature and autonomous as a man. Russell McLogan has done just that in this well-written autobiography. Drafted out of college at age 18 in 1944; he was trained as a rifleman and then sent to the Philippines as an infantry replacement. There he joined the battle hardened 6th Infantry Division on the Shimbu Line near Manila. Wounded in combat in northern Luzon; he spent 89 days in Army hospitals on Luzon and Leyte. When the atomic bomb abruptly ended the war; he was returned to duty just in time to sail off to Korea where he served in the Army of Occupation. Boy Soldier is about a young man's coming of age during this period of tremendous historical change. It includes much well-researched history of the Army's replacement training system; the Liberation of the Philippines; the dropping of the atomic bombs; the American-Russian occupation of Korea; and the Army's post-war demobilization--the people; places; and events that shaped a young life. Although written in a scholarly mode with endnotes; bibliography and index; it is very readable with the humor; violence; sexual situations and sometimes raw language as it actually happpened. Text is supplemented with 72 illustrations and 15 maps.
#1019762 in Books 1997-11Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.75 x 5.75 x .75l; #File Name: 0962834807273 pages
Review
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful. White Slaves and the Civil WarBy CustomerI can't praise Tenzer's book enough! It is politically incorrect to point out the reality of white slavery; but it existed!Tenzer shows that the white Southern slaves produced by a combination of racial mixture and the maternal descent rule were viewed as white people by Northerners; who had good reason to fear that any white person ("mixed" or "pure") could be kidnapped by slave catchers and sold into slavery in the South.Tenzer also destroys the argument of those neo-Confederates who contend that the Southern states (called The Slave Power in the North) were merely resisting the tyranny of a federal government. The Slave Power effectively controlled Congress and the Presidency for most of the antebellum period. The "3/5 Rule" gave congressmen from the slave states the right to represent slaves (people who obviously couldn't vote); thereby giving them far more power than they would have received if they had been limited to representing free persons.Free states exercised "states' rights" by passing personal liberty laws to nullify the effects of the federal Fugitive Slave Law. This law gave the accused slave no rights to bring witnesses; have a jury; or any other forms of due process. The judge was authorized by the law to receive a larger fee if he ruled against the slave than if he ruled in his favor. Tenzer also shows that; when you consider the low wages of the average Southern white male; coupled with sharp rises in slave prices; slave catching was a tempting business. The slave catcher would earn more with one kidnapping expedition than he could earn by a year or two of hard labor.Many liberals historians ask why Northern whites would fight a civil war to free "blacks" they didn't consider equal. The obvious answer is that they saw slavery as a threat to whites. There was not only the issue of the white slaves; but the constant denigration of a free society by the! intellectual defenders of slavery. Slavery apologists constantly stated that their slaves were better off than free white laborers in the North. More than that; the pro-slavery intellectuals defended slavery as a good in and of itself; regardless of "race" or "color." Tenzer shows that Republican party political literature of the antebellum period took the threat of white enslavement seriously.One final praise. Tenzer defines his terms well. He reminds us that "The Slave Power" or "the South" represented the planter elite and not Southern people in general. Also; "Negro blood" by itself did not confine anyone to slavery. If the maternal descent line was from a white female or had been broken by manumission; the descendants were free. Southern White persons could legally have more Negro ancestry than some unfortunate slaves.15 of 15 people found the following review helpful. REview by James P FalluccoBy James P FalluccoI AM STILL READING IT ! excellent work; I can understand why the left; liberals and especially those who bought off all the books from the book stores do not want this information public knowledge. I made the sacrifice and paid the stupid unjust price of $ 350.00 for a used book that originally cost $ 19.95. The communists want to keep current Americans stupid and ignorant of the truth. Several questions arise but one is: where is the reparation for the descendants of the white slaves owned by blacks? I will contribute more after I finish the book. It is mind boggling to digest this suppressed information.7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Makes you thinkBy J. VanoreThis well-researched book caused me to re-think the Civil War classes I took in under-grad school; where information like this was never presented. To quote the author (yes; I can); "To think that a young Caucasian man would leave his farm in New England to help free Negro slaves in southern United States is laughable."So yes; there was another; far more compelling reason for thousands of those boys to fight and die. It is a reason that the reader will find plausible; and by no means 'politically correct;' but then again; Dr. Tenzer strives for correctness; not political correctness.
