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Twelve American Wars: Nine of Them Avoidable Hardcover – July 22, 2014

by Eugene G. Windchy (Author)

28 customer reviews

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This is the hidden history of American wars. Eugene G. Windchy lays bare the tricks, errors, and secret plans that have taken the American people into avoidable conflicts. Our greatest national catastrophe was the Civil War. It began with Southerners firing on Fort Sumter. Why did they reject an opportunity to take the fort peacefully? We learn who opened fire. And why.

The assassination of Austria's Archduke Ferdinand sparked World War I. Americans tend to think he was killed by a "lone wolf." In fact, along the Archduke's motorcade route at least six trained assassins waited with bombs and revolvers. Windchy reveals what nation was behind that A month later another assassination took place. It silenced a Socialist politician who had vowed to expose the people who planned the war. The first assassination provoked the war, the second hid its authors.

In 1917, the U.S. entered World War I and saved the Allies from defeat on land and sea. Yet in 1936, Winston Churchill said that the world would have been better off if the Americans had stayed home. His reasons are presented.

Concerning the much criticized American entry into the Vietnam War, Windchy gives the inside story, updating the information in his book Tonkin Gulf. He also reports that President Lyndon B. Johnson rejected the Army's recommended war strategy. Could the Army's plan have won the war? Yes, said a defecting North Vietnamese colonel.

Product details

Hardcover: 446 pages
Publisher: iUniverse (July 22, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1491730552
ISBN-13: 978-1491730553
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 28 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,682,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1123 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military > World War I
- #5283 in Books > History > Military > World War I
- #13230 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Political

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Interested customer

Wars are bad things. People get killed in them

January 14, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I found this book a really fascinating study of the ways in which the U.S. has blundered, or its citizens been bamboozled, into wars that should, and probably could, have been avoided. A message with which I am heartily in accord. Wars are bad things. People get killed in them. And the dead men may be the lucky ones, compared to many of the wounded. The way to discourage such stupidity is to demand that the politicians who want to start a war lead the forces, accompanied by all of his or her adult children. A universal draft is a step in that direction, but as the sorry record of generations of young men being seduced into the military makes clear, that might not be enough.

For anyone interested in the origins of the various wars in which the U.S. has been involved, this is an excellent book. I am not an historian, so it would be easy to get a false story past me. But I am generally knowledgeable about these conflicts, and saw nothing inconsistent with what I knew. And each of his discussions is followed by an extensive bibliography which is generally a pretty good sign.

The negatives of the book: There's really only one big one: The writing. It's not nearly as good as the stories. I can't find the right adjective, but whatever it might be, it won't sell a lot of books. Tedious might be a good one.l. His stories carry the reader along. His writing makes it a grind. That is exacerbated, at least for me, by a profusion of names, a few of which were easy, like Woodrow Wilson, but most of which belong in a Russian novel. Especially for a book about twelve wars, most of which involved a quite different cast of characters from all the others, the alternatives are to just relax and figure it really doesn't matter, or make the book a chore. Whichever your decision, I would strongly suggest reading it in relatively small bites, which is quite possible in reading a book which is essentially a collection of short stories, not a novel.

Despite my unhappiness with the writing, I would strongly recommend the book as one to be read every time a politician announces that we are being forced into a war by some evil people who want to do us dirt. It is almost always the case that whatever the provocation (with the possible exception of WW II and the Revolution) a smart politician who wanted to keep us out of the war could find a way to do so.

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Jack Daye

Several Emporers Stripped Bare!

January 5, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Extensively researched and with a larger bibliography than most books ever written, this book fills in the details, the background, and the sordid motives behind the American involvement in all our wars. American and foreign governmental actors are exposed as they played with the lives of their countrymen, evidently regarding them as mere cannon fodder. It is fascinating reading for any student of history or even just a casual history buff. The detail is excruciatingly dense in some places and the writer isn't the most gifted scribe to come along, but it is a ride well worth taking. Hard to put down, unless you count the European stuff leading up to the First World War. That's where it becomes so full of facts and minutiae as to clog the brain, but just for a little while...
Read it. You'll not view our 'beloved historical figures' in the same way again

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April 24, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is a well-written history of twelve American wars. The author, Eugene Windchy, shows how and why nine of those wars were avoidable. I was especially interested in learning about the fate of the Lusitania. That tragedy was completely avoidable if only the British Admiralty had protected the ship by sending it north and around the top of Northern Ireland and then back down to Liverpool. Churchill had been demanding that America join the war and it seems he used the Lusitania as bait. The German U-boat, U-20, sank the Lusitania. It went down in 20 minutes. Over one thousand innocents died. The British refused to send rescue ships on the excuse that the U-boat might still be in the area. President Wilson still refused to join the war effort and America stayed out of the war for another year. I had no idea about any of this.

The book also covers several other wars with fascinating details that you don't learn in the average high school or college American history course. I highly recommend this.

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DCK

Excellent, provocative.

September 3, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Well researched, convincing arguments on US policies, judgments, which might well have avoided war and avoided loss of life. The author's well written, diplomatic, academic, and military insights provide a basis which should serve decionmakers in our present time. Highly recommended reading for those interested in the processes that could potentially avoid armed conflicts, when alternatives are in fact plausible.

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Kindle Customer

This short work is the best primer to the war history of the United States ...

August 26, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This short work is the best primer to the war history of the United States that I have read so far. The section on World War 1 is an absolute must read as it exposes the abject stupidity of human ambition and ignorance in all it's garish ugliness. As a quick read on the "War to end all wars", it is unsurpassed in imparting a basic understanding of that conflict and the appalling aftermath from which we still suffer.
This book should be required reading for any "Man Who would be King". Mr Trump kindly take note.;

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September 1, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Eugene Windchy is to be commended for researching and analyzing the conditions leading up to twelve wars in which the United States has been involved. There have been innumerable books describing these wars, phase by phase. In most cases, we cannot learn from how the wars were fought. This book, perhaps, can give us food for thought on how to avoid war, save lives, and encourage peace in this world.
This book is recommended reading for our present-day politicians in Washington. I, as a concerned American, will recommend it to my friends, family, and associates.
P. Givens, Santa Rosa, CA

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JOHN R. SLADEK, P.E.

Some chapters are better than others

May 19, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The book's concept is original. It is an enjoyable read. Some chapters are better than others. I found Civil War and WW I chapters to be the best. Much of WW I chapter is similar to Ferguson's Pity of War. Tuchman's Guns of August presents British Foreign Secretary Grey as a hero. Not in this book or Ferguson.

Finally the book appears to be a work in progress. I would be interested in reading Windchy's thoughts on lead up to US involvement in WW II in a future edition.

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Most recent customer reviews

Amazon Customer

I wouldn't do that if I considered it garbage.

I need to re-read. I loaned it to a friend. I wouldn't do that if I considered it garbage.

Published 4 months ago

Roland E Burgess

A great book that shows we don't know what we think ...

A great book that shows we don't know what we think we know about a lot of American and World History.

Very interesting histories well told by the author with an ...

Very interesting histories well told by the author with an interesting layout. American history buffs will want this book on their shelves.

Published 1 year ago

TimintheMatrix

Poorly Written Propaganda

I first encountered Mr Windchy on a Youtube discussion thread when I was struck by the frequency with which he'd make statements whose only provenance was 'as explained in my...Read more

Published 1 year ago

Arthur

Better education.

This would make a solid high school civics class read.

Published 1 year ago

Miguel A Timm

Five Stars

Excellent book for those who want to learn the good, the bad and the ugly of the American History

Interesting thesis - unnecessary wars. However, choppy narrative and weak editing made it a less than pleasurable read.

Published on June 17, 2016

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Twelve American Wars: Nine of Them Avoidable Hardcover – July 22, 2014

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