Maurice Isserman

"The epic story of the U.S. Armys 10th Mountain Division, whose elite soldiers broke the last line of German defenses in Italys mountains in 1945, spearheading the Allied advance to the Alps and final victory. At the start of World War II, the US Army had two cavalry divisionsand no mountain troops. The German Wehrmacht, in contrast, had many well-trained and battle-hardened mountain divisions, some of whom by 1943 blocked the Allied advance in the...

In Continental Divide, Maurice Isserman tells the history of American mountaineering through four centuries of landmark climbs and first ascents. Mountains were originally seen as obstacles to civilization; over time they came to be viewed as places of redemption and renewal. The White Mountains stirred the transcendentalists; the Rockies and Sierras pulled explorers westward toward Manifest Destiny; Yosemite inspired the early environmental conservationists....

A giant in American journalism in the vanguard of "The Greatest Generation" reveals his World War II experiences in this National Geographic book.