Peter S. Bridges’s service as an American ambassador to Somalia capped his three decades as a career officer in the American Foreign Service. Safirka, a frank description of his experiences in Somalia and elsewhere, offers pointed assessments of American foreign policy and policymakers. Bridges recounts his service in Panama during a time of turmoil over the Canal; in Moscow during the Cuban missile crisis; in Prague for bleak years after the Soviet invasion; in Rome when Italian terrorists first began to target Americans; and in key positions in three Washington agencies.

In The Sage of Tawawa, Annetta L. Gomez-Jefferson offers Ransom as a symbol of an era and a larger movement and recalls him to be a man of deep faith and conviction. Educated at Wilberforce University in Ohio (after losing his scholarship from Oberlin College for protesting the segregation of the campus dining halls), Reverdy Cassius Ransom worked with and for the African Methodist Episcopal Church. His duties saw him run for Congress, be elected bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, serve as editor of the A.M.E. Church Review, and serve as church historiographer. In July 1941, Ransom received a letter from President Roosevelt appointing him to the Volunteer Participation Committee in the Office of Civilian Defense.

Wilson offers a rare uncensored picture of enlisted life, with descriptions of bar girls and waterfront establishments that catered to the needs of American bluejackets, as well as observations on world events during imperialism. Wilson also discusses one of the great yet largely ignored issues of the turn-of-the-century U.S. Navy—the failure of naval officers to provide the quality leadership necessary to ensure the operation of efficient, effective warships. A Sailor’s Log is a detailed and insightful account of life in the Asiatic Fleet that enriches our understanding of U.S. Navy life a century ago.

Sailors’ Journey into War is the story of young men taken from the comfort of their families and hometowns and cast into a war of unimaginable proportions. Like other young servicemen, they learned their jobs and went into combat with determination and often great courage. The book opens a window into the daily lives of Navy enlisted men and accurately reflects their attitudes both as raw recruits and as seasoned sailors at the end of the war.

“As a single volume this work is overwhelmingly impressive. Its meticulous scholarship and its intellectual breadth are stunning. Chase’s importance, his quotability, his human social outlook, his many perceptive comments, and all the editors’ notes make this work a highly desirable volume for 19th-century historians. Of all the publications of presidents’ and politicans’ papers, volume I of the Chase Papers is in a class by itself and is the most useful first volume of any similar collection.”—The North Carolina Historical Review

Transcriptions of Chase’s most important letters to the prominent political figures of his day, including Martin and John Van Buren, Gamaliel Bailey, Frederick Douglass, Joshua Giddings, John P. Hale, William H. Seward and Charles Sumner, are among those collected in this first ever published edition of his correspondence. Besides offering valuable insight into Chase’s character, private life, and cultural affairs, this collection contributes to an understanding of mid-19th-century public policy, particularly antislavery reform politics.

The third volume of The Salmon P. Chase Papers documents Chase’s career from early 1868—the beginning of his second terms as the governor of Ohio—through the pivotal election of 1860 and the first two years of his service as secretary of the Treasury in Abraham Lincoln’s wartime cabinet. Now for the first time there is ready access to a crucial record of the nation’s descent into civil war. The National Historical Publications and Records Commission provides financial support for the publication of The Salmon P. Chase Papers.

This volume covers the last fifteen months of Chase’s tenure as Treasury secretary and concludes with his nomination as Chief Justice of the United States. Of particular interest are letters that document Chase’s increasing alienation from the Lincoln administration and his unsuccessful bid for the presidential nomination of the Republican-Union party in 1864. The National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the NEH, and the Claremont Graduate School provide support for the edition.

Salmon P. Chase is usually remembered for his service as Treasury secretary during the Civil War. Earlier, he had attracted national attention as an antislavery attorney and politician and was twice elected U.S. senator from Ohio and served two terms as governor. For the final volume of this series, John Niven has chosen 215 significant letters that shed light on the last phase of Chase’s life, the eight and one half years that he presided over the United States Supreme Court as chief justice.

“A clear, seemingly effortless voice and a special curiosity animate the world Liz Tilton gives us in Salt. And it is a world, ranging from domestic life—loose change, gardening, the intricacies of love—to manatees and the governor of Texas. Discoveries abound. Salt is smart, subtle, and essential.”—Don Bogen