{"product_id":"life-and-death-on-the-western-front-marine-private-charles-jefferson-rheas-world-war-i-memoir-paperback","title":"Life and Death on the Western Front: Marine Private Charles Jefferson Rhea's World War I Memoir - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJames Presley\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCharles Jefferson Rhea, freshly graduated from high school, made a life-changing decision in the summer of 1918. With the Navy's quotas filled, he joined the Marines. An Idaho native who grew up in Texas, Charlie, as his friends and family called him, was soon in France with the Fifth Marines of the AEF's Second Division in the Great War, which one historian calls \"perhaps the most important single event of the entire twentieth century.\" Quickly thrown into combat on the Western Front, Rhea's challenge was to stay alive as shelling and machine guns killed men all around him. He endured savage fighting at St. Mihiel, Blanc Mont Ridge, and the Meuse-Argonne offensive--and struggled to find food, water, and shelter--before the November 1918 armistice secured a successful conclusion to the war for the Allies. Sadly, he celebrated that victory in a hospital, felled by poison gas, exhaustion, and perhaps the Spanish Flu. Returning home, he struggled to find work and support a growing family, but he also wrote a compelling memoir of his wartime experiences. Historian James Presley later discovered this manuscript by pure serendipity, and he edited and annotated it. Thanks to him, and to Charlie and his family, readers now have not just another story of a Texas doughboy in World War I, but also a useful perspective on the debate over tactics, open warfare versus trench warfare, that continues today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJames Presley has written nine previous books, including \u003ci\u003eCenter of the Storm: Memoirs of John T. Scopes\u003c\/i\u003e, a collaboration with the Tennessee Evolution Trial defendant that was nominated for the Francis Parkman Prize of the Society of American Historians; \u003ci\u003eA Saga of Wealth: The Rise of the Texas Oilmen, \u003c\/i\u003eanominee for the Pulitzer Prize in History; and \u003ci\u003eThe Phantom Killer\u003c\/i\u003e, about a notorious Texas serial murder. A former newspaperman, Presley earned his Ph.D. in History from the University of Texas at Austin. He has published numerous articles in academic and popular publications. He received the John H. McGinnis Memorial Award for \"America's Black Novelists and the Nobel Prize,\" published in \u003ci\u003eSouthwest Review, \u003c\/i\u003e and an Anson Jones Award from the Texas Medical Association for a series of articles on cancer. \u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 280\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 8.99 x 5.99 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e December 03, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48630086435065,"sku":"9781625110923","price":43.18,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/Au4FGJhele9781625110923.webp?v=1783067100","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/life-and-death-on-the-western-front-marine-private-charles-jefferson-rheas-world-war-i-memoir-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}