Turning Points: Forgotten Conflicts That Molded America

by Douglas Smock

This book is the third in a series that explore major events that shaped American history told through the lens of forgotten, or long-neglected, battles. The first turning point was a farmers’ rebellion in Massachusetts that forced America’s founding fathers to craft a constitution that created a stronger federal government. The second was the Ohio Indian Wars, which opened the Midwest to settlement through a series of dubious agreements with subdued tribes. The most important turning point following rhe creation of the Constitution was the preservation of the Union and abolition of slavery as a result of the Civil War. I tell this story through a group of Maine farmboys who enlisted out of duty and were forged into a group of professional soldiers bonded for life. One of their most interesting engagements was a little-known, extremely intense duel of light artillery at Rappahannock Station, Virginia that preceded the Second Battle of Bull Run. An often overlooked story in America’s creation was the Spanish-American War, which like the Mexican War, was contrived by war-hungry, expansionist politicians. It marked America’s entry on the world stage as an imperialistic power, albeit on a minor scale. The American people, however, had no interest in foreign interventions, and were reluctant entrants in World Wars I and II, which catapulted America into the world’s preeminent global power. I tell the story of World War II in a way not told before—through General Motors and its role in the production of the Wildcat carrier-based fighter, America’s most effective naval fighter in the first two years of the war against the nimble Japanese Zero.

276 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 15, 2025