The Crowded Hour

A NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2019 SELECTION The dramatic story of the most famous regiment in American history: the Rough Riders, a motley group of soldiers led by Theodore Roosevelt, whose daring exploits marked the beginning of American imperialism in the 20th century. When America declared war on Spain in 1898, the US Army had just 26,000 men, spread around the country—hardly an army at all. In desperation, the Rough Riders were born. A unique group of volunteers, ranging from Ivy League athletes to Arizona cowboys and led by Theodore Roosevelt, they helped secure victory in Cuba in a series of gripping, bloody fights across the island. Roosevelt called their charge in the Battle of San Juan Hill his “crowded hour”—a turning point in his life, one that led directly to the White House. “The instant I received the order,” wrote Roosevelt, “I sprang on my horse and then my ‘crowded hour’ began.” As The Crowded Hour reveals, it was a turning point for America as well, uniting the country and ushering in a new era of global power. Both a portrait of these men, few of whom were traditional soldiers, and of the Spanish-American War itself, The Crowded Hour dives deep into the daily lives and struggles of Roosevelt and his regiment. Using diaries, letters, and memoirs, Risen illuminates a disproportionately influential moment in American history: a war of only six months’ time that dramatically altered the United States’ standing in the world. In this brilliant, enlightening narrative, the Rough Riders—and a country on the brink of a new global dominance—are brought fully and gloriously to life.

One Crowded Hour is the bestselling biography of one of the world's greatest combat cinecameramen and an extraordinary Australian. First published in 1987, One Crowded Hour remains a must-read for aspiring photographers, cinematographers, journalists and war buffs. For over twenty years, from the early 1960s, Neil Davis brought enduring images of the horror of modern war directly from the battlefront to the world's television screens. Davis's former colleague, Tim Bowden, tells the life story of this cool and utterly dedicated professional. Davis was a legendary gambler who often relied on his intuitive sixth sense to stay alive. He is best remembered for his eleven year coverage of the conflict in Indo-China, and was the only western cameraman to film with the South Vietnamese army. Having survived so much war, Davis was killed filming an attempted coup in the streets of Bangkok in 1985. He is remembered as an exceptional man and remarkable journalist, equally at home with presidents and street beggars. A sympathetic portrait of a gentle but dedicated and daring war correspondent.' - Melbourne Herald A must among Australian biographies.' - Weekend Australian

The bestselling biography of one of the world's greatest cinecameramen and an extraordinary Australian.For over twenty years journalist Neil Davis covered the conflicts in SouthEast Asia. Always at the battle front, he brought enduring images of the full horror of modern war to the world. Ironically, in September 1985, having survived so much war, Neil Davis was killed filming an attempted coup in the streets of Bangkok.

DIVBased on a pocket diary from the Spanish-American War, this tough-as-nails 1899 memoir abounds in patriotic valor and launched the future President into the American consciousness. /div

A magnificent new novel from one of America’s finest writers—a powerfully affecting story spanning the twentieth century of a widow and her daughter and the nuns who serve their Irish-American community in Brooklyn. On a dim winter afternoon, a young Irish immigrant opens a gas tap in his Brooklyn tenement. He is determined to prove—to the subway bosses who have recently fired him, to his pregnant wife—that “the hours of his life . . . belonged to himself alone.” In the aftermath of the fire that follows, Sister St. Saviour, an aging nun, a Little Nursing Sister of the Sick Poor, appears, unbidden, to direct the way forward for his widow and his unborn child. In Catholic Brooklyn in the early part of the twentieth century, decorum, superstition, and shame collude to erase the man’s brief existence, and yet his suicide, though never spoken of, reverberates through many lives—testing the limits and the demands of love and sacrifice, of forgiveness and forgetfulness, even through multiple generations. Rendered with remarkable delicacy, heart, and intelligence, Alice McDermott’s The Ninth Hour is a crowning achievement of one of the finest American writers at work today.