Author and Historian
Ron's extensive research and engaging writing style brings history to life and the reader enthralled.
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The Long Purple Line
A chronicle of the military history of Louisiana State University from its founding in 1860 through all wars to the present. Ronald J. Drez unfolds that history through the actions and testimony of those who were there and who stepped out onto this nation’s battlefields to create a military legend that would rival the famous Long Gray Line at West Point. As a land—grant university with a military commitment in the form of a Cadet Corps, LSU was destined to become a major contributor of distinguished military personnel in all of this country’s engagements. LSU formed one of the first federal officer training units and has supplied an impressive array of military officers for all the armed services. During World War II, only West Point, the Naval Academy, and Texas A&M fielded more officers for the war effort. Two generals hailing from LSU would become Commandants of the Marine Corps. And LSU’s own William T. Sherman’s credentials place him among the top generals in United States history. As the drama of each chapter’s action unfolds, readers will find themselves caught up in the roar of the battlefield, witnessing moments of gallantry by LSU cadets, alums, teachers, and associates. Drez highlights the extraordinary courage of LSU servicemen and women—a prerequisite on the battlefield and the very essence of the high standard of LSU’s military history and tradition. ISBN 978-0807184516 Louisiana State University Press Predicting Pearl Harbor
In 1924, Gen. Billy Mitchell traveled to Japan. His superiors warned him not to go in any official capacity, lest it aggravate already strained relations. Mitchell was convinced that he needed to go anyway, so he traveled disguised as a tourist. What he found was a nation that had embraced a philosophy of isolationism. He warned that as friction increased between the US and Japan, war would be inevitable. Japan had defeated China and Russia on the battlefield decades before, due in part to a veil of secrecy. China and Russia were nearly unable to carry out espionage missions against their enemy, and Mitchell was concerned that if America entered into a war with the Japanese then they would suffer the same fate. Eerily, his predictions came to fruition with Japan’s devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. ISBN 978-1455623150 Pelican Publishing Voices of Courage: The Battle for Khe Sanh, Vietnam
The story of one of the most heroic efforts in American military history–a seventy-seven day struggle in early 1968 for the remote Khe Sanh Combat Base–during which six thousand perilously isolated Marines withstood the onslaught of a 30,000- man enemy force. Drawing on a vast archive of recorded interviews and written material collected over the past twenty years by Ronald J. Drez and the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans, authors Drez and Douglas Brinkley provide a gripping narrative addressing every aspect of the battle, interwoven with testimonials from soldiers who fought at Khe Sanh. Featuring two audio CDs that provide a unique opportunity for these valorous voices to be hear, Voices of Courage urges a long overdue recognition of the stunning fortitude displayed by Marines and other members of the U.S. Armed Forces at Khe Sanh, and promises to reshape the way we remember the Americans who fought for their nation in Vietnam. ISBN 978-0821261965 Bulfinch Gallant Fighting Sons
Tracing the Jesuit presence in the New World and in the vast, untamed territory of Louisiana beginning with the Mississippi journey of Father James Marquette and Louis Joliet, Ronald Drez presents the Jesuit history of dedication, defeat, disease, Papal suppression and restoration of the order to the eventual founding of a remarkable school for young men in New Orleans. In the words of President Emeritus, Father Anthony McGinn, S.J. concerning the school, “Ron Drez has chronicled over 160 years of great victories and great challenges that shaped a community of young men, their families, and their teachers that began in New Orleans in 1847. ISBN 978-1568527956 The War of 1812
Perhaps no conflict in American history is more important yet more overlooked and misunderstood than the War of 1812. Begun by President James Madison after decades of humiliating British trade interference and impressment of American sailors, the war in many ways was the second battle for United States independence. At the climax of the war — inspired by the defeat of Napoleon in early 1814 and the perceived illegality of the Louisiana Purchase — the British devised a plan to launch a three—pronged attack against the northern, eastern, and southern U.S. borders. Concealing preparations for this strike by engaging in negotiations in Ghent, Britain meanwhile secretly issued orders to seize New Orleans and wrest control of the Mississippi and the lands west of the river. They further instructed British commander General Edward Pakenham not to cease his attack if he heard rumors of a peace treaty. Great Britain even covertly installed government officials within military units with the intention of immediately taking over administrative control once the territory was conquered. According to author Ronald J. Drez, the British strategy and the successful defense of New Orleans through the leadership of General Andrew Jackson affirm the serious implications of this climatic —battle. Far from being simply an unnecessary epilogue to the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans firmly secured for the United States the territory acquired through the Louisiana Purchase. Through the use of primary sources, Drez provides a deeper understanding of Britain's objectives, and The War of 1812, Conflict and Deception offers a compelling account of this pivotal moment in American history. ISBN 978-0807159316 Louisiana State University Press Heroes Fight Like Greeks
In this powerful and engaging historical narrative, decorated combat veteran and critically acclaimed author Ronald J. Drez unfolds the astounding tale of the arduous Greek Resistance against the Axis Powers in World War II. Along with Great Britain, Greece was the only country to stand against the Pact of Steel and the dreaded Nazi and Fascist regimes of Hitler and Mussolini. Although Greece technically fell to Germany in 1941, the indomitable spirit and courage of the Greek people never did. Indeed, the Nazis feared the fierce Greek Resistance fighters so much that Hitler was never able to seize control of any Greek land. Weaving through political intrigue at the highest levels, this compelling narrative tells the stories that made up this oft-forgotten part of World War II history: Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini’s obsession for military dominance and desire to be Adolf Hitler’s equal; Greek leader Ioannis Metaxas’s indefatigable leadership and cry of “OXI!” (NO!) when presented with the Italian ultimatum to surrender Greece or be invaded; the tale of one the great sabotage events of World War II, Operation Harling, the demolition of the Gorgopotamos viaduct, which was the main German supply route for their forces in Egypt; and the extraordinary story of Dennis Georges, just nineteen on the day of the German invasion, Georges left Athens, setting out for the family farm in Arfara where he became part of the Greek Resistance. In this meticulously researched volume, Drez has succeeded in shining a light into one of the most overlooked aspects in the great annals of World War II history. Packed with personal testimony and many rare photographs and illustrations, Heroes Fight Like Greeks is an indisputably important report on one of the most harrowing stories of World War II. Foreword by Douglas Brinkley. ISBN 978-0981652597 Ghost Road Press Twenty-Five Yards of War
From the sinking decks of a navy cruiser to the cockpit of a doomed B-25 bomber, Ronald J. Drez takes us to the front lines of World War II. Through Drez’s gripping narrative style, we are introduced to twelve men, all ordinary soldiers, and learn what the war was like through their eyes, experiencing their own “twenty-five yards of war.” These tales of survival against incredible odds speak to the extraordinary combination of bravery and miracle that served to bring the men back alive, and are a result of ten years of research and over 1,400 interviews. ISBN 978-0786886685 Grand Central Publishing Voices of D-Day: The Story of the Allied Invasion Told by Those Who Were There A project conducted by the Eisenhower Center at the University of New Orleans, this selection of oral histories (augmented with excerpts from published memoirs) comprises the recollections of the Normandy beachhead on June 6, 1944, by Americans, British, Canadian and German soldiers plus a handful of French civilians. Pathfinders, commandos, airborne troops, glider pilots, landing-craft coxswains, infantrymen, combat engineers, men of all ranks, recall the confusion and disorientation of that dreadful 24-hour period with its shocking tactical confrontations, unexpected terrors and impersonal slaughter. Through these vivid, succinctly spoken accounts, readers experience vicariously one of history’s great military moments. Drez is assistant director of the Eisenhower Center. ISBN 978-0807120811 Louisiana State University Press Voices of Valor
Published for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, Voices Of Valor, a lushly illustrated book with audio CDs, presents gripping, firsthand accounts of the Normandy invasion with a central narrative by one of America’s preeminent historians. Voices Of Valor is an intimate and lasting tribute to the soldiers who fought in Normandy featuring 40 interviews drawn from the archival holdings at the Eisenhower Center Oral History Project, the largest collection of oral histories of D-Day. Within the book are two hour-long audio CDs containing the oral testimonies of veterans who were at Normandy. #20 on New York Times Best Seller List ISBN 978-0821228890 Bulfinch Press/Time Warner Group The D-Day Companion
With a foreword by Major Richard Winters, Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne, and published to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings, this book brings together a dozen leading historians from either side of the Atlantic to produce a unique and incisive examination of the momentous events that surrounded June 6, 1944; Winters calls them a “Literary Band of Brothers.” Operation Overlord saw some of the Allies’ greatest military strategists, Eisenhower and Montgomery, pit their wits against Hitler in a bold bid to liberate continental Europe. Each chapter of this new book focuses on a different aspect of the D-Day landings, from the build-up to the attack to the experiences of the troops on the ground. ISBN 978-1472810632 Osprey Publishing Remember D-Day
National Geographic honored the 60th anniversary of D-Day with a significant new volume. Remember D-Day combines compelling narrative, dramatic archival photographs and memorabilia, detailed maps, and a time line to bring readers the exciting story of one of the world’s most daring invasions. Ronald Drez reveals the story of D-Day from January 1944 - five months before the invasion at Normandy - through the attack itself. Readers learn of the careful planning, daring missions, and elaborate schemes that helped launch the raid that was the key to the Allied victory against Nazi Germany in World War II. They’ll go behind the scenes and witness Operation Doublecross in which captured German soldiers were forced to become double agents and deliver false information to their commanders; and Operation Mulberry, in which Allied forces created their own ports to tow across the English Channel. First-person accounts from survivors on both sides help paint a vivid portrait of what it was like to plan, participate in, and live through D-Day on June 6, 1944. This landmark book will provide children with valuable insight into the significance of the invasion and help them understand D-Day in the overall context of the war. Forward by David Eisenhower
ISBN 978-1426322457 National Geographic Kids |