More than 27 million Americans today can trace their lineage to the Scots, whose bloodline was stained by centuries of continuous warfare along the border between England and Scotland, and later in the bitter settlements of England's Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland. Between 250,000 and 400,000 Scots-Irish migrated to America in the eighteenth century, traveling in groups of families and bringing with them not only long experience as rebels and...

"James Webb, author of Fields of Fire, the classic novel of the Vietnam War--former U.S. Senator; Secretary of the Navy; recipient of the Navy Cross, Silver Star and Purple Heart as a combat Marine; and a self-described 'military brat'--has written an extraordinary memoir of his early years, 'a love story--love of family, love of country, love of service,' in his words. Webb's mother grew up in the poverty-stricken cotton fields of eastern Arkansas....