TOC AND SYLLABUS -ARMY AT DAWN - SPOILER THREAD

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

This is the thread where the table of contents and syllabus will be posted for the upcoming discussion of An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942-1943 by Rick Atkinson.

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942–1943 is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book written in 2002 by long-time Washington Post correspondent Rick Atkinson.

by Rick Atkinson

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

List of Maps p. xiv
Map Legend p. xv
Allied Chain of Command p. xvii

PROLOGUE p. 1

PART ONE

1. Passage p. 21

A Meeting with the Dutchman p. 21
Gathering the Ships p. 33
Rendezvous at Cherchel p. 42
On the Knees of the Gods p. 49
A Man Must Believe in His Luck p. 57

2. Landing p. 69

"In the Night, All Cats Are Grey" p. 69
In Barbary p. 78
VILLAIN p. 87
To the Last Man p. 91
"Glory Enough for Us All" p. 103

3. Beachhead p. 116

A Sword in Algiers p. 116
A Blue Flag over Oran p. 124
"An Orgy of Disorder" p. 130
Battle for the Kasbah p. 141
"It's All Over for Now" p. 148

PART TWO

4. Pushing East p. 163

"We Live in Tragic Hours" p. 163
A Cold Country with a Hot Sun p. 167
Medjez-el-Bab p. 178
Fat Geese on a Pond p. 187

5. Primus in Carthago p. 194

"Go for the Swine with a Blithe Heart" p. 194
"The Dead Salute the Gods" p. 201
"Jerry is Counterattacking! p. 217

6. A Country of Defiles p. 237

Longstop p. 237
"They Shot the Little Son of a Bitch" p. 250
"This is the Hand of God" p. 256

PART THREE

7. Casablanca p. 265

The Ice-Cream Front p. 265
Speedy Vally p. 270
"The Touch of the World p. 280
The Sinners' Concourse p. 295

8. A Bits and Pieces War p. 301

"Goats Set Out to Lure a Tiger" p. 301
"This Can't Happen to Us" p. 312
"The Mortal Dangers That Beset Us" p. 317
"A Good Night for a Mass Murder" p. 327

9. Kasserine p. 339

"Sometimes That Is Not Good Enough" p. 353
"This Place is Too Hot" P. 366
"Order, Counter-order, and Disorder p. 373
"Lay Roughly on the Tanks" p. 382

PART FOUR

10. The World We Know is a Long Time Dead p. 395

Vigil in Red Oak p. 395
"We Know There'll Be Troubles of Every Sort" p. 398
"One Needs Luck in War" p. 406
"The Devil Is Come Down" p. 416

11. Over The Top p. 431

"Give Them Some Steel" p. 431
"Search Your Soul" p. 444
Night Closes Down p. 453
"I Had a Plan....Now I Have None p. 464

12. The Inner Keep p. 431

Hell's Corner p. 480
Hammering Home the Cork p. 490
"Count Your Children Now, Adolf!" p. 499
Tunisgrad p. 513

EPILOGUE P. 530

NOTES p. 543
SOURCES p. 626
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS p. 655
INDEX p. 660

MAPS

1. Operation TORCH, Invasion of North Africa, November 1942 p. 24
2. Seizure of Oran, November 8-10, 1942 p. 68
3. Landings in Algiers, November 8, 1942 p. 92
4. Landings at Fedala, November 8-11, 1942 p. 110
The Capture of Casablanca, November 8-11, 1942 p. 110

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Syllabus:

Week One - September 9 - September 15th
Prologue and Part One - 1. Passage - A Meeting with the Dutchmen - pages 1 - 33

Week Two - September 16th - September 22nd
Part One - 1. Passage - Gathering the Ships and Rendezvous at Cherchel and A Man Must Believe In His Luck - pages 33 - 68

Week Three - September 23rd - September 29th
Part One - 2. Landing - "In the Night, All Cats Are Grey" and In Barbary and VILLAIN - pages 69 - 90

Week Four - September 30 - October 6th
Part One - 2. Landing - To the Last Man and "Glory Enough for Us All" and Part One - 3. Beachhead - A Sword in Algiers - pages 91 - 123

Week Five - October 7th - October 13th
Part One - 3. Beachhead - A Blue Flag over Oran and "An Orgy of Disorder" and Battle for the Kasbah - pages 124 - 147

Week Six - October 14th - October 20th
Part One - 3. Beachhead - "It's All Over for Now" and Part Two - 4. Pushing East - "We Live in Tragic Hours" and A Cold Country with a Hot Sun - pages 148 - 177

Week Seven - October 21st - October 27th
Part Two - 4. Pushing East - Medjez-el-Bab and Fat Geese on a Pond and Part Two - 5. Primos In Carthago - "Go for the Swine with a Blithe Heart" and "The Dead Salute the Gods" - pages 178 - 216

Week Eight - October 28th - November 3rd
Part Two - 5. Primos In Carthago - "Jerry is Counterattacking! and Part Two - 6. A Country of Defiles - Longstop - pages 217 - 249

Week Nine - November 4th - November 10th
Part Two - 6. A Country of Defiles - "They Shot the Little Son of a Bitch" and "This is the Hand of God" and Part Three - 7. Casablanca - The Ice-Cream Front and Speedy Valley - pages 250 - 279

Week Ten - November 11th - November 17th
Part Three - 7. Casablanca - "The Touch of the World and The Sinner's Concourse and Part Three - 8. A Bits and Pieces War - "Goats Set Out to Lure a Tiger" - pages 280 - 311

Week Eleven - November 18th - November 24th
Part Three - 8. A Bits and Pieces War - "This Can't Happen to Us" and "The Mortal Dangers That Beset Us" and "A Good Night for a Mass Murder" and Part Three - 9. Kasserine - A Hostile Debouchment - pages 312 - 347

Week Twelve - November 25th - December 2nd
Part Three - 9. Kasserine - None Returned and "Sometimes That is Not Good Enough" and "This Place is Too Hot" and "Order, Counter-prder and Disorder" - pages 348 - 381

Week Thirteen - December 3rd - December 8th
Part Three - 9. Kasserine - "Lay Roughly on the Tanks" and Part Four - 10. The World We Knew Is A Long Time Dead - Vigil in Red Oak and "We Know There'll Be Troubles of Every Sort" and "One Needs Luck in War" - pages 382 - 415

Week Fourteen - December 9th - December 15th
Part Four - 10. The World We Knew Is A Long Time Dead - "The Devil is Come Down" and Part Four - 11. Over The Top - "Give Them Some Steel" and "Search Your Soul" - pages 416 - 452

Week Fifteen - December 16th - December 22nd
Part Four - 11. Over The Top - Night Closes Down and "I Had a Plan....Now I Have None" and
Part Four - 12. The Inner Keep - Hell's Corner - pages 453 - 489

Week Sixteen - December 23rd - December 29th
Part Four - 12. The Inner Keep - Hammering Home the Cork and "Count Your Children Now, Adolf!" and Tunisgrad and Epilogue - pages 490 - 542

Week Seventeen - Book as a Whole and Final Thoughts - December 30th - January 5th

[Robert]

Sounds great!

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

It should be - I am looking forward to reading your posts and comments.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Source Material - Internet, An Army at Dawn, Bookrags, Books cited in Bibliography and links/urls cited in Glossary.

Folks, some of the material in the Chapter Overviews and Summaries is from Bookrags which does some fairly good synopses of the reading itself.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Christine said:

I am reading An Army at Dawn now; so that I will finish it before this group begins reading The Day of Battle. Is anyone else, by chance, also late to the party and reading An Army at Dawn, right now?

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Michael said:

Yep, started it a couple of days ago - exactly the same plan.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Matthew said:

I'm on about page 150. I thought I'd start reading around early November and try to keep up with the war in real time, but it's still November 10 in Morocco.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Christine, only moderators set up threads to avoid spam. Your message could have easily been placed in one of the spoiler threads for the book. Since none of the mods can send you messages or advise you or give you any information, we will be deleting the thread immediately. You have your profile set up so that nobody can contact you. It is advisable to lift that restriction if you want to be a member here because there are occasions like this one when we would have preferred just sending you are private PM to assist you. We will begin reading The Day of Battle in January. I will try to make a copy and paste and move the notes to a spoiler thread. Please also check the rules and guidelines because they will help you tremendously as will any moderator. But we do need to be able to reach you.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

All, the threads for An Army at Dawn are still open - that means just follow along with the weekly threads and you can post on them and one of the moderators will respond - that is the beauty of the History Book Club reads - it is never too late to start and somebody will always join in with you. Christine if you start posting in the correct threads - then moderators will respond and I guess Michael and Matthew are catching up too for The Day of Battle. We look forward to reading your posts and you are never alone here.