ISBN10: 0939526190, ISBN13: 9780939526192, [publisher: Boston Publishing Company] Hardcover Very Large Book, 1st Printing. The Medal of Honor is America's highest award for military valor. It is bestowed on those who have performed an act of such conspicuous gallantry as to rise "above and beyond the call of duty." Indeed the roll of honor includes but 3,394 of the tens of millions of men and women who have served their country in the time of need since the Civil War. Yet among them are the names of generals and privates alike, of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen, of Americans of every color and creed, from every corner of this vast land. As a symbol of heroism, it has no equal in American life. Here now, for the first time, is a comprehensive history of the Medal of Honor. Through authoritative text and lavish pictures, Above and Beyond presents the story of the medal and those who have earned it, commencing on the blood-drenched battlefields of the Civil War and culminating in the eerie jungles of Vietnam. Scores of stirring accounts from every American conflict celebrate the selfless valor that has set these men-and one woman-apart from their comrades-at-arms. Exclusive interviews with living recipients and first-person reports from years past testify to the widely differing personalities of these American heroes, to their thoughts and beliefs-and how the medal affected their lives, for good, or for ill. Whiles relating the story of the medal, ...