Edited by John Andreas Olsen, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) This proved to be one of the most difficult book I have reviewed over the years. It is not the usual historical survey of war, or of a nation’s air force in a war or period. No
By John Dibbs and Kent Ramsey, Osprey Publishing, UK (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) This new coffee-table-size book is the result of an ambitious project. The end product is a collection of many excellent photographs, a few of which are fairly well known, but for the most part are new and are
By Nicholas Jellicoe, Seaforth, South Yorkshire, UK (2016) Reviewed by Stephen Phillips, USNR (Ret.) In the second decade of this century, many in the United States commemorated the War of 1812. Similarly, many in the United Kingdom are seeking to understand the First World War. Author Nicholas Jellicoe, the grandson of the First Lord of
By Adm. James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), Penguin Press, New York (2017) Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans is a companion to The Accidental Admiral, Admiral Stavridis’ earlier best seller that provided many Americans with a basic education in national and global security. Stavridis, the first
By Jan Rüger. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK (2017) Reviewed by Alan M. Anderson, Ph.D. Heligoland rises abruptly and unexpectedly in the southeastern corner of the North Sea. Featuring dramatic cliffs rising more than 160 feet, it is a small, triangular island less than four-tenths of a square mile in area. Along with the nearby
By Ronald J. Drez, Pelican Press, New York, NY (2017) Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. In my assessment of Attack on Pearl Harbor: Strategy, Combat, Myths, Deceptions (Alan D. Zimm, Philadelphia and Oxford: Casemate Publishers, 2014), I pointed out that “WorldCat (an international library catalog) listed 18,353 publications and other media on the Japanese
Christopher M. Bell. Oxford University Press, New York, NY (2017) Reviewed by Larry Grant Winston Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty in Herbert Asquith’s Liberal government from 1911 to 1915. Among the many initiatives he undertook as wartime First Lord was his advocacy for a naval assault on the Dardanelles, a narrow strategic strait
By Reed Robert Bonadonna, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2017) Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA No one disputes that the growth and development of warfare have been functions of the advance of civilization, but the contributions of war to human progress may be less obvious. Many argue that violent conflict reflects little more than
By Bruce A. Castleman, State University Press, Albany, NY (2016) Reviewed by Charles Bogart The reviewer doubts that today even one in a million Americans could identify Commodore John David Sloat; however, there was a time when he was well-known across the country. Depending on one’s political views, Commodore Sloat was praised or damned. This
By David Cannadine, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK (2017) Reviewed by John Grady This to-the-point, short biography of Margaret Thatcher, the United Kingdom’s longest-serving prime minister, provides some interesting political parallels to today’s United States — the rise of populism to give voice to those left behind, cries to scale back government, demands to unleash
By Giora Romm, Black Irish Entertainment LLC, New York, NY (2014) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky USNR (Ret.) Most combat veterans of any country have one great fear, something that sometimes occurs, no matter how they prepare to defend against it: namely, capture by the enemy and imprisonment for an extended duration. In the mid-to-late
By Rick Morgan, Osprey Publishing, Ltd. Oxford, UK (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) A sequel to the author’s earlier Combat Aircraft No. 93 covering the Intruder’s Vietnam service, this new book describes the A-6’s new, often little-known history after Southeast Asia with insider knowledge and style. His introduction is one of the
Rick Morgan Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK (2012) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) Grumman’s big, ugly carrier-based bomber has generated only a few books, including one done by this author and his brother Mark for Schiffer in 2004, a good book in a much larger format. A couple of wartime memoirs have also appeared
By Rob Langham, Fonthill Media Limited and Casemate Publishers, Havertown, PA (2016) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) Senior British military author Owen Thetford wrote in his 1958 book British Naval Aircraft 1912-58 (Putnam, UK): It is not always appreciated that the Admiralty was the first of the British Service Departments to recognize the
By Rick Campbell, St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY (2017) Reviewed by William H. White Having read and reviewed one or two of his previous tales, Cdr. Rick Campbell’s latest, BLACKMAIL is in my opinion, his best by a long shot. And unfortunately, it is, in large part, the most credible. While Campbell’s background is
