By Michał A. Piegzik Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. Readers won’t confuse this book, just published in the Asia @ War Series No. 31 (Warwick, England: Hellion and Company Limited, 2022) with similar titles: The Darkest Hour by Caroline Tung Richmond (New York: Scholastic Press, 2016) is an espionage novel about women in World
By Edward Farley Aldrich, Guilford, CT: Stackpole Books, (2022). Reviewed by Ed Calouro When he first set out to write The Partnership: George Marshall, Henry Stimson, and the Extraordinary Collaboration That Won World War II, author Edward Farley Aldrich did not plan to write a dual biography. His original intention was to focus on the
By Mark Harris; Helion, Warwick, UK, (2021). Reviewed By Capt. Richard Dick, USN (Ret.) Harwich Submarines in the Great War is the detailed story of the 1914 British overseas submarine campaign. “Detailed” really does not do the author justice. Mark Harris’s research is little short of astonishing. He has plumbed British, German, and French archives,
By Matthew J Garretson, Friends of Naval Aviation, Pensacola, FL (2021). Reviewed by Ens. Sydney M. Willis, USN Blue Angels Decades Vol: 1 is a comprehensive history of the Blue Angels, the Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron, through the view of primary documents in their archives. The book transforms a collection of documents into a coherent
By Ken W. Sayers, McFarland Publishing (2021). Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Ken Sayers’s U.S. Navy Patrol Vessels: A History and Directory from World War I to Today provides a thorough look at the multitude of patrol vessels from the mid-19th century USS Michigan to the modern Cyclone-class which have served the United States Navy in
Reviewed by Rear Admiral Sonny Masso USN (RET) and Mr. Apollo Cobbins As the Executive Director of the Naval Historical Foundation, I receive scores of wonderful books on a fairly frequent basis to send out to our team of volunteers to read and write book reviews for publication in our Thursday Tidings Naval Historical Foundation
Reviewed by Ens. Sydney M. Willis, USN Homecomings is a collection of photos of the Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels. This book is primarily comprised of photographs sprinkled with anecdotes, poems, and descriptions providing background for the photos. Laura Bogan is the officially licensed Navy photographer for the Blue Angels and their affiliated
Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Leo Marriott’s Naval Battles of the Second World War: The Atlantic and Mediterranean offers a brief glimpse of select naval engagements involving the Royal Navy engaged against their major European foes, the Italian and German fleets. Marriott is an established author with multiple books about a range of military, naval,
Reviewed by Lt Col Geoffrey R. Brasse, U.S. Air Force Authors frequently engage in military history storytelling through eloquent discussions about battles, outcomes, victories, and defeats. These stories often focus on the personalities of the military leaders, with few details about those participating in the conflict. Former foreign correspondent and corporate writer Robin Knight, in
Reviewed by Jeff Schultz John J. Domagalski’s Escape from Java: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the USS Marblehead delves into the gut-wrenching experiences of an aging light cruiser caught up in the early Pacific War as part of the US Asiatic Fleet. Almost lost to enemy air attack and badly damaged during the
Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Marc Lohnstein’s The Netherlands East Indies Campaign 1941-42: Japan’s Quest for Oil covers a typically unheeded early Pacific campaign, fought for the resource rich Dutch East Indies, which showcased a dysfunctional Allied coalition effort conducted under fraught circumstances exacerbated by prewar decisions but which fought desperately until overwhelmed. Lohnstein is
Reviewed by CAPT Richard Dick, USN (Ret.). Graham A. Thomas is a historian, biographer, journalist, and theatrical producer. He has written for the UK Ministry of Defence and has been editor of the British Army Review, the army’s official academic journal. He specializes in the history of the British Army and Royal Air Force in
Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Charles Melson’s Vietnam 1972: Quang Tri – The Easter Offensive Strikes the South provides a concise look at the role played by the South Vietnamese Marine Corps (VNMC) and their US Marine Corps (USMC) advisors during Hanoi’s 1972 Easter Offensive. The South Vietnamese defenders, in particular the VNMC, alongside American air
Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Ben Skipper’s Landing Craft & Amphibians: Seaborne Vessels in the 20th Century briefly delves into the interesting world of landing craft and amphibians involved in various conflicts in the 20th century from World War II to the present. While it is not authoritative, it does detail many such craft with useful
Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. Mrs. Smoot is an intelligence historian who is especially interested in 20th-century cryptology and communication and has published in Cryptologia, Federal History Journal, and Intelligence and National Security; she retired from the Center for Cryptologic History (CCH) of the National Security Agency in 2017. She is also the
