Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink, Ph.D. On the surface Robert M. Bunes new book Wind, Fire and Ice: The Perils of a Coast Guard Icebreaker in Antarctica is an autobiographical take on a young physician’s deployment on USCGC Glacier to Antarctica in the early 1970s. As such it is a welcome addition to the body of
Reviewed by Ellen A. Ahlness, PhD All Present and Accounted For is a comprehensive, well-researched, and well-narrated case study in U.S. Coast Guard History. Throughout his narration of this disastrous grounding, Craig ensures the historical rendering is never sterile; instead, it maintains an eye to the human experience of a complicated event in U.S. Military history.
Reviewed by Master Chief David Mattingly, USN (Ret.) One need only mention 9/11 and most people will recall the confusion that spilled from televisions and radios throughout the country. September 11, 2001 was a beautiful day with clear skies in New York when the world turned upside down as two planes careened into the World
Reviewed by LCDR Donald A. Baker, USN An ancient Jewish teacher once said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for their friends.” If risk to life and limb is any indication of an individual’s commitment to this ideal, then Coastguardsman Chris D’Amelio’s very personal and intimate account of
Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink Martyn R. Beardsley’s new book Heroes of the RNLI: The Storm Warriors tells the stories of the men of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), an institution that is not only one of the better-known maritime rescue services but also a national icon in the United Kingdom. From the 1820s up
Reviewed by CDR Brian Emory, USN Chief Warrant Officer Kevin P. Gilheany has done a wonderful job delivering a memoir of his service in the Coast Guard. His writing style is easy to read and always engaging in a book that’s can be completed in one sitting or over a weekend. His story begins in
With the release of Thomas Ostrom’s latest book, he has delivered the companion to his 2012 work, The United States Coast Guard and National Defense: A History from World War I to the Present. In Ostrom’s fourth book, the reader is provided with extensive research on naval actions from the origin of the Revenue Marine
“To the fair world: and heedless of repose We climb’d, he first, I following his steps, Till on our view the beautiful lights of Heaven Dawn’d through a circular opening in the cave: Thence issuing we again beheld the stars.” – Inferno, Canto XXXIV (Dante Alighieri) They were your friends and neighbors in your hometown.
By Thomas P. Ostrom and John J. Galluzo, McFarland, Jefferson, NC (2015) Reviewed by Charles H Bogart This is the third in an excellent series of books written by Thomas Ostrom on the United States Coast Guard. The first two books of the series, The United States Coast Guard and National Defense and The United
