By Harold Goforth, Fortis Publications, United Kingdom, (2013). Reviewed by Stephen Phillips Asymmetric tactics are the hallmark of battlefield victory for an insurgency. In the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong employed sappers – those who use explosives to destroy a specified target – to great effect. In his book Defender Dolphins: The Story of Project
Compiled and edited by Dr. Fred Allison and Colonel Kurtis Wheeler USMCR, US Marine Corps History Division, Quantico, VA (2012). Reviewed by Colonel Curt Marsh, USMCR (Retired) Path Breakers is a worthy addition to the story of the ongoing struggle by the Marine Corps to address diversity and build an officer corps that is more
By David Childs, Seaforth Publishing, South Yorkshire, UK, (2012). Reviewed by Thomas Sheppard The arrival of British settlers in the so-called “New World” has been characterized at various times as a discovery, an encounter, or even a clash of civilizations. All these descriptions have merit, but David Childs contends that perhaps the century of English
By Seth Cropsey, Overlook Duckworth, New York, NY, (2013). Reviewed by Harvey M. Sapolsky, Ph.D. Seth Cropsey, a Navy secretariat official in Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations and currently a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, is worried about the future of the U.S. Navy and the fate of the nation. Because
By Edward Monroe-Jones and Michael Green, eds., Havertown, PA, Casemate (2012). Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. The editors have assembled an anthology of 46 oral histories of variable lengths that focus on stories of men as well as old S- and newer fleet-type boats that fought against the Japanese during World War II in
By Peter F. Stevens, Regnery History, Washington, DC, (2012). Reviewed by Greg Stitz USS Grunion (SS 216) was already under construction when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor thrust America into World War II. Her keel had been laid at the Electric Boat Company shipyard in Groton, CT on 1 March 1941. Christened and launched
Baltic Defence College, Tartu Estonia October 3-4, 2013 The Baltic Defence College in Tartu, Estonia will host a two-day conference on Baltic Region military history on October 3-4 2013. We invite academics, graduate students and military personnel to propose papers and panels on subjects dealing with Baltic region military history –from the Crusading Era through
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the eleventh in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Edward Teller, the “father” of the hydrogen bomb. Teller believed strongly that the United
A conference will be held at All Souls College, Oxford, 10-12th April 2014 to celebrate professor John B. Hattendorf’s leading contribution to naval history. For thirty years as the Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History at the U.S. Naval War College, John Hattendorf has furthered historical understanding among Naval professionals and reinvigorated maritime
Former Vietnam Prisoner of War and ex-Naval Historical Foundation Executive Director, Captain Kenneth Leon Coskey, USN (Ret.) passed away Saturday, 29 June 2013, at the assisted living facility where he lived. Funeral plans for Arlington National Cemetery are still pending. Born 26 December 1929, Coskey grew up in Detroit, Michigan and entered the Navy through
This June, the Naval Historical Foundation once again had the opportunity to engage with young scholars at the National History Day Awards Ceremony in College Park, MD. On hand to represent NHF was life member and volunteer Dr. Charles Chadbourn of the Naval War College. We were very pleased to present the Captain Kenneth Coskey
The U.S. Navy’s Cold War Gallery, located at the Washington Navy Yard, pays tribute to the service and sacrifice of the men and women who served during the five tense decades of the latter half of the 20th century. In June, the Naval Historical Foundation cut the ribbon on a new “Battle Behind Bars” exhibit,
For the ninth year, the John A. Adams ‘71 Center for Military History & Strategic Analysis at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is pleased to announce that it will award prizes for the best unpublished papers dealing with the U.S. military in the Cold War era (1945-1991). Any aspect of Cold War military history is
By Captain George Stewart, USN (RET) In 1959 I was coming up on three years service aboard USS Halsey Powell (DD 686), a Fletcher Class Destroyer home ported in San Diego. I had augmented into the regular navy a year earlier and I was coming up for rotation. We were just finishing an overhaul
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the tenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) In the early 1960s, while researching my book Aircraft Carriers: A History of Carrier Aviation and Its Influence on World Events
