By Gary Slaughter, Fletcher House, Nashville, TN (2016) Reviewed by Charles Bogart Gary Slaughter has crafted a fascinating book about his service in the U.S. Navy. The narrative starts with his life as a small town boy seeking greater opportunity than his surrounding area offers. His method of choice to escape his small town is
By Hans Joachim Koerver, Dr. Cynthia Dyre-Moellenhoff (ed.), LIS Reinisch Verlag, Steinbach, (2016) Reviewed by Eric Dietrich-Berryman, Ph.D. War of Numbers is not a long book but packs impressive, relevant detail, much of it original from the author’s searches through British records. Arguments pro and con in the Imperial German Navy are here, as is
By Geoff Dyer, Vintage Books, New York, NY (2014) Reviewed by Nathan Albright Whether or not a reader appreciates this book will greatly depend on their mindset. If someone comes to this book looking for someone who is serious about the United States Navy, has lots of respect for the military or the religious and
By Geoffrey Bennett (originally published B.T. Batsford Ltd., London, UK 1964), Pan & Sword Books Ltd. Barnsley, UK (2015) Reviewed by Tim McGrath Few historians, on land or sea, can match the depth and breadth of the work of Captain Geoffrey Bennett. As a Royal Navy officer who served Great Britain in war and peacetime,
By Rick Campbell, St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY (2016) Reviewed by William H. White A gripping, action-packed novel that is just plausible enough to be pulled from the headlines of today’s paper. Commander Campbell, a former submariner, knows his submarines and the technology they use to fulfill their assignments; his apparent knowledge, whether first-hand
By Senior Chief George J. Chambers, U.S. Navy (Retired), Heritage Books, Berwyn Heights (2015) Reviewed by Captain Howard R. Portnoy, U.S. Navy (Retired) George J. Chambers, the author of this book, served twenty years in the US Navy, retiring as a Senior Chief Firecontrolman in 1970. During his naval career, he served aboard five destroyer
By David P. Chandler, Robert Cribb and Li Narangoa, NIAS Press, Copenhagen, Denmark (2016) Reviewed by Charles H Bogart The hundred days that this book is concerned with are the days between 5 August and 12 November 1945. The book begins on 5 August 1945, as this is the day the U.S. dropped the A-bomb
By Jonathan Dimbleby, Oxford University Press, New York, NY (2016) Reviewed by Captain J. F. “Bookie” Boland, U.S. Navy (Ret.) The long campaign between the Western Allies and Germany’s U-boat force during the Second World War is the subject of Jonathan Dimbleby’s new book, The Battle of the Atlantic: How the Allies Won the War.
Reviewed by John Grady David Porter remains one of the most fascinating personalities in the early American Navy. His quickly written, often self-serving but surprisingly candid Journal about his wartime activities in the Pacific set a standard for naval writing that remains informative and clear. It was also highly popular at the time, fanned by
By Will Laidlaw, Pen and Sword, South Yorkshire (2016) Reviewed by Adam Kline Lt. Col. Will Laidlaw, who served as commander of the UK’s 656 attack helicopter squadron during NATO’s 2011 intervention in Libya, personally flew night strike missions in from the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean. From June to August, his unit’s Apache helicopters fired
By Russel M. Lawson, University Press of New England, Lebanon (2015) Reviewed by Warren Riess, Ph.D. This book has the feel of two different works. One is John Smith in the last two decades of his life. The other is a detailed description of his 1614 voyage to North America. Lawson works the two together,
By Christopher Phillips, Oxford University Press, New York, NY (2016) Reviewed by Thomas P. Ostrom University of Cincinnati history professor Christopher Phillips wrote a different assessment of the complex cultural and political factors in the Border States before, during, and after the Civil War of 1861-1865. Phillips challenges historical interpretations that paint the Border States
By Jim Stempel, McFarland and Co., Publishers, Jefferson, NC (2011) Reviewed by Robert P. Largess Writing years after the Civil War, Gideon Welles remarked of William B. Cushing: “…the great chief of the American Navy, Farragut…said to me that while no navy had braver or better officers than ours, young Cushing was the hero of
By Brad Snyder and Tom Sileo, Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA (forthcoming 2016) Reviewed by Stephen Phillips Brad Snyder felt a call to service, choosing a path through the U.S. Naval Academy to leadership as a U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Officer. EOD Technicians, our military’s bomb squad, serve in the vanguard of modern
It is always refreshing to see young adults learning and interpreting history with passion and dedication. With so much emphasis on science and technology in our school systems today, one might wonder if a fire for the liberal arts still burns in our country’s young minds. In no place is that fire burning brighter than
