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 (N
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Organized Alphabetically by Author's Last Name
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American Battleships by Max R. Newhart
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Customer Reviews
- The best of the battleship books.
This book contains detailed info on every battleship that sailed under the american flag. One good thing about
this book is that it includes at least one photo of each ship. Considering that some of these ships were built
a long time ago, this is quite an accomplishment. A must have for fans of capital ships.
- Excellent Summary of American Battleships
Max Newhart has created an excellent overview of Amercian Battleships. His work provides the reader with basic
technical and historical information on each American Battleship from the Maine to the Montana class. This work
enables students of naval warfare to follow the advancements in Battleship construction by simply turning the pages
in chronological order. If you are seeking detailed information on individual ships you will need to look elsewhere.
- Very good all inclusive Battleship book!
This book was great. I liked it because it included all the battleships built by the U.S. and those that were scheduled
to be built, but never were. It gave a a good history on each of them and also a decade by decade insight of the
political circumstances surrounding the building of battleships. Again, a very good book.
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Beyond Valor by Patrick K. O'Donnell
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From Library Journal
Creator of The Drop Zone (www.thedropzone.org), a pioneer web site for oral and e-histories , O'Donnell here chronicles
America's elite military units, the Rangers, the glider infantry, and the airborne of World War II. These units
have formed a unique bond that has lasted half a century. Since 1996, O'Donnell has amassed hundreds of interviews
and thousands of photographs and memorabilia of these special World War II units, and this book is an extension
of his ongoing project. It contains several dozen recollections of veterans throughout the war, each prefaced by
the author's brief summary of the events to be described in first person. Beginning with the Dieppe Raid in 1942
and continuing through the campaigns of North Africa, Italy, D-Day, France, and the final push into Germany, these
accounts reveal the human side of war. The accounts of Operation Market Garden, Normandy, and the Battle of the
Bulge are especially illuminating. The result reads like a good documentary. This fresh, personal, and revealing
look into the past is recommended for most public and special collections, and the web site is also worth viewing.
David M. Alperstein, Queens Borough P.L., Jamaica, NY Copyright 2001 Reed
Business Information, Inc.
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Into the Rising Sun by Patrick K. O'Donnell
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From Publishers Weekly
Recalling harrowing rescue missions, gun battles and the knee-deep swamp mud that forced soldiers to hold up their
comrades' heads while they slept to keep them from drowning, veterans from elite WWII units relive the Pacific
theater in Into the Rising Sun: In Their Own Words, World War II's Pacific Veterans Reveal the Heart of Combat.
Editor Patrick K. O'Donnell (Beyond Valor) interviewed hundreds of veterans for this oral history of the battles
at Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and other locations. Brief testimonies of horrifying violence and hair-raising
close calls are sometimes described with emotion, other times in brutally honest deadpan. Copyright
2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
In his award-winning book Beyond Valor, Patrick O'Donnell reveals the true nature of the European Theater in World
War II, as told by those who survived. Now, with Into the Rising Sun, O'Donnell tells the story of the brutal Pacific
War, based on hundreds of interviews spanning a decade. The men who fought their way across the Pacific during
World War II had to possess something more than just courage. They faced a cruel, fanatical enemy in the Japanese,
an enemy willing to use anything for victory, from kamikaze flights to human-guided torpedoes. Over the course
of the war, Marines, paratroopers, and rangers spearheaded D-Day-sized beach assaults, encountered cannibalism,
suffered friendly-fire incidents, and endured torture as prisoners of war. Though they are truly heroes, they claim
no glory for themselves. As one soldier put it, "When somebody gets decorated, it's because a lot of other
men died." By at last telling their stories, these men present a hard, unvarnished look at the war on the
ground, a final gift from aging warriors who have already given so much. Only with these accounts can the true
horror of the war in the Pacific be fully known. Together with detailed maps of each battle, Into the Rising Sun
offers a complete yet deeply personal account of the war in the Pacific, and a ground-level view of some of history's
most brutal combat.
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First to Cross the Rhine by David E. Pergrin
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From Publishers Weekly
Pergrin's sterling battalion endured its baptism of fire in the Normandy breakout in the summer of 1944, played
an important role in the Battle of the Bulge and in March 1945 opened the way for the climactic drive into Germany
by building the first Allied bridge across the Rhine. Aside from the colonel's beaming pride in the courage and
technical skill of his men, what makes this memoir of war, written with military historian Hammel, special is that
the 291st battalion kept running into heavy-duty combat situations for which it was organizationally unprepared.
The battalion found itself directly in the path of the German spearhead at the start of the Bulge and, in one of
the European theater's crucial delaying actions, destroyed bridges, planted mines and defended roadblocks in the
face of oncoming tank columns. Three months later, called on to construct an 1100-foot pontoon bridge at Remagen,
the 291st accomplished a seemingly impossible task in 32 hours, despite fierce opposition. Photos. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz
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Amazon.com
Cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the
German-Soviet partition of Poland and was sent to the Siberian Gulag along with other captive Poles, Finns, Ukranians,
Czechs, Greeks, and even a few English, French, and American unfortunates who had been caught up in the fighting.
A year later, he and six comrades from various countries escaped from a labor camp in Yakutsk and made their way,
on foot, thousands of miles south to British India, where Rawicz reenlisted in the Polish army and fought against
the Germans. The Long Walk recounts that adventure, which is surely one of the most curious treks in history.
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My War by Andy Rooney
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Amazon.com
On July 7, 1941, a young Colgate University football player named Andy
Rooney reported for U.S. Army training. He was, Rooney allows, not prime military material. He had a knack for
enraging the drill instructors with his wisecracks, and for pulling harsh assignments as a result, and his shenanigans
got him disqualified from officer candidacy. Still, Rooney survived boot camp and served for a time as an artilleryman
until being reassigned to the daily newspaper Stars and Stripes. Lucky for him, too: in 1942 his old outfit ran
into trouble in North Africa, fighting against Erwin Rommel, and although few of them were killed, Rooney writes,
"there's a good possibility I would have spent all of 1943, 1944, and six months of 1945 in a German prison
camp." In My War, a fine and wholeheartedly irreverent memoir, Rooney--later to gain fame as a 60 Minutes
commentator--recounts what happened instead. As a correspondent, he saw combat up-close while honing his craft
alongside such fellow chroniclers as Ernie Pyle and Bill Mauldin. What he witnessed will perhaps not please some
survivors and students of the war, especially those who revere Gen. George S. Patton--whom Rooney charges with
having committed improprieties, injustices, and even war crimes in the quest to secure personal fame. Though the
book is a personal memoir, Rooney has taken pains to square his anecdotes with the historical record. However,
he writes, "It is distressing for me to note how infrequently the facts concur with my memory of what happened."
(In such cases, he adds, he assumes that the facts are wrong.) Affecting, occasionally disturbing, and thoroughly
well-written, Rooney's memoir is a welcome addition to the literature of "the good war." -- Gregory McNamee
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Major General Maurice Rose
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From Publishers Weekly
Given the paucity of material General Maurice Rose left behind about anything except his impressive military achievements,
this fine biography of a distinguished American commander, the highest-ranking American Jewish officer ever killed
in battle, represents a considerable success. Commissioned into the Army during World War I, Rose (b. 1899) was
wounded in action at St. Mihiel; then, after a short stint as a traveling salesman, he returned to the peacetime
army as a captain. When World War II broke out, he rose rapidly, commanding the first armored formations to hit
the beaches in Sicily and Normandy and putting into action his belief that "it was only by visible acts of
personal courage and public demonstrations of bravery that a leader can inspire his men and imbue them with fighting
spirit." Ashore in France, he was given command of the Third Armored Division and led it ably (if not perfectly)
through the Battle of the Bulge and into Germany, where he was killed in action in March, 1945, possibly after
surrendering. The authors, a WWII veteran and a military historian, also discuss the question of why Rose, who
came from a distinguished family of rabbis, chose to list himself as a Christian with the army, a decision they
suggest was motivated by Rose's career ambitions and his laissez-faire attitude towards religious matters. Though
the authors' prose is often stilted, they provide a worthy, informative account of a curious and little-documented
career. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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The Crash of Ruin by Peter Schrijvers
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"One of the most remarkable books I have ever come across. A significant and fascinating contribution to the
field. The Crash of Ruin should appeal to a large audience of readers interested in World War II history."
-Edward M. Coffman, Author of The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I "The
Crash of Ruin offers the reader both intellectual and emotional rewards. . . . Its narrative power makes it a wonderful
read." -Susan M. Hartmann, The Ohio State University
"A brilliant contribution to intercultural studies. It imaginatively combines the 'new' military history with
an older American Studies research and writing technique. Not only will the book attract a wide range of readers,
it should also stimulate scholars to adopt this approach to many other topics in cultural studies." -William R. Childs, Author of Trucking and the Public Interest
In the ruined Europe of World War II, American soldiers on the front lines had no eye for breathtaking vistas or
romantic settings. The brutality of battle profoundly darkened their perceptions of the Old World. As the only
means of international travel for the masses, the military exposed millions of Americans to a Europe in swift,
catastrophic decline. Drawing on soldiers' diaries, letters, poems, and songs, Peter Schrijvers offers a compelling
account of the experiences of U.S. combat ground forces: their struggles with the European terrain and seasons,
their confrontations with soldiers, and their often startling encounters with civilians. Schrijvers relays how
the GIs became so desensitized and dehumanized that the sight of dead animals often evoked more compassion than
the sight of enemy dead. The Crash of Ruin concludes with a dramatic and moving account of the final Allied offensive
into German-held territory and the soldiers' bearing witness to the ultimate symbol of Europe's descent into ruin-the
death camps of the Holocaust. The harrowing experiences of the GIs convinced them that Europe's collapse was not
only the result of the war, but also the Old World's deep-seated political cynicism, economic stagnation, and cultural
decadence. The soldiers came to believe that the plague of war formed an inseparable part of the Old World's decline
and fall.
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The GI War Against Japan by Peter Schrijvers
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Peter Schrijvers has crafted a unique study of American cultural attitudes regarding different aspects of the Pacific
War. Schrijvers's first book, The Crash of Ruin: American Combat Soldiers in Europe during World War II (1998),
was a well-received study of U.S. Army combatants' European experiences. This second volume encompasses attitudes
of men and women from all the armed services, who served as support troops or combatants in vastly disparate theaters
extending from teeming cities in India to tiny atolls in the central Pacific. In exploring what Americans said
about themselves and how they viewed various Asian peoples, the unfamiliar environments in which they lived, and
the nature of the enemy, Schrijvers is trying to elucidate not only the story of their victory over the Japanese
but "also the tale of the West's defeat in Asia" (p. ix). In his alliterative tripartite division of
the book into "Frontier," "Frustration," and "Fury," the author is in many ways more
interested in the latter story, which avoids the heavily trod operational approach to the subject. Those looking
for yet another triumphalist recapitulation of battles or campaigns will need to go elsewhere.
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Poets of World War II by Harvey Shapiro
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This anthology brings together 120 poems about World War II by 62 American poets,
chosen, as editor Harvey Shapiro writes in his introduction, "with a purpose: to demonstrate that the American
poets of this war produced a body of work that has not yet been recognized for its clean and powerful eloquence."
The poets are generally unsentimental, ironic, and often astonished by what they have experienced, and their insights
still have the power to shake up our perceptions of that war and of war in general. Most of the poets included
in the volume served in the armed forces; some—Louis Simpson, Anthony Hecht, Kenneth Koch—saw combat in the infantry,
while others—James Dickey, Howard Nemerov, Richard Hugo, John Ciardi—fought in the air. Also included: poets who
experienced the war as civilians, including Robinson Jeffers, Marianne Moore, and Conrad Aiken; poems by conscientious
objectors and draft resisters, including William Stafford and Robert Lowell; and an elegy by James Tate for his
father, who was killed in action when Tate was an infant.
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Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides
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Book Description
On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission:
March thirty rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them the last survivors of the
infamous Bataan Death March. A recent prison massacre by Japanese soldiers elsewhere in the Philippines made the
stakes impossibly high and left little time to plan the complex operation. In Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides vividly
re-creates this daring raid, offering a minute-by-minute narration that unfolds alongside intimate portraits of
the prisoners and their lives in the camp. Sides shows how the POWs banded together to survive, defying the Japanese
authorities even as they endured starvation, tropical diseases, and torture. Harrowing, poignant, and inspiring,
Ghost Soldiers is the mesmerizing story of a remarkable mission. It is also a testament to the human spirit, an
account of enormous bravery and self-sacrifice amid the most trying conditions.
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Ernie Pyle's War by James Tobin
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Amazon.com
When World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle left for the Pacific Theater in 1945, he told friends and colleagues
that he felt sure he would die there. Pyle was right; on April 18th, a Japanese machine gunner killed one of America's
most beloved personalities, sending the entire nation into shock and mourning. In the years since Pyle's death,
his particular brand of journalism has been criticized: he's been accused of ignoring the stupidity of generals,
of downplaying the horror of battle, and of presenting the war in a better light than it actually deserved to be
portrayed. James Tobin, author of the impressive biography Ernie Pyle's War, does not deny that his subject often
smoothed the jagged facts of war, but he provides both the context--an era and a war in which correspondents were
expected to be "team players" who helped their side to win hearts and minds at home--and the personal
conflict raised for Pyle by the often irreconcilable demands of telling the truth and building morale. In addition
to detailing Pyle's mostly unhappy personal life, Tobin also includes samples of his columns, proving once and
for all that Pyle was more than just a hick who fell into reporting; the man had real, substantial talent, evidenced
by his ability to put words together and his sensitivity to the subjects he wrote about. More than just a biography,
Ernie Pyle's War is also a study of war, and the peculiar, twilight world of suffering and half-told truths to
which men like Ernie Pyle were drawn.
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Book Archive continued on next page - click here to go to next page (U through Z)
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