|
|
 (A
through F)
Organized Alphabetically by Author's Last Name
Page 1 / 2
/ 3 / 4
|
|
A Blood-Dimmed Tide by Gerald Astor
|
From Publishers Weekly
Astor synthesizes interviews, diaries and correspondence in this evocative treatment of the Battle of the Bulge
from a first-hand, front-line perspective. Through the testimony of German and U.S. participants, he re-creates
the confusion and brutality of the war, the Germans' determination to break through at any cost, and the desperate
American resistance that frustrated Hitler's last offensive. Many of Astor's interviewees, overrun by the German
advance, became prisoners of war. Their accounts of their experiences in a collapsing Reich are the most original
contribution of a work that, with its focus on the human aspects of the fighting in the Ardennes, brilliantly complements
Charles MacDonald's A Time for Trumpets. Military Book Club main dual selection. Copyright
1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Vivid account of the Wehrmacht's final offensive, by Astor (The Last Nazi, 1985, etc.). Exhaustively researched,
much of it narrated by participants, this is a chronicle in the style of the new military history, conveying an
experience as well as a report on a military action. The immediacy and clarity of enlisted men's accounts form
the core reality here, giving a palpable sense of infantry and tank warfare. Comparisons with George Feifer's Tennozan
(p. 368) are inevitable.
|
|
Battling Buzzards by Gerald Astor
|
From Publishers Weekly
The 517th saw action in Italy, southern France, the Ardennes Forest and the final thrust into Germany. What makes
this account one of the best WW II unit histories is the attention Astor pays to the leadership aspect, particularly
the regimental and battalion commanders. The reader gets a clear and detailed look at the bombastic, hard-driving
Lt. Col. Louis Walsh's leadership style and that of his low-keyed, self-effacing successor, Lt. Col. Rupert Graves.
Their approaches differed drastically, but both elicited a high level of combat performance from the troops, giving
the 517th its reputation as one of the U.S. Army's elite outfits. Astor traces the unit from its inception, through
its innovative training and confrontation with the realites of war, to its deactivation in 1946. Astor is the author
of A Blood-Dimmed Tide: The Battle of the Bulge by the Men Who Fought It. Photos. Copyright
1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
|
|
The Mighty Eighth by Gerald Astor
|
Synopsis
The gripping story of the Eighth Air Force in Europe - Told by surviving members - Brings to life the horror of
bombing raids over Germany In 1941 the RAF fought a desperate battle of survival against the Luftwaffe over Britain.
After victory in the Battle of Britain a new generation of American pilots, gunners, and bombardiers arrived, along
with a new generation of flying machines called the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator, the P-47 Thunderbolt,
and the P-51 Mustang fighter. Soon they men were hurling themselves and their unproven planes across the Channel
and into the teeth of enemy firepower, raining down bombs on the German military machine, and going up against
Hitler's best fliers in the sky. This is the dramatic oral history of the Army Air Corps and the newly created
Eighth Air Force stationed in Britain, an army of hard-fighting, hard-playing flying men who suffered more fatalities
than the entire U.S. Marine Corps in the Pacific campaign of World War II. Here, in their own words, are tales
of survival and soul-numbing loss, of soldiers who came together to fight - and win - a kind of war that had never
been fought before. The Mighty Eighth chronicles the testimony of the pilots, bombardiers, navigators, and gunners
who daily put their lives on the line. Their harrowing accounts recall the excitement and terror of dogfights against
Nazi aces, manoeuvering explosive-laden aircraft through deadly flak barrages, and fending off waves of enemy fighters
while coping with subzero temperatures. Beginning with the opening salvos from a mere dozen planes, crewmen describe
the raids on Berlin and Dresden, the fiasco at Ploesti, Romania, and Black Thursday over Schweinfurt. They fell
to the terror of seeing aircraft destroyed - helplessly watching as comrades crash and burn, or parachute over
enemy territory, where they will attempt to evade enemy capture through the underground. Others tell of mourning
downed airmen murdered by vengeful citizens and soldiers, and of those who endured captivity in POW camps.
|
|
Operation Iceberg by Gerald Astor
|
From Publishers Weekly
On April 1, 1945, a combined Army-Navy-Marine force landed on Okinawa for what turned
out to be the last major battle of WWII. In Astor's panoramic overview, nearly 100 American and Japanese survivors
recall the fighting, each voice bearing out the author's contention that "the savagery of combat on Okinawa
over a period of three months epitomized war at its worst." By June 20, 1945, General Simon Buckner's Tenth
Army had conquered the island, though Buckner himself had been killed two days before. Statistics alone convey
the epic scale of the battle: 12,520 American and 110,071 Japanese killed; 763 U.S. and 7700 Japanese planes destroyed.
In this first-rate account of the tactical ebb and flow, Astor (Battling Buzzards) brings into focus the bitter
rivalry between the Army and Marines during the campaign. And he incidentally tells the story of the last days
of Ernie Pyle, the war's most celebrated correspondent, including details of Pyle's little-known sojourn with the
Marines. Pyle was killed by a sniper on April 18, 1945. Photos. Copyright
1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
|
|
Rangers in World War II by Robert Black
|
Book Description
From the deadly shores of North Africa to the invasion of Sicily to the fierce jungle hell of the Pacific, the
contribution of the World War II Ranger Battalions far outweighed their numbers. They were ordinary men on an extraordinary
mission, experiencing the full measure of the fear, exhaustion, and heroism of combat in nearly every major invasion
of the war. Whether spearheading a landing force or scouting deep behind enemy lines, these highly motivated, highly
trained volunteers led the way for other soldiers -- they were Rangers. With first-person interviews, in-depth
research, and a complete appendix naming every Ranger known to have served, author Robert Black, a Ranger himself,
has made the battles of WWII come to life through the struggles of the men who fought to win the greatest war the
world has ever seen.
|
|
Flyboys by James Bradley
|
From Publishers Weekly
The author of Flags of Our Fathers achieves considerable but not equal success in this new Pacific War-themed history.
Again he approaches the conflict focused on a small group of men: nine American Navy and Marine aviators who were
shot down off the Japanese-held island of Chichi Jima in February 1945. All of them were eventually executed by
the Japanese; several of the guilty parties were tried and condemned as war criminals. When the book keeps its
eye on the aviators-growing up under a variety of conditions before the war, entering service, serving as the U.
S. Navy's spearhead aboard the fast carriers, or facing captivity and death-it is as compelling as its predecessor.
However, a chapter on prewar aviation is an uncritical panegyric to WWI aerial bombing advocate Billy Mitchell,
who was eventually court-martialed for criticizing armed forces brass. More problematic is that Bradley tries to
encompass not only the whole history of the Pacific War, but the whole history of the cultures of the two opposing
countries that led to the racial attitudes which both sides brought to the war. Those attitudes, Bradley argues,
played a large role in the brutal training of the Japanese army, which led to atrocities that in turn sharpened
already keen American hostility. Some readers' hackles will rise at the discussion of the guilt of both sides,
but, despite some missteps, Bradley attempts to strike an informed balance with the perspective of more than half
a century. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
|
|
The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw
|
Amazon.com
Veteran reporter and NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw went to France to make a documentary marking the 40th anniversary
of D-day in 1984. Although he was thoroughly briefed on the historical background of the invasion, he was totally
unprepared for how it would affect him emotionally. Flooded with childhood memories of World War II, Brokaw began
asking veterans at the ceremony to revisit their past and talk about what happened, triggering a chain reaction
of war-torn confessions and Brokaw's compulsion to capture their experiences in what he terms "the permanence
a book would represent." After almost 15 years and hundreds of letters and interviews, Brokaw wrote The Greatest
Generation, a representative cross-section of the stories he came across. However, this collection is more than
a mere chronicle of a tumultuous time, it's history made personal by a cast of everyday people transformed by extraordinary
circumstances: the first women to break the homemaker mold, minorities suffering countless indignities to boldly
fight for their country, infantrymen who went on to become some of the most distinguished leaders in the world,
small-town kids who became corporate magnates. From the reminiscences of George Bush and Julia Child to the astonishing
heroism and moving love stories of everyday people, The Greatest Generation salutes those whose sacrifices changed
the course of American history. --Rebekah Warren
|
|
Beyond the Rhine by Donald R. Burgett
|
From the Publisher
In June 1944, the Allies launched a massive amphibious invasion against the Nazi-held France. But under the cover
of darkness, a new breed of fighting man leapt from airplanes through a bullet-stitched, tracer-lit sky to go behind
German lines. These were the Screaming Eagles of the newly formed 101st Airbourne Division. Their job was to strike
terror into the Nazi defenders, delay reinforcements, and kill any enemy solders they met. In the next seven days,
the men of the 101st fought some of the most ferocious close-quarter combat in all of World War II. Now, Donald
R. Burgett looks back at the nonstop, nightmarish fighting across body-strewn fields, over enemy-held hedgegrows,
through blown out towns and devastated forests. This harrowing you-are-there chronicle captures the baptism by
fire of a young Private Burgett, his comrades and a new air-mobile fighting force that would become a legend of
war.
|
|
Marching Home by Kevin Coyne
|
From Publishers Weekly
This distinctive "Greatest Generation" chronicle portrays men from the author's hometown of Freehold,
N.J., as they left for war and returned to face the often mundane but still very real difficulties of postwar life.
Coyne (Domers: A Year at Notre Dame) recounts this panoramic story in superior journalistic prose, free of hyper-patriotic
guff or pop-psych jargon. Stu Bunton was a naval radio operator who later entered the Freehold police force. Walter
Denise returned to the family apple orchard after a distinguished career as an infantryman in northern Europe.
Jake Erickson was a radio-intercept operator in the southwest Pacific who married an Australian woman and rose
to foreman at the local rug factory. Undertaker Jim Higgins was in air force intelligence in England, while Jewish
immigrant Bud Lopatin, a home builder, flew 72 missions in B-26s. The youngest of the six, Bigerton "Buddy"
Lewis endured the gross discrimination that was the lot of the army's African-Americans, but came home to rise
in county government. Eventually, Jake's rug factory went out of business, and Walter's orchard was reduced to
housing-development oblivion as Freehold turned into a New York City bedroom community. A fire destroyed much of
downtown, and rebuilding set off arguments over urban renewal; the civil rights and antiwar movements provoked
much tension but little bloodshed and led to real progress; and while prayers were banned in schools, other prayers
were answered by the building of a new hospital. While this book does not break new ground, it is head and shoulders
above much of the near competition, with graceful storytelling and enough social commentary to appeal to fans of
Studs Terkel. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
|
|
Hell Woundn't Stop by Chet Cunningham
|
The Battle for Wake Island inspired a nation after the horrendous loss at Pearl Harbor. This is a remarkable compilation
of first hand experiences, both by the author's brother and the men of all ranks who fought alongside him. The
smoke and haze of battle prohibits any one person from experiencing the whole. Cunningham cleverly weaves the stories
of his brother's fellow Wake Island defenders into tapestry that gives a remarkable vision of this heroic defense.
Taken as prisoners, the men were enslaved in the highly profitable Japanese War machinery, enriching companies
like Mitsui and Hitachi. The savagery and endless brutality of the Japanese against the POWS became an a living
hell. Truly, Cunningham has written the personal answers of so many to the question: "What really happened
to these gallant men?"
Little is said of the gallantry of the civilian construction company employees, many of whom were equally brave
defenders. A number of errors (dates, names, sequence of events) are evident but, except for historians seeking
exactitude, are of no significance. An errata sheet should be made by the author.
|
|
Love Company by Donald Dencker
|
LOVE COMPANY BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT
Love Company is the factual account of a young U.S. Army infantryman's experiences serving in a front line Rifle
Company during the battles of Leyte, Philippines and Okinawa , Japan . The trials and triumphs of his unit, Company
L, 382nd Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Division is faithfully detailed as his outfit meets the enemy in the
swamps and jungles of Leyte and then on the fire-swept hills and ridges of Okinawa . During the course of these
battles, Love Company, which landed 187 men on Leyte , suffers over 300 battle casualties. The few surviving battle-wise
veterans and a steady stream of replacements heroically carry the fight to the Japanese until the end of fighting
on Okinawa ,the last battle of World War II. Love Company and the rest of the 96th Infantry Division, almost immediately
after Okinawa , is shipped to Mindoro , Philippines for rehabilitation and to prepare for the invasion of Japan
. To everyone's overwhelming relief, the atomic bomb ends the war, and interest turns to returning home. The wait
ends and the author returns home to complete a civil engineering education at the University of Minnesota . In
writing Love Company, the author includes events encompassing the big picture of the war against the Japanese and
the achievements of the 96th Infantry Division. The author also manages to interject into the narrative humorous
events as they occur during the deadly days of combat. Love Company is to be published on May 1, 2002 by Sunflower
University Press of Manhattan , Kansas . The author is Don Dencker, Historian, 96th Infantry Division Association.
|
|
Victory at Sea
|
From Publishers Weekly
Dunnigan and Nofi (Dirty Little Secrets) have put together a reference book about the Pacific theater that WWII
buffs will find handy. In a succinct, breezy style (one chapter is titled "The Boring Stuff," another
"The Really Important Stuff"), they describe campaigns, assess the ships, planes and weapons on both
sides, compare war aims and fighting styles, provide a who's who of officers and conclude with a daily "chronolog"
from before Pearl Harbor to after V-J Day. Dunnigan and Nofi evaluate Allied and Japanese armies and subunits (they
have something to say, for instance, about each of the six U.S. Marine divisions), analyze various conspiracy theories
(some of the theories about the attack on Pearl Harbor "rank right up there with Elvis sightings") and
clear up several common misconceptions ("The popular perception is that the Flying Tigers were volunteer American
pilots fighting for the Chinese before the United States entered the war. Wrong on all counts..."). Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
|
|
General Ike by John S.D. Eisenhower
|
John S.D. Eisenhower modestly explains General Ike as "a son's view of a great military leader — highly intelligent,
strong, forceful, kind, yet as human as the rest of us." It is that, and more: a portrait of the greatest
Allied military leader of the Second World War, by the man who knew Ike best. General Ike is a book that John Eisenhower
always knew he had to write, a tribute from an affectionate and admiring son to a great father. John chose to write
about the "military Ike," as opposed to the "political Ike," because Ike cared far more about
his career in uniform than about his time in the White House. A series of portraits of Ike's relations with soldiers
and statesmen, from MacArthur to Patton to Montgomery to Churchill to de Gaulle, reveals the many facets of a talented,
driven, headstrong, yet diplomatic leader. Taken together, they reveal a man who was brilliant, if flawed; naïve
at times in dealing with the public, yet who never lost his head when others around him were losing theirs. Above
all, General Ike was a man who never let up in the relentless pursuit of the destruction of Hitler. Here for the
first time are eyewitness stories of General Patton showing off during military exercises; of Ike on the verge
of departing for Europe and assuming command of the Eastern Theater; of Churchill stewing and lobbying Ike in his
"off hours." Faced with giant personalities such as these men and MacArthur, not to mention difficult
allies such as de Gaulle and Montgomery, Ike nevertheless managed to pull together history's greatest invasion
force and to face down a determined enemy from Normandy to the Bulge and beyond. John Eisenhower masterfully uses
the backdrop of Ike's key battles to paint a portrait of his father and his relationships with the great men of
his time. General Ike is a ringing and inspiring testament to a great man by an accomplished historian. It is also
a personal portrait of a caring, if not always available, father by his admiring son. It is history at its best.
John S.D. Eisenhower, a graduate of West Point, a retired Brigadier General
in the Army Reserve, and the former American ambassador to Belgium, is also the author of seven books, including
the bestseller The Bitter Woods; Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott; and, most recently,
Yanks: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I.
|
|
Visions from a Foxhole
|
From Booklist
Retired commercial artist Foley was an 18-year-old squad leader in the 94th Infantry Division in Europe in the
winter of 1945. He led, survived, and drew extensively, creating a portfolio of drawings, many of which are to
appear in the finished edition of this memoir. If he draws as well as he writes, the resulting volume should be
even more impressive than the text, which already showcases an artist's powers of observation and a keen visual
memory. Foley and his comrades came through an underpublicized but thoroughly arduous portion of the northwest
European campaign, fighting a still stubborn Wehrmacht while enduring inadequate winter clothing, little air support
(it was grounded by the weather), and many officers who, for all the use they were to the GIs, might as well have
been on the other side. Foley survived minor wounds, frostbite, green replacements, losing friends, and dealing
with fellow soldiers he would rather have lost. Abounding with well-chosen details, his memoir is a harrowing portrait
of the infantryman's war. Roland Green Copyright © American Library
Association. All rights reserved
|
|
Hornet Flight by Ken Follett
|
Amazon.com
An old-fashioned tale of ordinary people thrown into the drama and danger of war, Hornet Flight is a rippingly
good read. The time is 1941, and British bombers attacking Germany are being blown out of the sky in horrific numbers.
How do the Nazis know they're coming? The answer is an infant technology called radar, and the Brits--with help
from the Danish Resistance--must figure out how and where the German radar stations operate. Follett, an old pro
at World War II storytelling, vividly evokes the period, creating a sense not of historical re-creation but of
urgently unfolding news. His cast of characters is memorable, including Harald Olufsen, a brainy 18-year-old pulled
into the Resistance half against his will, and--typically for Follett--several central, well-drawn women. The plot
does have some predictable elements: for example, from the time Harald first encounters a tiny wood-and-linen biplane
called a Hornet Moth, half-rotted and stored away in a Danish barn, we know that it will heroically take to the
skies. Then, when the very outcome of the war begins to turn on Harald getting a certain roll of film from Denmark
to England, well... you can see where things are headed. But it's great fun to watch them develop, and Follett
throws in just enough unexpected shocks to keep you off balance. Though it lacks the intensity of Eye of the Needle,
Follett's finest and best-known book, Hornet Flight offers generous helpings of suspense and a climax that could
hardly be more satisfying. --Nicholas H. Allison
|
|
Jackdaws by Ken Follett
|
JACKDAWS is the code name given to a band of brave and brash women whose task it is to destroy a Nazi telephone
center in the last crucial days before D-Day. Said to be based on a true story, we are immediately thrown into
an ill-fated attempt to disrupt the strategic communications hub as the Allies gather across the English Channel
for the Normandy invasion. A crew of French Resistance fighters is thwarted in their attempt to carry out the assignment,
and the leader of the group, Felicity Clairet, known as "Flick," and her husband Michel are among the
handful of survivors of the ill-fated mission. Michel is wounded in the attack, so Felicity must return alone to
the MI6 headquarters in London and devise a new plan. With time running short and the Nazis on high alert to a
possible second attempt, British Intelligence reluctantly decides to go with Flick's plan to infiltrate the communications
center with a group of women disguised as cleaners. The challenge is to find, recruit and train a suitable cadre
of women with the temperament and skills needed for such a task --- in three days. In the mid-1940s there were
few women with explosives, weaponry, and telephone engineering skills available, so other personality characteristics
were sought. Flick and her cohorts scour bars, jails, and country estates to enlist the aid of one of the most
unlikely groups of misfits since "The Dirty Dozen." Most of the book is spent describing the recruitment
and training of this band of marauders, exciting stuff on its own. As D-Day draws near, the group encounters time
and again the cruel and diabolical Dieter Werner, Nazi chief interrogator. The plot twists and turns at every event,
leaving us on the edge of our seats. Laced with graphic violence, torture and sex scenes, JACKDAWS may not be for
the faint of heart. This extraordinarily cinematic book plays out in the mind's eye as if on the big screen. Hollywood
mega-producer, Dino De Laurentiis, with smash thrillers Red Dragon, Hannibal, Ragtime, and Blue Velvet among others
under his belt, has purchased the film rights. Ken Follett has entertained millions of readers with smash bestsellers
set in World War II, such as THE KEY TO REBECCA, CODE TO ZERO, EYE OF THE NEEDLE, and others. Already a best seller
in Italy, JACKDAWS promises to take its place among those novels. ---
Reviewed by Roz Shea © Copyright 2003, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
|
|
The Boys' Crusade by Paul Fussell
|
The Boys’ Crusade is the great historian Paul Fussell’s unflinching and unforgettable account of the American infantryman’s
experiences in Europe during World War II. Based in part on the author’s own experiences, it provides a stirring
narrative of what the war was actually like, from the point of view of the children—for children they were—who
fought it. While dealing definitively with issues of strategy, leadership, context, and tactics, Fussell has an
additional purpose: to tear away the veil of feel-good mythology that so often obscures and sanitizes war’s brutal
essence. “A chronicle should deal with nothing but the truth,” Fussell writes in his Preface. Accord-ingly, he
eschews every kind of sentimentalism, focusing instead on the raw action and human emotion triggered by the intimacy,
horror, and intense sorrows of war, and honestly addressing the errors, waste, fear, misery, and resentments that
plagued both sides. In the vast literature on World War II, The Boys’ Crusade stands wholly apart. Fussell’s profoundly
honest portrayal of these boy soldiers underscores their bravery even as it deepens our awareness of their experiences.
This book is both a tribute to their noble service and a valuable lesson for future generations.
Paul Fussell is the author of fifteen books, including Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World
War and The Great War and Modern Memory, which won the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle
Award and was named by the Modern Library as one of the twentieth century’s 100 best nonfiction books. He taught
literature for many years at the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University. He lives in Philadelphia with
his wife.
|
|
|
Book Archive continued on next page - click here to go to next page (G through M)
|
