By Iain Ballantyne & Jonathan Eastland, Pen & Sword Maritime, South Yorkshire, UK, (2013) Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA Few military leaders rise to iconic status and are worshipped by the nations they serve long after they’re gone. Few weapon systems utilized in their careers share the adulation of these heroes. Vice Admiral Horatio
By T.J. Cooper, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Charleston, S.C., (2013) Reviewed by LCdr. Jason P. Grower, USN December 7th marks a somber occasion – the 72nd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It was a seminal moment which changed the world and defined a generation. Thus the date is a remembrance of those
By Steve O’Brien, Self Published, (2002). Reviewed by Commander Paul W. Murphey, CHC, USN (Ret), Ph.D. It was only four years in the long life of Father John P. Foley, S.J. For many of “the greatest generation,” it was the most momentous time of his life. After the arduous years of becoming a Jesuit and serving
By Ray Woods, RoseDogBooks, Pittsburgh, PA (2013). Reviewed by Charles Bogart This book might be best classified as an autobiography of Ray Woods’s service on USS O’Brien (DD 725) from 1943 to 1945. During this period, O’Brien saw action in both Pacific and Atlantic theaters of warfare. O’Brien was off the Normandy beachhead during the
Edited by Vincent P. O’Hara, W. David Dickson, and Richard Worth, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, (2013). Reviewed by Alan M. Anderson The approaching centenary of the First World War continues to generate many new works of scholarship. Most volumes will be devoted to land campaigns, whose images of trench warfare and the slaughter of
By Stephen J. Cimbala, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, (2008). Reviewed by Captain Roger F. Jones, USN (Ret.) According to author Stephen Cimbala, Shield of Dreams is “a policy study that provides a focused discussion of missile defenses and their relationship to Russian-U.S. nuclear arms control and nuclear deterrence relationships and nuclear proliferation [. .
Edited by Geoffrey L. Rossano, Ohio University Press, Athens, OH, (2013). Reviewed by Mitchell Yockelson, Ph.D. Hero of the Angry Sky is the unique story of World War I Navy flying ace Lt. David S. Ingalls. Editor Geoffrey L. Rossano dug deep into a number of American and British archival collections and uncovered a wealth
By Stephen Phillips, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, (2012). Reviewed by LTJG J. Scott Shaffer, USN Developing future naval officers morally, mentally, and physically is not an easy task. Midshipmen come from all fifty states with various backgrounds, beliefs, and personalities. By the time they take their oath, they must be ready to lead. Stephen
By Bill Ardolino, Naval Institute Press Annapolis, (2013). Reviewed by John Grady Bill Ardolino, associate editor of the Long War Journal, wrote a telling account of counterinsurgency warfare and its costs. In no place does he summarize this struggle better than his narrative of the yearlong struggle of a Marine Reserve unit and Sunni Iraqis
Edited by Jim Dolbow, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. (2013). Reviewed by Thomas P. Ostrom The Coast Guardsman’s Manual, first published in 1952, is now in print for its 10th edition, skillfully edited by Lt. Jim Dolbow (USCGR). Dolbow has served on active duty assignments, as a congressional legislative assistant on defense issues, and legislative
By Rodney Earl Walton, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2013) Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad, Ph.D. This well-researched and well-written book analyzed the role of forward artillery observers on Okinawa during the largest artillery battle in World War II’s Pacific Theater. Likely inspired by his father’s role as a forward observer for the 361st Field
By Rodger Sarty; Allen Lane-Penguin Group, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (2012) Reviewed by Michael F. Solecki This book is the eighth installment to “The History of Canada” series. The War in the St. Lawrence is for the most part either forgotten or a printed glitch in the grander “Battle of the Atlantic.” The “Battle in the
By John M. Stickney, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC, (2012). Reviewed by Larry A. Grant The culmination of work done over a forty-year period, Promotion or the Bottom of the River: The Blue and Gray Naval Careers of Alexander F. Warley, South Carolinian is the naval biography of a long-service officer of the
Edited by Thomas C. Hone (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013). Reviewed by John T. Kuehn, Ph.D. No other naval battle in recent American history has garnered more attention than the aircraft carrier clash at the western extremity of the Hawaiian Island Chain in June 1942 than Midway. Ever since Samuel Eliot Morison’s seminal volume
By L. Erik Fleming, Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co., Houston, TX, (2012). Reviewed by Jan Churchill Even though this book is called Rolling Thunder, it is not a history lesson of this operation but an entertaining story about a fictional Marine Captain Valentine Jordan, a fighter pilot assigned to a F4J Phantom II squadron
