By Kenneth E. Bingham., Seabee Books, Binghamus Press, (2011). Reviewed by Charles H. Bogart The author has divided this book into six sections. Over half of the book is a reprint of Construction Battalion Detachment 1058’s cruise book covering its tour of duty at Barrow, Alaska, during 1944-1945. The author provides a 5-page introduction into
By Kenneth E. Bingham., Seabee Book (2011). Reviewed by Charles H. Bogart This book is, in reality, three books in one, with the book divided into thirds. The first third of the book gives background information on Iwo Jima, the formation of the Seabees and, in particular, the activation and training of the 133rd Naval
By Paula E. Calvin and Deborah A. Deacon, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC & London (2011) Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad, Ph.D. Art historians Paula Calvin and Deborah Deacon take readers on a journey through two and a half centuries of American military art as depicted by female artists. They demonstrated that war impacted
Written by Adrian K. Wood and Illustrated by Giuseppe Rava. Osprey Publishing, Ltd., Long Island City, NY. (2012) Reviewed by John R. Satterfield, DBA. Writing about human activities in the Bronze and early Iron Ages is a daunting task. Evidence from these eras is fragmentary at best, like a jigsaw puzzle with far more pieces
By Ken W. Sayers, Naval Institute Press: Annapolis, MD, (2012). Reviewed by Jennifer Daley The United States Navy has a strong history of developing unique vessels to combat specific roles beyond the realm of traditional battleships and submarines. In the 2012 publication, Uncommon Warriors: 200 Years of the Most Unusual American Naval Vessels, author Ken
By Thomas Boghardt, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2012) Reviewed by Capt. Winn Price USNR (Ret.) I thoroughly enjoyed this tale from the black world of cryptology. Espionage novels replete with the ‘shaken-not-stirred’ womanizers and drivers of fast cars, abound in fiction and non-fiction. Codebreakers have not received glorification in a similar genre of novels.
Edited by Kenneth E. Bingham. NMCB-8 Association, Ventura, CA (2013). Reviewed by Charles Bogart The subtitle of this book is “The 13-Man Teams That Helped Rural Vietnamese and who Fought Alongside the Special Forces.” The introduction of the book under review proclaims that it consists of excerpts taken from the book “COMCPAC REPORTS, Special Edition,
By Chuck Veit, Lulu.com, Raleigh, NC. (2012) Reviewed by David Kronenfeld Chuck Veit in Raising Missouri has put together a tidy little volume detailing a little known footnote of American naval history – the sinking and salvage of USS Missouri. This is Veit’s third book and continues in the vein of his focus on 19th
By Joseph Gibbs, Sussex Academic Press Portland, OR (2012). Reviewed by J.J. Ahern As Joseph Gibbs notes in his introduction to On the Account: Piracy and the Americas, 1766 – 1835, “Piracy in the Age of Sail continues to fascinate modern audiences (ix).” The image of swashbuckling buccaneers readily captivates the imagination of all ages;
By Veronica Cherry, Gallant Books, (2012) Reviewed by Nathan Albright In reading this dramatic and action-packed novel about piracy and children in extreme peril, it is difficult not to suspect that the author has a variety of personal and professional motives in framing the story as she does. The novel begins and ends with a
By Ronald D. Utt, Regnery Publishing, Washington, DC, (2012). Reviewed by David Curtis Skaggs, Ph.D. Entering the lists of War of 1812 naval history contenders is Ronald Utt’s Ships of Oak, Guns of Iron that seeks to demonstrate that this conflict forged the respected United States Navy that emerged in the nineteenth century. Or at
By Michael Rutstein, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Salem, MA (2012). Reviewed by James C. Bradford, Ph.D. Despite its important role in American defense policy from the Revolution through the War of 1812, privateering has never been the subject of a comprehensive study. This accounts, in part, for the fact that privateering, i.e., the system of
Edited by Jim Bresnahan, Naval Institute Press, 2011. Reviewed by Rear Admiral Ed Keats, USN (Ret) Counter factional histories have been popular with chimerical writers over many years. I can recall from high school days being fascinated with a book based on the author’s imagination of an early ending to the Civil War right after
By Robert D. Hicks, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD. (2011) Reviewed by Mark Lardas When Britain’s first North America colonies were established, transatlantic voyages were challenges analogous to trips to the Moon today. What did it take to sail the Atlantic four centuries ago? Voyage to Jamestown: Practical Navigation in the Age of Discovery; by
Reviewed by Charles Bogart I Remember the Yorktown (2006) is the first of three self-published books that Gene Domienik has written concerning his service in the U. S. Navy during World War II. The book focuses on his tour of duty onboard Yorktown (CV 5) from October 1941 to its loss at the Battle of
