5 comments about Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo.

1. I am so shocked and moved after reading this book. This is a must read for everyone.. What happens in Guantanamo is inhumane. Not even animals are treated this way.



2. In this book, translated from German, Murat Kurnaz, a German Turk, tells his tragic story. When only nineteen and an apprentice shipbuilder, while taking time off in Pakistan for religious study, he was hauled off a bus and imprisoned for a short time before being `sold' to the US Administration for $3,000. This was a bargain - the Americans were offering $5,000 - $25,000 to locals for anyone suspected of being Taliban or Al Qaeda. With such tempting offerings, many innocent men - usually foreigners - were gladly exchanged for the money which converted into huge amounts in the local currency.
   
   Murat was sent first to a prison camp in Kandahar, Afghanistan and then later to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In both places he was repeatedly and relentlessly tortured. Among other things he was constantly beaten, often for no reason, he was water boarded, he was electrically shocked on the soles of his feet, he was hung from the ceiling by his arms tied behind him for hours on end, he was deprived of sleep for weeks at a time, he was forced to stand for days, he was starved, he was force fed, he was put in an air-tight metal container and subjected to extreme heat and cold and of course there were the months of solitary confinement. In Guantanamo he came across prisoners as young as 14 and a few even in their 80s and 90s.
   
   Like all the books on Guantanamo, there is almost a shock a page. Besides the main tortures listed above, what I found almost as deplorable was how vindictive, sadistic and cruel the soldiers were to the detainees in little ways all the time and always there were endless lies. Also appalling were Murat's descriptions of female soldiers in one of the camps, watching while naked male prisoners defecated in a communal bucket in the open pen. And in Guantanamo, scantily dressed young women rubbed themselves against him and made sexual suggestions. One wonders if their male superiors ordered them to do this or if they thought up these little torments themselves. But it should also be said that a few guards treated the detainees with basic decency.
   
   At the end of the book we learn that the Administration knew 6 months into Murat's capture that he was innocent, but kept him on, continued the torture and even made wild accusations against him - presumably to save face. After 5 years when he was finally to be sent back to Germany, on the way out they made a last ditch effort to make him sign a statement saying he was either Taliban or Al Qaeda or he must stay in Cuba. He refused.
   
   How do we know all this is true? Having read so many similar accounts from so many prisoners of many different nationalities and languages, from different cell blocks, who could not have collaborated - talking between the detainees was almost always prohibited - I am convinced that what is described is essentially what happened. The Epilogue, written by his American attorney, Baher Azmy, a law professor in New Jersey, is excellent. Murat was robbed of part of his youth with no explanation or apology so it is hardly surprising he felt compelled to tell his story. He finishes with - "We have to tell the world how Abdul lost his legs and how the Moroccan captain lost his fingers. The world needs to know about the prisoners who died in Kandahar. We have to describe how the doctors came only to check whether we were dead or could stand to be tortured for a little longer."



3. After reading an FBI report about the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo, the U.S. Senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin, compared it to the Nazis. He was later forced to apologize after the Anti-Defamation League, among otheres, objected to any comparison with the Holocaust. It's too bad Durbin apologized because after reading Murat Kurnaz's account of his experience at Guantanamo, Nazilike is the only adjective that comes to mind. We should keep in mind that the Holocaust--that is, genocide on an industrial scale--didn't spring full-blown in the Nazi's plans. Those plans were enabled by the failure of the international community to try to stop the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Kristallnacht was preliminary to the Holocaust but the fact that the Nazis got away with it, paved the way for the Holocaust. Other reviewers have commented on how upset they were reading this book and how difficult they found it to sleep afterwards. I had the same response, in part because you realize that we too are capable of bestiality, that we, too, are living in a period of incipient fascism in this country. If the true authors of the torture policies at Guantanamo--Dick Cheney, David Addington, John Yoo, Alberto Gonazales, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush, etc.--are allowed to get away with their crimes and are not held accountable, we will have enabled our leaders to carry out even greater crimes.



4. The book highlights some of the darkest sides of the Bush administation's "War On Terror". Murat Kurnaz tells a breathtaking and horrifying story about the unlawful detention that took away his youth.
   
   He was exposed to some of the most humiliating, inhumane and painful treatments possible. He was hung up on a hook in the ceiling for five days, electified, nearly drowned, subjected to mock execution, put in solitary confinement for extreme stretches in unbearable heat or cold, put in a room with no air supply among many, many other things.
   
   This book is a wake-up call to the cruel world we live in, and is a MUST READ for anyone interested in what REALLY happens outside their backyard.



5. A first hand testimony of how things can go so wrong when we forget to treat people as human beings

5 comments about A Piece of My Heart: The Stories of 26 American Women Who Served in Vietnam.

1. This book was very inspiring to read especially since I am a Gulf war veteran myself and have grown up during the time. I really appreciated there stories.



2. I read this every once in a while to gain perspective and to make sure I hear the stories of these women. To make sure I'm aware of, and to acknowledge their sacrifices. They touched so many lives then, and are still making a difference in other ways now. I think this should be required reading for every woman.



3. "A Piece of My Heart: The Stories of 26 American Women Who Served in Vietnam," by Keith Walker, is a powerful addition to the large body of writings about the Vietnam War. Walker's technique for compiling this book was to interview the featured women and turn the transcripts of the interviews into chapters. One chapter is drawn from a dual interview of two of the women, and another chapter consists of a letter written by a woman whom Walker did not get to interview. The book is full of black-and-white photographs that further document the women's service in Vietnam. Also noteworthy is the stirring foreword by entertainer Martha Raye, who briefly discusses her own experiences in Vietnam.
   
   Most of the women featured were Army nurses, but the book also includes women who served as WACs, Red Cross personnel, a civilian flight attendant, a USO worker, and more. There are some significant recurring themes that connect a number of chapters: the experience of being under hostile fire; men, women, sex, and dating in the war zone; encounters with the Vietnamese people; fun and recreation in Vietnam; challenges the women faced in doing their jobs in a war zone; and personal and psychological problems some of the women faced after returning home from Vietnam. Also, two of the women discuss possible Agent Orange-connected health problems faced by children they had after serving.
   
   There are some extremely graphic and disturbing accounts by some of the nurses as they recall the horrific injuries suffered by their patients, as well as their own struggles to deliver compassionate care in the combat zone environment. There are many other noteworthy memories, some heartbreaking, some funny. Army nurse Pat Johnson describes painting the barracks "red-and-white striped with pink polka dots." Entertainer Bobbi Jo Pettit recalls touring Vietnam as part of an all-girl band called "The Pretty Kittens." Navy nurse Maureen Walsh delivers a vivid account of an enemy rocket attack at Da Nang.
   
   The voices of these women strike many tones: feisty, introspective, proud, caring. I was especially moved by the memories of post-war reunions and experiences at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I consider this book to be an absolutely essential complement to the many fine works, both fiction and nonfiction, written by male Vietnam veterans. Recommended as a companion text: Wallace Terry's "Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans," which is similar in both format and impact to this book.



4. Written in 1985 when many of the wounds of Vietnam still bled fresh, Keith Walker interviewed 26 women who served in country in a variety of capacities. The result of this ambitious and courageous project is a heartbreaking, captivating and ultimately transcendent oral history.
   
   The stories here filled with an evolution that mirrors the changes of perception that accompanied the war. This is not only a history of women in Vietnam (a history all too frequently too overlooked)but also a history of America as well. Each woman, in her own way experiences the journey from ambition to horror to disillusionment to healing. Many of the women interviewed (as of 1985)are still works very much in progress- as our Nation is as well.
   
   This oral history depicts not only depicts the immediate horrors and consequences of combat but most importantly the post combat experience as well along with the living conditions and political environment as seen in the first person.
   
   Later adapted (by Shirley Lauro) into a powerful dramatic event, A PIECE OF MY HEART makes for a must read for anyone interested in either Vietnam history specifically or American history in general.
   
   A classic.



5. ... for all of the women who served in Vietnam. Read this book, plus the late Lynda Van Devanter's Home Before Morning and you'll see why.

   While Lynda's book is a hauntingly graphic record of the triumphs and tragedies that the ANC nurses and Army surgeons experienced in Nam, A Piece Of My Heart gives the reader a very broad perspective of the contributions of women in many other areas.

   The foreword to the book was written by the wonderful Martha Raye, whose unflinching commitment to the men and women who served in Nam led to her being a two-time Purple Heart recipient. That even an entertainer could be wounded twice in the line of duty speaks volumes about the risk level In Country.

   Equally, Civilian Flight Attendant Micki Voisard almost met her end when her airliner almost collided with a B-52 that was maintaining radio silence during an airstrike.

   Yet even though the Red Cross Donut Dollies, such as Penni Evans and "Sam" Bokina Christie and WACs such as Doris Allen all have compelling stories to relate, it is the experiences of the nurses that really stay with you, long after you have put the book down.

   For most of her post-Nam life, former ANC nurse and author Lynda Van Devanter (Home Before Morning - available through Amazon.com) was haunted by the memory of a young soldier who had no face, and who eventually had to be left to die because of the extent of his injuries.

   When you read the piece by Anne Simon Auger (91st Evac. - Chu Lai) you realize that injuries of that magnitude were not as uncommon as you might hope and pray. Anne also described a young soldier whose face had been shot away, leaving him blind and in her words, "a vegetable".

   While my own view is that people in such terrible physical condition should be given enough morphine to shut down their breathing, or in the absence of that, on the battlefield, a mercy round from an M-16, I fully accept that however you have to deal with such shocking injuries, it will stay with you for the rest of your life.

   Let us not forget that while the cowardly Stalinist flag burners were calling the returning troops "baby killers", thousands of true blue American women were risking their own lives to support the largely teenaged US soldiers in a war that increasingly made no sense to the people who were being asked to fight it.

   These women were Vets. These women were heroes. These women were angels.

   We must constantly seek ways to honour them. Their sacrifice must never be forgotten.

5 comments about Co. Aytch First Tennessee Regiment.

1. Gift for my husband. He says that it is an interesting view from a soldiers life. Hard to believe some of the things they endured. Good reading. It is a diary, not a story.



2. 
   The way Sam's revisions were incorporated was highly effective. I felt the labeling of the picture of General Jeb Stuart as General John Bell Hood was a major publishing error & highly damaged the book.



3. Many years ago, I read "Co. Aytch" and it quickly became one of my favorite Civil War memoirs. Recently, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Pvt. Watkin's family had published a new edition of "Co Aytch" with Sam's intended revisions. I've purchased a copy of revised edition, and I must say that I still enjoy this book.
   
   With the revision, I came away with the feeling that wartime hatred for the Union soldiers had mellowed with Sam changing the use of the word Yankee in earlier editions to Federal. His remarks regarding General Bragg are interesting.
   
   In my opinion, if you've read the earlier editions of "Co Aytch", you must read the revised edition.



4. Co Aytch was the only book in memory that I wanted to re-read all over again after finishing it. Funny, gripping, sad, uplifting, romantic, - the book has it all. Sam Watkins reflections as a private confederate soldier through four years of a terrible war should be a must read for all Americans-- especially those not enamored with history.
   
   I did not read the original Co. Aytch but this revised edition with SW's actual handwritten revisions seemed to flow very well-- it was hard to put this book down.



5. This book was fantastic! I first read it in 1982 in paperback form when I bought it at Fort Donelson National Battlefield. It created a deep love and respect for the "common soldier" that fought in the Civil War, regardless if they wore blue or gray. Sam Watkins' family is owed a huge debt of gratitude by releasing this edition with Sam's notes. If you want to know about how the average soldier felt about the war, his cause, fellow soldiers, and his leaders, then this is the book for you!

5 comments about The Passing of the Night: My Seven Years as a Prisoner of the North Vietnamese.

1. I read this book and was so moved I wrote Robbie Rinser sometime in the 80s to tell him how moved I was, how much I was impacted by his book. Little did I know, that some months later, I would find him in my office...without going into the details, I was fortunate enough to work alongside him for several years. I got to pick his brain and ask him questions that I had wondered about when I read his book. He told me many details of his capture. One that I found especially inspirational. He was beaten unconscious one night, and awoke the next morning to open one battered eye..his face pressed against a crack in the wall. He said he felt a breath of fresh air through the crack and could see one blade of green, living grass...and that it inspired him. He returned to the floor each morning to look at that blade of grass; It gave him a reason to live, a reason for hope.
   He told me many similar stories..all demonstrating his courage and dedication; and every time, he attributed his survival to two things: Faith in God and belief in his country.
   A great book.



2. Even though this was written 35 years ago, the messages in this little book are extremely valid for today. Risners' thoughts about Family, God and Country need continual reemphasis. This is a great book for young men and women,particularily those serving in our military.I would also recommend it for other Vets who have served out country.



3. Well written book, heart breaking story. This man was a well respected Air Force officer. My husband served under him in Okinawa. We waited for years to see if he was still alive. This is the fourth copy of his book we have bought. People borrow it and "forget" to return it. Would recomend this to any one that reads. We need to find out what goes on in the life of the military family. What a great thing this man did for our freedom.



4. This book was originally written in 1973 and details the violations of the Geneva Convention by the North Vietnamese. Colonel Risner details how he first resisted the North Vietnamese and later signed statements after extreme torture. The North Vietnamese were very cruel to their captured POWs. It is a wonder why we didn't have protesters telling the world of the inhumane practices of the North Vietnamese government.
   
   This is a nice read on how these American patriots resisted the efforts of the North Vietnamese to break their spirit. As Colonel Risner would say, you found God in prison and faith in the American system. It is amazing this man spent 7 and a half years with little food, lots of torture, and still maintained his faith in the American system. This is an inspirational read.



5. I had the privilege and honor of meeting and getting to know General Risner shortly after he was appointed as commander of
   the 832nd Air Division at Cannon AFB, New Mexico, in 1973.
   He was a humble and gracious gentleman of great dignity. I was
   blessed to get to know him personally and to jointly procure a copy of the movie: In The Presence of Mine Enemies, for showing at the base chapel. On the day of my release from active duty I purchased his book and, it being a Saturday, visited him in his office, entering with his permission through his private entrance and he graciously signed the book for me with a personal message for future success. The book is a must read for anyone who considers themself an American, as all Americans should become aware of the sacrifices of people like General Risner in keeping us free. Sadly, I loaned the book to a friend
   and never had it returned. But I will never forget General Risner's story, not the man himself. Knowing him was truly one of the best blessing I have experienced in my 54 years of life.
   You must read this book!

5 comments about To the Last Salute: Memories of an Austrian U-Boat Commander.

1. This is reasonably light read broken into bite-size chapters covering a variety of experiences surrounding the author's service as a WWI Austrian U-boat captain, the boat technologies of the time and the everyday impact of the politics as Austria's empire unraveled. Austria's relationship with it's wealthy and larger German ally is seen from another perspective as well as the polyglot nature of the many ethnic groups belonging to and participating in the Austrian war effort. A fine military account from the man responsible for "The Sound of Music."



2. To the Last Salute is Georg Ritter von Trapp's memoir of commanding a U-boat in the Austrian Navy during World War I. While his style of writing does take some getting used to, von Trapp provides an engaging and suspenseful tale of life on a primitive submarine during an oft-neglected period of military history. The book also gives us an insight into von Trapp as a man, more insight than one finds in other books on the life of his famous family. His accounts of the horrors of war and the loss of his beloved navy at the end of the war are especially moving. For those interested in von Trapp, the Austrian Navy, World War I, and the history of submarine warfare, the book will be especially useful; anyone interested in the story of an intriguing, thoughtful, and courageous man will enjoy the chronicle of von Trapp's adventures as well.



3. Captain Georg von Trapp's Memoirs were published in Austria in German in the 1930's. One of his Grandaughters (an offspring of one of the real life von Trapp Family Singers)has translated her famous ancestor's work into English and now we can all see why the Evil Nazi's were so set on getting "The Captain" into their Navy when they took over Austria.
   
   The work is very short and von Trapp has a matter of fact writing style similar to that of U.S. counterpart Gene Fluckey in his memoir of the USS Barb. Unlike Fluckey however von Trapp had to go to war in an antequated obsolete gasoline powered Austrian U-boat which was barely a step above the Turtle or the Hunley. A german U boat Captain told him upon going inside the ship that he "was lucky to be Alive". In addition he had to deal with a multinational crew that grew more restless as the war went on and their countries began to break away from the Hapsburg yoke.
   
   The memoir is a good glimpse of a theatre of WWI which is barely mentioned, the Naval War in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. Very little has been written of the War at sea between the Austrian navy on one side and the Italians and the French on the other. Most I have seen have dealt with the Royal Navy in the Dardanelles.
   
   The book also begins with some von Trapp Family background and reveals many interesting facts such as the Captain's first wife was English and many of 'the children' were a lot older than 'sixteen going on seventeen' when they escaped Austria. Sadly when the Captain died of lung cancer in 1947 it may have been related to all of the gas fumes he inhaled on the poorly ventilated u boat during the war.



4. I've wished for this book to be translated into English for a very long time! It was worth the wait.
   
   I've always wanted to know more about Captain von Trapp, in his own words and this book is as close as I am going to get. It did not disappoint as it provided a window to see the Captain, the man.
   
   I could not help but believe this book was more a compilation from a journal he may have kept. I also could not help but believe, if not for his modesty, there was so much more he could have shared.
   
   Perhaps, without realizing it, he showed us many sides, least of which were his tender and compassionate side. How many military captains do you know would allow a rescued kitten to live on board his submarine?
   
   I gave this book five stars, not so much for literary greatess as for the enjoyment received from reading it and having a few more questions answered.
   
   It should be enjoyed by all Sound of Music fans and I believe those interested in history will enjoy it as well. Even though I knew the outcome, I could not help but hold my breath as he told of daring escapades while captaining his u-boats. I found myself, while reading about his experiences, thinking of the movie, K-9, The Widowmaker.
   
   My only complaint, it was only 188 pages log. :-(



5. I had known of this book for many years, and had even thought about seeing if a publisher would be willing to entertain a translation. It was wonderful to see a member of the family lead the effort and have a copy back in print and in english after too many years out of print. It is a wonderful story of a patriotic naval officer, of a now absent navy tell of his adventures as the most successful captain of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. His work with his crew (from all over the empire) dealing with bureaucratic officers, sinking ships in an old sub, that his German peers recommended not taking to sea (they thought it unseaworthy and an antique), and then further adventures in a French sub, sunk then raised to strike again against them is intersting. Those who have read Lowell Thomas' account, or Edwyn Gray's books on the German WW1 submarine service will find this a very different tale and one worth comparing to other efforts.
   For those who wondered where the Captain in the von Trapp family singers came from this fills in a void covering elements of his older children and first wife. Through his first wife, he was related to the inventor of the modern torpedo, who had set up a factory in Austra-Hungary before WW1.
   The book is well written and reads quickly, and tells the tale of a dedicated and talented patriot in an prior phase of his life, which was later known to the world in song and story.

5 comments about Flyboys: A True Story of Courage.

1. A great book. I would have given it 5 stars but thought it was overwritten and too detailed at times. I'd previously thought Hirohito wasn't so bad -- just a captive of the military. Not so. The extent of George Bush's heroism was another revelation.



2. The book was a little too boardly based. It covers US and Japanese relations from the 1850s to the end of WWII. But it was wonderfully engaging and any history/WWII reader will greatly enjoy it.



3. My dad loves true military stories, and I got this for him for Christmas. The previous Christmas I had gotten him "Flags of our fathers." He loved it. My dad is a good reader, but he never reads for hours on end putting other stuff aside just to do so. But, this book had him reading for the better part of his Christmas break. He also said it was somewhat sad, but not overly.



4. I had seen the book but never made the connection to the author of The Flags of our Fathers. I decided to pick it up and give it a read after chatting with an older gentleman about the war. He said it was good.
   
   I had never hear of Chichi Jima. A bypassed island which was overshadowed by the Battle of Iwo Jima. Chichi Jima was a communications center for the Japaneses. American pilots "flyboys" were assigned to try and take out the radio stations so they could not inform Japan that bombers were on the way. Bradley tells the story of what happened to the flyboys that were shot down. Their names were Dick Woellhof, Floyd Hall, Marve Mershon, Jimmy Dye, Grady York, Warren Earl Vaughn, the future President George HW Bush, Glenn Frazier, Bill Connell and an unnamed B-24 crewman. Only George Bush and Bill Connell would survive.
   
   
   What I found interesting is the way Bradley tries to explain the two cultures and the history leading up to the war. The history mentioned ranges from the Samurai, the restoration of the Mejii, Perry and the rise of the Militaristic powers. Bradley made an attempt to explain the pseudo-Samurai culture that arose and the actions of the so called "Spirit Warriors" committed. Actions which the real Samurai would have never done.
   
   Bradley makes no attempt to "white wash" the history and the wars that were fought. Bradeley tells of barbarous acts committed by Japan, the US, and even China throughout the years. Actions which at the time people thought they were the right thing to do and with future generations can question.
   
   The clash of the two cultures does come into play. To the Japanese soldier the act of surrender was a shameful horrendous act. It basically made you the lowest of the low. Treatment of such men was horrible especially with the brutal thugs that ran the army.
   
   War is about dehumanizing the enemy. It makes it easier to kill them. The US even practiced it with songs such as "I am going to slap that dirty little Jap" and the use of a parade float which showed scurrying yellow rats being bombed.
   
   Hollywood likes to paint a noble John Wayneish view of the war and yet our boys could be a brutal as the enemy. As mentioned by flyboys who strafed Japanese soldiers and sailors. Bradley doesn't try to paint an evil image of the US soldier. Simply that war can make decent people do bad things in war.
   
   I knew prisoners were executed as I have seen the famous photo of the Australian soldier about to be beheaded. What I did not know was the acts cannibalism that went on.
   
   Such acts happened to the flyboys that crashed and were captured on Chichi Jima. Such acts suggested the War Department thought it was not a good idea to tell the families of the flyboys as they were told they were MIA. It's kind of sad hearing the mothers went to their graves not knowing what happened to their sons. Yet, would you want to tell a mother that her son was beheaded and partially eaten?
   
   This story only made it to light because of Bill Doran felt the flyboys stories needed to be told and he contacted the author and told him about them. Bill Doran was present at the war crimes trials for the leaders and soldiers involved with the killings on Chichi Jima.
   
   Bradley talked to endless people and even Japanese soldiers who were on the island an interacted with the flyboys. The cannibalistic commands were executed in 1947. The stories told about the flyboys facing their deaths is indeed courageous and noble. Depending on your viewpoints you can take it as true or simply soldiers making them honorable rather then what happened.
   
   Bradley also visited the islands of Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima with President Bush. He asked the author if he knew anything about what happened to the two men he lost when he was shot down that day. President Bush stayed with his plane longer then he should have and even tried to turn it so they could get out safer. They didn't make it even though it was thought two parachutes were seen.
   
   President Bush said to this day he still thinks of them.
   
   Overall this is a great book to read and I highly recommend it.



5. "Fly Boys" an incredible botch. The book promises to tell of American fliers shot down over Japanese-held Chichi Jima. Not far from Iwo Jima, scores of Japanese on Chichi could only watch impotent as a huge American force utterly devastated their nearby comrades, opening the door for fiery assaults against the Japanese home islands. The Japanese proved far better at amassing forces than maintaining them, effectively stranding troops across the Pacific. (Imperial doctrine called for troops to "provision" themselves - by stealing from local inhabitants or by subsisting on insects and flora.) As a result, islands like Chichi and Guadalcanal became home to thousands of starving Japanese troops barely able to bring the fight to the enemy. Desperation exacerbates the sort of hysteria already endemic to every level of the Japanese military when the war began, and the "Fly Boys" suffer their captors' wrath.
   
   Some reviews complain about Bradely's use of "moral equivalence" (Bradley compares Imperial brutalities with those of an expansionist America from the post-Civil War era through the war in the Philippines) to anti-American effect. But those problems mask the book's larger flaw: that it really isn't about anything at all. What starts out a story of American prisoners, goes back to the dawn of Japanese-American relations, the birth of modern Japan and the road to war. Then there is the rise of American airpower, the battles of Coral Sea and Midway, and finally the landings at Iwo Jima and the firebombing of Japan. These historic events don't simply form a backdrop to the story, but become the story, grabbing as much of Bradley's focus as the plight of his downed airmen. Bradley never integrates these threads into a common historic theme, and never explains what they're all doing in the same book. In a book about nothing in particular, everything is irrelevant.
   
   For his research, or maybe because of it, Bradley loses his way almost immediately. Instead of learning about the downed Chichi fliers, Bradley begins with the historical roots of the Pacific war...and then works backward. We see how Commodore Perry "opened" the closed yet sophisticated and highly regimented Japanese society to the outside world. Japan's honor system - epitomized by Bushido - was blameless for the barbarities of WWII. Instead, the modern combat experience of the Japanese demonstrates both compliance with that code and extraordinarily humane (Russians captured in the 1907 war received treatment little worse than that for guests). Bradley contrasts this with the aforementioned brutality of Americans in war.
   
   Getting to WWII, Bradley barely touches on his subjects - instead rehashing more milestones already familiar to anybody with the least basic grasp of military history (or with basic cable). From the court martial of Billy Mitchell to Doolittle's raid on Tokyo; from the Battle of Midway to the fire-bombing of the home islands of the Empire - Bradley gives some marginal insight, but again little bearing on the downed American fliers who become extras in their own story. Bradley not only forgets whom he's writing about, but never clarifies whose perspective. (Bradley compares the cruelties perpetrated by Americans in giving some shape to those committed by the Imperial Japanese, but did the Japanese know of "Wounded Knee" during the Bataan March? Is Bradley is arguing for moral relativism, or merely demonstrating that the Japanese had done so?)
   
   When it's clear that Bradley is writing from his own perspective, the result is a soft concoction of history and euphemism, with little hard fact. This is especially true of the title - nothing in Bradley's book gets to the meat of what it means to be one of the "Fly Boys", though he uses the term throughout. In that vein, "fly boys" may be an image, like the one used in "The Right Stuff" in which pilots were the lone shining knights of the nuclear powered space age. But Wolfe fleshed out his metaphors without being conquered by them (by the end of "Stuff", Wolfe's America has matured beyond its need for such archaic heroes like the Mercury 7 - the era of the lone, shining and supersonic knight had come to an end). Bradley instead uses "Flyboys" to refer to fliers in general - ignoring much distinction between the fliers of different services. Instead, Bradley has "flyboys" as FDR's one-word answer in the desperate early days of the war (was FDR such a fan of naval aviation?), without saying much about how FDR turned that answer into the force that won the war. Other glossed over points - the relative industrial might of America and Japan, and the exhaustion faced by Japan in China even before hostilities began with America. Bradley "shows" much, yet teaches little.
   
   As to the problem of moral-equivalence touched upon by unfavorable reviewers, "Flyboys" engages in a sort of thematic shell-game. In turns, he eschews then embraces the sentimentality of American pluck over Imperial aggression. In a work that reveals the contrasting imagery that each side used for the other (uniformly hostile, of course), Bradley freely engages in imagery and sentimentality of his own - of spirit warriors and Samurai, of those betrayed the warrior's honor code, and those who've inherited it. Bradley charts Japan's ironic metamorphosis from honorable warrior to barbaric marauder, fleshing out the contrasting extremes for each. Yet having plumbed American atrocities, reverses direction for Americans without explanation, and makes them the heirs of the Bushido - a characterization (much like "Fly Boy") qualified or even defined. "Flyboys" is supposed to be an unflinching look at WWII as we haven't seen before, yet its subtitle, offering a story of "courage" suggests he's as much reliant on heroic and unreal imagery as those who written before him.

5 comments about Descent into Darkness Pearl Harbor, 1941 (The True Story of a Navy Diver).

1. Commander Raymer did a fantastic job setting the mood of this story in the first chapter as he described his first dive into the sunken Arizona (it was the first ever dive on the ship), months after it had sunk. His descriptions are so vivid, I often pictured (what he experienced) as if I were there.
   
   Other reviewers mention Raymer's escapades into early WWII Honolulu and his encounters with the the locals, but this story really focuses on what the divers did, hazards they overcame, and innovations they devised as they fought to return the heavily damaged warships back to the fleet.



2. what a great book! i couldn't put it down. commander raymer and the men working with him were brave heroes.this book gives a glimpse of life in hawaii in the early forties as well as the navy's diving program in its infancy.not to mention the unique problems of salvaging the ships that were damaged in the pearl harbor attack.i highly recommend this book.



3. 
   Most books on WWII center around specific battles. However, Commander Raymer gives the reader a somewhat different perspective of WWII. Although, Raymer discribes several important engagements and the sinking of his own ship by Imperial Japanese naval forces, he also concentrates on the overwhelming and depressing daily tasks of the Navy salvage diver stationed at Pearl harbor shortly after the infamous attack. His objectives; recover bodies, raise or salvage the flagship U.S.S. Arizona, and other capital ships such as the U.S.S. California, U.S.S. West Virginia, and others.
   
   His writing style is simple, and straight to the point. His ongoing descriptions of the scenes he saw and experienced in Hawaii and through the divers helmet port are well worth the read!
   
   If, you liked the movie; "Men of Honor" then I guarentee you will like "DESCENT INTO DARKNESS!"



4. This really is a first-rate account of a process that has largely been ignored by writers and historians. I think it's a "given" that diving around sunken, fully armed and fueled battleships would be dangerous, but until I read this book I didn't realize just how MANY different hazards there were. For example, who would have known that it's dangerous to enter a previously-sealed but empty compartment that contains rust? (the formation of iron oxide [rust] depletes oxygen in the space)

   The reader gets a firsthand account of the daily lives of salvage divers, and how frequently solutions to problems were devised on the spot. Rather unexpectedly, readers also get a firsthand description of what life was like "on the ground" during the Guadalcanal campaign.

   Anyone wanting to know more about the Pearl Harbor attack really should read this book. Many people tend to think of the battle as being over when the last Japanese plane returned to its carrier; in truth, the battle had just BEGUN.




5. I recieved Descent In to Darkness as a Christmas pressent from my sister. I could not stop reading the book. I have always been a huge history buff as well as a great interest in diving . Febuary of this year (2002) I went to Maui to visit my cousin. While in Maui I got my scuba certification. My last day we flew over to Pearl Harbor to see the USS Arizona. It was very moving because I had more of a conection to the Arizona due to Raymer's detailed report on Pearl Harbor and the Arizona in the salvage eforts to raise our Pacific Fleet.

3 comments about Testing Death: Hughes Aircraft Test Pilots and Cold War Weaponry (Ausa).

1. George Marrett delivers another stunning book on the experiences of American test pilots, drawing on his own personal experiences from the Golden Age of flight testing. This is the first of two books Marrett has written about his experiences as a test pilot. The other book "Contrails Over the Mojave" follows his career in the Air Force. This book details his experiences working for the Hughes Aircraft Corporation.
   
   Colonel John P. Stapp, who traveled 623 mph while testing rocket sleds in 1954, once said "The Cold War was won by aerospace companies that stayed well ahead of the Soviet Union in aircraft and weapons design and the civilian and military test pilots who risked their lives daily in the skies above Southern California to test the equipment. These test pilots often ended as unheralded casualties, the testing deaths of the war." Marrett agreed and began to write this story.
   
   "Testing Death" details the development of many of the many Hughes weapons systems that can still be found on US military aircraft thirty years after their first development. The projects include such mainstays in the US arsenal as the Phoenix and Maverick missiles, to the predecessor of today's highly classified terrain mapping radars currently found on some American military aircraft. The other key element of the book focuses on the human element of flight testing. Marrett writes of his emotion highlights of his career; his despair of losing a friend in an aircraft accident; and his strange mix of anger and empathy for a friend who sells out his country because he has fallen on hard times.
   
   This Hughes system-centric perspective of the book is the main difference from "Contrails Over the Mojave" which focuses on the actual flight testing of the Century series of aircraft. "Contrails Over the Mojave" also follows Marrett's Air Force career. There is some minor duplication of material between the books, however some very small duplication is necessary to provided adequate background information for each story which must stand on its own.
   
   Any story related to the Hughes Aircraft Company will certainly have vignettes of the reclusive millionaire. Included with the accounts of Hughes' infamy, are witticisms about Hughes used to open each chapter. I personally do not know much about Hughes, but Marrett has certainly piqued my curiosity to learn more.
   
   Marrett's easy-flowing writing style will appeal to most readers, although some parts of the book contain the word "Hughes" far too many times for a short passage. However, this is a minor annoyance for what is another outstanding book from George Marrett on the golden age of flight testing. My thanks to George Marrett for sharing his story.



2. Take it from a Former (33 years worth) Hughes Aircraft Company System Test Engineer who has worked directly with the author as well as most of the people he quotes. This book tells it like it is and in a very readable manner. He has a novelists way of presenting the truth!



3. A great story about the testing of missles and the intergration of these missiles with the fighter aircraft of the era. George Marrett's style of writing makes for easy reading. He takes a highly technical subject and puts it into interesting narration for the layman to understand and enjoy.

5 comments about Why Lincoln Matters: Today More Than Ever.

1. Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, one of the most prominent figures in Democratic Party politics of the late 20th century, has written several books since leaving office about his view of current American politics. In Why Lincoln Matters Today More Than Ever, he does so again, but this time through the lens of the past through the eyes of Abraham Lincoln. Cuomo argues that while Lincoln died in 1865, the usefulness of his view of America is still very much alive. Cuomo sheds light both on how Lincoln developed and articulated his views and on how Lincoln's view of society might be used to analyze current American political issues, including the war in Iraq.
   
   How much the reader enjoys this book will depend on what he or she expects to find here. The title might suggest that Cuomo is offering a non-ideological general examination of Lincoln's significance in modern decades in general. That reader might be disappointed in this book. But if the reader is looking for a book by an articulate, prominent liberal who knows and admires Lincoln and who applies what he believes are Lincoln's lessons about very specific political issues, then he or she will enjoy this book very much. Readers who've enjoyed Cuomo's earlier analyses of American politics such as Reason To Believe will enjoy this book, too.
   
   Like Reason To Believe, this book offers Cuomo's view of current politics, but this book does so with an eye toward answering the question: what would Lincoln say about that? Not surprisingly, Cuomo argues that Lincoln would agree with a modern liberal perspective on a wide range of issues facing America going into the 2004 presidential election. More importantly, he argues that President George W. Bush--like Lincoln, a Republican wartime president--has not operated according to Lincoln's principles on a wide range of topics. And, all the worse for Cuomo, where Bush has followed Lincoln's lead, he's done so on the issues where Lincoln didn't proceed as Cuomo thought best--particularly in the efforts to curb civil liberties during wartime by both presidents.
   
   The 2004 election, which Cuomo clearly had in mind when writing this book, was a notably polarizing one in the eyes of many. Partisan reaction to this book will almost certainly break down along the same lines. What's more, the issues discussed here are still very current today, as are the divisions. Cuomo's use of Lincoln in these debates may need to be taken with a grain of salt, but his command of Lincoln and strong ability as a writer means he makes his case very effectively for the most part. While this book will certainly provide ammunition for liberals in current American politics, it will also provide food for thought--or for argument--for people of all political stripes with an interest in the American politics of the past, present and future. More importantly, it is a fresh reminder of how enduring and relevant the views of Lincoln remain--a point on which both Democrats and Republicans for once can agree.



2. Cuomo applies the moral and rational perspective of Lincoln to the present day issues. Needless to day he does not find Bush & Co in line with what he thinks Lincoln would have done. He contrasts Lincoln's consistent evoking of a higher moral purpose, and his intellectual integrity to what we have now. The book ends with a draft of what Lincoln might have said to Congress in 2004 if he'd been newly elected.
   
   People who dislike this book call it a screed, full of Bush-bashing, etc. To which I say "the facts are biased." However, any fair reading of Lincoln's morality, his invoking of religion, and of course, his eloquence all are in evident contrast to the current leader.
   
   Cuomo's suggestion for Lincoln's 2004 State of the Union address contains this: "What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, our missiles, or the strength of our gallant and disciplined armed forces. These are not our most important safeguard against the terrorizing of our fair land: Our principal reliance must be on the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms."
   
   In the moral wasteland we now find ourselves, it is good to be reminded that we, at least once in our history, had a leader that could summon us to consider our situation from the highest moral perspective.



3. This book should be required reading for todays politicans. It gives the reader an understanding of the mistakes being made by the government today.



4. This is very short, easy to read commentary on the greatness of Lincoln, and on how Abe's speeches and actions can be relevent today. Needless to say, in the comparisons between the Great Emancipator and the current Administration, Abe easily overwhelms Bush II,&Co. Gov. Cuomo's main point is the Lincoln's actions and words were for all time, and addressed to everybody,literally in all lands. His thoughtful, last resort approach to war is contrasted with the current deceptive drive to war in Iraq. Cuomo suggests that FDR and Lincoln had a lot in common in attempting to aid those who have troubles helping themselves. He also states that Lincoln's ecumenical religious approach is in sharp contrast to today's GOP. All in all, a thoughtful argument, and the author's criticisms are never overwrought. In fact, he seems to make a special effort to maintain civility throughout the book.



5. Mario Cuomo's essential approach to Lincoln is "How would Abraham Lincoln have responded to the challenges present in today's America?"
   
   This, of course, leads to some very biased presentations of the facts in order to present Abraham Lincoln in as positive and liberal a light as possible. Missing is the fact that Lincoln was forced to write the Emancipation Proclimation in order to appease the strong Abolitionist wing of the Republican party and other such instances where Lincoln was not the brightest Presidential star. While I do think that within the pantheon of Presidents, Abe Lincoln definitely ranks up there with George Washington, and FDR as one of the greatest Presidents, I also think that a book that is trying to present a case for Lincoln should focus less on the present occupier of the White House and more on the former. Cuomo simply makes it too obvious that this entire book is one enormously jaded propoganda piece for the Democratic party. The true parts on Lincoln doesn't even begin until 50 pages into the work because the author is too busy talking about all that is wrong with the current Republican-lead government in Washington.
   
   I consider myself a Democrat and see the importance of the role of the federal government, but this book should focus more on what Lincoln did right to change his own age and how that went on to impact American down to the present period and less on what he might have done had he been alive today.

2 comments about All Things for Good: The Steadfast Fidelity of Stonewall Jackson (Leaders in Action Series).

1. First let me say that the "Leaders in Action" series is tremendous (check the rest of them out--Robert E. Lee, Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, William Wilberforce and more). They are biographies which deal not only with facts, but also with the character and faith of historical figures. Every school age child should read these books and take these role models to heart.
   
   The great thing about this book is that it gives a solid summary of Stonewall Jackson's life and history as well as a thorough examination of his faith and values. If you can believe it, I was almost brought to tears by the account of his death. Especially for Civil War buffs--this is a must read.



2. This is an excellent look inside the life of Thomas Johnathan "Stonewall" Jackson.
   
   Reverend Wilkins does an excellent job of researching first-hand accounts of the important events that occurred during Jackson's life and how they refined him into the man that God made him.