4 comments about John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence.

1. John Bell Hood remains one of the more tragic figures of the Civil War. Winning laurels in the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862 and 1863 by leading his division to great victories, Hood would suffer serious wounds at Gettysburg and Chickimagua which cost him one limb and the use of another. Rising to command the Army of Tennessee, Hood would be forced to abandon Atlanta and would lead his army to disaster in the bitter Franklin/Nashville campaign in late 1864. Having been censured by the Virginia legislature, Hood would resign his post and spend the rest of his life trying to regain his reputation. Sadly the young general would lose his wife and some of his eleven children in the great yellow fever epidemic that ravaged New Orleans in 1879. Hood would also be claimed by the disease. He simply did not have the money to escape New Orleans during the months of illness.
   
   McMurry's biography on Hood remains the best book on the Texan. Yet there seems to be something missing. Too often McMurry resorts to offering grand panoramas of battles and campaigns and often the reader loses trace of Hood. This is not suprising; Hood left very few papers and his autobiography remains somewhat controversial. McMurry could have added more on Hood's postwar career.
   
   McMurry presents an odd picture of Hood. Certainly the general's admirers, and there remain a great deal of them, can not be happy with this look at Hood. Having said that McMurry recognizes some of Hood's virtues as a man and as a commander. Still, after reading the book, one can generally agree with the woman engaged to Hood at the time that the Texan simply was in over his head as commander of one of the two primary Confederate armies. While Hood showed no problems using his politcal connections on his way up the ladder, like many others he simply could not manage the politics of the most factionalized of all Civil War armies.
   
   This is not to say Hood was without merit. McMurry shows Hood's courage and determination. The problem is there are simply very few personal papers to work with. Hood, the ambitious and agressive young general, who lost the woman he was engaged to, two of his limbs, his reputation and the prime of his life for the Conferderacy is an intriguing man. The man who had eleven children after the war but found no success or rest must have been hanuted by many demons. It's an interesting and tragic tale and, while McMurry does the best he can with the material and sources, the story of Hood may be beyond the ability of a standard biographer or even one as talented as McMurry. The great rise and fall of John Bell Hood is tragedy of the highest order. Send for Sophocles.



2. John Bell Hood was blamed for the defeats at Franklin and Nashville of the Army of Tennessee in 1864. Hood expected, however, that history would eventually restore his reputation. He wrote, "I have never feared but that I would get justice, but expect it to be tardy." This well-researched, well-balanced, concise biography - John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence by Richard M. McMurry - attempts to offer fairness and justice, but unfortunately for John Hood, McMurry draws conclusions that are not entirely favorable.
   
   John Bell Hood's early career was marked by good fortune and successes in battle, and ultimately he became the youngest of the eight full generals of the Confederacy. No one questioned Hood's courage nor his effectiveness as a brigade commander. Following his severe injuries at Gettysburg and Chickamauga, Southern newspapers compared the loss of Hood's service as second only to that of Stonewall Jackson.
   
   McMurry attributes Hood's "complete and disastrous failure" as commander of the Army of Tennessee to his inability to plan thoroughly his operations and to his inadequate supervision of his subordinates. Instead, Hood displayed a romantic's happy assumption that, despite all evidence, matters would work out for the best. McMurry strengthens his argument by identifying in Hood's early war years traces of weaknesses that would later contribute to his ultimate failure.
   
   John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence easily warrants four stars.



3. This biography of John Bell Hood is piecemeal; you will not find the whole story here. For example, it barely touches on Hood's contributions to the battles fought at Antietam and Gettysburg where Hood was openly critical of Robert E. Lee's battle plans. You have to wonder why, when focusing on an offensively minded General like John Bell Hood, the author chooses to really omit the first two Confederate invasions of the North! Surely his experiences there were the foundation for the attacks he subsequently led at Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee.

   More importantly, the author does not take General Hood to task either for destroying the Army of Tennessee at Franklin and Nashville or for the continual politicking the General loved to engage in. John Bell was definitely not a loyal subordinate. He was quarrelsome, difficult and in reality, could not be trusted by his peers.

   But he was a fighter. On any battlefield in which he was engaged he fought like a demon. It is quite likely that with the exception of Stonewall Jackson, John Bell Hood was the finest combat general the Confederacy possessed.

   McMurry spends too much time trying to downplay the Peter Principal in John Bell's life, and, as a result, forgets to highlight those areas of this brilliant combat officer's contributions which should be thoroughly discussed in a book of this nature. As a result, he forgets to pay John Bell Hood the respect he is due.




4. McMurry writes a solid bio of Hood in this book. McMurry traces the key turning points,in his mind, of Hood's career. In doing this he delves into the battle of Chickamauga, the Seven Days' Battles, the Atlanta Campaign, and the Tennessee Campaign of 1864, and Hood's courtship of Buck Preston while hardly mentioning the battles of Antietam or Gettysburg, in which Hood played a key role. Even so, it is still a very good book with some new views of Hood. One thing I found annoying was when McMurry dealt with the Atlanta Campaign he was very harsh and critical of J.E. Johnston (who he obviously dislikes) while basically claiming Hood could do no wrong during this campaign. Still, it is a interesting and good book, while being an easy read and giving some new views on Hood the man and Hood the general.

5 comments about Knight's Cross : A Life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

1. This book gives a good background on Rommel's life. I was hoping for more specifics on his battles with Patton and those after North Africa.
   Be prepared for an uneasy read.



2. David Fraser's book is an excellent piece of work on a topic that many others have attempted to address but few have succeeded: the life of Rommel, leader of the Afrika Korps.
   
   I have read extensively about the war in North Africa and of course about General Rommel. However, whereas many other biographers have glossed over some of Rommel's quirks (or ignored them altogether) Fraser looks at his career to explain how his leadership style developed. Where others have discussed Rommel's "frontline" leadership style and described it as pure genius and a natural adaptation to desert warfare Fraser puts it in context and illustrates how this style began with his days as a company-grade officer in WWI and continued during the invasion of France. What's more, Fraser discusses how this style had its weaknesses as well as its strengths and the unique environment in North Africa more often than not resulted in victory for him.
   
   I consider this the definitive biography of Rommel.



3. This book is very readable for a biography. I have tried to read a biography of Teddy Roosevelt as well as one of Lincoln, and stopped partway through each. I don't like biographies, in general. This one, however, is an exception. It is a real page-turner, and yet also very informative and detailed. It could also be read by any high school or college students who wish to have a good, personal view of the German side of both world wars, and should definitely be read by anyone who will be entering the military as an officer.



4. This book is very well written and covers Rommel's entry into the military and final end. The author makes every attempt to be balanced and objective when analyzing Rommel's tactical decisions, political views, and leadership style. What makes this book flow well is that the author ties in the world events corresponding to the same time in Rommel's life. This way, the reader understands how and why Rommel was directly impacted in his military decisions and actions.
   
   One key point in this book is how Rommel did not agree with Hitler's treatment of prisoners and unrealistic military decisions that caused many needless loss life and equipment. An example of the humane side of Rommel was how the author notes through his interviews, is that Rommel made very attempt to treat POW's, regardless of religion or nationality, as humanely as possible. Another example of Rommel's humane treatment of others would be that many of his British opponents and Italian soldier allies held Rommel in very high regard.
   
   One key area of interest is how Rommel, despite being loyal to Germany's supreme leader, questioned the very poor strategic military decisions being made. An example noted by the author is how Von Paulus and Rommel were both given orders by Hitler to hold at all costs and not to retreat. Von Paulus did not have to courage to defy Hitler and the debacle involving the destruction of the 200,000 German Army in Stalingrad occurred. Rommel started to retreat, then delayed for 24 hours before deciding correctly that to save his army, they would have to retreat. The author notes that Rommel in retrospect regrets not having completely disregarded Hitler and kept the retreat going, to save more of his soldiers to fight another day.
   
   This insight ties into other books where other senior German leaders, like Von Manstein, or SS General Hauser, began to disregard Hitler's extremely poor decisions to hold at all costs and sacrifice the lives of their soldiers in vain. Then of course, this book also is similar to other experiences where those leaders who defied their supreme leader and managed to save their soldiers or even managed to bring about victory, were later removed from command and replaced.
   
   Another good insight the author notes in Rommel's one weakness but was also a tactical strength was his aggressiveness. Sometimes it worked to his favor, other times it resulted in heavy casualties, like the initial assault into Tobruk. But always, he led from the front and shared the same dangers and risks as his soldiers.
   
   Overall, this book is very insightful into the life of one of the most dynamic and memorable leaders in World War 2. There are good lessons in tactical leadership and overall responsibilities of a senior leader.



5. David Fraser's "Knight's Cross" is a good book - it just isn't a particularly good biography. My hunch would be that most prospective readers are interested in learning about Rommel's legendary campaigns, especially those with the Afrika Korps, and this book certainly delivers on that account. Fraser is better known as a novelist, and his writing reflects that heritage. He keeps the drama high and openly professes his admiration for Rommel, both as a military leader and a man.
   
   As a biography, though, "Knight's Cross" fails to deliver much meaningful insight into the subject's true character. Rather than providing a deep and rich background on Rommel's formative experiences growing up in southern Germany, with his siblings and family, at school, with personal relationships in the army, the company he kept during the Weimar years and so on, Fraser instead relies on clichés and generalizations. For instance, the book is over 550 pages long, yet by page 50 Rommel is already a gallant and increasingly renowned 26-year-old infantry officer on the Western Front. The rest of the book reads like a military history with a central character, rather than a biography of a great man that happened to become a field marshal. Fraser only mentions parenthetically that Rommel had two brothers and a sister, and his relationship with his parents is left totally unexplored, as are his religious beliefs (which is particularly disappointing given the fact that so many of his future letters to his [Catholic] wife Lucy are laced with references to God's will). Instead, Fraser seems content to offer up his assessment that "Rommel was a Swabian [area of Germany he grew up in] through-and-through" (whatever that's supposed to mean) and then hurry on to the presumably more interesting topics of his later battlefield exploits.
   
   The above notwithstanding, Erwin Rommel is certainly a compelling subject for a full-length biography. Especially interesting was his unusual relationship to the two things that made him famous: armored warfare and Adolf Hitler.
   
   To many, Rommel is synonymous with blitzkrieg and the genius of the Wehrmacht's combined arms doctrine developed during the interwar period. Despite his association with the panzer force and his reputation for military genius, Rommel was an infantryman by training and was passed over for membership in Germany's elite General Staff system, a snub he never quite got over. His first hands-on experience with armored units only came, unbelievably enough, as a divisional commander during the invasion of France in 1940. He managed to pull off such an unlikely feat, Fraser suggests, thanks to the personal intervention of Hitler himself.
   
   Rommel's relationship with Hitler (and Goebbels) was close, although Fraser is adamant that Rommel was never a Nazi. The field marshal clearly supported most of the regime's policies, felt the war was just and attributed Nazi excesses to the Furher's leading acolytes, such as Bormann and Himmler. To Hitler, Rommel exemplified everything a German soldier ought to be: aggressive, courageous, indefatigable, and unpretentious. In return, Rommel was genuinely impressed with Hitler's accomplishments and abilities. It was a relationship based on mutual admiration that, strangely enough, ended with one being implicated in a plot to kill the other. Fraser does an admirable job in reviewing and assessing the evidence tying Rommel to the failed 20 July attendat and comes to the conclusion that he likely knew that something was afoot, but wasn't an active conspirator. Moreover, Fraser argues that by the summer of 1944 Rommel felt that a negotiated peace with the western allies was essential to save Germany from utter destruction, but that he also felt that the murder of Hitler was wrong and, if successfully carried out, was unlikely to be supported by the German army and people and thus unlikely to achieve its ultimate objective of negotiated peace.
   
   In closing, if you're looking for a fun and informative military history on one of the all-time greatest commanders, you'll likely enjoy "Knight's Cross." If, however, you're looking for a serious biography on a great commander in the mold of D'Este's biography of George Patton, for instance, you'll likely come away disappointed.

2 comments about Walt Whitman's Civil War (A Da Capo Paperback).

1. Whitman's book brings together his work from his journals and letters he wrote through out the entire war. As a nurse, Whitman tours hospitals and writes about the brutal realities of the war. His compassion for the wounded and sympathies radiates through out all of his work as he writes about various soldiers and his correspondence with them. With each chapter in the book we are treated to poems and scripture by Whitman that compliments his letters and journal entries. Whitman covers the entire war and it's easy to get a feel for his absolute care and love he had for the soldiers he tended to and visited. It's helpful for understanding just how horrible situations for many were and just what kind of man Whitman was. I highly recommend it.



2. Walt Whitman wrote many journals, letters and diaries during his years volunteering at the hospitals in Washington DC. There are many books out there which claim to combine all those elements into one book. This book does a great job keeping Whitman's actual writing--in other words, the entire passage is presented, including the date and location in which it was written. The major problem with this book is that the editor decided to break all of Whitman's work into Chapters with themes. There is a chapter about letter to his mother, about letters to soldiers, about observations of soldiers, etc. This means that the book is not chronological, meaning that in order to view all of Whitman's writing in the order he actually wrote it, you must jump all over this book. I am studying Whitman during the Civil War, and I use this book for most of my reference. But you should see how I have marked it, leaving notes all over the book to remind myself the order of the passages. There needs to be at least one book that has EVERYTHING in the order it was written. Despite this, this book is very good for anyone interested in getting a sense of what Whitman was doing during the Civil War. His language is easy to read and understand, and readers can skip to the chapters that interest them. I do recommend this book, but remember, the passages are not in order.

5 comments about Reaching Past the Wire: A Nurse at Abu Ghraib.

1. Excellent reading for all. This book was well put together and truly helped me understand what a nurse working on the front line during times of war is exposed to both mentally and physically. Page after page the author, Deanna, shows us what the true definition of what a nurse really is and what all nurses should strive to achieve. If you want to read a book that's impossible to put down till it's finished If your a nurse looking for inspiration. Even if you're not a nurse. Most of all, if you are looking for that, "written from the heart kinda book", this books for you.
   By far the best book I've ever read. 5 stars plus more!!!
   Well done Deanna, well done...



2. This book was so good, I could not put it down. It shows humanity in the face of war.



3. Lt. Col. (Ret.) Germain said about this book that she hoped "to put a human face on war, showing that it affects us all, no matter what side we are on." She also helps families of returning soldiers to understand some of their loved ones' re-entry issues. The story of Germain's Abu Ghraib experience is important reading, and Lounsbury has done a masterful job of professionally writing the narrative.



4. Lt. Col. Germain in her memoirs spoke of great values that are easily lost in the battle field. She cared for her Iraqi patients and treated them with respect and dignity. She lived by a strict code of conduct when humiliation and torture of prisoners was taking place so close by. She made us all proud Americans by demonstrating our true values to those who disagree with us and certainly won their hearts and minds.



5. Great reading. You really have to admire her. News coverage what a bunch of BS.

5 comments about At the Going Down of the Sun.....

1. Great book. I don't know what the earlier reviewer's problem was, but I found this book excellent. I admit there were a few typos, but nothing too serious or frequent. I think this book is about as good as Chris Cocks' Fire Force. There are good pictures to aid the reader, and the writer gives alot of detail in his words. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Rhodesian War.



2. Lately, I've gotten on a kick about the Rhodesian Bush War and have now read 5 books on the subject. This one is the best by far. Cock's Fireforce, was good, but this one takes it to a new level. The Author delves deep into his feelings about what happened once the war ended and who he felt was responsible for the war going the way it did. He tends to rant and get off subject, which at first was annoying, but it gives a good insight for someone who really doesn't know much about the Rhodesian situation. Great detail, good action. This is a book that I didn't want to put down and in the end made me angry. Some may say this book is biased, but in actuality, what book isn't. The fact is, this author is honest about his feelings and you get frustrated with him. All in all, this book was great. I highly reccomend it.



3. At the Going Down of the Sun is a military mans must read because Charlie Warren fills the pages with his emotions as well as details. As a former US Marine I was able to relate with his passion and bitterness from training to the sad, bitter end of Rhodesia. I have always been more than interested in Rhodesia's struggle for freedom and it's loss. This book really opened my eyes to what the actual fighting man had to live through.
   
   If some one wants a view down an FAL's sights of the Bush War, this book is a great place to start.



4. This is a very interesting review by Mr Williams and totally inaccurate.
   Charlie Warren tried for five years to get this book published, and when you read the original you can see why he failed.
   I volunteered to produce it for him for free, at my expense.
   I left some of the book in its original language, because it is the language of a troopie, not a sanitised version edited long after the event, and designed to glorify and excuse the author for his actions.
   There is absolutely no way that I will ever gain financially from royalties on this book because of the expenses involved.
   I did not produce it to gain anything for myself, only to give Charlie Warren, and his fellow men of the RLI a chance to have their part of the story recorded in print.
   This version has all the original admissions concerning events both on and off duty, and includes some heartfelt accusations from the men who suffered at the "front".
   So thank you Mr Williams for giving me the opportunity to explain, and in future it would be wise to acquaint yourself with the facts before you launch into print.
   Chris Higginson.



5. This is a great book and is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the Rhodesian and the RLI. If you have Chris Cocks' Fireforce you have to have Charlie's book - BUT NOT THIS VERSION. it is full of typos and poor editing - obviously it hasn't been proofed. HOWEVER, I am led to believe that this is a manuscript version which was ripped off from Charlie Warren (the author)and published behind his back - I understand that Charlie Warren will not see one cent of royalties from this edition.
   
   The proper edition will be published shortly and will be re-titled STICK LEADER RLI. Buy it. Don't support the publisher of this version

5 comments about Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House (Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers).

1. This book gives you a lot of insight into the relationship of Mary and Abe. The writing is very poetic. Enjoyed a lot.



2. This book was wonderful! I read it straight through on a recent trip. Hated to put it down. Very, very interesting to see another side of some great historic happenings. I felt as if I were a there, watching and developed a better understanding of several historic events. I think everyone should read it. As a background for American histroy. I am buying another copy for my daughter, as I do not want to part with mine.



3. Although this volume comes from the memories of someone familiar with the Lincoln White House and who became a close friend of Mary Todd Lincoln, it must be read cautiously. For example, despite the book's basic authenticity I find its account of Stephen Douglas's love for young Mary Todd and her jilting of Lincoln implausible despite Keckley's claim that she got the story directly from Mary Todd Lincoln and Anson Henry (a close friend of Abraham and Mary, who was a matchmaker encouraging their romance). Possibly some errors might be attributed to one or more literary assistants who helped compile the book. If a reader needs to be certain a about a particular statement, comparison with other sources is wise. Still, the volume will be valuable to anyone interested in firsthand impressions of the Lincoln White House.



4. I got this little book so that I could learn more about the Lincolns and their home life at the White House. It does an excellent job of telling the story of Elizabeth and Mary's friendship, which I wish could have continued, but alas, it didn't. I would recommend this book to all readers interested in US history, not matter what their age or gender, so that they can get an intimate view of the Lincoln's family life. Elizabeth was a strong and proud woman with a high moral and ethical character...if she were alive today, she would be swamped with interview requests and book deals!



5. In 1868, three years after the War Between the States ended and Abraham Lincoln was murdered, Elizabeth Keckley sat down to write a partial history of her life as a slave and modiste (dressmaker) for Mary Todd Lincoln at the White House. If readers judge "Behind the Scenes" by the standards of modern biographies, they won't do the book justice.
   
   "Lizzie" Keckley was a slave who insisted on buying her freedom, even after being offered it for nothing. In modern terms, she was an "Aunt Tom" for validating the notion that any human being can be bought and sold for a price. By her own standards, she was affirming her value to society. It's impossible to judge such a person in contemporary terms.
   
   Lizzie's dressmaking skill attracted the attention of Mary Todd Lincoln in 1861. Mrs. Lincoln was quite addicted to clothes, and hired "Dear Lizzie" as her private modiste. Their association solidified into a deep friendship after the death in 1862 of Willie Lincoln (in the White House); Lizzie offered warmth and solicitude, badly needed by an erratic First Lady whose intemperate ways and harsh tongue had made her perhaps the most disliked person in Washington. The friendship persisted after Lincoln's assassination, when Lizzie aided Mrs. Lincoln in purging her monstrous debts (she owed $70,000 to department stores) by trying to sell off old dresses and jewelry.
   
   "Behind the Scenes" ended the friendship. After its publication Mary Lincoln, her pride wounded, dropped "Dear Lizzie" and referred to Mrs. Keckley as "that colored historian."
   
   For students of the assassination Mrs. Keckley's reminiscences are especially helpful. Several weeks after April 14, 1865, while Mrs. Lincoln was still in mourning inside the White House, Lizzie told her "the new messenger" (not identified by name in the book, unfortunately) was on watch, he being the same man who had abandoned his post outside Lincoln's box at Ford's Theater. Mrs. Lincoln excoriated the "new messenger" and accused him of complicity in the assassination. The messenger admitted his carelessness but denied complicity, insisting he had simply taken a seat where he could better watch the play.
   
   Except for the ambiguous word "messenger," this account conforms precisely to the convential wisdom that prevailed until about 25 years ago, i.e. that John F. Parker, a Metropolitan Police officer assigned to White House duty, was responsible for guarding Lincoln's box on the night of the assassination, but left his post and allowed John Wilkes Booth clear entry (and how would Booth have known the coast would be clear?). Post-modern historians, possibly seizing on Keckley's use of "messenger" to describe Parker, contrived a theory that Parker's duties never included protecting Lincoln...which idea begs the obvious question, "Why would Mrs. Lincoln have been so angry at someone who wasn't responsible in the first place?" And, since Parker supposedly went on trial for negligence (the records were mysteriously destroyed), "Why would anyone have been put on trial for neglecting Lincoln at Ford's Theater if he had been only a White House functionary all along?"

5 comments about Chechnya Diary: A War Correspondent's Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya.

1. This is the true story about the struggle the people of Chechnya are going through - a region I know little about. It is written through the eyes of a war correspondent - an occupation I know little about. Goltz brings some understanding to the layman with a direct, no-nonsense writing style that will capture your attention and send your senses reeling through sorrow, joy, dispair, hope and more. A must read for anyone who wants to gain some knowledge of the on-going struggle of Chechnya without wading through a dull textbook.



2. I'll state straight away that I count myself a an old and loyal friend of Thomas Goltz, and I'm a journalist too, so my five stars should perhaps seen in that context. But I believe they are well deserved, not least for the personal bravery the author displayed in getting the story. For me, this book's particular value is that for once it strips away the shield that we reporters feel necessary to arm ourselves with to protect ourselves from emotional involvement with the subjects of our reportage. This is the first time I read the account of someone who has faced up to naked realities of this situation. The result is a rare and compelling tale of the relationship between the interviewer and the interviewed, and set against a backdrop that shows how both sides behave and above all feel when trapped in forces outside their control.



3. This book is a sign Goltz has matured since writing "Requiem" and "AZ Diary", and has found his niche. This is to say, maybe he's realized he isn't much for political synthesis or history. He has obviously done a lot of good and original thinking about journalistic ethics in wartime and the "Hawthorne effect"--these are the reasons you want to read this book.
   
   There are a lot of books, historical and journalistic, in several languages, on Chechnya and this is the least exciting and informative of the ten or so of those I've read.
   
   "Allah's Mountains", "Chechnya--Tombstone of Russian Power" and "Chechnya--A Short, Victorious War" are more interesting and written by less self-obsessed authors.



4. Chechnya Diary isn't your typical book about war. For one thing, it reads more like an adventure or a novel than straight history. It's also much more philosophical than I would have expected. The book begins with the quote, "The observer affects the observed," and boy is that statement ever borne out as the story unfolds.

   Author Thomas Goltz sneaks into the country to cover the war, and ends up in a small town called Samashki, where he depends on the hospitality of a man named Hussein. Ostensibly there to record the fighting, Goltz soon becomes intimately involved, raising many tough questions about journalistic ethics and the effects of media war coverage.

   The book really picks up steam in the second half, as Goltz returns to Chechnya to discover the damage his participation has caused, and tries to rectify it.

   It's a thought-provoking book that provides background on the Chechnyan war but also goes far beyond that to dwell on how our shallow media culture affects our understanding of world events (and beyond that, how media coverage actually determines the course of those events as they play out). Goltz is a likable narrator who doesn't shy away from implicating himself when it comes to the sticky moral questions. He brings to life real Chechnyans in such vivid fashion that you'll remember them every time you hear about Chechnya in the news.

   I had tears in my eyes as I finished the book. Highly recommended.




5. Until I read 'Chechnya Diary' I was willing to accept what seemed to be conventional wisdom about the conflict in Chechnya--i.e., just another incidence of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. Mr. Goltz provides another view: i.e., an effort (at least initally) to restore to a displaced people the homeland of which they were deprived by the Stalinst regime. I also found it refreshing to read something by a journalist who is willing to acknowledge that his presence may have an impact on the turn of events. All in all, I think this is a most enlightening book and, like Mr. Goltz's 'Azerbaijan Diary', a terrific adventure story.

No comments about Rommel's Desert Commanders: The Men Who Served the Desert Fox, North Africa, 1941-42 (Stackpole Military History Series).

No comments about My Miracle Marine.

2 comments about Around the World with LBJ: My Wild Ride as Air Force One Pilot, White House Aide, and Personal Confidant.

1. Very well written and tells a lot about the inner being of LBJ. You won't want to put it down.



2. There are those who disliked LBJ. They probably would have felt differently if they had known the personal man. This book gives highly personal insights into a man often called "bigger than life." And, reading this well written and well-researched book (the author lived it), many would change those negative views.
   
   The writing is interesting, well done, and highly engaging. The author, retired Air Force General, Air Force One Plane Commander, and Presidential Military Aide James Cross said he wanted to show the unknown and deep humanity of President Johnson. He succeeds without pandering, but rather just by stating plain-spoken truths from an impressive man himself, General Cross.
   
   General Cross started as an Alabama country boy and became a close confidante of the President of the United States. He was not political; he was a highly respected and respectable officer in the U. S. Air Force who did his job and did it well. General Cross is the unsung hero here. The incidental glimpses we get of him in this book - definitely not given to build himself up - show a very decent man serving his president and his country well and with good, old-fashioned patriotism and honor.
   
   I would personally estimate that almost anyone who reads this book will enjoy it, be impressed by it, and come away from it with a much more positive image of President Johnson...plus meeting a genuinely nice guy who our country is fortunate to have had that close to the top: General James U. Cross
   Review by:
   Dick Stanford
   The Azusa Gazette
   Book Reviews
   May 2008