5 comments about The Bravest Man: Richard O'Kane and the Amazing Submarine Adventures of the USS Tang.

1. I had heard about this book and, after reading it, was glad I did. Not being a Navy veteran (USAF), I was aware of some of the problems inherent with submarine warfare in WWII, but this book really opened up my eyes. This is a detailed and in depth account of what it was like to go out on submarine missions and the part they played in defeating the Imperial Japanese Navy. A lot of our subs never made it home and you'll understand why after you read this book. I take my hat off to all members of the "Silent Service". No wonder Richard O'Kane was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Read this book and you won't be disappointed.



2. The term "Ace" is usually reserved for fighter pilots who shoot down five or more enemy aircraft. But, Captain Richard O'Kane took the term to new levels as a submarine executive officer and later, Captain.
   
   O'Kane's career began as fourth officer aboard the USS Argonaut. He was somewhat upset with the Captain's lack of aggressiveness. The problem continued after O'Kane joined the USS Wahoo. The Wahoo's original Captain suffered from the same lack of aggressiveness. However, that all changed when Captain Dudley "Mush" Morton took over the Wahoo. In the coming months, Morton and O'Kane formed one of the deadliest one-two punches in the submarine war. Under Morton's command, Wahoo became legendary, sinking enemy ships at an astounding rate. After five successful patrols aboard Wahoo, O'Kane was ordered to the U.S. for new construction; he was about to take command of the new submarine USS Tang.
   
   After taking command of the Tang, O'Kane used many of Mush Morton's techniques. It wasn't long before O'Kane and the Tang had surpassed Wahoo's impressive record. The Tang was the preferred destination of many new submariners, as O'Kane showed no fear in the face of the enemy. On Tang's last patrol, O'Kane sank ten enemy vessels before a defective torpedo, the last aboard, malfunctioned and circled back upon Tang. The torpedo threw O'Kane from the bridge into the water. A few others managed to escape from the stricken vessel by using Momsen breathing devices. But, they were soon picked up by a Japanese patrol boat and spent the rest of the war as prisoners of the Japanese. O'Kane was later awarded the Medal of Honor. Over the course of the war, no other submarine commander sank more ships, rescued more downed aviators, or made more successful surface attacks than O'Kane.
   
   This is a first-rate book. Author William Tuohy does a masterful job of describing O'Kane's brilliant career. Plus, he does a very good job of describing the entire submarine war in the Pacific by telling of other submarines' successful patrols and how a group of offensive-minded submarine captains virtually destroyed Japan's merchant shipping fleet..
   
   I give this fine book my highest recommendation; submarine fans won't want to miss it.



3. This is a fine read about Dick O'Kane, the ace of aces among WWII submarine commanders. Tuohy has a fine grasp of the dramatic wartime events and of O'Kane's tremendously brave and competent character. He, also, brings in some general discussion of the submarine war in the Pacific including the terrible problem of faulty torpedoes.



4. This is the second book that I have read about Richard O'Kane and his experiences in the Wahoo and Tang and waiting on two more books to arrive. I simply cannot get enough! Will someone please make a movie about him?



5. I read this book as part of a History Day project I am doing on Dick O'Kane and the USS Tang. This book was extremely helpful. It tells the story of the Tang in a very thorough and easy to understand way. It's almost like you're there in the control room with the officers. Another great thing about this book is that it also gives you a good feel for the entire submarine force of WW2 by breifly telling many other stories about the best, worst, and most bizzare things that were happening, and explaining problems submariners had to face. All in all, if you want to get a great basic knowledge of WW2 Submarines, and read a gripping story about real heros and real drama, this book is for you.

2 comments about In the Bunker with Hitler: 23 July 1944-29 April 1945.

1. THE TREASON SURROUNDING HITLER RAN DEEP
   
   Having just finished the book published by Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven in 2005, In the Bunker with Hitler, apparently when he was 92 years old, I've found that this volume from the former aide-de-camp to Hitler's last two Army chiefs of staff, Heinz Guderian and Hans Krebs (from 23 July 1944 to 29 April 1945), contains only one real nugget that we did not already have from earlier sources.
   
   On page 47, Loringhoven writes that "on 1 April 1944, Wessel had remarked to me that he felt he was being watched by the Gestapo ... we arranged to meet for strolls in the forest surrounding the headquarters. There it was that he mentioned to me the existence of a new plot against Hitler."
   
   By not reporting this event to his superiors, Loringhoven, a member of the General Staff, violated a most basic trust in the officer corps of any military organization, of any nation.
   
   Wessel was Loringhoven's cousin, and, after the 20 July assassination attempt on Hitler, he was sent, on the morning of 26 July to look for him. "I found him a kilometer away, lying dead, a pistol by his side ... My cousin ... had committed suicide."
   
   "I denied everything, a credible position since nobody had seen me walking with my cousin Wessel ... It was only much later that I discovered that my cousin had provided Stauffenberg with the detonator."
   
   Sadly, L., as a busy lower-ranking staff officer, must have had very, very little actual contact with the Fuehrer, even in the bunker. There are only one or two sentences of firsthand quotes in the entire book. L. does not recount very much, as firsthand oberservation of conversations, as an eye-witness. Much of the narrative reads as if simply copied and rewritten from Guderian's own early 1950's memoir. Still, an interesting addition to personal Third Reich home library collections.



2. Freiherr von Freytag-Loringhoven lived a fascinating life. He joined the Wehrmacht in 1933 (under a commission to become an officer) just after the Nazis gained power. He spent the next 12 years involved in many of the most interesting aspects of World War II: including the invasion of Poland (as a staff member under Walter Wenck, who would later command the German 12th Army and become the focus of Hitler's famous "Where is Wenck?" calls at the end of the war), the invasion of France, and the invasion of the Soviet Union (working under Blitzkrieg specialist Heinz Guderian) where he eventually becomes promoted to major and in command of a tank battalion that is part of the troops encircled at Stalingrad (he escapes after he is selected to be flown out to take a message personally to Field Marshal Erich von Manstein essentially asking for immediate aid from von Manstein's, Army Group Don, for the imperiled Sixth Army of Paulus).
   
   After the July 20, 1944 assassination plot against Hitler fails and the purge of the officer corps begins, Guderian is named Chief of the Army General Staff and Loringhoven his aide-de-camp. After Hitler sacks Guderian in a tumultuous row over Hitler's growing gap between fantasy and reality, Hans Krebs is appointed the new army chief of staff and Loringhoven remains on as aide-de-camp for Krebs. During this period Loringhoven dutifully fulfilled his duties, which included twice daily briefings with Hitler (and a wide assortment of top-ranking Wehrmacht officers and Nazi party officials) first at the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia and then, as the Soviets advance, at the Fuhrer's bunker under the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.
   
   Loringhoven's reminiscences of these hectic times as aide-de-camp to Guderian and Krebs, where Loringhoven himself had to provide daily situation briefings assembled from intelligence reports from the front (at least when he could, toward the end he was reduced to compiling reports from radio newscasts by Reuters and BBC and by telephoning homes in Berlin to see if their sector had been overrun yet -- when a Russian answered the phone he didn't need to ask).
   
   His book is a revealing look at the mindset of the rulers of the Third Reich, especially after he was invited to live in the bunker toward the end of April 1945 (an invitation he considered a death sentence, however, he is miraculously allowed to leave by Hitler the day before Hitler commits suicide). We do not learn much, however, that he has not already revealed before in countless interviews since the end of World War II, beginning with his interrogation by historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, who used the information he gleaned as a springboard for his seminal 1947 book, "The Last Days of Hitler."
   
   We are reminded first-hand in Loringhoven's book of many things about these last days: for example, that the conversations and mindset of the people in the bunker during the last days were often farcical and absurd; that although Hitler was deluded and often angry he never screamed or foamed at the mouth, instead his rage was one of ice-cold and forceful aggression; that Hitler was obsessed with wreaking vengeance on all those responsible, however remotely, for the July 20 attempted assassination and this hampered his ability to govern; that drunkenness was a not uncommon means of avoiding contemplating the inevitable end (Loringhoven claims to have never seen any sexual orgies/dalliances attested to by others); that the news that Himmler had attempted to negotiate a peace hit Hitler like a psychological bomb.
   
   All of this information is quite interesting. What I find disturbing is the author spent the 60 years before the publication of this book in denial. Denial about his intimate involvement in Nazism (the fact that he was vetted to work in the bunker after the July 20 assassination attempt speaks for itself), if not outright support, and denial of any knowledge about atrocities, including the murder of Jews and other innocent civilians.
   
   For example, the author puts a clever spin on his joining the Wehrmacht in 1933: He states he originally wanted to be a lawyer but changed his mind when he found out that in order to be a lawyer he had to join the "ultra-conservative and anti-Semitic" Nazi party, so he joined the Wehrmacht because it did not require membership in the Nazi party, but at the time membership in any party for members of the Wehrmacht was forbidden so the fact it did not require membership in the Nazi party appears to be a flimsy excuse and the Wehrmacht itself was both "ultra-conservative and anti-Semitic", especially the officer corps of which he was a member.
   
   In addition, he claims to have never heard anything about atrocities against the Jews until after the war, stating that while there were "rumors" of such things he did not even know the name of a single concentration camp and discussing such things was "taboo". I find this hard to believe as well and an almost incredible statement considering his wartime experiences in Poland, France, and the Soviet Union and, again, his association with the top leadership of the Nazi party the last nine months of the war when the killings of Jews and others actually accelerated and he was privy to conversations involving Speer and others who were indirectly, if not directly, responsible for the oversight of concentration camps used for slave labor.
   
   Loringhoven had a chance to come clean in these memoirs (he died shortly after their publication) about these issues as well as provide some real background about his pre-bunker wartime experiences in Poland, France, and the Soviet Union. Because he chose not to, I give the book an overall 3-star rating (5 stars for its historical value regarding the goings on in the bunker and 1 star for the author's lack of candor).

5 comments about AT LENINGRAD'S GATES: The Combat Memoirs of a Soldier with Army Group North.

1. I found this book to be a very warm recollection of terrible times. As a reader I felt I had shared in Lubbeck's experience. His story is told at a late age so it is interesting to see what memories stand out, I also followed his post war life with interest, both because Lubbeck comes out as a likeable man and because post war Germany was a troubled land in dark times, the war was over but the hardships were not.
   
   Lubbeck served with the 58th Infantry Division in Army Group North on the Eastern Front. His is the tale of a ambitious infantry soldier that was promoted to an officer in the crucible of war. The story provides a satisfactory explanation as to why German soldiers fought in 1944 and 1945, it also tells less glamorous stories of lice and dirt and how soldiers travelling home changed trains on the border and deloused before going further. This is also a story of an infantry man, who didn't ride a Tiger and walked into Russia while the baggage train and artillery were drawn by horses and R&R was a good bath and latrine.
   
   It is the humanity of the story and the personality of William Lubbeck that stand out in the story. There is also a love story between Lubbeck and his future wife Annelise, their relationship while he was at the front, his worries about her during the allied bombings and her uncertainty of his fate at the front.
   
   All in all a rewarding book.



2. This in a nice firsthand account of combat in World War II form the German perspective. It is the humanity of the story and the personality of William Lubbeck that stand out in the story, which is told at a late age. Lubbeck served with the 58th Infantry Division in the Western Campaign of 1940 and in the Army Group North on the Eastern Front. His is the tale of a ambitious infantry soldier that was promoted to an officer in the crucible of war. The story provides a satisfactory explanation as to why German soldiers fought in 1944 and 1945 as they did. It also tells less glamorous stories of lice and dirt and how soldiers travelling home changed trains on the border and deloused before going further. This is also a story of an infantry man, who didn't ride a Tiger and walked into Russia while the baggage train and artillery were drawn by horses and the only pleasure and recreation was a good bath and a latrine. Lubbeck's memoir are so honest and straightforward that put to shame various other war stories which glorified battle and presented heroic deeds. Death in Russia was almost a mechanical matter, delivered with professional precision and with hardly any emotion. There is also a love story between Lubbeck and his future wife Annelise, their relationship while he was at the front, his worries about her during the allied bombings and her uncertainty of his fate at the front. I appreciated also his detailed descriptions of life at the front and the remarkable sequence of events that enabled him to survive the last few weeks of the war. The section describing life in East Germany right after the war, including a close encounter with a Soviet patrol, was also interesting. As an aside, I was impressed by the number of personal wartime photographs included with the narrative. They're helpful in visualizing the situation within Lubbeck's unit. I have read several good memoirs of the Russian Front, but Lubbeck's stands out as truly remarkable. His account of his experiences was refreshingly candid and provided great insight into the horrors suffered on both sides of the line. I highly recommend this book.



3. The best war memoirs, such as Charles MacDonald's Company Commander, are written as soon after the events described as possible and focus on what the author personally observed. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency of late to peddle World War Two memoirs before the last of these vets pass on and we have men in their mid-80s trying to piece together events that happened over 60 years ago. William Lubbeck, a former German officer who became a US citizen in 1961, provides readers with an account of his life and wartime activities which is interesting, but rather vapid at times. Instead of an in-depth portrait of life at the front, with crisp details, one senses that the co-author was struggling to pry details out of Lubbeck and had to settle for anecdotes. Readers who are interested in the author's participation in the siege of Leningrad will learn a few things, but will be disappointed to see that despite the title, only about one quarter of the book concerns operations around that city. As German war memoirs go, this one has nothing on Ernst Junger's classic from the First World War or Guy Sajer, but it is interesting to see things from the point of view who started the war as a private and ended it as a captain. Unfortunately, much of the historical value of this book is undermined by the author's over-focus on maintaining contact with his fiancée during the war - while certainly of high interest to him personally at the time, it detracts from his front-line narrative.
   
   The books first three chapters focus on the author's childhood on a farm in central Germany, the depression and the beginning of Nazi rule. In August 1939, the author was drafted into the Wehrmacht and he saw his first action in France in 1940. For the rest of the war, the author served on the Russian Front in the 13th Company (Heavy Weapons) of the 154th Infantry Regiment, 58th Infantry Division. Initially serving in the signal platoon, the author gradually shifted to being a forward observer in late 1941 and was sent back to Germany for officer training in December 1943. In May 1944, the author returned to his old company as its commander and fought with it across the Baltic States to the port of Memel. Unusually, the author succeeded in escaping from the advancing Red Army by German destroyer and surrendered to the British in Copenhagen. The last 50 pages of the book's 250 concern the author's post-war life in Germany, Canada and the US. There are about 20 photos in the center of the book which are quite good.
   
   One notes reading this book that the author was possessed of the foolishness of young soldiers but that he was also quite lucky. I cringed when I read that he brought home to his family in Germany a 75-mm `dud' shell that had landed next to him (apparently, the Wehrmacht didn't teach much safety) and he liked to wander around the front-lines at night looking for `action.' Lubbeck was wounded four times during 1940-45 but each time it was a minor injury (`RTD' in modern parlance) that didn't require hospitalization. This was very lucky for a German soldier on the Eastern Front and doubly lucky not to be captured by the Soviets.
   
   Throughout this book, the author is making a pitch for `good, patriotic Germans' who fought for their country but opposed Hitler and the Nazis. He also claims that his family was `persecuted' by the local Nazis for their political views. These claims seem dubious. Von Stauffenberg opposed Hitler, as did Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen, but the author's opposition to the Nazis doesn't appear based upon any overt act. Indeed, late in the book he admits one uncle was a Nazi official and that his fiancée had a framed picture of Hitler in her room. Instead, like most Germans, the author probably supported the Nazis (he sort of admits this in the early chapters) when they were building up Germany but became disenchanted when the war turned sour. Nowadays, it's important for German veterans to remind their American readers that they were against the regime and just `doing their job.' Unfortunately, the author never mentions that something like 1 million Soviet citizens died in Leningrad due to starvation and artillery bombardment, of which he was a part. Not one word about the magnitude of suffering inflicted upon the Soviet people. Instead, the author seems to accept the `stab in the back' theory of 1918, that the Treaty of Versailles was a terrible injustice (forgetting about Germany's equally harsh Treaty of Brest-Litovsk inflicted on Russia) and that the Bolsheviks were a sub-human menace that needed to be stopped before they threatened Western Europe. Opposed Hitler? It's clear that the author swallowed Nazi propaganda hook, line and sinker and has still not come to terms with what he was part of. At one part, he claims that some German soldiers `may have' committed crimes in Russia, but most of the atrocities were done by `racist fanatics.' Right. Just go look at the captured German records in the National Archives and it quickly becomes apparent that Wehrmacht troops were involved in massacres in the USSR, right alongside SS troops. Interestingly, the author never mentions any SS troops in this book, even though they were serving in this sector.
   
   I found the last chapters on the author's successful career in the US as an engineer particularly vapid. I kept wondering when he was going to have the self-realization to ask, `did I deserve this success?' but he never does. So, poor Ira Hayes, who helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima dies in a pool of vomit in a pigsty and Audie Murphy came home as a homeless person, while a former German officer who participated in one of the most brutal sieges in history comes over here and lives the "American Dream."



4. Easily the best WWII biography ever is The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer (even if it is partly fictionalized as some speculate). That book is the standard by which all other war biographies are measured. I found the most compelling chapters to be the defense of Memel on the Baltic coast and Sajer's subsequent evacuation to Germany.
   
   Fans of the Forgotten Soldier will definitely want to read this book as well. Lubbeck also ends up in the defense of Memel and is finally evacuated from the Baltic coast on one of the last ships to leave before the end of the war. Lubbeck's experiences are not nearly so harrowing as Sajer's and are not described in such detail but it is very interesting to get a second perspective on that part of the war which is not widely documented.
   
   The book is well-written (unlike most German soldier memoirs, it has an American historian as coauthor) and includes good maps. Lubbeck is very precise about dates and locations of battles. The book includes a decent number of pictures of Lubbeck himself at various points in the war. As a forward observer and artillery officer, anyone interested in those aspects of warfare will find the book interesting. Also, unlike Sajer, Lubbeck describes in detail his life before the war including the Great Depression and during the rise of Nazism. And he describes life after the war as his family was split by the division of Germany into East and West and his eventual emigration to the United States and life after the war. To the backdrop of the war is his love affair with his future wife. Regardless of all the positives, I just didn't find the storytelling that compelling. In spite of fighting in France in 1940 and in Russia from 1941 to 1945, Lubbeck spends little time on the front line (which of course is probably why he is still alive to write the book). Written over fifty years after the fact, there was a lack of detail.
   
   I give the book three stars not because it is bad, but because my standard is high. Of the war biographies I have read, this one ranks in the middle. I am the kind of person that will read almost any war biography. This one was certainly worth the price. I put Leningrad's Gates in the second tier of war biographies behind Sajer and others like Panzer Commander.



5. Herr Luebecke's account reveals the average patriotic Germans account of his youth and his being drafted into the Wermacht.Outstanding read, highly recommend this book to any one looking for firsthand accounts from the German point of view

5 comments about The Devil Knows How To Ride: The True Story Of William Clarke Quantril And His Confederate Raiders.

1. You won't find a better, more up-to-date analysis of the border war and the guerillas and bushwackers. And now is a good time to bone up on the subject, as we are in the midst of the 150th anniversary of the Border War and the anniversary of Quantrills raid on Lawrence is just 5 years away. Lock and load, people.



2. Mild-mannered teacher. Mama's boy. Impressionable Army teamster. Professional gambler. Lady's man. Expert horseman. Cold-blooded killer.
   
   William Clarke Quantrill, the leader of the most feared group of guerrillas in American history, possessed all of these personas at one time or another in his short life. Tackling a subject of this complexity requires an author who is up to the task, and Edward Leslie proves that he is the man for the job in The Devil Knows How to Ride.
   
   Leslie does an admirable job transporting the reader back to a time when people's survival was day-to-day and the difference between life and death often depended on one's political sympathies. Leslie probably comes closer than any other author to understanding Quantrill the man and his motivations. This is all the more impressive when one considers that Quantrill, the most important figure in the story, died a month shy of his 28th birthday, leaving behind few correspondences and no memoirs.
   
   The book is thoroughly researched and meticulously detailed. Well-known events such as the Lawrence Massacre are covered. But so are little-known historical nuggets, such as the story of Quantrill escaping from the headquarters of a Confederate general who had placed him under arrest near Bonham, Texas. It seems that every raid ever undertaken by Quantrill's gang gets a mention, whether it be for one sentence or an entire chapter. Despite the book's great detail, its pulse-pounding pace is rarely compromised.
   
   Besides good research and an easy writing style, another of Leslie's hallmarks is that he brings objectivity to the subject of which he writes. He projects a balanced view that never resorts to "purple prose." Many of the more incendiary allegations against Quantrill are presented very carefully. For example, Leslie takes issue with stories of Quantrill gleefully abusing animals as a youth and attributes them to a single source who had reasons for disparaging his character. Perhaps because of Quantrill's fierce reputation, many such stories about him were taken at face value when they were first published.
   
   This book is ideal for readers with a basic knowledge of the Civil War who don't want to sift through long narratives of troop movements, flanking maneuvers, and the like. The irregular nature of guerrilla operations makes for interesting reading. The story is also interesting because guerrilla groups were small units compared with the regular Army. As a result, the participants in the story have related their experiences in very personal terms.
   
   Leslie's attention to detail and fresh perspective on Quantrill ensures that Civil War aficionados will appreciate the book as well.
   
   If you are looking for one book on Quantrill, or even one book on the Civil War in the West, you can't go wrong with The Devil Knows How to Ride.



3. I am a history fanatic and I loved this book. It is about a time of which I did not have a lot of knowledge and this was so well done.
   I am sorry Mr. Leslie doesn't have more books as he is an excellant story teller.



4. As little as I heard about William Qunatrell and as much as I wanted to know about him, I found this book sadly lacking in any depth or insight. Even though the author writes an introduction about knowing a sociopath who massacred a dozen people in a McDonald's and how this led him to be interested in serial killers and the like, he falls back on narrative devices of the Gone with the Wind cliche.
   
   Whilst there is a fascinating story buried in this narrative about a man who took up guerrilla warfare and how he scared the hell out of Kansas and Missouri, the retelling sucks the life out of it. The author relies too heavily on the original histories and reports some of the hokiness bits of dialogue and fictions without comment. Sure, the guerrila bands MIGHT have been avenging their sisters and the good southern women, or that might have just been the melodramatic recreation. Sure, a man might have said "D-mn them. They are desecrating the flag" upon seeing a Lawrence raider dragging an American flag on horseback. Or he might have just been running for his life and thought up the story later on.
   
   Sadly, this is considered the classic of the historical accounts. So it will be many more years before a better book comes along - one that actually attempts psychological insight and historical accuracy and actually discusses the original texts instead of swallowing every bit of romanticized twaddle without question.



5. ....and Colonel William Clarke Quantrill called in the debt. He sure as hell did. Hart was an assumed name that Quantrill used as a young man when he went west from Ohio seeking fame and fortune, or at least a living. Problem was, he landed right in the middle of the "Bleeding Kansas" mess that was especially hot along the Missouri-Kansas border. Quantrill worked as a teacher, and is said to have been a good one, but trouble was brewing...Charles Jennison and his Jayhawkers, John Brown and his murders of innocent whites....more than enough motivation for a young man to follow the South when war came.
   
   Missouri was even more deeply divided than the rest of the country; it really was brother against brother. The Confederate commander in Missouri was Major General Sterling Price, a fine and decent man, but not our best General. Initially, Quantrill served in the regular Confederate Army, but gradually broke away, with a band of followers, to form The Missouri Partisan Rangers, forerunner of the modern Special Forces, complete with proper Confederate commissions. At first, they played by regular rules...taking prisoners, giving paroles, etc. But when Jim Lane wantonly burned Osceola, and murdered civilians, the black flag came out...
   
   Quantrill's followers are the stuff of Legend...Captain Bloody Bill Anderson...Captain George Todd, who eventually supplanted Quantrill [I am married to a direct descendent of Captain Todd; our son will gladly tell you about it]...Archie Clement...Bill Gregg...Cole Younger...Frank James...Jesse James. Some died in the cause; others went on to fame after the war.
   
   Quantrill's Raiders lived off the countryside, and made things hot for the Yankees wherever they went. They even fought, and won, regular battles, like Baxter Springs. Finally, the Yankees imprisoned female relatives of the Raiders in a structurally unsafe jail in Kansas City...when it collapsed, five innocent girls, including Bill Anderson's sister and Cole Younger's cousin died...enough was enough, the bill was due, and Lawrence paid. When Ewing issued his infamous Order #11, clearing northwest Missouri of Southern civilians, resolve hardened.
   
   Eventually, Todd and Anderson were killed, and the war ended. Quantrill was mortally wounded in Kentucky in 1865. Or was he? He was seen alive as late as 1915...the ultimate legendary status...seen alive after death, joining such company as Jesse James [seen as late as 1951], Houdini, Elvis, and JFK. His skull was used as a prop in a college fraternity initiation for years; he finally received a military funeral, and Christian burial, in 1992. Surviving Raiders held reunions from 1898 till 1929; interestingly, there were two black Raiders at the reunions, though no one knows much about them.
   
   This is a well researched account of a little known aspect of our Civil War. "Quantrill's War" by Duane Schultz is more academic, but this is more readable...both get five stars.

5 comments about Warrior: The Legend Of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen.

1. An almost uncritical biography of the subject, and a shamelssly uncritcal preudo-autobiography of the author. All cited sources are in Meinertzhagen's own publications. Barely worth the effort of reading.



2. A very disappointing book - it should be subtitled "a mini biography of Peter H Capstick." Capstick is arrogant enough to think that the reader will be just as interested in him as the they are in Meinertzhagen! It is not well written as Capstick rambles off on tangents (usually about himself) at very regular intervals. He professes to be an expert where he clearly is not eg he disputes the well known fact that anti-malarial drugs can mask the symptoms of the disease.
   
   A great pity that a potentially interesting book has been spoilt by a self interested author!



3. Col. Meinertzhagen was one of the greatest warriors of his day, a Richard Burton, Lord Stanley and Lawrence of Arabia all wrapped into one. He was also a fascinating individual who was a big game hunter and at the same time a man who collected one of the greatest bird collections for museum use at the time. An expert therefore on birds and a jungle fighter against Leetow-Vorbecks Germans in German East Africa(Tanzania). He led Africans in many fights of the First World War and was most well known for leading secret British septerfuge missions against the Turks in Palestine, leading to the capture of Beersheba. In the 1930s he was an admirer of fascism but hated the Nazis for their racist policies. In the 1920s he was also a great admirer of ZIonism and claimed to be an essential element in the founding of Israel, a fact overlooked today. He was a great warrior and this book tells his story full of bravado. The book concentrates also on his big game hunting exploits, but it is afanciful account.
   
   Seth J. Frantzman



4. This is a very bloody book, but so was Africa in the 1890-1920 timeframe - A Post-Bellum backwater - and one wonders why the British or the Germans were there.
   
   The best passsages cover Meinhertzhagen as a leader of men - his boldness and his careful calculations, as an intelligence operative and officer - his gaining entry to a Russian fort is hilarious, and his observations of Post-Bellum Africa - where the slave trade has collapsed and the Boer War is over with.
   
   In the end, all things written and done by Meinertzhagen must be judged against his role as a British Intelligence Officer - his diary entries, his "ornithology", and his whereabouts and actions. The one true constant is his devotion and loyalty to the Empire and his empathy for the downtrodden and unjustly treated.
   
   The dispatch of men with "amateur" interests is an old, old ruse that reaches as far back as Aristotle's trip to Thessaly if not further.



5. Not your typical Capstick book, this focuses more on the military wars and campaigns in Africa from a British poit of view.
   Still very interesting.

5 comments about Naked in Da Nang: A Forward Air Controller in Vietnam.

1. I too was a forward air controller. The col. relives alot for me. The Ho Chi Ming trail was pure hell. 57mm rounds leave a lasting impression on one who has experienced war. The book deserves 20 stars.



2. This is an entertaining and honest read. I really enjoyed the writing style. This book focusses more on the life of a FAC than the actual flying of the missions. Fans of DaNang Diary and A Lonely Kind of War might be disappointed to find much less in the way of the white knuckle accounts of hostile engagements, but anyone interested in the people who fought the war can't fail but to be impressed with this book.



3. I initially ordered this book because I didn't think it could live up to its reviews and I was going to give it less than five stars. After reading it, I would give it six stars if that was possible. This is a top drawer example of a really well constructed, well written and well drawn picture of a man and his impressions and experiences in combat. Te story telling is brilliant, a real "page turner." I have read numerous volumes of war stories, many were excellent but none were able to catch and hold me like this one. Mike Jacksin has done a large favor for Vietnam veterans by showing just how normal they really were.



4. What a special book this is. It traces Mr. Jackson's experiences as a young man growing up in Ohio and follows him into air force training, pilot training and, finally, into combat. It does an excellent job of showing civilians what it is like to train for and experience war. I think it gives a more personal and even funny view of Vietnam than other books I have read of that era. It is also a timely book with solders once again marching off to war. Mike Jackson has my respect and appreciation.



5. I really enjoyed this book. I am not very interested in war or military titles but this was a departure from the standard fare. Mr. Jackson's personality and joyful approach to life left me feeling proud. His view of life is very uplifting. I can't really explain the way this book made me feel, a combination of proud and sore, from laughing, but with a better understanding of why someone is willing to fight a war. The last chapter made me cry as did other parts but overall the book was a pleasure to read. I may even read it again I definitely will be buying it for friends. Thank you to the authors for helping me understand things that were unknown to me before this book.

5 comments about The Walking Dead: A Marine's Story of Vietnam.

1. There is more embellishment in this tall tale of a book. Like was said in one of the other reviews....to do all that was said and done in one tour as a Pfc is more fictional than truth. Don't waste your time and more important don't waste the 97 cents for a used one. I personally was in Vietnam in 1965-66 starting with Fox Company 2/9 for a little over two months and was transferred to Bravo 1/9 as a Pfc.
   Again, there are Marines that served in 2/9 and 3/9 lay claim to the (WALKING DEAD). A few years ago in a buisness in Phoenix there in the office was a Walking Dead sticker. I asked the owner who he was with and he said 2/9. So you will always have the wanabees and I informed him that 2/9 has no connection with the Walking Dead. Nuff said. Get a life and if you write another book maybe it should be fiction??
   
   Liam Jones
   USMC
   
   ACTA NON VERBA



2. My criteria for any book is simple. The writing must be excellent. The story must be plausible. And the subject has to be absorbing. This book satisfies my requirements and gets 5 stars.
   
   I was in the military and served in Vietnam. The information in this book is consistent with my experiences and the experiences depicted in similar books about Vietnam. I cant argue if Roberts wuz or wuznt in the Walking Dead Battalion. I dont know. I do know that me and my friends from Vietnam argue about events we experienced together. I served several weeks with one outfit in Vietnam, but was never formally assigned to that unit. Consequently, I dont get invited to their reunions. I spent exactly two weeks in still another outfit, was formally assigned to it, and can tell you almost nothing about it. Some of my friends had similar experiences. They were volunteered for temporary duty elsewhere, and there is no formal record of it. So the issue of "assignment" is irrelevant to me.



3. I liked this story about Vietnam. The author spent some time in Vietnam during the early phase of the war (1965-66). What struck me was the comradely focus of his experience. He depended upon his buddies. The Vietnam population was pro-Communist in his sector. Sasser was enraged when the civilian population watched the progress of Marines through their villages and waited for the booby traps to spring. It is no wonder that certain soldiers held grudges against the population when the time came. He was in one village where Cronkite was broadcasting as Marines fired the town. What one didn't see in this village was the weapons cache found in the tunnels and bunkers under the town.
   
   This is one man's experience of the war in its early phases. I liked this very much even though some of the stories are not for some people. This is an interesting read.



4. This book, although interesting reading, is replete with historical inaccuracies. The writers, both Tulsa Police Officers, "borrowed" a title belonging to another unit - that of the FIRST BATTALION, NINTH MARINES. Roberts writes of his service with the Second Battalion and Third Battalion, and even talks of those unit's nicknames, "Hell in a Helmet" (2/9) and "Shadow Warriors" (3/9). There are very few Vietnam Marines living who do not know that "The Walking Dead" was indeed 1/9.
   
   The books title gives a false impression that he served in one of the most famous infantry battalions in the Marine Corps. His book is fiction and self-flattering.
   
   Roberts & Sasser's accounting of the Morley Safer incident at Cam Ne don't match up with the actual incident either. Although 2/9 did operate in that area, it was Delta Company of 1/9 (not 2/9 as Roberts states) that entered the village on the day described in his book. I would know because I was there at the time.
   
   When reserching Roberts claims of being a Marine Sniper I found a website with a photo of his "donated" uniform to an alma mater of his. The uniform had a Rifle "Sharpshooter" marksmanship badge on it along with Vietnam Service Ribbons. I never heard of a "Sharpshooter", or anyone less than a qualified Marine Rifle "Expert" qualifyer ever being selected to be a Marine Sniper either.
   
   I don't recommend this book to ANYONE interested in an accurate war novel. This book is not about the famed "Walking Dead" as it's title implies. I am throwing away my copy.



5. Mr. Roberts attempts to capture the essence of the Vietnam combat experience for the noncombatant reader, which can't be done. One has to live it to really understand it. Simply ask any Vietnam Vet and they will tell you...Only those who've "been there" can understand. I find it extrememly difficult to believe that Mr. Roberts lead a recon team, served as a sniper, advised a CAC team of ARVN Rangers, and was shot down and rescued... all in one tour, and as only a PFC. I would rate the book as a work based on limited historical fact, mixed with large doses of personal fictional embellishments designed to entice the reader to purchase more of the author's works. By the way, it was 1/9 who were "The Walking Dead".
   
   Robert J. Syler
   Master Chief Petty Officer, USNR RETIRED
   Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines
   Combat Corpsman 1966-'67

5 comments about Forever Flying.

1. I AM AN AUSTRALIAN AND I VISITED OSHKOSH IN 1997 WITH MY WIFE AND HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF SEEING BOB HOOVER FLY.I HEARD BOB AND CHUCK YEAGER TALK AND RIB EACH OTHER, AS ONLY GOOD FRIENDS AND PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE GREATEST RESPECT
   FOR EACH OTHER CAN DO.THIS BOOK IS A REAL TREASURE.IT REVEALS THE SKILL AND BRAVERY OF THIS VERY SPECIAL MAN.IT ALSO SHOWS THE CHARACTER ,FORTITUDE AND STRENGTH OF BOB HOOVER,COUPLED WITH HIS LOVE FOR HIS COUNTRY; AS INDICATED WHEN HE TOLD TWO YOUNG BOYS ,WHO WERE SEATED, TO STAND WHEN THE NATIONAL ANTHEM WAS BEING PLAYED...SOMETHING PEOPLE TODAY NEED TO VALUE.I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO EVERY PERSON WHO LOVES FLYING ,BECAUSE BOB REALLY COVERED IT ALL.



2. This well written book is a must read for all pilots. When you read this you will be taken back in time to WWII, to landing on the moon, breaking the sound barrier, and the first man in space. Mr. Hoover has been an active participant in many historical events, he even tells why he was not the first to break the sound barrier. The book chronicals his exploits and then he backs up the stories with photos. I gave the book to my youngest son, who is going to fly in the USAF, and he could not put it down. If you like flying or airshows or history you need to read this book.



3. BUY IT !!
   
   You'll love it. This is a page turner if ever there was one.



4. I did not know who Bob Hoover was before I started reading this book. Wow! What an amazing human and pilot. It's on my A list of autobiographies.
   
   And, if you are a pilot, you will definitely want to read Forever Flying.



5. Some years ago I was at an airshow and watched Bob Hoover do things with a Shrike Commander that no twin-engined commuter airliner should be able to do. Afterwards he was amazingly modest and easy to talk to. Hoover is one of the greats - a life dedicated to flying and as a war pilot, a test pilot and an air display pilot he's done it all. Everything is faithfully recounted in this book. Yet there's something missing. True, it's an easy read. But it's also a bit sterile and I don't think it truly captures the man. Sadly the 'ghost' writer has done a less than brilliant job and the endless testimonies that appear would have been much more convincing had they been incorporated in the text. Also, they keep saying Lindberg was the first man to fly the Atlantic, but of course Alcock and Brown did it many years earlier. It's a great story but might have been better told.

5 comments about Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An, Time Magazine Reporter and Vietnamese Communist Agent.

1. This book is very informative with info I'd never heard elsewhere yet it is so important for our country's safety in the future.



2. Great present for anyone interested in Viet Nam, reporting, true spy stories, and the like.



3. I might not be as forgiving as some people, but I certainly would have felt betrayed by this man. He seeks to justify everything by stating that he felt the Americans did not belong in Vietnam. Maybe so. But what he did was so deceiful.To just look at the fact that he often helped those closest and known to him from suffering any harm, neglects the hundreds of thousands who died and were wounded as a result of his actions. To top it all off he sent his family to the US when the Communists came !! No doubt for a better life !!This fellow must have been of fairly limited intellect , or at least uneducated.And don't tell me was educated in the US - they let him do some courses... big deal! Did he really believe the Americans would attempt to rule Vietnam the way the French did ? Yes, they would take advantage of economic opportunities ( who does'nt), but what did he think they would have done if the South succeeded ? A good insight into blind nationalism and deceit by one of the most two faced people I have ever encountered. I still cannot understand his mindset.



4. This book is nothing but full of communist propaganda. To most of the Vietnamese people, I say not including the 2% of the communist population, An is a betrayer. Don't waste your time being brain-washed by communist ideology.



5. Pham Xuan An was recruited by the Communist Party in Vietnam and sent to the U.S. in 1957 to learn journalism as a cover - long before the U.S. took a major role in the conflict. An quickly came to admire the U.S., did well in his studies (Orange Coast College) and internships, and was had several attractive offers for permanent work upon their completion. Yet, despite fear that he would be arrested by the South Vietnamese government upon returning to Vietnam, An returned, first reporting French troop actions, then also working for various government military figures (eg. teaching English to future VN spies; helping set up the Vietnamese spying service), and finally for various American publications - Time magazine in particular. Several times the CIA even tried to recruit An, with no success.
   
   Early in his career An risked exposure to save the life of a Time reporter captured by the VietCong in Cambodia because he knew the reporter had saved a number of Vietnamese children's' lives from various Cambodian army massacres. This conflict between his spy role and friendship with Americans continued up to America's last day in Saigon when An helped a Vietnamese friend who had worked for the Americans escape. These actions, however, did not dull An's effectiveness - his insights and reports based on conversations and documents played key roles in VietCong/NVA tactics and strategy development. After the war ended, An was promoted to Maj. General, and collected his ten top-level medals.
   
   An received no formal spy training - instead, he read a number of books by others who were past masters. Communications involving An were almost entirely one-way - towards nearby VietCong and much farther away NVA leaders in Hanoi. His methods were to use melted rice as invisible ink (revealed by pouring iodine over the paper), and secreting both the paper and film rolls in food materials handed off to a vendor.
   
   An's career spanned 30 years - longer than any other spy. Consequently, after the war there was considerable suspicion by the communists that this was due to his having played both sides. He was even forbidden from leaving VN to attend a post-war correspondent's conference in NYC.
   
   Some of the most impactful portions of "Perfect Spy" involved stories about eg. another VietCong spy who pushed the Vietnamese government to move peasants into more defensible self-contained villages. His rationale - he knew this would greatly upset the peasants and turn them against the government. An himself declared several times that the U.S.'s biggest failure was to develop a new cadre of leaders after Diem was deposed. It was also quite jarring to read details from the "other side" about so many areas that I had been to - Nha Trang, Siagon, Ban Me Thuot, Pleiku, Vung Tau, Khe Sanh.
   
   My one wish is that "Perfect Spy" included more planning details from the VietCong and NVA side. Unfortunately, even the author (Larry Berman) sensed several times that An left much more unsaid than revealed.
   
   Bottom Line: I was taken aback by An's working against the U.S. after having made so many friends here, how well the VietCong/NVA infiltrated U.S. planning, and how long ahead their thinking ran. The book also brings an eerie sense of wondering what is happening along these same lines now in Iraq.

2 comments about The Emperor's Angry Guest: A World War II Prisoner of the Japanese Speaks Out.

1. The range of emotion you feel as a reader has its highs and lows to such an extent that one can not put it down until it is finished. The real things in war are not always felt by those who never went to war, but in this book you feel what war is all about, including all of its flaws.



2. The Emperors Angry Guest was an excellent book and I would recommend it. Mr.Knox narrated his story well. The book was carefully documented. A very good example of the US government's propensity in not paying close attention what is really, truly going on with their own sons lives. These kids were 18-20 years old. The Battan Death March was real and so were the men who were forced at gunpoint to participate in it. A very good historical account...