1 comments about Blackhawk Mission: From Europe to the Pacific in World War II.

1. This book gives an overview of one man's experiences in WW2 with great detail and substance. It addresses the fearful aspects of war and the funny aspects as well. It is a very personal account and tells a great deal about the extraordinary person who was a squad leader who took very good care of his men. The author has a keen eye and an entertaining style. I found it interesting, informative, and entertaining.........

5 comments about Chickenhawk: Back in the World: Life After Vietnam.

1. Thankyou Mr. Mason for helping me understand the Vietnam war and it's impact on those who fought. I was born about the time that you were touching down at your first LZ, and only grew to know the war from television and from my uncle, who was a helecopter pilot as well in vietnam. This book is a must-read sequel that will also shed light on what soldiers returning from the Gulf area must be going through. Congratulations on such a contribution, and Jerry Fowler is right, God is working through you without a doubt. You're an inspiration, I am just sorry that you and your family had to suffer so much.



2. This is a great book, as you can see by the previous reviewers!
   
   What I want to know is why this book has been out of print for so long?



3. This book was recommended to me by a veteran that flew with the First Air Cavalry. He commented, "This book described my life in Vietnam".

   The book is vivid in it's descriptions and extremely well written. I have read the book twice and both times have been moved by the ending. If you enjoy reading about flying, the Vietnam conflict, and people, this book is for you.




4. I have read this book three times. I know what an extraordinary story this is and have tried to turn others on to it.
   Bob Mason's transformation from eager pilot trainee to jaded combat veteran/burnout, while probably not anymore remarkable a story than any other pilot's is well written and that is what makes it great! After reading the book I felt as though I know Bob Mason. Not a bad thing.
   When Mason describes the deck inside the chopper,covered in blood you can almost smell it.
   Serious life and death stuff with some of the funniest stories of human screw ups wrapped up in a truly memorable account of one
   helluva chopper pilots' experience in Vietnam.
   It's like I say:" 'Chickenhawk' is the best damn war movie they never made!"



5. unless you stumbled onto this book somehow, you probably picked it up because you had been through the "chickenhawk" experience with him in his first book by that name. this book is the perfect sequel to his vietnam story. mason's deeds in the war were heroic, and yet,he ends up struggling for his life even more as soon as he is "home". he is brutally honest about his own misdeeds--to his wife and son, his friends and associates, and to himself.you feel that you are trying to claw your way upward with him, as his life spirals downward.his salvation lies in his ability to tell his story, and you become part of it as you read this book

2 comments about Gettysburg Heroes: Perfect Soldiers, Hallowed Ground.

1. Glenn LaFantasie flat out knows how to write Civil War history!
   
   Fourteen insightful essays, biographical in content, remind us of the long time property debate between Chamberlain of the 20th Maine and Oates of the 15th Alabama which produced only losses. Mr. Lincoln's Victory at Gettysburg, my favorite war hero Frank Haskell (among the first of the Gettysburg writers who lost his life eleven months later while leading the 36th Wisconsin at Cold Harbor, Virginia in June of 1864), and the much maligned Longstreet, Lee's old "Warhorse." I also enjoyed the "Ike" and "Monty" visit to Gettysburg.
   
   I read Gettysburg Heroes on the 145 anniversary of the battle in Pennsylvania. It was three days that Gettysburg heroes came alive again for me, thanks to Professor LaFantasie.
   
   I do recommend buying and READING this book.
   
   Richard N. Larsen
   Reviewer



2. Gettysburg Heroes: Perfect Soldiers, Hallowed Ground, Glenn W. LaFantasie, Indiana University Press, 2008, 279 pp., index, endnotes, $24.95.
   
   "Perfect heroes were conspicuously absent from the field of Gettysburg, as they are from every battlefield, every war. Every soldier, nevertheless, likes to think his is perfect," LaFantasie states that the subtitle of his work is meant to be ironic. The author reviews the passing of certain soldiers through the battle of Gettysburg and the history of their interpretations. Longstreet, Chamberlain, Haskell, Oates, Lincoln, Eisenhower, Montgomery, as well as LaFanatasie and his daughter Sarah, have each passed through a Gettysburg experience and some have encountered it several times.
   
   "By and by, out of the chaos of trash and falsehood that newspapers hold, out of the disjointed mass of reports, out of the traditions and tales that come down from the field, some eye that never saw the battle will select[,] and some will write[,] what will be named the history. With that the world will be --and if we are alive we must be--content." Haskell, recognized as one of the finest soldier-writers of Gettysburg primary sources, is quoted by LaFantasie to explain the business of sorting the various interpretations of the battle. The 145 year construction effort by participants and historians to describe and explain the battle has produced a plethora of writing. Personally, CWL shied away from this book for that reason, but after reading the first chapter LaFantasie won this reader over. CWL also had a similar experience with Twilight at Little Round Top: avoidance until reading the book and then a regret when it was over.
   
   On Longstreet, LaFantasie reconciles Lee's 'Old Warhorse' with McLaw's 'A Humbug' sieves the man and his reputations. Evaluating Longstreet during his Mexican War, his Civil War and and his post-war careers, the author understands Longstreet to be a natural warrior whose finest moments occurred in combat as a steady and dependable soldier who had unpolished manners and a high degree of ambition. At times, he would be viewed as disrespectful to authority and abusive to his subordinates, especially in the eyes and by the pen of Jubal Early, a Lee defender and a writer of the 'Lost Cause' interpretation of the war.
   
   Among the highlights in Gettysburg Heroes: Perfect Soldiers, Hallowed Groundis the chapter on Frank Haskell and the creation of his Gettysburg memoir which was actually a consciously drafted long letter home. Several chapters describe the several war time and post-war collisions between Joshua Chamberlain, 20th Maine, and William Oates, 15th Alabama; and in several more chapters, William Oates, as a fugitive from the law, as a Confederate captain and colonel, as a lawyer and politician, and as an historian is revealed to be quite similar to Longstreet. Both Confederates were warriors, who at times were ill-mannered, abrasive sentimentalists and as soldier-writers hda selective and creative memories. In particular LaFantasie explains Oates creation, distribution and further enhancement of the false story of Union Brigadier General Farnsworth's suicide on July 3rd during a cavalry charge between Bushman's Hill and the Slyder Farm. In this eighth chapter, LaFantasie reveals subtle themes that appear tangential throughout this book: how successful were soldier-writers when they wrote history? How is evidence created and how is it handled and mishandled? The misreporting by an eye-witness of a battlefield death, the addition of details to this report, the telling, re-telling and finally being offered as history is thread throughout the book. These themes appear tangential but at the close of the book they are fully set before the reader.
   
   The battlefield and the park have their histories created by warriors, veterans, and the national park service. LaFantasie lays before the reader "the number of egregious errors" the NPS has made, including the building of the visitors center ('a drum on its side') on the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge site, granting permission the National Tower to be built in the midst of the battlefield, and giving to Gettysburg College a portion of the battlefield and then watching the portion bulldozed.
   
   In the last chapter, LaFantasie places in context Chamberlain's, now famous "'In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays.' paragraph. For author Bruce Catton 'echoes are felt' and not heard LaFantasie remarks. LaFantasie and his daughter walk the ground of the battlefield and written wartime reports are examined against the terrain. On the rocks contested by the Maine soldiers and the Alabamians, the author, as a young man, became reconciled to the early death of his father. Near the same location, LaFantasie's daughter Sarah asks him, "Did you feel it?" and he has no idea what she is talking about. She says "I feel something." Something nameless, something intangible, some emotional fog or shadow that made her feel sad. Later the author recalls that it was there, on the southeast slope of Little Round Top and near the 20th Maine monument, that he had released his own sadness over his father's death.
   
   "Our pasts are locked inside us" and the past is not always tangible and knowable. "But sometimes it can be seen and sometimes it can be felt. . . . . On a misty spring day, across the lush fields and hills of Gettysburg, my daughter and I felt the far-reaching echoes of our past." LaFantasie's conclusion underscores Chamberlain's remarks concerning how spirits linger at Gettysburg and consecrate the ground as an oracle, a vision-place, for souls of flawed heroes.
   
   Glenn LaFantasie continues to draw readers into the story of Gettysburg. By turns very direct and very subtle, Gettysburg Heroes offers concise and clear stories of soldiers, civilians, generals and presidents. Those who lived through the battle and returned, or came to Gettysburg after the battle, found that their personal pasts were locked both within the battlefield and within themselves. The Gettysburg battlefield both wounds and heals us, and at times allows us to hide within its story and then reveals us to ourselves. As William Faulkner said, "The past is not dead. It has not even passed." The truth make us transparent to others and ourselves. Well written history does the same. LaFantasie's writing brings us a little closer to the truth about the battle of Gettysburg and how it has become an oracle for this nation.

5 comments about Vespasian.

1. I am incredulous that one reviewer would term Caligula, Claudius, and Vespasian as "boring." There are dozens and dozens of boring Emperors. But these guys? Caligula, dressing up as a Pharoh (or a woman) and parading the streets of Rome with a fake falling-off beard. Claudius, proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guards as a joke--that backfired. Except for his choice of wives, such as his niece Agrippina (too bad about that. It gave the world Nero. Oh, and Messalina, the party girl!) he did rather well. And Vespasian himself, who would have thought! He brought stability to the empire, paid off the debts, put a tax on urine, and got to sleep with Antonia Caenis as well. These guys were anything but boring. And given the paucity of solid stuff on Vespasian, I'll take what I can get.



2. The previous half dozen reader reviews of this book (mostly lukewarm) have fallen into two catagories: quibbles by other period specialists and complaints from those who wish Levick would try to impart some readability to her scholarship. Of course the specialists beg to differ, that's what specialists do. No two would ever make the same choices in attempting to capture the same complex period. Those who assert that this book is very "dry" are right, but those who dub it "boring" have missed the point. Try to find another booklength biography of Vespasian in English! If one wants to learn about this man, this is an essential book and for that reason it deserves more than three stars. Levick is a scholar emerita. We can regret that she did not learn her craft in an era when some historians recognize the value of writing for a wider audience than the tiny circle of their fellow cognoscenti, but we do her wrong if we fail to credit her with writing a work that is the first of its kind.



3. I have read all of Barbara Levick's works and find them consistently dry, ponderous and distorted with one-sided theses. To be fair, the work is well researched and intricate, yet is at the same time lacking the spark of fascination so characteristic of Roman history but so difficult to describe. Because a book is devoid of imagination, spirit and narrative for an emphasis on sheer exegesis does not neccesarily make that work particularly "scholarly": in fact, it makes that work boring. More's the pity for Roman studies.



4. This book is better termed a history of the Flavians rather than a biography of Vespasian. Despite a glowing review (in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review), I have reservations about the achievement of Barbara Levick in writing this book.

   I was looking forward "Vespasian" since, until now, there has been no biography in English about this emperor. Aside from a history of his reign, I was hoping this new book would provide some insight into Vespasian's personality and his relations with Titus and Domitian. To an extent, Professor Levick fulfilled this expectation but not on the level I was hoping. For example, I was interested in a broader assessment of the fortunes of the Flavians, particularly their rise under Caligula and Claudius and Vespasian's fall from grace. I would have liked more about Titus' education with Britannicus and his presumed presence at the poisoning of Claudius' son. I think the latter instance is pure Flavian propaganda.

   The Judean War is related as a recitation of the facts with little elaboration. We do not get a full picture of Titus's role in the war. He was an inexperienced commander and showed this in more than a few mistakes he made. If Vespasian allowed him the glory of capturing Jerusalem he made sure that his son has a seasoned professional to advise him: Tiberius Julius Alexander. Titus' pivotal role was in handling the delicate negotiations between the parties involved in the Flavian rebellion met with scant attention. Without his traveling from person to person, Vespasian's rebellion would never have happened. The role Queen Berenice in these negotiations is not brought up. Since her brother, Agrippa II, was in Rome until after the Flavian rebellion began, and she was romantically involved with Titus it would have been interesting to have more insight into her role.

   A discussion about Nerva from Professor Levick is sorely wanting. He is briefly mentioned, which I think is odd for such a pivotal Flavian supporter. I would like to know her ideas about his mysterious contribution to the Flavian cause that earned him an ordinary consulship with Vespasian, the only consulship he did not share with Titus.

   The best parts of the book for me were the last two chapters (Vespasian and His Sons and Conclusion) where Professor Levick brilliantly sums up the Flavians and their impact on history. However, Vespasian does not emerge from this book as a flesh-and-blood personality. Some of the chapters, particularly Restoration of the Roman World, which deals with events in every part of the empire, would have benefited by adding headings in the text. This would provide easy access to the information. I was perturbed over Professor Levick's shorthand in referring to ancient sources. The Annals of Tacitus, for example, are abbreviated TA and the notes are crowded. The source is not immediately identifiable and I wish more intuitive abbreviations were used.

   I cannot agree with other reviewers that Professor Levick selects "boring" emperors. Tiberius and Claudius were anything but boring, and their reigns were pivotal in the history of the principate. I think that there is room for another biography of Vespasian, written in the form of a true life of the subject, and including chapters dealing with the state of the empire, army, art and literature. Ms. Levick's book is not the last word on her subject.




5. There is no fault to be had with Levick's attention to detail, or her painstaking research. Where Vespasian falls flat, however, is in style and organization. Levick eschews the narrative, and spurns a chronological approach to her subject. She chooses instead a subject-oriented organization; not bad in and of itself (Michael Grant largely pulls that off in The Severans), but her dry style and over-attention to obscure details and constant quarrels with other scholars make the absence of a narrative approach nearly fatal.

   Levick also buries any hint of her own voice or feelings. Obviously, she must have a keen interest in Vespasian to have invested such a large amount of work in the book. Yet none of her interest comes through. Contrast that with historians such as Norwich, Tuchman, or Runciman - a passion for their subject shines through each of their works. The best historians set out with the mindset, "This is a fascinating era of history, and I'm going to show my readers why they should think so, too." Levick seems to have other priorities.

   Perhaps academics can appreciate Levick's work (and perhaps the Italian translation is more gripping); for the amateur, however, looking for an enjoyable, educational foray into Imperial Rome, Levick's Vespasian is best avoided.

3 comments about Memoirs of a Soldier, Nurse and Spy In The Union Army: A Woman's Adventures in the Union Army.

1. This is an original source for Civil War History, and it's been meticulously documented with endnotes that set the text in context of what else was happening at the time. Amazing job on the part of the 20th century editor, and facinating reading for the history buff or researcher alike.



2. I found the first two thirds of this book exciting and very interesting, the author certainly was a brave lady who played a significant part in the Civil War (masquerading as a man). Just how significant is open to debate as some historians say her claims are embroidered.
   Anyway, I started to lose interest towards the end of the book as it got a bit weighed down with factual information such as letters from Generals etc about the Civil War, which I am inclined to think the author added to add weight to her elaborated claims about her involvement as a spy! Regardless it is an exciting read, and a good historical account of battles during the Civil War.



3. I have in my possesion a leather bound with goldleaf letters on the cover(somewhat faded). A first edition which I purchased in Michigan in 1969. Emmas's story is profound. It provided quite an insight into the civil war and I have no doubt as to the veracity of the story. It interests me as she is a Canadian from New Brunswick, and I believe it would make an interesting series and could well become a Candian "content" movies for Global/ CTV/ CBC.

   [...]

5 comments about Open Doors: Vietnam POWs Thirty Years Later.

1. The book was quick to read and the type was easy to read. There were numerous photographs and reasonably good writing. The POW issue is one everyone should be aware of, especially since there were so many men left behind and so many returned POWs who are living witnesses to that fact. Most of these men who survived and returned home have gone on to live active and productive lives.



2. Perhaps the most striking part of this book to me is the simple number, the number of days that these men spent in captivity in Vietnam: 2,381; 2,432; 2,676; 3,113. To me this made a stronger impact than saying 5 years or whatever. Three thousand days. These people sat there with nothing to do, scared, being mistreated, tortured, no idea if they would ever return home.
   
   But return home 661 did. And the overwhelming percentage brought home with them a dedication to life. Most seem to have stayed in the service (some of them had been promoted twice while in captivity), most after the service went on to successful careers in a wide variety of fields. Coming to mind is the title of David Halberstam's book, 'The Best and the Brightest.' It would be difficult to find a better group of men than these.
   
   This is the story of what happened afterward to thirty of these men.



3. This is a captivating little book that reveals how 30 Prisoners Of War (POWs) from Viet Nam have coped with life after their horrible privation and suffering while imprisoned in North Viet Nam. A number of well known POWs, like Senator John McCain and Medal of Honor winner Bud Day, are included. Authors Howren and Kiland have skillfully probed the inner man within each of these heroes, revealing to the reader the unique traits these men possessed that helped them survive their ordeals. These traits more often than not have stayed within their personas and have helped to mold them in their post-POW lives. Very professional black and white photographs show these men, often with family members, in contemporary settings and the photos reveal their essential humanity better than the written word ever could. While their POW experiences were horrific, these men come across thirty years later as not only quite normal, they seem to possess very unique insights into the persons they have become. Each POW's story is presented in two parts; the first is their thirty years later story, followed by a separate section with photos from before or just after their captivity ended and more comprehensive career histories. This arrangement gives a "before and after" which clearly shows the contrasts in their lives over time. The last portion of the book includes some excellent analysis of the demographics of POWs and insightful discussion of some myths and facts that help put them in proper context. This is a unique and professionally done book, easy to read and sure to hold the interest of anyone who wondered what became of the POWs of Viet Nam.



4. This is a Great book that every patriotic American should read. I served in Viet Nam and our group is a much greater group of veterans than we will ever get credit for. The ultra left media and Hollywood has blasphemed us unjustly for years. Thanks to Mel Gibson for making "We Were Soldiers" also.



5. I just can't get enough of this book. It's simply amazing to ponder that these men have been imprisoned and tortured, some for as long as eight years. Then you see their recent pictures and they're almost all smiling. Some in their offices, many outdoors, some with their wives, some with grandkids and dogs. But smiling genuine smiles.
   
   It's a tribute to the human spirit that these men not only endured their captivity but actually thrived in life after the war. Some went on to become renowned government officials, others in Academia, and others in the private sector, but all were able to find balance and joy beyond the horrors of their experience.
   
   The book accomplishes more that one could reasonably expect and the authors did a great job. In one black and white photo and a couple of pages of text, the reader gets a real feel for the POW and what makes him tick. I'm glad that the book's focus is on the positive achievements these men have accomplished since the war, and only addresses their incarceration in how it strengthened their core values or how that experience helped them later in life.
   
   This book can be seen as a catharsis for what ails us today as a society: It puts what is important in life into perspective, and makes the reader truly thankful for and appreciative of his or her blessings. It should be required reading for high school students.

5 comments about This Man's Army.

1. I found the training part of the author who is an Army office very interesting but the book started to lag toward the end which is why I gave it four stars. Still, the author was a dedicated military professional who goes through hard training and lead by example.



2. This book is very well written and entertaining.
   
   I also served in the Infantry in the 10th Mountain Division and his book pretty much tells it like it is. I like most his depictions of what infantry life is really like, especially the games and horseplay that they do.



3. The global war against terrorism was the major issue of the 2004 presidential election, and while rhetoric was plentiful, reasoned discussion was scarce. What began as a police action to support the war on terror in Iraq became hopelessly politicized. As such, public discussion of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan became proxy political battles; partsans of John Kerry insisted that the sitting president had bungled the wrong war at the wrong time, while advocates of President Bush argued that only he could manfully prosecute the fight against terror. Anyone watching cable news during the 2004 election season was treated to dueling pundits repeated this two mantras, as if that might make them objectively true. This may have been carthartic for over-stressed pundits, but it hardly raised the level of knowledge of this crucial issue.
   
   People who seriously care about the war on terror and are interested in how it is perceived by the young people fighting it would do better to read Andrew Exum's This Man's Army.
   
   In this autobiography, Exum shares with the reader the experiences that led a young man from Tennessee to the Shah-e-Kot valley in Afghanistan. While at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania, Exum enrolled in the Army ROTC, and after his graduation with a double major in English and Classics, he served at Fort Lewis, Washington, and went through the Infantry Officer Basic Course before meeting the challenge of United States Army Ranger School.
   
   Ranger School, as one can see in this narrative, is a physically and mentally draining multiphase exercise that weeds out the weak and unfit. Exum spends a great deal of time discussing the challenges of Ranger School, which is entirely appropriate; 95% of the US population could probably not pass the initial physical fitness tests of "Zero Week," which are a prelude to the actual training itself. Exum, then, relates to the reader what was needed to pass Ranger School.
   
   After Ranger School, Exum was assigned to the Tenth Mountain Divison at Fort Drum, New York, and his story continues, as he relates the details of his first command, until it is shattered by the events of September 11, 2001. Exum's division is then sent to the Middle East--at first Kuwait, as the first conventional unit to deploy as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
   
   From there, Exum and his platoon eventually are sent to Afghanistan, where they fight in the front lines against the Taliban. It is here that This Man's Army truly shines, as it tells the story of the war against terror as seen by an intelligent, articulate young officer.



4. This is a memoir of a driven man--driven to perform, to excel, to understand, to lead others--doing the hardest task on the planet, which is that of defending democracy. Exum writes about his time from high school, through University of Pennsylvania ROTC, training and Ranger School, through his tour with the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan, and subsequent career-ending injury in a freak sports accident. He retired as a Captain.
   
   This is clearly a man's world, that of finding bravery and a place in the halls of warriors. Tough, gritty, occasionally humorous, appropriately introspective, devoid of any kind of coddling and women, Exum presents himself modestly, as most driven people might do.
   
   This is what my Army friends call a "quick read," no less worthy for its speed. Exum adds to the public knowledge of Ranger training and Afghanistan, and how a handful of American warriors took down a regime whose tribal and religious brutality marked it as pervasively totalitarian. The reading public will acknowledge Exum as the hero and warrior that he came to be. Thus, this is also a "grateful read," and sets into context the news flashes we get every night on CNN.



5. "This Man's Army: A Soldier's Story from the Front Lines of the War on Terrorism," by Andrew Exum, is a memoir by a U.S. Army infantry officer who saw combat in Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Exum gets into detail about his military education and training. He discusses his time in ROTC, and also takes the reader through the phases of Army Ranger school. He also covers his stateside duty at Fort Drum, New York.
   
   The book shifts into a more intense mode when Exum recalls the infamous 9/11 attacks, after which his unit was mobilized for wartime duty. He discusses his unit's activities in Kuwait. After taking the reader in detail through his missions in Afghanistan, Exum describes his return to the U.S. after the war, and the changes that occurred in his life.
   
   I really enjoyed this book. Exum's straightforward, down-to-earth writing style is nicely complemented by some thoughtful literary and cultural references throughout the book. His accounts of military training and wartime service are interesting, especially his accounts of encounters with the press. The book strikes me as a well-rounded account; he deals with the excitement and soldierly bonding of wartime, as well as its tedium and annoyances. He creates warm and entertaining portraits of the soldiers he served with. He presents a compelling view of Afghanistan: a "Wild West"-type environment of rugged natural beauty. Exum also offers his musings about the relationship between war and spirituality.
   
   "This Man's Army" struck me as grimly ironic in light of ongoing operations in Iraq. Exum notes how at one point he felt the Afghan campaign was "the greatest war ever," "an adventure," a "big game [. . .] against an overmatched opponent." Of course, Iraq has proven to be a much more difficult and deadly theater. Overall, I found this book to be a thoughtful and informative look at contemporary training and warfighting in the U.S. Army. Recommended companion text: "Not a Good Day to Die," journalist Sean Naylor's nonfiction account of U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan.

3 comments about The Soldier's Friend: A Life of Ernie Pyle.

1. Ray E. Boomhower, The Soldier's Friend: A Life of Ernie Pyle (Indiana Historical Society Press, 2006)
   
   Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ernie Pyle reported World War II in a way few other correspondents have done-- he was right there on the front line with the troops. In these days of "embedded journalists", that may not seem like such a big thing, but in the 1940s, it was unheard-of. Pyle was the guy who started the trend, and the soldiers loved him for it-- not to mention the readers back home, who saw a side of warfare that had never been seen before. While a number of biographies of Pyle exist, none that I could find are written for the school-aged crowd, and few others have had access to the thousands of Pyle-related documents held by the Indiana Historical Society. Ray Boomhower addresses both deficiencies in American literature with The Soldier's Friend.
   
   While the book is a bit dry in spots, it does a fine job of depicting Pyle's life both before and during World War II, giving the younger set an idea of why it is Pyle's style of reporting was so groundbreaking back in the day. A good, solid read for students and teachers alike. Published by a small press and thus suffering from some visibility problems; it deserves a great deal more attention than it's gotten. ****



2. Ernie Pyle, a nationally newspaper columnist for Washington, D.C. and New York City newspapers before the war became more famous for his Pulitzer Prize-winning work during World War II, especially in the European Theater. As one of the soldiers quoted in this biography said, "He was...our spokesman. It was not that his column told us things we did not know or feel, but the fact that we knew you folks at home could read it, and get to know and understand."
   
   This book is printed by the Indiana Historical Society Press because Pyle was originally from the small town of Dana, Indiana, near Terre Haute. The Indiana Historical Society has access to literally millions of Indiana-related historical photographs and that library of pictures is put to good use in this biography. Most of the photos aren't just the standard posed shots, but they show Pyle interacting with his favorite soldiers - the G.I. (Infantry). You can see his relaxed style and his curiousity about everything - including looking down the business end of a 155 mm gun, cooking on a Coleman stove in France, walking among the rubble of the hotel that he was in when a German shell hit it, talking with nurses, officers, and even washing his feet in his own helmet.
   
   The book is actually intended to be a biography for advanced middle school students or high school students to read, but it is excellent for any student of World War II history, no matter his or her age. At the end of the text, 3 of his complete, unedited columns are re-printed, including the sparse and moving "The Death of Captain Waskow".
   
   Strongly recommended.



3. Written by award-winning author and historian Ray E. Boomhower, The Soldier's Friend: A Life of Ernie Pyle is a biography for young adults about Ernie Pyle, columnist who wrote about the rigors of combat endured by ordinary G.I.'s during World War II. For his skillful and accurate reporting of a "worm's-eye view" of the war, Pyle received journalism's highest honor - a Pulitzer Prize - in 1944. Chapters cover Pyle's childhood, personality, friends, and retirement, but the main focus is on his career as a reporter at the front. Vintage black-and-white photographs on almost every page illustrate this absorbing life story of a distinguished newsman, especially recommended for middle and secondary school library collections.

5 comments about The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story.

1. The writing style leaves something to be desired, and I wish they would have designed a different dust jacket for the book. However, author, Trent Angers gives the reader a powerfully moving story in "The Forgotten Hero of My Lai";(The Hugh Thompson Story).
   
   Angers uses a great deal of literay freedom in weaving some of the story line of Mr. Thompson's personal life including conversations between Thompson and his wife some 35-40 years ago. None the less, the author also gives the reader a REAL AMERICAN HERO!
   
   I could not in all honesty read this book without having to put it down at times so that I could break away from the emotions that it invoked within me. Reading about this massacre, and indiscriminate butchery was ...too horrible to comprehend. I can not see how anyone who was even vaguely involved in this could ever be normal again.
   
   This event was perhaps, our greatest sin in the Viet Nam war. It was a throw-back to the deeds of Attila the Hun, and the exploits of Genghis Khan's Mongol hordes. More specifically, it was a "despicable microcosm" of the Japanese atrocities conducted in Nanking. The only difference: these were not Huns, Mongol hordes, or Imperial Japanese troops... these perpetrators were .... American soldiers!
   
   As a VietNam veteran, I found this act, a "very...very, bitter pill to swallow!"
   
   A letter by a Mr. Ron Ridenhour submitted to President Nixon and others at the time is quoted on page 154 of this book. In that letter, Mr. Ridenhour tells how he feels about the incident and ... quotes Winston Churchill:
   " A country without a conscience is a country without a soul, and a country without a soul is a country that cannot survive."
   
   Apparently, Hugh Thompson knew this as well when he intervened to save what innocent civilians he could. I know not how long our country will survive, but as long as there are still soldiers like Hugh Thompson, I know...it will survive a little longer.



2. I am so glad for this book. It's undoubtedly a story about a true hero who inspires me as I'm sure it does others. I was saddened to hear he passed. On Friday Jan 6 he moved on. Many of us, can't, and will never forget what your memory means to us. God Speed Hugh, you have many friends here still on the earth very proud of you.
   
   Col. Tom Kolditz, head of the U.S. Military Academy's behavioral sciences, said, in honor of Hugh, "There are so many people today walking around alive because of him, not only in Vietnam, but people who kept their units under control under other circumstances because they had heard his story. We may never know just how many lives he saved."
   
   Read the book, it's inspirational, and we need not ever forget. Our values we hold dear as human beings are all we have, and when we leave, it's all we leave behind. Never compromise them. Never.
   
   Honor, Respect, Dignity.
   
   I can only hope this story is told even more widely so we have less chance this memory of such a great man ever fades.
   
   GOD Speed Hugh, light a candle up there, we'll be there soon!



3. If all of us followed the example of Hugh Thompson at My Lai in Vietnam this would truly be the land of the free and the home of the brave.
   
   "The Forgotten Hero of My Lai" tells an inspiring story of a piece of our history. While many people still remember the horror of the massacre at My Lai, few know about the true heros who risked everything to end it. Though their stand came too late to help most of the villagers of My Lai, it eventually ended the policy that targeted the civillian populations of other villages. We'll never know how many lives they saved.
   
   Although I found it awkwardly written, the power of the story far outweighs any considerations about style. I highly recommend this shining example of what one person can do to protect the values that make life meaningful.



4. From what I have seen written on the pages exhibited, I am asking our librarian here in Sandwich, NH to purchase this book. Hugh Thompson has always been a hero to me, and represents the helicopter pilots who were in Vietnam quite well. We were all brash, and ballsey, and would stand up to a lot of things we didn't think too swift. His deed outshines us all. I flew UH-1D's in the Delta, and have written about my experiences there in OUTLAWS IN VIETNAM.
   Being a helicopter pilot in this war was the best job one could wish for--it was the best year of all of our lives! Hopefully, more of these excellent aviators will be profiled in the future.
   My librarian finally purchased the book after these initial notes, and I have been reading it nonstop. This should really shed some light on the horror of the Americal Division higher-ups who authorized this bloodletting by Lt. Calley and others of Charlie Company that day. They had been ordered to commit the atrocities we all know about today, and as I continue the book, it is interesting to me to experience the angst that Hugh Thompson and his crew felt that terrible day at My Lai. He is most human, and painfully so. The author discloses all this helicopter crew went through then and since; well done!!



5. There is absolutely no doubt that Hugh Thompson, Glenn Andreotta, and Larry Colburn did an unbelieveably heroic thing on March 16, 1968. Let there also be no doubt that Trent Angers should be commended for his research and efforts to bring yet another angle to this horror known as the My Lai Massacre. I have just one criticism, and unfortunately it is decisive: It is a poorly written book.

   I am not suggesting that one not read the book, because it does perform as a vehicle to bring to light the events surrounding the massacre, its aftermath and Colburn's and Thompson's return to My Lai 28 years later. However, it takes form more as a children's book than it does as an examination of an important historical event, or even as a third-person narrative intended for adult reading.

   Don't expect an abundance of three or more syllable words, inspired imagery, or thought-provoking passages. For instance, page 77, "He seemed to take a particular liking to the older woman." Seemed to who? Could you tell the reader how this was apparent? No indication whatsoever is offered in the text. Or, page 102, describing an American casualty as being "blown to bits." Is that what was written on the After Action Report? If so, there's another book in there somewhere. Or, page 103, "The cows were mooing to be milked." For a minute there I thought I had opened "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by accident.

   There is never a mention of exactly what kind of helicopter Hugh was flying...a Kiowa? Cayuse? Defender? Souix? Loach? The first indication of this simplistic approach to the subject matter is right on the dust jacket, as it is a simplistic, amateurish illustration of Thompson in an exaggerated heroic pose (arms outstretched, shirt unbuttoned, no flight helmet, no flak jacket, dog tags swinging in the wind, in front of a small huddled mass of Vietnamese). It looks much like the artwork that adorned the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich children's books published in the late '70s.

   One more note: if you're going to write a book wherein the principle character is a helicopter pilot, at least have the courtesy to refrain from calling helicopters "choppers," as most pilots despise the term. Unless, of course, you're writing for children, who find it analogous - for obvious reasons.

   Anyway, you get the picture. Still, I say God bless Hugh, Larry, Glenn and Trent.

   But Trent, at the very least, get a new copy editor.

3 comments about Days and Nights of Love and War.

1. is as Galeano define "Days and Nights of Love and War". The author open the memory box and let escape the pain and the love, the sadness and the joy. That is not only his box, it's my box too, all latinoamericans' box. So, when we open it we live.



2. The personal testimony of one of Latin America's foremost contemporary political writers, Eduardo Galeano's Days And Nights Of Love And War blends memoir journaling with an eloquent history to record the lives and struggles of the Latin American people under two decades of unimaginable violence and extreme repression. Galeano combines straight-forward reportage with personal vignettes, interviews, travelogues, and folklore with an impressive and engaging emotional enrichment that includes anger, irony, sadness, and humor. Days And Nights Of Love And War is very highly recommended for students of late 20th century Latin American political history and culture.



3. This book is for anyone immersed in the human condition, waging a war internally and silently stuggling externally. Galeano's collection of thoughts and essays and stories stirs the emotions of the reader and forces them to consider the entirety of the Latin American canon of literature as a formidable one. It encompasses genres such as autobiography, biography, testimony, prose, and short story. This is poetry of the soul for the soul, and shouldn't be limited to those obscure literature classes dealing with oppression