5 comments about I Could Never Be So Lucky Again.

1. I was suprised by how good this book was. What makes it good are the many interesting stories detailing a life in aviation in both the civilian and military spheres. What makes it great is that Doolittle's personality comes through on every page, and he's a guy you like spending time with. Not only a war hero and innovator in aviation, this memoir shows Doolittle to have been a thoughtful and philosophical man with a keen intellect, sensitive to the world and people around him. This perspective allows him to not only report on what he's seen and done, but to intelligently comment on it. His depth of character makes this book well worth reading, and it is certainly one of the most memorable autobiographies I have read, inside our outside the war genre.



2. This is a non fiction account of one of americas greatest aviators.....one of the ten best books I have ever read!



3. "I Could Never Be So Lucky Again" is the personal memoir of James Harold (Jimmy) Doolittle as told to Carroll Glines. Jimmy Doolittle was simply the foremost aviator of his generation.
   
   No one else even comes close.
   
   He was born in Alameda, CA in 1896, the son of a carpenter. He spent much of his childhood in Nome, AK. His parents split up and he and his mother moved to Los Angeles. As a child he was taught boxing to properly channel his pugnacious disposition. He attended Manual Arts High School and was initially a mediocre student.
   
   In another book, Frank Capra describes Manual Arts as the school that got the students Los Angeles High School didn't want. Interestingly enough both the famous movie director Frank Capra and Jimmy Doolittle were classmates as well as gymnastics team members. This high school was pivotal in Doolittle's life. It was where he met Josephine Daniels. Josephine was at the top of their class. Doolittle modified his behavior becoming a better student and goal oriented in order to be worthy of Josephine.
   
   Jimmy became an Army aviator. He immediately displayed considerable talent along with a wild streak which aggravated his commanding officer. Fortunately Mrs. Doolittle proved to be a moderating influence on her husband. Along with his flying excellence, LT. Doolittle earned one of the first doctorates in Aeronautical Sciences from MIT. He led a team that standardized aircraft control panels. Doolittle was the first to make an all instrument flight, taking off and landing his plane (within feet of the take-off point) while the cockpit windows were covered.
   
   He set numerous aviation records and won every major air race. Despite this, he remained a 1st LT in the Air Force. Peacetime promotions were slow. Even with his air race winnings, he needed more money to support his family. He accepted an executive position with Royal Dutch Shell.
   
   Doolittle returned to active duty as Lieutenant Colonel. In this capacity he planned, executed and led a bombing attack on Tokyo. This was the only time land based bombers were launched from aircraft carriers. Most of the planes did drop their bombs over Tokyo. It was also the first successful attack on the Japanese home islands in recorded history. However none of the planes survived the mission and Doolittle was ordered back to Washington.
   
   Instead of a court martial, he was promoted to Brigadier General and awarded the Medal of Honor.
   
   This may seem like the reviewer has told the whole book but don't worry there's a lot more for the reader to enjoy. The book is well written, never drags and sets a comfortable pace. It is full of interesting stories and facts. Mr. Glines has a proven track record as aviation historian and his expertise shows.
   
   Any money spent on this book would be well spent.



4. This book is for the fans of "The Greatest Generation"-type books. Both Patton and Macarthur got cinematic limelight, but we hear less about Admiral Nimitz, and even less about Doolittle. This book completes the Temple of the World War II Titans.
   
   As I read, two things impressed me. First was Doolittle's down-to-earth and conversational style. I felt like he was sitting next to me, chatting on the on the golf course, and just reminiscing between tees. The second was the drastic changes in flight that occurred during his fourscore and ten years. He saw aviation from the Wrights brothers to the Space Shuttle. All in one lifetime!
   
   I was also surprised how involved he was in developing aviation technology--he had a hand in the modern cockpit instrumentation. Things such as the artificial horizon, radar, and the dashboard layout came, in part, from him.
   
   Other surprising things were behind-the-scene info Billy Mitchell, supply problem in WWII, and also the three friendly fire incident he was involved with. It puts a perspective on the current conflagration.
   
   In order to round out the book, you need two supplementals. The first is to see "Patton." Doolittle provided the air cover for Old Blood and Guts, and the book contains many references and quotes from Patton. Yes, he was accurately portrayed in the movie, except for his voice. Doolittle mention he had a high, almost feminine quality to his voice, which explains his potty tongue.
   
   The second is to read "Catch-22." Yes, Heller is writing about serving under Doolittle. As I read, I wondered if Dreedle=Doolittle.
   
   This book is even-tampered in its approach to war. It is not as idealized as John Wayne, but did not swerve into the demoralizing MASH or Platoon.



5. I really enjoyed this book. Doolittle was your classic underachiever in school and had what some could call a troubled youth. This book paints the picture of a guy who overcomes those shortcomings to excell in life. Along the way he provides a few hints on how to be more effective in your own life. A great view into one of Americas true heros.

5 comments about Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45.

1. How far will the united States go to support a ruler on the words of others? Stilwell was, first and foremost, a soldier; a general of uncommon skills. Not so much the common touch as the respect by the troops for putting them first, their welfare was his top priority. His years in the east made him the obvious choice for the China post. No general has been asked to do as much as he had to do on the political front, treating with allies who were concerned above all for their place in the sun, while at the same time, fighting a tenacious, skilled, dedicated enemy. Surely a harbinger of what was to come in a place tro the north, called Korea.



2. This book very elegantly and faithfully documented the Stilwell's point of view of what happened during this part of history, but it is very one-sided.
   
   First of all, the KMT commanders were not mostly corrupt and incapable like Tuchman had described in this book. A direct quote from TIME artile titled "The Army Nodbody Knows" in the June 16, 1941 issue:
   "...Four years of war have hurt China a lot, but have also taught China a lot. The most spectacular discovery, for a nation in which military leadership has classically been an affair of coin and cunning rather than martial skill, has been that China could turn out first-class officer talent.
   
   There is no younger officer class in the world than that of the Generalissimo's crack divisions. Generalissimo Chiang is 53, Chen Cheng is 41, Chen's Field Chief of Staff is 34. It would be hard to find a divisional or regimental commander in those divisions over 40. Regimental colonels are sometimes in their 20s.
   
   These baby officers are tough babies. They are trim as well-kept guns, big fellows, by Chinese standards, hearty and jolly in rest and brutally energetic in action. They lead in person. With their divisions they clamber up mountainsides which would put most corpulent U.S. colonels hors de combat. In nearly four years of fighting, the young officers have mastered the arts of the field--silent de ployment, timely retreat, sudden concentration, plausible ambuscade, dependable supply of vegetable camouflage..."
   
   But as this book has gone out of its way to emphasize, it is true that Chiang's administration towards the end of the second Sino-Japanese war was becoming weak and corrupt, which eventually led to his lost of mainland China to the Communist. However, this fact needs to be put into context as well. China fought alone for 4 years against a vastly more superior enemy. Therefore many of the best Nationalist Chinese generals were KIA or incapacitated early in the war of resistance against Japan. There were 73 KMT generals KIA during WWII (plus 1 Chinese Communist general), more than any other country Allied or Axis. It is reasonable to assume that many of the KMT military commanders that managed to survive and rise in ranks to the end were more interested in self preservation and personal gain, rather than defeating the emeny. Chiang knew this all too well but could do very little to alleviate this problem, all he could do was execute one or two of them from time to time to warn others not to go too far. So Tuchman's analogy comparing KMT to AVRN is not only inappropriate, but also failed to take into account the context of China fighting a 8-year long war with marginal industrial capacity and grossly inadeqate military supplies. It is a miracle that Chiang did not surrender and broker some kind of peace agreement with the Japanese.
   
   Finally, this book has indirectly proved that Stilwell spent (and wasted) way too much time and energy accusing the KMT leadership and fighting Chiang and Chennault, instead of accepting the tremedous shortcomings of his Chinese Ally and try to work out a less than perfect solution to fight the Japanese. His despise and hatred toward Chiang got to a point when Roosevelt gave Chiang an ultimatum to hand over command of all Chinese armed forces to Stilwell (with explicit instruction to keep this confidential), he rushed to have the letter read out loud in front of all the Chinese and American generals attending a meeting, for the sole purpose of embarrass and discredit Chiang in public. This event led directly to his recall as Chiang replied to Roosevelt that the KMT would rather fight alone than cave in to this ultimatum.



3. As much as I think this books has provided a lot of information/insight during the period, I found author's comtemptuous attidude towards Chinese a bit hard to swallow. In a way, she was somehow biased when she wrote the book. In no way I'm accusing her of distorting the fact, but, how the fact is presented will shape the opinion of a general reader about Chinese. This is probably not the main point of the book, but for a book that has won putlizer prize, I would have expected more.



4. This book is of exceptional quality and stands up very well after nearly forty years. If not for Tuchman, Stilwell, who was one of the best generals in the U.S. Army during World War II, would be lost to history given his unrewarding work in a backwater region.
   
   Tuchman does an excellent job of letting Stilwell speak for himself. His integrity, brilliance, and humble nature come through. So do his pugnacious and combative personality, which while quite useful for a general in an operational command, were counterproductive in China. Having written a book on Stilwell myself, I believe she is absolutely right that he was the wrong man for this posting, which was about diplomacy as much as it was military campaigns. If he had not gone to China, he probably would have lead the U.S. invasion of North Africa instead of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Given their differing personalities and Stilwell's Anglophobia, Vinegar Joe would not have done well there either. He was an exceptionally able military leader, but he needed to be commanding field armies rather trying to be a diplomat.
   
   This book, though, is more than a biography. It is a life and times study with Stilwell being a tool to study the U.S. relationship with China. Many people blamed Stilwell for poorly managing relations with China that ended up weakening Chiang Kai-shek and allowed the Communists to come to power. An easy claim to make since Stilwell died in 1946. Tuchman is balanced in her account and gives Stilwell's critics their moment. She also develops Chiang's point of view and shows that he and Stilwell were pursuing different policies because they had different goals. This leads to her main theme that China has never been under the sway or control of the United States, and that we have many experts on China, and ignore them at our peril. Tuchman was writing with the Vietnam War in mind, seeing Stilwell's experiences as setting in motion events that brought U.S. involvement in that region. That assertion seems a little simplistic, but this book is still highly, highly relevant given the current nature of U.S.-Chinese relations.
   
   With all these points made, this book is not without certain shortcomings. She skimps a bit on operational matters, which is understandable given her focus. While this biography is good, very good, it is not Tuchman at her best. "Guns of August" is better. That comment, though, is like complaining that you won an Olympic gold medal without setting a world record. Most of us would take Olympic gold under those conditions and Tuchman really deserved the Pulitzer she won for this study.



5. This is a remarkable book and well worth reading nearly four decades after its initial publication. Tuchman is a gifted author and her subject, "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, is an outrageous, memorable figure. Even readers with a limited familiarity with China or the Pacific theater during the Second World War will find "Stilwell and the American Experience in China" captivating.
   
   Joe Stilwell was, to say the least, an unusual Army officer for his generation. He had a gift for languages and was drawn to career-limiting foreign assignments from the moment in he left West Point. He spoke fluent Spanish and French before he accepted a chance posting to China in his mid-thirties primarily because it offered the opportunity to get out of the country and learn a new language and culture. By the time the US entered the Second World War, Stilwell was the most highly rated Corps commander in the Army, but also had many years experience in China and spoke fluent Mandarin. Although George Marshall wanted him to command the first US ground campaign of the war - the TORCH landings in North Africa - Stilwell was sent to Asia because no one else was better qualified to serve in China, a region of great importance after the British were booted quickly out of Hong Kong, Singapore and the rest of East Asia by the Japanese.
   
   The irony of this book is that Stilwell was at once the best-qualified officer in the US Army to serve in Asia in support of Chiang Kai Shek's KMT Army and also the worst possible choice because of his abrasive mien. On the one hand, no other senior officer had his command of the language, years in country, or understanding of the Chinese culture. On the other hand, no other senior officer was as tactless or boorish - two qualities that do not serve one well in Asia. For instance, Stilwell had the habit of assigning mocking and often cruel nicknames to his tormentors, real and perceived. Almost from the beginning, Chiang Kai Shek, his nominal superior in the China theater, was "Peanut" - an insulting moniker that Stilwell used rather openly and regularly and was well-known by the Generalissimo and his staff, an incredible affront to the Chinese sense of position and authority. Even more insulting and offensive was Stilwell's occasional reference to his polio-stricken command-in-chief as "Rubber legs."
   
   Yet, Tuchman is clearly a fan of Stilwell's. She sees in him the same talent, passion and energy that led Secretary of War Stimson and Chief of Staff Marshall to put him in the role and steadfastly defend him in the face of repeated requests for his dismissal by scores of highly placed US, British and Chinese officials, whose number included FDR himself. But after reading "Stilwell" one cannot help but think that Stimson and Marshall made a mistake in sticking with Joe for so long.
   
   "Stilwell" also reads like a case study in the perils and heartaches of coalition warfare. From the outset, the major allies in the CBI Theater - the US, British and Chinese - were fundamentally at odds over objectives and therefore completely out of sync on strategy. The British did not see the point in bothering with China at all and wanted only to regain their colonial possessions, Hong Kong and Singapore above all, and Burma only if convenient and if it could be done without mixing Chinese and Indian troops. Chiang Kai Shek, on the other hand, had little interest in ejecting the Japanese from China in a bloody, all-out racial war, but rather preferred to stockpile American supplies and allow the US Navy and nascent Air Forces to slowly erode the Japanese war machine. Meanwhile, the US was guided by FDR's dream of seeing China emerge as one of the world's great post-war powers, fully on the side of the United States and committed to democracy. Tuchman stresses repeatedly that the US public, and to a certain extent the US government, was greatly misled on the truth of the KMT regime. The missionary lobby and other important Chiang supporters, including high-level visitors that were successfully hoodwinked, such as defeated presidential candidate Wendell Wilkie, generated a flood of propaganda that gave the average American a wildly unrealistic and positive impression of the Chinese ally. Tuchman contends that Stilwell himself saw the balderdash written about the KMT as the primary culprit in the inability or unwillingness of Washington to change policy once it became clear that the continued support Chiang was a waste of resources and American prestige and position.
   
   "Stilwell" succeeds on many levels and will likely remain in print and widely read for decades to come. It is a stellar blend of biography, military history, American foreign policy, US-China relations, and a case study in coalition warfare.

5 comments about Attacks.

1. Company level actions in WWI. Written by Rommel after WWI, there is nothing about tanks in this book but plenty about taking the initiative and aggressive maneuver. The core of Rommel's later style of warfare is on display here. The English translation is very readable.



2. Another necessary read for the study of the Second World War--this may be one of the most accessible texts for those just beginning to study the period. The maps drawn by Rommel are useful and clearly annotated: a good model to learn from. His analysis of the actions could be longer, however much they may be implied in the accounts; some passages could have deserved more commentary. I suppose he left that to the military-pedagogues whom he assumed would be able to pick up the baton in the classroom. Infantry Attacks is focused and avoids unnecessary didacticism and borderline self-aggrandizement present in some of his other writings. In sum: accessible, concise and engaging. Highly recommended.



3. Erwin Rommel first learned his trade in the Great War as an Infantry commander. In this work he discusses individual actions he took part in and the lessons he learned regarding modern combat. Most of these lessons are still relevent today, which shows just how observant he was.
   
   The book is illustrated with sketches which were originally published with the book, which is fortunate as the drawings and maps make it possible to follow Rommel's line of thought as he refights these battles. It is not a light read and if you are not interested in military history you probably will not want to put the necessary amount of work into it.



4. The principal players of the Second World War paid their dues in the First, and Erwin Rommel was no exception. The man who would later become "the Desert Fox" and win worldwide acclaim as one of the greatest generals of all time began his combat career as a young lieutenant in the army of Wilhelm II, indistinguishable from thousands of others who crossed the French or Belgian frontier in 1914. Four years later he was one of the most decorated soldiers in the Imperial Army, holder of the "Pour le Merite" (the highest Prussian award for bravery) and a firm believer that "positional [i.e. trench] warfare" was for fools. His credo could be summed up in the old Prussian maxim: "Never ask how strong the enemy is, only where he is -- and march to the sound of guns."
   
   Rommel published ATTACKS in 1937, when he was a lieutenant-colonel in the Reichsheer and commandant of the military academy in Weiner Neustadt. At the time he was already famous in the German army for his 1914 - 1918 exploits, but ATTACKS brought him international acclaim, at least in military circles. In Germany the book made him quite wealthy, and in a sense one can see why: compared to the turgid, half-mystical reminiscences of some of his contemporaries, ATTACKS is entirely without introspection. It is simply a recounting of the innumerable small-unit actions in which Rommel participated in during the Great War. The book's methodical, matter-of-fact style reflects the personality of its author, who was not inclined to philosophizing. The "whys" and "wherefores" of war mattered to him not at all. Unlike Ernst Juenger, who also won the Pour le Merite and wrote postwar accounts of his exploits (THE STORM OF STEEL, COPSE 125, WAR AS AN INWARD EXPERIENCE) Rommel wasn't interested in the "inward experience", just the fighting. He was a soldier's soldier.
   
   During the War, Rommel served extensively in France, Rumania and Italy, and ATTACKS recounts in great detail his many offensive exploits, where he distinguished himself not merely with his aggressive style but by his habit (repeated in World War II) of leading from the front. Utterly fearless, possessing unlimited physical stamina and seemingly immune to pain (his gunshot wounds are described merely as events, like losing the sole of a shoe; the only thing that seems to have caused him real discomfort in the whole war was getting a foot smashed by a boulder in the mountains) Rommel was the ideal junior officer under any conditions, and was rightly worshipped by his men - another trait he enjoyed in the '39 - 45 war. He was further distinguished by his nobility and chivalry, qualities which are more responsible than his military genius for making him beloved among his former enemies. Today, Rommel is the only one of the myriad generals who achieved fame in Nazi Germany who is officially honored by the present day German government.
   
   The strength of ATTACKS lies not merely in the nature of what is being described (battle and more battle) but in the fact that Rommel has no artistic pretentions: he simply records what happened without sentimentalizing or succumbing to the Germanic curse of using 1,000 words when two hundred would suffice. This, however, is also the book's great weakness: all these skirmishes, raids, marches, countermarches, midnight conferences, attacks, retirements, hand-grenade fights, machine-gun duels, artillery bombardments, and climbs up mountain slopes in the rain, snow and blazing sun begin to wear down the reader over time. If it is possible for combat to be monotonous, Rommel occasionally manages to make it so, if only by the staggering amount of it he actually experienced. If Juenger was often turgid and romantic, he was also willing to discuss the lighter side of war - the pranks, the drinking, the philosophical bull-sessions and the endless war against rats, boredom and Prussian discipline. Such humanistic moments would have been welcome in ATTACKS, but Rommel was not inclined to dwell on them. (The closest thing he displays to a sense of humor is contemptuous jokes at the expense of the French and the Italians, neither of whom seem to have impressed him with their soldierly ability.)
   
   So, if you are looking for a pure combat memior, penned by one of the greatest soldiers ever, ATTACKS is the very definition of the bill. But if you want a look "under the helmet" into the mind and soul of a great fighting man, I would suggest supplementing ATTACKS with Juenger's more layered STORM OF STEEL. After all, nothing is more Prussian than obtaining a "total view" of a military situation!



5. I have no complaints. In response to another review, German troops, specifically those under Rommel's command, are made to look far more competent than most troops of other nationalities Rommel encountered because by all accounts they were. Rommel's men wouldn't have surrendered in the thousands to 3 officers, nor been so lax in sentry and recon duty. When he encounters worthy foes he gives credit where it is due, in one case calling them "men in every way" to paraphrase. But the aggressive fighting spirit and competence of Rommel's men is shown time and time again. Volunteering to run out on a bridge under enemy fire and chop wires leading to bombs with a hand axe (for all that Sergeant knew the wires could have been electric and the bombs could have gone the second he got near one), swim a freezing cold, rapidly moving river alone to infiltrate enemy lines etc, this is what his men would do for him.
   
   The tone is largely a matter of interpretation, I believe that at the time and place the book was written it was not so much braggadocio as it was lack of false modesty, and rightful pride in his and his men's accomplishments. In America many will interpret this as shameless bragging.
   
   I see nothing wrong with the lessons of building fortifications to prevent casualties and conducting constant reconnaissance. However those are not by any means the only lessons in the book. Rommel's use of "supple infantry tactics" against often numerically far superior, and firepower-superior (though as mentioned before inferior in competence, aggression, and bravery) enemies, and his use of diversions, sneak attacks and generally concealed movements are timeless applied lessons of warfare straight out of Sun Tzu's "Art of War".
   
   His use of overwhelming concentrations of pinning fire, combined with the above, helped him limit casualties while flanking the enemy and capturing prisoners in the many thousands in total. He scarcely lost a battle even though he often didn't have the support of artillery during an attack due to materiale shortages. He was a very aggressive commander who always took the initiative when given the chance, something that paid off time and time again. He wasn't incautious, he simply knew an opportunity when he saw one, and was bold enough to exploit these situations.

5 comments about Co. Aytch: A Confederate Memoir of the Civil War.

1. Interest in this particular Civil War memoir increased due to its being frequently quoted and referred to in the documentary series on "The Civil War" that aired on PBS stations almost twenty years ago. Thankfully, the success of the series caused "Company Aytch, or a Side Show of the Big Show" to be reprinted.
   
   As a narrative device, film maker Ken Burns compared and contrasted the recollections of Samuel R. Watkins, a Confederate soldier who served in the Western theater of operations (principally in Tennessee and Georgia), with the diary entries of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, a Union soldier from Rhode Island. Both men saw significant combat action and both survived the war.
   
   Although Rhodes recorded his immediate observations, Watkins began his memoirs after the war had ended and his book was published seventeen years after the Army of the Tennessee had surrendered. He had the advantage of being able to meditate on his experiences and I found his book to be of greater interest as a result.
   
   I have read both "All for the Union" (Rhodes) and "Company Aytch" (Watkins). While both books have much to recommend them, I am partial to the latter. As a writer, Watkins produced more profound opinions. There seemed to be more color, humor, poetry and reflection in his prose. Rhodes seemed dull and factual in his summaries which often culminated with the slogan "All for the Union." I do not mean to diminish Rhodes or his military service in any manner, but Watkins is simply a better writer.
   
   The conclusion of Watkins book is quite moving. It was memorable when broadcast on television and it is no less memorable when read from the printed page.



2. Mr. Watkins tells a humble and epic story. A confederate private shares his unique perspective. Reveals the grim realities of a glorious cause going from bad to worse and back again. It is truly amazing he survived four years of warfare. Most often death was easier than survival. General Bragg routinely court martialed his troops with a firing squad for deserters. Further punishments like barreling, whippings and deprevations were routine. It got better under General Johnston and worse again under General Hood. The soldiers alternatively cursed and praised the war, its' cause and the Generals. Yet like in all wars, the men fought for each other. So many soldiers met their Maker, whereby Watkins extolls their virtues and praises. Eloquently written and graphically descriptive. Sam's survival is a testimonial to God's protection. Written in the 1880's.
   READ the book and you will find a friend from the ages.



3. Sam Watkins himself describes it best himself,A Side Show to the Big Show. This Book describes the War For Southern Independence, from the eyes of a common Private in the Confederate Army. He was in it from the Start to the End. I've read it 5 times, I enjoy it more each time!! A MUST for anyone studying the WAR!!



4. Surely themost informing view of the pasr is the personal diary or even memoir. Often in the military genre we find that what is written in a diary after the battle offers a ver different view than the mrmoir written some time later. Sam Watkins's memoir is the exception. I doubt a diary wou read substantially different from this book. Sam is a mature man who sees through the gloss and temporary glory of the moment both on the field and from his armchair. If you forget the name on the cover, you can believe the person responsible for it goes by the nom de plume of Mark Twain. This is not a book for the military library, it bellongs in every library.



5. There are seveal diary books which are like Co. Aytch however for some reason I could relate to Sam Watkins. When I'm asked about the Civil War/War of Nothern Aggression, I tell them to start their study of that time with two books: Co. Aytch and Testament:A Soldier's Story of the CIvil War by Bobrick. Both books are a 5 star in my humble opinion. After reading those two then go on and read whatever you want.

5 comments about A-Train: Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman.

1. I had the opportunity to read this book. From the moment of the first word to the very last word, the book draws you in to read more. The graphic descriptions can take you to the other side of the world and stand next to the author on his travels. You know what it was like be black during the "Jim Crow" days on the trains in the south. Granted that my 25 years never saw the ugly side of America, his visual imagery is just so vivid that I seriously think they should dump "Scarlett Letter" and place this book on the reading lists of High School Students.



2. Charles Dryden's book forces people to see the trials and tribulations encountered by black servicemen and women during WWII. I was shocked to read about the different encounters with 'Jim Crow' that Dryden and his peers waded through during their service years. A must for anybody curious about WWII, the Tuskegee Airmen or about the fight for civil rights in America.



3. I meet Col. Dryden when he gave a talk about his experiences and his book. I then read the book a felt a tremendous respect for the author and all the Tuskeegee Airmen. Col. Dryden tells his personal story in a way that made me feel as though I was there with him the whole time. The challanges of blacks in America in his story left a powerful impact on me, the courage the author displayed is an insperation. A-Train is very well written and reads easily. It is an powerful story that left me feeling inadequate and ashamed to be white. I had the oportunity to meet Col. Dryden again and sought him out just to shake his hand again, knowing him from his book, it was hard to hide my emotions.



4. Every young African American boy should read this book. It is an inspiration.



5. I initially bought this book expecting it to be similar to the other slew of WWII books out there ( The ME-109 dove at me out of the sun with guns blazing...). Instead I got an honest account of a man who wanted to fly for his country and be treated with the same respect as any other pilot. Dryden's memories and descriptions of his voyage through training to be a pilot as well as the segregated and de-segregated Air Force are interesting and honest. Dryden't narrative is not the heart-pounding, can't-put-the-book down type but rather the story of a man who, faced with tremendous adversity from his own society and country, persevered. There is no bitterness in Dryden's story, and I put the book down tremendously impressed by his belief in himself, in his religion and his friend. It's a good book

5 comments about Born on the Fourth of July.

1. Ron Kovic gives an interesting perspective into the ideas and sentiments of the 1960s. Kovic's traumatic experiences and harsh lessons help to illustrate both sides of the decade: that of the "patriot," and that of the protestor. The 1960s were a changing time in American history, and fueling these fires were the fears of Communism, war, and ultimately the shifting identity of the "enemy" as the power of the change. These factors are present in Kovic's account of civilian life both before and after his time in Vietnam.
   
   The Cold War had significant effects on Americans throughout the 1960s, and it permeated through most aspects of society. This paranoia is a byproduct of the 1950s, and Kovic's childhood illustrates how deeply the roots of this fear reached. The arms race and the space race both filled the head of young Kovic as he and his friend "made contingency plans for the cold war and built fallout shelters out of milk cartons" (Kovic 56). The atmosphere even struck emotional chords when he discusses the Soviet's launch of the Sputnik satellite and Kovic weeps in his room because, "we were losing the space race, and America wasn't first anymore" (Kovic 59). The Communist shadow enveloped the nation, and as a child Kovic felt that "the communists were all over the place back then" and he even became convinced that one of his teachers was a Communist agent (Kovic 60). This is further reflected in his finding a hero in the lead role of "I Led Three Lives," a television show about an American double agent infiltrating the Communist lines (Kovic 59). These influences ultimately lead to Kovic's decision to enter military service, believing that he may become like John Wayne to fight for the American way.
   
   This changed for many who returned from the war, however. Kovic and thousands like him who returned home severely wounded and disfigured found themselves tucked away from the public eye, and feeling ignored when in plain sight. Kovic spent months in a low-quality veteran's hospital laying in his own urine and excrement as a result of malicious neglect. When the public saw him he felt as though he represented an indecent reminder of the brutality of their cause (perhaps because John Wayne never came home in a wheel chair), but all the while he saw himself as its defining product. He was even told by one television show producer that the presence of his condition on their show would not be "tasteful," adding "people have seen it on the six o'clock news and their tired of it" (Kovic 148). Kovic felt used as though "he had never been anything but a thing to them, a thing to put a uniform on and train to kill, a young thing to run through the meat-grinder" (Kovic 166). America ignored his sacrifices, and he soon became determined to enter the protesting circuit, forcing people look at him so that they can "be reminded of what they'd done when they'd sent [his] generation off to war" (Kovic 150).
   
   Slowly the face of the enemy began to change. The brotherhood he once found in the Marines he now found with hippies, the same people he had vowed would "pay" for protesting the war back in Vietnam (Kovic 134). For Kovic and protestors like him, President Nixon and the government had become prime targets of their dissatisfaction. He told Roger Mudd in one spontaneous interview that, "I gave America my all and the leaders of this government threw me and others away to rot in their V.A. hospitals" (Kovic 180). He felt that the war was "the biggest lie and hypocrisy of all" and that all the money spent on the war "should be spent on healing and helping the wounded" (Kovic 178).
   
   In the crippled embodiment of Kovic and other protesters many Americans found another enemy. Kovic met with great opposition and was even violently beaten for speaking out against the war. On many occasions he was even called a "commie" and a "traitor" (Kovic 150, 155, 184), signifying that in their eyes he had become as demonic as those they had praised him for fighting. America was dividing against itself, as it would become time for the veterans, hippies, politicians, and war supporters to take turns wearing the horns. The cannons of American hatred turned from the "evil" Communists around to the domestic enemy within. The 1960s were a decade of replaced anger and hostility, and in many ways a breakdown of American confidence and a redefining of what it meant to be a patriot, and what it meant to be a traitor. Kovic's experiences allowed him to fill both shoes simultaneously. His lesson is one all Americans should be required to read and learn.



2. While Ronnie Kovic was fighting in Vietnam I was in college playing football and baseball on scholarship. All expenses paid. People told me that I was extraordinary while Ronnie was suffering in a squalid Veterans hospital. And while he was being spit on at the Republican National convention I was learning to believe that I deserved an exceptional life and that I was better than guys like him who had somehow believed the lies our government told about how the communists were going to take over the world unless young men stopped them the way our fathers and uncles had stopped the Nazis and the lunatic Japanese.
   I was too cool to believe any of that, and guys like Ronnie were unenlightened. I felt sorry for them.
   I have become an old man now and these days I am trying for all I am worth to be a good father to my son who is Ronnie's age. When he began telling me that he was thinking about joining the Marines, I began reading to him from Ron's book. Reading to him at night while he lay in his bed as I had when he was a small boy. I wanted him to know that if he went to war in Iraq and was wounded horribly there, his government and his country would not care about him. I wanted him to know that the same people who were in power in America and who sent Ron off to war, were in power once again. The same pathetic collection of clowns and liars eager to have wars so long as they and their children don't have to fight them. Cowards, really. I told my son that he would be fighting for a commander in cheif and a vice president and a secretary of state who are cowards. I told my son that the same conservative republicans who spit on Ron Kovic after he gave his body for America were in power once again and that he could expect them to spit upon him when he came home from war if he opposed them. Ron Kovic's magnificent book persuaded my son not to fight for his country in Iraq. I am forever in the author's debt.



3. Ron Kovic is one of society's worst nightmares: the unquestioning youth who believed every war movie, signed up for the Marines on his 18th birthday, fully committed to combat and sacrifice...only to turn his shattered back on those same indoctrinated values, speaking out against them with rage and bitterness as he saw himself, post-injury, shoved into a corner like an embarassing mutant.
   
   Kovic's memoir is inelegant, repetitive, self-centered; it is, simply put, not well-written. (The stream-of-consciousness recreation of Marine boot camp on Parris Island is especially clumsy.) Still I would recommend it to any young person, as I would recommend a trip to an open blast furnace, so that the same young person could see life as it sometimes horribly is, to know what war actually does to those who fight on the front. Kovic does not pretend to be writing great literature, but he is presenting the raw case of his life.
   
   The original memoir is also a good antidote (I believe) to its lurid movie adaptation by Oliver Stone. For reasons I do not understand, the movie completely omits the pivotal moment, at a rally just after the Kent State shootings, when Kovic decided to stop simply feeling sorry for himself, and to use his status as a badly crippled Vietnam vet to protest the War. This is the core of the man's story, and still deserves to be read.



4. Ron Kovic is a Marine whose life was blasted and changed forever by the paralyzing wound he received in Vietnam. Confined permanently to a wheelchair, without mobility or feeling below his chest, Kovic successfully turned his enormous inner rage to a public purpose in opposing the continuation of the Vietnam War and telling his story to a new generation of impressionable kids likely to think that war is cool.
   
   Kids, whatever else it is, war ain't cool. Believe Ron Kovic.
   
   But this a book review, not a personal tribute to a man who channeled his victimhood into political activism. In book form, Kovic's rage makes for a tedious, repetitive read. All Kovic wanted to do was to serve his country, fight communism, and be "like John Wayne" (who, unknown to young Kovic, never served in the military in any capacity). And look what happened. Yet despite the terrible personal cost the war laid on him and so many others, the Washington politicians waging the war paid no attention. They believed the national interest as they undrestood it took precedence over personal disasters like Ron Kovic's. One of the problems with Born on the Fourth of July is that the author can hardly believe that, or that Marines are expendable. But what else should a young Marine expect?
   
   Older readers may prefer the late Lewis B. Puller, Jr's autobiography, Fortunate Son. Puller's father was "Chesty" Puller, a legendary Commandant of the Corps, and young Puller wound up a quadriplegic after just a few days in country. Like Ron Kovic he came to oppose the war. I found his book to be a more satisfying reading experience than Born on the Fourth of July.



5. Massapequa, New York may well be the most unabashedly patriotic town in America. Like Ron Kovic (who I knew in passing) I grew up there, played in "Sally's Woods" got my hair cut at Sparky the Barber's, and participated in the endless red, white and blue parades that seemed to define our town. A safe, stable bedroom community on Long Island's South Shore, it spawned boys like Kovic who absorbed the tales of "the greatest generation" and took up their fathers' banners when they went to Vietnam.
   
   BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY is Kovic's unpolished, sincere, aggressive and searingly sad remembrance of his Vietnam experience. Kovic was gravely wounded on the first day of the Tet Offensive. Returning home as a paraplegic, Kovic tells us of the hideous treatment he received at the hands of the Veterans Administration, a bureaucracy so rotten that it neglected and abused the very men and women it was supposed to aid.
   
   The sheer contempt with which Kovic was treated turned this All-American young man into a cynic, turning him against the war, and forcing him to confront an uncomfortable paradox: millions were being spent on war machines while America's wounded soldiers had to live with filth and rats in their hospital rooms.
   
   The experience drove Kovic to become a public speaker for Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). Interestingly, Kovic never mentions John Kerry, a founder of that organization, but he does recount how VVAW was infiltrated by Nixon operatives and almost derailed.
   
   Kovic also tells us---in various flashbacks---about his psychological journey as a paraplegic, about his loneliness, his depression, his pain and misery, and his frustration at being unable to walk. He writes frankly and cathartically of coping with the loss of his sex life. He recounts how the well-meaning but unknowing people of Massapequa made him feel, like their Yankee Doodle poster child come home, a not altogether pleasant role.
   
   And he writes of his challenge to America. Having shouted down Richard Nixon's 1972 nomination acceptance speech, he demands of America self-examination and a reordering of priorities. That very self-examination is the essence of greatness. Should we expect less?
   
   BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY is an important book, and one which needs to be remembered in these days of disillusionment.

5 comments about The Great Escape.

1. The Real Deal! No "Steve Mcqueen" character, but everyone a true hero.The Great Escape



2. It's a shame the publisher decided to put a picture on the cover of Steve McQueen wrapped up in the barbed wire at the end of his big motorcycle escape attempt. Because, you see, that never happened in the TRUE story of the Great Escape contained in this book. The movie (while good) took serious dramatic license, while Brickhill's book presents the facts. And they are quite inspiring and thrilling enough without the addition of fictional elements such as McQueen's stunt riding.
   I first read this book while in elementary school, and was hooked to the extent that I've read it many times since over the decades. A truly outstanding story.



3. If you want to know how to make something out of nothing, this is the book for you. I've been reading and re-reading this book since early childhood and that's how I learned to make a needed item out of just what was at hand. McGyver had NUTHIN' on these guys.
   
   MRS. Dee Schauer
   Texas



4. I love the movie the Great Escape and I loved reading the book it was based on. The movie did an excellant job of following the book but reading the book gave me so much more of an understanding of what these men went through and the courage they had. To truely understand the courage these men had and what they went through, you have to read the book.



5. This is the (true) story of the efforts of a multinational group of POWs to escape during WW2, and led to what is one of my favourite films.
   
   I anticipated the book to be a bit of a let down after seeing the movie, but it really wasn't. They emphasize quite different aspects, and some parts of the movie were clearly made up with entertainment value in mind (people jumping motorcycles over fences for instance!). I can't blame the movie makers of course, because the compelling essence of this story is the daily slog of tunnelling set against the backdrop of the mind-numbing drudgery of incarceration. No movie could be long enough to get this point across, but the book allows one to build up a better picture of what captivity was like, particularly because it provides such incredible details. I was really struck by the ingenious ways the prisoners found to fake German uniforms and official passes, improvise tools, and build radios and other vital pieces of equipment. The book provides sufficient descriptions to allow you to get an impression of the main characters and camp layout, though I personally would have enjoyed a few photographs of the people involved (good and bad), though I realise these wouldn't have been easy to obtain.
   
   The author has a relatively dry style typical of a historian rather than a dramatist, and at times relates key events remarkably passionately. The book ratchets up the tension without having to try too hard however, and I could sense the tension that existed whenever the guards entered the barracks to check for tunnels. The depression that accompanies every uncovered tunnel jumps out of the page, as does the resolve to keep trying to escape without ever accepting captivity.
   
   I was also pleased that the author described the events some time after the final escape, so that I could see how thoroughly the Allied authorities pursued the main protagonists, and what was their evetual fate.
   
   This book was a fine testament to the memory of the brave men who didn't wilt despite literally years of incarceration in conditions that can best be desribed as spartan. If they had all died without anyone knowing their story the world would be a poorer place.

5 comments about The One that Got Away: My SAS Mission behind Enemy Lines.

1. Great book, real life action hero's. A must buy for anyone interested in SF community and what brave men will do for Country and Brotherhood.



2. This was a fairly good book, but I expected more from this true story. The author makes some of his SAS counterparts seem like cowards and certainly not professional soldiers. This might have been his view of the truth but it seems a little out of the norm.
   
   Overall good read.



3. This book is great mainly due to the dangerous background of the mission. Ryan survived for about ten days in a hostile environment while he had to deal with coldness, exhaustion, injuries and starvation. Therefore it is an account of an incredible surviving. Respect for Ryan. His book is a must-read !



4. Not the tale of an inhumanly capable and faultless warrior and all the more compelling for that. Very interesting and informative, a more realistic treatment of events that the McNabb book, or at least more believable.



5. Imagine driving two hundred miles, a long boring journey no doubt. Seems like ages...
   
   Imagine walking it with no food, little water, and freezing temperatures that had already cost the lives of two of the SAS patrol troopers. That's what Ryan did when he journeyed to the Syrian border when the infamous Bravo Two Zero mission fell apart due to bad luck, poor intelligence, and below zero temperatures.
   
   The famous - or infamous - Bravo Two Zero mission was about eight SAS troops that where sent behind enemy lines during the first gulf war. They were compromised early on, and with a fire fight early on, and no communication from headquarters, the men had to evade and escape. Four of the men were captured and tortured in an Iraqi sess-pit of a gaol. Three of the men died, one shot in combat and two died from hypothermia. Only one escaped. "The One That Got Away" is his story...
   
   Ryan had to endure a terrific journey on foot of 200 miles to get to the Syrian border. Along the way, he drills (kills) a few Iraqi soldiers, or guards. He even breaks one's neck, told in squirm-inducing detail:
   
   "When the second man saw me, his eyes widened in terror and he instantly began to run. But somehow, with a surge of adrenalin, I flew after him, jumped on him and brought him down with my legs locked round his hips. I got one arm round his neck in a judo hold and stretched his chin up. There was a muffled crack, and he died instantaneously."
   
   Ryan's spirit comes from a very deep well, and with his SAS training, he pushes on even when he is on the verge of complete exhaustion (towards the end, he starts hallucinating).
   
   Andy NcNab's "Bravo Two Zero" book is about McNab's torture at the hands of his Iraqi captives. Ryan's story is also about brutal pain, but his is self-inflicted as he desperately seeks to escape capture (he loses all his toe nails due to the 200 mile hike, he is on the verge of getting frost bite, he drinks radioactive water, and to finish off bad luck, he nearly gets lynched when he finally gets to Syria).
   
   Ryan comes across as a methodical man. He plays by the book (he doesn't journey during the day - an SAS no-no). His methodical thinking about getting things right sometimes makes the other members of the SAS patrol seem incompetent. That seems a tad unfair (though as the author, and with the slight fact that he was actually there, he may have a right to say what he wants). I think the real incompetence in the Bravo Two Zero mission was the lack of intelligence from the top brass and not the men on the ground (why should you have the cold terrain as the enemy as well as the Iraqis when it needn't be? Shouldn't Intelligence know that the temperatures in Iraqi can drop really low?)
   
   Even if you not a fan of Special Forces you will find this book riveting. People who like endurance will also love this book - for example if you are one of them loons who think climbing Everest in a pair of flip-flops is a great day out, then this book is also for you.
   
   Seriously, I would recommend reading this, especially now when the second Gulf war is still simmering. It gives you a realistic journey on combat that you rarely get with the media. I also recommend McNab's "Bravo Two Zero" as it gives an account of his capture and torture.

5 comments about Rattler One-Seven: A Vietnam Helicopter Pilot's War Story (North Texas Military Biography and Memoir).

1. I recently purchased a book entitled Rattler One-Seven written by Chuck Gross. Once I started to read this unbelievable account of this helicopter pilots involvment in the VietNam war I could not put it down. What these young pilots went through to insert and extract and suport rescue missions to bring back our ground troops during this confrontation is almost more than a mind can absorb. Chuck Gross was a young warrant officer (19 yrs old) from Minnesota. His in depth writing will take you to a time in history that many of us have forgotten. The daily fear of lossing ones own life, being caputured and the stories of friends and comrades who did not make it home is riveting to say the least. His writing is so in depth I gurantee you will ride that Huey with him and his crew, and you will share the tears, heartache and jubilation just as he did during his year of service. If you remember anything about Nam and the protests regarding this war you owe it to yourself to read this pilots account of what hell must really be like, and applaud these brave young men for doing the job that they were told to do. Whether you agreed with the war or not is not the issue, but what these soldiers did at our governments request of them. I hope you can reflect as I did when you read Chuck Gross's account. You will hold a special place in your memory for all of these brave men. Bill Turck, St Cloud MN



2. You have seen it in the movies, now read actual accounts of flying UH-1 Huey helicopters in and out of hot landing zones.
   
   Author Chuck Gross details his 1200 hours of combat as a young aviator during the Vietnam war. He details the way it really was from the propective of being on the front lines during tense operations. Rattler One-Seven is a collection of his notes and memories written in an exciting format, which captured my emotion to read more.
   
   He shares with his readers his thoughts and emotions as he carried out risky operations, putting his talents ahead of his emotion to complete the mission at hand. It is clear to me that Chuck was a fine aviator with high moral standards. This book tells the real life experiences in the eyes of a 19 year old Vietnam combat helicopter pilot. The challenges this pilot experienced which formed his skills and moral values into who he is today.
   
   You will read chronological events as they were experienced; being a Newbie, busting your cherry, Special Operations including Lam Son 719, what it is like to be shot down, coming home and more..... Read it. As I read it I felt the combat as if I was there in the action.
   
   A must read for all to experience a time in history.



3. I have just finished reading Rattler One-Seven for the second time. Mr. Gross does such a great job of capturing the true essence of what it must have been like to fly choppers in Vietnam. Instead of glorifing combat like so many Vietnam books do, he gives you his honest opinions of what he experienced through the eyes of a nineteen year old. His narrative writing style makes you feel as if your sitting there in person listening to him. This is one of my favorite books.



4. Of all the books I have read about Vietnam this has to be rated at the bottom of the list. Obviously written by an amateur, the story was drab and uninteresting. He should have had some professional help in writing this book.



5. As a former Vietnam helicopter pilot, I lived a similar life in "Nam" so I know the story was factual and well written. The author was single minded in getting home alive and keeping those flying with him as safe as he could make it for them. I enjoyed his professionalism in flying and striving to be the best in a bad situation. The combat assualts were great and I was "in the cockpit with him" as he described the action. Good reading for vet and non-vet alike as to what it was like to be in a true airmobile war.

5 comments about Geronimo: His Own Story: The Autobiography of a Great Patriot Warrior.

1. IT IS ESSENTIAL TO REMEMBER THAT ALL THE COMMENTS ATTRIBUTED TO GERONIMO'S "DIPLOMACY" AND LACK OF ANIMUS TOWARDS WHITE PEOPLE EXPRESSED IN THE BOOK AND BY REVIEWERS HAD MORE TO DO WITH THE WORDS A MAN WHO EXPECTED TO BE ASSASINATED AT ANY MOMENT BY HIS CAPTORS. AS SUCH, HIS ANTIPATHY FOR THE WHITE MAN IS ATTENUATED BY A MAN LOOKING DEATH IN THE FACE FROM A CULTURAL TRADITION THAT ONE'S LAST MOMENTS SHOULD BE FREE OF HOSTITLITY.



2. This was a good book, but it said it was in a "like new" condition and it showed up with half the cover missing. But that's alright. Who needs covers, right?



3. If you understand that Geronimo ( correctly pronounced "Herr-ON-EE-Mo") was a prisoner of war who expected to be shot or hung at any time while he was dictating this autobiography, it is well worth reading. To get the REAL STORY behind Geronimo's motivations for providing Barrett with what he did, read the excellent book "Indeh, An Apache Odyssey" by Eve Ball. Indeh, along with his autobiography, allows Geronimo to become a real person in many respects - especially in terms of being qualified as a highly intelligent, astute, exceptionally "powerful" individual and probably the most outstanding warrior/leader the Apaches ever had bar none.
   This said, I urge the reader to reject any and all works done by Politically Correct Story Telling cranks such as Dan L. Thrapp, Edwin Sweeney, and ilk. Read this autobiography of Geronimo's along with Ball's "Indeh" and THEN read my reviews of Thrapp's preposterous drivel and nonsense and Sweeney's garbage on various Apache leaders. You'll then have a real idea of the difference between historically valuable information and mere fantasy-filled, sky-pie jibberish churned out by love-sick buffoons who neither lived at the time of the people they write about or have any intention of offering their readers ACCURATE information on anything.
   These days there is far too much insane and inacurate literature available on the American Indian of yesteryear, but this book and Ball's "Indeh" certainly deserve to be considered as far above and beyond the fiction-as-fact PC rubbish which comprises a trecherous information swamp that anyone interested in Frontier history must wade through to get to the truth and facts.
   If you want some truth about Apaches from Apaches, avoid books by Thrapp, Sweeney, Roberts, and ilk like the plague. Purchase this book and Ball's "Indeh". You won't be sorry you did.



4. Geronimo: His Own Story is an endlessly fascinating autobiography that belongs in the pantheon of other great American works of autobiography and memoir. This book should take its place alonside other great works of personal non-fiction such as The Autobiography of Malcom X, A Moveable Feast, The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and (arguably the best of the bunch) The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. This is a strong statement, but after reading this short autobiography it's at least an idea that should be entertained. I found things in this book that I was not expecting, and it ended up being a far more complex and intriguing portrait of Geronimo than I had previously entertained. The most fascinating side of Geronimo that comes across in these two-hundred pages is not Geronimo the warrior but Geronimo the diplomat.
   
   S. M. Barrett's introduction tells us that after Geronimo finished what he wanted to say he would not take questions or add anything more, but merely stated "`Write what I have spoken.'" These are the actions of a man who has a very specific purpose he is pursuing. After reading Geronimo's story I believe his purpose in publishing his tale was to accomplish in peace what he was unable to in war--he wanted to deliver his people back to Arizona.
   
   Geronimo dedicates his story to Theodore Roosevelt, because, in his words, he "knows I speak the truth;...he is fair minded and will cause my people to receive justice in the future; and because he is chief of a great people." Even before his story has started Geronimo strikes a cordial tone. Not only are Geronimo's words flowing with accolades, but they are also giving Roosevelt something to live up to. By stating that Roosevelt is "fair minded and will cause my people to receive justice in the future" he is almost challenging Roosevelt to live up to this description.
   
   Much of the fighting in Geronimo occurs between the Apache's and the Mexicans. Geronimo doesn't try and hide his feelings about the Mexicans, stating not only that he as "no love for the Mexicans," but also that if he was younger, "and followed the warpath," he would "lead into Old Mexico." In fact, his battles with the Mexicans take up a slight majority of the book. He does not make any similarly broad statements when speaking about Americans. Whenever Geronimo criticizes American policy he makes certain that he focuses his criticism on the officer in charge rather than American policy as a whole. Geronimo realizes that merely lashing out at an unfair, but time honored, practice of breaking U.S. treaties would alienate his audience and hurt his cause.
   
   The rhetorical technique Geronimo uses in telling his story is rather matter of fact. This is in stark contrast to some of the more melodramatic works that were popular around the turn of the century. Certainly this highlights a difference in two cultures, but it is also indicative of how Geronimo goes about trying to achieve his goal. Instead of histrionically telling his story he presents it in what seems to be an objective and reasonable voice. When Geronimo gave himself up to the U.S. Army one of the conditions was that his band of Apaches would be sent to Florida with the rest of their families. When the U.S. breaks this condition Geronimo flatly states that this "treatment was in direct violation of our treaty made at Skeleton Canon." He lets the action speak for itself. If he railed against the injustice committed then he would have turned off a mostly white audience. After all, it was their government who was responsible for breaking the treaty.
   
   I won't make this into a thesis (although I probably could). Geronimo: His Own Story is a wonderful portrait of one of American History's most courageous heroes. In the book I was surprised to find out just as much about Geronimo the diplomat as I did about Geronimo the warrior. I'll end this with Geronimo's words: "There is no climate or soil which, to my mind, is equal to that of Arizona. We could have plenty of good cultivating land, plenty of grass, plenty of timber and plenty of minerals in that land which the Almighty created for the Apaches. It is my land, my home, my fathers' land, to which I now ask to be allowed to return. I want to spend my last days there, and be buried among those mountains. If this could be I might die in peace, feeling that my people , placed in their native homes, would increase in numbers, rather than diminish as at present, and that our name would not become extinct."



5. "Geronimo: His Own Story" has been revised and edited, with an introduction and notes, by Frederick Turner. This book is the autobiography of the legendary Apache warrior, as told to S. M. Barrett. The copyright page notes that the main text was originally published as "Geronimo's Story of His Life" in 1906.
   
   The revised edition includes the 1906 preface by Barrett; a 33 page introduction by Turner; a "Note on the Text," which describes the genesis of the book; a map, "Apache Country, 1865-1886"; a bibliography; and a generous collection of photographs showing both Geronimo at various stages in his life, and other people of his times. Barrett's introduction tells how the text was delivered orally by Geronimo, and how translator Asa Daklugie helped Barrett turn it into book form. Indeed, in his introduction Turner notes that Geronimo's story is "a preliterate and essentially a prewhite narrative." Altogether the text and supplemental features are about 200 pages long.
   
   Geronimo's fascinating story begins with an Apache creation myth. He discusses his early life, his family, his battles against the Mexicans, his conflict with United States forces, and his life as a prisoner-of-war under U.S. military control. I was especially interested by his descriptions of the military tactics he used. Geronimo also discusses Apache life: religion, hunting, cultural taboos, etc. The book includes some really remarkable accounts, such as Geronimo's visit to the St. Louis World's Fair. The text is quite poignant when Geronimo reflects upon his hope for the survival of his people and their culture.
   
   I would recommend this book to all who are interested in Native American studies, 19th century American history, military autobiography, and the relationship between oral and written literature. But above all, this book is an encounter with an extraordinary human being whose voice remains passionate and compelling after all these decades.