1 comments about Million Miles to Go.

1. I read this book because a friend of mine was a "shirt tail" relation to the Principal in the book. If you like 1st Person accounts of WW II by the guys/gals who lived it, you'll like this. It's a tough read for a person who isn't a big time reader but it's a fast read. I enjoyed it and thought it was worth the time.

1 comments about Arn's War: Memoirs Of A World War II Infantryman, 1940-1946 (Ohio History and Culture).

1. This is one of the very best WWII memoirs I have read. (Another fantastic one is "Not As Briefed" by Ross Greening). Arn is a first rate person, and therefore a very good leader of men. He is also a talented writer, so his amazing stories are well written. Arn's story begins with the difficult decision to become a soldier at the "old" age of 34. It progresses chronologically through the war, showing clearly how he grew from a new soldier inexperienced in combat to a much loved and respected leader. The book vividly shows what it was like to be an infantry soldier in WWII, with all of the interesting little details that history books leave out.

No comments about COLD WAR, HOT WINGS: Memoirs of a Cold War Fighter Pilot 1962 - 1994.

1 comments about Lens of an Infantryman: A World War II Memoir with Photographs from a Hidden Camera.

1. Murray Leff saw ETO combat with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 137th Regiment, 35th Infantry Division from September 1944 to VE-Day. Atypically, Murray went to war armed with a Garand rifle AND a Welti folding bellows camera he had acquired in a swap for cigarettes. Line infantrymen were forbidden from carrying cameras into combat yet Leff kept - and used - his camera throughout his time in Europe. Fifty-seven years later he combined those long-ago photos with a narrative he had written just at war's end to produce this rare illustrated guide to one G.I.'s wartime experiences.
   
   Leff's book chiefly consists of a 77-page narrative of his ETO experiences up to February 1945, a second - largely photographic - 62-page section that covers his ETO time from March to May 1945 and a 45-page appendix that reproduces the daily Company E combat reports sent to Division HQ, therein supplementing Leff's foxhole-level observations with the 'big picture.' (The narrative only runs to February 1945 because he was discharged before he could complete the manuscript).
   
   Leff's war wasn't one of endless heart-pounding advances and set-piece battles but rather of long periods of inactivity holding the line, breaks for behind-the-lines R&R followed by more marches, new positions, late-night patrols, etc. Casualties were mercifully few and often were victims of random shellfire, a chance encounter with a German MG position, etc. As with most dogfaces, much of Leff's time was spent digging in, trying to keep warm and so on. In that respect LENS OF AN INFANTRYMAN offers a valuable insight into the life of a typical line doggie in World War II.
   
   The over 90 wartime photographs featured in the book reflect Leff's 'long periods of tedium pierced by moments of stark terror' existence. There are a number of shots of Company E personnel in action and behind the lines; American tanks, trucks and other equipment; civilians welcoming the Americans, GIs examining a dead German soldier, etc. Several sequences are quite striking - one showing a Sherman taking up a firing position only to be hit by a 88mm gun; Leff's squad seeking cover in a water-filled ditch as an MG opens up on them; etc.
   
   Since the narrative was written just months after the events happened, LENS OF AN INFANTRYMAN has a rare freshness and emphasis on daily life missing from other accounts of G.I.s at war. The photos though elevate the book to a higher level, offering a rare perspective on the life of a combat infantryman. Murray Leff's book comes highly recommended.

2 comments about Last Letters Home.

1. I read this book on a flight from Houston to Raliegh. The young man sitting next to me was riveted. He read the book over my shoulder. He wondered how I could read a book like this after I told him my son was in the 3rd Infantry Division. My son was in Iraq from March 2003 to August 2003 and returns in January.
   
   I told him books like these are important in keeping us in touch with the reality of what we face over there. All Americans should feel the pain along with the families of the soldiers who have died. This book brings home the painful reality.
   
   I, too, was compelled to write our story for this very reason. Our son came home and for that we are forever grateful. Yet I want people to know the complexity of emotion that raged through my family while he was there. My book can be found on Amazon and is called "Letters Home - From 9/11 to Operation Iraqi Freedom A Military Mom Shares Her Family's Story of Patriotism, Courage and Love."
   
   Thank you to the families who so painfully have shared their lives with us.



2. When I was a student of political science, I had a professor who read to us letters home from the war front. He had a collection of pieces from lots of different countries, but messages were remarkably the same - human beings caught up in situations and conflict far beyond their making and often beyond our comprehension, not writing for king and country, but writing of home, writing to home.
   
   This collection follows many fine examples of this genre, from fourteen families; these letters are made all the more meaningful and poignant by the fact that their authors didn't return home alive. The concerns are very basic, but take on a palpable feel to them for the reader today -- care for home, family, plans for the future, honest emotion including fear. This collection spans the range of people from the most recent conflict -- it shows that many of the aspects of war are depressingly the same, no matter what historical era one is in.
   
   The courage of the families to put forward this kind of emotional part of their lives is matched only by the courage of the men and women who themselves lost their lives. The book, companion to a documentary produced by HBO, strives to be non-political; far from being an indictment of the current administration, it focuses instead upon the people involved at the 'ground level' of the conflict. Many of the families are in fact supporters of President Bush, firm in their convictions that the sacrifice of their loved ones was done in the name of democracy and the country.
   
   There is a forward by Senator John McCain, himself a veteran with experiences to tell, but even his family did not suffer the fate of receiving a last letter home from him.
   
   On this Veteran's Day, originally Armistice Day, after the war-to-end-all-wars (that in fact did not), it is proper to remember also those involved in the current struggles, which includes families back home, whose connection is largely through letters, and whose prayers are always that there will be another letter soon, that no letter becomes the last letter home.
   
   Read a part of our current affairs that will become a part of history in these letters, from the perspective of those actually doing the work in Iraq.

1 comments about Confederate General R.S. Ewell: Robert E. Lee's Hesitant Commander.

1. The amount of time and research that went into this book is hard to fathom as archives from many parts of the South have been scoured for material. Paul Casdorph would in fact be the perfect choice to teach graduate research seminars because he is so adept in this area. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the best researchers are not always the best writers. There is much information and insight into the life of General Richard Ewell to be found in this book but sometimes it is very hard to extract.
   
   The author's thesis is that General Ewell just didn't have the personality to be an aggressive field commander and that may well have been the case but this often contradictory book falls far short of proving that point. The cases where Ewell was aggressive are hardly noted although they did exist and actually Ewell was sometimes more apt to attack than Stonewall Jackson. It is a comparison with Jackson that in fact makes up most of the author's argument. Again however incidents that contradict the author's theory are just brushed aside. For example, Jackson's extreme lethargy during the Seven Days battles is hardly dealt with at all.
   
   Ewell's poor performance at Gettysburg seems to be the cornerstone of Casdorph's argument but alas it is also the weakest part of his argument. The reader is hit constantly with what Jackson might have done at Gettysburg, which is something we will never know. He might well have leaned up against a tree and took another nap. The author also brings up the old canard about Longstreet's late attack on July 2nd. I would be willing to bet that the author couldn't take a comparable number of men and make it from where Longstreet's men were at 11:00 PM on July 1st to where the attack is supposed to have come from in less than seven hours either. It would be especially unlikely with a guide that ended up costing Longstreet several hours.
   
   Another problem rests with the writing style the author employs. There were places in this book that left me feeling as if I was trudging through knee deep mud. The writing does improve as the book goes along but there are places that are just mercilessly dull. He also misspells General Cleburne's name, which is a mistake that one shouldn't find in this type of scholarly work.
   
   Still, Casdorph does make one very clear and astute point. Robert E. Lee had a blind spot for Virginia and Virginians and that seems to be the only real reason Ewell ever rose to corps command. Although there is no clear argument made in this text as to who might have been a better choice.
   
   Overall the writing and thesis of this book are weak at best but there is still a lot of information to be found here. The author has presented several important facts and one can learn quite a bit about General Ewell and the Army of Northern Virginia in this book. If Mr. Casdorph was willing to do all of this research the least the reader can do is pick through the dull areas in order to access the information.

3 comments about Life- Changing Events often Put Lives On Hold.

1. I met Jerry at work a few years ago and instantly knew he was a kind and honorable man. In his own small way he helped me through what I thought was a most terrible time in my life (my daughter moving to another state). He said someday he would share a part of his life with me that may be helpful. Well Jerry left that job after a brief time and I never got a chance to hear much about his life. A few years later I came to know that he had written this book. I now know that life had given Jerry a lot to bear, but instead of bitterness, he always had a smile and a kind word each day. Had I known he was a veteran, I would have thanked him for his service. But not only was Jerry gentle, but he was humble as well. I haven't seen Jerry in quite a while, but I won't forget him and hope that he is peaceful in his life as he and his comrades deserve everything wonderful that life has to offer. Thanks to all the men and women who served or are serving our country now. We owe you a debt of gratitude. (Jack)



2. I served with Sgt. Rohr in 1st Squad 1st Platoon B Company 2/5 Cav. The story of Dennis Wirt is one that has stuck with me for almost 40 years now. He was in our squad and was killed in a plane crash going on R&R to see his girl friend Nikki. We all knew of his death immediately and wondered how and when Nikki found out what happened after he did not walk off his plane to meet her on Okinawa. I think about him and this incident often. In the book, Jerry actually contacts Dennis' mother and I learned what happened to Nikki. I also learned that Dennis' mother wondered why she did not hear from Dennis's friends after his death. I wish now I had done what Jerry did. Maybe there is still time. So many lives are connected in so many ways.
   
   Jerry links life's events together in spiritual ways, but life is spiritual if we are lucky enough to experience it deeply. I am biased, of course, but I think this is an amazing and emotional book. Thanks, Jerry. I hope to see you and the others at your next reunion, 40 years is too long. I will give this book to my two sons.



3. This book should appeal to both men and women. Anyone who has loved ones in the service,the Viet Nam War, or any war will relate to the emotional hurt that these men went through. His war experience while serving in the Army shows what hardships they had to endure. By looking for answers to Jerry and Laura's personal tragedy Jerry found a way to deal with his own grief by reaching out to others. Jerry was able to express his own feelings throughout the story and you find yourself grieving with him and his young family and also for his Army buddies.

No comments about Six Wives of Henry the VIII (Windsor Selections).

5 comments about Spandau: The Secret Diaries.

1. That which was good (Inside the Third Reich) is now even better for "Spandau" is Speer's soul-searching account of and reflection on himself and his life while he was imprisoned for 21 years. The book was written in a day-by-day diary entry form so one almost feels one is there with him sharing his emotions and observations. He made it quite clear from the very outset that writing kept him sane but ".. it must be more than a matter of organizing sheer survival. This must also become a time of reckoning. If at the end, after these twenty years, I do not have an answer to the questions that preoccupy me now, this imprisonment will have been wasted for me. And yet I fully realize that even at best my conclusions can only be tentative..." Upon his release in 1966, he left the mass of papers of his prison diaries lay untouched, unread for over ten years before he finally published them. Apart from the historical importance, readers will enjoy the writing of a fine intellectual mind despite his sad observation that "Diaries are usually the accompaniment of a lived life. This one stands in place of a life." This is an immensely personal and moving book that no one could afford to miss and deserves much more than a running commentary.



2. First hand accounts of the workings of the German High Command and the interactions between the parties, including Adolph Hitler, are rare and becoming rarer. Many of those involve left memoirs, but those are becoming difficult to find, as most are now out of print. Speer's Spandau writings are among the endangered species.

   Anyone who wishes to understand the minds of the men who made the Reich work and particularly the mind of Adolph Hitler can do so by the evidence of their deeds at one level. However, the records of their thoughts, conversations, behavior and rationalizations while they did so is certainly a facet of understanding. The writings of Von Manstein, Doenitz, Rommel, Guderian, and the diaries of Joseph Goebbels are each worth the reading in this sense. As is Albert Speer.

   Speer was imprisoned longer than any of the other members of Hitler's inner circle. He had many years of solitude to contemplate his deeds and reflect on how and why he came to be imprisoned in Spandau. Maybe these musings qualify as revisionist history. Maybe they're merely self-serving rationalizations. But his anecdotes will definitely add to your understanding of the 3rd Reich. You don't have to believe everything he says, but it's worth reading it and making the choice for yourself.

   Speer thought of himself as a 'nice guy'. You can't make an informed decision as to whether it was true without reading what he had to say. In the end most of us believe we are 'nice people' and are justified in whatever horrendous deeds we pursue.




3. What a good story. I couldn't put the book down. I recommend that you read a book on the Nuremberg trials (Persico's is a good one) before plunging into Speer's diary. Speer wrote his diary while paying his 20 years sentence at Spandau prison for his responsibility as one of the leaders of the Thirch Reich.



4. No figure emerged from the Second World War with greater controversy and attention than did Nazi architect and Hitler confidant Albert Speer. Sentenced to twenty years in the military prison in Spandau for war crimes, Speer was the only one of the principals tried at Nuremberg to admit his culpability in the horror that was the Third Reich. Many questioned his sincerity, for although he said all the right things, it was extremely self-serving to do so at the moment of final judgment, for his capitulation surely saved his life. Yet Speer served his twenty years and then was released to live out his life amidst even greater controversy, for Speer had compiled an amazing 25,000 page secret diary during his long confinement.

   This treasure trove of personal anecdotes, reminiscences, and observations was eventually serialized into two distinctive books. When the first was published in 1969 in Germany, the diary, entitled "Recollections", caused a literal firestorm of controversy based on a range of observations and positions taken by Speer. Yet the book, released a year later in a translated version for the English-speaking world as "Inside The Third Reich" was a runaway best seller based primarily on the detailed and absolutely spellbinding descriptions Speer offered regarding the principals of the Nazi regime. Shortly thereafter, Speer released the present volume, entitled "Spandau; The Secret Diaries". His observations, tidbits, and anecdotes about Hitler himself were endlessly fascinating and occasioned a lot of dinner conversation all over the world. Likewise, his portrayal of the day to day life within the so-called Nazi elite gave reader s a graphic and telling account of what these people were like, and how it was possible that they could do so much of what they did.

   It also establishes a consistent pattern of personal denial of any real responsibility for what had happened on Speer's part. He claimed to have been only tangentially involved in what happened to the Jews, and that he never understood that the policy of deportation and relocation to 'work camps' was part of a conspiracy to systematically murder all of Europe's Jews. Yet careful readers find that his role as Chief Administrator Of Armament Production, which employed slave labor by both Jews and other subjugated prisoners of war certainly had a systematic policy of working these slave laborers to death.

   In later works he claimed to be less involved in the politics of the Third Reich than in the day to oversight of functional management of its policies. This is a fascinating book, and one cannot help but to come to admire this man and his struggles to maintain his balance and his sanity during the two decades he was held at Spandau. It provides a penetrating look both at his own mental processes as well as sharing his ruminations about various details and aspects of life within the whirlwind of excitement, agony, and horror that the years of Nazi reign in Germany represent. This is a book I can highly recommend. Enjoy!




5. Albert Speer give a day to day account of what it is like in Spandau. The diaries are divided daily so you soon feel that you are there. You soon feel that his memories are yours and wonder what you would have done. Sure you know now, but wait until you read this book. There are 32 pages of exclusive photos. It is weird win you think what you or a relative was doing on the same days. Albert got out just one month before I went in to the military. Even his epilog is impressive.

5 comments about American Daughter Gone to War.

1. very captivating, couldn't put it down. Tells how life was in vietnam and the aftermath of life with PTSD (before PTSD was known about). Very honest in the most detailed of emotions. Having read 'home before morning' many years ago, this is at least as good if not better. I highly recommend.
   
   Details of caring for the most critically wounded and working with not enough trained people to care for them, of having to let some die so that those with a better chance could be treated.
   
   Explains how the stupidity of the Vietnam war policies trickled into the health care of wounded and those who treated them.



2. This book is different. This book goes where no memoir has gone before. It is a soul sharing account of former US Army nurse Winnie Smith's three years in the US Army nurse corps with the focus on Viet-Nam and its devastating personal aftermath. You follow her from her initial days in the US Army to Japan where she gets her first views of the war in Viet-Nam. She starts developing strong relationships with the "warriors." Some become extended family. This closeness takes it toll as because the men she liked, and sometimes loved, were killed, lost in action, or wounded. Her testimony of life at the Third Field Hospital in Saigon and then in the head trauma unit of the next hospital were so vivid you are there. She lets it be known that the army was not set up for females by the lack of facilities available. She danced with David Nelson of Ozzie and Harriet fame with out even knowing who he was until the other nurses asked what he like was. Her fear had her turn down marriage proposal from West Pointer Peter. After the service, she had trouble with relationships. In the years ahead, she lived in Dallas then San Francisco. While she went to graduate school the years following Viet-Nam are a vivid picture of the horrors of past traumatic stress disorder. The book is a painful look at this horrific disorder. The book shows there is hope and in many ways seem to be her avenue for dealing with it. She is surprised other persons have similar difficulties coping. She is shocked to learn that her stepfather who lost a leg in World War II had been injured days into the combat zone and thus had no real experience of war as a point of common ground. The book is worth your time. It shows the human toll of any war.



3. Another thrift shop purchase that I wasn't sure I would take too but strangely enough I was compelled to read the book from cover to cover.
   
   At first the author Winnie Smith didn't strike me as all that likable, look at it from my point of view, a young white and attractive woman of the sixties, promiscuous yet strangely innocent, racist though she doesn't know it, after all racism was something that most people accepted as a kind of norm and at first filled with gung-ho patriotism to do her "bit" in Vietnam.
   
   However as I turned each page I began to see the human side of Winnie and I realised she was a woman of her time or rather she was a woman living in time of misunderstood values, and misplaced values that she just happened to be partaking a part in.
   
   Knee deep in blood, gore and guts Winnie does her "bit" sometimes seeing friends die in front of her, a particularly gruesome experience is seeing the chopper pilot she is with get the top of his head sliced off when their helicopter crashes. It is obvious from the way she writes that she is remembering every moment of that terrible incident.
   
   Despite all of this horror she seems to get used to sending young men back home minus limbs or their minds or in body bags and she gets on with her job of being a nurse.
   
   Interspersed in all of this is her innocence that is slowly but surely eroded by war and its indifferent cruelties, I laughed out loud when I read a section where she has to be told what "condom" is at the ripe old age of 22, Winnie grew up in Vietnam, came of age as did many of her counterparts but as woman she was never to be counted as one of the "survivors" of the Vietnam war.
   
   Winnie is as much a causality of the war as the men she has helped put back together or sent home in a casket. She doesn't realise this until she is sent stateside and only then does the real horror begin, she has to come to terms with what she has seen and been through.
   
   This is not a sentimental read, it is abrasive, harsh and mind numbing but it is also gives a real insight to the "other side" of war, of what it was like to be a Nurse looking after the soldiers wounded in battle.
   
   Despite having a loving family at home Winnie is never able to make them understand what it was "truly like" in Vietnam but if Winnie is anything she is a survivor and in the end she comes to terms with her being a "Vietnam Vet" and gets on with her life, scarred, battle weary but totally and utterly a survivor.



4. As a nurse of almost 25 years who graduated from high school in 1975 (just after Nixon's negotiated "peace with honor"), I have a sense that I could have done just what nurses like Winnie Smith and Lynda Devanter did. Gone to war to take care of people who would have needed me. Only time did save me...

   This is a disturbing book and ultimately convincing in one of its' pleas: Let's NOT send young people to combat anymore. I'd send a copy to our war-bent president if I thought it would make a difference.

   As an experienced ICU and ED nurse, I was horrified at the conditions these nurses worked (and lived) in.

   At the end of the book, though you feel less worried about Winnie Smith, you never get the sense that life will be "all better" for her. This pain, this scar is deep and everlasting.

   A raw and real book. I'd recommend it to anyone as I would DeVanter's book (Home Before Morning).




5. I thought this memoir was excellent. I was in Da Nang, Viet Nam from "69 to "70. I saw and experienced what she did; today, I feel the same way that she does. This great country of ours and the people in it have let all of us "Viet Nam Veterans" down because, I believe, of the devisiness of the war. All that we ask is that we be treated with respect as other Vets are. A wonderful book of how she coped. This is real.