3 comments about D-day Survivor: An Autobiography.

1. As the title of this book indicates, the author was a survivor of D-Day, the massive Allied invasion of the beaches at Normandy, June 6, 1944.
   
   But the author was more than just a survivor. He was a member of the 116th Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division that was in on the first wave in one of the bloodiest sectors of any beach that deadly day: Dog Green Sector, Omaha Beach.
   
   Before the author even disembarked from his landing craft, the one next to his was blown up, showering the author and his comrades with pieces of wood, bits of metal, and human body parts. As he left his landing craft, the water was already a churning sea of red blood. He was wounded four times that day by both bullets and shrapnel as he and the survivors of his unit slogged forward to establish a beachhead and began to scale the heavily, and easily, defended bluffs. (The murderous fire he had to undergo just to get onto the beach was so bad one bullet passed through his helmet and another hit his rifle.) Later, as he was being evacuated, he was wounded a fifth time, presumably by a German sniper.
   
   As he reflected on why he survived when so many others died, the author came to believe that he had a two-fold mission in life: first, to tell the story of the carnage his fellow soldiers underwent, and the courage (often unappreciated or untold) many of them displayed, to make the world a better place; and second, to become a doctor and save lives. The author succeeded admirably on both accounts.
   
   As an autobiography, the book covers more than just D-Day and includes the author's story of his induction into the U.S. Army (he was drafted at the age of 18 and could have gotten out of the draft because he was a student and one of his professors was on the draft board but he chose to go ahead and serve his country), his training and the training for D-Day and his life experiences after the invasion, including his recovery from his wounds and becoming a doctor.
   
   Highly recommended reading. A fascinating story well told.



2. Over the years "revisionism" has become the norm in writing about history. In this book we have a precious gift in the words of someone who was actually there. Dr. Hal Baumgarten managed to write an autobiography that includes the lives of so many others than himself. It is a book for any young person seeking the story of a great man to admire. As adults reading this book we can only be humbled and proud of this survivor, who inspires us to reflect on all we do in honoring those who rendered to us our present day freedom. This is an extremely human book written by a true humanitarian.



3. There are many books on Omaha beach that talk about the overall strategy, the failures and victories and talk about the leaders and commanders. There are also military-study type books that break down the action sector by sector and unit by unit. However there are surprisingly few accounts by men that landed in the first wave. This is I suppose because of two factors: 1) the high percentage of casualties on D-Day amongst the first-wave, and 2) the fact that many of the survivors cannot talk about the events of June 6th - the memories they have are of the carnage and horror and possibly lacking in detail.
   
   Harold Baumgarten is therefore pretty unique, he is an Omaha beach survivor possessed with a photographic memory AND a compelling drive to tell others the story of the young men who landed on D-Day. Through his words the reader gets to hear first-hand about the training, formation and actual D-Day landing of his unit (B/116th Infantry) and his personal tale of terrible injuries and his determination to see his mission through and simply to survive. But also he describes the equipment and uniforms worn, the tactics employed and talks about the German defences. But above all he tells of the brave young first-wavers, with his skillfull writing these men he fought alongside are not just names, they are people, we learn where they are from, what they were like and hear about their fate - some sad, and some happy.
   
   After D-Day we hear about Harold's slow recovery and his personal mission to aid family members of those who fell, his becoming a doctor, and ultimately his re-visiting of Omaha and his current role as one of the few spokesmen left of the "greatest generation".
   
   This book is humbling, rewarding, upifting, informative and fascinating

5 comments about The Good Soldier: From Austrian Social Democracy to Communist Captivity with a Soldier of Panzer-Grenadier Division "Grossdeutschland".

1. More of a lifetime biography than a war biography, which is fine . Like I say, it is worth reading, but it is not just about the war years...



2. I just finished listening to the audio version of this book. The author himself, is the narrator which in itself is powerful. He speaks in a very slow, sincere, sometimes emotionally strained voice through which you can hear his struggling memories being conveyed. He tells of happy times, of funny boyhood pranks, of his daily life, of his participation in times and events that only hindsight fully showed him the magnitude of. No this is not a book for historians looking for detailed information full of dates and strategic manuevers and military actions. This is not a book for people wanting a documentary of factual processes by which Germany very nearly took over the entire of Europe. This is a story of Alfred Novatny... written solely for his daughter and her children so they would know him, and know where they came from. It can be overwhelmingly touching. By the end of the book, you feel you know this man. My husband, who is from Germany, listened to the most of it with me and when the book was finished, he turned to me and said "I want to find this man". We had no idea how old the book was and I warned that he was likely no longer living. But we did look him up and found him. My husband talked to him on the phone for quite some time. And he is a very kind man with such a good heart. He said there is so very much more that is not in the book... that couldn't be.. because it was just too harsh. It is a very good book that "connects" a modern world with a life and time that is now long gone and dying with the generation of those who lived it. It is a precious thing for him to have given to his children... and to the rest of us.



3. This book is an outstanding recollection of an Austrian soldier's experiences as a member of the German Army's renowned Grossdeutschland division in World War II. It is a rewrite of this soldier's originally privately published memoirs and is replete with interesting vignettes on the author's life, from his growing up in a family of Social Democrats in pre-war Austria, to his induction into the elite Grossdeutchland division, to his many and varied battlefield experiences, to his life as a post-war prisoner of the Soviets, to his coming to America.
   
   The combat experiences he describes are mischeviously short (as is the book itself). Unfortunately, this sometimes leaves the impression that the author is holding back information, i.e., information that would not make him look good. Nonetheless, it contains many fascinating anecdotes about life under German control and in the German army during this period. For example, while undergoing his mandatory labor service ("Reichsarbeitsdienst") in late 1941 he is shipped with his unit to build runways near some German U-boat pens on the North Atlantic coast. They are all awakened one morning, provided steel helmets, given rifles and hand grenades with five minutes of instruction on their use, and sent out to fight some British commandos who were attacking the facility because they knew the regular military garrison was 25 miles away on manuevers. Somehow, these teenage conscripts held off the commandos, who were taken by surprise, believing that the facility would be undefended.
   
   Especially interesting are the author's several near experiences with death, including, a bullet going through one side of his helmet but then traveling around the rim, leaving him without a scratch; a comrade entering the author's foxhole and moments later being blown up by an artillery shell, again leaving the author without a scratch; and hitting a heavy Stalin tank at close range with a "Panzerfaust" at the same time it fired its main gun at him, knocking the author unconscious, as the round hit a wall right above him, but otherwise laving him unharmed.
   
   The entire book is strengthened by excellent introductory and transitional comments by Marc Rikmenspoel. Also making the book a very worthwhile purchase are the inclusion of a dozen or so wartime photographs of the author (some posed, some more candid in the field) as well as pictures of his two wound tags and the certificate awarding him the Iron Cross.
   
   Beware, however, that there are grammatical and typographical errors on about every other page of the book. (Only in the parts written by Mr. Novotny and not, however, by Mr. Rikmenspoel.) These mistakes disrupt the flow and makes one wonder if there really was any editing done at all from the original edition. This otherwise superb book gets 4 stars instead of 5 due to this easily remedied flaw.



4. 5 Stars
   
   First, this book is published by Aberjona Press. I will be totally honest with you. I've never read a bad WWII book published by this business. I highly encourage amazon.com readers to read other books published by this firm. WWII is their bread and butter in the publishing business. So, I had high hopes for this book and it delivers.
   
   The Good Soldier" is about memoirs of Germany Army WWII soldier Fred Novotny. The book's introduction starts off with the proverbial Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times!" (this reviewer hopes this does not happen to himself) Novotny certainly had his share of "interesting times". This is a story of overcoming great adversary with a happy ending.
   
   Unlike most WWII stories, which begin in 1939 and end in 1945, "The Good Soldier" is across Novotny's entire lifetime. It begins with his childhood in Vienna, and continues without respite through the Anschluss, his service in the German Labor Service (RAD) and as a machine gunner with the elite "GrossDeutschland" armored infantry division, his postwar years in a Soviet prison camp, his return to freedom and eventual emigration to the USA, where he finds peace and success.
   
   The book isn't full of "combat stories" but there are enough anecdotes to get a good sense of what life in the Third Reich was like and how terrible war and the postwar peace could be. The RAD experiences in particular are very interesting, since there is little information published in English about this German paramilitary organization.
   
   Novotny's descriptions of life as a "GrossDeutschland" soldier and the Soviet penal system are fascinating as well. The reader will doubtless be amazed at Novotny's good fortune through some pretty grim situations - as he was himself!
   
   When you read about any German soldier who survived the war they all credited their military training but cursed it a the same time. The German military training made their average soldier equal to US Marines or Army Rangers.
   
   After the war Novoty's sent to work in a Soviet mine. He meets a woman and they have a brief encounter. The conditions in the mine are just as terrible as an prison. Novoty is released because the Soviets are trying to influence Austria political elections in the early cold war period.
   
   The book is about 150-odd pages but is full of photos, drawings and notes that help the reader get a sense of the writer's experiences in the general sweep of WWII history.
   
   I really enjoyed "The Good Soldier" and would recommend it to anyone interested in personal accounts of German soldiers in the Second World War. Indeed, I shall be re-reading it this week.
   
   Enjoy.



5. Alfred Novotny is a former German solider from WWII who decided to write down some of his experiences from before, during, and after WWII. Like Guy Sajer, Alfred served in Gross Deutschland. Also like Guy, he served as a grenadier on a machine gun team.
   
   Alfred starts his story by telling us about pre-war Austria, the environment, and the events leading up to Germanys taking over of Austria. This was interesting because I didn't know that much about Austria between the wars. The political environment was interesting to say the least.
   
   During the early part of WWII, Alfred was a member of the RAD (Reichsarbeitsdienst). Interestingly, he was working around St. Nazaire when the commando raid happened (yes, he did gain some combat experience there). Upon completing his duty in the RAD, Alfred was brought into the German army, rather unusually for an Austrian, into Gross Deutschland (Alfred states that most Austrians were brought into the Mountain Infantry Regiments, the 44th ID, the 2nd PzD, or the 9th PzD).
   
   Alfred gives a basic description of his time serving in Gross Deutschland. Throughout his chapters, Alfred has a little lead in paragraph that describes the situation he's going to describe in the following paragraphs. In his military service part, Alfred describes his training, his time on the front, Gross Deutschland, and the end of the war.
   
   Like most German veterans who served on the eastern front, Alfred has section on the being a Russian prisoner of war. There's some interesting things, however, most of it has been covered by other Germans as well or better.
   
   Alfred closes the book out with his post war activities. This includes his coming to America.
   
   The Good Soldier is a good basic book. Not nearly as strong as most other personal histories. For this reason, I can only give it 3 stars. There are some very good pieces in here, but unfortnetly, Alfred doesn't deliver the goods nearly as well as Guy Sager, Hans von Luck, and others. Read it, but remember, this was written so his family would know wat he did and why.

No comments about Garibaldi: Hero of Italian Unification.

No comments about If Not Now, When?: Duty and Sacrifice in America's Time of Need.

5 comments about A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save His Country.

1. Move over, James Bond! Instead of repeating other reviewers, let's focus mostly on the intelligence-gathering aspects of this thriller.
   
   Imagine that you're Ryszard Kuklinski. The best way to avoid excessive surveillance by Communist counterintelligence is to make your daily routine as predictable as possible. You get a dog so that you can stroll around the neighborhood naturally. You give and receive signals to and from your contacts with chalk marks on the pavement. (These sometimes get washed away). You use your wife's iron to reveal messages in invisible ink, and take up hobby photography as a cover for photography of another kind.
   
   You dislike dead-drops because, for one thing, someone else might stumble upon them. You use the brush pass. As you walk per your usual routines, you turn into one of those impossible-to-predict labyrinthic streets so that you are out of prying eyes for a few precious seconds. During this time, you exchange packages with another agent.
   
   The brush passes go uneventfully--until one night. No sooner is it completed than you are hit by the headlights of a car. You try to duck into a side street but your move is anticipated. Finally, you shake off the pursuer. Were you seen well enough by the driver to be positively identified? You think/hope not. But just in case, you get a haircut. Luckily this time, you are safe.
   
   Even little slip-ups can be killers. At one point, your son finds a secret note that you had carelessly taped too lightly on the underside of a piece of furniture. You cannot account for a roll of film, and your colleagues speak of the discovery of a "spy film". (It later turns up in the pocket of your seldom-used shirt). At another time, you are in another world, and you crash face-first into a pillar while carrying sensitive information. Nice way to be unobtrusive!
   
   Picture yourself (pardon the pun) getting caught red-handed, by an officer entering the room, taking surreptitious photos of classified documents. You act normal, but cannot get over the fear that the officer has seen exactly what you were doing and will report you. Then, when nothing seems to happen, you still fear that you are being carefully monitored so that the Communist counterintelligence can trace your contacts and then trap everyone.
   
   You had better not carry a gun because, if you use it and then seek refuge in the US Embassy, the Communist authorities may have legal grounds to have you turned over to them. You fully realize that, if caught, you will be tortured into divulging information, and then be executed. Besides, the Communists will make a spectacle of you for propaganda purposes. For this reason, you request a suicide pill from the CIA. They at first refuse, fearing that an agent may take it in a moment of panic, or that the discovery of the poison could itself be used for propaganda purposes. But in the end the CIA provides the pill--inside a pen.
   
   In any Soviet-NATO war, Poland would be the route for 95% of the Soviet military advance. Poland would then get hit with 400-600 nuclear bombs in an attempt to stop the Soviet advance without escalating the conflict into a full-blown Soviet-US nuclear holocaust (p. 16). No wonder Kuklinski realized that Poland was doomed! (Some conspiracy-minded Poles suggested that the Polack joke syndrome had been a concerted effort to demean Poland so that the American public wouldn't protest too much the future destruction of Poland).
   
   Kuklinski's achievements were staggering: Tens of thousands of highly-classified Soviet documents passed on to the US (p. 300). And that was just the beginning. After his flight to the US, Kuklinski provided much information during his debriefing. May he be forever honored, and rest in peace!



2. "A Secret Life" is a gripping read for two key reasons. First and foremost, it is a suspenseful espionage tale with unpredictable twists and turns. To me, it even stands among the best fictional works of that genre by Le Carre and Ludlum.
   
   The second reason is more holistic. The author, New York Times journalist Benjamin Weiser, has gotten at Kuklinski's heart and managed to successfully explore his motives and ethical dilemma for providing intelligence to the CIA. Kuklinski did not make this decision lightly. He felt morally obligated to do so, and his reasons for doing so are clearly spelled out in the book. When you read about these reasons, it's very difficult to disagree with him. (I do not understand the reviewers who call him a traitor.)
   
   I would recommend this book regardless of whether you are pro- or anti-CIA. Some reviewers here claim that Weiser's purpose was to naively lavish the agency with biased praise. In his introduction, however, Weiser references the "justified criticism" that the organization has endured due to its activities over the years, and goes on to say that Kuklinski's story demonstrates that human intelligence operations can succeed brilliantly, and should serve as an example for such future operations.



3. Gen. Kuklinski's efforts against a communist system controlled by an outside power seems commendable on the outside, but what everyone here seems to forget is that the same CIA that worked with Kuklinski, supposedly to 'fight communist tyrrany' was the same one involved in overthrowing legitimate governments, repressing independence movements, funding terrorism, assasinating foreign leaders who did not see eye to eye with US government policies and interests as well as many other unpleasant acts that sadly too many people either do not know about or do not care to remember.
   
   What Gen. Kuklinski did or did not do is known only to him and his CIA handlers. But things in this book must be taken with a grain of salt. In the cold war, the CIA was notorious for anti-Soviet false flag operations and disinformation propaganda. I only read half of the book and did not bother finishing it. Some of the events might have been outright fabrications.
   As far as whether Gen. Kuklinski was a traitor or patriot in the end really depends on which side one is on. To Gen. Jaruzelski, Kuklinski is a traitor while to some CIA official Kuklinski is a hero. But let's take it from another angle: Suppose Gen. Kuklinski's espionage efforts resulted in a covert CIA Op which ended up killing a bunch of Polish civilians? How would that be seen?
   What is Gen. Kuklinski's legacy? It is one of selling out one miserable SOB to another miserable SOB, for a price.



4. Weiser's detailed and measured tale of Kuklinski's historical contribution to Cold War espionage is to be read and enjoyed. His story is taut and thrilling and reminds one of a good John Le Carre novel. Beyond the issue of whether Kuklinski is a hero or traitor to the Polish nation [which is fairly raised and detailed by the author], Weiser never loses control of the subject matter, and, of the abundant documentation he uncovered in his unique access to CIA records. He instills Kuklinski with humanity and sense of Polish nationalism. A fine work to be read and enjoyed.



5. "Sometimes it's not enough to do what is right, sometimes one must do what is necessary." Ryszard Kuklinski knew what was right, did what was necessary...and paid a terrible price.
   
   Benjamin Weiser's riveting work A SECRET LIFE, on Polish hero Ryszard Kuklinski, is an enlightening look back into the dark intrigue, personal danger, and moral dilemmas surrounding one military officer's private battles to liberate his country from totalitarianism. Most importantly, this work shatters the left-wing's liberal illusion of "peaceful coexistence" with a communist system whose very raison d' etre is the destruction of freedom, democracy and enslavement of the West.
   
   Kuklinski saw internal conflict to evict the alien system imposed upon his country by the USSR--as opposed to connivance or the wishful thinking of ideological transformation through "gradualism," favored by some of his Polish General Staff contemporaries, who, for lack of courage or personal gain, fully cooperated with their harsh Soviet task masters--as the only realistic option for peace in the face of Poland's likely nuclear annihilation, had war ensued with the United States. He dared to act accordingly, becoming an agent of change feeding top-secret Warsaw Pact military information to the CIA; thereby, tipping the balance of power in favor of liberty, while loosening the demoralizing death-grip of communist rule over Eastern Europe, as a de facto one-man Polish Underground.
   
   When considering the totality of personal sacrifice and enormity of danger faced by Kuklinski, in his nearly solitary and single-handed struggle against radical, state-sponsored evil--who carried a suicide pill to end his life if caught and was sentenced to death, in absentia, by the Polish Military Court--moral giants like Kurt Gerstein and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn come to mind. It saddens me that former communist collaborators or sympathizers, like Aleksander Kwasniewski, were celebrated or elevated to significant post-Soviet leadership positions and societal prominence, while the country remains bitterly divided over Kuklinski, who has yet to be nationally vindicated, though history has already done so.
   
   Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzesinski said it best when he honored him with the words traditionally reserved for decorating Polish soldiers: "Pan sie dobrze Polsce zasluzyl: You have served Poland well." Rest in peace Colonel Kuklinski.

5 comments about A Summer Bright and Terrible: Winston Churchill, Lord Dowding, Radar, and the Impossible Triumph of the Battle of Britain.

1. This book gave me a new slant on a subject that I thought I knew. I didn't appreciate the Air Marshall until I read what he accomplished in saving England from Hitler.



2. Anyone searching for a decent history of the Battle of Britain, a biography of Lord Dowding, insight into the development of radar OR the role of Winston Churchill in any of these will have to look elsewhere. In this poorly edited atrociously written volume the author manages to take fascinating material and reduce it to a sort of peculiar tabloid scandal sheet. It is painfully unclear what Fisher's intent is in writing this book, at one point it seems like he is trying to ressurect the reputation of an "unsung hero" but at the next he is doing his best to make fun of the very person that he has built up. The style of the book borders on the peculiar -there are no notes or citation, just a somewhat sparse "bibliography" yet we get large sections in quotation marks & whole mental dialogs that occur in the heads of the protagonists, who "chortle" and sneer at each other on every third page -don't get me wrong here, Fisher has written a very "post-modern" book, there really are no heroes, just different levels of fools, knaves and villains, all of whom steal from each other, cut each other out of the credit, thwart each other's ambitions, and generally behave like a nasty set of academics at a faculty meeting from hell. As an example of the egregious errors in this text, for some reason Fisher seems obsessed with tanks -even though he conspicuously ignores Churchill's role in their initial development. Again and again he talks about tanks "winning" the First World War & "breaking the back" of the German armies. This is odd, given that the tank arrives in the First War in September of 1916 -half-way through- and had little if any impact on the situation on the Western Front. Strangely, the role of the Royal Navy's blockade in "breaking the back" of Germany's will to fight seems to have escaped Fisher's notice... Fisher's cultural biases are also very much to the fore: at one point the English pilots spend their time between missions either throwing up or suffering from diarrhea. Their American counterparts in the meantime "chat". Fisher regularly allows his purple prose to wander into this sort of silliness & one is constantly wonderingif things really were as terrible (and silly) as he says how on earth did the Germans not win? In all seriousness, this is a very stupid and above all "little" book that simply isn't worthy of the subject. It is not just that readers will be mislead by Fisher's poor use of the material it is more that they are likely to not bother to pursue the many important themes that ctually emerged in the run-up to the Battle of Britain because they are so turned off by the shallowness of the schloarship exhibited here. One reads this book for the same reason one slows at car wrecks, out of a morbid interest in calamity.



3. Well worth buying since this area has not been properly covered to my knowledge. Disagreeably journalistic style.
   With all due respect to Dowding and none to the Air Ministry, someone should extend the book's scope and write a book on all the cock-ups and how they came into being and were tolerated. Examples: Leigh Mallory insubordination, no camouflage paint on planes, why 1932 jet wasn't developed, formation flying, no deflection shooting practice, insufficient swopping of fatigued/fresh pilots between groups, no calling back of semi-trained pilots who were jettisoned before finishing courses, etc, etc. Most of these errors were obvious before fighting started.
   A Summer Bright and Terrible: Winston Churchill, Lord Dowding, Radar, and the Impossible Triumph of the Battle of Britain



4. A Summer Bright and Terrible: Winston Churchill, Lord Dowding, Radar, and the Impossible Triumph of the Battle of Britain by David E. Fisher is the story of more of the more eccentric military geniuses, High Dowding, the Commander of RAF Fighter Command during The Battle of Britain. I mention eccentric because Dowding's bend-of-mind makes folks like Patton and Montgomery seem dead normal.
   
   In fact, if you combined Patton's belief in reincarnation and the afterlife with Montogomery's stubbornness, you get a pretty good idea of how - under normal circumstances - loopy this man was. Fisher describes a man that openly spoke of discussions with dead fighter pilots and who married a woman whose dead husband recommended to Dowding that he do so. The woman, by the way, had had dreams about a man named Hugh - vastly older than she - who had protected her as a child.
   
   So, was Hugh Dowding a nut case?
   
   It doesn't necessarily matter because this man also was responsible for some of the most innovative developments in aerial combat: multi-gunned monoplane fighters, radar and its associated ground-control infra-structure and the twin-engined radar carrying night fighter. Along the way, he also managed to stand up to Winston Churchill and maintain a cadre of the aforementioned fighters in England when the PM was bound and determined to lose them all in an effort to save France.
   
   And in return for these efforts, he was villified in person and behind his back; left in suspense as to his future for months on end, dis-obeyed by several of his immediate suboridinates and, ultimately, force out of service.
   
   The story is one of the most true examples of doing the right thing, despite and in spite of the potential repercussions. An absolutely excellent work. I only wish that Fisher had footnoted the book. By not not doing so, he hoists himself on his own petard of chastising those who mis-quote or fabricate.



5. I discovered Lord Dowding as the author did through Dowdings book "Lynchgate". The Battle of Britain, whilst not the saviour as most believe put a serious dent in Hitlers War Machine. Britain was to remain free and a "stepping stone" back into Europe.
   
   Without Lord Dowding none of this would have been achieved. Bombing had been shown to be the way of modern warfare and fighters stuck in a time warp could not catch them. Dowding's obstinacy and prescience established a data-linked system of radar, operation rooms and fighters. Without him the World may have been a much different place.
   
   Since owning and reading the book, I have lent it out to various people, some who admit to only occassionally reading! Everyone has been awe stuck by the story. Our debt of gratitude to those who fought the Second World War is aptly enhanced.

No comments about Red Partisan: Memoirs of a Soviet Resistance Fighter on the Eastern Front.

No comments about Directors of Central Intelligence as Leaders of the U.S. Intelligence Community, 19462005.

5 comments about The Proud Bastards: One Marine's Journey from Parris Island through the Hell of Vietnam.

1. Rarely does a book foster and inspire an epiphany within me. Yet, "Proud Bastards" by E. Michael Helms - a raw-edged, revealing account of life as a Marine, and service in the Vietnam war, took me to the edge of civilization and back again. Mr. Helms' style of personal narrative reveals not only a soldier's courage, fears, and sense of duty; but his own personal courage in facing and recounting his experiences to the reader who is propelled along the tumultuous currents of Helms' fascinating and riveting journey. I laughed with him, cried with him, touched, tasted and smelled the horrors of war, as well as felt the triumphs and loss of camaraderie through his poignant words. Helms' exquisite sense of timing, and his balance of the good times as well as the bad, combine to make his book a masterpiece weaving of complexities, confusions, brutality and horror; his relentless assault on one's senses - all forgiven through the comprehension of humanity's fragility. From this book, I could finally understand the kind of pain that I saw reflected in my own Father's eyes when he thought of his service in Vietnam. "Proud Bastards" will touch the heart of all patriots, and the soul of all humans in its reflections of indomitable will and courage - and the simplicity of a sunrise in the heroic heart of a soldier far from home.



2. One of the best Marine Corp, and Vietnam related books that I have ever read. Really gives a sense of what the Marines and Vietnam were like. I would recommend it to anyone.



3. "The Proud Bastards" is not about war; it's about a man who went to war, a 20th century hero's journey told with gut-wrenching truth. Follow Mike as he leaves his ordinary world, still an idealistic boy. Laugh as he endures often hilarious and grueling days of Marine boot camp. Then follow him on to the dark, frightening culture shock of war-torn Vietnam. It is an odyssey that takes you from boyhood dreams to adulthood's most gruesome reality. Not for males only, it is an insightful look into the soul of a young man as he faces the challenges of battle and brings home the precious elixir--life.



4. Never have I read a more gripping combat account. It's a wild, unfettered
   ride. From the author's numbing, raunchy belittlement at Parris Island
   Marine boot camp to fighting in a faraway country he found "luring, lovely,
   and lethal," Helms pulls no punches. I especially like "Mikey's" biting,
   insightful running dialogue with himself.

   Often as I read a book I will pause and thumb through a few pages to see how
   soon the chapter will end; perhaps because I've lost focus and I'm ready for
   it to end. I never did that while reading "The Proud Bastards" because Mr.
   Helms spared me the bother. He has the blessed knack to know when his
   readers are ready for a chapter to end and he writes accordingly.

   Helms is observant in other ways that made reading this book an adventure.
   Seldom have I read a brutal war story graced with so many coloful
   descriptive passages about the lay of the land: the trees, birds, mountains,
   ocean, stars, and the weather. Such contrasting lends realism that "takes
   the reader there." I think it both sets the stage for and respites the
   gruesome battle scenes to follow.

   I owe E. Michael Helms. He took me to Vietnam, showed me around, then got me
   out of there when he knew it was time for both of us to leave. He is an
   especially gifted writer, which "The Proud Bastards" proves abundantly.

   I highly recommend this book.




5. Helms' powerful writing style gripped me from the first page. A fast-paced, realistic account of what grunts went through during the war. I read the trade paperback version, and this one had the same emotional impact on me. I laughed about some of his experiences in boot camp, felt knotted inside through the Vietnam fighting, and am glad he survived and wrote his story. I've read many books about the Vietnam War, and this is by far the best.

1 comments about The Duke of Alba.

1. A well-researched (and in truth I expected nothing less from this author) biography of the Iron Duke. Kamen does a great job in uncovering the Duke's life, ideas, views on faith, policies, people, behaviour; demonstrates his strengths as a "fabian" tactician and his weaknesses as Governor of the Spanish Netherlands; shows the results of Alba's policies in the Netherlands. Dealing with what the practical man of our times would call "facts and figures", Kamen recreates with great success the political situation in which Alba's ideology is constantly formed throughout his life. In all a must for those who are fascinated by Fernando de Toledo!
   
   As far as style is concerned, this book is an easy and pleasant read, professional and yet not too..."pompous", something the casual reader might find tiring sometimes. The notes are interesting, and limited as much as possible, while at the same time nothing is omitted. Some extra material is also handy (biographical notes on the closest relatives, family tree, etc).
   
   Enjoy!