5 comments about No Greater Sacrifice, No Greater Love: A Son's Journey to Normandy.

1. Military history focuses on battles and campaigns in linear time stopping and starting around the time of the war. WW2 Memoirs cover in greater detail the lives of the particpants usually before and during the war but usually stop there or only give a brief postscript. This work is unusual because the author tells you up front the basic story and then unfolds it from there. The knowledge of Norval Carter's fate looms like a shadow over the story but nevertheless his death and his son's (the co-author)discovery of his father still will bring the tears when you get to those pages. This is a story about the meaning of courage, sacrifice and the meaning of being a father and husband. The story covers the events of the war and the buildup for D-day in enough detail that even someone with no knowledge or interest in military history will enjoy and understand this story. At a slim 199 pages it is a very quick read. I highly recommend this book for anyone.



2. The book is a personal story of a man trying to come to grips with who his family was and what sacrifice really means to those who are left behind to pick-up the pieces of their lives after the father/husband was killed in the 1944 Normandy campaign. Mr. Carter, one of the co-authors of the book and son of CPT Carter, successfully communicates who his father and mother were - whether those stories were done for their childhood days, young adult lives, CPT Cater's military experiences, and the later days leading to his mother's death. The sacrifice of the Carter family was not only the death of the father, but also those who were left behind. Sacrifice and love are threads that hold this story together. This is a very good read.



3. I heard Walter Carter tell this story before he put it on paper and yet, despite that fact, I was riveted by his telling of it again. This slim volume is a wonderful read and a very personal recounting of the sacrifices endured by the sons and daughters of Brokaw's "greatest generation." Read it for the history, for the story and for the lasting impression it will leave with you.



4. I traveled with Walter Ford Carter and the Normandy Allies (www.normandyallies.org) of Rochester, NY to Normandie, France, in Summer 2004. I heard Walter's story of his father's WWII experiences in person and visited the field where his father died near St. Lo. I had read the story of Dr.Carter before this trip and was very touched by the human-ness and how Walter reconstructed his father's and mother's war years through love letters and documents. This is a worthwhile read of a personal WWII history.
   
   Furthermore, my father landed in the 5th Wave on D-Day. He died in 1995 and Walter inspired me to do some digging to fit the pieces together of my father's history with the 5th Engineering Brigade. Baby Boomers with veteran fathers and mothers will gain insight and understand the war years--and the silences kept by our parents over a horrific war.
   
   Read this book. You won't regret it.



5. In the poignant story of his father's service in WWII, the author presents a moving portrayal of the sacrifices made by all soldiers and their families. Through his father's letters home, the author has also provided historical information about the 110th Station Hospital which arrived in England December 1942 as part of the build up in anticipation of D-Day. As a descendant of an Army Nurse who served with Dr. Carter, I find this book to be an absolute treasure, finally shedding some light on her service in WWII. If you have ancestors who served in the war as Army Nurses, doctors or foot soldiers, this is a book you should read. If your ancestors served with the 110th Station Hospital, this is a must read. And since it is only about 200 pages, it is perfect for younger readers, too.

1 comments about Billy Mitchell: The Life, Times and Battles of America's Prophet of Air Power.

1. Billy Mitchell was a real war hero who did more for America than most people realize; and for those historians who are, in fact, aware of his pioneering achievements, they rarely pay him the full amount of credit he earned during his lifetime. After reading this book, one is awestruck by General Mitchell's ability to predict the future, and cannot but wonder why few took him seriously. Had the political leaders done so prior to WWII, thousands of lives subsequently lost in the Pacific would have been spared on both sides.

No comments about A Fierce, Wild Joy: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Edward J. Wood, 48th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Voices Of The Civil War).

No comments about Borderlander: The Life of James Kirker, 1793-1852.

5 comments about Four Years With General Lee.

1. Taylor, as Lee's trusty staff member thoughout the war, is a great reference on Lee. Not all his words are to be taken at face value, however. For example, he had provided himself with a lovely suie with a piano and all he needed, far grander than Lee's abode. When Lee commented that Taylor had himself "finely fixed" there, Taylor responded " It will do." Lee was rightfully astounded, and left, although Taylor does not phrase it this way. Just a warning.



2. Wonderful book describing the massive work and devotion to duty that General Lee adhered to. Written by his A.A.G. A must read for southern patriots.



3. Taylor's approach to covering the history of the Confederate struggle is encouraging to read. Though the title of this book tends to be a bit misleading. It should be called Four years of Confederate history. Taylor tends to describe battle movements and give calculations as to the manpower of divisions, brigades and regiments to a dragging sense. This books I recommend highly for those trying to get an accurate count of soldiers available for each battle, how many were casualties, after battle net amounts,etc.. Rarely are daily affairs of Lee covered. When I read this book I was disappointed to find out that it wasn't a book about General Lee and his daily livelyhood as I wanted to read about. Since Taylor was Lee's secretary I thought who better than to describe Lee's motives, attitudes, triumphs and defeats? Very rarely did Taylor ever mention Lee in this manner. Not enough to capture the man and tell his story. This book is a quick refresh of battles and movements throughout the war of the Army of Northern Virginia which hardly fits being called Four Years With General Lee. Credit is due to Taylor's ability to calculate total manpower and army positions throughout the four years though falls way short in covering Lee.



4. As did Gilbert Moxley Sorrel (Longstreet), staff officer Walter Taylor offers his insights of the War of Southern Independence. Indeed, Taylor has rightful claim to his judgements, as his acquaitance with Lee offered him first-hand knowledge of events. However, I caution future readers that this is NOT a memoir or diary per se - Taylor rarely gives any unique slants to anything, and more often than not, seems occupied with setting the "numbers straight" - many, many, many tables and charts are provided giving the numbers available for this battle and that battle, etc...I suggest this book only for serious students of the war - and more particularly, those wanting "first-hand" data on "numbers." Of final interest, though, is Taylor's disdain for Hiram U. Grant (accurately recognizing Grant as a true butcher - merely throwing big numbers at an under-manned, under-supllied army) and the insertion of a speech given upon the anniversary of Genl Lee's birthday (albeit NOT written, or presented by Taylor himself)



5. A history of the Civil War by Lee's aide Walter Herron Taylor.
   
   This is more a history than a memoir, and I get the impression that Taylor's other book has more personal reminiscence, though I haven't had a chance to see it yet. It clearly has served as a major source for generations of scholars; it describes most of the ANV's actions with a fair amount of detail and also discusses Lee's early campaign in West Virginia. The numerical strengths of the armies are tabulated in detail.
   
   Taylor's hero-worship of Lee is clear in his analyses of events and in the appended anniversary address, which doesn't make this a less useful source but should be taken into account.

5 comments about Into the Mirror: The Life of Master Spy Robert P. Hanssen.

1. Certainly Robert P. Hanssen was a difficult man to understand but the main problem that I have with this book it is impossible to determine whether you are reading real facts or fiction.
   
   After reading the book, I am not sure whether it was the excitement or the money that was the major cause.
   
   Anyway I was hoping for a study of what Robert P. Hanssen gave away. The effect on security etc. There is little of this.



2. The newspaper and television reports of Robert Hanssen -- the FBI agent who spied for the Soviets in a frightening breach of national security -- were fascinating. But this book by Lawrence Schiller is silly.
   
   Schiller has borrowed heavily from Norman Mailer's screenplay. And this is what spoils it. In a screenplay, you have to invent dialogue for the characters, and you can get away with invented dialogue if people know it is based on a true story. But in a book that is supposed to be factual, such as this one, invented dialogue becomes a barrier to credibility if it is used frequently in private situations.
   
   In The Author's Note at the front of the book, readers are told that neither Hanssen nor his wife could be interviewed for the book because of a plea-bargain agreement they made with the Justice Department. So how the blazes can the author give Hanssen's conversations with himself in his bathroom, private conversations with his wife, and even how Hanssen's dog behaved when Hanssen took it for a walk?
   
   Every few pages of this book talk about things that happened in private -- in Hanssen's office, at his home, in the park. Hanssen is quoted in all these places, even though the author wasn't there, and neither was anyone else who was interviewed for the book. I found this distracting and very unbelievable. Even worse was the author's obsession with sex -- even making up details of what Hanssen allegedly thought and did when no one but Hanssen could possibly know these things.
   
   I rated this book as two stars because I didn't find any spelling mistakes or typographical errors. But as for the believability of the dialogue and private incidents, it doesn't even rate one star.



3. Every page of this book is surprising and thought provoking. You gotta' read it. Lawrence Schiller's outstanding and concise writing is greatly aided by his research collaboration with Norman Mailer. They found a theme despite the fact that the deepest motivations of Robert P. Hanssen's behavior while turning himself into the spy who created the greatest breach of security in U.S. history--remain buried within himself. Critics of the movie of this book, cry out for a better peek into Hanssen's psyche, but it is unattainable. The book's theme had to be what it is, describe the observable conflict between Hanssen's psychosexual,religious, and political views, match them to chronological events, then put it all in such a way as to invite readers to pick up from there. I guessed that the doors to the Opus Dei group, to which Hanssen and his family were devoted, were barred to Schiller and Mailer. The most that could be written about it was written. (Opus Dei is also a subject of "Godfather III"). Schiller captures Hanssen's Moscow handlers, themselves conflicted between operating procedure and the collapse of the Soviet Union. The book left me thinking and imagining what Hanssen still keeps a secret, or maybe doesn't understand himself.



4. This is simply not a serious piece of work. It tries to be non-fiction while writing it within the style of fiction.
   
   It reminded me of those books that come out with a film saying "Based on the screenplay of the film."
   
   The Bureau and the Mole by David Vise was far better and revealed the same information.



5. The Robert Hanssen story is extemely bizarre and that's putting it mildly. Two contradictions stand out. First of all he was a religious zealot who dabbled in amateur pornography. Secondly he was a raging anti-Communist who used his position with the FBI to reveal critically important state secrets to the Soviet Union. Whether or not his hyper-religiosity and/or his adolescent attitude toward sex had anything to do with his treasonous acts may never be determined. One comes away from reading Master Spy by David Schiller believing that Hanssen initially betrayed his country for the money and later for the adrenaline rush associated with risking everything.
   
   This book is a "novelization" of Robert Hanssen's life. A number of liberties are taken with the truth. Many of the conversations that take place have been made up to reflect what certain individuals might have said. A number of important events are either given short shrift or omitted completely. Some of the supporting characters are not real people, rather they are composites assembled from actual Hanssen acquaintances. In short, Master Spy or Into the Mirror as the hardcover edition was originally titled is essentially a work of fiction based on the notorious Bob Hanssen case.
   
   When viewed as a reality based work of fiction, this book works reasonably well. The story is an interesting one, that point cannot be argued. The narrative flows relatively smoothly and gives the reader significant insight into the inner lives of Bob and Bonnie Hanssen and to a certain extent that of Bob's long time friend, Jack. It's a compelling tale, competently told. However, because it is a novelization, rather than a meticulously researched case study, Master Spy can only be a starting point for those readers wanting to know the factual underpinnings of this unique and highly disturbing episode in FBI history.
   
   I have only one major bone to pick with this book. Most of the dialogue Schiller puts in the mouths of his characters is not authentic sounding. Too much of it consists of formalized sentences that do not reflect the way people really talk to each other.

5 comments about When I Was a Young Man: A Memoir by Bob Kerrey.

1. Senator Bob Kerrey's memoir, "When I Was a Young Man", was written with a number of purposes in mind. At the time of the book's release, Senator Kerrey was entertaining presidential aspirations and, while Kerrey does not admit to this, "When I Was a Young Man" is another in a long line of political memoirs released to coincide with higher political ambitions. The greater purpose, though, stated by Kerrey and obvious from reading this book, is to bring perspective to the Vietnam War and, in particular, an incident where Kerrey is today being unjustly attacked as a war criminal.
   
   Kerrey was, without a doubt, the accidental soldier and the accidental war hero. All Kerrey wished to do was live a simple life in Nebraska and work towards becoming a pharmacist. The Vietnam War and prospect of being drafted led Kerrey opting, instead to go to Navy Officer Candidate School and accepting an offer to join the Navy Seals. While not truly understanding the purpose of the war or the growing national resentment towards, Kerrey set out to perform his duty to the best of his abilities. This led to the two most significant moments in his life. The first is the one he is being skewered for today. During a mission that turned out to be an abject failure, Kerrey's squad got trapped in a firefight in a Vietnamese village in which numerous women and children were killed. Kerrey doesn't shy away from the burden of responsibility. He fully accepts it, but in reading his description of what happened, it becomes clear to the reader that the actions of modern-day revisionists to group Kerrey with people like Lieutenant William Calley is criminal.
   
   The second significant moment is the one for which Kerrey was awarded the highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor. By Kerrey's own admission, however, he is still not certain why he received it. His actions in another engagement, which cost him part of one leg, may have very well saved the lives of many of his men. Kerrey spends little time talking about the mission, itself. It leaves the reader confused as to what actually happened that got Kerrey the Medal of Honor. I feel that may be intentional because it seems that Kerrey, himself, is confused as to what actually happened that night, too. He does not personally feel worthy of the award, but is persuaded to accept, if only to honor those he served with.
   
   The juxtaposition of war criminal with war hero is both fascinating and telling. Kerrey's own personal saga probably more than anything else encompasses the mess that was the Vietnam War. He is not that callous war criminal that some would make him out to be, nor does he feel that he is a hero that official record claims him as. He is somewhere in between. He is a flawed man who wanted nothing more than to do his duty and serve his country. The horror of this tragic war put in the most unenviable of situations. There is no greater metaphor for what the Vietnam War was than "When I Was a Young Man".



2. This book is slow to begin with as the author gives a personal history of his entire family. But the history is also from an interesting viewpoint. It's not textbook history, but told from a person who was alive when these things happened. I like the authors style of writing because he doesn't want to apologize or try to excuse the things that he did. He explains it as it happened.



3. Vistica's non-ficition book (The Education of Lt Kerrey)details how Navy SEAL Robert Kerrey panicked under pressure and ordered three children' throats to be cut when he had other options. He further discraced the Navy and all special operations men by panicking again and ordering more than 20 women and children murdered--to include a baby too young to walk. He claims the Vietnamese could have warned the enemy--yet--his gunfire was more of a warning than a crying baby. He received a VALOR award for the cold-blooded murders!!!

   Kerrey also was awarded the Medal of Honor that generated from an up-graded Bronze Star for Valor (A mercy award for him loosing his foot during another bloched mission.) He actually claims his team climbed a 350 foot cliff BARED-FOOTED at night!!!
   Also seven highly trained Navy SEALS took on seven SLEEPING VC. (A MOH fight?)

   Kerrey's book is a pathetic attempt at justifying his poor leadership in combat by shifting the blame. He has used his phony MOH to hide behind for thirty-five years. It is time he fessed up to the truth.

   He was the commander and he was responsible.

   Donald E. Zlotnik Major (Ret)
   Special Forces




4. This is the story of Bob Kerrey coming of age.
   
   We get a portrait of what sounds like a pretty typical 1940's and 50's upbringing of a Midwestern boy in a large middle class family. That boy goes off to Vietnam as a Navy Seal and loses part of his leg -- as well as his innocence.
   
   Bob Kerrey's book is about the best I've seen of those biographies done by presidential wannabe's (he arguably was still in play when this was written). By that I mean it is less self serving and more honest (mistakes made, mindsets typical of his time and place held, no claims to have embraced our current societal mores before his time, etc.). Kerrey talks of his mistakes, fears and misdeeds as well as his hopes and dreams. Nothing rocked his world and he was on track to be a faceless part of our country's backbone (town pharmacist in the middle of Nebraska) who you'd never heard of until Vietnam changed him.
   
   His experiences left him critical of his country's leadership and wary of war after he witnessed combat first hand and suffered a debilitating wound during his service in the Mekong River Delta. He came back to the war a better informed citizen (in his portrayal) who had real personal objections to continued involvement in Vietnam (and to his credit didn't lead any wholesale condemnation of his soldier peers like the other Senator named Kerry (no relation and no "e").
   
   The book ends with his discharge from the naval hospital in Philadelphia and also with a postscript on a minor thread of the story. His father had a brother lost in the Philippines during WWII who Kerrey never even knew existed until he accidentally came across a picture of the man. His father, stereotypically reluctant to talk about his war experiences or the pain of his loss, finally asked Kerrey near his death to find out what happened to his brother. This Kerrey did during his first term in the Senate. This forgotten uncle didn't explain Kerrey as much as tie in the tragedy that is war -- even "good" wars like WWII.
   
   This is a very personal story, tightly written in simple and plain sentences. It is an easy read, but also has the feel of honesty because of its lack of varnish as well as adjectives or claimed insights which many politicans doing bios place in their works to relfect on their future potentials as opposed to describing their past experiences.
   
   All in all a quick read that helps explain Bob Kerrey, a former Governor, Senator, current college president who was known as both quirky and thoughtful and independent.



5. Just as Senator Bob Kerry was was cotemplating a run for the presidency back in the '90s, I can recall hearing news reports of his alleged "war atrocities". The eyewitnesses come forward and before you knew it, the story has created enough controversey for Mr. Kerrey to slowly fade from the presidential race. Thus the swift boating begins. Round One goes to the chickenhawk neacons. Fast forward a few years and the same S.O.P is employed to Max Clelland, John McCain, and John Kerry.
   
   Forget about that Bush, Rove, Rummsfeld, Wolfiwitz, Cheney, Phife, Pearl, etc. never served ONE HOUR in a hostile environment. The important thing is what men who were 'in country" did while they were there. I think it's called deflection.
   
   There was a time when fighting for your your country was a noble thing. Now, those who didn't serve during war have no other defense but to smear those who did.
   

2 comments about Snake's Daughter: The Roads in and Out of War (Singular Lives).

1. This is a terrific book, one that works into the memory from a series of photos and a set of fixed memories of a difficult man and a difficult childhood. it's so much more than a tale of dysfunction though. Its the elegant tale of a survivor, of a little girl and a nation.

   This book is not getting the attention it deserves!




2. Without self-pity nor malice Gilberg writes of a challenging childhood with two dysfunctional parents. This is far more than a retelling of this family's painful history; it's a book that encourages any reader to look into the deeper reality of the events in their family's life enabling reconciliation and healing to result. Gilberg's honest sharing, laced with love and respect for her father, left this reader glad to have "met" this
   man. I like him. And it's a book that will bring some understanding and peace regarding our involvement in Vietnam which I also found helpful.

No comments about Six Faces of Courage.

1 comments about An Army in Skirts: The World War II Letters of Frances Debra.

1. An Army in Skirts: The World War II Letters of Frances Debra collects the letters Frances DeBra Brown sent to her family, while she served in the Women's Army Corps in World War II as a draftsman at American headquarters in London and Paris. Chronicling her WW II service from her training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia to her assignment at an army air field in Florida to surviving buzz bomb and V-2 rocket attacks in London and witnessing the devastation of Paris a scant two weeks after the city's liberation, An Army in Skirts is the candid testimony of a woman's perspective - thoughtfully discussing the connections Brown made with individual people and the simple day-to-day matters of survival as well as larger issues of war and peace. Highly recommended.