No comments about ANOTHER DAY IN WHICH TO EXCEL.

5 comments about Renaissance Man of Cannery Row: The Life and Letters of Edward F. Ricketts.

1. Renaissance Man of Cannery Row finally puts flesh on a real person who has been perceived as a caricature for too many years. In this book Edward Ricketts, a father, a marine biologist, a hard-working figure found for two decades along Cannery Row in Monterey in California (shades of Steinbeck?), and the persona found in at least six of Steinbeck's novels and short stories comes to life. Katharine A. Rodger has done a masterful job of editing that allows a wonderful insight into Ricketts personality and philosophies. The letters include Ed's correspondence with such figures as John Steinbeck, Henry Miller, Joseph Campbell and Paul De Kruif.

   The book is a must read for any student of Steinbeck, Cannery Row or the Monterey area and is beautifully done. As professor Richard Astro stated "to know Steinbeck one must know Ricketts." How true.




2. Renaissance Man of Cannery Row finally puts flesh on a real person who has been perceived as a caricature for too many years. In this book Edward Ricketts, a father, a marine biologist, a hard-working figure found for two decades along Cannery Row in Monterey in California (shades of Steinbeck?), and the persona found in at least six of Steinbeck's novels and short stories comes to life. Katharine A. Rodger has done a masterful job of editing that allows a wonderful insight into Ricketts personality and philosophies. The letters include Ed's correspondence with such figures as John Steinbeck, Henry Miller, Joseph Campbell and Paul De Kruif.

   The book is a must read for any student of Steinbeck, Cannery Row or the Monterey area and is beautifully done. As professor Richard Astro stated "to know Steinbeck one must know Ricketts." How true.




3. Ed Ricketts had an important influence on the developing science of marine ecology during the 1930s and 40s. Even if John Steinbeck had never met or written about Ricketts, his work Between Pacific Tides (co-written with the forgotten Jack Calvin) would stand as a significant contribution to biology. But Ricketts also was a close friend of Steinbeck's, and so Ricketts himself (as he appears in the Log from the Sea of Cortez) and the caraciture "Doc" (Cannery Row) overshadow his written accomplishments. For better or worse, Ricketts now is remembered mainly as Steinbeck's friend. Besides reading and thinking about his scientific work, we want to know what it was like to hang around Pacific Biological Labs and drink with Ricketts, listen to music, and talk about big or small things.

   Ricketts was a hard-working and prductive biologist (without a college degree), a struggling small businessman, a father separated from his two daughters and wife, but close to his son, a serial monogomist, a drinker, a reader, a music fan, and by all reports a very appealing guy. Someone who almost anyone would enjoy spending a few hours talking to.

   Ricketts important previously unpublished writings were collected in The Outer Shores (2 vols.), edited and with biographical notes by Joel Hedgepeth. Hedgepeth knew Ricketts and wrote in an entertaining iconoclastic style. It's long out of print and hard to find, but provides greater insight into Ricketts than this collection of letters can. Readers willing to wait should be encouraged from an NPR news report a few months ago that Ricketts son, Ed Jr., is editing a collection of writings which presumably will include much of the same material.

   Ricketts wasn't a great philosopher, but he wrote 3 essays of philosophy that he was proud of. He was interested in music and poetry and felt he knew what characterized really good work. His ideas wouldn't fit into today's postmodern world, where a basketball in an aquarium can pass for art. Fans of Robert Pirsig's Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance might find Ricketts philosophy appealing.

   Katharine Rodger has collected about 100 letters, written to various friends, family members, professional contacts, and John Steinbeck. She also has written a bare bones outline of Ricketts life, with little insight into his thoughts. We can fill these in ourselves from the letters, assembled mainly from Ricketts own papers (he kept carbons of his correspondence). Sadly, they cover only his later career, because his lab and its contents burned down in 1936. There are no letters addressing Ricketts marriage and how he came to spend both his nights and days at the lab instead of home with his family. Further, after Ricketts was killed, Steinbeck went through Ricketts files and destroyed most of their correspondence.

   I found most of the letters here unsurprising. Most of the really revealing letters are the ones to Steinbeck, but there aren't many of them. I wasn't rivited to the book until the last few pages, when Ricketts (near) step-daughter dies, his long-time partner Toni Jackson leaves, and he suddenly takes up with 25 year old Alice. The emotional impact of these changes all within a short time must have been immense, but we get only a hint of it in the last letters to Steinbeck and Jackson.

   A worthwhile read, but it doesn't leave you feeling like you know him any better than you did before. I hope for a more comprehensive biography some day.




4. ...and that's it.
   There is little penetrating biographical detail in the short essay that begins the book, and the failures of action and inconsistencies of thought are shrugged off. Everyone has failings and Ricketts's were substantial; but they are also what make us interesting, and are what often create the context in which greater aspects of character can be realized. There is little critical analysis of Ricketts's thought and work (which is probably not a bad thing), but we are left thinking, "Wow, what a nice clever guy; wish we could have shared a beer." Which is about right.
   The letters are about as engaging as such collections go, and do sort-of flesh out the evolution of the man and his thoughts. But Ricketts was careful, as we all are, about the manner in which he projects and portrays his character. He is at a distance, more often than not, and somewhat armored.
   Not a bad read at all, mind you, and I am grateful the editor has pursued the project. Pull up to a tidepool, have a beer, and do some non-tele(ological) thinkin'.



5. This collection of Ed " Doc " Ricketts letters rates 5 stars if for nothing else the glimpse it gives into a man that is all too rare. For the non-biologist reader considering reading Ricketts book, Between Pacific Tides, The Life and Letters of Edward Ricketts is a good place to start. If any reader is interested in exploring what John Steinbeck called " a mind without horizons", this is a very valuable resource as well. What we find in this collection of letters is really what his friend Steinbeck saw, a man with unlimited understanding of the human condition and a man who still, almost 60 years after his death, has much to teach.

5 comments about Horyo: Memoirs of an American Pow.

1. Richard Gordon and my father shared some of the same experiences, as they were both in the Bataan Death March, were on the same hell ship to Japan and were in the same prison camp together. My father went on to Kanose prison camp in 1944, as Mr. Gordon notes in his book. This book has enabled me in my research on my father, Jack, to understand what he went through. It has given me an even greater appreciation of those men who were prisoners of the Japanese. And for those captured on Bataan and taking the Death March, and those who fought on Corregidor, it only serves to further bring to the forefront, that these men were indeed considered EXPENDABLE by their government. In fact, in all of the hoopla of World War II, what happened on Bataan and Corregidor has all but been forgotten in the annals of history, except for those men and their families who fought there, died there, or were imprisoned. Some came home, most did not. My father notes in his letter home, after release, that of the 120 men in his company (Headquarters) in the 194th Tank Battalion, only 32 were coming home. He notes that that is apparently true with the whole battalion. I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Gordon, and several other men who were in prison with my father. I have been corresponding with others. I have met men who were in the 194th with him. How any of these men survived is a miracle. Mr. Gordon's story, along with those of others, deserves everyone's attention.



2. This is an incredible well written narrative. Major Gordon is a major figure in the Battling Bastards of Bataan. His discussion of the events are well thought and eye opening. The conditions of the POW camps, their senior officers and the reflections of exactly what happened is told in a different light. His youth and early childhood reflect the reasons why a young man would enlist in the military. The deliberate thoughts that would enable a teenager of the 40's vs todays same teen. The respect for government vs 2000 traditional thoughts. The war in general tells much of the 1940's as seen from Major Gordon's eyes.His discussion of the POW conditions, the horror of war. The hostilities and the reasons for the early surrender. Much of what Major Gordon states is much different from the many history books that I have read. The major premise for reading this book is to make Americans aware of this battle and the horrible knowledge that these survivors were left behind. Today the Major is a battling force in helping Americans to remeber Bataan. A war cry of Remember the Alamo, Remeber the Maine, should now be Remember Bataan. We should all salute Major Gordon and his heroic comrades. We should all remember the heroes of Bataan.



3. This heartbreaking book must be read with a half-decent grasp of the truth of American history. Otherwise, Gordon's story becomes trivialised. Out of context, it loses its meaning. Just another war story.

   America is at an historical crossroads. More than ever, this arrogant, over-confident, money-obsessed, chronically ignorant, 'super'power needs to face the nasty FACTS of its own Hollywood-distorted history. Acting on unfathomable ignorance, its media-induced citizens can endorse yet another monumental politico-military blunder. This time, one too many perhaps!

   The bigger they are, the harder they fall!

   Bataan & Corregidor were purely American/MacArthur disasters. A truly hideous episode, swept under the rug. There is nothing to romanticise or commercialise. There is no saving grace, just total & utter disgrace - so Hollywood & the Spielberg's of this world, steer well clear of it; preferring to fantasize that Americans won WWII, when it was really won by the Russians at Stalingrad!, more than anyone.

   O dear, that won't go down well in the Pentagon, will it? Is that the FBI I hear tapping my phone?

   The average American imagines that 'Americans' won the Revolutionary War, led by Geo. Washington. But it was France who financed it and the French navy, more than anyone, that defeated the British monarchists. The American colonists/Congress neither financed nor supported the war in any heroic sense, at all. In fact their neglect of Washington & his tatterdemalion 'army' was a disgrace! From Chesapeake to Corregidor is not such an unimaginable leap in the context of American military history.

   After the disgrace of Bataan & Corregidor (covered up), nevermind the fright of Pearl Harbour (now romanticised), the Americans did wage the Pacific War, and won decisively, only because of the Atomic Bomb, courtesy of scientists fleeing Hitler + a ruthless Truman, who DID grasp American military history as few Presidents have, and quit while he was ahead - ignoring MacArthur! Then came the utter stupidity and failure of Korea.

   Do these people never learn?

   Then the infamous, unforgiveable Vietnam War. A purely American war, with catastrophic results. Kennedy/Johnson/Nixon were all historically clueless. Read McNamara to find out how totally incompetent the American politicians & military were, once again.

   Before outraged Americans follow Messrs Bush, Cheney, Rumfeldt and Powell's yahoo-ing posse too enthusiastically, into yet another ambush, under the banner of a "World-wide War against Terrorism", they would be wise to read up on the history of their own military prowess. We will avert our gaze from the futility of "Desert Storm" which was little more than a bloated fart against the winds of history, as we can now see.

   Vast armies and unlimited weaponry do not a victory make.

   The dwindling percentage of Americans who vote, urgently need to unglue themselves from their TV screens and read up on their real history, which is inglorious to say the least. Major Gordon's story is a pretty decent place to begin their long overdue education. It's an honest tale, rather well told, about an ugly (but far from isolated) chapter in American history.

   America IS blessed with ONE redeeming feature: Energetic, investigative journalism and honest historical researchers, second to none in the world. Major Gordon, and many others, cut from the same cloth, may yet wake up this slothful, over-moneyed, ignorant nation, before it is too late: But only if their stories are taken to heart.

   God bless America indeed!




4. Major Gordon's experiences accurate reflect those of thousands of his fellow prisoners of the Japanese. The nation owes a debt to Major Gordon, not just for his service, but for his willingness the recall the unending horror and write it DOWN!

   Typically, post war records are replete with errors and it is only through thoughtful histories such as Gordon's can the next generation understand what price was paid for the freedom of the world.

   Sadly, today we no longer teach the history of World War II. Ask any crowd of college kids and less than 5% would recognize the names of Bataan and Corregidor. Yet these same students can tell you every detail about the nasty twelve months of the "McCarthy Era" and, from their history text books, the life story of the "Beetles." The "Quislings" remain in control of our colleges and media. No one is ever taught about the Kamikazes of Japan and how the terrorists who attack today are absolutely the same enemy.

   "Horyo" is a worthy addition for any serious student of World War II. Only with books like this, can the public ever understand why Japan owes the world an apology and reparation to its victims. Next to the Japanese, the Nazis appear angelic.




5. I felt this book gave me a better understanding of a critical period in American history. It is not typical of a lot of POW narratives I have read. The author provides an interesting look at pre-war military life in the Philippines. He also looks at questions surrounding the surrender of American and Filipino forces to the Japanese. I found his discriptions of POW life very insightful. They poignantly demonstrate what can happen to military personnel when there is an absence of leadership and discipline.

No comments about Goodbye, Darkness.

5 comments about Servants of the Wind.

1. This book is a novel, but it is written so realistically and so well that you come away feeling that you know the people involved, that they really lived. The story is told in the form of stories being told by an old veteran of the war, by letters written by participants to the people left at home. The writing style is grammatically correct and easy to read but written in a style that makes you think it is as old as the Civil War itself.
   
   It's written from the point of view of Northern soldiers involved in the 'War o th Rebellion.' Growing up in the South we always called it the 'War of Northern Aggression.' Other than that, it's a delightful read. The writing style, the feelings and emotions of the people are so well brought out and so well expressed that you realize that it mattered little to the individual soldier, it was hell on earth.
   
   This book is self-published. In a way that's too bad as it won't get the recognition that it deserves. It will not make the best seller lists. It's unlikely to be made into a movie, but it deserves to be.



2. Even if I weren't from Warren County, PA, this book would still be a fantastic read. Mr. Ferry has done such a beautiful job of bringing the characters to life that, as one of the other reviewers said, you can all but tast the lemonade and smell the hay drying in the field. You can also feel the terror as your comrades next to you are blown to pieces by a cannon ball or feel the relief when you realize that the minie ball only put a hole in your shirt sleeve instead of shattering your arm.
   
   Excellent job, Mr. Ferry!



3. Mr. Ferry has done an excellent job crafting a story around the historical facts gleaned from James Miller's letters and other research he conducted. I really enjoy novels like this - strongly grounded in reality - and I'm sure those who pick up this book will also.
   
   Would love to see it made into a movie...could see the scenes rolling across the screen as I read!



4. There is more depth in Ferry's work about the Civil War than in The Red Badge of Courage. Ferry allows us to see the war from not only the combatants' point of view but also from their families' viewpoint. His description of Gettysburg puts the reader right there. The glimpses we get into the soldiers' lives are revealing. This is a great read. I could not put it down. history books do not present a fraction of what this author gives the reader.



5. One of my nieces sent me a copy of John Ferry's book, Servants of the Wind.
   In it I found numerous recounts of a great uncle,Calvin Blanchard.
   I had spent some time with Uncle Cal and he was a legand and John has
   brought memories back to a impressionable youg teener spending time with this man who had been his own person in a time of great upheavel in our
   nation's history.
   John has shown the affect the Civil War had on people of western Penna.
   Thank you John.

2 comments about The Lonely Leader: Monty, 1944-1945.

1. The enigma of famous and succesfull army leaders is not entirly unveiled in this book. But the combination of Horne, with his majestic, all-compassing style, and Montgommery jr., with his peronal experience, make this book a good try to probe into the man behind the myth. Giving both ample attention to the strategic and factual developments of Montgommery during his last campaign, it is a very readeble book, taking the reader en route with the Tactical HQ system Montgommery devised. It also tries to explain the behaviour of a man known to be both warm adn inspiring to his troops and aloof and arrogant to the rest of the world. A large part of the book deals with the role Montgommery played in Overlord. It is most interesting reading next to the biographies of other Overlord generals. It is certainly not an all out praise to the lonely leader, critical and objective as it is. It gives insight in leadership as it should, and should not be effected.As history seldom can be objective it is a good try.



2. After his famous victory over Rommel at El Alamein in 1942, Montgomery was appointed Chief of Land Forces for the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. The Supreme Allied Commander was General Eisenhower. This book traces that final campaign from it's beginnings in London (January 1944), across the English Channel (June 1944) and the long march north eastwards across France, Belgium and Holland to the climax at Lüneberg Heath in May 1945 where Montgomery received Germany's surrender.
   
   Working in conjunction with Montgomery's only son David, author Alistair Horne brings a fresh approach to what was, for many people, the longest year of all time as the allied forces fought battle after battle on their way to bringing the War in Europe to an end.
   
   David Montgomery's contribution is, as one might expect, the personal side and private papers of his father in a bid to provide the reader with a human face behind the fiercely professional leader of men. Both tactics and politics come into play when the co-authors attempt to discuss Montgomery's personal dealings with his immediate superior - General Eisenhower.
   
   Whilst it is, perhaps, only natural for British readers of this book to side with Montgomery and American readers to favour Eisenhower, my own view is that Montgomery's greatest fault was his inability to accept not being in overall command during this final phase of the War. That, in itself, is a supreme failing in any officer because, at the end of the day, be they a lieutenant or a General - they are all appointed to serve.
   
   It is good to see this vital year from World War Two under the microscope and I am quite certain that avid historians will learn something new.
   
   NM

2 comments about Class of '47: Annapolis America's Best.

1. I suppose that there is no statistical proof, but there are ceratin classes at schools where everything seems to happen. The class of 1915 at West Point is known as the 'Class the Stars Fell On.' Of the 164 graduates, 59 earned at least one star (attained the rank of general), the most of any class in the history of the United States Military Academy. Two reached the second highest rank, Eisenhower and Bradley.
   
   The Class of 1947 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis was another and this book is on some of its most distinguished graduates: Stansfield Turner (Director CIA), William Crowe (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), Jim Stockdale (Medal of Honor), Jimmy Carter (President of the United States, Nobel Peace Price Laureate). In addition there are brief summaries of other members of the class.
   
   The book is a reminder that there is still rom min this country for the old values of duty, honor, country.



2. A quote from Ambassador Vernon Weaver: "It's foolish to ponder whether our class was the best, but I can tell you that as a class, we did all right for ourselves."
   
   While this might not be the understatement of the century - it certainly ranks in the top 100. "Class of `47" by Jack Sheehan, details the lives of but a few of the notables of the members of the United States Naval Academy (Annapolis) of 1947. Former President Jimmy Carter, Admiral William Crowe, former CIA director Stansfield Turner, Medal of Honor Winner James Stockdale and billionaire investment banker Jackson Stephens were all members of this class that "did all right" - and their lives are detailed with great respect in this book by Sheehan.
   
   As I started this book, I was the most interested to read about Jimmy Carter. Though I was too young while he was president to know too much about him - I've since developed a great respect for his intelligence, warmth and desire to correct the disastrous path our country is on. I recently read "Our Endangered Values" by Carter and same like (and agree with) this great man even more. Reading about his life in this book was very interesting...and I was impressed yet again with his sense of humility. While Carter has achieved things in his life that most people don't even dream of, he accepts these honors only as incentives to do more, tools he can use to further the goal of peace.
   
   The chapter on Jimmy Carter ends with a very touching personal note from the author. "As the interview ends, the writer looks around the room for his son J.P., who had been exploring bookshelves and peering out the window at some baby ducks. Not seeing the boy right away, he is concerned that he might have drifted into another part of the building, but then he notices President Carter smiling and nodding towards the back of the room. The boy has taken off his shoes and is sleeping soundly on a long couch...'No matter how hard you campaign, you just can't win every vote,' says Jimmy Carter, with that unmistakable smile that lifted him all the way from Plains, Georgia, to the most powerful position on earth."
   
   As much as I enjoyed that chapter, I was absolutely engrossed in the chapter about Admiral James Stockdale. By the time he agreed to be Ross Perot's running mate in 1992 (and the details on this were fascinating), I was old enough to be paying attention. Seems like I only had a small portion of the story as I watched his debate performance at that time, and as I read about this man's life and all he endured, my face burned with shame for what I had thought (and said). Now that I know more of his story, I am in awe of James Stockdale.
   
   As Sheehan visits the Stockdale home, he writes, "From the outside, this charming abode is not unlike many others lining the street on this tony little island off the San Diego coast. From the inside, well, that's a different story entirely - a riveting story, in fact, of love and pain, of heroism and struggle, of separation and the wedge it creates, of life and near death. The uplifting parts of the story - the love and heroism and life at its loudest pitch - are on display throughout the house."
   
   So many things about Stockdale kept me riveted, but it was his story about surviving seven years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, and his incredible bravery and leadership there, that was the most compelling. Not only does the chapter include harrowing details of what he endured, it also looks at the struggles his wife and children went through at home as his wife and children waited for his return. (The facts that the government did not wish his wife to talk about her missing husband, and refused to give her the help she needed and didn't give the Stockdales the combat pay they deserved sounds eerily familiar.)
   
   One anecdote brought tears to my eyes. "One morning Sybil (Stockdale's wife) was approached by Stan as she was doing the laundry. The little boy took her arm and, staring at her with the clear blue eyes of his father, said, "Mom, I'm so sorry about Dad." With her arms full of sheets and towels, Sybil could only hug her boy and try to comfort him. It was moments like these that she had to call on every fiber of strength she had to keep from crumbling."
   
   The details of what Stockdale endured were, of course, far worse. (Which again, were all the more real as I read them, given current events.) Beatings, bondage, starvation, deprivation...for seven years. "Stockdale came to have nicknames for all the guards. There was Pigeye, Mickey Mouse, Rabbit and Cat, and each exhibited his own individual brand on inhumanity and cruelty."
   
   Torture would be followed by "hours of anguish and guilt that his resolve had weakened." Stockdale was a leader in the camp, using Morse code to communicate with other prisoners, helping them remain strong and not give up, not letting other men feel guilty for yielding under unbearable pain.
   
   Somehow - after an experience like this - this man was able to come home and resume a normal, no exceptional life. Such strength of will leaves me in awe. Part of his Medal of Honor citation reads: "Stockdale...deliberately inflicted a near-mortal wound to his person in order to convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than capitulate. He was subsequently discovered and revived by the North Vietnamese who, convinced of his indomitable spirit, abated in their employment of excessive harassment and torture all the Prisoners of War."
   
   And yet - because of actions (or lack thereof) of others James Stockdale had only hoped to help, here is what most of the country is left with as a memory of this remarkable man. (A quote from his son), "Here was a guy who had dedicated his whole life to high-minded ethical endeavors and suffered brutally and come out with his dignity intact, only to have him caricatured on Saturday Night Live [after the VP debate] as a buffoon."
   
   Again? My face burns with shame.
   
   There are so many amazing stories from these amazing men. That one graduating class at one school (albeit a more than impressive one) produced men of this character and achievement is truly remarkable.
   
   And the quote from Weaver about "doing all right for themselves"? I will simply counter with a quote (though one used out of context) from another alumni of this class, Admiral Bill Crowe (who became the highest ranking military officer in the country).
   
   "That's what you call a classic understatement."

1 comments about Prince John Magruder: His Life and Campaigns.

1. You certainly don't need to read this--his role in the war being minor enough to be mentioned offhand in great works like Shelby Foote's The Civil War--but you should. Magruder was a truely unique individual, and has long deserved a spot on history's shelf all his own. From his days at West Point and his subsequent service in the Mexican war, to his time on the penninsula, where his masterful mind tricks kept the Union at bay, and his banishment to Texas, which would be spared the horrors of Total War thanks to him and Kirby Smith, Magruder would earn a unique place in the grand of history, not only of Texas, but of the United States.
   
   The book itself is a short read, written in a clear, concise style--with plenty of maps (useful when covering the attack on Galveston). Paul Casdorph doesn't judge the man for his flaws, nor does he build him into something he's not; no, his retelling of Magruder's life is unbiased and, refreshingly, non-political.

3 comments about Packs On!: Memoirs of the 10th Mountain Division in World War II (Stackpole Military History Series).

1. In the style of Ernie Pyle, the author relates the experiences of members of the 10th Mountain Division who fought the veteran fighters of the German Army in the mountains of northern Italy during World War II.



2. Author A. B. Feur skillfully puts a collection of personal combat stories together into his book "Packs On! Memoirs of the Mountain Division in WWII". The author is one of the more prolific chroniclers of WWII history and this book may be his best to date. The Foreword is written by Senator Bob Dole and adds a real touch of class to the telling of this unit.
   
   Feur takes us through the unit's campaigns after a well written introduction that gives us insights on the way the unit was put together and how they trained. He then takes us to Alaska and the Kiska Campaign. That campaign turned out to be a fight for an island that the Japanese had already abandoned and left. There were causalities and deaths due to "friendly fire" in the fog and the confusion of the battle that had no opposing forces.
   
   We follow the unit onward to Italy and Europe and into the mountains and snow. The author allows us to see each battle area through the eyes of the different veterans who wrote their memories of the events. This enhances the story telling format and enriches the final over-all story of the unit. The many different and diverse voices make the book entertaining as well as educational. It feels more personal then any straight telling of historic events would have. Feur expertly weaves all these individual stories together and connects them with facts, data, maps and old photos to make this whole book a first class reading experience.
   
   This is book captures the essence of what this unit was all about. The author realizes that strength of this story was to allow the men who were there to tell it--and he does that well! The Military Writer's Society of America gives this book its highest rating of
   FIVE STARS!



3. very good service I received the book within 5 days of ordering it very informative book. This book was about my fathers army war days in Italy and the training in colorado, so many of the stories in the book I had heard form my father. Good history!

No comments about Life and Correspondence of John, Earl of St. Vincent, G. C. B., Admiral of the Fleet, &c. &c. &c: Volume 2.