No comments about The Unconquered Knight: A Chronicle of the Deeds of Don Pero Nio, Count of Buelna (First Person Singular) (First Person Singular).

3 comments about Fighting Fascism in Europe: The World War II Letters of an American Veteran of the Spanish Civil War (World War II--The Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension, 1).

1. This book kept my interest cover to cover. Lawrence Cane is obviously the epitome of a soldier and family man, the essense of the American service man in W.W. 2. From basic training thru the occupation of Germany,he was a man who had not only to fight for his place in the war ,but then to fight the war from the first wave to hit the beach on Normandy,to the liberation of the concentration camps, to time spent in the rebuilding of Germany in Eisleben.



2. this book is sensitively written and full of fascinating details, which bring the history alive.



3. Many years ago, when doing research for my graduate thesis on those heroic Jews who went to fight Hitlerism in Spain, I came across the name of Larry Cane. While I was able to make contact with many vets in the Lincoln Battalion, sad to say, Mr. Cane had passed on before I had a chance to contact him. His obituary told of his valor, and of his idealism, and while he was, yes, a member of the Communist Party USA while in Spain and serving heroically in the United States Army in World War II, Larry Cane had the intellectual honesty to walk away from the horrendous Stalinist sewer once he was aware of its true evil.
   
   His son is to be profusely thanked for releasing this correspondence of a man - yes, a Leftist, but whose Jewish background, perhaps even more so than his CP affiliation, made this man - a decision to fight evil and oppression and believe in the unity of all mankind. Cane writes movingly of the D-Day Battle, of coming across emanciated Jewish concentration camp survivors in Germany, of his pride in America, of being a Jew, and yes, of being a Communist and pride in the Soviet Union as the ally that it was (of course then being unaware of what a murderous fascist Joe Stalin really was). He writes of the common soldiers that he served alongside with, and there is correspondence from some of them that attest to Cane's own bravery in battle. And he writes of his love of his family and of the baby son who now has been able to bring this unique correspondence to publication.
   
   Larry Cane earned the Silver Star and a Battlefield Commission to the rank of Captain in the United States Army for his heroism on the battlefields of France after D-Day, and for his role in helping to smash the Hitlerian evil. A worthy read for all Americans interested in our "Greatest Generation" - and in the unique experiences of those who bravely chose to fight Hitlerism in Spain before the world recognized what was at stake for all mankind.

3 comments about The Bishop of the Old South: The Ministry And Civil War Legacy of Leonidas Polk.

1. In Luke chapter 18, we learn of a rich young man who turned away from following Christ. What would have happened had he followed Jesus? This book gives one possible answer. This is one of the two or three finest books I've ever read, not just Civil War Books. It is the story of Leonidas Polk, the son of a very wealthy North Carolina plantation owner, who was converted to Christianity while at West Point, and entered the Episcopal ministry. While continuing to run a successful plantation, he was a priest, then a missionary Bishop, then presiding Bishop of Louisiana. This book gives a wealth of Church history during the years 1830-1860, including much detail of Polk's founding of the University of the South. Accepting the offer of a commission tendered by his old friend Jefferson Davis, Polk became a Lieutenant General in the Army of Tennessee.
   
   While the book gives more space to the "Bishop" than to the "General", there is plenty of information about Polk's military campaigns. His problems as a General are not glossed over, including less than perfect coordination during the Kentucky campaign of 1862, and his difficulties with General Bragg are well reported. [Bragg could be difficult, and the Bishop was not the only General who held a dim view of him] General Polk was killed at Pine Mountain, GA on June 14, 1864; not long before his death, he baptised Generals Hood and Joe Johnston. This would be a fitting end to a book that is a superb combination of Church and Military history. But, of course, the story of a successful Minister never really ends; numerous Churches consecrated by Bishop Polk are still in service, and the world class University he founded continues to train young people for Christian service. The life and career of Leonidas Polk remains a problem for some. How could a Christian man and Priest own around 500 slaves? He was a man of his time and place, and saw no conflict. On the record, his slaves were as well treated as any in the South. Whether we are discussing Bishop Polk, Thomas Jefferson, or even FDR, it is dangerous to project our values onto a man from a different age. Perhaps not a book for the general reader, but get this one, and read it. You won't be sorry.



2. Dr. Glenn Robins captures the multiple nature of Leonidas Polk's life. He was a man of God, educator and lieutenant general and Corps commander in the Army of Tennessee. This book develops the theological aspect of Polk better than its predecessors by Joseph Parks and Polk's son, William Mecklenberg Polk. Drawing from a rich bibliography, Dr. Robins explains Polk's theology and his impact on the mid-nineteenth century Episcopal Church, clearly and precisely. Unfortunately, for the Civil War reader, Polk was at best a mediocre general,who performed poorly in command of a very important corps in the Army of Tennessee. I have been conducting research on General Polk for an article I hope to get published during the next year. Robins' book has been invaluable in helping to understand this very complex, remarkable man. The Episcopal Church has even had difficulty with the Episcopal school, The University of the South, celebrating the life of a man who owned so many slaves. For those interested in learning more about Polk, I recommend looking at the Leonidas Polk website at www.leonidaspolk.org. This biography is a great read. I highly recommend it.



3. Robins' biography of Leonidas Polk, Episcopal bishop and Confederate general, reveals little about the inner life and personality of its subject. The reader is left wondering about his motives and about Polk's interaction with the most important people in his life: his wife, family and close friends. The book is a general overview of the life of this conflicted figure who has been portrayed both as a traitor to his role as a Christian leader and as some kind of latter-day Christian knight. Still, I was left wondering which he really was.

5 comments about My Father's War.

1. Collins' moving memoir of her battle-scarred father offers readers a window into the lives of vets after the fighting is over, and the battles that emerged on the homefront. It's as much a story of the author's father, Jeremiah Collins--Yale student-turned soldier-turned salesman, as it is the writer's own. With painstaking honesty and powerful imagery, Collins paints a portrait of small town America in the grips of post-World War II boosterism. Some of the pictures aren't pretty, but Collins, a gifted writer, manages to move the reader through those passages and take them to a place of solace and closure.



2. I read this book over a period of three days while nursing my baby; I could not put it down. it rings so true, I could even imagine Jerry's voice singing those old big band tunes and improvising those bedtime stories for "the girls" as he tried to keep his nocturnal memories at bay. He sounds like a true Irishman, that heartbreaking combination of humor and melancholy. For personal reasons too complex to describe, I am very grateful for this book and for its courageous author, who revealed as much of herself as of her haunted father. I will read it many times.



3. At first, I could only read this book in bits at bedtime, but by the time I hit chapter four, I could no longer put it down and finished it in the middle of the night. I wept long and hard. Sadness and overwhelming joy. Ms. Collins - no, Julia - thank you for having the courage to share your story with us and for telling it so even-handedly. I felt like my grandfather, a storyteller whose quiet voice used to gather amazingly large crowds, was telling a tale of that Great Generation, of the tribulations faced not just a war but at home. And I feel sorry for anyone who has not heard this tale of yours and had the chance to share its epiphanies. Thank you again.



4. I picked up this book because I was interested in reading someone else's experience. My father was a Korean war vet and his experiences early in his life certainly changed who he was as a father. Julia Collin's book is inciteful and true to life and anyone who has a parent who has served in combat whether their parent talks about their experiences or not will find it enlightening. Experiencing war is an ugly thing and we all must remember that now and in the future when our veteran's return home to piece their lives together.



5. For the sons and daughters of WW II combat veterans this book is a must read. The author vividly details the pain and suffering many combat veterans' lived with through out their lives, and the effects on their families. In her writing you can see how the sufferings of some of these veterans' struggle with until death; witch was their only relief.
   Ms Collins and I have a few things in common. Both are Grandfathers were close friends. They both were businessmen on Main St in the center of Branford CT, and had sons over seas in the Marine Corps. They spent many hours comforting each other that their sons would survive the way and return home safely to Branford. In fact my family celebrated VJ day at the Collin's home in Pine Orchard.

3 comments about Tales of an American Soldier: From KP to seeing his former Nazi leaders in the dock at Nuremberg.

1. Werner Von Rosenstiel's life started in Germany in 1911. He grew up and became a lawyer and started work in Hitler's judicial system and quickly realized that he was not able to support Hitler's legal policies. He came to America, where he was tried unsuccessfully as an undesirable alien and was able to join the Army. Still suspected of being a spy, he was given the lowest of jobs, until authorites realized that his knowledge of German and German law was an asset to the American forces. Sent back to Germany to fight on the opposite side from his family, he rescued his sister from the Russians, and is later assigned to organize the German evidence used in the Nueurenberg Trials. This stand alone volume describes the war years and the Trials from a different perspective. Mr Von Rosenstiel tells his extraordianary story in an entertaining and perceptive manner. He makes you feel as though you are right there with him, and he is a delightful companion.



2. Dr. Von Rosenstiel's story may seem unbelievable at first blush, but it is indeed one of the most fascinating stories I've heard from the WWII era. In fact, Von Rosenstiel's captivating story begins well before the outbreak of world war, and even before Hitler's rise to power in 1933. I have had the honor of hearing Dr. Von Rosenstiel speak of his life story on several occasions and can say that the book is just as authentic as the man.



3. It seems that the author was extremely successful during Hitler's reign. Only active members of the party or enthusiastic "fellow travelers," as they were called after WW.II. would have been sent abroad and given the advantages related in the book. Does the author or any of his readers realize how much harm was done to Germany and all of the world, one may say , by the opportunistic support given to Hitler by German intellectuals? The author was one of them. He certainly was not a member of any resistance group(die weisse Rose, Kreisauer Kreis, die bekennende Kirche). After the USA had defeated Germany, it was easy to see to it that prominent Nazis and their generals would be hanged.

2 comments about Dear Sarah: Letters Home from a Soldier of the Iron Brigade.

1. There are several published books of letters and diaries written by American Civil War (ACW) soldiers --from both sides of the conflict.

   Enriching our understanding of the human heart in impossible circumstances is "Dear Sarah: Letters Home from a Soldier of the Iron Brigade," edited with loving care by the soldier's descendant Coralou Peel Lassen.

   In my opinion it goes without saying that this recent contribution is refreshing, of great value to not only the modern reader but to posterity, too, to those who want to know more about the men --and women; the real human beings, who lived through and endured the American Civil War. This volume also illuminates the nature of not only the American Civil War but all war.

   The Iron Brigade Soldier who wrote to Sarah was a young Union soldier named John Henry Pardington. The intense personal nature of his letters, what he writes about and how, is more than touching. The letters left by John Pardington offer a glimpse into the mind and soul of a man in the midst of a terrible situation and how he copes with it, how it defines him, shapes him, and how he continues to triumph over adversity.

   After reading several pages I already felt like I was becoming familiar with the people "back home" that this soldier wrote about 140 years ago. I began to feel the pain of his separation from his wife and daughter, the pain of every aching joint and privation he endured. The more I opened up to John Pardington and the realities of his life at war, the more psychologically invested I became --and the more I read. Knowing the inevitable outcome made some letters particularly poignant. And painful. Often, I found the book emotionally overwhelming and put it down, reflecting. Sometimes I re-read passages with a fresh insight --from John's point of view. It isn't too much to say the book is, at turns and by its nature, not only a body blow but also eye-opening. Reading firsthand accounts of how soldiers of the Iron Brigade's 24th Michigan Infantry lived and died day by day in 1862-63 can leave one feeling "beat" inside, symptomatic of the tremendous impact the reality of John Pardington's life.

   I think Ms. Lassen has really done an excellent job editing John's letters. One would think any student of history (or humanity) would want to read this book because John's words are universal. He was a Union soldier of the American Civil War, but his triumphs and failures, needs and wants, yearnings and hopes, etc., are an insight into the psyche of men away at war of all times. Her triumph is bringing John's words to the modern reader and to posterity. If one wanted to know how a soldier might be feeling or what he/she might be thinking, from Marathon to the Persian Gulf, one can find the essence of the human spirit, a soldier's dilemma, distilled and evolving in the letters of John Pardington.

   John Pardington's human face on a large historical event; his evident love and longing; his deeply human and often tender observations made me again wonder why there must be conflict, wars that kill far too many John Pardingtons and leave the world a poorer place. Is there such a thing as a tragic triumph? If so, John Pardington's triumph in expressing himself, in his very being, is all the more tragic because of his death at Gettysburg. He probably never imagined his words would one-day reach out across the years to so many people. He would probably be surprised. Rather than flustered or embarrassed to have his innermost thoughts laid bare, I like to think he would ultimately see how his own life matters today, and always.

   Ms. Lassen has helped John Pardington speak after all these years and still we hear him. And will hear him.




2. This is a collection of the Civil War letters written by John Pardington to his wife Sarah. Pardington, from Michigan, was a member of the Iron Brigade, having enlisted in the summer of 1862. From camp life in and around Washingon to the Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Paddington faithfully writes his wife with particulars about army routines, concerns for staying healthy, and the misery of being so far away from her and their baby. He is rarely concerned with giving details about military maneuvers, his opinions about his officers, or with battle incidentals. He's a sensitive man and never fails to express his love for his family and the amount he misses them. He misses them so much that on a few occasions he thinks out loud to Sarah about deserting, but couldn't bare the disgrace. He worries about money and gives Sarah advice over the miles; he also warns her about friends and family members about whom he has questionable opinions. After Chancellorsville, his unit marches to Gettysburg, where the letters will suddenly end; Paddington was killed there on the first day of the battle. In one of his last letters he derides the activities of the Copperheads: "they seem bound for peace if it sacrifices the Union. It seems poor encouragement for us." (This has a haunting 2006 ring to it.) I found Pardington's patriotism admirable, though probably it was typical. The letters, which are unpolished and simple, are nevertheless heartfelt and compelling. Although not filled with the kind of information the historian might be interested in, they add a very human touch to a cause and conflict Pardington fought bravely for, and for which he finally gave his life.

No comments about Recollections Of A Maryland Confederate Soldier And Staff Officer Under Johnston, Jackson And Lee.

4 comments about PAPPY GUNN.

1. If there is a single outstanding American hero of World War II (and perhaps in all of American history) it is Colonel Paul Irvin "Pappy" Gunn.A former US enlisted naval aviator, Gunn had retired from the Navy and was living in the Philippines with his wife and four children when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and invaded the Philippines. As the owner of a small air taxi operation, Gunn and his airplanes were impressed into the United States Army Air Corps immediately after the outbreak of war. On Christmas Eve, 1941 Gunn was ordered to fly a load of Far East Air Force staff officers to Australia and to stay there awaiting further orders. His family - including the author - remained in Manila and were interned by the Japanese for the duration, leading Gunn to fight his own private war. And fight he did! Historian and author Walter Edmond stated that no other single invidual did as much to defeat the Japanese as did Gunn, who is best known for his conversion of the Douglas A-20 and North American B-25 into powerful gunships that did a number on a Japanese convoy in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. But he did a lot more, especially in those dark days of early 1942. It's not widely known, but Gunn flew several missions from Australia to Bataan by way of Mindanao in his role as the commander of the newly organized Air Transport Command. During the Java Campaign he took a war-weary B-17 that had been turned over to his transport squadron and used it to attack Japanese ships in the Java Sea. In March 1942 he literally stole two dozen B-25s from the Netherlands East Indies Air Force, then flew one of ten on the Royce Raid into the Philippines a few weeks later.
   
   Pappy Gunn is the the famous aviators story in the words of his son Nat, who grew up in the Japanese internment camp at Santo Thomas Prison, then lived with his dad in the Philippines after the war and until his untimely death in 1957. Nat has done an outstanding job of telling not only his father's story, but also that of his mother, brother and two sisters as they waited helplessly in the Philippines for their father and husband to return for them. Instead of their father, it was no less a figure than General Douglas McAthur who came to the gates of Santo Thomas University to put them on a C-47 for the flight to Australia, where Pappy Gunn had been evacuated a few months before after recieving a serious wound from a Japanese white phosphorus bomb. This book should be read by every American! It's the story of a real hero, not a media or politically generated one.
   
   Sam McGowan, Author - The Cave, A Novel of the Vietnam War



2. This is a singularly unique book that tells a true life, historical account of one of the greatest heros of "The Great War." With stunning photographs, and with every fact offered supported by actual photocopies of historical documents proving each assertion, and written with skill and heart as only his son Nathaniel Gunn could, this is a "must read" for anyone interested in the "Greatest Generation," in WWII lore, etc. In our current existential angst about what constitutes a righteous and reasonable occasion for war, this is a book that will make the most liberal anti-war wonk thank his/her lucky stars that in a time long past there were those who had the courage to stand up and fight for all that we have come to hold so dear. You won't be able to put this book down, I promise you! So put on a pot of coffee, curl up in your most comfortable easy chair, and be prepared to bear witness to one of the most incredible true stories of courage, love, and patriotism that you will ever read.



3. This book is a great read, and would have made great fiction, but it is based on real life. Pappy Gunn's life was incredible and how he dealt with adversity should be a model for current Americans. America is what it is because it creates people like Pappy Gunn, who rise to crises and overcome overwhelming odds to persevere, through hard work, innovation, skill and risk-taking. I couldn't put this book down once I started reading it. What was accomplished with severely limited resources, and the American can do attitude in the Southwest Pacific by Pappy Gunn and his contemporaries was incredible, and was skillfully expressed in this book. I highly recommend it.



4. After having read numerous books on the 5th Air Force operations in the Southwest Pacific (SWP) theatre during WWII, that made constant reference to Pappy Gunn and his contribution to the success of the operations, it was great to finally obtain an in depth look at the man. The book provides a wealth of information on the ability of Pappy Gunn to get what was needed to accomplish his goals of not only modifying B-25s and A-20s into strafers and capable of longer range, but to show that his dedication to his captive family was his motivation. This is not just a war story, but an in depth story of a very significant character in the overall picture of the war in the SWP.
   
   The shortfall in this book is the poor reproduction of the photos and the letters. The letters were especially hard to read and as a result, significant information that could have added depth to the story was lost.

No comments about Flight From Reality: Rudolf Hess and his Mission to Scotland 1941.

No comments about The Life of Nelson, the Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain: Volume 1.