No comments about Indestructible: The Unforgettable Story of a Marine Hero at the Battle of Iwo Jima.

3 comments about Invitation to Biology.

1. I'm a student in a medical school and I'm still using this book whenever I need good quality pictures of anything from microscobic views of miosis to relatively simpler and understandable illustrations and tables.



2. As a volunteer science reader for Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, I have probably read 20 beginning Biology texts cover to cover in the past 10 years. This one is by far my favorite. It is extremely well-written, has amazing illustrations, and is one of the few introductory texts that treats plant biology as more than a footnote to the biology of animals.
   The book never talks down to the reader and is engaging enough that even volunteeers with no interest or background in science looked forward to working with it and on more than one occassion I had to stop recording because my monitor wanted to ask quetions about the current subject.



3. I have no prior background in Biology except for some dabblings at High School, so this book was definitely informative.
   
   The text is simple for the non-biologist to follow, good diagrams, and easy explanations.
   
   It still needs more work, because many ideas put forth could have been put in very concise words.

5 comments about No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War (Bluejacket Books).

1. It was not mentioned in the book, that Mr. Onada was forgiven for 29 Filipino deaths caused by him. It is difficult for me to beleve he could have been so naive and ignorant.



2. I can't believe that this monster still generates interest and fascination to this day. What Onoda doesn't include in his writings but which has been revealed in personal stories and interviews is that as early as 1950 he was fully aware that the war was over but loved killing too much. He has revealed that since the war was over civilians would be less wary and would become easy targets. And indeed, they were. He would sneak into a village at night and cut the throats of sleeping children.
   
   He also would take pot shots of mothers hanging their clothes on clothes lines or feeding their chickens.
   
   He calls himself the ultimate soldier and yet he killed the defenseless over and over. And when he finally tired of having to kill his own food (more often than not he would steal it from the mouths of needy children) he went home to a hero's applause. Why Japan would accept him and laud his "heroic" efforts instead of turning him over to Phillipine authorities as a not only a war criminal but more accurately a serial killer is simply unexplainable.
   
   This clearly demonstrates Japan's unwillingness to accept their responsibility for atrocities during the war, WHICH THEY STARTED with the Rape of Nanking in 1931 in which unborn children were ripped from the wombs of their mothers by the "bold and brave" soldiers of Japan. It is no wonder then that an inhuman cowardly monster like Hiroo Onoda would be the poster child of heroism for the Japanese.
   
   We must wonder why we think such an individual merits such attention.



3. I just finished reading "NO SURRENDER; My Thirty Year War" by, Hiroo Onoda.
   An amazing story to say the least, and...a true one! Here is a real story that would shame any of modern televisions' "Lost" series.
   
   Onoda is a Japanese soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army that is sent to the island of Lubang (in the Philippines), to conduct jungle warfare against the American and allied forces in 1944. The main elements of the Japanese army are retreating, as Onoda and others are left behind to continue the fight until..."Japan returns". Onoda remains on Lubang with a few others to continue "the cause" not 5 years, or 10, or even 20 but...thirty years! Onoda finally turns over his sword in 1974! Here is the real story of the "last Samurai."
   
   I was in Subic Bay in 1968 as part of the naval forces that were stationed in Viet Nam. Just a few miles away from where I stood, Hiroo Onoda was still fighting "my father's war" under the flag of the Rising Sun!
   
   Despite his heroic efforts and on-going pledge to duty, I find it impossible to believe that Onoda did not know the war had actually ended. During his tenure on the island he would have noticed the on-going changes of technology, and...as early as 1965 he and his small group came into possession of a transister short-wave radio. Onoda and the others listened extensively to radio Peking, radio Japan, and even the BBC. Like most people who live their life as a "mission," anything can be justified. In fact, Onoda latter concedes to this very point.
   
   I only wish this book contained an updated section to reveal what ever happened to Onoda after he returned to Japan. I wonder if, Onoda finally died or, if like all old soldiers... "just faded away."
   
   History buffs or, serious military historians should have at least one copy of this book on their shelf.



4. I had an opportunity to visit Corregidor Island (Philippines)a few months ago and got quite interested in the history of WWII.
   
   When I found out that the last Japanese soldier didn't surrender for nearly 30-years after the war was over I couldn't believe it. Then I found out that he had written a book about his life and specifically his time as a soldier.
   
   A very interesting read. This may be hard to believe, but it explains why he never gave up during those 29+ years on Lubang Island. Gave the book to a friend of mine and they enjoyed it as well.



5. An interesting look at one mans war. This book tells of its authors survival and his thoughts as he lived in the jungle, and fought a war that had ended 30 years ago. He explains why he didn't believe that the war had ended, and how he survived, and evaded capture for so long.

1 comments about The Man-Eaters Of Tsavo And Other East African Adventures.

1. I purchased this book after watching the movie "The Ghost and the Darkness". The book was very interesting and the movie included more truths than I had thought. It was well worth the read.

4 comments about The Face Of The Third Reich: Portraits Of The Nazi Leadership.

1. Fest provides the reader with a well-written summary of the high-ranking and crucial members of Nazi Germany. This book is a good background for the general reader on the Third Reich and is an essential first-step in any investigation into the period.



2. This book was poorly translated and even in the original German, Fest is a heavy writer, turgid and hardly scintillating. This compilation is laden with errors, some major, some not, but the ultimate effect compromises the integrity of this book. It's absurd, for example, to make the statement that Hermann Goering's Nuremberg defense was anything but brilliant. One can loathe what Goering stood for and decry Nazism and its atrocities, but to deny that Goering stole the show at Nuremberg is historically inaccurate.

   There are many better summations of the Nazi leadership than here. This is as dry as timber and about as edifying.




3. What you get in this book is pretty much what the title promises you. The author (J.Fest) plunges into a psycho-social analysis of the Nazi elite and attempts (succesufully) to shed some light on the people who moved the strings of Nazism in Germany.
   Admittedly, the author's heavy writting style will turn off a certain group of viewers. While his intentions on decoding the personas that played key roles of Nazism are honest and straightforward, the atmosphere of the book is rather characterised by abusing descriptions and verbal exagerations.
   Short biographies and psychological profiles are on offer here: Hitler, Goering, Hoess, Himmler, Hess, Ribbentrop, to name but a few.
   However, you'd be mistaken (in my view anyway) to assume that this book will help you understand what brought this fascistic movement to power. Before even deciding whether you should read this or not, start by reading "The rise and fall of the third Reich" or other books pertaining on fascism and the masses. What is absent here are the german people themselves. Fascism does not rise because of a few psychotic personalities , and, as was proven in Germany's example, it very often complicits the people themselves to grab the power mechanisms.
   But, if you are interested in blitz-biographies, and short "explanations" then the "Face of the third reich" will be a good choice. Then again, when it comes to the major players of Nazism there are far better individual biographies and character accounts out there (one of them by the author himself on Hitler).



4. Oversimplified and relentlessly negative. Filled with sweeping negative generalizations that ignore abundant evidence of positive characteristics of the Third Reich personalities. The caricatures painted of the key figures in the Third Reich are laughably unrealistic. As a serious history reference, this is a terrible book. It is so bad that it's actually worth reading: its sheer awfulness makes it a great example of how NOT to write a serious non-fiction book.

5 comments about Roger Ball!: The Odyssey of John Monroe "Hawk" Smith Navy Fighter Pilot.

1. ROGER BALL! The Odyssey of John Monroe "Hawk" Smith, Navy Fighter Pilot by Donald E. Auten (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2006)
   
   Reviewed by Captain Timothy E. "Spike" Prendergast, U.S. Navy (Retired)
   
   When I assumed command of a fighter squadron in 1989, part of my brief remarks was a promise to try and lead as I had been taught by three of my former COs. One of those was Monroe "Hawk" Smith, under whose command I had learned the truest meaning of the dictum "If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right!"
   
   Don Auten's highly readable biography of "Hawk" is a most welcome and much needed addition to the personal "fighter pilot library" of anyone who served at Miramar in the 70's and 80's, ever flew the Tomcat, attended TOPGUN, or served with Hawk or under his command. Filled with the names of Miramar and Navy fighter "greats" known to us all, like Jack Ready, "Hoser" Satrapa, "Bad Fred" Lewis, "Cobra" Ruliffson, "Thunder Bud" Taylor, "Boomer" Wilson, and many others, just reading it took me back to the Fightertown flight line, the LSO platform, the TACTS trailer and the "WOXOF" bar at the Miramar O'Club.
   
   ROGER BALL details Hawk's many personal--and unique--contributions to the fleet introduction of the F-14 Tomcat, including OT&E, carrier suitability and first fleet CQ, and the initial thrills (and the initial disappointments...thump...bang!) of this now-legendary fighter aircraft. The story of his many key assignments at VX-4, as CAG LSO with the first F-14-equipped airwing, and during the AIMVAL/ACEVAL projects "fill in the details" of the early critical days of the aircraft and the community that would form around it. If others can lay just claim to being "the father of the Tomcat", Hawk surely can lay just claim to being one of the many "midwives" who made the birth and early formative years so successful.
   
   Similarly, as almost a follow-on to Scream of Eagles: The Creation of TOPGUN and the U.S. Air Victory in Vietnam (Robert K. Wilcox, New York, NY, John Wiley & Sons, 1990), Hawk's time as first the XO, then the CO of the Navy Fighter Weapons School at Miramar, is a rich tale of "the best of times and the worst of times" at Fightertown USA. Those of us who were there will never forget.
   
   For those many of us who served under Hawk's fleet command in the VF-213 "Black Lions", however, the book cries out for a sequel, as those years are relegated to almost footnote status. That critical tour, and all that it contained--firmly etched in our collective memories as almost nothing else--and Hawk's post-command and Major command assignments are all "rolled up" in only the last four pages of the book. We all eagerly await the much-needed second volume.
   
   ROGER BALL is unquestionably the "book of the 2006 summer" for those of us who never tire of reading about the Naval aviation greats who created a community, became a legend, and who molded us, for better or worse, in their own image. For my part, I can only hope that my own efforts during my times in command did "Hawk" the honor that was intended.



2. What a great way to tell the story of carrier avaition, than by telling the story about the life of one pilot who excelled in a Navy flight career. Hawk embodies Naval Aviation. This book tells the whole story with the thrills, risks, and not so good features. It tells great fighter stories, about harrowing carrier missions, about a good officer leading and caring for his men, about the many sacrifices of sailors and families during long separation and about some not so good officers in command who drive good people from a Naval career with their poor leadership. Super book!!!



3. The story of Monroe "Hawk" Smith, wonderfully told by Donald Auten, is a classic tale of challenge, disappointment, and triumph, set against the action packed backdrop of carrier aviation.
   For one who had the great pleasure and privilege of serving with Hawk, it is particularly gratifying to hear his voice, intonation, enthusiasm and humor captured so well. You are there as he coaxes an F-14 Tomcat pilot into a successful crash landing aboard the carrier Enterprise. He takes you into the air as he duels some of the world's best pilots during the development of transitional weapon systems and tactics. Roger Ball captures the heart-pounding sweaty-palmed episodes and the resulting exhilaration of having "cheated death one more time" that all tailhook aviators have experienced. But this story is more than one of "turning and burning"; it is one of inspirational leadership, career changing confrontations, and ultimately one of love of family and country. It is the story of a man who literally and figuratively kept his eye on the ball throughout his career - with an unwavering pursuit of excellence and a twinkle in his steely eyes.
   
   Naval aviation is the better for all of Hawk's efforts. We who served with him and those who read his story are better for knowing such a unique man.
   
   Captain Rick Hauck, USN (Ret.)



4. Roger Ball is an interesting read, and brought back some memories of similar frustrations with inept or out of touch senior officers. I enjoyed reading the book and agree with the other reviewers that it is an excellent story about carrier aviation and the fighter community in particular. I can recall having the same frustrations with the de-emphasis and, in some cases, the outright ban on ACM. No one paid any attention to the ban, but we didn't receive any formal training either.
   
   I simply could not understand how a theoretical and untested defensive maneuver for which we were were not trained and did not practice would have been much use if I had been jumped by a MIG over North Vietnam in 1965 or 1966. A run in with a solo Vautour on a MED cruise in 1967 during an exercise with the French brought home to me as it did to Hawk that we had some very serious holes in our training.
   
   Auten's book is the best documentation that I have read about the changes that Vietnam War wrought upon the military. After years of lip service, innovative officers like Hawk and real world training programs like TOPGUN finally made "train like you fight and fight like you train" a reality in all front line unit tactical training for all of the military services.
   
   I was a bit disappointed with the book from time to time because it suffers from some factual errors, weak writing, and poor organization. There is no Lava Wharf in Subic Bay. There is, however, an Alava Pier on the Subic side and a Leyte Wharf on the Cubi Pt. side. While I do not believe that this book contains any intentional errors or distortions, little errors such as this can cause a knowledgeable reader a bit of pause in regards to the accuracy of a non-fiction book.
   
   In regards to the exposition, there are several places in the book that could be improved. For example:
   
   * Information is repeated unnecessarily in the space of just a few paragraphs.
   
   * The reader is assumed to know facts that are critical to understanding the narrative and/or appreciating its gravity, intensity, humor, etc.
   
   * Transitions between various topics are not as smooth as they could be.
   
   None of these detract from the book's relevance, its worth as a witness to a particular period of naval aviation, or reduce its value as the documentation and celebration of the capabilities, achievements, and contributions of a highly respected and dedicated officer who repeatedly demonstrated great ingenuity and personal integrity throughout his career. Nevertheless, a rewrite of the troublesome portions and/or a very sharp editor's pencil in those spots would not only make the book really sparkle but also make it more accessible and appealing to a wider audience than those with an narrow aviation or naval interest.
   
   The ending of the book also left me disappointed. If Hawk was the best CO in the wing, I wanted to know why in the world he was not selected for one or more bonus operational commands such as command of an air wing. Clearly he had been what was known as a "water walker" his entire career, but the book offered no explanation why his last flight was as the CO of an F-14 squadron. Additionally, Hawk's years as a senior CDR and CAPT were dismissed with a few paragraphs.



5. Full disclosure reveals that I have read and submit this review of Roger Ball! as a non-aviator and a civilian who has no military service history. My perspective is outside the box of subject familiarity, but inside the envelope of passionate interest in naval aviation over many decades. I lived and worked in Peru and South Africa for a number of years at NASA-funded satellite tracking facilities. During those years I began a project to build a large model of USS Enterprise CVAN-65. The model and eighty-five embarked aircraft ended up at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, donated and set-up in 1982 (and maintained continuously thereafter) by me. I was a one-man show engaged in the complexity of a modern aircraft carrier. It's been done, but not by many.
   
   It was John Monroe Smith and Capt. C.C. Smith Jr. who gave me my first look during a full week visit in late February 1975 aboard Enterprise during the turbulent cruise which endured the 'thump-bang' mystery of F-14 engine breakup, and the heartbreaking loss of South Vietnam in April 1975. It was Hawk who escorted me to the LSO platform for the view of a lifetime. It was Hawk who engaged in small talk with a non-flier. It was Hawk who responded in 1980 after I saw him on ABC's 20/20 discussing the Black Lions and the continuing challenges of coaxing the F-14 to become the best it was designed to be. It was Hawk who compelled me to join Tailhook Association, of which I've been an associate member for nearly 28 years. And, it was Hawk who just recently recalled who I was after our first meeting in the South China Sea in 1975, 32 years later.
   
   I have a concept of heroism. A hero is one who has everything to lose, everyone to expose the pain of his loss, and yet goes about a dangerous profession, year in and year out, STICKS to his mission in the face of possible and sudden evisceration, held by a thread to life by skill, cunning, luck and dedication. That's a hero. Not the rock star, nor a politician, rarely a multi-billionaire. Heros are found within the level and vertical battlefields of wars mostly, and also among those with the dedication to improve the humanity of man in places where hostility lurks; in countries, boardrooms, firehouses, anywhere that character is essential and practiced, and bold actions are taken selflessly, persistently, at great personal risk.
   
   The world might have lost Hawk on many occasions, and we would have to subtract from our experiences all that he contributed during his fortunate long career and great influence as expressed by so many. Donald Auten faced the same level of risk across his own thousands of hours of Navy flying. We would lose the gripping story herein told had he not had the full benefit of a life longer lived.
   
   I enjoyed every line, every encapsulated story, the sum of which was a fabric of adventure and an honorable life well lived managing the incredible machinery, the fickle nature of human relations within the ranks, the meddling politicians -both the effective and the intrusive - with sticky noses, the humorous and the humorless, the endurance of Miss Jenny, all put together in a tale of high adventure and much about a very important survival component of our national security.
   
   >I dare not critique specifics about navy flying, for after all, my aviation experience is limited to taking the stick of my brother's 85 hp Luscombe over the eastern Colorado range and some of the mountain terrain - with my pilot-brother alongside. And yes, perhaps I know a little bit about airplanes and ships. Just permit me to say that this non-flier knows as well as he can the story herein told, even without the Wings of Gold proudly worn by those who know the story all too well.
   
   Well done, Duck. Well done, Hawk. It is an honor bestowed on me to be given a chance to see the little I've seen, and read as richly as experienced by those who have seen much. Thank you, gentlemen, all.
   
   And PS: You need a sequel, we want to read more. I know the material is there!
   
   Steve Henninger
   Tailhook Member #4875

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

1. Must be read to be believed i havent given this book 5 stars for nothing it is one of my most cherised books i how indebted i am to the man who saved our dear country poland may his soul rest in peace it brings tears to eyes just thinking after all he sacrificed and fought for to have what he loved most then taken away in his later years
   i have borrowed this book to a few friends of different nationalities and they all have found it equally inspiring its simply A MUST READ especially if your polish
   most people dont even know what goes on around them
   many blessings to all who read this



2. "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.



3. 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.



4. 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.



5. "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.

5 comments about My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope.

1. This is a very comprehensive account of Paul Bremer's time in Iraq, and for almost the first time gives a real insight into the political in fighting both in Iraq and in Washington as the US attempts to bring democracy to this nation. He has been unfairly treated in other books on Iraq and this tends to set the record straight. I very good read for those who are seriously interested in the Iraq situation.



2. I think that this is one of the important books of the Iraq war. Bremer is perhaps the most important figure of the most important part of it, namely, the attempted reconstruction of the country. This book describes his efforts toward that end, and attempts to justify his decisions.
   
   Unfortunately, the effort is a disaster. Bremer really didn't have much experience with this kind of work, and it appears clear from the beginning that right-wing ideology was the driving factor in his decision making -- and most of these decisions suffered for that. For instance, Bremer refused to re-open the state-run businesses, because he thought the private sector should run all business -- this immediately threw tens of thousands of people out of work. Similarly, the draconian de-Baathification forced almost all qualified managers from their jobs. Bremer also, and I think unforgivably, doesn't spend any time comparing this attempted rebuilding to the very successful post WW II efforts. In particular, the de-Baathification seems to have been based on the de-Nazification in Germany, without really looking too closely at what might be different between Iraq and Germany.
   
   Still, it's an interesting book, and a point of view that should be a part of any study of the war. The book could well have been 10 times as long, and it would be interesting to see what parts were edited out. I share others recommendations of "Imperial Life in the Emerald City" as a great companion book.



3. I took great care to read this book slowly. See my list on Iraq Evaluations.
   
   Bremer is clearly a decent man, hard-working, totally clueless about Middle Eastern and military affairs, and put in a no-win situation by George Bush and Dick Cheney. Bremer bugged out after a year, and now, two years later, the Administration we have a quagmire and a possible attack on Iran building up.
   
   Quite incredulously, for me at least, Bremer actually sees Iraq as the crux of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and yet is totally oblivious to the fact that we created this battlefield opportunity for Iran and Al-Qaeda. See At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA
   
   Early on the book makes it clear that Iraqis were delighted to be liberated, dismayed at the occupation, and completely unable to agree among themselves about how to achieve a legitimate government capable of stabilizing and reconstructing the country.
   
   This is a very self-serving book, extraordinarily selective in its recollections. A few things that really struck me:
   
   1) This book starts without reference to the path to war paved by lies from the Vice President and other members of the Bush "team." It begins by saying that it was "widely accepted" that Weapons of Mass Destruction were the proper cause of the invasion. BALONEY. See instead Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq and Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy
   
   2) There is ZERO discussion in this book of the massive role played by Halliburton, Bechtel, and others. There is ZERO discussion of the 18 billion dollars he had to work with and managed to lose, completely apart from the contracting. There is ample discussion about the pretense of progress, but ZERO discussion about the thousands of contracting failures, the abysmal failure of the entire reconstruction effort. See Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, Squandered Victory: The American Occupation And the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq and a host of other books on our failures there, such as Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq
   
   3) There is a lot of blame to direct elsewhere, clearly justified but not at all making up for the fact that Bush-Cheney lied to America and the world and created this mess:
   
   a) Chalabi was a constant irritant, obstruction, and general twit. This is the man who was fired by CIA for being a thief and a liar, convicted in Jordan of bank fraud, and still allowed by the US to be very active in Iraq.
   
   b) Wolfowitz's rosy predictions are labeled as "fantasy," and the author on more than one occasion talks about Doug Feith in a manner that is the diplomatic equivalent of General Frank's blunt statement in his own book: "the dumbest bastard on the planet." See Tommy Franks "American Soldier."
   
   c) The Governing Council created early on was lazy, working quarter days four days a week. They simply did not compute the demand for hard serious work.
   
   d) He takes General Jay Garner to task for allowing looting (ultimately 17 of 20 Ministry headquarters buildings were completely looted, as well as electrical and water plants and petroleum pumping stations), and also calls General Garner's 15 May turn-over plan a reckless fantasy. I posit instead that the neo-cons were sucked in by Iranian agent Chalabi and never realized how deep they were into fantasy land. I think Garner was close to getting it right early on.
   
   e) He very properly points out that he inherited a deep structural crisis, a country coming off fifty years of neglected infrastructure, with virtually every sector of society dysfunctional. For context see The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World and The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)
   
   f) The CIA and the Marines shut down his attempt to arrest Muqtada Al-Sadt, the Shi'ite cleric that has since then completely disrupted the country.
   
   g) On more than one occasion the Spanish Army elements refused to fight and refused to follow direction. The Ukrainians also come in for direct criticism from Bremer.
   
   There are a number of absolutely fascinating tid-bits, a few of which are listed here:
   
   1) The Iraqi military had 16,000 generals while the US military (all of it, worldwide) has only 300.
   
   2) The military consisted largely of Sunni officers who abused enlisted Shi'ite soldiers.
   
   3) Saddam Hussein had implemented virtual starvation genocide against the Shi'ites, with severe malnutrition being the norm within that majority.
   
   4) Because of the complete breakdown of all sanitation measures, he estimates that 500,000 tons of human waste each day were dumped into the two rivers.
   
   5) Hussein printed money with inflation up to 100,000 per year--at the same time, 50% of all Iraqis said by the author to be unemployed when he arrived. [On this later point, he does not address the fact that the contractors received billions and instead of employing Iraqis, imported many other nationalities as slave wages.]
   
   6) In his view, there were three sources of instability: looters, die-hard Bathists, and the Mukhabarat paramilitary.
   
   7) Saudi Arabia was known to be egging the Sunnis on and in my view; this makes the Iranian interest in Shi'ite self-preservation completely appropriate. The author also notes that Syria and Lebanon were training and sending in foreign fighters (in the low thousands). Saudi Arabian royalty is EVIL. See See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism and also Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude
   
   8) The author blames the French (and to a lesser degree the Russians) for keeping Saddam Hussein in power, while making no mention at all of the strong support provided by the USA to Saddam Hussein in his genocide against the Kurds and his genocidal chemical war with Iran.
   
   9) On an extremely important point, I found it beyond belief that the author, the "Viceroy" was put into Baghdad without a command & control communications and computing set of vans, tents, generators, and so on. The military incapacitated him with quiet scorn.
   
   The author claims in this book that the insurgency was "largely unpredicted" (page 223) and this is of course not true. However, I do believe him when he says he tried over and over again to get Washington and the military to take the insurgency seriously. His problems with Washington are very similar to those described by General Wesley Clark in Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat
   
   The author has 164 references to Bush and only 26 to Cheney. He really did deal with the President on many matters after the fact, but I credit Dick Cheney will totally trashing our entire global program. See Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
   
   The author has good things to say about the World Bank (this is prior to Wolfowitz taking it over). They completed 15 assessments in six weeks instead of six months, and were very helpful.
   
   There are only 12 mentions of Iran in this book. That is the epitaph for our failed invasion and occupation of Iraq. Iran wins, we lose.



4. Bremer's year in Iraq was the turning point in the Iraq war...a war that was not considered in is consequences by Bush or his cronyies, bomb first, think later if at all! It was a year when both security and economic issues were in desperate need of the best minds possible...instead we got Bremer. It is not that the endless problems that came up were entirely Bremer's fault, except in part..the war architects had not even minimally anticipated what would happen, thus they destroyed central leadership [....], then through bombing destroy resource basis, then through disbanding security forces (Bremer) unleashed competitive violence and underlyng ethnic conflict.amazing thatthey did not see it coming...incompetent and America and the Iraqis pay and pay and pay.........



5. Hey L. Paul, you cost your country like 2 trillion dollars and a loasd of blood, can we have our Freedom Medal back?

3 comments about D-day Survivor: An Autobiography.

1. 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



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. 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.

5 comments about Bloody Bill Anderson: The Short, Savage Life of a Civil War Guerrilla.

1. Bloody Bill Anderson was a product of savagery in the early days of the Civil War's influence on Kansas and Missouri. The border war there was bloody and brutal. An eye for an eye conflict that escalated beyond anyone's imagination. The region was devastated. The atrocities that men were willing to commit against each other on both sides of the fratricide in that area are horrendous. Rocketing out of that soup came Bloody Bill. He is the prototype of a deadly psychopath. He was sadistic, ruthless and devoid of conscience.
   
   Castel and Goodrich have outdone themselves in taking what little historical data is available to present as thorough an accounting of Bill Anderson's life as you're likely to find. They hone in on two of his most infamous rampages around Centralia, Missouri. You'll believe you were an eyewitness. However, they don't fabricate the stories or engage in fiction. The book is thoroughly researched and very credible in every detail. They could only have exceeded in this endeavor if there were more firsthand historical data to draw from.
   
   Fact is Bloody Bill was a real individual and these events really did transpire. You will be transfixed even as you are horrified.



2. This book reads like a romantic western novel. A description of Anderson: "Dressed entirely in black- hat, velvet shirt, pants, boots- he was lean and sinewy and looked taller sitting in the saddle of his large black horse than his actual height of five ten." (p. 11, hardback edition) It continues like that for another 150 pages or so. The only thing missing is voluptuous maidens.
   Castel's biography of Quantrill doesn't read like this, and Goodrich's "Black Flag" doesn't really have much style at all, as it is mostly quotes from primary sources. I don't know why they felt the need to write this the way they did, but it ruins the story. Both authors have done their work in researching, but the writing leaves much to be desired. A definitive account of Anderson still needs to be written.



3. Thomas Goodrich did an outstanding job of researching his subject. I've read many other accounts of Anderson, but this is the most complete and revealing. It's unfortunate that Stackpole insisted on bringing Castel into the mix, as the two men's writing styles are so different. The end product, though the best work so far on a fascinating man, doesn't equal Goodrich's original work.



4. Great biography of a Western Civil War barbarian. When it came to being ruthless during The American Civil War, Bloody Bill broke all bounderies. Not for the weak of heart!!



5. The authors appear to have done their research, and present the story in mixed third person objectivity and first person period prose. For the casual reader who has an interest in Civil Warfare, or more specifically, the Kansas-Missouri Border War, this is an entertaining book. For the scholar, it must be taken with a grain of salt. The authors have taken literary license to the extreme in their description of scenery, battlefield and camp site conditions, personal conversations, et cetera. Although the essence of news-worthy situations are, more often than not, accurately portrayed in historic newspapers, the use of quotes and eye-witness accounts are often biased and stretch the truth. The authors appear to continue in this vein of sensationalistic reporting. There is no way the authors could know of the detailed conversations that took place between officers, combatants, and/or farmers, and thus, their factual portrayal of these more intimate situations must be questioned. If they had told the story entirely in the third person, this book would be good and much needed reference. As presented, with interjections in the first person literary style, the book lacks a degree of credibility. This is unfortunate, as it is a great story of guerrilla warfare and otherwise well-written. 170 pp., Stackpole Books (1998).