1 comments about Silas Talbot - Captain of Old Ironsides.

1. This book exquisitely details the life and career of my ancestor, Silas Talbot, describing his command of the Constitution. I had the experience of telephoning the author, William Fowler, shortly after purchasing his book and was delighted learn more about his research.
   
   Talbot and Truxton shared a mutual dislike for one another as accurately described; a story which was passed down to me from childhood. Our family tree manuscript records Silas Talbot, his family record, and descendants to date.
   
   My mother, whose maiden name was Esther Talbot, was the youngest of seven children by Frederick Talbot and Caroline Peters of Toledo, OH. My mother passed away September 19, 2008 at age 95. Her deceased siblings were sisters Alice (Talbot) Shaw, Helen Talbot, and Ruth (Talbot) Perlmutter; brothers Eugene, Robert and Russell Talbot.
   
   Whether you are a U.S. Navy veteran, historian, scholar, student, or other interested party of this period in our history, I highly recommend this book for its research and ease of reading.

1 comments about The Real Guardians: Five True Stories of Coast Guard Heroes and Their Rescues in New Orleans Following Hurricane Katrina.

1. Anyone who sat glued to CNN during the aftermath of Katrina will appreciate these personal tales of rescue participation from Coast Guard personnel. Written in a casual, conversational style, this book will appeal equally to adults and young adults. It would make an excellent gift for any student considering there future career options, since the book outlines a variety of vocational choices within the organization. While showing how challenging it is to become a member of these rescue teams, it also illustrates the variety of choices which led each of these individuals to their vocation, and makes the challenge seem attainable. In this day and age, when truly valuable role models appear to be in short supply, these profiles provide a useful counterpoint to rap stars and rock bands. This book would be equally useful on the shelves of career counselors, and in classrooms studying Katrina.

3 comments about The Consul.

1. You will be captivated by this dramatic story! There are too few books this well-written. Walter Orebaugh has written a masterpiece. This is the stuff movies should be made of! Real hair-raising experiences told in great style. Thousands of people have read this book (I know from personal letters) and all wished the story had not ended so soon. Mr. Orebaugh was awarded the Medal of Freedom, our country's highest civilian award. Reward yourself! Read this book!!



2. This is an excellant book for anybody who loves Italy and the Italian people. While the story deals with an American council captured by the Italians before they they became our Allies, the insite into the lives of ordinary Italian people is fantastic. The book is even more fantistic because it is a true story and describes how ordinary people were able to cope with the random violance of a war beyond their control. Once you pick it up you will not be able to put it down.



3. This personal history of World War II is a real page-turner. The author was U.S. Consul in Monaco when invading Italian troops swept through; he and his colleagues were first interned by the Italians and then, when the Italian fascist regime fell, went into hiding. Facing capture by German troops, the author then signed on with Italian partisan forces in the mountains. This is a true-life adventure story, simply but very effectively told. One of the strongest impressions is of the courage and humanity of many of the Italians who risked the lives of themselves and their families to assist the author and his colleagues. I agree with the comment, below, that this is a great read for lovers of Italy.
   
   In the preface, the author writes that it is "based on" actual events - but adds that all the major characters and events are factual.

No comments about The Indian Territory Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge.

3 comments about Bittersweet: A Candid Love Story.

1. As a young man of nearly 30 I find reading these war letters from the battle front and the letters of a loving wife on the home front extremely powerfull. It gives me a different slant on what real love can be. 800 letters is awesome. How did they do it?



2. I was just delighted to read Bittersweet, because I have such regard for Helen, but in a surprisingly short time, I felt I was on intimate terms with the entire family. I hope to meet Neb and their son when I leave this earthly life. I look forward to talking with them about their lives...This joins other stories of "The Greatest Generation," and adds insight to our growing body of knowledge of just what these people involved in the war or on the home front endured. It helps us to know why they had such a positive impact on America. This is a great read. Dorothy Nelson



3. The book is awesome. Iwondered how you remembered all those details?!! I was impressed with your openness, honesty, details, just the "bringing it altogether" for your lives!! I can only agree/concur with the endorsements on the jacket! What an absolutely tremendous undertaking...

5 comments about Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War.

1. I found the book refreshing after hearing so many negative things about John Kerry's war service. It's so sad the way some of these far right people writing reviews believe all of the propaganda by their "party". Discrediting his service is a joke. I mean sure, he wasn't the best soldier our country has ever seen, but just compare him to Bush and it makes him look extremely good. Bush can hardly form a sentence (at his age) and Kerry was performing great anti war speeches at a much younger age. As for one of his purple hearts being earned by a self inflicted injury, thats just preposterous, that is not how it works and I think people know that but choose to to believe it. Bottom line is Kerry wouldn't have been the greatest president we have ever seen, but it would have been nice to see someone holding office that actually had served in a war. He might actually have thought twice about sending kids to die. The swift boat vets for "truth" were only one side of the story, and even if some of the things they said were true, obviously the people the Brinkley interviewed with would know better than most of the "truth vets" as they had actually served WITH Kerry, which is different than serving in the same general area.



2. Just one of the many lies i n this book overlooked (????) by Douglas Brinkley was Kerry supposedly in Cambodia in 1968 and havinga telephone conversation with Pres. Nixon. HINT: Johnson was the president in 1968, not Nixon.
   
   To read this book 'TOUR OF DUTY', you'd swaer that Kerry was a real life Rambo when in fact, Kerry was more concerned with carrying around 8mm cameras and old fashioned and heavy Smith-Corona typewritters layingt he foundation for his future presidential campaign.
   
   In another regard, what happened to that BIG DRAFT KERRY said was goingt o happen in January 2005? And the reduced social security benefits? And the Herbert Hoover economy? These were just some of the lies that Kerry repeated over and over and over during his failed presidential campaign in 2004.
   
   But what really happened? There was no draft and 2005 is nearly over. Our seniors got a raise, not a cut in social security benefits and all economic factors show that the economy is doing just great thank you.
   
   Are you all glad that Kerry got whipped last year? Say yes.
   
   [...]



3. It was just a little over 13 months ago that Americans flushed this john and voted for leadership. We didn't buy into the lies or false claims of heroism perpetrated by Kerry and writers like Brinkley who rely on their subject for facts (fat chance)
   
   The economy is moving well. Iraq is moving well regardless what Kerry says. This Kerry promotional piece did not work and thank God for that.
   
   HAPPY ANNIVERSARY AMERICANS! WE ALL "FLUSHED THE JOHNS IN 2004!"



4. This book along with the book by George Butler is so full of crap and hype about Kerry that it makes me laugh. Should be listed as fiction and would make for a great novel. Everybody who really knows Kerry laughs whenever mention of this book is brought up.
   
   Those who knew Kerry back in 1966-67 knew how much he wanted to prevent being drafted and stay out of the service. Kerry claiming to be a war hero is like Michael Moore claiming to be an athlete. Give me a break!



5. Having already proven himself to be one of our best biographers today, with his books on Dean Acheson, JFK, FDR, Jean Monnet, James Forrestal, Henry Ford, Rosa Parks, and others, Douglas Brinkley has done it again with a terrific look at the truth behind an American veteran, politician and lifelong public servant.
   
   Only the ignorant and openly biased will dismiss this highly-detailed examination of John Kerry's war experience, from growing up in Denver and his education at Yale through to his trials, triumphs, and ultimate disgust with the Vietnam War. Any questions you have about Kerry's character or his military service - especially those invented by political opponents who instead backed a corrupt coward named W - you'll find the answers right here.
   
   If you value truth over hype and courage over self-serving cronyism, you'll enjoy this book.

No comments about South Pacific at Seventeen: USS Cofer (APD-62) World War II.

No comments about The Korean War: A View From The Rear.

3 comments about Colt Terry, Green Beret (Texas a & M University Military History Series).

1. Colt Terry is my uncle, and I grew up hearing most of the stories in this book. If you want to know almost first hand what our soldiers were doing in most of the overses conflicts, police actions and wars; then this is the book for you. Colt recalls with great detail people, places, and times where he was in great danger and political turmoil.
   He truely is a real modern day hero and I hope that many of our service men and women read this book. I think that it teaches us that people in our military do sacrifice a lot of their lives for our freedom and this book shows what it was like to fight for that freedom.
   
   You can read this book story by story or through its entirety and never get tired of it!
   
   Also, Colt Terry died in September of 2005. His obiturary is in the Orlando Sentinal if you would like to read more of what his life was like.



2. As an avid reader of history, I found this to be a very good start for Mr. Patton. He brings to life a real american hero focusing on both the positive and the negatives of his life. Colt Terry was definitely a hero, serving his country in multiple wars and spending five years under fire. His story needed telling and if you enjoy and learn from history, you will enjoy learning about him.
   
   Mr. Patton does a great job helping the reader understand life in the Korean conflict as well as Vietnam. My only critique is that i would have enjoyed more detail and this book should probably have been a bit longer as a result.
   
   In conclusion, if you have enjoyed Ambrose then this book should also be sitting on your shelves.



3. As someone who has never served in the armed services, this well-researched biography of Colt Terry, a person I had never heard of before, certainly paints a vivid picture of the chaos that accompanies war. The Special Forces, have gotten much greater attention in modern times in Afganistan and Iraq, yet this book doesn't concentrate on the formation of the Green Berets, rather its focus is on a single individual and his life as it relates to the institution. Unusual in the sense that it is easy-to-read, as much as the subject matter is heavy and sometimes disturbing. Well worth it for the lay reader as well as the military historian.

4 comments about The Note-Books of Captain Coignet: Soldier of the Empire, 1799-1816 (Greenhill Military Paperback).

1. Very often used as a primary source, this classic memoir is well known to Napleonic writers such as John Elting. Many exciting stories, probably easier to believe than Marbot, though not as much fun and detail. Marengo and Russian campaings particularly good. Goes through his story swiftly and this may make many readers feel cheated.



2. This is one of the top three Napoleonic memoirs that I would recommend, the other two being Parquins Souvenirs, and In the Legions of Napoleon by Brandt. Jean-Roche Coignet started as an illiterate private, and worked his way up to Captain in the Imperial Guard, one of those loyal, ever-present, tough as nails Grumblers that marched and fought the length and breadth of Europe.

   Coignet distinguishes himself in his first fight at Montebello in northern Italy in 1800 and is rewarded with a loaf of bread by Berthier, Napoleon's chief of staff. He is almost killed a few days later at Marengo, one of the few who survived in his company, and getting whacked over the shoulder by an Austrian cavalryman, which does effectively cut off his qeue, which saves his life.

   He is one of the first recipients of the Legion of Honor in 1804, serves throughout the wars all the way to Waterloo, and kills a Prussian officer in a one-on-one contest between the lines outside of Paris. The Prussian was yelling insults and made him angry.

   This is a great tale, well told by a loyal, hardworking, very good soldier who did more than his assigned duty. I have a picture of Jea-Roche Coignet, a photograph taken in old age-he still looks as if he could eat nails for breakfast, and wouldn't take too kindly of insults against his Emperor. Just seeing the picture made me believe the book.




3. This book worth the time and the money expended on it. M. Coignet was there, fought and lived to writte his tale. Excellent for anyone interested in the Napoleonic Wars. Besides it is a primary source for a lot of other works on this subject.
   The author gives the soldier point of view, a battle is reduced to smoke, cries, fear and sweat. It is a very different thing them showed in the more usual historic approach. Superb.
   The only problem is that M. Coignet, in his own words, is to perfect, everybody liked and helped him. Ok, he entered the dreaded Guard, but one can't satisfy everybody everytime. Otherwise a great book.



4. Coignet tells things as he sees them, often with a disclaimer to reveal his bias. He is candid about his own weaknesses and mistakes often enough to make one believe that when events sound a little fantastic, they are indeed true. Doesn't claim to give us an overview of the Napoleonic Wars, but does an incredible job of letting us see the campaigns through the eyes of a decorated veteran and member of the Guard.