2 comments about Winning My Wings: A Woman Airforce Service Pilot in World War II.

1. Marion has written an excellent insight into the experience of flying. As a fellow pilot, I greatly enjoyed reading about the experiences of Marion and the other women pilots during WWII. The story is filled with joy and tragedy splashed across her story of becoming a military pilot. Just as important as the flying, she relates how she came to marry her husband of over 50 years, Ned Hodgson. This is a wonderful book that anyone interested in flying and the romance of the air should read.



2. This was a wonderful book. I belong to a book club and I like to choose books about women. I was visiting the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington several months ago and came across this book. It looked so interesting that I decided to choose it for my book club to read. Everyone LOVED the book and we plan to read more books about the WASPs. You will thoroughly enjoy this book --- I love how a lot of the book is written through letters that Marion Stegeman Hodgson actually wrote to her mother and a man friend, whom she eventually married. The only thing I wish is that the book was LONGER!!! It was one of those books that you can't wait to pick up again!! ENJOY!!

5 comments about Sagittarius Rising.

1. If you want to read a book which perfectly describes the atmosphere and meaning of flying in the first air war, then this is it.



2. The author covers many different aspects of being an English WW I pilot. He ranges from the limitations of the WW I airplanes (the wings fall off!), rapid tech advancements during the war (machine gun interupter gears), to being young, to the stress of combat, to views on stopping wars, etc. Pleasant read and highly recommended to anyone interested in air warfare in WW I. He does go off on little preachy tangents sometimes, but they are short and fit into the overall book just fine. This is a personal story, so don't expect a broader picture of the war.



3. This account of WWI aviation is a unique version not found in other books from this time period. It gives an inside look into the thoughts and feelings of a combat aviator during the infant days of aerial combat. A must have for any WWI aviation buff. I truely enjoy reading this book.



4. Mostly, Sagittarius Rising is a "War" book of interest to aviation and history buffs. But, the writing is so interesting and imaginative, readers without deep passion for planes or period are likely to start...and not stop until the last page.
   
   Lewis writes with a rare gift for pictures and even structure. Readers of pleasure will appreciate the work like it were a good meal. Historians, however, may find Sagittarius a little light on details, but the book's credibility and authority seems solid.
   
   If you're reading this review, you obviously have an interest in the arena - Sagittarius Rising is an excellent seat.



5. This book is well written, interesting to read even if you don't know anything about airplanes, and informative about history of first world war airwar. I think it was worth the money.

5 comments about A Stranger to Myself: The Inhumanity of War: Russia, 1941-1944.

1. More literary than military, more abstract than concrete, Willy Peter Reese's memoir of his experiences on the Eastern Front offers a window into the soul of a man as it and he are crushed by the brutalities of modern war.
   
   Reese provides few details about the tangibles of the war. No comrades or units are named. No dates are given. Few geographical locations are mentioned. Battles are described in the vaguest of terms; the reader doesn't encounter 88s or Tigers, doesn't hear about tactics. For these things, we have to read Guy Sajer or Otto Carius. Instead, Reese is interested in something more subtle, more indefinable, more psychological: as he puts it, "war as an aesthetic problem," specifically, the problem of describing HOW a man experiences war, not solely WHAT he experiences -- how he perceives war and describes it, how his mind, body, and soul change.
   
   As such, the book won't be for everyone, certainly not those who prefer to read about war's technical aspects. Still, Reese offers a unique perspective on the Eastern Front, on World War II, and warfare in general. At times difficult to penetrate, at others repetitive, it is nevertheless worth reading.



2. Ok, this book initially was slow going. Also, it was also unlike any of the German memoirs of the war such as the Forgotten Soldier. Reese was probably much too thoughtful for a regular infantry grunt in the German Army. Also, he mentions his comrades in only two or three entries. Reese talks about the inhumanity of war in Russia. Not only does he describe his unit's description of their brutality, he relates how war in general is inhumane to both civilians and the soldiers that wage it. There are some biting descriptions in this book of retreats that cost the Germans greatly. The loss of life is tremedous, and eventually the soldiers become desensitized to the brutality and loss of life. They make jokes when poking at dead partisans hanging from some trees.
   
   This book reminds me of the Red Badge of Courage. The authors are both literate and highly sensitive people. However, for those interested in the conflict between Red Russia and Nazi Germany, this might be a less than satisfactory read. The loss of Reese in this conflict is sad, and makes a tragic ending, as he loved life.



3. A young soldiers diary of his years on the Russian front. Ending near the time of his death it recounts the price humanity pays for war.



4. This was a very interesting book that was written by an average soldier that had an above average intellect. This young man would have been "somebody" if he had survived the war. Unfortunately, he did not and these pages show his view of the war in the East. The book itself does jump around, but this can be understood since it is written by a 20 year old that is trying to understand something that can't be understood. War. Take it for what it is. These pages were written for himself in order to help him find his sanity. This should be taken into account before reviewing the item. You may not like its format or lack of combat detail, but it is about a soldier of intellect trying to search his soul. It is a moving book if you read it with an open mind. Indeed, put yourself in his boots and out of your comfortable armchair and how would you have done?
   
   Viele Gruesse!



5. Of all the countless memiors written by German veterans of the Eastern Front, A STRANGER TO MYSELF is the most unique I've yet read. It distinguishes itself from the "field gray flood" of nonfiction books on the Russian campaign in two very distinct ways: first, the author, Willy Peter Reese, did not live to see his scattered notes, many scribbled by the light of a cigarette, get published; he was killed in action in Russia in 1944. Second, Reese was not writing a mere litany of combat experiences and behind-the-lines hijinks but rather a deeply introspective, quasi-metaphysical self-portrait of a thoughtful young man in the midst of a war he neither agreed with nor understood.
   
   Willy Reese seems to have been a rather tortured soul well before he was drafted into Hitler's army - he had a tendency to brooding and seems to have been somewhat anguished about the meaning of life, not to mention oversensitive to its vulgarity and cruelty. The military service did not sit well with him, and he nursed a deep disgust for the Nazis and their cult of anti-intellectualism and brutality. By the time he got to Russia he seems to have given up on the human race, which made what he saw and experienced there all the more horrifying for him.
   
   Roughly 32 million people died on the Eastern Front between 1941 - 1944, the majority of them Russian civilians, and Reese himself survived long enough to see enough carnage for 1,000 lifetimes. He expected war to be horrible; what he did not expect was that he himself would willingly perpetrate some of this horror, and learn to do so with a smile on his face. Such was his transformation, from vaguely pacifistic poet to stone-faced hunter of his own species, that he came to feel that he had changed into someone that he did not know - a stranger to himself. Trapped between who he had been and who he was becoming, his only release ("spiritual morphine") came in writing down his experiences, notes which, after his death in combat, his mother would later organize into this book.
   
   American war literature tends to be very straightforward, and so it's no surprise a lot of people feel that Reese was a pretentious pseudo-intellectual trying to impress his audience with his vocabulary and intellect. After all, many of the book's passages are taken up with philosophical contemplations of the meaning of existence, the human soul, the relationship of man to nature, and the cycle of life and death. And Reese is the sort who doesn't step over a rock, he picks it up and contemplates its place in the Scheme of Things, sometimes with a seriousness that may seem silly to a (further) Westerner. This will be very annoying to a lot of readers who want their "war" books heavy on the "war" and light on the half-mystical philosophizing, but what readers and critics must understand is that Reese was merely a product of his times and of his country. German education heavily stressed philosophy, history, mythology, and classic literature, and Germans as a rule have a very deep connection to nature. This tends to effect their writing, and it deeply effected Reese's. You can love it or hate it (or something in between), but you shouldn't view it as affected - it was quite genuine.
   
   A STRANGER TO MYSELF is not without its gripping moments. Like one of his influences, Ernst Jünger, Reese often digresses into turgid rambling, but just like Jünger, these tedious passages almost always give way to beautifully written and vivid descriptions - when Reese describes the horrible fury of the Russian winters, the plagues of lice, the stench of decomposing corpses, the terrible exhaustion and thirst of a long march in the Ukrainian sun, the pathos of a dead soldier "whose rigored hands refused to yield his rifle", you feel these things as certainly as if you were experiencing them yourself.
   
   A STRANGER TO MYSELF is an important book, one which approaches an unbelievably savage conflict from the perspective of a man who was quite aware of what the war was doing to him, but powerless to stop it. And that theme of powerlessness, of being swept along the currents of Fate by forces he did not understand, is part of what makes the book such a poignant and necessary read. The Eastern Front was a hell that only one in four of the German soldiers who served in lived to talk about, and while Reese did not survive, his voice rings very loud indeed.

5 comments about Jefferson's Secrets: Death and Desire at Monticello.

1. Jefferson has now fallen into the same category as Lincoln: given the zillions of books already written about him, what is there left to add? Burstein's previous book on TJ ("The Inner Jefferson") established that he had quite a lot to contribute to the literature, much of it quite unique in perspective. The same is certainly true of this volume as well.
   
   The focus here is on the retired Jefferson (1809-1826), and much of the author's material is drawn from TJ's private papers after leaving office. One of Burstein's great virtues--perhaps his greatest virtue--is that he looks for unique aspects not generally already addressed by other historians. For example, the impact of "time and mortality" on TJ's thought; his medical concerns and how these concerns are reflected in the unique vocabulary of the 18th Century (e.g., what is the meaning of "sensation"?); and whether there is something to learn about his political views from looking at these issues. Similarly, how did he conceive of "nature"?
   
   Burstein also looks at that perennial issue of TJ and slavery, including an interesting chapter on "sex with a servant" in an effort to probe that relationship. Did TJ's affinity for the ancient Greeks impact on his relationship with Sally Hemmings?--this is the kind of issue that only Burstein would explore. The most fascinating section I found dealt with Jefferson's efforts to get favorable history written so that his record would remain untarnished after his death. I am not quite sure anyone else has dealt with this issue. Finally, the topic is TJ and dying, which ends up focusing upon TJ's religious orientation during this period. Burstein's research is, as usual, prodigious as he searches for evidence to support his interpretations. While a great deal of speculation and imaginative thinking are at work here, Burstein continues to generate scintillating and provocative work that is highly unique and valuable. While one may not always agree with his interpretations, the process of considering them continues to be of substantial value.



2. Burstein has written an insightful book on the Jefferson, as he says, that has usually been ignored by many other historians, i.e. in the period after his presidency. Specifically, Burstein analyzes the thoughts and attitudes held by Jefferson on life, the role of women and slaves in society, religion, freedom of thought, politics and other topics. The Jefferson that emerges from Burstein's study is a multi-faceted man who both inspires awe for his intelligence and his abilities but also sets him in place as a creature of his time, especially concerning the issue of slavery.
   
   Burstein is especially keen on observing Jefferson's use of words to convey his inner most feelings and thoughts. He is especially observant of the medical terminology that Jefferson uses in discussing many different subjects. As Burstein mentioned, he usually didn't give his correspondent everything he was looking for in terms of revealing his innermost thoughts and secrets. After his presidency, Jefferson preferred a retreat from the public sphere and generally guarded his privacy. But we do get to understand Jefferson's devotion to his family, his sometimes very contradictory statements on human liberty and freedom especially when juxtaposed against the very present institution of slavery, his views on republican government and many other areas that he expounded on.
   
   There are friends, family members, well-known politicians, doctors, thinkers and others who emerge in Burstein's book, mainly through the correspondence that Burstein uses to help bring light to the elusive aspects of Jefferson's attitudes and sensibilities. The controversies surrounding Jefferson and the institution of slavery are discussed, especially concerning the generally accepted sexual relationship with Sally Hemings, with interesting insights by Burstein on Jefferson's attitudes on sexual relationships, racial differences and so forth. Though he would be considered a racist today, he was a creature of his time, with an odd, but seemingly well-thought out view of the nature of the races (not that his view was right).
   
   Burstein really does try to understand the foundations of Jefferson's inner beliefs and sensibilities. Jefferson was a devotee to the rights of man (though this didn't include everyone in his day), his family (he was especially close to his granddaughter Ellen), and the principles of republican government. Interestingly, despite his advocacies, he often turned to others to make the effort to combat his political opponents, we see this in his wanting to combat the histories written by such Federalists as Chief Justice Marshall.
   
   The reader will get to see snippets of the inner Jefferson in this book. Burstein, as he stated he wanted to accomplish, succeeds fairly well in presenting the living Jefferson as opposed to the dying Jefferson, though we do read of the effects of aging and other health issues that gradually took their toll on his physical body. We see the many facets of this highly intelligent human being who was such an influence in his day and through his words, actions and ideals continues to be to the present. The debates go on.



3. Thomas Jefferson was a great and brilliant, but flawed and unconventional man. What can the zillionth book add that hasn't already been said? Quite a lot. It should not be anybody's first book on Jefferson, but it should be everybody's second, or third. Of course, Burstein hasn't got Jefferson "figured out", but neither does anyone else.....
   
   This wonderful volume focuses on Mr. Jefferson's later years, and does give us a good view of his thought processes. Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, and Jefferson can be quoted to "prove" ANYTHING. "Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that this people are to be free,..." The inscription on the wall of the Jefferson Memorial ends with a period, but look up the rest of the quote. I use the comma deliberately. He who said that "All men are created equal" also had things to say about the orangutang. And he also had sex with his slave, Sally? Well...maybe. In any event, he documented his views on this subject, too, complete with charts. The ongoing arguement with John Marshall gets coverage, too. It has been more completely documented elsewhere, but Burstein does an excellent job. This feud is truly one of the most profound topics in American history. It spanned from their early years till the day Jefferson died, and beyond, going from a rivalry, to disagreement, to blind, unreasoning, hatred after the Aaron Burr treason case of 1807. My own opinion is that the cause of the whole mess was multifaceted, involving familial, personal, political, and philosophical elements. {Not religious; they agreed about that} In this battle of giants, we have the origin of the Civil War, and of much of our political conflict today. An athiest who "swore on the altar of God"? This is covered, too. Jefferson may not have been orthodox, but he was assuradely not an athiest. A slave owner who hated slavery? Not unusual...the same is true of George Washington, Patrick Henry, John Marshall, George Wythe, and Robert E. Lee. {Lee inherited his slaves, and freed them before he had to}. A word of caution; though some of the founding fathers did not believe in slavery, they certainly did not believe in Black equality, either.
   
   Andrew Burstein has produced a superb work. As I said, NOT a first book on the subject, but an essential one. For a first book, see Joseph Ellis, or Noble Cunningham. Dumas Malone is, of course, definitive, but few will mine the gold in those six profound volumes.



4. There is next to nothing here that caught my interest. I was looking forward very much to this work, and I was extremely disappointed in it. I had just finished an excellent biography of John Adams, which impelled me to try this one. I can only recommend that you don't waste your time. Every moment on this book was, to me, a complete waste of time.



5. The good stuff in this book is invaluable to anyone with a serious interest in Jefferson. I'd award five stars for such unique scholarship, but I've subtracted two stars as a rebuke to the author and to his editors, if there were any, for perverse self-indulgence. The readability of "Jefferson's Secrets" is damaged by its repetitiousness; Burstein even repeats the same quotations from Jefferson's letters in three and four chapters, without significantly adding to his exegesis. But a more serious flaw is Burstein's rhapsodic admiration of Jefferson's mind at the same time that he protrays the man as a consummate hypocrite and egotist--not only a slave-owner and unreconstructed racist but an exploiter of servants to the point of callously making one his concubine, a Jacobin in rhetoric who lived in the style of an ancien regime aristocrat, a man who gave his daughters a decorous education yet maintained that women had no claim to equality. Burstein's defense seems to be that we should forgive Jefferson's inconsistencies because he was conflicted, and a man of his times. Indeed, the central theme of the book is to demonstrate exactly how Jefferson was a man of his times, whose world-view was shaped by the ideas and particularly the scientific knowledge of the Enlightenment. That's the good stuff, the analysis of what Jefferson himself thought he meant by what he said and wrote, given the "vocabulary" of his time and place. However, in the next breath Burstein proceeds to declare that Jefferson was in some sense the first Modern Man, a harbinger of Romanticism precisely because of his ambiguities, the very same ambiguities that Burstein has just dispelled. Really, Professor Burstein, it seems to be YOU who are conflicted, by your adulation of the "timeless" Jefferson even while you pin the human Jefferson to the cultural matrix of his lifetime!

5 comments about Red Baron.

1. Great book! Great photos and an amazing life told by The Red Baron himself (translated into English, of course!).



2. This is a fantastic autobiography, because Von Richthofen was an amazing person. Very real (he devotes as much attention to his cousin and him climbing the spire of the local church, as he does to some of his aerial battles), full of good-natured humor and a zest for life. I particularly loved how the early fighter pilots were known as "Knights of the Sky", and kept to the chivalric code, including following downed pilots to ensure that they were all right.



3. I wonder if some of the fatherland stuff was added by one of the Kaiser's goons. This guy is a wild boar hunting nutcase. A great book if you wonder why Germany keeps starting wars.



4. I saw a biography about the Red Baron on tv and thought that he had an exciting life so I wanted to read his book that way I could read about it straight from the person that lived these events. The book is fairly short and you could easily read through it very fast without any trouble. He writes about his childhood,entering the cavalry and the war, then how he became a piolet and the rest of the book talks about his many victories as the best fighter piolet. There are a bunch of black and white pictures of the Baron, other German aces and a few planes. There is also a list of all his victims including the plane type, date, times and piolets and there is also a list of the planes he flew and which victims he shot down in which plane.
   
   I liked the book because it's an easy read, it has some funny parts and exciting moments and in a way you get a feel for the man himself. However there are some things I didn't like such as he doesn't go into much detail through the book it's like he just breezes through some of his fights in a few sentences or so which kind of makes it anti climatic. One example is how his brother just shows up out of nowhere and is fighting along side him and not much is said about him. I'm also sure that there was some propaganda thrown in since this book was released during the war. I bet he would have wrote a far better book after the war had he lived but as we all know he was shot down.
   
   This isn't the book to read if you want to know everything about the Red Baron but if you want to read what he experienced first hand then get this autobiography because it's a good read and it's coming straight from the horses mouth that.



5. "During my whole life, I have not found a happier hunting ground than that in the course of the Somme River." That famous sentence begins the chapter on the Battle of the Somme in Manfred Von Richtofen's autobiography, The Red Baron, first published in 1917 and available in a reprint by Pen & Sword with additional new material. In this edition, Norman Franks summarizes Richtofen's air battles and gives us a fine summary of the life of Richtofen. N. H. Hauprich presents a list of the aircraft flown by Richtofen.
   
   That this work is of historical value cannot be denied. It is, after all, the autobiography of one of the truly great flying aces of World War I. That it is a fascinating portrayal of a gentleman officer in a world long gone cannot be denied. That it is a very entertaining read cannot be denied.
   
   And yet, to the modern reader there is something uncomfortable in Richtofen's describing combat in such a way as to read like the adventure books for boys so popular in his time: "I advised him to fly around the smoke cloud. Holck did not intend to do this. On the contrary. The greater the danger, the more the thing attracted him. Therefore straight through! I enjoyed it too to be together with such a daring fellow."
   
   Richtofen died young, of course, and he died in a fight in the Valley of the Somme, his happy hunting ground. We are not likely to see his type again, and that may not be a bad thing.
   
   --David Lang at Advance Book Reviews

5 comments about Winston Churchill: A Life (Penguin Lives).

1. Publisher's Weekly is entirely mistaken, in their comments above, in suggesting that Sir Winston Churchill once belonged to the Labour Party.
   
   He never did, of course.
   
   Churchill did, however, cross the floor to join the Liberal Party, often making common cause there with his Liberal ally David Lloyd George. He left the Liberals and returned to the Conservative Party (at first, as a "Constitutionalist") in the 1920's...
   
   Alan D. Hyde



2. Let me make clear at the outset that I am no historian. Indeed, I wouldn't even qualify as an amateur historian. I am just your average 30-something fairly ignorant reader living a period of love for more or less recent history. Given this premise, I found this little book quite perfect for what I was looking for.
   
   This is a short, entertaining, and VERY well written biography of one of the greatest men in the 20th century. Because of the serious limits of my knowledge on the subject, I certainly cannot judge on the accuracy of the reports. However, to the best of my knowledge, the author is considered a reputable WWII historian. Indeed I liked this book so much that I also purchased his history of WWII. You can read this book in a day, and it will entertain you like a good novel, while also informing you as few novels would do.
   
   I would not pay too much attention to those reviewers that complain about this book not delving into Churchill's shortcomings as a man or as a politician. This is a very small book, about 190 small-format pages. You can hardly expect a comprehensive treatise from such a book. Also, I suspect that emphasizing Churchill's shortcomings would be like emphasizing Hitler's moments of tenderness with his lovers or with some German children during the Nazi regime. I mean, they surely happened, but it's not what you want to spend pages on, if you have only limited space to devote to the topic, isn't it? Besides, even if the Churchill that emerges from this book is certainly a truly great man, he does not emerge as a perfect great man. To me that was enough, and I am glad I read this book.
   
   I am grateful to the author, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a short, beautifully written biography of this man, to whom I certainly owe something...



3. Doubtless this biography is insufficient to really understand Churchill, but for those who are fairly ignorant of the man, it provides a useful quick sketch, and perhaps a jumping off point for further reading.



4. In 1895 when his father died, the sickly and indifferent 21-year-old military cadet Winston Churchill was flat broke, the legacy of a father who was a compulsively extravagent wastrel.
   
   Lord Randolph had been syphilitic since early youth. His mother, American-born Jennie Jerome whose father was a stockbroker and part-owner of 'The New York Times', was always attracted to men other than her husband or her sons (Winston, born 1874, and John Spencer, born 1880). In modern terms, they were trailer trash; in Phoenix, Sheriff Joe would have set aside a bunk in his tent-city jail for Winston.
   
   But, instead of slums, Winston was born and brought up in Blenheim Palace, built 1704-22 and still one of the great estates of England. American ex-presidents get palatial libraries as their memorials; the British rewarded their leaders with mansions and great estates. Blenheim Palace was one of the finest, far better than the estates later awarded to Nelson and Wellington.
   
   Perhaps it was the milieu of Blenheim Palace, but Churchill matured into a man absolutely convinced of the majesty of the British virtues of patriotism, loyalty, courage and fair play. For him, being British meant manliness, courage, tenacity and ultimate moral decency. It resonated with the vigorous American spirit of Theodore Roosevelt and the beauty of the strenuous life.
   
   President George Bush is reported to keep a bust of Churchill in the Oval Office; perhaps as a reminder of the complete contrast to himself. Bush ducked the Vietnam War in the Texas Country Club Air Guard; Churchill eagerly sought war, even though he hated it.
   
   Like Ulysses S. Grant, Churchill was a gifted wordsmith instead of a stumblebum. He free-lanced as a journalist while serving as a British officer and was sometimes earning 20 times his military pay. He never stopped learning, he wanted facts, order, reason. His mother sent him crates of books while he was on duty, and he devoured them all.
   
   Gen. Sir Herbert Kitchener described him as a "medal-hunter" and "self-advertiser" who was "super-precocious" and "insufferably bumptious." It was a good assessment. But, the public loved his books and even the Prince of Wales praised him. Whatever one thinks of Churchill, his career and successes are due to his own effort, intelligence, work and nerve.
   
   In brief, this is the story of a man who might well have ended up as a Soho souse, but instead became the greatest man of the past century. He did it through his own efforts, not because of Daddy's friends, money or ability to pull strings.
   
   This book defines the character of a great man.



5. I've never been a big fan of Winston Churchill, but after reading esteemed historian John Keegan's succinct biography of the man, I must say that I like AND respect him just a little bit more. Keegan himself confesses that he never thought much of old Winston until he stumbled across an old recording of his speeches (in NYC of all places) and realized what a gifted and inspirational orator and leader he was. He led his beloved Britain through her darkest hours in modern history, to a victory that was anything but assured. The people seemed to genuinely love him, and his sentiment was seemingly mutual.
   
   His years as Prime Minister during WW2 are the most well known, but Churchill led an amazingly full life, and his life of public service began way back in the late 19th century. Keegan describes how the young Winston, who did poorly in school, but had an undeniable intelligence, educated himself in politics, history and the English Classics. He was a romantic who was in love with his small island nation, and he dedicated his life to it. He was a brave soldier who served in numerous wars, including WW1, and while it would be fair to say he was a little too fond of war, he was no different from the average English officer of the time in this regard. In my eyes, his major fault was his hypocrisy. It just seems hard to reconcile his staunch imperialism with his constant talk about the virtues of freedom and liberty, and how Britain was the main proponent of such things. I would have liked for Keegan to address this point a bit more, but for such a short biography, I can let it slide.
   
   I was intrigued to learn that Churchill and IRA founder Michael Collins were on friendly terms and greatly admired each other. In fact, Churchill apparently had a "gut sympathy for fighters" which is why he had more respect for the Irish and Boers of South Africa than he did for Ghandi and his passive movement in India.
   
   Anyways, the book is extremely well written and entertaining, and I found it to be an overall excellent introduction to the life of one of the most important figures of the 20th century. 4.5 stars.

4 comments about White Tigers: My Secret War in North Korea (Memories of War).

1. This is an interesting addition to the military history collection. The book is an account of indigent intelligence gathering and sabotage operations behind the lines in North Korea. A few U.S. Army Officers and Enlisted men were tabbed as advisors to assist North Korean nationals in the disruption of the Communist forces north of the DMZ. For the most part well written, the narrative is most worthy by demonstrating the reluctance, if not downright obstructionism shown by senior Army members toward unconventional warfare in this period. The young officers selected for the mission generally had little if any training or background for the job and were given minimal support. A good accounting of the initiative and ingenuity of our young college grads when thrown in a difficult position.



2. (Note: Part of the details furnished here are based on my discussions with the author shortly after White Tigers was originally released)

   First, I'll have to say I'm a bit prejudiced toward Ben Malcom. COL Ben Malcom was the post commander at Fort McPherson, Georgia in the late 70's and I commanded his military police company. In fact, Ben was instrumental in my career -- first he allowed me to command a company as a first lieutenant, something his predecessor would not do. Second, he literally pushed my application for a regular army commission through and made sure it was approved. Ben is a true gentleman and was a fine Army officer.

   On to the book. White Tigers recounts Ben's story, from ROTC to the Infantry, and shortly after his commission, to Korea. Ben was scheduled to be a rifle platoon leader in Korea, but was somewhat randomly selected to train North Korean partisans --- behind enemy lines. What was so remarkable about Ben's selection is that he is over 6', has no oriental features, and did not speak Korean.

   Ben found himself behind enemy lines where he trained a battalion-size North Korean force, and managed to get to the mainland on more than one occasion to recruit and do combat -- where he was awarded the Silver Star.

   My favorite portion of the book is Ben recounting how he left Korea after a year wearing the Silver Star, but no combat patch (his unit did not have patch) and no combat infantryman's badge (his unit was not recognized as a line infantry unit that qualified for the CIB). When Ben reported in to his next unit, his superiors asked how it was that he was wearing a silver star, but no combat patch or CIB. Ben's answer: "I'm sorry, I can't disclose that because it's classified."

   And Ben's operations were classified -- in fact, for more than 40 years. Ben had started a book in the mid-50s, but terminated his efforts because of the classification of the operations in which he was involved. Once the operations were declassified in the early 90s, Ben dusted off his 40-year old manuscript, which served as the basis for White Tigers.

   I will have to say that White Tigers is not an accomplished thriller -- however, what it is is a fine personal account of Ben's exploits in a very unusual operation. Many of the activities that Ben was involved in -- and many that he directed ad lib due to the lack of training and doctrine --have become the basis of some special operations today.

   Ben deserves a huge well done for an outstanding effort in documenting a very unusual experience. I would highly recommend his work.

   Charles D. Childers Colonel, US Army




3. In the world of foreign military advisors, Ben Malcom's name is not a household word in comparison to Joe Stilwell, John Glubb, Edward Lansdale, and, of course, T E Lawrence. His short memoir of life with North Korean guerrillas during the Korean War deserves to be read along with those of his more famous colleages.
   
   Ben Malcom was trained as a traditional military officer, but was thrust into a highly unusual role as an advisor to a small group of North Korean guerrillas fighting against the North Korean government. Until the 1990s, the missions the so-called White Tigers undertook were still classified. While their contribution to the overall war effort can be disputed, Malcom's lessons cannot be ignored for what they teach us about the US Army and its abiding discomfort with non-traditional warfare.
   
   Malcom demonstrates convincingly that the US Army forgot many of the lessons derived from working with partisan forces from Burma to Greece to France during the Second World War. Those lessons would have proved invaluable to young Lieutenant Malcom as he took on a role he was not trained for, but for which he demonstrated great aptitude. His book takes us from his ROTC days, to instructor at Fort Knox, through his time in Korea, and finally to Vietnam, where he experienced a nasty case of de ja vue. His memoir is short, but exciting and written with great verve.
   
   Much has been written about the current conflict in Iraq and how the the US military is adapting to re-learn the lessons it forgot after Vietnam about insurgency, counter-insurgency, and partisan warfare. Many authors have applauded the adaptability of the US military; Malcom's book is a cautionary tale that shows we have been down this path before and failed to institutionalize the lessons of previous conflict. For that alone, his memoir is worth the price.



4. When I received my May, 2002 VFW magazine I was overwhelmed by the story of guerrilla operations that were successfully carried out in North Korea during the Korean War. When I had finished reading Colonel Ben S. Malcom's "White Tigers" I knew that I had read a story that would touch the minds and hearts of all who had been placed in harm's way. I was able to sense his frustration, his anger, his fear, his disappointments, his elation at success, but more important, his love for his country. He dared to expose his depth of compassion and deep commitment to the partisan force placed under his charge. By relating his personal experience, he brought to light the danger for having a short sighted reluctance within the upper echelon of the army in finding merit in unconventional warfare. I am extremely grateful for his leadership and an intimate knowledge of the brave service and sacrifice made by him and members of the White Tiger donkey units. As his story continued to unfold, I was drawn to recall my own expreience that took place but a scant few miles from where Ben's White Tiger operations were being carried out. I had been a member of Operation Broken Reed, an intelligence mission that took place during January, 1952. I was rescued along with two other surviving team members following the mission. I recalled the bitter cold, the fear of being captured and what that would mean, the extreme fatigue resulting from a thirty-mile forced march to the Yellow Sea, the deteriorating physical and mental condition of my two comrades, the difficult terrain and the rescue. As I read Ben's book I realized that the point of our rescue from a ledge overlooking the Yellow Sea was but a few miles from Wollae and Paengnyong Islands, the White Tiger base of operation. When I wrote the colonel in June, 2002 I received a warm immediate reply. He stated that there was no doubt in his mind that "Operation Broken Reed" was a CIA operation. Colonel Malcom's encouragement was instrumental in my publishing the story of Broken Reed that has been published by Da Capo Press. In my estimation, Colonel Malcom's silver star is inadequate to acknowledge the level of his bravery and service. I highly recommend the reading of White Tigers.
   
   Arthur L. Boyd, Lt. Col, US Army, Retired.

1 comments about Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War.

1. FOR ME THIS WAS A PAGE TURNER. I FELT LIKE I WAS THERE AT THE TIME THESE LETTERS AND SPEECHES WERE WRITTEN. VERY EASY TO GET LOST IN THE TIME PERIOD. IF YOU LOVE THIS SUBJECT, YOU'LL ENJOY THIS BOOK.

5 comments about Devil at My Heels: A Heroic Olympian's Astonishing Story of Survival as a Japanese POW in World War II.

1. What More can be said or added to the astonishing account of survival by Louis Zamperini. After enduring forty-seven days in a life raft, being shot down in the middle of the Pacific, he prevailed for two more years as a POW in a Japanese prison camp.
   Following his release and being welcomed home as a war hero, Zamperini sank into despair and heavy drinking,only to be rescued from the depths of hopelessness through the ministry of the great evangelist Billy Graham.
   His story is at once extraordinary and inspiring-a powerful testimony to the stalwartness of the human spirit, particularly in light of the fact that upon revisiting the site of his tortuous existence he found it in his heart to forgive his brutal captors.
   Even if one is only remotely inclined to revisit events that occurred surrounding US POW's in the Pacific during WWII,the reader will find this narrative the best of the best. This reader salutes you, Louis, and others like you for reminding us that the "greatest generation" continues to illuminate and enkindle.



2. Having received this book as a Christams gift from a buddy of mine , it is an absolutelly astonishing and wonderful read!
   A great story of a one of what we now call "The Greatest Generation".
   My buddy was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association's crew that travels with a world war two bomber called FUDDY DUDDY, and while at Van Nuys California airport , he met Louis Zamperini personally and told me Mr Zamperini just kind of "hung out" with the FUDDY DUDDY crew in April 2005 for about three days and shared his stories with them.
   So my buddy bought two copies from Louis Zamperini and asked him to autograph them, so I received mine for Christmas 2005.
   What a great story and hope someday I can meet Louis Zamperini!
   He is truly an American Hero!
   
   This review written by
   Edward DeBolt
   Grabill, Indiana



3. This book has no plot and constantly repeats itself. He alo takes much of the time to promote the books of his other POW friends. The only touching pat of the book is one passge that lasts about a page. DON'T READ!!! I had to read it for a histroy class, but I had such a hard time staying focused on such a bad book!



4. This tale reads like Candide or Forest Gump, but of course this isn't fiction. The life of Louis Zamperini is, in a word, incredible; it's no wonder that they know as the Greatest Generation. Anyone who is interested in WWII, military service, or survival tales will enjoy this story. This is a must read!



5. Louis Zamperini was an amazing man, and his life story is so well written I have read it 3 times myself, recommended this book to many and sent it as gifts. I have never heard anything but high praise for the book. I read with disappointment the negative review by Belmonte who had to read it for a history class; my hat goes off to the teacher who recommended it. It made me sad that students of this generation would find reading about someone like Zamperini, a true hero of the "Greatest Generation", such a bore.

5 comments about At the Going Down of the Sun.....

1. This is a great book and is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the Rhodesian and the RLI. If you have Chris Cocks' Fireforce you have to have Charlie's book - BUT NOT THIS VERSION. it is full of typos and poor editing - obviously it hasn't been proofed. HOWEVER, I am led to believe that this is a manuscript version which was ripped off from Charlie Warren (the author)and published behind his back - I understand that Charlie Warren will not see one cent of royalties from this edition.
   
   The proper edition will be published shortly and will be re-titled STICK LEADER RLI. Buy it. Don't support the publisher of this version



2. This is a very interesting review by Mr Williams and totally inaccurate.
   Charlie Warren tried for five years to get this book published, and when you read the original you can see why he failed.
   I volunteered to produce it for him for free, at my expense.
   I left some of the book in its original language, because it is the language of a troopie, not a sanitised version edited long after the event, and designed to glorify and excuse the author for his actions.
   There is absolutely no way that I will ever gain financially from royalties on this book because of the expenses involved.
   I did not produce it to gain anything for myself, only to give Charlie Warren, and his fellow men of the RLI a chance to have their part of the story recorded in print.
   This version has all the original admissions concerning events both on and off duty, and includes some heartfelt accusations from the men who suffered at the "front".
   So thank you Mr Williams for giving me the opportunity to explain, and in future it would be wise to acquaint yourself with the facts before you launch into print.
   Chris Higginson.



3. At the Going Down of the Sun is a military mans must read because Charlie Warren fills the pages with his emotions as well as details. As a former US Marine I was able to relate with his passion and bitterness from training to the sad, bitter end of Rhodesia. I have always been more than interested in Rhodesia's struggle for freedom and it's loss. This book really opened my eyes to what the actual fighting man had to live through.
   
   If some one wants a view down an FAL's sights of the Bush War, this book is a great place to start.



4. Lately, I've gotten on a kick about the Rhodesian Bush War and have now read 5 books on the subject. This one is the best by far. Cock's Fireforce, was good, but this one takes it to a new level. The Author delves deep into his feelings about what happened once the war ended and who he felt was responsible for the war going the way it did. He tends to rant and get off subject, which at first was annoying, but it gives a good insight for someone who really doesn't know much about the Rhodesian situation. Great detail, good action. This is a book that I didn't want to put down and in the end made me angry. Some may say this book is biased, but in actuality, what book isn't. The fact is, this author is honest about his feelings and you get frustrated with him. All in all, this book was great. I highly reccomend it.



5. Great book. I don't know what the earlier reviewer's problem was, but I found this book excellent. I admit there were a few typos, but nothing too serious or frequent. I think this book is about as good as Chris Cocks' Fire Force. There are good pictures to aid the reader, and the writer gives alot of detail in his words. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Rhodesian War.