5 comments about The Class of 1846: From West Point to Appomattox: Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan, and Their Br others.

1. This book is a MUST READ for any serious student of the Civil War. It lets us see how the West Pointers were trained and how they bonded. It gives us the insight To the meaning "an Officer and Gentleman". You find many times over the gallantry and foolishness of men. You also find the depth of friendships that led to the healing of wounds so a young nation could move forward.
   It is hard to see these young men's dreams fall to battle. Without their leadership it would have been so much worse on the average citizen. Read it, then cry for all our nation lost.



2. This book is at its best in the first 200 pages, when all of the classmates get fairly equal coverage at West Point and the Mexican/frontier Wars.
   
   The book is extremely entertaining and well researched throughout, and the author is not attempting to challenge any aspect of Civil War history, so the narrative on the soldiers as we know them in that War does not change.
   
   As mentioned in other reviews, the Civil War portion of the book is discombobulated almost out of necessity, since the soldiers were no longer equally important. Doing so would make the book incredibly long, and the simple truth is that people will inherently be more interested in Jackson than Stoneman.
   
   Regardless, it's still a more than worthy book to pick up, if only to see how opinions and relationships were molded over a 15 year period of time among all these brothers turned enemies.



3. This is a standard rendition of two primary Civil War generals: Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and George McClelland. In this portion of the book Waugh tells us what we already know about George, that while he was always at the head of the class moving up the ranks, he failed miserably once at the top. Similarly, Stonewall, no doubt as crazy as a loon, became the Civil War's finest and best tactician produced by either side.
   
   Focusing as he does on the West Point graduating class of 1846, the year the War with Mexico was initiated, we meet numerous men who studied together and fight together in the Mexican War, the Indian Wars, the Mormon War and, in the climax of their military lives, against each other, in the Civil War.
   
   Having gone through school together for 4 years, these men competed against each other for most of their adult lives. But as the competitions were intense, the personal relationships were even closer. Cadmus Wilcox was Sam Grant's best man; James Longstreet was also in the wedding party. George McClelland and Robert E. Lee served together on Winfield Scott's staff. Gideon Pillow and John B. Magruder brevet a youthful Tom Jackson at Chapultepec. Clarendon Williams, Jackson's graduation day dancing partner, dies in the Navaho war. Lee, George Thomas, George Stoneman, John Bell Hood and Albert Sidney Johnson serve for 6 years together in Texas in the US Second Cavalry. Lewis Armistead, William T. Sherman and Winfield Hancock serve together in California.
   
   John Waugh has produced a unique view of the Civil War, through the eyes of men who, while they fought against each other with all the skill they possessed, fought against comrades, close friends and former classmates who at times, just couldn't have seemed like the enemy.



4. Having read a number of Civil War books lately, I was surprised at how many officers were friends and colleagues from their days at West Point. The Class of 1846 From West Point to Appomattox: Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan and Their Brothers by John C. Waugh is a good place to start to learn some of this background.
   
   The class of 1846 at West Point was an illustrious class in many ways. This was the biggest class in academy history up until that time, and included such luminaries as George McClellan, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, George Pickett and Ambrose "A.P." Hill. At the time, West Point was one of the best colleges in the nation and certainly the best engineering school. Waugh provides a glimpse of what it was like to be a cadet, and I can't even imagine spending ten hours a day in the classroom as a freshman with seven hours of math and three hours of French (most military manuals were written in French at the time). Of the 122 plebes who began in 1842, 59 graduated four years later.
   
   Timing is everything and soon after this class graduated, the Mexican War started heating up and the president doubled the size of the regular army. This put the class of '46 on the fast track for promotions. Fifty-three served in the Mexican War, and it was here that they met many other West Point graduates and future Civil War leaders including Robert E. Lee, P.G.T. Beauregard, Ulysses S. Grant, James Longstreet and Winfield Scott Hancock.
   
   The majority of this book deals with the Civil War. Twenty-two members of this class became Union or Confederate generals. Waugh focuses on how these men contributed to the battles and events of the war. The handsome, dashing and intelligent George McClellan graduated number two in his class and great things were expected of him. After a promising start in the Mexican War, the vain and pompous McClellan proved to be a big disappointment. The true star turned out to be quiet, unassuming Stonewall Jackson. Jackson barely met the entrance requirements and started off at the bottom of his class. Through hard work and perseverance, he graduated number seventeen. "Nobody saw in him any suggestion of genius or gift for command." When Jackson died after Chancellorsville, it truly was a blow to the Confederacy. Prior to reading Waugh, I thought Stonewall was just plain crazy. After, I've gained a new respect for this eccentric general.
   
   The Class of 1846 has a section of photos and drawings, as well as a list of the many classmates that are mentioned in the book. This helps to keep the lesser-known characters straight. However, Waugh should have included some maps to help the reader with battle locations. Otherwise, I found this book to be very interesting.



5. I initially heard of this book after reading a review in the Wall Street Journal. I was very impressed with the way Waugh weaved this story together. We bond with the characters as they struggle through their years at West Point. The friendships started in the Academy are then forged on various battlefields in Mexico (a war about which most Americans know next to nothing... including me!). Then, these life-long friends turn into enemies during the Civil War.
   
   I have to admit that when reading Waugh's description of the surrender at Appomattox, I was moved to tears... while deadheading in an airplane full of passengers! I was totally caught up in Waugh's storytelling. Masterful job and a great read.

5 comments about First Seal.

1. If you've read any of Dick Marcinko's books, you owe it to yourself to read Roy Boehm. I've read all of Dick's books. My only regret was that I was into about my third when I "discovered" Boehm thru Dick's writings. Don't make the same mistake. Start with Boehm, then read all of Dick's books. The style is different, as Boehm's is a pretty straight bio.
   I disagree with the reviewer who dismissed this as a book filled with vulgarity and historical mis-information. If you want to read about SEALs, this will give you the perspective of one of the best.



2. This book is incredible. This seal is one of a kind and anyone who does not like this book probably needs to find a different genre to read, b.c it is one of the best out there. Truly a great book to read.



3. Having met Mr. Boehm on a personal level, he is one of the United States greatest heros.



4. Great book, insight into what it took to build the teams and how stupid the bureaucrats and politically minded military officers can be (not a surprise to any veteran).
   
   A must read for those who follow the Navy SEALS exploits through the years.
   
   It is also one source, all such memoirs are best understood in the context of one of many views and opinions.from the dozens of SEAL memoirs I have read, Boehm is revered by real SEAL warriors.
   
   The negative review of this book is obviously someone who served with him but was a bean counter not a warrior.



5. A very interesting story. If you have read Rogue Warrior by Marcinko, then you should follow-up with this book. It provides insight into the mindset, at least in the early days, of the SEAL teams.
   
   Boehm was rough around the edges, to put it mildly, but was still able to get his ideas accepted. The military, as ususal, resisted the changes as they still do today.
   
   Another common element with today, is the resistance from those who have difficulty distinguishing friend from foe; "...do-gooders back in the States sent the fertilizer, along with outboard engines and other supplies to the "poor peasants" of Vietnam. The outboards became "shrimp tails" pushing sampans delivering VC supplies in the Delta. The bags of fertilizer containing sodium nitrate and sodium potassium were turned into explosives."(p. 249)
   
   Boehm was a "rogue" warrior. Amazing man, but clearly one who operated outside the norms of the military. The best parts of this book, in my opinion, were those about the Cuban missile crisis and Boehm's excursion into Cuba. Daring stuff.

5 comments about Witness to Nuremberg.

1. Barbara Schlang's review.....Richard W. Sonnenfeldt's just published book (Witness to Nuremberg) reveals personal conversations with the top Nazi defendants at the Nuremberg trials, shedding a merciless light on their criminality, but it is also a tale of adventure never told before. He was just twenty-two when he became Chief Interpreter for the American prosecution at the War Crimes trials of 1945-46.
   Born into a Jewish family in Germany, he fled to attend school in England in 1938, to escape the Nazi terror. But when the Germans conquered France two years later, his erstwhile hosts interned him as a German national and deported him in a prison ship, that was torpedoed by a German U-boat, but made it to Australia. The British then realized their mistake and ordered him back to England to be freed, but now his boat was diverted to in Bombay, India. Instead of returning to England he managed to go to the United States, all solo, at age seventeen. On arrival in New York he became a media celebrity in April 1941. Two and a half years later he was an American citizen and combat soldier who fought in France, Germany and Austria. He was one of the first to see the concentration camp of Dachau and its prisoners, too stunned amid mountains of corpses to grasp that freedom was theirs.
   
   General "Wild Bill" Donovan, the head of OSS (predecessor to the CIA) who was organizing the American prosecution for the Nuremberg trial then picked up him as his interpreter.
   At Nuremberg, directing a staff of fifty, he produced over 10,000 pages of sworn testimony, interpreting and later himself conducting interrogations of the twenty top surviving Nazis. He had Goering, the No.2 Nazi, acknowledge his signature on the order of July 1941 to organize the holocaust. He extracted from Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz, a detailed statement how three and one half hapless victims were exterminated at Auschwitz, at a rate over 20,000 a day.
   After the verdicts, which punished ten of the defendants by hanging them, he returned to America, served on the team that created color TV and became a noted executive. To celebrate his fiftieth year in business he crossed the Atlantic in his sailboat, also celebrating his 75th birthday.
   He was invited to return to the small German town where he grew up and his reports of interaction with the citizens there are no less interesting than his recollections of Nuremberg. He was then invited to speak at a principal cathedral in Berlin, and at Hitler's erstwhile Nazi headquarters in Nuremberg. Soon he was feted by the German national press and became a sought after personality on German television and radio.
   His book "Witness to Nuremberg" published by Arcade Press, follows his German bestseller "Mehr als ein Leben." I could not put the book down. It is full of many thrilling and some dangerous adventures, but most of all it is a tale of the zest of life and it is all true!



2. During 1945-46, Richard Sonnenfeldt, age 22, was the chief interpreter on the U.S. prosecution team at Nuremberg. In this role, he served U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, the chief U.S. prosecutor, and his interrogation team as the lead interpreter in the pre-indictment interrogations of many imprisoned Nazis, including all 22 who became Nuremberg defendants.
   
   Sonnenfeldt actually was much more than the U.S. prosecution's lead interpreter at Nuremberg. Because of his German and English language skills, his smarts and maturity, and his surprising rapport with and control over many of the prisoners, Sonnenfeldt actually became a de facto senior interrogator. His work and successes as interpreter and interrogator are recorded in the many thousands of pages of interrogation reports that are central parts of the Nuremberg trial and historical record. At the end of the Nuremberg trial year, Justice Jackson saw to it personally that Sonnenfeldt received a military decoration for his work.
   
   But that's actually not the half of it. In outline form, this is Richard Sonnenfeldt's quite amazing life story:
   * born Jewish, son of two physicians, in Gardelegen, a town in north central Germany, in 1923;
   * happy, assimilated boyhood until Nazism and Nuremberg laws change everything, including shutting down his parents' work;
   * getting out of Germany, along with his younger brother, to a boarding school in England;
   * being interned in England as an enemy alien once active war with Germany started in 1940;
   * being shipped with other internees and German POWs from England to Australia;
   * being paroled from Australia to India, and making it on his own there;
   * getting passage from India to the U.S. (His parents, in a separate miracle, had made it from Germany to Sweden and from there to Baltimore);
   * becoming, as his ship docked in New York, a media event because he was an unsupervised boy who had survived all of these "adventures";
   * working, while still a teenager, as an electrician in Baltimore and entering Johns Hopkins night college;
   * being drafted into the U.S. Army, becoming a U.S. citizen, and fighting in Europe as a combat soldier;
   * entering the Dachau concentration camp in April 1945;
   * in May 1945, being called out of a motor pool in Austria, because of his bilingual skills, to serve as General William J. ("Wild Bill") Donovan's OSS interpreter;
   * moving with Donovan into the Justice Jackson/war crimes project that became Nuremberg;
   * serving as the principal and preferred interpreter of each prisoner, including Hermann Goering;
   * playing a significant role in interrogating and studying each of them;
   * being half of the 2-man team that served the October 1945 indictment on each Nuremberg defendant;
   * working for the U.S. prosecution throughout the trial;
   * returning to Baltimore and succeeding as a Johns Hopkins engineering student;
   * becoming a distinguished engineer with RCA, where he was part of the team that invented color television;
   * working on NASA projects;
   * working as an executive at NBC;
   * obtaining patents on numerous inventions;
   * becoming a husband and very proud father;
   * sailing three times across the Atlantic; and
   * never talking much about his past until his grandchildren started to interview him for school projects and papers.
   
   Richard Sonnenfeldt's life is an extraordinary true story, and he has written it modestly and well. His book deserves to reach a very large general audience, and I am confident that any reader, from children through seniors, will find it to be relevant, exciting and inspiring.



3. I bought Witness to Nuremberg after reading the other "Amazon" reviews and I was not disappointed. I could not put the book down! I want to comment on the writing. Sonnenfeldt's story of incredible adventure is told in a most captivating way with flashes of humor and never a boring moment!
   
   There emerges a teen and later, a man who turns adversity to his advantage, who always looks forward. Just 22 at Nuremberg, after a solo trek through five continents, he is the chief interpreter for the American prosecution who becomes a star interrogator to unmask the groveling and miserable personalities of the Nazi defendants. He tells us who ordered the Holocaust and why we did not know its true dimension until eleven months after the war ended. Even more remarkable is his return to Germany, fifty years after the Nuremberg trials, where he became a media celebrity as he related his conversations with the Nazis. This book is a worthy companion to the many books of Holocaust survivors. You must read it.



4. This is an interesting and well-written account of the young man who was the Chief Interpreter at the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis.
   
   But the aforementioned is only half the story, because the author also tells us about his life in Germany both before the Nazis too power and after. His tales of escape from Germany are so amazing and remind me of a children's book I read as a child called "When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit" a fictional account of becoming a Jewish refugee in the 1940's. Who knew that fiction could be beaten by true-life!
   
   I found this book very compelling and a great yarn. Truly, after seeing the author on Charlie Rose I became interested in reading the book. I was not disappointed. I am sure you won't be either.
   
   By the way, his accounts of the Nazis he interviews are very compelling! Truly, as has been said before that evil is so often banal!
   
   When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit



5. I saw Mr. Sonnenfeld interviewed on Charlie Rose last year and had this book on my wish list. I finally got around to ordering it and dived into it the day it arrived. I was disappointed to find that only the first quarter of the book (if even that) dealt with Mr. Sonnenfeld's translating work at the Nuremberg Trials, i.e. "Witness to Nuremberg". The remainder of the book is autobiography, from childhood to the present. Granted, it is an interesting life to read about, but for those seeking a book dedicated to the "Nuremberg experience" you will be disappointed, as I was. I could have gone on reading more about Nuremberg. Nonetheless, it is a well written interesting read.

4 comments about Stay Strong Stay Safe, My Son.

1. This book is more concerned with the writer than the son...should rename the title.



2. I am a Marine Mom who used this book as my bible to help me through a deployment in Iraq. I loved this book and recommend it to any new Marine Mom, Dad, wife. It will help you through a tough time and teach you on what to do in your new world as a Marine/Military Family. Semper Fi. Susan Haggerty, a Proud Marine Mom



3. An awesome book really gives an insight to what a family goes through when their child joins the military. As a wife of a Marine and several deployments I would advise families to read this book as a tool for survival - and also to others so that they can appreciate what it means to have a Marine in the family in war time.



4. I read all the reviews on this book before purchasing it. What an awesome book. Read it in one day, could not put it down. My son is in boot camp in San Diego as I write this. That was my inspiration for buying and reading this book. So far everything that was writen in this book has been true. Just hope my son doesn't have to see as much as this mom's son had to endure.

No comments about U.S. Military History For Dummies (For Dummies (History, Biography & Politics)).

5 comments about Ruff's War: A Navy Nurse on the Frontline in Iraq.

1. I have family members who have served in IRAQ. 2 Army and 1 Marine. This book helped me to understand what they went through. It takes a lot of courage to write about an experience like this. I found myself laughing out loud at parts of the story and sobbing through other parts. Well done!



2. This is a very personal and heart-felt account of one Navy Nurse's experiences with the fast moving situations during the initial phase of the Iraq incursion. Cheryl's willingness to share her professional and personal story is a welcome addition to the history made daily by Navy Nurse Corps officers and corpsmen who go 'In Harms Way' to assist the Marines and other personnel in need of excellence in patient care.



3. I'm planning on entering the Navy Nurse Corps after I graduate from college. I've been searching for books about Navy nurses and found no luck, but when I found Ruff's War I was very excited. The author gets into the life of a hospital corpsman (woman in this case) and then as a Navy nurse anestic. The tours in the Middle East were the most enjoyable for me because I realize I may go to Iraq one day... but at least Ruff is honest about the life style over there. She adapted as best she could without complaining. Her bravery as a nurse goes beyond heroic and I'm glad she wrote the book. I want to do any type of nursing in the military. I believe this is a must read for any nurses who are thinking about nursing in the military or who want to know what the life is of a military nurse.



4. I was not impressed with this book at all. As a hospital corpsman who has served in Iraq I couldn't help but laugh at the complaints of CDR Ruff. We all endured the same situations in Iraq and unfortunately some of us had to be deployed for a lot longer then 122 days. I picked up the book excited to read about someone elses perspective on the war, I was very disappointed to read only about how miserable one person was on her very brief deployment. Iraq is what you make of it, and complaining only makes it worse. Don't get me wrong I have great respect for the patient care but thats where my apprectiation for this book ends.



5. I am doing a senior thesis on women in wartime and was eager to read this book. However, after reading the stories of women trapped on Bataan in WWII and the nurses in Vietnam and Korea I felt that this one fell short. Not that her story isn't a good one, but it was rather trite. She seemed to complain A LOT about the sand, and while that sucks at least she was getting 2-3 nutritionally balanced meals a day whereas in WWII those nurses were starving slowly. I think her tour was too short to Really get a feel for the war, also she was just gassing them and moving on. Not actually performing the surgery. The more I read the more I felt like this was an excuse to get a novel out there. I look forward to reading the memoirs of the soldiers who are still in Iraq and have been for months and months now. Out of All the books I have read, her tour was the shortest, the least bloody, the most safe and she complained more than any of the others. I appreciate that she wants to share what Iraq was like and is proud to be a caregiver... but I didn't like this novel At All.

5 comments about Baptism: A Vietnam Memoir.

1. the best part of this book is its everyman writing. No polished literature just a well written "what I went through" book. A real good read and difficult to put down.



2. This book is not in the same league as books like Nam , 365 Days, Dispatches and other eye witness accounts of the Vietnam War. It's filled with cliche's, especially when describing various actions the author took part in, and his description of some fellow infantrymen as 'cowards', particularly when his accusations are unsubstantiated is shameful. Read it on a long flight if there is nothing else in the airport bookstore, otherwise don't bother.



3. Mr. Gwin did a fine job in expressing himself and explaining to those that didn't serve how the military works. The hurry up and wait the long tedious hours of waiting and the heart throbing miliseconds of tremendous fear. There were times in naming all his fellow warriors it become somewhat confusing as you did not know these people but you understand.Your people remain in your mind as the best and loyalest you ever knew. They are always with you and a week never passes that you do not recall them. A fine book I would reccomend to all.



4. I am actually a student of WWII, so this book (received as a gift) was something different to read. Larry Gwin's book was for me a startling introduction to fighting an often unseen enemy, in a jungle environment horribly alien for the young Americans who found themselves there. Pleasantly avoiding the politics of the war, and instead concentrating on one man's view of the combat, Gwin takes you from his naive first jungle patrols to his combat weary veteran status at the end of his tour. As the casualties mount, and the men around him either die, return wounded or get promoted, Gwin becomes increasingly important to the men around him - a cool experienced head in difficult times.
   
   The language is plain and everyman, allowing the reader to move quickly through the book from one engegement to another.
   
   A thoroughly enjoyable memoir, and an eye-opener to the horrors of air-cavalry combat in South East Asia.



5. After spending a year in this area of the world, it brings it all back. The author brings the fear, the stupidity, quietly to the table and makes you shake like you did when it happened to you. I thoughly enjoyed the book and its delivery. It should be a MUST read for all contemplating taking up arms and wanting to do battle. It must have been hard for the author to rehash the experiences he had. Buy it and pass it on.

5 comments about Bootprints.

1. As I sat and read this book my mind began to flood with images I have only seen in movies. But, these images were of my grandfather. The man telling the stories is the man I sit looking at and laughing with over Sunday dinner. While I read the pages, there were times I was laughing to myself and times I couldn't stop crying. My grandfather is a hero in every meaning of the word.
   Ever since I can remember my grandfather sat in his chair reading historic novels about war. And now, I sit and read his stories and accounts of what happen to and around him in World War II. I thank him for writting this book, I know it wasn't easy remembering and telling all of the horrible times he went through. I have always had great respect for my grandfather but, now after reading and understanding how he lived and made it through the war. My respect has grown a hundred times.
   I am proud of him to have the courage to walk though the war again in his memories and share them with us. I will keep this book close to my heart just as I do with the man that wrote it.



2. What a wonderful book! Hobert Winebrenner takes you to the heart of the foot soldier of WWII in a way no one else has. You feel the intensity of battle, along with personal feelings of anger, despair, fatigue,; just a myriad of emotions. He is one of the 'unsung heroes' of the war. His detail to things such as inadequate clothing, poor equipment, etc. is superb. This book should be considered among the best written about WWII.
   It's an honor to place this among all my books. Don't miss this one!



3. Bootprints by Hobert Winebrenner and Michael McCoy
   
   Bootprints is Hobert Winebrenner's story (Michael McCoy wrote for him) of his experience in WWII. In telling his tale, Mr. Winebrenner opens before the war and tells about being drafted into the army. Interestingly, once he'd completed training he was asked to train the next batch with the promise that he'd go to officer training school. Fortunately (or not), Mr. Winebrenner was given the option to become a sergeant at Ft. Sill working with forward observers and training them on basic infantry weapons. After doing this for awhile, Mr. Winebrenner was assigned to the M Company (the heavy weapons company), 358th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division and sent to Europe.
   
   After spending short period of time training in England, the 90th ID was to fight in the hedgerows of Normandy. It is in this time period that Mr. Winebrenner's tale picks the pace that he follows throughout the book, chapters about a series of battles, with sub-chapter that tell of particular parts of the battle (interestingly, more often than not Mr.Winebrenner tells the exploits of others). Chapters include the battles thru the hedgerows of Normandy, recovering from wounds, Operation Cobra and the race across France, breaking into Germany, the Battle of the Bulge, and the battle for Germany. To close things out, Mr. Winebrenner closed out by telling us about the men he served with and what happened to them after the war.
   
   Reading this book I was torn many times between four and five stars. By the end of the book it had become a strong 4.5 star book. If there are weakness's in it, they're very few and far between. The strengths are many; Mr. Winebrenner paying tribute to his mates, many of the stories are exciting, and the details are exact. Because the strength's, I have to give this book the nod to 5 stars! Mr. Winebrenner, thank you for your service!



4. Hobert Winebrenner has a way of telling about his WW2 service. Although many suffered the same hardships as Winebrenner, only few are able to put it in words as he does. We should be grateful he wrote it down for all of us to read and remember.



5. Without reservation, "Bootprints: An Infantryman's Walk Through World War II" is one of the best memoirs out there by a front-line soldier! Co-authored by Hobert Winebrenner [former Staff Sgt. in the 3rd Bat., 358th Inf., 90th Div.] and Michael McCoy [a much younger freelance writer and publisher], "Bootprints" takes the reader on a journey from the entrance of Winebrenner into the US Army as a 'citizen soldier' in 1942 to post-V-day occupation duty, and beyond (ca. 2005 when the book was published). In short, "Bootprints" is a gripping story of humanity and sacrifice during a time when civilization seemed doomed by the forces of tyranny and fascism.
   
   The military history literature is crowded with memoirs of WWII veterans from all echelons of service, but very few are truly worthy of the highest praise. Still fewer memoirs present war from the perspective of the frontline soldier and are capable of emoting considerable shock, empathy, anger and awe from a 21st Century reader. "My Brother, Hail and Farewell!" by Edward J. Zebrowski (another former US Army footslogger) and "Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS" by Johann Voss (obviously a story told from 'the other side of the hill') represent two examples of books that fit this latter category of WWII memoirs. Add to these two books "Bootprints" and one has a trilogy of outstanding memoirs from the foxholes, fields and rumble of the Second World War. It is unfortunate but true that none of these books is a bestseller in the traditional sense. Each of these three books is fast-paced and full of emotion; each tells a unique story worth reading; and none glorifies war or is self-aggrandizing. So why aren't they bestsellers? Simply put each is published by a small publishing house and their importance as historical literature is spread not by big money marketing as much as by grass-roots word of mouth. So from this reviewer to each of you who reads this, pick up a copy of each of these books!
   
   Clocking in at 283 pages (seventeen chapters and an Afterward), "Bootprints" exudes character and emotion that engages the visceral senses of the reader start to finish. In fact, the reader feels as if they are alongside Winebrenner as the 358th lands on the Normandy beaches as part of second wave of grunts of the First US Army; then participates in the breakout from the bocage and subsequent headlong rush across France to the German border as part of Patton's Third US Army; to breach of the West Wall and retrograde movement back to the Bulge; and the bounce of the Rhine and final drive to V-E Day and beyond. Needless to say "Bootprints" is highly readable prose and at no point should a reader feel 'tired' with the book. This is a 'sit down and read it cover-to-cover' book. Do yourself a favor, find a copy of "Bootprints" and enrich your life with a story from a man who paints a self-effacing picture and gives all of his buddies from the war full credit for successes. While everything written in "Bootprints" suggests Mr. Winebrenner would humbly and firmly disagree, this reviewer feels that, based in what is written in "Bootprints", Winebrenner could have been a prototype man on which the ideal of "The Greatest Generation" was based.
   
   "Bootprints" is a 5 star book that should be read by adults who wish to gain perspective on life, freedom, happiness and humility!!

5 comments about When Hell Was in Session.

1. Here is yet another first rate tale of an American P.O.W. in North Vietnam. The prisoner is Navy pilot Jeremiah Denton, who was based on the carrier "Independence". His A6 aircraft was shot down in July of 1965. Denton spent the following 8+ years in captivity until the general release in the Spring of 1973. The title refers to the torture "sessions" Denton and his colleagues suffered at the hands of their captors. This reviewer has read several P.O.W. accounts. While all are similar in that they demonstrate great bravery and perseverance in brutal situations, each is also unique: WHWS focuses on the military command structures that existed in prison despite rigorous Vietnamese efforts to stymie them. The senior military commanders/prisoners like Admiral Stockdale, Colonel Robinson Risner and others obviously possessed a tremendous pride and strove to imbue that pride in all P.O.Ws. Denton pulls few punches. It startled this observer to learn that not all prisoners always agreed with the "program" and not all P.O.W.s were the best of buddies behind the walls. The author stresses the ubiquitous "tap code" that allowed communication within the prison walls. There is even an introductory chart to tapping! Denton glosses over his 4(!) years in solitary and concentrates on the other 4 years he was free to "mingle" with his fellow Americans. There is a noticeable lack of venom and bitterness toward the North Vietnamese in the text. The reader may suspect that Denton has come to terms with his years in the Hanoi Hilton and other garden spots of the North. WHWS is rated 5 stars with only 2 minor demerits: One is the absence of ANY maps. Most war books gloss over maps but surely the publisher could have inserted one! The other weakness is the appallingly small type in my paperback edition. Those interested in Admiral/Senator Denton's story may wish to verify before purchase how the many available editions of WHWS handle these issues.



2. Mr. Denton and his fellow POWs are the very definition of the the word hero. In this book, Mr. Denton tells the story of his 7+ years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam with grace, dignity, and courage. His great love for the United States and his pride in being an American are evident again and again. He endured unspeakable agony and conditions so horrible they are beyond my comprehension, yet he never wavered in his love for his country, his family, and his God. I am humbled and overwhelmed at the sacrifices this man (and many others) have made on my behalf. The despicable act of the California state "leadership" and Fabian Nunez in barring Mr. Denton from speaking before a California Assembly on Independence Day 2004 is reprehensible and disgusting.
   
   Thank you, Mr. Denton! You deserve our undying gratitude.



3. This is one of the best books I've ever read. I have so much respect for Denton and the prisoners of war he was held in captivity with for over 7 years. It amazes me that anyone could survive within that environment. These soldiers helped each other survive under great distress -- even while many of them were in solitary confinement and their story is amazing. This book isn't just a recap of Denton's experience; it contains deeply thoughtful content throughout the book about love, patriotism, encouragement and more. There is much wisdom contained in this book. I learned a lot and highly recommend it to others.



4. I was impressed by Denton's horrifying experiences as a POW in Hanoi for 7+ years. He accurately describes the torture he and his fellow POWs experienced for several years before the tides of war slowly changed in the early '70s which lessened the tortures they were receiving. You, as a reader, are right there with Denton in his cell as he learns the tap codes and other methods of communication; how he is horribly punished and tortured for communicating and not cooperating. One has to ask oneself, "How would I have handled this situation?" To be locked in Alcatraz for several years in solitary confinement and wondering how to cope with it...what would YOU do?
   
   I had seen the film of Denton's return in the movie, Dear America: Letters Home from Viet Nam and never really understood his horrible times in the Hanoi Hilton. Now, I do. A treasure of a read to add to any library. The only drawback...not enough maps to put his location in perspective.
   
   Nevertheless, fascinating. In the words of his captors, "Shut mouth. Read book!"



5. This book is intensely disturbing, gut-wrenching and horrific... That being said, it may sound cliche, but Jeremiah Denton provides an entirely new insight into what our servicemen have endured for our country -- what he went through will hit you hard. I dare anyone to read this book and not come away a changed person in some way...

5 comments about George C. Marshall: The Rubrics of Leadership.

1. Written by retired U.S. Army Reserve LTC and leadership teacher Stewart W. Husted, George C. Marshall: Rubrics of Leadership is not an ordinary biography of World War II legend George C. Marshall; the focus here is specifically upon the factor within him that made him a unique, exceptional, and supremely competent leader. Featuring a foreword by General J.H. Binford Peay, III and a prologue by General Colin Powell, George C. Marshall: Rubrics of Leadership examines Marshall's talent for managing and planning the impossible, how he built a winning team and maintained morale, transformed crisis into success, engaged in conflict resolution and negotiation, devoted his life to selfless service, and much more. An eye-opening portrait of Marshall's strengths and positive qualities, and especially his personal exemplification of the best in human leadership.



2. Originally I picked this book up to assign to my ROTC students in my military history courses. However, the writing is so choppy and there are almost no transitions from one topic to the next that if one of my students handed in work like this I would make them an appointment at the writing lab. Anecdotes are left hanging with no conclusion and at times they are forced into the chapters with no apparent connections. This is not entirely the author's fault, his reviewers and editors either failed to point out these shortcomings or over looked them. Either way it makes this book impossible to read and take serious. To be fair I did only read half the book because I just could not force myself to go on.



3. Well written but tends to jump around Marshall's career to illustrate points rather than build chronologically.



4. As a now retired business and appointed governmental execitive (and a former junior officer in the U. S. Army)I believe the Rubrics of Leadership to be one of the finest, best books on the subject of leadership of the many I have read over my career. The historical perspective in which the book reflects the life of General Marshall guides the reader through his learning evolution as moves into leadership positions with greater and greater responsibilities in the military, as Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense. The rubrics at the end of each chapter provide the reader with well writen leadership "rubrics" refective of the main points in the historical naritive. A good read and lessons that will enhance anyones leadership skills.
   
   I have donated copies to local college ROTC PMS and to my two sons who are senior leaders in their business affiliations.



5. A great book for business leaders who want to apply the successful aspects of military leadership.