I really, really enjoyed his one on Guadalcanal.Originally Posted by Medusa
Agree with you, this later one, while good, isn't up to the same level.
cc
I really, really enjoyed his one on Guadalcanal.
Agree with you, this later one, while good, isn't up to the same level.
cc
While I enjoyed and was humbled by his book on the Leyte Gulf, I felt it was a bit too meandering in its presentation which could have been tightened up some.
That said, it was a worthwhile and important read as part of our history.
There's nothing civil about this war.
While we are on the topic of WW2 US Navy; in case it hasn't been brought up (have not read all of this thread)
Borneman's The Admirals was an excellent read.
https://www.amazon.com/Admirals-Nimi...s%2C149&sr=8-1
Barracoon
This was a tough read. Zora Hurston interviewed Cudjo Lewis, one of the last surviving slaves who had been sold into slavery in Africa. Hurston wrote Lewis's responses in the dialect that he spoke. If you can get past that, there are a lot of things that Lewis said that don't comport with the oft-told narrative of the slave trade and the aftermath of the liberation of the slaves.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
Marcus Wynn just released a new one.
I wanted to know more about this time and place in history, and this book accomplished that. That’s about the best thing I can say about it. Also, the audiobook was narrated by the author, and his repeated pronunciation of “cavalry” as “Calvary” was exasperating. Texas history by a Texas booster is what you get here.
Just finished this last one while I was on a surprise 82nd ABN deployment to Iraq in the wake of the embassy crisis on New Year’s eve. Provided great context for the current state of affairs regarding US/Iran relations. Goes in depth into the ‘53 coup in Iran and how that set the stage for the ‘79 Islamic revolution.
Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior (Hoover Essays) Paperback – December 1, 1993
by James B. Stockdale (Author)
"Vice Admiral James Stockdale, a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, served in the navy from 1947 to 1979, beginning as a test pilot and instructor at Patuxent River, Maryland, and spending two years as a graduate student at Stanford University. He became a fighter pilot and was shot down on his second combat tour over North Vietnam, becoming a prisoner of war for eight years, four in solitary confinement. The highest-ranking naval officer held during the Vietnam War, he was tortured fifteen times and put in leg irons for two years.
When physical disability from combat wounds brought about Jim Stockdale's early retirement from military life, he had the distinction of being the only three-star officer in the history of the navy to wear both aviator wings and the Congressional Medal of Honor. His writings have been many and varied, but all converge on the central theme of how man can rise with dignity to prevail in the face of adversity"
32 page essay on the writings of Epictetus (stoic philosophy) and how Stockdale applied it to his experiences as a POW. Mental discipline > external circumstances.
I got this from the local public library but after reading it I'll buy a copy for my personal library. Highly recommend.
Finished this today and with it, all four books in the series.
Bittersweet, elegiac, majestic. IMO McMurtry has exceptional and uncommon insight into his female characters especially, as well as the men. I loved these books and they will stay with me a long time. I will miss these people.
Finished this just now. It’s still a popular library book with a long wait list. It has earned its place in the study of warfare, to be sure, especially the study of WW1, but the nationalistic clap trap in the end turns the stomach when one sees the fruits of such attitudes over the last 100 years and more.
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