Military Books

I really enjoyed this book. I picked it up for a school project, and didn't set it down until I was reading the epilogue. It is fabulously written, and very easy to relate to.

This book by Eva Schloss is totally amazing. Not only have I read the book more than once I have actually met Eva Schloss herself!! We managed to meet her because my year six teacher knows her and managed to arrange a meeting for all of the year six's to meet her. She read bits of her book to us and we were shocked and dismayed by the state the Nazis treated these people. She showed us her tattoo, and said that you could only just see it because the person who marked her done it lightly because her mother had begged them to do it lightly. I also got her book and she signed. I was very pleased.
This book shows the horrors of World War II and what it was like it Auschwitz-Birkenau.

I also teach an extensive unit on the Holocaust and Anne Frank. I am always on the look out for survivor stories for teens. This book certainly makes the cut. It is easy-to-read yet does relate the horrors of her experience in the camps. Her relationship to her mother and others in the camps shows the definite role companionship played in survival.

Eva's relationship to Anne Frank is simply a plus for the book. To have lived so close to Anne and even played in her house with her cat makes Anne become even more alive. Eva's relationship with her brother parallels Anne's relationship to Margot. Interestingly, Heinz and Margot seems to have similar personalities as do Anne and Eva. ...Her courage to speak about this terrrible time in history is a reminder to us all to remember what happened and those who are no longer with us and have no one to remember them.

Eva's Story is another powerful tale coming to us from the Holocaust. Eva Schloss was the step sister of Anne Frank (her mother married Anne Franks father after the war). Her story parallels the story of Anne Frank in many ways: both were young girls in Amsterdam, both went into hidding, both were betrayed, and both were transported east to Auschwitz. The only difference is that Eva Schloss somehow survived. If one wonders what would have happened to Anne Frank if only she had lived, the answer is in Eva's Story. The book is powerful, well written, and easy to read. It includes 16 pages of photographs as well as comments marking the major events of the war. The last pages of the book carry her story up to 1984. The book is another powerful contribution to history and survival.

Eva's Story is another powerful tale coming to us from the Holocaust. Eva Schloss was the step sister of Anne Frank (her mother married Anne Franks father after the war). Her story parallels the story of Anne Frank in many ways: both were young girls in Amsterdam, both went into hidding, both were betrayed, and both were transported east to Auschwitz. The only difference is that Eva Schloss somehow survived. If one wonders what would have happened to Anne Frank if only she had lived, the answer is in Eva's Story. The book is powerful, well written, and easy to read. It includes 16 pages of photographs as well as comments marking the major events of the war. The last pages of the book carry her story up to 1984. The book is another powerful contribution to history and survival.

I bought this book when it first came out in hard cover. I looked forward to reading it, but was stunned by the very first sentence:

"Columbus sailed due east from the Canary Islands in hopes of reaching Japan." Was he headed to Morocco to begin an overland trek? I think the author meant the sentence to read: "Columbus sailed for the East by heading due west from the Canary Islands in hopes of reaching Japan." Or something like that. This kind of problem right at the start lowers one's confidence in the rest of the book. That this error remains in the paperback version is even more troubling. It is such an obvious error that I find myself wondering if I am missing something. However, every time I check the map, there is a great deal of land east of the Canaries and Japan, and Hispaniola is definitely to the west (West Indies and all that.)

However, the rest of the book is pretty decent. There are lots of good source documents that provide very short selections. The author has gone for quantity versus quality. To know any of these topics seriously, you will have to go much beyond the couple of pages provided on it in this book. This would be a good way to find topics that are of interest to you, however.

It covers everything from Columbus, the founding, the expansion west, the Mormon Exodus, the Civil War, the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, the World Wars, Kennedy's assassination, a very strange way of presenting Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech through by providing an excerpt from James Reston's news article, Vietnam, the moon landing, through AIDS and email. There is a lot more material than I can list here, but you get the drift.

This can be a useful book to read and discuss an excerpt at a time with your children and to help clarify their geographic orientation about East and West.

Reading this book was a treat. Reading first-hand accounts of incidents will give you a picture of how things really were. Notice the chapter on "A Mob Confronts A Stamp Collector". This made me feel like I was seeing exactly what happened. The book can be read from any chapter all of which are independent of one another. One caveat. Make sure you have a weekend to spare because once you get into the text it's goodbye everything else. Excellent history.

I had the unique opportunity to meet Mr. Colbert while working at a TV show. Much like himself, the book is incredibly insiteful into many of the events that shaped this great land. As a New Yorker, I especially enjoyed the description of a late 19th century deli, you could taste the Corned beef!!! When you finish this book you will see a view of American history that the text books you used in school never tried to show. Only Mr. Colbert brings together the first-hand accounts of the Challenger disaster and Curt Flood's personal battles as well as the thoughts of a witness to President Lincoln slipping away after the shooting in Fords theater. I highly recomend this book to all Americans and I (like Charles Kuralt) have kept it and referenced it in many an undertaking. Keep up the good work David, and I made sure that the cameras were kind to you.

What I loved about this particular book is that there isn't a historian in sight - nobody is writing it from the subjective slant of 50 (or 500) years' time - the accounts presented are from the diaries, letters and articles written by the people who actually took part in the events - a person on Columbus' crew, John Adams, the seconds at the Burr/Hamilton duel, etc. Spanning the time from Columbus through Bill Gates and email, this is a sprawling volume, split into short essays that are easy to read and not overwhelming on the eye. What it does best is interest you in a story so that you want to investigate further by reading book-length discussions. Of particular interest were the two wildly diverging viewpoints on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, and how not all who heard it were enthralled at the time. Very clever use of the form.

In addition to being a great collection of primary sources, this book is also incredibly entertaining. Only read this book if you want full absorption. The book would be better if the passages were longer, though!

I bought and read the book when it first came out, and I bought a second so I can loan it to others to read and not worry about my first book getting lost. Besides the Donnellys, some of the people and events in the book were apart of our life as well. Very well written!

I just found out about Michael's death through the Gulflink website. My sympathy goes out to his family. His story, with the help of his sister Denise, will be with us all always. He could have chose to sit back and just kept his disease and facts to himself, but he chose to share it with all in the hopes it might make a difference to someone. What a legacy to leave. And thanks Michael, for helping my family live through our anger we had at my brother's death, and dealing with Gulf War illness. My prayers are with your family....
Kelly Seibert
Hillsborough, NC

In this story there is a message for millions of Americans. In this story the reader will learn about the "wheels of justice."

I obtained a tape of this book from the library of the blind , on tape.
I was fascinated with the whole process of his student days as well as the way they worked in the present time illness.
My heart goes out to him and his family and ALL other Soldiers who became ill with no apparent cause after the war.
I would like to know what his present status is, and would like to help in any way that is possible.
In thinking that our present war situation probably is as tentative, to hold this VITAL information back from those who serve makes a mockery of the Ideals our Country was founded on.
I used to participate in Living History, and the good thing about that is that we seem to LEARN from the past.
War does NOT change minds or hearts.
I would hope and pray that this present generation does not have to pay the price of this brave Soldier, Officer, and Gentleman.

I first came across the book in the fall of '99. It was at a critical time in my air force career. Soon, the mandate to submit to the anthrax vaccine would require a decision that would obviously affect the rest of my life. Take a vaccine that has been proven to cause terrible reactions and has been whispered to be a root cause of Gulf War Illness or refuse and be subject to military justice and the end of my career.

In my squadron, the most asked question to management was "If we become ill following the vaccine, will the Air Force take care of us?" As I saw in this book, the answer to the question is NO.

As pilots, our most treasured asset is our health. Without it, we can no longer perform the mission that we love. The manner in which Michael and Denise describe the physical and mental anguish he endured was truly overwhelming. I could imagine myself in his position and the way I would react; how I would feel.

In my months of research, this book proved to be one of the many determining factors in my decsion. When I talked to former commanders who reminded me of their experiences with Agent Orange or when I spoke with members at my own base that had testified to Congress about their illnesses following the anthrax vaccine, in the back of my mind was Michael Donnelly.

I ultimately made my decision to resign in lieu of taking the vaccine which has led to the end of my aviation career. The only salvation I have is the knowledge that I will never need to worry about unexplained illness in the future.

My most heartfelt sympathy and gratitude go out to Michael and Denise's families. Michael's story is one that I will never forget. Thank you for helping me make my decision.

A wonderful book from a man that knows, that has been there, and is still there watching the people of Bikini cope and recover from the terrible atomic/nuclear bomb blasts. He has the facts of history, the insight into how it affected the island people, all combined with personal stories and the local culture and legends. I've lived in Micronesia for about twelve years and learned so much new about the Republic of the Marshall Islands. If one has an interest about how our country deals with other peoples, this book will give an idea about how sometimes we play the international game. Very nice work, with facts and figures. I liked it. Buy it!

The book is fine but you sent it to my cousin in Los Angeles and I haven't received it from him yet! I had previously sent him a book ordered through Amazon. I am sure you will think this is my fault, but I do not agree. I said to send it to the same address as the card holder who is me. I give Amazon an F for this one. Jack Derby

It is generally accepted that the dropping of two Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought WW2 to and end. Had the Japanese not surrendered, however, there was no third bomb to be dropped. Whilst the explosions happened just as they were supposed to happen, this new dreadful science was very new and, in a post war-torn world had to be tested and refined. No western power, however, was prepared to have such weaponry tested anywhere near their own country - not even within range of distant fall-out.

For this reason, one of the world's remotest islands in the southern Pacific was eventually chosen. In the summer of 1946 the United States detonated two 21 kiloton bombs code-named Able and Baker. These were the fourth and fifth such bombs ever exploded. Another bomb was also set to be detonated but this was cancelled after the fallout from Baker created far more radiological contamination than had been expected.

In order to conduct such tests, the United States had, in the first instance, to forcibly remove the indigenous population of the Bikini Islands. How powerful is one nation that it is able (apparently quite legally) to remove another nation from it's land so that it can practise with it's big bombs.

This book is the story of those Bikini Islanders and their life-long struggle to regain their homeland. Yes, many have now come home, but it will be a long time before they can even hope to resume a traditional existence. It is more likely that that will never happen.

The Bikini islanders were removed from their homes "for the good of mankind," personally, I think this book should be read for the same reason.

NM

This book was an eye opener. It makes you wonder why this event that happened so many years ago in the middle of the Pacific has been buried for so long. This is not a cut and dry history, this book is a very readable journey through a culture that is unique. The author lets us know who he is, so it enables the reader to understand the person who is doing the interviews. That was a nice and unexpected touch. I found the book to be thought provoking and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in studying the history of the Pacific.

I found my teenaged daughter reading this book one day, so when she was finished I picked it up...

This is a story so worth reading. The author's life at first seemed hopelessly entangled with his subject's to a point that I thought the book would eventually read like a one-sided diatribe. I was very, very pleased with how he presented the Bikinian's story, however, and would highly recommend this small but important piece of Pacific history to anyone who wants to know how an indigenous people can be so horribly abused by a super power.

Astounding material.

I had the honor and pleasure of serving with Alex Lee when he was the Battalion Commander of 3/1 during the 1970's. I was greatly impressed and positively influenced by him then. It was only recently that I learned of this book and had an opportunity to read it. Colonel Lee's account of the Vietnam war as he and his Recon Marines experienced it is vivid and profound. Perhaps most enlightening were the 'politics' and bureaucracies he was continually faced with from above while trying to execute his unit's mission. Alex Lee was unquestionably a Marine's Marine, and I would highly recommend this book for anyone desiring an inside view of Marine Corps recon operations in a volatile and ever-changing combat setting.

I bought this book from Amazon, my favorite cyberspace mall! Alex Lee gives a good accounting on what it takes to accomplish objectives despite obstacles that are inherent in the command and control structure of the military organization. It's been that way since Caesar took on the Senate and lost. As Lee describes it, he and the 3rd Force Recon prevailed through the hardship and agony of a jungle war by carrying on the tradition of "The Old Breed." This should be one of the books for junior officers to read to inspire them on what it takes to adapt and overcome. Solid historical record of one period of time in I Corps with the 3rd Force Recon, United States Marine Corps. Semper Fi.

This is a great book by Alex Lee that describes his experiences commanding a Marine recon company near the DMZ in 1969-70.
He does and excellent job describing the perils of even getting to his assigned position at the time, as different personnel shops wanted to Shanghi him for other duties. Only appeals to the commanding general in his area got him to his post.
His group was an outcast outfit that had to scrounge for equipment. He had fights with rear echelon people to get adequate gear and air support. He had one Lt. that turned out to be a coward and almost caused many other casualties. He was gotten rid of, and later, back in the states found that the Lt was about to be made Cpt. He described what had happened, and the person resigned from the Marines.
He had 6 person teams inserted to do recon work. Some headquarters people thought that 8 person teams were better, ignoring the fact that only 6 can be put on one chopper.
He was given direct orders to put in 8 man teams, and just ignored them.
A Col Patton even said his men were liars when they reported trucks at Ashau. Later, truck parts were taken from Ashau and presented to the Col's assistant, as Col Patton was not there.

Maj Lee had to scrounge supplies from the Army, Air Force, Navy, the CIA, and even rations from the Australians.
The bravery of the helicopter pilots is described in some detail. He rode with one pilot on a mission that got the pilot the Navy Cross. Maj Lee got no award, even though he was right behind the pilot the whole time.
Maj Lee went on several missions himself, so has detail memory of those events. A tiger was around on one of their patrols, keeping everyone awake.
The lack of security of B-52 missions was discussed. Many were wasted as the North Vietnamese were told days in advance that a target was to be bombed, so they got out of the way.
Effects of B-52 raids is described, as his unit went to see the after affects of the bombings in his sector. When they did hit something, the carnage was great.
The book describes a group of very brave men, doing a very difficult mission. They knew that the U.S. was pulling out of Vietnam, and could have coasted, but did not.

Sir, Your accounting of the abilities of our teams brought back so many memories. The price we had to pay is still so unknown to so many. I carry the memory of my friend and teammate Sgt.A.Garcia with me every day. I am proud that I had the honor to serve under you and with men like him. For those who fought for it freedom has a taste the protected will never know.
Doc Parrish 3rd. Force Recon 1969-1970

I believe this is a very balanced work, and sets forth a compelling remembrance of the good and great men who served under unspeakable conditions, and gained little by it for themselves but silent honor.

I bought and read this book, after returning from the funeral of my friend's father, Lt. Col. Buck Coffman, this past weekend (1 Sept., '01). Col. Coffman was a fascinating, remarkable man who served his nation well. Sometimes, perhaps, better than it's people deserved. I knew him apart from his role as warrior (though ALWAYS a Marine), and he set a standard to aspire to, as a man and as Man. He was loved truly by his family and friends.

At his memorial service, I had the privelege of meeting the author, Col. Lee, as well as Maj. Norton, Col. Morris, Gen. Gray and several of the other courageous men who served with them in the Marines; men written of in this book. Each and every one of them impressed me with their intelligence, decency and honor, and for the love they so obviously share for one another.

I am now starting on Doc Norton's Force Recon Diaries. I am very grateful to the men who write these books. We should always remember that giants DO walk the earth. I'm honored to have spent a time, even but a moment, in the shadow of one.

A harrowing tale of life in Occupied France that reveals, to a greater extent than anything else I've read, the experience of life Behind Enemy Lines. Some of what the author describes is so horrific that it's hard to believe he wasn't writing a movie script. But his matter-of-fact tone and attention to detail leaves no doubt as to his veracity which makes the book all the more sobering.

In spite of its grim tale, this book is a GREAT read, especially his triumphant description of the liberation of his home town of Dijon. My cynical and "hip" generation no longer ascribes great heroism to the Allied side of World War II, focusing instead on the self-interested motives of many of those nations. But DeAnfrasio shows what it meant to him, his family and his fellow Dijonnais to have the Americans and Free French forces march into their city after four years of Nazi tyranny. That moment is so powerful, after having vicariouosly experienced his suffering beforehand, that I almost started shouting for joy on the beach!

This book is a timely reminder that "tyranny" and "liberty" are not merely empty phrases used by venal politicians only interested in furthering their own careers. DeAnfrasio shows their real meaning by emphasizing what extraordinary courage it took to live an ordinary life during the darkest days of WWII. We Americans need to be reminded of this every once in awhile, since we haven't experienced occupation since the War of 1812.

I recommend this book HIGHLY!!

The wonderful endurance and courage of a young boy is both exciting and inspiring reading.

Great book! A very descriptive story about a boy growing up during the war and facing hard times. I finished the book in two days and could not put it down. This book would make an excellent movie; It's a story that needs to be told. It's definitly a story for posterity.

This autobiography is an extraordinary account of a young boy during the Nazi Occupation of France. Roger de Anfrasio captivates the reader and makes us proud that there are men like him who stood up proudly with immense courage against the Nazi occupier. I am happy to know Roger de Anfrasio and his son Dominique they both have my admiration. "A Garden of Thorns is a must" and particulalry for young people.

I have read many World War Two books...but none have been asinteresting as, "A Garden of Thorns." Having my father meetand associate with Mr. de Anfrasio, it made me like the book evenmore. It is touching and has a way of capturing you mind and it makesyou think a little more about life and what we take for granted.

Within a matter of days of the conclusion of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 -- July 3, 1863) photographers were on the scene to capture the Battlefield and its participants. These photographers included Alexander Gardner of Philadelphia, who began photographing the Battlefield on July 7 or 8, 1863, the famous Matthew Brady, the Tyson Brothers, portrait photographers who lived in Gettysburg, and others. Their photographs were arranged in series and sold in various formats to the American public which was eager to learn about the War.

Over the years, the photographs have been misidentified, placed out of sequence and, in some instances, forgotten. William Frassinto's "Gettyburg, a Journey in Time" (1975) was among the first books to recapture this photographic legacy, to study the scenes and the makers of the pictures, and to organize his material in a book for the modern reader. Mr. Frassinto has since published a number of sequels to this inital book as well as a study of photographers at Antietam.

The book consists of approximately 100 photographs, most of them dating from shortly after the battle in July, 1863 through 1866. There are also a number of photographs that Mr. Frassinto himself took dating from the late 1960s and early 1970s. These photos allow the reader to compare the original scenes with the current state of the Gettysburg Battlefield.

After a short discussion giving biographical information on the photographers and information on their visits to Gettysburg, Mr Frassanito presents and discusses the photographs themselves. His presentation is arranged in six groups: 1. the first day's battle (north and west of the town); 2. Cemetery Hill; 3. Culp's Hill; 4. Cemetery Ridge; 5. Little Round Top and Devil's Den; 6. the Rose Farm.

Mr. Frassanito introduces each group with a short description of the significance of the site. He then discusses each picture in detail, explaining when it was taken, what it shows, and its importance to the Battle of Gettysburg. The photographs are themselves eloquent and compelling and their effect is heightened by Mr Frassanito's commentary. I came away understanding the first day's battle and the fighting on Culp's Hill and Cemetry Hill on the Union right much better as a result of Mr. Frassanito's account and the photographs.

The most famous photographs in the book are probably those of the dead soldiers (in a few cases the photos were taken of live soldiers posing as dead for the photographers) on Little Round Top and on the Rose Farm. Most of these photographs were taken by Gardner because the dead were removed from the Battlefield relatively quickly after the battle. Gardner moved from south to north on the Battlefield and captured the few instances in which the dead had not yet been buried. The photos capture the terrible costs of the Battle.

Many of Gardner's photos have been erroneously identified over the years as originating from the first day's fighting on McPherson's ridge. Mr. Frassanito explains how he determined these photographs in fact originated on Rose Hill, on the southern part of the Battlefield. (The first day fighting was on the northenmost part of the Battlefield.) Yet misidentifications die hard. I have seen books which postdate Mr. Frassanito's which continue to attribute these photographs to the first day of the fighting.

The photos and the text in this book will give the reader a good sense of the tragedy and cost of this seminal battle. Mr. Frassanito's book remains essential for those interested in seriously exploring the Battle of Gettysburg.

Most history books, especially those written for the public, seek to make the events come alive in some way. The author did that in a completely unique way. Take the old photos and find the positions from which they were taken and show what the areas look like today. You can use these to walk to the very point where some photo was taken, and it really brings that history home. Also, the author works those photos into a discourse on the battle, while using his photoanalysis skills to shed new light on the contents of the photos. All in all, this book is endlessly fascinating, well worth the money, and deserving of a wider audience than it probably has.

If you visit the Devil's Den portion of the Gettysburg battlefield, there's a sign describing how a famous photograph came to be. The photographer claimed that it was a picture of a confederate sharpshooter who had been mortally wounded during the battle. The soldier evidently made himself comfortable before he died. The sign explains that the photograph was staged, the soldier was not a sharpshooter and that the body was dragged some 40 yards to the spot. The sign credits William Frassanito with having made this discovery after careful study of Gettysburg photographs.

This is the book that describes this and many other pictures of the Gettysburg battlefield, many depicting dead men or horses. Many of these photographs are famous in the sense that they are used frequently in civil books and now in documentaries. Frassanito demonstrates convincingly that several of these frequently used photographs are mislabeled, generally to make the photographs seem more interesting and therefore more saleable.

Frassanito was an intelligence analyst during the Vietnam War and won the Bronze Star. I feel that only from a lot of practice analyzing photographs during the war could he have developed the skill needed to make the many clever observations in this book. Clearly, his wartime experiences left their mark in other ways as well. He frequently loses the detached air of a historian and reminds his readers of the horrors the subjects of the photographs must have experience. For example, he describes how rapid decomposition bloated the bodies immediately after the battle and how in some instances forced open the corpses' trouser buttons. "Thus the trousers on the soldier seen here were most likely open before his body was dragged to this position, the dragging action forcing them down below his hips. Here then was a young man who, only three days prior... full of life...But by July 5... was just another nameless corpse, his faced pressed against the earth, his exposed buttocks, once carefully hidden in accordance with the vanities of civilization, a sign of war's ultimate glory."

This book has the potential to make you feel like an expert on the battle of Gettysburg. If you read this book, you will recognize misidentified photographs in even some of the best documentaries. Further, you will be able to find the locations most of these photos with the aid of this book, even those in less frequently visited portions of the battlefield.

I would recommend all of Frassanito's books to Civil War buffs, but this one above all. The section on the Rose Woods photographs is brilliant, more so than even the passage that earned a marker at Devil's Den.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this is the book you should "read" about the Civil War. Certainly the goals of the book were well accomplished. I could have done without the numerous times the author explains in detail about the bloating of the bodies and how the bacteria cause it....it was brought up so many times I thought he must be a bit morbid. Nevertheless, it's not a book to entertain but to depict what was, and it does this very well.

this is a fascinating book for both civil war buffs and those interested in early photography. frassanito is an excellent writer and his detective work is unbelievably thorough. i can't recommend this book enough!

Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections

Pushing Up the Sky



I was buying some books on Amazon.com with an article I had to write at the back of my mind, and a parent Guide I was editing for EMK Press (www.emkpress.com) by Terra Trevor (author of Pushing Up the Sky) at the forefront. I was ordering on automatic pilot, while thinking about the articles I was editing... suddenly my choice of books had an Amazon.com suggestion staring up at me.

It was of course Karin Finell's searing, sensitive book Good-bye to the Mermaids. It documents `a childhood lost in Hitler's Berlin'. My brain clicked into gear as I read the brief blurb. Serendipity! I was writing an article for adoptive parents of kids adopted internationally. The remit? How we adoptive parents help our adopted kids feel pride in birth cultures prejudiced by e.g. civil war, lack of human rights, family planning practices that seem draconian, societies where the ethos of `family' is lost to poverty and the baggage of substance abuse which that brings.

I bought Good-bye to the Mermaids, and devoured it in three late night sittings. And I realised as I read that this book is a must read for anyone who has survived... or helped another survive.. the onslaught of horror and terror which was imposed not sought, where the survivor has been helped to find another safe haven, an anchorage in which to grow.

But the book shows that no-one who survives can leave behind the memories. Even if they move to another country where things are meant to be better...

What a message for adopted children and their parents! EMK Press (where I am Senior Editor) publishes books and offers free Parent Guides for adoptive kids and their families. Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections, our publication for adoptive parents, has a wonderful section JOURNEY which deals with where adoptees travel as adults in making sense of adoption. To add to this chapter in our groundbreaking book, I would recommend that adoptive parents and folk now adult who were adopted internationally read Karin Finell's book on how to survive knowing you were part but NOT part of a culture that made family life impossible.

After reading this remarkable book I concluded it was not only informative as to historical content but also a masterpiece of writing. It is an important addition to a series of books by a variety of people, who lived through the horrors at the end of WWII in Berlin - I have read most of them, including the one by Anonymous. Their stories reflect all of the terror and awful conditions of those months and years as does Karin Finell's book. The framework Finell uses, the very detailed personal memories enriched by her reconstruction of actual verbal exchanges is unique, as is the perspective of a child growing up and experiencing the change from a privileged early childhood to the frightening reality of what followed - and then the slow and gradual recovery. And also, the special relationship with her Oma, which I thought is a centerpiece of Finell's book. Apart from the very human side, the American raised Oma also brought the U.S. close to Karin Finell as a child and prepared her for her immigration. The book is a tribute to the women who had to cope and did cope so valiantly with the conditions thrust upon them by a war which many supported, and a few loathed from the beginning, as they loathed and continued loathing the Nazi government. Finell's book also made me aware again how little we citizen can do when politicians go amok as did Hitler and all of the Nazis.

If you read all these reviews of Karin's book, you will still have many surprises as you read Goodbye to the Mermaids. The strength of Karin's narration is that she recounts the precise moments when her attitudes toward war change--and those moments shock because war mutilates reality. None of the events in this book conform to normalcy. To buy bread, for example, meant dodging bullets and bombs in occupied Berlin. Putting on a dress meant risking your life.

Karin recounts the contrasts between her family's needs and desires with the realities of war, and she does this in a subtle, detailed way. Karin wasn't just a child in the war, she was a maturing young woman whose sensibilities grow within the context of her story. She makes her reader feel the deprivation and humiliation of war. This book is one of the best I've read in a long time. It's an extraordinary work by a woman who sacrificed much of her life to war and the repercussions of it. She deserves our respect, and I feel honored to know her.

"Karin Finell's memoir affected me tremendously. It widened and deepened my understanding of a young child's character growing up under extraordinary (and many times extraordinarily difficult) circumstances. Finell, in her narrative, recreated so vividly the world of her youth, the places she lived in and the people she lived with, as well as her own thoughts, feelings, insights, and observations. It was as if I could hear the voice of the child Karin telling each story. Using the device of a series of "stories," by the way, seems exactly the right way to develop such ar narrative.
This is a first-rate book, beautifully written and beautifully produced by the Missouri Press. Anyone interested in the WW 2 period will be the richer for having read it, as am I. "

A heart-wrenching story lovingly told by Karin Finell. She relates what was for her a normal part of growing up while participating in activities of the Hitler youth, watching friends disappear, and daring to question.



Good-bye to the Mermaids is beautifully written, with gorgeously remembered details, providing a deep, rich look into life in wartime Germany that we have not seen before.

My parents bought me this book when i was just a kid probably 25 years ago. It's one of my treasured possessions and was a foundational part of my lifelong love of history. Like some of the other reviewers, I will NEVER let this book out of my possession. Even those with no appreciation for aircraft history (e.g. my wife) are blown away by this book. This truly is one of the most unusual books I've ever read, in that it effectively teaches thru unbelievable art. This is out there, but I think it's akin to looking thru daVinci's sketches on anatomy. The massive foldouts are worth the price alone. If you've got a WWII-era aviation buff around, this will forever put you in their good graces.

I think that everything has been said if you read the other reviews but it was not possible for me not to tell my happiness when I discover it in reality. I was relly surprised about the beautiful illustrations and the size of this book, it's simply HUGE !
A must-have for any aircraft enthusiast.

I'm a WWII airplanes enthsiast, and this book has filled all my expectations. The text, the scaled drawings, the fold-out panels, everithing is exceptional in this complete guide of WWII airplanes. The drawings of this book are incredibly detailed, and if you're meticulous, you'll never find a book like this. My grandfather was a WWII pilot and became nostalgic when he saw the plane he had flown.

I bought this book new from the Smithsonian Museum bookstore when I was just a kid. Now some 20-odd years later it still sits on the shelf right behind my desk, and I still frequently comb through its pages with the same enthusiasm I had when it was new. I will never let this book out of my possesion.

It's so valuable to me I had to find another copy for my business partner and fellow R/C fanatic so that he wouldn't have to keep borrowing mine! ;D ...that's why I decided to drop my 2-cents in here.

If you are an airplane buff, or more importantly, if you have any passion for the top planes of WWII, this book is not optional. You MUST have it. Period. Once you open it, you will understand what I am saying.

If you enjoy WWII aircraft, and appreciate the breath taking detail and accuracy of Rikyu Watanabe illustrations, you must have this book. I found my copy 3 years ago at OshKosh, and have been offered (...)for it - no way was I parting with it. It is, without question, the finest piece of reference / art work on these 12 aircraft I have ever seen. Vet, IFR Priv. pilot, R/C aircraft modeler.

This is a great book. Very accurate, painfully so in many instances, especially considering the absurd restrictions placed on units operating in the field. Ironically, Moore's account of Special Forces operations in Vietnam is much more accurate than anything you'll ever get from the US government...even 40 years later.

Post Script: In the first Chapter, Moore writes about Capt. Steve Kornie, a larger than life Special Forces officer. Darn near everything Moore wrote was accurate! The officer's real name is Larry Allan Thorne (the "Americanized" version of his Finnish name - Lauri Allan Torni). He was a truly remarkable man by any measure.

Major Thorne was lost on a cross-border mission into Laos on 18 October 1965; but, at that time, and "for the record" he was classified as Missing In Action resulting from a helicopter crash 25 miles south of Da Nang (not even close).

A joint US-Vietnamese team found the wreckage in 1997, excavated the site in 1999, and collected the remains of Maj. Thorne and 3 Vietnamese (two pilots and a door gunner). A decision was made to do a joint internment at Arlington, since what little remained of the bodies was intermingled. Although positive identification, however, was made through Thorne's dental records and parts of the Swedish-K submachine gun that was his personal weapon.

The memorial stone is atypically large for Arlington; and the local Vietnamese community ensures that fresh flowers are maintained at the grave. I have provided additional information should you be in the neighborhood and would like to visit the site. Unless you have very specific information on dates of internment and the correct spelling of the name, you will not be successful in locating the site through the cemetery administration.

[...]

The new edition of Robin Moore's Vietnam War era classic "The Green Berets" is as timely and relevant today as it was when it was published over forty years ago.

What is amazing is that the problems faced by the Green Berets in Vietnam described by Moore are the very same problems faced by our soldiers today in the War on Terror. These include the problems of corrupt local soldiers, relegious differences and the ago old cultural clash between the coventional military mindset and the unconventional warrior.

The new edition also contains materials which were not in the original edition. It was also enjoyable to read the various stories which conributed elements to the John Wayne movie which was based on the book. The book is well worth your time.

I liked this book so much I bought an old paperback copy and added it to my personal collection. I believe that there's a picture of Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, or someone that looks a lot like him, on the cover. The movie made in 1968 does NOT do Robin Moore's work justice. I found the short stories in this book to be very well written.

In 1965, when I first read this book, I believed most of it because I didn't know any difference. During Infantry OCS (Officer Candidate School), I read it again as a book-report (1966) and did not believe any of it...any at all. Then on the flight back, after spending 13 months in Southeast Asia as a Special Forces officer, I read it again. The book is true...completely true. As a-matter-of-fact, it actually left out some of the things we experieced and the "politics" we had to deal with, but what he told in the book was true. Robin Moore holds our respect for what he had to accomplish (at his age) in order to write this factual book. We loved the book and laughed at the movie.

Understand that Special Forces, at that time, were very different from Special Forces today. Remember, we were the most highly decorated unit in history for a reason. The ones today are great, but they built on our experieces. We were not the "quite professionals"...but we were the "movers and doers" of our time. I add this only because some authors today should recognize this hard-earned fact.

H. G. Kidd
Ex-Special Forces.

I was blown away that some people did not like this book! I absolutely loved it! Before you begin reading it you must put it in the context of the time it was written. This is a book written before any of our main troops were sent to 'nam and therefore the things we know now are simply hindsite and can not be applied to this book. This book, while called fiction, is the closest you will ever get to truly understanding our most well known and almost mystical special forces group. It details, with fake names due to govt regulations at the time, many Beret missions that were, until lately, highly classified. This book will take you on many missions that seem like they are straight off of a hollywood script...in fact these stories are what created most of those scripts. You will join the berets in battle, deep behind enemy lines and see how they fought before the days when rescue was an artillery shot away. You will love each chapter of this book and it will be a very quick read. Please do yourself the favor, if you have any interest in this subject, of picking up this important book and learning a bit about America's Green Berets!