Military Books

Early on and more than once, I laughed myself to tears. Besides being possibly the funniest book I've ever read, it gave me an education. Thank God the Green Beret are on our side! I was sad to complete Ed's book. It left me hungry for more of this author's hilarious writing style. I think a sequel is in order. Encore, encore! Readers from a non-military back ground might miss all the hardship and rigorous preparation it takes to crank out such a formidable fighting force as the Green Beret. Ed Fitzgerald, I salute you. Five stars are not enough to rate this book.
Erick W. Miller, Author of "Toll of War/Vietnam" and "Mother Warned You"

This is the "untold story of the ORIGINAL Green Berets, written by one of those originals, Edward F. Fitzgerald. It's dedicated to and includes stories about Aaron Banks, the "father of the Green Berets." I now have a greater appreciation of the Green Berets. Although this is written as a novel, the names of the participants are changed to protect the innocent, but the events are real. This combination of fact and fiction gives the reader an insight into the training events and the actual encounters. It opened my eyes to the courage and sacrifices these men were and are currently all about. I recommend this book to anyone who doesn't know anything about the Green Berets, and to all those who do. It's a keeper. Raleigh Pinskey

Those of us who were fortunate enough to know Colonel Bank in his later years applaud the author for this in depth story of a great man. Colonel Bank was our security officer at Beach Road Community and at age 80 was a tough enforcer. He would go out on the beach at night and confront any situation with a military bearing and confidence that brought any situation to an early and successful conclusion. Late in life, Col. Bank was always fit and quick witted..........he never let us know the true nature of his military heroics. Thank you for the book.....

Pete Siracusa

This thinly disguised fiction absolutely nails the origins, trials,tribulations and fun of the birth of what has become a force to be reckoned with in the international arena, the US Army's Special Forces. Although I came to Special Forces a decade after the author, many of his characters were immediately recognizable, and still live in legend, war stories and toasts to departed comrades. The details of Airborne training reveal that Fitzgerald was in my pocket and my mind, and will be there with every Jump School student, past, present and future. The fact that they really don't like being called "Green Berets", but rather "Quiet Professionals" is testament to the foundations set out by Aaron Bank as recorded by Ed Fitzgerald.

I'm not military--ivory tower and all that--but came away with an increased appreciation for the planning and psychology that goes into training people to do things like jump out of airplanes. I've read the funniest parts three times already, and still laugh aloud.

In September 1971, the Army closed down the Army-Lockheed YO-3A silent aircraft night recon program and shipped it home. To bad the YO-3A planes were not involved in the An Loc battle that occured 7 months later. Many lives could have been saved with this Stealth Forward Air Control Plane. The YO-3A operated at 1,000 feet at night, flew slow, was silent had advanced night vision equipment, infrared illuminator and laser target designator and impervious to heat seeking weapons. In 14 months of operation in Vietnam, non of the 9 YO-3As were ever shot down or took a round. But the YOs sure could see what was going on in the night when the VC the NVA were moving stuff. Check out the website www.yo-3a.com

I was a YO-3A crew chief and sure would like to make contact with the author of this book.

Also see Kit Lavell's book Black Ponies that has a section on how the YO-3A located the largest Russian Trawler in South Vietnam and was instrumental in directing fire and sinking the boat.

Excellent detail of one of the most important battles during the latter stages of the Vietnam War. Focus is obviously on the ground troups. I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of detail with regards to the "gun ships" of the Navy.

I participated as a C-130E co-pilot (374 Tactical Airlift Wing) during the Battle of An Loc. I greatly appreciate this book, helping me to understand what else was happening on the ground and in the air throughout the battle. As a participant, I vouch for the excellent accuracy and honesty of the book. The book starts out a bit slow, describing the organizational structure of the Army of the Republic Vietnam and its deployment. On page 37 it goes to high intensity with the Battle of Loc Ninh, a neighbor of An Loc. Willbanks gives you great empathy for those on the ground at Loc Ninh and An Loc, who were in a desperate struggle for their lives. It was hard to put the book down, once I got to the Battle of An Loc. The book slows down again in the last two chapters and epilogue.
I am sorry that seventeen C-130E crewmembers died in the battle. I am sorry that some of our airdrops missed the drop zone and fell into enemy hands. But the airdrops that were recovered by the ARVN were an essential part of the battle.

"The Battle of An Loc" by James Wilbanks. A must have book for anyone with an interest in Viet-Nam. This is a very good read. The author, James Wilbanks, was present and wounded at An Loc. This is not only his account, but gives insights from the North Vietnamese and US Advisors after action reports plus other communist documents. The role of the unending US air support, the bravery of the US air crews, and the orchestration by the Forward Air Controllers to the battle's victory for the ARVN and US Advisors is covered in warranted great detail. The inability of the NVA to have armor and infantry work together in more conventional warfare is clearly brought to light and documented. Wilbanks gives insights into Richard Nixon's Vietnamization's perceived success by the politicians and its ultimate failures. This is a must have read and must have addition to the library for anyone with interest in the war in Viet-Nam.

Excellent book!!!


Anyone who has some basic military experience but never served abroad, and only seen movies about war or heard tidbits, would
appreciate what is in this book. The book reveals the strategy of battles, the 'mechanics' of battle (orders issued to battalions, and their officers' reactions to situations, etc) It's the real thing! And even better than the movie Platoon!

Most of us grew up believing that the Civil War ended the moment Robert E. Lee surrendered to U.S. Grant at Appomatox Court House in Virginia. One can only assume that this came about as a part of the deification of Lee and the promotion of the 'Lost Cause' doctrine that was so popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Historically, most things regarding the Confederacy have always begun and ended with Lee. Thanks to the scholarship and hard work of Mark Bradley, we now have a much more accurate picture of how the war ended and the major roles played by Joseph Johnston and W. T. Sherman well after Lee's surrender.

'Last Stand in the Carolinas' along with Bradley's later work 'This Astounding Close' combine to create an extremely satisfying description of the last days of Southern resistance. While complimentary to each other, either volume succeeds very well as a stand alone work and each book is a tremendous asset in its own right.

If you want a comprehensive blow-by-blow description of the battles of Averasboro and Bentonville, read 'Last Stand in the Carolinas'. For a valuable capsule summary of the battles, combined with a complete history of the negotiations leading up to the surrender, 'This Astounding Close' fills the bill wonderfully!

Maybe I've read too many of these histories now but it just seems that these guys are using the same book of phrases to get to the required number of pages. It's boring. So many sound the same that if you took the author's name off the cover of a dozen books I bet most of us couldn't match them up with their works. Mr Bearss may find it a "barnburner" but I had trouble finishing it.

Of several accounts I have read about this March 1865 battle, this is definitely the most complete study of the battle to date. Finally a battle narrative with enough detailed maps to follow the action. Unlike many battle studies that toss in a map every hundred pages, Mark L. Bradley includes military movement or troop disposition maps anytime there is a significant movement of troops. At times there are maps every other page.

Bentonville was, in many ways, the Confederacy's "Battle of the Bulge." Southern General Joseph E. Johnston was reinstated to command of scattered Confederate forces in the Carolinas during the last months of the Civil War. That he was able to weld together an army at this late stage is a miracle in itself. Fully realizing that there was no way to stop the inevitable, Johnston and his generals snapped back at Sherman's advancing columns to buy time for the Confederacy.

The Bentonville Battle is not one of the more familiar accounts from the War Between the States. Indeed, many sources summarize or bypass the battle as if it were a mere skirmish. In my case, I knew little more about the battle other than there were one or two highway signs on Interstate 95 for the exit to reach this battlefield. In 1986, while spending several weeks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I used one of my free weekends to visit the site. At the time, a majority of the battlefield was located on various private properties. After a trip to the visitor center and some blatant historical trespass through a cornfield or two, I realized that this battle was much bigger than I realized. At the time, the only book available on the subject from Fayetteville's Cross Creek Mall bookstore was a volume titled SHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS. Fortunately a good portion of SHERMAN'S MARCH was devoted to Bentonville.

At the time, my only regret (one that has been repeated at other historic sites) was that I read the book after I visited the battlefield and then moved on to another military assignment in a different state.

As fate would have it, fifteen years later I found that I would be back in the neighborhood of Bentonville and began ordering additional books on the subject. Mark L. Bradley's book was one of them. I only wish that his book had been available way back in 1986. The book has a lot of detail, yet it is enjoyable to read. The volume is so meticulously researched that a full 150 pages are devoted to tables of organization, endnotes and indexing.

On the other hand, this is not a book to attempt to read the night before you plan to visit Bentonville. The four hundred plus pages and maps will keep you busy a couple days before you reach the last page. If you are looking for an overview of the battle, this is not the book for you.

However, if you thirst for the detailed events leading up to and including the Bentonville Battle, I recommend you add this book to your collection.

I must admit, before I read this book, all I knew about the Battle of Bentonville was that it was fought in North Carolina by Joseph E. Johnston and William T. Sherman. But this great book has opened my eyes on a little-known campaign and filled an empty hole on my book shelf.

Bradley's accounts of the battles at Monroe's Crossroads, Averasboro, and Bentonville are priceless. His writing is quick-paced, yet easy to follow. Another great part of this book are the maps, which are some of the best I have ever had the pleasure to see. Lastly, Appendix A of the book, which contains pictures of the battlefields (Averasboro and Bentonville) today, with captions. I recommend purchasing this book with Mark Moore's guide to the battlefield, which I did.

It is my opinion that no Civil War buff's library is cpmplete without this book. Get it!

Bradley's book on the last major (and often overlooked) battle in the Civil War is a gem. Although, I am somewhat biased since I am a North Carolinian, the book has an engaging writing style and is full of superb maps.

Some Civil War books I have read were difficult to follow due to either/or the lack of maps or quality of maps depicting troop movements and the theater of operations. Not so with this title! The maps are numerous and easily clarify troop movements and the flow of battle.

Bradley also does an excellent job of describing the little known battles of Averasboro (General Hardee did a commendable job of delaying Sherman's advance) and Monroe's Crossroads (Kilpatrick was almost captured and his force ambushed).

The next time I visit the battlefields I will certainly have Bradley's book with me to serve as the ultimate guide. Bradley's writing style is technical in describing troop movements and engaging in supplying ample anecdotes on the campaign's participants. Overall, a nice balance of not being too technical (and dry) and not too basic.

The book will always be special to me since I spent my early years in Eastern North Carolina close to the battlefields. Visiting these battlefields as a little boy sparked a life-long interest in the Civil War.

Bravo, excellent job! May more such studies be written on other battles!

Among many books dedicated to capitol ships in the II WW, this volume is a very pleasant reading. It comes close to the experience of on the spot study of the design, construction and operational life of dreadnoughts of allied Navies, leading every naval buff to the very insight of the ship themselves. Each class is thoroughly illustrated, giving detailed information of ship's armament, protection systems, engineering and machinery. The best facet is the careful examination of operational career of each ship and the analysis of battle damage sustained by the ship according to testimonies, technical data and the most probable reconstruction of incoming shell trajectory. The damage studies are interesting since they are presented with extensive use of line drawings, further explaining the ships' innermost structural architecture. Another remarkable feature is the extensive chapter dedicated to Soviet wartime effort to build capital ships. It literally casts a light on the subject, providing many facts and photographs of this unknown page of II WW. Profiles, armor diagrams, shear,frame & body plans, line drawings are very accurate as they are results of blueprints' deep investigation.

This book is really an authoritative source for studying battleships from their inception to their final days.

Mssrs Garzke and Dulin have written a trio of detailed, comprehensive and objective analyses of the battleships of the World War II era (designs past 1930). In this volume, they analyze the capital ships of the Netherlands, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. Overall, they rate the units of France as the best in the 35,000 treaty class due the Richelieu's fine protection and speed coupled with excellent firepower. The authors analyze the loss of Prince of Wales to Japanese air attack and the loss of Hood to Bismarck in intricate detail. For any wargamer or student of warships or naval history, this book is a must. Even designs contemplated but never laid down or completed are discussed, including the Lion class and French Alsaace class. A must read.

FIRST THOUGHTS: THIS VOLUME INCLUDED BOTH THE MOST AND LEAST FAMILIAR SHIPS TO ME

This was a real pleasure to wade through. Although I have read a great many volumes which detail the British Dreadnought classes quite well, I knew very little about the 2 French classes and the proposed Dutch Battlecruiser. The oversize fold-out sketches were a real pleasure to behold, especially under a bright light and a magnifying glass. Over the years I have read many books about naval vessels and military history and this volume, like the rest of the series, adds some new and fresh perspectives to my thinking. Whereas NO single book or series on the subject of 'Battleships' can be considered THE FINAL WORD on the subject, this series, of which this specific volume belongs, is so well organized, detailed and comprehensive that I firmly believe that it is a 'must-have' for those with an intense interest in Battleships - like myself.

IN A NUTSHELL: CASE STUDIES OF 8 DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT CLASSES OF DREADNOUGHTS FROM 4 COUNTRIES

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER TWO: THE DUNKERQUE CLASS
CHAPTER THREE: THE RICHELIEU CLASS
CHAPTER FOUR: THE NETHERLANDS - DESIGN 1047
CHAPTER FIVE: THE KING GEORGE THE V CLASS
CHAPTER SIX: THE LION CLASS
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE VANGUARD
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE SOVIETSKII SOYUZ CLASS
CHAPTER NINE: SOVIET BATTLECRUISERS
CHAPTER TEN: CONCLUSION

APPENDIXES

A. FULL-SCALE ORDNANCE TRIALS
B. THE PRINCE OF WALES
C. BATTLESHIP AND BATTLECRUISER GUNS



WHAT IT IS: THE ABSOLUTE ZENITH OF A NATION'S JINGOISTIC TECHNOLOGY & POWER

In essence, the Dreadnought represents everything a powerful or wanna-be powerful nation can impart into a ship to project power on the behalf of that nation. I just made that up, but it is so obviously true. When one goes through these volumes, one can see a combination of the national pride, desperation and deviousness that lay behind the erection of fleets of these incredible vessels. Here are some motives that are touched on in these volumes:

The British wishing to limit the size, power and number of Battleships by treaty as their global fortunes were on the wane proposed and built ships that were less than ideal in all respects prior to World War 2;

The Japanese wishing to keep the world in the dark as to the size and power of their new ships [Yamato Class], hide the construction of the ships and put out false documents regarding the ships' displacement and the gun caliber of its main batteries [460mm];

The Americans utilizing the escalator clause to include 16" guns in the North Carolina class as a response to the secret Japanese building program;

The Germans building larger ships than they were limited by treaty to do as the need for armored protection increased as war approached;

The French built the Dunkerque and Richelieu class as a response to the Germans building the 'Pocket Battleships", followed by their 'Battlecruisers';


BOTTOM LINE: THE SECOND VOLUME OF AN AWESOME HISTORIC TRILOGY

After a complete reading of the entire trilogy, I feel, I now better understand the construction and design considerations that lead to a completed Dreadnought. These books including this volume have fed my interest and have encouraged me to look deeper into the topic of Dreadnought engineering and construction. Now, after reading this series, and then re-reading it, I feel better able to grasp the technical materials that I will have to deal with as I continue to delve into the fascinating topic of 'Dreadnoughts' and their effect on history.

Excellent as a general technical reference. Compiles technical data very hard to find in a reasonable amount of places elsewhere. Drawings much improved from those that blighted their previous work on US battleships. Wish they would redo the book on US battleships.

I'm adding my voice to the chorus of praise for the G&D books. The attention to detail is impressive. The authors go so far as to account for the different definitions of "inch"--an inch of armor in the Royal Navy was actually 0.98in, and this reflects correctly in the figures cited for the KGV, Lion, and Vanguard classes. In citing the damage inflicted on France's Dunkerque by exploding depth charges, the authors properly tally, not the amount of explosive in all the depth charges lying alongside the ship, but only the amount which detonated properly. Impressive work.
It should be no surprise that more recent revelations have overtaken G&D's look at Soviet designs. Still, the info they do present is generally representative of the design's actual properties. A similar state applies in the chapter on Dutch Design 1047.
The only caution requiring the reader's attention is that the occasional typo pops up to confuse the statistical information. This is a general caveat for all three volumes rather than this one in particular.

Yes, the advances in physics were tremendous. Stop for a moment - this book gives you the humanistic view of that ensuing the discoveries. Think of the advances of human thought developing the science. Marvelous!
The dedication is phenomenal.
This is a great historical presentation of a period of magical thought.

BEFORE THE FALLOUT: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima
--By Diana Preston Reviewed by Philip Henry

"My God, What have we done?"

With those words, the crew of the "Enola Gay" summed up their feelings after dropping the A-Bomb that obliterated Hiroshima. The history of the Atomic (and later, Hydrogen) bomb permeates the history of the past century: from 1895, when Roentgen discovered the X-Ray, through the pioneering experiments of Einstein, Edward Teller, J. Robert Oppenheimer; Leo Szilard (the often-overlooked main ingredient in the Manhattan Project) through efforts to control nuclear proliferation and the Cold War.
That's a lot of ground to cover, but in "Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima" Diana Preston attempts, and to a large degree succeeds, in doing so.

While Richard Rhodes' monumental two-volume history (The Atomic Bomb, and "Dark Sun") will remain the Industry Standard for the nuclear history cottage industry, Preston has done an admirable job of encapsulating the excitement, paranoia, and regrets of the Nuclear Founders.She does an excellent job of giving credit where credit is due to some of the neglected major players in the drama: Leo Szilard, who was prescient about the political and military consequences of nuclear energy; Werner Heisenberg, who directed the Nazi nuclear project although he wasn't a Nazi; and Niels Bohr.

The tension between J.Robert Oppenheim, the brilliant physicist (he got his PhD at 22) and developed the Black Holes in space theory) and Edward Teller is the material for books that stand on their own in reporting it: "American Prometheus", for one.

This is fascinating stuff for all of us: those in "The Greatest Generation" who fought WWII; those of us in the Baby Boomer generation who grew up under the shadow of the bomb and remember "duck and cover" drills in elementary school; and the Public Leaders who should read, and digest, this material CAREFULLY!

My only reservations are the speculative "What If's" that she includes in her Epilogue. Sure, its fascinating to speculate on what might have happened if Hitler had used the intellectual genius of Heisenberg and others to build the bomb.. but he didn't.

I give this four and a half stars.

"Before the Fallout", while lacking the technical detail presented in Richard Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb", presents some interesting personality sketches (the degree to which these are subjective remains unresolved). Preston presents an interesting collection of missed opportunities on the road to the discovery of fission. One may be left with the feeling that body of the book serves only as a platform for the epilogue and its litany of "what if"s.

Diana Preston combines the exciting story of the individuals responsible for the scientific discoveries of Atomic Energy with the race for the Atomic Bomb. She traces the fifty year journey of discoveries which culminated in Hiroshima's destruction. The book is one of biography, science (well told and easy to understand), and the history of this unique quest for knowledge. The book is a broad overview of the subject which along the way presents material that surely could be expanded into many different books and even a few movies. For example the story of the two attempts to destroy the Nazi's Norwegian source of Heavy Water reads like the film "The Guns of Navarone".
I have had the pleasure to meet Diana Preston and hear her speak at the Los Angeles Times Book Fair. She is a regular attendee. I have read all but her first book and have felt her "Lusitania" her greatest achievement but this, her newest, is just as wonderful.
The book is well organized and has many characters that you find easy to follow via each mini biography throughout the narrative. The book ends with really two epilogues. (I do like a good epilog too.) The first tells what happened to each participant after WWII and the last is a "what if" analysis this is most interesting as it puts many of the events in the book into a broad context and points out the individual difference each scientist made. I just loved Preston's comment at the end of the book... "History....even the history of science... is inherently about people, how they thought, what they did with their thoughts, and how they interacted with the individuals immediately around them and then with society and the greater world order. All involved in this story....regardless of race, sex. creed, age, or intellectual ability... had the potential to act individually. In thinking about history but, above all, about the future, we should not depersonalize situations but remember our individual responsibility for them and the consequences fro others." I know you will find this book amazing even if you feel the subject might be dry and to scientific. (High Schools please add this one to your required reading list.)

Since reading Lusitania three years ago, I have devoured every Diana Preston book that I can get my hands on. I wasn't sure that I would enjoy Before the Fallout as much as the others since science is not my specialty, but once again her book has totally captured my attention. The way Preston weaves the history with the science (but not too technical) with the personal lives of the people involved is fascinating. Certainly the development of the atomic bomb is one of the defining events of our lifetime, and the story behind that event as told by Diana Preston is so intriguing that I would recommend this book to anyone! My only disappointment is that now that I'm done, I'm going to have to wait awhile for her next book!

Beginning with Ptolemey and all the way up to the first siting of the Ant- arctic Continent, Gurney does a yeoman's job of presenting the finds and ever expanding knowledge of the Southern Ocean. As a sailor and scientist, Gurney presents both the good and bad when discussing the voyages of discovery of such men as Captains Cook and Bellinghausen; versus the luck and scandals of the sealers and whalers.

Each discovery builds on the previous findings and Gurney explains not only what the political consequences were but also the economic impacts. The sad part of this documentation is the annihilation of first the fur seals and then the other seals for the hides and oil, and then onto the whales. The destruction was so complete, that it is only now, one hundred years after the ending of the trade that the populations are back up to their pre-1800 numbers.

What I found most gratifying was Gurney's narrative as to what happened to the 'discoverers' later in life. Most died young, some from disease and quite a number of others (including Cook) where killed by natives of the islands they discovered. It's only fitting in a way, since their discoveries contributed to the destruction of so many of the native culture (such as Tahiti and Tierra del Fuego).

In an age where the entire planet hads been mapped from space it's hard to realize that there was a time, not that long ago, when the existence of a Southern continent was still a matter of speculation and doubt. Gurney's book beins with voyages of the Dutch East India company, skirting the South polar regions around the beginning of the 17th century and ends with the complete maping of the coast of Antarctica in the mid-19th. Along the way are detailed stories not only of the early polar explorers, but scores of detailed asides on such diverse topics as the food and other provisions used by sailors, the problem of scurvy, the history of the rum ration, and the story of John Harrsion and his clocks that made detailed navigation and mapping possible. An excellent choice for fans of sailing, history, discovery or geography.

After decades of reading daily, this is the first book I have ever read that when I finished, I immediately turned to the first page and started my second reading. For anyone interested in Antartica, this book is a must, and it is very well written. It's about courage, determination, the environment and maybe most of all about geometry.

Every fan of Antarctic exploration should read this book. It is a great tribute to those who came so many years before Shackleton, Scott and others into this completely unknown part of our world. The accounts are vivid and often times humorous, in spite of the incredible hardships these men endured. Although this might be considered difficult subject matter, the author does a great job of telling each story of adventure in a compelling and griping manner. We owe much to these men for their leadership, courage and vision. The account of Captain Cook is particularly good. What a great leader! This is a good addition for all you arm-chair explorers.

For whatever reason, recent book reviewers try to relate any nautical book to Patrick O'Brien's fiction. This is akin to relating the taste of any strange mystery meat to the taste of chicken. There is absolutely no relationship between the present book and O'Brien's fiction. One can wonder if some reviewers actually read the books they review. Having said that -

The book provides an interesting overview of early Antarctic exploration, both planned and accidental. There is a chapter on scurvy, the bane of historic long sea voyages, with indications of the various means used for prevention - as usual, politics got in the way of common sense (the British government used lime juice controlled by British interests instead of the more effective lemon juice controlled by Spanish interests) and the government was slow to adopt what was being routinely used in the private sector. There is also a chapter on the problems in finding longitude, and an overview chapter on the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic Convergence.

Accounts of the voyages begin with Edmund Halley's expedition aboard the Paramore in the closing years of the 17th century, then skip forward to the second voyage of James Cook (1772-1775). Sealers began their activities immediately after the American Revolution. One problem with scientific exploration, then as now, was that commercial interests immediately rushed in to exploit any resources discovered, initially decimating the fur seal population. John Nicol in his autobiography (see John Nicol, Mariner) mentions being aboard the Amelia (1791-1792) when they killed and skinned 30,000 seals at the Island of Lopex (Lobos Island in northern Peru). The sealers added some knowledge, but mainly to identify sealing grounds. There are some comments about diet - people commonly ate penguins among other things.

People carrying out research are familiar with dealing with bureaucracies that want proposals two or three years in advance with an indication of what discoveries will be made before the research is conducted. Consequently, real discoveries are often unfunded, i.e., it is work carried out on the side while carrying out other funded work. William Smith commanded the merchant ship Williams on a voyage from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso when he discovered the South Shetland Islands, somewhat by accident, early in 1819 while sailing westward around Cape Horn. On a subsequent voyage around the Horn that same year, he made an unauthorized deviation in his route to go south for further exploration (insurance companies tended to forbid such deviations). After he reported his discoveries, the Royal Navy chartered the Williams later that same year and, under the command of Edward Bransfield, made the first observations of the mountain ranges on the Antarctic Peninsula and sailed a short distance into the Weddell Sea (the British lost Bransfield's journal). The immediate rush of sealers into the area resulted in the slaughtering of an estimated half million seals during the 1820-1821 season. Forty sealing ships visited the islands during the 1821-1822 season and essentially exterminated the remaining seals. William Smith eventually died in poverty in an almshouse.

The book goes on to discuss the voyages of James Clark Ross, James Weddell, and others up through 1839, with some mention of later expeditions. It provides a good description of the early Antarctic explorers and their voyages through the ice and freezing temperatures.

The interviews are ace and remarkable in their clarity and insight. These are let down by the lack of context as to the battle within the wider campaign and a map or two would have enabled the reader to see the landscape and the positions, both would have added to the understanding of the action taken by each of the medal winners. Another example is the cover photo, listed as US Army coming ashore on Tinian Island in the Pacific Islands, which is sort of correct but Tinian is one of the northern Mariana islands (next to Sapian which was a major Marine victory) and was the home of the 509th Bomb Group which lead the atomic raids on Japan, a small detail yet one that would context this good book even better.

Beyond Glory is a book full of the memoirs of Veterans. The Veterans are Medal of Honor recipients who are telling their stories from WWII to Vietnam. This is a book for anyone interested in war related things. Since I like that sort of thing, I found this book to be excellent and worthwhile. The genre of this book is Non- fiction since it is real stories from real people. The author, Larry Smith, went to many living recipients and personally interviewed them to get their stories literally in their own words. That is another thing that makes this book so good. He also used great detail and seemed like he was really there telling you the story. I thought this book was excellently written and very interesting. I would rate it 5 stars out of 5 stars. This, in truth, was one of the best books I have ever read and recommend it to everyone, especially if you are a history buff and like to read about War.

The book is wonderful...especially if you want to read about just people who through circumstances become- whether they want to or not---heros.

If you want to see some of these stories brought to life---from now through May 2, 2004 you can see Stephen Lang (Stonewall Jackson "Gods and Generals") portray eight Recipients interviewed for this book at the Women's Armed Forces Memorial at Arlington Cemetery. (go to www.beyondglory.org) You will witness a performance that will leave quite an impression

Larry Smith's book brings you the reality of true heroes in their own words, just ordinary folks doing their jobs. Actor/writer/director Stephen Lang's theatrical production of "Beyond Glory" may bring you to tears as you join these men "just doing their jobs" in a most extraordinary way. Lang's transition from character to character is as fascinating as each character's endearing story. The play is currently running in Arlington, VA, at the Women's Memorial Theater now, but Lang hopes to take it on the road to colleges and community theaters across the country.

Smith has interviewed twenty-three recipients of the Medal of Honor, and coupled the edited interviews with brief scene-setting passages describing the war and the individual's circumstances. Official citations are appended. Acts for which the Medal was awarded occurred in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Some of the names are familiar-Senators James Stockdale, Daniel Inouye, and Bob Kerry. Most are little-known. They are of varied races, education, and background. Some are eloquent, as is Sen. Kerry on patriotism, guilt and redemption; others are blunt and inarticulate. The one common thread is that they generally consider themselves to be ordinary men who rose to an occasion they did not seek. Several make the point that they are not "winners," since in no sense did they compete for the Medal: they prefer to refer to themselves as recipients of an award. Smith was an editor of Parade Magazine, and his analysis never rises above that level, but the stories of the recipients are powerful in themselves.

I used this book for my college biology I and II classes. My favorite part of the book was animal structure and function. Although the writing in this book is on a pretty high level, nothing was left out--very complete. Sometimes it was hard to understand the chapters on genetics. Then again genetics is a hard topic. I used additional sources to clarify on what I learned in Raven's book.

I used AP Biology by Beck. This book was a helpful study guide. This was easy to comprehend. Made biology easier to learn.

However, what really did it for me was Patrick Leonardi's:
The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations
This study guide comes in 3 volumes, make sure to get all three if you take biology I and II. If you are only taking Biology I, you can probably get away with only getting volume 1 and 2. These study guides had very good questions on every topic that is tested on in college biology. It was organized into specific sections, making it very helpful for exam preparation. It was so complete that it had the kind of questions that were asked on my exams. Don't go blind into an exam. These books are very helpful.

This is a great biology book. One of my favorite things about this book is the diagrams. I also like the sections on human origins and the individual sections on different organisms. This book is as good or might even be better then the Campbell biology-that speaks for itself

This is definitely the best intro to bio books out there. As a graduate student I got the chance to read lots of bio books and this one by far is the best. The chapters are well organized and easy to follow and gives you the depth needed to pursue any area of biology. When it was time for me to student teach this was the book of my chose. It expensive but definiely worth it to any biologist. The CD-ROM is also very good!

This is by far the finest Introductory Biology textbook I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Biology teachers, do yourselves (not to mention your students) a favor--make this the required text for your Biology I (and II) Class! Special Thanks goes out to Dr. Michael Hoefer...for requiring this textbook!

.....or if you had to travel back in time. I had this for my textbook in Biology back in 1987 and even then, .... well before the human genome was anywhere near being charted, let alone completed, this was a spectacular acomplishment. This book isn't riveting like say Druyan and Sagan's SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESOTRS is, but it is as good as any biology textbook can possibly be. It has EVERYTHING you could possibly want to know about biology; from modern cell theory to ecology. All you have to do is look this over and you'll see why I highly recommend it. Does any other bio textbook even compare?

Having served in SAC and extensively envolved with the B-47; I found this book offering to be one of the more comprehensive and technical books being offered that the average aircraft buff or technician would appreciate. Look at it in stages and you will be amazed at how technical an aircraft the B-47 was - it will delight you with new information at every reading. I highly recommend this book to one and all - good job Mr. Lloyd!

What a thrill to find this thorough study of the best aircraft I ever flew! I'm amazed at the depth of the research Mr.Lloyd must had at his diposal in order to come up with this excellent presentation on the B/RB 47. Of course, as an A/C in the 90th SRW in SAC, I prefer the "RB." That additional 32.5 inches added to the nose, that accommodated our forward oblique camera, made it a "prettier" design. I found only one tiny error and two possible omissions. The lightning flash on the vertical stabilizer (Pg 106) in the 319th Sqdn. was Red, not Blue. Blue was for the 320th and Yellow was for the 321st. But who cares at this distance. He made no mention of the bird's tendency to "porpoise" on the REALLY bad landing. It could generate the mother of all "PIO's" (Pilot Induced Oscillations); to the extend that it would shed all six engines. The other important feature of it's thin flexible wing was it's behavior at high speed (450+ knots). The wing would twist when down aileron was applied which forced the wing leading edge down resulting in an aileron reversal. This characteristic caused the loss on one aircraft in my squadron.
Nevertheless, for any of the Cold War folks still around this is a book that belongs in your library. For any students of Aviation history, The 35 degree swept wing (that we copied from the Germans), and the podded engines were first used in this design and can still be seen today at your local airport. The B/RB 47 was the grandaddy of them all.

Speciality Press have done it again - Al Lloyd did a great job researching on a great 1950' bomber. Particular sharp and crisp b&w photography all over. (a few color pages complement the volume) This book is a pleasure to read, especially the prototype stories. This looks looks to me like the definite volume on one very important aircraft (not only bomber) designs (swept wings, podded engines..)after WW2. Definitely recommended.

The author of this book has managed to find a lot of great photos of various B-47s in different configurations. It's a nice large format book with high-quality printing. Definitely worth getting if you are interested in this aircraft.

When I was a young Second LT back in the mid-60's, I was assigned to Davis-Monthan AFB. Besides SAC and TAC operations , D-M was the site of MASDC (now AMARC) ,AKA the "Boneyard". Back then,nearly 5,000 airplanes were stored there. Every morning, from my apartment, I would look out over 1500 B-47's lined up in rows, gleaming in the morning sun. I often wondered where they had come from and what their various stories were.

By 1969, the "Great Silver Fleet"(as it were) of B-47's was largely gonefrom the Arizona landscape - cut up and melted down on site (this was before EPA forbade such things) and the scrap sold. Only two were left on base by 1970, and others were scattered around the US in museums. I hoped then that someday I would see a good reference text, memorializing and defining the service of this Proud silver bird. Alwyn Lloyd had done just that.

The B-47 has been out of the USAF Inventory for nearly 40 years now, and has been largely forgotten by today's crop of kids,who prefer to see yet another book on the F-15, F-16, F-18. etc. It's a shame , because the 47 was a precedent-breaking and trend setting machine, whose lines can still be seen in many products of the Boeing Company and others.

While it wasn't the sleekest of the four machines in the 1945 Jet Bomber competition (the Convair XB-46 holds that distinction), it certainly had the greatest range,payload and development potential of the four Contenders (XB-45,XB-46,XB-47,XB-48). We'll never see 2,000 unit production runs for a U.S.Bomber again, nor see the number of conversions that the 47 underwent during its 15 year operational life. Alwyn Lloyd does a marvelous job of bringing the varied history of the Aircraft back to life. Earlier works, such as Lindsey Peacock's 1987 opus on the 47, were handicapped by security restrictions that have since been lifted.

The appendices on Production, Model Numbers, Units assigned, etc alone are worth the purchase price. The numerous photos, diagrams, etc. in the text make this work an outstanding value - even more so with the 30% markdown normally offered by Amazon. Highly recommended !

This book is brilliantly constructed account of the 24 hours leading up to one of the maximum effort raids on Germany. Large cast of well portrayed character's recounts the incredible courage of the airmen of both sides and the appalling results on the ground.

Only one in three Bomber Command aircrew survived WWII and over 50,000 perished bringing the German war machine to it's knees. There has never been a battle like it. Fought in the middle of the night for 4 years with the prospect of a horrific death ever present night after night.

Imagine going "over the top" in WWI and surviving it, then being asked to do it again the next day. And the next.

Not only that but after the war being branded as murderer's by the very people whose lives you were protecting. The post war government quickly distanced themselves from what Bomber Command achieved, and no gratitude was ever publicly forthcoming for these boys sacrifice.

To this day it still beggars belief.

Though the title implies that this is the story of a single bomber crew over Germany in 1943, "Bomber" goes farther - much farther, only starting with the crew of the heavy bomber "Joe for King". Deighton proceeds to cover the families of the crew, other crew members and their superiors before cutting across the channel to the enemy - night-fighter pilots, their controllers in German air defense, various suspicious characters from across the spectrum of Germany's military - from "respectable" Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht personnel to shadowy types from the "Abwehr" and the SS. We also meet the civilian residents of Altgarten, a Ruhr-area town nobody would think of bombing, but which manages to get plastered all the same. It's mid-summer 1943, when "Joe for King" is sent into the Ruhr as part of a massive night-time raid against the industrial centers of Krefeld. Lacking night-vision goggles, RAF pilots drop their bombs on targets marked by flares left by directing aircraft - in this case, specially equipped Mosquitoe night-fighters. When the marking aircraft for the Krefeld raid is shot down too early, its flares are released over Altgarten. This error is compounded by inherent flaws in RAF tactics (like targeting bombs in the center of cities, where bombs are more likely to hit civilian homes than factories and military installations), and the town becomes the unintended target for the massive strike. "Bomber" is to RAF's wartime bomber command what "Traffic" is to the DEA - a story of massive scale borne by wide cast if characters that never stops growing. Deighton doesn't let something meaningless as nationality get in the way of determining who is good or evil (the Germans get the bombs here, but Nazi genocide also gets prominent mention, with plenty of nasty Waffen SS to remind us why people were fighting). On the British side, we see officers acting less like gentlemen than soldiers. Political correctness is the rule (this is the country that gave us "1984"; "Joe for King"'s commander is suspected of incipient Bolshevism - it's very name hints at Stalin). Those who won't fall in line risk being labeled as LMF (Lacking Moral Fiber) - officially branded as cowards. Though books with such a command of detail normally favor the efforts of those they depict, Deighton is uniformly negative on the subject, a tone reinforced by his many subplots. Lambert, "Joe for King's" rebel pilot, plays the best cricket in Bomber Command - leading his odious superior to compel his participation in an upcoming tournament on pain of getting LMF'd. (Worse - the commander puts pressure on Mrs. Lambert after her husband has departed for the big raid). The bombers fly from Warley Fen, a once verdant field seized from its original owners who now stare at the airfield, mourning for what they know they will never have again. In Germany, ADF is managed by August Bach, an aged warrior preparing to marry his young son's nanny, not knowing how her youthful looks have made her the target of vicious rumors through Altgarten. The pilots of a night-fighter squadron (nichtjagdeschwader), preparing for a feared RAF attack on the Ruhr, are thrown into turmoil when Abwehr and Gestapo appear in search of a stolen classifed memo. The memo, it turns out, details hypothermia experiments on concentration camp prisoners (this may be same memo mentioned early in Robert Harriss' superb "Fatherland"). The corrupt assistant to Altgarten's Burgomeister arranges for the downgrading of the town's remaining Jews (from 1/3rd to 2/3rd "Jewishness" - though these jews are even more likely to face deportation and certain death, they will have greater freedom to marry other jews). Altgarten itself is flooded with profiteers funneling goods looted from conquered parts of Russia and the Netherlands. It seems that war is the only thing keeping the world safe because it occupies all the amoral typed who have to fight it. The only morally just adults are the TENO - the civil safety personnel who dig people out of bombed buildings. Because they are stationed in Altgarten, they get the biggest break: when the raid comes, they have the shortest commute. With so much going on, you just know you're bound to miss something. This is the sort of book that speed-readers hate. You'll probably lose count of all the characters that Deighton throws at you, though this doesn't hurt the plot as much as make the book one you'll want to re-read. Be warned - once you pick up bomber, you'll probably be spoiled for any other novel on the war in the skies over Europe.

This is a superbly plotted panel book in which every story ends with some sort of twist or irony. I write only to correct one error made by an earlier reviewer. Lambert's plane is NOT 'Joe for King', but 'the Creaking Door'. The CO is so out of touch that he mistakes the planes, thereby indirectly saving Lambert's life, much to his young wife's relief. (The casualty rates were horrific for bomber crews.)

It is somewhat amusing that the reviewer made the same mistake.

Bomber follows the progress of an Allied air raid through a period of twenty-four hours in the summer of 1943. It is not for weak stomachs as it shows the brutality of war.

The best fictional account of the "Other Side's" (German) view of being the "attacked". Mr. Deighton obviously has done his homework in showing how one massive,confused attack on a German town in the Summer of 1943 devastates everyone involved from the British RAF planners and pilots, politicians, and even more the German civilian home front, not to mention just about everyone else on the German side,from the SS,Luftwaffe, to the totally innocent on the ground. When the air raid alarms go off in the ficticious German town to the inevitable,terrifying end, mistakes and all, you know you're reading from a master. The ending is as terrible as you can imagine...