Carrier Books

Miller is an out of touch biased older man. He views everything from a civil war perspective. He creates old/young, and race rifts as an excuse and overlying motivation for seemingly all actions aboard the carrier. This book is interesting as it gives occasional glimpses into carrier life, but it must constantly be decoded. Miller spends an inordinate amount of time smoking and glorifies himself for choosing to spend his time and research among 'his people' the enlisted crew, ignoring officers except for mealtime and arranged interviews. At one point, empathizing with the enlistees desire to get the war over with and return home he states his opinion that he too, after 2 weeks being coddled and sheltered, feels he has earned the right to want to go home. In short, he makes a big deal out of everything. I recommend this book (library only) to anyone over the age of 50 who has not ventured anywhere remotely dangerous. It was an interesting read, but one that left me angry and disgusted.

Richard F. Miller's A CARRIER AT WAR: ON BOARD THE USS KITTY HAWK IN THE IRAQ WAR isn't just another overview of military events, but a narrowed focus on individual officers, sailors and shipboard morale during a mission which paralleled the events leading to the Iraq War. The Kitty Hawk was one of the lead elements in the 'shock and awe' campaign: the author remained with the carrier through the hostilities and interviewed the ship's captain, chaplain, doctors, and more, even visiting the brig. His review of life aboard a carrier at war is vivid and personal.

Mr. Miller's book is well written and extremely interesting when he sticks to the carrier and its personnel. That's the good part. The Bad part is when he puts in a large plug for Hannity, Limbaugh, Fox News et al. He should stick to the carrier information, I really don't care to read his right wing garbage.
The Ugly part is when he decries the "politically connected contractors" getting contracts for Boston's Big Dig project. Of course, Boston is left wing, hence the poke at them. He, of course, does not mention Haliburton's no-bid contracts in Iraq.
I still recommend the book based on the vivid description of the carrier and life aboard it. You can skip his political junk and just concentrate on the riveting carrier stuff.

I found the key to this book in the preface where the author, a noted Civil War historian, declares his intention to create a letter or diary format for recording the events which he suspects are about to unfold. In short, he wants to create a diary in which the stuff of daily life on board the USS Kitty Hawk is recorded before he (or anyone else) knows how the "story"--the invasion of Iraq--will end. As a result, this book is the stuff of true history--a valuable primary source. It has integrity because unlike other journalist accounts, which I suspect have trimmed away erroneous predictions of WMDs, or fears about the same which now look foolish in hindsight, or their early support for a war which is now widely believed to have been a mistake, Miller's account leaves this material in place--in short, providing a snapshot of life as it was actually experienced, not as we imagine (or would like to imagine it) now. Fortunately, Miller was not a journalist, and his account of an embedding process which remains controversial, is about as balanced as I've seen. And the inclusion of original embedding documents preserve a primary source which, if they still exist, probably won't for much longer. Future historians trying to figure out how the reporting went as it did will, or ought to be, indebted to this book.

I don't agree with Miller's politics, and unlike him, am not a religious person (for example, I don't understand his closing quotation taken from (I think) the Jewish Torah). And I'm not convinced of the spirituality of sailors to the extent that he apparently is. But none of that is the point. I consider this as an important primary source--the raw stuff of history.

This is not a book for readers who prefer their histories to be fairy tales, or mere stories, or neatly prepackaged narratives with lots of bang-bang (not that Saddam had much of a surface fleet to take on our Navy!)--but for an account of life aboard a warship, it has versimilitude. These days, that's worth five stars.

An embedded reporter with a difference, in fact several differences. Mr. Miller went to the 2003 war in Iraq as an embedded reporter on board the Kitty Hawk. Some of the differences include: Age: 51 years; Occupation: Civil War Historian; Military Experience: None. And perhaps more important, attitude. He approached this war with an interrest in the influence of class, race, local community, ethnicity and religion on combat morale and unit cohesion. He is not looking for the Weapons of Mass Destruction, he is looking at the people.

The resulting book is different than the others that have been coming out of the Iraq war. Here he is concerned more with the average sailor than he is the big picture or how many bombs were being dropped. He writes as an observer, a keen observer of the human condition in a war time environment but away from the shooting (expect for a few discussions with some of the aircrew).

The book is written in diary or journal form, as befits a Civil War Historian where a lot of the material is written in that manner. It's a refreshing look at the Iraq war.

This book is the first in a very interesting twist on both history and a speculative view on what could have happened. A second strike on Pearl Harbor forty years after the first one by a group of determined Japanese holdouts from the Second World War. Altogether an interesting look at the mindset of the Japanese prior to and during the war. Also an eye-opening look at the arrogant attitude that still prevails in alot of the current military establishment.

I have read the entire 7th. Carrier serries, and this review covers all of them. Mr. Albano's history is not alway on the money, but for those psycotic military history afficianados out there, this serries was addictive. Interesting concept, I would love to hear from the author someday.

I read this book when it came out, then lost it after many moves. I've tried to find it to buy but can't. For anyone wishing to read it again, I found it through the city library.

Very sorry, that it is out of stock, I would like to read it!!!!! Reprint it as soon as possible.

I'll keep waiting!!!

The author certainly seems to hold a real grudge against Japanese people that certainly doesn't agree with my own interactions with Japanese veterans. This book is one giant stereotype with a very unsatisfying ending. That doesn't even touch the absurd premise of the book. Pass on this one.

While not written in a complex manner, this book is entertaining enough that it is easily read in a short time, while delivering some idea of what carrier duty was about in World War II. No Higher Honor covers from before Pearl Harbor to its sinking by the Japanese, to even including a epilogue that details the lives of some of the men who are featured int eh book to provide readers with an opportunity to learn what became of the crewmwn of the Yorktown. The author's discussion of some of the thousands of crewmembers and their stories is natural and gives a reader enough of an appreciation for each to make the full story that much more urgent as events unfold.

The discussion of luck, fate, duty and honor shared between the carrier Yorktown and her crew is also especially recommended for school-age students that need resource material or some kind of understanding about what is increasingly getting littler amounts of ink in high school history courses. I would urge that this be used in school libraries and recommended for readers seeking to learn about the difficulties that come from conflict and their human costs. By the end of the book, readers will definitely have a much greater appreciation for the challenges that came from service, the sacrifices stemming from war, and the humanity that bound the whole thing together.

Though the subtitle indicates this book deals with the aircraft carrier Yorktown at the Battle of Midway, it actually follows CV-5's career from late 1941 through its sinking in June 1942. The author provides depth and variety to his human interest coverage but makes a large number of egregious factual errors, all of which are avoidable. Just a few corrections: some US torpedo planes DID return to their carriers; Geo. Gay of VT-8 did NOT receive the Medal of Honor; SBD and TBD armament is incorrectly described; and for some vague reason the Yorktown dive bombing attack that sank the Japanese carrier Soryu is glossed over in one short paragraph. This is certainly a worthy topic, but the best books on the subject are Cressman's "That Gallant Ship" plus Cressman (et al) "A Glorious Page in Our History." Naval aviation history really needs to be written by naval or aviation people.

`No Higher Honor: The U.S.S. Yorktown at the Battle of Midway' by Jeff Nesmith is a insightful account of the men who made up the crew of the US aircraft carrier `Yorktown' at the Battle of Midway. As one of the previous reviews has mentioned the title may be a bit misleading as the book really starts before America's entry into World War Two. But that is fine as the author gives you an idea of some of the characters of this story, he gives you a real look at the ordinary men who served on this ship. We hear stories from some of the ships crew, from pilots and the aircraft handlers and from some of the officers.

The narrative is easy to read and the personal accounts fit right into the flow of the book. I could really picture the story and the people; the author's style of writing put you right there. I was sadden by some of what I read, of the men who lost their lives during the fighting at Midway, of friends lost and bravery unseen and un-rewarded. This is a great story, maybe not the best book on a tactical/strategic level but one of the best covering the human element of war. The book has a number of black and white photographs many previously not seen before. Overall this is a good story and I think most people who enjoy a well-written history book will enjoy this account of a fine ship during a great battle of WW2.

This book is the story of the USS Yorktown. However, contrary to the title of the book, It details the life of the Yorktown from 1941 until June 1942. Overall, this is a very good book. I was particularly interested by the personal stories and experiences of the crew members. I do feel that the book did not devote enough time to the battle of Midway. There are only about 120 pages or so that actually deal with the battle, while the rest of the book covers the Yorktown's earlier service, hence the "confusing title". There are other books available which go into much greater depth, but this book does a good job covering the basic aspects of the battle of Midway.

Mr. Nesmith includes first hand accounts of men who were aboard the USS Yorktown at the Battle of Midway. He describes the innocense of the young sailors, the shock of the enemy attacks, the death and destruction, the patriotism, spirit and camaraderie among the crew of the Yorktown and of course their enormous courage. For anyone who is a student of WW II this is a must read. The book gave me a glimpse of the horrors my father witnessed as the Junior Medical Officer on the Yorktown during the Battle of the Coral Sea and at Midway. Along with the others in the medical department he saw the worst of what war can do to a human being. He did not often speak of his Navy service during the Battle of Midway. In the few times he did, he expressed the greatest respect and praise for the brave pilots whose each flight meant a chance with death, for the enlisted men whose duty it was to stand with their shipmates firing their anti-aircraft guns as the attacking enemy planes bore down on them and for the officers whose decisions during the battle meant life or death for scores of men. If understanding war, how it defines a man and what courage is, then read this book. If you want to know of typical unassuming Americans who rose to great heights of unsung heroism while defending their country for you and me then read this book. Mr. Nesmith has captured it all.

Brink of War continues the quest for Tombstone to find his father. We find the USS Jefferson in the North Sea, on a friendly mission with Russia in playing some war games. Tombstone gets evidence while in Russia, that his father is alive in the Ukraine, so he flies to Kursk. Meanwhile, in the North Sea, two to three Russian subs are hunting one of our subs who happend to be on a covert mission that was not explained. So, this book has two scenarios playing out, and is written in first person. Frankly, I would like the author to write in both third and first person, mix it up a little. Although, it is interesting to get the thoughts of the main characters. This book has a couple of good dog fights, but most of the fighting is one-sided and the ending was too quick. Will the next Carrier book pick up where this one left off, or will the Jefferson be in a whole new area. The quest for Tombstone's father apparently ends in this book.

This book, like everything else written by Mr. Douglass, will never find a high place in the history of the written word. Having said that, please understand that if you are interested in reading about Naval aerial combat... you can't miss the"Carrier" series. Even though I beliive that Mr. Douglass thinks just a bit too highly of the capabilities of the F-14 when compared to other, more modern fighters, he does tell a fine tale. My only other criticism would be that the author should abandon this story line about his father... it is getting kind of far fetched. The bottom line is that if you have a few hours to spend, they wouldn't be wasted if you read this.

What I really enjoyed about this chapter in the "Carrier" series is that it takes place in a narrative, so we "hear" what the characters are thinking. It's great to finally see what happens to Tombstone's father. The fact Keith Douglass is a Navy veteran helps give credibility to the military confrontations, and this is no different. I just wish there had been more of them! I'm glad he provided a glossary for the different terms used through the book. I'm eagerly waiting the next chapter!

Another good installment of the Carrier series with some of the same characters. Action and suspense was good. Added some political intrigue in this one.

This was the first I read with the new first person format. I don't really care for this stlye and much prefer the location/scene style of prior books.

I agree with a previous reviewer. This one improved on the last few books in the series but it's still not as good as the early ones. The editing improved a bit. Some of the action was implausible in real life but didn't detract from the story. The submarine was a scene stealer and made it exciting.

The thing that disturbs me most is that the author barely mentioned an important recurring character at the beginning of book 16, killed the character off at the end of book 17 after not being mentioned anywhere else in the story, and then in books 18 and 19 acted as if the character disappeared in book 16 not 17. He's writing the books so fast he can't even keep track of his own characters.

As a fan of the Carrier series, I found the book to have a great storyline. Non-stop action in the Douglass tradition. However, the abundant errors in context, tense, and spelling ruin an otherwise great read. Better editing is in order if the series is to continue.

"First Strike" is without a doubt one of the best novels in the "Carrier" series. Douglass blends an exciting tale of naval surface warfare, air action, land-based combat, and undersea warfare to keep you on the edge of your seat. You do not want to put it down, and as such, I blew through it as I sat on a chaise lounge on my cruise ship in the Caribbean. As I completed the book, I sat there and said "wow", only to realize that I would have to wait another 4-6 months for the next installment in the series. Why can't Douglass be as prolific as Steven King?

Not as good as the first 8 or 9 but a lot better than the last few. Douglass is on his way to the magic that used to be the Carrier saga, but he is not quite there yet. If you are a fan of the series you will probably want to get it, but if you are not it would be better to start with the earlier books. I read it in an afternoon and think it was worth my money.

I was surprised at how easy it was for the cossacks to get on board the Jefferson, surely there ought to be a per arranged signal for such an incident, seeing how the Jefferson Carrier kept handleing more and more complex problems.I wander what happened to Coyote Grant? He was briefly mentioned during the invasion of the Aleutian Islands and then dropped out altogether.Iwould have liked to know how Sikes escaped off the deck from those watchful Cossacks.

This book contains a lot of action compared to some of Keith Douglas's other books, it's so far my favorite book of his.

Let me start by saying that I've read all of Keith Douglass` books in the Carrier series and his Seal-Team Seven series.And this is the first time that I've been disappointed with his work.There were to many storys that were not followed up on.Like how did Comd. Sikes get back to the carrier to save the day.And how did Miss. Drake get to the carrier when she was on the amphibious ship Coronado.There just seemed to be to many losse ends in his story telling in this book.For my sake and the sake of all the fans of the carrier series I hope this was a one time slip and not an authour who's run out of idea's

Pilots who fly low enough and slow enough to aim at a defended target get killed. So they don't aim.

There was an exception for a short time and in a limited space. From mid-1941 to 1945, a few pilots had a doctrine and a platform that allowed them to aim, hit and survive.

The technique was dive bombing, and Thomas Wildenberg, a fellow of the National Air and Space Museum, tells the backstory in "Destined for Glory."

America was the only nation to develop dive bombing: the German Stuka and the Japanese Aichi 99 (called the Val) were really glide bombers.

They story begins on Oct. 22, 1926, when a daredevil Navy flyer, Lt. Cmdr. Frank Wagner, nosed his Curtiss Hawk fighter into a vertical, full power dive. The overengineered Hawk survived.

Though Wildenberg does not speculate, who knows? Perhaps Japan lost the Pacific War because in the '20s it didn't offer its pilots a plane they could trust as much as Wagner trusted his Hawk.

It took more than a decade to develop a weapon and a technique usable against real targets. The great moment for the dive bombers came at Midway in June 1942. Dropping out of the sun from more than three miles up, unseen and unstoppable, they shattered the decks of Japan's four big fleet carriers.

The six minutes at Midway are well known, but the background has seldom been told before now. What "Destined for Glory" leaves out is the drama.

There have been several memoirs by dive bomber pilots, from Clarence Dickerson's wartime "The Flying Guns" to Hal Buell's later "Dauntless Helldiver." But no pilot (to my knowledge) has ever conveyed what it felt like to "nose over" from 18,000 feet up and dive at full power in the fastest machine yet devised by man.

In an afterword reassessing naval aviation's contribution to American victory, Wildenberg decides that "only dive bombers and the aerial doctrine under which they were deployed were ultimately responsible for sinking the enemy ships of the Imperial Navy's First Carrier Strike Force."

His argument is sound but, unfortunately, he does not put it in context.

In almost all histories of the dispute between Army Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell and the Navy over bombing, the nod goes to Mitchell. The fact is that the kind of bombing advocated by Mitchell never sank, or even inconvenienced, a capital ship steaming at war readiness.

Dive bombing, though, really was a war winning weapon.

DESTINED FOR GLORY: DIVE BOMBING, MIDWAY AND THE EVOLUTION OF CARRIER AIRPOWER. The title is a bit missleading, Midway is barely covered. Instead Thomas Wildenberg creates an excellent story on the development of dive bombing as a weapon and doctrine.

Unfortunately when he comes to the first six months of WWII he goes flat. The chance to tie all the operational and tactical developments together and relate them to Coral Sea and Midway is muffed. The two chapters dealing with the first carrier battles are little more than simple walk throughs of the action. I sense the editors at Naval Institute Press told him to cut a hundred pages or so. Good thing he cut the battle stuff (if he did) as the first 17 chapters as invaluable in understanding the VS and the VB way of war. If you've read Lundstrom's Coral Sea and Midway chapters then this book will give you the back ground to understand those actions even better.

This book goes on my must read list for those wishing to understand more than teh surface of the naval war in the Pacific.

Ben Those who fail to study History are doomed to never get the joke.

DESTINED FOR GLORY seems to be a well researched book on the development of dive bombing in the USN during the `20s and `30s. Unfortunately, the book contains numerous errors, probably the result of sloppy proof reading rather than ignorance of the subject. I hope that Mr. Wildenberg will correct the errors and that a corrected version of DESTINED FOR GLORY will be published. It is an important book. However, the recognizable errors cause me to wonder how much of it is documented fact.

This book decribes quite good the T1/E1 subject. However the T3 section is very limited, and the E3 is not mention.

This book is intended to focus on a digital transmission discussion. For any digital transmission discussion (either high speed or low speed), one of the most important issue is sychronization. I see this sychronization as blood flow in human body, controlled by heart (clock source). Sychronization is so important that every digital transmission discussion would be meaningless without discussing it. Since this book is intended as a preliminary to more advanced broadband topics, I think sychronization dicussion rewards at least one special chapter in this book.

I found sychronization discussion in this book was little. The author only described clocking, timing, and synchronization as sub chapter with little discussion of slip, jitter, and wander concept. For beginner to try to understand sychronization as fundamental of broadband telecommunications, the discussion was not deep enough. I found sychroniztion discussion in "Engineering Networks for Sychronization, CCS 7, and ISDN" by P. K. Bhatnagar would be more informative for beginner than this book.

I also found that almost every time the author was derailed in presenting the T/E carrier itself. I think this book should focus extensively on T/E carrier and not other topics. Instead the author "confused" readers (especially beginners) with mixing ISDN, SONET, and SDH into discussion. I think the author should discuss synchronization and t/e carrier deeper first in at least (maybe) 7 chapters before entering discussion of ISDN, SONET, SDH, and other more advanced broadband telecommunications; in order not to confuse beginner readers.

I think the only "real discussion" in this book are chapter 6, 7, and 9. This three chapters are focused on the heart of t/e carrier itself. I think the author did a quite good job in the explaining. I think only these three chapters makes this book a quite worthwhile (and deserves 3-star rate rather than 2).

<(...)BR>I think this book would be more suitable for professionals who already have tastes of t/e carrier rather than beginners. If this book has more coverages, it would be a great book for both experiences and beginners. I expect the third edition (if would be any) would become more extensive and have more coverages.

This book is interresting for those who are beginning to work with SDH or Sonet Networks and includes a part on synchronization. It is a practical book who does not go too much theoretically in complicated concepts.

Elizabeth must be a very angry women. This is the sad impression I got on reading this book. I hope she experiences Peace before she dies. To the reader I would recommend "Why Forgive" by Johann Christoph Arnold

This outstanding book presents the "other side", another viewpoint regarding the Bruderhof Movement (Arnoldleut Hutterians). It is a must read for all serious students of Hutterianism. It is certainly not the "party line", but it does present a point of view that needs to be looked at and considered by all students of Hutterianism and any potential recruits to Arnoldianism. Zumpe cannot be dismissed out-of-hand, that's for sure. There are hundreds of others who think just like she does. Their "side" needs to be heard. In the end, the Truth will win out.

This book relates the history of the Bruderhof from the view of a child growing up. The author was raised as a member of this religious group, took her membership vows then left as a young adult. Bohlken-Zumpe is the granddaughter of founder Eberhard Arnold. My understanding of the Bruderhof, where I also grew up, was enhanced by reading this book. In relating her story, Bohlken-Zumpe does not flinch in revealing personal difficulties. This book along with other ex-bruderhof members books, should be permitted reading among the current membership to help them understand themselves,and their history. I recommend this book for anyone who has experienced belonging to a "cult-like" closed society or wants to understand similar situations. Thankyou for writing your story Elizabeth Bohlken-Zumpe.

Book seven in keith douglas carrier series. With not having read any of the first six books,I found it fairly easy to"jump in" the heat of the action.Thereare many different levels to the story,but the main plot involves a fictional carrier task force involved in a un peacekeeping mission in the black sea. I enjoyed this book mainly becuase it dealt with alot of "top gun" style action,and well developed charaters,such as captian tombstone magruder.

As with most of this series there is plenty of action, and even a couple of interesting twists in the plot, but the editorial mistakes (particularly the ones confusing types of aircraft - saying A-7 when A-6 is what is meant, ditto SH-53 vs. SH-60) is beginning to get beyond a joke.