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Posted on Apr 30, 2013 in Books and Movies

The War Against the Nazi U-boats 1942-1944 – Book Review

The War Against the Nazi U-boats 1942-1944: The Anti-Submarine Command. L. Douglas Keeney, ed. Premiere, 2012. Paperback. 181 pages. $14.95 During the opening years of World War II, the Nazi military employed one of the deadliest nautical weapons, the submarine, to great effect against Allied shipping. German U-boats scoured the waters of the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean in an effort to disrupt shipments of American goods to Great Britain, hoping to do by sea what they could not do by land or air: choke the life out of the British Isles. Within a few months of American involvement in the war, however, the two Allied nations began making a concerted effort to eliminate the U-boat as a threat. Cooperation between the two nations and improvements in tactics employed against the U-boats suffered in early 1942, but by 1944, the Allies had won the Battle of the Atlantic and elsewhere. The U-boat would play a greatly reduced role for the remainder of the war, mostly maintaining a defensive...

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Posted on Mar 28, 2013 in Books and Movies

The Military Quotation Book – Book Review

The Military Quotation Book; Revised for the 21st Century. Book review. Edited by James Charlton. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. 176 pages. $17.99 What does an author say to prospective readers in a review about a book on military quotes? At its essence, The Military Quotation Book is just that—a well-researched collection of over 1,100 sayings and thoughts attributed to famous, and some not so famous, personalities. Quotes are arranged in a diverse number of topics ranging from air bombardment to freedom to speed in war to guerilla warfare. Sadly, there is no index or glossary to assist readers searching for particular speakers or subjects. Several quotes inspire, others strive for humor, and some cause us to reflect on the cost, brutality and horrors of warfare. Presidents and dictators, historians and strategists, poets and playwrights, admirals and generals, civil rights leaders and Hollywood actors all grace the pages of The Military Quotation Book. This is Mr. Charlton’s third edition of The Military Quotation Book, with the previous two hitting...

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Posted on Mar 18, 2013 in Books and Movies

Soldier Dogs, the Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes – Book Review

Soldier Dogs, the Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes. Maria Goodavage. New American Library (division of Penguin Books), 2012. 293 pages, 28 photographs, Softcover. $16.00 Soldier Dogs, the Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes, provides an insightful look at the dogs serving in today’s US military. The author, Maria Goodavage, provides background on the history of military working dogs (MWDs), their selection, training, war service, and postwar fates. Although dogs are the main characters in the book, the human handlers are equally important. Individual vignettes of dogs and handlers highlight the strong bonds between men and women and their furred charges. Soldier Dogs, the Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes, shows how these dogs are recruited and trained, and what they face today on the modern battlefield. Cairo, the Navy Seal dog that was on the mission NEPTUNE SPEAR (the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011) merits a brief paragraph that clears up some misconceptions about his exact role—but also leaves much shrouded, as special-operation dog roles...

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Posted on Mar 8, 2013 in Books and Movies

The Civil War in Color – Book Review

"The Civil War in Color" is a fascinating coffee-table sized book that adds life to "dusty images of a dustier past." Period photographs have been electronically "cleaned up" to improve image quality and then colorized with careful attention to detail.

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Posted on Feb 26, 2013 in Books and Movies

The Guerrilla Factory – Book Review

"The Guerrilla Factory: The Making of Special Forces Officers, the Green Berets," by Tony Schwalm, presents insights into the world of Special Forces, presented in a narrative style that makes the book hard to put down.

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