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What are you reading?
Gene363 Offline
#751 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
None Died in Vain: The Saga of the American Civil War

By Robert Leckie

The story if the American Civil War, another hard to put down Robert Leckie saga.

From a review on Amazon:

Quote:
I am a dedicated reader of Robert Leckie's works, and I was not disappointed with this Civil War history. The book weaves the political, military and social threads of the era into a fine literary fabric, though the real strength of this and of all Mr. Leckie's works is the author's ability to re-animate the characters. With few exceptions, he is even-handed and non-judgmental and allows the reader a wonderful intimacy with the famous, the infamous and the anonymous alike.
MACS Offline
#752 Posted:
Joined: 02-26-2004
Posts: 79,593
Unfreedom of the Press - Mark Levin
Gene363 Offline
#753 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
The Royal Netherlands Navy of World War II

By: Ryan K. Noppen

A short book about the Dutch navy in WWII. Most action was in the Pacfic.

Quote:
A new history of the development of the Dutch fleet in the early 20th century, and the role these warships played in World War II, from the defense of Rotterdam to the Battle of the Java Sea and beyond.
Clando Offline
#754 Posted:
Joined: 02-06-2021
Posts: 71
Just finished the catcher and the rye read it a bunch of times it’s one book I credit with getting me into reading so I always re read
Palama Offline
#755 Posted:
Joined: 02-05-2013
Posts: 23,461
Living on the Black - John Feinstein

I’ve enjoyed the two other Feinstein books I’ve read about professional tennis and Bob Knight and so far, this one about Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina is okay but makes me want to read “Ball Four” again.

I think next up will be “Let Me Tell You a Story” with Red Auerbach.
DrMaddVibe Offline
#756 Posted:
Joined: 10-21-2000
Posts: 55,301
Liberty and Tyranny - Mark Levin

Bought it yesterday. Started reading it today. I can't put it down, but work keeps on interfering. This should be required reading in high schools today.
8trackdisco Offline
#757 Posted:
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 59,992
The Go-Giver. A little story about a powerful business idea.
- Bob Urg & John David Mann.
MACS Offline
#758 Posted:
Joined: 02-26-2004
Posts: 79,593
DrMaddVibe wrote:
Liberty and Tyranny - Mark Levin

Bought it yesterday. Started reading it today. I can't put it down, but work keeps on interfering. This should be required reading in high schools today.



MACS wrote:
Liberty and Tyranny - Mark Levin


Page before... when you're done try "Unfreedom of the Press" by Levin.
izonfire Offline
#759 Posted:
Joined: 12-09-2013
Posts: 8,642
I’m reading the directions on how to get this fucquin Selecta Chocolate Milk Drink Moo container open...
DrMaddVibe Offline
#760 Posted:
Joined: 10-21-2000
Posts: 55,301
MACS wrote:
Page before... when you're done try "Unfreedom of the Press" by Levin.


Will do.

I'm a latecomer to his radio show. The man isn't afraid to call it the way it is. His resume reads like a groomed politician however he chose a different route. I enjoy his writing so much because it's fact driven.
deadeyedick Offline
#761 Posted:
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 16,957
A Most Interesting Problem (what Darwin's Descent Of Man got right and wrong about human evolution)
What scientists have learned in the last 150 years since it was published.

~ Jeremy Desilva
deadeyedick Offline
#762 Posted:
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 16,957
How To Avoid A Climate Disaster : the solutions we have and the breakthroughs we need

Author: Gates, Bill,
Palama Offline
#763 Posted:
Joined: 02-05-2013
Posts: 23,461
Ball Four by Jim Bouton

Third or 4th time around but it’s been decades since the last time.
CelticBomber Offline
#764 Posted:
Joined: 05-03-2012
Posts: 6,786
Currently rereading David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

Just finished

Caesar's Legion - Stephen Dando-Collins
The Bomber Mafia - Malcolm Gladwell
On Color - David Scott Kastan
The Anatomy of Fascism - Robert O. Paxton
Compassion vs Guilt - Thomas Sowell
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Simon Armitage
At the Edge of Uncertainty - Michael Brooks

Up next Ivanhoe - Walter Scott
teedubbya Offline
#765 Posted:
Joined: 08-14-2003
Posts: 95,637
Ivan Hoe was a great movie
Abrignac Offline
#766 Posted:
Joined: 02-24-2012
Posts: 17,217
The Neon Rain - James Lee Burke
deadeyedick Offline
#767 Posted:
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 16,957
Perilous Bounty - The looming collapse of American farming

~Tom Philpott
8trackdisco Offline
#768 Posted:
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 59,992
The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports

Joshua Robinson, Jonathan Clegg
Speyside Offline
#769 Posted:
Joined: 03-16-2015
Posts: 13,106
Parenting for Dummies
Gene363 Offline
#770 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Haven't posted in a while.

The Bravest Man: Richard O'Kane and the Amazing Submarine Adventures of the USS Tang
By: William Tucohy

Quote:
Hailed as the ace of aces, captain Richard O’Kane, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his consummate skill and heroism as a submarine skipper, sank more enemy ships and saved more downed fliers than anyone else.

Now Pulitzer Prize—winning author William Tuohy captures all the danger, the terror, and the pulse-pounding action of undersea combat as he chronicles O’Kane’s wartime career–from his valiant service as executive officer under Wahoo skipper Dudley “Mush” Morton to his electrifying patrols as commander of the USS Tang and his incredible escape, with eight other survivors, after Tang was sunk by its own defective torpedo.

Above all, The Bravest Man is the dramatic story of mavericks who broke the rules and set the pace to become a new breed of hunter/killer submariners who waged a unique brand of warfare. These undersea warriors would blaze their own path to victory–and transform the “Silent Service” into the deadliest fighting force in the Pacific.


40 Thieves on Saipan: The Elite Marine Scout-Snipers in one of WWII's Bloodiest Battles
By: Joseph Tachovsky

Delivered from Evil: The Saga of World War II
By: Robert Leckie

This one is the epic story of WWII battles and politics. EXCELLENT!

The Fighting Bunch: The battle of Athens and How World War II Veterans Won the Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since the Revolution
By: Chris DeRose

Quote:
The incredible, untold story of the WWII veterans who destroyed a corrupt political machine―the only successful armed rebellion on US soil since the War of Independence.

They fought for freedom abroad and returned to find that they had lost it at home. A corrupt political machine was in charge, kept in power by violence and stolen elections - the worst allegations of vote fraud ever brought to the attention of the Department of Justice, according to the Attorney General.

The GIs formed a nonpartisan, all-veteran ticket. On Election Day, the GIs and their supporters found themselves assaulted, intimidated, arrested, and even shot. A small band of veterans - the Fighting Bunch - armed themselves and marched on the jail to demand an honest count. The sheriff and his men refused. These men who thought they had seen the last of war returned to the battlefield, one last time.

This episode in U.S. history has never been more relevant, but has never been fully told. At the time of the rebellion, national news outlets jammed the phone lines into town, asking questions before the shooting had stopped. Journalists beat a path to Athens from across the country. Hollywood came calling, but the people of McMinn County had moved on.

After years of research, including exclusive interviews with the remaining witnesses, archival radio broadcast and interview tapes, scrapbooks, letters, and diaries, author Chris DeRose has reconstructed one of the seminal―yet untold―events in American election history.


Lucky 666: The Impossible Mission
By: Bob Druy and Tom Clavin

Quote:
It is 1942, the Japanese war machine has rolled up nearly all of the Pacific Theater, and American forces are clinging to what little unconquered territory remains. While US Marines claw their way across Guadalcanal, small contingents of US Army Airmen make their way to the lonely, embattled Allied airbase on Papua New Guinea. Their mission: to defend Australia from invasion, harass Japanese supply lines, fly perilous bombing missions over enemy-held strongholds, and make reconnaissance runs to provide intelligence for America’s nascent island-hopping campaign.


Warfare: A Concise Provocative Survey of Armed Conflict
By Robert Leckei

A short but deep dive into the definition of war.
deadeyedick Offline
#771 Posted:
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 16,957
The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell
Gene363 Offline
#772 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Two more books about the WWII European theatre, the writing of Stephen Ambrose book was better.

D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II

By Sarah Rose

Quote:
In 1942, the Allies were losing, Germany seemed unstoppable, and every able man in England was fighting. Churchill believed Britain was locked in an existential battle and created a secret agency, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), whose spies were trained in everything from demolition to sharp-shooting. Their job, he declared, was "to set Europe ablaze!" But with most men on the frontlines, the SOE did something unprecedented: it recruited women. Thirty-nine women answered the call, leaving their lives and families to become saboteurs in France. Half were caught, and a third did not make it home alive.

In D-Day Girls, Sarah Rose draws on recently declassified files, diaries, and oral histories to tell the story of three of these women. There's Odette Sansom, a young mother who feels suffocated by domestic life and sees the war as her ticket out; Lise de Baissac, an unflappable aristocrat with the mind of a natural leader; and Andrée Borrel, the streetwise organizer of the Paris Resistance. Together, they derailed trains, blew up weapons caches, destroyed power and phone lines, and gathered crucial intelligence—laying the groundwork for the D-Day invasion that proved to be the turning point in the war. Stylishly written and rigorously researched, this is an inspiring story for our own moment of resistance, in which women continue to play a vital role.


Citizen Soldiers: The US Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany

By Stephen E. Ambrose

Quote:
From Stephen E. Ambrose, bestselling author of Band of Brothers and D-Day, the inspiring story of the ordinary men of the U.S. army in northwest Europe from the day after D-Day until the end of the bitterest days of World War II.

In this riveting account, historian Stephen E. Ambrose continues where he left off in his #1 bestseller D-Day. Citizen Soldiers opens at 0001 hours, June 7, 1944, on the Normandy beaches, and ends at 0245 hours, May 7, 1945, with the allied victory. It is biography of the US Army in the European Theater of Operations, and Ambrose again follows the individual characters of this noble, brutal, and tragic war. From the high command down to the ordinary soldier, Ambrose draws on hundreds of interviews to re-create the war experience with startling clarity and immediacy. From the hedgerows of Normandy to the overrunning of Germany, Ambrose tells the real story of World War II from the perspective of the men and women who fought it.
deadeyedick Offline
#773 Posted:
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 16,957
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
bgz Offline
#774 Posted:
Joined: 07-29-2014
Posts: 13,023
Introduction to Topology, third edition.

By Bert Mendelson
Gene363 Offline
#775 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
^ Is it printed on a Mobius strip so you don't need to turn pages?
bgz Offline
#776 Posted:
Joined: 07-29-2014
Posts: 13,023
Yeah... you have to rotate the whole book to see the next two... it's a pain in the azz.
8trackdisco Offline
#777 Posted:
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 59,992
The Age of Football: Soccer and the 21st Century.

8trackdisco Offline
#778 Posted:
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 59,992
Any of you read John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee books?

Started with The Deep Blue Good-Bye.
Speyside Offline
#779 Posted:
Joined: 03-16-2015
Posts: 13,106
Umberto Echo

Island of the day before.
opelmantas.latino.lover Offline
#780 Posted:
Joined: 06-23-2021
Posts: 25
Dating Secrets To Catch Your Love by Gregg Blakely

I'm going to catch you my little Oppie-woppie!
Gene363 Offline
#781 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory

By Michael Christopher Carroll

A disturbing story of government incompetence and serious danger to the North East as well as the entire country.

Quote:
Strictly off-limits to the public, Plum Island is home to virginal beaches, cliffs, forests, ponds -- and the deadliest germs that have ever roamed the planet. Lab 257 blows the lid off the stunning true nature and checkered history of Plum Island. It shows that the seemingly bucolic island in the shadow of New York City is a ticking biological time bomb that none of us can safely ignore.

Based on declassified government documents, in-depth interviews, and access to Plum Island itself, this is an eye-opening, suspenseful account of a federal government germ laboratory gone terribly wrong. For the first time, Lab 257 takes you deep inside this secret world and presents startling revelations on virus outbreaks, biological meltdowns, infected workers, the periodic flushing of contaminated raw sewage into area waters, and the insidious connections between Plum Island, Lyme disease, and the deadly West Nile virus. The book also probes what's in store for Plum Island's new owner, the Department of Homeland Security, in this age of bioterrorism.

Lab 257 is a call to action for those concerned with protecting present and future generations from preventable biological catastrophes.




Japan's Secret War: Japan’s Race Against Time to Build Its Own Atomic Bomb

By Robert K. Wilcox

Quote:
After years of research based on material gathered by American intelligence during the occupation of Japan as well as extensive interviews with surviving participants, Robert Wilcox gives the first detailed account of Japan's version of the Manhattan Project - from its earliest days to the possible testing of an actual weapon. The story involves Japan's leading scientists, including a future Nobel prize winner; a network of Spanish spies working in North America; and a German U-boat desperately trying to reach Japan with a cargo of uranium in the final days before the Third Reich's collapse. But perhaps the most fascinating element is the giant industrial complex in northern Korea where the final aspects of the Japanese atomic research may have taken place. When the Soviet army invaded Korea at the war's end, they had the entire complex dismantled and shipped back to the Soviet Union. We can only speculate about the information they gained from it. This new edition includes recently unearthed research showing that the Japanese spent much more time on their atomic program than previously made public.



Samurai! The Autobiography of Japan's Bravest Fighter Ace

By Saburo Sakai, Martin Caidin, Fred Saito

Interesting to hear the other side's POV in WWII.

Quote:
Written by Martin Caidin from Saburo Sakai's own memoirs and journalist Fred Saito's extensive interviews with the World War II fighter pilot, Samurai! vividly documents the chivalry and valor of the combat aviator who time after time fought American fighter pilots and, with 64 kills, would survive the war as Japan's greatest living ace. Here are the harrowing experiences of one of Japan's greatest aces: from fighter pilot school -- where the harsh training expelled over half of his class -- to the thrilling early Japanese victories; from his incredible six hundred mile fight for life from Guadalcanal to his base in Rabaul, to the poignant story of the now-handicapped veteran's return to the air during the final desperate months of World War II.


Mission Beyond Darkness

By J. Bryan III

The text of this story will put you right in the action. The anticipation, the launch, the extended flight to the Japanese fleet, the attack, and the Japanese response. Then you’ll be sweating out the long return flight in the dark to the US fleet. The chaos of damaged planes, with wounded crew and nearly empty fuel tanks fighting to make night landing or ditching in the sea.

Quote:
When the pilots flew from the carriers of the Task Force 58 they knew they had little hope of returning to their ships.

Given that there was only seventy-five minutes of daylight left, they had little fuel, and they were flying into the middle of the world’s biggest ocean to attack the damaged but still dangerous Japanese fleet, it is little wonder that many of them were pessimistic about their chances.

Yet this is exactly what sixty-four men did in the twilight hours of June 19th, 1944.

Not one of the pilots or their crew hesitated as they got into their planes.

“They did what their commanders and their country told them to do. They carried out a ‘mission beyond darkness.’” Robert M. Citino, Navy Times

Mission Beyond Darkness by Lt. Commander J. Bryan III records in fascinating detail one of the most remarkable missions that place during the war in the Pacific.

Rather relying on second-hand accounts Byran explains this his work is completely authentic as it “is derived wholly from narratives by the survivors, from statements by officers and men of the Lexington’s company”.

“A story of tight going and tricky work that provided aerial miracles in a landing stampede of planes and pilots; the responsibilities of those aboard the carriers; the rescue work of destroyers and escort ships; foul ups and rogue ships; obstacles of dwindling fuel, misunderstood signals … Top among aviation books.” Kirkus Reviews

“The thrilling story of the closing phase of the First Battle of the Philippines, in which Air Group 16 from the Lexington successfully attacked a number of fleeing Japanese battleships and carriers.” Foreign Affairs

Lieutenant Commander J. Bryan III, USNR, served as a lieutenant commander assigned to naval air combat intelligence in the Pacific during World War Two. In civilian life he was a journalist and writer who was born into the influential Bryan family of newspaper publishers and industrialists. He passed away in 1993. Mission Beyond Darkness was first published in 1945.


B-29 Superfortress (Annotated): The Plane that Won the War

By Gene Gurney

An operational history of the B-29 in WWII, including the development, deployment, and several mission stories. In particular, the story of B-29 Radio operator Staff Sargent Red Erwin. Sargent Erwin had a phosphorus bomb explode in his face during a bombing mission. Although on fire and blinded he hand-carried the burning bomb to where he could throw it out and save the plane and crew. He was awarded The Medal of Honor for his actions.

Lin to Red Erwin's Medal Of Honor: https://www.cmohs.org/news-events/blog/22-seconds-of-extraordinary-heroism-staff-sergeant-henry-eugene-red-erwin/?fbclid=IwAR03T6oHNXf7honrYTt3Aq3qpO5ZNm2VZbxsT3S6FcfWysD9wD-I14aK1k0

Quote:
B-29 Superfortress: The Plane that Won the War is the definitive account of the crucial role played by the B-29 bomber during World War II. Author Gene Gurney takes the reader from the superplane’s inception, test flights and production to its combat deployments and its ultimate purpose of dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Palama Offline
#782 Posted:
Joined: 02-05-2013
Posts: 23,461
Gene - you ever read any of the books by Matthew Rozell? He has a series of books called "The Things Our Fathers Saw". I've been tempted to order all of them but wanted to see if you (...or anyone else on the board...) read them.

Gene363 Offline
#783 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Palama wrote:
Gene - you ever read any of the books by Matthew Rozell? He has a series of books called "The Things Our Fathers Saw". I've been tempted to order all of them but wanted to see if you (...or anyone else on the board...) read them.



I have not, they do look interesting. I believe Amazon or one of my online book-sellers suggested them, I'll have to give them a try.

My favorite author is Robert Leckie, He wrote about the wars of America right up to the Korean war. I started with, Helmet for My Pillow, his personal experience as a WWII Marine in the Pacific, but his later books are much better.
Palama Offline
#784 Posted:
Joined: 02-05-2013
Posts: 23,461
Gene363 wrote:
I have not, they do look interesting. I believe Amazon or one of my online book-sellers suggested them, I'll have to give them a try.

My favorite author is Robert Leckie, He wrote about the wars of America right up to the Korean war. I started with, Helmet for My Pillow, his personal experience as a WWII Marine in the Pacific, but his later books are much better.


I know I've heard of him but never read anything by him. Will look for something at the library. Thanks.
Gene363 Offline
#785 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Thunderbolt!: The Extraordinary Story of a World War II Ace

By Martin Caidin, Robert S. Johnson

Quote:
With 28 confirmed kills against the fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe, Robert S. Johnson returned from the European Theater in 1944 as one of the highest-scoring American ace of the war.

When he had first arrived in Europe the combat-wise R.A.F. pilots had said that his Republic P-47C Thunderbolt would be no match for the Luftwaffe’s deadly Focke-Wulf 190’s.

Yet, under the skillful hands of men like Johnson and Gaddy Gabreski, this plane which weighed seven tons, was sixteen feet long, equipped with four .50 calibre guns, and powered by 2,000 horsepower, proved to be one of the deadliest fighter planes of the war.

Over the course of the war Johnson and his comrades of the 56th Fighter Group had shot more enemy planes than any other European Theater. They had shot down 1006 German aircraft at the cost of 128 planes, meaning that they had a ratio of eight to one against the battle-hardened Nazi Luftwaffe.

Johnson’s memoir of this time, Thunderbolt!, co-authored with Martin Caidin, is a brilliant account of his time in France in the cockpit of a remarkable plane, fighting alongside some of the best pilots that ever lived.

Ever page of Thunderbolt! is filled with fascinating details that bring to life what it was like for these young men who risked everything to fight against the Nazis in the skies above northern France and Germany.

Robert S. Johnson was the first USAAF fighter pilot in the European theater to surpass Eddie Rickenbacker’s World War I score of 26 victories. After the war he served for eighteen years as an engineering executive and test pilot for Republic Aviation. He passed away in 1998. Martin Caidin was an American author and an authority on aeronautics and aviation. Caidin was an airplane pilot as well, and bought and restored a 1936 Junkers Ju 52 airplane. Caidin passed away in 1997. Thunderbolt! was first published in 1958.With 28 confirmed kills against the fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe, Robert S. Johnson returned from the European Theater in 1944 as one of the highest-scoring American ace of the war.

When he had first arrived in Europe the combat-wise R.A.F. pilots had said that his Republic P-47C Thunderbolt would be no match for the Luftwaffe’s deadly Focke-Wulf 190’s.

Yet, under the skillful hands of men like Johnson and Gaddy Gabreski, this plane which weighed seven tons, was sixteen feet long, equipped with four .50 calibre guns, and powered by 2,000 horsepower, proved to be one of the deadliest fighter planes of the war.

Over the course of the war Johnson and his comrades of the 56th Fighter Group had shot more enemy planes than any other European Theater. They had shot down 1006 German aircraft at the cost of 128 planes, meaning that they had a ratio of eight to one against the battle-hardened Nazi Luftwaffe.

Johnson’s memoir of this time, Thunderbolt!, co-authored with Martin Caidin, is a brilliant account of his time in France in the cockpit of a remarkable plane, fighting alongside some of the best pilots that ever lived.

Ever page of Thunderbolt! is filled with fascinating details that bring to life what it was like for these young men who risked everything to fight against the Nazis in the skies above northern France and Germany.

Robert S. Johnson was the first USAAF fighter pilot in the European theater to surpass Eddie Rickenbacker’s World War I score of 26 victories. After the war he served for eighteen years as an engineering executive and test pilot for Republic Aviation. He passed away in 1998. Martin Caidin was an American author and an authority on aeronautics and aviation. Caidin was an airplane pilot as well, and bought and restored a 1936 Junkers Ju 52 airplane. Caidin passed away in 1997. Thunderbolt! was first published in 1958.
fiddler898 Offline
#786 Posted:
Joined: 06-15-2009
Posts: 3,782
Project Hail Mary. It is Andy Weir's follow-up to The Martian ( which I have not read. Yet).
Gene363 Offline
#787 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
Joe Foss Flying Marine: The Story of his Flying Circus

By Joe Foss

The plain and straightforward story of the WWII Marine piolet that received the Medal of Honor in recognition of his role in air combat during the Guadalcanal Campaign. He shot down 26 Japanese planes beating the record set by Eddie Rickenbacker in WWI.

Quote:
oe Foss was one of the deadliest Marines to ever sit in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft.

With 26 victories to his name, he became the first pilot to equal Eddie Rickenbacker’s American World War I record.

In October 1942, Foss and his regiment were sent into the heat of battle at Guadalcanal.

Foss quickly gained a reputation for aggressive close-in fighter tactics and uncanny gunnery skills and rose to become the lead pilot of what was called Foss’ Flying Circus.

Foss’ book Joe Foss Flying Marine: The Story of his Flying Circus is a remarkable work that demonstrates just how tough life could be for a fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater of World War One.

Through the course of the book Foss explains how he became a pilot, despite the fact he was initially deemed too old, why he, and men like him, chose to fight the war in the air and what it was like to engage in dogfights with Japanese pilots.

“His remarkable flying skill, inspiring leadership and indomitable fighting spirit were distinctive factors in the defense of strategic American positions on Guadalcanal.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, President, United States.

Joe Foss’ citation read: “For extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flights with Marine Fighting Squadron 121 in the Solomon Islands area. During the period Oct. 13 to Oct. 20, 1942, inclusive, Captain Foss shot down six enemy Zero fighters and one enemy bomber in aerial combat. His constant aggressiveness, skill, and leadership during these engagements were worthy of the highest traditions of the Naval Service.”

Joe Foss was a United States Marine Corps major and the leading Marine fighter ace in World War II. He received the Medal of Honor in recognition of his role in air combat during the Guadalcanal Campaign. His book Joe Foss Flying Marine: The Story of his Flying Circus was first published in 1943. Foss passed away in 2003.


8trackdisco Offline
#788 Posted:
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 59,992
Flashman

George McDonald Fraser.

Fraser revives Flashman, a caddish bully from Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes, and relates Flashman’s adventures after he is expelled in drunken disgrace from Rugby school in the late 1830s. Flashy enlists in the Eleventh Light Dragoons and is promptly sent to India and Afghanistan, where despite his consistently cowardly behavior he always manages to come out on top. Flashman is an incorrigible anti-hero for the ages. This humorous adventure book will appeal to fans of historical fiction, military fiction, and British history
deadeyedick Offline
#789 Posted:
Joined: 03-13-2003
Posts: 16,957
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

This guy is hilarious writing about human's effects on the earth. A snippet:

Sixty million years ago, an asterioid impact caused a dust cloud so hugh that darkness may have pervaded Earth for two years, virtually stopping photosynthesis and leading to the extinction of 75% of land animals. Measured against these disasters, we're just not that important.
When Earth is done with us, it'll be like, "Well, that Human Pox wasn't great, but at least I didn't get Large Asteroid Syndrome."

MACS Offline
#790 Posted:
Joined: 02-26-2004
Posts: 79,593
How to speak Dog: Stanley Coren

Yet another book to try to connect with the little basturd. This one is supposed to teach dog body language. I know when he growls and bares his teeth it means "f--- you".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-KtLvLCwHs
Palama Offline
#791 Posted:
Joined: 02-05-2013
Posts: 23,461
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer
Smooth light Offline
#792 Posted:
Joined: 06-26-2020
Posts: 3,598
'I sing body electric' - by Walt Whitman
ZRX1200 Offline
#793 Posted:
Joined: 07-08-2007
Posts: 60,476
Red War Vince Flynn
Smooth light Offline
#794 Posted:
Joined: 06-26-2020
Posts: 3,598
DIVINE WIND - Saul David PHD.

It's about the kamikaze of WW2, zeros pack with dynamite and no way to land only crash into our ships.

Man that's some desperate sh*t.
Stogie1020 Offline
#795 Posted:
Joined: 12-19-2019
Posts: 5,231
The Federalits Papers - written by "some old guys who wrote something"
8trackdisco Offline
#796 Posted:
Joined: 11-06-2004
Posts: 59,992
The Deep Blue Good-By

TRAVIS McGEE
He's a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He's also a knight errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out and his rule is simple: he'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.
Gene363 Offline
#797 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
I've been reading and not posting.
The Saga of Pappy Gunn
by George C. Kenney

Quote:
“This is the story of an extraordinary character. He was one of the great heroes of the Southwest Pacific in World War II, a mechanical genius, and one of the finest storytellers I have ever known.”

Four-star General Kenney pays tribute to a remarkable man in this biography.

Colonel Paul Irvin (“Pappy”) Gunn was a fearless fighter who demonstrated his qualities of leadership.

To the youngsters fresh from the training fields and untried in air combat he was an example, an inspiration, a confidence builder, and an invaluable man to have around.

As well as a brilliant pilot, Pappy was also a formidable aviation engineer. If any piece of equipment from the airplane itself to any of its hundreds of accessories failed to work, the universal answer was “Pappy can fix it,” and Pappy could and did.

Kenney's book uncovers the remarkable life of Pappy Gunn and his exploits through the Second World War, explaining why many generals, admirals and soldiers acknowledged that he was one of aviation's great pioneers.

‘Pappy Gunn is a loving tribute by the youngest son of one of the United States’ greatest heroes, one that highlights the humanity of a man who was a legend in his own time.’ — HistoryNet

‘An affectionate biography of an almost legendary Air Force hero’ — Kirkus Reviews

George Churchill Kenney (1889 –1977) was a United States Army Air Forces general during World War II. He is best known as the commander of the Allied Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), a position he held from August 1942 until 1945. Kenney wrote three books about the SWPA air campaigns he led during World War II. His major work was General Kenney Reports (1949), a personal history of the air war he led from 1942 to 1945. He also wrote The Saga of Pappy Gunn (1959) and ****** Bong: Ace of Aces (1960), which described the careers of Paul Gunn and Richard Bong, two of the most prominent airmen under his command.


Serenade to the Big Bird
by Bert Stiles

Quote:
“... the whole low squadron was gone ... blown up ... burned up ... shot to hell ... one guy got out of that.”

At the age of twenty-two, Bert Stiles joined the American Air Force.

Two years later he began his life as a co-pilot of a B-17 Flying Fortress, flying high over Germany and bombing cities far below.

In his moving memoir of that time Stiles takes you right to the heart of life as a young bomber pilot in World War Two; the terror of being under fire from flak and German planes, the disillusionment in their mission, the thoughts of girls back home and those they’d met on their travels, the dreams of the future and the overwhelming tiredness that hung over every member of the crew.

“A book of terrific impact. Perhaps the best to come out of World War II.” The Philadelphia Inquirer

“The serenade is a simple and moving story of the war in the air. The big bird was a Flying Fort. She had a crew of ten men and all but one of them were 20 to 24 years old. … They went out on missions together into Germany from England. They ran into flak and had the daylights scared out of them, and burned out their guns shooting down 109's and Focke-Wulfs. They dropped bombs on Berlin and other cities, and hated war, and did not like to think what their bombs had done.” The New York Times

Bert Stiles was a student at Colorado College in 1942 when he joined the American Army Air Force. He received his commission in November, 1943, and went overseas to Great Britain in March, 1944. He was awarded the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross and was a veteran of thirty-five bomber missions. Instead of returning to America when leave was due to him, he requested to be transferred to fighters. On November 26, 1944, he was shot down in a P-51 on an escort mission to Hanover. He died at the age of 23.


Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway - The Great Naval Battles As Seen Through Japanese Eyes
by Tameichi Hara, Fred Saito, Roger Pineau


Quote:
The Naval Institute Press is pleased to make available for the first time this cloth edition of a now-classic war memoir that was a best seller in both Japan and the United States during the 1960s. Originally published as a paperback in 1961, it has long been treasured by World War II buffs and professional historians for its insights into the Japanese side of the surface war in the Pacific. The book has been credited with correcting errors in U.S. accounts of various battles and with revealing details of high-level Imperial Japanese Navy strategy meetings. The author, Captain Tameichi Hara, was a survivor of more than one hundred sorties against the Allies and was known throughout Japan as the Unsinkable Captain. Called the workhorses of the navy, Japanese destroyers shouldered the heaviest burden of the surface war and took part in scores of intense sea battles, many of which Captain Hara describes here. In the early days of the war victories were common, but by 1943, the lack of proper maintenance of the destroyers and sufficient supplies, along with Allied development of scientific equipment and superior aircraft, took its toll. On April 7, 1945, during the Japanese navy s last sortie, Captain Hara managed to survive the sinking of his own ship only to witness the demise of the famed Japanese battleship Yamato off Okinawa. A hero to his countrymen, Captain Hara exemplified the best in Japanese surface commanders: highly skilled (he wrote the manual on torpedo warfare), hard driving, and aggressive. Moreover, he maintained a code of honor worthy of his samurai grandfather, and, as readers of this book have come to appreciate, he was as free with praise for American courage and resourcefulness as he was critical of himself and his senior commanders. The book s popularity over the past forty-six years testifies to the author s success at writing an objective account of what happened that provides not only a fascinating eyewitness record of the war, but also an honest and dispassionate assessment of Japan s high command. Captain Hara s sage advice on leadership is as applicable today as it was when written. For readers new to this book and for those who have read and re-read their paperback editions until they have fallen apart, this new hardcover edition assures them a permanent source of reference and enjoyment.


The Real Tenko: Extraordinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the Japanese
by Mark Felton (Goodreads Author)

Quote:
This book details the treatment of Allied service-women, female civilians and local women by the Japanese occupation forces. While a number of memoirs have been published there is no dedicated volume. It chronicles the massacres of nurses (such as that at Alexandra Hospital, Singapore), disturbing atrocities on both Europeans and Asians, and accounts of imprisonment. It reveals how many ended up in Japanese hands when they should have been evacuated. Also covered are the hardships of long marches and the sexual enslavement of white and native women (so called 'Comfort Women'). The book is a testimony both to the callous and cruel behavior of the Japanese and to the courage and fortitude of those who suffered at their hands.[/h]

Blood on the Rising Sun (Annotated): The Japanese Invasion of the Philippines
by Adalia Marquez, Carlos P. Romulo

[h]Adalia Marquez was a police reporter living in Manila under the Japanese Occupation during World War 2 when her husband was arrested by the Japanese Military Police for aiding the resistance. Following his escape, suspicion falls upon Adalia and she is detained in his place, along with her two children, and imprisoned in Fort Santiago. Facing torture and starvation, Adalia contacts the Filipino underground and agrees to help them from inside the prison in return for much-needed food and medicine. With a talent for manipulating her captors, Adalia is able to evade detection long enough to provide for herself and her children, as well as other detainees in urgent need of sustenance, until the deliverance of V-J Day.


U.S.S. Seawolf: Submarine Raider of the Pacific
by Gerold Frank, James D. Horan, J.M. Eckberg

Quote:
Aaaap! Aaaap! The battle-station alarm blared through the boat. Half-naked, their bodies gleaming in the yellow light, the men tumbled out of their bunks. The narrow passageways were suddenly filled with men and then as suddenly cleared as each man fitted into his assigned position.

The USS Seawolf was one of the greatest submarine raiders of all time.

Having narrowly avoided the attack on Pearl Harbor the Seawolf set out for the seas of the Pacific to wreak havoc on Japanese shipping.

Joseph Melvin Eckberg was on the Seawolf from her maiden voyage and remained with her until January 1943. As chief radioman he was instrumental in assisting Captain Frederick Warder to find and destroy enemy targets.

From the claustrophobia of being trapped under water and the overwhelming fear of depth charges to the joys of aiding the war-effort and the camaraderie on the ship, Eckberg’s account, told to the authors Gerold Frank and James Horan, gives remarkable insight into submarine warfare of the Second World War.

“It is a narrative straight as a sword, from which emerges the story of how that happy marriage of courage and skill was achieved which made our submarines more than any other group the fleet that won the war.” The Saturday Review, Fletcher Pratt.

“The successes of the Seawolf bear testimony to the effectiveness of single-purposeness and teamwork.” Jonas H. Ingram, U. S. Navy Commander-in-Chief.

Gerold Frank and James Horan were professional authors who wrote down Eckberg’s story after meeting him on a slow train between New York City and New London, Connecticut, in August 1943. U.S.S. Seawolf: Submarine Raider of the Pacific was first published in 1945. Frank went on to become a prominent ghostwriter and passed away in 1998. Horan, author of more than forty books, died in 1981. Eckberg died four years before him in 1977.
Gene363 Offline
#798 Posted:
Joined: 01-24-2003
Posts: 30,669
I'm still reading this one:

Samurai!
By Saburo Saki, Martin Caidin, Fred Saito SC

The personal story of professional Japanese warrior Saburo Sakai describes his many missions and daredevil exploits in aerial combat during World War II, offering suspenseful accounts of his most courageous flights.
Smooth light Offline
#799 Posted:
Joined: 06-26-2020
Posts: 3,598
Sevenity nine nine
Palama Offline
#800 Posted:
Joined: 02-05-2013
Posts: 23,461
Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese-American Heroes in WWII by Daniel James Brown

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