Book Description

When the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, many American men joined the U. S. Navy and Coast Guard. Some became crew members of small ships they called the Donald Duck Navy. These ships guarded America’s coastlines, stalked submarines, and escorted convoys across the oceans. In Europe and in the Pacific they swept mines and also led landing craft to invasion beaches.

Life aboard the ships was crowded and cramped with no privacy. They pitched, yawed, and rolled viciously, decks awash, forecastles, pilot houses, and flying bridges buried under water. They weathered the worst of nature and the enemy, and their crews endured and fought the war as bravely as did other sailors. These young men were a special type, mostly reservists with no previous sea duty. They learned fast and performed all the missions assigned to them.

Like many sailors, they played music, wrote poetry, drew, painted, and crafted items that were original and artistic. It is amazing that they had the mental and physical discipline to do this under cramped and brutal conditions This book is a tribute to them, and it helps to preserve and record some of those original creations.

It was enlightening to learn about the original works of Navy and Coast Guard sailors. This is a great book. –U. S. Coast Guard.

Veigele gives details of life on a small combatant through sailors’ arts and crafts. These ships fought the enemy and the sea and played important parts in winning WWII. This book is a "must read." –Obie Armstrong PC 1204, Past President of the Patrol Craft Sailors Association. ... Read more

Book Description

The first full-length memoir published by an enlisted man in the Irish Brigade, from the Seven Day's Battles to the charge up Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg--a no-holds-barred firsthand account. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Outstanding!
William McCarter's book is quite an interesting tale of his involvment as a private for the famous Irish Brigade.McCarter's vivid descriptions of soldier life, marching, camping, facing cold weather, hard living and the Battle of Fredericksburg was very well done.McCarter missed Antietam although his regiment did face the Confederates at the heights of Fredericksburg.McCarter tells such a facinating, informative, sad, happy, yet chilling story at times during his soldier career that it was hard to put this book down.His vivid story of Fredericksburg and how the brigade battled it out, how he was injured and how he escaped death while suffering upon the battlefield was certainly the best part of the book.I wish more soldier accounts were written as well as this one as this book is one of the better books I've read that tells a soldier's story.5 STARS!

An enlisted man's memoirs on the glorious Irish Brigade
William McCarter was a twenty-one year old Irish immigrant when he enlisted in the 116th Pennsylvania Infantry in August 1862.The unit soon became part of the Second Brigade, First Division, Second Corps, Army of the Potomac, better known as the fabled Irish Brigade and Carter's memoirs, "My Life in the Irish Brigade" has the distinction of being the first full-length memoir published by an enlisted man in the Irish Brigade.McCarter's account covers the brigade from the Seven Day's Battles in which it made its battlefield reputation, to its assault against the Bloody Lane at Antietam, to the charge up Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg where McCarter was gravely wounded and forced to leave the army.Because he was detailed as the personal scribe to General Thomas F. Meagher, commander of the Irish Brigade, McCarter was able to meet and judge the famous generals of the Union Army such as Ambrose Burnside and Winfield Scott Hancock.Kevin E. O'Brien, who has written widely on the Irish Brigade, edits the volume and in addition to his Endnotes he has included several interesting items in the Appendixes, such as the poem "The Irish Dead on Fredericksburg Heights" which was printed in the "Irish-American" in 1863.McCarter's recollections are quite engaging, and his description of the Brigade's actions at the fateful battle of Fredericksburg, where the vast majority of its 1,200 men were killed or wounded, is the best part of the book.If you have more than a passing familiarity with the history of the Irish Brigade, this is an excellent book to give you a unique and fascinating perspective on their glory days during the Civil War.It is also one of the better written memoirs, by enlisted man or general, you will find.

This was great reading!
The Civil War has always been of great interest to me. Consequently, when I find a book that tells of real-life experiences coming directly from the pen of the man who experienced the things he wrote about, I amautomatically interested. Private McCarter wrote candidly of what hewitnessed, felt and thought while in the Irish Brigade.His book is easyto understand and evokes vivid mental pictures of the scenes he describes. He seemed to be an educated, good-hearted man who, if he was alive today, Iwould love to meet. ... Read more

Book Description

"Durant's experience is one of the most harrowing in thehistory of the American military, and one of the most compelling ever told." -from the introduction by Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down Piloting a U.S. Army Special Operations Blackhawk over Somalia, Michael Durant was shot down and taken prisoner.

Held captive for 11 days by a seemingly backward yet media-savvy people, Durant endured treatment both horrifying and increasingly bizarre. His experience crystallized a clash of cultures by turns frightening, melancholy, hilarious, and strangely familiar. ... Read more

Reviews (55)

Excellent, a must read
The name Mike Durant should be a familiar one. As a member of the US Army's elite 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment), he was one of the world's finest helicopter pilots. During the battle in Mogadishu, Somalia made famous by Mark Bowden's book BLACK HAWK DOWN and the movie of the same name, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Durant piloted a Black Hawk helicopter that was shot down.

In this book, Durant does an excellent job of recounting that fateful day when his Black Hawk was shot down and the ensuing 11 days he spent held as a prisoner of war (POW) by the most powerful tribal faction in Somalia before his release. Along with recounting those harrowing days in captivity, Durant provides an autobiographical look of important times and missions of his military career.

This book is a very fast read and an excellent one. It would certainly help the reader to know the events and situations taking place during Operation Gothic Serpent, so I would highly recommend reading Mark Bowden's BLACK HAWK DOWN prior to reading this book. However, knowing the circumstances of the battle nor reading Bowden's book are not really necessary to enjoying this incredible book. Durant's POW experience is certainly a unique one and the book does a good job of relating what Durant went through. Contrary to what you might think before reading the book, not all POWs are beaten and treated poorly; Durant makes it explicitly known that his captors treated him humanely.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any reader. One does not need a thorough knowledge of the military or its Special Operations forces to enjoy this book (though it may help). It is at times very moving, and there was one instance where I had to fight back tears.

Detailed story of an American hero
Micheal Durant's 1993 story of being held captive by a faction of well armed Somalis in Mogadishu is one of the most harrowing, detailed and violent stories of modern warfare. Even though it is only about his own experience as a POW, it is very interesting and is a genuine page turner. Durant recounts almost everything that he experienced, from which day a certain food was brought to him, to what dreams he had on certain muggy Somali nights. What also makes this book one to read, is that although most of it is about his experiences during Operation Gothic Serpent in Mogadishu, he also recounts just as perilous tales of his time serving in Korea, Panama and Iraq as a helicopter pilot.

I am glad I read "Black Hawk Down" before "In the Company of Heroes." "Black Hawk Down" gives an overview of the entire battle, whereas once Durant is captured, the rest of "Company" is only about him in captivity.

This book is about one man's absolutely unbelievable courage in a situation most of us cannot even fathom. He is truly an American patriot, and deserves to have the world hear his story. "In the Company of Heroes" should be read by everyone.

Good for the Nightstalkers themselves
As a nightstalker wife. This book is a must have for all 160th soldiers. Especially is they have the movie. It's a key point of NSDQ history and it reminds us LNSDQ of the possibilites and the strength of our husbands and their soldiers. There aren't many books about nightstalkers, so it's about time one got written. This book was written from a man's point of view whose been there. Now, I'm gonna explain from a wife's point of view of being there. Still this book is definately a must have.

This book held me in captivity!
Michael Durant deserves plenty of praise and respect as do all the other Task Force Rangers who are alive and those that have unfortunately sacrificed their lives. Simply put, I could not put this book down and found every chapter fascinating. Mr. Durant does an excellent job of relating the events in every detail and you truly feel as if you are there with him through it all.

Regardless of what you may already know about these events, you will find yourself spellbound by the story. I kept imagining how I might have responded or reacted had I been in that situation and I am not sure I would have been as brave or cool-headed as Mr. Durant. Knowing his inner thoughts and strategies as well as other events of his military career was completely inciteful and I am really appreciative that he was able to share them with everyone. Thanks Mike!

A True Hero
A story of amazing courage. It was inspiring to learn what Michael Durant went through and how he dealt with it both during the ordeal and afterwards. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is brave enough to see what happened in Somalia from Durant's perspective. ... Read more

Book Description

Spy tells, for the first time, the full, authoritative story of how FBI agent Robert Hanssen, code name grayday, spied for Russia for twenty-two years in what has been called the “worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history”–and how he was finally caught in an incredible gambit by U.S. intelligence.

David Wise, the nation’s leading espionage writer, has called on his unique knowledge and unrivaled intelligence sources to write the definitive, inside story of how Robert Hanssen betrayed his country, and why.

Spy at last reveals the mind and motives of a man who was a walking paradox: FBI counterspy, KGB mole, devout Catholic, obsessed pornographer who secretly televised himself and his wife having sex so that his best friend could watch, defender of family values, fantasy James Bond who took a stripper to Hong Kong and carried a machine gun in his car trunk.

Brimming with startling new details sure to make headlines, Spy discloses:

-the previously untold story of how the FBI got the actual file on Robert Hanssen out of KGB headquarters in Moscow for $7 million in an unprecedented operation that ended in Hanssen’s arrest.

-how for three years, the FBI pursued a CIA officer, code name gray deceiver, in the mistaken belief that he was the mole they were seeking inside U.S. intelligence. The innocent officer was accused as a spy and suspended by the CIA for nearly two years.

-why Hanssen spied, based on exclusive interviews with Dr. David L. Charney, the psychiatrist who met with Hanssen in his jail cell more than thirty times. Hanssen, in an extraordinary arrangement, authorized Charney to talk to the author.

-the full story of Robert Hanssen’s bizarre sex life, including the hidden video camera he set up in his bedroom and how he plotted to drug his wife, Bonnie, so that his best friend could father her child.

- how Hanssen and the CIA’s Aldrich Ames betrayed three Russians secretly spying for the FBI–including tophat, a Soviet general–who were then executed by Moscow.

-that after Hanssen was already working for the KGB, he directed a study of moles in the FBI when–as he alone knew–he was the mole.

Robert Hanssen betrayed the FBI. He betrayed his country. He betrayed his wife. He betrayed his children. He betrayed his best friend, offering him up to the KGB. He betrayed his God. Most of all, he betrayed himself. Only David Wise could tell the astonishing, full story, and he does so, in masterly style, in Spy. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen....
This is a fascinating book. I couldn't put it down; stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to completely read in one sitting. David Wise definitely has contacts inside the FBI and CIA, otherwise it would be difficult to understand where he obtained his information. He goes into great detail and leaves one wondering exactly how competent are these agencies. I recommend this book to anyone who desires a better understanding as to how the FBI and CIA operate. After reading this book, you will want to read Wise's book on the Aldrich Ames case.

Prison isn't good enough for a tratior...
David Wise's book about the FBI's Robert Hanssen who betrayed his country is clear and concisely written.

Is is the best book on Hanssen and his betrayals of secrets dealing with the FBI and CIA. Mr Wise's book almost seems to good to be true more fiction than reality, but that is exactly what it is reality. The game of espionage is messy business indeed and Mr. Wise paints the picture clearly in his book.

In my opinion this is the best of the current books available on the subject.

One of the Worst Spies in American History
Robert Hanssen poses such a puzzle to any right thinking individual that a million books could be written concerning him. An FBI agent, a dedicated family man and a devout Roman Catholic. At the same time, Robert Hanssen represented the worst KGB infiltration into the American intelligence community in the nations history. Hanssen was by no means a genius, but he was smart enough to fool almost every one around him, splitting personalities and giving up the nations most precious secrets. His information led the KGB to numerous spies, allowing them to be executed. Million dollar project were compromised, and the KGB was given a full schematic of US counterintelligence schemes. In other words, almost absolute devastation. And all because of the frumpy guy with the six kids who went to church everyday. The story is mind boggling in its psychological complexities, but noted espionage author David Wise manages to translate the dark world of spies into the vernacular, giving the average reader a clear picture of a most fractured man.

If it wasn't for his career of espionage, Hanssen would be wholly unremarkable. The son of a Chicago police officer, Hanssen studies accounting and dentistry before joining the Chicago force. He then went to work for the FBI in critical but hardly glamorous intelligence positions. He raised a family, was pious and charitable in his faith, and seemed destined to leave out his life as a good, productive civil servant. This was not to be. At some point, in the late 1970's, Hanssen decided to step away from his life of convention and begin to work for the Soviet Union. He was a wonderful spy, as his espoused views on communism and his somewhat distant demeanor kept his safe from the eyes of the spyhunters. His work was damaging, as he compromised sources such as TOPHAT, devastating Soviet human intelligence for a decade. The most troubling part of the story is the fact that clues began to trickle into the Bureau, but were ignored because the idea of a mole inside the FBI was so disturbing to the top brass. Even so, a study was put together in order to examine the entire history of suspected moles inside the United States. The study was headed by Robert Hanssen.

Hanssen is a man of startling contradictions, almost impossible to understand. He was a fervent Catholic, yet he often indulged in very odd sexual and pornographic fantasies, including letting his close friend watch him and his wife have sex. The psychological aspect of the book is as intriguing as it is confusing, as the FBI tried to understand what made this agent turn on them. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. Hanssen became more desperate as time moved on and the FBI finally began to close the next around him. Yet, he still displayed a strange sense of resignation and continued disregard of procedure. Was it money, was it the role of his father? The answer is still pretty much up in the air.

Wise does an exceptional job of revealing the world of secrets and espionage to the reader. Hanssen himself often pales in terms of intrigue, as we learn of all the ancillary intelligence activities taking place around him. The reader gets a good nuts and bolts sense of the game, as it were, and that is instrumental in helping one understand a man like Hanssen. The book is heavily and studiously researched, relying on all sorts of secret documents and interviews with the key players. Wise provides a stunning narrative concerning the operation that finally revealed the identity of "Ramon Garcia," Hanssen's nom de guerre. All in all, it is an excellent work concerning a traitor who did an unimaginable amount of damage to his country.

True Crime & Espionage Meet
At last, an author that delivers the excitement of true crime in an infamous FBI espionage case. There is so much crossover between the two styles in this book that the reader is left satiated at the remarkable depth of Wise's research as well as his deft storytelling technique.

Opus Dei & a FBI Spy
There are now 4+ books dealing with the story of FBI agent Robert Hanssen, codename GRAY DAY, who spied for The Soviet Union for over twenty years, without either his Russian spymasters, nor the FBI knowing his identity until $7 million was paid for his KGB file. Although Wise's book leaves many unanswered questions, "Spy" is definitely one of the best. Hanssen does rank with Aldrich Ames, but one is still left to wonder what actual harm did these two do to the National Security of the United States?

P> But like Tad Szulc's "To Kill the Pope," this volume has not answered many of the questions surrounding Opus Dei and Hanssen's affiliation with that flagellic cult. Thus if one follows the money paid Hanssen, one finds that it leads directly to Opus Dei coffers, e.g. tuition payments of Hanssen's children to attend the Opus Dei schools, Oakcrest for his girls, and the Heights for the boys. It is illustrative that this Catholic convert was told by his confessor to turn over his early Soviet payments to Mother Theresa, of Christopher Hitchens' "The Missionary Position" repute. The Nobel Prize winning nun also had Charles Keating and Baby Doc as sources of funds. Hanssen's wife agreed that this was an appropriate penance for his sins of expionage on behalf of "godless" Communism.

Opus Dei's prelature even stepped in to urge Hanssen's wife not to make no statements about her husband since that might delay its founder's elevation to sainthood by John Paul II.
Louis Freeh, head of the FBI was a fellow parishioner of Hanssen's which may explain why other FBI Opus Dei acolytes were hesitant to pursue a member of Opus Dei Study Center or Catholic Information Center, which was staffed by an Opus Dei priest, Rev. C. John Mc Closkey, and located a short distance from the J. Edgar Hoover headquarters. Other fellow parishioners were Justices Scalia and Thomas.

So yet another paradox needs to be added to Joan Estruch's "Saints & Schemers: Opus Dei and its Paradoxes" to join Jack Dunn's "The Vatican Boys: A Novel about Church Corruption."

A.M.D.G. ... Read more

Book Description

Alfred Novotny was born in Vienna on 1 April 1924, and was perfectly placed to suffer the ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." His times were interesting and deadly, but that he survived them is not the greatest surprise. Rather, what stands out is that Fred never lost his compassion, nor his humanity, nor his mind.

Growing up in 1930s Vienna, the former home of a young, frustrated, and fuming artist named Adolf Hitler, Fred was the stepson of an ardent Social Democrat. As such, he grew up with a visceral and deep dislike and distrust of their rival parties, including the National Socialists, or "Nazis." Although the political situation in Austria throughout the 1930s was stormy, the German annexation of Austria absolutely ended effective opposition to the "New Order."

Attracted by the superficial benefits of unity with Germany and the evident achievements of the Nazis, young Alfred gradually parted ways with his stepfather. He performed his duty to the Reich when called up for service in the Labor Corps, and later proudly served in the most elite division of the German Army in World War II, Panzer-Grenadier Division "Grossdeutschland" ("Greater Germany").

From 1942 forward, Fred saw more than his share of combat. Starting with action as a member of a hurriedly-armed labor detachment in the famous British naval and commando raid at St. Nazaire, France, in March 1942, Fred later joined the Grossdeutschland Division in time to participate in some of the most well-known—and most bloody—battles of the war on the Eastern Front. During the Germans’ last great offensive in the Soviet Union in 1943, Fred fought at Poltava and in the titanic clash of thousands of tanks at Kursk. Wounded there, he later returned to his unit and fought in the long series of fiercely-contested defensive battles that ended only when the Soviets occupied much of eastern and central Germany and Austria. . . and when Hitler and the Thousand Year Reich were finally destroyed.

Like so many members of German units, Fred was happy to surrender to the US Army at the end of the war, but under the terms of inter-Allied agreements reached months before, units which had fought only against the Soviets were turned over to the Red Army, en masse. Thus began the ordeal after the ordeal—2½ years in Soviet prison camps.

After being freed from Soviet captivity, Fred eventually escaped the old world and the old conflicts . . . and started a new life in the United States, free of the competing "isms" of Europe that had wreaked misery on millions.

Supported by detailed commentary by author/historian Marc Rikmenspoel, The Good Soldier contains 62 illustrations, including original diagrams and sketches drawn before the war and during the author's captivity; comprehensive documentary authentication of the author's military service; and extensive wartime photography. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

A Thoughtful Reminiscence
In 'The Good Soldier', Alfred Novotny reminisces about his life. In a concise and highly readable way the author thinks back six decades to see what he remembers after a long and dynamic life most of which has been spent in a very successful career in the hospitality industry. The central feature of this book however is his service in the elite Grossdeutschland Division in WW II. For two and one-half years he fought on the Eastern Front and although he provides an understanding of the basic savagery of this environment, he sees no healthy need for the endless repetition of the lurid details of exposed entrails. In fact, Novotny provides us with a broad picture of his military service including his training and various non-combat events. Once the war ended Novotny's unit was handed to the Soviets for imprisonment. Here he faced another challenge to his survival as he was delivered into forced labor in a coal mine in the Caucasus.
By the end of the book Alfred Novotny has taught us not only what some German soldiers experienced but also how war affects all soldiers a lifetime later. He writes that the worst memories of the war, "leap to the forefront" of his mind "on occasions that are sometimes too many for my comfort, and too few for my conscience." In his succinctness, Novotny has said a great deal about a big topic.

The Good Soldier
I am fortunate to know Fred...or so I thought. His soft Austrian accent adds so much to his saga. His ever present awkward gait that has been with him like so many memories I now understand. Always sincere, pensive and with an instrospective intensity he writes as he speaks.
It's not history retold from the 'other side's' perspective that redefines ones attitude. It's that one is reading what amounts to the diary of an Austrian German boy soldier in Hitler's army whose purpose was the exact opposite of every Allied soldier who told their story. Thousands of 'good soldiers' spent horrible periods of time in battle, in hospitals, as prisoners in war camps, or sadly prisoners of their own minds and memories. Novotny's only bitterness is aimed not at his military foes and blended with purposeful stealth into the late stage of his book.
The unabashed honesty of Fred's story is compelling and civilian as well as military. As a young waiter before being drafted he describes how he and several coworkers essentially steal some famous salami. They get found out, each slapped in the face and Novotny gets three weeks in the potato cellar. Like the rest of his story there is no faux remorse. He relates the salami saga because it says something about him; what that means he leaves to the reader.
In a 'dacha' in Russia they find an American Gramophone and one 78rpm record. Schockingly it happens to be one of his favorites, "Stormy Weather". This eventual American Austrian loved Harry James and Louis Armstrong.
Describing how that left leg was wounded he mentions that there were 8 other bullets hitting his equipment including his helmet he didn't get far enough into the hole he was digging. Many a 'hero'have conjured up details of great bravery. Fred says, "Someone was looking out after me." Honesty and heroism make strange bedfellows.
Speaking of strange bedfellows perhaps the most revealing tale in the book is Novotny's remembrance of his encounter with a young woman which he pleads as "another incident of love in war". It cannot be retold with any more seriousness or hilariousness than what you read in the book. This example of sheer determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles may be the best description of Fred's will and he did it almost all by himself.
Toward post war Germany he levels this paraphraed pointed observation: to those who fought your war you gave two free street car tickets to take us to officials, two 15 cent cigarette packages, find your own job, help yourself, and your mental problems are your own. A troubling and revealing view.

What Fred says is crystal clear and what he means is craftily expressed. It would be difficult for any reader to close this book with the same mindset with which it was opened.

Not Enough Detail
Novotny's book is good, but too short. He only touches briefly on topics and he left me wanting more.

Reader's Digest Version
Unfortunately, I "listened" to what most of the other evaluators wrote about this book and purchased it. Believing I was buying a book that was going to be as insightful as some of the other classics on the Eastern Front, I was somewhat disappointed. If you are looking for an account of someone fighting against the Russian's during World War II, read Voss, Sajer, or Knappe. If you want to read about the Russian concentration camp system, read Solzhenitsyn. If you just want something to read to pass the time, then, and only then, read this book.

What it was really like.
If you really want to know what life was like for the German soldier on the Eastern Front then you have to read The Good Soldier. Alfred Novotny, a member of the famed Grossdeutschland Division, writes of his experiences before and during the War, his life in a Russian prison camp, his eventual release, and life in the post war years. This book is definately a must read. ... Read more

Book Description

"Lewis Sorley has told the Abrams story with verve, sensitivity and insight." --Stephen Ambrose ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Finest Kind
GEN Abrams was responsible for the quality of the Army today and since he was the Chief of Staff. His wisdom and insight into soldiering, leadership, and combat ability is what won the Gulf War. Dr. Sorley is right on the money. It is obvious that Dr. Sorley really admires GEN Abrams and he has done his homework. It's a shame that GEN Abrams died so early, he tranformed the United States Army into the force it is today, or was at the time of the Gulf War.
I met GEN Abrams in 1973 in Germany as a young Corporal and he spoke with me for a few minutes, but he struck me as unpretentious and humorous. I met Captains and Majors who had a bigger ego that him.

Finest Kind
GEN Abrams was responsible for the quality of the Army today and since he was the Chief of Staff. His wisdom and insight into soldiering, leadership, and combat ability is what won the Gulf War. Dr. Sorley is right on the money. It is obvious that Dr. Sorley really admires GEN Abrams and he has done his homework. It's a shame that GEN Abrams died so early, he tranformed the United States Army into the force it is today, or was at the time of the Gulf War.
...

An Unconventional, but Great, General
Creighton Abrams may have been the greatest American soldier of the second half of the 20th century.He served as a tank commander under General George Patton at the Battle of the Bulge, in occupied Germany and wartime Korea, as commander of United States military forces in Vietnam, and as Army Chief of Staff.It was a remarkable career!Lewis Sorley's admiring biography of General Abrams narrates the principal events in appropriate detail.In the prologue, Sorley asserts that Abrams was "the quintessential soldier," explaining that Abrams "demonstrated strategic and tactical skill and audacity," extraordinary physical bravery and intellectual courage, the capacity to lead and inspire men, [and] talent in dealing with complex and ambiguous managerial challenges."The measure of the value of this book lies in whether Sorley effectively makes that case.I believe that he largely does, as the result of which this is a very good, if not great, professional biography.

Although Sorley's approach to biography is conventional, he demonstrates on several occasions that Abrams's views could be very unconventional.Early in his chapter about West Point in the mid-1930s, for instance. Sorley asserts: "From the beginning Abrams was alienated by some aspects of the cadet experience."According to Sorley, Abrams was highly self-motivated and self-disciplined, and he resisted the petty tyranny of cadet life.After Abrams graduated and was commissioned, Sorley writes that he "was tolerant of his soldiers' having fun."(Sorley quotes one Abrams subordinate that the general, if Abrams had a weakness, "he sometimes was too easy on some people.")After World War II, while Abrams was serving in the Plans Section for Army Ground Forces in Washington, D.C., he was assigned to prepare a study on the future of the horse cavalry and quickly concluded that there was none.In 1965, shortly after President Johnson ordered American forces in Vietnam out of their advisory role and into combat, Abrams was briefing a civilian official about the sociological impact of the draft and stated that "the only Americans who have the honor to die for their country in Vietnam are the dumb, the poor, and the black."According to Sorley, "[o]ut in the field Abrams disliked briefings, especially of the canned and rehearsed variety," and "[o]ne of [Abrams's] favorite ways [to find out for himself the truth of what was going on] was through small groups of young officers he would have in for dinner."And when Abrams left Vietnam, Sorley writes that "he went as he had come - no bands, no ceremonies, no flags, no fuss." Similarly, when he arrived back in Washington, according to Sorley, he got rid of the Chief of Staff's ""big black Cadillac limousine...using instead a small Chevelle from Pentagon motor pool that was painted robin's egg blue.No amenities, not even a star plate."

Sorley occasionally offers significant insight.For instance, Sorley writes that Johnson's decision not to call up the reserves at the beginning of the expansion of the war in Vietnam was "perhaps the most fateful decision of the entire conflict."(Abrams explained the impact of this decision: "We decide[d] to use the Army in Vietnam, minus the National Guard and the Army Reserve.") In addition, according to Sorley: "A pervasive atmosphere of mistrust and antagonism characterized civil-military relationships in the Pentagon of the 1960s."Sorley describes the battle of Tet in 1968 as a "true watershed," which is not penetrating analysis, but he proceeds to explain: "Before Tet, America was seeking a military victory in Vietnam, but after it she was seeking to get out."About Abrams's appointment to the position of Army Chief of Staff, Sorley writes: "Creighton Abrams returned from Vietnam to head an Army that was widely viewed, both by the nation and from within its own ranks, as dispirited and desperately in need of reform.His appointment was the first step in getting on with the job of rebuilding."

In other places, Sorley's approach to his subject approaches hagiography.For instance, although Abrams' performance during the relief of Bastogne was heroic, Sorley's assertion that this made Abrams "the most famous small unit leader of the war" is debatable.And Sorley's assertion that "Abrams command in Vietnam was...arguably the most difficult any top American soldier in the field has ever had to face" seems extreme.But Sorley may well be correct in writing: "In terms of prior experience Abrams was probably the best-qualified man ever to assume the duties of Army Chief of Staff."

This biography concludes with Abrams's death.I would have much preferred for Sorley to devote a few pages to placing Abrams's accomplishments in the context of American military history from World War II through the middle of the Cold War.But Abrams had an extraordinary career, and this is a very good narrative of it.

"Best U.S. General Since Grant"
Sir Robert Thompson, a British counter-intelligence expert, called Abrams "the best U.S. General since Grant."Reading Sorley's terrific account of Abram's life, it's hard to argue the point.

Abrams was anarmored warfare genius. His gruff, no-nonsense exterior masked a big heartand an abiding, deeply rooted love for his men and his country.Hisselfless devotion to duty is a model for us all.

For a more in-depthanalysis of Abrams'considerable (though largely overlooked) post-Tet,post-Westmoreland successes in Vietnam, read Sorely's "A BetterWar."

"Best U.S. General Since Grant"
Sir Robert Thompson, a British counter-intelligence expert, called Abrams "the best U.S. General since Grant."Reading Sorley's terrific account of Abram's life, it's hard to argue the point.

Abrams was anarmored warfare genius. His gruff, no-nonsense exterior masked a big heartand an abiding, deeply rooted love for his men and his country.Hisselfless devotion to duty is a model for us all.

For a more in-depthanalysis of Abrams'considerable (though largely overlooked) post-Tet,post-Westmoreland successes in Vietnam, read Sorley's "A BetterWar." ... Read more

Book Description

Originally written while the author was a prisoner of the US Army in 1945–46, Black Edelweiss is a boon to serious historians and WWII buffs alike. In a day in which most memoirs are written at half a century’s distance, the former will be gratified by the author’s precise recall facilitated by the chronologically short-range (a matter of one to seven years) at which the events were captured in writing. Both will appreciate and enjoy the abundantly detailed, exceptionally accurate combat episodes.

Even more than the strictly military narrative, however, the author has crafted a searingly candid view into his own mind and soul. As such, Black Edelweiss is much more than a "ripping yarn" or a low-level military history. Black Edelweiss joins not only the growing body of German military memoirs, but the more select, more narrowly-focused group of personal memoirs by other Waffen-SS enlisted men. Beyond the microcosmic view of combat these books relate—to the extent that they are honest and candid—such books are important for what they can reveal about their authors’ motivations and reflections on those impulses and their consequences. To date, these works differ significantly.

As it joins the ranks of the books in this genre, Black Edelweiss makes a unique and very important contribution. It is a true, personal account of the author’s war years, first at school and then with the Waffen-SS, which he joined early in 1943 at the age of seventeen. For a year and a half, the author fought as a machine gunner in SS-Mountain Infantry Regiment 11 "Reinhard Heydrich," mainly in the arctic and sub-arctic reaches of Soviet Karelia and Finland, and later at the Western frontier of the Third Reich. The characters in the story are real, and the conversations and actions are recounted to the best of his ability from the short distance at which he wrote the manuscript in 1945–46.

Apart from the piercing insights into the question of why the German soldier fought as he did, what makes this book truly unique is the author’s anguished, yet resolute examination of the dialectic between the honorable and valorous comportment of his comrades and the fundamentally reprehensible conduct of about 35,000 men behind the front lines who nevertheless wore the same uniform.

During his captivity, the author was assigned for a time as a clerk to a US Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps officer, and in the performance of his administrative duties, the author had access to the mounting reams of documentation of the Holocaust. His growing recognition of the involvement of Waffen-SS personnel in the monstrous crimes of that process caused him to dig deeply into his soul, to examine his most intimate and private motivations and thoughts, and to reevaluate the most basic assumptions of his life to that point. The author captured this process and the result in the notes which became this book.

Honestly, forthrightly, and courageously told, Black Edelweiss is a precious gift to historians and other students of World War II. It not only provides a glimpse into the attributes that made the German armed forces a formidable and tenacious foe, but squarely confronts the most painful issue facing German World War II veterans in general, and Waffen-SS veterans in particular.

Supported by 22 photos, 8 maps, and notes. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Highly Recommended - Very Personal & Different Perspective
All of the other reviews are spot on. I have read several books on World War II and this one is at the top of my list. I found it fascinating the details the author encounters vs. the overall big picture of battles and outcomes of large campaigns. I also gained more respect for the planning and professionalism that went into the smaller operations that author witnessed and took part in.

As others have mentioned it makes you realize that not all SS were fanaticals and racists. And in this author's case it was matter of joining to do something about the war and attempt to help his country.

I particularly enjoyed the author's experiences before the war, how he described his middle to upper middle class life and how nice it was. I also found the relationships, expierences, and his vivid memories he recalls about other soldiers (including his father) very interesting. I can easily imagine what it must have been like.

Its a quick read, possibly too fast. I really wish it was longer and that it was not edited down to its size (as mentioned in preface). This is definitely a highly recommended book.

Near the top in terms of German Memoirs
I have read several German memoirs - Soldat, The Forgotten Soldier, In Deadly Combat - plus several other studies of the Waffen SS, and I'd say this book ranks as good or better than any of those in terms of readability, insight, and thoughtfulness. Combat memoirs, whether American or German ("If You Survive" and "Company Commander" come to mind on the American side) can often become a series of descriptions of small unit battles that, while representing the thrust of the book, can be difficult to follow, or can have the perverse affect of stripping the humanity from the narrative. In the case of German memoirs, I have found as an English reader that the formal language in the translations can often compound that affect.

Regardless, the story in Black Edelweis, of a patriotic German who joins the Waffen SS late in the war, is outstanding at painting a picture of pre-war Germany through the eyes of the authors' family, the comradeship that held the German army, the horror as he discovers after the war the deeds of his countrymen in regard to The Holocaust, and the patriotism and pride that the author stills feels for his unit and the way he served. I would highly recommend it to students of the German side of World War II, and would recommend it as an outstanding introduction for history readers who have never read a German memoir to the genre. It is easy to read, enjoyable, and thought provoking.

Great Read
The best personal account from a German veteran of World War II that I have read.

Yeah It's Good
Good book, parts of the book are enthralling and vivid. Overall not up to 5 stars, however.

A memoir of rare value!
Black Edelweiss is a rare example of a personal WWII memoir written soon after the events (most of the draft was written while the author was a POW during 1945-46) with the emotional and historical breadth of a book written from a much greater distance of time and utilizing a variety of non-personal references. Johann Voss (a pseudonym) has put his life in the SS-Mountain Infantry Regiment 11 (given the name 'Reinhard Heydrich' in 1942) to paper in a way that the reader can truly assess the actions of a single soldier, his immediate platoon members and larger Regimental force rationally without the baggage of bias. This is not to say that the author has created a typical post-war apologetic piece that draws empathy/sympathy from the reader. Rather, Voss draws the reader along in an honest forthright story of his experiences as a loyal soldier within a larger group of comrades who, although fighting for the Hitler regime, did so with heart and passion for comrades, unit and country, but with clear chivalry (or at least as much as can fairly be expected in war) and battle fairness. It is the very nature of when this book was drafted (and little changed by the author later although published 60 odd years after being drafted) ' while the author was still feeling connection to and pride of unit ' that makes this NOT a typical Nazi apologia book. The book was however written at a time when the author was learning (second hand) about the atrocities of the Nazi regime and the SS structure more particularly, and as such the author is able to place his military experiences in perspective of the regime he served. This creates both an honest look at combat and the emotions invoked upon finding for what and whom he and friends served and died for. Emotion is raw and real in this book.

Voss starts and ends the book in third person from the POW pen, but in between weaves an engrossing story of how a young impressionable German is compelled to join an elite SS-Mountain Regiment; how this decision positively affects his life; how he survives the cold and combat of service above the Artic circle, in the Vosges Mountains, and the last days of the western Reich frontier; and how his earlier decision to join this elite group of men affected his life upon realization that his combat unit has been wholesale lumped with the SS of the Endlösung. The stories of regiment combat are visceral in content and quite rewarding. One can feel the cold, stress, fear and adrenalin of the situations.

I highly recommend this book if you want a clear and apparently unembellished, time-unbiased picture of a German combat unit in action. If you want to double your pleasure read Black Edelweiss back-to-back with another Aberjona Press production, Seven Days in January by Wolf Zoepf. This latter book deals exclusively with the SS Nord Division and it's combat both above the Artic Circle and the Lower Vosges and is pitched more from the pure combat history perspective. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1945, an American G.I. mailed home a Japanese flag. Fifty years later, his daughter unfolded the past.Growing up, Louise Steinman knew little about her father's experiences in World War II.All she knew was that the whistling teakettle was banned from the kitchen and that she was never to cry in front of him. Years later, after her parents' death, she found an old ammunition box, filled with nearly five hundred letters her father had written to her mother during the War. She also found a silk Japanese flag inscribed to Yoshio Shimizu. Who was Yoshio Shimizu and why did her father have his flag?So began Steinman's quest to return this "souvenir" to its owner, and in the process, to learn more about the war that transformed the expressive young man in those letters into the reserved father she had known.

Weaving together her father's raw, poignant letters with her own journey, Steinman presents a powerful view of how war changed one generation and shaped another. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

This Souvenir Is A Treasure
The Souvenir, written by Louise Steinman, is a must read for any serious student of World War II.Using the many letters written by her father, Private Norman Steinman, who was a member of the Twenty-fifth Division, Ms. Steinman takes us on her journey to "discover her father's war."Along the way, the author, her father, and the family of a Japanese soldier who may have crossed paths with Private Steinman teach us what the not so obvious and longer lasting costs of the war really were for the men who fought in it, and for their families, and show how for some, the war never really ended.The book is part Flags of Our Fathers and part Goodbye, Darkness and I guarantee that the reader will not be disappointed.

Impact of War Reaches Over Generations
Traditionally history book wars begin with a declaration and end with a treaty.In families the effects of war extend through generations. Steinman's treatment of the discovery of her father's "souvenir" from World War Two is a story of how an entire family was shaped by the silence of an experience her father couldn't talk about.It is a fresh and original treatment of the impact of war, one that we as a nation are only recently coming to grips with.It is also extremely relevant to understanding today's climate of global public opinion against America's declaration of preemptive war in Iraq, particularly in Europe where many people believe that war is no longer a viable instrument of "politics by other means."

The tragedy of war.
A very good emotional book about World War II.Steinman's father served in the Tropic Lightning Division of the U.S. Army fighting in northern Luzon (P.I.).Even though her father is not a casualty, he suffers the rest of his life from the effects of the war.He is hard and somewhat bitter.After his passing, Louise finds the souvenir of the war---a personal flag from a Japanese soldier.She examines the brutality of the war from both the American and Japanese perspective (Hiroshima, Nanking, P. I, Bataan).She finds the family of the soldier and returns the flag.She finds that the Japanese soldier has a human face after all.
This is a good emotional read of the effects of war, even if the war was the good war.

Required reading
I couldn't put this book down. As a veteran of the Viet Nam era, I don't like stories of war that glorify nationalism. This book artfully humanizes the overly simplistic categorization of"good" and "evil." This book should be required reading for everyhigh school student, especially of history or political science. If you have a son or daughter, you owe it to them to buy this book for their education that isn't taught in school. It is a graduation present that could help them change the world.

A Beautiful Weaving
What a great gift Louise has given us.The stories and questions that arise from the souvenirs she encounters are woven as delicately and powerfully as the silk and stationary on which the stories first appear. Permission is granted to take artifacts from one's life and examine them with tenderness, obsessiveness, and curiosity.I feel so much more compassion toward soldiers.Tim O'Brien and Michael Herr surely opened me up to their powerful confusion and passion from their Vietnam War experiences in The Things They Carry and Dispatches.But this was different.This story exposes the longing a soldier has to be with his loved ones, and the harshness of how this loving man is affected for the rest of his life. The Souvenir cuts to the core of what we lose in war from one generation to the next, and what is gained from a close examination of that loss. A beautiful tear jerker and a deep analysis. ... Read more

Book Description

A singular life often circles around a singular moment, an occasion when one's life in the world is defined forever and the emotional vocabulary set. For the extraordinary writer James Salter-recipient of the PEN/Faulkner Award-this moment was contained in the fighter planes over Korea where, during his young manhood, he flew more than one hundred missions. The editors have gathered selections and photographs from a journal Salter kept during the Korean War, published here for the first time, and assembled selections from two novels, The Hunters and Cassada, and from the author's celebrated memoir, Burning the Days. As commented in a brief introduction, "It is, as a record of the day-to-day, mission-to-mission life of a young fighter pilot, a remarkable document by any standard. But it provides as well a view into the 'crucible of a writer's beginnings, like pencil studies that precede a painting, in which the essential qualities of the artist's hand are unmistakable.'" ... Read more

Book Description

When Green Beret Lieutenant James N. Rowe was captured in 1963 in Vietnam, his life became more than a matter of staying alive.

In a Vietcong POW camp, Rowe endured beri-beri, dysentery, and tropical fungus diseases. He suffered grueling psychological and physical torment. He experienced the loneliness and frustration of watching his friends die. And he struggled every day to maintain faith in himself as a soldier and in his country as it appeared to be turning against him.

His survival is testimony to the disciplined human spirit.
His story is gripping. ... Read more

Reviews (33)

This is the best book on human survival I have ever read.
When I went to work for Nick Rowe in the spring of 1987 I could not Imagine the impact he would have on my life. He was the most caring , understanding man I have ever known. Nick Rowe's courage , integrity, and will to live are beyound question. This man was truly an American HERO without question.Read the book and if you don't think the same way millions of AMERICANS think, then you are not an american. The day Col.Nick Rowe was killed by a terrorist in the Phillipines I cried like a baby, as did every man, wife and child of every Special Forces Soldier I knew. Read this book and tell me there is no pride left in the Armed Forces and I'll KISS your A??

Nick Rowe - An American Hero
Nick Rowe relates in gruesome detail his five years in captivity by the Viet Cong. His feelings of betrayal by the anti-war movement and members of our government are poignantly detailed. His faith served him well. I first read this book when I had returned from Viet Nam where I served as an advisor in the area where Nick Rowe was held captive. He was a true hero who ultimately gave his life in the service of his country in the Phillipines.

Must reading for all
I first read this book in the 1980s. It relates the experiences of Lt. Nick Rowe during the 62 month period of his captivity by the Viet Cong. These men experienced unspeakable hardship and deprivation while in captivity yet maintained their honor and resisted the Viet Cong. Readers will be especially impressed by Capt. Humberto Versace who was brutally murdered by the VC while in captivity. Versace, who was planning on becoming a Maryknoll priest, provided outstanding leadership to his fellow POWs and remained true to the principles of Duty, Honor, and Country. His fellow prisoner, Sgt. Dan Pitzer, described him best: "Rocky walked his own path. All of us did but for that guy, duty, honor, country was a way of life. He was the finest example of an officer I have known. To him it was a matter of liberty or death, the big four and nothing more. There was no other way for him. Once, Rocky told our captors that as long as he was true to God and true to himself,what was waiting for him after this life was far better than anything that could happen now. So he told them that they might as well kill him then and the re if the price of his life was getting more from him thanname, rank, and serial number.
Until his death in 1989 Nick Rowe kept up a campaign to see Versace awarded the Medal of Honor. Versace was finally awarded the MOH in 2002.

Tragic Yet Triumphant
Col. Nick Rowe's resovle to resist Marxist-Leninist indoctrination from the brutish revolutionaries that held him captive wavered many times. Yet, he never gave in. Taken captive in 1963 by VC guerillas, Rowe was held for five years in the dark emerald confines of the U Minh forest. The chief ploy that helped Rowe survive, his cover story that he was an engineer and knew nothing of military value, was blown away when leftist college students in the States betrayed US POWs by collecting information on them and informing Hanoi about their military backgrounds. (It is sobering to note that the types of individuals that delivered up their own countrymen into the hands of evil now occupy chairs in elite universities, where Marxism is the order of the day). Angered by this deception, the VC planned to hand Rowe over to the Enemy and Civilian Proselyting Section at Zone, where the decision of his living or dying could be made. The order was tantamount to a death sentence if Rowe didn't write and sign a confession. Thanks to good fortune and incredible force of will, Rowe managed to escape in his fifth year of captivity. Tragically, this American hero was gunned down in the Philippines in 1989 by communist insurgents there, betrayed this time by his own government, which knew of the danger Rowe was in but did nothing to get him out of harm's way. Five Years to Freedom is a long and detailed description of Rowe's environment, his captives, and his psychological and physical condition throughout five torturous years of captivity. Written only three years after his release, Rowe's story conjures image after image of hot, humid jungle, relentless monsoon, disease, brutality, filth, and deprivation. The triumph of Rowe's spirit is its saving grace. You won't regret buying it.

An Inspiration To Any And All
I read "Five Years to Freedom" out of sheer curiousity; I'd come across the title while browsing, and it appeared to be one of the more highly-acclaimed works of the Vietnam era.

I was totally blown away.

Nick Rowe is a once-in-a-lifetime pillar of courage. I tried to imagine myself going through everything he did and still retaining the will to survive. That's when this book really and truly, and very suddenly, became indispensibly valuable to me. Here's how (and why):

We've all been faced with challenges in our lives, both large and small. Sometimes we take on those challenges, and sometimes (for whatever reason) we choose not to. If I compare the day-to-day challenges that I face in life, along with the occasional out-of-the-ordinary bump in the road, nothing at all seems insurmountable. How can one possibly NOT have the strength and courage to fight on in ANY sitation having learned of the five-year stretch of anguish, frustration, pain and abuse that Rowe was subjected to and survived?

No comparison. We too often take for granted what we have in our daily lives, believing that that's the way it always is, always has been, and always should be for everybody. Clean water, ample food, living conditions, etc. True, this was war, but Nick Rowe had a choice: he could have quit, or he could have chosen to survive. Through his strong will and demeanor (much stronger than that of his captors), he won - and won big. There's a much bigger lesson to be learned here - think about it.........

I thought of passing this book on to someone else to read - and then decided that it must remain a permanent part of my collection, surely to be read over and over again. What an absolute, total, consummate hero this man was.

'Nuff said............. ... Read more

Book Description

Of the 350,000 American women in uniform during World War II, none instilled more hope in American GIs than Frances Slanger. In Army fatigues and helmet she splashed ashore with the first nurses to hit the Normandy beach in June 1944. Later, from a storm-whipped tent amid the thud of artillery shells, she wrote a letter to Stars and Stripes newspaper that would stir the souls of thousands of weary soldiers. Hundreds wrote heartfelt responses, praising Slanger and her fellow nurses and honoring her humility and patriotism. But Frances Slanger never got to read such praise. She was dead, killed the very next day when German troops shelled her field hospital, the first American nurse to die in Europe after the landing at Normandy.

Frances Slanger was a Jewish fruit-peddler's daughter who survived a chilling childhood in World War I-torn Poland and immigrated to America at age seven. Inspired by memories of her bitter past and a Nazi-threatened future, she defied her parents' wishes by becoming a nurse and joining the military. A woman of great integrity and courage, she was also a passionate writer and keeper of chapbooks. This is the story of her too brief life. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

A Heart-Wrenching, Unforgettable Story
AMERICAN NIGHTINGALE is the breathtaking tale of an obscure Army nurse named Frances Slanger, the first woman soldier to die in World War II. Were it not for its author Bob Welch, and discerning editor Brenda Copeland at Atria, this poginant story may have succumbed to obscurity. It is the tale of a young woman who was a nobody, the daughter of a Jewish fruit peddler. Yet, in her simple duties she exemplified the American spirit. Here is a book that truly does live in one's memory long after being read. The work will hold the reader in its grip from rain-drenched beginnings in a field hospital tent on Normandy Beach, to the last page, as a ship named for the book's heroine moves out to sea--leaving in its gentle wake a reminder that no matter what small lives we may live, each of us can make a difference. Bravo Bob Welch from an avid reader and the editor-in-chief of Authorlink.com.

A treasure
In American Nightingale, Bob Welch demonstrates a capacity rare in
writers: a perceptive talent who respects history as he chronicles the
quietly profound legacy of one heroic individual who made a difference -
Frances Slanger, Army nurse. The book is a treasure because of the writer's
persistent research, his weaving of Slanger's words with his own to tell her
compelling story, and the ultimate truth that he confirms for all of us -
that war cannot and will not ever crush the unconquerable human spirit.
For me, this is one of those "Couldn't Put It Down" reads!

American Nightingale
Just as World War II army nurse Frances Slanger compared human life to a fire-that is, if there is a spark of flame left in the embers, the fire can be nursed back to health-Bob Welch has blown on the embers of her touching and inspirational story to bring it back to life sixty years after her death.

What a story of sacrifice, honor, and courage in the midst of horrific battlefield conditions! Frances Slanger, who, in some ways, felt she was destined to help her adopted country throw off the yoke of Nazi domination in the European war theatre, was an uncommon woman of valor who deserves our highest accolades. Her heroic sacrifice-she was the first woman killed in the line of duty following the D-Day invasion-was largely forgotten following the fall of Berlin. But thanks to Bob Welch, who poured thousands of dollars of his own money and three years into researching this thoughtful, well-written book, we have Frances Langer's legacy available at our fingertips.

I highly recommend American Nightingale, the story of a Jewish heroine that time nearly forgot.

Mike Yorkey
co-author of the Every Man's Battle series

New World War II Classic
Award-winning journalist and author Welch has rediscovered World War II heroine, Frances Slanger, a Jewish Polish immigrant whose story has never been fully told. Slanger overcame poverty and discrimination to become a nurse, then courageously and selflessly served her adopted country in an Army medical unit. Welch takes us with Slanger's unit from its landing with D-Day invasion forces on the Normandy beaches Normandy, across France just behind the front lines to the borders of Germany as the team provides medical care to thousands of wounded soldiers. On the night before her unit was attacked, Slanger wrote a letter to the military newspaper "Stars and Stripe", affirming her dedication to helping the wounded, expressing her admiration for the American soldier and downplaying her own contribution. The letter inspired a country hungry for signs of human goodness and triggered an outpouring of emotion at the news of her death. will bring tears to your eyes. It reminds us the true meaning of courage at a time when, again, inspiration is sorely needed.

This is American courage
Like British Army Nurse Florence Nightingale before her, and American Army Nurse Sharon Ann Lane (KIA, 312th Evac., Chu Lai, 1969, Vietnam) after her, Frances Slanger was a true heroine.

Bob Welch struck gold when a former Nursing comrade of Slanger's read one of his articles and got in touch. Previously, details about Frances Slanger had been slightly scant and it had been reported that she had been killed by an Enemy sniper. Welch gets it right in indicating that she had actually been killed during an artillery barrage.

Even by Day 3, the slowly expanding Normandy beach heads were a dangerous place to be. Despite overwhelming Allied airpower, involving thousands of combat sorties per day, the Germans were still putting up determined resistance on the ground.

Even the act of wading ashore was not without its dangers, especially given that Frances Slanger was barely five feet tall. She was one of only four nurses to land at Normandy while it was still an intensely active combat zone. Yet in spite of the mines, the snipers, the artillery exchanges and the odd air attack, Slanger and her courageous sisters pitched in immediately to help care for the endless influx of wounded.

A few months later, she became the first Army Nurse KIA of the post-Overlord campaign.

While ever America can still produce women like Frances Slanger and Sharon Ann Lane, and men like the brave young warriors that they gave their own young lives to support, the enemies of Freedom will never win.

Never.

An outstanding book. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

We Will Never See Its Like Again
For years, I have studied the life and works of T. E. Lawrence. My research has lead me across the pages of hundreds of books including his own Seven Pillars of Wisdom, but the best biography and analysis of Lawrence I have yet encountered is A Prince of Our Disorder.

Dr. Mack's thorough examination and explanation of the effect of Lawrence's childhood on his adult life and mentality is brilliant. Instead of merely stating his opinions, he touches on those of other biographers as well and then proceeds to state how and why he feels they are accurate or inaccurate, providing quotes from military reports, other Lawrence books, interviews with Lawrence's relatives and friends, and Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

If you read A Prince of Our Disorder, I can almost 100% gaurantee that you will have a better understanding of Lawrence's personal role in the Hejaz Campaign and the lasting effects of his experiences in Arabia on him physically and psychologically. Thankfully, it is beautifully written, and not at all confusing.

From the moment Mack "introduces" you to Lawrence you will have a desire to learn more about him, and as Mack walks you through his troubled life, you will feel pity and awe for this untouchable man.

I think that A Prince of Our Disorder clarifies the line between the legend of the indestructable, hero-Lawrence and the lost, soul-searching man Lawrence really was.

The Best on Lawrence
In my opinion, this is the very best biography on Thomas Edward Lawrence. Brillantly written. Beautifully researched. A truly in-depth study of a very great man. Another biogragraphy, a very good one in fact, simply leaves out Lawrence's sado-masochistic proclivities when he joined the ranks after his departure with Churchill. This is the very best. And the author put such hard work into it that it is amazing. It's a masterpiece. My only criticism of this book is that the author definitely dislikes the film version of Lawrence's escapades in Arabia beacause it supposedly portrayed him as a bloodthirsty maniac. Yet in Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", he did state that we killed and killed and killed as was displayed in the movie. So, whether true or not, that's history. Nevertheless, this is and will probably be the definitive book on Lawrence. Mack put so much effort into this work that I believe this will outrank all future attempts. Very well-written. And despite Mack's pschiatric inquirie's into Lawrence's nature, they don't diminish the book in any way. So may biographies have been ruined by psychiatric interpretations. This book is not one of them. And the author writes compassionately and truthfully so that you know you would like the biographer if you met him on the street. A rare biography that is both user-friendly and very deep. A difficult task indeed. And their is ample evidence that Lawrence had sexual sado-masichistic tendencies after his torture by the Turks. The author does not dispare us of Lawrence's faults in anyway. Yet we are still left with the portrayal of a kind, compassionate, man who was indeed, selfless. A great biography about a great man.

Fresh, engaging view
I've been studying the life of Lawrence nearly all of my own 50 years, since I was thirteen. I've read and reread all I could find about him, especially his own Seven Pillars of Wisdom. How refreshing it was to read Professor Mack's excellent book which covers so much more than I'd ever found before and with surprisingly brilliant insight. A fresh look at this enigmatic figure with modern eyes and a richer understanding. A great read.

Lawrence's Interior Life
It is a commonplace to refer to T.E. Lawrence as one of the most enigmatic figures of twentieth century history. One sometimes wonders if it is his enigmatic character that continues to make him interesting, rather than what he achieved in his lifetime.

This is, as far as I know, the first attempt by a psychiatric professional to write a life of Lawrence. So much about Lawrence's personality - his illegitimacy, his craving for anonymity after the war even as he contrarily managed to worm his way into the spotlight so many times, his name change ostensibly in honor of G.B. Shaw, and probably most of all his experience at Deraa, made him an object of general interest, not to say lurid speculation. Lawrence, with his usual flair, manages to give us enough about his interior life in "Seven Pillars" to pique our interest without actually telling us anything.

While I must admit that I enjoyed the book, I must also say that I walked away from it feeling that I did not know any more about Lawrence after finishing it than I did before. The author covers a great deal of terrain, but I think that we're all not any closer to understanding Lawrence. Maybe the definitive biography is still waiting to be written. Maybe it never will be.

Revised Edition!
Includes new Afterward explaining how Lawrence was abducted by desert-savvy aliens! ... Read more

Reviews (6)

16's son
Randy sent a copy with a very personal message and signature to my mom back in the states, upon finally recieving it here in Iraq I read it cover to cover closing it only to go on mission. It brought back a lot of memories of stories my father, Charles Frazier, used to tell me about the days in Tay Nihn, Phouc Vihn and all the insanity of losing friends. Being at war myself, I really connected with a lot of the stories. It was a great book deeply personal, full of the heartache of Vietnam.

PFC Frazier, Jason J
21 M.P. (ABN)

A Must Read
Evidently, the publisher's printing press has a maximum number of pages that it can print in a book of this size. Regrettably, Randy was forced to cut major portions from the original manuscript that detailed more than the actions of a cobra pilot.

In spite of this, Randy has completed the impossible task: He has documented the details correctly, and has also caught the tone, captured the frustration, and has put into writing what it was like to be a very young cobra pilot in Charlie Troop, 1/9 Cav.

This is personal. This is a personal account; with all of the personal feelings and interactions that one is expected to have in combat. He has not blown his personal, the troop's, nor the 9th Cav's exploits out-of-proportion (like another author has), and has tried his best to describe the unit as it was.... a great Troop in the highly recognized 9th Cavalry, "doing it all like it was supposed to be done" in Nam. As such, the good and the not so good are both reported as fairly as any human being in combat can. When you are done reading his excellent book, you will no doubt have assimilated his personal feelings for what it was like to be a "Snake Pilot."

Grover Wright
Charlie Troop, 1/9 Cav
1969-1970
Snake Pilot

Remarkable Book, Remarkable Man
I have gotten to know Randy and his family because they are neighbors of our son, a U. S. Air Force pilot in Anchorage.
Randy is the real deal, as a storyteller, a helicopter pilot, a husband and father, and a loyal friend to our son and his family.
If you know Randy at all, you know he puts his heart into everything he does. This book is no exception.
It tells a story that is so gripping and so human, it could not be fiction. That said, I must add that this book is not for everyone. Do not read it unless you want to know what really happened.
It is a tough read that pulls no punches. It names names, recounts vicious combat in great detail, re-creates helicopter missions with heart-pounding veracity, and makes the reader share the confusion, grief, terror, bravery, deep and abiding friendships, vulgarity and, yes, even the humor, of Randy's year as a "snake" pilot. In short, it is unforgettable, just like its author.

Tells it like it was.
Randy arrived in RVN almost the day I left. We have friends in common. Randy captured the emotions, and day-to-day life of those of us in C/1/9. His story very much parallels a lot of us. As I was reading the book, I occasionally had to take a break to come back to the current year. His telling of his story has told the story of all of us!

Welcome Home!

Puts You in the Front Seat.
I have to admit, I don't know much about how things were during the Vietnam War...mainly because I wasn't here yet. I know things weren't good at home and worse yet overseas.

However I have the great opportunity to work with Randy and was thrilled to learn he was writing a book. When he told me about the letters and tapes his parents saved and what the book was about, I knew I had to read it.

"Snake Pilot" is a brilliant telling of what went on day-in and day-out in Randy's world while he was in Vietnam. The book is written in Randy's own words and many times I felt as though he was sitting next to me telling the story. The language easily lets you imagi