June 17th, 2008
From Library Journal
Texan Audie Murphy was the most highly decorated G.I. of World War II, being awarded almost every medal the Army could offer as well as the Congressional Medal of Honor. His memoir of the war is a classic, still retaining some popularity. Tom Parker brings this terse yet vivid and articulate memoir to life. Able to give each of Murphy’s comrades credible accents and characterizations, Parker’s clear and well-paced reading is a joy. For popular and military collections.AMichael T. Fein, Catawba Valley Community Coll., Hickory, NC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
From AudioFile
Audie Murphy hit the big time with this simple, compelling narrative of his time as an infantryman in WW II Europe. It is a book of raw honesty, clipped descriptions and simple courage. Later Murphy portrayed himself in the successful film and acted in several others before a plane crash ended his life at age 46. Tom Parker, a popular narrator of audiobooks, reminds one of National Public Radio newscasters. He is quietly descriptive, and the listener can’t help being moved. D.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine –This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
Tags: Army, Back, Europe, Hickory, Maine, National Public Radio, Portland, Tom Parker
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June 17th, 2008
From Publishers Weekly
Few battles in any war were as terrible as the February–March 1945 battle of Iwo Jima. Nearly 6,000 American marines and 21,000 Japanese soldiers died on the small Pacific island, and more than 17,000 Americans were wounded in the vicious fighting. This evocative memoir recounts the battle from the perspective of Mississippi author Lucas, who was one of 22 marines awarded the Medal of Honor at Iwo Jima. Having finagled his way into the marines at 14, he was an undisciplined, hard-driving 17-year-old PFC when he performed the courageous act that earned him the nation’s highest military award for valor. By throwing his body on top of two live grenades hurled at him and his four-man squad, Lucas saved the lives of the three other marines, though he was severely wounded. Though his flashbacks to his childhood and the dispiriting details of his tumultuous personal life following the war make the narrative lag at times, his re-creation of his part in the battle of Iwo Jima is the highlight of the book. (May 29)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–Fourteen-year-old Lucas joined the Marines in 1942 by forging his mothers signature on his enlistment papers. At age 15, he stowed away on a troopship destined for Iwo Jima, and a few days after his 17th birthday he threw himself on top of two grenades to save three fellow Marines and become the youngest soldier ever to receive the Medal of Honor. Indestructible is more than a wartime memoir, although the detailed recounting of the Battle of Iwo Jima and Lucass recovery from his wounds are the strongest parts of the book. Reading this straightforward narrative is like sitting down with ones World War II veteran grandfather and hearing his stories. Despite meeting four U.S. presidents and being honored for his heroism, Lucas remains humble. His voice is proud and patriotic, but he also recognizes his own shortcomings and mistakes. Black-and-white photos from the National Archives and his family are included. This very readable volume would be a good complement to a curriculum on the war.–Sondra VanderPloeg, Tracy Memorial Library, New London, NH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Tags: Iwo Jima, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New London, Pacific island, School Library Journal, Tracy Memorial Library, United States
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June 17th, 2008
Amid all of the criticisms of America’s war in Iraq, one essential voice has remained silent—until now. In his groundbreaking new memoir, Wiser in Battle, Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, former commander of coalition forces in Iraq, reports back from the front lines of the global war on terror to provide a comprehensive and chilling exploration of America’s historic military and foreign policy blunder.
With unflinching candor, Sanchez describes the chaos on the Iraqi battlefield caused by the Bush administration’s misguided command of the military, as well as his own struggle to set the coalition on the path toward victory. Sanchez illuminates the fallout of the communication breakdown between the leadership on the front and the politicians in Washington, revealing fractious discussions he had with, among others, Ambassador Paul Bremer and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Drawing on his tenure on the ground, Sanchez shows how minor insurgent attacks grew into synchronized operations that finally ignited into a major insurgency and all-out civil war. He provides an insider’s account of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, explaining the circumstances that led to the abuses, who perpetrated them, and what the formal investigations revealed—all the while reflecting on America’s objectionable use of torture and the grave need for the country’s leadership to pursue an ethical course of action in the war on terror. Sanchez also details the cynical use of the Iraq War for political gain in Washington and shows how the pressure of an around-the-clock news cycle drove and distorted critical battle decisions, such as troop drawdowns, the fight for Fallujah, and the transfer of sovereignty.
In addition, Sanchez shares the story of his career. He tells of the journey from his poverty-stricken youth on the Texas banks of the Rio Grande to joining the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at sixteen and later serving in Kosovo, Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and, ultimately, Iraq. At the time of his retirement, Sanchez was the highest-ranking Hispanic in the U.S. Army.
The first book written by a former on-site commander in Iraq, Wiser in Battle is essential reading for all who wish to understand the current war and the American military’s role in the new century.
Tags: America, America's historic military, American military, Donald Rumsfeld, Iraq, Kosovo, Paul Bremer, Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Ricardo S. Sanchez, Rio Grande, Story, Texas, United States Army, Washington
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June 17th, 2008
From Publishers Weekly
Poet and biographer Epstein (Lincoln and Whitman: Parallel Lives in Civil War Washington) never explains the rationale for this reliable but familiar account of the Lincolns’ frequently tempestuous marriage. If he had access to previously untapped sources, he does nothing to highlight them, and there’s little reason why this book should supersede either Jean H. Baker’s magisterial Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography or even Ruth Painter Randall’s respected Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage. What Epstein brings is a novelistic, almost lyrical touch, as in this passage, from Mary’s perspective, as her husband lay dying: Slowly the room grows larger with the light. The April days are long. Hold back the light. Let the day never dawn that looks upon his death. Well born, Mary was also highly strung, insecure, jealous and, like Abraham, prone to fits of depression. He suffered her rages silently, tolerated her profligate spending even when it became a political embarrassment and twice consoled her in the midst of his own grief upon the successive losses of two of their four sons. Sadly, in the end, their marriage seems to have been largely a pageant of tragedies: a black lily Epstein need not have attempted to gild. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“With a novelist’s feel for detail and drama, Daniel Mark Epstein portrays the Lincoln marriage with sensitivity and insight, painting an intimate portrait of a complex and consequential marriage. This work is a splendid addition to the Lincoln literature.”
- Doris Kearns Goodwin
“Daniel Mark Epstein’s brilliantly conceived The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage is marked by meticulous scholarship and a balanced evaluation of the union that, until now, has confounded biographers and readers alike. The author, also a poet, has given us an insightful and lyrical narrative of the relationship between Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln that helped make him President.”
- Frank J. Williams, founding Chair of The Lincoln Forum and a member of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
“Will we ever tire of trying to understand this Man? I doubt it, and in this impressive work, Daniel Mark Epstein approaches Lincoln through his complicated and revealing union with Mary Todd.”
- Ken Burns
“Daniel Epstein in 2004 gave us the best book yet written on Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman. Now he has given us the best book yet written on the marriage of Abraham and Mary Lincoln–a comprehensive, sensitive, elegantly wrought masterpiece that puts us up close and personal with one of the most interesting pairings in American history.”
- John C. Waugh, author of One Man Great Enough: Abraham Lincoln’s Road to Civil War
“The Lincolns’ marriage has always been shrouded in mystery and sadness. But in this fascinating biography by the peerless Epstein, the ties that bound them together are rendered with tender clarity. Beautifully written, impeccably researched, The Lincolns is destined to join the pantheon of indispensable books on the Civil War. “
- Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Amanda Foreman, Daniel Mark Epstein, Depression, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Frank J. Williams, Jean H. Baker, John C. Waugh, Ken Burns, Lincoln, Mary Todd, Mary Todd Lincoln, Ruth Painter Randall, S. Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, Whitman
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June 17th, 2008
Amazon.com
A biography of Meriwether Lewis that relies heavily on the journals of both Lewis and Clark, this book is also backed up by the author’s personal travels along Lewis and Clark’s route to the Pacific. Ambrose is not content to simply chronicle the events of the “Corps of Discovery” as the explorers called their ventures. He often pauses to assess the military leadership of Lewis and Clark, how they negotiated with various native peoples and what they reported to Jefferson. Though the expedition failed to find Jefferson’s hoped for water route to the Pacific, it fired interest among fur traders and other Americans, changing the face of the West forever.
From Publishers Weekly
Ambrose has written prolifically about men who were larger than life: Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Colonel Custer. Here he takes on half of the two-headed hero of American exploration: Meriwether Lewis. Ambrose, his wife and five children have followed the footsteps of the Lewis and Clark expedition for 20 summers, in the course of which the explorer has become a friend of the Ambrose family; the author’s affection shines through this narrative. Meriwether Lewis, as secretary to Thomas Jefferson and living in the White House for two years, got his education by being apprenticed to a great man. Their friendship is at the center of this account. Jefferson hand-picked Lewis for the great cross-country trek, and Lewis in turn picked William Clark to accompany him. The two men shook hands in Clarksville, Ohio, on October 14, 1803, then launched their expedition. The journals of the expedition, most written by Clark, are one of the treasures of American history. Here we learn that the vital boat is behind schedule; the boat builder is always drunk, but he’s the only one available. Lewis acts as surveyor, builder and temperance officer in his effort to get his boat into the river. Alcohol continues to cause him problems both with the men of his expedition and later, after his triumphant return, in his own life, which ended in suicide at the age of 35. Without adding a great deal to existing accounts, Ambrose uses his skill with detail and atmosphere to dust off an icon and put him back on the trail west. History Book Club main selection; BOMC split selection; QPB alternate; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Tags: Ambrose, Clark Expedition, Clarksville, Corps of Discovery, Custer, Dwight Eisenhower, Ohio, Richard Nixon, Thomas Jefferson, White House, William Clark
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June 15th, 2008
Amazon.com
The voice of a vanished England speaks from the pages of Winston Churchill’s evocative memoir of his first 30 years (1874-1904). The young Churchill inhabits a world in which men fight like hell in meaningless colonial wars–India, Egypt, South Africa–soldiering across the imperial map then extending the hand of friendship to their erstwhile enemy as if they were schoolmates at Harrow. Yet Churchill, born into a privileged family, was not an uncritical supporter of the Victorian status quo. He himself loathed Harrow; an especially amusing chapter skewers the school’s emphasis on an irrelevant classical education and rote learning. A firm Tory, he considered himself a friend of the working class, and in 1899 campaigned for parliament with a Socialist colleague. Looking back from his vantage point of 1930, Churchill expresses the most attractive values of the English aristocracy–honor, loyalty, fair play–without giving the impression he wants to live in the past. The book’s appeal also stems from its magisterial but colloquial prose. Anyone familiar with recordings of Churchill’s rousing speeches during Word War II will hear in their minds’ ears that growling timbre and unmistakably patrician accent as they read. Though he would have preferred the peace prize, My Early Life offers good evidence that Churchill’s 1953 Nobel for literature was aptly awarded. –Wendy Smith
===
Here, in his own words, are the fascinating first thirty years in the life of one of the most provocative and compelling leaders of the twentieth century
Winston Churchill
As a visionary, statesman, and historian, and the most eloquent spokesman against Nazi Germany, Winston Churchill was one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century. In this autobiography, Churchill recalls his childhood, his schooling, his years as a war correspondent in South Africa during the Boer War, and his first forays into politics as a member of Parliament. My Early Life not only gives readers insights into the shaping of a great leader but, as Churchill himself wrote, “a picture of a vanished age.”
If you want to fully understand Winston Churchill, My Early Life is essential reading.
Tags: Egypt, Germany, India, South Africa, United Kingdom, Wendy Smith, Winston Churchill, Yet Churchill
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June 15th, 2008
About the Author
William Manchester is Adjunct Professor of History and Writer-in-Residence at Wesleyan University. His fourteen books, which have been translated into eighteen languages and Braille, include The Death of a President, The Arms of Krupp, The Glory and the Dream, American Caesar, and Goodbye, Darkness.
Tags: Wesleyan University, William Manchester, Winston Spencer Churchill
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June 15th, 2008
Amazon.com
It is impossible to understand the Second World War without understanding Winston Churchill, the bold British Prime Minister who showed himself to be one of the greatest statesmen any nation has ever known. This lengthy biography is a single-volume abridgment of a massive, eight-volume work that took a quarter-century to write. It covers Churchill’s entire life, highlighting not only his exploits during the Second World War, but also his early belief in technology and how it would revolutionize warfare in the 20th century. Churchill learned how to fly a plane before the First World War, and was also involved in the development of both the tank and anti-aircraft defense. But he truly showed his unmatched mettle during his country’s darkest moments: “His finest hour was the leadership of Britain when it was most isolated, most threatened, and most weak; when his own courage, determination, and belief in democracy became at one with the nation,” writes Gilbert. There are several wonderful books available on Churchill, but this is probably the best place to start.
From Publishers Weekly
Author of an eight-volume official biography of Winston Churchill, Gilbert here distills his vast knowledge into a lucid, comprehensive and authoritative life of the man considered by many to have been the outstanding public figure of the 20th century. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Tags: Britain, Winston Churchill
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June 15th, 2008
Review
“a rich portrait, presenting the man’s great virtues and small vices in the right proportions and restoring him to his proper place as a giant of the twentiet century.” –W. F. Deedes
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