Aug 10 2010

Search and Destroy: The Story of an Armored Cavalry Squadron in Vietnam: 1-1 Cav, 1967-1968 by Keith W. Nolan

Keith W. Nolan’s Search and Destroy: The Story of an Armored Cavalry Squadron in Vietnam: 1-1 Cav, 1967-1968 is a wonderful narrative of the exploits of the common soldier.  Nolan brings his gift of writing about history to an area of the Vietnam War that is not covered as much (armor) as other areas (infantry and air force). 
 
Nolan’s narrative is based on dozens of interviews and other primary sources like diaries and correspondence.  Nolan’s writing weaves these raw sources into a detailed account of the two most pivotal years of the Vietnam War.  Through these sources, Nolan captures the fear, anger, elation, and everything in between the men felt when they were in combat. 
 

By Jeff Grim • Reviews • 1

Aug 7 2010

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War by the Phillip Jennings

My latest read on the Vietnam War was The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War (The Politically Incorrect Guides) by Phillip Jennings.  After reading this book, I had to evaluate many of the points made by Jennings.  After much thought, I find myself agreeing with many of his points, but not all.
 
Before getting into the book, I need to explain something first.  With regard to Vietnam War historians and readers, there are two main groups.  One group argues that the War was never winnable no matter what the United States did and the other group argues that the War was lost by the politicians  in Washington, D.C.  This latter group argues that if the military was allowed to prosecute the war without the constraints put on by the politicians, the U.S. would have easily defeated North Vietnam.
 
Jennings falls into the second group.  He brings forth many of the well-used explanations for how the war ended the way it did – U.S. Air Force bombers were not allowed unrestricted bombing of North Vietnamese cities and installations and U.S. ground forces were not allowed to attack into Laos or Cambodia in order to destroy the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong supply and rest areas.
 

By Jeff Grim • Reviews • 5

Aug 6 2010

The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope by Andrew Delbanco

Picked up The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope at Half Price Books awhile ago as I had heard good things about it.  It turned out to be an interesting short work on the larger trends of American history – from Faith in God to Faith in Democracy to Faith In Self. I read it in June and it would have been the perfect review to post around the Fourth of July Weekend but as you can plainly see I am way, way past that kind of thematic and timely scheduling.

It is an enjoyable exploration of ideas and themes that would be most enjoyed by those with a strong knowledge of American literature – and of course a familiarity with the broad strokes of history helps as well.  The last chapter seems a bit dated – the book was published a decade ago – but still contains some thought provoking ideas and questions.

Here is how Publishers Weekly described it:

A close and passionate reader of American literature, Delbanco (The Death of Satan, etc.) believes that contemporary American culture has lost its once vital sense of the transcendent. This book is, with very little alteration, a transcript of Delbanco’s William E. Massey Lectures in the History of American Civilization, which he delivered at Harvard in 1998. “We live in an age of unprecedented wealth,” he writes, “but in the realm of narrative and symbol, we are deprived.” In three sectionsA”God,” “Nation” and “Self”ADelbanco sketches a broad history of American narrative and symbolic meaning, the nexus of ideas and stories “by which Americans have tried to save themselves from the melancholy that threatens all reflective beings.” According to this scheme, from Puritan times through the early 19th century, the dominant idea was God. Sometime around the Civil War, the idea of the nation became the transcendent value. The third part of the book becomes a lament as Delbanco posits that, since roughly the 1960s, “hope has narrowed to the vanishing point of the self alone.” Delbanco acknowledges that his conceit presents a “too neat division of American history into two phases of coherent belief followed by a third phase of incoherent and nervous waiting.” But his profoundly insightful readings of William Bradford, Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln and other American writers, stretching from early colonial times to the present, should succeed in prodding readers to think deeply about how the idea of the nation intersectsAor doesn’tAwith their deepest desires and hopes.

I can’t say I came away with any “Deep Thoughts” but I did enjoy listening along as it were as the author talked about the arc of American history and identity.  If you are interested in American history, literature and culture it is certainly worth a read.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , , , ,

Aug 6 2010

In the Mail: The Demon Hunt

The Demon Hunt: A Dark Storm Novel by Kris Greene

Description

Soul-sucking demons. Half-human killers. Doomsday prophesies. No, this isn’t a late-night movie on cable TV. This is Gabriel’s life—or least, what’s left of it—ever since he discovered his true destiny as a warrior knight in the battle against darkness. Once an ordinary college kid studying lost legends in books, Gabriel now finds himself face to face with actual demons. As a warrior, he has no choice but to fight them. And if he screws it up, the world is toast…

A dimensional rift has opened between worlds. Which means more demons—and more death—than you could shake a proverbial stick at. Luckily, Gabriel has just the stick for the job, an ancient trident that gives him awesome demon-bashing powers. To watch his back he has the butt kicking half Demon De Mona and several unlikely heroes who he’s picked up along the way. To make matters more complicated two of Gabriel’s college buddies wind up dead and he finds that the demons aren’t the only ones who want a piece of his hide. The cops want him too—for murder…

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Aug 5 2010

In the Mail: Red Star Rising

Red Star Rising: A Thriller by Brian Freemantle

Publishers Weekly

Last seen in 2002′s Kings of Many Castles, working-class British spy Charlie Muffin once again proves that experience and intelligence (on the part of both author and hero) are at least as important as flying fists and explosions in this entertaining entry in Freemantle’s long-running series. When a faceless body turns up on the grounds of the British Embassy in Moscow, Charlie’s superiors send him to Russia to solve the mystery: who’s the corpse and why was he left face down, or rather no face down, in the flower garden? Nothing is as it seems as the Russian authorities wrestle with the British over who has jurisdiction, whose agents are the bigger liars, and whose government is the most underhanded. Charlie isn’t much for action, gunplay, and excitement. In fact, his relationship with his Russian intelligence officer wife, Natalie, and daughter Sasha provides most of the overt suspense, but his slow fitting together of all the pieces related to the crime provides genuine interest.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , ,

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