A History of Air Warfare Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book is a must have for all with an interest in air power. With contributions from the world's leading experts on air power history and strategy, the book is unique in the breadth and depth of its examination of the development of air power.
The book's structure is excellent. The chapters are concise (nominally 20 pages) and provide insight into air power's role in the conflict being considered. What is very useful is the positioning, in most chapters anyway, of air power's role in a particular conflict with how it was used on other conflicts past and present. This provides a bit of cohesion to the book which is sometimes difficult in a collected work. This is particular important in this work as the authors generally examine different aspects of air power (the chapter on the Israel-Arab Wars focused on air superiority while that on the Falklands had a distinctly logistical feel about it). This is not a criticism of the book as it is not intended to be a comprehensive overview of every aspect of air power in every conflict.
Perhaps the most positive aspect of the book is that it wasn't written by or for air power zealots. The perspectives offered were balanced (in the main) and different viewpoints were raised. This was most notable in the final part of the book (Part V - Perspectives) in the two concluding chapters by Van Creveld and Hallion. Both provide an overview of the evolution of air power and its potential future, each arriving at well argued and supported (but different) conclusions.
In summary: as you read through the book you gain an understanding of how certain aspects of air power (technical, logistical, strategy or tactical) developed over a number of conflicts. At the end, you are presented with two essentially opposing views on what this history means for the future. Concluding the book in such a way makes you challenge your own interpretation of where we have been and where we are going. That is what makes this book a must read for all with an interest or viewpoint on the past, present or future of air power.

Click Here to see more reviews about: A History of Air Warfare

***Selected for the 2010 Chief of the United States Air Force's Reading List***This one-volume anthology provides a comprehensive analysis of the role that air power has played in military conflicts over the past century. Comprising sixteen essays penned by a global cadre of leading military experts, A History of Air Warfare chronologically examines the utility of air power from the First World War to the second Lebanon war, campaign by campaign. Each essay lays out the objectives, events, and key players of the conflict in question, reviews the role of air power in the strategic and operational contexts, and explores the interplay between the political framework and military operations proper. The concluding section offers wider perspectives by focusing on air and space power in both unconventional and conventional warfare from 1913 to the present. More than a simple homage to air power, A History of Air Warfare exposes air power's strengths and weaknesses and, where relevant, illuminates the challenges of joint operations and coalition warfare. Because of its critical approach, even treatment, and historical background, the book will appeal to modern warfare scholars, air power specialists, and general readers interested in military history alike.

Get 28% OFF

Click here for more information about A History of Air Warfare

Read More...

The Age of Airpower Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
BOOK REVIEW: 'The Age of Airpower' Explores Advantages -- and Limitations -- of Aerial Warfare

REVIEWED BY DAVID M. KINCHEN
Perhaps more than any other branch of any nation's armed forces, air forces seem to get all the glory and publicity. And the other fighting forces -- Army, Navy and Marines -- are so blinded by the glamour of airpower that they've managed to create their own aerial branches.
It doesn't make any sense, except perhaps in the case of the Coast Guard and the Navy, but, with the exception of a few unified military forces -- like the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) -- there is no arguing with those afflicted with aircraft envy. Renowned military historian Martin van Creveld examines in readable detail the rise and fall of airpower in "The Age of Airpower" (PublicAffairs Books, 512 pages, 16 pages of glossy black and white photos, index, notes, $35.00). It's particularly important in this deja vu all over again era to discover that the first use of airpower in warfare occurred in a familiar place, Libya, where the deputy commander of NATO's operations in the Libyan civil war last week said that NATO planes may have "mistakenly" hit rebel forces near Brega. He offers no apology, although NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: "
This is a very unfortunate incident. I strongly regret the loss of life. I can assure you that we do our utmost to avoid civilian casualties."
Yes, a century ago, in 1911 and 1912, Italian military airplanes were dropping grenades on the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire, which then controlled the huge nation of Libya. The occupying Ottomans -- Turks -- were soon joined by the country's indigenous people, including Arabs, and they put up a stiff resistance to the Italians who were flying planes of "the French type." Only after the Ottomans were diverted to the Balkans in 1912 did the Italians gain ground and began their occupation of Libya, which lasted until they were driven out during World War II. Van Creveld notes that guerilla warfare continued at least until the mid 1930s, when the Italians attacked Ethiopia in another one of Mussolini's misguided attempts to secure African colonies and re-create a new Roman Empire. Van Creveld, whose books are required reading for officers attending the U.S. Naval War College and other strategic institutes, tells us in this very accessible book (for example, he cites Stanley Kubrick's 1964 black comedy film "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" in his section on the threat nuclear warfare) how airpower, more than any other factor, has shaped war in the twentieth century. He shows the rise of the plane as a tool of war and the evolution of both technology and strategy. He documents seminal battles and turning points, and relates stories of individual daring and collective mastery of the skies. Van Creveld writes that the end of airpower's glorious age is drawing near, a message the flyboys don't want to hear. While van Creveld is squarely on the side of the modernizers and economists who say we can no longer afford the absurdly expensive aircraft of today, they are opposed by those who say you can't win a war without airpower. Conventional wisdom to the contrary, modern precision guided munitions have not made fighter bombers more effective against many kinds of targets than their predecessors in World War II. U.S. ground troops calling for air support in Iraq in 2003 did not receive it any faster than Allied forces did in France in 1944. And from its origins to the present, airpower has never been very effective against terrorists, guerrillas, and insurgents. As the warfare waged by these kinds of people grow in importance, and as ballistic missiles, satellites, cruise missiles and drones -- UAV or unmanned aerial vehicles -- increasingly take the place of quarter-billion-dollar manned combat aircraft and their multi-million-dollar pilots, airpower is losing utility almost day by day.Not long after the first Wright Brothers flight on Dec. 17, 1903, the entrepreneurial high-school dropouts were traveling the world looking for countries that wanted to buy planes made in their Ohio factory. Van Creveld writes that Orville and Wilbur Wright at first saw no other use for their flying machines than warfare. Initially they met with little success, but in 1909, the British established the Aerial Navigation Committee, the first ever government body specifically charged with military-aeronautical research. By 1910, the author says, "Germany had five military aircraft, England four, and Russia three." Italy, Austria, Japan, Belgium and the U.S. had two each. By the time of the 1914-18 war, aerial warfare developed to a remarkable degree, along with Zeppelins that the Germans used to bomb London. One of the advantages of aircraft, including airships, was their literal "eye in the sky" intelligence gathering capabilities. Aviators provided strategic information to ground forces and soon wireless communication made this capability a vital part of warfare. Van Creveld discusses aeronautical warfare from the beginnings to the present day, by all the major players, including the tiny nation of Israel which demonstrated its aerial prowess for all the world to see in June 1967 when it destroyed the aerial power of its Arab neighbors. Still, the author notes, as he does throughout the book, aerial warfare was not then and is not now a replacement for boots on the ground fighting.
About the Author
Martin Levi van Creveld is an Israeli military historian and theorist.
Van Creveld was born in the Netherlands in 1946 in the city of Rotterdam, and has lived in Israel since shortly after his birth. He holds degrees from the London School of Economics and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he has been on the faculty since 1971. He is the author of 22 books translated into 20 laguages on military history and strategy, of which Command in War (1985), Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton (1977, 2nd edition 2004), The Transformation of War (1991), The Sword and the Olive (1998) and The Rise and Decline of the State (1999) are among the best known. Van Creveld has lectured or taught at many strategic institutes in the Western world, including the U.S. Naval War College.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Age of Airpower

Get 35% OFF

Click here for more information about The Age of Airpower

Read More...

A Sense of Duty: Our Journey from Vietnam to America Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Quang X. Pham has penned a marvelous book that should be read by every Vietnam veteran, everyone who lived during those tumultuous times, and every young student wanting to understand the times and the tremendous sacrifice made by so many.
Pham's book is a powerful account of one Vietnamese family's experience during the war, the end of the war, and their survival in the years that followed. Pham's mother struggled with establishing a new life in the U.S and his father struggled to stay alive during years of hard labor and `reeductation" by the North Vietnamese.
Through it all, the author grew to manhood, joined the Marines and served honorably as a pilot. Over the years, a sometimes bitter, sometimes thankful, and often confused young man grew to know the strength of his family and especially the strength of a father who sacrificed so much.
Quang Pham signed my book during a reading in Portland, Oregon but I didn't see what he had written until I had left. It says: "Thank you for your service in Vietnam."
Well, thank you, Quang, for your years of service in the Marines and for your father's tremendous work and courage during the war.
Loren W. Christensen, author of ON COMBAT and WARRIORS.


Click Here to see more reviews about: A Sense of Duty: Our Journey from Vietnam to America

Get 25% OFF

Click here for more information about A Sense of Duty: Our Journey from Vietnam to America

Read More...

A Fountain Filled with Blood: A Mystery Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Despite its title, which was taken from an old hymn by the English poet Thomas Cowper, A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD is neither grisly nor especially violent. This book, the second in a series by new author Julia Spencer-Fleming, is a traditional mystery that is unlikely to offend anyone and quite likely to entertain many.
Clare Fergusson is a former Army helicopter pilot, now an Episcopal priest in the small upstate New York town of Millers Kill. In her late 30s and unmarried, she has in general a healthy, no-nonsense attitude toward life and a particular calling toward her religion, which is also now her livelihood. Her faith is strong but unobtrusive --- there's no proselytizing here. Rather, the author uses the occasional inclusion of a prayer or a bit of ritual to add atmosphere while also providing insight into Clare's character.
Here, as in the first book in the series, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, Clare partners up with Sheriff Russ Van Alstyne to solve a crime into whose path she, literally, stumbles. It seems someone around Millers Kill doesn't like gay men. Two are badly beaten in a manner that suggests a hate crime and then one more is found dead; he's the body Clare stumbles into. There happens to be a connection between the dead man and a young couple whose marriage she is to perform in a couple of weeks, which gives Clare opportunity to learn some things Russ and his deputies might not. Because of her military training and a healthy dose of curiosity --- of the sort that amateur detectives must have or these books would never go anywhere --- Clare doesn't hesitate to learn all she can, though at some cost to herself.
The small-town setting will feel familiar to a large number of readers, regardless of the specific upper New York State locale; there is a sort of comforting togetherness going on. There's a Fourth of July celebration in the park and a town meeting where a new development is opposed on environmental grounds. There's a big old Victorian house on the edge of town that has been turned into a bed and breakfast and is run by a pair of openly gay men who are life-partners. There are summer tourists with their stiff, new city-bought leisure clothes, necessary to the fragile economy but getting in the way. Even the nature of the crimes and their impact on the community seem familiar, especially when Clare proposes to her vestry that their church should show support for the victims of a crime that the older, uptight vestry members would rather pretend had no connection to sexuality.
An interestingly different thread of tension runs through the entire book, in the form of a strong sexual attraction between the priest and the sheriff, who not only is a very married man but also loves his wife --- and they both know it. These two characters are extremely well drawn, real people in a very personal conundrum.
Spencer-Fleming is at her best with action scenes --- most interesting in that she portrays them vividly yet without gratuitous violence. She writes so well that she doesn't need blood and gore to get our attention. In the latter half of the book, there is an extended episode in which Clare uses her helicopter pilot skills, honed during the Gulf War, that will have you breathless as you await the outcome, unable to guess what it will be.
For readers who prefer conventional mysteries --- and for anyone who might like a change of pace from the tougher, darker thrillers --- A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD would be a good choice. Especially since, if you like it, the author's previous novel, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, is now out in paperback.
--- Reviewed by Ava Dianne Day

Click Here to see more reviews about: A Fountain Filled with Blood: A Mystery

Click here for more information about A Fountain Filled with Blood: A Mystery

Read More...

Secret War Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As a former "Air Commando"... USAF Special Ops and one that did SERVE WITH PRIDE in these operations from OUR HOME base of N.K.P. Thailand (AKA NAKED FANNY), I can say this book is well written and goes into the most detail that has been done,, so far. WELL DONE Billy WEB!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Secret War

"From 1961-1975, the United States found itself embroiled in two wars in Southeast Asia'but for most of that time, the citizens of our country were aware of only one. While scenes from Vietnam made the national news, few Americans knew that their countrymen were also fighting a Secret War in the tiny neighboring kingdom of Laos. Billy G. Webb's new book breaks that secret wide open, revealing the truth about a conflict waged below the radar against the relentless forces of Communism. His story celebrates the near-forgotten sacrifices of not just U.S. and allied soldiers, but courageous civilians as well."--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Click here for more information about Secret War

Read More...

Weapons Grade: How Modern Warfare Gave Birth to Our High-Tech World Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I read this good book, here in Brazil. This book has many great things:
1-Page 10 > Military research is mainly American.
2-Page 19 > Boeing depends of Pentagon.
3-Page 75 > Civil aviation came from military research.
4-Page 77 > Computers came from military money and will.
5-Page 152 > Atoms for peace was mainly a failure.
6-Page 211 > Articial inteligence is military.
7-Page 376 > USA is leader in military affairs, experience and reasearch.
In many places of this book, we can see many amazing things. The chapter 9 of this book is the best thing that I ever read, about non-lethal weapons. Anyone can understand this book.
This book has some failures:
1-Page 7. This book claims that United States Army Aviation Branch doesn't operates airplanes. In fact it uses airplanes, such as Beechcraft C-12 Huron(airplane), General Atomics MQ-1C Grey Eagle (UAV),etc.
2-Page 69. This book claims that wristwatches came from 1917 in the United States. In fact, the Brazilian Alberto Santos Dumont(1873-1932) really made a wristwatch in 1907 and it became fashion in this year. Even before, the Queen Victoria (1819-1901) used a crude wristwatch sometimes.
3-Page 73. This book claims that Boeing 707 was the first successful jet airliner. In fact the Soviet or Russian Tupolev Tu-104 was the first successful jet airliner, in the world. In fact the Tu-104 was the sole jetliner operating in the world between 1956 and 1958.
4-Page 84. This book claims that Enigma Machine used ten gears. In fact, any Enigma Machine had more than five rotors or gears.
5-Page 226. This book claims that in 1991, Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) was the mayor of Moscow. In fact, in 1991, he was the the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999 rulling Russia. In fact, Boris Yeltsin never was the mayor of Moscow.
These few failures are small mistakes in a mainly very good book. Four stars for it. Please, I read the paperback ediction of this good book. Perhaps this ediction has another number for each part of the text. Please, this book is for anyone.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Weapons Grade: How Modern Warfare Gave Birth to Our High-Tech World

David Hambling tells the fascinating story of human ingenuity and the complex world it has created—a world at once safer and yet more perilous than ever. Throughout history, war and the threat of war have driven innovation and accelerated the uptake of new technology—from the nomadic warriors who introduced the stirrup and the kebab to the world, to the British Navy's funding of Marconi's newfangled radio. Since 1945 the relationship between military needs and modern business has grown ever closer, especially in the United States.With the skills of a master storyteller, Hambling traces the history of this relationship in the modern era and shows how precision eye surgery emerged out of the military quest for a "death ray," how transistors and silicon chips initially helped build better bombs, and exactly why the 747 has such a distinctive shape. Hambling explores the current cutting edge of modern military research as he seeks to identify the technologies that will transform our lives in the decades to come. If history does repeat itself, Weapons Grade is much more than the story of how we got to where we are; it is the story of where we are going, for better or worse.

Click here for more information about Weapons Grade: How Modern Warfare Gave Birth to Our High-Tech World

Read More...

Where They Lay: Searching for America's Lost Soldiers Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is an excellent, essential account of Americas missing POWS. For more then a generation the black flag of POW/MIS has flown over many a house and VFW post in America. Many hundreds if not thousands of men went missing in Vietnam and never returned. It is believed that many were never released from POW camps in Cambodia and Laos. This book chronicles the investigation and sightings of Americans POWs who were left behind. Like rumors of the holocaust, rumors of POW sightings in Laos have been commonplace but many investigations have turned up little.
This is a wonderful book. It goes into great detail surrounding the mystery of the lost men of Vietnam. An essential read, interesting, informative and tragic. It reminds us why we must never leave a man behind. Anyone interested in the military, Vietnam, east Asia, or in need of good winter reading will enjoy this book. It would make a great gift as well for an avid military buff.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Where They Lay: Searching for America's Lost Soldiers

Click here for more information about Where They Lay: Searching for America's Lost Soldiers

Read More...

Black Sunday Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Before Thomas Harris, a respected reporter for the Associated Press and ace novelist, created the creepy-yet-charismatic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in his novels Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal, he had already dabbled in another and even more frightening topic: a massive terrorist attack against a "soft" (undefended, usually civilian) target in his 1975 debut novel, Black Sunday.
Like The Sum of All Fears, a Tom Clancy "Jack Ryan Novel" that was clearly inspired by Harris' tautly written thriller, Black Sunday's plot focuses on a plan by Palestinian terrorists to commit a deadly and spectacular attack on a highly televised event: the Super Bowl.
The reason for the attack -- at least from the Palestinian side -- is a common thread that runs through both novels: America's unswerving support for Israel in the apparently never-ending Middle East conflict.
And just as Clancy --possibly taking his cues from this novel -- would later do in Sum, Harris not only has a dedicated group of terrorists to carry out this diabolical plan, he has a psychotic American co-conspirator on board, a man whose recent life has pushed him over the edge from understandable resentment to psychotic lust for revenge against his own country.
There, however, the similarities end, for whereas Clancy's obviously insane Marvin Russell was a murderous Native American of the Lakota tribe and was considered both untrustworthy and expendable by his Arab "allies" and was used as a mere conduit into the Denver area until the homemade nuclear bomb was in place in that Colorado city, Black Sunday's Michael Lander is a willing planner and executioner of Black September's spectacular plot to turn a blimp into a makeshift weapon of mass destruction. A Navy veteran with experience on both dirigibles and helicopters, Lander was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 and spent six hellish years as a POW until the Paris Agreement ended American military involvement in Indochina and Hanoi released all the American prisoners.
For Lander, it is his Vietnam experience that is the catalyst for his willing embrace of the Black September terrorists. Ostracized by his fellow POWs for collaborating with the North Vietnamese and discovering that his wife has had an affair, Lander is pushed to the brink of madness by the hostility his fellow POWs -- especially the senior officer -- feel toward him. Unable to cope with his humiliation and anger, Michael Lander resigns his commission and goes job hunting, finding the going tough until, finally, he is hired by the Aldrich rubber company to fly blimps.
By now, however, Lander is plotting a most lethal sort of revenge upon the country he believes caused him to lose his pride, his honor, six years of his life, his manhood, and his wife. Inspired by the Black September attack on the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, he contacts the radical terrorist group, asking for explosives and technical assistance so he can convert the Aldrich blimp into a flying Claymore mine. The target: the Super Bowl championship game. The place: the new Superdome stadium in New Orleans.
Intrigued, the Palestinians send one of their deadliest -- and most beautiful -- operatives, Dahlia Iyad. She spends a year in the United States, cultivating, evaluating, and becoming intimate with Lander, a man she knows to be increasingly insane yet incredibly useful to Black September's goal of making America pay for her support of Palestine's hated enemy, Israel.
Harris takes the reader along on a transatlantic race against the clock as the terrorists make their detailed plans and get ever closer to accomplishing their deadly mission, while Mossad (the Israeli intelligence service), the CIA, and the FBI hunt the terrorists down after finding clues that point to an impending attack on American soil. Leading the hunt is Major David Kabakov, whose ruthless efficiency at chasing and killing Palestinian terrorists has earned him the dark-humored nickname of "the final solution." And as Harris interweaves the storylines of the hunter and hunted, the reader is enticed to keep reading to find out who will preservere....and who will die.
Harris masterfully flashes backward and forward through time, driving the terrorist plot forward step by step and describing the American-Israeli collaborative effort to find Dahlia and her comrades before they can carry out their plan in minute detail, all the while examining Lander's long spiral into murderous madness. The pace is fast and furious, giving the reader an excellent example of a well-crafted suspense novel that not only never loses focus or goes into unnecessary tangents, but is also grounded in the reality of the mid-1970s. It discusses such real-life events as the Munich Massacre, the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, and the beginning of the spread of global terrorism. Black September, the Palestinian sponsors of Lander's plan, really existed, and so did most of the agencies and entities depicted in the novel, with Aldrich Rubber being a fictional stand-in for Goodyear.
Black Sunday not only marked the debut of a master of the suspense genre, but it was also made into a moderately successful motion picture which co-starred Bruce Dern and Robert Shaw.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Black Sunday

Click here for more information about Black Sunday

Read More...

Rotorcraft Flying Handbook (Updated Edition) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It isn't great literature but there are very few wasted words in this book, which is the only textbook used at the flight school where I have been getting my helicopter training. The color diagrams and charts are immensely helpful in understanding aerodynamics. This book teaches you pretty much everything useful for flying helicopters that you can learn from reading a book (i.e., not all that much; don't expect to hold a hover until after a few hours of painful practice).

Click Here to see more reviews about: Rotorcraft Flying Handbook (Updated Edition)


The essential guide for anyone who wants to fly a helicopter or gyroplane-newly updated.
Designed by the Federal Aviation Administration, this handbook is the ultimate technical manual for anyone who flies or wants to learn to fly a helicopter or gyroplane. If you're preparing for private, commercial, or flight instruction pilot certificates, it's more than essential reading-it's the best possible study guide available, and its information can be life-saving. In authoritative and understandable language, here are explanations of general aerodynamics and the aerodynamics of flight, navigation, communication, flight controls, flight maneuvers, emergencies, and more.With full-color illustrations detailing every chapter, this is a one-of-a-kind resource for pilots and would-be pilots. 500 color photographs

Get 32% OFF

Click here for more information about Rotorcraft Flying Handbook (Updated Edition)

Read More...

Lost Over Laos: A True Story of Tragedy, Mystery, and Friendship Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)For those of us born too late to be part of the generation that was, in the words of Richard Pyle, "educated, molded, and aged by the Vietnam experience," our second-hand knowledge of this war has been limited largely to the negative: the horrors of the battlefield, the mental anguish of the young soldiers being asked to sacrifice their lives for goals that were far from clear, and the deeply divisive debates over the agony of continued warfare vs. the humiliation of abandoning the cause. Yet this book is about journalists who VOLUNTEERED to go into the jungle. What would make an otherwise sane person want to do this? As Pyle explores the lives and deaths of the four killed photojournalists, various answers to this question surface, making the journalist's motives comprehensible even to outsiders such as myself--the lure of the exotic setting, the sense of regret that one might have felt if excluded from the most important event of the decade, and the sense of obligation to "compel the world to see Vietnam," to see it "through a camera lens that illuminated, explained, told truths of what the war looked like and how it felt to be there." As for coping with the drawbacks of death and dismemberment, there was always denial. As Richard writes: "It was part of the war correspondent psyche to recognize the possibility of the worst, but to worry or even think much about that was to invite oneself to look for work in another field"; and "there was a sense among members of the Saigon media that journalists who reached celebrity status through repeated stellar performance could become exempt from ordinary danger, passing into a realm of immunity where the worst simply could not happen to them--as if North Vietnamese gunners tracking a helicopter would receive a last-second order: 'Don't shoot. That's Larry Burrows up there.'"
As summarized in the reviews of others, the primary focus of this book is on (1) the lives of Larry Burrows, Henri Huet, Kent Potter, and Keisaburo Shimamoto; and (2) the difficult search for the details of a crash that took place behind enemy lines (details which, for almost thirty years, were limited to little more than "helicopter shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, apparently killing all aboard"). Yet it's the tangent themes that I found the most affecting, perhaps none more than Pyle's search for meaning in the tragic loss of his colleagues and friends. These four civilian photographers went to Vietnam to share the images of war with the rest of the world, and it seems to double the tragedy "that the only monument to their commitment, their skill, and their courage should be a few bone shards and bits of metal, left out in the rain on a nameless, forgotten hillside." Five stars.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Lost Over Laos: A True Story of Tragedy, Mystery, and Friendship

Click here for more information about Lost Over Laos: A True Story of Tragedy, Mystery, and Friendship

Read More...

The Battle of Mogadishu: Firsthand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a great book if you would like to get details of what its like to be in a battle. Yes some of the stories seem rushed or "not complete" but one must remember how much goes on during an actual fire, and how much information a person has to process. It is impossible for one man to remember every little detail that these guys want. The book did do a good job as to offer some different views and perspectives of the battle so that you can get a feeling for the battle as a whole. I recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about the conflict in Somalia, or even just what its like to be a ranger when you put your training to use.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Battle of Mogadishu: Firsthand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger

"No matter how skilled the writer of nonfiction, you are always getting the story secondhand. Here's a chance to go right to the source. . . . These men were there.”–MARK BOWDEN (from the Foreword)It started as a mission to capture a Somali warlord. It turned into a disastrous urban firefight and death-defying rescue operation that shocked the world and rattled a great nation. Now the 1993 battle for Mogadishu, Somalia–the incident that was the basis of the book and film Black Hawk Down–is remembered by the men who fought and survived it. Six of the best in our military recall their brutal experiences and brave contributions in these never-before-published, firstperson accounts."Operation Gothic Serpent,” by Matt Eversmann: As a "chalk” leader, Eversmann was part of the first group of Rangers to "fast rope” from the Black Hawk helicopters.It was his chalk that suffered the first casualty of the battle."Sua Sponte: Of Their Own Accord,” by Raleigh Cash: Responsible for controlling and directing fire support for the platoon, Cash entered the raging battle in the ground convoy sent to rescue his besieged brothers in arms."Through My Eyes,” by Mike Kurth: One of only two African Americans in the battle, Kurth confronted his buddies' deaths, realizing that "the only people whom I had let get anywhere near me since I was a child were gone.”"What Was Left Behind,” by John Belman: He roped into the biggest firefight of the battle and considers some of the mistakes that were made, such as using Black Hawk helicopters to provide sniper cover."Be Careful What You Wish For,” by Tim Wilkinson: He was one of the Air Force pararescuemen or PJs–the highly trained specialists for whom "That Others May Live” is no catchphrase but a credo–and sums up his incomprehensible courage as "just holding up my end of the deal on a bad day.”"On Friendship and Firefights,” by Dan Schilling: As a combat controller, he was one of the original planners for the deployment of SOF forces to Mogadishu in the spring of 1993. During the battle, he survived the initial assault and carnage of the vehicle convoys only to return to the city to rescue his two closest friends, becoming, literally, "Last Out.”With America's withdrawal from Somalia an oft-cited incitement to Osama bin Laden, it is imperative to revisit this seminal military mission and learn its lessons from the men who were there and, amazingly, are still here.From the Hardcover edition.

Click here for more information about The Battle of Mogadishu: Firsthand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger

Read More...

Enemy Mine Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have been eagerly awaiting the story of Kathy Trayhern. This is a great story. The chemistry between Kathy and Mac is great. The trust established between the two is well crafted. Both are heroic. Ms. McKenna's use of the symbol of the butterfly at the beginning of the book is continued throughout the book in the way that everything Kathy thinks changes. While Garcia is a drug lord and the scum of the earth, his saving grace is his love for his daughter. She realizes that two wrongs don't make a right. His father kidnapped her family so she would kidnap his daughter. She decides by the end of the book that she cannot inflict that kind of pain to the little girl. Kathy's relationship with all the minor characters is well written and often humorous.
This book contains romance, adventure, and great characters. All of the characters, heroes and villians are well developed and the technical knowledge is well stated. We also are treated to a viist from the Ladies of the Black Jaguar Squadron. One of the BJS scenes is hilarious. Lindsay McKenna has a real winner in Enemy Mine. It is a must have for her fans.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Enemy Mine

A New York Times Bestselling AuthorMarine Black-Ops helicopter pilot Kathy Trayhern wanted one thing from the Garcia Drug Cartel. . . . Garcia had kidnapped and tortured her family. Now she would do the same to his - and wipe out his whole illegal jungle operation as well. But to get the job done, she'd have to enlist the help of a man she didn't even trust - and undercover agent Mac Coulter was no fool.Available only in Romance 8 & 12.

Click here for more information about Enemy Mine

Read More...

The First Cav in Vietnam: Anatomy of a Division Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Stanton, who has been under an increasing cloud of late, is no rookie when it comes to military history in general or the history of the Vietnam War in particular. He begins by laying out his purpose for writing this work in his preface. He makes it clear that this will not be the ordinary divisional history where the author merely discusses every combat action of the division in the Vietnam War. Rather, Stanton intends this book as, ". . . a critical analysis of the mechanism and composition of the airmobile cavalry division." (ix) In order to accomplish his established goals, he devotes 5 chapters of this 12 chapter book to the conceptual and divisional evolution (Chapters 1-2), a study of the divisional structure (Chapter 10), an evaluation of the division's performance in Vietnam (Chapter 11), and the division's restructuring as an armor division in the early 1970s (Chapter 12). Stanton does not neglect to provide an overview of the division's operations, as the middle chapters (Chapters 3-9) are structured as a chronological examination of the division's operations in Vietnam.
Stanton is a solid writer who manages to both hold the reader's attention and make his points clearly and succinctly. 1st Cav in Vietnam is also well illustrated with both photographs (many of which are from the author's own collection) and, perhaps more importantly, maps. In addition, the author includes two useful appendices at the end of the book. The first appendix includes a list of the units which were assigned and attached to the division during its time in Vietnam. The second appendix details the divisional structure during the formation of the division. The author also includes a short bibliography of both the primary and secondary sources (which are of both a published and an unpublished nature) which were used in the writing of the work.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The First Cav in Vietnam: Anatomy of a Division

They were the First Team, the most innovative development in warfare since the introduction of massed tank formations in World War II.

Click here for more information about The First Cav in Vietnam: Anatomy of a Division

Read More...

The World At My Feet: The True And Sometimes Hilarious Adventures Of A Lady Airline Captain Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Having an relative involved in aviation, I thought this book might be interesting. However, even with my limited personal aviation experience, I found much of what the author writes unbelievable. The stories were simplistic and seemed to be based on the public's perception of flying instead of reality.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The World At My Feet: The True And Sometimes Hilarious Adventures Of A Lady Airline Captain

High Flying Adventures!Not long ago, young women with mile-high dreams were limited to flying the skies only as passengers or flight attendants. But aviation has always progressed because of the dreams of its pioneers.Meryl Getline is one of those pioneers. She dreamed of being a pilot. She was never content to merely ride the plane—she wanted to fly it, too.Certain that she had the "right stuff," Meryl decided—at a time when there was little or no opportunity for women—that she was going to be a captain for a major airline.Facing monumental challenges and against near-impossible odds, Meryl succeeded at her goal. Now, you can join Meryl on her true life (and often hilarious) adventures, through exciting take-offs and smooth landings, to become one of the world's first female airline captains!Meryl's message: "Never, never, never, never give up!"

Click here for more information about The World At My Feet: The True And Sometimes Hilarious Adventures Of A Lady Airline Captain

Read More...

Who Shot the Water Buffalo?: A Novel Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Since its first public mention in the pages of Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" (a type-written manuscript in a cardboard box "lying there amid all the general debris and madness" in the garage where the Merry Pranksters and Ken Kesey were working on the Furthur bus), the world has been waiting for Ken Babbs' debut novel.
Set in the early days of the Vietnam War - when the United States was there simply to, uh, "provide support" - "Who Shot The Water Buffalo?" combines humor, drama, and the sort of wordplay you'd expect from the Intrepid Traveler himself. Babbs knows of what he writes - he piloted choppers in Vietnam before he got on the bus - and it shows. The narration morphs and shifts as the weirdness of the situation increases for Majors Mike Huckelbee and Tom Cochran; Babbs navigates sweat-soaked stream-of-consciousness raps as easily as he does passages of gonzo slapstick.
It's been close to 50 years since Babbs starting typing "Who Shot The Water Buffalo?" out in the jungles of Vietnam. It was well worth the wait.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Who Shot the Water Buffalo: A Novel

Ken Babbs, famously a Merry Prankster and the best friend and working partner of Ken Kesey, has at last finished his first novel - and the wait was worth it. Lieutenant Tom Huckelbee, leathery as any Texican come crawling out of the sage, and Lieutenant Mike Cochran, loquacious son of an Ohio gangster, make an unlikely pair training to be Marine chopper pilots on their way to Vietnam. The dynamic takes the reader from a couple of know-nothing young men straight out of flight school, to Marine aviators caught in the middle of a disorienting war. Tough and comical, quiet and boisterous, and always vivid and poetic, Babbs is a writer at the top of his craft. Who Shot the Water Buffalo? manages to capture the world in all its guts and glory through the eyes of a young man discovering what it means to be beholden to another. A book not to be missed.

Get 37% OFF

Click here for more information about Who Shot the Water Buffalo: A Novel

Read More...