Book Description
An abundance of new evidence demanded this reevaluation of Frank Jack Fletcher, the "black shoe" admiral who won his battles at sea but lost the war of public opinion. A surface warrior -- in contrast to a "brown shoe" naval aviator -- Fletcher led the carrier forces that won against all odds at Coral Sea, Midway, and the Eastern Solomons. These and other early carrier victories decided the Pacific War not only because they inflicted crippling losses but also because they denied Japan key strategic positions in the region.
Despite these successes, by 1950 Fletcher had become one of the most controversial figures in U.S. naval history and was portrayed as a timid bungler who failed to relieve Wake Island in December 1941 and who deliberately abandoned the Marines at Guadalcanal.
In this book, author John Lundstrom recalls that Fletcher once remarked, "after an action is over, people talk a lot about how the decisions were deliberately reached, but actually there's always a hell of a lot of groping around," and notes that the goal of his study is to probe and explain the "groping around." Drawing on new material, Lundstrom offers a fresh look at Fletcher's decisions and actions. The first major reassessment in more than fifty years of the once-maligned naval officer, it provides a careful analysis of the effect of radio intelligence on decision-making in the carrier battles during the first nine months of the war in the Pacific. This new assessment is based on thousands of documents and massive dispatch files and personal papers that no historian has previously used.
Customer Reviews:
Indispensable history.......2007-10-14
I've belatedly gotten around to reading the FJF bio, and it's absolutely indispensable to understanding the first year of the Pacific War. With due respect for The Big E, Fletcher and Yorktown (CV-5) lugged most of the flattop mail in the six months after Pearl Harbor, and with his Guadalcanal experience, he became the leading practitioner of carrier warfare in the US Navy--and in the world.
If you don't read anything else, go to the Conclusion for an education in how history gets written, especially by Recognized Historians with agendas. As an example of expositive historiography it will stand alone for a long-long time.
long time Pacific War buff.......2006-10-25
This is a long overdue look at Adm Fletcher and his role in the critical first year of the war. I always found it odd that the victor of the three most important battles fought by our fleet in WWII was quickly shunted aside and treated with disdain by postwar historians. John Lundstrom does a fine job of exposing the biasis and backbiting within the navy at the time that resulted in Fletcher's downfall.
Mr Lundstrom is an eminent historian of this subject and has produced a first rate, readable and important work. It deserves a place with the best accounts of the wartime Pacific Fleet to appear in many years. It clearly shows Frank Jack Fletcher for the fine leader and fighter that he was.
Scholarly Work.......2006-10-24
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral is one of two excellent works to be published this year on WWII Pacific carriers, battles and the men who commanded them. John Lundstrom has obviously put a great deal of effort into setting the record straight on Admiral Fletcher and his contributions to our early victories in the Pacific. His work is well documented and thoroughly researched, and adds new sources that had not previously surfaced in World War II histories of that period.
The book demonstrates how Fletcher became the target of severe criticism for his actions, primarily by others who hoped to improve their own reputations or deflect criiticism as a result. Lundstrom pulls no punches, however, by describing both Fletcher's strengths and failings in the events of December 1941 to September 1942. He repeatedly demonstrates that misinterpretations of Fletcher's actions, particularly by Admiral King in Washington, resulted in Fletcher's eventual downfall. At the same time, he explains how some noted historians played down or ignored Fletcher's important contributions, that sealed the US victories at Coral Sea and, particularly Midway.
John Lundstrom's book is an excellent read for anyone wanting to know more of the early war in the Pacific. It is also an important source for any serious student of the period who wants to gain insight both to the actions of the war and the politics inside the Navy at that time.
A 5-star book by a 5-star author.......2006-10-21
"Black Shoe Carrier Admiral" is a 680-page, meticulously detailed accounting of Admiral Fletcher's leadership of U.S. carrier forces during the first year of World War II in the Pacific. Author John Lundstrom's fundamental thesis is that Fletcher has been unfairly maligned by many of his peers, by historians, and by a large segment of the U.S. Marine Corps for perceived errors of judgment or even failings of character during crucial battles in the Coral Sea, at Midway, and in the Solomons.
The author's painstaking research into primary sources largely ignored by other writers (i.e., memos, letters, and logs kept by those who were present with Fletcher during those battles, plus actual radio messages and dispatches sent by and to him aboard his various flagships) reveal a reasonable rationale for many of Fletcher's controversial decisions that mostly seem to have escaped his critics. It's not possible to adequately summarize them in a short review like this, but suffice to say that admirals sitting behind desks in Hawaii or Washington are poorly situated for grasping all of the important realities of a convoluted combat scenario occurring half a world away. Thus when Fletcher is condemned for failing to charge full speed ahead to engage the enemy when doing so would have totally exhausted the fuel in his escorting destroyers, making victory impossible and needless destroyer losses inevitable, he is chastised for failing to engage the enemy rather than praised for sensibly preserving America's meager fleet assets in the face of superior forces.
While there is much more to be said about this fine volume, it seems necessary in this forum to spend as much energy reviewing some of the other reviews as the book itself. It is patently unfair to the author for a reviewer to post a derogatory assessment of this or any book when he (a) apparently has not read it, or (b) does not seem to be in possession of factual information about it or the author, or (c) both. Such is clearly the case with some of the reviews found here, with the result that Black Shoe Carrier Admiral gets less than the five-star ranking that it clearly deserves. For example:
~One reviewer denigrates the book because it says relatively little about Fletcher after the 1942 carrier battles. He apparently didn't bother to read the book's subtitle: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal.
~Another writer says Lundstrom has no documentation and there is no evidence to support the suggestion that USS Hornet captain Marc Mitscher sent his air group in the wrong direction at the Battle of Midway. That writer is apparently ignorant of an abundance of testimony from Hornet veterans, both aircrew and ship's company, that support exactly that (see Naval History magazine, Feb 2006, p. 48 for just one resource).
~Another devotes all of three lines in ALL CAPS to trumpet the claim that Fletcher was hated by the Marines. Such a brief review obviously provides no space for the writer to tell us his opinion of Marine Colonel Melvin J. Maas, who unlike legions of other fine Marines, actually knew and worked directly with Fletcher during the Solomons campaign. Col. Maas cited Fletcher for his exceptional ability as a naval tactician and superior quality as a task force admiral.
~Other one-star reviewers complain that Lundstrom is trying to write an academic history without being an academic himself (Lundstrom has a master's degree in military history), that his book makes claims unsupported by facts or documentation (the book has 82 pages of fine print citing documented sources, largely original, for every significant statement in the manuscript), and that Fletcher was responsible for the loss of three fleet carriers in 1942 (apparently the Imperial Japanese Navy, with superior aircraft, battle-experienced aircrews, and an awesomely deadly torpedo had nothing to do with it).
Such agenda-driven opinions do not serve Amazon's review process in the intended manner, and in this case present a grossly inaccurate portrayal of the book's content and its author's qualifications for writing it. "Black Shoe Carrier Admiral" is a magnificent achievement, representing years of dogged research and composition by an award-winning expert who is eminently qualified and experienced in this subject matter. To revile it as anything less without supporting facts and documentation (so important to Lundstrom's detractors) is simply irresponsible.
Overdue detailed study of a key commander in the first year of the Pacific War.......2006-10-01
This is an important book for any student of the Pacific War, because it corrects the largely unrefuted negative accounts of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher's service as commander of the U.S. carrier task forces in the first three of the four carrier battles of 1942 (Coral Sea, Midway, and Eastern Solomons). In fact, there were only two carrier battles in history where he did not command the winning side - Santa Cruz in October 1942, and Philippine Sea in 1944.
Despite this record, Fletcher has been savaged by critics for allegedly failing to stand by the Marine garrison at Guadalcanal, and, since he headed the relief expedition to besieged Wake in January 1942, he gets blamed for that expedition's turning back as well (despite the fact that he was ordered to do so). That he won three carriers battles against superior forces never gets him the credit he deserves. This was due in part to a confluence of several negative factors. First, he was a "black shoe" admiral, and not an aviator - and aviators were furious that carrier task forces were being commanded by non-aviators in the early stages of the war. In their mind every mission he didn't send them on would have been a great success - and that's what they told his superiors. Second, he was a convenient scapegoat for other admirals - most notably Richmond Kelly Turner at Guadalcanal, and CinC Ernest King - when they either made mistakes (Kelly at Guadalcanal) or were dissatisfied with his failure to act more "offensively" in spite of the circumstances that prevented it, or counseled against it. Third, when the attacks started rolling in during the war and after, Fletcher did not respond to correct the record, in part because of two unfortunate circumstances. First, he lost his records for the first half of the war when the Yorktown went down at Midway. Second, when he left the Saratoga at Pearl after her torpedoing, he unexpectedly was not permitted to return for the change of command ceremony, and thus lost his records from June through September as well. And after the war, without these records to refute what was being said about him he repeatedly demurred when asked to review what was being written about the battles in which he took part. So the people who were writing that he'd been incompetent and reluctant to risk battle to the point of cowardice, and used hindsight to justify their opinions were largely refuted for half a century. Someone else (I cannot recall who, but Lundstrom does not mention it) has said that Fletcher in postwar interviews seemed confused and unsure what had happened when. Whether this was due to lack of records or old age, the writer said that Fletcher's appearance may have reinforced the common belief that he was not very bright, and was in over his head during the war. I thought I saw a reference to Fletcher's becoming senile as he aged (he did not die until 1973) and that probably did not help things - it is hard to see someone who is visibly impaired by old age as a sharp-eyed fleet commander.
Enter John Lundstrom. Lundstrom's painstaking knowledge of what the carrier commanders knew, and when they knew it, and when various participants were flat-out lying about what happened, or making incorrect assumptions (uniformly to Fletcher's detriment) makes clear than at numerous crucial points Fletcher consistently made the right decisions, at least based on what he knew at the time, and preserved the U.S. Navy's irreplaceable (at the time) carriers. Most readers are aware of Nimitz' order to Fletcher at Midway to only risk the carriers when he had the opportunity to inflict serious damage on the Japanese carriers, but it appears that Fletcher was under the same instructions at Guadalcanal. And with a far more dangerous mission in sub-infested waters within range of Japanese land-based bombers he made the decision to leave the forces at Guadalcanal temporarily uncovered at times to reduce the risk to the carriers. What this book makes clear is that at the time he was not aware - in part due to bad communications and in part due to Turner's errors, that he was leaving at a bad time. Of course both Turner and the Marines didn't see it that way, and there was nothing his presence could have done to avert the Savo disaster, but then they didn't know what he knew.
At bottom, the unpleasant truth was that Fletcher's carriers were incomparably more important than the Marines at Guadalcanal, and if he had to choose between abandoning the Marines (which he did not believe he was doing at the time he retreated to refuel - which he had to do at some point so as to be ready when the Japanese carriers showed up) or putting the carriers in substantial risk with no prospect to inflict equal damage on Japanese forces, the carriers won. Losing Guadalcanal would have been a temporary setback. Losing the bulk of the carriers in the fall of 1942 would have been far worse. The Marines would disagree - and understandably still do - but had that been the decision (and Lundstrom makes clear that it was never that clear) that would have been the right decision. In the long run, the Marines depended on the carriers being there to stop the Japanese Navy when it showed up far more than they needed them to cover the unloading of supplies, and that was what Fletcher did. If he had lost the carriers covering Turner's delayed unloading of supplies, the Marines would have been dislodged when the Japanese Navy showed up, no matter how much supplies they had on hand.
Not everything Fletcher did was right, of course, but given that he was practicing a new form of naval warfare in which he had no experience (neither did anyone else, of course) and he won every battle he was engaged in, and preserved the Navy's carriers long enough to bridge the gap till the new carriers under construction reached the fleet, he deserves far greater credit for what he did.
The book also explain better his post-carrier command work. Once he was out of the South Pacific after the Saratoga was torpedoed, his days as a carrier commander were over - both King and to a lesser extent Nimitz were unhappy with what they perceived as a lack of offensive-mindedness, and he was relegated to a land-based commend on the mainland.
But Lundstrom also makes clear that that may have been where he was headed anyway. Having an admiral with no aviation experience command carrier task forces in early 1942 may have been unavoidable because there were no air admirals with sufficient seniority, but by the end of 1942 all the fliers who had started the war as captains (Mitscher as an example) were now rear admirals, and sufficiently senior to command carrier task forces. Fletcher, on the other hand, was now a vice admiral, too senior for a task force command, and with the wrong background to command the overall carrier fleet (despite his phenomenal failure at Midway, Mitscher did end up being the right man at the right time). Add to that that Fletcher did have a record of not seizing the initiative (although I don't think he can be faulted for doing so in the circumstances in which he operated) I really don't see that he would have remained with the carriers in any event. His record was precisely the opposite of the tactics that Mitscher would later employ to great success in early 1944. Again, it has to be said that Mitscher could afford to take risks with the forces available to him, and Fletcher could not. Had he played with fire the way the armchair admirals wanted him to, the benefits would have been minor, and the risks were incalculable.
In the end, if anyone deserves the credit for the way the U.S. carrier task forces successfully fought the first year of the Pacfic War, it has to be Fletcher, and I'm glad we finally have a book that explains this. Lundstrom is not neutral on the subject of Fletcher, but then neither has anyone else been, and this book helps to balance the account.
The only reason I give the book four stars instead of five is that Lundstrom's detail is sometimes overwhelming, and he not infrequently has sentences that are unintentionally cryptic, where it's hard to tell what exactly he is trying to say. It is also clear that he is an advocate for Fletcher, and while I applaud that because it helps balance the record, this is an analysis of what Fletcher did and why and why his detractors are or are not wrong. A five star rating would be appropriate if it were a balanced account of what happened. But that book is not yet possible, because no one had done the homework to see whether the attacks on Fletcher were justified. That has now been done, and we can now see what the next generation of naval scholarship makes of this stage of the war. For example, I am particularly interested in reassessments of what King and Nimitz thought about Fletcher - Lundstrom seems to be not entirely sure, and while that it perhaps not needed in this book, to get the whole picture, that needs to be analyzed further. There were a lot of politics going on in Washington, and perhaps Pearl as well, and those need to be taken into account.
Book Description
A lasting memorial to the USS Enterprise, this classic tale of the carrier that contributed more than any other single warship to the naval victory in the Pacific has remained a favorite World War II story for more than twenty-five years. The Big E participated in nearly every major engagement of the war against Japan and earned a total of twenty battle stars. The Halsey-Doolittle Raid; the Battles of Midway, Santa Cruz, Guadalcanal, the Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf; and the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa are all faithfully recorded from the viewpoint of the men who served her so well. The author, a naval aviator, focuses on the exploits of the famous ship's air groups, capturing the reality of their encounters and provoking a range of emotions from readers.
This superb study of a great ship, her crew, and the action they saw has been called one of the finest pieces of naval writing to emerge from the war. What it is like inside the cockpit of a Dauntless dive bomber as it bores in on its target or the effort required to unstick the ship's huge rudder when damaged by a bomb are just two of the nuggets Edward Stafford mined from the mountain of research and lengthy interviews he conducted to write the book. Literate and scholarly as well as highly dramatic, the book will appeal to historians and the general public alike.
Customer Reviews:
read this book.......2007-07-17
This is one of the best books ever wrote on WWII. I wish it could have gone more into the actual deck operations but you cannot really fault the auther. What astonishes me most is the number of times pilots understood that they had no fuel and would have to ditch into the ocean but still pushed on watching there friends and squadron mates go down in battle. I recommend to everyone.
My favorite book ever........2005-01-31
If you enjoy WW2 History. Specifically US Navy genre, it can't get any better than a book about a ship whose name will live forever(and deservedly so). Got an old 2nd hand book years ago and it remains my prized book.
This is such a classic!!!.......2005-01-16
I absolutely adore this book, and am on at least the third copy I've owned, having worn the others out.
CDR Staffor has written an absolutely magnificient tome. He covers both the scope of the War in the Pacific, and the exploits of the Enterprise herself very thoroghly and in incredible detail.
I've always been interested in the Enterprise, especially considering that my dad was a pilot in the last Air Group ever assigned to the ship.
Her story is the story of the pacific, and the coming of age years of naval aviation. The early giants of naval aviation commanded her, and the greats of this horrible war flew from her decks, and helped to build her legend.
This book is one of the pillars that must be read in order to develop a thorough understanding and appreciation of the war in the Pacific.
It's just a great shame that the campaign to save her from the scrapper's torch failed. It's ironic that the ship that the enemy could never destroy ended up losing her life to a torch a few hundred miles from her birth place.
This is a great book...........2004-08-27
Two sections in this book stand out in my mind. One was the section talking about the crew as they enter Pearl Harbor immediately after the attack. You could feel the emotions as you read about them and you could imagine how they felt as they saw the destruction. The other is the ending. It was almost as if the author were writing about the death of a person instead of a ship.
This is a very well writen book about a very important ship in our history. There are not too many ships that have the record of the Enterprise and there probably will not be too many more like her. The book reads like a novel instead of a historical book and it breathes life into the ship and her valiant crew.
Wow.......2003-09-02
I had no idea this book had been reprinted. I've had my copy for many years (since the early 70's) and re-read it every couple years. I was poking around the internet, looking for the ship's statistics (tonnage, in particular) and found this review page.
Now I'll have to order a new copy, as the pages in mine have all turned yellow and I have to be careful when reading it, lest it come apart. Come to think of it, I'll order two and put one in a plastic bag for when this one falls apart.
Needless to say, I think this book deserves five stars. It's a good book about one of the finest ships and crews to ever put to sea.
Book Description
A longtime professor at the Naval War College who once directed strategic and long-range planning for the Navy and Marine Corps in Europe considers the transformation of the U.S. Navy from a defensive-minded coastal defense force into an offensive risk-taking navy in the very early stages of World War II. Noting that none of the navy's most significant World War II leaders were commissioned before the Spanish-American War and none participated in any important offensive operations in World War I, Douglas Smith examines the premise that education, rather than experience in battle, accounts for that transformation. In this book, Smith evaluates his premise by focusing on the five carrier battles of the second world war to determine the extent to which the inter-war education of the major operational commanders translated into their decision processes, and the extent to which their interaction during their educational experiences transformed them from risk-adverse to risk-accepting in their operational concepts. His book will interest students of the Pacific War, naval aviation, education, and leadership.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding Historical Study.......2007-05-02
As an amateur military historian, my reading is done for self-interest and leisure. Having said that, I found this book to be an outstanding historical study of the commanders and their decisions in the five crucial aircraft carrier battles of WW II: Coral Sea, Midway, the Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz, and the Philippine Sea.
The author (Dr. Douglas Smith) is on the faculty at The Naval War College of Newport, RI and he has impeccable academic credentials. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Naval Postgraduate School, The Naval War College, and holds a Ph.D. from Florida State University. Yet even with the author's impressive credentials, this is not another stodgy, hard-to-read book on obscure events of WW II. It is well-written and even entertaining at times, especially when the author / professor issues each commander a grade on the command decisions made during the heat of the five key battles.
I found the book to be a nice balance between the unknown (fresh material researched from the archives of The Naval War College) and the well-known (the biggest naval battles in the largest naval campaign the world has ever seen). I learned a great deal of new information on already well-studied events.
This book shines new light on the command decisions made by the U.S. Navy's top leadership, men like "Bull" Halsey, Chester Nimitz, Raymond Spruance, and Frank Jack Fletcher. It proves that more than luck or good intelligence brought success to the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theatre of WW II. The outcome of the five Pacific carrier battles can be attributed to the merit of the decisions made by the naval commanders: their aggressiveness, decisiveness, and wisdom.
Published by The Naval Institute Press, you find meticulous documentation from original sources. That is helpful for scholars. But for the amateurs like myself, it never bogs down into tedious reading.
I'm so glad I own this book!
Average customer rating:
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Combat Carriers: And My Brushes With History : World War II : 1939-1946
Sam Sommers
Manufacturer: Black Belt Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1881320928 |
Book Description
This riveting narrative recounts the role played by U.S. aircraft carriers and Navy pilots in the invasion of Guadalcanal and the ensuing battle for the Eastern Solomons. Historian Eric Hammel guides readers through an examination of the period's U.S. Navy hardware and pilots, explaining and describing carrier construction, the aircraft flown, and pilot training. Unique views of Guadalcanal and the Eastern Solomons are presented exclusively from the perspective of carrier operations, and feature data recently uncovered from U.S. and Japanese sources.
Customer Reviews:
Meticulous Military History.......2005-12-25
Despite the book's title this is really a history of the Solomons campaing up to the battle of the Eastern Solomons, the first carrier to carrier clash of the campaign. It certainly has its center of gravity placed on the operations of the American carriers, but includes much of the actions of both navies in and around the slot, the fighting on the ground, and the aerial duels between the Japanese coming out of Rabaul and the Cactus air force.
Foremost this book is an account of what happened in a very comperehensive manner. After explaining the aircraft and ships the Japanese and Americans possesed, and delving into an interesting comparison of their air wing make ups and tactics, the author takes you chronologically through the Solomons campaign.
The reason this book only merited four stars instead of five is that sometimes this can be a bit dry. There's a lot of " . . . and then at 1350 the Wasp launched two more Hellcats on CAP. At 1415 a Mavis was shot down by a Hellcat from the Enterprise. Japanese records indicate that this was from their base in the Shortland Islands. At 1430 four planes from the Hornet CAP returned to refuel. At 1435 planes from the Wasp sighted another Mavis but were unable to pursue it. At 1440 . . . " Stretch this amount of minute by minute detail out over several weeks worth of operations and you get a sense of what the book is about, and it's a marvel it's not longer.
This might be slow at some points but it does allow some interesting insights that many other more easily read, and more exciting books can obscure. First is the sometimes monotomy and boredom of war. Second is the ridiculous degree to which kills of enemy aircraft and ships were overstated during the battles that occured. By comparing accounts of both sides the author makes it clear that most engagements resulted in fewer losses than the participants thought took place. (Clearly the engagements must have been emotionally draining and fierce.) If the after action reports are to have been believed it would seem as though the Japanese thought they wiped out the entire American force several times over and vice versa.
Certainly interesting for people with a passion for WWII history, especially the pacific campaign, but too much like pure history to really recommend for the casual reader.
The Story of What the Carriers Did at Guadalcanal.......2005-04-23
The Invasion of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, August 1942.
The Battle of the Eastern Solomons was history's third carrier clash. A collision of U.S. Navy and Imperial Navy carriers in the wake of the invasion of Guadalcanal--whose airfield the United States desperately needed and the Japanese desperately wanted back--the battle was waged at sea and over Guadalcanal's besieged Marine-held Lunga Perimeter on August 24, 1942.
These battles were the result of the US deciding to draw the line in the pacific at the Solomons. If the Japanese had been able to complete the airfield on Guadalcanal, their planes would have been able to prevent the sailing of ships to Australia via the Pacific. So it was here that the Americans drew the line. Before the Guadalcanal battle the Americans fought the Battle of the Coral Sea stopping the Japanese southern advance.
Remember that this was a time before the Americans brought out their newer aircraft. This battle was fought with Wildcats against Zeros. And the dive bombers were the old SBD Dauntless.
This is not a history of Guadalcanal or of the overall place of this battle in the war, it is as the title says, a description of the carrier vs. carrier battles. This is only part of the story, but it is well told here.
Not a companion book, but anyone interested in the stopping of the Japanese advances should also read the new Australian book "A Bastard of a Place." This covers the stopping of the Japanese advance across Papua New Guina a fierce and deciscive battle little known in the US.
Richly detailed.......2001-07-02
CARRIER CLASH is the first of a two book set detailing the campaign in the Solomons from Aug-Oct 1942. The reader is familiarized with aircraft carrier doctrine, operations, and the aircraft types used by both combatants. The book takes the reader through the opening operation (the initial landings on Guadalcanal)right through to the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in late August. As in the second volume CARRIER STRIKE, this book follows an almost minute-by-minute account of the tension and confusion of aerial combat.The reader is thrust into the midst of the action. I was hardly able to put the book down.
Long on detail, short on analysis.......2000-05-29
The man has definitely done his research - this is the most detailed account I've ever read of any Pacific theatre battle.
However, although the book describes Guadalcanal and the battle of the Eastern Solomons, Savo Island is all but ignored. There is no discussion of the significance of the battle, nor even of who won it! Essentially, the book stops when the fighting did, which is a bit odd.
If you like blood-and-thunder dogfight anecdotes you'll like this book, but some more of the big picture would have been nice.
Historically accurate! Entertaining! Engrossing!.......1998-08-14
This book details a small section of history from World War 2. It describes the equipment, the men and the battles, but it does it in such a way that you are unable to put the book down. By the time you've finished you have a feeling of some of what it must have been like to be involved in the struggle for that 'terrible' island. You also begin to believe that you know the men who fought there. This book is unmissable.
Book Description
Looking for fun in Los Angeles but don't want to spend big bucks? FREE L.A. details hundreds of free fun things to do in the L.A. area, from Hollywood to Malibu to Pasadena. Discover free museums, free botanical gardens, free festivals, free films, free concerts and more. Whether you're looking for fun in the sun or for something free and easy to do during major holidays, FREE L.A. is a perfect travel planner for tourists and residents alike. Treat the family to a free movie under the stars or bring a date to a free Playboy Jazz concert. Visit LA's top museums for free or take free tours of historic LA landmarks. FREE L.A. has more than 350 free fun things to choose from.
Written and researched by a crew of savvy L.A. travel writers, each event and venue is described in a breezy style that's packed with details, including tips on parking and kid-friendly places. FREE L.A. also features the Thomas Guide ™ map coordinates for every write-up, so finding the free fun is easy. As car-crazy Angelenos know, Rand McNally's Thomas Guide is the ultimate way to navigate your way through L.A.'s freeway maze.
FREE L.A. is simple to use with five distinct sections. In Annual Events you'll find hip descriptions of ethnic celebrations, aviation expos, nature festivals, gem shows and more in a January to December format. Holiday Events covers Lunar New Year parades, Earth Day fests, Cinco de Mayo fiestas, July 4th fireworks, Halloween howls and Christmas boat parades. Extra Events features concerts, films, gardening goodies and ongoing happenings. Venues details dozens of museums, botanical gardens and historic places. All free. The Indexes section includes an alphabetical index so you can find every free fun thing to do by name. A location index lets you search by community with cross-references to the Thomas Guide map coordinates.
Whether you're a tourist or a resident, with FREE L.A., you'll find something free to do every day.
Customer Reviews:
Don't Visit L.A. without this Book!.......2005-10-21
"Free L.A., The Ultimate Free Fun Guide to the City of Angels" contains more free things to do in L.A. than one can count! Over 250 pages of events and attractions are presented with details and contact information (many with websites).
The book begins with monthly Annual Events so you can plan what to do whenever you visit. You'll learn how to attend the January 1 Tournament of Roses Parade for free, complete with parking instructions. On the first two Saturdays in February, your family can enjoy the Pan African Film and Arts Festival Children's Festival at Magic Johnson Theatres. And, in July, there's the Courtyard Kid's Festival at the Japanese American National Museum.
There's another section with Holiday Events, which kicks off with the Chinese New Year's Festival in Chinatown as the first of several New Year's Celebrations. Other holidays which have dedicated sections include Earth Day, Cinco de Mayo, Fourth of July, Halloween and Winter Holidays.
There is also an "Extra Events" section, which features free Concerts, Films, Gardening and more.
The last part of "Free L.A." is entitled "Venues" and includes sections of Free Museums, Museums with Free Days, Botanical Gardens, Historic Places and Nature Centers & Preserves.
Finally, you'll find an index listing all the free goodies, both alphabetically and by location. The book is approximately 3 ½ by 8 inches and would easily fit into a tote bag or a purse so you can take it with you as you tour the "City of Angels".
I Live in and Love LA..........2005-10-19
...and I loved this book. Sorry, but a Google is just not the same. This book mentions places I didn't know existed so I would know to Google them! (LA is a very big place. ) And it gives nitty-gritty secrets about each (especially the free days!) that many sites don't give. I keep it on my desktop right along with my writing references. It's saved me way more than the cost of the book.
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Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of THIS IS THE PLACE, HARKENING, TRACINGS and THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T
Perhaps we should pay and do other stuff!.......2005-10-02
Very disappointed in this book. I think one could get more from a google of LA. Oh well, I guess I expected unusual stuff, given the title.
A superb introduction to Los Angeles travel and fun.......2004-12-09
Free L.A. is an event guide rather than a travel guide per se, so tourists seeking a broader wealth of information concerning hotels, restaurants, etc. will want to supplement it with a more well-rounded guidebook. Free L.A. is a travel, entertainment and tourist guide especially for the budget-conscious - since all the events, activities, and things to do it lists in the City of Angels are free! Free festivals, museums, historic landmarks, botanical gardens, tours, concerts, art events, films, holiday celebrations and more pack this suprisingly thick little book. Arranged by month and season, each listed event includes an applicable phone number or website, a brief description, parking notes, information on whether the event is kid-friendly or has wheelchair/stroller access, and more. A superb introduction to Los Angeles travel and fun, and also an excellent resource for L.A. natives looking to enjoy themselves.
A Guide to a Year of Fun in L.A. .......2004-08-02
No matter what time of year you decide to go to L.A., there is something fun happening and it might just be free. Most of the events listed in this book are free to the public because they are funded through government grants, corporate sponsorships, non-profit groups and individual donations. If you want, you can make a donation at various locations.
The items in this book are listed from January to December. The dates may be subject to change, so it is advisable to check the website for current information.
Some of the Fun Free Adventures Include:
A LA Harbor Tour that leaves every 20-60 minutes. Take a tour in an open-air tour boat.
Central Avenue Jazz Festival - dine on ethnic cuisine while you listen to music
Summer Concerts in the Park - evenings of music in July and August
There is also information for every interest. If you love gardening, there are many beautiful gardens to visit. You might even enjoy volunteering to help decorate a float for the Tournament of Roses Parade. I saw one of the floats up close and they are pretty amazing. I wondered who had all that time on their hands, and now we know. You can sign up to volunteer through a special website.
Other Interesting Places to Visit:
Frederick's of Hollywood Lingerie Museum
Fall Festival Farmer's Market
Holiday Movie Shorts at Santa Monica Place
This book is filled with free festivals, museums, historic landmarks, botanical gardens, tours, summer fun, concerts, art events, films and holiday events. Each entry features Thomas Guide map coordinates to make finding your free fun much easier.
~TheRebeccaReview.com
Average customer rating:
- One of The Best
- A wonderful little book
- A real page-turner!
- A wonderful memoir of the life of a young Navy sailor during
- A little-known modern classic
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Crossing the Line: A Blue Jacket's World War II Odyssey
Alvin Kernan
Manufacturer: Naval Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1557504555
Release Date: 2005-04-15 |
Amazon.com
Alvin Kernan, seeing no prospects in his native Wyoming, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in the spring of 1941. As a seaman on the U.S.S. Enterprise, he saw the destruction and smelled the fires still burning as the aircraft carrier returned to Pearl Harbor from maneuvers on the day after Japan's surprise attack. Years later he would see and smell much the same thing in Japanese harbors. In the time between, Kernan had some exceptional adventures, which are chronicled in Crossing the Line. This reflective memoir is utterly unpretentious in providing an engaging view of ordinary Americans at war. Leaving the grand historical themes for other writers, Kernan tells us what it was really like for the sailors in the fleet, during fierce combat as well as during some lively recreation.
Book Description
Crossing the Line is a classic coming-of-age account, it achieves the rarest possible right tone for looking back on the self at an earlier stage, less sophisticated, less knowledgeable, but with the essential characteristics in place without apology or impatience.
Customer Reviews:
One of The Best.......2006-02-15
Alvin Kernan has written one of the best books on WW2 I have ever read, and I've read a lot of them. His descriptions of his wartime experiences are crisp, vivid, and relevant.
If any of us are ever tempted to generalize in a negative way about sailors in the U.S. Navy, I suggest they read this book all the way to the end. What Kernan went on to do after the war is just as impressive as what he did while he served Uncle Sam.
A wonderful little book.......2005-12-30
Alvin Kernan was a 17-year-old from a poor family when he enlisted in the Navy in 1941. He was assigned to the carrier Enterprise and was aboard on Dec 7, 1941. He served aboard carriers most of the war, including a tour aboard the Hornet and he was aboard when she was sunk. He spent most of the time with the torpedo squadrons and gives a vivid account of the Battle of Midway. Most war histories are written by or about the leaders and it is unusual to find someone who was there for all the battles but who was seeing it all from the bottom up. After the war, he went to college on the GI Bill (as did I) and eventually ended his career as dean of the graduate school at Princeton. This is a vivid and knowledgeable account of the carrier war from one who was there and is a skilled writer. Anyone interested in the navy in World War II should read this book.
A real page-turner!.......2005-07-25
. When you think of an east coast university professor who specializes in the humanities--Shakespearean literature, in this case--you probably won't be visualizing someone who started adulthood by engaging in vicious aerial gunnery duels with Japanese fighters and otherwise living the stressful, profane, hazardous life of an enlisted sailor on three World War II aircraft carriers, one of which was sunk while he was aboard. Such is the case, though, with retired Yale professor Alvin B. Kernan, author of "Crossing the Line," one of the most interesting and often gripping sagas of navy life that I've read.
. The book came as a surprise to me, on two counts. One, I knew that Kernan had been an aviation ordnanceman on the USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway, and later an aerial gunner. But I had very little notion of the depth of his wartime experiences, not only as an aircrewman but also in escaping the sinking of the USS Hornet in the Guadalcanal battles and in a harrowing deployment aboard the escort carrier USS Suwanee (CVE-27). Suffice to say in this short review that Kernan earned a Navy Cross, a DFC, and five air medals from inside the turret of a TBF Avenger!
. And two, I had previously read Kernan's fictitious account of the Battle of Midway, "Love and Glory," which I thought was interesting but flawed in a number of regards (see my review on Amazon). For that reason, I was a little dubious about reading "Crossing the Line." Would this be another "interesting but flawed" piece of work that would cause me to keep my red pen handy while I read it? No. Crossing the Line is simply outstanding. Anyone with an interest in WWII naval air action will also want to read this book. I highly recommend it. Yes, there are a couple of minor nits that a very knowledgeable historian might want to pick, but they are so insignificant as to be unworthy of mentioning here. "Crossing the Line" will not disappoint you. In fact, you'll probably find it hard to put down.
. (Reviewed by R. W. Russell, Battle of Midway Roundtable, www.midway42.org)
A wonderful memoir of the life of a young Navy sailor during.......2001-03-05
Alvin Kernan's "Crossing the Line: A Bluejacket's World War II Odyssey" is a wonderful memoir of the life of a young Navy sailor during World War II. Written in a humorous and sophisticated writing style, it provides the reader with a strong sense of what it was like for a young boy to leave his home and spend four years growing up in the midst of a war at sea. I am sure that Kernan's experience parallels that of my grandfather, who left rural Arkansas for the first time ever as a young 17-year old to take part in large Pacific invasions. If only young people today could understand the sacrifice and hard work that these young men faced. Kernan vividly makes his youth come to life with "Crossing the Line." A must read for avid readers of Navy and World War II subjects.
A little-known modern classic.......1999-12-23
The modesty and intelligence of this amazing book are equalled only by the gripping story it tells. One of the best memoirs of youth, war and manhood I have ever seen.
Book Description
John S. 'Slew' McCain was an old-school sailor. Wiry, profane, a cusser and a gambler, he reminded more than one observer of 'Popeye.' He was also a pioneer in the hard-hitting naval tactics that brought Imperial Japan to its knees. McCain graduated from Annapolis in 1906 and served aboard an armored cruiser in World War I. Espying the future of naval warfare, he earned his aviation wings in 1936 and by 1939 was commander of the aircraft carrier, USS Ranger. He was thus well placed to provide a leading role in America's cut and thrust war with the Japanese across the broad expanses of the Pacific. In 1942 he was made commander of all land-based aircraft during the campaign for Guadalcanal. Though he took his share of blame for the disaster at Savo Island, he counterattacked with every means at his disposal, to the point of commandeering the planes of the crippled carriers Enterprise and Saratoga to reinforce U.S. strength on Henderson Field.Throughout the war, McCain prioritized fighters and single-seat dive-bombers as the best weapons to directly attack the enemy. By the time the U.S. returned to the Philippines, McCain was leading a fast carrier task force under William 'Bull' Halsey. When asked what he thought about his carrier commander, Halsey replied,"Not much more than my right arm."At the Philippines, Okinawa, and finally up to the very coastline of Japan, McCain's carrier group destroyed thousands of enemy planes and hundreds of ships with aggressive, swarming tactics. When the Empire formally surrendered on the battleship Missouri, McCain was in the first row of U.S. officers looking on.After Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, McCain flew back to his home in the U.S., and died in his bed the next day-perhaps from heart failure but more probably from exhaustion. His name has lived on, however, through his son, John S. McCain II, who became commander of U.S. naval forces in the Pacific, 1968-72 (the only father and son four-star admirals in U.S. history), and his grandson, John S. McCain III, a carrier pilot who became the longest held U.S. POW during the Vietnam War and currently serves as a U.S. Senator from Arizona.Drawing upon a wealth of primary sources, including information provided by the McCain family, as well as an expert grasp of the titanic battles waged by the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, Alton K. Gilbert has provided the fullest account of the first Admiral John McCain's life yet written. An unconventional leader, Slew McCain's career was marked by courage and innovation, as he emerged from World War II as one of America's greatest combat leaders. REVIEWS "This is a warts and all biography of an engaging and accomplished man... a good read and Alton Gilbert has done excellent spadework. I am sure other readers will agree with me that our appetite has been whetted for yet more information on the feisty John Sidney McCain." Proceedings Magazine, Naval Institute Press 02-07, Col Gordon W Keiser US Marine Corp (Retired) ..."Most people...do not know that McCain's grandfather was also an admiral....As I was to discover, in the pantheon of WWII Naval leaders, John Sidney McCain ranks right up there with William Haskey, Raymond Spruance and Marc Mitcher...Providesa fairly complete picture of a remarkable combat leader who deserves to be better knownthank he is. Gilbert has done a good job of pulling together bits and pieces of information about a man who died only four days after witnessing the surrender of the Japanese...and thereforedidn't have an opportunity to provide his own reflections...Gilbert is not a professional historian, and for those who enjoy narrative history and biographies, and who appreciate military history, that's a good thing..." Mackubin Thomas Owens, The Weekly Standard 6-27-2007 "...A must read for anyone who desires to learn about another one of the great admirals of WWII."T Zelibor, Rear Admiral, US Navy( Retired) Naval War College,8/07
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Story of WW II Leadership in the Pacific.......2006-11-15
An excellent story of one of the senior commanders of the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. It also covers a lot of the interplay between the admirals as Admiral King selected men for high command positions.
This book is a lot more forgiving of King than a lot of recent history that talks instead about his refusal to institute convoys along the American coast and left it open for U-boats. Cain was a King man. He knew, worked with, supported, and in turn was supported by King.
Cain also appears to have been a supurb commander, and to have instituted a great set of attributes in his children and even grandchildren. This is particularily interesting as Cain III appears to be making a decision about running for Congress.
A Leader Born.......2006-11-05
A LEADER BORN: The Life of Admiral John Sidney McCain, Pacific Carrier Commander
by Alton Gilbert.
Captain Gilbert has shown a keen insight into the leadership qualities of Admiral McCain. He also captures the complex interrelationship between Admiral McCain and his contemporary Naval commanders during World War II.
Clyde T. Turner Jr.
Book Description
This incredible CD-ROM provides a comprehensive guide to aircraft carriers operated by the U.S. Navy. Today's Nimitz-class nuclear-powered carriers are known as the powerhouse of the Navy fleet, over 1000 feet long and carrying about 85 aircraft. They are the largest warships in the world. Forward presence by U.S. Navy aircraft battle groups helps protect our overseas interests as well as encouraging peace and stability around the globe. Nuclear Aircraft Carriers support and operate aircraft to engage in attacks on targets afloat and ashore which threaten our use of the sea and to engage in sustained operations in support of other forces. Every aspect of the carrier and the aircraft is covered in this detailed material, which is heavily illustrated with color photographs, drawings, tables, and charts.
Nimitz class carriers are the USS Nimitz (CVN 68), San Diego, CA; USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), Newport News, VA; USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Bremerton, WA; USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), Norfolk, VA; USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Everett, WA; USS George Washington (CVN 73), Norfolk, VA; USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), San Diego, CA; USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), Norfolk, VA; USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) (under construction; George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) (under construction). Earlier carriers still in active status: USS Enterprise, USS John F. Kennedy; USS Constellation; USS Kitty Hawk.
Topics covered include:
* History of the Aircraft Carrier, beginning with the USS Langley (CV-1)
* List of All U.S. Navy Carriers
* Space recovery for the early American space program splashdowns
* The Forrestal Fire, 1967 - Heroes on the Deck
* F/A-18 Hornet, F/A-14 Tomcat, EA-6B Prowler, S-3 Viking
* Phalanx Close-in Weapons System
* Commander, Naval Air Force, US Atlantic Fleet and Pacific Fleet
* Carrier Air Wings
* Photographs of the ongoing construction of the USS RONALD REAGAN at Newport News, VA - the ninth Nimitz class nuclear carrier, leading to the last Nimitz class (USS George HW Bush) and the next generation known as CVNX-1. The Carrier Replacement Program provides for the new construction of aircraft carriers. Currently, there are twelve active carriers in the Navy's fleet. Eight of these are Nimitz class carriers. An additional Nimitz class carrier is currently under construction, the USS Reagan (CVN-76), and will deliver in March 2003 to replace the Constellation (CV-64) which will retire in FY 2003. The last Nimitz Class carrier, CVN-77, was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding in January 2001 and is scheduled to deliver in March 2008. CVN-77 will also serve as the "bridge" platform for technologies that will enable the Navy to transition from the Nimitz class to the next generation aircraft carrier (CVNX). CVN-77 will include new technologies such as an integrated topside island which includes a new multi-function radar, new propulsion plant monitoring improvements, and manpower reduction initiatives.
Over 10,000 pages are reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Apple Macintosh systems. Reader software is included. This up-to-date book-on-a-disc makes a great reference work and educational tool. There is no other reference that is as fast, convenient, comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and portable - everything you need to know, from the federal sources you trust.
Our CD-ROMs are privately-compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work utilizing the benefits of the Adobe Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages that can be rapidly reviewed, searched by finding specific words, or printed without untold hours of tedious research and downloading. Vast archives of important public domain government information that might otherwise remain inaccessible are available for instant review no matter where you are.
Book Description
When J.J. "Jocko" Clark graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy during World War I, he was primed to be a pioneer in one of the great transformations of the U.S. Navy-the change from a surface-only force to one in which aviation played a major role. Under the leadership of the key aviation admirals, William Moffett and Ernest J. King, Clark helped develop carrier doctrine and airplanes until the outbreak of World War II. As captain of the new aircraft carrier Yorktown, Clark provided aggressive leadership in the capture of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. As a carrier task group commander he was instrumental in the brilliant victory at the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Okinawa campaign. After the war he fought to save naval aviation from the attacks of other services and went on to serve as Commander of the Seventh Fleet in the Korean War, where his innovative "Cherokee Strikes" played a crucial role.
Worshiped by his crewmen and despised by others for his "call-`em-as-I-see-'em" method of leadership, the flamboyant Jocko Clark was respected by all. Raised in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma), Clark became the highest-ranking naval officer of Native American descent in U.S. history. With access to family papers and as coauthor of Admiral Clark's 1967 autobiography, Clark Reynolds is well situated to bring the last of the colorful, old-school American naval leaders to life. A sixty-minute CD of interviews conducted by the author with Admiral Clark, Arleigh Burke, and other associates is included.
Customer Reviews:
Too much glory.......2007-02-21
Too much glory to the Admiral - seems he had everything figured out and the majority of those who did not agree with him were incompetent or just plain stupid. I did not care to hear of his drinking or womanizing exploits - not certain what those "abilities" have to do with being an admiral. A Navy Patton???
Feel the author spends too much verse in glamorizing Clark and down grading the other Naval heros of the era.
Excellent book on a great carrier commander.......2006-08-06
This is an excellent book about a great carrier commander. Jocko Clark was the initial commander of the new Yorktown, and a great task group commander as part of task force 58 under Marc Mitscher. In fact, he was Mitscher's leading commander, the one that Mitscher looked to for all the challenges. And, he delivered. This book provides how he did that - his personality traits, including his angry tirades, his physical challenges, including his continual bouts with an ulcer that required a special diet. However, he was a loyal commander and an individual who supported his men. Many a time, he wanted to look for downed flyers when the previous task force commander prior to Mitscher was nervous about lingering in an area too long and the threat of Japanese submarines. If you want a book that provides the panorama of the Pacific carrier war in detail - each minor and major action - Jocko was in the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, through Halsey's typhoons - this is a great book for the WWII enthusiast in the pacific. Highly recommended.
Patton of the Pacific.......2005-10-13
The story goes that when the small carrier 'Liscome Bay' was sunk, her airborne planes had to have a place to set down or they would have to crash in the ocean. The man who gave the order on the carrier 'Yorktown' to turn on her landing lights after dark to give them a place to land was Jocko Clark.
That alone would justify reading more about him, but there is lots more. An indian, he went to the Naval Academy (Class of 1918) while the indian wars were a fresh memory. Early recognizing the value of aircraft, he became a pilot when planes were still wood and fabric. World War II came with the Japanese attack at Pearl. Getting rid of the battleships left the carriers and the aircraft admirals in position to win the war.
Younger than the famous admirals of World War II, he was commander of the Seventh Fleet operating off of Korea. He lived through the transition from wood and fabric through to the time of the jets. Not just lived, he commanded.
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- Factory Physics Second Edition
- Flotsam (Caldecott Medal Book)
- George Washington's False Teeth: An Unconventional Guide to the Eighteenth Century
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Books Index
Books Home
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Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
On the Warpath in the Pacific: Admiral Jocko Clark and the Fast Carriers
Battle Line: The United States Navy, 1919-1939
Carrier Battles: Command Decision in Harm's Way
The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway
