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Class of 1957 Book Review Site. ©2007. To add a Book Review, or to comment on a book already in this listing, send your material or review to Sam Coulbourn at Persnav@shore.net. Photo at top of each page shows VADM C. Turner Joy (1895-1956). Joy was Commander Naval Forces Far East for most of the Korean War, presided over Armistice Talks with the North Koreans, and then came to Annapolis to serve as Superintendent. He was our Supe during our plebe year. Revised 3 August 2008. |
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BIOGRAPHY Father of All Things, The: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Viet Nam
By Tom Bissell, 2007,406 pp.
This unusual combined memoir, history, biography and travel book should be of interest to all Academy graduates. It cuts deeply to emotional issues involving fathers, sons, marriage, war, Viet Nam military history, American political history and the Marine Corps. The author brings an unusual perspective, both critical of the mistakes and downright lying that characterized the American involvement in Viet Nam with a loving respect for the men who tried to make the best of a difficult and perhaps impossible situation. The author’s father finished his service in Viet Nam after being severely wounded and was then posted to Beaufort, South Carolina where at age twenty-five, he fell in love with a gorgeous nineteen year old colonel’s daughter. She promised his mother, who had been suffering from cancer, that if his mother died, the young woman would raise his brother and sister, then aged sixteen and twelve. He promised her father, then chief of staff of a Marine air wing, that he would never quit the Marines and that he would never take his new bride, who had been raised in Southern officer’s clubs, back to Michigan, where he was from. His mother died a month after their wedding and he immediately broke both promises to the colonel, taking his teenage bride back to Escanaba in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where she became, in effect, the stepmother for two teenagers only a few years younger than herself. The colonel then died and his widow, a glamorous former actress who almost married the actor Jackie Cooper joined the household. She refused to accept the role of a grandmother, everyone drank, the author and other babies appeared, divorce came around and this saga could make an entire television series by itself. There are heroes like General Creighton Abrams, who was said to have deserved a better war, after he replaced the shameless Westmoreland, and George Ball, who tried to warn LBJ that the forthcoming escalation would be costly and unsuccessful. There are villains like Walt Rostow, who bragged how the Johnson administration had exploded a non-existent torpedo boat attack into a cause of war, and Kissinger from whose dealings only Asian Communists seemed to have emerged with new advantages. The book brings all these strands together with a father and son trip to Vietnam. They revive old memories in Danang, the Chu Lai and My Lai areas, and Nha Trang. They plunge into the amazing contrasts of the new Saigon. It becomes a love letter to a father, a family, the Marines and the brave people of two countries united by the wounds of a tragic war. Highly recommended.
Review by Tony Crowell
BIOGRAPHY
Gold Stripe on a Jackass: The Quest for Moral Efficiency By Stephen B. Sloane, 2008
Our classmate Steve Sloane has just published a terrific book titled Gold Stripe on a Jackass,: the Quest for Moral Efficiency. The title comes from one of our instructors from plebe summer named Shorty, a salty, retired chief petty officer who taught us marlinspike seamanship -- how to tie knots and the like. Shorty (whom I confess I don't remember) would often punctuate his remarks, Steve writes, with the observation : "Gawd damned it, you can put a gold stripe on a jackass, but that don't make him an officer!" The book is a recounting of Steve's 26-year career in the Navy and especially some of the several key times when he felt confronted with the choice between being an officer or a gold-striped jackass. These times involved having the guts to speak truth to and even question authority as well as having the wisdom and judgment to treat human being as human beings, not merely as useable resources. Steve's prose is clear and effortless to read; his tone is genial, affable, and conversational; and his thoughts and conclusions about leadership and responsibility are profoundly instructive. Any one from a newly commissioned officer to a shop foreman to the CEO of a multi-national corporation can profit by heeding what Steve has written in this book. Reading it, I have to confess, took me longer than I had expected not only because I became to thoroughly engrossed in Steve's experiences themselves, but also because it brought back so vividly some similar experiences of my own, both as an officer and as a civilian, that I caught myself staring off into space for moments at a time as I remembered them. I've been lucky enough to encounter very, very few jackasses in my life, but the conclusion I came to a good while ago is that ONLY jackasses really need a gold stripe because without it they're nothing. Real officers don't need a stripe at all because their leadership and authority shine from within. Steve Sloane is a real officer. Read his book. You'll be glad you did.
Review bv Carter McNeese, August 2008.
BIOGRAPHY
Grant: Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant By Ulysses S. Grant, DeCapo Paperback, 1982
Poverty-stricken and dying of throat cancer, Ulysses S. Grant devoted his last days to the completion of his memoirs. He did not write to clear his sullied name, but to prevent the financial ruin of his family. Grant’s endeavor far surpassed this modest goal; it revealed him as one of the most intelligent and thoughtful men ever to hold high command. In two volumes of straightforward prose, Grant recounts the course of his military career without pretension or embellishment. Honestly assessing his performance, he does not shy from harsh criticism when the situation demands. Ever modest, Grant makes no claim to greatness, stressing instead the situational factors that occasioned his rise to power. Poignant and insightful, Grant’s memoirs stand as one of the finest contributions to American letters. Grant’s candid autobiography contrasts sharply with the self-serving memoirs of his contemporaries. There is no hint of exaggeration or self-aggrandizement. Quick to praise peers and subordinates, Grant gives credit where credit is due. Moreover, he is exceptionally gracious in his treatment of his opponents. Even as Grant repudiates the Confederate cause, he never demonstrates ill will towards the men he fought. Eschewing the flowery and verbose fashion of the period, Grant adopts a clear and concise narrative style. The apparent simplicity of the composition belies his skill as an author. Grant’s succinct interpretation of events flows smoothly, allowing readers to overlook his nuanced analysis and profound understanding of the human condition. The earnestness and sincerity with which Grant recounts his memories is deeply moving. He masterfully conveys the uncertainty and trepidation that accompanies the commander in the midst of a campaign. This brings the Civil War to life in a way unmatched by dry official histories. Grant’s memoirs are filled with subtle, yet meaningful, leadership lessons that are still applicable. Careful examination of his writing rewards the reader with an enhanced appreciation for the burden of command and the complexities of warfare. Devoid of pretension or fabrication, Grant’s memoirs demonstrate the author’s uncommon sensitivity and intelligence. Representing the pinnacle of American literature, they demand attention from any serious student of history.
Reviewed February, 2007 by Midshipman 1/c Jorge Jamail, Student in the Class of Professor Wick Murray, Chair in Naval Heritage sponsored by the Class of 1957.
BIOGRAPHY
Never Again: Securing America and Restoring Justice By John Ashcroft, hardcover, 2006
This book by former Attorney General John Ashcroft provides an enlightening peek into his Senate Judiciary Committee proceedings during his confirmation as AG, the state of the Justice Department inherited from the previous administration and its condition immediately preceding 9/11. Of special note is the relationship between the law enforcement and intelligence collection agencies of Government and the peculiar impediments which prevented detection and obstruction of the highjackers before that fateful day. He includes an overview of the prosecution of several high profile terrorists, and cites several serious failings of the 9/11 Commission. In addressing terrorism and the civil rights of citizens he talks to a few of the controversial aspects of the Patriot Act. And you'll come away knowing (unless you do already) that the USA Patriot Act is an acronym for: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism .
Review by Ron Goldstone, December 2007.
BIOGRAPHY Stephen Decatur
By Robert J. Allison, 2005.
Biography of Decatur, the youngest man ever to serve as a Captain in the US Navy. Great descriptions of his feats in Tripoli, The War of 1812 and the Algerian War of 1815. Events are described in context of formative history of our country.
BIOGRAPHY What Lips My Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay
By Daniel Mark, Epstein, 2001.
Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in extreme poverty and was reared in Camden, Maine, where today there stands a statue in her honor. She wrote magnificent love poems, was the first woman to win the Pulitzer prize, wrote several plays, and composed the libretto for an opera, the premiere of which was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Her personal life was one of blazing passion – her affairs with many men and women were often on public display. The author, in describing her tumultuous life does us the great favor of including many excerpts from her poetry that were written during the various episodes he describes.
Review by Paul Roush
BIOGRAPHY Tunney
By Jack Cavanaugh, 2006.
Gene Tunney, a "man for all seasons" beat Jack Dempsey twice and was the world heavyweight champion. Not only was he a great boxer but self educated and very well read. He even gave a lecture at Yale about Shakespeare. Tunney was a Marine in WWI and a Navy Captain in WWII. He married a wealthy niece of Andrew Carnegie and entered the business world after retiring from boxing. Cavanaugh does a good job describing not only Tunney and Dempsey but many other fighters in that era.
BIOGRAPHY My Losing Season
By Pat Conroy, 2002.
Conroy gives us a splendid accounting of his four years as a student at the Citadel, primarily as those years were influenced by his time on the Citadel basketball team. It is a terrific account of basketball, but it is much more. He describes the terrible cruelty of the then-existing “knob” (plebe) year, the memory of which he has carried into all the years of his adult life. The well-documented, almost-psychotic, excesses of his famous father, the “Great Santini,” are pervasive in the book, and, it turns out, they are far worse than portrayed in other accounts. He devotes considerable space to describing the nature of college athletics, which, in his case, involved a coach who spent four basketball seasons during Conroy’s time demeaning and humiliating every one of his players publicly and privately. Conroy describes his painfully rare interaction and inordinate discomfort with the female gender. Somehow, in spite of what should be a personal disaster, he manages to find fragments of life to sustain and even prosper the soul. It is, against all odds, an endearing account of the human spirit’s capacity for snatching an element of victory from the jaws of pervasive defeat in every one of life’s important aspects. A quite wonderful book.
Reviewed by Paul Roush.
BIOGRAPHY Mellon
By David Cannadine, 2006.
A great bio about Andrew Mellon. Cannadine presents an exhaustive and critical history of Andrew who together with his brother Dick owned Alcoa, Gulf Oil, Mellon Bank and Koppers, and was one of the richest men of the 20th Century. After making his fortune fellow Republicans in Pittsburgh got him appointed Sec. of the Treasury where he served Presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover for 10 years and then was appointed Ambassador to Great Britain for 2 years before FDR came into office. Mellon also was one of the founding benefactors of the National Gallery of Art, gifting all his famous art collection and paying for the construction of the Gallery. The book will be particularly meaningful for those who hailed from Western Pa. and those who like the National Gallery.
BIOGRAPHY John Adams
By David McCullough, 2001.
A book about our second President, who started the US Navy as a defensive measure against the French while making an unpopular but successful decision to negotiate peace with the French. Adams was well-educated at Harvard, and served as our Ambassador to France, Holland, and England before becoming President. McCullough not only describes Adams life in detail, but also gives insight into the life of Jefferson. A worthwhile read.
BIOGRAPHY Andrew Jackson
By H. W. Brands, 2005.
A fascinating, well-written account of the life of "Old Hickory," who was very popular in his day. His leadership in battles with various Indians, including Tecumseh, and against the British in the Battle of New Orleans led to respect by the populace and his election as the first "common man" to become President. He was overwhelmingly elected President for a second term and then influenced the election of his Vice President Van Buren.
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