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NavyDads Book Nook

A Quiet Corner to Share Your Navy Media Recommendations with other Navy Dads & Moms.

Website: http://www.navydads.ning.com/group/navydadsbooknook
Members: 38
Latest Activity: Feb 29

Welcome to the NavyDads Media Center !

Share your recommendations for books and other media that you think would be of interest to other NavyDads.  I have numerous books I've read, and recently listened to via audiobook download, that generally concentrate on WWII Navy history that tell the recent combat history of the Navy and show where many current Navy doctrines and traditions have evolved from.  I find the stories compelling and make me even more proud to have a daughter that is a Navy veteran and a son on active duty and part of this long tradition of service.  Won't you share your recommendations as well?

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Comment by Ray Norberto on October 26, 2011 at 12:43pm
I book I rediscovered this past month is THE LOOMING TOWER by Lawrence Wright. Its pages reveal that the threat which became reality on September 11, 2001 had a long and very intricate history. The illusion of safety and security was shattered that day, and it may have spawned a passionate desire in our own children who came of age in its aftermath to serve and make us safer. It wasn't until my son headed off to RTC that he was inspired to pursue a military life at the age of 11 by that day and the immediate events following over the course of the next few months.
I want to understand the culture which fostered this foment, as well as its actual minority standing in the Muslim world. This book reads like a thoroughly gripping and compelling novel.
Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on October 24, 2011 at 11:02pm

Read it!!!

A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy

Thomas J Cutler

Adopted by the U.S. Navy for issue to all new sailors, A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy brings to life the events that have shaped and inspired the navy of today while highlighting the roles of all sailors - from seaman to admiral. Rather than focus entirely upon such naval icons as Stephen Decatur and Chester Nimitz, as most histories do, author Thomas J. Cutler, a retired lieutenant commander and former petty officer second class, brings to the forefront the contributions of enlisted people. You'll hear about Quartermaster Peter Williams, who steered the ironclad Monitor into history, and Hospital Corpsman Tayinikia Campbell, who saved lives in USS Cole after she was struck by terrorists in Yemen. Unlike most histories, A Sailor's History is arranged thematically rather than chronologically. Chapters are built around the navy's core values of honor, courage, and commitment, its traditions of "Don't Tread on Me" and "Don't Give Up the Ship," and other significant aspects of the navy. As Cutler states in his preface, the book is not a whitewash. He includes mistakes and defeats along with the achievements and victories as he draws a portrait of a navy growing stronger and smarter while turning tragedy into triumph. The result is a unique account that captures the navy's heritage as much as its history and provides inspiration as well as information while emphasizing that most essential element of naval history: the sailor.

 


Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on October 11, 2011 at 9:01pm

another interesting fact.....10 months before the attack on the USS Cole there was another attack planned and underway...the boat carrying the explosives was on it's way to it's target when it foundered due to being overloaded.  The target....the USS The Sullivans......

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on October 10, 2011 at 9:11pm

another teaser.....I'm about 4 hours in...today listened to detail on the Battle of Valcour Bay....I had heard about the battle, but never knew about the connection between Benedict Arnold (before he pulled his famous switcheroo) being in command of a captured British sloop that he re-named....wait for it.......Enterprise.  That was the first Enterprise....there have been 8 Naval vessels named Enterprise. I re-iterate....EVERYONE connected with the Navy in some way needs to read (or listen!) to this book....stay tuned for more info

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on October 9, 2011 at 10:17pm

As many of you know, I listen to a lot of history books while I commute to and from work.  Thanks to www.Audible.com and my trusty MP3 player, I learn aspects of Naval history I never knew.  Today I started a new book and when I get a little further in, will tell you more...but I think it is one of the most important Navy history books out there and one that I think needs to be in EVERY NavyDads library...stay tuned folks....

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on October 9, 2011 at 10:13pm

Finished Halsey's Typhoon by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin.  Many folks don't know that in Dec '44, the Third Fleet and it's 170 ships collided with Typhoon Cobra...three destroyers were sunk and almost 800 sailors lost during the storm with winds to 120 knots (140 mph) and seas that topped 90 feet.  One of the sailors that was almost lost became president of the United States.  It's an interesting read and for those that think we have come so far in predicting horrific storms, take a minute to remember Tuscaloosa and what happened there in April of this year.


Comment by Ward Baxter on July 13, 2011 at 5:57am
I've got another recommendation for your reading pleasure. Again, it's not necessarily a Navy story, but very compelling all the same. The name of the story is
Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission, by Hampton Sides.
Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on July 12, 2011 at 9:43pm

It's been waaaay too quiet in here:

 

Most of us are very aware that SEAL Michael P Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for action he took July, 2005 in the  mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border.  But how many of you know about all the events that took place there?  I listen to a lot of audiobooks while commuting to and from work and today I finished: Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10
by Marcus Luttrell , Patrick Robinson (With).  This book details the events of that horrific battle and the terrible loss of life leaving a lone survivor....Marcus Luttell.  It's worth it...with a caveat......

 

This book is NOT for everyone....the language is coarse at times and there is great detail about combat and the terrible injuries it inflicts.  Not for wives or moms and not for those that think that war is sanitary and can be conducted with rules and guidelines......this is a brutal account of 4 SEALS facing enormous odds against them and the miracle that allowed one of SEAL Team 10 to live....and tell about it.

 

Learn a little more:http://www.lonesurvivor.net/  


Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on May 20, 2011 at 12:53pm

a truly amazing book:

 

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

 

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, November 2010: From Laura Hillenbrand, the bestselling author of Seabiscuit, comes Unbroken, the inspiring true story of a man who lived through a series of catastrophes almost too incredible to be believed. In evocative, immediate descriptions, Hillenbrand unfurls the story of Louie Zamperini--a juvenile delinquent-turned-Olympic runner-turned-Army hero. During a routine search mission over the Pacific, Louie’s plane crashed into the ocean, and what happened to him over the next three years of his life is a story that will keep you glued to the pages, eagerly awaiting the next turn in the story and fearing it at the same time. You’ll cheer for the man who somehow maintained his selfhood and humanity despite the monumental degradations he suffered, and you’ll want to share this book with everyone you know. --Juliet Disparte

The Story of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Eight years ago, an old man told me a story that took my breath away. His name was Louie Zamperini, and from the day I first spoke to him, his almost incomprehensibly dramatic life was my obsession.

It was a horse--the subject of my first book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend--who led me to Louie. As I researched the Depression-era racehorse, I kept coming across stories about Louie, a 1930s track star who endured an amazing odyssey in World War II. I knew only a little about him then, but I couldn’t shake him from my mind. After I finished Seabiscuit, I tracked Louie down, called him and asked about his life. For the next hour, he had me transfixed.

Growing up in California in the 1920s, Louie was a hellraiser, stealing everything edible that he could carry, staging elaborate pranks, getting in fistfights, and bedeviling the local police. But as a teenager, he emerged as one of the greatest runners America had ever seen, competing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he put on a sensational performance, crossed paths with Hitler, and stole a German flag right off the Reich Chancellery. He was preparing for the 1940 Olympics, and closing in on the fabled four-minute mile, when World War II began. Louie joined the Army Air Corps, becoming a bombardier. Stationed on Oahu, he survived harrowing combat, including an epic air battle that ended when his plane crash-landed, some six hundred holes in its fuselage and half the crew seriously wounded.

On a May afternoon in 1943, Louie took off on a search mission for a lost plane. Somewhere over the Pacific, the engines on his bomber failed. The plane plummeted into the sea, leaving Louie and two other men stranded on a tiny raft. Drifting for weeks and thousands of miles, they endured starvation and desperate thirst, sharks that leapt aboard the raft, trying to drag them off, a machine-gun attack from a Japanese bomber, and a typhoon with waves some forty feet high. At last, they spotted an island. As they rowed toward it, unbeknownst to them, a Japanese military boat was lurking nearby. Louie’s journey had only just begun.

That first conversation with Louie was a pivot point in my life. Fascinated by his experiences, and the mystery of how a man could overcome so much, I began a seven-year journey through his story. I found it in diaries, letters and unpublished memoirs; in the memories of his family and friends, fellow Olympians, former American airmen and Japanese veterans; in forgotten papers in archives as far-flung as Oslo and Canberra. Along the way, there were staggering surprises, and Louie’s unlikely, inspiring story came alive for me. It is a tale of daring, defiance, persistence, ingenuity, and the ferocious will of a man who refused to be broken.

The culmination of my journey is my new book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. I hope you are as spellbound by Louie’s life as I am.

I've read a lot of inspiring books...this story is almost beyond belief. When you hear about people that are subjected to incredible ordeals and survive, this story must come to mine.  Though it is not a Navy story, I advise everyone to pick up a copy and read it or download an audio version....it will keep you spell-bound..... 
Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on May 20, 2011 at 11:52am

 

Another great volume by James D. Hornfischer (my current read....) is:

 

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal

 

from Hornfischer's webpage:


Neptune’s Inferno (2011) is an intimately cast epic narrative of the brutal naval campaign for the seas around Guadalcanal Island in late 1942. America’s first concerted offensive of World War II, the six-month contest for control of those vital seaways involved seven major naval battles in which the U.S. proved it had the implacable will to match the Imperial Japanese war machine blow for violent blow. Written from new interviews with survivors, unpublished eyewitness accounts, and newly available documents, it is the first major work on this essential subject in almost two decades.

from my readings I know that the Guadalcanal campaign is often viewed as a dismal failure of the Navy with a great loss in Marine lives...in reality almost 3 sailors were lost for every Marine lost.  This book looks at the battle in a little different light and though criticism can rightly be pointed at Navy command, it shows the severity of issues that crop up with "the fog of war".

 

 

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