history

I'm very glad to see this one back in print. From their name, I'm guessing the new publisher is one of those that caters to students of military and naval history. Certainly the other reviewers seem to focus on McKenna's depiction of the lives of men serving on a U.S. Navy river gunboat in the 1920s.

And indeed this aspect of The Sand Pebbles is very well done. The whole book is worth reading just for one finely-crafted scene where the other sailors bet a foul-mouthed messmate he can't tell a story without cursing. He wins the bet, but on his own terms.

But there's more to this book then the lives a few seamen. It's about their interaction with the strange, wonderful Chinese civilization around them. And with China itself, which is, in a sense, the most important character in the book.

McKenna motivates this action by centering the book around an intelligent but half-educated hero, a rebellious man who joined the Navy to stay out of jail, and who transferred to the river patrol to escape from the hierarchy and rituals of ocean-going ships. Lacking his shipmates' contempt for the Chinese, he becomes fascinated with their lives and culture. This fascinatation become the source of many complicated interactions between him, his shipmates, and the Chinese, leading to friendship, love, conflict, and tragedy.

Another fascinating character is the boat's skipper, an aging Lieutenant Junior Grade. On one level, he is off-balance martinet, overly fond of military ritual, striving to achieve a strange personal state of grace -- with disasterous results. But he's also a keen observer of the events and people around him, and his inner conversations about them make for compelling reading.

Most people know this story from the Steve McQueen movie, which reduced all the complexity of McKenna's story to Vietnam-era historical guilt tripping. A pity, because this book contains much insight about the interaction between China and the west, an interaction to often reduced to simple political cliches.

The Sand Pebbles is an immensely rich and readbable book. Set in the early early 20th century on the inland rivers and lakes of China, the book shows gunboat diplomacy on the eve of revolution in China. The lives of sailors, officers, missionaries, coolies, and revolutionaries intertwine in a complex drama filled with action towards what some may see as a tragic ending. But in the tragedy, a country is born. This is excellent reading material.

Some of the appeal for me comes in identifying with Jake Holman. Where Jake begins with a love of machinery and an empowering mastery of it, I suppose to some part I originally felt the same way about computers and software. Jake transcends this, albeit tragically, in the book. Will you?

Richard McKenna's The Sand Pebbles is a great novel, it never gets boring and the story really catches the readers attention. The story has elements of humor, action, sadness and drama. It's a great read for anyone who loves reading, or a great work of fiction. McKenna masterfully takes us on a journey about many different people, with very different views on life and philosophy. Whether it be Holman who refuses to conform or Lt. Collins' firm belief in military duty, or the views of the missionaries who resent gunboats in China. The story touches on the issues that people little know about China in the mid- 20's, and the lives of river rat sailors who were placed in the middle of the Chinese revolution.

Tells all about the History of the game from beginning to the end in 1973. Tells it like it was and like it is. The only thing I didn't like about it is that the section on Roller Jam was a little too short they could've done more interviews with the Jam Skaters. All in all, The book is great!

This book is a Derby fan's dream come true! I never got to experience the Derby for myself (it ended when I was only a year old), but I've always been fascinated with the players, the game and how it captivated people. Coppage, along with input from Derby owner Jerry Seltzer (the Commissioner of RollerJam's World Skating League) and the memories of former players and fans, tells the story of a sport that endured despite being looked down by other sports as a "poor cousin" -- and ended up creating a phenomenon in the process. The photos are spectacular -- you almost can feel the punching, the falls and the energy that must have galvanized the skaters to play to their best every night. Similarly, Coppage's discussion of the Derby's "next generation," RollerJam, is as comprehensive and fun as the Derby section (though much shorter, as the 'Jam is still in its infancy). This book, coupled with Frank Deford's "Five Strides on the Banked Track," should be a Roller Derby fan's Bible. Brilliant work!

It's surprising a book is out there--what's more surprising is that it's entertainingly written. You just can't put it down. Full of great stories and beautiful photos. Includes a section on RollerJam that is very informative. If you ever watched the Bay Bombers week after week, you must get this one!

This wonderful book will give you a greater appreciation for the House of Romanov, with information about various family members and others not immediately included within Tsar Nicholas II's immediate family circle. Some unlikely - but vastly entertaining - stories come to light. You'll especially enjoy the section on Nicky's favorite uncle. :o) Zeepvat's own artwork illustrates the chapter introductions - delightful!

If you want to expand your knowledge of the Romanovs past NAOTMAA and aren't sure where to start, this book is a manageable beginning. It covers many relevant personages and situations from the ninteenth century - the last full century of Romanov rule.

Most books on Russia begin and end with Nicholas II and Alexandra with a little Ivan, Peter and Catherine. This huge family has more than a few interesting members and the author of this book has included many of them. The theme is the last century of the Romanov empire, and the author tells many interesting stories of Romanovs, their relatives and even a chapter on their English nannies. I loved the book. The family trees were more detailed than most I have read, and the family relationships are explained to some extent. I will definitely read more of this author's work.

A delightful collection of stories starting with the first Nicholas and Alexandra in 1817, winding it's way to a story about the Tsesarevich Alexei. Many lesser known members of the Imperial Family are here, many who are quite interesting in and of themselves!

If you think that Dr. Seuss's art is just for children, think again! This collection of oil paintings, watercolors, pencil and ink sketches, and even sculptures show new dimensions in his work. The general style of the figures and background is familiar to us from his children's books, but the dazzling palette of colors goes far beyond that of the books.

Anyone who loves Dr. Seuss should have this beautiful book!

While few would contend at the genius Seuss put into his writing, with distinctive meter, use of words and rhyme, sometimes overlooked is the artwork that illustrated this strange world. Theodor Geisel was an accomplished illustrator. Unfortunately, most of what we saw of his work was only what was published in the books. This volume introdues you to a wider range of his work. There are not only his paintings, but his studies in 3-D of some of the whimsical cross-bred characters that were his hallmark. But there is also a sense of the adult audience in these - with jokes and puns aimed squarely above the kid level. For many of us, we delighted in Dr. Seuss as children, and delight with our children today, but this book shows us that Seuss was speaking to everyone, not just the kids, and we are richer for it. An impressive collection of artwork to make you smile.

Best known of course for his dearly beloved children's books, Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) was also an supremely talented artist, as this collection of his paintings and sculptures attests. Far more detailed than the illustrations of his books, the paintings in particular range from gently witty to absolutely dazzling.

Many great painters use the canvas to tell a story; Seuss goes a step farther. Each of his paintings are like a portal into an amazing little world. "Cat Detective in the Wrong Part of Town" evokes a seedy 50's mystery story, but with cats. Cats, by the way, are a major theme of this collection. They pop up everywhere, doing everything: Dancing the night away in "Cat Carnival in West Venice", playing pool in "Cat from the Wrong Side of the Tracks", even taking a shower in "Cat in Obsolete Shower Bath (Study)". Seuss packs a lot of feeling into his subjects; "Lonely" sums up isolation about as well as anything I've seen, and several untitled pieces each show one lone bird flying serenely above a stormy sea. My favorite painting is entitled "I Dreamed I Was a Doorman at the Hotel del Coronado". With its dreamy South American feel and bright colors it reminds me of an old Technicolor movie from the forties.

I can't recommend this book enough, the paintings are just wonderful. I never get tired of looking at them. A complete must-own for any Seuss fan, or just any lover of the whimsical. A+

Many people wish to strengthen their local economies, reduce dependence on multinational corporations, build community by doing things, or achieve self-fulfilment through meaningful work. Yet these results are not coming easily or economically from the top-down, programmatic, and strategic approaches typically used by governments, economic development districts, and even by community groups, nonprofits, and advocacy organizations.

As E. F. Schumacher observed in Good Work, we cannot expect to raise the wind that will push us to a better world. What we can do is hoist a sail to catch the wind when it does come. Ripples from the Zambezi tells the gripping story of how Ernesto Sirolli learned to catch the wind of passionate, skillful, creative, intelligent, and self-motivated entrepreneurs--the acknowledged powerhouse of the economy as well as of social change.

Sirolli's experiences as a volunteer for the Italian government in Africa during the 1970s convinced him that "development" schemes were anything but. After absorbing Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered and the person-centered psychology of Carl Rogers, Sirolli put his radical, antidogmatic ideas to the test in rural Western Australia. Instead of trying to motivate people, he made himself available as coach and advocate for anyone who was serious about starting or expanding a business enterprise.

By treating economic development as a byproduct of personal growth and self-actualization, Sirolli was able to make a quantum leap in the effectiveness of business coaching, as well as create local miracles of economic development. He has devoted himself since to teaching committed civic leaders how to do what he has done.

"In every community, no matter how small, remote, or depressed, there is somebody who is scribbling figures on a kitchen table. If we can be available, for free and in confidence, to help that person go from the dream to establish an enterprise that can sustain that person and his or her family, we can begin to change the economic fortunes of the entire community."

The strategy that Sirolli teaches to communities often involves a committed volunteer local board, who hires an "Enterprise Facilitator" who is then trained by Sirolli. The facilitator does not initiate projects or promote "good ideas." He or she responds to the interests and passions of self-motivated people. Because no one has equal passion for production, marketing, and financial management, all of which are necessary for business success, and because people only do well what they care about doing, the secret of success and survival for a business of any size is to find people who love to do what you hate. "The death of the entrepreneur is solitude." The facilitator and the board, with networking, help people form teams to advance their idea.

This is a strategy that is always followed in large business, but remains unusual in small business, where most people are still advised to write business plans singlehandedly, and to get better at what they hate. For example, farmers and ranchers whose inclinations and personalities do not lend themselves to marketing are often told that they must learn marketing skills to get off the commodity roller coaster.

Sirolli's ideas are not just good. They are inspiring, inflammatory, they resonate--and they are based on 15 colorful years of failing and succeeding at hoisting the sail in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S.

The underlying philosophy has to do with empowerment rather than control. "A shift from strategic to responsive development can only occur," Sirolli writes, "if we are capable of believing that people are intrinsically good and that the diversity, variety, and apparent randomness of their passions is like the chaotic yet ecologically sound life manifestations in an old-growth forest."

The message is that bottom-up, person-centered, responsive economic development works--and if well understood and led at the community level, it works better than anything else. When a community can help motivated people succeed, the motivation spreads. "The future of every community," Sirolli writes, "lies in capturing the energy, imagination, intelligence, and passion of its people."

Anyone who cares about the economic future of Iowa should read "Ripples from the Zambezi: Passion, Entrepreneurship and the Rebirth of Local Economies" by Ernesto Sirolli. It might be the closest thing to an economic cure-all Iowa can find.

Sirolli is an Italian native who now lives in St. Paul, Minn. He's worked for 30 years in economic-development efforts in Australia, Africa and North America. He's started something called the Sirolli Institute, where they teach a concept called "Enterprise Facilitation." It's a way to provide help for Iowa's languishing rural and inner-city economies.

Under Sirolli's program, small communities are assigned "facilitators" who go around town finding people with ideas for starting new businesses. Sirolli has found that most potential entrepreneurs are passionate about their idea but lack management or marketing skills. Working confidentially with the potential entrepreneurs, the facilitator helps put together an elementary business plan, early financing and a marketing plan. The facilitator doesn't try to motivate anyone or dictate solutions, but only works to bring the right players together in a community to help them launch a small business on their own.
 
It looks to be a huge success wherever it has been tried. The National Commission on Entrepreneurship recently profiled the book by saying the boom economy of the 1990s transformed American society but left-behind many rural communities. "What can be done to develop prosperity in these so-called 'left behind' communities?" the commission asked. Traditional economic-development efforts may not be available to small towns.
 
"The remaining option for small communities is to build on their own existing assets and resources. But how can this happen? How can untapped resources be uncovered and exploited? A pioneering approach, called Enterprise Facilitation, may offer a potential solution," the commission said.
 
This oddly titled book describes how it all works. The title comes from Sirolli's early experiments in economic development in Africa, where the young developer was first sent by the Italian government to help poor villages. Ideas pioneered there worked in Western economies, too.
 
In Western Australia, Sirolli helped fishermen in a rural community sell fish to the Japanese sushi market that paid six times what the local cannery was paying for their catch. Another business was started smoking the fish for gourmet markets. Another new business made quality sandals from local kangaroo hides. Sheep farmers developed a processing business that turned worthless old ewes into valuable hides, wool and mutton kebabs.
 
In rural Minnesota, the Communicating for Agriculture folks hired Sirolli to work in one of the poorest counties in the state. Within four years, the effort had started 30 new businesses, helped 127 existing ones, retained 55 jobs and created 71 new ones. The county's work force was only 3,000.
 
In rural South Dakota, a broke cattleman developed a welding repair business in a small town. Within two years, it employed 27 people who processed $90,000 worth of orders a month.
 
These communities are no different from those in rural Iowa.

Sirolli's group has been hired by local banks, colleges or farm organizations, such as the Farmers Union or the Farm Bureau, to work in rural communities. More groups could do the same in their communities.
 
Sirolli writes that a facilitator working for one year in a community of 10,000 can see between 150 and 200 clients. From this group, between 25 and 35 will open a news business or expand an existing one. Between 25 and 60 jobs will be created with an economic impact of $5 million to $10 million a year. Imagine if that track record were repeated all across Iowa. It could be worth billions in just a few years.
 
Someone once estimated that more than 1,000 people in Iowa earn their living working for various "economic-development" programs. Imagine if just 50 of those people were retrained in enterprise-facilitation work and placed in Iowa's poorest counties and run-down inner cities.

It's clear Iowa has to try something new like this. All that we've been doing hasn't been enough. Things like organic grain processing, fish farming or welding shops aren't very sexy. But these sorts of businesses form the backbone of the Iowa economy. Hard-pressed rural towns and depressed inner-city areas are that way because they've lost many small businesses. They need to find ways to start some new ones. Sirolli's "Enterprise Facilitators" can help them do that.

This could be one of the most important books anyone in Iowa reads this year.

I bought "Ripples from the Zambezi" thinking, okay, person-centered development from an Italian who did government-sponsored work in Africa, perfected his methods in remote western Australia, and now spreads his gospel in the United States. Ought to be an interesting read and a good 'little' story.

I was *way* off.

This is - in my estimation - a great book by a true visionary, Ernesto Sirolli. The two chapters in the middle of this book "The Esperance Experience" and "The Esperance Model Applied" are as good as business-writing gets. In Sirolli's world, the glass is neither half empty nor half full. Rather, the water is gushing over the top of the cup. The stories he tells here of enterprises 'facilitated' in the bleakest economic conditions imaginable...well, it can't help but turn you into an optimist.

But Sirolli goes further. He takes these experiences and imagines them on a grand scale where, as he says, "reciprocity matters." Calling it a "civic economy," he envisions a world benfiting from "generalized reciprocity, from people helping people to succeed, with the understanding that well-being of the community is to everybody's advantage."

Don't misinterpret these sentiments. Sirolli is a capitalist at heart, but he presses for a system "beyind capitalism...which enhances participation in the creation of wealth, not only in its accumulation."

How does he connect the dots from tiny Esperance to his grand vision for a civic economy? I urge you to read "Ripples from the Zambezi" to find out.

I enjoyed this book and almost gave it four stars because I found the author likeable and found his story to be quite a bit different from many other Vietnam experience books I've read. But, I had to mark it down because of the editing. From a form standpoint, I'm not sure when I've read a book with more misspelled/misused words. From a substance standpoint, I had a big question which the author didn't answer well for me and I think his editor should have pressed him to address it better than he did: Why was he so widely disliked and trampled on by the other soldiers? Was it because he was a virgin who didn't smoke dope? Because he wouldn't stand up for himself? Because the other guys thought he was goldbricking his medical time out of the field? Because the other guys were just total losers? I could reasonably draw any or all those inferences from what was written, but I think good editing or good writing would have forced him to address the issue directly.

It's a short book and an easy read and I don't regret reading it at all. But, I think if you're looking for a really good Vietnam book, there are lots of better choices. I'm very surprised to see all the 5 star ratings here. Maybe I'm all wet or maybe they are. Read the book and see what you think.

Picture a soldier, a draftee and combat correspondent, under the protective arm of the Army's Public Information Office, facing near certain death just days prior to the completion of his one year tour of duty in Vietnam, and a mere 72 hours before his final departure from Duc Pho. The soldier, in fact, is closest to death during those few hours, while buffered by the firebases surrounding his brigade headquarters, than at any time during the year of his enlistment. Enemy rockets rain down like fireworks as a sendoff.

That soldier is Dale Reich and his story, ROCKETS LIKE RAIN, reads like a letter home written by a young and lonely and frightened recruit. The year is 1969 and the place is Vietnam where death has no "moratorium". It is always in the air -- a malevolent presence, one whose spectral face a soldier might not even glimpse before the falling of its axe. Vietnam, we are reminded, was a place where death could come as easily in the form of friendly fire as from bullets fired purposely, or randomly, by the enemy.

From reading Reich's vivid account, told movingly in simple and unadorned language, one gains an understanding that people, caught in the maelstrom of a war, devoid of direction or mature leadership, can be warped beyond recognition. Vietnam, Reich tells us, was a place where every soldier's individual craziness had room to grow, in moist, fertile soil, into full blown madness. (Note: Dale Reich was a co-editor of the official newspaper of the 11th Infantry Brigade of the Americal division, the one which produced the My Lai Massacre.)

One also learns that the individual soldier could also exercise reason and caution, and even strive to be removed from action in the killing fields. It was Reich's struggle to resist the insanity that makes one realize that not every new and inexperienced soldier is automatically a killing machine.

Though painful to read, ROCKETS LIKE RAIN delivers a powerful message and a necessary reminder to those of us who are currently counting statistics about Afghanistan, and who think we may, with the passage of time, be able to put our nightmares about the carnage of war safely aside. It reminds us forcefully that war -- any war -- however conducted or concluded, lives on in the memories and lives of our veterans, and that those memories deserve a respectful forum.

I am grateful to Dale Reich to be so reminded.

For anyone who was alive during the Vietnam war era, or for someone who seeks a sense of what that war meant to Americans at the time, this is a "must read". "Rockets Like Rain" is more than the story of one man's experiences in Vietnam. I am sure those who were there will appreciate Mr. Reich's ability to articulate the sense of duty and bravado that was overtaken by a sense of futility, fear and basic instinct for survival, that was the experience of many. Some, like me, successfully "surfed" the deferment loopholes, or just plain got lucky when the lottery system was implemented and thereby avoided the horror of going to war. Never-the-less,our experience included the apprehensions, fears and anxieties; the uncertainty of our futures and the questioning of our country's motivations and integrity. This is my recollection of the Vietnam era; one that Mr. Reich "fleshes out" in the early chapters of "Rockets Like Rain". Read this Book!

This is the most thorough book you will read on Brown v. Board of Education. Kluger makes an attentive reader of his work a modest authority on the subject. You had better be very interested in the topic, however, as he leaves no stone unturned. Kluger writes not as a lawyer or historian but as a journalist who is witness to the multitude of events which he depicts.

Besides the numerous civil rights leaders and soldiers the reader encounters, the author provides an intimate account of Supreme Court justices and the process of decision-making. This proves to be the most compelling aspect of the book.

It's required reading for every social revolutionary.

A quarter of a century after it was first published, "Simple Justice" still has the power to move, enrage and touch the hearts of anyone who believes that justice ultimately prevails.

It should be required reading in any college U.S. history course because it shines an intense spotlight on the complex development of legal issues and thinking that produced the end of segregation in the United States.

I do not exaggerate when I say I believe that this is the best history book I've ever read. Further, it's wise to read it now, because an awful lot of the people instrumental in the ultimate decision, Brown vs. the Board of Education, are dying out. The late Thurgood Marshall is a great example of a lost legal talent and courageous leader who did the right thing by all Americans by winning this case. Read this book now, if only so you'll recognize the heroes in their obituaries.

What Richard Kluger has done in this account is spell out the development first of segregation, telling us just who and how the dreaded Jim Crow laws came about-including segregation laws in the North-and then walk us through how, piece by piece, legal decisions were strung together to put an end to legal segregation.

I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s and, if I thought about it at all, had the idea that the Brown decision had more or less come out of nowhere. Eventually, I began to catch on, and then I read this book. If you are similar-minded, this book will set you straight and point you to the many unsung heroes who have made us a fairer country, in line with the ideals that helped found this country. If you're a parent looking for good role models, forget sports and entertainment. Look to this book for examples of people who literally risked everything, and often paid dearly, to do the right thing. They didn't shrink from the challenge; they stepped forward, many many times. That so many others did not only reminds us of how fearful we are to force change or risk our own well being to tackle injustice. I wish I could rate it higher.

This is the one book where all the rumours, gossips,government
participation in hindering black movement into the mainstream for obvious reasons like votes was documented. Simple Justice is really two books in one.
On the one hand there is the exhaustive documentation of the race relation in this country. the evolution from sharecropping, the obstacles and outright bigotry of some white people even leaders and experts in concluding thru so-called Sponsored studies that the blackman was genetically inferior and the subsequent counter studies that goes contrary to genetics, in d issue of Gene vs. Enviroment
On the other hand the legal maneuvering resulting in d decision we now called the brown vs. boe. the role of some white brothers is acknowledged here. thanks to the supreme court later to be headed by chief Justice Jarren-for daring to do what was then the inconceivable.
the decision among other thing brought the power of government and the role of d supreme court as the pre-eminent decision maker to the fore.
I must mention here that the actors like martin luther king jnr, Thurgood Marshal later a supreme court judge ,naacp members and other black men and women who risk all they have to win this case.
**I recommend that this book should b fed if possible to all blackmen in high schools that they may know how much it took to get to where we are today. that education should be taking seriously by all black people.

Children of the River by Linda Crew, was a very good novel, but not since Rice With Rain have I had so much interest in reading a novel. I never thought that I would encounter another book as depressing as Children of the River, yet Rice Without Rain certainly was the one. The story was about Jinda Boonreung, a village thai girl, who goes through many struggles to free her father. She also seeks love and happiness from a city boy in Bangkok, Ned. Though they met and fell in love, they couldn't be together. What a ironic twist, huh!? To find out more about this ironic love story and what happened at the end, I'll recommend that you'll need to read this book.

Rice without Rain is a book written by MinFong Ho, witch is about a girl who is in search of founding her best friend, and discovers that her father is in jail. And she head's to the town where he's at. And she try's to find away to raise enough money to get him out. And to do so she as to get up in front of the town and give a speech, that will confence them that he wasn't guilty of the crime he was accused of. And when she gets up there and give's her speech, it make's them angry and so they start throwing miniature bombs and food at her. And I'm not going to tell you the rest of the story because it would ruin the ending, and I recommend that people of all ages should read this book because it's a good story. And it gets you really interested in the book and you won't want to put it down.

This book is something that tells things that can happen to you like where you won't have any food and if you do you have very food. Like homeless people have little food. This book explains about a girl who losses her dad but also falls in love at the same time and he moves to a group and asks her to go but for her it was a very hard decision and we all go through hard decisions but she choose not to go because she wanted to take care of her grandmother. This book is inspiring and it is like real life like the book has come to life and is explaining your life but in a very diffrent way thats why i gave this book five stars and i recemend it to all of you.

For anyone involved in the Cleveland music scene, or just a fan of some of the greatest talent ever to (generally) stay in Cleveland, this book is a must-have. Nice work from Deanna Adams.

Just got this book for my birthday and read it in a couple of days (not easy considering it's length). But being a former Clevelander, I was able to relive many great moments in music history-the bands, the deejays, the clubs. What indepth research this author did. All the quotes & the behind- the- scenes stories of all the important musicians & people that made Cleveland such a fun town(honest!) makes it a must have for anyone interested in rock 'n' roll. It's now on my coffee table & friends who have never been to Cleveland pick it up & suddenly we're talking about all the concerts & times we lived through, proving you don't have to be from Ohio to really enjoy this book. And great photo's! Highly recommended. N from Florida

As a history teacher, I found this book to be an amazing and very readable history of the music scene in Cleveland, and it answered for me the question as to why the Rock Hall is located in that city. At first I was wary of the book due to some of the reviews on this site, but then I saw that it is published by Kent State University Press. Having known a number of people who have dealt with this publisher, I know how particular they are in confirming facts and information. Glad I didn't pay attention to the "naysayers" as this really is an interesting book.

This book is excelent. Reading this, I really got a feeling as to what it was like on a submarine in World War II. It includes action sequences that really make it feel like you were there, on the sub. Calvert is a genius. I highly suggest this book for ANYONE who is interested in submarines, WWII history, or Naval History. I really think you will love this book as much as I did.

I'm an avid reader of WWII naval history, and have read dozens of first-hand accounts of battles and other wartime experiences. This book stands out as perhaps the best I've ever read of this genre, mostly because of in reading this book you get to meet a man who is somebody that you can truly admire, Jim Calvert. As you read this book, you come to realize just how extrodinary this man truly is, and his narrative of his very distinguished wartime exploits are taken to a new level by the very personal revelations that he makes in his book about his falling in love in Australia (at the time he was a married man) and how his strength of character led him to make some important decisions about this situation. At the finish of Calvert's book, my overwhelming response was that our nation was lucky to have produced such a man - I only wish that in some small way that I could "measure up" in life as young Jim Calvert did when presented with the challanges of the Armageddon at Sea that was WWII and the challanges he faced in his personal life. This book truly transpires the traditional war story and is an insight into the life of a great American

Silent Service was a true page turner for me and I found it difficult to put down in the two days I spent with it. Admiral Calvert does an excellent job in conveying the realities of life aboard a WWII attack submarine; the boring day-to-day routines, various navigational methods, the extraordinarily complex relationship between the submarine and it's crew, the adrenaline charged excitement of an attack, the terrors of a depth charging and the courage of the men who went into this exhausting, claustrophobic, unforgiving world with it's ever present threat of a ghastly death (twenty-five percent of American WWII submariners never returned from their last mission). Calvert's prose is engaging, informative and lucid; The book is divided chronologically into fourteen chapters of roughly twenty pages per, each addressing an aspect of his wartime experiences; from the USS Jack's commissioning in January of 1943 to his (mis)adventure in Tokyo immediately following the surrender. A brief afterword follows up these retrospections. I highly recommend this book to those interested in submarines and/or WWII.