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Film producer Jean Casson, free to pursue any woman he desires, wishes only to be reunited with erstwhile lover, Citrine. When Germany invades France, sentimental patriot Casson heads for the front, but finds it collapsed. Dazed, he makes his way back to Paris where, to make a living, he reluctantly agrees to produce a Nazi propaganda film. In order to visit Citrine in France and Italy, he recklessly misappropriates project funds. His backers are beginning to suspect--as is, more unfortunately, British Intelligence. Soon Casson, who is defined by his passion for Citrine, must choose between love and life itself.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Heller's timeless masterpiece builds a fantastical world in which sanity and insanity are switched about and events are exaggerated to the extreme. From this emerges an ironically accurate picture of what is really going on. Captain John Yossarian, who wants desperately to stay alive in a world where many are trying to kill him, attempts to convince his commanders that he is too insane to fly any further missions. The Catch, of course, is that only a sane man would try to evade further combat. Another catch involves the number of missions required to complete a tour -- a number that is constantly increasing. Heller's mad world is -- fittingly -- set in the madness of World War II. But the tale it tells -- witness Milo Mindbender's acceptance of a reasonable offer from the Germans to bomb his own airfield -- can be set in any time or place.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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As combat soldiers in the most surreal nightmare of a war in history, they carried a great deal indeed – from fragmentation grenades to unbearable emotional burdens. In a compelling mix of fiction and fact, in short stories that double as chapters of a strange and haunting novel, O’Brien provides the definitive account of the American experience in Vietnam. Switching deftly from the past to the present and back again, from third- to first-person narrative, the entire panorama of war – duty and responsibility, isolation and terror, good and evil, life and sudden death – are examined with sometimes surprising judgements that obscure the sharp distinction between (for example) cowardice and valor. O’Brien’s work was a finalist in the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Treat yourself to a feast of World War II history by reading this from-the-heart view of Allies and Nazi's battling in Western Europe. Mr. Ambrose takes the words right from the soldiers' mouths as he presents their recollections of the Day-D landing (June 7, 1944) through the German surrender (May 7, 1945). Nothing communicates in history quite like eyewitness accounts, but here the eyewitnesses were the ones actually involved -- in the knee-deep mud of autumn and winter fighting, in the unbelievably debilitating Hurtgen Forest campaign, in the ecstasies of victory, in the despicable destruction of lives and sanity, and in the unspeakable courage of the soldiers who fought selflessly.

Reviewed by John Z., North County Regional

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Still in print after more than forty years, The Great Escape remains a classic of escape literature. In riveting detail, Brickhill recounts the preparations and escape of 76 Allied officers from Stalag Luft III deep inside Germany. From forging passes to bribing guards and ventilating tunnels, the author provides an exciting seminar on how to escape from a P.O.W. camp. In addition to the suspense of the escape, Brickhill also conveys the sense of mind-numbing boredom and monotony that comes with being incarcerated, along with various inventive ways the men used to pass the time. On a more somber note, the author also follows up the story with the postwar investigation and prosecution of the Nazi's who murdered 50 of the escapees in cold blood. This book is much more detailed and grittier than the popular (and well done) film of the same name. This true story highlights the determination and sacrifices of men who would not bow to their captor's edict: "For you the war is over".

Reviewed by Tom V., Main Library

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In the Afterword of Goodbye, Mickey Mouse, Deighton reveals that it took him six years of research to write the novel. Nothing could be more obvious. The wealth of detail that captures what it was like to be at war in England in 1944 -- from the fear and exhilaration of flying a P51 (Mustang) in air combat to the raw tension of nursing it back home on broken wing -- is brilliantly and sensitively told. Told, too, is the sadness of days lacerated by the loss of friends and sweethearts, each of whom has been so expertly developed that the reader is haunted, long after closing the book for the last time, by their losses, their joys, and their triumphs.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Oskar Matzerath beats a toy drum to express his frustration and anger at the corruption and hypocrisy of his German-Polish family during the rise of the Third Reich and its occupation of Danzig. The drum was a present for his third birthday. In protest against the world in which he finds himself trapped, Oskar wills himself never to grow beyond the age of three. Oskar is the living human reaction to Nazism. Labeled mad by the rigid police state surrounding him, he is actually the isolated voice of sanity in a world inverted by madness. When the attempt is made to separate him from his drum, Oskar discovers another talent: a scream that shatters both glass and sanity. With this first novel, Grass, the 1999 winer of the Nobel Prize, brings the greatest traditions of German literature kicking and screaming into the present. Fantasy and reality, hilarity and tragedy combine and intertwine in vivid nightmare vision to make a shattering statement about state-sponsored evil.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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The Japanese invasion of the Philippine Islands -- the first major battle for America in World War II -- ended in the surrender of American forces, including ninety-nine nurses. Forever after known as the "Angels of Bataan and Corregidor," these army and navy nurses were the first group of American women ever sent into battle and captured by the enemy. Through diaries, letters and interviews with aging survivors, this book tells their story as it has never been told: truthfully (compared to the news media of the day and such propaganda pieces as the 1942 movie So Proudly We Hail ). Vividly recounting amid the noise and peril of combat their endless and devoted care of sick, wounded and dying, the glory of this book is that it finally honors a truly noble group of women -- proving that not all war heroes carried weapons.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onada's orders were unique: while others were expected to resist to the death the American forces closing in upon the Philippines, he was to stay alive and lead guerilla operations against the victors until relieved by returning Japanese forces -- or until ordered otherwise. Thus, as American and Philippine troops swept through the islands, Onada and his tiny command melted into the jungle. He did not re-emerge from the jungle until 1974. Convinced that the war was still being fought, Onada evaded all pursuers -- including Japanese friends and relatives -- for thirty years and returned to Japan a national hero. His story is one of remarkable devotion to duty, indomitable spirit, ingenuity and resourcefulness. A fascinating read.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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This is one of the most gruesome and honest books about war you will ever read. It is a story that is definitely not for the squeamish as Sledge leaves out none of the gory details of his ordeal in the Pacific theater while serving in the mortar section of a U.S. Marine infantry company. If you still hold any misconceptions about the glamour of men in battle please allow this memoir to dispel that myth. Besides his honesty in dealing with the horror he witnessed, Sledge also struggles with his own feelings about what he went through. No matter how much he deplores the constant stench of death and the annihilation of his companions he cannot suppress his pride at being a Marine. Many times in his book his anger and pride conflict with each other on the same page displaying to the reader very vividly the dichotomy of warfare.

Reviewed by Ed M., Main Library

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In the summer of 1944, fifteen-year-old Sebastian Westland joins the SS. As a young German male, he had little choice but to join some branch of the Nazi military machine. Told from Sebastian's point of view, the reader gets a real feel of the mind-numbing brutality of military training, and the senselessness of fighting for a cause neither felt nor understood. We experience the sheer terror of a young soldier, barely more than a boy, facing death. We also see the last gasp of his nobility of spirit as he attempts to save a dying comrade. Sebastian's experiences during the Battle of the Bulge leave him a hollow remnant of a human, pointing to the power of war to steal one's soul. Beautifully written, and meticulously researched, this novel is a modern antiwar classic by an extraordinary young author.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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A rarity - a Polish officer who survives the 1939 blitzkrieg - Captain de Milja goes underground from Poland to France, to the Ukraine, then back to France again to lead a slow, dirty and frustrating war against the Germans. Fluent in all the required languages, wary enough to stay a hair's-breadth in front of the Gestapo, master of disguise and boudoir, de Milja is one of spydom's more memorable heroes. An excellent, quick-moving, dark read by a writer who has counted members of the French Resistance among his acquaintances.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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It is 1943, and at Stalingrad the war has turned like a maddened beast upon Germany. The flaming collapse to come, however, is anything but evident on the only British territory to be occupied by the Germans during World War II - the island of Guernsey. There, the enemies coexist in varying degress of cooperation, sometimes to an unseemly, if not scandalous, extent. When a young woman who is the object of the affections of both an English constable and a German officer is murdered, however, the flimsy and unnatural relationship between enemies is soured. Characterization and unique setting are the major hallmarks of this fast-paced novel.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Clavell's morality play about the emptiness of the victory of a man who rises to the top of the heap is a minor modern classic. The heap is Changi, a Japanese POW camp housing 8,000 English, Australian, and American prisoners. The Rat is an American corporal who has the gift of corrupting, controlling and exploiting his fellow POWs. As the war nears its end, of course, the Rat's day of reckoning looms.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Set in World War II London, this is a classic spy vs. spy caper. Each character is shown to have strengths, weaknesses, fears and sorrows. The rookie agent for the Allies is a history professor, Alfred Vicary. The Germans have a spy forced into the game against her will, Catherine Blake. The key is for the Allies to hoodwink the Germans into believing the D-Day invasion is at Calais and not at Normandy. Alfred's task is be sure that Catherine takes the bait. There is wonderful attention to historical details and events - a terrific thriller.

Reviewed by Christie B., Independence Regional

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Here is an exquisitely crafted, painfully honest tale of the Salvadoran people during the bloody 1980s. Framed between the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the massacre by the armies of El Salvador and Honduras of refugees trying to cross the river separating the two countries, 9 year-old Nicolas tells us the horrors of war. This child’s perspective neutralizes all politics – for Nicolas it doesn’t matter which side the bullets come from, his mother is still dead and he and his grandfather are in danger. Nicolas and his grandfather are characters that will claim a special place in your heart, where they will live long after the last page. Unapologetic, tender and powerful in its simplicity, this novel should mark Benitez as one of the best contemporary writers.

Reviewed by Mark B., Main Library

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Jack Cray's mission is to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Whether escaping from a POW camp, attacking an adversary, impersonating a German officer, conspiring with radio operator Katrin von Tornitz, or evading capture, this commando's actions are marked by an aggressive boldness that knows no fear and admits no pain. Cray meets his match in Otto Dietrich, Berlin's former chief criminal inspector, who is released from prison with a chance to win his freedom if he can stop this enemy. Five Past Midnight's detailed descriptions of life in war torn Berlin, Hitler's charismatic but deteriorating personality, German military morale problems, and the siege mentality in the bunker create a believable ambiance for this excellent hunt between equally committed and capable adversaries.

Reviewed by Charles D., Morrison Regional

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Sad, sweet and violent is this mountain morality play in which a Confederate soldier deserts his nearly-defeated army and walks all the way back home--to his sweetheart, and to what he believes to be a saner and more meaningful life--deep in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina. Lovingly and intricately detailed, Appalachia lives and breathes through Frazier's excellent craftsmanship. Its sober and haunting depiction of a significant time and place, as well as its brilliant characterization, makes this novel an American classic.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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History comes alive in the hands of Jeff Shaara. His latest, Rise to Rebellion, is captivating, maybe his best novel yet. The American Revolution vibrates with the energy and the passion of the independent thinkers that forged a united nation from thirteen separate colonies. Shaara artistically relates the events that led up to the signing of The Declaration of Independence adding sights, sounds, and vivid color. The principal players for both the rebellious Americans and the arrogant and stunned English relate their stories in poignant terms revealing their emotions, thoughts, and fire. Their excitement is contagious keeping fans on edge waiting for Shaara's next novel that will cover the remainder of the war. Rise to Rebellion raises the bar for unforgettable historical fiction.

Reviewed by Susan C., Independence Regional

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The Good German is a lot more than just a great novel. It is a surreal painting of occupied Berlin just after the end of the second World War in Europe. It is also an intricately woven mystery beautifully woven by accomplished author, Joseph Kanon. Finally, The Good German is a compelling love story. Kanon's characters stand out against the stark, historical backdrop while the action plunges to an exciting end. He is a master of blending separate story lines into a totally engrossing novel. Do not miss this one!

Reviewed by Susan C., Independence Regional

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Second book of the Zero Eight Fifteen trilogy, this books finds Gunner Asch promoted to Sergeant Asch and on duty on the dreaded Eastern Front. Asch is the perfect image of the ideal German soldier, yet he reacts to and rebels against an overly-ambitious officer’s enthusiastic and dangerous “aggressiveness,” he is also the personification of resistance to German militarism. The setting of this book, shifting from the front to the homeland is desolate, constantly threatening, and fraught with sadness.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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The German Nazis were not only heartless overlords, but egocentric supremacists. It stands to reason that, with the end of the war in sight, the Nazi leaders would have a plan of survival. This is a story of some of the survivors. Fiction, yes, but probable. The German high command could not accept total failure. Some day they would again rise to power. It would take vast resources to do this. Where would they come from? Paul Lindsay, a master of intrigue, illustrates how it could have happened or maybe is happening.

Reviewed by David K., Plaza Midwood Branch

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In the four most bloody and courageous days of our nation’s history, two armies fought for two dreams. One dreamed of freedom and unity, the other of preserving a way of life. Far more than rifles and bullets were carried into this pivotal battle. There were memories, promises and love. And far more than men fell on these beautiful, rolling Pennsylvania fields. Shattered futures, forgotten innocence and crippled beauty were also casualties of war. A terrible penalty to pay for pride and union. Shaara brings to life both the warriors and foot soldiers of the worst battle ever fought on North American soil, and does it with clarity and power. In a simple, yet convincing fashion, Shaara captures the essence of this great American struggle and makes the conflict all so real that even the novice civil war buff can relate and understand. Read it an you will find yourself drawn to Gettysburg – as I have been – many times over.

Reviewed by Al C., WBTV Meterologist, Charlotte, NC

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A classic of military fiction that brings US Civil War legends to life. A must read for Civil War buffs and students of military leadership.
-Chuck, Charlotte, NC

Shaara shows war from the generals' perspective. He places the reader at their campfires and even in their thoughts (bold historical liberty!) as they weigh alternatives. The story brings out the burdens of command and shows each general considering the question of leadership. The narrative brings the reader into the thick of the fighting for the defense of Little Round Top and for Pickett's charge, and one can almost smell the gunpowder when he does. There are more occasions, however, when the reader observes the action at a distance as the generals did or receives partial information as the generals did. Retelling the battle as fictionalized history captures the battle as tragedy: inevitable suffering that arises from the flaws and differences of decent people, people who realize the horror of what they are doing.
-Tom, Charlotte, NC

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The Setting: World War II, the town of Sainte Cecile, France; The Goal: to intercept Gestapo communications and prevent knowledge of the impending Allied Forces D-Day attack; The Group: a motley group of female spies, ala "Dirty Dozen in Skirts," codename- "The Jackdaws"; The Leader: sassy, brassy, Felicity " Flick" Clairet, British Special Ops, who is responsible for rallying the Resistance Forces after a humiliating defeat at a German held chateau, and who leads the cleverly disguised Jackdaws in an audacious plan to obliterate the core of the German communications centre. Reminiscent of the earlier The Eye of the Needle, Follett again creates characters that both enthrall and entertain, and his clever use of female spies is an exciting twist to a bold, edge-of-your-seat plot.

Reviewed by Rosanne L., Matthews Branch

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On the morning of September 18, 1931 Geli Raubal, daughter of Adolf Hitler’s half sister, was discovered dead in her famous uncle’s Munich flat. Near her body was found der Fuhrer’s personal pistol, which for a time caused some suspicion to fall upon him. As well it might, according to Hansen’s fascinating, meticulously researched historical novel – for, indeed, it was “Uncle Alf” who pulled the trigger. Whether he meant to is not clear, but – in one of his fits of passion and rage – he did. Hansen’s Hitler is uncannily real, which lends significant credence to this version of an almost forgotten, quickly covered-up scandal.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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(There are) some books that I have enjoyed, and I wish that everyone who loves to read would read these. I am assuming that young people have already read the usual classics. These are books that were classics, but seem to have been forgotten....One is Jean Christophe, by Romain Rolland. The subject is a musician who lived in Paris before World War I. Rolland won the Nobel Prize for it. The second is The Fortunes of Richard Mahoney, by Henry Handel Richardson. This is a story set in colonial Australia. The third is The Trees, The Fields, The Town, by Conrad Richter. It is set in the days when Ohio was still a wilderness. The last book is All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque. It is an unforgettable personal record of a young man's years in the fighting front of World War I. I could go on, but I think this is a good start. Thank you for giving me the pleasure of remembering some of my favorite books.

Reviewed by Belva P., Author

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I.A. Serebin, Russian poet and secretary of a Paris-based group of émigrés, is drafted by British Intelligence to help delay critical oil shipments up the Danube from Romania to Nazi Germany. Doomed from its inception, the mission offers slim chance of survival. Even if successful, it will have little effect on the greater scheme of things. Yet it is the moral thing to do -- by those not usually known for the quality of their morality. Furst’s gift is brevity in a usually wordy genre. Aware of all the information now available on his background, he keeps explication spare: whole lives, love affairs, and fates are reduced to short single images that resonate poetically while evoking times and places long gone.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Brutal indeed was the fate of Italy following the collapse of the Mussolini regime. Prior to Lamb’s book, which is based upon exhaustive research of Italian and British archives only recently released, the common belief was that Italy, never convincingly in the Axis effort, was better off totally out of it. The fact of the matter, however, is that the surrender put Italy into a most unique situation: savaged and ravaged by both sides. German determination to hold was more than matched by Allied strategic blunders in prolonging the Italian campaign two long years after the fall of Fascism.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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What a heart-stopping rollicking ride of a story! Robert Morgan, best-selling author of Gap Creek, drops the reader right into the smoke, blood and chaos of the American Revolution on the Carolina frontier. We see these terrible times through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Josie, a soldier of the North Carolina militia. She's a courageous young woman, a survivor, who fights off her abusive step-father, takes on a killer panther, and joins the militia disguised as a man. Through every encounter she grows stronger. Some readers will lap up the riveting battle action. Others will anxiously turn pages to see if Josie will be reunited with her beloved young husband. All readers will be inspired to handle whatever life throws at them, as they watch Josie conquer her fears in the natural world, the man-made world and in the end, the spiritual world.

Reviewed by Ginny H., Mint Hill Branch

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Robert Morgan is a poet and a pretty fine storyteller as well. His characters are so richly drawn, his descriptions so visual, that they place you in the midst of his created world. Morgan brings the American Revolution into sharp focus with BRAVE ENEMIES and breathes new life into local history.
-Susan, Charlotte, NC

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Band of Brothers reads at times like a novel rather than a historical narrative. The members of E (“Easy”) Company faced superhuman challenges from the time they parachuted into Normandy on D-Day to the weeks they spent in the woods of France and Belgium, to the final taking of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. Noted historian Stephen Ambrose recounts the exploits of this company from the accounts of survivors. There has probably never been a unit of soldiers who faced more adversity over a prolonged period of time than Easy Company. This book can be especially enjoyable when read in coordination with the viewing of the film version of Band of Brothers directed by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Messrs. Hanks and Speilberg directed the film version in consultation with author Stephen Ambrose. Together with the movie, this book is a stunning tribute to a group of true American heroes.

Reviewed by John Z., North County Regional

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Imagine not being able to fulfill your basic needs because you are being held captive as a prisoner of war in the Vietnam War. Porter Halyburton, a Navy pilot from Davidson, North Carolina, and Fred Cherry, an Air Force pilot, courageously endured such barbaric conditions for eight years. Their heartwrenching, personal accounts are brought to life in Two Souls Indivisible. Written much like a novel, Two Souls places you inside the vicious prison walls that held well over five hundred United States servicemen captive during the Vietnam War. Tortured, denied the opportunity to shower, held in solitary confinement for extensive periods of time, and operated on without the use of anesthetics were some of the things these courageous men had to endure for eight years. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Vickie C., West Boulevard Branch

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Had it not been for the Japanese Code of Bushido, which demanded ritual suicide to avoid capture, this valuable book may never have been written. Its author had been criticized for not following that tradition near the end of the bloody battle of Okinawa. He considered suicide, but saw it – as he saw futile mass charges – as ridiculous. That was most fortunate for military history: Yahara lived to provide a rare enemy’s view of the battle. Indeed, as senior staff officer, he almost made a profound difference in its outcome. His strategy, one of attrition almost unheard-of in the Imperial High Command, would have gained time and manpower for defending the homeland. He was overruled, however, until it was too late to do anything else – indeed, too late to do anything at all.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Everyone is by now familiar with the nearly 70-year-old question: how could a country that produced Beethoven, Mozart, Kant, et.al., produce the Holocaust? Johnson and Reuband make great progress toward providing an answer - and it isn’t as simple as the old good German/bad German dichotomy. Virtually all Germans were happy with the social and economic changes brought by the Nazi party when it first came to power. Many a good German supported it until the bitter end. Many would later say that they did not know what was happening in the concentration camps. With soldiers, SS, and SA men coming home every day - many shocked and repulsed by their own part in the atrocities - it would have been impossible to keep such a secret. A surprising number of the interviews that make up this book admit that.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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The documentary novel finds the stories in history rather than making a story out of history, and thus feels more exciting than a history text and more true than a historical novel. Thomas Keneally is the undisputed master of this field. Schindler’s List is the true story of the enamelware factory run by Oskar Schindler during World War II. The factory began as just a way of making money, but became a crusade, a way for Schindler to save as many Jews as he could from the concentration camps. A lesser writer would make his lead character purely heroic, but it is Schindler’s flaws – his womanizing and his temper – that make Schindler a real person rather than a character, and make the book great.

Reviewed by Ian R., North County Regional

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The story of Spiegelman’s relationship with his father, Vladek, as well as Vladek’s story of survival continues in this sequel. The basic story is an account of how Vladek survives the camp and is at last reunited with his wife. This book, too, is a brilliantly effective blend of elements of historic documentary, autobiography, and the comic book. Both books should be considered as one work – a work dealing with the almost impossible task of providing closure to modern history’s most monstrous trauma.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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E.L. Doctorow’s masterful storytelling brings to life the famous Civil War march of General William T. Sherman’s “march to the sea.” Through vivid characterization, readers follow both real and fictional soldiers and civilians across Georgia to Savannah, then north through the Carolinas. The effect of the war on the individual characters is told with pathos and sometimes humor. Yet the central character is the Union Army itself, growing from a motley assortment of men into a destructive force of nature, devouring all in its path and changing lives and history forever. Bold and compelling, this re-creation will appeal to Civil War aficionados as well as fans of great stories well told.

Reviewed by Susan G., Myers Park Branch

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Your reviewer spent 1942 in a playpen, coming closest to injury when his crib overturned during a blackout. The POWs rumored to have escaped from the nearby Navy brig never made it as far as his back door. Not far away, the gala lights of Virginia Beach and Ocean View illuminated Allied shipping for German U-boats. 1942 was the worst of years, beginning on the Day of Infamy. It was a year that saw the Axis powers rising, with much of Europe overrun by the Wehrmacht and American troops losing ground. As dark as it seemed, however, it was also a good year, with the Axis fatally overextending itself. Groom, creator of Forrest Gump, once again breathes life into old fears and hopes.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Nazi Germany was all about youth. The nation's young were, after all, to inhabit and control a thousand-year empire the likes of which had never been seen on Earth. To prepare them for this great task, no degree of protection, no training in ideology, was considered too much. The children, much dazzled by the pageantry and uniforms, were completely taken in. The new order, however, revolved around adults, and when it began to crumble, the children were left to their own devices. They quickly learned about hunger - and about adults' inability to do anything about it. When their beloved Leader called upon them to turn back Allied tanks in the final battles, they learned about betrayal. This book examines that betrayal with unusual intimacy.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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Like all his books, Dark Voyage is drawn in the sepia tones so familiar from scenes of the early days of the Second World War. His characters are many, many-sided and intensely interesting – from British intelligence agents to young and deadly ambitious German naval officers to a beautiful Russian journalist. His plot is one of his most exciting, revolving around a quiet and unassuming Dutch sea captain who sails his tramp steamer under neutral Spanish colors on relatively unimportant Allied missions into waters that are anything but neutral. And, for background music, there is Mozart from the captain’s record collection. Fast-paced action, breathless suspense, and unforgettably sophisticated romance make this Furst’s best yet – until the next one.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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To be a jarhead is to be one of the elite and proud Marines. Author Anthony Swofford was eighteen years old when he enlisted, and as a teenager was shipped off to the Gulf War. This insider's look at the world of war is not for the faint of heart. Not only does Swofford document his time during his enlistment, but also his life before and how his life was affected after the war. Swofford is a patriot and loyal to his fellow Marines, yet he is honest about his time served overseas. His narration is tainted by his love/hate relationship with the military. However, Swofford is a gifted narrator and his perspective of the grisly nature of war is a difficult, yet powerful read.

Reviewed by Angela C., ImaginOn

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It is in the belly of the green bird, according to Islamic legend, that martyrs are flown to heaven. There are plenty of martyrs in Iraq these days. Sunni fights Shia, Baathists fight to regain power lost when Saddam fell, and Shia struggles with Shia over the interpretation of Islam. They all fight Americans because occupation, any Muslim will tell you, is not liberation. Rosen, at considerable risk to his own life, has gone among these armed and extremely dangerous factions and reported back in detail and with candor hardly available anywhere in American media today. His exciting and beautifully articulated book, a non-fiction cliff-hanger if ever there was one, is essential to understanding what is happening in - and to - Iraq.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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In 1794, Congress passed a law calling for the building and arming of six frigates. Thus the United States Navy (as opposed to the Continental Navy) was born. As the threat (Algerian pirates) faded the shipbuilding slowed even stopped. However other threats to the new nation appeared; the six frigates and other vessels would be finished and put into action against the French, the Tripolitan Pirates and a rematch with the British called the War of 1812. Physically larger and more heavily armed than other nations’ frigates, these six would serve well during the war. The last reminder of those early vessels is the USS Constitution is preserved in Charlestown, MA.

Reviewed by John C., Main Library

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In this volume of illustrator Rick Geary's "A Treasury of Victorian Murder" series he turns his attention to the most famous assassination of the Victorian era, that of President Lincoln. In a few pages, Geary lays out the details of the plot by a group of Southern sympathizers to destabilize the entire U.S. government. Only the assassination of the President succeeds, but not without incident. Geary explores the intricacies of the plot, including unanswered questions about some U.S. government officials. He also details the flight of the culprits, their pursuit by federal agents, and the funeral arrangements for President Lincoln. All of this in a suspenseful, entertaining narrative, with pictures. Geary's black and white illustrations evoke contemporary woodprints, perfectly suiting their subject.

Reviewed by Mark S., University City Regional

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Generals George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower were never close friends nevertheless they were able to form an extraordinary partnership essential to winning the European Campaign of World War II. Ten years older than Eisenhower, Marshall was an austere distant presence who would become “the organizer of victory” as Churchill described him. Eisenhower’s gregariousness (during the prewar years his circle was called “Club Eisenhower”) masked a steely ambition and ferocious temper. Their partnership would be tested by incredible pressures and strains just from the Allied side let alone the Axis powers. Also there was always the Eminence Gris voicing his opinions from the far Pacific. For another take on this subject see Stanley Weintraub’s Fifteen Stars (2007).

Reviewed by John C., Main Library

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The second volume of Rick Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy, The Day of Battle follows the fortunes of the American Army in the invasion of Sicily and subsequent invasion of Italy up through the liberation of Rome. Both the Italian campaign and the Sicilian prelude were hard fought affairs with the terrain and the weather seeming to favor the German and Italian defenders. The Allies lurch from one near run thing to another (Salerno and Anzio in particular) but Atkinson describes the failures in leadership (and there were many) evenhandedly. In the end, the liberation of Rome on June 4, 1944 is overshadowed by D-Day two days later and the continuation of the push up Italy would remain in the background of the public’s mind, except for the participants and their families.

Reviewed by John C., Main Library

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One morning in 1983, Hector, a Harlem postal employee, pulls out a pistol and shoots someone who only came to purchase stamps. This and Hector’s possession of the Primavera statue head, which adorned a Florence bridge since the 16th century, lead readers back in history, bringing to life a largely overlooked historical moment of WWII. During the Nazi massacre of the Tuscan village of St. Anna di Stazzema, Hector and three fellow African-American Buffalo soldiers are trapped. Sam, a soldier from North Carolina, saves an Italian orphan, an act which reveals to the soldiers the ‘miracles’ of this remote place and the discovery that “everbody got something to do with everything.” Based on historical fact, McBride’s first novel is an eloquent tribute to friendship, truth, forgiveness, and the power to do good that lies in everyone.

Reviewed by Kim W., University City Regional

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It has always been impressed upon me that World War II was inevitable. Hitler was bad and if it hadn't had been for Churchill and Roosevelt and the sacrifices of the 'greatest generation' then we would all be speaking German now. What Baker shows, in vignettes written in a journalistic style, is the folly of that belief. There were many opportunities to stop the war from spreading in 1940 and 1941. What intrigues is that it may have been possible to avoid the horrors of the Holocaust if the goal of the allies was humanitarian and not total warfare. Imagine that, lives saved by avoiding war. This book forces you to question every thing you know about World War II. For that reason alone it deserves to be read.

Reviewed by Ed M., Morrison Regional

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Retribution is a companion volume to the author's Armageddon about the end of World War II in Europe. Here the author's canvas is not just the Pacific island campaigns, but also China, the East Indies and Burma. As in other books, Hastings combines descriptions of grand strategy with the remembrances of eyewitnesses who experienced some of the most savage fighting in some of the most inhospitable places on the globe. Hastings gives the great and not so great commanders their due, good or bad. Hastings relates the decisions about the Bomb not as a standalone event, but as one more step in a campaign of the destruction of Japan. Not the last word, if there ever will be, but food for discussion on the last "Good"� (and Hastings makes plain it wasn't) War.

Reviewed by John C., Main Library

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Cyrla is a Polish-born, half-Jewish young woman, sent to live with her Dutch relatives as the Nuremberg Laws take hold in Poland. Her blonde Dutch looks – inherited from her mother – allow her to move about German-occupied Schiedam without incident. Then, cousin Anneke, pregnant and seemingly abandoned by her German soldier, commits suicide after her father arranges for her to stay in a maternity home. Driven by fear, Cyrla and her aunt devise a scheme whereby Cyrla assumes Anneke’s identity and takes her place in the lebensborn (Have one baby for the Fuhrer) maternity home. But Cyrla must complete the deception by becoming pregnant herself. The plot unexpectedly shifts when Cyrla gains an unlikely ally during her confinement. A fine story of survival amid the darkness.

Reviewed by Susanne W., South County Regional

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Gleaned from countless interviews from surviving airmen, headhunters, and their family members, this is the story of stranded American soldiers who survived in hostile territory during World War II with the help of Dayak tribesmen. The title is not pejorative: the Dayaks were indeed headhunters, though their humanity and compassion was evident in the way that the separated airmen were all taken in, fed, and protected by different tribes. The Dayaks went so far as to hunt Japanese soldiers to defend the airmen, and actually formed a force to help the Allies following their ill treatment by the Japanese. Overall, an uplifting story about how people from completely different worlds can support each other in times of crisis.

Reviewed by Meri H., University City Regional

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It is World War II and the Germans have Leningrad surrounded. Two young men meet in jail, a teenage citizen, accused of looting and a Russian soldier, accused of desertion. In lieu of execution they are sent on a suicide mission by the city's NKVD commander to find a dozen eggs for a wedding cake. They head out in search of eggs and end up on the adventure of a lifetime. Benioff has taken a brutal piece of the war and crafted a touching, humorous, scary and human novel. A novel that will make you laugh at its creative dialog and cringe at its honest portrayal of the banal cruelty of war, sometimes on the same page. A literary novel for the WWII enthusiast.

Reviewed by Ed M., Morrison Regional

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Ninety years ago this fall, the largest army then fielded by the United States went into battle as part of the last great offensives of the Allies in World War I. Two months later after fighting a tenacious enemy in difficult terrain and terrible weather the Americans finally broke through. The American Army was essentially a group of armed amateurs in terms of fighting a modern war. Even the professionals had not led troop concentrations this large. Edward Lengel takes us to that long ago time often using the soldier’s own words to describe this particular hell. As this reviewer’s grandfather said “It’s all mud.”

Reviewed by John C., Main Library

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As an explanation to my last sentence, in 1938 as my grandfather lay dying from cancer courtesy of the Mustard Gas that had seared his lungs he would revisit his battlefields in his nightmares. My Mother clearly remembers him telling my uncle “Don’t go in the Army, Bill, its all mud.”
-John C., Matthews, NC

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Barbara Jefferson, an American teaching college in Japan, receives a handmade chest bequeathed from her friend and mentor Michi. Inside she discovers bottles of plum wine, each wrapped in pages of carefully hand written Japanese characters. She is convinced that her friend’s history is contained on these pages. Her acquaintance, Seiji, offers to help her translate the writings. What she discovers is a painful web of the consequences of the bombing of Hiroshima. The atomic blast changes the course of Michi's life and the lives of generations of her family. The bombing's legacy eventually undermines even Barbara's relationship with Seiji. The novel Plum Wine gently unfolds providing a lens through which one can begin to perceive the Japanese experience of Hiroshima.

Reviewed by Catie R., Main Library

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Beautifully written, Plum Wine is a very informative book about the long term after-effects of Hiroshima. I sent a copy to a friend in Japan and he verified that this is a sad but true story. I found it to be a page-turner and one of my all time favorite cross cultural books.
-SueDee, Davis, CA

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This story starts with a dead body frozen in place in a swimming pool at an old hotel. They remove it with a chainsaw and defrost it in the morgue. That’s when they find out about the radiation. When they discover he was a scientist from “Atomic City” it leads them to secrets dating back to World War II and the creation of the atom bomb. This is set in the mountains of Tennessee in a town especially built to make plutonium and secretly help make the atom bomb. Scientists, soldiers, their families and the support staff were all living there. How events from then and today intersect to cause his murder is as much a story for murder fans as WWII buffs.

Reviewed by Thea J., South County Regional

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A Marine lieutenant fresh out of training, Philip Caputo was one of Camelot’s eager young knights. Vietnam was just beginning and confidence in American arms was soaring. It didn’t take long, of course, to see that dream booby-trapped and sniped to death by reality. When Vietnam wasn’t bullets and shrapnel out of nowhere, it was boredom, heat, fear, and sickness of body and mind. Caputo is uncomfortably honest, however, in admitting to the psychological high provided by combat. He is equally candid in his description of his own descent into mindless brutality. As satirical as Catch 22 in its depiction of military idiocy, this book is as devastating in its portrayal of war as All Quiet on the Western Front.

Reviewed by Jim B., Main Library

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This incredible book describes a renowned war correspondent’s experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. The series of poignant essays cut through the gory scenes and mind-numbing statistics to distill the horrors of war by describing the minutia, like the devolution of Filkins’ home street from a bustling thoroughfare to a combat zone crisscrossed with razor wire and checkpoints. Without the heavy handed pedagogy we see in several books about Iraq, Filkins gives us a variety of viewpoints, including marines,insurgents, Iraqi and American politicians, and Iraqi civilians. The book doesn’t try to explain the chaos that steadily overtakes Iraq throughout Filkins’ tenure there, but shows us, in detail, horrors that defy explanation. It’s not an easy read, but an enlightening one.

Reviewed by Meri H., University City Regional

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Rawi Hage creates an unsettling vision of immigrant life in Canada with his unnamed schizophrenic anti-hero. Half man and half cockroach, the thief scuttles through the shadows and storm drains of Montreal peering in on the privileged from the fringe of society. He is exiled and largely ignored. His state-mandated therapy sessions reveal a troubled and violent past in the war-torn Middle East and give insight not only into why he emigrated, but also why he retreated within himself. Despite his hallucinations, the thief’s keen observations of society are dead on and darkly funny. Beautifully written, Hage’s sophomore novel is a captivating read.

Reviewed by Laura M., Sugar Creek, lmoore@plcmc.org

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