2021 Season

Where You Go, I Will Go by Victoria Terrinoni

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review
Victoria Terrinoni’s book, Where You Go I Will Go, is a guide for military spouses. The author combines humor, resilience, marriage, and patriotism into a format that evokes memories of an intimate conversation with a good friend over a cup of hot coffee.

Terrinoni's honest, insightful story of thirty-one years of life with her Air Force chaplain husband will help any new spouse embarking on a similar journey. The lessons learned after each chapter provide a quick recap of the key takeaways to keep in mind and are invaluable.

Where You Go, I Will Go is organized by topic and is easy to read and retain information.  This book provides tools to help a new military spouse acclimate, including an appendix of acronyms and abbreviations vital to know as well as online and on-base resources.

Review by Nancy Panko (July 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
Military life is confusing. You have so many questions. Where will you live? How will you make friends? What happens when your spouse deploys? What about the kids?  Through personal stories, humorous and serious, Where You Go, I Will Go: Lessons From a Military Spouse will answer these questions and more.

In this book, Victoria Terrinoni, a military spouse for 31 years, will show you:

How to handle frequent moves.

How to deal with loneliness and make new friends.

What happens during deployments.

How to help your children adjust.

What those darn acronyms mean.

What resources are available to find answers and support

Where You Go, I Will Go provides valuable lessons on many issues facing military spouses, especially new spouses. Most of all, you will see you are not alone in this journey.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-7368931-04, 978-1-7368931-1-1

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—How to/Business

Number of Pages: 122


Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass by Sandra Stosz

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MWSA Review
VADM Sandra Stosz's Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters should be a leadership textbook in every leadership curriculum. Not only is it well written and authoritative on the perspective of breaking down barriers for minorities, but for those leaders NOT in a minority group it provides an excellent reminder of just why we need diversity in our workforce and armed services.

The author does an excellent job of relaying how as a junior female officer in a mostly male armed force, she had to challenge the establishment in order to be accepted on her merits. She does so with humor and professionalism in a way that each story is not an accusation but a learning opportunity for those at every level of leadership and supervision. She leaves her audience with several valuable insights and tools (I especially enjoyed the three P’s of power) that any leader at any level in any organization can use. This reviewer is a retired Naval officer and leadership instructor, and I still found many useful talking points to use with my students.

Also enjoyable was her use of very non-standard leadership texts like Mere Christianity and To Kill a Mockingbird to make her point.

Leaders military and otherwise will find a lot of value in this inspiring book from an author who was on the cutting edge of the Coast Guard, both literally and figuratively.

Review by Rob Ballister (July 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
Today, our nation is like a ship being tossed in tumultuous seas. The winds and waves of change have divided and distanced our society, threatening to wash away the very principles upon which our nation was founded. The forces of change are driving us into uncharted waters. Now more than ever, our nation needs leaders with the moral courage to stand strong and steady—leaders capable of uniting people in support of a shared purpose by building the trust and respect necessary for organizations and their people to thrive.

In Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters, Admiral Sandy Stosz draws upon 40 years of extensive leadership experience leading mostly all-male teams in the US Coast Guard to help leaders navigate complexity and succeed at every level. Character-centered, proven leadership principles emerge from engaging, personal stories that teach leaders how to find, and then become, an inspiring mentor; implement successful diversity, inclusion, and equity programs; successfully lead in a complex environment; and much more.

Leaders eager to make a difference by helping people and organizations be their best will find Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters their go-to resource.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-64663-525-2, 978-1-64663-523-8, 978-1-64663-524-5

Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—How to/Business

Number of Pages: 312


The Librarian by William Whitson

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MWSA Review
The Librarian: Intrigue at RAF Greenham by W. F. Whitson is a work of fiction based on the author’s personal experiences but written as a mystery/thriller. The first pages of the book offer a list of the main characters, a list of acronyms used, and maps of the area west of London that are relevant to the story. When the United States decides to place ground-launched cruise missiles in England during the Cold War, there is strong opposition not only from Russia but also from British women, who camped near Greenham where they could creatively show their feelings. Russia sent a spy whose cover was as a librarian as well as a few handlers to encourage his work. The spy manipulates various groups and ultimately takes on aggressive acts himself. The book delves into the problem from various views – the US Air Force, British military, local police, and MI 5, as well as the women and some of their families – giving a rich picture of this interesting time in England.
Review by Nancy Kauffman (July 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
In the 1980s, the Cold War heated up  and NATO voted to deploy Ground Launched Cruise Missiles in England to counter the Soviet buildup of SS-20s. Many people around the world protested, and the Soviets sent a spy to stop the deployment by exploding a dirty bomb on RAF Greenham Common. USAF  Lieutenant Colonel Wes Forrest joined with MI-5 to find and destroy the threat.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-950729-11-1

Book Format(s): Soft cover

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 482


Seasons of the Birch by Susan Puska

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review
Seasons of the Birch is the story of a young woman who grew up poor in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and left home to enlist in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. By the time Ruth completed her training and deployed to the Philippines, it was April 1945. On returning from the Pacific Theater, she found that war veterans were not always honored, especially if they happened to be women. She returned to hospital work and eventually married a veteran, and that’s when the real troubles began.  Seasons of the Birch follows the family through its struggles with joblessness, alcoholism, and abandonment. While many do not, this book addresses some of the difficulties faced by ordinary men and women who served selflessly and then struggled to assimilate into a society that looked different from the one they left behind.

Review by Betsy Beard (June 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
Seasons of the Birch is a story of perseverance, sacrifice, and resilience. Susan Puska brings realism and heart to a novel that showcases the untold stories of women, minorities, and marginalized men who served their country yet seldom get the recognition they deserve.

Ruth Amundsen grew up poor in Michigan’s rural Upper Peninsula during the 1920s and 1930s. As she ventured beyond the village of Big Bay, she left her real home – the shores of Lake Superior. After nursing training, she joined the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, serving during the last year of World War II in the war-torn Philippines. 

When she returns to post-war America, she finds her independence, sense of contribution, and hard-earned status as a war nurse of little value to a country seeking to get back to an outdated normal, whatever the cost. Her search for tranquility and family is tested as she returns to her beloved Northwoods. Can she adapt to the harsh realities she exchanged for returning north? Will she break from its icy weight or find her resilience like the birch tree after a long winter?

ISBN/ASIN: 9781636768120

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 232


Two Million Steps by Tommy Anderson

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MWSA Review
Two Million Steps is the fictional story of Hamon Jennings, an actual member of the 25th Wisconsin Infantry regiment who fought in the American Civil War. Author Tommy Anderson is Hamon’s great-great-grandson. He tells the story of this famed unit from the dramatized perspective of his relative.

Anderson weaves themes of friendship, family, and fortitude into his story as he describes the ebb and flow of army life. After leaving his family to fight, Hamon must survive the war and return to his wife and new son. Combat is not the only threat he faces. Other dangers lurk in camp. Will Hamon survive? A series of dreams and flashbacks leave the outcome unknown until the latter part of the book. Although Hamon’s survival is a mystery that can keep the reader invested, this book tends to favor repetition over innovation.

Readers interested in the Civil War will understand the significance of the title and appreciate Anderson’s portrayal of the trials and successes of Union soldiers fighting against the Confederacy.

Review by Braden Hall (June 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
Two Million Steps is the story of two men from western Wisconsin who were members of the 25th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Company A. It tells their journey from the formation of the regiment through the end of the war. During the Civil War men from both sides rushed to volunteer seeking excitement, adventure, and to defend their state along with their country. This is the regiment's story.

In 1862, the 25th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment was formed in La Crosse, Wisconsin, from mostly volunteers from the western part of the state. The regiment went to war with 1,018 men. The Twenty-Fifth Wisconsin would go on to fight in seven major campaigns and numerous smaller skirmishes with a common motto amongst its men that was coined by Chauncey H. Cooke, a private from Company G, and was picked up by the regiment: "I have no heart in this war if the slaves cannot go free."

During the war, the regiment lost the largest percentage of soldiers from Wisconsin units. They were often called to lead the attacks in Major General Sherman's March to the Sea and to the end of the war because of their ferociousness in battle.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1636496269, 978-1636496276

Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook, Audiobook

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 178


Pandemic Adventures with Pop Pop by Warren Martin

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MWSA Review
Warren Martin tells a sweet story in his children's picture book Pandemic Adventures with Pop Pop. As the recent Covid-19 pandemic swept in and disrupted life, its effects didn't miss the children in
this world. School was canceled, playgrounds and pools were shut down. In this book, the author tells the story of a grandfather stepping in and filling the void with a variety of simple adventures
on which he takes his grandchildren. It's a short book that will appeal to children, especially those who like to be read to.

Review by Bob Doerr (June 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
This third book in the series fast-forwards four years to the 2020 pandemic with a unique approach to that unprecedented year. While activities were restricted for children, parents and grandparents found ways to keep going. Pandemic Adventures with Pop Pop follows the unique way Pop Pop found to entertain his Grandmen Dean and Levi. During the pandemic, or as Grandman Dean called it, “The Sickness,” Pop Pop found fun ways to keep his Grandmen safe, educating them while also creating positive and fun memories.

The Adventures with Pop Pop series of children’s books covers adventures with Pop Pop and his Grandmen. Each book takes us on an adventure to places like Walmart, preschool, and adventures during the pandemic. Future books will cover more adventures, like a birthday party with a surprise visit by Louie the mascot from the St. Louis Blues, Grant’s Farm, the arrival of little brother, and many more.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1955129008

Book Format(s): Soft cover

Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Picture Book

Number of Pages: 44


Deep State Sedition by Lee Boyland

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MWSA Review
Deep State Sedition by Lee Boyland with Vista Boyland is a fast moving mystery thriller set in multiple locations, which are clearly labeled in the text. There are two previous books in this series, and it would be helpful to read them first. Prior to this series, there are three books in the Clash-of-Civilization trilogy which lead up to this series.

There are many twists and turns in the plot, which takes off from current news and a recent TV show, with whole new outcomes . Very creative thinking. Once you adjust to the fast-breaking beginning chapters, the story will pull you in. Could this happen here? Are we seeing any of these story lines developing currently in this country? Are our intelligence services keeping up this well? Read on.

Review by Nancy Kauffman (June 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
The concluding book (#6) of the Clash-of-Civilizations and the OAS series. Terrorists and Iran destroyed five American cities including Washington DC while the president was addressing a joint session of Congress. Secretary of Homeland Security George Alexander was the only survivor and became America’s first statutory president. With his appointed Cabinet he put America first and set about saving the nation.

President Alexander plans to have the nation vote on the first of several referendums; followed by a national election to reelect Congress and the president. Alexander’s call to form new political parties that will elect men and women who revere the Constitution and do the peoples’ business gains traction.

Elitists, academics, liberal politicians planning to be elected for life, embedded progressive government employees with cushy jobs, and globalists planning to turn America into a socialist nation realize their plans and existence are threatened. The Deep State is exposed and must take action to preserve its power.

The president’s enemies unite—President Alexander must be stopped. The question is how? So far, all attempts have failed. So what is left: Direct confrontations, false accusations, fake news, violence, and assassination? The president is faced with anarchy, treason, and sedition.

Hollywood and the mainstream media, joined by academia, launch a campaign to take Alexander down. Deep pocket donors dig deeper and turn loose their progressive black shirt thugs and progressive student activists. Assassination is not off the table for some.

The president responds and the Deep State is exposed. 

Teresa Lopez seals the deal with Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay thereby establishing the Tri-Border Territory and is surprised when she finds herself appointed the first governor-general. While she moves from her role as secret ambassador to governor-general, cartels and jihadists plot to remove her. New enemies move into the TBT and must be dealt with. Somalian pirates resume taking ships for ransom. President Alexander confronts the Deep State and proclaims America will not become a socialists nation.

This political and military thriller will keep you turning the pages late into the night.

ISBN/ASIN: B08CRY115M , 979-8639550706

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 374


The Irish Skateboard Club by Brinn Colenda

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MWSA Review
The Irish Skateboard Club is a perfectly charming coming-of-age novel that takes traditional young adult themes and reworks them to reflect the challenges of 21st century “teendom.” The hero is an undersized, adopted, extremely intelligent, well educated, multilingual skateboarder from Bolivia, who is growing up in New Mexico and finishing high school in Ireland. He meets a beautiful Irish lassie with similar interests—and the story revolves around their budding romance. There are bad guys and good guys and a mystery to solve. Of course, surly Irish boys challenge Michael to a skateboarding dual…which was pretty dad-gummed cool if you ask me. The kids go through physical, moral, intellectual, and romantic ups and downs. Given that this tale was written by experienced author and pilot, Brinn Colenda, The Irish Skateboard Club is a great read—whether you are a sulky adolescent skateboarder or septuagenarian skateboarder-wanna-be like me.

Review by Joyce K Faulkner (June 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old Michael Callahan has no idea who he is—born in Bolivia and adopted as a baby by an over-achieving Irish-American family in New Mexico where neighbors think he’s Hispanic or Native American. 

Desperate to lock in a self-identity, he enrolls in a prestigious Irish high school for a semester where his skateboarding skills help make friends and catch the eye of the feisty and fascinating Ciara Harrington. 

Together they discover Russian Red Mafiya members trafficking young girls through Ireland. Unable to convince Irish and American authorities of the trafficking, Michael, Ciara, and their skateboard friends are faced with a dangerous choice—pursue the murderous Russians and save the girls or simply ride away to save themselves.

ISBN/ASIN:1647461790, 978-1647461799, B08DR5C1MR

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Young Adult (fiction or non-fiction)

Number of Pages: 278


One Hundred Stingers by Peter Adams Young

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review
One Hundred Stingers: A Novel of the Air War over the Ho Chi Minh Trail by Peter Adams Young is a well told story for both sides of a portion of the Vietnam War: American Navy fliers and North Vietnamese battery operators on the ground in neutral Laos. In spite of all the detail and all the dialogue, the story moves along nicely. The characters are fully defined with lots of back stories on both Vietnamese and American characters. The reader gets the full effect of being on an aircraft carrier with all of its discomforts, the carefulness of the fliers in the air, the struggles of being in the batteries with poorly trained gunners, and the pressures on their superiors at various levels.  Both sides were well aware of their respective goals: get supplies to the south from North Vietnam; stop the flow of enemy combatants and war materials on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The book shows the many levels of support in the air for the American fliers from spotters, to intelligence, to overhead directions to keep the fliers safe from ground fire and from friendly fire shooting by various Navy and Marine fliers. The fleet of support on deck is also well described. There is lots of action, and the action is often described from multiple points of view. One also senses the repetitiveness of flights that could be deadly if not for the professionalism of air and ground personnel. The Epilogue mainly follows navigator/bombadier Davis but also circles back to his Laos years. Well worth reading.

Review by Nancy Kauffman (July 2021)

 

Author's Synopsis
Throughout most of the Vietnam War, American airmen waged a clandestine war in the flak-filled skies of neutral Laos.

This debut novel by Peter Adams Young, former US Navy A-6A Intruder bombardier,  discloses untold stories of heroism and sacrifice as American air power sought to cut off the flow of enemy combatants and materiel headed for the battlefields of South Vietnam via the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail.

ISBN/ASIN: B094T5SLT1, B0952HDK46

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 827


Grandman Dean's Preschool Adventures by Warren Martin

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review
Grandman Dean’s Preschool Adventures by Warren Martin is the second in his Pop Pop series of children’s books. His first book took us shopping, and now we head to preschool. If you were wondering about the title, Pop Pop lovingly refers to his grandchildren as his Grandmen.

In this new adventure, Grandman Dean starts preschool. First, we meet his teachers, Miss Connie and Miss Nikki, and read about his daily routine. Next, we learn about his cubby, backpack, and the different activities he participates in—especially those he likes. Finally, we experience some of the children’s outdoor fun and games.

We also read about a surprise special day for the children with a hands-on adventure in a police car, fire truck, and ambulance. In addition, sometimes Pop Pop even brings Grandman Levi, Dean’s younger brother, to school.

This colorful picture book is an apt introduction for younger children to the preschool experience.

Review by Sandi Cathcart (July2021)


Author's Synopsis
In the second book in the Adventures with Pop Pop series, follow Grandman Dean as he learns the daily routines of preschool. His caring teachers teach Dean and his classmates arts and crafts, how to write their letters, and how to play with each other. They learn, play, and even get to climb a fire truck and go inside a police car and ambulance. Pop Pop takes Grandman Dean to school and picks him up after school, and sometimes little brother, Grandman Levi, comes along.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-0-9854727-8, 978-0-9854727-7-1

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook

Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Picture Book

Number of Pages: 56


Man on the Floor! by Daniel Coberly

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review
Man on the Floor! is a birds-eye view of Coberly's (fictional? satirical?) life as a military dependent through adulthood. A little boy's glee at having a jungle in the Canal Zone for a playground, his father's mysterious comings and goings, the internationality of his mother's extended family, and his own career are brilliantly described, often jumping back and forth through time. Veterans and dependents will relate to his experiences from "Vee-et-nam" to military housing to the simple but ever-present military I.D. card.

Coberly's depiction of a perfectly matched husband and wife team is equally pragmatic as it is sweet: "It looked to me as though they searched through a thick pile of laundry and finally found their other sock. Everyone needs their other sock." At times the book is funny and at times the book is thought provoking, but at 573 pages, parts are a bit tedious. Although Man on the Floor! could benefit from an editorial polishing, it is an engaging, entertaining book.

Review by Sue Rushford (June 2021)

 

Author's Synopsis
Dan Coberly's debut novel is original, funny, entertaining, deep, and sad all at the same time. A wonderfully unique, page-turning mix of satire, serious social commentary, and witness to signs of his times, it's a must-read story that must be told. He'll grab your attention with vivid descriptions of life as a small boy of a military father and a French war bride trying to make sense out of a brave new world in post-WWII Munich and Verdun. He walks us through youthful enthusiasm while growing up in a Cold War military subculture, wide-eyed culture shock encountering race relations, and anti-Vietnam war sentiments that became a scathing indictment of "democraZy". Somehow, he survives man's inhumanity to man during otherwise humorous careers as a soldier and a government bureaucrat around the world, shaping maturity and wisdom along the way.

ISBN/ASIN: 979-8726717074

Book Format(s): Soft cover

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 573


Chennault: A Rebel in China by Lt. Col. Richard P. Voorhies Jr

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MWSA Review

Chennault: A Rebel in China is a brief history of Claire Lee Chennault's pre-Flying-Tigers life. It chronicles his life from childhood in a small, extremely rural area of Louisiana in the 1890s, through his personal tragedies and his education, to his love of flying. It describes his relentless determination to become the best pursuit pilot of his time, and his frustration when he fails greatly influences the direction of Army aviation in the 1920s and '30s. The book follows him as he retires from the Army Air Corps and accepts a job in China, where his true genius could flourish. This book is for those wanting to know what influenced Chennault's personality from birth through his pre-China military service. For these lesser-known years, the book fills in considerable detail.

Review by Jamie Thompson (July 2021)

 

Author's Synopsis
Before Claire Lee Chennault could achieve success with the Flying Tigers, he had to learn how to lead and what to teach. This book examines the unique influences which created this remarkable, prescient military aviation pioneer. 

From his youth working on a family farm near a small Louisiana town, the book traces the influence of growing up in the American South, where Southern generals became his heroes. His education, both as a student and as a teacher, gave confidence but left him uneasy socially.

His love of flying enabled a military career, beginning just after World War I. His 20-year career in the Army Air Corps developed his flying skills. Later work with the Flying Trapeze honed his theories on combat flying and brought him fame. But his devotion to pursuit planes and his convictions about the future of aerial warfare brought controversy. 

Cast loose from the military as a result, he went to China in the nick of time to help the Chinese Air Force oppose the Japanese invasion in 1937. He gained knowledge of Japanese tactics and equipment, and learned painful lessons there, which eventually enabled him to lead the Flying Tigers to their successes.

This book covers those formative years and illustrates Chennault’s early time in China with maps and photos.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1945333194

Book Format(s): Soft cover

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 186


100 Days in Vietnam by Matthew Tallon

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review
In their book, 100 Days in Vietnam, Joseph and Matthew Tallon give us an in-depth look into the life of a true survivor and patriot. Lt Col Joseph F. Tallon served as a Mohawk pilot with the US Army in Vietnam in the waning days of that long war. As the conflict was nearing its end, enemy fire struck Joseph's airplane just after takeoff, causing it to crash before he could return it to the runway. The crash killed his crew member and left Joseph with severe injuries and burns all over his body. The book provides us sufficient background to know Joseph before the crash and to understand that his love for his new bride gave him the strength to hang on and the will to survive. Months of medical treatment took him from Vietnam, to the Philippines, and ultimately to the burn center at Lackland AFB, Texas. Despite the injury and medical discharge from the Army, his desire to serve enabled him to retain his commission in the Reserves until he retired years later. Matthew, Joseph's son, must be given credit for working with his father and getting the many letters, notes, diary entries, etc. finally organized in a fashion to be made into this book, along with making a number of observations of his own. I enjoyed reading this book and my hat's off to Joseph.

Review by Bob Doerr (July 2021)

 

Author's Synopsis
As American troops continue their steady exodus on the last day of their ground war in Vietnam, Lieutenant Joe Tallon is shot down by an enemy missile. Forced to eject at a dangerously low altitude from their OV-1 Mohawk, Joe and his tactical observer, Specialist-5 Daniel Richards, land in the flaming wreckage. Lieutenant Tallon survives but Specialist Richards does not. Stateside, Lieutenant Tallon begins to heal and proceed with his life—but the loss of his tactical observer is never far from his mind. Forty years later, Joe embarks on a quest to bring recognition to the sacrifice of Daniel Richards and secure a Purple Heart for his family.

Painstakingly recreated from wartime letters and remembrances and contextualized by contemporary news accounts, 100 Days in Vietnam is a collaboration between Joe and his son Matt—also an Army veteran. Here we experience the war through the emotions of the man who survived it: the drudgery and monotony of airfield life, the heartache of a newlywed missing his wife, the terror of combat missions, the agony of injury and rehabilitation, and the bittersweet relief from the completion of his final mission to bring recognition to his fallen comrade.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-64663-255-8, 978-1-64663-257-2, 978-1-64663-256-5

Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, ePub/iBook

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 321


Military Wives in Arizona Territory by Jan Cleere

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MWSA Review
Unlike many formal histories which put theory and context front and center, Military Wives in Arizona Territory by Jan Cleere honors the first-hand experiences of women who followed their military spouses to the remote outposts in the American West. The book gives an authentic, immediate account of their travel to and from the outposts, life on the frontier and their homes.

The author has assembled letters, diaries, interviews, published books, and unpublished manuscripts to allow the women to tell their stories directly, and in their own words. The author does provide some context, but does not overshadow the women's own descriptions of their experience.

Each section focuses on a particular woman or group of women. It usually begins with a recounting of their journey across the country. Sometimes beginning with a long train ride or sea voyage through the Panama Canal, the women then moved with wagon trains or by oxen carts through dangerous territories. They speak of their fears: the attacks by Indian tribes, loss of their husbands through battle or accident, and the illnesses which took many along the way.

The book also contrasts the privileged life left behind in the East with the deprivation and rough conditions in the remote outposts. Although most of the women were officers' wives and therefore afforded more than soldiers' families, those privileges might be the use of boxes covered with linen to make up tables and chairs. They recount the creativity necessary to entertain visiting dignitaries or even to feed their families when food supplies were uncertain.

Military Wives powerfully shows the devotion, duty, creativity and grit of women who chose to share life on the frontier with their husbands. It provides a valuable and vivid window into life during a critical period in our history. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy authentic, first-person history, and those with particular interest in women's history and frontier military history.

Review by Barb Evenson (June 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
When the US Army ordered troops into Arizona Territory in the nineteenth century to protect and defend newly established settlements, military men often brought their wives and families, particularly officers who might be stationed in the west for years. Most of the women were from refined, eastern-bred families with little knowledge of the territory. Their letters, diaries, and journals from their years on army posts reveal untold hardships and challenges. They learned to cope with the sparseness, the heat, sickness, and danger, including wildlife they never imagined. These women were bold, brave, and compassionate. They became an integral part of military posts that peppered the West and played an important role in civilizing the untamed frontier. Combining their words with original research and tracing their movements from post to post, this collection of historical narratives explores the tragedies and triumphs that early military wives experienced.

ISBN/ASIN: 9781493052943

Book Format(s): Hard cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—History

Number of Pages: 199


Sheltered: When a Boy Becomes a Legend by Jacob Paul Patchen

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MWSA Review
James, a young teenager, finds himself alone in the world during a national insurrection led by home-grown anti-freedom terrorists and their juvenile ignorant recruits. James survives in a bunker built and stocked by his father, a former Marine. During many months of living off rations and hunting, James recalls all the lessons his father taught him. When insurgents come to sack his family home, he defends it and is forced to use his firearms. Eventually, he becomes a leader of a ragtag group of hurt and frightened children who call themselves The Risers. Their goal is to rise up, take back their country, and restore the freedoms they once enjoyed.

During his fight with the terrorists, James learns his sister has survived, as well as his father, who he thought had deserted the family. But Dad had been fighting the internal enemy in secret.
As the story comes to a climax, James defends the shattered school he and the other Risers call home, and together, they set out on a tactical plan to free prisoners (freedom-loving Americans who appreciate American beliefs and values) held in concentration camps by the internal enemy. In the process, he learns much about himself and even more about his father.

Ultimately, it is James who becomes the legend as he refuses to stoop to barbarism. He recognizes the trauma that years of being a warrior have inflicted on his father, and it is his father who recognizes his son’s innate leadership skills. James had been a sheltered child, but he now shelters other children and nurtures his beliefs during a time of crisis. In this timely tale of national turmoil, he evolves from a child caring about waging fake battles with Nerf ball guns to a reluctant defender of freedom using real bullets and armament.

As a cautionary tale that reflects the current state of tyranny at play in the United States, this dystopian novel is not just for teenagers or young adults. Nor is it only for male members of society. Women also play important warrior roles in taking back their country. Anyone who loves our country will appreciate what could happen, if we let it, and author Jacob Paul Patchen pretty much lets us see what that would be like.

Review by Patricia Walkow (June 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
“We are all given a space in life to fill, a roaring emptiness in time… and it’s how you choose to fill that void, that will determine the difference in becoming a man or a legend.” That’s what my father said to me a few years ago before he walked out on Mom, Emily, and me. If I would have had any sense back then, I would have asked him exactly what that meant. Instead, I’m out here learning it the hard way – dodging bullets and bombs while America is at war – my friends fighting back with all we have, while trying to keep these orphaned children safe and our dreams alive.

They call us The Risers. Well, okay… so we call ourselves “The Risers.” But either way, we’re out here doing everything we can just to survive and rise up from our nation’s ashes with honor, integrity, and justice. Now, with smoky memories of a lost childhood, and the horrible, lingering, cardboard taste of MRE crackers (still left over from living in Dad’s bomb shelter), my mini army and me march forward, taking back what was once taken for granted.

But to be honest, I’m really just out here winging it. Wish me luck.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1952816352, B08V8D282P

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook

Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Young Adult (fiction or non-fiction)

Number of Pages: 158


The Other Veterans of World War II by Rona Simmons

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review
Many hundreds of soldiers, airmen, and sailors behind battle lines support the few carrying the rifle forward into combat. These unrecognized and inconspicuous warriors fade into the background but are there with everything from bullets to beer. They move combatants to or from the battlefields and bandage bodies or bury the dead. Author Rona Simmons looks behind the frontlines—revealing some even more daring accounts of those who did not engage in combat officially, never marching in the parade of accolades—to capture nineteen personal stories, seventy-five years following World War II.

Daughter of a WW II fighter pilot, Rona Simmons, writing The Other Veterans of World War II, brings to life memories of “heroes” who were not in the trenches. This book honors unsung veterans with details garnered through the author’s interviews, supported with families’ records and photos. This excellently crafted book, including an appendix, notes, selected bibliography, and index, is divided into parts. Each part begins with a history-setting preamble explaining the conditions behind the personal accounts in the following short series. Simmons completes each personal story with a brief epilogue detailing their life following their war experience. The nineteen stories reveal that unsung supporting troops contributed as much to victory as the soldier aiming a gun. This book is an essential example of stories that needed to be told. Further, this book offers, by example, an ideal form, from meticulous research and captivating writing, for others to tell their stories.

Review by Tom Beard (July 2021)

 

Author's Synopsis
For decades, the dramatic stories of World War II soldiers have been the stuff of memoirs, interviews, novels, documentaries, and feature films. Yet the men and women who served in less visible roles, never engaging in physical combat, have received scant attention.

Convinced that their depiction as pencil pushers, grease monkeys, or cowards was far from the truth, Rona Simmons embarked on a quest to discover the real story from the noncombat veterans themselves. She sat across from 19 veterans or their children, read their letters and journals, looked at photos, and touched their mementos: pieces of shrapnel, a Japanese sword, a porcelain tea set, a pair of wooden shoes, a marquisette wedding gown.

Compiling these veterans’ stories, Simmons follows them as they report for service, complete their training, and often ship out to stations thousands of miles from home. She shares their dreams to see combat and disappointment at receiving noncombat positions, as well as their selflessness and yearning for home. Ultimately, Simmons finds the noncombat veterans had far more in common with the front line soldiers than differences.

Simmons’s extensive research gives us a more complete picture of the war effort, bringing long-overdue appreciation for the men and women whose everyday tasks, unexpected acts of sacrifice, and faith and humor contributed mightily to the ultimate outcome of World War II.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1606353981, 1606353985, B085J29NBL

Book Format(s): Hard cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—History

Number of Pages: 240


The Cotillion Brigade by Glen Craney

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review
The Cotillion Brigade by Glen Graney is a historical fiction novel about the Civil War, based on two people who came to prominence during the war. The book begins in 1856, well before the war starts, but during the time when political unrest was seething. Readers will recognize, in the dialogue and actions of the main characters, many of the issues that led to the secession of eleven Southern states. The author concurrently develops the two main characters, whose fate is intertwined at a critical point in history, April 1865. 

Nannie is a frivolous self-centered Southern girl, intent on catching a husband. Hugh LaGrange is a Wisconsin farmer who has been manipulated into becoming a reluctant abolitionist. Time elapses and events unfold to reveal how Nannie Colquitt becomes a mature, gracious, and intelligent woman who forms a “brigade” of Southern women intent on defending their homes, since all able-bodied men of their town have enlisted or been conscripted. Meanwhile Hugh is mentored to become an intellectual and fearless cavalry officer … fearless, that is, until faced by Nannie’s company of women who are disciplined, trained, and drilled.

The Civil War produced great examples of perseverance and sacrifice as well as examples of greed and excess, with both ends of the spectrum explored in the book. The simultaneous development of a Northerner and a Southerner allowed for two diametrically opposed point-of-view characters to demonstrate the nuances of the two divergent political views, allowing for an even-handed treatment of the war. Evidence of meticulous research abounded. 

The style of writing, using expressions, vocabulary, and sentence structure consistent with the era, allows the reader to enter a slower paced world. I occasionally had to look up unfamiliar or archaic words. If anything, this enhanced the read, allowing me to read more contemplatively. In addition, the written word allows readers to envision events, entering the creative endeavor alongside the author. Of note, I found that the scene with the train bringing the wounded to LaGrange, Georgia, to be more powerful than a similar movie scene in Gone with the Wind.  It is historical fiction at its best: solid research combined with great storytelling. 

Review by Betsy Beard

 

Author's Synopsis
Georgia burns. Sherman’s Yankees are closing in. Will the women of LaGrange run or fight? Based on the true story of the celebrated Nancy Hart Rifles, The Cotillion Brigade is a sweeping epic of the Civil War’s ravages on family and love, the resilient bonds of sisterhood amid devastation, and the miracle of reconciliation between bitter enemies.

1856. Sixteen-year-old Nannie Colquitt Hill makes her debut in the antebellum society of the Chattahoochee River plantations. A thousand miles to the north, a Wisconsin farm boy, Hugh LaGrange, joins an Abolitionist crusade to ban slavery in Bleeding Kansas. Five years later, secession and total war against the homefronts of Dixie hurl them toward a confrontation unrivaled in American history.

Nannie defies the traditions of Southern gentility by forming a women’s militia and drilling it four long years to prepare for battle. With their men dead, wounded, or retreating with the Confederate armies, only Captain Nannie and her Fighting Nancies stand between their beloved homes and the Yankee torches.

Hardened into a slashing Union cavalry colonel, Hugh duels Rebel generals Joseph Wheeler and Nathan Bedford Forrest across Tennessee and Alabama. As the war churns to a bloody climax, he is ordered to drive a burning stake deep into the heart of the Confederacy. 

Yet one Georgia town—which by mocking coincidence bears Hugh’s last name—stands defiant in his path. Read the remarkable story of the Southern women who formed America’s most famous female militia and the Union officer whose life they changed forever.

ISBN/ASIN: 9780996154116, 9780996154123, B08XJ4Z3DM

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook, Audiobook

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 399


A Scribe Dies In Brooklyn by Marvin Wolf

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review
A Scribe Dies in Brooklyn by Marvin J. Wolf is the second in a series whose lead character is Rabbi Ben, aptly described in the text as “not your bubbe’s rebbe,” a Jewish paladin, and a rabbi knight errant. This well-written mystery contains a lot of history, which does not affect the flow of the story.

The book begins with a clue, set in 2007, that relates to the title of the book. A hint in Chapter One gives some insight into Rabbi Ben’s personal life. Chapter Two begins the complex story of Ben’s hunt for missing invaluable papers. The last page relates clearly to the prologue and the intriguing world of geopolitics.

Review by Nancy Kauffman (May 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
Lured to a clandestine meeting with the President of Israel, Rabbi Ben Maimon is asked to find the long-missing third of the Aleppo Codex, the oldest and most authoritative copy of the Hebrew Bible—more than 1,000 years old and rivaled in historical importance only by the Dead Sea Scrolls. Intact until the 1947 sacking of the Great Synagogue of Aleppo, Syria, its surviving pages are now in the Hebrew Museum in Jerusalem. But Ben is told that the missing pages have reportedly surfaced in Brooklyn’s Syrian Jewish community, only to vanish again. It’s a job that only Ben can handle.

Plunging into an ingrown and quasi-medieval culture, Ben learns that others seek the Codex, and they don’t play nice. His guide to all things Aleppo-On-Gravesend Bay is Miryam Benkamel, the sassy, sexy, and smart grand-niece of the late and increasingly mysterious man rumored to have smuggled the missing Codex pages out of Syria. Ben must dig deep in his black fedora for tricks to outsmart those who want the pages for themselves. Sparks fly as Ben and Miryam work together to solve the decades-old mystery, and Rabbi Ben feels the heat...in more ways than one.

ISBN/ASIN: B01MYH1990, 978-0989960021

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller

Number of Pages: 432


The Silver Waterfall: A Novel of the Battle of Midway by Kevin Miller

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review
The World War II battle for Midway Island is a classic war event told repeatedly since, with variations based on previously unknown or overlooked information. The story is so powerful and consequential that it appears in books, a movie, and now as a fictionalized account in Keven Miller’s, The Silver Waterfall. The author brings alive actual participants, both American and Japanese, in a fast-pace, action-packed version where aircrewmen to admirals, from both sides, expose their personal feelings in this deadly battle between ships and airplanes. Senior officers, some now famous, playing the life and death chess game come alive on the pages through author-imposed conversations as they endeavor to execute their next move based on questionable or missing vital information as the battle progresses over a critical three days.

Miller’s fictionalizing of the real participants brings crewmembers and leaders alive by revealing accounts of their emotions and reactions to events. Aircrewmen, innocent yet to death, expressed their sudden shock at witnessing friends’ instant, mid-air deaths. Leaders withholding depression from the loss of entire aircraft squadrons and eventually aircraft carriers, were exposed through their fictional thoughts. Rapid pace delivery in writing style arouses an intensity and page-turning urge. Captain Miller, USN (Ret), with his years as a naval aviator flying combat aircraft from carriers, in command, and on command staffs, brings cockpit and command reality to his characters. His further association with the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation allowed him access not only to rare documents, but individuals knowledgeable with the battle’s history.

The addition of maps, for readers not familiar with the battle, could make the verbally described movements of both task forces and aircraft divisions more clearly understood. Dive bombing by a squadron of SBD Dauntless was described as a “silver waterfall” as the individual aircraft, three seconds apart, screamed nearly straight down at 240 knots toward the vulnerable ship-target, changing the course of war.

Review by Tom Beard (May 2021)

 

Author's Synopsis
In the desolate middle of the largest ocean on earth, two great navies met, one bent on conclusive battle, the other lying in ambush. 

Six months after Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto again crossed the Pacific with the most powerful naval armada the world had ever seen, this time to finish the job. Nimitz waited for him with what he had, placed exactly where he needed it.

Both admirals depended on their fliers, some veterans of battle, others raw and unproven. Striking first meant decisive victory.

The Silver Waterfall is a factual historic fiction novel of Midway told by today's master of carrier aviation fiction about the men who fought in one of the most pivotal and epic naval battles in world history.

ISBN/ASIN: B087WRXHZC, B08CS34W9V, 978-1640621145, 978-1640621152

Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, Kindle, Audiobook

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 325


Not For God and Country by William Murphy

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review
In his book, Not for God or Country, author William Murphy gives us a good look back at the war in Vietnam. Murphy does a good job in mixing his own personal experiences as a marine in the conflict (1968) along with a history lesson. Summarizing the brief history of the country of Viet Nam after WWII, the author provides insight into the French attempts to maintain control of the country and America’s subsequent attempt to keep South Vietnam an independent, democratic nation.

Murphy writes from a marine's perspective, reflecting how combat affected him and other soldiers. He describes what life was like: the hardships, the fears, the changes one had to make to adapt and survive. He tells what it was like coming home to an environment where it was best not to advertise that you served, and the painfully slow process the country went through before honoring those who returned. The book discusses the peace accords, the return of the POWs, and the never-ending search for those still missing. This is a good book that anyone interested in the war in Vietnam or military history in general should enjoy.

Review by Bob Doerr (May 2021)

 

Author's Synopsis
A true and definitive full story of the Vietnam War, written by an ex-Marine Grunt from a grunt's perspective. But unlike most books about Vietnam it tells the full story - from decisions made in 1945 and for the next twenty years, which led to the war that nobody wanted. It tells the history of the war, and the gritty reality of jungle combat fighting in impossible conditions against formidable foes. The story continues through the postwar period and the circumstances faced by returning vets in a nation that just wanted to forget and move on, and cared little.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-64663-273-2

Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—History

Number of Pages: 272