Task Force Hogan by William R Hogan

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MWSA Review Pending

 

Author's Synopsis

At 28, Samuel Hogan was the youngest tank battalion commander during WWII. He was responsible for the lives, welfare and mission accomplishment of his 500 soldiers riding to battle on Sherman and Stuart tanks. With courage and compassion, he led his troops in some of the toughest battles of the European Theater. They were the only tank battalion in the path of both major German offensives in the West: Mortain and the Battle of the Bulge. For their actions at Mortain, the unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation in March 2020. As part of the mighty 3rd Armored Division, the Task Force was one of the first units into Belgium, first to cross into Germany since Napoleon, first to capture a major German city (Aachen), and participated in the longest single-day advance against enemy resistance in military history (90 miles). They are best known for their part in the Bulge, where they rode back from their advance positions in Germany to meet the enemy counteroffensive. Arriving with fuel tanks half-empty, they fought a skilled delaying action against numerically superior forces until they were surrounded by enemy infantry infiltrated through the woods. Refusing an enemy surrender ultimatum, the under-strength battalion continued to harass the Germans by calling artillery and direct fire from their hilltop redoubt at Marcouray. On Christmas Day, short of fuel, ammunition and medical supplies, they were ordered to destroy their equipment and make their way back to friendly lines on foot. This was successfully accomplished and by early January they were rearmed and participated in the elimination of "the bulge." A rip-roaring ride, this is a human story written as a nonfiction narrative, impeccably researched. Ride with Task Force Hogan!

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—History

Number of Pages: 320

Word Count: 95,000

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Sometimes Apart Always in My Heart by Tish Rabe

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Author's Synopsis

Sometimes Apart Always in My Heart- helping military families find love from far away was written by bestselling children's author Tish Rabe in partnership with United Through Reading, a nonprofit that helps service members around the world videotape themselves reading to their children then sends each child a copy of the book. The story follows the Bear Family, that is waiting at home while Daddy Bear is away on a military assignment. Everyone in the family is counting the days until Daddy comes safely home.

Format(s) for review: Paper Only

Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Picture Book

Number of Pages: 24

Word Count: 970 words

Shoulders to Stand On: Marine Corps Heroes from 1942 by LtCol David B, Brown, USMC (Ret.)

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Author's Synopsis

"Shoulders to Stand On: Marine Corps Heroes from 1942" takes a historic look at racism in the Marine Corps initially under the leadership of the Corps’ Commandant in WWII who stated in 1941, ‘It is my unwavering intention to tell the General Board up front that, if it ever was a question of having a Marine Corps of 5,000 Whites or 250,000 Negroes, I would rather have the Whites.’ ‘Shoulders’ tells the compelling stories of 18 Marines who become part of the heritage of Black Americans’ struggle for equality within the United States Marine Corps. The book focuses on male and female Black-American Marines from WWII to today, who successfully overcame racial challenges encountered in their youth and while on active duty in war and peace. These heroes rise to become general officers, US ambassadors, head of NASA, and co-writer of the US Fair Housing Act of 1968.”

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: History

Number of Pages: 364

Word Count: 93,414

A Church More Like Christ by Gray Rinehart

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Author's Synopsis

A church like Christ would

· Teach like Jesus

· Worship like Jesus

· Pray and live and love like Jesus

Is your church a force for good, a light in the darkness, an outpost of God's kingdom in the world? Do the wounded find comfort and healing in your church? Do the broken find repair and restoration? Do the vulnerable find help and hope? Does your church offer refuge for the oppressed, a hand up to the beaten-down, and recognition to the unseen? If so, this book may not be for you.

If not—if your church is divided against itself, or focused only on itself, or more judgmental than caring—it may be that the church is not as much like Christ as it could be. A Church More Like Christ can help you examine how Christlike your church is, and give you new ways to think about what it means for a church to live out the faith it practices.

If the church were quicker to comfort than to condemn, quicker to heal rather than harm, quicker to love than to hate, disparage, or ignore, perhaps it would be a greater source of inspiration, strength, and change in people's lives—and in the world. If so, it would be, in effect, more like Christ.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Other—Religious/Spiritual

Number of Pages: 116

Word Count: 30,000

F4U Corsair by Ernest M. Snowden

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Author's Synopsis

F4U Corsair is published by Naval Institute Press as the first aircraft history in a series they title Special Editions. Special Editions are designed to offer a deeper look at iconic naval aircraft using an image-heavy, magazine-style format in a coffee table book layout. Special Editions are intended to appeal to scholars, enthusiasts, and general readers alike.  

Rarely is an aircraft design so inspired that it brings forth near-universal recognition and acclaim. In more than 110 years of naval aviation history and more than 50 years of Vought Corsairs in active-duty squadrons, one Corsair model, the F4U, stands alone. In that time, only a few naval aircraft have been acknowledged as game changers that singularly tipped the balance in air combat. The Vought F4U Corsair heads a short list of such aircraft by dint of its supremely efficient lines—a melding of the highly developed Double Wasp powerplant, the outsized Hydromatic propeller that it drove, and the finely tuned airframe that wrapped it.   

Navy and Marine Corps aviators held the Corsair in high esteem for its ruggedness, speed, and adaptability as a fighter and a bomber, long after its first appearance in the South Pacific during World War II, through the closing weeks of the Korean War. The Corsair’s potency made it sought after by allied air forces long after its final days in U.S. inventory, rendering vital service in French livery at Dien Bien Phu and, finally, with South American air forces in the so-called  “Soccer War” of the late 1960s.  Here is the complete history of this storied aircraft, from early design through the legendary dogfights of Maj. Gregory “Pappy” Boyington’s Black Sheep Squadron over the Pacific, and in operations in Korea.

Format(s) for review: Paper Only

Review Genre: Artistic—Pictorial/Coffee Table

Number of Pages: 126

Word Count: 40,000