Task Force Hogan by William R Hogan

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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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Around the World in 80 Years by Jasmine Tritten and Jim Tritten

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Author's Synopsis

This book contains selected stories inspired by my travels worldwide and some of the two hundred thirty trips I have taken with my husband, Jim, during the last thirty-five years. I developed my interest in other cultures and languages as a little girl growing up in Denmark. Geography and English were my favorite subjects. I traveled with my parents around Europe and learned to speak five languages, Danish, English, German, French, and Swedish, in school. My thirst for travel and adventure escalated with age and continued throughout my life. Join Jasmine and Jim as they recount some of their travels and adventures during their journey Around the World in 80 Years.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 399

Word Count: 55,323

Chloe the "Military Brat" by A.L. Zeine

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Author's Synopsis

Life isn’t easy for any eleven-year-old, but when your mom is an active-duty Army officer and your parents are divorced, it becomes so much worse. Chloe has had to move three times already and is devastated to learn it will happen again, forcing her to leave behind yet another best friend. Can their friendship survive this world-ending news? And how will Chloe explain to her parents just how hard it is being a military brat? So far, she’s only been able to pour her feelings into her journal. Life isn’t looking too great, then she gets some surprising, yet bittersweet news. This first installment in a new series follows Chloe as she tries to navigate her conflicting love and anger for her parents and ongoing struggles to maintain friendships throughout moves. Filled with the typical mix of fun and angst of tween daily life but set against the background of Chloe’s life as a military brat, readers are sure to find this a different, yet engaging tween series.

The Cul-de-sac Kids Chapter Book Series was designed to show Military Brats they are not alone. Every book in the series will follow Chloe and her friends as they work their way through the challenges all Military brats face.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Middle Grade Chapter Book

Number of Pages: 98

Word Count: 15,612

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

Smoke on the Water by Jack Bartley

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Author's Synopsis

May 1971. Jason Conley, a recent college graduate, finds himself about to pay the price for his free university education. He could not afford college, so he had applied for and was awarded an NROTC scholarship. The scholarship had strings attached; he now owed the Navy four years of service. Not wanting to be engulfed in the Vietnam war, he devises a scenario in which he would serve on a ship converted to be an oceanographic research support vessel in Hawaii, thousands of miles from the battle zone. A brilliant plan, if it worked.

It did. Then, it didn’t. 

Through a series of events and miscues, some of his own making and some out of his control, Jason fails to negotiate life on board his first ship and is transferred to a new command, a ship that deploys on a WestPac tour to Vietnam the day he sets foot on board. He now faces new challenges. How does he avoid the same mistakes he made on the first ship? How does he reconcile his feelings about the Vietnam war while at the same time directing a destroyer escort on the gunline supporting U.S. and South Vietnamese troops? How does he stay alive?

“Smoke on the Water” is based on real life events. It is a coming-of-age tale that occurs in less than four years’ time, spanning events from the East Coast to Hawaii to Southeast Asia. It encompasses journeys and adventures in foreign lands, loves found and lost, humorous situations, and a maturation process within one man compressed in the pressure cooker of an unpopular war.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 316

Word Count: 96,000

Downriver: Memoir of a Warrior Poet by Ryan McDermott

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Author's Synopsis

A leader forged in combat. A soul tested by loss. A journey back to what matters most. Downriver: Memoir of a Warrior Poet follows Ryan McDermott from the front lines of the 2003 Iraq invasion-where he led an armored platoon into Baghdad under fire-to the heart of the 2008 financial crisis on Wall Street. In gripping, fast-paced scenes, McDermott reveals the intensity of modern warfare, the weight of leadership, and the hidden battles that follow soldiers home. But this isn't just a war story. It's about what happens after the mission-when the uniforms are packed away, the adrenaline fades, and a man is left to face the fractures within. As McDermott confronts the collapse of his marriage, the burden of trauma, and the search for meaning beyond achievement, he shares a deeply personal story of rebuilding, resilience, and redemption. Interwoven with battlefield-born poetry and raw reflection, Downriver is a memoir for anyone who has fought for their identity-on the battlefield or in their own life. It speaks to veterans, families, and readers who understand that the hardest part of war is often coming home.

Format(s) for review: Paper Only

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 294

Word Count: 80000

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

War Is Hell: The Rise of Total War from Napoleon to the Present by Daniel E. Long

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Author's Synopsis

From Napoleon to nuclear war, War Is Hell unravels the brutal rise of total war and its devastating impact on soldiers and civilians alike.

General William Tecumseh Sherman said it best during the American Civil War: “War is hell” – for soldiers as well as for civilians.  As a pioneer and practitioner of total war, Sherman knew better than most what warfare had become by the middle of the nineteenth century, how it had become a devastating, all-consuming affair that aimed not only at armies, but also at societies and economies in order to undermine a country’s will to fight. Indeed, this is the central story of warfare during the past two hundred years, from Napoleon’s massive armies tearing through Europe and Sherman’s march through Georgia to the fire bombings of World War II and the threat of nuclear annihilation.

In War Is Hell, Daniel Long tracks the rise of total war across two centuries of bloody warfare and pays special attention to the impact on civilians as they become more deeply enmeshed in armed conflict and as war becomes ever more lethal. Total war rose from roots in ancient times but gained speed as the world industrialized at the beginning of the nineteenth century.  It is the story of Napoleon and Sherman, the Indian Wars on the American Plains, the Rape of Belgium in World War I and the Rape of Nanking in 1937, and the bombings of Japanese and German cities during World War II. In the years since 1945, large-scale war has declined, but the small wars that have proliferated in its place have enmeshed civilians just as thoroughly, just as devastatingly.  Vietnam, Cambodia, the Iran-Iraq War, Bosnia and Kosovo, Rwanda, and Ukraine remind us that warfare remains total, the human cost high.
 
War Is Hell is essential reading for understanding the past as well as a present.

Elements of War by Gray Rinehart

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Author's Synopsis

ELEMENTS OF WAR examines war and warfare in ways that challenge some of the most deeply held conceptions of armed conflict.

War involves myriad violent actions against often intractable foes, across varied and difficult environments, in pursuit of broad strategic aims, making it perhaps the most complex and consequential of all human activities. This volume presents nontraditional and even innovative ways of thinking about war and its constituent elements, and suggests that we may comprehend war better if we study it through the lens of theory of knowledge.

Is it possible to understand war in its totality? Perhaps not, but it does us well to try--even if we never approach any sort of unified theory to guide our strategic and tactical aims.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—History

Number of Pages: 357

Word Count: 85,000

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

Berkshire Heroes in WWII-With Courage and Honor by Dennis G. Pregent

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Author's Synopsis

Berkshire Heroes in WWII- With Courage and Honor chronicles the harrowing stories of twenty-eight men and women who endured some of World War II's most dire conditions. They served from Africa to Sicily, over the Himalayas, and across the vast expanse of the Pacific and found themselves in the consequential battles of Normandy, the Bulge, Okinawa, and Peleliu.

The reader will meet a paratrooper, a PT boat radioman, combat nurses, bombardiers, artillerymen, a tail gunner, and others.

The book is a testimony to the uncommon valor of ordinary men and women who answered their country's call.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—History

Number of Pages: 392

Word Count: 104,000

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

Murder Comes Home by Rosalie Spielman

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Author's Synopsis

Army retiree Tessa Treslow is as excited as the other residents of New Oslo, Idaho, when the cast and crew of the TV show Picks with Ricks comes to town! Tessa and her Aunt Edna put their car restoration business on hold to let the celebrity antique hunters pick through their old garage, hoping the trash contains a treasure that will help fund their new business. But it turns out that the pickers come with TV cameras, likeable stars, a stressed-out producer—and a murderer!

The show’s lead makes an insistent offer on one of Aunt Edna’s renovation projects and won’t take no for an answer. And when Tessa finds the show's cameraman dead in the restored 1965 Mustang, Tessa knows murder has come home yet again. And the mystery takes a very personal turn when the dead man is found with an antique inscribed pocket watch connected to the former owners of Aunt Edna's farmhouse. As Tessa digs into the history surrounding the pocket watch and the relationships of the TV crew, shocking details—both old and new—arise. Will Tessa be able to catch a killer...before they return for a repeat performance?

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller/Crime

Number of Pages: 283

Word Count: 76,000

In Harm's Way by Thomas W. Wing

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Author's Synopsis

The man who fights for his family is far more dangerous than the one who fights for his king.

Colonial sea captain Jonas Hawke returns home to Norfolk after a year-long voyage only to have his ship and its valuable cargo seized by the British Royal Navy. As the royal governor further tightens the noose on trade, Jonas is thrust into the chaos of a growing rebellion. Desperate to support his family, he sets out to find work. When he is denied a commission with the newly formed Continental Navy, he outfits his own vessel as a private ship-of-war and voyages to the Caribbean in search of enemy merchant ships he can capture and friends he can trust.

But dangers multiply on the unforgiving sea. The Royal Navy reacts mercilessly to the threat posed by privateers like Jonas. How will Jonas fare now that he has boldly defied the king of Britain to preserve his family? And what will happen to his loved ones while he is away, engulfed in a war to oppose tyranny in the name of freedom?

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction

Number of Pages: 324

Word Count: 95000

Inshallah (God Willing) by Dana Catoe

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Author's Synopsis

Chaos and hope collide in this unforgettable book on the horrors of war, cultural tensions, and the development of a fledgling democracy during Bush-era Iraq. Authored by Interim Iraqi Head of Security Dana Catoe.

Step inside a tumultuous era of global history in this powerful memoir where Iraq’s former head of security, tells the true story of the Iraq War. As a pivotal player in Iraq’s interim democratic government from its inception in 2003 through the nation’s first free elections, Dana Catoe was tasked with protecting government officials, Iraqi employees, and civilians during a time of terror attacks and raging conflict. Catoe provides a rare, unfiltered perspective on the challenges of rebuilding a nation in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion.

Catoe draws on an extensive military background as a U.S. Marine, exposing us to the daily realities of life in the upper echelons of a provisional government—a perspective few have been privileged to experience. Beyond the halls of government, he also shares the struggles of ordinary Iraqi citizens caught in the tumult of change, terror threats, and political upheaval.

With vivid storytelling and an insider’s view on Bush-era Iraq, Inshallah: (God Willing) is a book of tremendous importance for history, offering a one-of-a-kind, behind-the-scenes look at the successes and failures of America’s intervention in the Middle East. For fans of military memoirs, political history, and stories of human courage, or for students studying this defining era of world history, it is a can’t-miss. Both harrowing and inspiring, Catoe’s story illuminates the complexities of global conflict, the painful realities of war, and the fragile hope of democracy.

Format(s) for review: Paper or Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 200

Word Count: 48,000

Chasing Money: A Marty and Bo Thriller by Michael Balter

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Author's Synopsis

Most investor pitch meetings don’t end in murder - but then Marty and Bo haven’t had a lot of luck lately. They’ve been struggling to keep their startup business alive. It’s not high-tech, it’s not highly successful and the pressure to find capital has strained their bank accounts and Marty’s marriage.

So when Nico Scava offered to invest they eagerly accepted. He had money, connections in the art world, and a creative idea, but maybe they should have asked more questions. Now Nico’s dead and they’re on the hook for whatever scheme he was running. The Russian mob is after them, and if they don’t find $10 million and a mysterious missing painting in the next few days they’ll be dead too.

Their frantic chase will lead them from a cabin in the Oregon woods to a Portland strip club, from an aging artist to a bogus baron, and deep into the history of a missing masterpiece that someone is willing to kill to obtain. As the bodies pile up, Marty and Bo will have some tough choices to make about how far they’ll go to protect their families, their company, and themselves.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller/Crime

Number of Pages: 286

Word Count: 79000

Keeping it Lively: The Hunt for Edie Lama by Michael Lund

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Author's Synopsis

In 2015 Vietnam Army veteran Thomas Bragg wrote in his memoirs about the death of his friend and fellow platoon member, Eddie Lama, in South Vietnam. This was a project he’d always hoped to complete; but he had to wait for retirement to find the time. And the story didn’t stop there: two and a half years after he completed his memoir, his platoon leader from 50 years earlier sought him out, saying that he had visited the grave of their fallen comrade. That led to connections with the Lama family in Mundelein, Illinois, a moving unit reunion, and this revised edition of Keeping it Lively: The Hunt for Eddie Lama.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 55

Word Count: 8263

Nothing Here Worth Dying For: Task Force Lion in Iraq by Col Seth W.B. Folsom, USMC (Ret)

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Author's Synopsis

In this sharp, challenging memoir, Col Seth Folsom lays bare the complexities of modern military combat advisor missions at the twilight of America’s longest war. "Nothing Here Worth Dying For" tells the story of his command of Task Force Lion — a “purpose-built” combat advisor team — and his frenetic 2017 deployment to Iraq’s Al Anbar Province. Charged with the daunting task of advising, assisting, and enabling the Iraqi Security Forces in their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Folsom and his team of Marines and sailors struggled to support their Iraqi partners in the Jazeera Operations Command while simultaneously grappling with their own leadership for their relevance on the battlefield.

 "Nothing Here Worth Dying For" is the jarring coda to Folsom’s nearly thirty years in uniform — the last twenty of which he spent deploying to the long war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Far from a jingoistic tale that celebrates Corps and Country, this work challenges many of the popular assumptions about military command, leadership, loyalty, and teamwork.

As with the author’s previous books, "Nothing Here Worth Dying For" focuses on individual Marine actions at the tactical and operational levels while also addressing regional events that contributed to the overall narrative of the U.S. war in Iraq. Folsom describes his unpopular decision to prioritize his team members and their mission to support the Iraqi army above the desires of his own military service branch. As the final operation against ISIS in western Al Anbar gained steam, he questioned the wisdom of the military leadership to which he had dedicated his entire adult life. Despite his disillusionment, he committed himself to the men and women under his command who fought against the odds to accomplish a crucial mission. At its core, this is a story about teamwork and the bonds that develop when men and women risk their lives and reputations together. As the United States struggles once more to extricate itself from Iraq, this book will be a timely addition to the existing body of work about the war.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography

Number of Pages: 336

Word Count: 100,795

The Very Last War by WH Hawthorne

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Author's Synopsis

#1 Amazon Bestseller, Political Fiction

A pivotal election revives freedom and self-governance in America, sending shockwaves across the globe and rattling four rival powers—European socialists, Chinese communists, Islamic radicals, and avaricious Russian leaders.

With dreams of world domination fading, they set aside differences and forge an alliance. Not to simply defeat America, but—with the help of a devastating new weapon—to erase it from the earth.

Outnumbered and alone, America answers with its own revolutionary weapon. But machines, no matter how intelligent, won’t be enough. Once again, survival will depend on something older. Something deeper.

The unbreakable American spirit.

In dimly lit halls of power, shadowy intrigues unfold. On sunlit battlefields, selfless heroism burns bright. Across North America, war rages from the frozen tundra of Alaska to the red clay of Alabama, from the mountains of Montana to the scorching deserts of Mexico.

If America falls, the free world falls with her.

A great generation will be needed. But can America still produce greatness?

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller/Crime

Number of Pages: 543

Word Count: 153,790

Note: Audiobook version coming out by April 2025

Unknowable Minds: Philosophical Insights on AI and Autonomous Weapons by Mark Bailey

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MWSA Review

Unknowable Minds: Philosophical Insights on AI and Autonomous Weapons is written by Mark Bailey. Although the author has chosen not to list his academic credentials, he describes himself as an academic researcher who explores the impact of technology on national security at a university that serves the United States Intelligence Community. This is an academic piece written “to help people who may not be AI practitioners better understand how AI works and the risks that AI poses from a complex system perspective.” (P 15)

With extensive endnotes and bibliography, Bailey expresses his concerns through AI theory, philosophy, and mathematics, focusing on large-scale national security implications of AI. He clearly explains the differences between fully autonomous (no human intervention) and semi autonomous systems, with the latter broken further into those with a human IN the loop and those with a supervisor who can intervene, known as being ON the loop. A human in the loop is a gatekeeper who must make a positive decision in order for the system to act. Bailey then applies these lessons to warfare and global dynamics.

He has a simple message: It’s impossible to know how advanced autonomous AI will make decisions, and it’s unlikely to make decisions that humans would make. Therefore, we should “abandon our inclination to seek greater technology simply for its own sake, as well as our tendency to succumb to the pressures of global competition.” (p 155)

Review by Nancy Kauffman (April 2025)

 

Author's Synopsis

Imagine that in the cold heart of a secret military facility, a new form of intelligence awakens. It is a synthetic mind born from intricate algorithms and complex computations, operating in ways unfathomable to its human creators. Charged with safeguarding national security, this intelligence orchestrates strategies that defy human ethics and laws of war, leaving its creators both awed and unnerved. Unknowable Minds delves into the unsettling reality of entrusting our safety to an intelligence that lacks human essence. As we navigate the Age of Artificial Intelligence, these systems - powering everything from our smartphones to military defenses - remain inherently opaque and unpredictable. The book explores how AI differs from any technology we've ever developed, its inherent complexities, and the profound risks it poses to our future. Drawing on philosophy, AI theory, and national security insights, this book offers a thought-provoking examination of AI's potential and peril. From the complexities of neural networks to the unpredictable nature of emergent behaviors, Unknowable Minds challenges us to rethink our relationship with AI and its role in the theater of global security. Can we control an unknowable intellect, or will it redefine human existence? As we stand on the precipice of unprecedented technological advancement, understanding and navigating the unknowable minds of artificial intelligences become a quest fraught with extraordinary challenges and existential questions.

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—Reference

Number of Pages: 236

Word Count: 50,000