Military History Books

Project Terminated

Book Review – Project Terminated: Famous Military Aircraft Cancellations of the Cold War and What Might Have Been By Erik Simonsen; Foreward by Walter J. Boyne; Crecy Publishing; Hardcover; 160 pages

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Two huge, sleek, breathtaking Avro CF-105 Arrow interceptors are on the prowl over the western United States. One is a visitor from north of the border where the futuristic fighter …

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Mussolini reviewing the crew of the battleship Littorio in Taranto, June 21, 1942. Istituto Luce, Rome photo

Book Review – Mussolini’s Navy Mussolini’s Navy: A Reference Guide to the Regia Marina 1930-1945, by Maurizio Brescia; Naval Institute Press; 256 pages.

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Long the butt of ignorant jokes, the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) of World War II had capable professional officers, gallant sailors, and beautiful fast ships designed by gifted engineers. …

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USS Litchfield, Smyrna

Book Review – America’s Black Sea Fleet America’s Black Sea Fleet: The U.S. Navy Amidst War and Revolution, 1919-1923, by Robert Shenk; Naval Institute Press; 400 pages

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In the aftermath of World War I, a U.S. Navy squadron, “America’s Black Sea Fleet,” was forward-deployed to the Turkish Straits in the midst of wars, famines, epidemics, ethnic cleansings, …

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Dugout Doug

Book Review – The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today by Thomas E. Ricks; Penguin Press; Hardcover; 576 pages

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In his study of American generals from World War II on, The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today, Thomas E. Ricks delves into what he sees …

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Airship: Design, Development and Disaster Cover Detail

Book Review – Airship: Design, Development and Disaster Airship: Design, Development and Disaster, by John Swinfield; Naval Institute Press; 336 pages.

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Elegant, glamorous and doomed, the romantic appeal of the airship is hard to resist.  Everyone knows the tragic saga of Germany’s Zeppelins – Hindenburg, like RMS Titanic, is a common …

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Operation KE Cover Detail

Book Review – Operation KE Operation KE: The Cactus Air Force and the Japanese Withdrawal from Guadalcanal, by Roger and Dennis Letourneau; Naval Institute Press; 416 pages.

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Operation KE was the Jan. 14-Feb. 7, 1943 withdrawal of 10,600 defeated, starving Japanese soldiers of the battered 17th Army from Guadalcanal near the end of the Solomon Islands campaign …

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Chance Vought F7U-1 Cutlass

Book Review – Chance Vought F7U-1 Cutlass Chance Vought F7U-1 Cutlass, by Tommy H. Thomason; Ginter Books; 128 pages.

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Nowadays, most fighters have twin engines and tail fins. When these features were introduced on the U. S. Navy’s F7U-1 Cutlass fighter of the late 1940s and early 1950s, they …

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A 499th Bombardment Group B-29 over Mount Fuji in 1945. U.S. Air Force photo

Book Review – Mission to Tokyo: The American Airmen Who Took the War to the Heart of Japan by Robert F. Dorr; Minneapolis, Minn.; Zenith Press, 2012; Hardcover, 336 Pages; Illustrated; $30.00

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With Mission to Tokyo, Robert F. Dorr once again has created a multi-dimensional, multi-layered approach to telling a story of tremendous importance. He lures you into the story step by …

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Cover detail of Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of K-129, by Norman Polmar and Michael White

Book Review – Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of K-129 by Norman Polmar and Michael White; Naval Institute Press; ISBN/SKU 978-1-59114-668-1; Paperback; 264 pages; $18.95

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On March 8, 1968, a Soviet missile submarine, the Project 628/Golf II-class K-129, suffered a series of internal explosions and sank in the North Pacific, with the loss of all …

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Joseph T. O'Callahan gives last rites aboard USS Franklin 19 March 1945

Book Review – Saving Big Ben: The USS Franklin and Father Joseph T. O’Callahan By John R. Satterfield; Hardcover; U.S. Naval Institute Press; 208 pages; $34.95

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The bombing, torching, and ultimate salvation of the aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV 13) and her crew is one of the great survival sagas of World War II and was …

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