Stormchasers
By David Toomey. W.W. Norton and Co. ISBN 0-393-02000-2.

On the morning of Sept. 26, 1955, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Grover Windham Jr. and his crew took off in a Navy P2V Neptune patrol plane from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to fly a "Hurricane Hunter" mission into Hurricane Janet, a huge storm covering the central Caribbean. The plane and its crew were never seen again.

Stormchasers is author David Toomey's second book, after Amelia Earhart's Daughters (William Morrow, 1998). In Stormchasers, he describes Windham's fateful mission while offering a detailed history of hurricane dynamics, meteorology, and the development of forecasting techniques. The style and format of this book parallels Sebastian Junger's blockbuster storm story, The Perfect Storm (W.W. Norton, 2000).

Hurricane Janet was the 10th hurricane of 1955, a period the author calls "the worst hurricane season of the century." Janet was 225 miles wide, packing winds exceeding 140 mph and pushing waves 50 feet to 70 feet high. As Toomey relates, in the 1950s hurricane forecasting involved some science, a few instruments, and a lot of guesswork. Planes called Hurricane Hunters would fly into a storm to take measurements used in forecasting storm strength, direction, and intensity.

Windham and his crew were part of a weather reconnaissance squadron based at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla. They figured this would be just another long, bumpy, 11-hour flight. Their last radio transmission indicated no trouble, just that they were "beginning penetration" of the hurricane. Toomey pieces together the crew's last days, including their training and preparation for the mission, and offers several speculative accounts of what might have happened during that last flight.

Much of Toomey's weather account is filled with complex scientific theories and laws, but once past the technical jargon, the reader will find detailed explanations of how hurricanes are formed, how they behave, and why people are driven to risk their lives to learn more about them.

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943
By Rick Atkinson. Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 0-8050-6288-2.

The campaign in North Africa in 1942-43 was the first large-scale Allied offensive effort in World War II. It also was the first blooding of the U.S. Army against the Germans, and it presaged how America would fight the war in Europe.

Rick Atkinson's An Army at Dawn is a well-presented critical history of "the place where the United States began to act like a great power - militarily, diplomatically, strategically, tactically." North Africa is where Germany lost its war initiative, where Britain became a junior partner in war, and where the U.S. Army finally grew up.

Atkinson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who writes history with a researcher's accuracy and a novelist's flair. He has written two other nonfiction books, The Long Gray Line (Owl Books, 1999) and Crusade (Mariner Books, 1994). An Army at Dawn is the first volume in his "Liberation Trilogy" on World War II.

By 1942, the Allies needed to attack the Axis somewhere to relieve pressure on the Russian front and to demonstrate that Allied forces could fight. French Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia would be the battlegrounds, but the Allies first had to deal with the Vichy French, and no one knew if they would fight or capitulate. Then there were the Germans and Italians, waiting under command of German Gen. Erwin Rommel.

Atkinson dramatically describes the political and military decisions for the invasion of North Africa and the concern about how a green, untested U.S. Army would fare against Rommel's veterans. He also introduces the leaders who would experience victory and defeat as they learned about modern warfare the hard way - men like Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Clark, and Montgomery.

As it turned out, the French did fight the Americans and British in Morocco and Algeria, creating a bloody mess of coalition warfare and sowing seeds of betrayal and mistrust. However, the real test of arms came when the Americans met the Germans in the harsh, forbidding terrain and climate of Tunisia. American optimism and enthusiasm were demolished in debacles at Sidi bou Zid, Sened Station, and Kasserine Pass.

Despite bickering among the Allies, petty jealousies among U.S. commanders, and an amateur-hour attitude toward leadership, tactics, and logistics, the Americans finally began to learn the hard lessons of combined arms, amphibious, mountain, desert, and urban warfare. As Atkinson vividly relates, American soldiers will take only so much knocking about before they learn to pound the enemy even harder. By the end of the North African campaign, the U.S. Army was ready for the land war in Europe.

Atkinson also describes why the U.S. Army needed six tons of nylon stockings, how a platoon armed with pencils influenced the Moroccan landings, why an ammunition ship was crewed by convicted felons, and how Gen. Mark Clark lost his trousers.

This is an epic tale, exciting and colorful, and it offers vivid insight into a seldom-discussed theater of World War II.

—Reviews by William D. Bushnell

Member Books

Non-Fiction

Friends & Foes: A Simplified Narrative of the Civil War. By CW2 Earl W. Thompson, USAR-Ret.
A study in duty, honor, and country, as seen and acted on by participants from both sides of the American Civil War. Ironic friendships between foes and disruptive personal conflicts among comrades highlight the effects of personality and individual traits on grand strategy in this simplified narrative of the Civil War. The story of this American tragedy is told in a reader-friendly format that focuses on the lives of nine Union generals and nine Confederate generals.
Infinity Publishing.Com. 519 West Lancaster Street, Haverford, PA 19041. (877) 289-2665. www.buybooksontheweb.com. ISBN 0-7414-1173-3. 621 pp. $41.45 postpaid.

Gestapo USA: When Justice was Blindfolded. By Lt. Col. William E. Winterstein Sr., USA-Ret.
Winterstein chronicles the untold story of the German rocket scientists who came to the United States after World War II. Winterstein worked closely with a team of 118 German rocket scientists headed by Dr. Werhner von Braun and was a member of NASA's Apollo team that put a man on the moon in 1969. He writes that history has been "badly contaminated" regarding their contributions and presents evidence for quite another story.
Robert D. Reed Publishers. 750 La Playa Street, Suite 647, San Francisco, CA 94121. (650) 994-6570. www.rdpublishers.com. ISBN 1-931741-13-1. 268 pp. $25.95 plus postage.

Bombing the Death Railroad. By Capt. T. Bradley Hamlett, USAF-Ret.
This is the first person story of a boyhood dream of flying that came to realization in World War II. After years of training and support missions, Hamlett's ultimate target is the wooden bridge on the River Kwai. Hamlett has recorded his memories of the dramatic events leading up to and following this mission.
Hamlett Ranch Co., P.O. Box 47, Sun River, MT 59486. (406) 453-4455. ISBN 0-9723105-0-9. 120 pp. $21.45 plus postage.

Their War for Korea: American, Asian, and European Combatants and Civilians, 1945-53. By Col. Allan R. Millett, USMC-Ret.
Millett tells the story of the Korean War through the personal stories of the conflict's fighters and victims. The co-author of A War to Be Won (Harvard, 2000) and author of Semper Fidelis (Free Press, rev. ed., 1992), Millett has emerged as a leading scholar of the Korean War and played a key role in revising the DOD total U.S. deaths downward from 54,000 to 37,000 in 2000. This book, his sixth, is a prelude to a forthcoming comprehensive two-volume history of the war.
Brassey's Inc., 22841 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, VA 20166. (703) 661-1548. www.brasseysinc.com. ISBN 1-57488-434-4. 320 pp. $25.95 plus postage.

The Road to Rainbow: Army Planning for Global War, 1934-1940. By Col. Henry G. Gole, USA Ret.
Until now historians have generally accepted the interpretation that military planning for war with Germany and Japan began only after the events of 1939 threatened U.S. security. Gole counters this accepted historical wisdom with a forceful body of evidence indicating that the U.S. Army began planning for coalition warfare as early as 1934, and over the next three years even planned for a simultaneous two-ocean war with a Nazi confederation and Japan. Drawing on material uncovered at U.S. war colleges and the National Archives, Gole shows that the United States was prepared to mobilize for another world war long before it joined the Allied struggle against the Axis powers.
Naval Institute Press, 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21402-5034. (410) 295-1081. www.usni.org. ISBN 1-55750-409-1.

Yellow Smoke: The Future of Land Warfare for America's Military. By Maj. Gen. Robert H. Scales Jr., USA.
Scales draws upon his distinguished military career to provide the codification of a new and uniquely American way of fighting limited wars. Because war remains as much art as science, he shows what to expect if we substitute science and technology with the understanding of history and humanity. Through experiences in every active conflict since Korea, Scales describes and clarifies the nature and character of the limited war environment that the U.S. armed forces will face in coming decades. He identifies lessons and insights from our recent experience with limited wars to demonstrate how the past can tell us a great deal about the future.
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706. (301) 459-3366. www.rowmanlittlefield.com. ISBN 0-7425-1773-X. 280 pp. $24.95 plus postage.

Gemini Ship: The Story of the U.S.S. Doyen (APA-1) and its Civilian Calling as the Bay State. By Lt. Cmdr. Lawrence A. Marsden, USN.
During WWII, the U.S.S. Doyen (APA-1) voyaged more than 100,000 miles participating in many Pacific battles including bloody Saipan and Iwo Jima. Its crew and passengers were members of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and the Army. In retelling his first work, Attack Transport, Marsden captures what the men of the Doyen saw and felt from loneliness and boredom to the horror and waste of war. Avoiding the scrap yard after the war, the Doyen was resurrected to duty from 1957 through 1972. It served as training vessel, dormitory, classroom, and cruise ship for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, Mass. With a new crew, a new mission, and a new name, the Bay State now carried boisterous and carefree midshipmen who were a striking contrast to the crew of the Doyen, but many of their experiences ended up being quite similar. Revel in their stories as the Bay State carried them to the oceans of the world.
Infinity Publishing.Com, 519 West Lancaster Avenue, Haverford, PA 19041-1413. (877) 289-2665. www.buybooksontheweb.com. ISBN 0-7414-1096-6. 349 pp. $23.90.

Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution. By Col. Walter Edgar, USA.
In his latest book, Edgar gives a sweeping and authoritative narrative on what really happened in the south during the American Revolution between the years 1775 and 1782. He illustrates the fact that the Revolutionary War was also a Civil War in the South and the fight for freedom was not often clear. Many South Carolinians remained loyal to the King and became part of the Tory militia that helped wreak havoc on their own soil. Edgar's writing brings history to life and tells the dramatic story of South Carolina's pivotal role in America's fight for freedom.
Perennial, 10 East 53rd Street, NY, NY 10022-5299. (212) 207-7000. www.harpercollins.com. ISBN 0-380-80643-6. 224 pp. $12.95 plus postage.

Fiction

Profiles in Betrayal: The Enemy Within. By Maj. Gen. Chris Adams, USAF-Ret.
A sequel to his first novel, Red Eagle, Profiles in Betrayal: The Enemy Within carries the theme of Soviet secret police operations, spying, and espionage to a new level. Following the assassination of President Kennedy and the discovery that the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, had lived in the Soviet Union for three years prior to the murder, historical Soviet paranoia erupted. The main character of the story, "Sasha" Katsanov, is a highly trained and skilled Soviet GRU agent-spy who is once again sent back to the United States undercover to attempt to determine if Oswald was in fact under the influence of the KGB, other Soviet interests, or acted alone.
Writer's Showcase, 2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100, Lincoln, NE 68512. (877) 823-9235. www.iuniverse.com. ISBN 0-595-25277-X. 257 pp. $15.95 plus postage.

War Class: A Novel. By Col. Jack Cobb, USA-Ret.
The flames of war were lit in Europe. Brett Ashley, a young South Carolinian with an inherent respect for the military, and his roommate, Cal Sinclair, a laid-back Californian and his polar opposite, are called to war, forced to leave their new loves, Kit and Liz, behind. The time has come for The Military College Class of '44 - "The Class That Never Was" - to carry the battle to the heart of Northwestern Europe. This is a clear, crisp tale of fighting the war at the front, the love of women and the bonding of men.
Palmetto Bookworks, P.O. Box 2105, Lexington, SC 29071. ISBN 1-887301-18-6. 289 pp. $19.95 plus postage.

The Texas Tetrad. By Arthur F. Surovic
When they arrived in Texas in 1829, the Burketts had little inkling that they would have to protect their land grant against not only marauding Comanche and cattle rustlers but also from Santa Anna's invading Mexican Armies and eventually those of the United States. The four brothers in the family engage in a series of adventures that include defending their cattle and their scalps from Indians as young boys to serving in the defense of the Republic of Texas from Mexican invasion. Then news of Fort Sumter comes and all four brothers join the Confederate Army. Three of the brothers are captured at the Battle of Arkansas Post, and one dies while imprisoned in the North. Eventually, the surviving two rejoin their military unit and fight at Chickamunga and Chattanooga. Their valor and sacrifices were typical of the time and were the grist that assured the eventual preeminence of both Texas and the United States.
Fiction/Historical. $23.95. ISBN: 0-595-23585-9. 476 Pages. On Demand Printing Available from iUniverse, Inc, Amozon.com or Barnes & Nobel. To order call: (877) 823-9235 or www.iuniverse.com.

Memoirs

Flights Forgotten…and Remembered. By Lt. Col. Boardman C. Reed, USAF-Ret.
This is a story of a young man who became obsessed with flying and determined to become an aviator. He flew as many different types of aircraft as he could get his hands on, here in America and overseas as well. From the old stick and wire, open cockpit, fabric covered biplanes, to the flight decks of all metal monoplanes, he takes you along with him as he flies a replica of the 1912 type Curtiss Pusher, all the way to the Boeing B-50. After that, crop dusters, charters, fire-fighting planes, and finally his "baby", the 1928 Timm collegiate, a rare, open cockpit parasol.
Franklin Street Books, 6750 SW Franklin Street, Suite A, Portland, OR 97223. (530) 675-2807. www.flightsforgotten.com. ISBN 1-53299-002-9. 328 pp. $29.45 postpaid

The Old Ridge Runner 'Peers T' Me': A Time to Remember. By Lt. Cmdr. Herman R. Hebb, USN-Ret.
Reminisce with The Old Ridge Runner himself, as you read his ever-popular articles first printed in the Parsons Advocate, Parsons, W.V. This is the first time the entire collection of his childhood memories, friends, experiences, and acquaintances have been incorporated into one volume for his faithful readers. Familiar people, places, and events are noted in these articles describing life in the area.
McClain Printing Co., P.O. Box 403, Parsons, WV 26287. (800) 654-7179 ISBN 0-87012-540-0. 92 pp. $13.00 postpaid.

From Annapolis to Scapa Flow: The Autobiography of Edward L. Beach Sr. By Capt. Edward L. Beach Sr., USN-Ret., with Capt. Edward L. Beach Jr., USN-Ret.
Written in the 1930s but never before published, this book is as much about the U.S. Navy as it is about Beach. In his early days Beach served with Civil War veterans aboard wooden ships, while late in his service his shipmates were the future naval leaders of World War II. As Beach describes the growth of the Navy from the 1880s, when the modern Navy had its beginning, to the end of World War I, when it was on its way to becoming the most powerful naval force on earth, he tells not only what happened but how and why. Beach Jr. puts his father's writing in historical context for today's readers, and in some cases offers insights into his father's feelings. Preparing this memoir for publication was the younger Beach's last project. He died in December 2002 after making final corrections to page proofs.
Naval Institute Press, 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21402-5034. (410) 295-1081. www.usno.org. ISBN 1-55750-298-6. 344 pp. $34.95 plus postage.

A Postcard from Joseph. By Capt. Clif Cormier, USMC-Ret.
This is an autobiography, written in the third person by Cormier as Joseph. It is an account of his growing up in Louisiana and his description of World War II battles and life in the military as he experienced them during his career as a Marine.
Vantage Press Inc., 516 West 34 Street, NY, NY 10001. (800) 822-3273. ISBN 0-533014172-9. 329 pp. $19.45 postpaid.