Bush at War
By Bob Woodward. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0473-5.

In Bush at War, Journalist Bob Woodward, perhaps best known for his book (with Carl Bernstein) All the President’s Men (Simon & Schuster, 1974) about the Nixon Watergate scandal, analyzes the first 100 days of the “war on terror” following the terrorist attack on the United States Sept. 11, 2001. 

Using notes from National Security Council meetings and interviews with President George W. Bush, the White House staff, and advisors from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, and Department of Defense, Woodward offers an insider’s look at the people responsible for formulating and executing America’s war plan. He discovers a focused, determined, and forward-thinking commander in chief and a staff of talented and strong personalities. Woodward also reveals high-level political rivalries and personal disputes within the administration that add drama and tension to these fast-moving, uncharted circumstances.

The first half of the book is the best as the White House and the country grapple with the sudden tragedy, handling confusion and the possibility of subsequent terrorist actions. Woodward carefully portrays the shock, anger, and quiet energy of the government as it deals with vulnerabilities, homeland security, recovery, and response.

The behind-the-scenes gambits of geopolitical gamesmanship, artful diplomacy, and the decision to go after the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan are presented, along with anecdotes about CIA operations using paramilitary forces and covert American agents inside Afghanistan well before war began there.

The book loses steam in the second half. Throughout, however, it is clear this will be a long, complicated war to defend America, best described by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: “There is the war you see, and the war you don’t see.”

Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam
By James M. McPherson. Oxford University Press. ISBN 

The bloodiest battle of the Civil War was also the battle that changed the course and outcome of the war. Gen. Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the North, into Maryland in September 1862, ended at Antietam Creek in a battle far more important than the better-known Gettysburg.

Crossroads of Freedom is historian James McPherson’s 11th book on the Civil War and the third volume in Oxford’s “Pivotal Moments in American History” series. McPherson won the Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Ballantine), and now he presents a comprehensive commentary on the battle of Antietam.

Although the author provides a gripping battlefield description, this book is less a battle study and more an analysis of policy, strategy, and Antietam’s importance in the overall picture of the war. More soldiers died at Antietam than in all other American wars in the 19th century combined, asserts McPherson, offering shaken eyewitness accounts “looking the picture of all that is sickening, harrowing, horrible. O what a terrible sight.” Most important, though Lee’s Confederate Army was not decisively defeated, his grand strategy was.

As McPherson ably reveals, Lee’s northern invasion was intended to defeat the Yankees, demoralize the North, encourage the election of Peace Democrats to Congress, gain European diplomatic recognition for the South, and rally pro-South sentiment in Maryland. The battle was not well fought by the Union Army (not by its leaders anyway), but the marginal tactical Union victory meant all of Lee’s aims were smashed.

McPherson also discusses other far-reaching consequences of Antietam. Northern morale increased dramatically, increasing the Yankee will to fight, while Confederate military momentum was checked. Perhaps the most important result was President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in Confederate territory.

With a colorful, flowing style, McPherson offers vivid portrayals of battlefield leadership (or lack thereof), political bickering among generals and politicians in Washington, and diplomatic scheming in Britain and France throughout the Antietam campaign. 

Best, however, is McPherson’s balanced treatment of the officers and civilians whose strengths and weaknesses, decisions and hesitations came to mean so much to the outcome of the battle and the war. 

— Reviews by William D. Bushnell

Member Books

Non-Fiction

Airborne: A Combat History of American Airborne Forces. By Lt. Gen. Edward M. Flanagan Jr., USA-Ret.
This is a combat history of American Airborne forces from their birth in 1940 with the test platoon to Airborne operations in Europe and the Far East in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and the many commitments of the XVIII Airborne Corps after World War II in Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War, and Haiti, among others.
Ballantine Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036. www.ballantinebooks.com. ISBN 0-89141-688-9. 452 pp. $27.95 plus postage.


Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America’s National Security. By Lt. Col. Robert B. Patterson Jr., USAF-Ret.
On Sept. 13, 1996, the U.S. military was on edge as they waited for orders from their commander-in-chief to begin a bombing mission over Iraq. Pilots were in the cockpits waiting to launch, targets were identified, and everything was in place. All they needed was the green light – but President Bill Clinton was too busy watching a golf match to respond to the situation, despite several urgent requests from National Security Advisor Sandy Berger. The mission was scrapped. Patterson, who was a military aide to the president and carrier of the “nuclear football,” exposes this and provides numerous other firsthand accounts of Clinton’s reckless and cavalier disregard for America’s national security in his new book.
Regnery Publishing Inc., One Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20001. (202) 216-0600. www.regnery.com. ISBN 0-89526-140-5. 216 pp. $27.95 plus postage.


Connecting the Dots of American Politics. By 2nd Lt. Donn W. Fletcher, AUS.
Fletcher brings meaningful information and common sense to the political dialogue of the This book is a strictly non-partisan work intended to connect the dots of the issues confronting America’s government, military, and people at the beginning of the 21st century for all Americans who care about the future of their children and the future of America.
1st Books Library, 2595 Vernal Pike, Bloomington, IN 47404. (888) 280-7715. www.donnfletcher.com. ISBN1-4033-8283-2. 313 pp. $19.50 plus postage.


John Stewart Rock: Teacher, Healer, Counselor. By Col. John H. Buzby, USAR-Ret. 
This book tells the life story of an outstanding Salem County native son, John Stewart Rock (1826-1866). He was a teacher, dentist, physician, lawyer, abolitionist, orator and writer. He was a crusader for equal rights and an early champion of Black empowerment. He was the first person of color accredited to practice before the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1865. Rock was a leading abolitionist, well known in his time but little known in ours.
Salem County Historical Society, 79-83 Market Street, Salem, NJ 08079. (856) 935-5004. www.salemcounty.com. ISBN 0-9718751-1-1. 138 pp. $14.50 postpaid.


War With Iraq: Critical Lessons. By Lt. Gen. Buster C. Glosson, USAF-Ret. 
Glosson planned and executed the incredible air campaign against Iraq during the Gulf War. Here Glosson tells his inside story, from his first days in the Saudi desert as Iraqi troops occupied Kuwait to the spectacular opening night of punishing air strikes to Iraq’s eventual retreat. He takes us to the White House, where he briefs the first President Bush on how the war will be won. He writes of private meetings with General Norman Schwarzkopf, and he describes his thinking on one of the war’s biggest gambles: his decision to rely on the F-117 – the first stealth aircraft sent to war – to penetrate Baghdad’s thick air defenses from day one and bomb must-hit targets. His book is informative, entertaining, and full of lessons for our future wars.
Glosson Family Foundation, Charlotte, N.C. ISBN 0-9729117-0-7. 306 pp.


From the Point to the Cross.  By Maj. Den E. Slattery, USAR-Ret.
Slattery was an atheistic, pleasure-seeking Marine who tried to convince himself that there was no God. However, he was plagued with the basic questions of life. Then one day he prayed his first serious prayer,” God, if You’re for real…do something to prove to me that You’re real and I’ll believe in You.” This book contains one example after another of miraculous answers to that prayer.
Impact Books Inc. Available from the author, 3257 W. Kinney, Ludington, MI 49431. (231) 843-8470. ISBN 0-89228-022-6. 168 pp. $10 postpaid.


Life Goes On. By Maj. Den E. Slattery, USAR-Ret.
In this follow-up to his book, From the Point to the Cross, Slattery tells the rest of the story of his struggle with faith during his retirement from the Army. He tells some wonderful stories about dogs, ministry, friends, Promise Keepers, and about going back to Vietnam for a third time. This is a book about real life that will make the reader laugh, cry, rejoice, and grow.
Available from the author, 3257 W. Kinney, Ludington, MI 49431. (231) 843-8470. ISBN 0-9669700-0-4. 250 pp. $10 postpaid.


The United States Marines: A History. By Brig. Gen. Edwin Howard Simmons, USMC-Ret.
This fourth edition of Simmons’ popular history of the U.S. Marine Corps reflects the latest scholarship on events reaching back to the Corps’s beginnings in November 1775, when the Second Continental Congress authorized two battalions of American Marines, and takes the Corps up to 2001. It includes material on the tumultuous events of the last quarter-century in Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, the Persian Gulf, Bangladesh, Somalia, and Haiti. Few writers know the subject as intimately as Simmons, who writes from firsthand experience in three wars and as the longtime head of the Corps’s history division.
Naval Institute Press, 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21402. (800) 233-8764. www.NavalInstitute.org. ISBN 1-59114-790-5. 442 pp. $37.50 plus postage.

Fiction

Conversations With An Angel: Life Beyond Death. By Warren Keith
Keith has penned a fictional account of a chance meeting on a commercial aircraft with a mysterious stranger in route from Washington, D.C., to St. Croix, USVI. Seven evenings of recorded conversations follow that end in recognition of the stranger’s angelic nature. The conversations affirm life beyond death, define the purpose of life, replace the fear of death with joyful anticipation of spiritual life, clarify eligibility for spiritual survival, validate prayer, and define the dynamics of prayer response.
1st Books Library, 2595 Vernal Pike, Bloomington, IN 47404. (888) 280-7715. www.bn.com or www.amazon.com. ISBN 1-4033-4925-8. 128 pp. $12.50 plus postage.


Vietnam: A Surgeon’s Odyssey. By Col. Ed Krekorian, USA-Ret.
This work of fiction is a detailed and often traumatic perspective of the Vietnam War as experienced by a senior U.S. Army Medical Corps officer, Lt. Col. J.P. Franklin, MD. Initially serving as the chief of a surgical service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C., he is assigned to Vietnam by way of Fort Benning and Airborne training. After serving as a medical battalion commander and infantry division surgeon, he is promoted to colonel and commands a 400-bed evacuation hospital. Ideals and loyalties learned in the crucible of World War II and the Korean War are challenged. Honor, courage, and commitment are strained in the effort to deal with the realities of the Vietnam War.
Athena Press, Queen’s House, 2 Holly Road, Twickenham, England TW1 4EG. (719) 487-9045. 766 pp. $ 29.95 plus postage.


The Widow’s Son. By Capt. E.M. Furmer II, USAR
A college student stumbles onto slavery, rape, murder, and conspiracy when he tries some genealogy. But instead of leaving well enough alone, he decides to dig deeper in an attempt to expose a secret hidden for over a century and wakes a clandestine group of men dedicated to keeping secrets.
PublishAmerica, Baltimore, MD. (877) 333-7422. www.publishamerica.com. ISBN 1-59129-676-5. 279 pp. $21.95 plus postage.


Ishmael’s Son. By Capt. Nelson A. Blish, USNR-Ret.
This is a terrorist thriller set in today’s tense Middle East/West confrontations. Take a decent man caught between two causes; a sinister assassin; a chilling plot; the U.S. Navy; double, double crosses; and a jumbo jet chasing an exocet missile – this book will hold the reader’s interest from start to finish.
Palo Alto Books, P.O. Box 341, Palo Alto, CA 94302. (800) 711-8985. www.glencannon.com. ISBN 1-889901-29-6. 224 pp. $19.95 plus postage


Power Steering: My Years as a Senior Peer Counselor. By R.J. Howard
Three and a half years as a volunteer peer counselor for a senior service agency has provided ample material for Howard’s fictional account of her years as a volunteer among America’s senior citizens. Though retold as fiction to protect the privacy of the people involved, her book opens windows and sparks awareness for the urgency of personal choice toward successful aging.
Elderbery Press, 1393 Old Homestead Drive, Second Floor, Oakland, OR 97462-9506. (800) 431-1579. www.elderberrypress.com. ISBN 1-93085-929-5. 104 pp. $29.95 plus postage.


The Magic Squad. By CW3 Ed Raciborski, USAR-Ret.
This is the story of a young Air Force special agent who is recruited as an assassin for the Magic Squad, a super-secret unit of the CIA, whose stated function is to carry out assassinations sanctioned by the president. When our hero himself becomes a target for assassination, a big “shootout” takes place followed by a surprise ending.
1st Books Library, 2595 Vernal Pike, Bloomington, IN 47404. (888) 280-7715. www.1stbooks.com. ISBN 0-7596-9582-2. 226 pp. $11.50 plus postage.


Faculty for Murder: A Ruben Keene Mystery. By Col. Jon L. Allen, USAF-Ret. 
A popular history professor misses a Monday morning lecture, having been brutally murdered over the weekend. Beginning the investigation, Lt. Ruben Keene gets more than he bargained for with the disappearance of a child, money laundering, possible espionage, and a crash course on the history of the Spanish conquistadors who explored the Southwest for God, glory, and gold. The investigation leads in several directions, but with the help of his detectives, Keene must conclude it to the satisfaction of a worried university president, a district attorney with political ambitions, and an aggressive journalist for whom the professor had once been a mentor.
Trafford Publishing, Suite 6E-2333 Government St., Victoria, BC V8T 4P4, Canada. (888) 232-4444. www.trafford.com. ISBN 1-55395-087-9. 236 pp.

Memoirs

Piloto: Migrant Worker to Jet Pilot. By Lt. Col. Henry Cervantes, USAF-Ret.
Piloto is the story of Hank Cervantes, son of migrant field workers, who rose above the poverty and hardship of central California’s sweltering vineyards to become one of only a handful of Mexican-American pilots in the annals of the U.S. Air Force. His trials and triumphs as an anomaly in the tight fraternity of Caucasian pilots follow the Air Force’s transformation from the B-17 battle wagons of World War II to the Strategic Air Command’s supersonic B-58 Hustler. Provocative, witty, and intensely personal, this book offers a fascinating portrait of a pioneer who helped pave the way for today’s Latino men and women pilots – and for all those who will fly into the future.
Hellgate Press, P.O. 3727, Central Point, OR 97502. (800) 228-2275. www.hellgatepress.com. ISBN 1-55571-628-8. 253 pp. $17 postpaid.

I’m One of the Lucky Ones: I Came Home Alive. By Maj. Raymond C. Heimbuch, USAF-Ret.
Heimbuch came home alive. Unlike many of his fellow Japanese POWs, he lived to tell his story. The horrifying accounts are as vivid today as they were during World War II. His friendships with other survivors has remained throughout the years since this fight for life occurred. It is in celebration and liberation that Heimbuch shares his story for the rest of us to learn.
Dageforde Publishing Inc., Available from the author, 1101 Estates Dr., Fairfield, CA 94533. (707) 438-0222. www.siteturn.com/ray. ISBN 1-886225-87-7. 146 pp. $14.95 postpaid.