Sunday, June 25, 2017

US Naval Institute on Command


 9781612518008

Number of Pages: 192

Date Available: January 2015 In the U.S. Navy, “Wheel Books” were once found in the uniform pockets of every junior and many senior petty officers. Each small notebook was unique to the Sailor carrying it, but all had in common a collection of data and wisdom that the individual deemed useful in the effective execution of his or her duties. Often used as a substitute for experience among neophytes and as a portable library of reference information for more experienced personnel, those weathered pages contained everything from the time of the next tide, to leadership hints from a respected chief petty officer, to the color coding of the phone-and-distance line used in underway replenishments. In that same tradition, the new Naval Institute Wheel Books will provide supplemental information, pragmatic advice, and cogent analysis on topics important to all naval professionals. Drawn from the U.S. Naval Institute’s vast archives, the series will combine articles from the Institute’s flagship publication Proceedings, selections from the oral history collection and from Naval Institute Press books to create unique guides on a wide array of fundamental professional subjects. Command is the pinnacle of leadership in a military organization. Navy regulations define both the authority and the responsibility of command as “absolute.” This Naval Institute Wheel Book provides practical guidance and advice that actual and would-be commanders can use to carry out that absolute authority. Included in this carefully selected collection is the experience of those who have commanded as well as the expectations of those who are commanded. Aspirants as well as practitioners will do well to exploit this selected survey of what Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz described as the “one purpose” for entering the Navy. Thomas J. Cutler has been serving the U.S. Navy in various capacities for nearly fifty years. The author of many articles and books, including several editions of The Bluejacket’s Manual and A Sailor’s History of the U.S. Navy, he is currently the director of professional publishing at the Naval Institute Press and Fleet Professor of Strategy and Policy with the Naval War College. He has received the William P. Clements Award for Excellence in Education as military teacher of the year at the U.S. Naval Academy, the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Naval Literature, the U.S. Maritime Literature Award, and the Naval Institute Press Author of the Year Award.

James Madison Hood Lincoln’s Consul to the Court of Siam




James Madison Hood
Lincoln’s Consul to the Court of Siam

George C. Kingston


Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-7194-2
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4766-0126-7
14 photos, maps, notes, bibliography, index
244pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2013



Captain James Madison Hood was the real U.S. Consul in the novel Anna and the King of Siam, but before his arrival in Bangkok, he was also a merchant ship captain, builder of clipper ships, legislator in both Massachusetts and Illinois, industrialist, and land speculator. He was present at the birth of the Republican Party. As U.S. Consul, he presided over the trial of Dr. Dan Beach Bradley for libel of the French Consul, Gabriel Aubaret, a case which influenced the course of Southeast Asian history and got Anna Leonowens in trouble with King Mongkut. Captain Hood lived large and was not above a little extralegal maneuvering to support his lifestyle. His life is a tour through the politics, economics and deal making of the mid–19th century.


Two Roads to War




Binding:Hardback
Published:June 15, 2012

Noted aviation historian Robin Higham has written this comparative study of the evolution of the French and British air arms from 1918 to 1940 to determine why the Armée de l’Air was defeated in June 1940 but the Royal Air Force was able to win the battle over Britain in September. After analyzing the structure, men, and matériel of the air arms, and the government and economic infrastructure of both countries, he concludes that the French force was dominated by the Armée de Terre, had no suitably powerful aero engines, and suffered from the chaos of French politics. In contrast, the independent RAF evolved into a sophisticated, scientifically based force, supported by consistent government practices. Higham’s thorough examination,

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Crucified Again


Crucified Again
Crucified Again

by Raymond Ibrahim

Hardcover  •  2013  •  $27.95 ISBN: 978-1-62157-025-7 

Two thousand years after St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death for his faith, Christians are once again being systematically persecuted on a large scale and with lethal cruelty. Their antagonists? Adherents of radical Islam.
The violent persecution of Christians by Muslims is now a global human rights crisis, but it has received little attention in the mainstream press. Americans were shocked in 2012 to learn that a Christian pastor was sentenced to death in Iran for his faith; but few had heard about the thirty other documented cases of severe persecution of Christians in Muslim countries that were happening at the same time. Churches burned to the ground, crucifixes and Bibles confiscated and destroyed, and Christians tortured, raped or killed for their faith are chillingly regular events in Muslim countries, sometimes even encouraged or enabled by the governments themselves.
This book should be compulsory reading for anyone concerned about terrorism and horrific human rights abuses. Political correctness and terrified media sources try to deny these barbaric and shocking acts are by "extremists" with British Prime Minister David Cameron, in a speech to the Munich security conference in 2011, said, "We have got to get to the root of the problem, and we need to be absolutely clear on where the origins of where these terrorist attacks lie. That is the existence of an ideology, Islamist extremism. We should be equally clear what we mean by this term, and we must distinguish it from Islam. Islam is a religion observed peacefully and devoutly by over a billion people. Islamist extremism is a political ideology supported by a minority. At the furthest end are those who back terrorism to promote their ultimate goal: an entire Islamist realm, governed by an interpretation of Sharia. Move along the spectrum, and you find people who may reject violence, but who accept various parts of the extremist worldview, including real hostility towards Western democracy and liberal values." *
High time for western media and politicians to stop cowering in fear and admit that this persecution exists. The attacks in Australia, Denmark, France and Canada certainly reveal this is just not a US problem, but a world problem.
Kudos for Mr Ibrahim for the courage to bring this difficult topic to the world. 


* Atlantic Magazine 

Friday, January 23, 2015

The Canadair Argus

The Canadair Argus


Title: The Canadair Argus:  The Untold Story of Canada’s Cold War Maritime Hunter
Authors: Major Cary Barker and Major Bert Campbell

The Canadair Argus plied the skies of Canada’s East and West Coast during the Cold War and, outside of a few preserved airframes, is almost forgotten.  Even in books about the RCAF, it gets, at best, mentioned for a few pages in chapters on Maritime Command.  This 190-page hardcover book changes all that.  It does what it says on the cover, it tells the story of the Argus from development to retirement.  Everything is here; weapon’s trials, stories of patrols, crew and maintenance tails, etc.  I was fascinated by the Bullpup missile trials, and the references to the use of the Argus during Cuban Missile crisis.  The book is well illustrated with colour and black-and-white photos and nicely down aircraft paintings.  A must for an RCAF fan of Maritime operations.

Reviewed by Jim Bates

Friday, January 9, 2015

British Warships & Auxiliaries 2015/16


BRITISH WARSHIPS & AUXILIARIES 2015/16 Our Own Titles



By Steve Bush

The fully revised and updated well respected guide to the ships,aircraft and weapons of the fleet. Over 80 colour photos. Complete with pennant numbers and silhouettes. Now expanded to include Royal Marine Craft and Border Agency vessels.
This book, published annually, is the best reference tool available on the Royal Navy and is edited by LCDR Steve Bush RN (Ret'd). The latest issue, as usual, contains glossy high resolution images of ships and aircraft and should be on the bookshelf of naval personnel as well as those with an interest in the Royal Navy. 


Order your copy today.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Oakville's Flower The History of HMCS Oakville


Cover for Oakville's Flower


Oakville's Flower The History of HMCS Oakville

By Sean E. Livingston
October 2014 Dundurn Toronto 144 pp 9781459728417 8.25 in x 10.875 in

This look at corvette HMCS Oakville and the later Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Oakville, named for one of the towns in Ontario that were once considered the economic engine driving Canada. Author Sean E Livingston is a serving Sea Cadet officer in Oakville and this is believed to 
be his first book. The author has done a credible job with the text and makes a fine addition to Oakville and Royal Canadian Navy history. 
The major disappointment from the book was the printing. While color images were included, the reader is left with the feeling it was run off on the office photocopier and sent off to have a perfect binding cover added.
Would make a good Christmas gift for Sea Cadets in the Ontario region.