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What book is on your nightstand right now?

Swayin said:
About to once again (I think this will be my third time though) take the deepest of deep dives into the Civil War ... 2,968 pages. Wish me godspeed ... as the Irish used to say before crossing the Atlantic, "I will write if I find work."

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Give us some reviews!

 
Swayin said:
About to once again (I think this will be my third time though) take the deepest of deep dives into the Civil War ... 2,968 pages. Wish me godspeed ... as the Irish used to say before crossing the Atlantic, "I will write if I find work."

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I’ve listened to the series on audible twice. Foote tells a good story. It’s easy to get lost in his ability to tell the story. 

 
Swayin said:
About to once again (I think this will be my third time though) take the deepest of deep dives into the Civil War ... 2,968 pages. Wish me godspeed ... as the Irish used to say before crossing the Atlantic, "I will write if I find work."

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I found a copy of Ken Burns' Civil War PBS series at a second hand store last year.  Of course, Foote was a big part of that series.  It's narrated by David McCullough, himself a very good historical writer.

 
kingofnerf said:
I found a copy of Ken Burns' Civil War PBS series at a second hand store last year.  Of course, Foote was a big part of that series.  It's narrated by David McCullough, himself a very good historical writer.
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Didn’t read it all the way through until I finished that series. So good.

 
kingofnerf said:
I found a copy of Ken Burns' Civil War PBS series at a second hand store last year.  Of course, Foote was a big part of that series.  It's narrated by David McCullough, himself a very good historical writer.
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His documentary did a lot to ignite interest back in the Civil War. People can get very nit picky about the documentary (including why Foote was the most filmed person) but it’s very hard to cram something that lasted 4 years and built up for much longer into 9 episodes. 

 
Speaking of, I saw where PBS is in the middle of a 6 hour Ken Burns doc on Hemingway. Can't wait to see it.

 
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By 1980, according to The Guinness Book of World Records, Muhammad Ali had surpassed Lincoln, Jesus, and Napoleon as the most written-about person in history.

 
Finishing up With the Old Breed, by Eugene Sledge. Great read for any The Pacific fans.

 
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Blitzkrieg said:
Thanks, I'll pick it up.
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If you want something a little newer, Generation Kill is a great read and also an HBO mini series. It is written by a reporter imbedded with first recon in the push to Iraq. Both are fairly quick reads. 

 
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Swayin said:
And I need to pick up your book on DesRon 23 - certainly an amazing group.
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I just finished the book.

The recent Midway movie focused on our torpedoes that didn't explode early in the war.  Burke worked for the Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance in Washington and would have stayed there for the duration of the war had he not complained enough to get a sea command in 1942.

The book speaks about the run settings used on the Mark XV torpedo since that is what Burke's DDs used to kill Japanese ships with.  There were three run-speed settings on the torpedoes and the high speed setting caused the magnetic detonator assembly to be crushed on impact before it could detonate the torpedo's warhead.

The slow speed setting was too slow to be accurate or effective, so Burke ordered the intermediate speed setting to always be the setting for the torpedoes that were on the ships in his squadron.  They worked fine at the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay and the Battle of Cape St. George during our Bougainville invasion in the Northern Solomon Islands back then.

The torpedo squadrons from the Yorktown and Lexington did indeed register hits in the Battle of the Coral Sea.  Burke was working as a inspector of antiaircraft and broadside gun mounts at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. 

It would seem he knew things about the torpedoes that some theatre commanders didn't.

 
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kingofnerf said:
I just finished the book.

The recent Midway movie focused on our torpedoes that didn't explode early in the war.  Burke worked for the Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance in Washington and would have stayed there for the duration of the war had he not complained enough to get a sea command in 1942.

The book speaks about the run settings used on the Mark XV torpedo since that is what Burke's DDs used to kill Japanese ships with.  There were three run-speed settings on the torpedoes and the high speed setting caused the magnetic detonator assembly to be crushed on impact before it could detonate the torpedo's warhead.

The slow speed setting was too slow to be accurate or effective, so Burke ordered the intermediate speed setting to always be the setting for the torpedoes that were on the ships in his squadron.  They worked fine at the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay and the Battle of Cape St. George during our Bougainville invasion in the Northern Solomon Islands back then.

The torpedo squadrons from the Yorktown and Lexington did indeed register hits in the Battle of the Coral Sea.  Burke was working as a inspector of antiaircraft and broadside gun mounts at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. 

It would seem he knew things about the torpedoes that some theatre commanders didn't.
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I have always read that many sub commanders early in the war risked court martial by converting their magnetic detonators to contact detonators ... and that that much like Patton's weighing in in favor of continued use of the incredibly undergunned and underarmored Sherman instead of moving to the obvious upgrade of the Pershing, it was all driven by personalities.

 
carolina_corpsman said:
If you want something a little newer, Generation Kill is a great read and also an HBO mini series. It is written by a reporter imbedded with first recon in the push to Iraq. Both are fairly quick reads. 
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Great book, great miniseries. I also heartily recommend the book version of Blackhawk Down - won the Pulitzer.

 
Swayin said:
Great book, great miniseries. I also heartily recommend the book version of Blackhawk Down - won the Pulitzer.
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I'll check it out. I work with a guy who was 1st recon and was there. Interesting to compare his experience vs the book and show. 

 
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